Chapter 11

Matters of the Heart


InuYasha sat cross-legged on the floor staring out the glass doors at the pond and the woods beyond. Lost in thought, his golden gaze unblinking, unseeing. He drew a deep breath and flicked his ears.

"What are you thinking about?" Kagome asked as she emerged from the laundry room with a basket full of fluffy dried clothes.

"Feh."

Kagome grinned and sat down on the sofa to fold the clothes. "Toga?"

InuYasha nodded. "A human, huh?"

Kagome sighed. "Apparently."

"Sesshoumaru ain't going to like that."

"I didn't really think so, myself."

InuYasha turned his head, grinning mischievously. "So . . . do you think Kagura told the bastard?"

Kagome made a face. "I don't know. Probably not. You won't either, you hear me?"

InuYasha rolled his eyes. "Feh! Take the fun out of everything, wench."

She smiled. "Well, maybe not everything . . . ."

With a wicked glint in the eyes she loved so much, InuYasha rolled to his knees and stalked toward Kagome on his hands and knees. "You know, Kagome . . . the pups are gone . . . ."

As if in answer to InuYasha's subtle hint, Kagome sighed as the front door slammed. "Bakas!" a female voice rang out in the house.

At the sound of the bellow, InuYasha sprang to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest, legs askew as he waited for the aforementioned 'pups' to enter the living room.

"Feh! Give it up, Gin. That bastard ain't never gonna be good enough to lick your feet, let alone date you," Ryomaru growled as the twins followed a very irritated Gin into the room.

"What was that?" InuYasha demanded.

Gin stopped in her tracks, casting Kagome an imploring look that clearly stated that the young hanyou girl wanted her mother's backing on this.

"Caught some baka who thought he could get a little too close to Gin," Kichiro remarked, crossing his arms over his chest in a mirrored stance of their father.

Gin rolled her eyes and flipped her silvery locks over her shoulder. "I dropped my bag, and he was trying to help me pick up my things when these two dog-boys decided to shove him up against the building."

"Boys . . ." Kagome began in her sternest tone. The twins' ears flattened.

"Who was he?" InuYasha broke in.

"Hakura Akiro," Gin supplied. "He's one of the most popular guys at the college, and---"

InuYasha snorted, having had the whelp in his classes before. "Good job, boys. Keep that trouser-sniffer away from her."

"InuYasha!" Kagome countered with a frown, having noticed the upset in their daughter's expression.

"No way, wench. I'll beat him down, myself, if he comes around here."

Kagome sighed and stood up. "Come on, Gin. Help me with dinner, okay?"

Gin didn't look like she wanted to help but she obediently followed her mother into the kitchen, daring to cast her father a sad, almost pouting, look.

Careful to keep his expression stern, InuYasha silently marveled at just how very much like her mother Gin really was.

"We can't stay," Ryomaru called after Kagome. "Got big plans."

InuYasha eyed his sons speculatively. "What sort of plans?"

Kichiro blinked innocently. "Nothing."

"Don't give me that shit. I'm on to you two. Now tell me what the hell you've got planned."

Exchanging significant looks, the two grinned at their father. "Just a night out with some friends," Ryo hedged.

InuYasha narrowed his gaze and shot a significant look of his own toward the fireplace and the rusty old sword hanging over the mantle. "I'm not as blind as your mother," InuYasha remarked casually enough. "I know you two. You'd better pray your mother doesn't find out because if she does, she'll purify both your asses, you got that?"

"Yes, Father," Ryomaru answered with a straight face.

"Oi!" InuYasha bellowed since he hated being called that, in particular.

The two darted for the front door. InuYasha shook his head slowly as the slam echoed in their wake. Kagome's sons were hell-bent on destruction, InuYasha just knew it . . . .

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

Kagura sat on the huge bed with her legs curled under her as she leafed through an old photo album with a sad smile.

"Mama, what do you think of these flowers?" Aiko breezed into the bedroom and stopped short, a concerned frown casting her amber eyes in cloudy distress. "You miss him. I do, too."

Kagura smiled and hugged her daughter as Aiko settled on the edge of the bed. Idly smoothing back the long silvery strands, Kagura turned her attention to the flowers in the younger woman's hand. "They're lovely, of course."

Aiko shook her head slowly. "Do you think he'll come?"

"I'm almost afraid if he does . . ." Kagura admitted.

"Surely Papa won't argue with him at the wedding," Aiko assured her mother.

Kagura shook her head. "That's not what I'm afraid of . . . ." She sighed. "Toga's got a . . . friend."

"A friend?" Aiko echoed with a frown.

"A human friend."

Eyes widening in sudden understanding, Aiko's mouth rounded into a silent 'oh'. "That's not good . . . . Papa's not going to like that."

Kagura smiled at her daughter's massive underassessment. "What do you think, Aiko? Do you think your father's being unreasonable?"

Aiko sighed and shrugged. "I don't know . . . I mean, yes, I think he is, but . . . I sort of think that I can understand his concern . . . but I don't think he has the right to tell Toga who can or can't make him happy . . . isn't that what's important?"

Kagura nodded. "I wish I could get your father to see that, too . . . and your brother is just as stubborn as Sesshoumaru has ever been . . . ."

Aiko leaned her head on her mother's shoulder. "Papa says it's all Uncle Inu's fault . . . ."

Kagura rolled her eyes. "He would. Trust me, it has more to do with your father than it does your Uncle InuYasha. He's just too stubborn to admit it."

Aiko sighed. "Mama?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Toga misses us?"

Kagura hugged her daughter again. "I'm sure he does, Aiko."

Aiko nodded slowly and hugged her mother back.


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


Sierra threw her head back in laughter as Toga jammed his hands deeper into his pockets and shook his head, a bashful grin surfacing as he turned his face to the side, trying to hide his obvious embarrassment.

"Is it so bad, Toga?" she teased, referring to the old couple they'd passed on the corner. The woman had nudged the man and, nodding toward the two, had commented on how nice it was to see such a beautiful young couple.

"Of course not," he agreed. "Just . . . is that what we are? A couple?"

Sierra stopped abruptly and slowly turned to face him. The afternoon sunshine of the late autumn day reflected in those startling amber eyes to make Sierra's stomach erupt in a spiral of butterflies that tickled and teased her belly. "Are we?"

Toga's smile seemed to falter just a little as he shrugged. "Is that what you want?"

She suddenly laughed again, shaking her head as she tried to stop her humor. "We're sad, huh? We just keep asking, and---"

He caught her hand and pulled her close, ignoring the passers-by who stopped to eye the two as though they'd gone insane. Before she could think, before she could react, before she knew much of anything at all, his lips touched hers, and everything else faded away. His hair was caught in the chilly breeze, whipping around the two of them as she pushed herself onto her toes, leaning against him, hands on his shoulders.

The incredible gentleness behind his actions tempered the heady sensations as the butterflies in her stomach broke free. Her body felt lighter than air, the thoughts in her mind drifted into incoherence. The feel of his mouth, so soft, so tender against hers was enough, and she sighed. Nothing seemed to matter as sound faded away, nothing penetrated the wonder surrounding her, cosseting her in an engulfing sense of belonging. Warm and inviting, something about Toga, about his kiss precluded anything she might have thought, any protest that might have surfaced. 'I belong . . . with him . . . ?' She smiled.

Toga drew away, the light of bemusement clouding his vision as he stared at her. Sierra had to blink to clear her own line of sight, and when she saw that look in his eyes, she couldn't help but laugh. What was it about him that made her feel so happy?

"I guess that was a little forward of me," he remarked with an unrepentant smile as the two started along the sidewalk again. He hesitantly took her hand. She squeezed his fingers gently.

"It was," Sierra agreed with a wide grin.

He chuckled. "I guess I could apologize."

"You could."

She felt his gaze slip toward her, and she tried not to smile.

"And how could I do that?"

Sierra felt her cheeks heat under his scrutiny. "I'll think of something."

They stopped outside Sierra's apartment building. Toga nodded at the doors. "Thanks for going to dinner with me," he remarked, sounding a lot more formal than he normally did.

Sierra checked her watch. True, she had to be at work by five a.m. to set up for a meeting, but it wasn't even seven yet. There was still time. "You don't want to come up for a little while?"

Toga shrugged, his cheeks coloring just slightly. "If you'd like."

Sierra giggled. "You've gone all formal on me, haven't you?"

He chuckled. "Maybe. I'm new to this sort of thing."

She led the way inside, tugging him along by the hand. "You can't be new at this sort of thing," she remarked as they started up the stairs. "You've dated before. You said so."

"You'd be surprised," he answered, his tone drier than normal.

Sierra stopped on the steps and shot him a quick look. "I guess," she agreed finally as she started climbing again. "Fujiko's brothers were pretty big."

"Fujiko's brothers?"

"Yeah . . . in the park?"

"Oh, them . . . yeah . . . yeah."

She stopped again and glanced at him. Staring at the stairs with a consternated frown, Toga seemed lost in thought. Sierra turned to face him. "Toga?"

"Pardon?' he responded as he snapped out of his reverie.

"That night in the park . . . how was it that you moved so fast? I could barely see you . . . ."

"It was dark."

"Sure, but . . . ."

Toga sighed. "There are things that you don't know about me," he said slowly.

Sierra stepped back, crossing her arms over her chest. Why did she feel like she was better off not knowing? She shoved that thought aside. "Are you a convicted murderer?"

Toga blinked. "No . . . ."

"Rapist?"

"No."

"Girlfriend beater?"

"No."

"Child molester?"

"No."

"Sexual deviant?"

"No!"

"Son of a mobster?"

"No."

"Any felonies?"

His expression turned chagrined. "Feh! No."

She sighed. "Then it can't be that bad. Come on."

He looked as though he wanted to say something but followed Sierra up the rest of the stairs and down the hallway to her apartment door. The telephone was ringing. Sierra hurriedly unlocked the door and ran inside to intercept the apparatus. "Hello?"

Toga turned on the lights as Sierra frowned.

"Sierra? This is your father. I was hoping to hear from you soon."

"Now's not a good time . . . I haven't decided yet."

The man sighed. "Not to pressure you, but there really isn't that much time. I didn't want to say this before because I didn't want you to come out of guilt, but your mom's sick, and---"

"My mom is fine . . . I assume you're talking about my biological mother?" Sierra cut in icily, gripping the phone so tightly that her fingers turned white.

He was silent for a moment, as though Sierra's words had hurt him. "Darling, we never---"

"Don't call me that. You gave up the right to call me that."

Toga's hand on her shoulder offered her a semblance of calm.

"Please . . . it would mean the world to your . . . to Anne."

"I told you, I'll think about it. Calling and hounding me isn't really aiding your cause."

"But---"

Sierra blinked in surprise as Toga's hand snatched the receiver out of her hand. She turned to look at him, frowning at what could only be described as a snarl on his face as he brought the phone to his ear. "She told you how she feels. Leave her alone or I'll make sure you never find her again. When she decides, she'll call you."

That said, Toga slammed the receiver down and uttered a low growl.

Sierra managed a weak laugh. "Sometimes I think you were a dog in a past life," she remarked, trying to lighten her own mood by teasing Toga.

He slowly turned his gaze on her, his eyes dark, fierce. "A past life?"

Sierra jumped as the phone rang again. With yet another growl, Toga snatched up the receiver and brought it to his ear. "Yes?" His mutinous glower dissipated and turned almost sheepish as he blushed. "Oh, uh, yeah, here."

Holding the receiver out with his hand over the mouthpiece, Toga winced. "Your mother."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sierra took the phone and shot Toga a wan smile. "Hi, Mom."

"Toga is answering your phone?"

Sierra made a face as Toga headed toward the refrigerator. "No . . . I had a prank call a few minutes ago."

"Oh . . . I've told you, dear, an unlisted phone number is a God-send."

"Yeah . . . maybe I should do that."

Mrs. Crawford laughed. "I was calling to ask you if you were bringing . . . anyone . . . to Thanksgiving dinner?"

Sierra winced. "Anyone in particular?" she hedged.

Her mother sighed. "Hm, I can't imagine . . . ."

Sierra gave in. "Let me ask." She turned and gasped since Toga was right behind her. She hadn't heard him approach. "Toga . . . Mom wanted to know if you were interested in coming with me to Thanksgiving dinner?"

Toga looked apprehensive at best. "Isn't that for family?"

She shrugged. "Did you have plans already?"

"No," he admitted. She raised an eyebrow. He handed her a bottle of water and nodded as he moved off toward the sofa.

"Okay," she told her mother.

"Good . . . wonderful . . . your brothers were telling me about him, and Brent can't wait to meet him."

Sierra made a face. Out of all of her brothers, Brent was by far the hardest to impress. "Mom, will you tell Brent he'd better not try his stonewalling crap with Toga?"

Her mother sighed. "I can't guarantee anything, but yes, I'll try."

Figuring that was the best she was likely to get, Sierra made small talk for a few more minutes before hanging up the phone. She wandered over and sat down next to Toga. As if he sensed her warring emotions, he pulled her against his chest and rested his cheek on her hair.

She sighed and accepted the comfort he offered. "Should I do it?" she finally asked.

He seemed to understand her half-question. "Only if you want to."

". . . Will you come with me, if I do?"

Toga squeezed her gently. "If you want me to."

She sighed again and squirmed around to get more comfortable. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."


A/N:


Final Thought from Sierra :

Toga . . . how about another of those kisses . . . ?


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