A story based on a series of June Drabble prompts :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carry
Kagome could barely see anything in front of her because of the stack of boxes she carried. More shopping bags in a variety of colours dangled from her wrists. At this rate, she would be lucky to make it into her destination in one piece. But she was already late, and she could not afford the double-trip from the store to the event venue.
Every step was carefully calculated. She only had to walk about two hundred meters, three at the most. If she was cautious enough, she would succeed without any mishaps. If she went slow, she would avoid other pedestrians that populated the busy shopping street of Omotesando. And if she counted her steps, perhaps, she would…
Unseen by her, a rock stood in her path, and she inevitably stepped on it. Her knees buckled. As she began to lose her balance, she could only clenched her teeth and scream inwardly, and tried to juggle the mound of boxes as they wobbled and started to crumble.
A strong hand curled on her forearm. Another invisible hand steadied the boxes, and even caught the few that had fallen. She sighed inwardly with relief, and stretched her neck to find her saviour who undoubtedly stood behind the baggage she was carrying.
A pair of familiar golden eyes met her blue ones, and the words of gratitude that sat at the tip of her tongue vanished into thin air. Her eyes widened with shock, even as pleasure suffused her chest at the unexpected sight.
“Sesshōmaru,” she murmured.
He looked at her blankly, and for a moment she did not think he recognized her. It was not until the corners of his lips quirked into a tiny smile that the buds of hope sprouted in her chest. His next words confirmed it:
“Fancy seeing you here, miko,” he said.
She pursed her lips and felt her cheeks warming up. His fingers were still curling around her forearm, steadying her. Then, as though he had just realized the same, he released her and stepped back, though his eyes never left hers.
And there they were: two people who met long ago in a different era completely, now — five hundred years later — standing on the street in modern Tokyo, only an arm’s length away.
Aid
“Can I escort you to your destination, miko?” Sesshōmaru asked, eyeing all the boxes and bags she carried. “It looks like you can… use some aid.”
Kagome laughed. “I won’t say no to a bit of help right now,” she admitted. “And while we’re at it, perhaps you could tell me where you’ve been, and how you’re doing.”
He pursed his lips but said nothing as he began to transfer some of her excess baggage into his own hands, and took some of the shopping bags she had slung on her wrists as well. The rough pads of his fingers brushed against her skin, and she could not help the rush of heat that travelled from the point of contact to her face.
His vigilant eyes studied the boxes, undoubtedly noticing the pastel colours and the large ‘Patisserie’ written on them in cursive text.
“This is quite a large quantity of cake,” he commented. His golden eyes briefly resting on her face. “You must be very fond of sweets, miko.”
Kagome chuckled. “It is not for me, silly,” she said as she began to walk, leading the way. “It is for a baby shower I am throwing for a close friend. Twenty women are coming to a café just nearby. We, as a collective, are very fond of sweets. I’m actually worried I did not get enough.”
Keep
They walked together side by side. Now that Kagome was no longer buried under and behind a mountain of boxes and bags, she was able to stroll in relaxation and enjoyed the sceneries around her. The street was certainly busy with weekend shoppers, couples going on dates, and young families during their afternoon outings. The late autumn seasons — one of her favourite times of the year — carried its own charms with the trees turning golden and red. The scents of roasted chestnuts and taiyaki — griddled cake in the shape of a fish, filled with sweet red bean paste or custard — perfumed the brisk air.
Well, she had meant to feel relaxed, but how relaxed could she be when the inu daiyōkai Sesshōmaru was walking beside her?
She stole a furtive glance at him, noting how his facial features still thoroughly resembled the way she had remembered him. He was still handsome beyond belief, even glamoured. The facial markings had been hidden away. What struck her the most was that after all these years, he was somehow able to keep that astounding, magnificent aura of his. Such presence, even in this humanized appearance.
The tasteful way he dressed — in black cashmere turtleneck, tailored slacks, and charcoal grey wool coat — did not surprise her at all. Back then, he had been the epitome of elegance too. Now, modernized, he remained as such.
“So… What have you been doing since the feudal era?” Kagome asked.
“Oh, this and that,” he said, keeping his eyes forward, expertly dodging her question.
“Do you live in Tokyo?”
“Sometimes, but not all the time,” he said. “I share my time between here, Yokohama, Osaka, and a few places abroad.”
She chuckled and dared herself to nudge his ribs playfully with her elbow.
“What? There is no pretty demoness able to keep you here in the Kanto region all year long?” She asked him teasingly.
He turned to stare at her without an ounce of humour in his eyes. If anything, those golden shade seemed to darken into a colour closer to molten amber.
“No,” he said.
Bear
“No?” Kagome repeated, rather astounded.
No matter how one looked at it, from whichever angle, he was a catch. A great catch. It surprised her that no demoness, or hanyō, or even a human woman had snagged him.
She chewed her lower lip in silence for a moment before she decided to risk impertinence.
“Why not?” She asked.
He stopped and turned to face her. She stopped too and gave him the full weight of her attention. Time stood still. In that moment, they were only two people standing on the sidewalk, staring intently at each other, impeding traffic. There was a flicker of an intense emotion in his eyes, though she did not quite know what it was, except that seeing it swimming in those golden depths made her own chest cinch and tighten in response. She let out a shuddered breath, because all of a sudden the air around them felt like it was getting thinner and thinner.
He opened his mouth, and her heart stuttered to a stop in reaction to his willingness to open up. Just when she thought he would tell her the reason why he remained a bachelor all these years, he lifted the shopping bags he held in his hand.
“The cakes I understand,” he said. “They are for eating. But the bears, miko?”
His deadpan expression, coupled with a gentle arch of one eyebrow, made Kagome laugh openly.
“It is a baby shower, Sesshōmaru,” she reminded him. “In addition to cakes, we also like cuddly things. And babies love cuddly things too. The bears are gifts for the new baby.”
He stared at the contents of the bags, at the big brown bear, as well as the black and tan ones she had chosen for the occasion, before he scoffed softly. Even so, a little smile played about his lips.
“Hn. How frivolous.”
Champion
The rest of the way to the café was spent in a silent stroll. Though neither of them said a word, she had never felt more comfortable. How strange, considering it was the first few minutes of them meeting each other after such a lengthy absence – especially for him.
She wanted to slow her steps down to stretch the remainder of the distance into forever, but sooner or later, they arrived at her destination: a secluded Parisian-themed café nestled in one of the alleys behind Omotensandō shopping street.
There was a wooden bench in front of the café, and Kagome placed her boxes and bags on top of it before she straightened and helped Sesshōmaru with his load. When his hands and arms were free again, she stared at him.
“Well, this is it,” she said. Grief washed over her as she looked up into his eyes, and yet unable to see anything other than his shuttered expression. “Thank you for being my champion.”
His façade broke into a little smile. “Even if it was only for two hundred meters?”
Her words escaped her before she could stop them: “I wished it was longer.”
His eyes widened so very slightly, and for a very brief moment, he appeared stunned. She wanted to say more.
Stay. Come inside and meet my friends.
Have some cake.
Let me buy you a cup of coffee to thank you.
And, the most burning question: When can I see you again?
But, before she could garner enough courage to say any of those words, his brows furrowed into a thunderous frown. He nodded briskly at her, turned around, and walked away.
Kagome watched Sesshōmaru removing himself farther and farther away from her. A voice inside her screamed, telling him to stop, but he did not hear it. Before too long, he disappeared around the corner.
She stood rooted to her spot outside of the café for a long time, wishing he realized what a mistake he had made, and returned to her.
When minutes later he still did not, she wiped a little tear that gathered just underneath her eyes.
He did not even ask for her phone number.
Encourage
Stupid. How Foolish.
Of all the stupidest things he had ever done in his life…
Sesshōmaru resisted the urge to claw at his own face, and raked his fingers through his hair in frustration instead. How long had he waited? And when finally he managed to strike a conversation with her… When finally he managed to get her alone, sort of, he froze at the last minute.
’I wish it was longer.’
Her admission had taken him so completely by surprise that he was unable to say anything remotely clever. The best he could do was to take himself out of the situation completely before he said anything embarrassing or disastrous, and made a complete fool of his person.
And thus, he was now still alone.
Just then, his mobile phone vibrated in his coat pocket. He grabbed it and pressed it against his ear.
“Hello?”
Inuyasha’s voice filled his hearing. “How did it go?”
Sesshōmaru did not answer at first. “I—“
There was an urge to punch the wall beside him, but he settled for pulling a lock of hair instead. “I just… left her.”
There were a few beats of silence on the other side of the line before Inuyasha’s loud yelling nearly shattered his eardrum.
“Are you stupid?!” His hanyō brother berated him. “After two years of pretty much just stalking her, trying to get some courage just to talk to her, you left her? You know I had to pull some strings with her old friends to find out where she was gonna be this weekend, right? It was the perfect opportunity! Why didn’t you—“
“It was not the right time,” Sesshōmaru cut in lamely.
His steps had slowed until he fell into a full stop completely on the side of the alley. He leaned his back against the wall, closed his eyes, and sighed. He had lied to Inuyasha. It was actually the perfect time. She had provided him with the perfect segue to ask her out.
‘I wish it was longer.’
She had practically handed it to him on a golden platter, complete with a golden spoon. There were so many things he could have said to her:
May I wait for you until you are finished with your event?
What about dinner afterwards?
May I walk you home?
And, failing all those, there were the two words that had not stopped nagging at him ever since he spied her coming out of the Patisserie with arms full of boxes and bags.
Marry me?
But, every bit of courage he had managed to cultivate during the two years after her return to the modern era had vanished into thin air, leaving him with nothing — not even a brain cell to say anything remotely smart. Only silly questions and snide remarks.
But the bears, miko?
Sesshōmaru scowled at himself before he sighed and wiped his face. Inuyasha seemed to have taken a pity on him somehow, because the hanyō had stopped yelling and abusing his sensitive hearing about two or three minutes ago.
“Why don’t you go back and wait until she is finished?” His brother suggested kindly.
Sesshōmaru sighed again. He knew Inuyasha meant to encourage, but he was uncertain if he was ready to face those beloved blue eyes again, and her soft, open countenance as she stared up at him, full of possibilities that somehow felt out of reach.
Defend
“I don’t know if I could do it,” Sesshōmaru grumbled, and ignored Inuyasha’s outraged gasp.
“Do NOT waste this chance, you hear?” Perhaps, Inuyasha had no intention to raise his voice, but the threatening tone did not fail to worsen Sesshōmaru’s already bad temper.
“This is difficult for me,” Sesshōmaru said. He did not intend to defend himself, or make excuses for his foolishness. But this was an alien territory for him, and he was not quite sure how to navigate these perilous waters of romance.
“It is not too late yet,” Inuyasha urged him. “Do not let these past two years be for nothing, and spend another two years afterwards moping about like a loser dog.”
Nothing could spur the inu daiyōkai Sesshōmaru into action faster than his own brother calling him a make-inu: a dog running away with tail between its legs. A sore loser, pretty much.
“Shut up,” he growled, peeling himself away from the wall. “I do not require such talks from you.”
“It seems that you do,” Inuyasha countered without repentance. Then, he added, with a kinder tone: “Look, we’re all cheering for you, alright? Just go back there and try to make things work, please?”
Back
And so, Sesshōmaru went back. He picked a corner where he could safely — and surreptitiously — watch the closed door of the Parisian café where he knew Kagome was, and paced. It felt strange to be waiting around like this when his elite stature in life had always warranted him to be someone others waited on.
Yet, she was the only one he had ever waited for.
Besides, he had been waiting for centuries. What was a few more hours of waiting?
It began to rain at one point. A light drizzle that quickly turned into a torrential downpour. He sighed inwardly yet again and wiped the water off his face, knowing that he must look like a wet dog now, yet wait he must.
And wait he would.
Just shortly before dusk, a stream of women came pouring out from the café. Sesshōmaru watched them chatting outside of the building, his eyes constantly searching for Kagome, yet she remained to be seen. Thankfully, the women did not linger. A few minutes later, they dispersed and left, disappearing around the corner underneath different colours of umbrellas.
Reinforce
When minutes later she still had not yet shown up, Sesshōmaru’s chest clench with uneasiness. Had she left while he was away from the location, speaking to Inuyasha on the phone? He could not have missed her since he returned, as he had practically glued his eyes to the café door.
He took a few steps towards the establishment, intent on going in to check, when the door opened and she came out.
Sesshōmaru stopped dead in his track.
Kagome was fiddling with the mechanism of her rose-pink umbrella when she happened to look up and saw him, standing only a few paces away from her.
Again, time stood still, as it often did whenever he was in her presence.
“Sesshōmaru…”
His name upon her lips felt like a caress, even though she had not – had never – touched him yet.
He licked the lips that suddenly felt dry and took the rest of the steps to stand in front of her. She observed his every move, blue eyes flickering with uncertainty. He wished he had Inuyasha there to reinforce him, or some form of invisible army to buck him up. But he was all he had, and he had no other course than to try his best.
The torrential downpour had mellowed back into a light drizzle. They stood so close now, close enough for him to reacquaint himself with the soft, alluring scent of her skin and hair. He breathed her in, hoping that would be the courage he needed. The dream and the possibility of being surrounded by her scent for the rest of his days.
“I wished it was longer too,” he told her. “I wished our walk never ended.”
They were the truest words he had ever told her.
Her eyes widened and the blue shade intensified, glittering as though with the light of a thousand stars. It was not until a few moments later that he realized she was weeping.
“Kagome. Why the tears?” He asked as he wiped one away with the knuckle of his index finger.
Support
She thought it had all been a dream when she saw him again, standing there amidst the light rain.
“Because.” She told him in a watery voice, and swallowed. “I thought this would never happen, and that you would never return.”
Her tears fell freely now and still, he wiped them away one by one with his knuckle.
“I never wanted to leave,” he admitted, and her heart soared at every word, every admission. “And someone made me realize how foolish it was for me to leave, when all I have ever done since your return was to wait for the perfect chance to speak to you, miko.”
It was all so surreal, that her life could be so transformed within the span of a single afternoon. And yet here he was, proving to her — showing to her that perhaps, it was all possible. That perhaps, the best was yet to come.
“Well,” she managed to say. “I thought you don’t even live here full time. How can one little me keep you here in Tokyo, my Lord?”
His golden eyes seemed to light up with the mirth she had never seen in him before, and he let out a low chuckle that sent a shiver down her spine. His hand reached for her face, cupping her cheek with the kind of gentleness she had never experienced from anyone. Then, his thumb and index finger took her chin as he gently tipped her head up and supported it with his digits.
“Miko,” he said in that tone that brooked no argument. “I said there is no demoness able to keep me here all year long. But I reckon you could.”
His face was inching towards hers with the slowness that made her heart clench painfully with anticipation. His lips were almost upon her now, grazing the corner of her mouth in a light brush of a butterfly’s wings.
“Actually, I know you could,” he whispered just before he pressed his lips against her.
And kissed her.
Fin.