Chapter 7

Please have a box of tissues with you and a blanket. This chapter is a heartbreaker.

It only took a little over an hour for the paperwork for Aya to fill out and be signed by judge Koga. I had also informed him about the demon who assaulted her last night when he got back to me. He said all will be taken care of and that this demon, whoever he truly is, won't be released at all, even though he has bail set for a certain amount of money.

We left the courthouse close to five in the evening. People and those who were actually demons in their human forms, were making their way home or getting a bite to eat. Something Aya and I were about to do. I ordered Jaken to drive to Towers in Minato City. A place I usually go on my lunch break at work. I went ahead and placed a call ahead seating for two in a private section. Though it's still early in the week it still gets busy around this time.

Aya seemed more relaxed since we left the courthouse. It's like the light that had been shut off within her, finally turned on, and she knew all was going to be okay. She was looking out the window and I happened to see a few freckles along her neck that resembled the same sized marks that Rin received after being mauled to death by Koga's old wolf pack when she was eight. Some of her freckles looked like the size of teeth marks. It also seemed like the only place she had freckles.

Jaken came to a stop and put the car in park. I happened to look out the window to see that we were here. I didn't need to even wait for him to come open up my door. I just did that anyway, got out, and kept the door open for Aya. I offered my hand to her, and she graciously accepted, "thank you." The only reason I did this was because she slipped and fell getting out at the courthouse. Thankfully she was fine, but I'm not taking the chance of her getting hurt any more. She's been through enough.

When she was fully out, I let go of her hand, even though part of me wanted to keep hold, we walked inside the restaurant. I hope she doesn't mind a high-end place like this. The host knew who I was and had two menus in hand and a drink menu too. "Right this way," the host, whose name I didn't know still, led us up to the top floor, through a dining room filled with diners, and then through a set of doors that were for a private party. A table meant for four, was placed in the middle of the room, we were led too.

I did the rightful thing and pulled out Aya's seat for her. She looked at me shocked. Has no one or that bastard ever done this for her? It took her a few seconds to realize I was doing something that every gentleman should do and treat a female, "thank you again," and she took that seat.

I went and took the seat on the other side of her. The host placed both menus down, "your server, Hakkaku, will be with both shortly." I knew who this server was right away. He was one of Koga's old pals from the sengoku era. They stayed a pack up until they found their one and only to call their mates and went their separate ways. Koga was married to Ayame all those years ago and they are a family of five. The other two married wolf twins from the same family.

I heard Aya pick up the small menu with a slightly unpleasant look at the liquor menu. She moved it off to the side and picked up the actual menu and her expression changed to a smile. Does she not drink? She did say her parents were addicts. Were they alcoholics?

I picked up the same menu, "Aya, order whatever you want. It's on me." I don't want her to think otherwise.

"Are you sure? I don't mind paying for mine." I could tell she was serious.

"Yes," I wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Don't worry about the prices either." Whatever the bill came to, it will be covered.

"Thank you," she went back to looking at the menu. I too looked even though I got my usual, but this time I will not have my usual glass of red wine. If liquor makes her uncomfortable, I will not order it… She handed me the small menu, "Do you need it?"

Though I wasn't going to order my usual, I took the menu from her. "Not today," and placed it down beside me. "I noticed you picked it up and that it didn't look appealing to you."

She bit her lip, "no. It doesn't." I could hear her fidget her hands under the table, "Remember how I told you my parents were addicts?"

"I do," I'll let her finish knowing what she's going to say.

"My parents became alcoholics right after I was born," she rested her hands under her chin this time. "I had to deal with it for sixteen years, until they told me I was an unwanted pregnancy. Sixteen years I watched them abuse their lives aways to the bottle, day to night. That's where their money always went and that's when I left."

"Did they ever buy food?" I am now more curious.

"For themselves to absorb the alcohol before they leave for their night job. So, the only way I could feed myself was to hunt for loose change on the streets. Sometimes I would go without anything for a few days and allow the loose change I found to build up… but my parents decided to raid my room one day while I was at school and found my mason jar and used my money to buy even more liquor." I could smell salt building up in her eyes, but she was holding them back. "That same day they did that, was the same day they told me those horrible words." The same day she left for the women's shelter. "It's funny in a way that I still look for loose change on the streets and save up on it again."

I could tell she was ready to change the subject, "Aya, I want to help you find a better apartment this weekend. Only if you're okay with it?"

I could tell my question shocked her, "what! really?"

"Yes, I don't want you to have to worry about paying cab fares to go to different parts of the city. You're my client and I'm going to help you with everything with finding an apartment before the due date is up for yours." I know the owner who owns the newest apartments that were just recently built. He had a two bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom apartment that was on the top floor he thinks Aya would like. It had all the amenities that he thought she would need; a stove, dishwasher, a standing washer and dryer, a skyline above the bedroom, and even a balcony that overlooked the river.

"If you want to, I don't mind." She seemed happy, which is great. "What time will be okay for you?"

"Is ten in the morning, okay?"

"Ten is okay for me," the first showings don't start until eleven thirty. Which would give us plenty of time to get there.

The owner of the building is Shippo, a young fox demon, who followed my half-brother during the days of Naraku. I explained who I was helping, and he told me to leave everything to him. He would leave the one apartment for Rin to see first. The price was just a little over a hundred thirty thousand yen. "Aya, what is your price range for renting an apartment?"

"I try to stay around a hundred and fifty thousand yen," that leaves her twenty thousand yen for whatever else she has to pay. "I hope I see one that's my renting price range."

I should let her know, "I know of one that I can show you on Saturday. It's just a little over a hundred thirty thousand yen."

"Is it in a nice area?" She seemed concerned. I understand why. The condition of the apartment she lives in now is unexpectable. She doesn't deserve to live in fear of what occurs in that neighborhood. She deserves to live in the safety of a private community building with people she doesn't have to fear.

She'll feel relieved hearing this, "it's one of the newer apartments, Aya." The one that's in a safe gated community. Shippo hired demons disguised as humans as security guards. If Aya were to get this apartment, she would be safe from any harm. Though that harm is locked away in a jail cell for now and could be released anytime if someone bails him out.

"Oh!" She must know which I speak of.

When she tried to say more Hakkaku appeared finally, "good evening you two. I do apologize for the wait, but what may I start you off with to drink?"

I gestured to Aya to go first. Hakkaku turned to her and got the shock of his life. I spoke old fashioned Japanese to him very quickly so that Aya didn't hear me. He recovered fast to the way he seemed before. "Could I get a glass of water and your house tea please?"

"Of course," he then turned to me, "the usual red wine and water, sir?"

"No wine today. I'll take the same drink of water and house tea."

"Of course, and do you need time to look over our menu?" I just held a hand for five more minutes. "Okay, I'll be back with your drinks shortly."

When he left, "he reminded me of my usual cab driver that brings me to work." She must mean Ginta. His family runs a cab business for the city. "I think I'll have the nakano's salad and nagasaki tsushima chicken ballotine together."

"Would you like an appetizer?"

"No, but thank you for asking," she seemed settled with her choice.

I wasn't the one for appetizers either. I already knew what I was going to eat, the same salad, but with roasted kuroge wagyu tenderloin. I wasn't the one for chicken.

Hakkaku returned with our drink order and then we gave him our food order. He left right after with the menus. "Is there anything we need to discuss about my case?"

"Not as of now. All you need to do is focus on yourself." I watched her breathe a sigh of relief. "Are there any places you need to be these next few days that require travel, including work?"

"Not really. My boss at the restaurant called me right before I got off at the school and told me to take the rest of the week off to recover," she seemed relieved, but it was her second source of income. Is she upset that she is losing out on money?

"Will you be okay not working there the rest of the week?" Could a few days affect her?

"Yes, I made a good tip last night from a huge office party that I served by myself that will help out so much. I've never really had a day off like this in such a long time." She still seems upset. She seems used to working a lot with no days off. "At least I'll be getting a good few nights' rest."

Aya looked tired. She had dark circles under her eyes. I can see she goes days without a good night's rest. "Did you sleep well last night after all that happened?"

"Kind of. Just trying to find a comfortable position to lay in was the hardest." She rubbed her shoulder from where she landed on the table.

"Are you okay?"

"I will be. I still need to stop at the pharmacy to pick up my medicine." I should have asked her before we came here.

"Will stop and get it before I bring you home."

"Thank you."

After Aya was dropped off I had Jaken drop me over to the jail. It was time to figure out who this demon was. I went through their security and was brought to an interrogation room where I would question this demon. It was time to get this part over with.

I waited for ten minutes when the strong smell of rotten pumpkin came up the hallway. The scent of metal from the handcuffs made it even worse. I had to deal with it for now, when the door finally opened, and in came four officers that were actually demons, escorting the half-demon that was dressed in a seaweed-colored jumpsuit. His wrist was broken and in an arm sling. He was placed into the chair and his free arm was cuffed to the table. "You have ten minutes," I was informed.

Ten minutes was all I needed, "that will be plenty." They left the room, but I could hear them standing outside, going on about how a half-demon like the one before me could have that much power.

"So, may I ask what brings you here, and why you wanted to see me?" He wasn't happy and I didn't care.

"I know what you are half-demon. I came here to get your true identity." I will keep coming back here if he refuses to answer me until I get my answer.

"Oh! Do you?" He smirked creepily, "I must say that it has been sometime, Sesshomaru. What's it been, I say, over four hundred years?"

"You know my name?" Four hundred year is exact if I know who he really is.

"Ah! Yes, we met once when I went with the late Lord Kirinmaru to visit your home all those years ago for your wedding day," a name of a lord that I haven't heard in such a long time. A demon I killed who wanted to harm my family right around that time Rin was due to give birth. He hated the idea that I was going to have half-demon children and wanted to take the lives of not just my children, but my wife too. "It seems you're remembering that day clearly, Sesshomaru. Kirinmaru had been planning that attack since your wedding day. He never thought a great demon like yourself would stoop so low and marry a human girl. A weak one in fact," he cackled to his words.

How badly I wanted to jump over this table, strangle his neck, and kill him by crushing his windpipe. Rin was never weak. She was courageous, strong, stood her ground, and most of all, she never let her fears stand in her way. She put others before herself instead of her own needs. Something Kirinmaru could never do. "How did you come around Kirinmaru?"

He chuckled again, "I was a part of him that he released to be his spy in a way." The same way Naraku created his own alliance using his own body. "Before his death, Lord Kirinmaru told me to lay low, but to visit you, and deliver a gift for your wife. A gift of herbs to make tea," he chuckled. "Tell me Sesshomaru, how long did she suffer from the laced herbs till she died?"

"What?" I froze in place.

"Haha, you were too clueless to realize that those herbs I gave her were poisoned! It was the intention to have her die in a way you would least expect. Lord Kirinmaru told me to do so if he were to perish in battle. Though I waited four years after his death, I paid my visit to your home, and presented those herbs to her. I then went into hiding right afterward and waited for you to come for me, but you never did," heat was building up in me.

"After some years passed, I came out of hiding, and did the next step for Lord Kirinmaru and that was to find the reincarnation of Lady Rin. Four-hundred years of searching and I found her at that exact restaurant around the time that she started working there. I would go to that restaurant on a weekly basis, talk with her and eventually ask her out. It was also around that time, after hearing how horrible her parents were with abusing alcohol that I took up drugs. I wanted her to suffer more and abuse her till I was ready to grow tired of her," his smile grew worse, then turned around to anger, "I was planning to kill her last night by gunning her down at point blank, taking her tips that she made, but you and those brats of yours had to go and ruin it."

I stood up, slammed my hands down onto the metal table, leaving a big dent, "YOU VILE, BASTARD!" I growled so loud that the guards came into the room, holding me back before I could get him myself. "YOU TOOK HER FROM ME AND MY DAUGHTERS!" I would kill him now if it wasn't for these guards. "OVER FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SUFFERING! OVER FOUR HUNDRED YEARS MY DAUGHTER'S COULD'VE HAD WITH THEIR MOTHER BEFORE SHE COULD'VE PASSED AWAY FROM OLD AGE! MY DAUGHTER'S CRIED DAY AND NIGHT FOR THEIR MOTHER! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM THEM AND ME!" Something I don't ever show in front of others are my emotions of losing the one you cherished and would die to protect.

The other guards uncuffed him and held him back to, "is the great dog demon sad? Good! I was glad to complete Lord Kirinmaru's goal of killing your beloved wife. Now I wished I would have gunned that bitch down in front of everyone last night." He was smiling again, "to watch the horror in your daughter's eyes, seeing their mother dying, including you, would have been the ideal evening before I could go into hiding once again." Now you're going to suffer behind bars. "Well, it seems I should get used to the life of an actual criminal. I'll see you soon in court, Sesshomaru."

The guards who held me back, kept hold of me, until they could escort him out of here to his cell. "Lord Sesshomaru?" They let go of me and I left going out the door I came through. Instead of going out the front door, I took a back door exit, turned into a ball of light, and flashed towards the mountains. The same mountains I traveled long before this city and all were built. In a secluded area where I landed, I removed my contacts, throwing them in a direction I did not care, and allowed this heated anger I have released by grabbing whatever I could. The closest was a mossy boulder that I picked up like it weighed nothing and threw it in the direction of the mountain, causing it to create a crater in the crag, and a loud thunderous echo that cackled the sky. "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN SHE WAS KILLED!" I failed to realize what was the actual cause of her death. I thought Rin just got super sick and couldn't recover. "I FAILED TO PROTECT TO HER!" Rin should have lived a long life. "I FAILED TO PROTECT YOU!"

I kept throwing boulders at the wall when my legs gave out from under me and I fell to my knees defeated. I haven't felt defeated like this since the battle I almost lost to Kirinmaru. "Rin, if I had known or checked those herbs you were gifted with, you would have been there for each new stage our daughters went through." I remained on my knees, holding myself up with my hands. "Four years you only got to spend with them. Four years of watching them grow from newborns to little girls with a lot of energy that had you chasing them through our home and our away home by the lake. Four years of being their mother who they loved and cherished up until that day you got sick and died." Over four hundred years without you.

Aya started to come to mind and I began to relax and I stood back up onto my feet. I sat on a boulder that I almost threw and ran my fingers through my messy hair until my palms rested on my forehead. Aya was the reincarnation of Rin, who came back to this world, only to be treated the same way, but way worse. She came close to losing her life to the hands of Kirinmaru's incarnation all because she reminded him of Rin. My Rin.

Aya still remained on my mind and the hour and a half we had at dinner this evening. I asked her some simple questions about her career choice, what her hobbies were outside that weren't work related, and places she wanted to visit. She explained teaching was what she always wanted to do since she could remember. Her hobbies outside consisted of exploring, going on walks, and clothes shopping when she had the money. But what surprised me the most was that she never went on one vacation, and she wanted to be by the lake, in a cabin, and enjoy the beauty of nature.

This summer the girls and I were planning a trip to the lake house I had built for Rin and spend the three months of our vacation there. I hope, if Aya is okay with it, I would like to invite her to join us, but I would understand if she couldn't take that much time off from work. "I will ask her at a later date." It was still the first week of the first semester.

I returned home an hour later to find the girls both waiting for me by the front gate. They both had worry in their red and purple eyes. "Chichue, where have you been?"

"I went to the western mountains to release some steam," they are both old enough to understand what happened to their mother. "Follow me girls," I led them to our dining hall where I used to have guests to feast with us years ago. We sat around the table, "girls, this evening, after I dropped your teacher off at home, I paid a visit to the jail. I wanted to confront that half-demon who assaulted your teacher."

"What!" Towa slammed her hands on the table and rose to her knees. "Chichue, are you serious?"

"Yes, Towa."

"Chichue," Setsuna was much calmer, "may I ask why?"

"I had to get my answer of his true identity. So when we were both placed into an interrogation room, I demanded him to tell me who he truly was. That's where I found out he was an incarnation of Kirinmaru, a demon I killed just before you both were born. Kirinmaru disliked that I was married to your mother since she was human and he vowed to kill her while she was pregnant with you both. I wouldn't allow him to harm her or you two. I went into an intense battle with him, almost losing my life," if I hadn't made that decisive attack and went with the ones I usually do, I wouldn't be here with my daughters, and most likely in the underworld.

"Did he say anymore," they both asked at the same time. I could see the worry in their eyes.

I was holding back the anger for what I was about to tell them. "That half-demon waited four years after Kirinmaru's death to pay our family a visit and brought herbs that make tea for your mother. But the herbs were laced with a poison that caused your mother to perish from such a young age." I went on explaining more of what that rotten half-demon told me.

Towa and Setsuna both had their heads lowered as they both were like me at holding back their emotions. "Chi… chichue, are you going to protect Suzuki-senpai?" Setsuna unexpectedly asked.

"My goal is to do whatever I can for Aya." I have other goals that crossed my mind when I sat out in that open field an hour ago. "Girl's, we'll talk more tomorrow." Tomorrow they will learn my plans.

When Towa and I retired for the evening, we opened the divider to our rooms, pulled our sleeping futons between the lines, and laid there with our windows open to allow the cool warm breeze to come through, even though it was lightly raining out. We both cried for almost an hour when we both returned to our rooms. To know the real truth of mom's death is heartbreaking. She shouldn't have died at such a young age. She should have lived a long life with us. Mom meant everything to the three of us until that demon took her from us. "Towa?"

"Yes?" We both were looking up towards the ceiling.

"Do you still believe Suzuki-senpai is mom?" I feel like I should apologize to Towa for the way I acted. These past few days I was afraid to admit I knew it was her, but turned around, and retaliated and not wanting to accept that it was her.

"Yes, do you still think she's not?"

"No, after what occurred last night, I needed that time to collect my thoughts, and now I believe she is mom," I had to lie in a way. Last night put my mind in a frenzy for how a half-demon like him could harm someone who did absolutely nothing to them. "I'm sorry for not believing you."

"It's okay, Setsuna." She was always the one who could forgive easily, but not for what happened to mom. We both could never forgive that idiot.

I heard her breathe a sigh of relief when the sound of crashing thunder crashed outside the window with the rain pouring hard. I got up, closed the windows, and laid back down. I turned to face Towa and I found her already looking my way. "Do you remember when mom slept in between us on those stormy nights?"

"Yes, she made sure we were safe, and then sang and rocked us both to sleep," a fond memory. "She gave us our rag dolls for extra protection." Mom gifted us a doll each that wore a kimono that matched our eye color. They rested on a shelf in our rooms.

"One of the many gifts she presented us. I can't believe how long we have played with them and they're still in mint condition." We were good at keeping them in the condition that they're in. We hardly took them out of our rooms.

Though we're well over the age to sleep with a doll, I got back up, grabbed our dolls, and brought them to our futons." Here, Towa. Mom would want us to cuddle with them," and handed her doll over. It had been sometime since we last slept with them.

"Thanks."

"Anytime." Starting soon things will begin to change for not just Towa and me, chichue too.

Were you shocked to find out how Rin actually died so soon? What about Setsuna finally realizing and accepting that Aya is her mother's reincarnation?

Jenny Crum: I am happy to have updated. It feels like forever since I worked on this story. It's awesome to see Towa talk with Aya. What did you think of Setsuna finally accepting that Aya is her mothers reincarnation? How protective do you think they'll be? Do you think Osamu will break out of jail? Do you think something will happen to Aya in the near future? Let me know your thoughts!