Distracting by Azure
Distracting
Sesshomaru heard the distinct whine of Kagome’s ailing car as she pulled up their long driveway. Usually he also had the pleasure of his partner’s off-key singing assaulting his sensitive ears but today the driver was uncharacteristically silent. It took no more than a glance out the window of their secluded home to assure that she was indeed home, and in a foul mood.
The half of him ruled by instinct insisted that he race down to meet her at the front door, tail wagging and bunny slippers in his mouth, but the rest of him squashed that idea down vehemently. Maybe he’d greet her in that manner on Valentine ’s Day… maybe.
The sound of her key scraped into the lock as she let herself in the house. “Honey, I’m home.”
The lack of luster in the greeting made Sesshomaru immediately put down the paperwork he’d been sifting through and join her in the kitchen. She was making herself an Italian cream soda from scratch, using their good raspberry syrup.
She’s had an unpleasant day. He subtly sampled the air and could detect traces of cleaning solution and frustration in addition to the usual scents of butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and chocolate that accompanied her natural undertones. The baking smells he had accepted as a necessary infringement on his olfactory senses but the hint of unshed tears and cleaner was an unacceptable trespass.
“What ails you?”
Kagome held up a finger and took a long pull from her drink. He waited patiently, the raspberry syrup was reserved for emergencies so he knew it had to have been a bad day and the best course of action was to wait for her to talk about it.
“That new intern is…” From her expression and scent he could tell there were many adjectives she wanted to use but couldn’t settle on one. “Incompetent.” She finished anti-climactically.
“Indeed?” He remembered her mentioning someone, a boy who’d applied to her bakery the week before.
Despite not liking the idea of a male working there, Sesshomaru had allowed it because he’d promised not to get involved in her business when she didn’t ask. Now it seemed that he would have to get involved anyway.
“Hojou’s nice but… he’s… clumsy.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh. “He had a little whoopsie today.”
“Oh?”
“He dropped a cake.”
Sesshomaru’s eyes widened minutely. Kagome’s bakery ‘Traite’ carried all manner of sweets and baked goods but she was famous for her cakes. With their reputation of being both artistic and delicious, she’d been commissioned by several local politicians and charity groups to build centerpieces for their benefits and galas.
Dropping a finished cake was a sin practically tantamount to murder.
“Did you… terminate him?” Sesshomaru asked delicately.
For the first time since she got home he saw her smile and a knot he hadn’t noticed loosened in his chest.
“How do you manage to make ending employment sound so fatal?” She set down her drink and stepped into his waiting arms, letting him support her weight with a weary sigh.
“In certain cases, where the employee has performed particularly unsatisfactorily, I find that ending an employment can be quite fatal.”
“No.” She mumbled. “You can’t kill him.”
He decided not to point out that she didn’t sound as opposed to the idea as she usually did.
Perhaps I can convince her to do things my way for once. He speculated, then let his mind follow its natural progression down a path of blood and destruction.
“Or dismember.” She added.
He sighed. She could really be difficult when she felt like it.
“I was merely entertaining the notion that he should share the fate of the fallen masterpiece.” He ran his claws through her long hair, working out the tangles that had formed over the course of the day.
“Get dropped? That’s surprisingly charitable of you.”
He winced as the movement of her lips against the silk of his shirt had a predictable effect on the rest of his body. But after living together for as long as they had, Kagome expected and accepted the reaction, wrapping her arms around his body as her scent became more relaxed.
“I meant the same fate. Humans reach terminal velocity after a fall of-“
“NO.” She protested with more spirit. “No dropping, killing or dismembering.”
“But retribution must be taken in the name of your art piece.”
“Eh. It wasn’t what I’d really call art.” She hedged.
“Modern?” He knew she hated much of modern art, a disastrous trip to a Jackson Pollock exhibit had taught him that.
“Worse.” She looked up at him, soulful blue eyes twinkling over a crinkled nose. “A Twilight cake.”
His expression of distaste mirrored her own. She had gone through a phase when the books were released and had read them all out loud to him. Once she grew out of it they’d happily burned them together.
“Perhaps it was a mercy killing?” He suggested with a faint smile.
“It was still a cake for a paying customer!” She glared at him and he immediately sobered.
“Of course.”
“And they should get the product they ordered!”
“Hn.”
“Even if it is all covered in fangs and hearts!”
He smiled again. “If you must have fangs I would be more than happy to…”
She glared at him. “We talked about this.”
“Hn.”
“What did we agree on?” She glared some more.
He sighed and recited the terms for distracting her when she was angry. “There will be no distracting via sexy fangs when you are ranting.”
“And?”
“And I am to behave myself until your scent changes completely.” He finished. The second part had been his idea, once her scent lost its angry edge he was ‘allowed’ to misbehave.
“And how do I smell now?”
“Like a female who needs a distraction.”
“Hmph.” She crossed her arms and sulked.
“Kagome.” He murmured her name. It was cheating and going against her rules but he couldn’t resist when all it took to bring her pleasure was the utterance of her name from his lips. When she blushed and looked up at him again he smiled, flashing just enough fang to make her breath catch. “Come upstairs. I shall run you a bath and you can relax.”
“Alone?” She pouted.
He gave her an affronted look. “It would hardly be a distraction if you were alone.”
She grinned at that and let herself be distracted.