Chapter Eighteen
Ding.
The sound of the elevator reaching the top of the corporate sky rise building chimed. Steel doors opened to reveal rays of sunshine peeking through the open glass walls that surrounded the space. With only a secretary and the CEO's office on the top floor, a silence left an empty feeling. Following his senior detective, Arata walked up towards the secretary. Revealing their police badges, he said, "We are here to interview Mr. Taisho."
A seed of annoyance was noticeable in his voice. Never in the history of police investigations did they have to adjust their interrogation session accordingly to the interviewee's schedule or location. Sesshomaru should be at their police office undergoing interrogation. Not the other way around. Why did their chief allow this to happen?
The secretary messaged Mr. Taisho through the phone and responded to the awaiting police officers, "You may enter now."
The senior detective took the lead and entered into the CEO's office. Arata took out his notepad and pen from his police vest, prepared to question Sesshomaru.
Clawed hands placed the documents in his hand down. Leaning back in his chair, he folded his arms. Stoic eyes gazed at the two police men.
"Thank you for your participation in our investigation, Mr. Taisho," The senior detective spoke. A grimace crossed Arata's features. "We just need a statement from you as to what you witnessed when you arrived at the Hunter's location."
Arata wrote down the answers that were given in order to put them into their report. Question after question, Arata watched his brother-in-law answer with an unfazed face. Once again reminded of how easily Sesshomaru was able to destroy the Hunter organization caused heat to simmer within him. His years of hard work was nothing but a flick of the wrist for his brother-in-law. When did his hatred for Sesshomaru start? It hadn't always been this way, he remembered. He was once able to easily ignore the perfect older brother of Kagome's.
The point of his pen paused for a moment.
Ah, he knew when it began. It was right after he got engaged to Kagome. He remembered that Sesshomaru was still overseas in London, yet every time she talked of her brother she had a look in her eye that never looked at him the same way. His jealousy made him see Sesshomaru as a rival. In doing so, he could only see his own worthlessness more and more.
"That is all the questions we have, Mr. Taisho. Thank you for your time," The senior detective's voice brought him out of his thoughts. His feet hesitated while his coworker left the room first. Watching Sesshomaru carry on with his work, ignoring him, he felt the urge to make that stoic mask fall for even a moment.
"I am divorcing Kagome," Arata said with a smirk. He watched with glee as he noticed Sesshomaru tense from his words. The yearning to break Sesshomaru grew. "She knew all along that I was cheating on her."
Clawed hands wrapped around the boy's neck faster than he could finish his sentence. Slammed against the wall, the boy wheezed for oxygen within his grasp. His eyes narrowed, promising the boy a slow death. How dare he hurt Kagome.
Arata's face turned purple, yet the smile on his lips remained. He gleefully watched the anger break past Sesshomaru's stoic mask. Gasping for whatever air he could get, he strangled out, "I told her I didn't love her."
Flicker of red threatened to consume him.
Shouts entered the room as the senior detective struggled to rip Sesshomaru away from his junior partner. Allowing his grip to loosen, Sesshomaru watched mercilessly as the boy fell unconscious from the lack of oxygen. Needing to check with Kagome, he walked out of the office.
"Wa-wait, Mr. Taisho! You cannot just walk away from an attempt to harm a police officer!" The senior detective yelled after him. Hearing the detective draw for his gun, Sesshomaru said hauntingly, "Report the incident to your Head chief. There will be no issues."
The detective paused and dropped his hand away from his weapon.
Not bothering to let the detective stop him, he headed for the elevator. Golden eyes darkened in anger. He promised the boy more harm if what he said was true.
It took him less than a couple of minutes to arrive at his destination. Passing through the barrier, he knocked on her door. Past the wooden door, he heard her light footsteps slowly approaching. She finally opened the door to meet his gaze. The anger that boiled under his skin defused the moment he saw her. His chest tightened at the sight of her. Pale skin, sorrowful eyes, chapped lips, she appeared she hadn't eaten properly for days. Were humans this fragile?
"Sesshomaru?" Her voice croaked past a voice that hadn't been used for so long. "What are you doing here?"
A clawed hand reached for her forehead. She was burning up. Ignoring the tear at his heart from her appearance, he gently gathered her in his arms as fragile as she was. Unable to protest, she closed her eyes in weariness. He walked into her bedroom and placed her back into bed. Covering her with a blanket, he hushed, "What happened, Kagome?"
Cold sweat dripped down her forehead. A sickly cough erupted from her mouth. She wondered if her physical body also couldn't handle the pains of her heart and decided to give out. Closing her eyes, she couldn't answer his question. As if understanding her thoughts, he questioned her no more and remained by her side.
##
Feeling the heat of the sun against her face, she slowly opened her eyes. Rays of sunshine reflected into her room. Unable to keep track of time, she wondered if she slept through the day. Finally sensing a foreign object weighing her down, she found two arms wrapped around her waist. Noticing the magenta strips along his arm, she accepted the warmth he provided her.
Her eyelids grew heavy, feeling a headache pulsate against her head. Her ears drowned out everything but the echo of her pounding head. A warm hand covered her forehead as her world grew dizzy. Silver strands of hair surrounded her vision as she looked upwards to met eyes with his. She saw the concern. She didn't want to worry anyone, which was why she even sent Shippo to stay with Sango for a few weeks until she recovered. She didn't know what she was recovering from. Was it a heart break? Perhaps an actual cold. Maybe even a flu.
Feeling pain each time she swallowed, it made her curl up in agony after a coughing session. She couldn't remember the last time she had a sickness this bad. Letting out another fit of cough, her body racked in pain. Strong arms gathered her into his embrace as tears fell from her eyes. A low soothing growl vibrated against his chest, calming her down. A silence rested upon the two. She soon surrendered to the exhaustion of her body as he continued to hold her in his arm.
##
She didn't know how many days had passed by with the fever she had. Sesshomaru had stayed the entire time making sure that she ate, even though she didn't want to. As busy as he was, she saw how he remained by her side the entire time. Knowing that he would have piles and piles of work to do when he returned to the company, a seed of guilt planted in her heart. Not once did he question why Arata hadn't returned home even once to check up on her. He didn't even ask why Arata's belongings weren't around the house.
Feeling the familiar weight of his arms wrapped around her waist, she turned her position on the bed to face him. Sensing her fever cool down, she felt strong enough to tell him the truth. Her gaze traced the markings of his face and then to his eyes that remained closed. Knowing he was awake, she confessed, "Arata and I are going through a divorce."
Golden eyes slowly opened and revealed to her that he knew that fact. Though she wondered how he knew of their divorce, she continued on, "He told me what we had wasn't love...which made me question our entire relationship. I couldn't help but fall into dark thoughts. Was all the years spent with him a waste of time? How did things come to this? Was it my fault?"
Watching droplets of water fall from her eyes, he resisted the temptation to run his hand through her hair. He knew his control was at a limit by the vulnerability she showed him.
"I tried to go through my memory and figure out how this could have happened. He said I made him feel worthless. I tried so hard to remember if he showed me any signs of this in the past. How could I have missed such a large detail? I thought I knew him, but in reality I knew nothing about him. I was hurting him this entire time..." Guilt weighed heavily on her chest. Blaming herself for hurting someone she cared about. Regretting that she found out too late. Clutching her chest, her cries reflected the pain she felt in her heart.
Pulling her closer towards him, he clenched his jaws to hold in the stabbing sensation at his chest. Feeling her fallen tears soak into his clothes, he closed his eyes shut.
He could never show it.
He would never let her see his true feelings towards her.
He knew for a fact that Kagome was the only person in the world who understood him best. Yet, he fought to hide his feelings from her, knowing there were some secrets she would never be able to find out no matter how long she read past his eyes in search of his soul. If she were to ever find out that he was in love with her this entire time, it might be that very fact that would scar her even more.
She would never see him as anything but a brother. It would only be for his satisfaction to confess the truth to her, leaving her without a brother and the guilt. Unwilling to give her another reason to cry, he would forever remain silent.
He'd watch her fall in love with someone else eventually. And so the curse of an unrequited love would continue on. He thought he had completely given up on this one sided love. Yet, he couldn't doubt a fragment of hope seeping into him when he heard of the divorce.
The boy was a fool to fear the day that he could ever steal Kagome away from him.
He was never a rival to begin with.