Chapter 4

Strengths and Weakness


"Any word?"

Sesshoumaru dragged his wire-rimmed glasses off his face and dropped them onto the desk with a loud sigh as he sank back in his chair and lifted his gaze to meet that of his mate. "Nothing."

"Can't you bend on this?"

Golden gaze taking on a stubborn light, Sesshoumaru stubbornly shook his head. "No, I cannot."

"I know why you feel the way you do, but Toga doesn't. He never has, and you really can't blame him, can you? He's been surrounded by humans and hanyous his entire life. Can you expect him to understand the significance you place on this, as cynical as it may be?"

"I blame this on that baka brother of mine," Sesshoumaru complained. "If InuYasha had behaved in a more natural fashion---"

"You're grasping as straws, Sesshoumaru. InuYasha and Kagome aren't to blame for it. Look at what the boy's lived! Doted upon, cosseted . . . and then to find that female youkai are nothing like what he's come to know . . . Let me remind you, I told you not to do that with that girl's father. I warned you that Toga would find out one day . . ."

"I did what was necessary to do," he maintained mulishly.

Kagura sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her mate as though she thought he might be losing his mind. "Sesshoumaru, Toga has always done the right thing. He's always been your son, your pride . . . did you honestly expect him to roll over and take this indignity from you, of all people?"

"Whose side are you on?"

"Do I have to take sides?" she countered, magenta eyes flashing with irritation. "I see your point. You wish to uphold the family, the tradition, the youkai lineage. I also see his side. He wants what anyone his age wants. He wants love. Sesshoumaru . . . some things are more important than tradition, than heritage. Try to see his point. He feels as though you've betrayed him, and honestly . . . I can't blame him for feeling that way."

Sesshoumaru sighed and slowly shook his head. "I cannot bend on this, Kagura. I cannot yield to his whims. Toga must know his place, his duty. He will be tai-youkai, the Inu no Taisho. It cannot be avoided."

Kagura sighed in complete exasperation and strode toward the door. "Well, perhaps being right will make you happy when your son chooses not to come back. In case you forgot, Sesshoumaru, your son is a grown man. He doesn't have to listen to you, and he doesn't have to do what you say."

She left him alone then, lost in silent contemplation in the quiet of the study.

Kagura shook her head and headed for the kitchen. 'Be safe, Toga, and come home soon . . .'


--0--0--0--0--0--


Setting aside the manila folder with a heavy sigh, Toga stood up and stretched. Not enough that he had five merger propositions to look over before Monday morning's meeting, but he had somehow managed to get suckered into a benefit gala tomorrow evening, as well. Instead of researching the pros and cons of the submitted offers, he'd be bored out of his mind at a stupid, stuffy soiree that would probably make his father's stoic gatherings of business acquaintances look like slap-happy great times . . .

'Pathetic,' he thought with a grimace as he stared out his apartment window. 'Home with work on a Friday night . . .'

Checking his watch, Toga figured he could at least get something to eat. Boring as it seemed, his life was just not nearly as glamorous as he had thought it would be . . . At home, he'd probably be beating on his brainless cousins or even finding new and different ways to pick at his sister . . . Or he'd be taking Fujiko to the movies or dinner and the theatre . . . He made a face, thinking about the youkai bitch. 'All right. So maybe this is preferable to that . . .'

Heading out the door before he could talk himself out of it, Toga paused long enough to lock his apartment before loping down the three flights of stairs to the street below. Wrinkling his nose at the smoggy air as he stepped onto the sidewalk, hands jammed into his jeans pockets as he slouched his shoulders forward, head down as he wandered down the street.

'Three days,' he thought as he shuffled along the pavement. It'd been three days since he'd met Sierra. As much as he didn't want to think about her, he couldn't seem to help himself, either.

It was all her fault, really. Beautiful and entirely too approachable, why couldn't he get her out of his mind? Those eyes of hers, he decided. He'd always been a pushover for eyes. That had to be it, he decided. It certainly wasn't that unusual hair color---was it as soft as it had looked? Couldn't have been the way her skin seemed to glow---it, too, had seemed much too soft. Surely it wasn't the stunning effect of her smile---that really had seemed to light up her entire face in an unreal glow . . .

'Good, Toga . . . daydreaming about her . . . baka.'

Stopping at the corner as he waited for the light to change, Toga wasn't paying attention to the congestion around him until he heard the female voice yell, "Watch out!"

Glancing up just in time to see the overstuffed floral print chair that was crashing down the building's stairs straight at him, Toga caught it just before it knocked him down.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! It slip---it's you . . . !"

Unable to do more than blink in shock as he stared at the object of his daydreams standing on the sidewalk in front of him, Toga let go of the chair and opened his mouth, willing something to come out of his suddenly parched throat.

"Toga, right?" she asked, wincing at the chair that had nearly barreled him down.

"Uh?"

She grinned. "You hit my dog? Remember?"

He managed a quick nod. "Uh huh."

Her smile faded as a look of concern filtered over her features. "You didn't hit your head, did you?"

"What? Oh, no . . . Sorry." He winced inwardly. 'Nice, Toga . . . Smooth . . .'

"Sierra! Come on! We've got plans tonight, remember?"

Startled out of his reverie by the man standing on the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest glaring at him, Toga couldn't help the territorial growl that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him.

Sierra rolled her eyes and waved at the man. "In a minute!" Turning back to Toga, she grinned and gestured at the chair. "Well, I guess I should finish with my moving before the guys decide to take off. It was nice seeing you again."

"Do you need more help?" Toga blurted as she started to walk away. It registered in his mind that the guy on the stairs had mentioned that 'they' had plans for tonight . . . Toga growled again.

She stopped and grinned at him. "If you're sure . . . I did almost run you down with my furniture."

"This?" he said, waving at the chair. "Feh. This is nothing." Hefting the chair off the ground and heading for the building without a sign of strain, he caught her drop-mouthed surprise as he brushed past the man on the stoop and carried the furniture into the building.

Sierra grabbed one of the last boxes out of the back of the van and hurried into the building to show Toga where to put the chair. "This way . . ." she said as she brushed past Toga in the wide hallway.

"Sierra, where do you want this?" another guy asked as he carried a box through the apartment.

"Uh, anywhere . . ." she said absently as she set her box down and barely scooted out of the way as the first guy returned with a large rattling box.

"Here's the last of it. I dropped it on accident . . ."

"No . . ." she gasped. "Those are my dishes!"

The guy made a face. "So get new ones."

Sierra rolled her eyes. "Thanks, guys." Toga waited, still holding the chair. Sierra finally seemed to notice and with a soft gasp, she pointed to an empty spot near the matching sofa. "I'm sorry! I totally forgot . . . You didn't strain anything, did you?"

Toga set down the chair where she'd pointed and shot her a confused look. "No . . . why?"

"Gawd, Sie. Can you go ten minutes without picking up some poor guy?" a third man complained as he came down the hallway.

Sierra's cheeks pinked as she studiously avoided Toga's gaze. "For your information, I met him a few days ago."

"A few days ago?" guy number two asked suspiciously. "Are you the one who hit Dennis?"

"Uh, yeah," Toga admitted.

"Oh, man . . . you got balls, coming back around here. I'm surprised Sierra didn't rip you a new one . . . Dennis was her baby!" guy-number-three said with a groan.

"He was very sorry. You'd think he'd lost a relative or something," Sierra grumbled as her face flushed sweetly.

"All right, it was nice meeting you. I'm outta here. Carol's going to kill me if I'm late," number-one said. "You'd better like it here because I'm not moving you again," he grouched but kissed Sierra's cheek before he left.

"Me, too," number-three said as he echoed the sentiment of the first guy. Toga clenched his fists, hidden in his jeans pockets again. "You said you'd pay us in beer, you know. You'll go to hell for lying."

"Go on," Sierra joked as she shoved him toward the door. "Bye." Turning to stare at the remaining guy, she sighed. "Et tu, Mike?"

"Absolutely. Can't miss the big game." Number-two shot Toga a quick glance and winced. "Hide the body in the basement and don't call the cops," he joked.

Sierra rolled her eyes and watched as he left, too, before turning back to smile at Toga. "Want to get some pizza?"

He frowned. "I thought they said you had plans."

She giggled. "Nah, they all had plans. I'm free . . . unless you have plans."

"Me? Oh, no . . . I was just going to get something to eat when your chair attacked."

"I'm sorry about that," she apologized again as she headed down the hallway. "Let me change out of my moving clothes, and we can go . . ."

"Who . . . uh . . . who were they?"

"Brothers."

"Brothers?" Toga echoed, frown deepening. "They can't be your brothers. You don't smell anything like them."

Sierra stopped and shot Toga a puzzled stare. "I hope not," she remarked dryly. "Anyway, I'm adopted. After four boys, Mom and Dad wanted to make sure they got a girl."

"Oh," he remarked slowly, unable to hide his relieved smile as she disappeared from view. 'Brothers . . . I can deal with brothers . . .'


--0--0--0--0--0--


"Is that your natural hair color?"

"Yes. Is that your natural hair length or do you have extensions."

Toga shook his head. "Extensions? This Toga would not need hair extensions."

She grinned. "Are you sure you're not really bald under all that hair?

Accepting her teasing for what it was, Toga shrugged and grinned. "Absolutely. Hideous, really. Completely bald."

"All right, my turn," Sierra said as she wiped her hands on a napkin. "Where are you from? Really?"

Toga sat back and sighed. " Tokyo."

"Really? You don't look Japanese. So what are you doing in Chicago?"

"Working . . . and working . . ." He shook his head slowly. "My boss pulled some strings to get my work visa, or so he says. A real slave driver."

She winced as she sipped her soda. "Wow . . . all work and no play? That's got to be tough."

Toga shrugged. "Tell me about it. I have this black tie benefit tomorrow night, and I really ought to be looking over a few of the merger files instead . . ." Sitting back, Toga regarded Sierra thoughtfully as she played with her straw. "Would you . . . you wouldn't . . . go with me?"

"Black tie?" she asked dubiously, "I don't know . . ."

"It is sudden, isn't it? Forget I said anything. Stupid idea."

"No," she assured him, leaning forward and placing a hand on his arm. He stared at her. "Are you sure? I've never really been to anything like that . . . I might embarrass you."

"I doubt you could."

"I don't have anything to wear."

"Wear that."

She laughed. Wearing a pair of white jean shorts and a little blue tee shirt, considering he'd just told her it was 'black tie' he supposed she was entitled to her amusement. He didn't care. Would it matter what she wore? She'd still look beautiful . . .

"Maybe I can find something."

"I'm sure you can."

She blushed and fiddled with her straw a little more. "You're different, you know? I don't think I've ever met anybody like you before."

Toga's smile was full of irony as he stared at the glow of the fake candle in the middle of the table. "Yeah . . . I'm different, all right."

"I don't mean that in a bad way . . ."

His smile faded a little as he stared into her eyes. "I didn't think you did."

She dropped her napkin on the table and sat back with a satisfied sigh. "I'm having a really nice time."

He nodded as she smiled at him; as he smiled back at her. "Me, too."


A/N:


Final Thought from Toga :

Wow


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