InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love is Blind ❯ Chapter 7

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

 

Chapter Seven

 

 

 

The following morning, Kagome was a mess. She’d already had a good cry against her mother the night before. It’d taken every ounce of acting ability she’d possessed to just wait out the duration of her lunch break in the outdoor shopping center as if she were enjoying the fresh air and then just stroll back into work after her break was over as if everything were fine, so by the time she’d gotten home she’d lost it and told her mother everything. As Mrs. Higurashi checked on her daughter that morning, Kagome wasn’t really any better off.

 

“How are you feeling?” her mother asked her quietly, as she poked her head into Kagome’s bedroom.

 

Although she’d been wide awake for at least an hour, Kagome hadn’t gotten out of bed yet.

 

It’s times like these that I actually appreciate the darkness… she thought bitterly, before deciding she’d better answer her mother.

 

“Like an idiot,” she said.

 

Hearing her mother sigh before entering the room, shutting the door behind her, Kagome sighed as well but nevertheless sat up in bed, and swinging her legs around, she scooted forward until she was sitting on the edge of the bed near the headboard, leaving room for her mother to join her.

 

Seeing the invitation for what it was, Mrs. Higurashi sat down on the bed beside her daughter, and wrapping her right arm around Kagome’s shoulders, the young would-be miko leaned sideways against her mother’s embrace.

 

“Oh Mama...” She sniffled. “I thought he really liked me.”

 

This was the first time the loss of her ‘third eye’ had actually led to such a colossal...well, ‘misunderstanding’ wasn’t the right word, because he had deliberately misled her, but this was the first time anyone had thought to lead her on in such a way, and because of her inability to sense his soul she had fallen for it hook, line and sinker. Although she’d gotten fairly good at reading people’s emotions based on the tone of voice they used, the accuracy of that ability was dependent upon people not deliberately masking their true intentions, and for some reason, call it wishful thinking, she’d stupidly never thought of the possibility that all his kindness, all his reassurances, and his seemingly nervous and insecure moments, had all been an elaborate deception.

 

Even now, it was hard to believe, despite all the mounting evidence to support the theory.

 

“I mean, if he hadn’t just been leading me on from the very beginning, if he’d been sincere at the time in his desire to date me but then something had made him change his mind afterwards, why can’t he just say so?” she asked her mother, her sniffles quickly turning into another round of sobs. “Why can’t he just say ‘I’m sorry Kagome, but I don’t think it’s going to work out’?”

 

“There there...” Mrs. Higurashi cooed, rubbing her daughter’s back.

 

A part of her wanted to drive down to Mushin’s Noodles and tell that boy off for hurting her daughter like this, but another part of her, the one who’d seen the way he’d looked at Kagome, like he was already head over heels in love with her, wanted to hold on to the hope that, somehow, this really was just all a misunderstanding.

 

“Perhaps the next time you’re there you should ask him that,” she said, letting a touch of irritation show in her voice. If Yasha was just jerking her daughter around then there would be hell to pay.

 

At the suggestion, Kagome snorted. Sitting upright a bit and wiping the tear marks from her face, she said, “If I can. He’s been actively avoided me, or something, at least.” She sniffled again. “I mean, yesterday and the day before he wasn’t even there,” she whined.

 

Suddenly, thought, it was as if a light bulb went off.

 

“But I bet he’d be there today,” she said, “‘cause I never go on Sundays so he wouldn’t even be expecting me.” Thinking of something else, she added, “And unless she’s also just been a really good actress all this time, Sango feels sorry for me, for the way he’s been blowing me off.”

 

In fact, yesterday, she had asked the head chef point blank if Yasha really was there and just hiding in the office, telling them to tell her he wasn’t there, and the way Sango had sworn to her that he wasn’t in the premises had really made it sound as if she would have gladly snitched on him if he had been. She had sounded none too pleased with her boss’ disappearing act.

 

“I’m going to take a chance and call the shop,” Kagome said then, mind made up on her newly formed plan of action.

 

For all she knew, Yasha was never there on Sundays, and she definitely didn’t want to waste her time heading down there if it turned out there wasn’t even a chance of speaking with him. Though, honestly, she doubted he wouldn’t be there since for the last two years it’d seemed as if he basically lived there, and with the shop closed on Mondays there were also probably procedures for shutting it down for a day that he’d want to supervise, not to mention things like payroll were generally taken care of on Sundays. Yes, it seemed likely that he’d be there, and Kagome seriously doubted that Sango would rat her out and warn him she was coming.

 

Deciding it was worth the risk, she took the chance and called Mushin’s Noodles, grabbing her cellphone and telling it to make the call, the voice recognition software handling the rest. She figured from what she’d heard over the last two years that either Sango or Miroku would most likely answer the phone, and her guess was proven correct a short moment later when Sango answered. Kagome was glad it was Sango, although she would’ve taken the same chance with Miroku, too.

 

Knowing that she might not have been able to speak freely, depending on if Yasha were eating in the main room at the moment or not, after Sango’s greeting of “Moshi moshi, Mushin’s Noodles,” Kagome responded with, “Sango, it’s Kagome, and before you say anything, I just gotta say, I know Yasha’s been avoiding me, and I deserve to be able to confront him about that...”

 

“Absolutely,” Sango interjected then, the former exterminator definitely wanting to let Kagome know she was on her side.

 

Her tone of voice was completely off, light and happy as if Kagome had asked if she could phone in her meal to go or something, but the former miko was quick on the uptake, and knew that Sango was just keeping up appearances.

 

“I take it he’s there right now, then?” she asked.

 

“Uh-huh!” Sango answered, again in her happy ‘customer service’ tone of voice.

 

Fortunately for Kagome, there were some chattering customers in there at the moment, otherwise, if the noodle shop had been completely quiet, Inuyasha would’ve probably been able to hear her on the other end of the line. Even if he wouldn’t have been able to make out what she was saying behind the closed door of the office, he would have still recognized the sound of her voice and would’ve probably come rushing out to assess from Sango why she was calling.

 

Instead, as the slayer-turned-chef eyed the office door, it remained closed, which was unsurprising since ordinarily Sundays were when Inuyasha took inventory (already done) and crunched numbers, including payroll for her and Miroku, and knowing that unless something tipped him off he should stay in the office taking care of the business end of his business, Sango had used the first couple of seconds of Kagome’s opening speech to decide how best to handle this situation, deciding to pretend she was a customer so that nobody else suspected a thing, especially those with demonic hearing.

 

Honestly, if Kagome was planning on coming down on the one day Inuyasha definitely did not expect to see her, and confront him on his bullshit, Sango was all for it. Not because she thought Inuyasha deserved to be put in his place – well okay, yes she did – but also because she actually hoped he’d have the balls to just tell Kagome the truth. Not for the first time, Sango wondered why she didn’t just tell Kagome the truth, promise or no.

 

Unaware of Sango’s exact thoughts on the subject, Kagome nevertheless correctly deduced that the other woman was on her side. She was apparently sworn to secrecy, assuming she knew all the details of why Yasha was acting the way he was, but was still on her side nonetheless.

 

“If I took the next bus down, do you think he’d still be there?” Kagome asked Sango next.

 

“Oh that wouldn’t be a problem, we’re open until 9pm,” Sango answered, still speaking in code.

 

“So you mean Yasha’s there until close on Sundays?”

 

“Yes, that’s right.”

 

It still sounded like Sango was just answering a random customer’s random questions, and Kagome had to give her credit where credit was due. While she instantly recognized the fake happy ‘customer service’ nature of her voice, it sounded like legit fake happy customer service. Miroku and/or Yasha should definitely not suspect who the former taijiya was actually talking to, and Kagome was impressed, but also a little nervous. Turned out, Sango was one hell of an actress, after all, but she just had to pray that the chef was being real with her and had never used her acting skills against her.

 

She also wanted to make sure she could trust Sango to keep her arrival a secret, and figuring she’d better get her off the phone as soon as possible, before anyone did begin to wonder, since a simple customer call shouldn’t take very long, she said, “Okay, then I’m gonna head down there to speak to him. Please don’t let him know I’m coming.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

It was enthusiastic in tone, as if in confirmation, but even so, Kagome didn’t like that answer’s general lack of commitment.

 

“Can I get your word that you won’t tell him I’m coming?”

 

“Yes, absolutely,” Sango said then, still in the same tone but with an air of finality that told Kagome she really meant it, and that was good enough for her.

 

“Okay, thank you.”

 

“Oh you’re welcome! Have a wonderful day.”

 

That said, Sango hung up, obviously having gotten the idea that Kagome had nothing else to ask her over the phone, which was just fine with the miko who was already jumping up out of bed and rushing towards her closet. Her mother hung her laundry in order of color for her, so she could typically dress herself, but in that moment, since her mother was still in her room, she turned to face the bed and held up the blouse and skirt she’d just grabbed.

 

“White and green, right?” she asked her mom, gesturing to the shirt and skirt respectively.

 

“Yes,” Mrs. Higurashi answered reassuringly. “Would you like me to drive you?”

 

“That’s okay,” Kagome said.

 

Although she appreciated the offer, her mother had responsibilities at their shrine on Sundays, and she couldn’t just let the elder Higurashi miko be negligent in her duties for her sake. Her responsibilities had been reduced to just assisting her grandfather so that she wouldn’t feel useless, but Kagome knew the truth was they didn’t really need her there, so it was okay for her to leave, and she was perfectly capable of taking the bus.

 

Fortunately, it was already a little later in the day than when she went to work Tuesday through Saturday, so she didn’t run into Kikyou at the bus stop. If it hadn’t already been too late to make her regular bus time she probably would have deliberately waited, because she would not have wanted to run into the other miko and need to come up with a reason for why she was heading into town on a Sunday.

 

Of course, since as far as she knew Kikyou did not have the ability to sense the emotions and honesty or deceit of others – she surely would have bragged about it if she could – Kagome knew she could’ve just made something up, but even so it was definitely much easier to just not have to deal with it in the first place. She’d already been deceptive the last few days by not letting on that anything was amiss, concealing her growing worry from Kikyou when Yasha had started acting strangely because she had not wanted to risk listening to some version of I told you so from the other woman, especially when at that time her fears had not yet been confirmed in her mind.

 

Fortunately, Kikyou had never actually asked how her date had gone, or how things were going with her and Yasha – she didn’t even know his name, that was how little Kagome had discussed it with her – and Kagome planned on keeping it that way. If this confrontation ultimately ended with Yasha either unable or unwilling to explain himself, or just admit that he was no longer interested in her, then she would break up with him because she was done being jerked around.

 

Fortunately also, despite running all of the various things she planned on saying to him over and over again in her head, enough of her head was still in the game so that she didn’t walk right past her bus stop. The bus driver turned out to be one of the regulars, who was mildly surprised but also delighted to see her, and a quick and honest “Just need to take care of something that didn’t get done yesterday,” was sufficient enough answer when he conversationally asked her what had brought her out today.

 

Exiting the bus at Shikon Plaza, Kagome took a few deep and steady breaths to strengthen her resolve, but she was in no danger of chickening out as she began her trek down the sidewalk. Fortunately, since Mushin’s Noodles was located farther down from Hojo’s Holistic Healing, on the other side of the herb shop in relation to the bus stop, she didn’t have to worry about not knowing exactly where the noodle shop was located and perhaps needing to pass it and find her work first, in order to keep her bearings. Doing so could have easily tipped Yasha off, if he’d just happened to spot her walking down the street through the window, so she was definitely grateful that wasn’t the case. She didn’t give a rat’s ass if either Hojo spotted her as she passed her work, though she knew it was unlikely they would since that shop didn’t have many large windows or a glass door like the noodle place did.

 

Finding the rock that marked the narrow footpath that led away from the main sidewalk and up to Hojo’s herb shop, Kagome took a quick moment to steady her fluttering heart once again, but then continued onward, knowing exactly how much farther down the street the noodle shop was located.

 

Entering said shop only a few short minutes later, Sango spotted her first since she just happened to be at the front counter serving someone their food, and quickly gestured to Miroku for him to assist Kagome before she said anything loud enough to inadvertently inform Inuyasha of her presence. She had already warned Miroku, via a written note, that Kagome was coming, so her husband was her partner in crime in this. Nodding his understanding, Miroku immediately approached Kagome, the twenty-five-year-old still lingering in the doorway of the full and busy – and loud – noodle shop. Yasha had told her before that they had their occasional rush times, and that her lunch break during the week was just a little earlier than the standard lunch rush, and apparently he hadn’t been kidding!

 

She gasped when someone grabbed her but immediately relaxed when Miroku whispered, “It’s Miroku, sorry for startling you. Let me guide you ‘cause this place is crazy right now, and besides, I’m sure you’d rather speak to him one on one in the office,” in her ear.

 

She murmured a quiet “Yes please, and thank you,” in return that, over the hustle bustle of the lunch rush, Miroku was pretty sure their boss hadn’t heard.

 

There was a lot of “Excuse me” and “Pardon me” after that, but it was all Miroku, as he guided Kagome forward by walking backward himself, glancing over his shoulder while he held both of her hands in his, leading her forward, her red and white cane folded up and in her skirt pocket. Reaching the closed door that said Employees Only he opened it without knocking, but just enough to poke his head in.

 

“Hey Yash, you have a sec?” he asked, and Inuyasha looked up from his paperwork with a nonchalant “Yeah what’s up?” before his eyes widened as Kagome’s scent flooded the room.

 

“In you go...” Miroku said then, to Kagome, as he almost practically shoved her into the office, closing the door behind her. Kagome was glad for it thought, and looking in the general direction of where Yasha’s voice had come from, she smirked triumphantly.

 

“So glad I could catch you when you had a sec,” she began sarcastically, and Inuyasha gulped.

 

This was what he’d been hoping for, right? Hurt and anger were both pouring off of her in waves, along with a touch of fear, but so were bravery and determination. She smelled like he did whenever he marched, head held high, into some snooty establishment that would look down on him for his demonic heritage. Thankfully, said establishment being full of humans meant that the mix of fear, anger and determination coming off of him was his little secret, but knowing Kagome’s secret in that moment only made his scent reek of guilt and remorse.

 

“Hey...Kagome...” He cleared his throat. Time to do this right, so that they could end it now instead of stringing her along any further. “Listen, sorry about yesterday, but well...just a bunch of things came up, and then I didn’t-”

 

“Do you think I’m stupid?” she interrupted, unaware of the way his ears lowered to his head. “If you don’t want to be in a relationship with a blind girl, just have the balls to say so.”

 

His own eyes widened in alarm at that.

 

“It has nothing to do with your blindness!” he insisted vehemently, while simultaneously confirming, in her mind, that he didn’t want to be in a relationship with her. Just, apparently, for a different reason.

 

“Then what is it?” she asked, practically whining, though she was bound and determined not to cry in front of him. “Is it the dog thing? Is that it? Because you definitely seemed bummed out when you told me you actually have a white Akita, but I told you I was willing to work with that! I would never make you choose between me or the dog. I understand if he’s family to you and I was hoping that maybe you could actually help me with my phobia, so if you thought that ultimately I was going to end up insisting that in order for us to be together you’d have to lose the dog you’re wrong, I would never do that.”

 

“No no...no it, that’s not...that’s not it...I...” He wasn’t sure what to say, or if he should just confess everything here and now, and he was actually leaning in that direction when Kagome spoke back up again.

 

“Do you want to go on our second date?” she asked him point blank.

 

“Well sure, I mean I want to, but I don’t...I mean that is...well things have just been so crazy lately...”

 

He was rambling, he knew, but it turned out he was just too much of a coward to just come on out and say it. Like he’d told both Sango and Miroku before, he’d rather have Kagome think he was an asshole, and hate him for that reason, than think he was a monster and actually fear him.

 

Kagome, meanwhile, tuned out halfway through Yasha’s rambling non-answer. It was seriously starting to feel like he was just trying to brush her off without straight up breaking it off with her in order to supposedly avoid hurting her feelings. It almost felt like he was actually trying to make her break up with him. That would make sense, except for everything he’d said during their first date. If he wasn’t interested in a relationship with her, why tell her that he was? Why ask her out in the first place, tell her he’d wanted to for months and insist over and over again, including just a minute ago, that her blindness didn’t bother him?!

 

“...so I’ll have to check my day planner, but...”

 

She couldn’t take it anymore. Suddenly, she snapped. Mentally, anyway.

 

Damn it, I wish I knew what he was really feeling! Kagome screamed inside her head, even as she tried to maintain her outward composure.

 

In that moment, she wanted that particular ability back more strongly than she’d ever even wanted her sight back. She had accepted the reality of her blindness pretty quickly, and there was no point in wishing for something you couldn’t change, but her powers, on the other hand, were simply locked away within herself, supposedly by her own unconscious doing.

 

I want that power back, damn it!

 

Suddenly, Kagome could almost feel it, like something just broke inside her mind, but in a good way, like a wall crumbling down, and then it all came rushing in, and at such an overwhelming rate she couldn’t help but to gasp and stumble. It was like being in total darkness and then somebody suddenly turning on all these bright lights, except only inside her head because through her eyes it was all still total darkness. But suddenly she could feel again, and her sudden empathic awareness of the man standing before her, and the nearly unbelievable amount of love he was feeling for her, had nearly been too much to process.

 

Then suddenly the feeling she was getting from him was extreme worry, and she belatedly realized that he had just seen her gasp and stumble. In fact, it took her a minute to realize that his arms were actually around her waist, steadying her on her feet.

 

“Are you okay?!” he asked her then, his emotions as frantic as the tone of his voice.

 

“I’m okay,” she replied. “Just got dizzy there for a second.”

 

That was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth, since the experience had definitely made her dizzy for a second. He just didn’t know what had caused it.

 

Unbeknownst to Kagome, her incomplete truth passed her companion’s built-in lie detector, as her scent told him she was being honest, even though he could also tell she wasn’t telling him everything. But without any other information to go own, and with the lack of worry in her scent, he assumed she knew what was wrong and just didn’t want to worry him, like maybe she got lightheaded if her blood sugar got too low or something. When was the last time she’d eaten?

 

Still, “Maybe I should take you to a doctor,” he offered, just in case.

 

The genuine worry, concern and love he felt for her was such a shock to her system that it nearly had her stumbling a second time. He felt almost possessively concerned for her, as if his very being centered around her well-being.

 

Then why in all the hells has he been blowing me off?!

 

At first, she’d thought that maybe he was just trying to spare her feelings, because maybe he wasn’t a total asshole, but he nevertheless didn’t really care about her, and therefore instead of telling her to her face that he didn’t want to see her anymore he was just being flaky in the hope that she would eventually get the hint and go away. It’d very nearly worked, too, so she was definitely grateful to the kami for restoring her sixth sense right when they did. Now that she knew he was actually head over heels in love with her, she had no intention of telling him it was over between them. She wanted to find out what his deal was and, hopefully, figure out a way to fix it so that they could be together, after all.

 

For a split second, she contemplated keeping her newly awakened power a secret from him, questioning him in a covert way to hopefully get at the truth with him none the wiser, but while she probably would have were it not for the strong feeling of love she was getting from him, because of that feeling, specifically, she just didn’t have the heart to deceive him, regardless of the fact that he was obviously deceiving her, in concealing his true feelings. What she wanted to know was why, and she would find out. The fact that he loved her told her that whatever his issue was, whatever his reason for doing the whole brushing her off thing so that she’d get the hint and leave him alone, not liking her definitely wasn’t it. He had to, somehow or another, be thinking he was doing it for her sake, as if he thought they couldn’t be together.

 

Sometimes, the only way to get the truth out of someone was to strap them to a lie detector, and with her empathic abilities restored she was basically a human lie detector test. So instead of trying to trick him, asking him questions on the sly to assess his answers without him being aware of what she was doing, she decided in that moment that a more honest and direct approach would be better. Just because he wasn’t being honest with her was no reason for her to lower herself to his level.

 

Besides, he loved her! She wasn’t ready to walk away from that because, quite frankly, she loved him, too.

 

All his bullshit wouldn’t have broken her heart if she didn’t, and if his explanation was good enough, she was fully prepared to forgive him.

 

“Why are you doing this to me...” she asked him then, “...when you love me?”

 

He instantly felt afraid at her question, but afraid of what? Afraid of her knowing that he loved her? That didn’t make any sense!

 

“I-I...I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I haven’t done any-”

 

“Enough!” she interrupted, hopefully quietly enough for the diners in the other room to not be wondering what the hell was going on in there.

 

A quick stretching of her senses confirmed that for her, as everyone in the restaurant seemed preoccupied by their own thoughts, nobody curiously focusing in on the restaurant’s back office door. Good.

 

Quickly then, before Yasha could say anything else, she continued with her big reveal.

 

“Guess what, Yasha,” she laughed, her tone a little bitter. “I just got my ability to read people back.”

 

She could feel his instant panic at that revelation, but didn’t care.

 

“I guess I should thank you for all the hell you’ve put me through this last week, since it ultimately made me want to know what you were really feeling badly enough to force whatever scared little part of my mind was on lockdown to open itself back up again,” she said. “I can’t sense Miroku’s reiki, so that part of my abilities apparently hasn’t returned yet, but I got the most important part back as far as I’m concerned.”

 

She paused there, unsure why she sensed a tiny flare of relief in him just then, but brushing it off after a second, she knew she couldn’t afford to let herself get distracted in what was very literally the moment of truth.

 

“So I know you love me,” she stated matter-of-factly. “It came through loud and clear when I stumbled. In fact, that was the first sensation to touch that part of my mind when the dam broke, which after three years of inactivity was actually why I stumbled in the first place. Your emotions towards me were overwhelming.”

 

She picked up on a growing pang of guilt from him at that revelation, and was just about to wave it off because she didn’t want to make him feel guilty, or at least, not about his emotions overwhelming her simply because she was out of practice with sensing emotions, but before she could say anything else on the matter she suddenly heard what sounded distinctly like a dog’s whimper. It was quiet, but unmistakable, and the fact that it came from within the enclosed office space the two of them were occupying was enough to almost completely freak her out.

 

Gasping again, she instantly lost her train of thought as her mind flipped over into fight or flight mode, and at Yasha’s own sudden wave of renewed fear mixed with much stronger guilt, she tried to calm herself the best she could, but it was hard when she was on the verge of a full blown anxiety attack and couldn’t even see the source of her fear.

 

“I-is your dog in h-here?” she asked, trying and failing to steady her breathing.

 

Why would he have brought his dog to work with him, though, knowing she was afraid of dogs? Could he really be so cruel? But no...he loved her; his very being, even in that moment, seemed almost unnaturally fixated on her well-being, like he couldn’t bear the thought of any harm befalling her.

 

And then suddenly, he seemed so sad, heartbroken even, and she didn’t understand it. Not one bit. Unless maybe...his Akita was his own service animal, and so it was usually always with him and she’d just somehow never known it? That could explain it, as well as his initial reaction to learning she feared dogs so much, and especially that particular breed the most. But just when she was about to ask him if that was the reason for all of this, he spoke up first.

 

“I...don’t have a dog,” he murmured quietly, almost so quietly that she didn’t even hear him.

 

“What...?” she asked then, completely confused.

 

Forgetting about the whimper she’d just heard, all she was thinking about was the conversation they’d had during the drive home after dinner when she demanded, “Well then what in all the hells was all that bullshit about having a white Akita for?!”

 

What the fuck kind of sick, twisted game was he playing, to take what he’d learned was her greatest fear and then turn it against her? Had he just claimed to own a dog, and that specific breed no less – and color! – in the hope of discouraging her from wanting to further pursue their relationship?! Had he only started acting flaky and blowing her off because she’d told him she was willing to make things work with him despite his dog, so it’d been like Plan B or something? Was that it?

 

But as quickly as that anger came, it dissipated, as the absolute sorrow he was suddenly now feeling brushed up against her psyche. Whatever he’d done, and for whatever reason, it seemed to be killing him inside, and reminding herself again that he definitely really loved her, almost tragically so, as he apparently thought they couldn’t be together even though he wanted them to be, Kagome just didn’t have it in her to stay angry with him.

 

“Just tell me what’s going on,” she said then. “You know I know you love me, and guess what? It’s not one-sided!” she confessed easily. “And depending on whatever it was that you thought was an important enough reason to screw with my head and heart, I may still forgive you.” She paused a moment and then added, “Ya know, so long as you’re not secretly a serial killer or something.”

 

He snorted at that, and the sound strangely broke her heart a little bit more, as well as the next words he uttered.

 

“I’ve never hurt anyone, and I’d never hurt you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a monster.”

 

“But you have hurt me,” she replied softly, her sightless eyes tearing up as her words renewed the heartache he was feeling.

 

“It’s for the best,” he said after a painful moment of silence. “I had told myself that I would rather...would rather you hated me than...feared me.”

 

“Feared you?” she asked, confused again. But then suddenly, an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of her stomach did indeed make her feel afraid.

 

Afraid they had both been suffering due to a horrible misunderstanding, and that it was all her fault, again. And here she’d prided herself on not being racist, but she’d just automatically assumed that Yasha was human, hadn’t she? And thinking about it a moment longer, as she thought about that one royal youkai family that bore the surname Taisho that she’d learned about from her studies, weren’t they inu-youkai?

 

Of course, he had no way of knowing what specific direction her thoughts had taken, only that she was starting to smell afraid.

 

She approached him then, hand outstretched in an effort to feel for him.

 

“Yasha, please, just tell me the tru-”

 

He cut her off with a growl, low and deep. A warning to stay back. Having already figured his secret was out, it was best to get his point across. She gasped and stumbled backwards, the scent of fear coming off of her skyrocketing in that moment, and he barely managed to avoid reaching out to catch her. He would have, if she would have actually fallen otherwise, but she’d managed to catch herself and stay on her feet, her flailing hand finding purchase on the back of one of the two office chairs that sat facing his desk.

 

“See?” he said then, mentally cringing at his poor word choice although he nevertheless plowed forward. “We can’t be together, no matter how much I love you. Just...just enjoy your free udon on your lunch breaks, and I’ll make sure I’m never here.”

 

With that said, he rushed out of the room before she could reply.