Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I just write about them.

A/N: I had this little gem sitting on my computer for a long time, unfinished. Occasionally someone sends me a comment or a message that is so touching that I actually feel the need to finish this story. Stupid RP, always getting in the way. XD Anyway, I'm not really sure where I want to take it from here, though I have a few ideas.

LAOB

Chapter 11: A Guilty Conscience

The… the doorbell?

Tohru wasn't sure whether she should feel relief or irritation. Either way, the person on the other side of the door was, indeed, responsible for halting whatever had been about to happen. She liked to think that there had still been some level of control left in her, but even with her being the instigator, she wasn't sure that she could deny the aggression that had appeared in his eyes and touch.

"Yes. Thank you," she heard him say before he shut the door and carried in another tray of what she assumed was the fruit, cheese and crackers. Setting it down at the bar, he kept his back to her, busying himself with something unseen. And even though her tongue tried to form words as she continued staring at his back, her brain fell short of providing a method to end the awkward silence.

At the bar, Shigure had a deep frown turning down the corners of his mouth. He slowly gathered some of the items from the tray with a toothpick and placed them on a small plate. He wasn't hungry. And he was pretty certain that she wouldn't be either. He just needed a few minutes to collect himself, to erase the softness of her skin and mouth from his mind. Sure, he found her to be attractive, but there was no way that he really wanted to take advantage of someone so naive. Not like this. Shigure had done some pretty messed up things in his day, but for some reason this was different. Inebriation was involved and she was obviously emotionally driven by the consumption of wine. The last thing he needed was a law suit on his hands.

But was that really what made him linger at the bar now? Was it really that he was only worried for his own welfare. He closed his eyes for a short moment and was surprised to see a flash of turquoise and a pouting mouth. It's just a silly attraction, he told himself. Nothing more. He'd slept with so many women; under shadier circumstances, no less. It just so happened that he had been forced to pursue this particular 'girl' because it had taken longer to loosen her up than he had initially anticipated. Right?

"Right," he whispered. Taking a deep breath, the muscles of his face hardened into his usual impassive expression as he turned on his heel. Shigure walked to the bed and leaned over to set the small plate down next to her. "You should eat something," he said in an apathetic tone of voice.

As he began straightening up, her hand shot out to grab his arm. With her face ducked out of his view, she muttered, "I'm not hungry."

His gray eyes lowered briefly to stare at the top of her head, but he continued to provide nothing but a blank expression. "Suit yourself. I'm going to bed."

Tohru's chin lifted, her eyes narrowing as she met his gaze. "Why? I mean… you… you…" She trailed off, her mouth falling open.

Looking away from her, he sighed, as if out of impatience. "I have to work tomorrow." It was a complete lie, but he didn't want to look at her, and the sooner he left her sitting there, the better he would feel. This ridiculous game was compromising what little dignity he felt he had left.

Her brows knitted together as she glared at him. "You never cared about that before."

Shigure pulled his arm out of her grasp and turned his back on her. "I would hardly expect a child like you to understand." He began walking away, his shoulders firm and posture resolute.

Scowling, she pushed herself to the edge of the bed and stood without any regard for her sprained ankle. "Wait just a minute--!" But as she took a few steps forward, the pain shot up her leg and she found a sharp cry of surprise escaping her mouth as she began falling forward.

Shigure's eyes widened slightly at the sound, knowing that the foolish girl had acted before thinking things through again. Turning around, his arms moved out to catch her just before she fell to the floor. He kept his expression stern as he stared down at her. "What the hell are you doing? I told you to eat something. Not injure yourself further."

Finding herself in his arms again lessened the indignation materializing in her gaze. But she still shot him a miffed glance. "Oh? And what are you now? My father?"

He laughed, his lips twisting into a scornful smirk. "If you don't like it, perhaps you should learn how to take better care of yourself."

Tohru's mouth opened to emit a huff of both annoyance and surprise. "And just who do you think took me to that lame party and forced me to get all dressed up in the first place?"

"If this is how you thank someone for doing you a favor then I would hate to see how you treat people when you actually have a reason to be angry."

"A favor? What… what does that mean?" She asked, her voice rising in pitch.

The contempt was still evident in his eyes. "No one will ever invite you to a party as luxurious as that. I was simply doing you--"

"You think I want your charity?" Tohru snorted in disbelief. Her pigment darkened as her grip on his robe tightened. She wanted to say something hurtful. Something to erase that callous expression from his face. "I'm almost positive that Kureno would have invited me if you hadn't interrupted us."

Shigure's eyes grew dark and his lips settled into a severe line. "Kureno does what I tell him to do."

She laughed again, a sharp sound that echoed throughout the room. "Like hell he does! Is that why he screwed your wife?"

She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. Tohru blinked, sucking in a quick breath of air as her eyes widened. But the damage had already been done. She watched his jaw clench and his eyes glint with unfamiliar cruelty as he all but tossed her back down on the bed. Turning away again, he began stalking away from her.

"Sh-Shigure, I didn't mean to--"

No answer.

"I'm sorry! I was upset. I didn't… it wasn't… I don't even know what I was thinking--"

"You never do," he said in a low voice, keeping his back turned towards her.

She fell silent for a moment, her mouth freezing as she stared at him. "…What?"

"You have no idea what you're doing. So it's easier to push people away, right?"

"I never said--"

Shigure chuckled darkly. "You're reckless, impossible to please, and you can scarcely be seen as anything more than a child."

"Hey! I was only trying to--"

His head turned to look at her, and the malicious expression imbuing his usually handsome features would have stopped even a bull dead in its tracks. "That's why I was using you." He smirked. "But I've grown tired of you. It's just as I thought. Children really are dull and boring."

Tohru could not stop the trembling of her lips or the accumulated moisture that now filled the tear ducts of her eyes. "You're… the worst."

The corner of his mouth indented his cheek as he granted her a half smile. "You're right. I am the worst. And this game is now over."

"I can't believe you would…" She couldn't finish the sentence due to the shakiness of her voice.

"What? Treat you like every other woman? You're nothing special, Tohru. I can have my pick of anyone that I want. And 'you' certainly aren't it." And with that, he went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

The tears that had threatened to spill now fell freely down her cheeks as she tried to hold in the small shudders making her body collapse on the bed while she silently cried. She didn't know what to believe anymore. Kureno. Ayame. Shigure. Herself. No one seemed to have the correct answers. Maybe it was all just an elaborate way of ensuring that she would fall into his trap. But why did it hurt so much? Why was it so hard to breathe?

Inside the bathroom, Shigure slammed both hands on the counter top as he cursed under his breath. It was impossible. She was just a kid. An immature brat. He couldn't even take her out to a party without her making a fool of herself. What did he care if he made her cry? Wasn't he usually annoyed when a woman got all mopey? Didn't he usually walk away from them guilt free? Why the hell did his chest feel like the world's largest man was standing on top of it?

Looking in the mirror, he shook his head at his expression. His hand found the knob to the faucet and he turned on the water, letting it run cold for a minute. It felt good against his skin and even better when he splashed it on his face. He turned it off and reached for a hand towel. Raising it, he placed it against his damp skin and breathed into it deeply for a moment as he tried to regain himself.

"She's just a kid." Shigure looked in the mirror again, contempt for himself surfacing in his eyes. "She's just a kid," he whispered again. Sleeping with her should have been a piece of cake. Perhaps he was just a little sore that it had taken her so long to show interest. Shaking his head again, he threw off his robe and grabbed the clothes he had folded earlier. They still had mud on them, but he couldn't very well walk out of the establishment wearing only a hotel robe.

When he opened the door to the bathroom, he was fully clothed, save for his coat, which he had tossed over his shoulder. He was determined not to so much as glance at her before leaving. But as he walked through the bedroom, it quickly became obvious that she was no longer there. Shigure's dark eyes searched the bed. The bar. He even looked behind him at the sitting area. No Tohru. Apparently, she'd had the same idea as him.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath, his lower lip jutting out slightly until he appeared to be pouting. "I was supposed to walk out on her." As childish as it sounded, he hated it when women had the upper hand. Before giving it a second thought, he had discarded his coat and was throwing open the door to the penthouse so that he could run down the hallway towards the elevator.

Shigure heard a ding that could only mean the doors were closing. He watched as they began sliding shut, but before they could, his arm slipped inside and his hand hit the interior portion of the door with a loud bang. A second later they were sliding open and he was staring into the tear stained face of Tohru as she gazed with wide eyes at him. He watched as she quickly lowered her chin so that he couldn't see her eyes, one hand moving up to wipe her cheeks while she let her hair fall in her face.

"What…. What do you want?" She asked, trying to hide a sniffle.

She was so many things that he hated. Whiney. Bitter. Ill-mannered. A know-it-all. Everything that he didn't want, but all things that he felt like he needed. He couldn't read her. She was spontaneous and often times capable of staggering even him. What was it about her exactly?

Turquoise eyes lifted to glower at him. "Well. Are you just going to stand there staring or are you going to let me get the hell--"

Before she could finish, he was in the elevator, hands slipping behind her waist as his head dipped to catch her lips, kissing her hard on the mouth. He heard the small whimper in the back of her throat, but for some reason, it only encouraged his hold on her to tighten. Hands slipped lower, to the back of her thighs, so that he could lift her, forcing her to wrap her legs around him. Silly girl. She had planned to leave in her bathrobe. For some reason, the thought made him smile.

Shigure pressed her back to the elevator wall, not really considering the fact that he might be hurting her. The only thing on his mind was that mouth that never shut up. He heard the elevator dinging again and, not wanting to cause another scene downstairs, he pulled her away from the wall, pressing her even closer to him and forced his foot backwards between the closing doors. Once again, they opened and he moved through, crushing her into the wall across from the elevator.

Tohru let out a painful cry, but she clung to him even more tightly when his lips lowered to her chin, her neck, her breathing fast and ragged as her head fell back and her eyes closed. She felt one hand moving up her leg, past her thigh, forcing the robe higher and she could do nothing but shiver. The world around her spinning, Tohru looped her arms around his neck, pressing herself a little more closely to him, a wave of pleasure stirring in her lower stomach when she heard him groan. His hands were not gentle, but she felt powerless to whatever passion was fueling the storm behind his eyelids. The hate-filled expression she had seen back in the room. The tirade of emotions that she had caused as he slammed the door to the bathroom. The cruelty that had resulted because she selfishly wanted to hurt him. Whatever it was that he needed, she decided in that moment she would give it to him.

Shigure carried her down the hallway, back towards the room, his mouth still attached to her neck, skimming across the smooth skin of her throat, nipping her collar bone and moving aside the robe with his teeth so that he could kiss her shoulder. He wanted her. More than he had wanted a woman in a long time. His blood coursed so hotly in his veins that he could barely weather the light-headed sensation in his head as one hand fumbled with the key to the room and the door knob while he simultaneously slid the robe lower to expose more of her delicious skin.

Once the damn door finally opened, he moved to the bed with quick, urgent steps, and as he lowered her on the surface, he didn't so much as allow an inch of space between them. Her legs tightened around him and her fingers curled in his hair, nails lightly scratching his scalp as her mouth searched for his again. Shigure's hands roamed her silky, uncovered skin eagerly, pulling back the robe so that he could feel more of her beneath him. Tohru felt a small shudder grip her spine. She knew where this was headed, and although the warnings were present in her conscience, she could hardly stop him, even if she had wanted to. Shaking hands moved to the front of his shirt, fumbling with buttons as he hungrily took her mouth.

Some part of her wondered if this was it... if this would be the last time they ever saw each other. This was what he had wanted all along, wasn't it? Her body? She was just another conquest in his mind, an impressionable girl to manipulate and then discard. After he got what he needed, he would leave her and never look back. She should stop him, stop herself from becoming just another number on his list, but she didn't want to. She began pulling the shirt down his arms once the buttons were undone, and then she discarded it somewhere beside them, hands moving quickly to his bare shoulders.

Shigure lowered his chest to hers, barely containing a groan as he felt the contact of her smooth skin and Tohru squeezed her thighs more tightly around him, inciting pressure to his groin. His eyes opened, dark grey orbs seeking the turquoise hazy expression in her gaze. Her face was flushed, a dark coloring that crossed the bridge of her nose from one cheek to the other. Her lips were red from kissing him. And every time she shivered, he felt what little control he had left withering away until he was left with just need and desire burning like liquid fire in his loins.

"Nng," she moaned , lifting her head up to kiss his throat, her lips grazing his Adam's Apple and lowering to his chest. "Please..."

And then he froze, his mind coming to a jolting halt. He wanted this. So badly that it hurt. But that weight in his chest, it was back. That prickling sensation at the back of his neck had returned. This was wrong. Not like this. Not now. Not out of anger or lust; not when she was staring at him so innocently. Shigure untangled himself from her legs, her arms, her warmth, his eyes widening as he stared down at her. One hand moved to his forehead, running through his hair as he stood up straight, turning away from her, stress knotting in his shoulder blades as he did. He couldn't look at her. If he did, he wouldn't be able to deny her.

Tohru blinked, her body immediately mourning the loss of his warmth and touch. She pressed her elbows into the bed so that she could sit herself up slightly. "Shigure... what... what is it?" Did she do something wrong? Perhaps something that had made him lose interest? Her robe was so completely open now that nothing was left to the imagination. Her face coloring in embarrassment, she quickly wrapped it more tightly around herself and then sat up.

"It's nothing. I just remembered that there was something pressing I forgot to do," he said

Something pressing? She thought. At a time like this? Tohru wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold.

"You are welcome to stay the night here. However, I will be taking my leave now." He looked back at her then, the composure and disconnection having settled back into his features. But not in his voice. "I'm... sorry."

Her brows knitted together slightly as she stared up at him in confusion. What did that mean? That he was sorry? It sounded... so sincere, and yet...

Shigure leaned over and snatched his shirt from the floor. And then he left the room wordlessly without so much as looking back.

As the clicked shut, she felt her chest filling with dread and apprehension. If she had been confused by his actions before, she was at a complete loss now. Tohru fell back against the bed mattress with an unsettled sigh. "What in the world...?"

A/N: Shigure really needs to get his act together. One minute he's hot (well, he's always hot) and the next minute he's cold. I promise that if I continue, I'll have some of the other characters in the next chapter. I also wanted to thank the people that have favorited this story and those of you who have actually taken the time to comment. It means a lot.

Bai bai~!

Lina