Leap of Faith by Aimee Blue

Spontaneity

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

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“He’s so dreamy,” Eri sighed as she practically fell out of the window in order to properly gape at their school’s idol as he walked into the school yard.

Kagome snorted. More conceited than dreamy, she mused. She could see him well enough from her seat next to the window, and her breath didn’t fog the pane. Everyone knew Sesshoumaru, Yokai prince of their school. Today he wore his long spun-silver hair loose and it made a dizzying visual as it fluttered in the breeze, inviting the cherry blossoms to dance harmoniously.

His regal and pale countenance contrasted beautifully with their navy school uniform, which he left rakishly dishevelled. His blazer was never on, his shirt never tucked in and he never forgot his swagger.

Kagome hated to form opinions on people based on speculation and idle gossip but she thought Sesshoumaru might be a little... well, a little full of himself. 

The girls in their school often fawned over the demon. Navy pleated skirts were shortened entirely for his benefit, shirts were left with the top three buttons undone, hair was primped and make-up was preened over and fingernails were polished to within an inch of their lives. But, so far as Kagome knew none of this ever contributed towards wooing the demon. Some said he thought he was too good for any of the girls in their school.

Kagome thought that maybe, what with being a demon and all, he would prefer it if the women wooing him were a little more natural and a little less manufactured.

“Yeah,” Ayumi chimed in, squeezing into Eri’s side to gaze out of the window.

Yuka giggled at their fawning. “I’ve heard he’s quite rude though.”

Eri waved an airy hand at her friend. “He’s not rude... he’s just, so, so... so,” here words seemed to fail her and she settled for a dreamy sigh.

Ayumi concurred. “Commanding, high and mighty. Not a prince but a king.”

“Whatever,” Kagome muttered, grabbing her purse from her bag, “let’s go and buy lunch.”

In the end, only Eri went to accompany the young Miko as the other’s had brought their own lunches.

“I suppose his demonic heritage could be part of his allure,” Eri mused, flipping open her phone as it chirped at her.

“Are you still talking about Sesshoumaru?” Kagome asked, amused exasperation colouring her tone.

Eri grinned wickedly. “Of course.”

Kagome rolled her eyes and grabbed at the phone clutched in her friend’s hand. “And that would be a text from your boyfriend, Eri-chan!”

Eri waved an airy arm at her pessimistic friend. “I’m only looking, sheesh!” Eri protested, “Just ‘cause I drool over the cakes in the store, doesn’t mean I’m indulging in the calories too.”

Kagome snorted at the ridiculous metaphor as they came to the staircase.

“You,” Eri murmured suggestively, “on the other hand, could stand gaining a little weight.”

Kagome shot her a disapproving look. “That man is a devil, no matter how well he plays the angel.”

Eri giggled as she looked at her text. “Whatever.”

“Watch where you’re going!” Kagome yelped and her friend’s eyes grew wide as she missed her step.

With an agility that Kagome hadn’t guessed she’d possessed, she reached out and grabbed her friend by the back of her neckerchief, throwing her back so that Eri didn’t tumble down the stairs.

Unfortunately, the heroic action threw Kagome off balance. Teetering on the step, she let out a little screech as gravity grabbed hold and yanked her down the stairs mercilessly.

“Kagome-chan!”

Being a demon of such high calibre, Sesshoumaru noticed the human woman falling helplessly down the stairs before her raucous friend felt the need to badger his eardrums with her keening screech. Glancing up calculatingly from his position on the stairs at the human female careening towards him, he ever so carefully stepped out of her way. Catching her would only serve to dirty his splendour and he had no attachment for the girl.

Unfortunately for the young demon, his crass reasoning was brought up short when the girl, in a bid to stop herself no doubt, grabbed onto his long hair. This, understandably, hurt.

In order to alleviate said pain, he grabbed the woman and prevented her fall from bringing her to the bottom of the staircase. Instead, they ended up sprawled across a step, legs and arms tangled as Sesshoumaru held tightly onto the banister to prevent gravity from inflicting any more damage.

Sesshoumaru had been expecting gratitude for stopping her descent, so he was understandably shocked to find her glaring menacingly at him. A brow was lifted in inquiry.

“You tried to avoid helping me!” she accused darkly, jabbing one slim finger into his chest. From his position beneath her, she was less intimidating than she was probably going for. Her long hair was quite lustrous and had a natural wave that he found incredibly appealing as it pooled on his white shirt. Her eyes glinted with icy blue fire as she accused him and her legs were quite long and toned as they entwined with his own. All in all, he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather have straddling his hips in such a manner.

“Apparently I failed,” he drawled, pushing himself up on his elbows so that their faces were mere inches apart.

Kagome scowled adorably. “What happened to chivalry?” she demanded hotly.

Sesshoumaru smirked, a fang peeking over his bottom lip and he gestured down at the way she had situated herself across his hips. Her skirt had ridden up and the tops of her thighs were clearly visible. “Apparently it eloped along with modesty,” he murmured.

He wasn’t expecting her to attempt to slap him and so only just managed to catch her hand before it collided with his right cheek. Prepared to be livid at such insolence, he was struck dumb at the expression of red-cheeked and tempestuous embarrassment that she wore so prettily. It banished his anger entirely.

“Let me go!” she ordered, adjusting her skirt and tugging futilely at his grip on her wrist.

The squeak she produced when he leaned in to inhale deeply at the column of her throat was endearing and he unadulterated and simple scent pleased him. So many humans sprayed and spritzed themselves with vile scents until his sensitive nose couldn’t stand it. This girl just smelt clean and pure and... enticing.

“I said let go!” this time the command was punctuated by another prod, only this prod was charged with holy reiki and stung enough to make him let go.

As she stood up and glowered down at him, the icy demon regained some of his infamous composure and realised that their little stunt had drawn quite a crowd. Sighing almost imperceptibly, he rose agilely to his feet and dusted himself down. An annoying crowd quickly gathered and he bit back the snarl that brewed when they cut him off from the girl. Seconds later, she’d vanished and his patience snapped.

Shrugging off the fawning admirers he fixed his cold facade firmly in place and strode away.

“He’s so stoic!”

Even his attempts to distance himself induced fawning. He really couldn’t win.

Yet, as he curled his hand around the red neckerchief he’d pilfered from the strange girl, he wondered if he’d found the person in the world he wouldn’t mind fawning over him.

0-0-0

Kagome sighed as her friends fluttered around her anxiously and listened glumly as Eri recalled the tale of Sesshoumaru rescuing her. She couldn’t bring herself to shatter their illusions on that matter.

Yuka, the only one who seemed to have her wits about her, smoothly interjected into the tale. “It’s good that you’re okay, Kagome-chan,” she murmured, forehead creasing as she frowned worriedly, “but what happened to your neckerchief?”

Kagome brought a hand up to her throat in surprise, in the midst of the ridiculous incident she’d not noticed, but Yuka was correct about its absence.

“Maybe it came off when you fell?” Eri suggested.

Kagome’s hands formed fists and Sesshoumaru’s face flashed into her mind’s eye. “I think I know what happened.”

Yuka’s hand came down restrictively on Kagome’s shoulder and the girl dropped her voice to whisper in Kagome’s ear, “I wouldn’t get on the bad side of him, Kagome-chan.”

Kagome shot Yuka a confused look. “Huh?”

“Sesshoumaru-kun is from a very influential family. The last person who made him angry... their father and mother both lost their jobs.”

Kagome blinked and Eri and Ayumi exchanged confused looks. Yuka laughed. “It could just be a rumour though.”

Kagome rubbed her neck absently. “I hope so.”

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Kicking off her shoes in the genkan and donning her slippers, Kagome slipped into the homely little shrine she called home. Something was bubbling in the kitchen and on the way through the house, Kagome spotted Souta sprawled on the sofa watching television. Stopping at the door to the kitchen, Kagome’s brow creased at the sounds of a whispered argument.

Her grandpa and mother rarely argued, and if they did it was generally about him plastering sutras all over the place and not something that needed to be argued over in secret. So no one could really blame Kagome for listening at the door.

“This is just some bet over sake!” Mrs Higurashi was postulating in a harsh whisper, “Why should we have to abide by it?”

“The Kanze family have always been good to us,” Grandpa huffed, “this is the least we can do!”

Mrs Higurashi let out an inarticulate gasp of outrage. “This is not the least we can do, father!”

Grandpa sighed heavily.

Mrs Higurashi seemed to relent a little as her tone became more resigned. “The least we could do is to arrange a meeting, shall we say?”

Confused and curious, Kagome pushed the door open and quirked a brow when her mother and grandfather froze and looked at her.

“What’s going on?”

0-0-0

Nothing to worry about, they’d said. Just meeting with some old family friends, they’d said. Nothing to get dressed up for, they’d said. So how come on arriving at the beautiful traditional home of the Kanze family, her mother and grandpa had hastily exited, leaving a poor confused Kagome to be whisked away by an old woman with a rather disdainful curve to her upper lip.

Sat now on an opulent silver zabuton, in the sublime and expensively decorated traditional room at an extravagantly carved wooden table, Kagome was feeling just a tad out of place. Her uniform felt drab, her shoes that were waiting for her in the massive genkan were probably feeling dilapidated and she was feeling downtrodden. 

Wringing her fingers nervously, she tried to quell the feelings of inadequacy that were bubbling away in her belly. What exactly had her mother and grandfather forgotten to tell her about?

A deep chuckled from behind her made her whip around in surprise and she gawked at the relaxed figure reclining leisurely against the doorway. It was Sesshoumaru. Seemingly at home in all the splendour, he wore a golden kimono and had tied his hair in a samurai-styled topknot. 

“What are you doing here?” she hissed, eyes narrowing distrustfully.

Sesshoumaru smirked and dropped casually to her side in a flourish of silks and silver locks. She shifted away from him distrustfully and he leaned closer, leaning one arm behind her back in a fashion that brought their faces closer together.

“I live here,” he murmured, tilting his head to one side, “but I didn’t imagine that you would be the other party for one minute,” he chuckled, “here I was coming to let you down easy.”

Kagome blinked. “Huh?”

Golden eyes glinted deviously and he purred, “You mean you don’t know?”

“Know what?” she demanded, fed up with feeling kept in the dark. Small hands formed little fists and her eyes sparked with temper.

Lifting an eyebrow in the way of one who understands some great secret, he hid a smile behind a gilded kimono sleeve and reached for the tea set that sat untouched on the table. Kagome watched in amused exasperation as the young demon proceeded to pour them tea.

Noting the amused expression on Kagome’s face, Sesshoumaru pressed a tea cup into her hands. “It is good manners to pour guests tea, is it not?”

“It’s also good manners to answer their questions,” Kagome snipped, though she took a sip of the tea anyway.

“Hnn...” he mused, clutching the warm tea cup with both hands, “First, a story.”

He was crazy, Kagome realised with great clarity, or doing a damn fine job of ignoring her completely. Why was he telling her a story now?

“There is this quaint little shrine, you might know of it, and the thing is that funding is relatively scarce. But the owner of the shrine, a lovely old man, has a rather rich friend Kanze-san. Kanze-san was happy to donate as much as his old friend needed but the old man felt guilty. So the two men arranged a marriage between their heirs as a way of cementing the bond between the two families.”

Kagome’s eyes had grown wider and wider through his little tale and now she shot to her feet. “Y-you don’t... no way... me and you?”

Sesshoumaru pursed his lips and looked up at her smugly. “Indeed.”

“W-why... but you... you’re just a neckerchief thief!”

“Hnn,” Sesshoumaru breathed amusement colouring his tone. He stood as abruptly as she had and loomed down on her complacently. With a magicians flourish, he pulled said neckerchief from his long sleeve and waved it in front of her nose teasingly. “You mean this?”

“Give it!” she growled, leaping at it hungrily.

Smirking, he held it just out of reach and watched as she overextended and tripped on his kimono. Snagging her by the back of her skirt, he prevented the fall with ease and amusement. Tossing a glower at the highhanded demon, she was entirely unprepared for him to push her gently onto the tatami and lean predatorily over her.

“What?” she demanded, eyes alight with wary anger. She was practically bristling for a fight.

“If it had been anyone else,” he mused distractedly, tugging on a strand of her hair.

“What?” she asked cautiously, pressing her hands against his chest in a vain attempt to escape.

Hooking a finger in her shirt he kept her close to him. “I would have turned down this proposal if it had been anyone else.”

Kagome’s jaw opened with a snap and she gawked at him. “Are you proposing?” There was a pregnant pause. “We’re in high school!” 

“And?” he asked interestedly, “Is that your only objection?”

“No!” she squeaked, pulling back and balking as the buttons on her shirt popped loose due to the pressure of his finger. “Pervert!”

He caught her arm as she tried to slap him and kissed the tip of her nose. Kagome, though completely stunned, seized her chance for escape and scrambled away from him, running out of the door.

Kanze-san peeked his head around the door and quirked an eyebrow at his son who was sedately sipping his tea.

“Was that Higurashi-kun?”

“Hnn...”

“I guess the marriage is a no, then?”

Sesshoumaru surveyed his father over the top of his tea cup. “On the contrary, father.”

Kanze opened his mouth to ask and then shut it again, and with a rueful shake of his head, left his son to it.

Alone in the room, he sent his youki out in a pulse of energy. The darkness sought out the light of her reiki with unerring accuracy.Calm, collected, calculating, Sesshoumaru’s tactician’s mind had always made decisions based on long thought. He was rarely one for a leap of faith such as the one presented by the absurd marriage. Indeed if it had been anyone but her...

“What an interesting proposal...” he smirked languidly, “perhaps spontaneity has its merits.”

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A/N: This was written for dokuga_contest's prompt Manners and placed first. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed enough to review!