To say that Tatsuhana had butterflies in her stomach was an understatement. Her cheeks flushed from the moment she stepped out of her room in the clothes and shoes that Maiko helped her buy. On top of that, this was the first time she had her hair and make-up done. Even for hosting special events at the inn, Tatsuhana never wore make-up beyond a bit of cover-up to hide her dark circles and wore her hair in a bun at the back of her head. Her look wasn't outrageous or extravagant. Maiko knew her best friend better than to let Tatsuhana walk around looking like a clown. Still, with everything, Tatsuhana couldn't help but feel out of place. The dress and shoes did not help matters. Some of the staff were making the last touches before going home. Hanzo spotted her heading out the door.
"Tatsuhana? Are you going on a date?" He sounded as confused as he looked.
To be fair, this was probably the first time he ever saw Tatsuhana dressed so formally and nicely without a kimono. She looked contemporary, perhaps like a fashion model with her long legs revealed. Maiko found a navy blue lace dress that hit an inch above Tatsuhana's knees. The fabric didn't have much give as it hugged her waist and hips. Truth be told, Tatsuhana felt naked. She couldn't stop the urge to pull down her dress just a little bit. She never wore anything so short since her high school uniform. Being taller than all the girls in her class, Tatsuhana's uniform was always a bit shorter on her, and she had to wear tights underneath even during the hot summers. But this dress really took the cake. She felt naked and exposed, and it made her stomach tie itself in a knot.
"Yes…and no. I'm meeting with an author about designing his book covers. I don't wear dresses, so Maiko helped me find one. I…look okay, don't I?" Tatsuhana asked nervously.
Her question didn't make her feel any less embarrassed since she'd known Hanzo since she was a child. He looked her up and down, then smiled.
"I think you look great. You would look even better if you smiled a little. Go, go. We have everything under control. I'll lock up everything on my way out. Go have your business dinner. And stay safe!"
Tatsuhana was more than a little reluctant to finish heading towards the door. She walked across the courtyard, down the steps, and reached the bottom without breaking her ankle. Tatsuhana couldn't help but clip along in her shoes. She felt like a big horse trotting along in her new heels that were already starting to blister. The shoes were the only thing she couldn't understand about the outfit. It's not that they didn't look good; the heels matched the dress in style and color. However, Tatsuhana was already very tall. In some places, she had to duck to avoid smacking herself into a wall or door frame. Adding another two inches didn't make any sense.
She waited on the sidewalk, receiving interesting looks from passers-by, for her cab. It arrived ten minutes late, which meant another ten minutes before she had to sit down with Miroku, the "romance author." The things she'd do for work.
Sesshomaru arrived early, but his date arrived just a couple of minutes after him. Miwa settled in the seat across from him. She draped her fur coat on the back of her chair, revealing the slinky white dress underneath. Sesshomaru tried not to roll his eyes at how much bedazzling this woman put on her body. On her belt, there were crystals on her belt, on the brooch worn by her deep neckline, diamonds on her ears, and a platinum watch on her wrist. Her pale blonde hair with just the minimum amount of roots showing was teased and curled within an inch of its life. White gold earrings were paired with the diamonds on her dog ears. Miwa had a pleasant enough face, a curvy figure, and had her own money. Still, that didn't stop the sour bile from rising in his throat.
"Sesshomaru Taisho, I presume!" Said Miwa cheerfully.
"Who else do you think I would be?"
"Ha, ha! True! I've heard so much about you!"
"And I you."
They ordered food and wine. Sesshomaru kept his gaze forward and fixed on her face. Despite her attempts, he wouldn't look lower than that. Her choice of dress was clearly deliberate. It was a halter-top kind of dress that showed off her ample chest. One wrong move, and she was a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. Sesshomaru chewed on the inside of his cheek. He occasionally nodded about something Miwa said, but in truth, he wasn't paying attention. Everything Miwa said went through one ear and out the other. Finally, Sesshomaru sank his teeth into his steak when something caught the corner of his eye. He subtly sniffed the air, then his brows furrowed.
"Is something wrong?" Asked Miwa.
His strange look caught her mid-bite into her own steak. Sesshomaru set down his utensils and turned his head. He only managed to see the back of her head, black hair teased into bouncing curls. Smooth, pale legs crossed the dining hall to a table a few feet away from his. Sesshomaru could see Miroku Kazaana sitting down. The other man quickly stood up, pulled out a chair, and the woman sat down.
"I think that's the writer Miroku Kazaana." Miwa bit into her steak. "His work is just glorified smut if you ask me. But, although I'd hate to say it, for a human, he's good at his job. He at least he researches what women are into instead of making some nonsense up."
Sesshomaru slowly turned back to his plate. His bites were more aggressive than before.
"Don't tell me Kazaana's date made you hungry?" Miwa laughed.
Sesshomaru didn't answer because he had a mouth full of food.
"I do have to say she is kind of pretty. Didn't get a good look at her, however. From the back, she looks alright, I suppose," said Miwa. Her tone was bored, which meant she had to shift the conversation; otherwise, Sesshomaru would be thinking about her the entire time. "Your mother told me you had a daughter. How old is she?"
"Eight," Sesshomaru answered gruffly.
"What a marvelous age! She must have your ears and teeth by now, right?"
"No."
"I'm sorry. Is she a late bloomer? I'm sure there's something—"
"Rin is my daughter, but she was my first wife's child before I ever came along. Rin was two when her biological father passed away. A year later, I married his widow. When she died from ovarian cancer, I adopted Rin as my own. She is human."
A curious look passed over Miwa's face. Sesshomaru wasn't even able to analyze what it was. So many emotions passed over Miwa's expression that it was hard to pinpoint. She looked happy, excited even, about Rin being just human. Any children she might have with Sesshomaru would take precedence over a human child that didn't even belong to him by blood. But then there was the underlying worry that she would have to learn how to deal with and raise a human child. Disgust hid behind that worry, but Miwa didn't do much to hide it.
Sesshomaru couldn't help but look past Miwa. He glanced at her now and then to pretend interest, but his eyes were glued elsewhere. His gaze was fixed on someone's head. She was sitting at Miroku's table with her back turned towards Sesshomaru. If she had not told him earlier that week, Sesshomaru would still have known Tatsuhana sitting across from Miroku. He could smell her scent, the faint odor of paint and…perfume? Since when did Tatsuhana wear perfume.
Suddenly, she stood up. This gave Sesshomaru a good look at what Tatsuhana was wearing. It was a dark blue lace dress that clung to her body like a second skin. It reached her knees, had a modest back panel and covered her arms to the wrist. The neckline appeared to come her collar bone, yet the tightness of the dress and how it emphasized rather than hide her figure made it scandalous. Her heels were barely an inch tall, but that still left plenty of room to show off her lean legs. Tatsuhana's long black hair was curled slightly to add texture, but it slowly lost shape and reverted back to its original form. Tatsuhana turned without her purse, which meant she wasn't entirely leaving yet. Sesshomaru saw her face, free of any pink blush to mark her shame of meeting his eyes.
Sesshomaru made no effort to hide the fact that he was looking at her while she walked away. Miwa noticed how he suddenly stopped paying attention and followed the line of his gaze. She bit the inside of her cheek, then stood up.
"Excuse me for a moment, I need to go powder my nose," she said, though her fangs were starting to show.
Tatsuhana finished her business and washed her hands. However, she didn't want to go back out there. Instead, she stared at her reflection in the mirror, waiting for the nightmare to be over with. It wasn't that Miroku was a terrible business dinner guest. It was just that his flirting was getting to her. He made no moves so far, but if she didn't put her foot down when she got back to their table, she worried that he might get the wrong impression.
Miroku also wasn't the worst of it. Tatsuhana stared at her own reflection in disbelief. The dress Maiko made her wear was tight in all the wrong places. Tatsuhana was too tall to be wearing heels or a dress this short. Her mother must be rolling in her grave. Tatushana had to constantly pull down her dress to keep it from going any higher than her knee. The dark blue made her look more petite than she was somehow, and the tightness of the dress emphasized her boyish hips. She was disproportionate, with her breasts appearing larger than her hips and very little ass to speak of. Her legs were the worst feature. They were so…muscular. She wanted to cry if not for the fact that Maiko spent so much time on her make-up.
Tatsuhana sighed at her reflection. The door opened. She recognized the woman entering the bathroom. The other woman had been sitting with Sesshomaru when she walked in for her business dinner with Miroku. Tatsuhana had only glanced for a second and paid no further mind to it. None of that explained why this woman was giving Tatsuhana a deathly glare. The woman brushed past her and opened her purse on the sink counter. Tatushana wanted to ask if she could use her as a model with how perfect she looked, feminine and beautiful, the things Tatsuhana rarely felt like. Platinum blonde curls, a curvy body, and expensive taste, just when Tatsuhana couldn't feel any more insecure.
"He's been staring at you the whole night," said the woman.
Tatsuhana had turned to leave, but the other woman's comment stopped her. Her brows furrowed at her statement. "What?"
The woman fixed her lipstick and touched up her face with compact powder. She snapped the compact closed and threw it back into her designer bag. Her ears were pointed like a dog getting ready to attack.
"Don't pretend you don't know. I've been trying to have a conversation with Sesshomaru all night, but he's always looking past me to stare at you whenever I try to talk. Why is that exactly?"
The woman snarled.
Tatsuhana knew enough about certain kinds of demons to step back. She took a couple steps back towards the exit. The woman eyed her up and down.
"Does he know what kind of woman you are? Wearing something like that with the country's biggest playboy. But, of course, I know who you're sitting with, so don't try to act innocent either."
"I'm having a business dinner with Mr. Kazaana. It's not anything like a date. This dress was picked out for me at the last minute. I'm not here to flirt with anyone!" Tatsuhana defended herself.
"Oh? So it's a mere coincidence that you showed up the same evening that Sesshomaru and I were to have our date. So this wasn't some sort of plan to bag two men at the same time?"
"What are you talking about?" Tatsuhana asked. "I'm just having a business dinner with Mr. Kazaana. I'm not trying to bag anyone. I didn't even know Sesshomaru was going to have a date tonight. I don't keep track of his social life. You don't even know my name, so how can you make claims about me?"
"You're just another money-grubbing human, and that's all I need to know!" The dog demoness snarled back. Her fangs were starting to show. "I can smell gold-diggers from a mile away.
What's your scheme? You use that smut writer to get Sesshomaru's attention, then squeeze them both for all their worth?"
"I'm discussing with Mr. Kazaana about book cover art! I'm an artist. I'm trying to earn a commission."
It happened all too quickly. One moment Tatsuhana was a foot from the door, and in the next, she was staring down the dog demon who had her by the neck. The world spun for a moment as pain blossomed in the back of her head. Tatsuhana's vision darkened before it returned. And what she saw, she didn't like. Her back was pinned against the wall with the demon's claws pinched the sides of her neck. Sharp teeth bared at her, Tatsuhana stood perfectly still.
"Do not flirt with Sesshomaru. You can fuck the smut writer all you want and use him as your cash cow, but you're not going near Sesshomaru. You humans need to relearn your place in the world. You do not get to flirt with whomever you like because you're under the delusion that we are equals. Sesshomaru doesn't need a weak human at his side. He needs one of his own kind. The sooner you learn that, the better."
The dog demon let her go. Tatsuhana watched her storm out. She went back to the mirror to inspect the damage. Sure enough, she was bleeding a little. The claws had dug into her skin just enough to draw blood. Tatsuhana cleaned up as much as she could before heading back out. She sat back down again, hyper-aware now of a demon bitch who could easily cross the restaurant and snap her neck. Miroku looked up from his phone. He smiled and was about to say something, but then his eyes drifted to Tatsuhana's neck.
"What happened to you?" He asked.
Tatsuhana's hand unconsciously went to her neck. "Oh, it's nothing, really."
"You're bleeding," said Miroku.
Damn. I thought I cleaned it all up. "Let's just finish dinner and get out of here."
Miroku looked past your shoulder. "I noticed that woman get up after you did and come back before you sat down. Does she have anything to do with this?"
Tatsuhana felt the blood drain from her face. She must have turned pale because as soon as she did, Miroku stood up from the table. Tatsuhana cursed under breath. Miroku started to make a beeline for Sesshomaru's table, and Tatsuhana followed him. Already, there were eyes following them. Tatsuhana's stomach tightened. She tried to grab Miroku and pull him back, but he had already reached the table.
"Mr. Taisho, I'd like to have a word with you about your…date." Miroku glanced at the dog demoness.
"Honestly, Sesshomaru," she sighed, "I don't know what this man is talking about."
"Would you care to see the claw marks on Tatsuhana's neck then?" Miroku pointed towards Tatsuhana behind his back.
Sesshomaru shot up. He pushed Miroku to the side and reached out his hand. His fingers sent an army of goosebumps over Tatsuhana's flesh as he turned her head this way and that way. His golden eyes inspected her neck, where he found four puncture wounds on one side and one on the other. Blood was oozing out of the wounds and bleeding all over the collar of her dress. He turned to his date.
"Miwa Utagawa, did you attack this woman while you were gone to the ladies' room?"
The demoness flushed red. "You can't be serious, Sesshomaru? What difference does it make? She's just a human!"
"We are not on that personal level of communication. You do not have my permission to use my first name, Utagawa. Violent behavior against humans is not only highly discouraged but illegal. You've made a public display of yourself by resorting to using force against her. You also forget that my daughter is a human. If you display this kind of behavior around strangers, then I don't want anywhere near my child."
Tatsuhana took a look around the room while Sesshomaru went on his tirade. Guests and waiters were staring at them now. A few of them even had their cell phones out. Were they recording all this? Her face was going to be everywhere! As if she needed more reasons to disgrace the inn.
"Sess—Mr. Taisho, it really isn't that big of a deal. We should all just go back to our tables and—"
Sesshomaru grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. Tatsuhana kept her mouth shut in fear of making the situation worse than it already was. She could feel the eyes and camera phones glued onto the back of her head as Sesshomaru half-dragged her out of the restaurant. He didn't stop until they arrived at his car. Then, he pulled the door open for her. Tatsuhana was so embarrassed that she got in without much hesitation. Sesshomaru climbed into the driver's seat and peeled out of the parking lot.
He drove like a madman to the parking garage next to his apartment complex. Tatsuhana didn't even realize that he stopped the car until she couldn't hear the roar of the engine anymore. Sesshomaru rapped his fingers on the steering while holding it tight.
"What the hell was that all about?" Tatsuhana asked.
Sesshomaru didn't answer. He inhaled sharply through his nose and slowly let go of the wheel. Tatsuhana watched him rub his face. His eyes were fixed ahead of him, and he stared out into the shadowy parking garage. She swallowed hard.
"Sesshomaru?" She tugged on his sleeve. "Sesshomaru, what's up with you?"
Tatsuhana called his name again. Still no response.
"Sesshomaru, if you don't talk to me, I'll get out of this car and walk home." She threatened.
That seemed to garner his attention. Sesshomaru unbuckled his seatbelt and turned towards her. He moved the armrests out of the way, then reached out to touch her. Sesshomaru's hand went for her neck. His eyes narrowed on the small gashes in her neck that stopped bleeding. He edged his face closer to hers. Tatsuhana flushed. The tips of her ears turned red as warmth spread over her cheeks.
Sesshomaru locked eyes with her for a moment before bending his head down to her neck. Tatsuhana gasped as he pressed his mouth to each wound, licking them clean. His tongue dragged around the nail marks in her flesh and then up the length of her neck. Sesshomaru moved to the other side of her neck, doing the same thing. Here, his mouth and tongue lingered. Tatsuhana threaded her fingers through his hair. She didn't know what else to do but hold unto him like that and close her eyes.