Chapter 34: Inside my Shell
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Entering her new apartment, on her very own floor, Kagome glanced back one last time. The elevator had already closed, Shippo didn't hover like Inuyasha, or kept her company like Inuyasha.
Kagome had hoped that Shippo was just a temporary thing, even if she was fond of him, she had taken Inuyasha's statement to be her handler as absolute. Thinking that just because he had said it, it would be so.
There was probably paperwork to fill out, red tape to go through, Sesshomaru may even be an obstacle to that. Kagome told herself she understood, blamed this for why he hadn't shown up to drop her off, or pick her up.
But when Shippo had piled into the elevator with her, explaining the new floor that was assigned to her alone, and of the new loft that could be accessed to just them two. Kagome began to worry, really worry, that this wasn't just a temporary thing.
Switching the entrance light in her new 'home,' Kagome walked the wide entry hall, opening the door into the apartment. The space was just as grand, just as polished, and just as vacant as the beige room in Inuyasha's home had been. Nothing spoke of character, everything in deep shades of dark oak, and shiny steel.
No second living room overlooking the balcony, for there was no balcony, not that Kagome had used the second living space when one had been too much.
No bar, not that she drank often, or at all.
Walking over to the white sectional couch, Kagome traced the hard seam with her finger, her new couch looked like a cutout display model and felt just as untouchable.
Sighing, Kagome roomed the room with her eyes, she wasn't interested enough to walk it. Not that there was much to explore, her apartment had nothing on Inuyasha's, which was just fine by her.
She hadn't wanted something as ostentatious, or as wasteful, as the cavernous home.
She hadn't wanted this either.
Standing by the tall glass walls they called windows, Kagome noticed the view outside, she had come down from the ivory tower alright. Outside, the buildings shinned as if they were their own stars, giving the night a glitter that riveled with her old vantage view.
Placing her hand on the glass, she was held captive by the fogging between her warm palm, and the cold just outside.
"What now?"
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"So, what now?"
Kagome stared at the business tycoon, and soon to be boss, with a weary expression. He had just finished explaining his role, in this multi-billion company, something easy for the man that seemed too full of himself.
Most of what he had said had rolled over her, big words that strung together to paint a picture of success. Sesshomaru had taken the time to let her know what a glorious opportunity this was, even for someone of her predicament, working for him was some type of privilege.
She tried to pay attention, truly did, but it felt next to impossible given the pull she felt from just the other room.
Inuyasha was angry, she could feel it as if it were a furnace, warming her even from a distance, any closer would promise serious injury.
"Now, Mrs. Higurashi, is the part where we discuss what your role in all of this will be."
"I thought I was your bait?"
"It won't be as simple as that, and every good patsy needs some form of training."
"What kind of training?"
Sesshomaru had stood then, walking around to the bar in his office, he took his time in pouring a glass of liquid gold. He didn't answer her until he had served himself, and reseated, ignoring her presence while he did this in a ritual sort of fashion.
"You'll go through the same training as the rest of my staff, this will include a debriefing, and resistance to interrogation training. We will also run full tests on your vitals, in fact, we have already started."
Kagome had tried not to show her annoyance, or her surprise, still he answered her as though she had voiced her concerns.
"Thanks to your little run-in with Naraku, we had plenty of your blood we could work with. With time being of the utmost essence, we forwent the usual consent forms to get that started, I'm sure you can understand."
Biting the inside of her cheek, Kagome knew she was meant to brush this off, what little rights she had clearly didn't cover authority of her own anatomy. But that still didn't mean she couldn't be upset about it, it just meant she couldn't express it, at least not to the man in front of her.
"What will you be testing for?"
"Everything. In the meantime, you will be assigned a handler, from here on out all communication between the two of us will be between Handler and User. In this case, you would be the User."
"Yeah, I get it."
"Good. Now, when it comes to security, you can understand why I can't have you 'detouring,' as you did when you first arrived."
Feeling the heat rising from her neck, Kagome knew she looked as guilty as she felt, why she thought he wouldn't find out was ludicrous. She had been aware of the cameras the entire time she had been here, no one of his caliber would allow for something like that to happen, twice.
"I won't do it again; you'll have my word."
"Be that as it may, you'll be provided with your own security, should you find the need to travel."
"I can leave?!"
"Of course, Miss Higurashi. You are our employee, not our prisoner."
'Yeah, right. As of when?'
She didn't voice her thoughts, and he didn't wait for her to have the chance.
"That being said, there are... perimeters, that need following. Naturally, we can't have any discrepancies within the public, it's important for things to flow in as natural of a state as we can manage."
Her hands wrung together, chin threatening to drop, she forced a steady upper lip.
"I'm not trusted? It's what you mean, right? You think I'll go to some tabloid and what, sell my story?"
Sesshomaru chuckled quietly, almost to himself, probably finding the notion that such a thing could happen laughable.
"Not quite, no such story would ever make it out, no matter who it was you told. There's no need for trust in a symbiotic relationship, which is what you and I will be achieving. By the end of all this, there will be only two acceptable endings, the one where Naraku dies is what we will be aiming for."
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The other ending was there, spoken in the silence between them, what would happen should she fail to bait Naraku out into the open.
Kagome felt the headache starting with a pulse in the creese of her eyes, taking her hand away from the window, she placed her cold palm to the pads of her eyes. It helped a little, enough to where she could face the empty home again.
She didn't bother to turn the rest of the lights on, making the entrance hall the only source of illumination, it gave her enough light to be able to walk, while keeping whatever beautifying details they wanted her to appreciate in the dark.
Taking her yellow bag with her, Kagome walked straight through the formal dining area, with the low chandelier. Past the kitchen with the glowing appliances and headed directly for the first door she could find. If it was the only room the loft contained, it wouldn't have made much difference to Kagome, who tossed her things onto the king bed without bothering to glance around the well-decorated room.
"Just what I need..." The bottle of aspirin had never been more welcomed, even as the cap stuck, and spilled the round tablets onto the bed, Kagome just grabbed two from the pile and left the rest.
It would take a while before the pills did anything about the ache behind her eyes, just enough time to run a bath, work on the knots that she could feel at either side of her shoulders.
This bathtub was not as big, no jets, that was perhaps the only real disappointment of this place. But a hot bath, was a hot bath, no matter the depth of the tub. Shedding her clothes, Kagome left this room untouched as well, using the canopy of lights from the windows, to guide her way.
She took her time getting in, lingering on the side of the tub, letting her legs adjust to the steamy water. Kagome hadn't bothered with any salts or oils; she hadn't inspected the bathroom enough to see if such things were also available here, it hadn't mattered one way or another.
Right now, what her body needed was just a large body of water, the hotter the better, enough to melt her inside and make her as moldable as she needed to be. To say the stress was getting to her, would be an understatement, these were not easy waters she was dredging.
s she lowered herself inch by inch down, easing herself to the temperature by pouring water from her cupped hands, down each arm.
Each trickle of water echoed around the high ceilings, down the halls and empty rooms. The night carried on as she soaked, filling the room in a blue glow from those busy people, working endless hours. She could almost picture them, each highlighted window was a portal to a different life, Kagome wondered if she would ever know the experience of the corporate world.
Submerging herself further, she stopped when the water hit her top lip, the bottom of her face under the warm liquid.
Her hair floated around her, looking like spilled ink, while the water reflected the awning of the flickering lights.
Kagome waited for the water to cool just enough to be tolerable, dipping her entire being down, she sank herself to the bottom of the tub. Letting the pressure of the water deafen her, she opened her eyes, staring at the undulating image of the ceiling.
She had only meant to stay down there for a few moments, the longest she could do was a minute and a half, but she was willing to try to go for those two minutes.
The sudden bang was a but a second's notice before she was being dragged out, sputtering on a scream, Kagome gulped in water as she was brought out. Automatically her hands lashed out, hitting her captor with flimsy wet appendages, that missed more than they hit.
Large hands grabbed her from under each shoulder, lifting her with one pull, and like a wet towel, Kagome was laid to drip on the cold tile floor.
"What the Hell is your problem!?"
Coughing up whatever water had gone down, it took Kagome a moment to register the angry shouts, and a second longer to put a face to the voice. Lifting the black sheet of hair that draped over her face, Kagome rose the inky strands just enough to confirm he was there.
Inuyasha stood, snarling as a beast in the wild might do, betraying the ferocity of his growl with the white, textured suit that spoke of refinement. His hair and black button-up shirt were the only dark elements to him, everything else from his tie to his shoes, were of the same pristine alabaster.
"M-me? What the h-hell is Your problem" Kagome had meant to yell back, but the water was still rising from each heave of her lungs, beginning and ending her sentence with a fit of coughs.
"If you think death is the way out of this, you don't know Sesshomaru for shit. The bastard won't let stupid things like a flatline to keep him from what he wants, and I won't let you do it, you should've begged me for death when you had the chance!"
"W-what?"
He dropped down in front of her, kneeling on one leg, while his hands grabbed her arms with rough fingers.
"Do you hear me, woman. I won't let you do it, so you can just erase that fucking idea from that idiot brain of yours!"
Kagome was sure there was a response coming from her end, but her mind was working only in fractions, intaking sensations before words regained their meaning. The cold floor that chased away the heat from her bath, the water that clung to the expensive fabric of his sleeves, and the intensity that radiated off Inuyasha were the top competitors.
"Bitch! Am I clear?!" He had shaken her this time, one shake for each syllable, effectively rattling her brain back into gear.
"God! Inuyasha! STOP IT!"
Flinging his hold off, Kagome blinked her way back to reality, taking in what just happened as a whole. Once she had caught up, anger and elation battled for the first response, ending in the usual manner whenever those compound emotions showed up.
Annoyance won over everything else, shoving him off his balance, Kagome took satisfaction in seeing him flailing before falling over.
"I don't know what your malfunction is, but you don't just go storming into someone's bathroom! Just what the hell are you thinking!"
Using the wall behind her to stand, Kagome rolled her hair to one side, attempting to shake as much water away from her face. She was waiting for a reply, an excuse, something that would keep her from pummeling him. When none came forth, she turned just enough to see him, despite the darkness in the room she was able to make out his position still on the floor.
Nothing but a black silhouette throwing another shadow on to the floor, as everything but the highlight of his eyes was shrouded in the dark.
She could feel his eyes on her, and almost shrieked in her embarrassment, but with a quick reminder that they were encased in pitch darkness, she calmed down knowing he could see her just as well as she could see him.
"Well? What's your deal?"
Inuyasha didn't get up right away, he stayed on the floor, unresponsive through the whole ordeal. Just as she was about to lose her cool, he shifted his body, folding his legs under him, he used the muscles of his legs alone to shoot himself onto his feet.
He was tall, especially shrouded in darkness, his form created an intimidating figure.
"You took the pills... you were in the tub."
"What?" She was perplexed for all of two seconds, before she started seeing things through his eyes.
The loft masked in the dead of night, the pills spilled onto the bed, her underwater aquatics. "Oh..."
"Yeah..." His voice was rough, but quiet, drawing her in a few steps.
"You were worried?"
"Don't flatter yourself!"
His quick retort might as well have been a declaration, earning a few more steps from Kagome, who struggled to make out his face in the dark.
"Where have you been? You said you were going to be my 'handler' and then I don't see you." Subsequentially, she left out the detail of their kiss, neither party needed reminding.
"I... Ahem, I had to take care of some things, never been a handler before."
"That's okay, I've never been a 'User' before, terrible word for it by the way. Did Sesshomaru come up with that one? It feels very, Him."
Inuyasha's soft chuckles brought her further in, she was an arm's length from his person, so close she could feel his breathy laugh.
The shiver that began at the base of her spine, and crawled up to her neck encouraged another step, she would have continued to close their gap had he not spoken up.
"Um... Kagome? Shouldn't you grab a towel, or something?"
Looking down at herself, she felt at ease when even she couldn't make out her own form, the night had now fully settled over them. "I don't think it matters one way or another."
Shrugging casually, as if this was the norm for her, Kagome tried to mask the jump in her pulse by attempting to calm her breathing. Maybe it was the heat she could feel radiating off his body that drew her shivering form in, maybe it was the under current desire to get closer while she was like this, nude as the day she was born.
But she wanted for nothing more than to press herself to him, while the obscurity of darkness kept her embarrassment at bay.
In the end it was Inuyasha that closed the remaining space, he didn't press himself to her like she had hoped or ravage her in the ways her runaway mind enticed. In fact, he didn't even touch her other than to pinch her chin between his thumb and forefinger.
"Kagome... I can see everything in this room clear as day."
Having said that, he walked by her, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
Her heart gave three terrible knocks against her chest, the heat erupted over her face, and if she had the lights on, Kagome would see the redness that spread over her entire neck.
Covering her face with her hands, she felt her body trembling, but not from fear.
'INU-YASHA!'