Forever in My Heart
Chapter 7: A Matter of Importance
Sesshoumaru sat in his office, feeling the warm rays of the rising sun caress his face. It had been almost 5:30 a.m. when he left Kagome's apartment. He knew the events of the night would not permit him to sleep, so he decided to head to work. There was going to be lots of work to do today anyways. He felt obligated to organize Kaori's funeral – he had found her will among her documents. It had stated that she wished to be cremated, and put to rest at sea. It was a simple request, and he would fulfill it. He had also found out that her relatives in Canada had been notified, although they didn't seem to care very much. This piece of information had upset him – she had been a kind, quiet and hardworking woman, and one who deserved to be remembered.
But he supposed he had to thank her – after all her, her murder had left him with more physical evidence to work with. When the DNA came back, he would able to decipher exactly what abilities this youkai had. That would aid greatly in capturing this youkai.
Apart from Kaori, another thing was bothering him deeply. The conversation he had last night with Kagome had disturbed him greatly. He was afraid that the stress of this case would drive her to a breaking point. Sighing, he closed the folder he had been reading, and just leaned back to watch the sun rise.
---
Kagome woke up feeling very warm and comfortable. Dragging herself out of bed, she was shocked to read the time – '1:38 p.m.' She remembered how Sesshoumaru drove her home last night, and how they had talked for so long. She remembered drifting off, but did not recall when Sesshoumaru had left.
"How did I end up in here?" she wondered aloud.
Her answer came in the form of a short note, found on her bedside table.
'Kagome,
You had fallen asleep, so I carried you back to your room. If you can wake up, meet us all at Rin's place tonight at 6. We'll be talking over dinner. If you need to, call me.
Sesshoumaru'
Smiling slightly, she thought to herself, 'hmm…since when did he become so nice? Well, I suppose I can thank him properly tonight. And I have to return his jacket. But I'll probably have to leave early – my shift starts at 9:20 p.m.'
Feeling satisfied and energized by her restful sleep, started humming a happy tune as she closed the door to her bathroom.
---
Ding-dong!"Jiro-kun, will you please get the door?" Rin asked, her hands full with dinner preparations.
Jiro smiled and walked to the door, opening it, revealing Kagome.
"Kagome," he greeted her with a large smile.
"Jiro-kun!" she smiled back, entering the house and stepping out of her white sneakers.
"Kagome-chan?" Rin's voice called out from the kitchen.
"Hai, Rin-chan!" she looked around, "Where's everybody else?"
"Kagura-chan is napping somewhere, Sesshoumaru-sama is on the phone in the study, and Ichi-chan is…"
"Right in front of you," the tall, green-eyed ookami suddenly appeared in front of Kagome.
Rin laughed. "And everybody else isn't here yet."
Ichiro eyed Kagome critically. "Nee-san, you look so professional…"
Kagome had on her green hospital scrubs, covered with a white, cropped zip-up hoodie and a black backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Oh. I have a shift starting at nine-twenty tonight, so if I were dressed already, I can stay longer," Kagome explained. She turned her head left and right, saying, "Where's Sesshoumaru-sama again? He left his jacket at my place last night…"
Ichiro and Jiro, who had both been drinking Coke and tea respectively, choked.
"W-what?" Jiro coughed.
Ichiro just stared at her, a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"Oh shut it, you two idiots!" Kagura came strolling in, an arm resting on her swollen belly and her other hand supporting her back. "She'll explain everything when everyone gets here." Turning to Kagome, she smiled and said, "Kagome-chan, he's upstairs, in the runt's study."
"Thanks, Kagura-chan," Kagome smiled gratefully, eager to escape from the awkward situation.
Climbing the stairs slowly, she thought, 'I can't remember when the study is…'
A door to her left opened, and Sesshoumaru stood in the doorway, looking at her.
"You were looking for me?"
She nodded, and handed him his jacket, saying, "I'm sorry I forgot to return it last night. And I appreciate the fact you put me in bed," she smiled.
He nodded and took the jacket, saying, "It was no trouble,"
"Well, dinner should be almost ready, so you can come down," she turned and started down the stairs. As she stepped down onto the ground, she head Ayame and Kouga's voices.
"Ayame-chan, Kouga-kun," she greeted with a smile.
Both turned around and said, "Ohayo, Kagome!"
Seeing Ayame's empty arms, she asked, "Where's Aiko-chan?"
Kouga snorted. "As a punishment for going out behind our backs, I made Izumi stay home and watch her."
Kagome laughed. "Are you sure that's a punishment?"
Ayame shook her head, saying, "That's what I said, but he didn't listen."
Ichiro smirked. "Bet you within half an hour she'll be calling Kenji and demanding for him to go home to help her. Aiko can be a handful at times…"
"I heard all four of you guys shared that same trait, back when you were kids," Kagome said playfully.
"They did, and they'll probably always be like that," a voice called out from the foyer.
"You're back!" Rin's happy voice called out, while she enveloped her mate in a crushing embrace. Shippou smiled and gave her a kiss.
"Sorry that I couldn't be earlier. One of my clients was being unreasonable,"
Looking at Kagome, he asked, "What time does your shift start?"
"9:20 tonight," she answered.
"Well, dinner's ready," Rin's cheerful voice said, while carrying in two steaming bowls of soup. Sesshoumaru came down the stairs, and asked, "All here?"
All heads nodded, and Rin said, "Dinner's ready too,"
Everyone sat down and started eating. After complimenting Rin on her cooking, Kouga asked, "Ne, what happened last night? Ayame was too tired to tell me."
"Well, it all started when Rin-chan, Ayame-chan, and I decided to go clubbing," Kagome began, "it was all good, until we decided to leave. By then, it was already around three in the morning."
"Then Rin-chan found this note…"
"And we realized it was left by the guy who had killed all those youkai…"
"Because it had his symbol on it…"
"And the note told us that he had found a new victim…"
"A female one this time…"
"Then they got freaked and called us…"
"Then Shippou and Sesshoumaru-sama got here…"
"And we tried to track the guy and his victim down…"
"Kagome-chan and Sesshoumaru-sama pinpointed the aura of a youkai we were unfamiliar with…"
"Turns out it was the victim…"
"And she was a real mess – her injuries were exactly the same as the previous ones…"
"Rin-chan and I couldn't look, it was only Kagome-chan and Sesshoumaru-sama…"
"We couldn't get anything from her, she just couldn't talk…"
"So we got the cops on scene, and got out of there," Shippou ended their tale.
"Did she survive?" Kagura asked quietly.
Kagome shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid by the time we got to her, she already lost a lot of blood. Even with her own healing abilities, she wouldn't have made it,"
"So you didn't manage to get anything from her?" Kouga asked.
"Well, we were able to get DNA samples of her attacker from her body," Ayame explained.
"Well that's a start," Jiro offered.
"Hai, it is a good start," Sesshoumaru agreed, "it will aid us greatly in determining this youkai's abilities."
"But that still doesn't explain why Sesshoumaru-sama was at nee-san's place last night," interjected Ichiro.
Several surprised faces stared at Kagome and Sesshoumaru. Kagome shrugged, saying, "He gave me a ride home, and we talked for a while."
Sesshoumaru could've rolled his eyes. "What did you think, that we were having a torrid love affair?"
Ichiro shrugged. "It would've been fun to fantasize about,"
Ayame whacked her son on the head, saying, "What has your father been telling you?"
Kouga shifted uneasily in his seat and cleared his throat. "Well anyways," he said, trying to change the topic, "I feel pretty bad for that woman. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, wasn't she?"
Everyone fell silent. The ones who had found her looked especially melancholy, although Sesshoumaru's deadpan features stayed that way.
"She was Sesshoumaru-sama's secretary, Kaori-san," Rin said quietly.
Kouga's mouth dropped open, then he closed it hastily. "I'm sorry for your loss, Sesshoumaru," he murmured.
Sesshoumaru nodded, and amazingly, ignored the absence of his honorific. "It's alright. She was a good woman, and will be remembered accordingly."
The rest of dinner took place in silence. Soon, Kagome wiped her mouth, got up, and placed her dishes in the sink. Looking at the rest of the group, she smiled and said, "Hey guys, I have to run. Rin-chan, I'm sorry I can't do the dishes for you,"
Rin shook her head and replied, "Iie, it's alright. Drive safe, 'kay?"
She nodded and slipped on her white sneakers, heaving her backpack on a shoulder and waved to the rest of the group. Leaving the house, she closed the door with a gentle click. Kouga, Ayame, and Ichiro left soon after Kagome, and Rin and Shippou soon re-entered the kitchen to do the dishes, leaving Kagura, Jiro, and Sesshoumaru sitting in silence. Sesshoumaru was sitting with his eyes closed, a look of contemplation on his face. Kagura glanced at her mate, and then back to Sesshoumaru.
"Sesshoumaru…" she began. He opened one eye lazily and looked at her. Seeing her unusually serious expression, he opened his other eye as well and sat up straighter.
"The others may not know or remember, but I do," she quietly said. Jiro looked at her with a curious expression on his face – he obviously didn't know what she was talking about. Looking at the demon lord, Jiro noticed that he had a glint in his eyes that wasn't there before.
"You do…" Sesshoumaru quietly intoned. Kagura nodded, and started ticking off names.
"Hideaki, one of your former healers. Goro, Rin's teacher as a child. Kenshin, the captain of one of your ranks. Takeshi, your cousin, although he had been disowned a century ago. Kaori, your assistant. Don't you notice something, Sesshoumaru?" she asked. Jiro frowned. 'Kenshi, Hideaki, Goro, Takeshi…weren't those the names of the 4 male victims?' he thought, letting out a small gasp. It didn't take much to put the two and two together after his wife made it so obvious.
"I do," he answered, closing his eyes again, "I'm surprised you remembered, Kagura."
"I did not spend 4 centuries of my life as the head of your household for nothing," she bit.
It was true. After the defeat of Naraku, Kagura had nowhere to go, so she decided to follow the demon lord. At first, he had kept telling her to go away, but soon, Rin had taken a liking to the "pretty lady with the red eyes", and he grudgingly allowed her to stay with them. Back at his home, since he was without a mate, his household was in such disarray that it was amazing how his castle and its occupants managed to do their day-to-day tasks. So she had volunteered to help him sort it out, and had met Jiro, Sesshoumaru's head healer. Of course, the two had fallen in love and had mated, but Kagura remained as the head of his household. Rin had taken over for Kagura a century ago due to her pregnancy, leaving Kagura free to expand on her creative abilities as an accomplished seamstress.
"Why aren't you doing something about it? Or telling the rest of them?" she asked, ignoring Jiro's looks of warning.
"They do not need to be tangled up in my own problems. Rin would be most distressed if she heard some idiot youkai was out to get me," he shrugged, picking up his teacup.
Kagura rolled her eyes in exasperation. "She would be more distressed if you didn't tell her, you know. She'll worry her ass off about you. Same with the rest of the group. You can't just shrug it off like that, you know. This is some insane youkai who wants you dead! And this one isn't stupid either,"
When Sesshoumaru didn't answer, she sighed in frustration and let the subject drop. After the time she had spent in his household, she knew when it was a lost cause. Sesshoumaru stood up and went into the kitchen.
"I am going to leave now. Thanks for the dinner, Rin," he said. She smiled and replied, "It was my pleasure. Bye Sesshoumaru-sama," she gave him a small hug after wiping her soapy hands on the seat of her jeans. This was met with a look of mock disapproval.
"Rin, you do know what the function of towels are, correct?" he asked, a sparkle of amusement in his golden eyes. Shippou laughed and dropped a dishtowel onto Rin's head, and she scrunched up her nose, sticking her tongue out at her mate.
"Good night Rin, Shippou," he said, before heading to the front entrance. He nodded his head at Kagura and Jiro, who both waved, and exited the door.
Reaching his car, he slid in quietly and sighed, slamming the door shut. Kagura really hit the nail on the head. He really shouldn't have been surprised – that wind youkai knew a lot more than she let on.
The truth was, he had suspected this for a while. He had been rather surprised when he found out the first victim was one of his captains – everyone in his army was extremely well-trained, and it would've taken a lot to take one of them down, especially a captain. The identity of this particular captain disturbed him a lot – Kenshin had actually been trained personally by Sesshoumaru, because his father had been a commander even before Sesshoumaru was old enough to carry a sword. After the old commander had passed on, Sesshoumaru felt obliged to teach his young son the way the old commander had once taught Sesshoumaru.
He noticed that the victims were each of increasing importance to him – each one was more important to him than the last. Hideaki had been a loyal healer, aiding him after many battles. Goro had been a wise scholar, Sesshoumaru's own teacher as a pup. Kenshin and he had formed a semblance of a friendship, the younger pup looking up to Sesshoumaru as a mentor and confidante. He and Takeshi had grown up together, and although he constantly denied it, Takeshi really knew him better than anyone else did. Too bad he got disowned though – his father, Sesshoumaru's uncle, had been outraged when Takeshi brought home a human woman. It wouldn't have been as bad if the woman was merely a mistress, but Takeshi had insisted on marking her as his mate. He didn't care much about his father's opinions, and disappeared with the woman shortly after a rather violent altercation with his father. He and Sesshoumaru had lost contact shortly afterwards. The last victim, Kaori, was a faithful and diligent worker – working with Sesshoumaru for many years had led her to be able to read his carefully concealed emotions very well. She had been someone he could depend on.
Starting up the ignition, he wondered if he should really tell the rest of the group. He knew it would frighten them immensely, but he wanted them to be on their guard. The way things were looking now, punctuated by the appearance of the killer at the bar, he wouldn't be surprised if Rin or one of the others would be targeted next.
'No one is going to lay their claws on Rin,' he vowed, as he sped off into the inky black night. No, Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, was not about to let anyone harm the ones he had let into his thawing heart.
I am SO sorry for not updating sooner. I'm sorry, lately I've been caught up in a whirlwind of Bleach. And exams. And Bleach fics. Very, very very very sorry!!!!!! And I kinda lost interest in Inuyasha for a while, so I really got stuck with this chapter. I had already had four pages written, but the words just couldn't flow out afterwards. But don't worry, I have picked it back up again, and my ideas are popping into my head again :) But I do have to warn you guys - my exams aren't over yet, and my big Bleach fic isn't fully uploaded yet, so updates might not be as frequent as I'd like them to be. But I'm trying, I really am. Plus, I'm actually done my Bleach fic, it's just a matter of editing and uploading, so most of my writing efforts will be put back into this fic (I hope).
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter :) please review!
nostalgic-maiden