An Unexpected Love Story

Part Two: Chapter Eight

Stay strong Kagome, this is your closet on the line.

He continues to go through my clothes, tossing them this way and that into different piles unknown to me.

"We will store these in the second bedroom" He informs me, dragging a pile the size of a love seat into my empty spare room.

It's funny how all of my clothes seemed to end up in the empty room while his all managed to fit perfectly into my closet.

xxx

After relocating some of my clothes to my closet and Sesshoumaru's unneeded excess to the spare bedroom turned storage facility, we finally settle into a new routine.

"You should get another job" I say passively over dinner one night. We sit placidly on the couch next to one another as Moichi begs at my feet. After all he knows that I have a bigger heart then Sesshoumaru and always give him my leftovers.

"I have a job."

"Cooking for me doesn't count as a job and no you cannot be a stripper here." He lets out a small laugh and I clear our plates, pushing the rest of my chicken into Moichi's bowl.

"What about teaching something? Do you have any teachable skills?" His blank look loses any form of thought it once had. Throwing the dishes into the sink I blast the hot water, turning while tapping my chin to think.

"Okay then no teachable skills. What did you do before you were a stripper?" He sidles up beside me, dish cloth at the ready, prepared to dry.

"I was North." His answer is cool and dry as if that was the only conclusion anyone could ever come to for a demon to do.

"What did you do North though, and how far North? Alaska? Or are we talking like North Pole Nunavut?" I can feel his eyebrow raise.

"I was with another demon, we lived in the snow together and hunted."

"So you're not afraid of physical labour! What about a construction worker! You could get into a trade?" He shoots me a sidelong glance as if labour were beneath him. Which in actuality was not entirely untrue, yes he was in my time now, but he had made it this far without me so I assume he can fend for himself in the modern era.

"Let's make a deal, you cook and clean and I'll bring home the bacon." I give him the cheeriest smile I can muster while scrubbing away the grime of all the dishes and he accepts my offer.

"As long as you do the dishes."

xxx

I'm back at work full time and spend long hours at the museum.

Sesshoumaru holds up his end of the bargain and cooks elaborate meals for us every single night. I hold up my end of the deal and do all of his dishes, every, single, night.

"I feel like I got the short end of the stick here." I mention off handedly on a night that he chose to cook something especially sticky. Scrubbing away I can feel my hands become soggy and wrinkled. Food debris floats in our kitchen sink and I have to use all my concentration not to gag.

"What did you do today? Other then make a mess of course..." I'm asking him to take my mind off the disgusting after math of seafood pasta.

"I had an adequate day."

"Yes but what did you do?"

"I took Moichi for a walk." He deadpans, taking the wet dishes from my hands and drying them before carefully putting them away.

"Did the neighbours see you?"

"Yes."

"Did someone come up to you?" Talking to him sometimes is like talking to an elementary school child who had a bad day at school and doesn't want to talk about it. So much prying and digging goodness. He's lucky I do this for a living every day or our house would be unnaturally quiet all the time.

Our house...

The word our seemed to catapult to the front of my mind. I have never had something with someone else. My student apartment with Mel never counted as something I owned with another person. It was simply a place where we both resided, but this, it was ours.

"Yes, she invited us to a barbecue." This rouses me from my thoughts on the word our quite quickly.

"Pardon?"

"We are invited to a gathering." He seems perturbed as if listening to him should be my number one priority.

"Wow, I've never been invited to a barbecue before and I've lived here for two years. They must really want to get to know you."

"Who doesn't, I am quite interesting." Rolling my eyes I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not.

"Well, do you want to go? Who invited you anyways?"

"I would like to go yes. She introduced herself as Bethany." I feel my shoulders sink, anyone but her.

My encounters with Bethany have never exactly been the greatest. The first day I moved here Mel decided it would be an excellent idea to throw me a house warming party and invite all of her intoxicated friends.

It ended with her throwing up in Bethany's rose bush while I held her hair.

And to make matters worse I had to replace that bush as it had subsequently died, I put that thing in myself.

My second and only other encounter with Bethany involved me running over her garbage can that had blown into my driveway. Of course I didn't mean to do either of these things and replaced both things that I broke, but needless to say she didn't like me very much and because of that, neither did the rest of the neighbourhood.

"Ugh you really want to go?" His eyes widen in almost shock before he reigns himself in again.

"Of course, you do not?" It's as if he's never had gossipy neighbours that didn't like him before. But of course who wouldn't like Sesshoumaru?

My mind draws a blank before it comes to a conclusion with a loud thud. Everyone likes Sesshoumaru because they're too scared not to like him, and those who don't like him have either been obliterated or they're keeping their mouths shut.

Maybe I need to become more intimidating, then more people will like me. Who am I kidding I'm as intimidating as a baby penguin, all fluffy and round.

I guess we should go. Maybe if Sesshoumaru makes friends he can go out during the day instead of staying inside and cooking elaborate meals with lots of dishes for me to clean.

"Okay fine we'll go. But we have to bring something as a peace offering to Bethany or else I don't think she will let me set foot on her lawn. That or she will make me sign a form that says I have to pay for anything I damage." His eyebrow raises and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"We're not on the best terms her and I but maybe this will make up for it. What would you like to bring?"

"Can we bake?" A demon, a five hundred year old demon wants to bake. For some reason this shocks me. I haven't really been shocked by him yet, not the stripping, not the dog, oh no none of that. This is what shocks me.

"You want to bake?" Slowly, he nods his head. Taking my soapy hands from the water as I watch it drain, I dry them and press them against my temples, rubbing slow circles. This does nothing to ease my stress but somehow makes me feel a little better.

"Alright what would you like to bake?"

"I will research then I will tell you my decision tomorrow."

xxx

End of Chapter Eight