Chapter Text
The most annoying thing about working as a barista was not only serving demanding customers who were, at times, less than polite, but also catching the bus after her shift was over. Rin had to hurry to the stop on most nights, and she usually made it in time. Tonight wasn’t that night though. If only she left work one minute sooner. The bus pulled off just as she turned the corner.
A taxi maybe?
She checked her bank account and immediately closed the app. Better not. Payday was still several days away and being able to buy food until then would be nice.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“Great,” she grumbled.
No sense in standing around looking stupid. The bus was gone and another wasn’t coming after it. Fortunately for her, the subway was only 8 blocks away on foot. But it may be a long, wet walk all the way to her apartment if she didn’t hurry now.
It was humid but tolerable.
Rin’s walk was brisk—long strides, quick steps. Street sounds muted through her headphones. It wasn’t the busiest night but there were people out. A couple holding hands, a group of teens, some guy. It started to drizzle. She passed a 7-eleven and a car rolling to a stop at a red light. Chose left at an intersection that led to several different streets, her ponytail swinging with each step. Walked a good two blocks and a half before glancing over her shoulder and noticing a guy she saw back at the convenience store.
Coincidence, she thought. Going the same way she was, that’s all.
Raining lightly now. No umbrella. Music volume down. Not as much foot traffic down this block, and not as well lit. Her shoelace was untied, but Rin didn’t stop to tie it. Music off. She thought she could hear the man’s footsteps. Her suspicion turned into certainty when she heard him approaching closer, and she had to swallow her heart back down from her throat.
Who was this man? He was stalking down on her so quickly she thought he might walk right by her at first.
She wasn’t frightened moving through a cozy alley. The neon lights were bright and reassuring, storefronts open late for business, a ramen cart that would be gone before dawn. She used reflective surfaces to check behind her; shop windows and parked cars, glancing in rear-view mirrors, taking care to keep her movements casual and calm.
Somehow, the creep got ahead of her. Rin was not sure how. She had been trying to call her friend, still checking in the windows for the man when she noticed him leaning on a brick wall a few stores away.
XXXXXX
Sesshomaru never cared for the city. Too many smells. Noise all the time. Construction work and honking cars; the drone of a thousand conversations at any given hour. Heightened senses were more like a curse in a world crawling with humans. But it wasn’t all bad. It was Thursday. The only day of the week a small hole-in-the-wall bakery sold the softest, most delicious melon bread he had ever tasted. He couldn’t find bread this good in any Demon District he knew, just that hers was well worth venturing to the human side of Tokyo for.
Funny that. The shop owner wasn’t at all human, but a 300-year-old kitsune disguised as an old lady. Most likely to avoid paying taxes—the demon kind, anyway. But that was none of his business. Their kind, that is to say, foxes and raccoon dogs have always been shapeshifters. Humans know this. But to what extent? Curious. Currently, the country’s most beloved idol was in fact a kitsune disguised as a human. Again, none of his business.
But what had become Sesshomaru’s business was the young woman who collided with him hard. Hard enough that the impact with his chest sent her and the paper bag he was holding to the ground. Annoyed in the rain, he looked down at the girl as if to ask for an explanation why she felt it necessary to run into him and sit on his melon bread. Then he noticed she was all out of breath, her eyes wide with fear. But not of him. It was someone else. Someone moments away from turning the corner.
Suddenly she’s on her feet, and he’s feeling the soft crush of her body. “There you are!” Rin said loud enough for the people across the street to hear. “You were supposed to meet me at Starbucks.”
Of all the things she could have said to him, that was not what he expected. “What—”
“Keep your voice... Not so loud.” Rin, soaking wet, grabbed his arm. “Please, help me,” she whispered. She was pleading and wrapped around his torso as if she knew him personally. “A man I don’t know is following me and I’m afraid I’ll lead him to my apartment.”
Yes, yes, of course. Understandable. Sesshomaru would definitely help her. But if he had been holding bread he would have dropped it. Did the girl know how they looked? A human clinging to a demon like a lover—in public? Well, never mind it. Now wasn’t the time and it would be cruel to peel her off his body. So, he faced the corner from which the man had came and said…
Nothing.
He didn’t rub so much as two syllables together. Didn’t have to. The change in his eyes was all it took to reintroduce the man to a primitive fear. A shift from round pupils to slivers, from white to glowing red.
“M-my mistake,” he stammered before stumbling back the way he came.
Rin only saw the end of his transformation. The eyes were gold again—almost yellow, and they gleamed in the street lights. Then she realized she was still holding onto him, her hands dirty from her fall and soiling the sleeve of his suit. Strong muscles underneath that sleeve. Expensive. Designer probably. Fitted tight around his torso, which was long as the rest of him. He was a great deal taller than her. At least a full foot.
A car passed, throwing water against the curb.
Sesshomaru didn’t say anything. Didn’t raise any questions, though he did raise a finely arched brow down at her.
Rin let him go and bowed. “I’m sorry! I don’t know you and I’m being inappropriate.”
“It would still be inappropriate even if you did know me. Surely you’re aware of the law…”
Of course she was. Who didn’t know that certain intimacies between humans and demons were strictly prohibited? Hefty fines, usually. Sometimes jail time. The older generations, human or otherwise, preferred it that way. However, the youth were a bit more open-minded. It was complicated.
Rin smiled a little. This one had a serious face, but looks can be deceiving. Looks can also be pleasant too, because this demon, whatever he was, was kind of hot—“I just want to say thank you… uh, Mr. Demon, uh, sir.”
Sesshomaru exhaled through his nose. Ridiculous, if not a little patronizing. “Fine,” he said. “It’s fine. You’re welcome.”
“Guess I’ll be going then.”
Now, Sesshomaru could let her be. Just let her continue into the rainy night as he stood there watching her ponytail sway. He already helped her. What business was it of his to offer any more assistance? Yet he was looking around. No one paying attention. Didn’t believe anyone witnessed what just happened either. And even if they had, there’s nothing suspicious about a demon offering a young lady a ride home, right? A rather pretty young lady. The cute type. He liked cute. She must be a university student. She appeared about that age for humans.
“It’s dark…”
Rin stopped and turned around. “Did you… did you say something?”
“I said it’s dark. Wet too.”
“It is raining.”
Sarcasm. But she did seem to want him to continue talking.
“Might I offer you a ride?”
Rin crossed her arms. “Well, I don’t know, Mr. Demon, sir… I don’t take rides from strangers.”
Gods he hated it. Twice was enough in his long life to hear some petite like her call him that. “Sesshomaru,” he said to her, the head lights of a passing car sliding off the side of his face as he approached her slowly.
“Is that your name?” she asked, approaching him just as slowly. “It’s old sounding.”
That’s because it was. He was over 800-years-old, after all.
He led Rin to a black luxury sedan and opened the door for her. Old-fashioned, she thought, then slipped inside. She watched him walk around the car, and the moment the driver’s door slammed shut they spent a few seconds too long exchanging a look. Neither said anything. They were just sitting there, their hair dripping on the leather seats. “Awk-ward,” she said.
But she looked comfortable. At least he thought so. A heart-easy girl despite the circumstances of their meeting. She was almost smiling. And then she did. Her smile was sweet and utterly unself-conscious. It was disarming. No more to it than that. But Sesshomaru experienced sudden foreboding then, an omen of disaster that felt stronger than any dread he had known in a very long time. A smile like that at this dark hour probably scandalized his father too.
“Something wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said, and started the engine with a push of a button. It roared to life, like several cougars roaring at the same time under the hood. “You never gave me your name.”