Author's Note: I think we only have three more chapters left, and I'm sorry for delays but between work and school I don't get a whole lot of time to write these days. Thanks for being patient. And thanks to all of you who sent me encouragement and Ideas. Icecat: You get to see her play with the dog and next chapter you'll get that citrus.
Again, this is my first Fanfic of any sort so please, tell me what you think, any suggestions you might have on how to make it better are always welcome. –KK
Disclaimer: I don't own, Sesshou, or any other inu char's, I barely own a beat to hell Dodge. Takahashi Rumiko: if you want it, the van is yours. (Please pay for delivery.)
For Amalie's LoveChapter 9: And the Prize Goes to the Dog
I had returned to the field that had changed my life. The scent of lilies was completely gone as winter crept into the countryside and I stood in my shirtsleeves, oblivious to the cold. "Damocles! Fetch!" I called and gently threw the ball again and watched my pet speed his way after it, barking with joy, to return a dripping ball at my feet and wait for it to be hurled again. I obliged and for the next hour we played before he fell down panting at my feet. "Happy puppy?" I asked giggling as I flopped down next to him. Damocles tiredly nuzzled his head onto my lap and whined. "An hour worth of play isn't enough? Now I have to pet you too?" I inquired in mock indignation as I began scratching his ears. "You are spoiled!" He snuffled in contented agreement as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the attention.
I looked up at the field and tried not to think about that night, the fear, the joy, the anger and the sorrow it all brought me now. Instead I though of Rinee and the new school photo she'd just emailed and her eager prattling about friends, teachers and the drama of childhood. I thought of Diane and how she still has not dated, and the delight she is finally experiencing with her daughter, and I wished I could returning to Detroit.
My whole purpose in Japan was to defend the remaining Yokai from the DK's attacks. At first I was busy identifying their assaults and then I was intercepting them and fighting them off at least once a week that whole first year. I had made a name for my self among the lesser yokai, the kappas, imps and the like. Even a few Diayokia owed me their lives, though they were loath to admit it. Between everyone I had rescued I had forged an alliance of sorts and they related any strange incidents or drastic change in plans and daily routine that could spell an ambush to me.
Yet, in recent months, the DK's assault on the yokai of Japan had stalled and I knew their methods to well to think that I had won. They are planning something big, and I am sure they have not yet given up on Sesshomaru. His power is far to great a prize. I thought about him. The man who, only to myself, I could admit I loved. By whatever the means, that was how I felt. The idea of him coming to harm, the thought of his power being torn from him as I had seen it torn from so many other demons made me growl in angry frustration. "Woof!" Damocles said jumping to his feet and scanning the area for the danger that made his mistress snarl.
"No, little brother, the threat is not one that can be seen." I said quietly and rested my hand on his head. He gazed at me with concerned, brown eyes and I ruffled his fur again before standing. "Let's run!" I said and began jogging towards the forest. A happy bark echoed behind me and my sensitive ears heard him rush to my side as we ran through the trees together. He tired long before I did and we slowed to a walk as he panted from the exertion and we entered a clearing.
We had stumbled out of the woods onto someone's expansive lawn, leading to an enormous house set back against the trees. It made quite a pretty picture, and I stood there for several moments admiring the peace, Damocles flopped gratefully to the grass, happy for the respite. "Lazy." I mumbled to him as the sound of a car racing down the drive to my left reached my ears. The driver was obviously moving at a dangerously fast speed for such a narrow path I could literally hear the gravel fly from the tires, but it still took several minutes for the car itself to become visible, and a shock of recognition went through me as his aura reached me at the same moment.
The car came to a sudden stop, as the driver slammed on the breaks and fought for control in the gravel. I nudged Damocles with my foot and hurried back the way I had come hoping that I could avoid seeing him, even though we both knew he was as aware of my presence as I was of his. A car door slammed behind me, and then he was standing in the path of my retreat and I was fumbling for a way to explain my presence.
"Is that you car back on the main road?" He asked calmly.
"Yes." To many conflicting thoughts and emotions over whelmed me at the sound of his voice. I wanted to run to him, I wanted to flee from him; joy and pain. I gave him a shy smile instead. "I wanted to take Damocles some place new, to run."
"Ah." He replied glancing down at the treacherous hound. He was wagging his tail so hard his body shook with the force and his mouth hung open in a comical doggy grin.
"What are you doing out here?" Polite small talk, I can do this, just stick to polite small talk.
"This is my property."
"Oh, I didn't realize we where trespassing. I'm terribly sorry. We'll leave right away." I tried to pass him, but his hand shot out and gripped my arm, stopping me.
"I am not sorry you are trespassing." His voice betrayed nothing.
"I didn't mean to disturb you."
"You do not disturb me." His eyes where intense, the tone of his voice inscrutable, but his words made the longing in me leap forward and a blush rose in my cheeks. It had been months since I said goodbye to him. I'd expected the feelings I had had for him to fade, but they swelled in me anew, fresher and possibly stronger than the day I had tried to bury them. Looking at his calm, passionless face was too much. I gazed at the bare trees of the woods frantically trying to find a way to end this tete-a-tete. I was anxious to free myself from him and the emotions that threatened to smother me.
"All the same, we shouldn't be here." I responded nervously.
"Why?" The question bewildered me and I glanced to him again.
"Excuse me?" A slight twitch of his lip, a hint of a smile and then it was gone.
"You will join me for dinner." A command, not a request and it riled me.
"I think not." I said haughtily pulling my arm from his grip and glaring daggers at him.
"Hmm, you will join me for dinner or I will inform the authorities you where skulking about my home uninvited," and with that he strode back towards his car, when he reached the passenger side he opened the door and leveled a patient stare at me. Damocles bounded towards the invitation, jumping into the expensive sedan without encouragement and leaping into the back seat. I hesitated to call my dog back to me. I had no fear of the police, but I realized that this was the closest I would get to an invitation from him, and I could not bring myself to refuse.
Sesshomaru
He refocused his attention back onto the contracts in his hands for the hundredth time that day and cursed himself silently. She continues to haunt my thoughts, even after all these months, my father's machinations coming to fruition and yet still not entire in their results. He threw the contracts onto the desk in frustration and disgust."I did not agree to this third clause, private ownership of the auxiliary holdings will not be allowed, I will not buy this company piecemeal. This contract is unacceptable to me."
"Hai, Taisho-sama, I will inform Tanaka-san right away." The lackey quickly gathered up the discarded contracts and shuffled to the door. Sesshomaru massaged his temples trying to stave off the growing headache. When his intercom buzzed. "Taisho-sama, Mr. Sakamoto is here to see you."
"Send him in."
The weasel yokai skulked into the room. As distasteful as dealing with the slimly little creature was to him, Sesshomaru recognized that the beast's usefulness. "I am honored that you would see me so quickly, Sesshomaru-dono, I have what you asked for."
Sesshomaru did not respond, but continued to wait patiently for the weasel to proceed, his face a mask of bored indifference. The minion hurriedly removed a thick manila folder from his brief case and hesitantly placed it in his master's desk.
"You may go." Sesshomaru dismissed the startled weasel quickly, unwilling to gaze upon the creature longer than he had to. Sakamoto, looked like he was about to protest, but a glance from his master silenced him and sent him fleeing to the safety of the outer office.
After the yokai's footsteps receded from his hearing Sesshomaru eagerly opened the folder. The first one hundred pages where pictorial dossiers on the top members of the DK and peripherals that he had ask for specifically:
Tansy Vercon/ Ingram, age: 27
Born: New Fork, Wyoming November 21, 1979, 12:02am.
Twin sister: Amalie Vercon, daughter to Counsel member's Byron Hadrian and Saundra Vercon
Current residence: Demon Killer Compound, La Peza, Spain.
Rank: Huntsman third class.
Husband: Jacob Ingram
He flipped to the next page
Jacob Ingram age: 29
Born: La Peza, Spain August 3, 1977, 8:45am.
No siblings, Son to Council Leader Edward Ingram, mother Julie Fengrelie, deceased.
Current residence: Demon Killer Compound, La Peza, Spain.
Rank: Huntsman fist class
Husband: Tansy Vercon/ Ingram
Amalie Vercon age 27
Born New Fork, Wyoming November 21, 1979, 12:00 am.
Twin sister: Tansy Vercon/ Ingram, daughter to Counsel member's Byron Hadrian and Saundra Vercon
Current residence: Unknown, presumed deceased October 11, 2003.
Rank: Lead Huntsman with Honors, counsel member candidate.
Within hours he had paged through the dossiers before him and was considering the information that had been gathered on the La Peza compound. It appeared to be completely self-sufficient. There was little information available on the compound, an estimated number of current residents of near four hundred hunters and an unknown number of children and staff. Also, fortification specifications on the outer walls, and guard rotation schedules, but nothing about the interior of the compound or other possible defenses; a note attached reported three yokai perished gathering the information in the file. He flipped back to the third page in the file and looked down at the picture.
She was standing outside of an airport wearing sunglasses, a dark, slim fitting pantsuit, looking deadly serious and very human. His mind went unbidden to the image of her in the basement room, blood and bodies all around. Standing over her sister and her lover, power radiating from her in sharp waves, majestic and captivating she had been a vision of authority, and death. She had been yokai. A million other moments crowded his mind, her in her bed fragile and afraid, dragging an arrogant customer from that hole of a bar, in the car her hair and eyes glowing with the release of her yokai, in the park with her niece, in her apartment broken and sad and on the steps to his building. Each memory a spark of joy, a dagger of pain to his heart and a sword to his pride, damn you for sending this weakness to me, father.
He looked over the brief description again, Daughter to Counsel member's Byron Hadrian and Saundra Vercon, presumed deceased, Lead Huntsman with Honors, counsel member candidate. She did not lie when she said she was well regarded amongst them. The next idea came logically but unbidden to his contemplations, she would know what the inside of the compound would look like. To be around her was to give into the weakness in his heart, but he could not deny that she was the most reliable source of information on his quarry. To anyone but himself he could explain his need to see her again with that logical assessment. Only his heart whispered to him that he lied. 'A trial that may cost your mate her life, if you are not vigilant', Bokusen'on's words whispered in his mind and he turned his thoughts away from contacting her. The further she was from him the safer she was, and he needed aid from no one.
He looked at the clock on his desk, 4:32pm; he decided to call it an early day. Gathering the papers from his desk and placing them back into the folder, gathered up his briefcase, making his way to his car, and out of the city and home.
He recognized her aura long before he could see her and it caused him to react violently, slamming the breaks of his car to the floor and almost causing it to spin out, yet he never lost control. Seeing her again was a shock to his senses. He'd forgotten in the past months how overwhelming she could be
Her scent on the wind was an embrace, her distress was plain to anyone with his senses, or her own. Her wary smile almost undid him. He had been willing to allow her to leave until the coy look lit her face up and caused his heart to pause as her flushed cheeks violently reminded him of the moment of irrational passion in her apartment. She spoke of regrets; the only things one should regret are the things left undone. The thought made him smirk a little.
"You will join me for dinner." He heard his own voice as if from a distance, the command more of an unbidden thought said out loud.
"I think not." He fought himself not to smile again. Refusal and threats my dear it is the coin we always trade in, you and I.
"Hmm, you will join me for dinner or I will inform the authorities you where skulking about my home uninvited," decisively he sauntered to the car and held the door for her, knowing he had won and reveling in the moment as she made her way slowly to the door.