Author note: The story is under revision. The chapters will be added as soon as they are ready.
Chapter revised by True Love's Rose.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha
Chapter 1
Falling Apart
"Sigh"
With speed that could make even a snail seem fast, Sesshomaru Takahashi got out the car he just parked. It was past 11PM when he returned home. Five hours earlier he called his wife, Rin, informing her that he has a business meeting and he would be late. But the truth was something else; for months he has constantly lied to his wife. All these months he spent his time with his mistress.
For the last six months he felt alive again; he met another woman, a model who could stir strong emotions inside him. Before meeting her, he felt suffocated alongside a woman he lost interest in.
Sesshomaru entered the elevator and pressed the up button. Today he would end his marriage with Rin. For weeks he had the divorce papers in his leather case; though he hesitated to hand it over to her.
He felt sorry for the woman who waited for him every night with dinner already prepared. He felt sorry for the woman who thought their marriage was still working.
"Why don't you leave her and live with me instead?"
Meiya's question rang inside his head for weeks. Every time she begged him to leave his wife he would always say it's not time yet. But he already made up his mind. If he would stop and think about the woman upstairs who is probably wearing an apron at this moment – she always waits for him with a warm meal – he would be unhappy forever.
Sesshomaru stepped out the elevator heading to his apartment. Standing in front of the door, he hesitated a moment before opening it. He counted till three and opened the door.
He was right; Rin was waiting for him. She probably just finished cooking; the smell of food was still imprinted in her clothes. Even her hair would smell of food. Meiya was so different; her scent was lavender not food.
"Welcome home Sesshomaru!" she gladly said when her eyes landed on his frame.
"Hn." She came towards him and helped him take his coat off.
"I made dinner. I just finished ten minutes ago."
"Hn." He said nothing at all. He felt suffocated on her side but she was utterly oblivious to it. He wasn't hungry; he ate dinner together with his mistress. Can't she smell the faint scent of woman perfume coming from his clothes? Is she that blind?
"Go and wash your hands and come to eat. I prepared your favorite meal." She was driving him crazy. He wanted to shout aloud that he doesn't want dinner, that her everyday exaggerated smile is pissing him off. But he said nothing; he just made his way to the bathroom and did as she asked.
The dinner was delicious; this was the only thing that she excelled in during their marriage. They ate in silence; a custom which already became a routine. Immediately after he took the last bite he got up from the dining table going to the living room.
He found his leather case on the sofa; he opened it and took the papers he wanted to show her.
"Rin, I need to tell you something. Come here."
"I am washing the dishes honey. Please wait a moment."
"Leave them aside. Those can wait till later." Rin left the dirty dishes in the sink and took a seat across him.
"What's wrong Sesshomaru? Did something happen?"
How should he ask her for a divorce? She was sitting in front of him and all he needed to do to tear her apart was to just say some simple words. His courage was fading away.
"You wanted to show me those papers?" he forgot he was holding them in his hands. His gaze fell upon the Divorce Registration.
In a moment he looked at those papers and in the next they were gone. He lifted up his gaze and saw his wife holding them in her hands, reading their content. She had this custom to rapidly put her hands on things he was holding.
The smile she had moments ago vanished while reading.
"These are…" Rin couldn't say the word. In her hands she was holding the divorce papers; with his name written on them. "You want us to…"
"I want us to divorce." Finally he said it; for his own sake; for his and his mistress's happiness.
"But why?" she wanted him to tell her the reason. She wanted him to stop with the lies at once and have the courage to confess his sins.
"I am not happy. Slowly our marriage died. On your side I feel like suffocating. I want to divorce."
"You're suffocating on my side? How come?"
"For months our marriage hasn't been working anymore. By seeing your reaction I can tell you were oblivious at my unhappiness. While I was living unhappily with you, you smiled and refused to see the reality."
"I smiled every day?"
"Yes you did. We were unhappy and you were smiling. You saw only what you wanted to see, not the entire reality. For months you refused to acknowledge it."
"You stopped loving me?" the tears she held back finally made their way out.
"I don't love you anymore." His answer left his lips with no hesitation; his heart belonged to a blonde-haired woman, his mistress. The woman across him was his wife only in name, and the moment she signed those papers he could cut the only bond between them.
Only a piece of paper tied them together; love was long gone.
"I want to think about it," she stared at the papers but she wanted to believe it's all just a dream; that her husband, the man who swore to love her for the rest of his life didn't just say he doesn't love her anymore.
"I am leaving the house today. I'm going to pack some things and go to a hotel. Tomorrow I'll go on a trip; when I return I will take the rest of my belongings. From my point of view we aren't married anymore. It would be better for you to sign those before I return."
o.O.o
Sesshomaru did exactly what he told her he'd do: he packed his things and in less than an hour he left their marital home. The woman he left behind never moved from her spot; she had no courage to see her husband packing his things as if he's never coming back.
Hours passed and she was still in the same spot Sesshomaru left her; in the living room. There she cried until her tears dried up.
"I want us to divorce."
"I am suffocating."
"Our marriage slowly died."
His words never left her alone. She wanted to scream, she wanted to have him in front of her and call him a liar, a coward. He wanted to end four years of marriage without telling her the truth.
She took the envelope she hid under the sofa moments before his arrival. She opened it and maybe for the thousandth time, looked at those pictures.
"Takahashi-san, can we meet today?" the voice from the other side of the phone asked her. She asked for his services and now after ten days (she counted them) she would get the evidence of what she's been suspecting.
"I will come by your office within the next hour Onigumo-san." she hung up the phone and prepared to leave. Deep inside she hoped that she's just being paranoid, that her man isn't having an affair.
The last remnant of hope vanished into thin air the moment her eyes had fallen upon a few pictures. Her husband was in all of them; but he wasn't alone. At his side was a blonde-haired woman, their arms were linked; in some of them they even locked lips. In her hands she held the very evidence of his unfaithfulness.
"They met every day from 6 to 9 PM. Sometimes they even had lunch together."
While looking at those pictures she held back her tears; she did not want to cry in front of a stranger.
"Thank you for your hard work Onigumo-san. If I ever need your skills again I will call."
"I am at your service Takahashi-san."
How many months passed since those pictures were first in her possession? She forgot to count them. The day she acquired the pictures she wanted to confront her husband. But with each passing moment prior to his arrival her courage abandoned her.
And like this hours became days; days became weeks and in the end it became months. Not even when he decided to leave her she was able to throw them in his face and tell him a word or two.
"You were smiling every day."
"Smiling every day? Are you kidding me? Every day I was crying. What smile? I have no reason to."
"I am suffocating on your side."
"You're suffocating? For months I lived in Hell. And you're suffocating? Do I take your precious air or something?
"I want us to divorce."
"I should be the one wanting us to divorce you selfish bastard. You coward. You liar. I hate you, I hate you so much."
"You refused to see reality."
"I saw the reality from the very beginning. My only fault was my stupidity; I had hoped that you still loved me despite your affair. I had hoped that that woman meant nothing to you, that she was just a moment weakness. Oh God I am so stupid."
o.O.o
After hours of sitting in the same place he left her she finally stood up on her feet. Like a robot she went to the bathroom and showered. Later she dressed up and left the house. She knew very well where she would go – she wanted to see again what a liar her husband could be.
She parked the car in front of the coffee shop across an apartment building. She looked at her wrist watch and waited for them to come out – they should be out soon if they don't want to lose the flight.
And she was right. The first person who came out was him, her husband, carrying two suitcases. Behind him was his mistress; she was awfully happy. Rin saw them getting in the car and even witnessed that shallow woman give her husband a brief kiss.
Rin felt sick; the two of them being affectionate in public made her sick. Sesshomaru always avoided kissing her in the public, and when it did happen it was always Rin who initiated the kiss. She refused to cry, refused to shed any more tears for a man like Sesshomaru. He lied to her from the beginning till the very end.
"I hate you Sesshomaru Takahashi. All the love I had for you has turned to hate." She uttered those words as she followed the happy couple.
They were going on a trip, probably a pleasure one. Rin couldn't remember when was the last time when he took some days off to spend time with her. When she begged him to go to the beach for a few hours, not mentioning a two/three days trip he always said he doesn't have time, that he's busy with work.
"But you have time for her. You selfish bastard. I hate you, I hate you."
She saw them parking their car at the airport parking lot. Rin saw the happy couple getting out of the car and heading to the international departure. "He even takes her out of the country." Without them noticing her, Rin followed them.
She saw them holding hands, kissing on each other's cheeks or lips. In that moment she wanted to get a gun and kill them on the spot. Rin wanted to send the happy couple straight to Hell. But she stayed quiet, far away from them but close enough to see their every move. She watched them until their flight was announced – Seychelles.
Rin took the last piece of evidence. She climbed into her car and started the engine. She would go home and sign those papers. She could not stand being in the same room with him anymore, not to mention staying married to him.
Sesshomaru chose a woman who had no shame dating a married man over her, and Sesshomaru had no shame while kissing another woman in public, knowingly committing adultery and even risking being seen by the press. He was a public figure in the business world, and news about him always spreads in the papers.
"He doesn't care anymore. He wants to announce his relationship with her to the whole world." She told herself that she wouldn't shed anymore tears for that man but her heart did not listen to her mind. Tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her sight was blurred by the tears she fought to hold back.
Her teary eyes registered where she currently was, and she was glad to know she was close to her home. A few more miles and she could withdraw from the cruel reality. She turned to the right and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.
A red ball showed entered her sight, followed closely by the figure of a little boy. Terrified that she would hit the child she turned the steering wheel to the left as much as she could, avoiding the child. The car spun few times and suddenly stopped.
Rin could hear the screams and was blaming herself for her lack of attention while driving. Warm liquid was dripping down her face. With a shaky hand she touched her head and stared at her bloody hand.
Again she looked through the tinted glass and saw many pairs of eyes looking at her. Those eyes expressed worry, they were agitated. She saw the people whom the eyes belong to, trying to tell her something but her ears heard nothing.
It became hard to keep her eyelids open, her sight became blurry.
She felt tired, her body was heavy; she wanted rest and so she let herself be engulfed by the dark.