A/N: I do not own Inuyasha or Goblin: the Lonely and Great God

Chapter Thirteen

Between his fingers, Sesshomaru twisted a maple leaf. The bright red piece of foliage seemed to glow within the warm light of his home, exposing every vein and sinew inside of it. There was a beauty to it, a raw beauty, that captivated him.

"Hey Sesshomaru, do you live in Tokyo?" Kagome had asked him, her eyes bright.

"Hn," he gave her a quick nod. "In Nakameguro."

"Oh that's not far from where I live. I live just out in Meguro," her soft laugh made him wonder if she was genuinely glad to know of their close proximity. "You know what that means right?"

It was the glimmer in her eyes that told him he did know what she meant. "You will be annoying this one more frequently from now on?"

"Of course." Her hands had dug into her sweater pockets. "We have to find your bride right? Break the curse and all."

He did not answer her. It was the sad look in her eyes at the mention of bride. Was she that lonely that the thought of him being taken away troubled her? How much did she miss her hanyou? Her companions? This woman was far too emotionally connected to anyone for him to understand completely.

The sudden swift motion of her fingers shoving something into his hands had surprised him. Looking down, it was a leaf he presumed she had snatched from the park. Before he had a chance to query as to why she had done what she had, the little miko had begun to walk away.

"That leaf means I'll see you next time, so you better not lose it." She waved to him, her smile wide and happy. "Thanks for everything today, Sesshomaru. It was unexpected."

It puzzled him, the little miko from Meguro. He had known of her for so long and yet he did not know her at all. Still, despite that they were hardly even acquaintances, she accepted his companionship—and even wanted it. He decided that fate had not been particularly kind to the young woman, Kagome he reminded himself, and he felt need to intervene. If she was looking for someone to lean on, then he did not mind providing some sort of accommodation for her. After all, as Goblin, it was his job to award those who had worked hard with some sort of a favor from himself. She had done her job well, destroying the jewel, and getting nothing in return. A friend seemed like a more than appropriate prize. Nodding to himself, Sesshomaru set the leaf on the coffee table before taking up the cup of sake that he had resting on a coaster. He brought the drink to his lips and sighed with a peaceful air around him. It felt bizarre, to really sense peace despite his curse.

The sound of crashing porcelain against tile shook him from his reprieve and sent his eyes rolling. Oh yes. Amongst the interesting events of his week, he still had one, small, annoying problem to deal with. Standing, sake in hand, he traveled over to the atrium where the Shinigami looked down at a broken terracotta pot on the stone tile ground. He scratched the back of his hat-less head.

"Oy, my bad," he laughed, before crouching down and scooping the large chunks of clay into the palms of his hands.

Not entirely sure what came over him, Sesshomaru used his power to pull the heap of dirt into the air, having it levitate over the Shinigami's head before plopping it down on the ponytailed silver strands. Crying out in protest the Shinigami fell back on his tailbone, yelping as dirt flung into his eyes and lashes. His hands fisted as he wiped at his offended members, cussing like a sailor as he did so. With a short, brusque smirk, the Goblin tilted his head back, his short cropped hair wavering slightly as he did so. Crossing his arms over his chest, he began to walk away.

"What the hell, Sesshomaru?" Shinigami demanded, shaking his hands back and forth to rid himself of the gritty texture. "It was an accident."

"Perhaps, it may have been," stopping, the older white-haired male feigned consideration. "However you are still intruding in a Goblin's house and you broke a priceless pot that was looted from the Inca Empire during the reign of Kuzco prior to the Portuguese conquest."

Eyes widening just a bit, the Shinigami scratched his head, lips drawn in a straight line as if he were sulking. "Well how the fuck was I supposed to know that? It was just sitting around on the windowsill with a stupid plant in it. Shouldn't just leave something so valuable easily broken."

"This one has lived in this home for thirty years," Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and proceeded to walk away again. "And in all this time, this one has yet to drop or break any of his extremely antique items that happen to placed where they might be 'easily broken'. Tsk, tsk, perhaps it is the Shinigami who is just clumsy?"

"Oy, bastard, that's not fair!" protested the grim reaper sitting on the floor, his gold eyes wide as he realized the Goblin was mocking him.

Disappearing into nothing but smoke, the sounds of Sesshomaru's jeering tsk tsk tsk left the poor Shinigami fuming. Slamming his hands down on the tile, he reached out and caused the last bits of broken pot to float into the air. He decided that if that's how his host wanted to play the game of unwelcome, he would show the stupid Goblin just how unmanageable a raging grim reaper could out of the atrium, the Shinigami began to spread bits of terracotta shards in front of the bedroom door of Sesshomaru, along particular pathways that only the Goblin took, he made sure to place extra debris in front of the fridge devoted solely to meats. Whatever it was that made Sesshomaru addicted to class A, extremely pricey meats, it bothered the Shinigami to no end. Hence, trouble. With a triumphant grin, the white haired reaper wiped his hands on his pants and decided to go take a shower. After all, the dirt that had gotten into his eyelashes had started to bother his sight; he may have even accidentally dropped terracotta and dirt into the Goblin's clean white's laundry basket. But it was only an accident—he could hardly see.

a/n: Just a quick little something, wasn't feeling to hot today, sorry y'all!

Thanks for everyone who's reading this, I'm so glad to know y'all find this interesting:)

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