Chapter 10: The Day After the Night that Never Happened

Forty-nine...

Fifty...

Fifty-one...

Fifty-two, Sesshoumaru counted, scowling behind his hand.

His mother had glanced over at him fifty-tw-... fifty-three times now since he'd walked into her office that morning (at such an ungodly hour, too) for the meeting she'd set up with the owner of the New Burlesque.

If the dark lines under his eyes didn't convey how badly he felt, then the foul expression crossing his face would; he felt like something that'd been run over by a truck, scooped up in a shovel and- just for good measure- then had lemon juice poured into his eyes (for no apparent reason). And his mother's dour looks pricking at him from across the room him like a physical blow weren't helping any either.

He wasn't sure whether her mood was due to the fact that she quite possibly knew what had transpired the previous night between the hanyou and himself, or whether she was concerned about Sesshoumaru "corrupting" her boyfriend's one and only son by getting him so hammered to where his hangover caused a bit of (blessed be) amnesia.

He was fairly sure he didn't want to know the answer if he were honest with himself right now. Especially when he had to not only deal with a raging headache but also the fact that, despite the hanyou's minor lapse in memory, HE still knew what had happened.

Every.

Intimate.

Detail.

And unfortunately for him (Fuck my life, Sesshoumaru thought to himself, groaning as he slouched in the seat he was in a bit more), he was just as sure that even if he didn't want to talk about what his mother had walked in on this morning, he would be talked TO about it regardless. Simply because his mother was an overbearing bitch when she wanted things clarified, even if she knew her assumptions were correct already. He would more than likely be kept prisoner in her office once this wretched meeting was over only so she could interrogate him once they were completely alone.

"-ah, thank you so much, Mrs. Musashi-tou! This will be a very beneficial partnership for both of our companies!"

Sesshoumaru blinked, coming back to the conversation just as the two women in the room began standing up. His legs pushed him upright automatically as he bowed his head slightly when the owner of New Burlesque turned to him.

"I'm so happy you enjoyed our establishment last night, Mr. Musashi, it was an honor! I hope we can see both you and that cute little associate of yours again sometime soon!" Godiva said in a sultry voice, winking at him as she walked toward the door.

"Have a good day, Ms. Godiva," Izanami called before the door closed shut.

Sesshoumaru merely yawned, wincing at the crick in his neck as he stretched his limbs before resigning himself to the task it was going to be to get back to his office without tripping over his own legs (and hoping the she-demon had forgotten about grilling him for more information).

His mother moved to take a seat at her desk, eyeing him critically. "Sesshoumaru," the woman said slowly.

"Later, Mother," the demon said holding his head, thankful he'd closed all the blinds around the nearly full-window walled office before the meeting had began.

Izanami glared at her son. "We're talking NOW," she declared with all the finality of a Musashi as she got up again and walked across her office, fierce determination settling into her features.

"Not now-" The demon choked on his words the next moment as the harpy he called mother purposefully opened the blinds directly in front of him. The visual assault was enough to cause the grown youkai to fully collapse into the nearest leather chair, instantly curling into a fetal position in a vain attempt at lessening the agony.

Goddamnit, his headache just exploded from a minor irritation to a full on migraine in the span of less than a second, pounding furiously behind his clenched eyelids. Sesshoumaru nearly snarled, hissing out an oath as his mother's tactic temporarily paralyzed and blinded him all at once, rendering his plans of escape little more than useless now.

Izanami took a seat opposite her son, noting that the night from before- alcohol and all- finally hit her proud son like a mountain would a marshmallow. She snorted, nodding in approval.

"Now that I have your undivided attention," she said as she sat back, rolling her eyes when he wouldn't even uncurl enough to glare at her properly. "Stop acting like a child, Sesshoumaru," Izanami chided.

The demon shifted, one slit-open eye glaring over at her. "Sadistic bitc-"

"Finish that sentence and every single one of my employees will have pictures and know every adorable thing you've done since you were four," she replied just as darkly.

Sesshoumaru blinked, wondering at first, Why four? Then the cold truth of history hit him smack in the head as he remembered that his mother had always told him how she'd longed for a baby girl. Unfortunately for Sesshoumaru, the fact that he was male hadn't stopped the woman from attempting to fulfill her "maternal instincts" of playing "dress up" with him. Thankfully his father had put an end to it when he'd turned five.

And now the old harpy had the gall to blackmail him with it. Damn her, Sesshoumaru growled to himself, shutting his mouth all the same.

"Now, would you like to explain what it was I walked in on this morning, or shall I share my own assumptions?" Izanami said casually, already knowing the answer her moody child would give her.

As if on cue, Sesshoumaru slowly uncurled, a barely discernible growl rumbling, irritated, from his chest.

Izanami snorted. So, you can't be bothered? Or is this about your pride again, I wonder? I suppose I'll just have to coerce you into talking.

The woman sighed dramatically, folding her hands in her lap as she began.

"I'm merely surprised is all. I hadn't realized you'd had an eye for men-"

"I do not have 'an eye for men'," Sesshoumaru bit out without thinking. He huffed in irritation as he turned away, still squinting against the light of the day (though it could probably be mistaken for intense glaring as well).

Izanami spared her son a deadpanned look. "Sesshoumaru, you know I wouldn't judge you if you were, nor would I think you any less of a man if you happen to prefer the company of another male beneath the sheets. For heaven's sake, I may not be male, but I certainly prefer their strong physiques to-"

Sesshoumaru masked the sounds of choking horror with a well-disguised cough that thankfully interrupted his mother. He stood up with difficulty then, shaking his head as if to dispel what he'd just heard.

He shivered because he knew it would haunt him forever.

"I have work to do," he bit out as he walked over to the door that was his freedom. He paused in the threshold, momentarily scrutinizing something before making his decision and throwing it over his shoulder. "Besides, what I do outside this office and in my own home is none of your business."

And with that, Sesshoumaru ran for the hills.

"He ran away..." Izanami grumbled, pouting as she tried thinking of how she could even attempt to corner her son again for questioning...

And then that pout turned somewhat devious as she pulled out her cell and hit speed dial.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

The voice on the other end of the line began chuckling deeply. "Am I correct to assume that you're calling me so soon after that meeting of yours that your son skipped out on you?"

"He's such a spiteful child," she said sourly. "In any case, this is me saying we're go for green."

A heavy sigh was heard on the other end.

"Inutaishou!" she pressed.

"You must realize, this scheme of yours is either going to get them both hurt or land them in therapy for the rest of their lives," the inuyoukai said, resigned.

"Which I'll be more than happy to pay for when and if that time comes. For now, however..."

"Very well, I'll do what I can after Inuyasha gets home from work-"

"He's not at home?" Izanami blinked, shocked.

"No. He did leave a message saying he'd been too tired to get home last night and spent the night at a friend's."

"There was a bit more than-"

"Izanami, my love, please. I adore and cherish you but there's only so much a father can take when hearing his one and only child won't be giving him grandchildren," the demon said, voice dramatically pained. "But I'll talk to him tonight."

And with that the conversation ended.

Inuyasha groaned as he rubbed his face into his makeshift pillow he'd made of past history files. He sighed as he stared sideways at his computer's monitor.

He really didn't feel like working today, but it wasn't like the bastard had offered to take him home. He was lucky he'd even been able to get into the car before the youkai had driven off.

Thankfully the demon hadn't come out of his office since he finished the meeting he'd had that morning, so Inuyasha had had a good snooze off and on during the afternoon. But now, it was 2PM and he couldn't sleep anymore and sure as hell didn't wanna work on anything but couldn't just sit here doing nothing. If he did that... he'd have time to think... and if he THOUGHT he'd have time to rememb-... No, no, NO.

Inuyasha shook his head violently, eyes wide as he looked around to make sure no one was spying on his silent freak out session as he forced himself to relax and do something that would probably get his assed chewed out if his "boss" caught him doing it.

He logged onto instant messenger on his work computer.

And, as he foresaw, was instantly assaulted with IMs from Miroku, who could only gush about how wonderful a girl Sango was (Inuyasha knew that already), and how great their date had been last night (the hanyou didn't care) and how amazing the girl's legs were (he agreed whole-heartedly with that).

But then something interesting happened that Inuyasha thought, never in a million years, would have happened before, especially not after a recent decline in communication in the last few weeks...

His contact, the girl he'd been emailing back and forth with since he'd joined the eMate website, had just logged online.

Chapter end.

Author's Note: Thanks everyone for all your great reviews! On not only this story but all of my other fics as well (no, none of them have been D/C'd, though years can seem to go by without updates somehow o.o). Anyway! Hope you enjoyed. You'll probably need to re-read for sure xD