An Unexpected Love Story

Chapter Seventeen:

Part Four: London

Chapter Seventeen:

"I don't feel like cooking dinner." He's lying on the floor. I step over him and stand at the window.

"I never asked you to cook anything." His eyes are closed but his shirt is open. I'm munching on a cookie that the sugar hound bought, and I'm looking out the window at all of the people crowding the streets. Going somewhere, or coming from, some place I don't think I'll ever know.

"Are you hungry?" He's propped himself up on one elbow, with his hair gathering on the floor.

"Yes, you look like an underwear model like that. You should have been a male model, not a stripper." I sit cross legged in front of him, popping the rest of the cookie into my mouth.

"What would you like to eat?" I let out a sigh and cover my face with my hands before looking up to answer him.

"I don't know, food preferably." I raise a brow and smirk at him. I just want to de-stress, push all of this negative energy towards something useful.

Back in the feudal era I had no issue with stress, well I did, but not as bad as this. At least then I had an outlet. I could scream, I could shout, hold a grudge and storm off. Inuyasha would let me cool down, but he would always come to find me. Now, I feel like I'm letting it all build up, and I fear I might even explode.

I feel like if I scream or yell, if I bubble over and run off, no one will come after me. We may seem placid but I am dying with unanswered questions.

I need a bow and an arrow. I need an ear on a wall. I need someone to talk to. I need my mom, or even Mel.

But right now I have nothing more then a complacent demon who enjoys silence.

"Would you like to go out for dinner with me?" He reaches over, stirring me from my thoughts, and touches my cheek softly.

"I would love to." My heart pounds at his touch and I can feel the blood rise into my cheeks to meet with his hand. I push all of my thoughts aside and concentrate on the arduous task at hand of getting dressed for the oncoming cold and rain.

So we get dressed in warm clothes and head to the East end of London.

xxx

"What did you do when you left Japan?" The subway screeches to a stop and we climb off. The cold bites and gnaws at my bones, dampness seeping into my jacket through all the minuscule open crevices. I can even feel it trying to permeate through my zipper.

"I travelled." His answer is dry, he doesn't even look at me.

"Travelled where?" I'm prying now. Trying to crack open his soul so I can get a quick peak, nothing but a quick fix to solidify him not leaving me suddenly.

"Everywhere I could go."

"So is this your first time in England?" He shakes his head. He's looking dead straight, looking for something that doesn't seem to be there anymore.

"I learned English here many years ago." I wish to have the memories he has. Every now and then he gets a look of complete reverie like he's reliving the past five hundred years in a mere few seconds.

We turn down a hidden street, and suddenly I'm bombarded with colour and sounds. Golds, oranges, pinks, purples, deep vibrant colours line shop windows. Exotic sweets occupy bakery shelves and everyone is smiling.

He leads me to a restaurant and we're seated. We're in little India. I recognize some of the Hindu deities scattered around the restaurant. He looks at me silently. I see the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.

"I can see you smiling." He looks at me slowly, as if memorizing my face. Like he's making a book of photos in his head.

"Don't look at me like that." I say before I can think, I take a breath, steadying myself. I've seen that look before, many eons ago. Only it was on a face similar to his but not the same. Inuyasha gave me that very look before we fell into the well. It was almost as if he knew it would take me and not him.

A familiar eyebrow raises. Closing my eyes I answer him carefully.

"You look like you're planning to leave." I feel a sick urge to grab hold of him somehow, fold him up, and keep him in my pocket forever and always. His eyebrow still hangs on his forehead so I keep talking.

"When you look at me like that, I feel like it's the last look I'm ever going to see. That I'm going to wake up one morning and roll over to find myself alone in a foreign country." I look at my folded hands to calm myself. This stress is killing me.

I can't cry, I won't allow myself to. His hand brushes along my face, lifting my chin.

"I won't leave." I look into his soft eyes and see a hint of something I've seen before. Of a distant memory, not in a restaurant, but in my very own bedroom. Sealed with a promise of protecting me with his life.

Part of me feels as if I've failed him. A shallow promise of staying in his world compared to his deep promise of protection.

When I look into Sesshoumaru's eyes that night, I see a deep promise, as endless as the galaxy we live in, and I fear my shallow heart is making terrified shallow promises.

I'm terrified that my fear of being alone is talking and the rest of me isn't listening.

xxx

I am told that I'm going to Italy. I say I'm excited, when really, I'm tired. Jeremy gives me the usual piece of paper with nothing but an address and a date.

"This is where you'll be living. And this is when you're leaving." Three days from now; we will start, once again, another journey.

Another destination where I can't speak the language and I will stumble over my every word. Another place where Sesshoumaru and I will hide away, we will be each others one and only companions.

I'm so tired that the walk home to tell him is exhausting, but I'm still excited to see him. My heart flutters lightly as I round the corner, our building coming into view and it is then I realize my ever growing feelings and smile.

xxx

End of Chapter Seventeen

End of Part Four