Convivial
By: The Hatter Theory
April Fools! Light It Up Blue
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Inu Yasha
The one line of poetry in front of her was driving her insane trying to explain without sounding sentimental. Growing again, she ran a hand through her unbound hair, staring it down.
'When the void filled, you remained.'
There was no way to explain it without telling the truth, and she could not give context to a poem that was written centuries ago. Her professor would never buy it, and she'd only discredit herself trying. Interpretation and extrapolation had been so much easier when she hadn't known. Growling again, she was almost ready to give up when she saw someone sit across from her.
"Hello," The woman said, eyes running over her. Kagome blinked, wondering who the woman was and why she was staring at her so blatantly. She'd never met her, probably never would have in normal circumstances, given the woman's very expensive looking clothing and the simple but elegant jewelry. The chilly appraisal didn't help the impression.
"Hello," She greeted cautiously, eyes sliding back to her laptop. Maybe the woman had merely greeted her as she sat down, a way of being polite when sharing the small table in the quad.
"So you are the newest addition to my son's household."
Kagome stilled, automatically understanding what that meant, and who the woman was.
Sesshoumaru's mother.
Who was apparently a bit of a speciest.
"It's nice to meet you," She started hesitantly, wondering why the woman had tracked her down to her school of all places, and why she couldn't have just come to the apartment. While Sesshoumaru was there, preferably. Although, at least they were around other people. His mother wouldn't try anything around other people.
"A miko," The woman said dismissively, contemptuously.
At least she was making it easy to dislike her.
"I'm sorry you don't approve of my place in his pack," Kagome said, forcing her voice to be calm, cordial. If the woman was going to be rude, she was going to kill her with civility. No one would be able to fault her for her behavior.
"I don't approve of some human sniffing around my son," The woman said, voice chilling.
On second thought, maybe civility was asking a little much.
"I am not sniffing around your son. He found me. And since you moved to another pack and became second tier, I don't see how it is any of your business," She replied, keeping her voice calm and cool.
"You are living in the same home," The woman scoffed, as if the idea of a male and a female living together was ludicrous.
"We're roommates, not- not in a relationship," She retorted, angry at the insinuation.
"For the good of everyone involved, I should hope that it will stay that way," The other woman said, voice no longer chilling, but frozen, as if she was breathing out arctic air with every syllable. "Bad enough that he has taken in a human, a miko," The word was said with such venom that Kagome had to keep from flinching, had to hold on to the hot anger that warded off the chill. "But if he were to mate you-"
"He won't. Just because he allowed me into his pack does not mean we're going to mate," She snapped. "I am sick and tired of people making assumptions about our friendship."
The woman paused, a sly smile pulling up her lips. It was a dangerous smile, one Kagome hadn't seen in years, not since the feudal era. Instantly on her guard, she straightened, readying for some sort of battle.
"I will see you both tonight, for dinner. I will arrive at eight."
And with an elegance that made Kagome immediately think of a snake, the woman was up and walking away, her long hair swaying behind her.
Dinner.
What-
Kagome pulled out her phone, immediately scrolling for Sesshoumaru's number. She wasn't sure if he knew, but she doubted that he did, and knew for certain that if he was not at least warned, he would be even more displeased. Once she hit the call button, she put it to her ear, expecting the worst at any second.
"Hello." He sounded so cheerful, at least, as cheerful as he ever sounded, and she had learned to tell when he was happy. She really hated what she was about to do.
"Hi, Sesshoumaru. Your mom, she-Hah, she came to see me at school."
"My mother?" He asked, concern evident even through the phone. "Are you alright?"
No, she was not alright. In fact, she was pretty certain she was going to have a panic attack, although she couldn't say precisely why she would be having one. That he felt the need to ask explained so much.
"She just came to talk and," She stopped, wanting so badly to lie.
"And?"
"She said she's coming to dinner. At eight."
His cursing was succinct but creative.
"We could just, not be at the apartment when she gets there," She offered, crossing her fingers.
"She has something planned, although I cannot guess what it is. If we try to avoid her, she will only persist," He intoned.
That didn't sound pleasant.
"So dinner at eight?" She sighed, looking back at her laptop screen. The screen saver had come on, sliding through the pictures that had been taken from the Christmas before and while she was in America. Picture after picture slid by slowly, showing everyone in their pack. She couldn't imagine someone that would have a problem with the pack, with the happiness shown in all of the pictures. And yet.
"I'll pick you up from school," He sighed. "When is your last class?"
"It ends at four."
"I will see you at your stop." And with that he hung up, silence echoing after the small click of the disconnect.
Two hours to go. She closed her phone and looked back at the screen. Tala and Inu Yasha's oldest had taken several of the photos, and while they would never win awards, she watched them slide by, one by one, interspersed with the ones Inu Yasha and her mother had taken on Christmas.
In many of them, she was near Sesshoumaru, smiling and laughing. In just a few months they had become friends, she even counted him as her best friend. She wondered what his mother would say to that.
"Stupid idiot," She muttered, thinking of the haughty female that had made her declarations -and feelings- known all too well.
"She hates me," She sighed again, looking at the clock. Dinner was ready, dishes covered to keep them warm. She was dressed casually, refusing to dress up for the cold female that would be arriving any minute. Sesshoumaru, who almost never wore anything but slacks and dress shirts, was in a pair of jeans and a regular white shirt, one she normally saw him lounging around in. She wondered if it was out of rebellion. And that was almost funny, kind of hysterical, really. Sesshoumaru rebelling against his mother by wearing jeans.
"She hates everyone," He clipped, obviously displeased. Ever since he had picked her up and drilled her about what his mother had said, he had been more than cold, he'd been downright surly.
"I'm sorry."
"This is not you're doing. She would have come sooner or later, better now," He added, still dour.
"We could still leave. We might miss her if we go now." There were any number of restaurants they could go to, hundreds of places to get lost in in Tokyo. He even had a jet. Why have a jet if not for emergency getaways?
"She would follow, or schedule another meeting. Or perhaps she would invite herself without giving warning."
It sounded like Feudal Sesshoumaru, and Kagome couldn't help but wonder which parent had raised him, had more of an influence over his childhood.
The doorbell rang and Kagome looked at it, suddenly wanting to flee to her room. Sesshoumaru however, walked over calmly, as if he hadn't been snapping at anyone that dared to look at him in the four hours since he had picked her up.
"Hello mother," He greeted when he opened the door. "Jayatsu," He added with a nod.
"Your home is very quaint, Sesshoumaru," His mother said, walking past him as if she owned the apartment. She had changed from her pantsuit to a very nice blue dress, something that, for all of it's simplicity, still screamed money and style.
"Miko, this is my mate, Jayatsu-Sama."
Oh, this was going to be a wonderful dinner.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Jayatsu," She greeted, smiling with a warmth she didn't feel. His eyes narrowed, as did Sesshoumaru's mother's, when the honorific failed to be uttered.
"Dinner is ready," Sesshoumaru rumbled, his voice cutting through the quickly mounting tension. Refusing to show enough of her fear to actually breathe a sigh of relief, she helped him arrange the food on the plates in a pleasing way, having learned in their weeks of cooking lessons, and took them over to the table while he brought a bottle of wine.
"She cooks," His mother said. Kagome wondered what her name was.
"Actually, Sesshoumaru made dinner," She murmured. "He's very talented."
"You cook?" His mother asked, as if the idea offended her.
"It is a pleasurable hobby," He murmured, taking his seat. Kagome followed suit, feeling very much like she'd walked in on an argument.
"It is a common hobby, like this need you feel to work," His mother stated. Kagome wondered if she imagined the grimace of distaste. She didn't seem the type to use unbecoming expressions.
"I enjoy my work."
"You are debasing yourself."
"Perhaps."
"You have a position on the council. You should devote yourself to your duties."
"I do," Sesshoumaru said, unruffled.
He was so calm, and she envied his poise. Her own temper was quickly spiraling out of her control, scraping at her nerve endings while she tried to enjoy her dinner.
"The miko tells me you are both just friends," His mother added, and Kagome could feel something sharpen in the room, something that threatened to break and shatter. Dread knotted in her stomach when Sesshoumaru's youki flashed in warning, but the female continued on. "It is good you no longer form those silly attachments to humans. They are simply-"
"You will desist in this topic." Sesshoumaru's voice was as cold, if not colder than his mother's had been.
"How rude," Jayatsu scoffed. "Your pup's gone and forgotten his manners," He added, looking over at Sesshoumaru's mother.
"Probably from visiting his father's bastard," The youkai observed, looking bored. "I'd heard he spawned another whelp."
"That's it," Kagome snapped, reaching the end of her leash. Sesshoumaru's temper had obviously been provoked, and she could feel his energy, tight around his body, gathering and expressing his obvious displeasure. "Either we can all have a civil conversation, or you can leave our home."
"Your home?" His mother asked brows raising. Otherwise she appeared unaffected.
"Yes, I live here too, and I have a right to feel comfortable in my own home. I also have the right to ask those who intentionally provoke me and my roommate to leave. If you cannot behave in a civil manner, there is absolutely no reason for me to allow you to stay."
"Miko-"
"My name is Kagome, which you obviously know, seeing as how you found me at my school. Sesshoumaru is an amazing person, he works hard and at the very least he deserves your respect. If you can't even give him that much, then you are not welcome here."
There was silence after her declaration, and for a moment she was afraid violence would erupt. Everyone at the table seemed to be forcing their auras out, making quiet, but felt, declarations of their power.
"Sesshoumaru, will you let this human speak for you?" His mother snapped.
"She speaks well in my defense. Why would I stop her?" He asked, voice dangerously calm, almost pleasant.
"You haven't changed. This one will do nothing different. Give her the world and she will-"
"Enough," He snapped, obviously hitting the limits of his patience. "You will leave our home."
It was not a request, or even a command. It was a warning, one even Kagome had no trouble hearing. But it was obeyed. Jayatsu and Sesshoumaru's mother stood and left, walking stiffly to the door. It could have been the warning, or it could have been the tightly leashed feel of youki, but they left swiftly.
"That was a disaster," She sighed after the door had closed.
"I apologize for her rudeness," He muttered, standing and grabbing the plates from the table. They clattered in the silence, making her flinch.
"Sesshoumaru, you had nothing to do with that. She just doesn't like humans," She sighed, taking her own plate and following him into the kitchen. He scraped the meal, something he had worked hard on, into the garbage disposal one plate at a time and when he put the dishes into the dishwasher, they clanked and clattered angrily against one another.
One shattered as he put it in, the shards of porcelain scattering on the door below it. He made an angry sound and she moved past him, already pushing the shelf in and reaching for the pieces. Quickly she began gathering the biggest shards, dropping them into the trashcan he pulled from under the sink.
"Don't let her get to you, she was trying to make you angry," She murmured quietly, wishing she could touch him, calm him down. Somehow she doubted he'd welcome the contact right then, his entire body still thrumming with unreleased tension. "She's not worth it." There was no response, not that she had expected one. Trying to gather each small shard as quickly as possible, she bit down on her lip and kept from uttering a pained sound when one sliced into her palm.
However, she had forgotten his sense of smell. Within seconds he was pulling her up by her wrist and leading her to the guest bathroom. She didn't know if he had always had it, or if he had bought it after she had moved in, but there was a first aid kit beneath the sink.
"Sit."
"It's just a small cut," She protested. He ignored her, opening the kit and going through it. For a moment she was going to tell him she could do it herself, but he was acting strangely, and she wondered if he didn't need something to do, something he felt was useful. She sat and watched him organize the items inside, realizing it probably did help. Patriarch, alpha. Caretaker.
With perhaps the lightest touch she'd ever felt, he used his claws to pull out the small piece of porcelain before depositing it in the trash. She allowed him to rub a small alcohol pad over the cut flesh and blow gently onto it. Her fingers tightened reflexively, and he looked up at her, expression tinged with remorse.
"I apologize."
He hadn't been so formal with her since they met.
"It's not your fault, I was careless. I should have been paying more attention."
"Still-"
"Sesshoumaru, don't. We were both tense. It happens. Your mom is-" She paused, unsure of what to say. "An experience."
He made a derisive sound as he opened a band aid packet and pulled the small strip out, carefully placing it over the cut.
"I doubt she'll come back."
"I hope not."
And it was said with such staggering relief, such blatant honesty, that he chuckled. It was not the laugh that came at rare times, but it was enough to let her know that he was letting go of his anger and calming down, and it was enough for her to relax.