Innocent Beginnings

Innocent Beginnings
By: Maggz
Disclaimer: I own nothing...
Author Note: Well, now I've got more time to focus and work on this story, and trust me, things are starting to get interesting... I'm bringing new characters into the story, like in this chapter... But I won't tell you now, you'll have to read to find out. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to drop me a line.

Huggles,

Maggz

P.S. Thanks for the reviews I got for WHWM... I told you I wouldn't dissapoint you


Chapter 17: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun


With Sesshomaru gone once again, time seemed to drag by very slowly for me. I got involved in redecorating my room the first couple of days after he left - painting and wallpapering on my own. I think Aunt Reika knew that I needed the distraction and I had to admit I enjoyed myself immensely and was well pleased with the results.

Sesshomaru called three times during his first week in Ame. Th. The first call was to scold me because I hadn't emailed him as promptly as he thought I should've. But I'd made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to hinge all my hopes and dreams on what little I could eek out of Sesshomaru while he was on tour. Like I'd told him - I knew he was busy and involved with other things. I was just going to have to try my best to be satisfied with what I DID receive from him in the way of communication and move ahead with my life as he wanted me to.
tra traded emails about every other day with news of what was going on in our lives. His were infinitely more interesting than mine but he asked so many questions of me that I ended up writing long, carefully thought out replies that took up quite a bit of my time in the evenings. I enjoyed writing to him and was flattered that he seemed hungry for the details of what was going on with me.

I tried my best to stay away from the supermarket tabloids and the gossip rags when I found myself in town. The good thing about him being in America was that it was often hard to get any news of them other than the official press releases and that was just fine with me. IF Sesshomaru was assuaging his loneliness as well as his satisfying his ardor while away from me - I sure as heck didn't want the details. I preferred to remain completely in the dark as far as that side of his life was concerned. There would come a day that I would have the right and the privilege to claim him as my very own but until then, I preferred my own ignorance.

He'd been very concerned before he left that I take up where I'd left off with my schooling as soon as possible. I had assured him time and again that a tutor was lined up for me to work with through the summer and I'd be ready to begin my last term of school along with everyone else once fall arrived.

Still, he continued to encourage me in his mails and phone calls… not letting up until I told him that my first session with the new tutor had been scheduled for the latter part of that week. He'd made me promise to call him as soon as I was finished, to let him know how things had gone and I'd relented for the very first time - promising him I'd call his mobile as he'd asked.

Aunt Reika and Uncle Ichi had contacted the school as soon as I'd come home from Sacred Heart regarding my plans to catch up with the rest of my class as well as requesting a recommendation for a good tutor. I'd been a straight A student before the accident but the classes I'd been enrolled in had been top level and I was sure that I'd need help with my maths as well as my literature classes in order to be back on level as was appropriate before the new term began.

Enter Kohaku Asada.

Kohaku was a third year student at the local University. He'd applied for a position as a tutor early on in the year to make some extra money as he lived on campus and needed the extra income. The administrators of my school had been quick to recommend him as he'd had great successes with a number of students already during the previous two years as a tutor. My family readily agreed to meet with him and impressed, chose to hire him on the spot as soon as the interview concluded.

My first session with him approached soon enough.

I was to meet him at the school, which stayed open during the summer months for just such a situation as mine. My sessions with him were to last two hours every other day during the week for the entire length of the summer. He was apparently a whiz at maths and just as adept at literature, science, and history. I didn't know if I was looking forward to the sessions with him or not. I felt a bit intimidated by his intelligence but quickly realized that if I was to get ahead as I truly wanted, then Kohaku was my ticket to that end.

I left home fifteen minutes before I was to meet him at school. The day was bright, sunny and quite warm. I'd chosen to dress comfortably and casually, knowing that it would only be the two of us for the sessions. Khaki shorts, a green and yellow striped tank top and white canvas trainers were my outfit of choice for the day. I'd braided my hair into one long, thick rope that hung halfway down my back, threading a green ribbon through it at the last minute only because I felt so 'summery'.

As I approached the school, I saw a guy sitting on the front steps - pencil stuck firmly between his teeth as he dug into his overloaded back pack. Looking up at me as I stepped forward, he slid the pencil from his lips and stuck it quickly behind his ear, smiling up at me.

"Rin?", he spoke up, his voice smooth and soft.

"Kohaku?", I grinned, speaking at the same time as he.

"Well, we're both here at least! How are you?", he asked, wiping a hand on his faded denims before presenting it to me.

"I'm good, how about you?", I asked, taking the offered hand and giving it a polite shake before releasing it.

"Happy to be of service to you!", hugheughed. "Honestly, I needed the money and was pretty sure I wasn't going to get any offers this summer until your family called. I'm really looking forward to working with you.", he said, standing to hoist his book bag over one shoulder.

I noticed at once that he was quite tall and very handsome - not as gorgeous as my Sesshomaru, of course, but a looker just the same! He had big brown eyes, thick dark lashes and dark hair that was fashionably trimmed very short and when he smiled, it lit up his entire face and made it quite impossible to ignore the sensual fullness of his mouth. I realized a bit late that I was openly staring at him and catching myself with a start, blinked my eyes and returned his friendly smile.

"Today we're just gonna get to know each other.", he said as he adjusted the straps on his ragged black book bag . "I hope that's ok with you. First day and all isn't really good to just jump right in with lessons. I've got your term requirements with me as well as your grades so far plus I've worked out a schedule of my own for us to go by. That's something we'll need to discuss today. But judging from your past history, I'd say it won't be any problem at all for you to be completely caught up if not far ahead of all your friends by the time the next term begins!", he grinned widely, looking over at me.

"That's great.", I said, watching as he slid a hand into the front pocket of his baggy jeans to fish for his keys. I noticed he wore a worn braided leather bracelet knotted around his right wrist that matched another worn at his throat.

"So… I thought we'd go get an ice cream cone or something and then just chat for a bit, if that's ok with you.", he said, turning those big brown eyes my way.

"That sounds perfect to me.", I readily agreed, wishing I could invent a particular witty conversation out of thin air. He probably thought I sounded like an incredibly boring broken record and was even now dreading having to work with me for the entire summer!

Leading me across the school yard to an older model Honda Civic, he stopped to unlock the passenger door and open it for me. I noticed at once the difference between his car and Sesshomaru's- it was impossible not to. Where Sesshomaru's smelled like new leather and gleamed as if it had just rolled off the showroom floor - Kohaku's smelled of stale cigarette smoke and looked as if he probably LIVED in it half the time. He'd reached over me before allowing me to seat myself, grabbing a handful of what looked to be his entire collection of t-shirts and with a grin, threw them carelessly into the backseat along with whatever else might've resided back there.

Once he'd shut my door and started around the car, I turned around to take a peek at the backseat and stifled a giggle at the mess I saw. Soda canandyandy wrappers, empty cigarette packs, clothes, runners, books and newspapers covered every possible surface. Hearing him jerk open his own door, I quickly turned back around in my seat and smiled at him as he flung himself down into the seat.

"You like ice cream, right? I mean, I just assumed…", he asked, sticking the key into the ignition before reaching up to the rearview mirror to pull a pair of sunglasses down. Sliding them on, he turned toward me and wiggled his brows, making me laugh. His sunglasses were so cool! They were small, round wire frames tinted a soft blue, making it pretty easy to read his expressions as he talked to me.

"Yeah. I love ice cream.", I answered, admiring the way his hand slid down over the gear shift before backing out of the car park. He had very big hands with clean, nicely trimmed nails and they were so tanned, as were his strong looking forearms!

"Cool. My favorite is chocolate ripple. Not very adventurous, am I?", he laughed, looking left and then right before pulling out into the busy intersection.

"More adventurous than I am, I'm afraid. My favorite is vanilla!", I laughed, nodding when he did a double take as if he couldn't quite believe me.

"Why would anybody's favorite ice cream be vanilla, Rin? That's just so… wrong!", he grinned. "Sprinkles, nuts, fudge topping maybe?", he asked.

"Nope. Just vanilla.", I laughed, enjoying his reaction.

"I'd have taken you for a strawberry girl any day of the week!", he winked, causing my stomach to flutter.

He reached over to fiddle with the buttons of his CD player and the sounds of The Rolling Stones soon filled the little car. Biting his lip, he started to beat his hands along the steering wheel, humming along to a tune I'd heard a thousand times.

"I can't get nooooooooo SA-TIS-FAC-SHUN!", he began to sing along and I couldn't help it - I erupted into giggles. His singing wasn't just bad - it was terrible - yet it was the cutest thing I could have imagined coming from him. He didn't LOOK like what I considered to be a 'typical' dead head Stones fan. He was way too squeaky clean but that just served to prove to me how very wrong first impressions could be.

"You don't like my singing?", he shouted over the music as he slanted a glance my way.

"It's great!", I laughed, loving the feel of the wind in my hair as we sped toward the center of town. I, Rin Matsumoto, was in the car of a very cool college guy that my friends would've stroked over! The world was my oyster for sure!

He simply laughed and bellowed even louder, singing for all he was worth until the song finally ground to a halt. Before another one could begin, we'd pulled into a parking slot right in front of the ice cream shop and he cut the engine.

"Here we are!", he smiled, opening his car door as I reached for mine. We met on the sidewalk and he smiled, walking ahead to open the door for me that led into the shop. Inside it was cool and quiet with only a few customers hanging about licking their cones or digging into delicious looking sundaes.

"Hi Kohaku! What's up?", a pretty blonde eagerly welcomed him as we both approached the counter. I glanced at him as he slid his sunglasses atop his head. I was glad he'd taken them off - they were cool but his eyes were really pretty and I liked looking into them.

"Not a lot, what's going on with you?", he asked, leaning his elbows on the high counter to flirt with her.

"Just biding my time 'til I can go home! Are you going to the Met tonight? I hear a new band's playing there!", she asked, her gaze flicking quickly to me before turning fully back onto my handsome escort.

"Ahhhh… I'm not sure. I've got a few things to work out but I might swing by, we'll see!", he chuckled before turning to me. "You're really telling the truth about the vanilla, no lie?", he asked, scrunching his nose up as if it just grossed him out.

"Yeah, vanilla.", I mumbled, feeling the counter girl's eyes on me.

"OooooooooK!", he breathed, turning back to face the cute blonde. "One vanilla-", he turned back toward me. "Sugar cone?", he asked. I simply nodded and smiled as he once again turned his attention back to the front of the counter and said. "Sugar cone."

"Single or double?", she asked, smiling at me now.

"Single", I said.

"Double", he pronounced and we all laughed.

"If Kohaku's paying, get the double. He's notoriously stingy with his money!", she smiled.

"You're not funny… and ah, Kanna, this is Rin. Rin, Kanna!", he smiled, making the introductions.

"Nice to meet you, Rin. I stand by the statement I made earlier. Kohaku is stingy so I'm giving you the double!", she laughed, ducking when he balled up a napkin to throw at her.

Seconds later, she handed over a double scoop of thick, creamy vanilla ice cream nestled in a crisp sugar cone. Kohaku retrieved nd and along with a napkin, gave it to me.

"Thanks", I smiled.

"Eat every boring bit of it!", he grinned and turned back to find his double fudge ripple waffle cone already taken care of.

"Wow! You're good!", he chuckled happily as he accepted his treat from Kanna.

"You're just too damned predictable, Kohaku. That's all!", she laughed, ringing up our purchases at the end of the counter.

I watched as Kohaku made a face at her before reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. Handing his cone over to me, he took out the bills necessary to pay for our cones and made a show of giving it over to Kanna.

"Keep the change.", he teased, tucking the wallet into his back pocket before reaching to take his cone from me.

"Gee thanks, Mr. Moneybags! All of it???", Kanna snorted, shaking her head as she looked over at me.

"Thanks, Kanna. Maybe I'll see you at the Met after all.", he said, starting toward the door with his cone.

"Yeah, try to make it. Nice to meet you, Rin.", she called as I followed him out the front door of the shop.

"Same here.", I called back.

Reaching up, he slipped the glasses back over his eyes and led the way to his car. I waited again for him to unlock the door and slid in as soon as it was opened. Hot air spilled out of the car and I started to lick my cone, afraid it would melt before I got halfway finished. Kohaku climbed in and blew out a breath as the heat washed over him as well.

"You know… I don't have an air conditioner, Rin. This shit is gonna melt all over us!", he frowned as he looked about for more napkins. "Reach into there!", he pointed toward the dash. I did, laughing when several CD's fell into my lap and onto the floor of the car. Rummaging around, I found nothing, leaned down to retrieve the fallen discs and looked over at him to see that he was now leant over the seat, digging in the back for God only knew what.

His gray t-shirt had ridden up, coming untucked from the waistband of his jeans and I saw an inch or so of smooth tanned skin before he threw himself front and center into his seat once again. Clutching a faded orange rag, he licked quickly around his cone to catch the dribbling mess and I found I couldn't take my eyes off him. Strange feelings slid lower and lower from my tummy downward as I watched his lips and tongue work over the sweet confection. Swallowing hard, I drug my eyes away only to hear him say my name.

"Rin."

I turned my gaze back to him and caught him looking at my cone… my MELTING cone!

"You better lick it!", he laughed before running his tongue around the outer rim of dribbling chocolate ripple once more. Nodding, I proceeded to lick around the cone until I had it as neat as could be expected. Kohaku then pushed the orange cloth into my hands with an apologetic smile.

"It's all I've got!", he explained as I brought it to my face to wipe away any stickiness I had there. Catching a whiff of it, I wrinkled my nose and pitched it back toward him before thinking better of it. "That stinks!", I yelped, wiping absently at my face now as I finished up my increasingly melting cone.

With a bewildered look on his face, he brought the cloth up to his nose and imitated my look of disgust to perfection. "God!", he proclaimed, pitching it quickly into the back seat once again. "That's the shirt I played basketball in a few weeks ago!", he laughed, before starting the car.

"A few WEEKS ago? Do you live in here?", I asked. I'd finally found my comfort zone with Kohaku and was enjoying myself immensely.

"No!", he frowned. "Did you think I did?"

"Well, you DID say you needed money and I wasn't sure-", I began before he started laughing.

"You thought I was THAT poor?", he asked, biting into the last of his cone now. "Rin!"

"NO! I didn't… it's just that… well… your car is… well, I mean-", I searched for the right words, not wanting to offend him and guessed right about then that it was probably pretty hard to offend somebody as easy going as Kohaku.

"My car is a shit heap, Rin. Go ahead! Say it!", he laughed harder.

"Ok, your car is a shit heap!", I giggled.

"I didn't really MEAN for you to say it, Rin! Jeez!", he mock frowned, looking around for something else to wipe his hands on.

"Well… it IS, Kohaku!", I laughed, watching him try to capture his book bag from the backseat as he drove.

"Should I get that for you?", I asked as we swerved along the busy road.

"Yeah, my bag, please. Just open it up… I'm sure there's something in there that'll work.", he smiled.

Unfastening my seatbelt, I leaned over the seat and tried lifting the worn bag with one hand. It wouldn't budge. Two hands and a few grunts later, I had it slung into my lap, breathing hard.

"What is IN here?", I asked.

"Open it up!", he smiled and I did. Books, papers, some strange looking calculator, pencils, pens, video tapes, gum, pictures, and a few stray napkins.

"These are clean, right?", I asked as I gingerly picked one up by it's corner.

"Yes!", he laughed, snatching it from me to wipe over his mouth. "Thank you very much but I happen to know where and WHAT everything IS in that bag!", he smirked.

"Of course you do because EVERYTHING you own has to be in here!", I retorted, giggling when he swiped at my head with one hand.

"I can tell this is going to be a challenge, working with you.", he said, turning his eyes back on the road as he drove back toward the school.

"I'm a very good student, I swear!", I said, lugging the heavy bag down between my feet onto the floorboard.

"I know, but the attitude I'm seeing…", he teased, before reaching up as if to turn on his CD player once more.

"Ummm, Kohaku? What else do you have besides The Rolling Stones?", I asked timidly.

"You're not a Stoner, Rin? Ahhhhhhhhh, I'm gutted!", he said as he reached underneath his seat to pull out a battered CD case. Pitching it to me, he concentrated on driving as I unzipped the case and flipped through his collection. Frowning, I realized nearly everything he had was either hard rock or heavy metal. Some of the groups I'd never heard of and some I could've sworn were older than either of us.

"Not your taste, eh?", he asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Hmmm?"

"My musical tastes are not the same as yours, I take it.", he said. "What do you like to listen to, Rin?", he asked.

"Pop.", I answered.

If I'd expected him to turn up his nose at my choice of music, I'd have been disappointed, or maybe relieved. He simply nodded and asked me who my favorite bands and singers were, noting which songs he liked of the ones I mentioned.

"But you don't have any Pop here!", I said, looking down at his CD collection in my lap.

"I know. It's just that I like to DRIVE along to THIS kind of music.", he grinned. "I like lots of pop stuff, though."

"Good", I said softly, turning to look out the window as we pulled back into the school yard, a tiny frisson of guilt swimming up through my belly at the mere thought of Sesshomaru. Somehow I felt as if I'd been disloyal to him as I'd been laughing, having fun and admiring Kohaku. I felt as if Sesshomaru were watching me now with a frown pasted on his lovely face. Why did I feel as if I'd betrayed him?