“Buyo, come on.” She tugged at the leash. The massive cat simply tucked its limbs underneath itself and rested its head on the ground. “Buyo,” she said exasperatedly. Kagome bent over and nudge the cat, hoping to coerce it to move, “Just five more minutes for today. How can you be so lazy?”
“What are you doing?”
At the sound of his voice Kagome practically jumped out of her skin. She turned sharply to face him, and quickly took a reflexive step back when she noticed his icy stare. He always looked like that, yet someone she was still always shocked by the hostility and arrogance he exuded.
“It’s my cat.” She said, slowly gathering her composure.
“That fails to answer my question.” He was still staring at her, and she was growing uncomfortable under the intensity of his gaze; it made her far too aware of herself.
“I have to help him exercise because he’s really overweight and the vet said he could get sick from it.” She said, tugging the leash to no avail.
Sesshomaru looked at her, then at the cat that could not be bothered to support its own weight, and then back at her. She could swear she noticed his gaze soften, “Are you a real person?”
“What do you mean by that?” She asked, snapping her attention to him.
“I mean, you are far too silly to be real.” He stepped forward so there was only a hair’s breadth between them, “It’s too cute. Aren’t high school girls supposed to be hot instead?”
Kagome felt her whole face grown warm as it turned bright red. And then her temper, usually quelled by her fear of him, began to rise. “Well that didn’t bother you yesterday when you asked me to go out with you.” She snapped, “And if I am such a child, then what does that make you? A paedophile?”
He smirked and she felt her stomach flip. Why did he have to be so damn attractive? “It doesn’t bother me. I was merely asking a question. And I implied you act like a child, not that you are one; children are actually pleasant.”
She felt the blood drain from her face just as quickly as it had rushed there. How could someone be so cruel? Yet there was something that kept pulling her towards him. It made no sense; she did not even like him as a person. “You really are quite entertaining.” He said as he stepped past her and picked up her cat by the scruff of its neck.
Kagome, annoyed, snatched Buyo from him. “Do I look like a television to you? If you want to laugh go watch a show.” It would only be much later that she would realise just whom she was speaking to in such a tone. “And you don’t deserve to touch Buyo.” She hugged her overweight cat protectively.
“Buyo? What a-”
“Say something mean,” she snapped, her brows furrowed dangerously. “I dare you.” She was trying to look intimidating, but with the oversized cat held to her chest, she looking more comical than ever.
He touched her elbow gently, a brief moment of contact that sent jolts up her body. “I will keep you company while you keep trying to walk your cat.”
“You can’t buy my goodwill.” She said as she led the way, not quite sure why she was going along with it so easily. Perhaps because she was curious about just what kind of person he really was; it was obvious from the day before that he was not what their schoolmates had painted him as.
“It would not be worth the money.” He said flatly.
“Asshole.” She muttered under her breath. He let out a short breath that might have been a laugh and she was forced to do a double take, did he just laugh? She had not even seen him smile properly. Was it even possible for him to make such a sound?
…………………………………
Talking with him was surprisingly pleasant, and although he peppered his sentences with tiny jabs at her, she found herself falling deeper and deeper into the conversation. He was just so interesting.
“You know,” she leaned in, her eyes shining with excitement when he mentioned his love for history, “My family has a shrine that is over five hundred years old.”
She noticed his eyes widen slightly, “We have all these old relics that we sometimes lend to museums. Except you can actually touch them – when my grandfather is not looking. You should visit it one day. There are also these really cool stories about priestesses and demons. I really like feudal era stories, you know brave warriors, charming yet strong women.” He noticed the distant look in her eyes and the smile that spread across her soft features.
He stood up from the bench they had taken a break on, “Let’s go.”
Kagome looked up at him and blinked slowly, “Where to?”
He looked at her as though she had just asked the most stupid question conceivable, “You invited me to visit your family shrine, and I accept.”
Kagome shot to her feet. What had she done? Had she gotten that carried away? “Wait, I…” She was about to object, to say she had spoken without thinking, but then it struck her that she had actually been enjoying his company and had no true reason to object. From what she had seen of what he was actually like, she believed that they could be friends. Not great friends – he was far too mean and rude – but friends of some kind. “Fine. Buyo is tired anyway.”
“Tired? From what? Sleeping?” Sesshomaru said dryly.
“I think even lifting his head tires him.” Kagome said, her tone as dry and sarcastic as his. She paused, shocked, and then pointed an accusing finger at the older boy, “You are infecting me.”
He stepped towards her, narrowing the distance between them. “Is that bad Kagome?”
She felt her chest constrict when he said her name. So this was what attractive guys did to girls. They could be as mean as anything, but one look from them and she was a silly school-girl. “It’s not – not – ”
He was watching her trip over her own words, his lips turning up in cruel amusement at her discomfort. “You should just go out with me.”
“No!” she finally found her voice.
“Kagome?” She froze. She was about to ask why Sango was here, when she realised that it was the park and Sango and Ayame went jogging every day after school without fail. Why did her friends have to be so athletic? Couldn’t they sit at home like a normal person?
Kagome searched quickly for some lie that would explain why she was in the park with the most terrifying guy in school, and why she was standing so close to him. She immediately dropped her weight from one foot and leaned against him. “Sango! Ayame!” She said, doing her best to fake enthusiasm.
Her friends approached her carefully, acutely aware of the cold golden eyes that followed their every movement. “I sprained my ankle when I accidentally tripped over Buyo, and Sesshomaru saw and I asked him to help.”
Sango eyed her friend carefully. How had she convinced such a person to help at all? Everyone knew Sesshomaru would step over a dying body without thinking twice. “I was about to take her home.” He said in that monotone that simultaneously sent chills down her back, and made her recoil slightly. He was like fire; attractive in all the wrong ways.
“How thoughtful of you!” Ayame beamed, seemingly oblivious to just how bizarre the situation was. Sesshomaru regarded her coolly, and then looked away without a word.
He took advantage of the situation and slipped his hand around Kagome’s waist, smirking secretly at the small ‘eep’ that escaped her lips at the unexpectedly intimate gesture. He could see the suspicion and uncertainty in the eyes of her darker haired friend, as though she guessed what was truly going on but refused to believe it. After all, Kagome was such a sweet girl and he was such an ‘awful’ person, right? The one with red hair seemed to not even notice what was happening.
Kagome, in order to sell her lie, was forced to lean into him. “I can take her home, so as to not bother you.” Sango offered.
“She is my problem.” He said, his tone firmly stating that he was not to be argued with.
“I have a race coming up Sango, and you promised to train with me. Let’s go.” Ayame said as she linked arms with Sango and tugged the reluctant girl. As she dragged Sango away she turned and yelled to Kagome with a smile and a knowing wink, “Let me know how things go with Inuyasha!”
Kagome lowered her head and cursed herself for the hundredth time that week. Why her? Why? She waited until they were a good distance away from Sango and Ayame before she tore herself away from his grip.
“Inuyasha? My idiot half-brother whose intelligence is rivalled by a box of matches?”
“It’s none of your business.” She said firmly. And he stepped in front of her and turned to face her, leaning forward so their faces were only a breath apart.
“But I want it to be.”
“Well tough luck.” She turned away and said with more confidence than she possessed. Her face was still flushed from having him so close to her.
“I do not give up.” His words almost sounded like a warning, a sinfully tempting warning. She mentally slapped herself. It was as though he were temptation itself and from the moment she had caught his attention, her fate had been sealed. Perhaps she could run away from him again, but she knew she would not because she felt entirely responsible for his sudden affections.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked, swallowing hard as his breath tickled her turned cheek.
He straightened his stance, the brush of his breath leaving as he withdrew. He was still looking at her, but it was different and she felt her heart stop. His eyes burned with a heat that seemed to flow into her and threaten to consume her from the inside out. He lifted his hand to her face and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, when his fingers grazed her skin she felt her knees go weak and threaten to buckle beneath her. What was happening to her? This couldn’t be normal; people were not meant to have such a debilitating effect on others.
“Because I want to. Do I need another reason?” The warm timbre of his voice seemed to send her reeling into him and she had to spread her feet apart slightly to stop herself from falling forward.
Yes, she wanted to say, of course he needed another reason for invading her life like this and turning her into an incoherent mess at will. But did not say anything because she knew the truth; he had another reason, a perfectly valid reason, and it was because she had tricked him into falling for her via a love potion.
He touched her elbow gently, indicating that she should keep walking, and she felt her heart skip a beat and land awkwardly, and loudly, on the second beat ‘thump’. She looked down at her cat who was trotting lazily alongside her, and tried to forget the person standing next to her, but her heart kept reminding her with its loud, erratic beating.