GAH SOOOOO UNBELIEVABLY SORRY! I beg for your forgiveness! SORRY! I kno I;m
sooooo late. I tried to be faster but I hit major writer's block!
Bad author! Bad Bad author!
This chapter is dedicated to all the loyal reviewers and readers that just didn't have the time to review that waited so long for it. And in particular to a very nice reviewer who I drove to begging and went to all the trouble of emailing me. U set my but in gear.
ON a brighter note::
WOOOHOOOO!!! Not only did I hit 300 reviews YAY! I LOVE YOU GUYS!! Trust me I read all of them, I just haven't had a chance to post review responses yet, which I will be doing tom.
I also won second place in the Single Spark's annual Award for Best Angst! YAY!!
BTW since people seem to only either read the top or bottom A/N I;m putting this on both, cuz its sorta important
D: INU NOT MINE!
Wake-up Calls
The early morning sunlight danced across the conflicting chaos of swirling midnight black, and pristine white that lay scattered across the two sleeping forms. The young man's features were softened to the point of almost gentleness, and the cold aloofness that was engraved into every line of his face during his waking hours was abandoned.
His arm lay loosely around the shoulders of the girl that was contently snuggled against his strong, lean form, her head resting on his chest and her body slightly curled up against his.
Sometime during the night her arms had found their way around his waist, a situation sure to cause much blushing and embarrassment when the girl awoke.
With his head bent facing her, as if he had fallen asleep staring at her softly closed eyes, his face was buried in the soft, obsidian nest of her hair, breathing in her calming scent with his deep, slumbering breathes.
Her face was completely relaxed and secure as if she knew that in those arms none of the world's evils and pains could touch her,
as long as she stayed in those arms...
Feeling a strange warmth and weight at his side, Sesshoumaru frowned as he felt himself awake with confusion. The muscles of his back ached as if he had not slept in his bed, and he felt oddly calm and rested, which contrasted sharply with his normal night terrors.
The nightmares he could only avoid if he worked himself into oblivion before finally succumbing to a dreamless sleep.
But even then he had always awoken to a feeling of emptiness, as if there was something missing, an aching gap that left him cold and alone.
However, today he felt only peace and contentment, as if he could stay in this half-awake state for the all of eternity where as he usually had no trouble waking and throwing himself into the day to forget the troubles of his nights.
A small shift in movement brought his attention down to the sleeping girl that was the cause of the warmth at his side.
He dazedly stared down at the slumbering goddess, tracing the lines of her delicate face with his half-closed golden eyes before his sluggish brain finally recognized who it was.
Those very same eyes widened with surprise as his mind was drop-kicked into alertness, trying to remember how they had fallen asleep that way.
Remembering the events of last night, his arm unconsciously tightened around her as he viciously vowed to himself that he would not allow his brother to break her heart again.
'No, that fucking bastard will never hurt her again. He'll never get another chance to. Not while I draw a single fucking breathe?!?'
Surprised by the vehemence of the statement, he blinked several times as he continued to stare at the sleeping girl lying beside him.
The soft puffs of air she caused as she slowly breathed in and out disgruntled the sea of sharply contrasting black and white that had somehow managed to intermingle and lay across both of their shoulders.
Her features were so completely relaxed, lacking the constant, exuberant energy she seemed to radiate when she was awake. Without it, she seemed so much more tired and.....
fragile....
She was so much smaller, so utterly defenseless lying next to him, still resting in a deeply unconscious sleep, completely oblivious to the world around her.
This was the first time he had ever seen her so still he thought with amusement.
The gentle rise and fall of her chest was soothing him beyond reason and he soon felt himself fall back asleep, succumbing to the calming presence that flowed off the sleeping girl in waves, for once completely content to allow life to take him where it would, and simply go along for the ride.
For once, simply able to give up control and trust in someone else enough to do so.....
'This is surprisingly pleasant......' he thought as he felt his eyelids slowly slide shut.
Just as he began sink back into sleep, he felt a face bury itself in his chest, and squeeze his torso tightly.
Not bothering to suppress his amused smile, he looked down at the still half-awake girl clinging to him comfortably, as she slowly turned a fascinating shade of scarlet.
Despite his better judgement he couldn't bring himself to mind the girl's tight, affectionate hold on his person.
It was an admittedly enjoyable sensation...
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
Her thick, dark eyelashes gently brushed against her skin as she felt the irritating morning sun demand her return to the waking world.
Crinkling her eyes against the disturbance she squirmed deeper into the solid, warm "pillow" at her side, still within the bounds of sleep.
Kagome smiled as she felt herself rise from the silken folds of her dream. She felt so unbelievably safe and secure, and most of all free.
Free from all the pains that had tormented her dreams for so long: the guilt, the betrayal, and the crushing weight of her unappreciated, unrequited, and forsaken love.
It was as if she was back in her mother's womb, completely trusting in her surroundings and naive, knowing with a certainty that she would be protected, but not quite knowing by what.
Sheltered from even the harsh light of the outside world by an all- encompassing calm, she felt a gentle warmth infuse her body from head to toe and surround her very soul.
She absently mindedly wondered what had caused this drastic change, as she buried her face further into her pillow and hugged it closer to her, deeply inhaling the fine, distinctly masculine scent of sandal wood, parchment, and something else,
Something mysterious and indiscernible that always alluded her grasp, but comforted her none the less.
'Wait.
MASCULINE!' she thought as she shut her eyes tightly in denial, her face flushed to an unhealthy shade of red.
Slowly fitting the clues together...
Sandalwood and parchment...
Masculine...
Calm..
SHIT!
'Why in the world am I waking up with my face buried in Sesshoumaru's chest?' she thought to herself, her mind in a state of disheveled half- panic, desperately trying to remember how she ended up in this situation, while simultaneously combating the blush she knew was staining her cheeks.
'And why aren't I moving away?!?' she thought, forcefully attempting to shove away the last traces of the sleep from her drowsy mind as complete confusion and embarrassment took over.
'Because it feels right, and makes you feel safe.
Not to mention the fact that waking up in the arms of a gorgeous guy isn't the worst way to be embarrassed,' an annoyingly rebellious, though admittedly sensible, inner voice whispered.
'Gah! BAD thoughts!
Very very very bad thoughts!
Don't have time for that right now.'
Finally, to her great relief, memories from the last night trickled down through her scattered memory banks, calming her down significantly.
Kagome lifted her sleep heavy eyes to a fierce golden gaze that rivaled the sun in brilliance. Somewhere in the dazed recesses of her mind, she noticed that he was the cause of the pleasant warmth that surrounded her.
Faintly smiling a very shy smile, though her cheeks were still unnaturally rosy, she looked Sesshoumaru in the face.
Sesshoumaru felt himself slowly sink into the infinite softness that lay in her still sleep leaden eyes.
Secretly, he felt proud that he was one of the few people that she showed this side to, this gentle vulnerability that was usually lost in all of her exuberant energy and constant cheerfulness.
The same energy that seemed, through sheer force, to push away all those that came too close to truly reaching her with a friendly politeness that deceived all those around her.
Except for him that was.
For whatever insane reason he had earned her trust, more trust that she gifted any other. Even her closest friends were not privy to this side of her. Did not think to see past the cheerful walls she hid herself behind.
Though he would never admit it, he valued her trust more than he did anything else. He was one of the few that understood that she hid behind her mask of constant, almost explosive jubilant vitality as much as he did behind his of cold arrogance.
And while he pushed away all those around him with his patented death glare and a chilly air able to put permafrost to shame, she would never allow him to.
Aggressively friendly, she seemed unavoidable; showing up at every corner, forcing him into the very human relations that he had spent most of his life evading.
Despite all of his cold behavior and cruel, indifferent remarks, she had persisted. For some unknown, unforeseeable reason she had worked to drag him out of his self-isolation into the light, no matter what obstacle he threw in her way.
And he was determined to repay his debt to her in full, if he ever truly could.
* * * * * * * * * * Flash Back * * * * * * * *
Kagome limped through the halls, it had been almost three weeks since her little "accident", and she had still yet to come to a definitive judgement on her savior.
He had saved her.
But it went against all of her previous observations of him.
The kind man, who had carried her all the way to the infirmary despite the fact that she had behaved so badly, desperately clashed with the arrogant jerk, who had looked down on her so coldly-as if she were nothing more than a bothersome insect, who had dared to buzz by his ear-and seemed so dead- set to make her life miserable.
And since then he had spared her no further notice, treating her just as, or possibly slightly worse than, he did the other freshmen, whom he apparently thought of as irritating, cowering sheep he was forced to talk at everyday.
His class was one of the most difficult she had yet to take, and she found, much to her dismay, that Sango was right.
The professor, was nothing more than a simpering half-dead toad that was not only practically deaf, but also fairly incompetent.
For the most part he only actually taught half of the classes, leaving Sesshoumaru to prepare and sometimes even recite the entire lecture.
An extremely tedious event for the students until Sesshoumaru finally just began to teach the class himself out of pure irritation with the incompetent idiot, who no respect for whatsoever and with good cause.
Kagome was amazed that the ancient professor had yet to retire or be fired, but simply put it down to the horrors of tenure.
The class was basically left to the will of Sesshoumaru, who seemed to get his kicks assigning them heinous papers and giving impossible pop quizzes whenever the mood struck him. Apparently after this unspoken agreement had arisen between the TA and professor, things ran much more smoothly and much more torturously for the students.
'I mean he had to grade them, right?
Wouldn't that make him want to give out fewer pop quizzes' thought Kagome with woe after spending yet another night cramming part of the extensive history of Feudal Japan into her poor feeble mind.
'Then again, the cruel jerk probably thinks its worth it to see us suffer.'
On the other hand, that class did drive her to do her best, mostly because anything less would have left her with a failing grade.
She had never known the true extents of her abilities until she was as severely pushed as she was in that class.
But even he would have to admit that once she realized what she was capable of, she could kick intellectual ass.
It had begun to mutate into something resembling a competition between the two, though a covert one. After his repeated insult, she spent not a few nights, studying and researching extra material for that class, hoping to be able to throw him off with some fact or theory that he had not thought of or did not know in class or find some hole in his thinking.
She also found herself with a growing, though grudging, admiration for her white-haired tormentor. He might give out dreadful pop quizzes and exams, but he seemed to genuinely know the information.
He was ridiculously informed of the era, and seemed to understand not only the events, but the motivations, thoughts, and culture as well, to an extent that Kagome could have sworn he had actually lived through them.
Kagome giggled as she thought of the haughty man, toiling in rice paddies while wearing peasant clothing.
'He'd probably end up being one of those blood thirsty, warrior lords: snotty and willing to chop off you head for disrespect.'
However, the only reflection of all her efforts was that she held the highest place in the class. A truly amazing feat, since it seemed that all of the 'softer' students had dropped like flies within the first week of class, leaving only the most competitive 'cream of the crop' in their wake.
He, however, did not acknowledge any of it, treating her as if she were just another moronic student out for an easy A.
But even so, he had save her, right?
How he had happened to be in that wing of the library, she had no idea. But he had saved her, and carried her all the way to the infirmary on the other side of the campus, even after her insults, and made sure that she was in safe hands before disappearing.
She felt a small pang of guilt as she realized that she had let her initial judgement of the man make her behave so rudely.
After all its takes a special kind of idiot to try to climb up a gigantic, not to mention ancient, if the thick layer of dust on the thing had been any indication, bookcase to get a book, instead of calling for help or getting a ladder.
But another entirely new LEVEL of stupid to then try to walk away from her rescuer-across a huge college campus-to the infirmary on a sprained ankle with a severely banged up arm.
Not only that but she hadn't even gotten the book she climbed up the damned thing to get.
And of course, she even went as far as to insult the guy after he dragged her no-doubt heavy, unconscious body out of the library, where it would have taken only kami-sama knows how long for somebody to find her.
Make that a mammoth stab of guilt..
She really owed him her thanks, not to mention apology for yelling at him after he had so generously tried to help her. No matter how rude he had been about it.
Setting her shoulders with a determination borne of obligation, she set out to find her TA.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Sesshoumaru sat the desk of the empty classroom, marking the pop quiz he had given one of his classes not a day ago.
Honestly, this was ridiculous. He might as well be teaching all of the old fart's classes.
Hell, he was teaching all of his classes. This had gone far beyond anything that he had expected when he had agreed to the position.
Though the arrangement did suit him, in an odd, twisted way.
He had always found it difficult to be subordinate to others, and would have had difficulties obeying the geyser and treating him as an esteemed elder.
This way he held full control over the class, which suited him much more.
Though recently, he found himself spending more and more time preparing for and dealing with one class in particular.
He now spent most of his free time grading the papers he constantly assigned his students, not to mention the time he spent preparing and marking the exams and pop quizzes he gave out. And researching various information and theories so as not to be caught unawares by one fiery, student in particular..
He had never before been so tough on a class, though he suspected that half of the reason, well admittedly all of the reason, was the irritating female that he had carried to the infirmary.
An act that still baffled him.
What in the seven hells had driven him to perform such an uncharacteristically and repulsively kind act?
He wondered with slight revulsion.
'It was her,' he realized with slight surprise.
Never one for self-deception, he utterly despised it when others attempted to deceive him. And he found that the best way for him to root out festering weakness within himself was to find it first and be honest with himself about it when he did.
He did feel a nominal amount of guilty for immaturely standing by so that he could watch her make a fool of herself.
It almost as if he had to prove to himself that she was as much of a fool as the rest of them.
She had thrown him off, in his class that day, he admitted ruefully.
He had had to prove to himself that she was merely just another silly little girl, possessing woman's body, but without the mind, heart, or spirit to match.
And also..
It had just seemed wrong to see her lying there broken on the ground like that.
'So helpless, when she had once seemed strong enough in her fury to even match this Sesshoumaru.'
It just didn't seem right..
He just couldn't let her stay there so broken and weak.
As insane as it sounded, he wanted to see the fiery spirit that had so fearlessly challenged him that morning again.
'I'm officially deranged' so thought the boy who had always believed that the only thing he wanted out of a person was their obedience.
So he had made a fool of himself, trudging across campus with the unconscious girl sloppily but firmly draped across his arms like a sack of particularly lumpy potatoes.
He had received not a few curious stares; all of which he quickly silenced with his trademark chilly glare, proven to produce hypothermia in the middle of a heat wave.
The girl still proved to be a mystery to him. Surprising him with intellectual, original commentary in class, as well as information and concepts that no ordinary freshman, no matter how studious, could possibly have known.
And there was always that defiant tilt to her head, whenever she spoke to him and the ways those cinnamon eyes seemed to be tainted with hostility whenever they looked at him.
Distracted from his fruitless self-examination/semi-rant, he heard a small click as a certain dark-haired individual timidly walked into the room, letting the door almost silently swing shut behind her.
The polished wooden scent of school and books filled the room.
He smothered a faint sigh of annoyance, as he felt the girl nervously stand before his desk, obviously waiting for him to look up at her.
After about two minutes of awkward silence on Kagome's part only occasionally interrupted by the faint scratching of pen on paper as Sesshoumaru continued his work, she finally cleared her throat and tried to get his attention.
" Umm.. Kawamura-san" Kagome politely said.
"Say what you must and leave," he curtly interrupted without looking up.
'Well, of all the rude..' Kagome thought in a huff.
Forcefully calming herself down with several deep breaths, she plastered a smile on her face, and braced herself.
"I just came to apologize for my rude behavior, when you were helping me after my.umm. fall, and to thank you for your help.
It was very nice of you," she quickly finished, not wanting to prolong her torment any longer. She nervously cast her eyes to the side, as she finally saw him lift his head.
With a slow, meticulous care, he placed his pencil down, and pinned her in place with his unblinking gaze.
A deer caught in headlights she could only stand frozen as she watched a painful death come rushing at her, in the guise of an arrogant TA.
"Do not delude yourself.
I, Sesshoumaru, was not acting out of some hidden need to assist you, nor do I require your thanks. Especially for something that occurred three weeks ago. If you had felt the need to redeem yourself and apologize to me, I would think you would do so before almost a month had passed.
You are incredibly lucky that I did not simply leave you to your childish, unthinking folly, and leave you lying on that floor, instead of wasting my time, bringing you to the infirmary.
If you had not been such a fool, you would have seen one of the many stepladders scattered throughout the library, eradicating the need for my assistance in the first place.
Although it seems quite obvious that you are incapable of even such a simple task as retrieving a book from a shelf without seriously injuring yourself.
Next time you act with so much asininity, which I have no doubt will be soon enough considering to whom I am speaking, do not think that I will hesitate to leave you to your mistake," he stated, every word dripping with disdain.
While speaking, he had gathered all of his papers into one neat pile and now slowly stood from his seat, preparing to leave.
Leaving a stunned Kagome behind, he headed toward the door. Pausing as he reached the door, he turned to look back at her over his shoulder and coldly informed her,
"And. I. am. not. nice."
Each word dropping from lips like a large, heavy diamond-a sharply cutting beauty- to land on the floor of the silent room with an audible clink that lasted long after the door had clicked shut behind him.
* * * * * * * End Flash Back * * * * * * * *
Kagome watched in amazement at the emotions flitting across his face. They were like rare and exotic dancers delicately floating along the elegant and tranquil planes of his beautiful face, as his breath lightly caressed her face.
Suddenly realizing exactly how close their faces were, she turned, if humanly possible, even redder as all of the blood in her entire body seemed to rush to her face.
'Hmmm, it can't possibly be healthy for a person to look that much like a tomato,' Sesshoumaru observed, nonchalantly, not nearly as affected by their nearness.
'When did we get so close!?!?,' Kagome wondered in shock, 'We're almost close enough to kiss...'
With that last thought, her mind, already in a somewhat frazzled and confused state due to her little morning surprise, teetered into full blown panic.
She suddenly threw all of her weight back trying to scramble away from Sesshoumaru's disturbing closeness.
Unfortunately, trying to suddenly pulling away from someone who has one arm around you can lead to some confusion and injured limbs.
Suddenly pulling away from someone who had one arm around you when you have both arms tightly wrapped around their waist and are curled up against them can lead to nothing short of complete and utter chaos.
After a few minutes of jumbled tumbling, scrambling, and muffled vibrant curses on the part of Sesshoumaru, who had somehow managed to be elbowed in the ribs twice by Kagome, they ended up in quite an awkward position.
Kagome lay pinned underneath Sesshoumaru with his outstretched arms on either side of her head supporting his weight.
The light of the sun was screened from the pair by a slightly tangled, silver curtain formed by Sesshoumaru's bent head, hiding them from outside view and giving the space between them a very intimate feeling.
Both, slightly winded from the tussle, were panting, warming the air between them rapidly. The puffs of air issued from the two caused some of the tangled, white locks of hair to gently fall against Kagome's cheek, tickling them both.
With noses almost touching and lips scant centimeters apart, a fascinating blush beginning to stain both of their cheeks...
(A/N:: Me so evil ^_^ I love putting my characters in these situations, ok I'll be quiet now)
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
A teenage boy lay on sulking on his bed, glaring furiously at the ceiling with his hands cushioning his stubborn, thick-skulled head.
'What the fuck were Miroku and Sango thinking not telling me where Kagome was.
They know I've been looking for her for almost two fucking years now! Damnit! Why does everybody keep trying to keep me away from her?
How the fuck am I supposed to explain things to her if I can't even talk to her..
How am I supposed to make things right, like Sango wanted me to, if I can't even talk to her?
(A/N:: Err. Inu-babe I think u misunderstood her point..)
And of all the self-important, pretentious jackasses for her to meet up with, why in the seven hells did it have to be Sesshoumaru!
I can't believe she's been with him, right under my nose, this entire fucking time!
Besides what the hell was he even doing with her anyway? I thought he was to high and mighty to deal with ordinary "trash" like us.
He's just like the rest of those snotty asses, looking down their noses at you. I'm surprised that he lowered himself to even talking to Kagome. The bastard.
* * * * Flash Back * * * * * *
A dark, young beauty with liquid, indigo eyes and a soft smile tucked the final strand of hair into place as she looked at her reflection.
Turning around, she practically beamed down at the small, ebony-haired boy sitting on the bed.
"So Inu-chan, how does Mommy look?" she asked, as she gave a small twirl causing a slight rustle of fabric as the navy blue silk of the long dress playfully swirled around her young body.
The light glinted off the various pieces of elegant, though obviously expensive, jewelry that adorned her neck, wrists, and fingers. And her obsidian locks were carefully done up into a refined coif.
The young boy stared in awe at his mother, unused to seeing her dressed so richly, and still not certain about what, exactly, had brought about this rapid change in their lives or what it meant for them.
"You look very, very pretty, Mommy," he said with the whole-hearted enthusiasm of youth. "But do I have to wear these funny clothes?" he asked tugging at the collar of his finely made, miniature suit and squirming on comfortably on the bed.
"Yes, dear," his mother answered sinking down to her knees in a sweep of midnight silk and softly shining gold so that she was now at eye level with him and swiftly readjusting his mussed clothes.
"Inu-chan, Mommy needs to you behave really well tonight, because Daddy's having a BIG party tonight with all of his important friends. And Daddy needs his entire family to be on their best behavior including little boys. I know that you will be a big boy for Mommy and behave, ka?"
"Of course, Mommy!" he chirped, excited to finally be considered old enough for such an important responsibility.
"Will Mommy tell Nee-san too?" he asked curious to see how the distant brother he had recently acquired would behave during "Daddy's important party".
Inquisitively, he looked down as his mother paused in her incessant readjusting of the tie just managed to loosen. However, she quickly regained her bearings, and nonchalantly responded,
"I don't think so, Inu-chan. Sesshoumaru's much more used to this kind of thing than we are. He probably knows exactly how he's supposed to behave."
"Oh, okay Mommy! You'll see I'll be a good boy tonight and make you and Daddy proud!"
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
A giant cloud of pretentious women with fake laughs and designer dresses and men reeking of alcohol and foul money filled the main hall of the manor with penguin-dressed servants weaving in and out of the crowd carrying trays of ambrosia and wine.
A small boy, looking very uncomfortable, stood in a circle of women, all petting and cooing over how adorable he was.
Every direction he turned he could see nothing, but fake smiles with lipstick stained teeth and sleek silk dresses that lacked the freshness and honest simplicity of his mother's.
It was nothing but a cage of skinny women with charcoaled eyes that he couldn't escape, and he desperately fought the urge to cry.
At the first the attention had been pleasant, and he had puffed up in pride at all of the nice things that they had said to him, but soon the never- ending cheek pinching and fake baby voices made him feel dizzy and suffocated.
Finally, one of the sour-faced women spotted someone more important that she should be coddling up to and headed towards her new prey, drink in hand, leaving a small gap in the circle of Furies.
Making a quick apology, Inuyasha squirmed out of the hole and made his escape. Judging that he had politely put up with the fawning shrew for long enough and that no one would miss him, he quickly began to search for a hiding place to wait until his mother came to send him to bed.
Darting his eyes around in the manner of hunted animal on its last rope, he spotted a potted fern in the corner of the room, and swiftly dove behind it, making sure not to get any dirt on his clothes.
Soon he saw a group of three tall figures walk over to the corner in which he hid, away from the larger mass of the party.
The young boy froze, his breathes stilling to short, soft pants, as he prayed to every God and deity that he had every heard of that he would not be found and be shudder
pinched again.
Soon, a hushed conversation between the three set the boy's mind at ease. They seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that anybody else was anywhere near them, so immersed they were in their own conversation.
Once he realized he was in no danger, he soon grew bored, and began to eavesdrop on the conversation, a decision he would soon come to regret.
"I can't believe the nerve of that man," a husky masculine voice said, dripping with power and old money.
"I know, honestly, he has no shame, bring that floozy and her bastard brat here," came from a grating female voice, the boy recognized as the woman who had been calling him a "darling child" moments before.
"I'm not surprised at all to see that the boy looks exactly like his whore of a mother. Dull black hair and unnatural dark purple eyes.
You can't expect much from that kind of lowered breeding.
It's odd considering the fact that the older one looks almost exactly like Inutaisho," remarked a deceptively soothing, deep feminine voice, another from the circle of Furies.
It was actually this one that had left to speak to someone more important, allowing him room to escape. Apparently she had found her "new prey".
"When was the last time you've actually seen the child? He might have the same eyes and hair as his father, but his face is almost exactly that of his mothers.
So unbelievably beautiful. It's almost creepy on the face of such a little, iron-faced boy," the man said "It's got to kill him that he basically murdered his wife for that slut, and still has to see her face everyday."
"Hah! Quite the contrary, I think that he got everything that he wanted," the first female voice said while leaning forward,
"You know I hear that when he first got married, his company was going down. I mean the family name is very old and powerful, but he was near bankrupt at the time.
If it weren't for his blushing bride's money, his company would have collapsed. Then, almost a decade later he knocks up his secretary, tells his wife after keeping it a secret for god knows how long. And sends the poor woman to her grave." She concluded in a conspiratorial whisper.
"So now the man has a flourishing company, a heir with two powerful family names behind him, and a pretty bimbo to warm his bed at nights. I would say that things turned out quite nicely for our dear Fugio, InuTaisho," the voice finished, leaning slightly back with a smug smile and an irritating giggle.
"Yes, but its one matter to keep the wench to warm his bed at night and a completely different one to bring her here. I mean has he no respect for his dead wife or the rest of us?"
"And what does the woman think she's wearing? She looks like a street pimp with all of that cheap, tacky gold jewelry!
No sense of taste at all! But what can you really expect from such a low- class woman?"
At this point the young Inuyasha finally realized exactly whom they were talking about, and dawning comprehension made him shake with anger and confusion.
Who were these snotty, sour-faced people to insult his mother and father!
He ran out from behind the potted fern, not caring if the three saw him, blindly heading away from them and to the safe arms of his mother.
With tears streaming from his eyes, the young boy aimlessly ran out of the main hall of the party and into one of the intricate, marbled-tiled corridors of the mansion.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
After having made his short social appearance as per his father's order, Sesshoumaru wandered through the barren, corridors of the manor, avoiding the crowd of tittering fools gossiping over the last spark of social interest, his step-mother's first showing at a major function.
Disgusted by the deceitful fawning of the ladies over his younger sibling and the whispered innuendo, or outright insults directed to his family, due to his father's folly, he had retreated to the abandoned halls of the manor.
His miniature, Armani shoes made deliberate clicks as he strode down the hallway, searching for a library or secluded corner to wait out the storm of titillation.
Click
Click
Click
The falsely illuminated corridor cast ghastly shadows around the various exotic potted plants that the inhabitants seemed to love so much.
Tasteless in the young Sesshoumaru's far from naïve opinion.
Hearing the soft thundering of quickly approaching little feet, he turned to have a small lump slam into his chest.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Inuyasha looked up to see what he had rammed into, rubbing his eyes to clear the tears that blurred his vision with one chubby fist.
The first thing he saw was an eerily pale face and unnaturally beautiful silver hair tied in a neat low ponytail.
Silver hair could only mean one of two people and the boy, while tall for his age, was far too small to be the imposing, invincible figure of his father.
"Nee-san!" he cried out, temporarily forgetting the coldness that he older boy had always directed towards him.
He wrapped his five-year old arms around his bother's waist, and buried his face in the itchy, unrelenting material of his suit, nipping his nose on a hard plastic button.
"Nee-san, I heard some bad people say nasty things about me, Mommy, and Daddy!
They had pinched faces and were calling her names like whore and slut! What do those names mean, Nee-san!?!
Why did they say those mean things about us!?!" the distressed boy cried out, desperately clinging to his brother.
His grip was the frantic grip of a child faced for the first time by the evils of the world, tense and needy like that of a drowning man.
The waves of insulting laughing crashing down upon his unsheltered head, as biting, cold winds of masked insults tugged at his damp locks and cut, knife-like through every bone in his body with ice.
The unrelenting tide attempted drag him under and the chaotic waters danced around him. He clings to his one preservation with an undying, white- knuckled hold fueled by the futile fire of ignorance.
They might not be very close, but big brothers are supposed to make the world make sense and make everything better, right?
They were supposed to protect you and make the world right again when things were bad.
Unfortunately Sesshoumaru had apparently never gotten this memo.
Abruptly Inuyasha found himself being shoved to the ground by a glaring Sesshoumaru, who was currently straightening the almost invisible wrinkles the over-enthusiastic hug from his brother had caused in his suit.
"Don't touch me," he coldly stated, appearing not at all disturbed by the party-goers statement.
He glared down at his half-brother with a coldly condensing and accusing eyes. Eyes that the young boy would never forget.
"They said it because it was true."
There was no sneer to his words, barely any emotion in them at all save an almost undetectable disgust. They were said with a conviction that would haunt for him for many nights; they were said as if they were true.
And with those final words he sharply turned around and began to walk away from the fallen form of his baby brother.
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
The boy looked up from his position with hurt evident in his stunned eyes, fresh tears forming in their dark amethyst depths. A small, confused whimper escaped him as he raised one pudgy hand to the retreating back of his older brother.
"Nee-san," he whispered, as fat tears slowly fell and meandered down his still infantile face.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Sesshoumaru strode purposefully down the hall away from his weeping brother, his fist tightened in anger.
It had served the brat right. He had stood by and watched as the deceitful shrews with false beauty cooed at his brother. A cold and distant ice prince hidden in the shadows.
The same women who had once claimed to be loyal friends to his mother. The same women whom his mother would have spent her last breathe defending. Who had grown up with her and claimed to love her like a sister.
They had all betrayed her, discarding her memory as a outgrown rag doll left to lay limp and forgotten on the floor, as they all flocked to her replacement.
He had seen them whisper and chatter in the hidden corners about his father's misconduct but not one of them had stood up to the man for his fallen wife and abandoned son.
Not one had cried true tear at her funeral or offered true comfort for the lost-looking boy, who had sobbed for the last time at his mother's passing.
Not one had missed or remembered her.
Except for him.
They had all abandoned him for the newer, more exciting rumor.
Fawning over the brat and exchanging niceties with wench his father had replaced her with.
They pinched and admired the new little boy, and had come like obedient lap dogs of society to their wedding so soon after their "friend's" funeral.
Not one had told him that they honestly missed her.
He was left alone, the only one still respecting the memory of an amazing woman they had all claimed to love.
The only one to still want to remember..
* * * * * * * * End Flashback
'...Just like the rest of them.' Inuyasha sighed and grabbed the picture he still couldn't seem to be able to force himself to take off his nightstand, after all this time.
A smiling Kagome sat on a tree branch with his arm around her shoulders, both looking unnaturally happy, well for him anyway.
'I'm sorry, Kagome. I never meant to lie to you. I meant what I said at the time, but...
but how could I just leave Kikyou like that..
* * * * * * * Flash Back * * * * * * * * *
The inky waves of night were slowly taking over the town as a boy of perhaps fifteen ran along the dark alleyways, taking every shortcut he could think of, his every movement filled with urgency and driven by fear.
Making a sharp turn onto a quiet suburban area, he raced towards a certain quaint home, completely undistinguishable from the others in the neighborhood, save for the ivy creeping along its sides, quite unusual in modern Japan.
The house appears to be completely abandoned, dark and uninhabited, lacking the warmth and activity it would take to make it a home.
Disbelieving, Inuyasha races past the "for sale" sign planted in the immaculate yard to the heavy wooden door, desperately banging on it.
"Open up! Somebody better fucking let me in before I break this fucking door!!
Kikyou, where the fuck are you!!!
KIKYOU!!"
After ten more minutes of fruitless shouting and finally accepting the truth, he slumped against the door, his head leaning against the cool wooden of the door, his normally purple eyes amethyst eyes almost black in their intensity.
The stray locks of black hair escaping from his normal ponytail, as he body tensed from anger and frustration, only to relax in bone-weary defeat.
"No..
Kikyou..."
he whispered, a crumpled piece of paper floating to the ground from his once tightly clenched fist .
The lavender colored paper softly floated to the ground with two words delicately scrawled onto it in a rushed, but elegant hand.
Sayonara, koishii
* * * * * * *End Flash Back* * * * * * *
'I guess in the end both of you left me...
at least once...
Would you come back to me too, Kagome? Hell, do I even want you to come back to me?
I made my choice already. I'm with Kikyou now..
right?"
(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)
A/N: Ugh, worked for the past three days on it straight. 21 PAGES LONG!
I have spring break now so expect another update the end of this week. YAY! I love break! I finally had time and energy to update!
I;ve been getting a lot of reviews asking to be emailed when I update. Just email me and I will put ur email address on my mailing list!
This chapter is dedicated to all the loyal reviewers and readers that just didn't have the time to review that waited so long for it. And in particular to a very nice reviewer who I drove to begging and went to all the trouble of emailing me. U set my but in gear.
ON a brighter note::
WOOOHOOOO!!! Not only did I hit 300 reviews YAY! I LOVE YOU GUYS!! Trust me I read all of them, I just haven't had a chance to post review responses yet, which I will be doing tom.
I also won second place in the Single Spark's annual Award for Best Angst! YAY!!
Oh, and to those who were wondering btw stands for by the way.
And I tried to cut down on the A/N this chapter.
Bad author! Bad Bad author!
This chapter is dedicated to all the loyal reviewers and readers that just didn't have the time to review that waited so long for it. And in particular to a very nice reviewer who I drove to begging and went to all the trouble of emailing me. U set my but in gear.
ON a brighter note::
WOOOHOOOO!!! Not only did I hit 300 reviews YAY! I LOVE YOU GUYS!! Trust me I read all of them, I just haven't had a chance to post review responses yet, which I will be doing tom.
I also won second place in the Single Spark's annual Award for Best Angst! YAY!!
BTW since people seem to only either read the top or bottom A/N I;m putting this on both, cuz its sorta important
D: INU NOT MINE!
Wake-up Calls
The early morning sunlight danced across the conflicting chaos of swirling midnight black, and pristine white that lay scattered across the two sleeping forms. The young man's features were softened to the point of almost gentleness, and the cold aloofness that was engraved into every line of his face during his waking hours was abandoned.
His arm lay loosely around the shoulders of the girl that was contently snuggled against his strong, lean form, her head resting on his chest and her body slightly curled up against his.
Sometime during the night her arms had found their way around his waist, a situation sure to cause much blushing and embarrassment when the girl awoke.
With his head bent facing her, as if he had fallen asleep staring at her softly closed eyes, his face was buried in the soft, obsidian nest of her hair, breathing in her calming scent with his deep, slumbering breathes.
Her face was completely relaxed and secure as if she knew that in those arms none of the world's evils and pains could touch her,
as long as she stayed in those arms...
Feeling a strange warmth and weight at his side, Sesshoumaru frowned as he felt himself awake with confusion. The muscles of his back ached as if he had not slept in his bed, and he felt oddly calm and rested, which contrasted sharply with his normal night terrors.
The nightmares he could only avoid if he worked himself into oblivion before finally succumbing to a dreamless sleep.
But even then he had always awoken to a feeling of emptiness, as if there was something missing, an aching gap that left him cold and alone.
However, today he felt only peace and contentment, as if he could stay in this half-awake state for the all of eternity where as he usually had no trouble waking and throwing himself into the day to forget the troubles of his nights.
A small shift in movement brought his attention down to the sleeping girl that was the cause of the warmth at his side.
He dazedly stared down at the slumbering goddess, tracing the lines of her delicate face with his half-closed golden eyes before his sluggish brain finally recognized who it was.
Those very same eyes widened with surprise as his mind was drop-kicked into alertness, trying to remember how they had fallen asleep that way.
Remembering the events of last night, his arm unconsciously tightened around her as he viciously vowed to himself that he would not allow his brother to break her heart again.
'No, that fucking bastard will never hurt her again. He'll never get another chance to. Not while I draw a single fucking breathe?!?'
Surprised by the vehemence of the statement, he blinked several times as he continued to stare at the sleeping girl lying beside him.
The soft puffs of air she caused as she slowly breathed in and out disgruntled the sea of sharply contrasting black and white that had somehow managed to intermingle and lay across both of their shoulders.
Her features were so completely relaxed, lacking the constant, exuberant energy she seemed to radiate when she was awake. Without it, she seemed so much more tired and.....
fragile....
She was so much smaller, so utterly defenseless lying next to him, still resting in a deeply unconscious sleep, completely oblivious to the world around her.
This was the first time he had ever seen her so still he thought with amusement.
The gentle rise and fall of her chest was soothing him beyond reason and he soon felt himself fall back asleep, succumbing to the calming presence that flowed off the sleeping girl in waves, for once completely content to allow life to take him where it would, and simply go along for the ride.
For once, simply able to give up control and trust in someone else enough to do so.....
'This is surprisingly pleasant......' he thought as he felt his eyelids slowly slide shut.
Just as he began sink back into sleep, he felt a face bury itself in his chest, and squeeze his torso tightly.
Not bothering to suppress his amused smile, he looked down at the still half-awake girl clinging to him comfortably, as she slowly turned a fascinating shade of scarlet.
Despite his better judgement he couldn't bring himself to mind the girl's tight, affectionate hold on his person.
It was an admittedly enjoyable sensation...
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
Her thick, dark eyelashes gently brushed against her skin as she felt the irritating morning sun demand her return to the waking world.
Crinkling her eyes against the disturbance she squirmed deeper into the solid, warm "pillow" at her side, still within the bounds of sleep.
Kagome smiled as she felt herself rise from the silken folds of her dream. She felt so unbelievably safe and secure, and most of all free.
Free from all the pains that had tormented her dreams for so long: the guilt, the betrayal, and the crushing weight of her unappreciated, unrequited, and forsaken love.
It was as if she was back in her mother's womb, completely trusting in her surroundings and naive, knowing with a certainty that she would be protected, but not quite knowing by what.
Sheltered from even the harsh light of the outside world by an all- encompassing calm, she felt a gentle warmth infuse her body from head to toe and surround her very soul.
She absently mindedly wondered what had caused this drastic change, as she buried her face further into her pillow and hugged it closer to her, deeply inhaling the fine, distinctly masculine scent of sandal wood, parchment, and something else,
Something mysterious and indiscernible that always alluded her grasp, but comforted her none the less.
'Wait.
MASCULINE!' she thought as she shut her eyes tightly in denial, her face flushed to an unhealthy shade of red.
Slowly fitting the clues together...
Sandalwood and parchment...
Masculine...
Calm..
SHIT!
'Why in the world am I waking up with my face buried in Sesshoumaru's chest?' she thought to herself, her mind in a state of disheveled half- panic, desperately trying to remember how she ended up in this situation, while simultaneously combating the blush she knew was staining her cheeks.
'And why aren't I moving away?!?' she thought, forcefully attempting to shove away the last traces of the sleep from her drowsy mind as complete confusion and embarrassment took over.
'Because it feels right, and makes you feel safe.
Not to mention the fact that waking up in the arms of a gorgeous guy isn't the worst way to be embarrassed,' an annoyingly rebellious, though admittedly sensible, inner voice whispered.
'Gah! BAD thoughts!
Very very very bad thoughts!
Don't have time for that right now.'
Finally, to her great relief, memories from the last night trickled down through her scattered memory banks, calming her down significantly.
Kagome lifted her sleep heavy eyes to a fierce golden gaze that rivaled the sun in brilliance. Somewhere in the dazed recesses of her mind, she noticed that he was the cause of the pleasant warmth that surrounded her.
Faintly smiling a very shy smile, though her cheeks were still unnaturally rosy, she looked Sesshoumaru in the face.
Sesshoumaru felt himself slowly sink into the infinite softness that lay in her still sleep leaden eyes.
Secretly, he felt proud that he was one of the few people that she showed this side to, this gentle vulnerability that was usually lost in all of her exuberant energy and constant cheerfulness.
The same energy that seemed, through sheer force, to push away all those that came too close to truly reaching her with a friendly politeness that deceived all those around her.
Except for him that was.
For whatever insane reason he had earned her trust, more trust that she gifted any other. Even her closest friends were not privy to this side of her. Did not think to see past the cheerful walls she hid herself behind.
Though he would never admit it, he valued her trust more than he did anything else. He was one of the few that understood that she hid behind her mask of constant, almost explosive jubilant vitality as much as he did behind his of cold arrogance.
And while he pushed away all those around him with his patented death glare and a chilly air able to put permafrost to shame, she would never allow him to.
Aggressively friendly, she seemed unavoidable; showing up at every corner, forcing him into the very human relations that he had spent most of his life evading.
Despite all of his cold behavior and cruel, indifferent remarks, she had persisted. For some unknown, unforeseeable reason she had worked to drag him out of his self-isolation into the light, no matter what obstacle he threw in her way.
And he was determined to repay his debt to her in full, if he ever truly could.
* * * * * * * * * * Flash Back * * * * * * * *
Kagome limped through the halls, it had been almost three weeks since her little "accident", and she had still yet to come to a definitive judgement on her savior.
He had saved her.
But it went against all of her previous observations of him.
The kind man, who had carried her all the way to the infirmary despite the fact that she had behaved so badly, desperately clashed with the arrogant jerk, who had looked down on her so coldly-as if she were nothing more than a bothersome insect, who had dared to buzz by his ear-and seemed so dead- set to make her life miserable.
And since then he had spared her no further notice, treating her just as, or possibly slightly worse than, he did the other freshmen, whom he apparently thought of as irritating, cowering sheep he was forced to talk at everyday.
His class was one of the most difficult she had yet to take, and she found, much to her dismay, that Sango was right.
The professor, was nothing more than a simpering half-dead toad that was not only practically deaf, but also fairly incompetent.
For the most part he only actually taught half of the classes, leaving Sesshoumaru to prepare and sometimes even recite the entire lecture.
An extremely tedious event for the students until Sesshoumaru finally just began to teach the class himself out of pure irritation with the incompetent idiot, who no respect for whatsoever and with good cause.
Kagome was amazed that the ancient professor had yet to retire or be fired, but simply put it down to the horrors of tenure.
The class was basically left to the will of Sesshoumaru, who seemed to get his kicks assigning them heinous papers and giving impossible pop quizzes whenever the mood struck him. Apparently after this unspoken agreement had arisen between the TA and professor, things ran much more smoothly and much more torturously for the students.
'I mean he had to grade them, right?
Wouldn't that make him want to give out fewer pop quizzes' thought Kagome with woe after spending yet another night cramming part of the extensive history of Feudal Japan into her poor feeble mind.
'Then again, the cruel jerk probably thinks its worth it to see us suffer.'
On the other hand, that class did drive her to do her best, mostly because anything less would have left her with a failing grade.
She had never known the true extents of her abilities until she was as severely pushed as she was in that class.
But even he would have to admit that once she realized what she was capable of, she could kick intellectual ass.
It had begun to mutate into something resembling a competition between the two, though a covert one. After his repeated insult, she spent not a few nights, studying and researching extra material for that class, hoping to be able to throw him off with some fact or theory that he had not thought of or did not know in class or find some hole in his thinking.
She also found herself with a growing, though grudging, admiration for her white-haired tormentor. He might give out dreadful pop quizzes and exams, but he seemed to genuinely know the information.
He was ridiculously informed of the era, and seemed to understand not only the events, but the motivations, thoughts, and culture as well, to an extent that Kagome could have sworn he had actually lived through them.
Kagome giggled as she thought of the haughty man, toiling in rice paddies while wearing peasant clothing.
'He'd probably end up being one of those blood thirsty, warrior lords: snotty and willing to chop off you head for disrespect.'
However, the only reflection of all her efforts was that she held the highest place in the class. A truly amazing feat, since it seemed that all of the 'softer' students had dropped like flies within the first week of class, leaving only the most competitive 'cream of the crop' in their wake.
He, however, did not acknowledge any of it, treating her as if she were just another moronic student out for an easy A.
But even so, he had save her, right?
How he had happened to be in that wing of the library, she had no idea. But he had saved her, and carried her all the way to the infirmary on the other side of the campus, even after her insults, and made sure that she was in safe hands before disappearing.
She felt a small pang of guilt as she realized that she had let her initial judgement of the man make her behave so rudely.
After all its takes a special kind of idiot to try to climb up a gigantic, not to mention ancient, if the thick layer of dust on the thing had been any indication, bookcase to get a book, instead of calling for help or getting a ladder.
But another entirely new LEVEL of stupid to then try to walk away from her rescuer-across a huge college campus-to the infirmary on a sprained ankle with a severely banged up arm.
Not only that but she hadn't even gotten the book she climbed up the damned thing to get.
And of course, she even went as far as to insult the guy after he dragged her no-doubt heavy, unconscious body out of the library, where it would have taken only kami-sama knows how long for somebody to find her.
Make that a mammoth stab of guilt..
She really owed him her thanks, not to mention apology for yelling at him after he had so generously tried to help her. No matter how rude he had been about it.
Setting her shoulders with a determination borne of obligation, she set out to find her TA.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Sesshoumaru sat the desk of the empty classroom, marking the pop quiz he had given one of his classes not a day ago.
Honestly, this was ridiculous. He might as well be teaching all of the old fart's classes.
Hell, he was teaching all of his classes. This had gone far beyond anything that he had expected when he had agreed to the position.
Though the arrangement did suit him, in an odd, twisted way.
He had always found it difficult to be subordinate to others, and would have had difficulties obeying the geyser and treating him as an esteemed elder.
This way he held full control over the class, which suited him much more.
Though recently, he found himself spending more and more time preparing for and dealing with one class in particular.
He now spent most of his free time grading the papers he constantly assigned his students, not to mention the time he spent preparing and marking the exams and pop quizzes he gave out. And researching various information and theories so as not to be caught unawares by one fiery, student in particular..
He had never before been so tough on a class, though he suspected that half of the reason, well admittedly all of the reason, was the irritating female that he had carried to the infirmary.
An act that still baffled him.
What in the seven hells had driven him to perform such an uncharacteristically and repulsively kind act?
He wondered with slight revulsion.
'It was her,' he realized with slight surprise.
Never one for self-deception, he utterly despised it when others attempted to deceive him. And he found that the best way for him to root out festering weakness within himself was to find it first and be honest with himself about it when he did.
He did feel a nominal amount of guilty for immaturely standing by so that he could watch her make a fool of herself.
It almost as if he had to prove to himself that she was as much of a fool as the rest of them.
She had thrown him off, in his class that day, he admitted ruefully.
He had had to prove to himself that she was merely just another silly little girl, possessing woman's body, but without the mind, heart, or spirit to match.
And also..
It had just seemed wrong to see her lying there broken on the ground like that.
'So helpless, when she had once seemed strong enough in her fury to even match this Sesshoumaru.'
It just didn't seem right..
He just couldn't let her stay there so broken and weak.
As insane as it sounded, he wanted to see the fiery spirit that had so fearlessly challenged him that morning again.
'I'm officially deranged' so thought the boy who had always believed that the only thing he wanted out of a person was their obedience.
So he had made a fool of himself, trudging across campus with the unconscious girl sloppily but firmly draped across his arms like a sack of particularly lumpy potatoes.
He had received not a few curious stares; all of which he quickly silenced with his trademark chilly glare, proven to produce hypothermia in the middle of a heat wave.
The girl still proved to be a mystery to him. Surprising him with intellectual, original commentary in class, as well as information and concepts that no ordinary freshman, no matter how studious, could possibly have known.
And there was always that defiant tilt to her head, whenever she spoke to him and the ways those cinnamon eyes seemed to be tainted with hostility whenever they looked at him.
Distracted from his fruitless self-examination/semi-rant, he heard a small click as a certain dark-haired individual timidly walked into the room, letting the door almost silently swing shut behind her.
The polished wooden scent of school and books filled the room.
He smothered a faint sigh of annoyance, as he felt the girl nervously stand before his desk, obviously waiting for him to look up at her.
After about two minutes of awkward silence on Kagome's part only occasionally interrupted by the faint scratching of pen on paper as Sesshoumaru continued his work, she finally cleared her throat and tried to get his attention.
" Umm.. Kawamura-san" Kagome politely said.
"Say what you must and leave," he curtly interrupted without looking up.
'Well, of all the rude..' Kagome thought in a huff.
Forcefully calming herself down with several deep breaths, she plastered a smile on her face, and braced herself.
"I just came to apologize for my rude behavior, when you were helping me after my.umm. fall, and to thank you for your help.
It was very nice of you," she quickly finished, not wanting to prolong her torment any longer. She nervously cast her eyes to the side, as she finally saw him lift his head.
With a slow, meticulous care, he placed his pencil down, and pinned her in place with his unblinking gaze.
A deer caught in headlights she could only stand frozen as she watched a painful death come rushing at her, in the guise of an arrogant TA.
"Do not delude yourself.
I, Sesshoumaru, was not acting out of some hidden need to assist you, nor do I require your thanks. Especially for something that occurred three weeks ago. If you had felt the need to redeem yourself and apologize to me, I would think you would do so before almost a month had passed.
You are incredibly lucky that I did not simply leave you to your childish, unthinking folly, and leave you lying on that floor, instead of wasting my time, bringing you to the infirmary.
If you had not been such a fool, you would have seen one of the many stepladders scattered throughout the library, eradicating the need for my assistance in the first place.
Although it seems quite obvious that you are incapable of even such a simple task as retrieving a book from a shelf without seriously injuring yourself.
Next time you act with so much asininity, which I have no doubt will be soon enough considering to whom I am speaking, do not think that I will hesitate to leave you to your mistake," he stated, every word dripping with disdain.
While speaking, he had gathered all of his papers into one neat pile and now slowly stood from his seat, preparing to leave.
Leaving a stunned Kagome behind, he headed toward the door. Pausing as he reached the door, he turned to look back at her over his shoulder and coldly informed her,
"And. I. am. not. nice."
Each word dropping from lips like a large, heavy diamond-a sharply cutting beauty- to land on the floor of the silent room with an audible clink that lasted long after the door had clicked shut behind him.
* * * * * * * End Flash Back * * * * * * * *
Kagome watched in amazement at the emotions flitting across his face. They were like rare and exotic dancers delicately floating along the elegant and tranquil planes of his beautiful face, as his breath lightly caressed her face.
Suddenly realizing exactly how close their faces were, she turned, if humanly possible, even redder as all of the blood in her entire body seemed to rush to her face.
'Hmmm, it can't possibly be healthy for a person to look that much like a tomato,' Sesshoumaru observed, nonchalantly, not nearly as affected by their nearness.
'When did we get so close!?!?,' Kagome wondered in shock, 'We're almost close enough to kiss...'
With that last thought, her mind, already in a somewhat frazzled and confused state due to her little morning surprise, teetered into full blown panic.
She suddenly threw all of her weight back trying to scramble away from Sesshoumaru's disturbing closeness.
Unfortunately, trying to suddenly pulling away from someone who has one arm around you can lead to some confusion and injured limbs.
Suddenly pulling away from someone who had one arm around you when you have both arms tightly wrapped around their waist and are curled up against them can lead to nothing short of complete and utter chaos.
After a few minutes of jumbled tumbling, scrambling, and muffled vibrant curses on the part of Sesshoumaru, who had somehow managed to be elbowed in the ribs twice by Kagome, they ended up in quite an awkward position.
Kagome lay pinned underneath Sesshoumaru with his outstretched arms on either side of her head supporting his weight.
The light of the sun was screened from the pair by a slightly tangled, silver curtain formed by Sesshoumaru's bent head, hiding them from outside view and giving the space between them a very intimate feeling.
Both, slightly winded from the tussle, were panting, warming the air between them rapidly. The puffs of air issued from the two caused some of the tangled, white locks of hair to gently fall against Kagome's cheek, tickling them both.
With noses almost touching and lips scant centimeters apart, a fascinating blush beginning to stain both of their cheeks...
(A/N:: Me so evil ^_^ I love putting my characters in these situations, ok I'll be quiet now)
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
A teenage boy lay on sulking on his bed, glaring furiously at the ceiling with his hands cushioning his stubborn, thick-skulled head.
'What the fuck were Miroku and Sango thinking not telling me where Kagome was.
They know I've been looking for her for almost two fucking years now! Damnit! Why does everybody keep trying to keep me away from her?
How the fuck am I supposed to explain things to her if I can't even talk to her..
How am I supposed to make things right, like Sango wanted me to, if I can't even talk to her?
(A/N:: Err. Inu-babe I think u misunderstood her point..)
And of all the self-important, pretentious jackasses for her to meet up with, why in the seven hells did it have to be Sesshoumaru!
I can't believe she's been with him, right under my nose, this entire fucking time!
Besides what the hell was he even doing with her anyway? I thought he was to high and mighty to deal with ordinary "trash" like us.
He's just like the rest of those snotty asses, looking down their noses at you. I'm surprised that he lowered himself to even talking to Kagome. The bastard.
* * * * Flash Back * * * * * *
A dark, young beauty with liquid, indigo eyes and a soft smile tucked the final strand of hair into place as she looked at her reflection.
Turning around, she practically beamed down at the small, ebony-haired boy sitting on the bed.
"So Inu-chan, how does Mommy look?" she asked, as she gave a small twirl causing a slight rustle of fabric as the navy blue silk of the long dress playfully swirled around her young body.
The light glinted off the various pieces of elegant, though obviously expensive, jewelry that adorned her neck, wrists, and fingers. And her obsidian locks were carefully done up into a refined coif.
The young boy stared in awe at his mother, unused to seeing her dressed so richly, and still not certain about what, exactly, had brought about this rapid change in their lives or what it meant for them.
"You look very, very pretty, Mommy," he said with the whole-hearted enthusiasm of youth. "But do I have to wear these funny clothes?" he asked tugging at the collar of his finely made, miniature suit and squirming on comfortably on the bed.
"Yes, dear," his mother answered sinking down to her knees in a sweep of midnight silk and softly shining gold so that she was now at eye level with him and swiftly readjusting his mussed clothes.
"Inu-chan, Mommy needs to you behave really well tonight, because Daddy's having a BIG party tonight with all of his important friends. And Daddy needs his entire family to be on their best behavior including little boys. I know that you will be a big boy for Mommy and behave, ka?"
"Of course, Mommy!" he chirped, excited to finally be considered old enough for such an important responsibility.
"Will Mommy tell Nee-san too?" he asked curious to see how the distant brother he had recently acquired would behave during "Daddy's important party".
Inquisitively, he looked down as his mother paused in her incessant readjusting of the tie just managed to loosen. However, she quickly regained her bearings, and nonchalantly responded,
"I don't think so, Inu-chan. Sesshoumaru's much more used to this kind of thing than we are. He probably knows exactly how he's supposed to behave."
"Oh, okay Mommy! You'll see I'll be a good boy tonight and make you and Daddy proud!"
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
A giant cloud of pretentious women with fake laughs and designer dresses and men reeking of alcohol and foul money filled the main hall of the manor with penguin-dressed servants weaving in and out of the crowd carrying trays of ambrosia and wine.
A small boy, looking very uncomfortable, stood in a circle of women, all petting and cooing over how adorable he was.
Every direction he turned he could see nothing, but fake smiles with lipstick stained teeth and sleek silk dresses that lacked the freshness and honest simplicity of his mother's.
It was nothing but a cage of skinny women with charcoaled eyes that he couldn't escape, and he desperately fought the urge to cry.
At the first the attention had been pleasant, and he had puffed up in pride at all of the nice things that they had said to him, but soon the never- ending cheek pinching and fake baby voices made him feel dizzy and suffocated.
Finally, one of the sour-faced women spotted someone more important that she should be coddling up to and headed towards her new prey, drink in hand, leaving a small gap in the circle of Furies.
Making a quick apology, Inuyasha squirmed out of the hole and made his escape. Judging that he had politely put up with the fawning shrew for long enough and that no one would miss him, he quickly began to search for a hiding place to wait until his mother came to send him to bed.
Darting his eyes around in the manner of hunted animal on its last rope, he spotted a potted fern in the corner of the room, and swiftly dove behind it, making sure not to get any dirt on his clothes.
Soon he saw a group of three tall figures walk over to the corner in which he hid, away from the larger mass of the party.
The young boy froze, his breathes stilling to short, soft pants, as he prayed to every God and deity that he had every heard of that he would not be found and be shudder
pinched again.
Soon, a hushed conversation between the three set the boy's mind at ease. They seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that anybody else was anywhere near them, so immersed they were in their own conversation.
Once he realized he was in no danger, he soon grew bored, and began to eavesdrop on the conversation, a decision he would soon come to regret.
"I can't believe the nerve of that man," a husky masculine voice said, dripping with power and old money.
"I know, honestly, he has no shame, bring that floozy and her bastard brat here," came from a grating female voice, the boy recognized as the woman who had been calling him a "darling child" moments before.
"I'm not surprised at all to see that the boy looks exactly like his whore of a mother. Dull black hair and unnatural dark purple eyes.
You can't expect much from that kind of lowered breeding.
It's odd considering the fact that the older one looks almost exactly like Inutaisho," remarked a deceptively soothing, deep feminine voice, another from the circle of Furies.
It was actually this one that had left to speak to someone more important, allowing him room to escape. Apparently she had found her "new prey".
"When was the last time you've actually seen the child? He might have the same eyes and hair as his father, but his face is almost exactly that of his mothers.
So unbelievably beautiful. It's almost creepy on the face of such a little, iron-faced boy," the man said "It's got to kill him that he basically murdered his wife for that slut, and still has to see her face everyday."
"Hah! Quite the contrary, I think that he got everything that he wanted," the first female voice said while leaning forward,
"You know I hear that when he first got married, his company was going down. I mean the family name is very old and powerful, but he was near bankrupt at the time.
If it weren't for his blushing bride's money, his company would have collapsed. Then, almost a decade later he knocks up his secretary, tells his wife after keeping it a secret for god knows how long. And sends the poor woman to her grave." She concluded in a conspiratorial whisper.
"So now the man has a flourishing company, a heir with two powerful family names behind him, and a pretty bimbo to warm his bed at nights. I would say that things turned out quite nicely for our dear Fugio, InuTaisho," the voice finished, leaning slightly back with a smug smile and an irritating giggle.
"Yes, but its one matter to keep the wench to warm his bed at night and a completely different one to bring her here. I mean has he no respect for his dead wife or the rest of us?"
"And what does the woman think she's wearing? She looks like a street pimp with all of that cheap, tacky gold jewelry!
No sense of taste at all! But what can you really expect from such a low- class woman?"
At this point the young Inuyasha finally realized exactly whom they were talking about, and dawning comprehension made him shake with anger and confusion.
Who were these snotty, sour-faced people to insult his mother and father!
He ran out from behind the potted fern, not caring if the three saw him, blindly heading away from them and to the safe arms of his mother.
With tears streaming from his eyes, the young boy aimlessly ran out of the main hall of the party and into one of the intricate, marbled-tiled corridors of the mansion.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
After having made his short social appearance as per his father's order, Sesshoumaru wandered through the barren, corridors of the manor, avoiding the crowd of tittering fools gossiping over the last spark of social interest, his step-mother's first showing at a major function.
Disgusted by the deceitful fawning of the ladies over his younger sibling and the whispered innuendo, or outright insults directed to his family, due to his father's folly, he had retreated to the abandoned halls of the manor.
His miniature, Armani shoes made deliberate clicks as he strode down the hallway, searching for a library or secluded corner to wait out the storm of titillation.
Click
Click
Click
The falsely illuminated corridor cast ghastly shadows around the various exotic potted plants that the inhabitants seemed to love so much.
Tasteless in the young Sesshoumaru's far from naïve opinion.
Hearing the soft thundering of quickly approaching little feet, he turned to have a small lump slam into his chest.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Inuyasha looked up to see what he had rammed into, rubbing his eyes to clear the tears that blurred his vision with one chubby fist.
The first thing he saw was an eerily pale face and unnaturally beautiful silver hair tied in a neat low ponytail.
Silver hair could only mean one of two people and the boy, while tall for his age, was far too small to be the imposing, invincible figure of his father.
"Nee-san!" he cried out, temporarily forgetting the coldness that he older boy had always directed towards him.
He wrapped his five-year old arms around his bother's waist, and buried his face in the itchy, unrelenting material of his suit, nipping his nose on a hard plastic button.
"Nee-san, I heard some bad people say nasty things about me, Mommy, and Daddy!
They had pinched faces and were calling her names like whore and slut! What do those names mean, Nee-san!?!
Why did they say those mean things about us!?!" the distressed boy cried out, desperately clinging to his brother.
His grip was the frantic grip of a child faced for the first time by the evils of the world, tense and needy like that of a drowning man.
The waves of insulting laughing crashing down upon his unsheltered head, as biting, cold winds of masked insults tugged at his damp locks and cut, knife-like through every bone in his body with ice.
The unrelenting tide attempted drag him under and the chaotic waters danced around him. He clings to his one preservation with an undying, white- knuckled hold fueled by the futile fire of ignorance.
They might not be very close, but big brothers are supposed to make the world make sense and make everything better, right?
They were supposed to protect you and make the world right again when things were bad.
Unfortunately Sesshoumaru had apparently never gotten this memo.
Abruptly Inuyasha found himself being shoved to the ground by a glaring Sesshoumaru, who was currently straightening the almost invisible wrinkles the over-enthusiastic hug from his brother had caused in his suit.
"Don't touch me," he coldly stated, appearing not at all disturbed by the party-goers statement.
He glared down at his half-brother with a coldly condensing and accusing eyes. Eyes that the young boy would never forget.
"They said it because it was true."
There was no sneer to his words, barely any emotion in them at all save an almost undetectable disgust. They were said with a conviction that would haunt for him for many nights; they were said as if they were true.
And with those final words he sharply turned around and began to walk away from the fallen form of his baby brother.
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
The boy looked up from his position with hurt evident in his stunned eyes, fresh tears forming in their dark amethyst depths. A small, confused whimper escaped him as he raised one pudgy hand to the retreating back of his older brother.
"Nee-san," he whispered, as fat tears slowly fell and meandered down his still infantile face.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
Sesshoumaru strode purposefully down the hall away from his weeping brother, his fist tightened in anger.
It had served the brat right. He had stood by and watched as the deceitful shrews with false beauty cooed at his brother. A cold and distant ice prince hidden in the shadows.
The same women who had once claimed to be loyal friends to his mother. The same women whom his mother would have spent her last breathe defending. Who had grown up with her and claimed to love her like a sister.
They had all betrayed her, discarding her memory as a outgrown rag doll left to lay limp and forgotten on the floor, as they all flocked to her replacement.
He had seen them whisper and chatter in the hidden corners about his father's misconduct but not one of them had stood up to the man for his fallen wife and abandoned son.
Not one had cried true tear at her funeral or offered true comfort for the lost-looking boy, who had sobbed for the last time at his mother's passing.
Not one had missed or remembered her.
Except for him.
They had all abandoned him for the newer, more exciting rumor.
Fawning over the brat and exchanging niceties with wench his father had replaced her with.
They pinched and admired the new little boy, and had come like obedient lap dogs of society to their wedding so soon after their "friend's" funeral.
Not one had told him that they honestly missed her.
He was left alone, the only one still respecting the memory of an amazing woman they had all claimed to love.
The only one to still want to remember..
* * * * * * * * End Flashback
'...Just like the rest of them.' Inuyasha sighed and grabbed the picture he still couldn't seem to be able to force himself to take off his nightstand, after all this time.
A smiling Kagome sat on a tree branch with his arm around her shoulders, both looking unnaturally happy, well for him anyway.
'I'm sorry, Kagome. I never meant to lie to you. I meant what I said at the time, but...
but how could I just leave Kikyou like that..
* * * * * * * Flash Back * * * * * * * * *
The inky waves of night were slowly taking over the town as a boy of perhaps fifteen ran along the dark alleyways, taking every shortcut he could think of, his every movement filled with urgency and driven by fear.
Making a sharp turn onto a quiet suburban area, he raced towards a certain quaint home, completely undistinguishable from the others in the neighborhood, save for the ivy creeping along its sides, quite unusual in modern Japan.
The house appears to be completely abandoned, dark and uninhabited, lacking the warmth and activity it would take to make it a home.
Disbelieving, Inuyasha races past the "for sale" sign planted in the immaculate yard to the heavy wooden door, desperately banging on it.
"Open up! Somebody better fucking let me in before I break this fucking door!!
Kikyou, where the fuck are you!!!
KIKYOU!!"
After ten more minutes of fruitless shouting and finally accepting the truth, he slumped against the door, his head leaning against the cool wooden of the door, his normally purple eyes amethyst eyes almost black in their intensity.
The stray locks of black hair escaping from his normal ponytail, as he body tensed from anger and frustration, only to relax in bone-weary defeat.
"No..
Kikyou..."
he whispered, a crumpled piece of paper floating to the ground from his once tightly clenched fist .
The lavender colored paper softly floated to the ground with two words delicately scrawled onto it in a rushed, but elegant hand.
Sayonara, koishii
* * * * * * *End Flash Back* * * * * * *
'I guess in the end both of you left me...
at least once...
Would you come back to me too, Kagome? Hell, do I even want you to come back to me?
I made my choice already. I'm with Kikyou now..
right?"
(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)(^-^)
A/N: Ugh, worked for the past three days on it straight. 21 PAGES LONG!
I have spring break now so expect another update the end of this week. YAY! I love break! I finally had time and energy to update!
I;ve been getting a lot of reviews asking to be emailed when I update. Just email me and I will put ur email address on my mailing list!
This chapter is dedicated to all the loyal reviewers and readers that just didn't have the time to review that waited so long for it. And in particular to a very nice reviewer who I drove to begging and went to all the trouble of emailing me. U set my but in gear.
ON a brighter note::
WOOOHOOOO!!! Not only did I hit 300 reviews YAY! I LOVE YOU GUYS!! Trust me I read all of them, I just haven't had a chance to post review responses yet, which I will be doing tom.
I also won second place in the Single Spark's annual Award for Best Angst! YAY!!
Oh, and to those who were wondering btw stands for by the way.
And I tried to cut down on the A/N this chapter.