Inuyasha crossover Iron Man
Chapter 25: The Dinner Party

Kagome looked into the reflection to see the face of Ariana Caro looking back at her. The sinuous lips now painted a deep dark red, her once rounder shaped face now sharper with cheek bones that give her an air of elegance, her nose small but pointed, and not in an overly sharp manner, but it compliments her. And her eyes, the only thing that remained her was the colour of it, whilst the shape of it is now bigger, a little more deeper, giving her almost always a sensuous look in a mysterious manner.

"Signora Caro, the guests will be arriving soon," Marianna informed Kagome as she glanced at her with a smile using the mirror, watching as her housekeeper left her on her own.

What an irony it was the name Ariana Caro. In Italian, Ariana meaning 'very holy', and Caro, meaning 'beloved' or 'dear', definitely an irony she thought with a snarl upon her lips. Kagome wanted nothing more now than wanting to be loved, but that was not close to impossible now that Kagome Higurashi was dead. Though she may still have the powers of a priestess and more, being 'holy' was perhaps not something that she would describe herself. Now her name, it was more like a bad reminder, like a bad headache that never goes away.

She stood to gently smoothen out the invisible wrinkle of her white Valentino floor length dress, checking her appearance once more to see that her illusion was firmly in place before exiting her room to head down the stairs and wait for her guests to arrive. She is now Ariana Caro and she could not afford to have any slips in case some people were to end up finding her. It was without a doubt that she hoped and dreaded it, to be found that is, but more specifically to be found by Tony again. It was a wistful hope of hers, but one that she still prays for despite how impossible and against the odds it is.

For so many years and centuries she has been good, well good-ish and not disturbing the balance that hangs precariously between good and bad, as well as taking care of the Shikon no Tama, she had never wanted anything as much until now. And that is to be able to have Tony with her, by her side. It was hard to say when but he had somehow managed to grab a piece of her heart and now she could not help but to miss him, and want him just as badly. Then again, it could just be a one-sided thing once given enough time, he might just realize that she was merely the 'flavor of the month' and another will come by and take the position.

She played the perfect role of a gracious hostess that night, but it was also in a way for her to size up the competition and find out what was going on in the current market. Many were unsettled with the appearance of Sesshoumaru being there, but she know better that he was there to check up on her, and to cause rumors to fly about their potential partnership in the near future. Many gathered there was more interested in busy than they were interested in making this a social call, but for the sake of appearance they put up with it. As did she, but her mind keep travelling to what had recently happened to her up until now.

Her mind was not fully on the party, and without doubt that Sesshoumaru saw it when narrowed his eyes in her direction dangerously whenever she would glance around her party or catch hold of his eyes with hers. There were the last few guests that were still coming to her party, as she went to check with her caterer on the set up of dinner, wanting to use any excuse she was presented with to escape the suddenly suffocating air that was oppressing her.

He remembered the promise that she had told him before her disappearance, and it was what kept him going and searching for her. Sesshoumaru never once entertained him long enough, or bother giving him an answer, always dismissing him so easily as he would with any other insignificant person. For the last month, he had been constantly searching for her despite of the few time periods that his life became somewhat destructive and tried to revert back to his old ways of fooling around. It was all a front, to keep up with appearance. He could never find news of Kagome, even if he were to hack into the mainframe of all 3 companies where Kagome, Sesshoumaru, and Shippo worked in. Nothing ever came up except for business, and those were not what he wanted to know. Even when he were to tape into the phone calls, the only few incoming ones were from this particular person called Ariana Caro.

In the few phone calls that he had tapped into the name Kagome was briefly mentioned, but there was nothing much to go on with it, but there was something weird about they way they converse that had captured his attention. He had managed to have himself invited to the party as a plus one through a business acquaintance of his. It was really easy, especially when he has a name that would usually give him access to just about everywhere, all except here. His name was not on the invite list neither was he given one when Pepper had tried her luck with getting one.

He slipped in easily with the crowd after having his invite passed onto the doorman, the place is simple French modern grandeur with warm lighting accenting the place and giving it a rather intimate and cozy feel to the place. The hostess was nowhere in sight, or even if she is, he had no idea of how she looked like. And out of polite courtesy Tony went in the direction of the person who had help him attain the invite for a short while.

Sesshoumaru was never one to arrive on time, but with this party, it was more impactful if he did not. And just as expected curious eyes of some turned towards him way whilst others were shock at his appearance. For a moment there was silence before the murmuring began as he practically glide across the room in such intimidating elegance that many just parted before him a path towards the hostess who was engaged in conversation with another.

"Signora Caro,"

"Signore Taisho, welcome! I'm so glad that you could make it," Ariana's delight was evident in appearance and in her greeting but it did not really meet her eyes as her tone did so.

Their pleasantries ended there as they drifted away with promises to have a longer discussion after dinner that caught the attention of the others standing near them. It was all the same, the music from the live string quartet band that she had hired for tonight, and dancing to accompany it and a team of private cooks for the dinner party. Everyone else, were just invited to come have a good time socially and a part of it for business. Something about it made her feel thrown back in time to when there were lavish parties every time during the Season where debutants will be introduced and find the right prospects, though now it was mainly all business and having a good time. There are of course others that still think of it as a good way to find the right person, but that just about ends there.

Everything was going just about perfectly until she caught the eyes of someone familiar and got distracted in her talk with another older gentleman about the prospect of their business's future. Her stomach was fluttering but her heartache for the fact that he was never going to recognize her and that he had moved on so easily with her 'death'. Their eyes met for a moment but it was a passing glance and then she returned her attention to the person she was talking, intent on avoiding him the night. She had made sure to have no one from Stark Industries there at her party, and most especially Tony Stark, however it would seem he was able to slip in somehow, most probably through one of her guest that had replace their plus one.

This was something unavoidable when they did so, and more especially so for the rest of the night. She looked around hoping to catch Sesshoumaru's eyes but he was in conversation with a few other potential business partners that were interested in making the connection to enter the Asian market, and his back was faced towards her. For now all she had to do was smile and be busy being a good hostess to her guests, with that said and after excusing herself, Kagome disappeared to the kitchen to check on dinner before reappearing to announce that dinner was ready.

It was a good thing that Sesshoumaru was seated just to her right, but being the hostess, she had to entertain her other dinner guests. There were a few moments that she lowered her voice to whisper into Sesshoumaru's ears, almost so intimately that the others sitting at her table thought her to be flirting with the CEO of Taisho Corps. Sesshoumaru being the master of controlling his emotion except for extreme anger, did not reply or say anything at what she had made mention to him. The said male was seated a bit further away from her with the main culprit that hired her, and she could not help but let her eyes roam to where he sit.

By the time dinner was over and everyone was back in the main entertaining room drinking and mingling once again did she not notice that Tony Stark was making his way towards Sesshoumaru. It did not worry her much that Sesshoumaru could handle himself well, but it did worry her somehow of how he was going to handle him. Her worried was proven shortly after how Tony looked so annoyed when Sesshoumaru dismissed him to continue conversation with the men that he was talking to previously.

Excusing herself, Kagome left to head up the stairs after she made sure to pass by Sesshoumaru and catching his attention. It was however unfortunate for her that she had to pass by Tony, who immediately stopped her.

"I must say Miss Caro, thank you for inviting me," he said as she avoided looking at him but at her other guests.

It was not intentional that Kagome avoided looking at him, but as she forced herself to, she met with the same brown eyes that she had come to be so captivated after knowing him better. There was silence between them as they saw the emotions reflected off each other's eyes and it scare Kagome that she might crumble and he might find out who she is.

"Kagome," he whispered so softly, as both their eyes widened at what he said, but another narrowed at it.

It took her a while to recover from it, throat suddenly going dry as Kagome swallowed a little before she forced a smile onto her lips to dispel the name that he had just uttered.

"I'm sorry you must have mixed it up, I'm Ariana Caro, and your hostess for tonight Signore, thank you for attending my party," Kagome said as she held out a hand for him to shake. His actions were slow to reach out to shake her hand, grasping it rather tightly as though afraid to let her go, causing some memories of their time together to float to her mind.

In her eyes, he could see the smile that never reached there despite of the curving of her lips, the fear, sadness and regret that linger in there. There were others like wisdom, but those other shine through more in his perspective. It was those very eyes that told him it was her, the look that he received from her from time to time during dinner did not went unnoticed because he was doing the same as well. It was hard to say, could it be that he was too desperate to find her, dead or alive that he was becoming somewhat delusional.

"I-I'm…"

"Ariana, I believe we have something to discuss," Sesshoumaru mentioned to her, sliding a hand around her waist to draw her away from Tony Stark and right up against his side.

It was not in Sesshoumaru's character to behave as such, but she could feel his annoyance rolling off in waves and intimidating some of the others near them.

"Sesshou-" but was leading her away before she could finish forming her sentence, or his name even, she was stirred in the direction of the stairs in the front of the house.

Tony's eyes narrowed at what was going on and followed after, finding it odd with his behavior when it is known and with evidence that there was no love interest in his life before a conclusion was drawn in his mind. The times that Sesshoumaru was this easily irritated or agitated was when Kagome was still in a comatose state, and he was over in his mansion.

He needed answers, or in this case, a confirmation.

A/N:

To the Readers
Hello all, I hope that you are not finding this too long, but yes an end is finally coming! In a handful more of chapters and it is done, then it will just be a short few chapters separate from the fanfiction of course. I hope that you guys are enjoying the week and that these recent few chapters are not too confusing for you. Take care and have a great week! Happy Chinese New Year!