InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fleeting ❯ Valor ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

un_love_you prompt:  #12 – “I’m drunk.”

The last thing she remembered, she was enjoying the pleasant buzz in her head as she gyrated around the dance floor.  The lights were a touch too bright, the music a shade too loud, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle.  Besides, she had fabulous friends who were looking out for her, right?

Well…maybe not so much.

When she came to, she found herself perched against a cold shoulder.  She was being carried somewhere, a set of arms wrapped around her as if she was a small child riding on her mother’s hip.  Ugh, she thought, swallowing hard.  I feel sick.

“Don’t even think about it,” a voice said crisply.  “You puke on me and I’ll drop you like a stone.”

Kagome furrowed her brow, tilting her head against the shoulder and glancing up.  The stoic profile of her roommate met her gaze, and she immediately flushed.  Sesshoumaru is carrying me?  How embarrassing!

People often wondered how they got along, much less lived together, considering their stark difference in personalities.  She was as loud and extroverted as he was quiet and aloof.  She was absent-minded and prone to indulgence, whereas he was incredibly uptight, letting the smallest details bother him.  They couldn’t have been more different if they’d tried, so most people who knew of their living arrangement assumed it was because they had some sort of weird, sexual thing going.

I wish, Kagome thought, concentrating on keeping the bile in the back of her throat from rising.  He was the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen, with his unusual silvery hair and dark amber eyes.  But the sad truth was, he’d simply wanted a quiet roommate who would pay half the rent and otherwise leave him alone, and she fit that bill – a rare considerate soul who’d lasted more than two weeks in his presence.  She’d done everything she could think of over the last few months to draw him into a friendship, but most of her efforts were met with cool indifference.

“In you go,” he directed, breaking into her hazy, half-drunken contemplation.  She landed gingerly on the backseat of his car, somehow managing to not hit her head on the door opposite.  Something soft and warm fluttered over her, and she shifted to lie flat on her back.

“What?” she muttered, her voice in the gravel register as she peered up at him.

He leaned over her, his gaze searing straight through her.  “I don’t trust you to hold your cookies if you’re sitting up, so just relax.  We’ll be home soon enough.”  He tucked her feet inside and shut the door, rounding the vehicle to slip in the driver’s seat.

They drove home in silence.  Kagome stared at the roof of the car as she clutched the blanket over her chest, willing the mostly liquid contents of her stomach to stay put.  She’d been so thrilled when her lure had worked and she’d managed to get him to come out with her, though it was a bit surprising that all it’d taken was a sexy outfit and the promise of excitement.  Unfortunately, he’d turned into a rather boring date, not really speaking to her for most of the evening, and lurking in the shadows at the dance club.

Okay, so maybe their plans had changed a little.  They had both been invited to a Halloween party at one of the student dorms on campus, but when they arrived, the group unanimously decided to go into the city instead.  And…maybe she’d let her attention be monopolized by the more flirty social stylings of Inuyasha and Kouga, instead of trying to draw her roommate out of his shell.  Those two could be pretty domineering when it came to conversation and decision-making, and it was so easy to be swept up by their whirlwind…

“What time is it?” she muttered.  Sesshoumaru drove in the same manner in which he generally lived:  in total silence.

“12:30,” he replied tonelessly.

Kagome slumped against the seat.  So, not only had she done something that warranted intervention by this staid creature, but he was also toting her back home before the party had even really gotten started.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the car eased to a stop.  Kagome heard Sesshoumaru exit the vehicle, swinging his door closed with a firm shove, but he did not immediately retrieve her.  She eased up, feeling lightheaded, and glanced out the window.

Of course.  He was unlocking the front door of their apartment, no doubt having already figured out that it would be harder to do if he had to keep her upright at the same time.  She felt humiliated, suddenly wondering what she could’ve done to warrant such unusually delicate treatment.

He didn’t say anything as he returned, helping her get out of the car without getting tangled up in the blanket.  She attempted to walk, but found herself falling over the impossible heels of her shoes.  The crowning piece of this assembled outfit was now, literally, her downfall.

He caught her around the waist, patiently guiding her to their door and inside with little trouble.  Once within, he paused to flip the lock before continuing on, leading her down the hallway to her bedroom door.

“I’m not a child, you know,” she groused, reaching for the key she’d slipped inside her bra.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he replied, still supporting her as she struggled to connect the key with the lock.

She glared at him as she turned the knob, stumbling inside.  She felt around for the light switch as she fumbled for a suitable retort, only to realize that he hadn’t followed her inside.  Scowling, she made her way over to the bed and sank into the mattress, reaching down to release her feet from the torturous boots.  She sighed as she kicked them away.  You were my hook, she thought, gazing remorsefully at them.

Even in the haze of her half-drunken state, she could remember so clearly the expression on his face when she’d presented herself to him, decked out in her sexy best.  He looked at her as if he was realizing for the first time that she was a woman, not just some entity that shared his accommodation.  His eyes seemed to linger the longest on the patch of bare skin between the hem of her miniskirt and the tops of her thigh-high boots… She shivered at the memory.  For some small moment of time, he wanted her, and the promise of whatever lay ahead on this night.

“Here, drink this.”  

She hadn’t even heard him enter her room, but suddenly, he was there beside her, holding a glass at arm’s length.  She imagined that she looked pretty pathetic as she sat there, staring up at him with tear-swollen eyes, her arms crossed over her abdomen as if to hold it in place.

Was that – pity she spotted in his gaze?  “What is it?” she asked skeptically.

“Water,” he replied.  “You had a lot to drink tonight.”

She accepted the glass, cupping it in her palms and taking a small sip.  “What happened to me?” she asked softly.  

He gazed impassively at her.  “You passed out because you had too much to drink,” he told her, neither his expression nor his tone belying judgment.  “Inuyasha and Kouga were tag-teaming you, and I guess you didn’t notice.”  He shrugged.  “You have a higher tolerance than I thought, though.  I’m impressed.”

She put the glass down on her cluttered bedside table.  “They probably think I’m a total loser,” she moaned, covering her face with her hands.

He didn’t answer her directly.  “Go to bed,” he instructed instead, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” she cried out, glaring up at him with all the righteous indignation she could muster.  Goddamn it, it was his fault she felt so shitty!  Drunk and frustrated – not how she wanted this night to end at all.

“Stop making me regret the decision to peel you off the floor,” he returned archly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How humiliating,” she snorted, grabbing the corner of the bedcovers and ripping them back.  “No wonder everybody thinks you’re a prick, treating me like that!”

He was in her face faster than she could blink.  “Let’s just get one thing straight,” he murmured, his fingers curling into the soft space between her neck and shoulder, his nails digging into her skin.  “I did it because I care about you, and I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

She didn’t put forth any resistance as he eased her down on the mattress, looming over her for a moment like some vengeful deity.  “God help me, but I care,” he sighed.  “Those two idiots were taking advantage of you, and maybe they would’ve succeeded if I hadn’t been there.”

“Sesshoumaru,” she whispered, her mind filling with wonder as she looked up at him.  The knot of need she’d been carrying for most of the evening tightened in her core, and she fought with all her might against the nausea that also threatened.  As his grip on her loosened, she surged forward, twisting her arms around his neck.  “Thank you,” she breathed, her eyes falling closed as she leaned into him.

Was her desire written all over her face?  She didn’t much care.  He exhaled sharply, his breath warm against her lips.  All he had to do was shift down a little, just the tiniest bit…

“No,” he said, softly but firmly, reaching over his shoulders to unhook her arms.  “Not like this.”

She fell back with a disappointed gasp, her head hitting the pillows at the same moment that he flipped the covers over the rest of her body.  She opened her mouth to call out to him again, but he was already gone, on silent feet, pulling the door closed behind him.

She sighed, turning onto her side and curling into a ball.  She had been so close…

“Not like this.”

But his words gave her hope.