(Chapter 11)
Saburo's home was more than just a mansion. It was like ten mansions all put together across the grand estate. It was hidden within the mountains farther out than the school sat, easily covering 20 acres on either side of just forest.
Kagome's eyes were wide as the limo approached.
"This is…"
"It's smaller than I remember." Saburo joined her at the window of the limo, looking at the large lights that lined the driveway(s).
"What do you mean?"
"Hmm?" Saburo looked at her then blinked. "Oh, I've been living in Europe with my mother. Dad and her haven't been getting along so I went with her when I was 11, enrolled in school there and lived my life, well, there."
"So where have you been staying?"
Saburo pointed at a smaller, more modest home hidden in the trees farther.
"I haven't actually been to the main house in years, The day before my first day at Ouran was my first time inside there in years, my father isn't necessarily the "forgive and forget" kind of man, you understand?" Kagome gulped and nodded.
"Yeah, I think I do." She squeaked out, suddenly feeling so very small in the limo.
It pulled towards the front of the home and stopped, Saburo pushed the door open first then held it open for her to climb out of. She held her backpack in her hands, her knuckles turning white as it suddenly became increasingly harder for her to walk forward.
The entrance was huge, even bigger than the one at Ouran. A high hanging chandelier of… Amber?
"What is that?" Kagome asked, looking at the honey colored stones reflecting the light.
"Amber," Saburo and someone else said at the same time. Saburo and Kagome looked up towards the large staircase, and at the top stood a beautiful woman who looked a little too young to be Saburo's mother.
She descended the stairs wearing a flowing traditional kimono, her black hair done in a simple bun but accented with hanging jewels, as if the start of her hair was a waterfall and the gems were the water. She was a beautiful woman, using a simple cherry blossom fan to hide the bottom part of her face as she came down to greet the two of them.
"I am Saburo's mother, Mrs. Tashio." She said as she approached, she moved as if she glided on air. Her eyes were low lidded with red eyeliner that accented her deep brown eyes very well.
"It's a pleasure and honor to meet you, Tashio-sa-" Kagome bowed, but the woman smacked her on the shoulder with the fan and had it covering her mouth again before Kagome could get a look at the bottom part of her face.
"I will have none of that in my presence. Please, my husband has been looking forward to meeting with you ever since Satoshi and his son spoke of interest in you." She looked to her son, "take your guests bag to the main living room, you will study in there once she is done. I will have one of our servants bring tea out." Saburo nodded, taking Kagome's bag and disappearing around the corner, the woman gestured with her head for Kagome to follow her.
Distantly she could hear Saburo asking someone where the main living room was.
The halls transformed from polished marble and tile to hard wood floors and traditional Japanese styling wall paper, beautifully painted pictures hung on the wall, all depicting something- some sort of battle.
And a pink gem.
Her eyes widened as she faltered in her steps.
No.
"Kagome." It wasn't a question, the woman stood turned towards her, waiting for her to catch up. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, and started towards the older woman slowly.
"S-Sorry, interesting pieces of art work." Kagome said, scolding herself internally. Saburo said his father and uncle were interested in the Shikon no Tama and Shikon Miko legend, of course there would possibly be artwork of it-
"We're here, knock and enter when he tells you too." Kagome nodded towards the older woman, she turned around and snapped her fan shut, walking away.
Kagome never got to see her face.
She sighed, and knocked on the door timidly. Her mind wandered back to the paintings.
"Enter." A low voice said. Kagome pushed open the door.
It could only be a coincidence, right?
Wrong.
There, sitting behind a large oak desk, was none other than Sesshoumaru himself, his long white hair tied up, his marking on his face showed, and little reading glasses were perched on his nose.
He looked up at her, and her blood ran cold.
"Miko." He addressed her, a strange look coming across his face as he stood.
"Sess-Sesshoumaru." She sputtered, walking towards him slowly. Her hand came up shakily as she approached him, her finger touched his skin, and then her hand had cupped his cheek. Her thumb ran over his markings as tears ran down her own cheeks that she didn't even realize were there.
"Y-you're, you're here. You're here. You're alive." She mumbled, and ended up kept repeating as she just stood there like an idiot, touching his face.
She blinked after his own hand cupped hers, and he placed a delicate, out of character, kiss to her wrist.
And suddenly she remembered all the times he's tried to kill her.
"And so… Satoshi is really Shippo's Son?" Kagome said finally, after about a good hour and a half of just sitting (very tensely the first half hour actually) talking with Sesshoumaru. He nodded, taking a drink from his tea as he motioned to the diagram they ended up drawing together to better help explain the lineage lines to her.
"Shippo is Satoshi Senior, the Satoshi you worked for is his son, yes."
"His only son?"
"Shippo only married and mated once. His mate died not long after Satoshi turned 10 in human years, and he never found another."
Kagome frowned, upset at this information.
"And explain to me again how you all figured out it was me? The real me?" She asked hesitantly, finally having calmed down enough to enjoy tea.
"Satoshi remembered the way Shippo used to tell him stories about you, and all those paintings are actually done by Shippo when he's on retirement. Shippo also had a piece of clothing you left behind that he found a protection spell for. He saved the smell and state it was in, and that was how Satoshi recognized your scent."
"Shippo's on retirement? But I thought he was full demon, he should be younger than you are." Kagome said, and Sesshoumaru actually chuckled at that. Kagome shifted nervously in her seat.
"In his human 'guise he is an older man of a rich company that just likes to sit at his lake house and paint stories. He is harmless. But you are correct, he is in his late twenties looking, just older than Satoshi."
"That's why they look so similar." She gasped, but then drew her eyebrows together. "Was Satoshi's mother Human?"
"She was a half demon herself, but she died in unfortunate circumstances that I must say are not mine to tell."
Kagome nodded quietly, drinking her tea.
"Knowing that your previous family still lives and exists, would you think about joining our company and work directly under Shippo and Myself as our apprentice?"
"What would happen to me later?"
"You would be able to control a third of the company. My oldest son gets the medical research, Shippo's oldest has the technology. You would have your hands in both."
"What about Saburo?"
Sesshoumaru's face changed then, a bit disgusted if anything.
"He is InuYasha's spawn, not mine. InuYasha and his mate both died after the child was born, I took him in as my own. I gave him his name, I gave him my name, and I gave him life. But he has no ties to my company."
Kagome's suddenly resembled a fish with how wide her mouth was hanging open.
"Kagome, if anything. You are the mother of this company. It was because of you and your knowledge of the future that Shippo and I were able to build this company at all. We can easily draw up documents that show you are the great granddaughter of my aunt. And no one would question."
She was still surprised.
"We are the most powerful family in Japan."
"Does Saburo know that he isn't getting a part in the company? Does he know his true lineage?" She demanded instead. Sesshoumaru blinked, and rubbed his temples with the sudden surge in her powers.
"Keep your temper under control." He said at first, Kagome's eyes widened as she moved to touch his hand.
"How dare you tell me to-" she shocked him. She stared at her hand as it left an angry red welt on the back of his hand. But, how? Just hours ago she was touching his face like a lover would and nothing happened like that!
"Your powers are not under control," he stated, moving back from his desk to look the in the drawers around it. She was still staring at her hand.
"Honestly I thought I didn't have them anymore. I can't sense anything."
"Saburo knows his true lineage and his ties." Sesshoumaru said, changing the subject back to what caused her to lose her temper in the first place. "I claim him as my youngest son and that is what he is presented. His "mother" felt that he was being cheated and wouldn't stand for it any longer, so she moved and bribed him to go with her." His hands were folded back over a folder on the desk with a green paste applied to the back of his hand. "And that really removed him out of my good graces, as a way to redeem himself this was his test. To find and befriend you. He has done so, has done well, so I may consider leaving a healthy sum of money to him. Although the damn wench still believes I'm cheating him, he seems to be happy just being able to talk to me again." Sesshoumaru grumbled out at the end, and Kagome couldn't help laughing at that.
"So, I guess in some way, he and your other children could be my cousins?"
Sesshoumaru smiled at her laughter, "I suppose so."
"Kagome," Kyoya approached her at the end of their club hours, she just finished putting the left over tea cups on a tray to be washed at a later time. She glanced at him for a moment before going back to continue cleaning up her area. "I would like to have a word with you."
"You are having a word with me Kyoya, in fact you're having quite a few. Is there more you wish to say or did you just want to point that out?" She put the saucers on the tray as well, turning to him and wiping her hands free of sugar.
He sighed, rubbing his temples as he flipped his notebook open to their schedule over the past two weeks.
"You've been missing a lot of club hours, usually I don't say who you can and can't see in your off time, but your grades have improved as well as your mood."
She raised her eyebrow at him, crossing her arms and leaning back on her hip.
"What are you trying to say, Kyoya? 'Good job on getting your act together'? That's not your style-"
"You're right, it's not." He snapped his notebook closed and cut her off, she looked shocked before settling back into a frown. "I'm telling you that you ditching club activities and duties to spend time Saburo is in bad tastes not only with us- your friends, but also within the school."
"So, what? You don't want me to spend any more time with him- is that it?"
"No. I'm saying don't spend time with him when you're supposed to be working." He said, raising his own eyebrow.
"You told me to get my grades caught up, and I am-"
"-At the expense of the club. We're losing prophets because you're not here with your scheduled clients and they go home early and are less likely to show up again at the next meeting."
"Well what do you want me to do, Kyoya? Do my homework here with them? Ask them meaningless questions about English lessons and French?"
"No-"
"-Because if you haven't noticed, I also work during the weekends, when I can't study-"
"Stop hanging out with Saburo then." Kyoya finally snapped at her. His voice unintentionally echoing around the club room.
Hunny looked at Mori with wide eyes, and Mori just patted his blonde head; the new add-on's, Hikaru and Kaoru, glanced at each other with wide eyed and malicious grins; Tamaki stared at the two, his eyes wide. He slowly started towards the two of them from the other side of the room, his slow walk turning into a brisk pace.
"S-Stop what?" Kagome spluttered, her eyes wide. She glared at him, her fists clenched at her sides as she squared her shoulders and stood up to his chest, poking him rather firmly. "I will do no such thing, Kyoya Ootori. He's my friend!"
"He's a liability to the club!" Kyoya argued back.
"The only liability he is to anything is to me-"
"And you're apart of this club, apart of this business we need everyone here that's apart of this-"
"Then maybe I'll just quit the club!" She yelled at him. Her voice harsh and angry as it bounced against the walls.
Everyone in the room gasped, and Tamaki was running towards them waving his arms.
Kyoya didn't say a word, he wasn't even sure he was breathing. But that was impossible because his chest hurt.
"Y-you'll… What?" He whispered.
"That's right," she said, her shoulders still square but her tone now unsure. "I'll quit the club if I you say I have to stop seeing Saburo."
"Fi-" Kyoya was about to speak but Tamaki yelled and jumped in their way, grabbing Kagome's shoulders and shaking her.
"Kagome! Please don't! Kyoya wasn't serious! We're all so happy and proud of you for getting your grades back up! Saburo is a great friend to you- he helps you, he's so nice to you. Of course you can continue seeing him-"
Kagome pushed his hands off her shoulders, she took small steps back and away from the two of them, slowly heading back towards the door. Her heart was beating hard in her chest.
"I-I don't know, Tamaki." She looked to the other members, and they seemed to be just as upset as she felt, and Tamaki looked so heartbroken and lost.
"I… I'll think it over this school break," she grabbed her bag and shouldered it, looking over everyone in the room. "I'll see you guys when school starts up again in September." And with that she turned, and practically ran out of the room.
A/N: Ooooooo talk about development! I'm actually super proud of this chapter, mostly because it's longer than the other chapters. Let me know your thoughts! Review please!
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