Chapter 1
Berlin
Staring down from the penthouse window over the congestion of the city below with a vague smile turning up the corner of his lips, he tried to brush off the over-taxation of his keen senses. Kami, he hated traveling. Expression devoid of any real humor as his amber eyes swept over the cityscape, the only sound in the unbroken silence was a soft clink of ice in the glass he held in his long-fingered hand. 'How long this time, Father? How long will you wait before you summon me home?'
Last year it was Nepal, and a beautiful human girl named Amira. Sesshoumaru had caught wind of her and had ordered Toga home before he had been able to ask her on a date. Then it was London and the lovely Lyssia. Same thing. Madrid had been Pilar, and of course, the edict had come in shortly thereafter. This time, however . . .
In fact, for as long as Toga could remember, it seemed as though he hadn't had any real interactions with suitable females, except one: Lily. He smiled as the fleeting image of her face, of those amazing violet eyes of hers, flashed through her head. Something about that girl . . . Why was he thinking about her now? It had been years since she so unceremoniously walked out of his life. He sighed and shook his head. "Good, Toga . . . must be jetlag."
The intrusive trill of his cell phone cut through the silence like a knife. Wincing as he dug around in the pockets of his tailored Armani suit, Inutaisho Toga finally located the offending electronic device and grinned just a little when he read the name on the caller ID. "Hello, Mother," he greeted after he clicked the button and brought the phone to his ear.
"Darling, how was your flight?" Kagura asked, her rich voice as soothing to him now as it had been when he was a child.
"In a word? Tedious. Is there something you needed?"
Kagura chuckled. "Needed? No . . . do I need a reason to call my favorite son?"
He made a face but smiled as he stared out the window. "And your only son," he reminded her.
"That, too."
Toga sighed and shrugged off his jacket. "I'm here, at the penthouse," he remarked casually, waiting for her to mention the real reason she had called. It didn't take long.
"Toga . . . your father wanted me to call. He said to remember your promise."
Toga made a face, not that his mother would see it. "How could I forget? When the Great and Powerful Inutaisho Sesshoumaru speaks, the world quivers in fear."
"Toga . . ."
"I won't forget, Mother."
Kagura sighed. "I wish you two could come to terms on this."
Toga rolled his amber eyes, raking his claws through his raven-black locks. "We will, as soon as he admits that he's being stubborn and archaic for no good reason."
"He has his reasons."
"And so do I."
"Aiko misses you," Kagura tried again.
Toga winced at the mention of his younger sister. It was her fault this whole thing had come up, in the first place. "I'm sure."
Kagura sighed this time. "Will you be home for her wedding?"
"I'll try. No guarantees."
"Toga . . ."
"I've got to run, Mother. I have reservations for dinner in half an hour, and I don't have a thing to wear."
Kagura groaned at her son's joke. He'd never cared for clothes or convention, never gave a damn for the things that were expected of him, and that was the crux of the problem. Never quite so happy as he was when he had spent time with his aunt and uncle and cousins, Toga, it seemed, much preferred the laid-back lifestyle of his hanyou uncle, InuYasha, than he had, spending time with his real family.
Hanging up, Toga dropped the cell phone onto the sofa before wrinkling his nose in abject disgust. Growing up the only son and thus heir to his tai-youkai father, Sesshoumaru, Toga had been taught responsibility early on, and much to his own chagrin. Not that his childhood had been a terrible experience. It was far from that. There used to be a time when he had believed that his father was the greatest being on earth, and in a way, he still did.
Stepping over to the closet where the butler had hung his clothing, Toga retrieved the black linen evening suit and a forest green silk banded neck shirt. Tugging off the necktie he loathed, he started changing his clothes for the dinner meeting he couldn't get out of.
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Toga's thoughts returned to his father, to the events that couldn't be undone now. It wasn't until he'd reached twenty-five that his relationship with his father had started to really deteriorate. Toga still remembered that day last summer. He'd known then, that everything was about to change.
"Aiko tells me she wishes to take a mate," Sesshoumaru remarked casually enough as he sank down behind the desk in his spacious study at their estate just outside Tokyo.
Toga flopped back in the thick leather chair across from his father, legs stretched out before him, crossed at the ankles, as Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at his son's perceived lack of manners. "Just a matter of time, I thought," Toga remarked.
"Perhaps. Tell me, Toga . . . Are you not pleased with Fujiko? I thought you cared for her."
Toga slunk down a little lower in his chair as his cheeks gave away his discernable reticence to have this discussion. "Sure . . . as much as someone can care for a block of marble."
"I'll pretend not to have heard that."
"Do I need to say it louder?"
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "Far too much time with your uncle."
Toga rolled his eyes. "Uncle Yasha has nothing to do with it."
"What is it you want, Toga?"
Toga's smile belied his age, a tainted smile that spoke more experience than he ought to have had. "Passion."
Sesshoumaru pondered that answer for a moment before he broke into the vaguest hint of a smile. "Passion? That's a fleeting emotion. Don't you know that?"
Toga shrugged. "So you don't desire Mother anymore?"
"Don't be flip."
"Then don't be simplistic!" Toga countered as he sat up straight, daring to counter his father as no one else would ever think to, with the exception of Uncle Yasha. "It's easy for you to say; Mother has always been your heartmate, your equal . . ."
"And you don't feel Fujiko is yours?"
"No, Father, I know she isn't."
"Then keep looking, Toga, just bear in mind, she cannot be human."
Toga shook his head. "The youkai are all the same, Father, and you know it. They're all like Fujiko. They're all cold and aloof . . . untouchable . . . I don't want it."
"It is not a matter of wanting, Toga. It is what I require of you."
"Try again, Father. I'll not take a youkai mate if she doesn't please me."
"Then by all means, find one who pleases you, but she'd better be youkai."
Shaking his head slowly, Toga rose from his chair. Staring Sesshoumaru in the eye, amber gazes locking, neither man willing to give an inch. "I don't care if she has three heads and spits fire. If there is no passion, I will not take her to mate . . . and if the one I find is human . . . then you'll have to live with that, too."
"Toga, in this, you will honor me."
Toga shook his head before he strode toward the door. "I'll honor you, Father, when you honor me, as well."
He sighed and shook his head as he drained the water from his glass and set it aside. The last thing he wanted to do was suffer through an overly long business dinner tonight. Having taken over most of the responsibilities for acquisitions for the family business, Inutaisho Industries International, Toga also didn't have much of a choice, either. They were trying to buy out Stellesaft, and, if he were careful, he might be able to close the deal tonight.
Grabbing his jacket as he grabbed his cell phone to call a cab, Toga told the girl at the courtesy desk that he needed a ride to the Vau restaurant on Jägerstrasse as he hit the button on the elevator and waited. Checking his watch as after he donned the jacket and tapped his foot impatiently, he couldn't help but feel restless, as though something unexpected was about to happen. If only he could figure out what that could possibly be.
--0--0--0--0--0--
"Guten Abend! Welcome! Do you have a reservation?"
Toga nodded at the young hostess that greeted him. "Abend," he answered. "I'm supposed to meet Herr Stelle."
"Ah, Herr Stelle . . . this way."
Following along behind the small woman, Toga squinted as he dug into his inner breast pocket for his glasses. Damn clumsy things, but necessary . . .
Still fumbling around with his glasses as they approached the table, he was welcomed before he could rightly see the squat middle aged man rise and offer his hand in greeting. Jamming his glasses into place as he accepted the friendly greeting, Toga pasted on his best business smile as he sat down in the chair opposite the man. "Pleased to meet you! I'm Wildemar Stelle. My wife is . . . how do you say? Powdering her nose."
Toga nodded as a waitress approached. He could smell her before he turned to look at her. The perfume she wore was much too strong, masking whatever scent lay below the surface as she offered him a tepid smile. Leaning away as far as he dared without appearing offensive, Toga returned the expression and dragged his gaze off the woman's obscenely red lipstick. "Wine? Beer?"
"Water," he answered, bringing his hand to his nose without realizing. Being inu-youkai sometimes held distinct disadvantages. In places such as this, when the scent of the overwhelming perfumes and powders made his head spin, he was all-too aware of the drawbacks of his uncanny senses.
"Wasser!" Stelle laughed, waving his hand as though Toga had made some sort of joke. Toga blinked as he stared at the German. "You drink nothing?" Stelle shook his head and waved at the waitress. "You drink no liquor?"
Toga nearly smiled. Recalling the time his father and Uncle Yasha had gotten drunk on sake and basically made complete and utter fools of themselves in a swordfight, Toga had sworn early on---mostly after listening to his mother's yelling---that he wouldn't be drinking, ever. The two had ended up sleeping it off at Uncle Yasha's house, and only because Aunt Gome was damn near a saint . . .
"No, I never touch the stuff."
"You will have beer, ja?"
Tog smiled politely and waved his hand. "No, thanks. Water's fine."
"So sorry I'm late," a feminine voice said as she quickly slipped into the chair between the men. Toga shot to his feet. Having been taught to stand when a lady presented herself might have seemed old fashioned, but . . .
But then he saw her face, and his heart stopped. Platinum blonde hair pulled back in a delicate chignon at the nape of her neck, she smiled as she glanced up at him. Her smile faltered as she stared. Toga's senses kicked in full-throttle as her all-too-familiar scent surrounded him like an old friend. Those amazing violet eyes of hers . . . they were the same ones he remembered. "Lily?"
"Toga . . .?"
"You two have met?"
Jarred rudely back to his senses by the intrusive voice of Wildemar Stelle, Toga sat back down and tried to shift his gaze away from the girl who had disappeared from his life so long ago.
"She is lovely, ja?"
"Uh, yeah," Toga agreed, fighting down the flush that threatened to engulf his features. 'Damn . . . of all the . . . Married? Lily? To Wildemar Stelle? Ah, kami . . .'
"We met years ago, when my father was stationed near Tokyo," she supplied since Toga couldn't quite find his voice. "His sister and I were friends . . . How is Aiko?"
"Aiko? Uh . . . fine . . . good . . . She's getting married soon."
Lily's smile was radiant, lending a brightness to those remarkable eyes, carving adorable dimples in her soft pink cheeks. Toga forced his gaze away once more and wondered just how it could be that the one girl who'd ever managed to stop his heart was married . . . the one girl who made him feel so alive, so free . . .
In the immortal words of Uncle Yasha, 'Feh.'
A/N:
Final Thought from Sesshoumaru :
See what happens when the boy spends too much time with his Uncle Yasha?
Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Defiance): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.
Sue
