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Crossing Stars
Chapter Nine: Reason
Touya watched as Kagome turned up at his office first thing in the morning. She had Ohagi cradled in her arms and a small bag packed with what he assumed were just her basic necessities and a few spare changes of clothes.
"You'll need more that that." He gestured towards the bag. "The dorms don't come furnished."
He saw her face flush, "I'll worry about that after we take care of all the paperwork."
Admittedly, he knew very little about her home life situation before this. All he really knew was that her mom was pushing her to date a guy she didn't like and that she was desperate to get out of the house. Outside of that, Kagome was still essentially a stranger to him.
"I'll help you get set up after we deal with the onboarding." Touya led her to the conference room.
He rarely used it these days. He preferred to work solo missions and didn't like teaming up with other heroes unless absolutely necessary. He found that most of them just got in his way when he was trying to work. Hawks was about the only person that could keep up with him, but even then he never purposefully sought the bird out. The man always had a habit of dropping in on him unexpectedly and hanging around until he got what he wanted.
"Most of the paperwork is the usual stuff you'd go through. The background check, rate of pay and all of your emergency contacts." Touya explained briefly as he helped her into her seat and brought over a stack of papers. "It looks like a lot, but most if it is just signatures. Officially, you'll be in charge of filing insurance claims for this Agency. You won't have a public facing position. So there's no need for you to take any phone calls. It'd be a liability issue if you did anyways as it requires a hero license just to handle dispatch calls."
His smile softened at her concerned expression, "Essentially, I run with minimal staff. So if someone tries to push their work onto you, you're more than free to tell them to shove it. I'll back you up on that."
He could think of at least two people that would try their hand at foisting their work onto Kagome. So laying down the ground rules now would better serve her in the future. Especially if she was going to hold her own.
Touya waited in the conference room as Kagome set to work on signing everything that she'd needed to.
He opened his arms as Ohagi sauntered over to him. The cat leapt onto his lap and placed his front paws on his shoulders in a makeshift 'hug'. It purred loudly as it butted his head against his cheek.
Kagome noticed their interaction and a small smile touched her lips.
"It's rare to see him take to men like that. You must've really grown on him." Her smile widened when Touya lifted the cat further up in his arms in order to hold him more securely. Ohagi gave a soft mewl of content in return.
"I didn't do much. He just turned up on my doorstep on his own and refused to leave until I opened the door for him." He focused his attention on Kagome, "How'd you get him, anyways?"
He'd seen black cats before. However he'd never seen one with eyes as striking a shade of green as Ohagi's. The feline was iconic in his own right and certainly grabbed attention wherever he went. Much like his owner.
"Like with you, he just showed up on our doorstep a few years ago and we decided to keep him. Trying to turn him into an indoor cat had been impossible. He always found a way to sneak out of the house." She lifted her head to give the cat a playful scowl, "Craftly little bugger."
Touya found himself laughing.
He could perfectly envision this cat finding a way to open windows to make his grand escape. Maybe even slipping through the small cracks in doors as the family left the house.
"Do people usually send you notes with him?" He decided to tease her.
He watched as her smile turned coy, "You're the first."
"Is there anything else I'll be the first in?" He tried to push the envelope further.
Under normal circumstances this would be workplace harassment. If Kagome didn't wish for him to continue his pursuit of her then he would stop. However until she told him point blank that she wasn't interested in him, he'd at least try to see what her boundaries were.
To her credit, the woman simply smiled up at him as if she'd anticipated him asking her such a personal question.
"My, aren't you bold? To ask a woman that is to play with fire." She finished through the stack of paperwork and casually handed it back to him.
Touya found himself smirking in return, "I play with fire every day. It's a calculated risk I take every day."
He was curious to know if she had any experience at all when it came to sex. He doubted that the plain, now ex-boyfriend she had could do anything more than a thirty-second hit and run.
He didn't mind either way. Whether she had experience or not, he was confident enough in himself to feel as if he could come out above all of her past partners in bed.
Ohagi suddenly mewled at him in irritation.
The cat leapt off of him and swiftly ran back towards Kagome. It nestled itself in her arms and glowered at him, as if they hadn't just been best friends a moment ago.
"I think your cat has issues." He laughed when Ohagi swished his tail angrily, his emerald eyes narrowing at him with distaste.
Kagome set the cat down as she pulled out some toys for the feline from her back.
"He's just mad because it's close to dinner time. I brought most of his stuff but I need to get him a new litter box." She blinked, taking in the office setting around her. "If I'm allowed to keep him here in the office, then where will you want his litter box to be? I don't think it'd be good to keep it too close to where the public will be near."
Touya rose to his feet, "Follow me."
He'd already decided which office would be hers.
Like most Agencies, there was always a main office that the pro hero would use in their down time and during periods in which they would search the Hero Network for any team up requests. He rarely used his own office as he was typically on the street more than he was in the building. Today was one of his rare few exceptions.
Touya led her down the hall and to a private elevator. He took his ID card and slid it into the reader slot. The light for the tenth floor became lit up and they found themselves standing next to one another as the lift slowly carried them up to their destination.
"The dorms start on floor eleven and go up to level fifteen. Yours will be on floor fifteen. Right now we're going to floor ten which is where your office will be." He tried to keep his focus on the task at hand.
The soft scent emanating from Kagome was vastly different from all the harsh perfumes he was used to being assaulted with. It was gentle on his nose and made him feel more at ease. He couldn't quite place what it was though. It was some kind of floral scent but it was too soft for him to determine with any sort of clarity. He supposed that he could just ask her about it later though.
The chime to the elevator went off and he stepped out. He pressed his hand against the doors to ensure that they would close on her as she followed after him.
Kagome carried the still angry Ohagi in her arms as he brought her down the hallway to a small office that was partially connected to his own. They had a door that separated them, but he'd left it open more times than not as he didn't like the idea of not being able to see what was in the room next to him. There'd been several occasions where fans had managed to slip past his security measures and slip into that same office.
He'd since tripled the security since the last successful break in and it seemed to have worked. For now at least.
Touya smiled down at her as he showed her to her desk.
"Everything's all set up here. Usually I do this on my own when I have the free time but I'm pretty bogged down at the moment." He pointed towards the small sticky note at the corner of the monitor, "I'd forget the damn log in without that so I left it there. You're more than free to change it. Just as long as you keep a record of it somewhere that we can access."
He didn't much care for computers and they didn't seem to get along with him. Every time he touched one the damn things seemed to fry. He'd always been careful not to use his quirk around the machines but regardless of his best efforts, they always seemed to short circuit in less than a year.
"Right now I have one claim that I need to file. It was during that attack the other day." Touya cast her a short smile, "The café wants reimbursement for their damaged building."
Kagome cast him an incredulous look, "But you didn't even cause that damage! That should be on their insurance!"
He gave a quick laugh, "Not according to the Safety Commission's regulations. Any damage incurred while a pro hero is on duty and within a reasonable distance to halt a crime in progress becomes liable for the damages any villains do in the times it takes them to resolve the incident. They consider this incentive to resolve crimes quickly and efficiently."
"Now that's just unfair. It's not like you can stop every crime at every single moment." Her lips dipped downward, "Not even All Might can do that!"
His smile softened at the image she'd made. With her lips pursed into a pout and her brows furrowed with displeasure, she looked like an exact replica of the feline still nestled in her arms.
Touya pressed his palm against the back rest of her chair and leaned over her, "That may be true but that's now how the Safety Commission sees it. They and the tax payers are the ones that pay my checks, so I'm at their mercy." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "More importantly, we can worry about this claim tomorrow morning. For now we need to get you furniture before all the stores close. I'm not going to let you sleep on the floor tonight."
He didn't miss the sharp flush that crossed her cheeks.
Clearly she'd interpreted his message in a very different way.
His lips curled into a smirk, "I don't live here at the dorms but I don't mind spending the night with you."
As expected, Kagome shook her head vigorously.
"You're attractive, I'll give you that. However I think we both need to take some time before jumping onto the sack." She pinned him with a pointed look, "You're pretty privilege will only get you so far, mister."
Touya raised his hands in defeat, "I had to give it one last shot."
He then gestured towards the cat, "You can leave him here for the time being. It's fine if he scratches the walls or damages things. I'll just get it fixed once we get everything settled." He then cast her a side-ways grin, "You'll come to find that his place is always getting wrecked with the weird visitors that like to swing by. If you notice anyone, you don't have to pay them any mind. Just focus on your work."
Touya watched as Kagome's expression turned cautious.
He the helped her to her feet and offered her his arm, "Now let's go get you some furniture."
"Touya," She paused mid-stride, forcing him to stop with her. "I appreciate everything that you're doing for me. Really I am, but what exactly do you want out of this?"
He knew what she was asking.
She wanted to know if he was going to expect sex in exchange for his act of kindness by taking her in and buying furniture for her.
It was a reasonable concern and one he wouldn't fault her for considering how many times he'd already propositioned her.
"I meant what I said when I told you that you're free to quit any time." Touya started, ensuring to meet her gaze directly. "I'm not going to force you into anything you don't want and I'm not going to kick you out of my Agency if you turn me down." He reached out and laced her fingers with his own. It was the first 'gentle' contact he'd had with her yet and the softness of her fingertips was enough to make his blood rush in his veins.
"I guess you could say that I'm curious." He answered honestly.
"Curious?" Kagome tilted her head in a way that could only be described as 'cute'.
He nodded, "As you know I'm not fond of people." He neglected to say the word 'women' to avoid giving her the wrong impression. It wasn't women so much that he hated as it was the overbearing behavior of those who'd chased him. The sheer entitlement of those women had made him feel as if he were some sort of object to be sexualized and he hated every second of it.
Touya continued, "Did you know that you're the first person who didn't immediately try to rush me when you found out who I was?" His smile turned coy at the flush that seemed to permanently stain her cheeks. "Dealing with fans is part of a pro heroes job and it's important PR work for a lot of us. As for me, I really don't like being harassed in public, whether if it's for work or not." He then lifted their interlaced hands and brought them closer to himself, "So I was curious of the only woman who could recognize me and not treat me as if I were some sort of sex object. I want to know more about you and who you are as a person. Although I wouldn't mind going for a few rounds with you."
"Touya!" She fussed at him, her face now a stark shade of red he'd never seen before.
He found himself laughing as they began to walk again, "At the end of the day, I just want to know you. That's all there is to it."
He felt her close the gap between them as he could sense that she was growing just a little bit more comfortable with his presence. It was a small step, but a positive one all the same.
"Well," Kagome started as they made their way into the elevator. "Why don't we talk tonight?" She gave him a pointed look when she'd taken notice of his expression. "Just talk."
He closed his eyes and smiled, "That sounds nice."
He would be looking forward to what he would learn later this evening.
