Brother's Bride
By: Tia-chan
Part I: Beach House Baby
It had been months since Sesshoumaru had been home. A month after Kagome and Inu-Yasha's marriage, he had taken Rin from their home in New York and decided to travel and show her his roots. They traveled to Tokyo (and other cities in Japan), viewed the Great Wall of China, and even visited some old friends in Canada. He had sold his book, with great success. It had sold to millions and now he was on his second, retelling stories of his adopted daughter and his adventures.
The first two months in Japan were all easy-going, but Sesshoumaru soon reinstated schoolwork for the now-13 year old. Though she still seemed young to him, being suddenly catapulted into the teen years, away from home and the major women in her life; Rin began to stray. A month after her transformation, she had become a "bad girl". She had read magazines and met different people, and while Sesshoumaru had thought that this travel would be a positive experience for her, it fell flat.
She had streaked her hair in blue and pink, and was taught how to wear makeup by the few girl friends she picked up along different cities. He had thought she'd grow out of it, so he let her push him out of her affairs, trying not to worry all that much about her sudden change of appearance. Another month past, and she steadily became worse; her night terrors returned, and now she wouldn't let him help her through them (she called it "being independent") and she began to rapidly lose weight.
At this point they were in Toronto, Canada, and the three weeks they had been there, she was already inside a group of strange people. Of course, as he came to her with the news that they were going back to New York, she threw a fit, as she did every time they switched cities. This time it was because she had met a boy. He tried to console her, to no avail—their plane ride back was silent.
They arrived home at 12:13 AM, to a clean and untouched condo. Rin went straight into her room and slammed the door. Sesshoumaru rested his palm against his forehead. It scared him how quickly his sweet, innocent daughter had been corrupted. She wouldn't let him in, wouldn't talk it over with him.
He looked around the home that had being neglected for four long months. Pictures Rin had drawn were strewn throughout the house, taped to walls, and her crayons lay on the kitchen counter. His thoughts wandered through the situation, and he wondered if this sudden change might actually be normal—after all, she had been acting too young for her age before. Losing parents was traumatizing, and though she had a new father, who she had adored for so long, maybe her way of coping was to do different things to make her not think about it.
Or perhaps she was suddenly taking it all very seriously, as she never had before. Maybe she thought that now that she was a teen she had to take everything on.
So many possibilities ranged around his mind, and he just hoped that being home again, settled and being reintroduced to everyone would bring his daughter back. Tomorrow, he would see if they could get together with Inu-Yasha and Kagome…Sesshoumaru sighed. He had run from his problems, and now, he had come full circle, right back into them. Maybe Rin had learned from him.
Tomorrow…he would meet the woman he had run from for months on end.
His alarm beeped obnoxiously, and his hand groped for the off button. As soon as it hit, he pulled himself slowly out of bed, only to meet the bare eyes of Rin, as she sat on the edge of his bed. He started, pulling himself up against the pillows and the headboard. "Good morning," he started, wary of a sudden mood swing. Her brown hair was tousled adorably, and, as he had rarely seen it the last two months, her face was free of makeup. She was wearing an old pair of pajama's, which were blue and had clouds scattered across it.
"Hi," she greeted him. Silence stretched long and thick, and he shifted, uncomfortable of her serious stare. "Are we going to see Uncle Inu-Yasha today?" a little bit of that childlike innocence still endured in the way she said her uncle's name; it was a spark of hope.
"Of course we will, if he's not busy." Sesshoumaru replied, smiling tentatively. She shrugged nonchalantly and hopped off his pristine white covers, ambling out of the room while yawning. He shook his head, plucking his cell phone from his nightstand. For the first time in a very long time, he was calling the number named "Inu-Yasha and Kagome"—he hoped to God that Kagome didn't answer. The phone rang five times, and then clicked into voice mail. Kagome's cheery little voice rang through his head, "Hello, you've reached the residence of Kagome and Inu-Yasha! Please leave a message!"
"Hello, this is Sesshoumaru calling, I just wanted – "
"Hello?" Kagome's voice echoed through the receiver, listless and hollow. The answering machine had more sparkle than she did. But in the one word she spoke, he heard a small bit of hope in her voice.
"Kagome." It was like an affirmation. "How are you?" he heard a little sniffle from the other end of the line.
"Oh, you know," she laughed, but it was almost a forced laugh.
"No, really, I don't." he replied. He tried to keep the worry out of his voice, tried not to meddle with her affairs. "Is Inu-Yasha in? I was going to ask if you two wanted to spend a little time with Rin and I."
"Rin, oh, Sesshoumaru, how is she? I've missed you two so much! You know Izayoi and your father are so sweet but…" she trailed off, almost as if she was being held back from speaking too much. "Oh, but, enough about me. How was your trip?" he was taken aback by her sudden switching of topic—this didn't seem like Kagome at all.
"Kagome, why don't you meet us at Check's?" Sesshoumaru asked gently, almost as if she was a little skittish fawn. He could practically feel her warm smile from her phone.
"I'd love to." She whispered, almost sounding taken aback that he would even want to see her. This was a transformation he had not expected—it seemed that the women in his life were all beginning to crumble around him.
"We'll be there around twelve." He said, smiling despite himself. Once they hung up, Rin was hanging around the doorway, a frown on her forehead. "Hello Rin, would you like some breakfast?" he asked carefully, slipping out of bed and covering his silk pajamas with a terrycloth robe. Her pajamas were much too short for her, barely falling to her ankles. It was then Sesshoumaru realized just how much she'd grown. Perhaps he should stop treating her like a child, and more like the teenager she was—a little more responsibility, a little more trust…a little more…freedom. "Or you could go shopping for some new pajamas and get breakfast in the mall." He suggested casually.
Surprised brown eyes flashed up to his face, searching for a hint of sarcasm. What she got was a perfectly level stare from her foster father. Suddenly, and without warning, a rare sweet smile crept onto her lips. Her teeth were bared, and that adorable gap between her two front teeth still remained present. "That would be nice, dad." She replied.
She returned home spot on time, at 11:30, and Sesshoumaru was already dressed and sitting on the immaculately white couch with a cup of coffee and the paper. Rin clonked in, kicked off her converse, and settled down on to the floor in front of him with a big plastic shopping bag, which had "Stitches" scribbled across it. She pulled out a matching tank top and shorts, both with cutesy little pictures of monkeys scrawled across them, and a new pair of jeans (which were not black, which was an improvement) and a tee shirt.
She reached out her hand wordlessly and gave him the change, which he shook his head at. "Keep it," he replied. "You might need it another time when I'm not here." A shy look flitted across her pretty face, and he noticed that he could barely see any makeup. He smiled—only a day back and already he could see chances quickly advancing; this time, good changes.
Kagome waited in the booth for them by the window, a hot chocolate in her hand, and blue eyes dreamily locked on the horizon. Both of them caught their breath; Rin was the first to react. "Kagome!" she all but screamed, launching herself at the poor, breathtaking woman. Sesshoumaru stayed where he was while women and girl embraced, each looking at each other like they'd been starved and had finally been given food. Kagome touched her hair and fretted at her tight jeans and cooed and then finally turned to look at him.
A light blush touched her cheeks, and her eyes lowered a little so that thick, dark lashes obscured the blue twin lakes, which were her eyes. If anything could inspire Sesshoumaru to write, it would be those eyes. "Sesshoumaru," his name came out pleasantly smooth to the ear, and he rumbled "Kagome" in response. He could hear her heartbeat speed up, could feel his already hammering inside his ribcage, almost like it was trying to escape to her.
He slid into the booth across from the two people he loved most in his life, and it was so magical it was almost as if he had never gone.
The three of them rambled on and on, about adventures the father and daughter had (leaving out of course Rin's behavior, as that would come out of the young girl herself in time) and Kagome commented and squealed at some. But whenever the subject of her time here came up, she just laughed and lost some of her sparkle by saying "Nothing of importance".
Soon Sesshoumaru dropped that subject, silently vowing to follow up later when they were alone.
The afternoon passed as if it had never been, and their lunch date ended much too soon. Kagome and Rin hugged, before Rin set off to the car. Sesshoumaru had a tingling sense of déjà vu as Kagome and he were left alone. "Well," he started, and suddenly Kagome had her arms around his waist tightly, almost leaving no room for air as she buried her face in his shirt. His arms draped lightly around her shoulders, and since this was his first time touching her in months, he suddenly felt her bony shoulders, how frail and small she felt to the touch. He held her closer, yet gentler.
She pulled away as suddenly as she had come to him, and her head rolled forward apologetically. "It was nice of you to let me come see Rin again…it was good to see you both." His hand took her chin and he tilted her head up and dropped his own until he could feel her shaky breathing against his lips.
"Dinner, tonight." He said, an order more than a request. Her blue eyes widened, the intimacy of the moment knotting her stomach up.
"But Inu-Yasha—" she started, before catching herself on the excuse. There was silence between them for a moment.
"You will meet me at Ninja's for dinner tonight, and you will tell me what has happened." He said stonily, though his golden eyes searching hers showed her how he really felt. Her knees wobbled precariously as did her bottom lip, and when he felt more than heard a shaky "Okay" he released her and took a step back. He surveyed her as she wrapped her arms around herself, bony fingers clasping at her oversized woolen sweater.
"You will be alright to get home?" he asked, a little concerned. She nodded. The horn of his car blasted, and Rin sat impatiently in the passenger's side, eyebrow raised. He waved at her and turned back to Kagome, but she was already half way to her own car. He sighed and returned to his own car, sliding into the driver's seat. Rin had already started up the vehicle, and he fastened his seatbelt while the stretching silence, only punctuated by a slight tapping told him Rin was preparing a question.
He looked to her; eyes alight in a silent 'what?' She just smiled and clucked her tongue, looking out the front of the car. "You still love her," she said sagely, and for the first time in months, he could fully agree with her.
Sesshoumaru sat in the fanciest Japanese restaurant in New York, Ninja's. The setting was lovely, the color scheme perfect, and the menu was mouth watering. Sesshoumaru ordered for both of them, deciding they would both enjoy Hanzou. Five minutes after he ordered, Kagome appeared. She was fidgeting nervously, but was still gorgeous. She had her hair pinned up and a flowery silk dress on, a little gold purse caught between her fingers.
He smiled as she asked for their reservation, even though he had caught her eye already. A man took her to their table, and she sat gingerly, breathing in the scents of Japan and taking in the dark, smoldering colors. She ordered a Ninja Cocktail softly, and then looked to him. He was wearing a high-collared black shirt and matching slacks, with carefully stitched gold threads in a soft pattern. She leaned furtively towards him and whispered, "You must know some people,"
He laughed; her open awe of the place was sweetly entrancing. "Yes," he admitted. "I do know a fellow who has connections—I probably couldn't have got in here with my late reservation otherwise." She giggled, and then his humored mood drifted away, leaving him quietly contemplative. "So, are you going to tell me what happened?" her eyes darkened, her painted-red lips turned down.
"Inu-Yasha has been…unhappy, recently." She said briefly, obviously trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. This conversation was a necessary evil for her. "I think he's been with another woman." Sesshoumaru's hands clenched on his legs, his lips thinned. Kagome was quick to defend her husband, however. "I may be wrong, I mean, I really have no proof…" she trailed off, her expression giving away that she was far from Ninja's.
His hand reached out, covering hers gently, giving her strength to continue, even though he felt like shouting.
"I told him, Sesshoumaru," She started, choking up, "I told him that I was in love with you." As tears slipped from her eyes, his stomach dropped. "Two months after you left. Three months into our marriage…I told him and he just stopped. Stopped talking to me for days, and when he did say things, they were nasty, hurtful remarks. He stopped coming home for dinner and when I woke up in the mornings, a lot of the time he was sleeping on the couch or already gone. Suddenly things started appearing in our house, things that weren't mine and obviously weren't his. Only small things, nail polish, perfume, sometimes I'd even smell some lingering in the house.
At first I thought he was leaving these little things for me, I thought he'd forgiven me. But when I finally asked him about them, he just shook his head…" Sesshoumaru was silent, letting her continue, but inside he felt dread. "Eventually I stopped asking, but these things keep happening, and he's getting less and less careful with what he's doing. Sometimes I hear him talking on the phone with one woman or another, making plans or… Well, just things like that."—He heard the wince in her voice—"He told me I had to get rid of Buyo, because his friends…were allergic. I had to give him to Izayoi and your father."
She shook her head, and silence stretched out, long and painful. He could hear every shuddering breath and whisper.
"Kagome…" he stopped when he realized he had nothing to say, for once. Their first course arrived.
"I can't divorce him, Sesshoumaru, I hurt him, he's just dealing with it in the only way he can. It'll be over soon." She reassured herself, not him. "It's only been a month now," they left the restaurant after the second course, but Sesshoumaru paid for the whole meal. The air outside was crisp and cool, and pinks and purples of varying degrees still lingered on the horizon. Their hands were entwined, and her tears slid silently down her cheeks, dripping on his fingers. He kissed her tears tenderly, which only served to make her cry harder.
They reached his car, and she pushed him against the door and kissed him; he felt all the rage, loneliness and hurt in her kiss as she opened her mouth to him. Her tongue was insistent, and her hands were in his silvery tresses, grabbing handfuls. Her tears still felt, salty against their conjoined mouths; their second kiss was polar-opposite to their first, which was tender and confused, whereas this kiss was brutal and only stemmed from their anxiety and pain.
She wound herself around him, careless to whom was watching and he was throbbing all over with need and want. When she finally pulled away, flushed and determined, he knew what she would ask of him—and he couldn't deny her.
He took her to his father's summer home, secluded and empty, everything was covered in white sheets and the memories were dashed away as their swollen lips and insistency carried them away. Their first time would not be sweet and explorative, it would be hard and bruising and unloving.
He pushed her up against a wall, biting and growling at her neck, ripping her delicate silk dress down the front. Her fingers were deft as she forced open his shirt, her lipstick smeared on him and herself, her lips open and her breathing harsh. Her breasts were soft in his hand and lips, but she was demanding and he quickly skipped over her to remove other cumbersome items separating them.
They were entangled and sweaty and were too impatient to make it out of the hallway. He entered her on the hallway floor, and was rough and panting as her legs clasped him desperately around his back. His teeth were everywhere, sweetness and shyness were discarded and forgotten, a thing of the past.
This was not lovemaking; this was pure sex, animalistic and primal.
Her fingernails left welts down his pale back, red and angry, and she was sure his teeth marks would scar her skin forever. Their kisses banged teeth and jarred them, and not once did his pace slow, even when his hips began to cramp and her legs began to shake as she clamped around his waist.
They did not waste breath on petty whispers and sweet nothings.
And when they were washed away together, riding the waves of pleasure and their gasping, tired breaths slowed and Sesshoumaru rolled off her, Kagome curled up to him and cried.
A/N: Yes, sad ending…so far…watch out for the second part, dear readers. :)