Little Shop of Flowers by Aimee Blue

Chapter 1

He was probably going to get arrested soon. After all in the human world it was illegal to stalk a person, hell, in the demon world it was illegal to stalk a person. And yet day after day he found himself going back for more. Doubtless she thought he was some kind of strange demon that feasted on flowers.

For the past five months Sesshoumaru, once most feared Daiyokai in all of Nipon and slaughterer of thousands of humans, was stalking a harmless human woman with a penchant for flowers.

She owned a small flower store on the high street along with a friend of hers, whose name eluded him. He had noticed her one day as he had been walking to work.

It had been a long day and he was arguing on the phone with his VP Shippo about their latest publishing deal. He ran one of Japan’s most successful publishing houses and was rich beyond most everyone’s wildest dreams. He had walked past the homely, quaint little shop without a second thought... and then stopped in his tracks at the sound of her laughter.

Retracing his steps he held the phone limp in his hands- Shippo yelling at him on the other end- and simply stared at her.

The woman was obviously not wealthy, after all she was working in a flower shop, but her eyes radiated a light of inner kindness that drew him to her. Perhaps it was because he was truly a loathsome creature that had once slain whole villages without a care, but this being of pure goodness left him breathless.

The sound of her voice, sweet and harmonious, spoke to his baser instincts and soothed them until he wanted to shift forms and curl around her feet to sleep.

She was also pretty for a human, a species he had once abhorred, with her delicate features small stature and gentle sloping curves. Her eyes were rather large for her face, giving her a slightly perturbed expression, but they glittered with a sharp intelligence mingled flawlessly with a harrowing innocence. Their soft grey-blue colour made him wonder if she weren’t of mixed blood, the curl to her ebony hair also signifying this possibility. Her tresses danced as she moved floating around her face and caressing her small shoulders.

And, from this single sighting of her, he was a Daiyokai smitten.

He had tried to convince himself otherwise. The next day he had gone to the shop again, determined to crumple the idealistic image that had stayed with him as he had slept that night.

He allowed his golden eyes trace every contour of her face and body and came to the same conclusion as he had yesterday. Impeccable.

He tried further to disengage his mind from this ridiculous craving by entering the shop. Inu are very particular about the scent of those they are intimate with, scent is a lot to an Inu. So when he opened the door to the shop, the bell ringing merrily, he hoped against all hope that she smelt as vile as most other humans did.

He was sorely disappointed and yet enthused at the same time. Once he had filtered her personal smell from the scents of the blossoms he nearly groaned.

She smelt like apples mixed with a faint spice and it was truly delectable, so much so he nearly keeled over from it. His baser instincts took a shine to the delectable scent too and promptly ingrained it into his cranium for the rest of eternity.

That was when she had noticed him and he had been pleased with the faint blush that dusted across her cheekbones as she absorbed each inch of him slowly.

He knew he looked good, Sesshoumaru did not waste time on false modesty, but when it was her that was appraising his six foot seven frame of honed muscle he became even more aware of his appeal.

For her part, she was having problems not drooling. It wasn’t everyday an Adonis with long silver hair and mesmerising golden eyes made his way into her tiny shop. When his eyes looked on her she fought down the urge to shudder and smiled happily at him.

“Can I help you?” she questioned, nervously tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear and glancing up at him from behind her soft, dark lashes.

He could think of a lot of things she could help him with, but none of them were decent enough to be uttered in broad daylight amongst witnesses in a flower shop. Abruptly he realised he was going to have to purchase something otherwise he would look completely ridiculous.

His eyes scanned the room and landed swiftly back on her. He strode to the desk and smirked with sadistic pleasure as, startled, she backed away the tiniest amount. He allowed his gaze to drop to the name tag she was wearing. It jauntily proclaimed her to be Kagome.

“Kagome” he said, deliberately leaving off any honorific to gauge her reaction. Her eyes sparkled slightly in anger at his familiar calling of her name but she merely bit her lip and nodded.

He decided that if he was going to buy blooms he may as well buy them for someone and so, remembering it was his sister Rin’s birthday soon, he decided to buy her some blossoms.

“I wish to purchase some flowers for my seventeen year old sister,” he frowned “she has always had a distinct love for them”

“Of course” she nodded “do you have anything in mind?”

“No” he answered shortly “you decide Kagome”

Her name tasted divine in his mouth and it was with no little amount of pleasure that he saw her shiver in response to him calling her name. She nodded shakily and tottered away to gather the flowers she wanted to use to make the bouquet. She could feel his eyes on her back and she wondered why this demon could make her tremble under the pressure of just his eyes when her previous boyfriends had never managed it in more intimate situations.

He watched with dark gold eyes as she returned to him and presented him with a small bouquet. He barely even glanced down at the flowers, not wanting to waste the time he had with her. He paid and she smiled softly as he was forced to leave the shop.

For the rest of the day Sesshoumaru had been in a most foul mood.

But that had been five months ago, and in the months that followed he had visited her shop nearly every week, sometimes more than once, and even if he didn’t go inside he would walk past it twice a day at least. Oh yes, he was obsessed.

He wondered idly what she thought of him and his sudden penchant for buying flowers from her shop. Did she think he had a variety of lovers he needed to appease using the flowers? God he hoped not, that would not be helping his case. Did she think he had a relative in hospital? Or perhaps she thought he was an herbivore with a taste for petunias.

That was disturbing.

His entire brownstone building had been well and truly decked with blossoms and his housekeepers were getting irate at the amount of flowers they had to throw away when they died. But he liked to keep them there, her faint scent clung to the blossoms she had touched and it was as good as he was going to get.

He was on his way to the shop now, and he could feel his anticipation building in his stomach. So when he got there he was considerably let down.

She was not there, only the other woman who owned the shop with Kagome.

Pushing open the door he strode over to the counter, the woman raised a red eyebrow at him in response. He knew she was a wolf but he had no patience for her right at that moment.

“Where is Kagome?” he demanded

The Ookami demon rolled her eyes “She’s on a date”

“What?” he asked, his voice soft with repressed fury.

Ayame shrugged “Hojo’s been trying to ask her out for months, looks like he’s finally taking the chance” she pointed out of the glass front of the shop to the coffee shop across the street. He could clearly see Kagome sat at a table with a human man stood at her side talking to her animatedly. He growled softly and the Ookami smiled wryly.

“Here” she hit him on the back of the head with a flower. “Go and help her”

Glancing first at the flower and then at the wolf in shock he nodded, snatched the flower and was gone before she could blink.

Ayame smiled happily, it was about time Kagome moved on from her obsession with the demon and into something more concrete, like a relationship perhaps.

                                                                ***

Kagome, valiantly struggling to keep her attention on Hojo, wondered idly where her favourite customer was and if Hojo was going to make her miss him. She shook her head and with a blush tuned back in to what Hojo was saying.

“So I was wondering if maybe you’d go with me on Friday” he ended hopefully.

Kagome’s eyes widened. He wanted to take her to the opera? She was really more of a girl for musicals. But the hopeful look on his face was weakening her resolve; she really didn’t want to do a pity date. She wanted him. But that seemed impossible considering he hadn’t done anything but buy copious amounts of flowers whilst she spied on him.

“Ano...” she began slowly

“I’m sorry” a silky smooth, irresistible voice cut in. A voice she would recognise anywhere “she has plans with me this Friday”

Hojo and Kagome both glanced round in shock as Sesshoumaru casually walked up to the table Kagome was sat at and dropped into the seat opposite her as if it had been reserved for him all along. Hojo balked in the face of what, considering his Armani suit, appeared to be a wealthier and scary looking man. He was a demon; there was no way he was going to fight with a demon, even for Kagome.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru watched in mild amusement as Hojo stuttered out an apology and hastily escaped the coffee shop.

Once he had vamoosed Kagome turned her attention back to Sesshoumaru to find him already staring at her with smouldering eyes.

“Um... thanks,”

“It was my pleasure” he purred grinning as she blushed.

“You don’t need to feel obliged to actually take me anywhere” she smiled wanly and he raised a brow.

“I never thought I was”

“Oh,” she looked completely crestfallen and he smiled.

“It would be my distinct delight to take you out this Friday” he smirked and a fang peeked over his bottom lip “and every Friday after that.”She glanced up at him in shock, her cheeks lighting with yet another blush and her mouth opening and shutting in confusion. He reached across the table and gently shut her mouth before presenting her with the flower Ayame had given him.

It was a single white lily and she smiled hugely at him.”Arigato” she took it from him carefully and inspected the tiny blossom.

“I expect you have been given many flowers before” he shrugged sheepishly “it is not very original”

She shook her head vehemently. “Actually, because I work in a flower shop nobody ever gives me flowers” she clasped it to her chest “so, arigato Sesshoumaru”

He smiled softly “I am glad Kagome”

She sat back in her chair and smiled before frowning and looking back up at him curiously.

“So what happened to all those flowers you bought, who were they for?”

Ah. The question he had been dreading, his face took on an embarrassed expression, which was hard to distinguish from his normal expression except that his cheeks were slightly pinker. She giggled.

“Never mind” she released him from having to answer “I think I can guess”

Oh the shame.

A/N: How sappy can you get? That sappy! But it was so much fun to write. By the way I don’t own Inuyasha.