A/N: Again, all italicized paragraphs are only recollections/flashbacks of what happened between them. As you can see, they are following a linear sequence now.
**Italicized** are TV conversations.
Thanks.
Chapter 8
&&&&& She stared at the latest edition that was sitting on the further side of their bed, opened to the page where he was featured. Aside from Bloomberg and the occasional Forbes, magazines never really tickled her fancy, she had only relied on the news and the lengthy hundred-page reports Ayame would hand her every morning. She had never opened magazines like these, the only lifestyle ones she had ever encountered were the likes of Portfolio or the Robb Report.
But here she was, her hands on a special edition GQ, with him as the cover page. And Kagome only knew about this, because he said there was a celebratory party he needed to attend.
That was last night.
He did not come home.
The blue-eyed heiress rubbed her eyes, still burning from the tears from crying since last night. She had texted him, genuinely worried. But she never received a reply. And now, staring at the magazine which she flung at the corner of the bed from her anger, renewed tears started to fall yet again.
Of course, he was one of the top five most eligible bachelors in the US. He was successful, handsome, and the magazine said- "unattached."
-So do you have any plans of settling down?
Of course. When I find the right woman.
So you're a romantic.
I could say I'm traditional. —
Kagome buried her face in her hands, trying to control her sobs. The interview was done two months ago.
They had been living together for five months now.
She closed the laptop and set it aside, making sure she had deleted the browsing history or else he found out. While she had been awake the whole night she typed his name, and out popped all of the images of him with several women.
It appeared that he was friendly, and he was actively searching. But one stood out. They had been captured by the paparazzi several times together now, more than the others:
Rin Takeda, the daughter of a luxury real estate entrepreneur.
She learned that they were introduced to each other at a charity event by their fathers. And it appeared that she was the one he would often invite as his 'date' in formal functions.
Kagome breathed deep, trying to calm her stupid feelings down.
It was fine, right? That Rin woman was just temporary, just like those girls were just his 'friends', right?
Besides, she was the girl he would come home to every night. She was the girl he would cook dinner for, the one he would spill his problems to whenever he had a rough day, the one he would make love to every night.
That would make her special, more than the others…right?
Right?
Kagome shook her head, unable to stop the flow of tears that came inevitably.
Her phone suddenly vibrated, and she fumbled for the small device, answering the call without even looking at the caller. She tried to regulate her breathing, and she forced a smile on her lips. She did not want him to hear her crying.
"Kagome. I'm at JFK airport right now,"
The heiress' battered heart dropped. It was not Sesshomaru, it was her lawyer cousin, Sango.
"Where are you?" her cousin continued.
"I'm at the apartment," Kagome answered. "What are you doing in New York?"
"Shit, are you still crying? Don't tell me you haven't stopped since you left me that voice message?!"
Kagome stayed silent, too guilty to even lie.
"I was in San Francisco when you called me. I booked a flight immediately to New York when I heard your message…
Kagome… shit, Kagome… I knew it.
I told you he was no good for you, that fucking spoiled brat-"
The girl clasped her hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs- Sango was already crying on the other line.
"Get your lazy ass out of there and drag yourself to the Ritz-Carlton right now! I booked a room in the penthouse. Come on, what are you waiting for, you stupid teenager?!"
"What if Sesshomaru-kun comes home-"
"I swear, Kagome. I swear-"
"Oui, Sango-chan, d'accord." Kagome finally gave in, wiping her tears.
"You better fucking show up within the next three hours or else I'll give you more reason to puff those swollen eyes up,"
"Alors, I'll be there right now." &&&&&
-Tokyo, Present Time-
"Naraku Onigumo please." The girl smiled up at the receptionist, and the woman in front of the kimono-clad girl gave her a head-to-foot. The woman raised a brow. This girl looked too young to be doing any business with the twenty-five-year-old magnate.
"Name?"
"Kagome Higurashi."
She scanned her list. "Sorry, you don't have any appointments."
"Ah," the girl tilted her pretty little head thoughtfully, "How about DuPont? Louise Kagome DuPont?"
The woman stepped back and gave the other receptionist beside her a surprised glance. They looked at each other briefly,
She is DuPont?
The secretive, heavily-protected Gun Heiress DuPont?
The receptionist blushed, suddenly intimidated by her presence.
The young heiress held the calmest smile, "Je suis désolé, I might not be on the appointment list. He just left me a message telling me to stop by his suite today at my convenience." She blushed herself, "I don't want to come off as pompous or anything, but Naraku had mentioned it was something important. " The girl bowed down graciously.
The two receptionists were too flustered and star struck that it took several minutes for them to regain their bearings. The woman reached out for the intercom. "Onigumo-sama," she said,
"What is it? I'm in a meeting right now, this better be important."
"Miss DuPont is here to see you."
Without missing a heartbeat, the billionaire answered. "I'll be right there."
The two women turned back to the girl, she had recovered from her perfect eshaku, and she was now standing in front of them like a porcelain doll. "Merci," she said, perfect and very formal, refined in every way.
The elevator opened, and out stepped their boss. And the heiress' shoulders relaxed when she saw him, and he grinned back when their eyes met.
The receptionists exchanged glances at each other yet again.
"T'es fou?" she exclaimed, frowning. "You didn't have to step out of your meeting, I could have waited."
He reached out and playfully pulled her ponytail, "They're adults, they can do without me." He smirked when she vainly pulled away, fixing her hair. "Besides, I can't dare make you wait."
At this point, the receptionists were trying to suppress the blush that was rising in their cheeks. They watched as their boss turned, ever-so-subtly sliding his hand on the curve of the heiress' back, leading her forward to follow him. And his hand lingered light on the touch, not wanting to offend her.
"So what is this 'thing' you wanted to show me that was so important?" she said as they walked away, entering the elevator.
Naraku only grinned. "You'll see."
The elevator closed before them. The receptionists were left to themselves, gaping.
His large office suite covered half the building floor, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows that overlooked the city. Every detail was meticulously thought out, personally by him, but she was too distracted to comb through the expensive artwork and furniture that sprawled the suite.
The billionaire went straight to his chair and settled himself comfortably. "Make yourself at home." He grabbed a glass of wine and took a sip. "Louise," he said, noticing her sudden tension.
Kagome's gaze finally drifted to his. "Why is there a corporate lawyer here?" Her eyes were fixed on the red-haired man that was standing by the side of Naraku's desk. And he held a hardened stare at her as if she had offended him some past life.
She had seen him before, although in a picture. He was Sango's batch-mate in law school.
"Oh," Naraku relaxed, leaning on his leather swivel. "This is Harada Shippo, our company attorney. He's here to witness our deal."
Kagome's eyes narrowed. "What deal?"
"Harada, if you can please." Naraku motioned, and with hesitant movements, the red-haired lawyer reached forward and carefully placed a one-page contract on the table.
Kagome leaned over and read the contents. And when she reached the near end, her blue eyes widened. "I can't possibly agree to this." She glared at Naraku, pushing the paper away. "I can't—"
"Remember when I told you that you had my loyalty?" Naraku said, his grin disappearing.
The young heiress shook her head. "Not like this. You don't have to do this."
"Then what are your terms? If you won't accept fifty percent of my company as my gift—"
From the side, Shippo quietly clenched his jaw in restraint upon hearing the terms of the 'contract.'
"You don't have to," Kagome said, her voice raised. "We can continue our friendship as normal people, you don't have to involve your shares in this. In case you forgot, I have my own company, I have more than enough—"
"I don't have to, but I want to." Naraku's tone hardened. "I also have more than enough. The contract has no other strings attached. Fifty percent, DuPont. I trust you with my life."
Kagome shook her head. "What will you gain by this?" Her eyes locked with his. "What can you possibly gain by this?" she repeated in utter disbelief.
"Your friendship." He answered, "I will have a concrete hold to you and your friendship."
Kagome shook her head in anger, and she turned to walk away. Naraku stood up and bolted to the girl, reaching out and grabbing her by her shoulder, forcing her to stop. "Louise, don't be such a brat about this,"
"Just let her go." A new voice drifted between the friend's quarrel, and they turned to the source. Shippo, with his hands clenched on his sides. "Naraku, she doesn't want to. Why force it on her?" The lawyer tried to restrain himself.
Aside from being Naraku's right hand, he also considered himself as his loyal friend. And ever since he had worked for the man he saw all the dedication the Aircraft Magnate had put into his business, growing it into the giant that it was now. And now he was literally giving away half of his hard-earned company… just like that?
To a mere woman?
"Are you so enamored with that little girl that you've lost your mind?" Shippo said, looking Naraku straight in the eyes.
And it was then that Naraku's grip to the girl's shoulder loosened. And he chuckled as he pulled away. "Enamored?" he said, "You fucking kidding me?" He said as he locked eyes with Shippo. "Do you know what this little girl did?"
"You don't have to—" her protest was cut short when Naraku lifted a finger, silencing her like a little child.
"Do you remember, Harada, ten years ago in Switzerland… when an entire family was murdered by a madman one autumn night? Only one survived. I'm sure you know by now that survivor is standing right in front of us." His gaze drifted to the girl, whose tears were starting to gather in the corners of her eyes.
"Naraku, please, you don't have to—"
"She was seven years old. Seven years old, and she witnessed the murder with her eyes wide open. She fought death just to keep her promise. Now she lives with metal implants on her ribcage, she breathes with only one lung, she is heavily restricted from strenuous activities because her heart cannot keep up, and her mind is permanently scarred.
Her eidetic memory, which is supposed to be a gift, is a curse. Yet she smiles, refusing to be tainted from the evil that has touched her that night."
Naraku reached out and he touched her cheek, the girl pulling away in negation.
"You know there are two sides to every story. What happened to the monster that took away that girl's world? No one would care, right?
He could just lay there, rotting in a jail cell for the rest of his life. Although his lawyers pleaded insanity, still the stigma of bearing such a name will be carried in his shoulders forever. Even his relatives had felt the aftershock of his actions.
But did anyone stop to think of the madman himself?
Did he have a family?
No. As far as everyone knew, his existence would be better off cut short. But that was not the case."
Naraku looked at Shippo.
"Harada, my birth name is not Naraku Onigumo."
The lawyer stepped back, reeling.
"I am that monster's spawn. I'm the illegitimate child of Akihiko Taisho."
&&&&& He was fifteen years old at that time, and he could remember, as vivid as if it were yesterday, the memory of a seven-year-old girl surrounded by men in formal suits. She was bowing down to him with tears on her little cheeks,
"I'm sorry, but I had to testify… I know how it feels to have your only family taken away from you… This is the least I could do…
I'm truly sorry…" &&&&&
"The spawn of the monster would have been shunned by society, branding him as someone who would inevitably follow in his father's footsteps, not giving him a chance to prove himself. He would have lived a cursed existence for the rest of his life.
But that is not what happened, because the girl found him before society did. A fucking seven-year-old. Asking her legal advisers how to prevent this from happening. Can you fucking believe that?
They told me to change my name.
And I did.
Do you know what happened to the millions worth of settlements she got from the civil lawsuits against my father? She did not receive a single dime.
She gave it all to me, the monster's spawn. As an apology for dragging his life down with hers. She said it was the least she could do… for taking away his family from him.
Did he deserve all that? No.
What could she possibly gain by what she did?" He said, repeating Kagome's question from earlier. "What could she possibly gain? She didn't have to give away so much, because she lost so much, too.
But she did.
And here we are now." He turned to Kagome. "I owe all of this to you."
Shippo's judgemental glare had long melted away, replaced by a melancholic smile. He watched as the girl hung her head and cried in embarrassment. Naraku chuckled, messing her hair.
"Shit, Louise. I swear, you're not a real person.
You and your fucking altruism. "
The Aircraft Magnate gently leaned his head against hers.
The DuPont Corporate lawyer shifted from her seat, poring over the numerous documents in her computer screen. She heaved a breath and slumped on her chair, not really caring about her unladylike position. If there was anyone who was authorized to storm into her room without knocking, it was family.
She stared at the picture frame on her perfectly arranged desk; of her and her husband, and another one of her and Kagome as children.
And her stare drifted to the tabloids on the table, the one that Kouga angrily dropped on her table two days ago. It appeared that her cousin had developed an unlikely friendship with the magnate Naraku Onigumo.
But scanning the pages, Sango noticed one thing that was glaringly clear.
He was not hiding her in the shadows.
&&&&& After she received a short voicemail from her cousin, crying and telling her she needed someone to talk to, Sango immediately booked a plane ticket to New York. When they met in the Ritz-Carlton it was to her utter anger that the girl was still crying.
It turned out that the man did not come home last night.
And Kagome found out about the women he had been dating publicly, and the one who seemed to be more constant than the others.
Sango knew about it, but she was too afraid to tell her. Watching her strong, independent cousin who held the most infallible fire to live, cry her heart in front of her…
She couldn't tell her…
Sango reached out to tuck a strand of ebony hair that was covering her cousin's face. Kagome had finally slept, she had actually been sleeping the whole afternoon now.
She couldn't tell her… that the man she so loved, was already engaged to the woman that was more constant than the others.
Kagome shifted, and her phone vibrated. Sango slowly took the phone and pressed her cousin's thumb to unlock it.
There was a torrent of messages from the golden-eyed man… from this morning, when Kagome had fallen asleep.
-My little doll, I'm home. Where are you?-
-Kagome, I'm home right now. What do you want for dinner? Text me back.-
-Kagome, its 8 pm. Where are you,-
Sango's eyes narrowed, and an unspeakable anger in her flared like wildfire. She scrolled down, watching his messages grow desperate. The grip on her cousin's phone tightened.
How dare he.
-Why aren't you texting me back?-
-Kagome, call me right now.-
-Are you purposely ignoring me? Kagome, I slept in Inuyasha's house last night, went straight to work afterward. Sorry if I forgot to tell you, if that's what you're so angry about. So please, text me back or call me.-
Hands trembling with absolute anger, Sango hit the delete button. She deleted all of his texts, how dare he… how dare he! And to think he was engaged to someone else! She clenched her jaw in restraint, how bad she wanted to slap him on his pretty face!
The phone suddenly rang, rousing her cousin from her sleep. Kagome recognized the personalized ringtone, and she reached out to take the phone away from Sango.
But Sango pulled away, accidentally pressing the speaker on. Both their eyes widened, staring at each other.
"Kagome, where are you." Came the voice, and the blue-eyed girl looked at her cousin. Sango shook her head, glaring at her in warning.
"S-Sesshomaru-kun," Kagome answered timidly, under the absolutely homicidal stare of her lawyer-cousin. "I'm with a friend right now who's visiting from out of town."
"Tell your friend you need to go home." He said, his voice suddenly turning cold. And Sango knew that tone, of course she did. She was very good at reading people's faces, their body language, their intonation. That was what set her apart from the rest. She knew the tone of possessive jealousy.
How dare he!
Her hand shot out and grabbed Kagome's wrist, sending her a silent warning. "Don't you dare go." Sango mouthed.
Kagome looked at her, and then to the phone, "Sesshomaru-kun… this friend of mine-"
"Is that friend of yours so important that you ignore my text messages?!" he said, angered.
"Text messages?"
The man in the other line sighed. "Kagome," he said softly, "I'm sorry… for last night. I was just so busy… but I'm home now. I cooked you your favorite. Please come home."
And Sango watched, with tears spilling in her eyes, as her cousin's face brightened and she nodded softly. "Hai, Sesshomaru-kun."
"I love you, my little doll." The man ended the call. And immediately Kagome got up from the bed and hurriedly fixed herself to leave.
"Kagome-chan," Sango said, and the girl paused.
-He's engaged to someone else,- she wanted to say.
But seeing her cousin looking back at her with the most genuine, relieved smile, she couldn't. Damn, she couldn't.
"Never mind." Sango ended up saying. And she swore to be stronger… because it seemed like her cousin had completely fallen.
And she cursed as Kagome left the door.
He could have at least offered to pick her up in the hotel. But he didn't.
The coward was probably too scared to be seen with her in such a place. &&&&&
Sango heaved a long breath of relief. In the past few months, her cousin seemed to be doing better than expected…
"It took me a year to accept the reality, Sango. The first red flag did not go unnoticed, even if I tried to ignore it. And it kept on piling up, day after day...
And then I just noticed… one day… I couldn't carry such weight anymore…"
A news flash from the TV suddenly caught the lawyer's attention, and the pen in her hand dropped to the floor.
Sango's jaw literally fell open…
Without wasting a second, she picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.
As the heiress absently stared at the tall skyscrapers that were rapidly passing by her vision, a notification to her phone caught her attention. She looked at the screen, it was Naraku. She tore her gaze away from the car's window and to the phone:
-I made the official announcement. It's out in the public now.-
She typed in her reply.
-That was so unfair of you. Blackmailing me with your friendship,-
Within a span of seconds he replied,
-It may not be a solid hold, but at least you are bound to me somewhat. At least be honored, little girl.-
Kagome smiled.
-Alors, you didn't have to do that. That was too much.-
And she put the phone aside, after reading his stubborn reply:
-I wanted to. Now you're stuck with me in more ways than one.-
The heiress closed her eyes and leaned her head on the window. In a few minutes from now, her own corporate attorney will be calling her upon hearing the news. For sure her Financial consultant and marketing executive Miroku will, too. And of course her publicist Ayame and her Security Director Kouga.
Onigumo was the sole owner of his multi-billion private company, now he had a partner who shared half. They had revised the contract to negate the half as a gift because it would seem all too suspicious.
They would make it as her buying the other half with an undisclosed amount.
Kagome sighed.
On top of her family business, she now had another responsibility on her hands.
"Merde," she cursed, "Did he even stop to think that I'm still eighteen? And to think that I have school coming up." And it was then that she smiled.
If it were some other time in the not-so-distant past, she would have been too preoccupied with anything else other than being with that man in New York.
At least now she was free from that toxic prison, and she had enough focus to do her responsibilities.
Her phone rang. She picked it up and smiled. Just as expected, Sango was the first one to call.
"Kagome? What the hell am I watching on TV right now? Is this for real? Shit, you got me completely blindsided! Where are you?"
The young heiress took a deep breath.
It starts.
-New York, USA-
"Sorry I got to you late," his friend said through the speaker, "I'm making a big transition with the company. I just finished five interviews in a span of two hours- fucking media can't wait."
"What is it about?" Sesshomaru said, running his hands on his hair, slumping on his couch in exhaustion. This damn sleeplessness…
"You don't know?" His friend said. "I'm surprised. Word usually travels fast-"
"I'm not really keen on watching the TV right now," Sesshomaru admitted. "But since you're being all secretive, I'll probably watch the Bloomberg replay tonight and see what you're so fired up about."
"Yeah, I heard you're turning into a hermit these days."
"Not funny, Onigumo." He sighed, exhausted.
"Who is this girl that got you into a hot mess?" Naraku asked. And when he was not answering, "Sesshomaru."
"She was my perfect little doll. But up until she left, I realized she wasn't just that. She's everything."
"Do you realize how pathetic you sound right now?" Naraku made a long whistling sound. "Damn, you must be in too deep, for her to turn you into a limp softie."
Sesshomaru laughed despite himself. "You've never really changed, did you?"
"Why would I?" Naraku answered. And they fell into a long lull of silence. "Hey," Naraku said, "If you need any help, if you need me to come to New York or anything—"
"I'll let you know. Thanks."
"I consider you my only family, Sesshomaru. So just give me a heads up."
Sesshomaru allowed himself to smile. His friend had approached him one day in school, asking if he was the Taisho heir. Sesshomaru was quite hesitant to answer that time, with their stained reputation and failing business.
Naraku, who was three years older than him, still befriended him, telling him that names do not matter. Although it was odd that Naraku kept on saying he considered him as family, he allowed his friend his eccentricity. Onigumo was an orphan, as far as he knew, had no direct family of his own.
"I will." Sesshomaru answered, and he ended the call. "Go and finish your interviews."
And the large penthouse suite was once again swallowed by emptiness. Sesshomaru buried his face on the palm of his hands, rubbing his temples.
She is everything.
He stared at her coffee mug on the counter, sitting untouched.
I should have known.
Despite his reluctance to stop the engagement, there was a reason why he never really invited someone else to his bed. Why he never touched someone else so intimately,
why he kept on delaying the marriage when their fathers had been pressuring him for a wedding date.
Because she was there.
I should have known.
Without even standing to turn on the lights, the young doctor turned his flatscreen on, the images on his TV flickering in the dark. He searched his DVR for the latest episode of MarketWatch.
**"This is a big transition," one host said,
"A sudden transition." The other host volleyed. "Let's see how their value is doing after the purchase.
The screen's focus drifted to a large graph behind them, with stock values rising and everything else looking positive.
"Looks like this unprecedented move is actually pulling the valuation up."
"It continues to do so. Wow, just look at those numbers soar. Do you think Onigumo expected this at all when he was signing off half his company to his new partner?"**
"Hn," Sesshomaru's brow raised.
Naraku was not joking when he mentioned a big transition. Selling half of his company to another private owner? And it made him curious. He leaned over, trying to pay attention to the hosts, multitasking as he took his Macbook and searched for more details.
**"He would have seen it. His business partner is a monster in the business world herself."
The other host chuckled. "Monster is an understatement, Jack. Probably a Leviathan."
"A Monster of a Leviathan."
The two hosts laughed lightheartedly.
"Wow. Just wow. His sudden alliance with DuPont really caught us off guard."**
Sesshomaru's blood froze.
What?
He looked down at his laptop. Articles of Naraku's sudden sale to Louise Kagome Higurashi- Dupont flooded his screen. And a certain image caught his attention, and his hands absently clicked on it.
What the fuck…
A stolen picture of Naraku, in the bridge of a yacht, leading a young woman holding an oversized bouquet of flowers.
She was dressed in exquisite layers of kimono, hair neatly arranged, so different from the laid-back girl that wore oversized shirts in his suite- but it was the same perfect-doll face. It was the same blue doe eyes.
"Mystery Girl Finally Revealed: L.K. DuPont" said the caption.
What the fuck…
He clicked on the source, his heart simmering in anger and rage. But he could not stop, his hands were moving on their own, his gut was churning at the many images that intruded his vision…
Of Naraku and Kagome standing close to each other, not minding that the hems of their Kimonos were already touching, as he leaned closer to tell her something,
"Billionaire and Elusive Gun Heiress captured sharing a quiet prayer in the Shrine."
What the fuck-
His vision was shaking from restraint, but he was unable to look away. A terrible feeling stabbed in his stomach, nagging as it twisted and turned with every detailed image of his best friend and his woman together-
The two were soaked under the rain, the man standing in front of her, holding his kimono jacket over her petite form, and there she was, as beautiful as ever,
Smiling up so sweetly at him…
"Is it Really Friendship or Something Else?"
Sesshomaru slammed his laptop shut, trying to focus but failing miserably.
What the fuck…
What the fuck!
He stood up and reached for the phone, the laptop crashing on the floor. He dialed a memorized number, and his first attempt reached Naraku's voicemail. It took a lot of his restraint to keep the phone in his hands and not fucking fling it on the wall.
At his second attempt, the man answered. "Sesshomaru? I didn't expect you to reach out so quickly,"
"Onigumo," the doctor's voice absolutely leaked poison, "Keep your FUCKING hands off my WOMAN!"
