My Throbbing Heart

Chapter 3: Over But Not Done

Naraku woke up with the sun beaming down on him. He felt Aiko move beside him as he turned his head to look at her. Besides her being pretty, she was wonderful at sex and was willing to try anything; except to have a threesome, but Naraku didn't care for that. He bent over and kissed her lightly on the forehead before getting out of the bed and getting his boxers on. He walked towards the bathroom and ran the water in the sink. He splashed his face with the cold water and ran his wet fingers through his hair. He sighed deeply and recapped the night he had with Aiko. As he said, he did rip her new outfit, but he didn't get away without having scratches on his arms and back. He washed his hands and started to wonder about Kagome.

I have to remember what Kanna told me. See her as Kagome and not Kikyo. But that is so hard when she looks just like her. Naraku thought to himself. He heard his phone start to ring in the other room. Who could that be? He turned off the water and walked over to the nightstand and picked up his phone to see that it was a private number calling him.

"Hello?"

"Naraku…"

"Who is this?"

"It's me…. Kikyo."

Naraku growled into his throat at the thought of hearing the name. "How did you get my number Kikyo?"

"Does it matter? That is besides the point, I want to come and see you."

"Not happening."

"Please Naraku. If you don't let me come and talk to you face to face at your own place, I will come to the bar."

"Then come to the bar. Doesn't mean I will talk to you. Besides, I'm not even home."

Kikyo became quiet. "Where are you?"

"At my girlfriend's house." Naraku glanced over at the clock on the nighstand and saw that it was only eight in the morning. The bar didn't open up till three, so he had time to sleep some more. Naraku noticed the silence on the phone and laughed. "Are you upset?" No response. "Aw, I made Kikyo upset. How wonderful."

"When did you become so cruel?

"When you broke my heart four years ago."

"I've apologized so many times for it. Again I am sorry and I want to try and start over –"

"We will never start over Kikyo. Now if you don't mind, I am going back to sleep."

"Naraku –" Naraku hung up before she was able to finish. He turned off his phone, knowing that Kikyo would blow it up. He threw his phone in the pile of clothes that were on the floor and crawled back into bed with Aiko. He wrapped an arm around her as he dozed back into his dream world.

Sting Dragon

Everyone was afraid to get into Naraku's way since he was in a bad mood ever since he came to work. The workers always knew he was an ass, but today he was worse than normal. He gave no mercy. Onigumo had enough of his brothers attitude and told him to go to the office to cool off.

"Fuck it! I might as well just go home."

"Not without an explanation you wont. We are really busy today Naraku. Whatever the hell it is that is bothering you can wait. Now get your ass in that office before I make you," Onigumo threatened. Naraku shut his mouth and walked to the office, slamming the door behind him. Onigumo sighed and looked around; everyone, even the customers were staring. Onigumo apologized for the scene and everyone went back to what they were doing. "Kagome..."

"Yes sir?"

"Go see what the hell is bothering Naraku. I would, but the bar is busy and I need to be here."

"But why me? Can't you ask someone else? What about Kanna? She knows him better than I do."

"Kanna is busy in the back help cooking the food. And besides, you are the only one who is not busy at the moment." Kagome frowned at him and pleaded, giving him puppy eyes. Onigumo just laughed and patted her head. "That is not going to work Ms. Higurashi. Now go find out what is bothering him. If you do, I will pay you extra."

Kagome rolled her eyes as she headed towards the office. "Fine." Onigumo just smiled at her before redirecting his attention to a customer. Approaching the door, Kagome sighed. She didn't want to do this, but for the extra cash, she would. She straightened up and knocked on the door.

"Who the fuck is it!" Naaku barked from behind the door. Kagome winced at his outburst and dropped her head.

Onigumo better be paying me triple for this. She opened the door and peaked her head in. "Um... Mr. Taka... Onigumo wanted me to talk to you."

"What the hell? You of all people?"

"Yeah I know, that's what I asked." Kagome closed the door behind her and looked at Naraku. He was fuming and it was her job to find out why he was upset. "So, do you mind telling me what is wrong –"

"Yes, I do mind. It is none of your business."

"Look, I am just trying to help you out –"

"I didn't ask for your help, nor do I want it. So you can piss off!"

Kagome's eyebrow started to twitch. Boss or not, she did not deserve to be treated the way he was treating her. Her strands of sanity were being slowly stripped away by his bitter words. One more like that and she would snap. Naraku looked at her, not sure of what she was thinking. He just shook his head and he lightly chuckled under his breath.

"What is so funny?" Kagome asked.

"You. You are just standing there, looking at the ground. If you have nothing else to do here, I suggest you leave."

"I'm not leaving till you tell me what is bothering you."

"You are such a persistent bitch."

"Persistent, yes. A bitch, only when you push me too far. But you are not one to call someone a bitch when you are the one acting like it."

"Oh?" A crooked smile came across his face as he took a step towards her. Kagome stood her ground, but the look he was giving her made her cheeks flush. Naraku stopped, hovering over her, their bodies almost touching. Her breathing quickened, but she managed to control it. She stared him in the eyes, not backing down. She was not going to give in and let him win. Seeing the fire in her eyes, Naraku just smiled and leaned away from her. "I don't think I have ever met a girl like you. No other girl as stood up to me like that, well, except for Kanna, but she is my cousin, so she doesn't count."

"Kanna is your cousin?" Kagome asked as he walked away from her, going around the desk to sit in the chair behind it. He nodded his head and Kagome looked confused. "I would have never guessed."

"No one does." Naraku sighed heavily as he took out a pack of cigarettes. He popped a cigarette out and placed it loosely between his lips as he looked for a lighter. He looked in all the drawers and could not find one. He glanced at Kagome and asked, "Do you have a lighter on you?"

"No."

"You are useless."

"Not like I would give it to you even if I had one. Even if you were the last person on Earth I wouldn't even try to help you."

"Then why start now?"

"Because Onigumo asked me to. So are you going to tell me what's wrong, or should I just tell him that you are acting like a bitch because of your girlfriend."

"What?" Naraku jumped out of his chair, knocking it over behind him. "How did you –"

"It is pretty obvious really. Your body language towards everyone changed, not so much towards me, but you get what I am saying. But specifically how you are acting towards the females let me know that something had to have happened between you are your girlfriend.

"I'm shocked. I had no idea I was that easy to read."

"I have only been here for two days and I can read you better than anyone else here."

"Why is that?"

"Because you have been hurt more than anyone else here in this whole entire bar. You try and hide your feelings, but they are just eating you alive. I am pretty sure others see it too, but are too afraid to approach you because they fear you."

"Well they should. I'm not someone who would want to get close with a lot of people." Naraku bent down and picked up the chair, setting it back into place. He sat down and placed his elbows on the desk, folding his hands under his chin. He looked at Kagome again and asked, "You aren't going to leave until I tell you, huh." Kagome nodded her head and he sighed. He pointed to the chair across from the desk and asked her to sit. Kagaome did what he asked and looked at him.

"You were right about me being bitchy today because of my girlfriend, er.... ex-girlfriend I should say."

"You mean the girl that came to see you last night?" Naraku nodded. "What happened?"

"She told me she loved me." Kagome was quiet, so Naraku took that as as sign to continue. "As I was getting ready for work, she told me she loved me. I froze up and didn't know what to say but what was on my mind."

"Which was?"

"I was not looking for love when I got with her. And she knew this before we started to date. We were both looking for a fling. For her to fall in love with me was out of the blue. We were only together for a month. She was a great girl, and she was really good at sex, but I wasn't looking for anything more than what we were doing."

"So you guys were basically fuck buddies."

"If you want to say that. She got mad at me because I didn't love her, so we broke up. And to make matter worse, Kikyo called me. I had turned off my phone after the first time she called me. When I go to turn it back on, I had over 20 voicemails all from her. I don't have anything to say to her and yet she won't leave me alone."

"So, are you upset that you and your girlfriend broke up, or the fact that Kikyo had called you."

"Both really, but Kikyo is what had set me off."

"I am sorry to hear that Mr. Taka –"

"Please, just call me Naraku. I don't like to be addressed that way."

"Alright, Naraku. I can understand that you are not looking for love right now, but with this whole Kikyo situation, you need to handle this before it gets blown out of the water."

"Did I just not get finish telling you that I have nothing to say to that hoe!"

"I know, but just hear me out. If you don't do anything about her now, she will just keep coming back and getting in your way. Apparently she wants you back and won't stop until you and her are back together. How was she when she found out you were with that other girl?"

Naraku chuckled. "She hated it. She left a message saying she was going to cut the bitch that I was sleeping with. She talks a lot of shit, but I know she wouldn't do it." Kagome just gave him a sweat dropped look. "But no matter what she says, I am never going to get back with her."

"I know, I know. I don't blame you for not wanting to get back with her. But you still need to set it straight with her. Make her fully understand that you do not want to be with her anymore."

"I was pretty sure I did that four years ago."

"Apparently not well enough if she is coming around again. Just think about ." Kagome gave him a toothy smile and he just looked away. Naraku sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, biting down on his lip. He closed his eyes and leaned as far as he could in the chair, running his hands over his face. Kagome looked him over and caught her breath. Along his neck was a deep scar that ran from underneath his shin, across his neck and down. She had no idea where it stopped, but for some strange reason, she wanted to touch it. She leaned up out of her chair and over the desk, careful not to make any noise. Her hand reached out towards Naraku's neck, her fingers aching to trace his scar. Before she had time to react, Naraku caught her hand and spun her around, pinning her down on the desk with her arm twisted behind her.

"Ow that hurts Naraku."

"What were you thinking Kagome?" He let go of her hand as she sat up on the desk, rubbing where he had held her down.

"I'm sorry Naraku... it's just, your scar –"

"What about it?" Naraku pulled up his collar and buttoned it up to the top so she could no longer see it.

"I wanted to touch it," she said under her breath.

"Why? Why would you want to touch something that is so foul and disgusting."

"That is not disgusting." Naraku shot her a glare and she lowered her eyes. "What happened to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kagome could tell she had hit a nerve by asking him that question. But with her being persistent, she was going to get that story out of him sooner or later. Kagome slid off of the desk and fixed her shorts. The one thing she hated about working at the Sting Dragon was the uniform for the girls. They had to wear black shorts and a grey short sleeve top with the insignia Sting Dragon across the middle designed like it was fire coming from the dragons mouth. The shirt, she did not mind, but the shorts were too short for her. They always rode up on her and she would always have to pull them down. Naraku just looked at her and shook his head and laughed. Kagome stopped what she was doing and glanced at him.

"What is so funny."

"You... again. If you don't like to wear the shorts, just wear the pants."

"The pants are no better. They hug too tightly."

"That sounds like a personal problem to me."

"Oh ha ha." Kagome rolled her eyes as she stood up straight and fixed her hair. "So, about that scar...."

"I already told you I am not telling you what happened. That is my own personal business."

"I wasn't going to ask that." Naraku straightened up and eyed her closely as she took a step towards him. "Can I touch it?"

"What?" Naraku was taken aback by her question."No, you can't touch it." Naraku's cheeks started to become flushed. What was with this girl?

"Well can you tell me how far the scar goes?"

Naraku gave in to that since it wasn't going to hurt him. "It goes down to my belly button."

"Ouch." Kagome made a wincing movement and then smiled at him. "You know, one of these day you will have to tell me what happened."

"That will likely never happen."

"We'll see." Naraku just rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Have you always been like this."

"Um...you could say that. I normally act like this when I am curious about someone."

"Oh?" Naraku folded his arms across his chest and cocked his eyebrow. "So you find me interesting?"

"Oh don't flatter yourself. I find everyone in this bar, but more you since you hide everything."

"But you just told me I was easy to read."

"When you wear them on your sleeves, yes. But right now, I can't read anything." Naraku smiled and Kagome just smiled back. "Well, now that I was able to get you to calm down, I think we should get back to work."

"Yeah." Naraku opened the door and waited for Kagome to leave before following behind.

"Naraku! I need you behind the bar now!" Onigumo yelled. Naraku went to where his brother needed him and served up everyone who needed drinks.

Around nine o' clock, the bar started to settled down. Naraku leaned against the wall behind the bar and watched what was going on. His brother came next to him and asked, "What took you and Kagome so long to talk?"

"Are you seriously asking me that question?"

"Yeah, I guess your right. But whatever she said to you has made you super calm. This is not my little brother. What have you done to Naraku?" Onigumo grabbed him around the neck and started to rub his head with his knuckle. Naraku laughed and managed to get his brother off.

"I just got a lot on my mind right now."

"Like what?"

"How to get rid of Kikyo."

"Speaking of Kikyo, she came to the bar." Naraku looked at his brother and frowned. "She asked me where you were and I said you didn't come in today. She'll be back, but when, no idea."

"I don't understand why she came back all of a sudden. Why does she want to get with me now?"

"Who knows. But if you do not want her, you should at least get her to see that you don't want her at all."

"I know. Kagome said the same thing."

"Really?" Onigumo looked out towards the bar and smiled. "And you thought I wasn't good at giving advice."

"Because you aren't." Onigumo punched him in the arm and Naraku just smiled. "Also... she asked about my scar." Onigumo's face went serious.

"How did she react to it?"

"She actually wanted to touch it."

"What?"

"Yeah. I was shocked that she wanted to touch it. Out of all the girls that I was with or liked didn't want to touch it, but the only one that I cannot stand, wants to touch a scar that holds bad memories for the both of us. I was stunned that I even started to blush."

"Did she notice that you started to get red?" Naraku shook his head. "Did you get hard?"

"No you perv!" This time Naraku punched Onigumo in the arm.

"I was just asking," Onigumo laughed. "You had a tough time in high school and college because of that scar. It's been six years since that incident." Naraku nodded his head. "It made it hard for you to date since the girls found it disturbing and none of them wanted to touch it. But strangely, Kagome wants to touch it?"

"Yup."

"I think it's a sign." Naraku looked at him wide eyed. "Don't look at me like that. In all seriousness, I think she is the one—"

"Don't give me that bull. She is not my true love."

"How do you know? Remember what father told you?"

"Yeah, yeah. But I still think that is bull. I know our family history is kind of…strange, but there is no way in hell I believe all that."

"Eh who knows, but I am just saying. You and Kagome may become close. I mean, if she managed to calm you down, after you only known her for two days… I think she may be the –"

"Will you shut up already!" Onigumo started to laugh and Naraku just closed his eyes. "But all in truth, I don't think I will ever be able to fall in love again."

"Don't say that." Onigumo patted Naraku's shoulder. "You will. Just give it time."

"I rather not."

"With all those walls you have built around your heart, you won't be able to, but I think Kagome has already wormed her way through the first one."

"Pfft. I will never get close to her. No matter how much I look at her, I still see Kikyo."

"Well you will have to look past that brother. Or," Onigumo said as he stepped in front of his brother, grabbing his chin, tilting it up, gazing into his eyes. "is it that you already have someone in your heart?" Naraku made a 'tsk' sound. "Ah… so it is true. Who are you in love with brother?"

Naraku looked away and stared at the ground. "I'm still in love with Kikyo."

Ooooh. Cliffhanger! You guys weren't expecting that, now were you. =^__^=. You guys might hate me now, but this is only the beginning. Leave tons of comments and the fourth chapter will be up soon. Don't be too upset with me… please… .;