Neighborly: Chapter 2 (A SessKag fanfic)

~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~

       A few light ‘taps’ took her attention away from the half-eaten bagel that rested on the kitchen table, just in front of the newspaper-wrapped stack of plates and saucers. The woman lifted her face from her palm and turned towards the noise. It was so faint that, for a moment, she fancied it a creation of her still groggy mind. But still she waited patiently with ears trained on the direction of the front door, and surely enough the faint knocks sounded again, a little louder than at first. Rising at the signal, she tried to compile a list of anyone who would have a reason to call on her this early, but she could not come up with a single name as she padded barefoot to the large, white door.

       Rin could hear the footsteps as soon as the lady had left the kitchen and awaited the telltale jiggling of the doorknob. She was absolutely bursting with excitement, smiling ear to ear. ‘Okay, okay… calm down. I have to be ra-… uh…rationa-… what was it? Fine, calm. Gotta be calm!’ A few deep breaths would do the trick. She thought more on how she would go about conducting her investigation, but soon found herself lost in giddiness again. The girl had become so immersed in her own inner musings that she barely registered the lock ‘click’, leaving her with only a fraction of a second to dial back the large grin on her face and appear normal.

       Just as she lifted her head to say ‘Hello’, the soft whoosh of air from the opened door brought the scent of honey and cut flowers wafting over her. She got her first good look at her target and found herself gripped by an uncomfortable bashfulness that she had not been expecting. The woman was indeed very pretty, but not in the way of a fairytale princess or a TV star. She looked… no felt… familiar in some way. Like her father or her grandmother felt. It wasn’t the woman she was nervous of really, but the startling feeling of such an intense closeness even though she had never even heard her voice. Her small hand twitched imperceptively, as if her body wanted to reach out and hug this strange new person. She didn’t know what had come over her. Rin noticed the dark-haired woman’s peaceful expression turn to one of mild confusion and mentally kicked herself for losing focus. She had a mission, after all!

“Hello, are you alright? Are you lost, sweetie?” the elder of the two enquired, a line of concern showing on her forehead. The girl in her yellow dress briskly shook her head and regained her customary grin.

“Hello, ma’am! My name is Rin, and I live in the house next door,” she pointed to emphasize her statement. The lady followed the girl’s gaze to the large, beautifully landscaped residence beside her own. She had been quite surprised to see such lavish homes when she first arrived in the neighborhood, but then again she had not had much information about where she would be living up until a few days ago… At any rate, this little girl certainly did live a charmed life. ‘I suppose I will be, too, now…’ she thought to herself before meeting large chocolate eyes again.

“Rin, was it? That’s a very pretty name!” She saw Rin’s whole face light up and resisted the urge to chuckle. “My name is Kagome Higurashi. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Kagome said, bending slightly and extending a hand downward for her to shake. The little youkai shook her hand and beamed at the grown-up feeling of it. It was strange not being simply patted on the head or brushed aside; she liked it. Straightening her posture more with renewed confidence, she continued on with her script, having regained her original focus.

“Miss… Higurashi?”

“Miss Kagome is fine, but you’re very polite. I like that, you know,” Kagome responded with a smile. Rin could not stop her face from reddening a bit at the compliment.

“Miss Kagome…” she repeated quietly to herself, trailing off. Kagome took her distraction as a sign to continue the conversation herself.

“I suppose you’re my welcoming committee, are you?” Rin snapped back to the present and beamed up at her.

“That’s right! I came to welcome you to our neighborhood and help out if you needed anything,” she explained.

“Well how very sweet of you! A little helper of my very own, eh?” Kagome was fighting herself to not pinch the adorable little girl’s cheek. ‘I bet this one just has them all wrapped around her little finger, myself included if I don’t watch out!’

“Yay!” Rin clapped her hands together with excitement. “So is there something I can help with? I see you have a lot of boxes to unpack all by yourself and…” She peeked around the woman at the stacks of half-opened cardboard containers occupying the foyer. Kagome noticed her stare and became a bit apprehensive.

“Well… As much as I appreciate the offer, I’m sure your parents would be wondering where you are, and they wouldn’t want you going into a stranger’s – ”

“Hey! Are those toys in that box?”


       Before the blue-eyed woman could make a move to protest, Rin had already scurried past her into the house. Kagome stood mouth agape for a few seconds before regaining her composure. She walked over to get the girl’s attention, but when she saw how captivated Rin was with the toys, she could only stop and smile a bit.

       With her back to Kagome, Rin held up several action figures one by one, some with their arms and legs interlocked due to being cooped up in the box during the move. Though Kagome thought she was enamored with the playthings, Rin was actually very confused. Her brow furrowed in thought. Why were there toys? There weren’t supposed to be any toys… Her father had said there were no children when she moved in, and even the scent on the toys in her hands was faded and old, she could hardly detect it. Rin turned around without even attempting to hide her bewilderment.

“Miss Kagome… why do you have toys in your house? I didn’t smell any other kids around here…” she asked in genuine confusion. The woman only smiled knowingly.

“Hm… that’s right… I noticed you were a youkai, too. Just like my little boy. Those toys belong to my son, Shippo. He’s been visiting his grandmother for a few days while I took care of the move,” she paused as the girl handed her the toys to redeposit them in the box. “A lot of our things were recently bought, so they don’t really smell of him. We got new furniture and things like that. The first time he’ll actually see this house is this afternoon when he comes home,” she explained. But for some strange reason she saw Rin’s face fall a bit. Kagome hesitated for a moment, but decided to pry anyway. She kneeled in front of her and placed a hand on the girl’s small shoulder.

“Is something the matter, sweetie?” Her voice was soft and laced with concern.

“Nothing… it’s just…” Rin looked to her feet and absentmindedly rubbed her shoes together, “Well how come your husband isn’t helping you with all this stuff? You’re here all by yourself…”

       Looking crestfallen, Rin awaited the inevitable answer. Of course she didn’t want to tell Kagome the real reason for her sudden gloom. She felt stupid to think things would have worked out… things like this never worked out… ‘Of course she would be married… Her husband is probably on one of those business trip things like Daddy goes on… That’s why we didn’t see him when she moved in… Dummy…’ Rin’s eyes stung with newly forming tears, and she suddenly found herself grateful for Kagome’s humanity since she could not smell them. Instead of a report on Mr. Higurashi’s whereabouts, she felt a light pat on her shoulder and looked up at the older female with a bit of surprise. Kagome chuckled.

“I’m not married; Shippo is adopted, dear. Besides, he’s a full youkai and I’m a human, so that would make it a bit impossible for us to be blood related, don’t you see?”


       Kagome could not hold her giggle at Rin’s sudden realization, but was completely knocked off guard when she launched into her arms in a blur of yellow and brown. Taken aback, she only patted her back softly and laughed.

“Is it really that great that Shippo is coming? I mean, I’m sure you’ll get along just fine, but you haven’t even met him yet!” Her laughter died down as Rin quickly realized what she had done and released her, laughing herself with a bit of embarrassment.

“Oh yeah, I can’t wait to meet him! Actually, there aren’t a lot of kids around here my age to play with, so it would be nice to have someone right next door,” she said truthfully.

“Wonderful! He’ll be very happy to heart that,” Kagome beamed.

“How old is Shippo?” the youkai asked, genuinely intrigued. She didn’t expect to get a package deal, but she would take it! Besides, a playmate wouldn’t be a bad idea… She watched Kagome for her reply.

“He’s eight years old,” the woman answered, standing and smoothing her skirt.

“Me too!” Rin blurted out, earning a short laugh.

“Are you? You know I thought you looked the same age – ”

“RIN!” a deep voice roared from outside, and the young one in question felt an icy bolt of fear race down her spine. ‘Shoot! I took too long! I forgot about… him…’ Rin thought. Kagome looked utterly bewildered.

       Rin knew there would be no time to react. He would follow her trail right to the door, and with his speed he would probably be nose-to-nose with her in the blink of an eye. She mentally kicked herself again. This was not in the plan. She should not have gotten so distracted… but it was too late for that now. Just as predicted, two seconds later Sesshoumaru had taken the front steps in a single bound and stood seething at the open front door, a silent snarl on his lips. Kagome had hardly opened her mouth to question him when in a silver flash he was in front of her, standing protectively between her and Rin.

“I will ask this once, and I expect a satisfactory explanation, human: What were you doing with my daughter in your possession?” he ground out, each word carrying the weight of the unsaid threat his golden eyes conveyed fully.

       Kagome stood paralyzed. The man in front of her was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. She honestly questioned her sanity for a moment. His scowl deepened further, and she became acutely aware that this was no time to gawk. She searched her frazzled brain for an answer, mouth opening and closing like a gasping fish. A low growl caused both her and Rin to flinch visibly.

“ANSWER ME!” he snarled. Kagome was white with fear. Rin saw her father’s clawed hand flex in anticipation, and, afraid for her new friend’s life, she lunged at him and took hold of his arm.

“Daddy, stop! She didn’t do anything; it was me! I ran in because I wanted to see her son’s toys! I’m sorry!” the girl cried.

       He ignored his little one’s protests and continued to lock the woman in his death stare. She was just a human, sure, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t harm Rin or assist someone else in doing so. He took no chances with her safety, not like that. Sesshoumaru took a step closer, looming over the female at his height. He could only smell fear spiking her scent, though it seemed to be dying down. She had taken a few breaths, and her heart rate was beginning to slow its feverish pace. Kagome met his eyes again with composure, though she was still very afraid. The daiyoukai was honestly a bit surprised.

“I’m really very sorry about this, it is just a big misunderstanding… Rin and I got a little too distracted while talking and well… I should have been more mindful. It’s not her fault, and I really did mean her no harm whatsoever. I hope you aren’t too upset at either of us,” she explained, searching his face for any change in his demeanor.

       Sesshoumaru slowly but surely relaxed his claws and shoulders, taking a step back from the human woman and resetting his features into their usual icy mask. For once, he could not really think of a reply. It was… unsettling. But her calm honesty had completely disarmed him. Cowering he was used to… or groveling, or even fleeing. But even as terrified as she still was, she maintained her composure. Begrudgingly, very, VERY begrudgingly, he silently offered this human a modicum of his precious respect and gave a curt nod in her direction.

“See to it that this does not occur a second time,” he responded coolly before turning to leave, Rin instinctively running after him. She turned with a bright grin and waved through the front door as they departed for home.

       Kagome stood like a stone statue the whole time. After their footsteps had faded away, she leaned back against the wall and numbly let her body slide down to the hardwood floor below.

“What the heck…”