"I'm in love!"
Kagome rolled her eyes, not looking up from the table she was cleaning.
"Aren't you going to ask me about it?" Bankotsu leaned over one of the chairs, looking at her expectantly.
"No," she said, replacing the sugar packets.
"Why not?" he asked, sounding crestfallen.
"Because you fall in love every other week." Bankotsu was constantly getting his heart broken, though he never seemed to care much, moving on to the next partner as easily as the next flavour of ice cream. After he'd gone through three partners in the first month he started working at the café, Kagome had given up trying to remember any names.
"This one is different," he argued, sighing wistfully.
She stepped around him, straightening the coasters before walking to the cash register to print a bill. "You said that last time. And two partners before that."
"I'm serious this time!" Bankotsu followed her, hands tucked into his back pockets. "She's gorgeous."
"They always are."
He grinned. "Hey, I'm allowed to have standards."
"Because that's worked out so well for you in the past." He feigned being stabbed, holding onto his chest. Kagome rolled her eyes again but waved at him. "Go on, tell me about her."
He immediately recovered. "She's a lawyer; came in with that large group a few days ago." There'd been a few of those, but one had been all business, in both talk and attire, and Kagome went through each of them in her mind.
"Dark slacks, pink blouse."
Bankotsu raised an eyebrow. "Am I that obvious?"
She shrugged, tucking the receipt into a billfold. "You have a thing for brunettes." He took it from her, delivering it to her table with swagger and a smile, before returning to her and his story.
"They bring out the best in me."
"Or the worst."
He chuckled, leaning back against the counter. "So snarky today. Did you finally get a good night's sleep or somethin'?"
Kagome managed to hide her blush, turning away from him as she waited for the next order to be ready. Sesshoumaru had left quickly after getting the call from his partner, and she'd expected to toss and turn like always, especially after his direct-to-the-point confession, but the next thing she knew, her alarm was going off, sunlight and the scent of coffee luring her out of bed.
She'd actually slept—for almost six hours straight—and spent all morning trying to figure out whether it had been the extra energy from having sex with him or the activity in general. Her cheeks darkened again at the memory of his hands on her.
Bankotsu took her silence as an invitation to continue, and for once, she was grateful for his inability to recognize social cues.
"One of the old geezers tried to order for some of the other women at the table, probably interns from the looks of them, and she just swooped in and put the asshole in his place. She didn't even look up from her menu!" Bankotsu pretended to swoon again.
"She sounds like she's got a good head on her shoulders," Kagome said, willing the heat from her face to fade faster. "Did she throw herself at her feet when you swooped in to take their orders?"
His grin only widened. "Nope. Barely even got a smile out of her."
Kagome's head snapped back, and she gave him an incredulous look. "And that makes her your type because?" Usually, he liked the ones with fewer brain cells.
"Because when I told her she was beautiful, she blushed."
Kagome raised an eyebrow, waiting for the punchline. When he didn't continue, she raised both her eyebrows. "And?" He stood there grinning like an idiot until she kicked him in the shin.
"Ouch! Shit, Kags, let a guy revel, won't ya?"
"Not when you're being creepy about it."
He stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. "Hell, give me a warning next time you sleep. I'll wear pads." He ducked when she tried to hit him with the billfold. "And a helmet."
"Why do you care that she blushed?" she prompted, once again steering the conversation away from why she'd been able to sleep.
Bankotsu sighed and leaned against the counter, his expression softening. "Women normally fall into two categories: either they're throwing themselves at me, or they completely blow me off."
"And she fell somewhere in between?" Kagome guessed.
He gave her a wistful smile, then shrugged. "Maybe I'm more of a romantic at heart."
"Gross."
"I know, right? Something's wrong with me, I swear."
"Sometimes, all it takes is one."
He raised an eyebrow. "Don't jinx it."
Kagome shook her head. "Gramps used to say things like that. He believed in soulmates."
Bankotsu scoffed. "If this chick is my soulmate, I'm so screwed!"
"Why?"
He groaned, running his hands over his face. "'Cause I already wanna do stupid shit like open doors and pull out chairs for her."
"After meeting her once and not uttering a word to each other?" He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, you're definitely screwed." He launched into a tirade about chugging beers with his brothers later, claiming he'd been out of his head, but even as the shift wore on, Kagome caught him staring at nothing, the rag in his hand pausing mid-wipe on a half-cleaned table.
If Bankotsu was already smitten, she had to find out who this woman was.
Kagome rubbed her neck, her mind drifting back to the night before, her skin still tingling from where Sesshoumaru had kissed her goodbye.
It was still odd to think of him as Sesshoumaru instead of Taisho. Or even Detective. He'd insisted on her calling him by his first name, the earnest look in his eyes making it very difficult to argue. He'd been so smooth about it, too, claiming it was natural for people who were involved. He'd wanted the distinction, and Kagome's mind still reeled from how they'd gone from acquaintances to sleeping together, to together within the span of an evening.
She really had no one to blame but herself; she'd been the one to seek him out at the grocery store and invite him to dinner. And the bedroom, for that matter. Heat crept into her cheeks as that particular memory took hold, and she nearly stumbled over one of the chairs at Hojo's table.
"Did something good happen?" he asked, looking up from his sandwich.
Kagome only blushed harder. "What do you mean?"
Hojo chuckled, leaning his chin on his hands. "You've been in good spirits today."
She looked around the café, wondering if she'd been thinking about Sesshoumaru earlier without realizing it. Maybe it wasn't just the extra sleep that had put her in a good mood. "I guess so. Bankotsu met someone and has been daydreaming about them all day," she said, deflecting.
Hojo cocked his head to the side, gaze shifting to her co-worker. "Really? Does he need any help? I know some great herbal remedies guaranteed to get him noticed!"
She bit back a groan, telling him that Bankotsu was more of a do-it-himself man when it came to matters of the heart. Hojo's shoulders sank, but a moment later, he was badgering her with questions about her sleep and whether she'd tried the remedy he'd given her.
Luckily, Bankotsu came to her rescue, ushering her away from the table with a request to restock the condiment station. She flashed him a grateful smile before waving at Hojo, promising to bring him the bill when she was finished.
Kagome let herself into her apartment with a sigh, kicking her shoes off before flexing her toes to relieve some of the tension. The latter half of her shift had dragged, leaving her hungry and haggard on her way home.
Usually, she'd have pulled one of her saved meals out of the freezer, but true to her word, she'd given all the leftovers to Sesshoumaru. If she wanted something warm, she'd have to make it herself, so she'd stopped at a convenience store on the way home.
After turning on the kettle, she sank into a chair, promising herself she'd get up once the water was ready, but not knowing whether she'd follow through with it. Her feet ached, and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed, but she knew that if she didn't eat something, she'd be up in a few hours anyway.
A sharp knock at the kitchen window had her jumping to her feet, heart pounding. She stared at the curtains, waiting for it to happen again, but the silence was deafening. Easing out of her chair, she gripped one curtain, taking a deep breath before yanking them open. Nothing was out of place; no broken glass, no strange faces, not even a bird.
Kagome frowned, looking around as best she could. She hadn't imagined it—something had definitely hit her window. She pulled out her phone, intent on messaging Sesshoumaru about it. He'd still been worried about the burglaries when he'd left, encouraging her to let him know if anything unusual happened, but her fingers hesitated over his contact information.
Was she really going to message him about a random sound at her window?
"It was just a stray pebble. Or a bug," she said aloud, putting her phone away and closing the curtain. There was no point in bothering him for something so trivial. He was probably busy with a much bigger case, anyway.
He'd sent her a few messages throughout the day, checking in when he could, and Kagome had had to stop herself from checking her phone every time she thought she felt it vibrate. He'd even asked if she'd slept alright, apologizing for not helping clean up afterward.
Her gaze automatically turned toward her bedroom, and she felt that same heat return to her face. Groaning, she clapped her hands against her cheeks, focusing instead on making tea and eating her store-bought bento.
A normal person wouldn't be acting like this. She had to be sick.