Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

A Fool's Redemption	By : Grumblebear Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 23728 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter
9 – Labyrinthine Days

Inuyasha was
hung over when they woke him in the morning. As Kagome used a remote
to automatically raise the long shades over the windows, she watched
as he rolled onto his back with an irritated sigh, kicked off his
blankets, and looked down with a puzzled expression.

“Why am I
wearing pants?” he asked groggily.

Emory folded the
sheets at the end of the bed. “Kagome was with me when I was
getting you into bed last night,” he explained.

Inuyasha moaned
and turned onto his stomach, hugging a pillow. “Damn it,”
he growled. “I’ll have to start wearing underwear.”
He paused, and turned his head just enough to glare at Kagome over
his shoulder. “Then again, you’ve already seen
everything, so maybe I won’t,” he threatened mockingly.

Emory looked up
at her with wide, inquisitive eyes. “You have?” It was
obvious from the boy's reaction that Inuyasha still hadn’t told
him about their past, and Kagome wondered why. She’d thought
for sure that he would have taken the chance to tell the young man
about all the terrible things she had done, and what a horrible
person she was for it.

“I don’t
recall it too well. Must not have been very memorable,” she
quipped. She knew better than to engage him, but this one time she
just couldn’t help herself.

Inuyasha stared
at her in livid silence for a moment, then jumped up and stormed into
his bathroom, yelling angrily that he’d better not have to deal
with her attitude every morning. He punctuated his warning by
slamming the bathroom door. After a few minutes he reemerged,
composed and acting completely oblivious to her presence, and that
was how he remained for the rest of the day and on into the evening.

With the
exception of the coffee pot refusing to turn on when it should have,
the next few days went surprisingly smoothly. Inuyasha continued to
ignore her, and she spent most of the time simply watching Emory and
following him around as he showed her the ins and outs of her new
job. At night the young man slept downstairs on the couch, and
together with Kagome would rise at seven each morning to wake
Inuyasha and get him off to work. In the evenings, she would go with
them to the terrace and stand off to the side, patiently observing
Emory, making sure to ask questions about any of his duties that she
didn’t understand.

She wanted to be
absolutely certain that once she was on her own with Inuyasha, she
wouldn’t be aggravating him by making simple mistakes. Her goal
was to keep things between them as peaceful as possible. His
naturally abrasive attitude was out of her hands, but at least she
was doing all she could to make sure any arguments between them
didn’t come as the result of her screwing something up.

On the evening
of the fifth and last day Emory would be spending with them,
Inuyasha’s aloof attitude began to crack. He seemed to be just
as nervous to have the young man leaving as Kagome was. He had been
surprisingly civil over the last few days, but on this particular
morning he had risen from his bed in a horrible mood, cursing blackly
as he dragged himself to the bathroom. His behavior had only gotten
worse throughout the day, and in the evening, when Kagome went to
help him dress, he snatched the shirt from her hands and growled
something about not wanting her to touch him.

She huffed
angrily at his childish behavior and took back the shirt. “If
you didn’t want me touching you then why did you have me take
the job?”

“I didn’t
have you take anything!” he shot back, tearing it from
her hands again.

“Alright
then, if you’re going to get technical, why did you give me
the option?” she asked, mimicking his sarcastic tone.

He sneered down
at her. “Honestly, I was hoping you’d choose the last one
where you would just leave me the hell alone.”

“Then
that’s your fault for leaving yourself open,” she replied
simply.

“She’s
got a point.” Emory said, shaking out a pair of pants.

Inuyasha shot
him an angry look. “Give me that!” he snapped, grabbing
the last of his clothing out of the young man’s hands.

At the end of
the night, Emory took his leave, and the two were finally on their
own. Kagome wondered if Inuyasha’s attitude would deteriorate
further once the young man was no longer around to mediate. But, to
her surprise, he continued to regard her with almost complete
indifference, remaining stubbornly temperamental and distant around
her and barely acknowledging her presence except for when he
absolutely had to. It wasn’t long, however, before the
demanding and often unreasonable requests started coming at her.

From the way she
laid out his clothes, to the way she made his bed, to how ‘slowly’
she did everything he asked of her, there was always something she
seemed to do wrong. His bath water wasn’t hot enough, she had
woken him up five minutes late, she had forgotten one of the errands
he had told her to run. He always found a reason to find some fault,
no matter how small, with her work, and wasted no time in pointing
out those faults to her. Sometimes he seemed genuinely annoyed, and
other times it seemed as if he just felt like making things difficult
for her. He was never malicious about it, but he certainly wasn’t
kind either.

While he enjoyed
keeping her busy during the day, it was a different story at night on
the terrace. He had made it very clear to his guests the first night
she had accompanied him that she was there to serve him and no one
else.

“Get your
own drinks from now on. This one only serves me,” he'd
announced. His addressing her as ‘this one’ had earned
him one of her withering looks, which he'd predictably ignored.

And so, whereas
Emory had often been running around all night long, waiting on
Inuyasha’s guests, Kagome found herself standing by the door
most of the time, doing little more than greeting people as they came
and went. Once in a while Inuyasha would have her get him a drink,
but for the most part she found herself bored and looking for things
to help pass the time. She understood now what Emory had meant when
he said that he sometimes felt like decoration, and wondered if maybe
Inuyasha simply liked showing off the fact that he had the king’s
niece under his thumb.

He never called
for her while he was engaged in the shadows in the back of his
terrace, and after the first few nights, it became obvious that he
was uncomfortable with having her around once things began to take a
turn for the lascivious. The first few nights he avoided his normal
intimate activities almost completely, much to the chagrin of his
female companions, and Kagome wondered smugly just how long he could
hold out against their constant advances. It didn’t take,
however, for him to come up with a solution to the problem. At the
beginning of their fifth night out together, as they climbed the
stairs to the terrace, Inuyasha paused at the top and pointed to a
bench that had been placed on the landing, right outside the door.

“From now
on, when I’m in the back, just sit out here,” he
instructed, and walked through the door without another word.

On one hand she
felt insulted to have been banished to sit outside while he
entertained himself, but on the other, she didn’t want to have
to stand there every night and watch either. She didn’t really
mind, though. The bench was cushioned and comfortable, and from the
landing she could stand at the railing and look out over the entire
hall. Things certainly could have been worse. He could have stuck her
in a corner somewhere.

After a while,
it just became habit for her to retreat to the bench outside whenever
she saw the women beginning to make their moves on him, and return to
her spot just inside the door once everything had returned to normal.
She noticed that, curiously, Inuyasha never seemed to go looking for
their affections. The women were always the ones to approach him, and
even though he sometimes appeared unenthusiastic and bored with the
idea of joining them, he did so anyways. However, that fact did
little to ease the sting she felt whenever she caught a glimpse of it
through the open door.

It was on one of
these nights, almost three weeks into her service for Inuyasha, that
she was standing along the landing’s rail, staring out at the
lights flashing over the dance floor, when she noticed someone
approaching from the stairs. She turned and smiled when she
recognized who it was.

“What are
you doing out here?” Naraku asked in his smooth voice. It
seemed he was traveling alone tonight. Neither of his two assistants
accompanied him.

“This is
where I stay while he's messing around in there,” she tilted
her head toward the door, trying not to show her embarrassment.

He raised an
eyebrow. “Does it bother you that much?”

“No,”
she laughed. “It’s Inuyasha. He doesn’t…
want me in there…” She trailed off, further embarrassed
by his shocked stare.

“He’s
exiled you out here? That’s terrible!”

“It’s
alright,” she shrugged. “I don’t mind, really. At
least out here I can enjoy the view.”

Naraku looked
through the doors to the terrace beyond. “It looks like things
have quieted down for you. I tried coming up to talk with you a few
nights ago, but halfway up the stairs I saw you were surrounded by a
pretty big crowd, and I didn’t want to add to the chaos. You’ve
been very popular lately,” he said, pulling a cigarette from a
thin metal case.

Kagome smiled
shyly. It hadn’t taken long once the oath had been made to find
that she had suddenly become something of a celebrity. It seemed
everyone wanted to know more about the king’s niece and the
unusual oath she had made with the red prince. People had constantly
tried to approach her and strike up a conversation—on her way
to and from her morning job, while she was running Inuyasha’s
errands, even in the evenings while she was working on the terrace.
Inuyasha had finally put a stop to their prying by chasing them off
with sharp warnings to leave his assistant alone while she was
working. After a few days, the commotion died down, and she had
happily returned to being a normal citizen, for the most part. People
were still curious about her, but wisely left her alone, especially
while Inuyasha was around.

“They all
got bored with me pretty quickly, I guess. What did you want to talk
to me about?” she asked as he wandered over to the bench and
took a seat.

“I wanted
to ask you how things are going with Inuyasha. It’s not really
my business, but I know how hard he can be to deal with sometimes. I
figured I would offer you a shoulder to cry on if you needed one.”
He lit the cigarette and offered her a good-humored smile.

She laughed and
sat next to him. “I’m managing,” she said, grateful
for the company he seemed eager to provide.

“That
good, huh?”

“It’s
really not so bad. It’s about what I expected from him.”

“You sound
like you’ve had previous experience,” he said casually.

“Yeah. I…”
She hesitated, not sure how much of her past with Inuyasha she wanted
to reveal to this man. “I knew him before he came here.”

“I see.
Was he always so difficult to deal with?”

She shook her
head. “No,” she said a little sadly. “It’s…
not his fault though.” She looked down at her hands folded in
her lap, then looked back up to Naraku. “That’s why it
doesn’t bother me too much.”

“I heard
he had it pretty rough before he came here,” Naraku said,
exhaling a long trail of smoke.

“Yeah,”
was all she replied. She didn’t really want to get into the
whole story, and that was exactly where the conversation was heading.

Luckily, Naraku
seemed to notice her hesitation, and changed the subject. “So,
what’s your story? Where did you come from? I hope you don’t
mind my asking.”

She smiled at
him. “I don’t mind. I lived in Eona before I came here. I
was born and raised there by my grandfather. It was the only place
I’d ever lived before coming here.”

“Why did
you leave?”

“I…”
She paused, determining how much she was going to say. “I
couldn’t stay there anymore. I pissed off some dangerous
people, so it wasn’t safe for me to keep living there.”

Naraku stared
down at her, looking as if he wanted to know more about this new
revelation, but only asked, “Where’s the rest of your
family?”

“My father
you probably already know about. I didn’t know him very well.
He came here when I was a baby to help build this city, and this is
where he died a few years ago. I lost my mother to an illness when I
was younger. And my grandfather passed a few years back as well. So
I’ve been on my own for a while now.” She gave an
apologetic smile. “Sorry, I don’t mean to keep dragging
the conversation down.”

“It’s
alright. I hope my questions haven’t upset you.”

“No, it’s
fine,” she assured him. He’s so gentlemanly, she
thought. The cordial words seemed to flow from his mouth as easily as
the cigarette smoke.

“Let’s
talk about something more pleasant, to lighten the mood,” he
offered. “How do you like living here?”

“I love
it,” she smiled. “I could spend the rest of my life
here.”

“Yeah.”
He leaned his head back against the wall. “I agree.”

“How long
have you been here?” she asked.

“Nine
years,” he said, pulling from his cigarette. “I came here
with a friend when I was eighteen. The city took us in when we had
nothing and no place else to go. This is the only home I’ve
ever really had.”

“You’ve
been here a while then. How long have you been a prince?”

“Six
years. My friend and I both earned the honor of being made princes at
the same time. He was given the White title and I was given the
Black.”

“There’s
a white prince?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Was,”
he corrected, exhaling another trail of smoke. “He’s not
here anymore. He left shortly before Inuyasha arrived.”

“Why?”

Naraku shrugged.
“No one knows. He just left one day without an explanation.”

“He was
your friend, right? And he didn’t at least tell you?”

A wry smile
tugged at the side of his mouth, but disappeared almost immediately.
“He was. Things changed.” There was a cold edge to his
voice. He pulled deeply on his cigarette again and let the smoke
drift from his lips. It curled through the air around his face,
giving him a sinister look. “It doesn’t matter now
anyways. He’s already long gone and forgotten.”

There was an
awkward pause. Kagome worried she had wandered into a conversation
that made her visitor uncomfortable, but he turned and smiled at her.
“Well, at least you’ll be getting a bit of a break from
Inuyasha over the next week.”

“Why is
that?” she asked, grateful that, once again, he had changed the
subject of discussion.

“We have
quarterly meetings coming up,” he explained. “Since each
one of the princes oversees a part of the city’s
infrastructure, we have to attend meetings with the King and his
directors on a regular basis. Every three months we have a week long
session of meetings to discuss what’s been planned for the new
quarter. Inuyasha will have to be there every afternoon after work,
so that will give you at least a little bit of a break every day.”

Kagome honestly
couldn’t see Inuyasha having the patience to sit through hours
of monotonous meetings. But she did know that, when it came to his
position within the city, he took his duties very seriously.

“I never
knew you three did other things besides hearing oaths.”

Naraku laughed.
“There’s a few things they forgot to tell you, huh? All
three of us have our own part of the city’s infrastructure that
we oversee. I’m in charge of all commerce within the city,
Kouga takes care of entertainment, and Inuyasha handles growth and
expansion,” he explained.

“I see.
You all have a lot of responsibilities.”

“They
definitely make us work for our perks,” he smiled down at her
and stood. “I’m afraid I promised the last few hours of
my night to a friend, otherwise I would stay and talk awhile longer.
I hope you don’t mind if I come join you again some time.”

She stood and
nodded. “Of course. It’s not like I have anything else to
do.”

He started down
the stairs with a sly grin. “Good night, then. Good night to
you too, Inuyasha,” he called back as he left.

Kagome turned
find Inuyasha leaning against the door frame, his eyes narrowed at
Naraku’s retreating form.

“How long
have you been standing there?” she asked.

Silently, he
shifted his eyes to her, then turned and walked away without a word.

Just as Naraku
had said, the week following their conversation was a very busy one
for Inuyasha. He hardly had any chance to stay at home for a long
period of time, except to sleep. In the mornings he worked, and in
the afternoons he was in meetings until it was time to go out for the
evening. He would come home just long enough to change clothes, and
then head straight downstairs. Kagome could tell that the constant
activity was wearing on him. At the end of the week he was exhausted,
and as a result, stayed in for three nights in a row.

To her surprise,
he gave her those nights off, and she greatly appreciated the break.
When she had started the job, she’d expected to have at least
one day a week off, but Inuyasha had never offered to give her one,
and the only time she brought it up with him he had dismissed the
idea with a derisive snort. She had learned during her first couple
of weeks with him that occasionally he would be too tired to go out
for the night, in which case he would give her the evening off. It
seemed she was only going to get breaks when he felt like giving them
to her.

Life remained
mostly uneventful for the following month. It was getting late in the
year, and the days were becoming colder and longer. She wondered if,
with time, he would begin to warm to her, but his disdain for her
remained steadfast. And so, when not interacting due to the
requirements of her job, they largely ignored each other. It was
frustrating, not to mention lonely, living with someone who fought so
hard to not get along with her. She enjoyed living in the loft if
only for the comfort of her room, but because of Inuyasha’s
stubbornly sour attitude, she found herself mostly unhappy while
around him.

But that didn’t
stop her from trying to find ways to form some kind of amiable
relationship between them. Once in a while, as she was entering the
apartment, she would hear him playing the piano inside. She never
would have guessed him for the musical type, and so the first time
she’d heard him playing, it had caught her by surprise. As she
stood on the other side of the door, listening to the notes that
drifted through, she was intrigued by the music and awed by his
ability.

But as soon as
she walked into the apartment, Inuyasha would always immediately stop
and wander off to do something else. Emory had told her that he was
extremely shy about his playing, and that he only performed while
alone. When she complimented his talent, he simply turned away,
ignoring the praise. Undaunted, she tried other tactics, but each one
was met with the same bullheaded resistance. After a while, she began
to feel as if she was fighting a hopeless battle with him, and she
wondered sadly if things between them would ever change.

*****

Inuyasha was
beginning to enjoy this. At first he had regretted making her his
assistant, but now he was slowly starting to change his mind. It was
nice to have someone to take his frustrations out on. He got a thrill
out of tormenting her and had decided that, until he released her
from the oath, she was his toy—he could play with her however
he wanted. Besides, the things he did to provoke her were mostly
harmless. He didn’t want to permanently hurt the girl, he just
wanted to make her suffer for a while.

Every so often,
when he rejected her kindness, he would feel a stab of guilt, but
always quickly reminded himself that she deserved everything she was
getting. And besides, it had been her decision to come here, just as
it was her decision to stay and put up with him. She could leave any
time she wanted. Of course, that would mean taking the risk of being
thrown out of the city, but still, it wasn’t as if she was
being held against her will.

Her continued
kindness was beginning to trouble him a bit, though. She didn’t
seem to be growing discouraged the way he had expected, which only
made him want to prod at her harder. And he found that it was
becoming easier to do so. Two months had passed since she had started
working for him and, now that he was more accustomed to having her
around, he was beginning to take liberties with how far he was
willing to push her. The more annoyed she got, the more satisfying it
was for him.

But it wasn’t
working tonight. He’d been doing things all day long to wear
down that patient exterior of hers; leaving his clothes all over the
floor, sending her on errands all afternoon so she had little time to
take a nap before accompanying him for the evening, and berating her
for not hanging up one of his favorite shirts correctly. And now that
they were home after a long night out, he suddenly decided that he
wanted pancakes and eggs. After giving him an annoyed look, Kagome
had complied wearily and headed into the kitchen.

Now he sat on
the counter nearby, watching her cook. He had changed out of his
evening clothes into more comfortable attire, and helped himself to a
bottle of beer from his fridge. He sat close to the range, near
enough to annoy her with his crowding presence, but when that failed
to get any kind of a rise from her, he decided to try something
different.

“Are you
happy here?” he asked casually.

She paused for a
moment, and he thought he heard her swallow, hesitating. “Yes.”

Her response was
flat. There was no emotion at all. “Liar,” he snorted.

She continued to
work in silence.

He scratched at
the paper on his beer bottle. “Why won’t you tell me the
truth?”

“Do you
want me to tell you I’m unhappy?”

“I don’t
want you to lie.”

Kagome sighed,
and he smiled. He enjoyed harassing her this way.

“My job
isn’t to be happy,” she said. “It’s to wake
you every morning and put you to bed every night, fold your socks,
keep your house straightened, and cook you pancakes and eggs at three
in the morning.” She shoved a plate of eggs into his hands.
“The way I feel has nothing to do with this job.” She
turned back around and continued working.

He blinked at
her curt response. “I’ll take that as a no then.”

“You can
take it however you want to.”

He chewed on his
eggs thoughtfully. “So, you're not happy here, then.” He
was pushing it.

She flipped the
pancake in the pan and stood there without responding. He watched the
side of her face for signs that she was about to loose it with him,
but instead he noticed that her eyes looked tired.

“Honestly,
sometimes you don’t make it very easy to be happy here,”
she said quietly.

He frowned a
bit. Something in her tone made him feel uneasy. “I don’t,
do I?” She still had her back to him, and he was grateful for
that. He didn’t want her to see that her words had bothered
him.

“But,”
she added softly, sliding the pancakes onto a plate. “I don’t
think you mean to make things hard. Not all the time, at least. This
is just the way you are. I’m not always happy with it, but…
I accept it.”

Suddenly, he
wasn’t enjoying this game anymore.

Kagome turned
and handed him the plate. “Please accept that answer.”
Her eyes were so tired, but they weren’t angry. She looked...
resolute.

He took the
plate and she turned back to the counter, beginning to clean up the
leftover mess. He numbly realized he had lost his appetite, but began
to eat anyway, watching her in silence. It felt as if all of the air
had been sucked from his lungs. Her honesty had completely unnerved
him. He knew exactly how hard he was making this on her. And yet,
despite the way he treated her, here she was saying that she accepted
him?

He frowned,
suddenly confused. Damn this woman! Why wasn’t he
getting through to her? Instead of breaking down, she was still
standing firm. Her determination should have started to fade by now.
Maybe he wasn’t being tough enough on her. Should I start
pushing harder? But even as the question formed in his head, he
remembered the look of resolve that had been on her face, and an
unsettling feeling of defeat swept through him.

What was he
doing wrong? What made her willpower so strong that nothing he did
seemed to discourage her? And why did his forgiveness matter so much
to her anyways? Was it just guilt that motivated her? All of the
questions suddenly flooding his head frustrated him. But one question
stood out from the others, and made his stomach turn with guilt. Why
am I trying so hard to destroy this woman’s determination to
stand by me?

He didn’t
notice he had stopped eating until she turned and looked down at his
plate. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

He followed her
gaze to the remaining pancake and shook his head. “No! I mean…
it’s fine,” he grumbled, embarrassed by his sudden
fluster. He shoveled the rest into his mouth quickly, awkwardly
chewing as she returned to the sink full of dishes. He glanced up at
the clock. It was almost half-past three. He had today off, but she
didn’t. She would only be able to get four hours of sleep
before having to get up again. And she seemed so tired already…

He swallowed the
last of the food and walked over to stand next to her, dropping his
empty plate into the dishwater. “Leave it,” he said.

“I’m
sorry?” she asked, confused.

“Leave the
rest. You can finish them tomorrow.”

“But
they’ll get nasty just sitting here…” she
protested.

He reached into
the water to take the dishrag from her hands, wringing it out and
hanging it over the faucet. “You’re tired. Go to bed.”

Kagome stood
there staring at him for a moment, then turned and dried her hands on
a dishtowel. He watched from the corner of his eye as she untied her
apron and hung it on a hook near the door. She paused before leaving
the kitchen. “Thank you,” he heard her say softly. He
nodded and turned to watch as she headed upstairs to her side of the
loft.

Even after she
had disappeared behind the curtains, he remained standing there,
staring after her. I make her life miserable, and still she
refuses to hate me for it, he thought. So, what the hell do I
do now? He glanced back at the abandoned sink of dishes, then
turned and walked out of the kitchen, switching off the light as he
left.

*****

When she
returned home from work that afternoon, Kagome found an empty sink.
All of the dishes had been washed, dried, and put away. She stared
dumbly at the sink for a moment, until the realization that Inuyasha
had done the rest of the dishes finally set in, and she smiled. Maybe
they were at last beginning to get somewhere.

As the next
couple of weeks passed, she began to notice very subtle changes in
his temperament, most notably his gradually improving temper. He was
slowly becoming less irritable, and didn’t seem as eager to go
picking fights with her anymore. He seemed willing to let small
mistakes slip without giving her a hard time about them, although on
his bad days he would still sometimes go out of his way to bother
her. But even then, it felt as if he was only doing it to maintain
his pride.

Something during
their conversation in the kitchen that night had positively affected
him, and she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. It was
tiring having to put up with his relentless attitude all the time.
Despite all he had done to try to discourage her, she had remained
steadfastly determined to show him her goodwill, and now it looked as
if that determination was beginning to pay off. There were still
times when she questioned her optimism though, specifically when his
temper would flare up without warning and seemingly without
provocation. Once he fell into one of his sour moods, there was
rarely any way to pull him out of it.

Now they’d
come to the end of yet another one of these episodes, and Kagome
found herself doing all she could to drag a heavily inebriated
Inuyasha from his underground terrace back up to his apartment high
atop the city. He’d been in high spirits that afternoon, but
once evening came, something had unexpectedly angered him and, as a
result, he’d spent the entire night drinking. Emory had been
right—he only drank like that when something was bothering him.
And no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t
figure out what it was that had ruined his mood this time around.

He seemed
coherent enough as they started their way up to the apartment, but as
the elevator traveled up the side of the tower, she found him leaning
on her more and more, until she was practically holding him up as
they stepped out and headed down the hallway to his door. He was
propped against her, one arm slung across her shoulders in the same
way she had observed Emory doing it. It seemed to be the best way to
move him around when he got like this. As she placed her hand on the
lock and heard the metallic click of the bolt, she hefted him higher
onto her shoulder and opened the door, dragging him through.

She considered
leaving him on the couch, but suddenly his feet were working again,
and instead of dumping him downstairs, she continued through the
darkened apartment and up the stairs to his bed, switching on a lamp
once she got there. He was muttering unintelligibly as she turned and
sat with him on the bed, and was still awake enough to hold himself
upright as she began undressing him. His shoes came off without a
problem, but as soon as she reached for the buttons of his shirt, he
fell away from her, back onto the bed. She sighed and grabbed his
wrists, hauling him back up into a sitting position.

“Wake up
for me a little, Inuyasha,” she said softly. She didn’t
know if he heard her or not, but his torso remained upright as she
unbuttoned his shirt and slid it from his shoulders. His arms were
limp—he would be no help in getting them out of his sleeves.
She leaned forward, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him from
falling over as she pulled the fabric down his back.

She had almost
freed him from the shirt when she felt him pitch forward slightly,
falling against her. Mumbling more incoherent words, he suddenly
reached up with both arms and wrapped them tightly around her waist,
pulling her against him and pressing his cheek against her chest. She
stiffened and froze, startled by the unexpected embrace. It took her
a moment to calm her racing heart, and as she turned her eyes down
toward him, she prepared herself to yell at him if this turned out to
be some kind of joke.

But, staring
down, she found him completely passed out against her, his jaw lax
and dangling open as he held her. The sight was so comical that she
had to fight the urge to laugh. She placed her hands on his shoulders
and stood quietly for a moment, enjoying the warmth of his body
against hers. Reluctantly, she reached back to slowly remove his arms
from around her waist, and then eased him down into the bed. She
finished removing the rest of his clothes down to his underwear and
covered him with the blankets. With a sigh, she turned off the light
and looked down at his sleeping form.

“What a
pain.” She was smiling as she said it.

*****

He smirked and
cracked an eye as he heard the sound of her feet softly padding away
to the other side of the loft. I’m a pain, huh? he
thought, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. He’d
heard the smile in her voice.

He watched as
she stepped through the curtains and into the darkness of her room.
After a moment, a light from within switched on, and the room
appeared behind the sheer material. The soft light filtering through
the fabric cast green and coral hues across the loft. He propped his
head higher on the pillow, just enough to watch as she began to get
ready to turn in for the night. She was playing it smart once again,
retreating with her nightclothes through the bathroom door that stood
to the left side of her bed. She never changed out in the open. It
was obvious she didn’t trust him not to watch her through the
translucent, makeshift walls. And she was right in doing so. He’d
had the curtains made with see-through material for a reason.

He breathed in
deeply and settled into the covers, congratulating himself on such a
convincing performance, though he had expected her to be a bit more
rattled by his sudden ‘drunken’ affections. He’d
been planning it all day. It would have been nice if she could have
gotten at least a little upset. That angry face of hers was
amusing. It seemed as if he never could get exactly what he wanted
out of her.

She emerged from
the bathroom in a tank top and pajama pants, gently brushing out her
long hair with a comb. She sat at the edge of her bed for a while,
removing the tangles from her hair, then set the comb on the
nightstand. Sliding back onto the bed and pulling the covers up to
her waist, she reached across to the opposite nightstand and picked
up a book that was lying there, then leaned back against the pillow
and began reading. He followed her carefully with his eyes the entire
time. It had become something he did every night, if he was sober
enough to stay awake.

He sighed. The
way they were dealing with each other now was so similar to the way
they had back in the lab—his watching her from a distance,
their interacting only when necessary, their constant wariness of one
another, and their use of only very brief communication. Back then
they hadn’t spoken much because they couldn’t. She’d
had to maintain her act of indifference toward him at all times. Now
they didn’t speak because they didn’t want to.

In the lab, his
emotional state had been forced upon him. Anyone else in that
situation would have reacted the same way. But instead of leaving all
that pain behind when he left, he had buried it within himself and
brought it along. And now, here he was, choosing to continue that
same behavior, allowing it to persist in making his life almost as
miserable as it had before. Looking back on it, he suddenly felt very
foolish.

Her arrival had
been the catalyst for his now constantly shifting state of mind. That
was part of the reason he was so bad-tempered with her. He was angry
with her for dredging up all of those old memories and emotions. If
she had never come here, he could have maintained his comfortable
life, never having to deal with his past again. But had it really
been worth it to hold on to his anger so tightly?

Her words echoed
in his head. This is just the way you are. I’m not always
happy with it, but… I accept it.

Nobody
had ever said anything like that to him.

No one in this
city really knew who he was or why he acted the way he did. That was
mostly his own fault for being so standoffish. He was friendly
enough, but he enjoyed his privacy. He'd never opened up to anyone.
No one had ever questioned why he acted the way he did, and he'd
never gone out of his way to explain himself. Nobody really seemed to
care about what lay beneath his rough surface, so his relationships
with people remained superficial.

But Kagome knew
exactly what he had gone through, and why he was so angry. And
instead of pitying him or trying to scold him for his behavior, she
simply acknowledged him for the way he was and did the best she could
with what little regard he did give her, making sure to throw his
attitude right back in his face if he went too far. He realized with
a sigh that she probably had him completely figured out.

He understood
now that, no matter how hard he pushed her, he wasn’t going to
win this. Regardless of how hard he tried, his barbs never pierced
her tough exterior. And he was still curious as to what made her so
resilient against his exasperating behavior. He no longer suspected
that it was guilt motivating her. Guilt would have been too
consuming. It would have left her vulnerable to his animosity.

He watched as
she closed the book and placed it back on the nightstand, switching
off the lamp as she did so. With no light to illuminate it from
within, the bedroom disappeared behind the curtains once again.
Immediately, the star-filled night sky beyond the enormous windows
filled the loft with gentle light. Now that there was no reflection
against the glass to block the view, he placed an arm behind his head
and turned his eyes to enjoy the scene outside.

No, it wasn’t
guilt. There was something deeper motivating her. Something that he
wasn’t sure he could compete with. He had wanted so badly to
blame her for everything that had happened, even though he knew that
by doing so he was only lying to himself. He had thought that hurting
her would ease his own pain. But he’d only succeeded in
dragging himself down further. Ever since that night in the kitchen,
his attitude toward her had slowly begun changing on its own, and he
honestly didn’t feel like fighting against it anymore.

But even so, it
probably wouldn’t hurt to irritate her for just a while longer.

Continued
in Chapter 10 – Autumn’s Shifting Winds

A/N:
Introspection and events over time can go die in a fire. Bleh…Anyhow,
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Things will be moving along
quickly from here on out.

And
I know what you’re thinking, and before the question is asked…
No, unfortunately Fluffy will not be making an appearance in this
story. I had wanted to include him, but then this story might have
gone on and on forever (and as much as some of you would like for
that to happen, I don’t think I could drag this thing out that
long ;) ). If I ever do a sequel, he will probably be in it, but
don’t look for him in this one. Sorry Fluffy fans!

To
the twitchy ones: I adore you all!

To everyone
who reviewed: You’re all so awesome and I can’t
thank you enough for the encouraging words!

To
Susie Cab: Your chapter-by-chapter reviews all at once made my day!
Everyone at work wondered why I was so damn cheerful and kept running
into the back to check my email on my phone.

To
Moussajinx and Sublimetrickster: Thanks so much for the reviews and
the recommendation on the Zamaamiyagare (I think I spelled that
right…) forums. I tried to create an account so I could thank
the two of you on there personally, but I shied away at the essay
part of the application, so I never got accepted X)

To
the readers at AFF: I’m worried that I’m starting to bore
you all with the lack of full out naughtiness ;) Substance before
sex, plot before pr0n, etc, etc. However, there will be some mischief
forthcoming. At least, enough to satisfy the appetite. I hope. If
not, you’ll just have to hate me awhile longer ;P

Influential
music for this chapter:

Idea
– Eufonius, Noein OST

Dance
With Me – Anna Tsuchiya insp’ Nana (Black Stones), Nana
OSTs

Numb
– Sia Furler, Colour the Small One

A
Little Pain – Olivia insp’ Reira (Trapnest), Nana OSTs
- 8
- 9
- 10
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A Fool's Redemption