InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Santa ❯ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.22.2011 | Updated On: 12.07.2014 | Pages: 17 | Words: 11.2K | Visits: 3.3K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.22.2011 | Updated On: 12.07.2014 | Pages: 17 | Words: 11.2K | Visits: 3.3K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
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Chapter 2 – It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
The rest of the summer seemed to breeze by.
Inuyasha had passed his television debut with flying colors, namely yellow and orange sparks when he’d tried to peal Miroku’s ofuda off of Hitomi’s arm. After a few tries he’d even successfully pulled it off, the strip of paper immediately catching on fire in his hand, forcing him to drop it. There was no doubt in the public’s eye; Hitomi Watanabe was 100% human. In a show of gratitude for clearing her name, the award winning actress had given both Inuyasha and Miroku VIP passes to the premier screening of her new upcoming movie, which Inuyasha had graciously (for him) declined attending, giving his ticket to Sango so that she and the pervert could go together.
There was very little ripple effect in his own life from having appeared on the news; all of Inuyasha’s fellow paparazzi had already met the hanyou at one point in time or another as they’d stake out the same bigger events together, and so there was nobody willing to hound him for his ‘unveiled’ appearance now that he’d had his very own fifteen minutes of fame. Nobody dared say or do anything to piss him off. As for the magazine that had originally accused Miss Watanabe of being a kitsune, they still stuck by their original photograph, insisting that even though the actress was human there was obviously at least one kitsune on the loose impersonating various actors at times. Inuyasha had merely rolled his eyes as some people began suggesting there should be an increase in security at Hollywood events. Just so long as nobody tried putting up a barrier that would keep him out then they could do whatever they wanted.
The story had fizzled out quickly enough. Newer and juicier celebrity gossip was always great for inducing ADD in the general population, and the rest of the summer had floated by with the usual bikini shots, baby-bump scandals, and on-the-set rumors for whatever may or may not have happened behind the scenes during production of all the newly released summer blockbusters.
In other words…bor-ing… Inuyasha mentally sighed from his hiding place up in a tree, camera in hand. The leaves would be falling soon, and then he’d lose one of his best vantage points for the season. Oh well, might as well make the most of it, he thought, as the front door opened and his target emerged to collect her mail, sans makeup.
“Oh honey…maybe she’s born with it, but you definitely need the Maybelline.” he joked to himself, clicking away.
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“Hold the elevator!”
Fighting back a wave of giggles at the sight before her, Kagome pushed the ‘doors open’ button to keep the elevator from shutting in the face of the…
Is she supposed to be a faerie?
…that was racing towards her position as fast as her silver-glitter stilettos would carry her.
“Thanks…” Rin panted with a hand braced against the elevator’s far wall as she made it inside, her coworker hitting the ‘10’ button to begin their ascent.
“What are you wearing?” Kagome asked with a huge grin.
“What?” Rin defended with an innocent blink. “Sango and Miroku both said that costumes were okay.”
“Oh yeah…yeah Halloween costumes are definitely okay.” Kagome agreed, gesturing briefly to her own ensemble, that of a female pirate.
And here she’d been a little worried that her outfit was over the top. Rin was sporting a white miniskirt and sleeveless silver bodice, the aforementioned glittery silver stiletto heels, white and silver yarn twists in her hair, and a small-enough-so-they-won’t-get-in-the-way-but-still-large-enough-to -be-noticed pair of white and silver pixie wings attached to the back of her top.
“Cute…” Kagome complemented after she finished eyeing Rin up and down. “Are you trying to make Miroku make a pass at you?” she asked with a laugh, earning a chuckle from the teenager.
After her summer internship had ended Rin had eagerly jumped at the chance to continue on with an official position at the magazine as Sango’s personal assistant, Miroku having told her the job was hers if she wanted it after such an exemplary performance so far. The seventeen-year-old loved working for Shikon Weekly, and she had been right, it hadn’t taken her all that long to get inside the inner gossip circles. Befriending Kagome and Sango had been the best decision of her life.
“Do you suppose Inuyasha dressed up today?”
“Honestly, I doubt he’ll be in at all, even though it’s Monday.” Kagome replied, another thing she’d learned about the hanyou by that point being that he did not like Halloween. “If he did come in today, then no, I don’t think he’ll be dressed up.”
The miko still remembered the faux pas she’d apparently made by asking the hanyou himself what he would be dressing up as three years ago, when they’d been approaching the first Halloween after she’d met him. Of course, since Halloween had been on a Friday that year she’d already known that he wouldn’t be in the office, the hanyou typically only coming in on Mondays and Tuesdays unless Miroku called him in for something, but being the friendly, conversational girl that she was she’d asked him in passing what he was planning on dressing up as for Halloween simply as a means of breaking the ice. Surely he’d be going out, with his camera of course, Halloween night being a huge night for celebrity scandals, but just because he’d be working didn’t mean he couldn’t also enjoy himself at the same time.
Or so she’d thought.
She quite vividly recalled the way he’d glared at her, before asking none too politely “What the hell should I dress up as? A human?!”
That was the only time one of his angry retorts had actually made her cower in fear a little bit; apparently Halloween was a bit of a sore spot. Warning Rin in that moment so that the girl could avoid the risk of incurring Inuyasha’s wrath herself should he be in, Rin thanked Kagome for the heads up right before the elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Kikyou – dressed in traditional miko garb.
“Cute.” Kagome greeted with a nod of her head and smirk to show the receptionist that her irony was acknowledged and appreciated.
“I thought so.” Kikyou replied with a slick smile as Kagome and Rin headed past. “Love the wings!” she called after them to Rin.
“Thanks!” Rin called back.
“He is here…” Kagome murmured to herself in mild surprise, immediately picking up on the feel of Inuyasha’s youki. She’d always been able to sense demonic auras, of course, but after working for so long in such close proximity to the guy she’d actually learned how to recognize his specific youki signature. Although he was the only one in the building of demonic blood, which made identifying him much easier, if she hypothetically ever found herself surrounded by a large group of youkai, which she doubted she would, she would still easily be able to pick out Inuyasha’s aura from the crowd.
“Well I’ll be…” the miko chimed back up, the girl almost in awe of the sight before her. Inuyasha was wearing jeans…he always wore professional dress slacks…and a t-shirt that said, 'This is my costume.'
It’s not much, but it’s a hell of a lot more than I was expecting.
Maybe Kagome wasn’t the only one trying to change up their routine.
The thought made her smile.
“Ahoy matey!” she bellowed joyfully as she passed his desk, and her ears might’ve been human, but she could’ve sworn she heard the sound of Inuyasha quietly chuckling to himself before she turned the corner.
Watching her go, Inuyasha just shook his head before getting back to work. Kagome had been…different…for the last few months, but not in a bad way. She hadn’t asked him out to lunch recently, but then again the last couple of times she had she’d specifically said for him to let her know whenever he wanted to have lunch together, so maybe she was just respecting his space, knowing that he knew her invitation still stood whenever he was ready and willing to take her up on it. Other than that, though, she’d also seemed more…genuine…with her simple hellos and goodbyes as of late, not quite so nervous around him as she used to be, although it was definitely still there just under the surface. He’d come to discover that if they did happen to speak for whatever reason, that her heart rate would rapidly start increasing the longer he looked at her, but begrudgingly he would admit at least to himself that that didn’t necessarily mean she was afraid of him. Confused, uncertain, and almost desperate for answers he’d even gone so far as trying to ask Miroku about it, sure the monk would have insider information, but the houshi hadn’t really been all that helpful when he’d evasively answered with something along the lines of Sango gelding him if he dared say anything. But even that non-answer had been mildly helpful, because it meant that Kagome had indeed discussed something with Sango, something Sango had obviously spilled to Miroku even though Kagome had probably sworn her to secrecy, and Miroku was in turn keeping his own vow of silence for fear of castration.
Just what are you hiding, Kagome?
“I’m your biggest fan; I’ll follow you until you love me. Papa-paparazzi.”
Pulled out of his musings, Inuyasha jerked his head towards the sound of Rin’s cell, the faerie girl sending him a nervous chuckle before hitting mute and tucking the phone back in her skirt pocket. Both surprising and relieving the teenager, he chuckled a bit himself, shaking his head in amusement, a twinkle in his golden eyes.
“Cute, now get to work before Miroku sees you and drools all over you.”
“Yes, sir.” she answered with a laugh, scurrying away towards Sango’s office the best she could in those shoes.
With his own phone going off with a charm to let him know he had a new incoming e-mail, Inuyasha officially put the crazy teenager out of his head as a devilish smirk slowly exposed his fangs, once he saw just who it was. Last week, still desperate for answers but at the same time still being far too chicken-shit to risk humiliating himself should he be wrong, Inuyasha had come up with an ingenious plan to ask Kagome how she felt without just coming out and asking her how she felt. He had created a brand new free e-mail account that was completely generic and sent Kagome an anonymous e-mail through their blog site asking for advice. She’d just written back.
“Dear Kagome,
There’s a woman I work with who I’d thought for sure couldn’t stand me, a logical assumption since it’s the reaction I’ve gotten most of my life because of my…scars…but now I think I might be wrong. Sure she was always nice enough, on the surface, but underneath I always got the feeling she couldn’t wait to get away from me, like just looking at me made her skin crawl. I’d thought for sure she was just acting nice on the surface to be, well, nice, but that that was where it ended. Now I’m not so sure. The problem is nobody’s ever liked me before so I don’t know how to recognize the signs, I think I might have been misinterpreting her ‘nervous’ body language but I don’t want to just come out and ask her and risk being wrong and making a total fool of myself. But I doubt she’ll ever be brave enough to be more open with her feelings toward me because…well…back when I thought she was just acting nice to be professional I was a bit defensive and boorish with her. Let’s just say I’m used to people not really liking me all that much, and to be honest I’m still not 100% sure how this woman really feels. If I was right in the first place and she was just trying to be polite then I’ll look like I total douche. Any advice you could give for subtly letting her know I’m not adverse to the idea of getting to know her better without the risk of it blowing up in my face if she doesn’t feel that way about me would be greatly appreciated.
- Confused & Apprehensive”
And her reply…
“Dear Confused & Apprehensive,
Wow, I don’t think I’ve come across a situation quite like yours before. First allow me to apologize on behalf of all of the cruel people in this world who’ve treated you differently simply based on your appearance. I realize I don’t know what you look like, but there’s a big difference between being initially startled by a person’s unexpected appearance and actually being cruel to them because of it. If you thought at first that this woman also had a problem with you because of your looks but now you’re not so sure, then perhaps she was genuinely surprised at first, which isn’t the same as repulsed, and now she likes you since she’s gotten to know you as a person and your features are no longer shocking. Of course, I can’t guarantee that’s the case; I’m not there witnessing how she acts so all I can offer is advice based on how I think I would feel. I know for me, personally, no matter how shocking somebody might look on the outside I would never allow that to prevent me from truly getting to know that person on the inside. As for your question of if there is anything subtle you can do to feel out the situation with this woman without the risk of humiliation should you be seeing something that isn’t there, the best advice I can give in that regard would be to just be yourself, let your defenses drop a little bit. Lowering your wall isn’t the same thing as asking her out on a date, and it won’t open you up to too much risk if she’s being polite enough on the surface. If she has no desire to be let in in the first place then opening the door doesn’t hurt anything in the long run. You said you were defensive and boorish in the beginning, back before you’d thought she might like you, so I’m assuming by that statement that you’ve already stopped acting so cruel, which is definitely a good thing. Now it’s time to take it to the next step. You don’t have to go out of your way to seek her out, at least not at first, but the next time you’re speaking with her, when you start to feel what you feel when you think she might be nervous around you because of a crush rather than because of your scars, do something simple like a smile, an extra kind word, say her named added to ‘thank you’ instead of just ‘thanks’ the next time that opportunity arises. You’d be amazed how quickly women notice little things like that, and if she’s not interested she’ll probably start to shy away from you herself, perhaps afraid that feelings are developing on your end, but she certainly won’t call you on it with no proof. If you ask her out then there’s the risk of her saying no and the ensuing humiliation, I get that, so start small, give her baby steps that at least show her you’re not blind to her feelings. If she does like you, then instead of shying away she’ll be encouraged, and then who knows, it just might be her asking you out on a date. Give it a shot. I’m here for you if you need any more help.
-Kagome”
“Wow…just wow.” Inuyasha mumbled to himself. Of course, he’d had to keep it vague for fear of Kagome recognizing the similarities, so he hadn’t felt comfortable bringing up the fact that the woman actually had already asked him out to lunch a few times in the past. Still, though, Kagome’s advice was good. Damn good. He certainly wouldn’t approach her, because that would be entirely out of character for him and she’d immediately know something was up, but he would be nicer to her from here on out. He had thought that ‘being nice’ equated to not being mean, but just biting his tongue to keep from saying something rude certainly wasn’t the same thing as smiling at her or saying her name.
So chicks notice that kind of stuff, huh?
He was still half-tempted to surprise her by accepting her open invitation to lunch, just to see her face, but it wasn’t worth the possible backlash if word spread throughout the office that he liked Kagome, at least not if she didn’t feel the same way.
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“Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight-”
“Walkin’ ‘round in women’s underwear!” Miroku chimed in, causing Sango to sigh in exasperation before chuckling a bit despite herself.
“Must you sing Christmas parodies?”
“Must you sing traditional Christmas carols?”
The slayer raised one elegant eyebrow, but Miroku’s poker face never wavered. “Touché.” she finally relented, and he smirked in triumph.
“I can’t wait till the Christmas party!” Kagome chimed in from the doorway, entering Sango’s office behind Miroku.
“Indeed, I hear you are particularly looking forward to this year’s Secret Santa.” Miroku replied with a slight edge of curiosity in his voice, his girlfriend having offered him no details.
“Oh, you have no idea.” Kagome responded cryptically, sending Sango a playful wink that had the slayer giggling before handing Kagome a small wicker basket.
The miko then proceeded to reach into her pocket and pull out a handful of tiny folded pieces of paper, tossing them into the basket. The name draw…but there weren’t nearly enough papers to represent everybody on the entire floor.
Miroku’s silent raised eyebrow was enough for Kagome to answer with “You’ll see.” before heading back out of the office.
Following a little ways behind the miko, Miroku observed in silence as she approached Inuyasha’s desk.
“Pick a name!” she spoke up happily, causing both Miroku and Inuyasha to raise an eyebrow at her.
“I don’t participate in the Secret Santa.” the hanyou informed her with a polite enough tone of voice.
“Well that’s about to change, now that Sango put me in charge of this year’s Christmas party. Your name was included, and that means that you need to draw a name. Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Sighing, Inuyasha wanted to say no; he wanted to explain to Kagome that he never attended the Christmas party, and therefore whomever he drew for the Secret Santa would get gypped because he wouldn’t be getting them a present. But just the thought that she had included him… Looking up into her smiling blue-gray eyes, not even the remotest hint of nervousness presently clouding her scent, he was immediately accosted with just how lovely she truly was, and suddenly, he just didn’t have the heart to say no. He was still trying to do that whole ‘be nicer’ thing, after all, in the hopes that she might one day make it obvious whether or not she felt that way about him. Her bubbly coming up to him and informing him that she had included him in the Secret Santa had to count for something, right? What better way to be nice, then, than to give in when she oh-so-obviously wanted him to comply?
Maybe attending this year’s Christmas party will be fun…it’ll certainly be worth it to see Kagome smile…
Plus seeing the surprised faces of everyone else might make it worth it, too, since most of the old timers in the office thought of him more or less as the resident scrooge during the holiday season.
“Fine, whatever.” he finally caved then, his tone of voice a slight bit softer than his words, though not by much. He still had to keep it at least a little bit in character, after all.
Reaching into the basket, he took the first piece of paper within reach, silently hoping he’d actually plucked his own name. That would be win/win because then not only would he not have to worry about buying some tchotchke Hallmark crap for somebody he hardly knew, but at the same time nobody else would be put in the awful position of having to buy him some tchotchke Hallmark crap.
“Thanks…Kagome.” he murmured almost under his breath, but loud enough for the girl to hear.
Beaming at Inuyasha with an award winning smile, her heart now fluttering quite loudly, Kagome quickly turned and veered around the office floor, backtracking to Sango’s personal office without Inuyasha noticing her destination. Miroku was hot on her heels, however, and he quickly followed Kagome back inside his girlfriend’s office, closing the door behind him before whispering a quick chant and slapping his hand against the door, effectively creating a soundproof barrier.
Kagome gazed Miroku’s way with a raised eyebrow and knowing smirk.
“Something you don’t want to risk demonic ears overhearing?” she asked almost conversationally.
“Just what are you up to, Kagome?” Miroku asked with a half accusative, half amused tone of voice. “You know Inuyasha doesn’t attend the annual Christmas party.”
She merely shrugged. “He will this year.”
“And how can you be so sure?” Miroku countered. “You know that even if he does come, he probably won’t buy a gift for whoever he drew out of the basket.”
At that Kagome waved her hand dismissively before heading over to Sango’s confetti-cut shredder and quickly grabbing the rest of the name slips from the basket to shred, the slayer saying nothing with an amused grin as she gazed across her desk at Miroku with knowing eyes.
It only took the monk 1.5 seconds to catch on.
“You rigged the Secret Santa!” he gasped in astonishment, not so much angered by that fact as he was amused, not having thought ‘sweet, innocent Kagome’ would have it in her to do something so devious.
Once again, the miko waved her hand dismissively, not panicked by his outburst since he’d put up a barrier, which she actually appreciated. She didn’t want her plans spoiled, after all. Taking the empty basket and refilling it with the real name slips Sango had ready to go in her desk drawer, she then raised her eyes and met Miroku’s knowing smirk head on.
“Only between Inuyasha and myself.” she explained as means of defense. “I don’t mind that he won’t get me anything, but I just had to make sure that I was able to give him my present.”
“Is it going to be another one of your sketches?” Miroku asked with genuine curiosity, familiar with Kagome’s traditional gift.
“Yes and no.” the miko answered cryptically.
For the last three Christmases Kagome had made for whomever she’d picked as her Secret Santa an 8x10 portrait of themselves, but they had not been normal sketches. Done with color pencil, the incredibly life-like images had been almost fanciful in style, captured glimpses of the person’s innermost soul. Last year she had picked Eri, for example, and she had drawn the fashionista in the most glamorous of gowns in a ballroom scene like something out of the 17th century.
In three short years her sketches had become quite the talk of the office once Christmas time came rolling around, everyone dying to know whom she’d pick and what she’d draw. The Secret Santa was supposed to be a surprise, but Kagome – usually – needed to meditate with the person in order to conjure up those images. She’d tricked the first person by telling them she was giving everyone a spiritual reading, something she liked to do for her friends around the holidays, but by the second year her Secret Santa hadn’t been fooled, the cat having been out of the bag after the first sketch had been revealed and the recipient had realized that no one else had received such a ‘reading’. Last year Eri had squealed in delight when Kagome had flat out told her she’d ‘won’, getting her few minutes with the girl the same day as the name draw so that she’d have as much time as possible to work on the sketch. What the drawings were going to look like was always still kept a secret because even though Kagome received the images right then and there she always refused to say what they were of, sealing her lips with the old-fashioned ‘zipper’ sign language while playfully telling her subject they’d just have to wait and see.
This year the surprise would be even grander, because not only had she already had the image she wanted to draw buzzing around in her head since last summer, but having had that much more time to work on it meant she could go bigger and bolder. Inuyasha’s portrait was 16x20, and she had used oil paints instead of colored pencils. It was already finished, dry, wrapped up and ready to be presented, hence her dire need for rigging this year’s Secret Santa exchange. She couldn’t just give it to him for no reason, although it’d probably be obvious to everyone present once he opened it that it had taken her more than two weeks to make. So let the entire office know she had a thing for Inuyasha, she was tired of hiding it. This was her ‘coming out’ party, so to speak, and if anything, if it blew up in her face because he didn’t see her that way, then surely he would still appreciate the gift as something from a friend. She could explain to him her gift, how she could receive such visions and how she had always done drawings like that for all of her friends and family since she had been a little girl, and how after receiving that vision from their inadvertent aura collision she’d just felt compelled to draw it. One thing was for sure, and that was that no matter what the outcome was from this fiasco, he would certainly be unable to believe she thought of him as nothing but a charity case. She still wasn’t certain if that was how he saw her to begin with, though he’d certainly been acting a lot nicer to her in the last few months. Maybe he had thought that, at first, but no longer did. Now if only he’d take her up on one of her many previous invitations out to lunch.
One thing at a time, Kagome…
The expression ‘go big or go home’ came to mind; at least no one could call her a coward.
Lowering his barrier, Miroku gave Kagome one last smirk before heading back to his own office, but not before plucking a name from the Secret Santa basket. Leaving the miko to her task, then, he silently prayed that Inuyasha would indeed show up to the Christmas party. He had more or less conceded when he’d accepted that piece of paper from Kagome, albeit begrudgingly, but the inu-hanyou was nothing if not a man of his word. ‘Fine, whatever’ might be blaringly unenthusiastic, but it wasn’t a no.
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As the hanyou noticed Kagome continuing to buzz around their floor, going from desk to desk handing out the name slips, he couldn’t help the troubling sigh that escaped his lips as he glanced one more time down at the name he held in his name.
Why did it have to be her? he questioned uselessly, knowing the answer. The gods were fucking with him, that’s why.
For the briefest of moments Inuyasha had wanted to believe that Kagome had done it on purpose, but what could she possibly hope to gain if that were true? Well now, only way to find that out was to go to the party, wasn’t it? But what the hell to get her as a gift? What did women even like? Teddy bears? Regrettably, Inuyasha had to admit, at least to himself, that he really didn’t know all that much about Kagome. He couldn’t even make an educated guess based on the things she had received in previous years since he’d never before attended the stupid party. Stalking her from the shadows to observe her routine probably wouldn’t work, either, because he could feel for himself how powerful her miko aura was, which meant he was nearly positive that if he got close enough to see what kind of stuff she liked in the stores that he would also be within her youki sensing range. That wouldn’t do. The last thing he wanted to do was inadvertently let Kagome feel him following her; heaven forbid the girl actually thought he was stalking her for reasons other than Christmas shopping reconnaissance. If his mother were still alive he would call her in a heartbeat, but unfortunately the human woman had passed away from heart disease back when he was in high school. He’d always tried so hard not to stress her out, to keep his pain to himself so as not to add to her distress, although he was sure she could see his pain in his eyes. She would have loved to see how successful he’d become since then; she would have loved Kagome.
Whoa, getting way too ahead of myself with those kinds of thoughts… the hanyou told himself, snapping himself out of his spiraling daydream.
So what to do? He certainly wasn’t calling his evil bitch of an aunt; she could burn in hell for all he cared. But he also didn’t want to ask any of the office girls, not even Rin or Sango – check that, especially not Rin or Sango – because just on the off chance that Kagome hadn’t rigged the name draw then the last thing he wanted to do was risk giving the girl a heads up that he’d actually drawn her name. He was pretty sure that just about any girl he talked to in the office, especially those two, would rat him out to the miko for sure if he tried asking questions regarding what kind of stuff Kagome liked. He would just have to wing it, then. It was the thought that counted, or so they said, whoever ‘they’ were.
She damn well better appreciate the fact that I’m even going to the stupid party…
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“Me rry Christmas!” Miroku greeted with an exaggerated welcoming sweep of his arms, causing Rin to giggle before leaning in to chastely peck his cheek.
“Works every time.” the houshi stated playfully to the miko by his side while pointing up to the piece of mistletoe hanging from a bent wire perched atop his hat, Kagome rolling her eyes before heading back over to where Sango waited by the punch bowl. She would let the slayer handle it if her boyfriend got out of hand, though so far Miroku was behaving himself, for Miroku.
“And he wonders why I haven’t agreed to marry him yet.” the slayer grumbled to her friend once Kagome was back by her side, although it was obvious there wasn’t any true bite behind her words.
“Oh come on, you know you’re just saving it for tomorrow night.” Kagome joked, causing Sango to playfully put her finger to her lips and shush the miko as if she had nearly spilled a national secret.
Giggling, Sango then reached for the ladle in the punch bowl to pour herself another cup of punch.
Gesturing towards the giant bowl of fruit flavored sugar water, Kagome crinkled her nose and asked, “How much booze is in there, anyway?”
“Not nearly enough.” Sango answered before laughing again and then taking a drink.
Laughing as well, Kagome poured her own second glass, and was just about to take a sip when a small gasp escaped her instead.
“What is it?” Sango asked in concern.
“My spider senses are tingling.” Kagome replied with a crooked grin.
“You don’t say…”
“I do say, and I see…” the miko stated playfully, gesturing towards the elevator past the empty reception desk and the silver-haired man who was, rather apprehensively in her opinion, joining the party.
“Inuyasha!” Miroku bellowed joyously from his place as self-appointed host. “Welcome!”
Nearly everyone in the office turned to gape at the hanyou at their boss’ words, and Kagome’s heart immediately went out to the guy, his expression not unlike the male subject of the classic ‘went to school in your underwear’ dream, even though he was fully dressed in dark brown slacks and a deep red sweater. Quickly rushing over to his rescue, punch still in hand, she cut a few people off at the pass as she reached him before anyone else could, holding up her beverage as a peace offering.
“You look like you could use this more than me.” she stated quickly as way of greeting.
To her complete astonishment, he actually took the punch from her hand, and after giving it a quick yet noticeable sniff he mumbled a quiet “Thanks.” before downing the artificially colored liquid in a single gulp.
“It’ll be okay, just breathe.” she added after a moment, her voice amused although it was clear she wasn’t actually laughing at him, not that she was really laughing with him since he wasn’t laughing, but Inuyasha could easily smell the faint traces of alcohol coming from the girl’s breath and accurately deduced that she was feeling marginally less inhibited than usual.
“I don’t know how you managed to talk me into this.” he grumbled honestly.
The place was a madhouse, their entire office floor decked out head to toe with cheesy Christmas decorations, streamers and lights. Folding tables from the employee lounge had been brought in and lined the walls with an assortment of chips, party trail mixes, cookies and brownies, cans of soda, not to mention the infamous ‘punch’ bowl. Christmas music was playing on somebody’s stereo rather loudly, and over half the people in attendance were already at least partially intoxicated if not completely drunk off their asses. It wasn’t really as if Inuyasha had arrived that late, but drinking was simply the first thing that most people did when they got there, and therefore it didn’t take too long for the ‘punch’ to kick in – especially when it was repeatedly being spiked by multiple employees after having already been alcoholic to begin with.
Just what I need, to be surrounded by all the people I work with while they’re at their loudest and smelliest…
The next words out of Kagome’s mouth quickly pulled Inuyasha from his spiraling scrooge-y-ness.
“Well…I’m really glad you decided to come.”
Blinking at the miko in surprise, he finally took in her appearance, and nearly chocked on the lump in his throat. She usually wore skirts to work, but they were longer, business appropriate. The tiny pleated thing she presently had on barely covered anything, and absentmindedly he thought to congratulate her on still being able to fit into her old high school uniform; that was what the skirt looked like at least. Her sweater top was short-sleeved and fuzzy white, a nice contrast against the dark green skirt and her raven black hair. He had to quit staring before she realized what such an innocent – yet at the same time wholly not innocent – outfit did to him.
Averting his eyes, he numbly handed her the small, Christmas wrapped box he held in his hand, before stuttering through an embarrassed, “Uh- I…that is…”
“Oh, Secret Santa gifts go over there.” Kagome pointed, trying her best to act as if she didn’t know the gift was for her, all the while inwardly screaming in giddiness over the fact that he’d actually gotten her something. She didn’t care what was in the box; Inuyasha had bought her something for the gift exchange! She suddenly felt more like a schoolgirl with a crush than she had the first day she’d met him, and abruptly excused herself to go get herself that much needed second drink, promising him she’d be back in a few minutes.
Gradually loosening up a bit as most people at the party got back to whatever it was they had been doing before they’d been startled by his unexpected arrival, Inuyasha made his way over towards his desk, which was remarkably free of party clutter. It was nice to know that everyone respected his space even when he wasn’t there.
“Uh-uh-uh…” Miroku chimed in as he approached the hanyou from behind. “No work allowed. Tonight is all about fun!”
“I don’t really ‘do’ fun.” Inuyasha mumbled, though he relented and turned away from his desk, eyeing Miroku up and down. Despite himself a small chuckle escaped his lips at the sight. The houshi was dressed in khakis topped by a green and white Christmas sweater, not to mention the handmade ‘kiss me’ cap on his head.
“You do know that mistletoe is poisonous, right?”
“Was I going to eat it?” Miroku retorted.
“Knowing you, you just might, if you thought it’d make a girl stick her tongue down your throat in pursuit.”
Chuckling, Miroku shook his head in delighted amusement before removing the cap from his head and sitting it on the hanyou’s desk, which was simply the nearest surface they were standing next to at the moment. Inuyasha glared at the hat for a second but quickly decided to let it go as Miroku spoke back up.
“Ah, but you know well that when it comes to such levels of intimacy there is only one girl with whom I would willingly participate, and for her I don’t need such parlor tricks.”
“No, actually, she’s waiting for you to stop your parlor tricks altogether.” came Kagome’s voice from behind, and Inuyasha hid his smirk as Miroku’s face adopted the expression of a scolded ten-year-old boy.
“I’m so misunderstood.” Miroku mumbled to himself with a pout, earning a chuckle from the hanyou.
Kagome smiled at Inuyasha as Miroku walked away, the sound of his mild laughter music to her ears.
“Okay, so I’m here.” he stated to the girl as if waiting for something to happen. “Now what?”
“Now…we relax and have a good time hanging out.” she explained as though it were obvious, but with a playful wink in lieu of genuine sarcasm.
“Ugh.”
“Oh good, I was afraid that one would have earned me a ‘feh’…’ugh’ is higher up on the acceptance scale.”
Inuyasha barked out a genuine laugh at that one, mostly because it was true. “And ‘keh’?” he asked her then, a spark of teasing in his golden eyes.
Kagome blushed a little – or was she just flushed from the alcohol? – but quickly answered him, merriment sparkling in her own blue-gray orbs.
“‘Keh’ is the most versatile noncommittal one can articulate, the monosyllabic utterance simultaneously synonymous with both the proverbial slang ‘whatever’ as well as the more sincere acknowledgment of truly accepting whatever details may surround any given situation. It suggestions compliance without expressly verbalizing agreement.”
Playfully whistling in astonishment, Inuyasha smirked at the miko and said, “If I weren’t also a writer, I’d think you were trying to show off or something.”
“Who said I wasn’t trying to show off?” Kagome countered, clearly a little buzzed although she wasn’t that drunk.
Inuyasha was at a loss for words at that response, so flashing her a crooked grin that showed off one of his fangs, he met her eyes and answered, “Keh.”
Kagome nearly toppled over in laughter, earning them a few curious glances from some of the other partygoers, although before he could worry about getting himself in any deeper Sango suddenly rushed in to the rescue.
“You might want to steer clear of the Long Island Hawaiian Punch.” Sango warned the hanyou. “I think four different people with flasks overheard me saying the punch wasn’t spiked enough.”
“Only four?” Inuyasha inquired with a raised eyebrow.
Sango snorted.
“Hey!” Kagome protested. “I’m not drunk!”
Rolling her eyes, Sango stated, “And I’d like to keep it that way, so let’s both switch to soda for an hour or two.”
Kagome was still level headed enough to know that she definitely didn’t want to risk ruining what was to come, so she readily agreed, unable to believe she’d just been joking around with Inuyasha though she didn’t regret a second of it or feel embarrassed.
Left to his own devices it didn’t take too long for Inuyasha to officially feel bored and out of place, but he had been right, seeing her smile had been worth it. He knew he was stuck, now, because he couldn’t leave at least until after the gift exchange was over. While he supposed he could ditch out early, since surely whoever had drawn his name hadn’t gotten him anything – they probably hadn’t thought he’d show up since he never did and so he didn’t really blame them – he couldn’t leave early because a part of him desperately wanted to see Kagome’s reaction when she opened her present. It wasn’t much, but he’d like to think he’d done at least a little bit better than the cliché teddy bear. It had still come out of a knickknack shop, but his mother used to have one and so he hoped it was something that most women liked. A part of him was terrified to see Kagome’s reaction, in case he was wrong, but he tried to reason with that irrational fear; he hadn’t gotten her anything romantic, after all, so why the hell should he fear her reaction to the gift? It was a gift exchange! He’d drawn her name! He was supposed to buy her something, and so hopefully even if she didn’t like it she wouldn’t say anything hurtful in front of everyone else. While he couldn’t really say he knew for sure since he’d never before attended one of these things, surely there was an unwritten rule about always graciously accepting whatever present you were given regardless of your innermost feelings about it. If she didn’t like then it she could throw it away once she got home tonight, no hard feelings, although truthfully he hoped she would like it.
Deciding to at least try and get into the spirit of things then, at least a little bit, Inuyasha slowly began wandering around their office floor, saying a few casual hellos to the coworkers who were nice enough to say hello to him first, acknowledging their surprise but also delight in seeing him finally attending the annual celebration. A few people even said they hoped he made a habit out of it from here on out; maybe he wasn’t as disliked around the office as he’d always thought he was. Maybe everyone always just left him alone because he sent out that ‘leave me alone’ vibe, which only Kagome ignored. He quirked his lip up in mild amusement at the thought; there was no way Kagome was oblivious to his standoffishness. No, she was deliberately ignoring his ‘leave me alone’ vibe for sure, now the only question left was why. Letting that thought drift out of him as quickly as it’d come, he told himself not to worry about it in that moment, certain he would find out sooner or later. For at least that moment in time, he didn’t want to vitiate his evening with such thoughts.
Gradually, as he socialized with everyone at the party, a different type of curiosity began setting in. Who had drawn his name? Had that person gotten him something? It wasn’t really as if he wanted or needed anything, but slowly but surely the feeling he’d almost forgotten all about, that feeling of being a kid on Christmas morning, was starting to bubble up in his gut. He was starting to have a good time. At the same time, curiosity was buzzing all around him for who Kagome had picked, several people quizzing each other in the hopes of finding out because apparently the miko would tell whomever she’d chosen that she’d picked them in advance so that she could do some sort of…something. He was only able to pick up bits and pieces of the conversations here and there, but apparently Kagome always gave whomever she picked a pencil sketch of themselves. He hadn’t even known she could draw, but apparently she was quite the artist because the room was all a buzz about it in little private groups here and there, nobody able to figure out whose name she’d drawn that year.
Before he could start thinking on it too deeply himself, though, Inuyasha’s attention was suddenly pulled towards the sound of the miko’s voice, as well as joyful laughter and whistling, coming from a large group of people who were all crowded around the boom box on Eri’s desk. Kylie Minogue’s rendition of ‘Santa Baby’ was playing, and Kagome was singing over it…rather artistically.
“Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me. Been an awful good girl, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.” she sang, dancing around in such a manner that revealed she knew damn well what that short skirt of hers did to all the guys in the office.
Inuyasha would’ve been struck with a wave of possessive jealousy if it weren’t for fact that the miko wasn’t his. He felt conflicted; on the one hand he wanted to put a stop to all the other guys ogling her in such a way, but on the other hand he was a warm-blooded male too and so he wanted to watch as well. Shaking his head in amusement after a moment, he at least had to admit that Kagome knew how to entertain a crowd. One sniff of the girl revealed that while she was perhaps a little tipsy, she wasn’t anywhere near drunk enough to be acting so foolishly against her better judgment. She wouldn’t regret it come morning; she was doing it on purpose.
“She always does this.” Sango chimed in in that moment from his side, as if reading his thoughts, the slayer’s huge grin communicating that, apparently, he’d been missing out on quite the show by failing to attend the three previous Christmas parties.
“Santa baby, a '54 convertible too, light blue. I’ll wait up for your dear, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.” Kagome continued singing, her eyes sparkling with merriment as she spotted Inuyasha in the crowd. Slowly, she approached his position.
“Think of all the fun I’ve missed. Think of all the fellas that I haven’t kissed. Next year I could be just as good, if you’ll check off my Christmas list.” she sang provocatively, causing the hanyou to gulp in nervousness while many of the other guys laughed at his expense. Was this like college hazing ‘cause he was the new guy or what? Still, though, he couldn’t find it in him to be angry over that kind of teasing.
Continuing to work the crowd, Kagome eventually gave her fair share of attention to all the different guys standing around, although Inuyasha noted with a moderate amount of relief that she never actually touched anybody, like running her finger up and down their chests or anything. That might’ve pushed his suppressed possessiveness closer to the surface, but just singing and dancing he could handle. Especially when the song got to the part about her wanting a ring, and she eyed Miroku almost accusingly, causing Sango to laugh the loudest while Miroku just looked helpless. As the song came to a close everyone laughed and clapped playfully before getting back to whatever they’d been doing.
“Didn’t know you were such a talented performer.” the hanyou complimented as Kagome came back his way.
Shrugging shyly, Kagome mumbled, “There’s a lot we don’t know about each other yet.”
Opening his mouth, whatever he was going to say got cut off as Miroku chimed in loudly that it was time to open presents, which earned squeals and cheers of joy from the whole office like it was a room full of second-graders.
Obediently allowing himself to be herded in the direction of the present table, Inuyasha smiled a little to himself to note that Kagome had stuck by him, the girl shyly glancing up his way every so often when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. There was no mistaking that statement of hers from before Miroku had interrupted the moment. After tonight’s party was over, if he didn’t chicken out, he’d ask her out to dinner.
As the gift exchange got underway, Inuyasha was content to stand back and watch at first, letting everyone else practically fight over each other to get to the table of presents. Everyone had tagged their gifts ‘To’ and ‘From’ so as everyone more or less fended for themselves when it came to finding the gift with their name on it, they gradually began dispersing to thank each other after tracking down who had gotten them what. Spotting an opportunity to reach the table and noticing that Kagome was just standing there nervously biting her bottom lip, he quickly used his hanyou speed to lunge in and out and snatch the gift he’d gotten for her before another round of people got in his way.
“Merry Christmas, Kagome.” he murmured shyly, aware of the eyes on him as at least half of the crowd slowed down what they were doing to watch their exchange, though he tried his best to tune them out. Nosy bastards.
“Thank you so much.” Kagome answered before even tearing into the paper, the look in her eyes expressing the sincerity of her gratitude.
“You haven’t even opened it yet.” he scolded lightly but with a nervous chuckle, embarrassed that she was making such a big deal out of it.
Immediately opening her present, Kagome’s grin only grew wider as she saw what it actually was. A small, wooden ‘treasure chest’ shaped jewelry/music box. Opening it revealed a velvet-lined place for a few rings and necklaces off to the left, the music box itself to the right. Winding it, she was surprised to find that it played Greensleeves.
“I love this song.” she murmured honestly before looking up to meet his eyes with genuine happiness shining in her own. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
Even more embarrassed, though also secretly pleased, he shrugged in a way he hoped seemed nonchalant, stating, “It’s just a stupid trinket. Wasn’t that expensive.”
Way to go, dumbass… he immediately chastised himself, although Kagome thankfully seemed unfazed at his attempt to belittle the meaning behind his present.
“Oh, and here I’d thought there was a deep, hidden meaning behind it because the first time we’d met I was wearing green, and this song is about unrequited love.” she teased as payback, chuckling as his eyes widened in horror, his brain clearly trying to scramble to remember if she had in fact been wearing a green shirt the first day they’d met, which she actually hadn’t been, although she did have a few in her wardrobe.
“Okay…” she spoke back up, effectively cutting off his train of thought before it could completely derail. “Now it’s your turn to open your present.” she stated authoritatively, her bravado false but efficient nonetheless.
Eyes widening in surprise at her words, Inuyasha gaped like a fish out of water as Kagome reached for the canvas-sized package before handing it over. Quickly regaining his composure, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“This isn’t a coincidence, is it?” he asked, to which she merely shrugged, blushing again.
Chuckling a bit despite himself he started ripping open the wrapping paper, immediately noticing but also trying to ignore the way just about everyone around them was now giving the pair their complete, undivided attention, everyone eager to see what Kagome had painted, most of them surprised by its size. The only people visibly at least trying to give them some small measure of privacy were Sango and Miroku, whom Inuyasha quickly realized must have already known of Kagome’s plan, although even they glanced their way in curiosity a couple of times, Kagome apparently not having shown even them the painting in advance.
Unveiling the portrait in that moment, the room was filled with more than a few gasps. Somebody also either chose that precise moment to turn off the stereo, or perhaps the Christmas mix CD had merely reached its end, but he did not believe in coincidences and so if it wasn’t somebody in the room who’d silenced the music then the gods were fucking with him, again. If life were a movie then the sound effect of a needle scratching across a record would have been added for dramatic effect. You could hear a pin drop, as the saying went, as he stared wordlessly at the painting Kagome had done of himself, unable to speak. It was…fabulous. It was so realistic, it was as if she were the paparazzi, as if it was a photograph instead of an oil painting, but that wasn’t the truly amazing part. The image depicted was of him, of course, but what he was wearing and what he was doing…he heard somebody snicker to a friend far in the back of the room, mumbling sarcastically that Kagome sure could capture his ‘wild’ side, but he let the derogatory dig pass him by unfazed. Kagome had captured his wild side, but that was a good thing as far as he was concerned. The painting was of him dressed in archaic robes from the Feudal era, but in his favorite color, crimson red. His feet were bare, and he sat comfortably perched high up in a tree in what was clearly a relaxed posture, as if simply enjoying gazing out over the countryside, rice fields glistening in the far off background. A battered looking sheathed katana was at his hip, indicating that while he could appreciate peaceful beauty, he wasn’t without the scars of a warrior, that sword clearly having seen battle on more than a few occasions. He would protect himself, defend himself, but all he truly wanted was to be left alone, and live in peace. It was as if his very soul was bared before everyone as they gazed on with judgmental faces, blatantly scrutinizing Kagome’s work, but he didn’t feel naked or exposed. They just didn’t get it, and that was their problem, not his.
Of course, the real cause of most people’s reactions probably had more to do with the fact that she’d made him such a grandiose work of art, rather than the whole ‘hanyou’ thing, having learned enough from his earlier eavesdropping to know that the previous three years she’d given whomever she’d picked a mere 8x10 colored pencil sketch. So why was she playing such favorites with him? That was it, as far as he was concerned. There was no more uncertainty in his mind regarding her feelings. Now he only wished that he hadn’t been such a baka over the last three and a half years.
No time like the present…
Kagome, meanwhile, was slowly freaking out the longer he gazed wordlessly at his portrait without giving any sort of outward indication of what he was thinking. She could hear the whispering going on around them, too, although her ears weren’t sophisticated enough to catch what was being said. But most of the people working there didn’t really have any problem with Inuyasha being a hanyou, she knew, and so she assumed that most of the whispering was simply of the gossip variety, everyone immediately drawing correct conclusions as to why his painting was clearly more special than anyone else’s had ever been. Perhaps a few people were put off by the fact that she apparently felt that way about him, but screw them. All she cared about in that moment was what Inuyasha thought, and she was nearly certain she would faint in the next twenty seconds if he didn’t at least look at her.
As if sensing how distressed she had become, which she quickly realized he undoubtedly could, Inuyasha’s eyes snapped up to meet Kagome’s gaze in that moment, his golden orbs functioning more as the proverbial windows to the soul in that moment than she’d ever seen them do in the past three and a half years.
“Kagome…” he murmured in awe, and she immediately exhaled in relief, the tone behind the single word already indicating that he didn’t hate her painting or feel made fun of because of it. Sensing her relief as well, he quickly assured her of such.
“By the gods, Kagome, this is so…I don’t know what to say…” Taking a moment to catch his own breath, he reached over and squeezed her hand for a second before quickly releasing her, asking softly, “How did you…?” He couldn’t finish his question, but she knew what he was asking.
“Remember when your youketsu collided with my aura, the day you and Miroku had to deal with that stupid rumor about Hitomi Watanabe?” she asked as way of answering.
“How could I forget…” he muttered, blinking a moment before meeting her eyes once more. Such a collision of energies wouldn’t have affected a normal human all that much. They might have just gotten the chills for a second, a flash of heebie-jeebies from coming into such close proximity with a demonic aura, but certainly nothing else ever would have come of it. But because Kagome was a miko, she was special. She also possessed her own personal brand of magic, which was why he’d also felt the collision. A normal human’s aura was nowhere near powerful enough for a youkai to ‘feel’ in that way, but because reiki was an even match for youki in most areas he had felt her just as vividly as she had felt him. He’d never forgotten that sensation, either, the feel of her invading his very being, but with peaceful intentions.
“And you saw this?” he asked, just to clarify.
Nodding, Kagome explained, “Normally I have to meditate with the person for several minutes to seek out such a vision, but with you…ever since that day I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I had to paint it.”
“…Sorry?” he apologized sheepishly, not having meant to burden her with such a thing.
“I’m not.”
Blushing a little himself at that, Inuyasha felt only marginally relieved that most of their audience had finally decided their personal lives weren’t that interesting, after all, the crowd of nosy onlookers gradually dispersing. Once they were more or less alone with only a few lingering eavesdroppers nearby, Inuyasha hesitantly reached for Kagome’s hand a second time, giving it another squeeze, only that time he didn’t let go right away afterwards.
“Now I feel stupid for just getting you a cheesy music box. So much work and thought went into your gift…” he sighed.
“Don’t worry about it.” she assured him honestly. “I think the music box is cute, and besides, I wanted to make you that painting. The most important gift you’ve given me tonight is just you showing up, so that I could give it to you.”
“Still, though, I feel like I owe you something.” he insisted, the look in his eyes shy and hesitant.
Suddenly, Kagome had a feeling she knew where he was trying to go with that line of thought, and so she quickly decided to help ease the burden of him actually having to ask her.
“Well, if you really want to make it up to me, you can take me out to dinner tomorrow night.”
His eyes widened in surprise at that, not at the invite itself since that had been what he'd been trying to muscle up the courage to ask, but the date. It wasn’t that tomorrow night was so soon, it was just…
“But…tomorrow night’s Christmas Eve.”
“And…?”
“Don’t you…ya know, celebrate Christmas with your family or somethin’?”
“I’m sure Mama would understand.” Kagome stated reassuringly, before her eyes suddenly widened a bit. “Unless…unless you have other pl-”
“No.” he interrupted right away. “No other plans.” Gulping nervously, Inuyasha gave Kagome’s hand another little squeeze, and completely uncaring of the few lingering sets of eyes still upon them from the few curious onlookers that remained, he met her eyes and asked officially for the record, “Would…uh…would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
She smiled.
“I’d love to.”
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
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Chapter 2 – It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
The rest of the summer seemed to breeze by.
Inuyasha had passed his television debut with flying colors, namely yellow and orange sparks when he’d tried to peal Miroku’s ofuda off of Hitomi’s arm. After a few tries he’d even successfully pulled it off, the strip of paper immediately catching on fire in his hand, forcing him to drop it. There was no doubt in the public’s eye; Hitomi Watanabe was 100% human. In a show of gratitude for clearing her name, the award winning actress had given both Inuyasha and Miroku VIP passes to the premier screening of her new upcoming movie, which Inuyasha had graciously (for him) declined attending, giving his ticket to Sango so that she and the pervert could go together.
There was very little ripple effect in his own life from having appeared on the news; all of Inuyasha’s fellow paparazzi had already met the hanyou at one point in time or another as they’d stake out the same bigger events together, and so there was nobody willing to hound him for his ‘unveiled’ appearance now that he’d had his very own fifteen minutes of fame. Nobody dared say or do anything to piss him off. As for the magazine that had originally accused Miss Watanabe of being a kitsune, they still stuck by their original photograph, insisting that even though the actress was human there was obviously at least one kitsune on the loose impersonating various actors at times. Inuyasha had merely rolled his eyes as some people began suggesting there should be an increase in security at Hollywood events. Just so long as nobody tried putting up a barrier that would keep him out then they could do whatever they wanted.
The story had fizzled out quickly enough. Newer and juicier celebrity gossip was always great for inducing ADD in the general population, and the rest of the summer had floated by with the usual bikini shots, baby-bump scandals, and on-the-set rumors for whatever may or may not have happened behind the scenes during production of all the newly released summer blockbusters.
In other words…bor-ing… Inuyasha mentally sighed from his hiding place up in a tree, camera in hand. The leaves would be falling soon, and then he’d lose one of his best vantage points for the season. Oh well, might as well make the most of it, he thought, as the front door opened and his target emerged to collect her mail, sans makeup.
“Oh honey…maybe she’s born with it, but you definitely need the Maybelline.” he joked to himself, clicking away.
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“Hold the elevator!”
Fighting back a wave of giggles at the sight before her, Kagome pushed the ‘doors open’ button to keep the elevator from shutting in the face of the…
Is she supposed to be a faerie?
…that was racing towards her position as fast as her silver-glitter stilettos would carry her.
“Thanks…” Rin panted with a hand braced against the elevator’s far wall as she made it inside, her coworker hitting the ‘10’ button to begin their ascent.
“What are you wearing?” Kagome asked with a huge grin.
“What?” Rin defended with an innocent blink. “Sango and Miroku both said that costumes were okay.”
“Oh yeah…yeah Halloween costumes are definitely okay.” Kagome agreed, gesturing briefly to her own ensemble, that of a female pirate.
And here she’d been a little worried that her outfit was over the top. Rin was sporting a white miniskirt and sleeveless silver bodice, the aforementioned glittery silver stiletto heels, white and silver yarn twists in her hair, and a small-enough-so-they-won’t-get-in-the-way-but-still-large-enough-to -be-noticed pair of white and silver pixie wings attached to the back of her top.
“Cute…” Kagome complemented after she finished eyeing Rin up and down. “Are you trying to make Miroku make a pass at you?” she asked with a laugh, earning a chuckle from the teenager.
After her summer internship had ended Rin had eagerly jumped at the chance to continue on with an official position at the magazine as Sango’s personal assistant, Miroku having told her the job was hers if she wanted it after such an exemplary performance so far. The seventeen-year-old loved working for Shikon Weekly, and she had been right, it hadn’t taken her all that long to get inside the inner gossip circles. Befriending Kagome and Sango had been the best decision of her life.
“Do you suppose Inuyasha dressed up today?”
“Honestly, I doubt he’ll be in at all, even though it’s Monday.” Kagome replied, another thing she’d learned about the hanyou by that point being that he did not like Halloween. “If he did come in today, then no, I don’t think he’ll be dressed up.”
The miko still remembered the faux pas she’d apparently made by asking the hanyou himself what he would be dressing up as three years ago, when they’d been approaching the first Halloween after she’d met him. Of course, since Halloween had been on a Friday that year she’d already known that he wouldn’t be in the office, the hanyou typically only coming in on Mondays and Tuesdays unless Miroku called him in for something, but being the friendly, conversational girl that she was she’d asked him in passing what he was planning on dressing up as for Halloween simply as a means of breaking the ice. Surely he’d be going out, with his camera of course, Halloween night being a huge night for celebrity scandals, but just because he’d be working didn’t mean he couldn’t also enjoy himself at the same time.
Or so she’d thought.
She quite vividly recalled the way he’d glared at her, before asking none too politely “What the hell should I dress up as? A human?!”
That was the only time one of his angry retorts had actually made her cower in fear a little bit; apparently Halloween was a bit of a sore spot. Warning Rin in that moment so that the girl could avoid the risk of incurring Inuyasha’s wrath herself should he be in, Rin thanked Kagome for the heads up right before the elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Kikyou – dressed in traditional miko garb.
“Cute.” Kagome greeted with a nod of her head and smirk to show the receptionist that her irony was acknowledged and appreciated.
“I thought so.” Kikyou replied with a slick smile as Kagome and Rin headed past. “Love the wings!” she called after them to Rin.
“Thanks!” Rin called back.
“He is here…” Kagome murmured to herself in mild surprise, immediately picking up on the feel of Inuyasha’s youki. She’d always been able to sense demonic auras, of course, but after working for so long in such close proximity to the guy she’d actually learned how to recognize his specific youki signature. Although he was the only one in the building of demonic blood, which made identifying him much easier, if she hypothetically ever found herself surrounded by a large group of youkai, which she doubted she would, she would still easily be able to pick out Inuyasha’s aura from the crowd.
“Well I’ll be…” the miko chimed back up, the girl almost in awe of the sight before her. Inuyasha was wearing jeans…he always wore professional dress slacks…and a t-shirt that said, 'This is my costume.'
It’s not much, but it’s a hell of a lot more than I was expecting.
Maybe Kagome wasn’t the only one trying to change up their routine.
The thought made her smile.
“Ahoy matey!” she bellowed joyfully as she passed his desk, and her ears might’ve been human, but she could’ve sworn she heard the sound of Inuyasha quietly chuckling to himself before she turned the corner.
Watching her go, Inuyasha just shook his head before getting back to work. Kagome had been…different…for the last few months, but not in a bad way. She hadn’t asked him out to lunch recently, but then again the last couple of times she had she’d specifically said for him to let her know whenever he wanted to have lunch together, so maybe she was just respecting his space, knowing that he knew her invitation still stood whenever he was ready and willing to take her up on it. Other than that, though, she’d also seemed more…genuine…with her simple hellos and goodbyes as of late, not quite so nervous around him as she used to be, although it was definitely still there just under the surface. He’d come to discover that if they did happen to speak for whatever reason, that her heart rate would rapidly start increasing the longer he looked at her, but begrudgingly he would admit at least to himself that that didn’t necessarily mean she was afraid of him. Confused, uncertain, and almost desperate for answers he’d even gone so far as trying to ask Miroku about it, sure the monk would have insider information, but the houshi hadn’t really been all that helpful when he’d evasively answered with something along the lines of Sango gelding him if he dared say anything. But even that non-answer had been mildly helpful, because it meant that Kagome had indeed discussed something with Sango, something Sango had obviously spilled to Miroku even though Kagome had probably sworn her to secrecy, and Miroku was in turn keeping his own vow of silence for fear of castration.
Just what are you hiding, Kagome?
“I’m your biggest fan; I’ll follow you until you love me. Papa-paparazzi.”
Pulled out of his musings, Inuyasha jerked his head towards the sound of Rin’s cell, the faerie girl sending him a nervous chuckle before hitting mute and tucking the phone back in her skirt pocket. Both surprising and relieving the teenager, he chuckled a bit himself, shaking his head in amusement, a twinkle in his golden eyes.
“Cute, now get to work before Miroku sees you and drools all over you.”
“Yes, sir.” she answered with a laugh, scurrying away towards Sango’s office the best she could in those shoes.
With his own phone going off with a charm to let him know he had a new incoming e-mail, Inuyasha officially put the crazy teenager out of his head as a devilish smirk slowly exposed his fangs, once he saw just who it was. Last week, still desperate for answers but at the same time still being far too chicken-shit to risk humiliating himself should he be wrong, Inuyasha had come up with an ingenious plan to ask Kagome how she felt without just coming out and asking her how she felt. He had created a brand new free e-mail account that was completely generic and sent Kagome an anonymous e-mail through their blog site asking for advice. She’d just written back.
“Dear Kagome,
There’s a woman I work with who I’d thought for sure couldn’t stand me, a logical assumption since it’s the reaction I’ve gotten most of my life because of my…scars…but now I think I might be wrong. Sure she was always nice enough, on the surface, but underneath I always got the feeling she couldn’t wait to get away from me, like just looking at me made her skin crawl. I’d thought for sure she was just acting nice on the surface to be, well, nice, but that that was where it ended. Now I’m not so sure. The problem is nobody’s ever liked me before so I don’t know how to recognize the signs, I think I might have been misinterpreting her ‘nervous’ body language but I don’t want to just come out and ask her and risk being wrong and making a total fool of myself. But I doubt she’ll ever be brave enough to be more open with her feelings toward me because…well…back when I thought she was just acting nice to be professional I was a bit defensive and boorish with her. Let’s just say I’m used to people not really liking me all that much, and to be honest I’m still not 100% sure how this woman really feels. If I was right in the first place and she was just trying to be polite then I’ll look like I total douche. Any advice you could give for subtly letting her know I’m not adverse to the idea of getting to know her better without the risk of it blowing up in my face if she doesn’t feel that way about me would be greatly appreciated.
- Confused & Apprehensive”
And her reply…
“Dear Confused & Apprehensive,
Wow, I don’t think I’ve come across a situation quite like yours before. First allow me to apologize on behalf of all of the cruel people in this world who’ve treated you differently simply based on your appearance. I realize I don’t know what you look like, but there’s a big difference between being initially startled by a person’s unexpected appearance and actually being cruel to them because of it. If you thought at first that this woman also had a problem with you because of your looks but now you’re not so sure, then perhaps she was genuinely surprised at first, which isn’t the same as repulsed, and now she likes you since she’s gotten to know you as a person and your features are no longer shocking. Of course, I can’t guarantee that’s the case; I’m not there witnessing how she acts so all I can offer is advice based on how I think I would feel. I know for me, personally, no matter how shocking somebody might look on the outside I would never allow that to prevent me from truly getting to know that person on the inside. As for your question of if there is anything subtle you can do to feel out the situation with this woman without the risk of humiliation should you be seeing something that isn’t there, the best advice I can give in that regard would be to just be yourself, let your defenses drop a little bit. Lowering your wall isn’t the same thing as asking her out on a date, and it won’t open you up to too much risk if she’s being polite enough on the surface. If she has no desire to be let in in the first place then opening the door doesn’t hurt anything in the long run. You said you were defensive and boorish in the beginning, back before you’d thought she might like you, so I’m assuming by that statement that you’ve already stopped acting so cruel, which is definitely a good thing. Now it’s time to take it to the next step. You don’t have to go out of your way to seek her out, at least not at first, but the next time you’re speaking with her, when you start to feel what you feel when you think she might be nervous around you because of a crush rather than because of your scars, do something simple like a smile, an extra kind word, say her named added to ‘thank you’ instead of just ‘thanks’ the next time that opportunity arises. You’d be amazed how quickly women notice little things like that, and if she’s not interested she’ll probably start to shy away from you herself, perhaps afraid that feelings are developing on your end, but she certainly won’t call you on it with no proof. If you ask her out then there’s the risk of her saying no and the ensuing humiliation, I get that, so start small, give her baby steps that at least show her you’re not blind to her feelings. If she does like you, then instead of shying away she’ll be encouraged, and then who knows, it just might be her asking you out on a date. Give it a shot. I’m here for you if you need any more help.
-Kagome”
“Wow…just wow.” Inuyasha mumbled to himself. Of course, he’d had to keep it vague for fear of Kagome recognizing the similarities, so he hadn’t felt comfortable bringing up the fact that the woman actually had already asked him out to lunch a few times in the past. Still, though, Kagome’s advice was good. Damn good. He certainly wouldn’t approach her, because that would be entirely out of character for him and she’d immediately know something was up, but he would be nicer to her from here on out. He had thought that ‘being nice’ equated to not being mean, but just biting his tongue to keep from saying something rude certainly wasn’t the same thing as smiling at her or saying her name.
So chicks notice that kind of stuff, huh?
He was still half-tempted to surprise her by accepting her open invitation to lunch, just to see her face, but it wasn’t worth the possible backlash if word spread throughout the office that he liked Kagome, at least not if she didn’t feel the same way.
``````````````````````````````
“Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight-”
“Walkin’ ‘round in women’s underwear!” Miroku chimed in, causing Sango to sigh in exasperation before chuckling a bit despite herself.
“Must you sing Christmas parodies?”
“Must you sing traditional Christmas carols?”
The slayer raised one elegant eyebrow, but Miroku’s poker face never wavered. “Touché.” she finally relented, and he smirked in triumph.
“I can’t wait till the Christmas party!” Kagome chimed in from the doorway, entering Sango’s office behind Miroku.
“Indeed, I hear you are particularly looking forward to this year’s Secret Santa.” Miroku replied with a slight edge of curiosity in his voice, his girlfriend having offered him no details.
“Oh, you have no idea.” Kagome responded cryptically, sending Sango a playful wink that had the slayer giggling before handing Kagome a small wicker basket.
The miko then proceeded to reach into her pocket and pull out a handful of tiny folded pieces of paper, tossing them into the basket. The name draw…but there weren’t nearly enough papers to represent everybody on the entire floor.
Miroku’s silent raised eyebrow was enough for Kagome to answer with “You’ll see.” before heading back out of the office.
Following a little ways behind the miko, Miroku observed in silence as she approached Inuyasha’s desk.
“Pick a name!” she spoke up happily, causing both Miroku and Inuyasha to raise an eyebrow at her.
“I don’t participate in the Secret Santa.” the hanyou informed her with a polite enough tone of voice.
“Well that’s about to change, now that Sango put me in charge of this year’s Christmas party. Your name was included, and that means that you need to draw a name. Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Sighing, Inuyasha wanted to say no; he wanted to explain to Kagome that he never attended the Christmas party, and therefore whomever he drew for the Secret Santa would get gypped because he wouldn’t be getting them a present. But just the thought that she had included him… Looking up into her smiling blue-gray eyes, not even the remotest hint of nervousness presently clouding her scent, he was immediately accosted with just how lovely she truly was, and suddenly, he just didn’t have the heart to say no. He was still trying to do that whole ‘be nicer’ thing, after all, in the hopes that she might one day make it obvious whether or not she felt that way about him. Her bubbly coming up to him and informing him that she had included him in the Secret Santa had to count for something, right? What better way to be nice, then, than to give in when she oh-so-obviously wanted him to comply?
Maybe attending this year’s Christmas party will be fun…it’ll certainly be worth it to see Kagome smile…
Plus seeing the surprised faces of everyone else might make it worth it, too, since most of the old timers in the office thought of him more or less as the resident scrooge during the holiday season.
“Fine, whatever.” he finally caved then, his tone of voice a slight bit softer than his words, though not by much. He still had to keep it at least a little bit in character, after all.
Reaching into the basket, he took the first piece of paper within reach, silently hoping he’d actually plucked his own name. That would be win/win because then not only would he not have to worry about buying some tchotchke Hallmark crap for somebody he hardly knew, but at the same time nobody else would be put in the awful position of having to buy him some tchotchke Hallmark crap.
“Thanks…Kagome.” he murmured almost under his breath, but loud enough for the girl to hear.
Beaming at Inuyasha with an award winning smile, her heart now fluttering quite loudly, Kagome quickly turned and veered around the office floor, backtracking to Sango’s personal office without Inuyasha noticing her destination. Miroku was hot on her heels, however, and he quickly followed Kagome back inside his girlfriend’s office, closing the door behind him before whispering a quick chant and slapping his hand against the door, effectively creating a soundproof barrier.
Kagome gazed Miroku’s way with a raised eyebrow and knowing smirk.
“Something you don’t want to risk demonic ears overhearing?” she asked almost conversationally.
“Just what are you up to, Kagome?” Miroku asked with a half accusative, half amused tone of voice. “You know Inuyasha doesn’t attend the annual Christmas party.”
She merely shrugged. “He will this year.”
“And how can you be so sure?” Miroku countered. “You know that even if he does come, he probably won’t buy a gift for whoever he drew out of the basket.”
At that Kagome waved her hand dismissively before heading over to Sango’s confetti-cut shredder and quickly grabbing the rest of the name slips from the basket to shred, the slayer saying nothing with an amused grin as she gazed across her desk at Miroku with knowing eyes.
It only took the monk 1.5 seconds to catch on.
“You rigged the Secret Santa!” he gasped in astonishment, not so much angered by that fact as he was amused, not having thought ‘sweet, innocent Kagome’ would have it in her to do something so devious.
Once again, the miko waved her hand dismissively, not panicked by his outburst since he’d put up a barrier, which she actually appreciated. She didn’t want her plans spoiled, after all. Taking the empty basket and refilling it with the real name slips Sango had ready to go in her desk drawer, she then raised her eyes and met Miroku’s knowing smirk head on.
“Only between Inuyasha and myself.” she explained as means of defense. “I don’t mind that he won’t get me anything, but I just had to make sure that I was able to give him my present.”
“Is it going to be another one of your sketches?” Miroku asked with genuine curiosity, familiar with Kagome’s traditional gift.
“Yes and no.” the miko answered cryptically.
For the last three Christmases Kagome had made for whomever she’d picked as her Secret Santa an 8x10 portrait of themselves, but they had not been normal sketches. Done with color pencil, the incredibly life-like images had been almost fanciful in style, captured glimpses of the person’s innermost soul. Last year she had picked Eri, for example, and she had drawn the fashionista in the most glamorous of gowns in a ballroom scene like something out of the 17th century.
In three short years her sketches had become quite the talk of the office once Christmas time came rolling around, everyone dying to know whom she’d pick and what she’d draw. The Secret Santa was supposed to be a surprise, but Kagome – usually – needed to meditate with the person in order to conjure up those images. She’d tricked the first person by telling them she was giving everyone a spiritual reading, something she liked to do for her friends around the holidays, but by the second year her Secret Santa hadn’t been fooled, the cat having been out of the bag after the first sketch had been revealed and the recipient had realized that no one else had received such a ‘reading’. Last year Eri had squealed in delight when Kagome had flat out told her she’d ‘won’, getting her few minutes with the girl the same day as the name draw so that she’d have as much time as possible to work on the sketch. What the drawings were going to look like was always still kept a secret because even though Kagome received the images right then and there she always refused to say what they were of, sealing her lips with the old-fashioned ‘zipper’ sign language while playfully telling her subject they’d just have to wait and see.
This year the surprise would be even grander, because not only had she already had the image she wanted to draw buzzing around in her head since last summer, but having had that much more time to work on it meant she could go bigger and bolder. Inuyasha’s portrait was 16x20, and she had used oil paints instead of colored pencils. It was already finished, dry, wrapped up and ready to be presented, hence her dire need for rigging this year’s Secret Santa exchange. She couldn’t just give it to him for no reason, although it’d probably be obvious to everyone present once he opened it that it had taken her more than two weeks to make. So let the entire office know she had a thing for Inuyasha, she was tired of hiding it. This was her ‘coming out’ party, so to speak, and if anything, if it blew up in her face because he didn’t see her that way, then surely he would still appreciate the gift as something from a friend. She could explain to him her gift, how she could receive such visions and how she had always done drawings like that for all of her friends and family since she had been a little girl, and how after receiving that vision from their inadvertent aura collision she’d just felt compelled to draw it. One thing was for sure, and that was that no matter what the outcome was from this fiasco, he would certainly be unable to believe she thought of him as nothing but a charity case. She still wasn’t certain if that was how he saw her to begin with, though he’d certainly been acting a lot nicer to her in the last few months. Maybe he had thought that, at first, but no longer did. Now if only he’d take her up on one of her many previous invitations out to lunch.
One thing at a time, Kagome…
The expression ‘go big or go home’ came to mind; at least no one could call her a coward.
Lowering his barrier, Miroku gave Kagome one last smirk before heading back to his own office, but not before plucking a name from the Secret Santa basket. Leaving the miko to her task, then, he silently prayed that Inuyasha would indeed show up to the Christmas party. He had more or less conceded when he’d accepted that piece of paper from Kagome, albeit begrudgingly, but the inu-hanyou was nothing if not a man of his word. ‘Fine, whatever’ might be blaringly unenthusiastic, but it wasn’t a no.
`````
As the hanyou noticed Kagome continuing to buzz around their floor, going from desk to desk handing out the name slips, he couldn’t help the troubling sigh that escaped his lips as he glanced one more time down at the name he held in his name.
Why did it have to be her? he questioned uselessly, knowing the answer. The gods were fucking with him, that’s why.
For the briefest of moments Inuyasha had wanted to believe that Kagome had done it on purpose, but what could she possibly hope to gain if that were true? Well now, only way to find that out was to go to the party, wasn’t it? But what the hell to get her as a gift? What did women even like? Teddy bears? Regrettably, Inuyasha had to admit, at least to himself, that he really didn’t know all that much about Kagome. He couldn’t even make an educated guess based on the things she had received in previous years since he’d never before attended the stupid party. Stalking her from the shadows to observe her routine probably wouldn’t work, either, because he could feel for himself how powerful her miko aura was, which meant he was nearly positive that if he got close enough to see what kind of stuff she liked in the stores that he would also be within her youki sensing range. That wouldn’t do. The last thing he wanted to do was inadvertently let Kagome feel him following her; heaven forbid the girl actually thought he was stalking her for reasons other than Christmas shopping reconnaissance. If his mother were still alive he would call her in a heartbeat, but unfortunately the human woman had passed away from heart disease back when he was in high school. He’d always tried so hard not to stress her out, to keep his pain to himself so as not to add to her distress, although he was sure she could see his pain in his eyes. She would have loved to see how successful he’d become since then; she would have loved Kagome.
Whoa, getting way too ahead of myself with those kinds of thoughts… the hanyou told himself, snapping himself out of his spiraling daydream.
So what to do? He certainly wasn’t calling his evil bitch of an aunt; she could burn in hell for all he cared. But he also didn’t want to ask any of the office girls, not even Rin or Sango – check that, especially not Rin or Sango – because just on the off chance that Kagome hadn’t rigged the name draw then the last thing he wanted to do was risk giving the girl a heads up that he’d actually drawn her name. He was pretty sure that just about any girl he talked to in the office, especially those two, would rat him out to the miko for sure if he tried asking questions regarding what kind of stuff Kagome liked. He would just have to wing it, then. It was the thought that counted, or so they said, whoever ‘they’ were.
She damn well better appreciate the fact that I’m even going to the stupid party…
``````````````````````````````
“Me rry Christmas!” Miroku greeted with an exaggerated welcoming sweep of his arms, causing Rin to giggle before leaning in to chastely peck his cheek.
“Works every time.” the houshi stated playfully to the miko by his side while pointing up to the piece of mistletoe hanging from a bent wire perched atop his hat, Kagome rolling her eyes before heading back over to where Sango waited by the punch bowl. She would let the slayer handle it if her boyfriend got out of hand, though so far Miroku was behaving himself, for Miroku.
“And he wonders why I haven’t agreed to marry him yet.” the slayer grumbled to her friend once Kagome was back by her side, although it was obvious there wasn’t any true bite behind her words.
“Oh come on, you know you’re just saving it for tomorrow night.” Kagome joked, causing Sango to playfully put her finger to her lips and shush the miko as if she had nearly spilled a national secret.
Giggling, Sango then reached for the ladle in the punch bowl to pour herself another cup of punch.
Gesturing towards the giant bowl of fruit flavored sugar water, Kagome crinkled her nose and asked, “How much booze is in there, anyway?”
“Not nearly enough.” Sango answered before laughing again and then taking a drink.
Laughing as well, Kagome poured her own second glass, and was just about to take a sip when a small gasp escaped her instead.
“What is it?” Sango asked in concern.
“My spider senses are tingling.” Kagome replied with a crooked grin.
“You don’t say…”
“I do say, and I see…” the miko stated playfully, gesturing towards the elevator past the empty reception desk and the silver-haired man who was, rather apprehensively in her opinion, joining the party.
“Inuyasha!” Miroku bellowed joyously from his place as self-appointed host. “Welcome!”
Nearly everyone in the office turned to gape at the hanyou at their boss’ words, and Kagome’s heart immediately went out to the guy, his expression not unlike the male subject of the classic ‘went to school in your underwear’ dream, even though he was fully dressed in dark brown slacks and a deep red sweater. Quickly rushing over to his rescue, punch still in hand, she cut a few people off at the pass as she reached him before anyone else could, holding up her beverage as a peace offering.
“You look like you could use this more than me.” she stated quickly as way of greeting.
To her complete astonishment, he actually took the punch from her hand, and after giving it a quick yet noticeable sniff he mumbled a quiet “Thanks.” before downing the artificially colored liquid in a single gulp.
“It’ll be okay, just breathe.” she added after a moment, her voice amused although it was clear she wasn’t actually laughing at him, not that she was really laughing with him since he wasn’t laughing, but Inuyasha could easily smell the faint traces of alcohol coming from the girl’s breath and accurately deduced that she was feeling marginally less inhibited than usual.
“I don’t know how you managed to talk me into this.” he grumbled honestly.
The place was a madhouse, their entire office floor decked out head to toe with cheesy Christmas decorations, streamers and lights. Folding tables from the employee lounge had been brought in and lined the walls with an assortment of chips, party trail mixes, cookies and brownies, cans of soda, not to mention the infamous ‘punch’ bowl. Christmas music was playing on somebody’s stereo rather loudly, and over half the people in attendance were already at least partially intoxicated if not completely drunk off their asses. It wasn’t really as if Inuyasha had arrived that late, but drinking was simply the first thing that most people did when they got there, and therefore it didn’t take too long for the ‘punch’ to kick in – especially when it was repeatedly being spiked by multiple employees after having already been alcoholic to begin with.
Just what I need, to be surrounded by all the people I work with while they’re at their loudest and smelliest…
The next words out of Kagome’s mouth quickly pulled Inuyasha from his spiraling scrooge-y-ness.
“Well…I’m really glad you decided to come.”
Blinking at the miko in surprise, he finally took in her appearance, and nearly chocked on the lump in his throat. She usually wore skirts to work, but they were longer, business appropriate. The tiny pleated thing she presently had on barely covered anything, and absentmindedly he thought to congratulate her on still being able to fit into her old high school uniform; that was what the skirt looked like at least. Her sweater top was short-sleeved and fuzzy white, a nice contrast against the dark green skirt and her raven black hair. He had to quit staring before she realized what such an innocent – yet at the same time wholly not innocent – outfit did to him.
Averting his eyes, he numbly handed her the small, Christmas wrapped box he held in his hand, before stuttering through an embarrassed, “Uh- I…that is…”
“Oh, Secret Santa gifts go over there.” Kagome pointed, trying her best to act as if she didn’t know the gift was for her, all the while inwardly screaming in giddiness over the fact that he’d actually gotten her something. She didn’t care what was in the box; Inuyasha had bought her something for the gift exchange! She suddenly felt more like a schoolgirl with a crush than she had the first day she’d met him, and abruptly excused herself to go get herself that much needed second drink, promising him she’d be back in a few minutes.
Gradually loosening up a bit as most people at the party got back to whatever it was they had been doing before they’d been startled by his unexpected arrival, Inuyasha made his way over towards his desk, which was remarkably free of party clutter. It was nice to know that everyone respected his space even when he wasn’t there.
“Uh-uh-uh…” Miroku chimed in as he approached the hanyou from behind. “No work allowed. Tonight is all about fun!”
“I don’t really ‘do’ fun.” Inuyasha mumbled, though he relented and turned away from his desk, eyeing Miroku up and down. Despite himself a small chuckle escaped his lips at the sight. The houshi was dressed in khakis topped by a green and white Christmas sweater, not to mention the handmade ‘kiss me’ cap on his head.
“You do know that mistletoe is poisonous, right?”
“Was I going to eat it?” Miroku retorted.
“Knowing you, you just might, if you thought it’d make a girl stick her tongue down your throat in pursuit.”
Chuckling, Miroku shook his head in delighted amusement before removing the cap from his head and sitting it on the hanyou’s desk, which was simply the nearest surface they were standing next to at the moment. Inuyasha glared at the hat for a second but quickly decided to let it go as Miroku spoke back up.
“Ah, but you know well that when it comes to such levels of intimacy there is only one girl with whom I would willingly participate, and for her I don’t need such parlor tricks.”
“No, actually, she’s waiting for you to stop your parlor tricks altogether.” came Kagome’s voice from behind, and Inuyasha hid his smirk as Miroku’s face adopted the expression of a scolded ten-year-old boy.
“I’m so misunderstood.” Miroku mumbled to himself with a pout, earning a chuckle from the hanyou.
Kagome smiled at Inuyasha as Miroku walked away, the sound of his mild laughter music to her ears.
“Okay, so I’m here.” he stated to the girl as if waiting for something to happen. “Now what?”
“Now…we relax and have a good time hanging out.” she explained as though it were obvious, but with a playful wink in lieu of genuine sarcasm.
“Ugh.”
“Oh good, I was afraid that one would have earned me a ‘feh’…’ugh’ is higher up on the acceptance scale.”
Inuyasha barked out a genuine laugh at that one, mostly because it was true. “And ‘keh’?” he asked her then, a spark of teasing in his golden eyes.
Kagome blushed a little – or was she just flushed from the alcohol? – but quickly answered him, merriment sparkling in her own blue-gray orbs.
“‘Keh’ is the most versatile noncommittal one can articulate, the monosyllabic utterance simultaneously synonymous with both the proverbial slang ‘whatever’ as well as the more sincere acknowledgment of truly accepting whatever details may surround any given situation. It suggestions compliance without expressly verbalizing agreement.”
Playfully whistling in astonishment, Inuyasha smirked at the miko and said, “If I weren’t also a writer, I’d think you were trying to show off or something.”
“Who said I wasn’t trying to show off?” Kagome countered, clearly a little buzzed although she wasn’t that drunk.
Inuyasha was at a loss for words at that response, so flashing her a crooked grin that showed off one of his fangs, he met her eyes and answered, “Keh.”
Kagome nearly toppled over in laughter, earning them a few curious glances from some of the other partygoers, although before he could worry about getting himself in any deeper Sango suddenly rushed in to the rescue.
“You might want to steer clear of the Long Island Hawaiian Punch.” Sango warned the hanyou. “I think four different people with flasks overheard me saying the punch wasn’t spiked enough.”
“Only four?” Inuyasha inquired with a raised eyebrow.
Sango snorted.
“Hey!” Kagome protested. “I’m not drunk!”
Rolling her eyes, Sango stated, “And I’d like to keep it that way, so let’s both switch to soda for an hour or two.”
Kagome was still level headed enough to know that she definitely didn’t want to risk ruining what was to come, so she readily agreed, unable to believe she’d just been joking around with Inuyasha though she didn’t regret a second of it or feel embarrassed.
Left to his own devices it didn’t take too long for Inuyasha to officially feel bored and out of place, but he had been right, seeing her smile had been worth it. He knew he was stuck, now, because he couldn’t leave at least until after the gift exchange was over. While he supposed he could ditch out early, since surely whoever had drawn his name hadn’t gotten him anything – they probably hadn’t thought he’d show up since he never did and so he didn’t really blame them – he couldn’t leave early because a part of him desperately wanted to see Kagome’s reaction when she opened her present. It wasn’t much, but he’d like to think he’d done at least a little bit better than the cliché teddy bear. It had still come out of a knickknack shop, but his mother used to have one and so he hoped it was something that most women liked. A part of him was terrified to see Kagome’s reaction, in case he was wrong, but he tried to reason with that irrational fear; he hadn’t gotten her anything romantic, after all, so why the hell should he fear her reaction to the gift? It was a gift exchange! He’d drawn her name! He was supposed to buy her something, and so hopefully even if she didn’t like it she wouldn’t say anything hurtful in front of everyone else. While he couldn’t really say he knew for sure since he’d never before attended one of these things, surely there was an unwritten rule about always graciously accepting whatever present you were given regardless of your innermost feelings about it. If she didn’t like then it she could throw it away once she got home tonight, no hard feelings, although truthfully he hoped she would like it.
Deciding to at least try and get into the spirit of things then, at least a little bit, Inuyasha slowly began wandering around their office floor, saying a few casual hellos to the coworkers who were nice enough to say hello to him first, acknowledging their surprise but also delight in seeing him finally attending the annual celebration. A few people even said they hoped he made a habit out of it from here on out; maybe he wasn’t as disliked around the office as he’d always thought he was. Maybe everyone always just left him alone because he sent out that ‘leave me alone’ vibe, which only Kagome ignored. He quirked his lip up in mild amusement at the thought; there was no way Kagome was oblivious to his standoffishness. No, she was deliberately ignoring his ‘leave me alone’ vibe for sure, now the only question left was why. Letting that thought drift out of him as quickly as it’d come, he told himself not to worry about it in that moment, certain he would find out sooner or later. For at least that moment in time, he didn’t want to vitiate his evening with such thoughts.
Gradually, as he socialized with everyone at the party, a different type of curiosity began setting in. Who had drawn his name? Had that person gotten him something? It wasn’t really as if he wanted or needed anything, but slowly but surely the feeling he’d almost forgotten all about, that feeling of being a kid on Christmas morning, was starting to bubble up in his gut. He was starting to have a good time. At the same time, curiosity was buzzing all around him for who Kagome had picked, several people quizzing each other in the hopes of finding out because apparently the miko would tell whomever she’d chosen that she’d picked them in advance so that she could do some sort of…something. He was only able to pick up bits and pieces of the conversations here and there, but apparently Kagome always gave whomever she picked a pencil sketch of themselves. He hadn’t even known she could draw, but apparently she was quite the artist because the room was all a buzz about it in little private groups here and there, nobody able to figure out whose name she’d drawn that year.
Before he could start thinking on it too deeply himself, though, Inuyasha’s attention was suddenly pulled towards the sound of the miko’s voice, as well as joyful laughter and whistling, coming from a large group of people who were all crowded around the boom box on Eri’s desk. Kylie Minogue’s rendition of ‘Santa Baby’ was playing, and Kagome was singing over it…rather artistically.
“Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me. Been an awful good girl, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.” she sang, dancing around in such a manner that revealed she knew damn well what that short skirt of hers did to all the guys in the office.
Inuyasha would’ve been struck with a wave of possessive jealousy if it weren’t for fact that the miko wasn’t his. He felt conflicted; on the one hand he wanted to put a stop to all the other guys ogling her in such a way, but on the other hand he was a warm-blooded male too and so he wanted to watch as well. Shaking his head in amusement after a moment, he at least had to admit that Kagome knew how to entertain a crowd. One sniff of the girl revealed that while she was perhaps a little tipsy, she wasn’t anywhere near drunk enough to be acting so foolishly against her better judgment. She wouldn’t regret it come morning; she was doing it on purpose.
“She always does this.” Sango chimed in in that moment from his side, as if reading his thoughts, the slayer’s huge grin communicating that, apparently, he’d been missing out on quite the show by failing to attend the three previous Christmas parties.
“Santa baby, a '54 convertible too, light blue. I’ll wait up for your dear, Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.” Kagome continued singing, her eyes sparkling with merriment as she spotted Inuyasha in the crowd. Slowly, she approached his position.
“Think of all the fun I’ve missed. Think of all the fellas that I haven’t kissed. Next year I could be just as good, if you’ll check off my Christmas list.” she sang provocatively, causing the hanyou to gulp in nervousness while many of the other guys laughed at his expense. Was this like college hazing ‘cause he was the new guy or what? Still, though, he couldn’t find it in him to be angry over that kind of teasing.
Continuing to work the crowd, Kagome eventually gave her fair share of attention to all the different guys standing around, although Inuyasha noted with a moderate amount of relief that she never actually touched anybody, like running her finger up and down their chests or anything. That might’ve pushed his suppressed possessiveness closer to the surface, but just singing and dancing he could handle. Especially when the song got to the part about her wanting a ring, and she eyed Miroku almost accusingly, causing Sango to laugh the loudest while Miroku just looked helpless. As the song came to a close everyone laughed and clapped playfully before getting back to whatever they’d been doing.
“Didn’t know you were such a talented performer.” the hanyou complimented as Kagome came back his way.
Shrugging shyly, Kagome mumbled, “There’s a lot we don’t know about each other yet.”
Opening his mouth, whatever he was going to say got cut off as Miroku chimed in loudly that it was time to open presents, which earned squeals and cheers of joy from the whole office like it was a room full of second-graders.
Obediently allowing himself to be herded in the direction of the present table, Inuyasha smiled a little to himself to note that Kagome had stuck by him, the girl shyly glancing up his way every so often when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. There was no mistaking that statement of hers from before Miroku had interrupted the moment. After tonight’s party was over, if he didn’t chicken out, he’d ask her out to dinner.
As the gift exchange got underway, Inuyasha was content to stand back and watch at first, letting everyone else practically fight over each other to get to the table of presents. Everyone had tagged their gifts ‘To’ and ‘From’ so as everyone more or less fended for themselves when it came to finding the gift with their name on it, they gradually began dispersing to thank each other after tracking down who had gotten them what. Spotting an opportunity to reach the table and noticing that Kagome was just standing there nervously biting her bottom lip, he quickly used his hanyou speed to lunge in and out and snatch the gift he’d gotten for her before another round of people got in his way.
“Merry Christmas, Kagome.” he murmured shyly, aware of the eyes on him as at least half of the crowd slowed down what they were doing to watch their exchange, though he tried his best to tune them out. Nosy bastards.
“Thank you so much.” Kagome answered before even tearing into the paper, the look in her eyes expressing the sincerity of her gratitude.
“You haven’t even opened it yet.” he scolded lightly but with a nervous chuckle, embarrassed that she was making such a big deal out of it.
Immediately opening her present, Kagome’s grin only grew wider as she saw what it actually was. A small, wooden ‘treasure chest’ shaped jewelry/music box. Opening it revealed a velvet-lined place for a few rings and necklaces off to the left, the music box itself to the right. Winding it, she was surprised to find that it played Greensleeves.
“I love this song.” she murmured honestly before looking up to meet his eyes with genuine happiness shining in her own. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
Even more embarrassed, though also secretly pleased, he shrugged in a way he hoped seemed nonchalant, stating, “It’s just a stupid trinket. Wasn’t that expensive.”
Way to go, dumbass… he immediately chastised himself, although Kagome thankfully seemed unfazed at his attempt to belittle the meaning behind his present.
“Oh, and here I’d thought there was a deep, hidden meaning behind it because the first time we’d met I was wearing green, and this song is about unrequited love.” she teased as payback, chuckling as his eyes widened in horror, his brain clearly trying to scramble to remember if she had in fact been wearing a green shirt the first day they’d met, which she actually hadn’t been, although she did have a few in her wardrobe.
“Okay…” she spoke back up, effectively cutting off his train of thought before it could completely derail. “Now it’s your turn to open your present.” she stated authoritatively, her bravado false but efficient nonetheless.
Eyes widening in surprise at her words, Inuyasha gaped like a fish out of water as Kagome reached for the canvas-sized package before handing it over. Quickly regaining his composure, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“This isn’t a coincidence, is it?” he asked, to which she merely shrugged, blushing again.
Chuckling a bit despite himself he started ripping open the wrapping paper, immediately noticing but also trying to ignore the way just about everyone around them was now giving the pair their complete, undivided attention, everyone eager to see what Kagome had painted, most of them surprised by its size. The only people visibly at least trying to give them some small measure of privacy were Sango and Miroku, whom Inuyasha quickly realized must have already known of Kagome’s plan, although even they glanced their way in curiosity a couple of times, Kagome apparently not having shown even them the painting in advance.
Unveiling the portrait in that moment, the room was filled with more than a few gasps. Somebody also either chose that precise moment to turn off the stereo, or perhaps the Christmas mix CD had merely reached its end, but he did not believe in coincidences and so if it wasn’t somebody in the room who’d silenced the music then the gods were fucking with him, again. If life were a movie then the sound effect of a needle scratching across a record would have been added for dramatic effect. You could hear a pin drop, as the saying went, as he stared wordlessly at the painting Kagome had done of himself, unable to speak. It was…fabulous. It was so realistic, it was as if she were the paparazzi, as if it was a photograph instead of an oil painting, but that wasn’t the truly amazing part. The image depicted was of him, of course, but what he was wearing and what he was doing…he heard somebody snicker to a friend far in the back of the room, mumbling sarcastically that Kagome sure could capture his ‘wild’ side, but he let the derogatory dig pass him by unfazed. Kagome had captured his wild side, but that was a good thing as far as he was concerned. The painting was of him dressed in archaic robes from the Feudal era, but in his favorite color, crimson red. His feet were bare, and he sat comfortably perched high up in a tree in what was clearly a relaxed posture, as if simply enjoying gazing out over the countryside, rice fields glistening in the far off background. A battered looking sheathed katana was at his hip, indicating that while he could appreciate peaceful beauty, he wasn’t without the scars of a warrior, that sword clearly having seen battle on more than a few occasions. He would protect himself, defend himself, but all he truly wanted was to be left alone, and live in peace. It was as if his very soul was bared before everyone as they gazed on with judgmental faces, blatantly scrutinizing Kagome’s work, but he didn’t feel naked or exposed. They just didn’t get it, and that was their problem, not his.
Of course, the real cause of most people’s reactions probably had more to do with the fact that she’d made him such a grandiose work of art, rather than the whole ‘hanyou’ thing, having learned enough from his earlier eavesdropping to know that the previous three years she’d given whomever she’d picked a mere 8x10 colored pencil sketch. So why was she playing such favorites with him? That was it, as far as he was concerned. There was no more uncertainty in his mind regarding her feelings. Now he only wished that he hadn’t been such a baka over the last three and a half years.
No time like the present…
Kagome, meanwhile, was slowly freaking out the longer he gazed wordlessly at his portrait without giving any sort of outward indication of what he was thinking. She could hear the whispering going on around them, too, although her ears weren’t sophisticated enough to catch what was being said. But most of the people working there didn’t really have any problem with Inuyasha being a hanyou, she knew, and so she assumed that most of the whispering was simply of the gossip variety, everyone immediately drawing correct conclusions as to why his painting was clearly more special than anyone else’s had ever been. Perhaps a few people were put off by the fact that she apparently felt that way about him, but screw them. All she cared about in that moment was what Inuyasha thought, and she was nearly certain she would faint in the next twenty seconds if he didn’t at least look at her.
As if sensing how distressed she had become, which she quickly realized he undoubtedly could, Inuyasha’s eyes snapped up to meet Kagome’s gaze in that moment, his golden orbs functioning more as the proverbial windows to the soul in that moment than she’d ever seen them do in the past three and a half years.
“Kagome…” he murmured in awe, and she immediately exhaled in relief, the tone behind the single word already indicating that he didn’t hate her painting or feel made fun of because of it. Sensing her relief as well, he quickly assured her of such.
“By the gods, Kagome, this is so…I don’t know what to say…” Taking a moment to catch his own breath, he reached over and squeezed her hand for a second before quickly releasing her, asking softly, “How did you…?” He couldn’t finish his question, but she knew what he was asking.
“Remember when your youketsu collided with my aura, the day you and Miroku had to deal with that stupid rumor about Hitomi Watanabe?” she asked as way of answering.
“How could I forget…” he muttered, blinking a moment before meeting her eyes once more. Such a collision of energies wouldn’t have affected a normal human all that much. They might have just gotten the chills for a second, a flash of heebie-jeebies from coming into such close proximity with a demonic aura, but certainly nothing else ever would have come of it. But because Kagome was a miko, she was special. She also possessed her own personal brand of magic, which was why he’d also felt the collision. A normal human’s aura was nowhere near powerful enough for a youkai to ‘feel’ in that way, but because reiki was an even match for youki in most areas he had felt her just as vividly as she had felt him. He’d never forgotten that sensation, either, the feel of her invading his very being, but with peaceful intentions.
“And you saw this?” he asked, just to clarify.
Nodding, Kagome explained, “Normally I have to meditate with the person for several minutes to seek out such a vision, but with you…ever since that day I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I had to paint it.”
“…Sorry?” he apologized sheepishly, not having meant to burden her with such a thing.
“I’m not.”
Blushing a little himself at that, Inuyasha felt only marginally relieved that most of their audience had finally decided their personal lives weren’t that interesting, after all, the crowd of nosy onlookers gradually dispersing. Once they were more or less alone with only a few lingering eavesdroppers nearby, Inuyasha hesitantly reached for Kagome’s hand a second time, giving it another squeeze, only that time he didn’t let go right away afterwards.
“Now I feel stupid for just getting you a cheesy music box. So much work and thought went into your gift…” he sighed.
“Don’t worry about it.” she assured him honestly. “I think the music box is cute, and besides, I wanted to make you that painting. The most important gift you’ve given me tonight is just you showing up, so that I could give it to you.”
“Still, though, I feel like I owe you something.” he insisted, the look in his eyes shy and hesitant.
Suddenly, Kagome had a feeling she knew where he was trying to go with that line of thought, and so she quickly decided to help ease the burden of him actually having to ask her.
“Well, if you really want to make it up to me, you can take me out to dinner tomorrow night.”
His eyes widened in surprise at that, not at the invite itself since that had been what he'd been trying to muscle up the courage to ask, but the date. It wasn’t that tomorrow night was so soon, it was just…
“But…tomorrow night’s Christmas Eve.”
“And…?”
“Don’t you…ya know, celebrate Christmas with your family or somethin’?”
“I’m sure Mama would understand.” Kagome stated reassuringly, before her eyes suddenly widened a bit. “Unless…unless you have other pl-”
“No.” he interrupted right away. “No other plans.” Gulping nervously, Inuyasha gave Kagome’s hand another little squeeze, and completely uncaring of the few lingering sets of eyes still upon them from the few curious onlookers that remained, he met her eyes and asked officially for the record, “Would…uh…would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
She smiled.
“I’d love to.”