Transparent by susie
Chapter 1
After a challenging year, the last bell finally rang on the last day of school.
Children flooded out of Sunset Elementary as if the building was on fire, and palpable excitement buzzed through every student as tests and homework were forgotten, and summer plans could officially get underway.
Every student that is, except one.
While her friends were frantically texting party plans, or coordinating when to meet up at the beach, Rin Takahashi was stuck in the principal’s office. The soundproof room mercifully protected her from the sounds of joy and merriment occurring throughout the busy halls, but left her swallowed in silence as she nervously withstood the intimidating glare of the scariest principal the school had ever seen.
Each tick of the second hand echoed dauntingly above her head like a countdown to her impending doom, and from her chair in front of his rather large desk, the 11-year-old was forced to endure the emotionless – yet somehow, obviously displeased – expression of her lasted victim.
Mouth set firm in a thin line, Sesshoumaru leaned forward with his elbows on his desk, fingers steepled together to support his strong chin while he seemed to be considering the young girl’s fate.
Every few seconds, she would break into a sheepish smile at the man in a nervous attempt to allay her discomfort, only to be met with his stony, unmoving glare and continued punishing silence.
Then again, maybe she was just trying not to laugh.
“Mr. Taisho? Rin’s mother is here.”
The voice of his secretary blared through the intercom, cutting through the eerie quiet and startling Rin in her seat. She was both relieved, and anxious when he straightened in his chair and pushed the talk button.
“Send her in.”
Only seconds later, the door to his office opened with a loud click, revealing two women in their late 20s. His secretary stood aside and held the door for an obviously irritated, yet nicely put together Kagome Higurashi, who made sure to fix her only daughter with a withering scowl the second she located her.
“Hello mother,” she attempted to pander, but it did little to temper Kagome’s demeanor as she charged into the room.
“Don’t you ‘hello mother’ me.” She quickly reached the young girl’s side to hover above while she shrunk in her chair. “What were you thinking? When we get home, you are in very-”
“Kagura, take Rin into the waiting room.”
The calm demand put an abrupt end to her tirade, but it was the smooth timbre of his voice that drew her attention. Finally taking in the man in full, Kagome was rendered speechless. “Give her an activity to occupy her while I have a word with her mother.”
Taking her cue, Rin hopped out of her chair all too eagerly, and maneuvered around her mom to accept Kagura’s protection.
“Yes, Mir. Taisho.”
After ushering Rin into the hallway, Kagura closed the heavy door behind her to give the couple some privacy. Kagome immediately approached the desk where he still sat, and attempted to grovel apologetically.
“Mr. Taisho, I am so sorry-”
“Have a seat, Mrs. Hirgurashi.”
He gestured toward the chair her daughter had just occupied, and with wide eyes, Kagome quickly obeyed.
“It’s ‘miss,’ actually,” she saw fit to inform him as she took her seat. “But you can just call me Kagome.”
She flashed him her winning smile that never failed to beautifully disarm its recipient. Perhaps that’s why she was due for a loss. His emotionless expression hadn’t budged in the least, but looking at him, it wasn’t a mystery why.
Clearing her throat, she straightened her posture, and took the prolonged silence as her cue to start explaining.
“I just want to apologize for my daughter’s outrageous behavior. I have no idea what got into her.”
Despite her mortification, however, it took every ounce of self-control to keep from bursting into a fit of inappropriate laughter.
For sitting behind his desk with his hands clasped in front of him, Sesshoumaru Taisho was soaked.
Absolutely soaked through.
He looked like he’d jumped into a pool with all of his clothes on. The waterlogged material sagged heavily around him, exposing the shape of his upper chest and arms. From that alone, Kagome was wishing he’d stand up so she could get a more complete picture.
His bangs, white for some reason despite his otherwise youthful appearance, were also soaked through. Clinging to his forehead as rivulets of clear liquid continued to stream down his face, with even a few lucky droplets trickling down his neck and into his shirt.
All of him was sopping. Small puddles were starting to form under his desk, and threatened to compromise the expensive wood beneath his arms, and the fine leather of his chair.
She was almost impressed with her daughter’s work.
“I don’t know where she got the idea to drench you with her water gun,” she insisted, still captivated by the ridiculous sight he made. “If I knew that’s what she planned on using it for, I never would have given it to her for her birthday last week.”
He gave her a long, assessing once over, before finally arching a brow. She wasn’t sure why she found it attractive.
“Is that so?”
Shaking herself, Kagome got back to the matter at hand.
“She must have gotten that wild streak from her father’s side of the family.”
Sesshoumaru eyed her another moment, before lowering his gaze, and spinning his chair to pull something out of his drawer. Kagome watched on with interest, and tried to peer over his desk as he rifled for something out of her line of sight.
“Her father. Hojo Takahashi, is that right?” he asked. He seemed to find what he was looking for, and made brief eye contact again before placing a large file down in front of him and opening it.
Her eyes darted to it curiously.
“Yes. We divorced last year. I think that might be why she started acting out. He moved across town, but she still sees him regularly. Apparently, he’s a bad influence.”
She watched him flip through the file, his soggy hair and clothes still dripping and staining the stack of papers terribly. In several places, she could see black ink starting to bleed.
He seemed to stop when he found the page he was looking for, and finally returned his full attention to the woman before him.
“You both attended this elementary school, did you not?” She felt somewhat embarrassed as she nodded the affirmative. There was nothing wrong with marrying your high school sweetheart. Of course, it hadn’t ended up working out for her. She was a bit self-conscious that it showed a lack of imagination on her part. She’d always wondered, if she would have waited, what kind of guys she might have met out there. Now here she was, 29, and forced to go back out on the market.
She didn’t even know how dating was supposed to go anymore. A lot had changed in the last decade or so, and she was terrified at the prospect of having to use a dating app.
“Hojo was one of our best students, if not the best.” Kagome refrained an eye roll. Yes, she was well aware of all of Hojo’s accomplishments. That’s how her friends, her mother... even his mother all sold him to her. Not a good sign when you have to hold up your report card as a desirable trait.
“I recognize his name on several of the plaques in the trophy case,” Sesshoumaru continued, then seemed to be casually searching his memory. “Spelling bee champion three years running, captain of the track team, and... student body president, if I’m not mistaken.”
She was not about to point out that he forgot to mention his trip to regionals with the Mathaholics Squad.
Instead, she forced a polite smile and nodded again.
“Yes, that’s right.”
He considered her silently another moment, before returning to his perusal of the giant folder in front of him. Though he apparently wasn’t through listing Hojo’s achievements, albeit unenthusiastically.
“He also had the highest standardized test scores in our school’s history. I believe he has yet to be surpassed.”
She hummed in understanding, and considered the news a moment. “Unless Rin has an amazing 6th grade year, I doubt she’ll be the one to dethrone him.” Kagome laughed lamely at her obvious joke.
Rin was a good kid; kind, courteous, helpful. But getting her to focus on her lessons was a chore in and of itself. She worried her daughter might have a touch of the ADHD, but she was 11. What kind of 11-year-old would rather do homework and study than chase butterflies outside?
Hojo, for one.
“Indeed,” Sesshoumaru agreed nonetheless, perhaps somewhat concerned with her flippant attitude toward education. She certainly didn’t have the best track record. “I also had a look at your file, Miss Hirgurashi.”
“Please, call me Kago-”
“Your accomplishments are much less commendable, though no less noteworthy.”
When he lifted a sheet up out of the folder, she realized it was her record he was sifting through, and faltered. What was he doing with that?
She became irrationally nervous as PTSD took hold, courtesy of the flashbacks she was experiencing. Decades ago, she sat in this very seat, quite often actually, while Mr. Yoshimi waxed poetic about ‘taking your education seriously.’
She had to say, if Mr. Yoshimi looked anything like Mr. Taisho, she would have gotten in even more trouble, just to get sent to his office.
“Suspended for fighting, nearly expelled for vandalism, smoking...”
He paused his cataloguing to level an admonishing glare, but she only huffed in annoyance.
“That was one time.”
“It says here that you organized a revolt protesting the D.A.R.E. program?”
“Successfully I might add,” she inserted proudly. “They disbanded it the next year. That program was more problematic than helpful.”
“I see,” he responded, though didn’t appear entirely convinced. He looked like he didn’t know what to make of her. Regardless, he pressed on. “You continue to hold a record here as well: most days truant in a single school year. Impressive.”
“I was sick a lot,” she justified. “My grandfather vouched for me.”
As she offered her excuses, he returned the paper to her bulky file and appeared to begin searching for another. Though, what the point of drudging all that up was continued to remain a mystery.
She watched him sift for only a moment before her irritation got the better of her.
“I’m sorry, isn’t this supposed to be about Rin? Why is my permanent record relevant?”
“It shows a pattern of behavior,” he insisted, matter-of-factly. “You attest that the blame lies with your ex-husband, however I would argue Rin favors her mother quite superbly.”
She was slightly taken aback by his assessment, and felt the need to defend them both.
“Hey, that was a long time ago. Rin’s a good kid.”
“She is,” he agreed, and his sincerity tempered her just a bit. “That is why this is so concerning.”
As he calmly raked through her file, Kagome found herself growing quite annoyed. Sure, what Rin pulled today warranted discipline, but it felt like she was the one who was getting scolded. Rin was usually very well-behaved... and she was a single mom! All things considered; he should just let this slide.
If she didn’t know any better, she'd say he got some sort of sick amusement out of scrutinizing her grade school shenanigans. Who wasn’t a little terror in grade school?
Hojo, for two.
She was aware of her temper, and could feel herself becoming indignant. She knew the best thing would be to hold her tongue around her daughter's scary principal, but the rebel in her couldn’t resist taking a jab at him.
“And I'm sorry, but nobody cares what happens in elementary school.”
“I care,” he informed her. She had to refrain from rolling her eyes, as he was staring seriously right into them. ‘Wow, I’ve never seen those color eyes before. Contacts?’
“I believe it can be quite telling, and prophetic.”
Pulling herself out of his gaze was like swimming against the current, but when his haughty statement finally registered, she made it to shore in an instant.
Her brow became creased as she leaned forward.
“How dare you? Just because I had some problems in school, it doesn’t mean that Rin-”
“There was one more interesting incident in your file, Miss Higurashi.”
She held his glare a moment, before finally deigning to acknowledge the lone paper in his hand. Messy, almost illegible markings littered most of the page.
“Kagome,” she insisted again, more out of principle than anything. “and what is it? Did I write something naughty on the girl’s bathroom wall?”
“Undoubtedly,” he quipped, “but that is not what I am referring to.”
Her mockery garnered no reaction. Instead, he pulled the paper closer to read the sloppy handwriting.
“Then what?”
“It says right here, that on the last day of fifth grade, Kagome Higurashi brought a large water pistol to school,” he paused meaningfully to cut his eyes back to her, and she froze. “and attacked her principal with it. At the time, it was a Mr. Yoshimi. Sound familiar?”
She managed a nervous laugh as he packed up her file and returned it to its home. He seemed to be waiting for her to explain herself. Again.
“I completely forgot about that,” she admitted sheepishly. “Hojo must have told her the story. He has a much better memory.”
Something about his body language told her he wasn’t quite buying it. But instead of refuting her, he opted to offer his professional opinion.
“Perhaps if you attended your classes, you would have learned the skills to improve in that regard.”
She was far too nervous at this point to take his bait, so she wisely opted to remain silent. His calculating gaze felt heavy and oppressive, and she tried not to shatter under it.
“You claim you have no prior knowledge of your daughter’s intentions today?”
“Absolutely not!” she insisted, but a little too quickly.
“Hn.”
What was it about this man? His silences were too loud, too full. She felt like she could hear everything he was thinking as he dissected her with those amazing golden eyes. But maybe that was her conscience.
She just knew that she felt the opposite of how he looked. His calm patience clashed beautifully with her frazzled turbulence.
“As of last week, I am teaching Kaede’s class while she is out for surgery. You were made aware of this?”
“Rin might have mentioned it,” she admitted carefully, not quite sure where he was going with this.
“She is a fine educator, but much too lax in certain regards,” he imparted bluntly. “Her cell phone use policy, for one, is far too lenient. I do not believe it behooves the students to have access to them in my class, for cheating purposes, as well as the disruption they cause.”
Kagome nodded in agreement, totally sympathetic to the struggles teachers must face in this day and age. While filling her in, he reached into his top drawer this time.
“So, Rin was quite distraught when upon seeing her texting during my lessons, I removed this from her possession. I told her she would get it back after class.”
Sure enough, there was Rin’s expensive smartphone in Mr. Taisho’s hand. The pink glittery phone case was enough to give it away.
She offered a guilty, apologetic smile and extended her arm expectantly.
“Oh, well thank you. I’ll get it back to her when I feel she deserves it.”
When she reached for it, however, Sesshoumaru easily maneuvered the phone out of her range.
“To dissuade texting during lessons, it is also my policy to read any messages being sent or received aloud to the class. As a form of humiliation, and punishment. You’d be surprised how children so young can already be speaking so lewdly to one another these days.”
Actually, she wouldn’t. She’d had those little monsters in her living room before. And, she may or may not have used some colorful language in front of them herself... once or twice.
When he began scrolling through the touchscreen, she became confused.
“So imagine my surprise when I relieved her of her phone and found this.”
He turned the screen to face her, and blood ran cold through her veins as she was forced to stare into her own incriminating message to Rin.
Me
‘T minus 30 minutes till Mr. Taisho gets soaked!’
Mom
‘Great job, honey! I’m on my way! =) Good Luck!.'
She attempted to keep her composure, but that required avoiding that arresting honeyed gaze... which was a shame. But she’d been in tight spots before, she just had to think on her feet.
She managed to produce a dismissive scoff, and forced a careless smile.
“That’s the oldest trick in the book,” she insisted, sliding her eyes guiltily to the side. “Kids put their friends’ name under ‘mom,’ so when they text each other they-”
The sound of her phone going off in her purse stopped her lie in its tracks, and when she finally drew her eyes back up, she was greeted with him holding her daughter’s bedazzled pink phone right up to her face.
‘Calling mom,’ it said clearly on the screen, over the top of a rather goofy picture of herself.
She could feel the accusation emanating from his solid from.
He hung up before she answered the call, effectively stopping the ringing, and flipped Rin’s phone down onto his desk gently. She immediately retrieved it.
“Look, I don’t know what you think happened, but I had nothing to do with this.”
He watched as she scrambled nervously to shove the phone in her purse, and though she spoke confidently he could tell she was starting to panic.
“How did you know she doused me with her water gun?” he asked after a moment of her evasive behavior.
‘Was that a trick question?’ she wondered. As if it should be obvious, she gestured to his sodden appearance.
“Well, look at you!”
Her remark earned her a humorless smirk that had Kagome retreating in her chair. There was something sinister in his expression that shot a thrilling jolt of fear through her entire body. Instinct demanded that she run, but intrigue kept her in her seat.
“I was beside Kagura when she called you. She never mentioned a water gun. Yet you immediately assumed such. Quite a specific, and accurate guess, is it not?”
She felt her lids peel back as she realized her slip.
‘It was a trick question! Damn!’
Her composure began to crack as her mind clamored for an excuse, but Sesshoumaru proceeded with his interrogation.
“You certainly got here quickly,” he continued in smooth tones as he rose gracefully from his chair. She was suddenly reminded how tall that man was. “Less than five minutes. Records show you live at least twenty away, and that is in very good traffic, which at this time of day, it is not.”
Now that he was standing, Kagome could see the extent of her daughter’s damage.
In its doused state, the fitted white dress shirt he wore clung to his body like cellophane. Thanks to Rin’s brutal attack, the thin material had been rendered completely transparent, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. His finely made clothing was plastered against his hard form, revealing his perfectly chiseled abdominals and toned upper chest. Each dip and bulge of lean, powerful muscle was on full display for her viewing pleasure, and her hungry eyes roved shamelessly over his body as she took in the hardened peaks of his nipples, and followed the V-shaped ridges that disappeared down into his slacks.
While following the delicious trail over his hipbones, steep cuts of magenta were easily detected through the useless veil of his clothing, also wrapping around his hips and leading her down the path to insanity.
‘They must be tattoos,’ some distant voice supplied in the back of her foggy mind, but before she could dwell on it, he stepped out from behind his desk. As he began to round it, she vaguely realized he intended to approach her, and self-preservation kicked in enough to force her up from her seat.
“I was, uh, in the area, and...”
His unhurried steps soon found him menacingly close. Kagome couldn’t think, but luckily her body knew enough to know that you never turn your back on a predator. And though his moves were slow, his gaze was unflinching, and gave her the distinct feeling that she was indeed his prey.
With her back to his desk, he prowled closer, imposing himself until she could retreat no further, and her ass was pressed right up against its edge. She placed her hands back on it as well for the illusion of some kind of purchase, but when he leaned into her with a palm down flat on either side, he had her caged in. She was trapped.
“Do you think you would like it, if someone were to shoot liquid all over you?” His intrusion had her leaning back far. The proximity of his face to hers ensured he needn’t speak any louder than the low, rumbling timbre he supplied, and she could actually feel the weight of his words as they brushed across her cheek, causing her nerve endings to tingle and her muscles to ache.
“Spray you with fluid until every inch of you is covered," he continued huskily, "leaving your clothing so damp that your body is plainly exposed?”
She could feel the heat of his thighs as they pressed into hers, and his saturated clothing transferred the moisture to her bare legs as he pinned her against his desk.
When he loomed over her, she decided he was too much, and turned her head. This didn’t ease her burden, however, as he drew even nearer and placed his lips a hairsbreadth from her ear. The hot puff of each lowly-spoken word sent a pleasing shiver down her spine.
“Drenching your skin, leaving you a wet, dripping mess? Would you like that, Kagome?”
‘Another trick question?’ she dazedly considered.
Trying to formulate an answer, she attempted to detach herself from her predicament as this frighteningly sexy man continued to literally breath down her neck.
Hazily, she recognized a crisp, white dress shirt identical to the one he was wearing hanging precariously from his nearby bookshelf, and sobered.
“Wait,” she demanded, turning back to face him. This caused him to retreat a hair. “If you caught Rin before she got you, then why are you all wet?”
Wouldn’t his discovery have prevented his impending assault?
She grew slightly braver as her gears started turning.
“And why are you still wet? You have an extra shirt hanging right there.” She gestured to his spare clothing that was obviously meant to be his replacement. Why wouldn’t he have changed already? It wasn’t like he didn’t have time.
Damn. That was something she’d overlooked when concocting her evil scheme. She had no idea he had an extra change of clothing just lying around. Maybe it wasn’t the first time this has happened.
This shouldn’t have worked so beautifully...
“Is this what you wanted, Kagome?” She was easily distracted from her mulling when Sesshoumaru pulled back. Her legs remained trapped between them, but he’d straightened enough to give her an unobstructed view of his upper body once again. “Is this what you wanted to see?”
He gestured to himself, and allowed her the privilege of taking in his sinful form. She was helpless to ignore the generous sight he gifted her, but she still released a pathetic whimper as she bit her lower lip in impotent anguish.
“I do not believe Rin should have to pay for her mother’s indiscretions,” he informed her. “But how to punish you?”
Kagome slumped dejectedly as he appeared to consider her fate.
‘Great,’ she bemoaned internally. ‘He’s probably going to sue me for sexual harassment. I’m going to be the face of the reverse #metoo movement. Wonderful.’
“I know.”
His confident baritone startled her from her lament, and large nervous eyes travelled back up to his.
‘Where they should have been in the first place, Kagome.’
But when both sets of nimble fingers started making quick work of his shirt buttons, she thought her throat had closed shut.
A slight smirk played at the corners of his devilish lips as he made his way down his torso. Inch after breathtaking inch of smooth, pale skin became officially bare to her view – not that she hadn’t seen everything perfectly already.
She didn’t want to stop him, but something in the back of her short-wiring brain reminded her that they were in her daughter’s elementary school, and said daughter was probably right outside with a coloring book right now.
She continued to watch him undress as she stammered out her half-hearted protest.
“Mr. Taisho... Is this? Uh, do you think here is-”
But once the last button was opened, he peeled the sopping shirt neatly off his back, and proceeded to fold it as well as he could in its current condition.
His naked skin was even better than the tease, and her senses heightened in excitement as her attention was immediately drawn back to the suggestively pronounced ‘V’ of his torso, and his strange yet sexy tattoos. It took everything she had not to reach out and run her fingers along their expanse.
“You will have this cleaned, and return it to me.”
Her head snapped back up – again – at the unexpected command. When she looked down at the proffered shirt he indicated she take, realization of his intent dawned and she flushed in embarrassment.
“O-okay, that’s fair.” She quickly accepted his shirt, and his terms. She was getting off easy. “I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.”
She couldn’t help but feel disappointed as he removed himself from her person, and walked the short distance to retrieve his dry shirt. She remained propped against his desk for support, however. She didn’t trust her legs at the moment.
“No. You will do it tonight. I will come to retrieve it from your home.”
Watching him fasten up each button with an alarming sense of loss, she mentally rearranged her schedule to accommodate her pressing new chore.
“When?”
“When is Rin’s bed time?”
He closed the last remaining button at his throat, and stilled her with a smoldering glare. From that, her body began to hum with some unnamed anticipation.
“Ten,” she answered breathlessly. As he made his way back to her, she felt a spark of something foreign popping along her skin. It was as if she could feel her atoms dancing feverishly beneath the surface.
“Then I shall be there at ten thirty.”
He lowered his voice to how it was before, and planted one hand down on the desk’s surface to aid in his encroachment. He had to bend low to meet her.
“Will you be ready for me?”
His face was close again. Too close. Not close enough. But as alarmed as she appeared, he was calm and sure.
“I’m ready now,” she responded, trance-like.
Sesshoumaru smirked at her hushed admission, and lifted his free hand to test her claim.
Strong fingers brushed lightly against her exposed inner thigh. But as they travelled gently upward to breach the hem of her short skirt, he applied a slightly bolder pressure.
Her skin snapped to life at the contact, and where he softly touched her left a trail of tingling energy in his wake. A furious, insistent crackling surged between them that she’d never felt before.
She gasped in surprise and pleasure at the audacious, presumptuous act, but voiced no protest as they held each other’s gaze.
Kagome’s breathing got heavier when he caressed her with his palm, but her body screamed in frustration when he stopped short of her panty line. Apparently, he’d already gotten his answer.
“Hn. You’re already drenched,” he informed her. To illustrate his point, he ran the pads of his fingers through the slickness coating her skin, but she ached for him to continue his explorations.
Her mouth hung open incredulously as he purred his threat into her ear.
“When I'm through with you, you will be absolutely sopping.”
“Mr. Taisho, Mr. Sekura is here for your three o’clock.”
Kagura’s voice through the intercom nearly gave her a heart attack, but Sesshoumaru didn’t flinch. Only reach effortlessly around her to hit the button on his desk.
“Send him in.”
Hearing that, Kagome rushed to put herself together, straightening her clothing and smoothing out her hair. Sesshoumaru calmly tucked in his new shirt, and made his way back around his desk.
“I have another appointment; you best get your daughter home.” She nodded frantically at his suggestion as he trapped her once again in his magnetizing gaze. “But tonight, we will see how you like soaking through your clothing. Is that fair?”
Another slow nod earned a pleased smirk from him, which he instantly corrected the second his door opened again to reveal his new visitor.
“Kagura, see Miss Higurashi out,” he ordered, and received an obedient bow. Kagome rushed to follow his secretary through the door, but she heard his voice call out from behind. “And Kagome...”
She turned the instant he said her name. Though his face gave nothing away, the look in his eyes was damning.
“Be sure to thank your daughter for her cooperation.”
*****
A/N: Based on a true story. (just the water gun part, lol) Thanks for being cool, Mr. Riley XD.
This is also my first legit AU, and the first time I’ve ever written Kagura in, I believe. Checking a lot of boxes here. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.