Chapter 18
Mistletoe
"Is something wrong?"
Sierra forced a smile and shook her head. "No . . . nothing . . . why?"
"You've been quiet the entire time.
She flipped on the radio. "I missed you this week."
"Mike thought that I could use some extra work helping with someone else's caseload."
"I know. Who are you working with?"
Toga shrugged. "A girl named Kari. She's got ten mergers in January."
"A girl?"
Toga turned his head, glancing at Sierra for a moment before looking back at the road. "Does this bother you?"
"No! Of course not!" Sierra scoffed as she concentrated on the passing countryside. ". . . Should it?"
Toga chuckled. "Absolutely not . . . most of the time I'm fairly certain she'd just as soon smash me like a cockroach than talk to me."
"Okay . . . what about the other part of the time?"
"Hmm?"
Sierra snorted. "You said 'most' of the time . . . so how does she act the rest of the time?"
Toga frowned. She could feel his gaze on her even though he didn't appear to take his attention off the road. "Are you jealous?"
"Should I be?"
"No."
"Then no . . ." she assured him. Sierra tore a toll booth receipt into tiny bits of confetti. "Is she . . . pretty?"
"She's not . . . ugly . . . ."
"I see."
"What'd I say?" he asked, reacting to the clipped tone of her voice.
"Nothing."
"That wasn't a fair question," he pointed out.
She heaved a sigh. "The fact that you noticed whether or not she was pretty implies that you were looking."
Toga's mouth dropped open. He snapped it closed and refused to say anything else that she could possibly turn on him.
"How long do you have to work with her?"
It was apparent to her that he was thinking that over, probably trying to figure out if she could use his answer against him. "Through January . . . ."
"And dinner dates with her?"
"They're not dates," he protested. "Sierra . . . didn't you say you trust me?"
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?"
Sierra waved her hand in dismissal. "Forget it."
He didn't press it, but he did sigh.
The rest of the drive was silent. Sierra bit her lip. 'Good, Sie. Guys run when girls get jealous . . . .'
After parking in her mother's driveway, Toga got out and ran around to open Sierra's door for her before offering his hand to help her down. She stared at his hand. The gesture somehow fit him perfectly, as though he had been brought up in another place, in a time that seemed somehow removed from the world she knew.
Sierra pointedly ignored his hand and climbed out of the vehicle on her own.
"You're still upset with me."
She opened the back door to retrieve the bag of presents. Toga took the bag from her. "Nope, not in the least."
He blinked at her clipped tone. "That's a lie."
She shrugged. "Not at all. Can we not talk about this?"
He sighed. "All right." Staring off over the snow-topped landscape, Toga frowned. "Can you tell me how long you plan on being mad at me?"
Sierra picked a piece of lint off the front of her sweater. "I'm not."
He didn't respond to that. He didn't have to. The expression on his face stated that he thought she was lying.
She stepped past him and headed for the house.
--0--0--0--0--0--
Toga had to wonder if anyone else could sense the tension that surrounded Sierra like a blanket. He'd known that she would probably mention his extended absence this week. He'd wondered if she would be upset about it. He hadn't really expected that she would be as irritated as she was.
Dinner had been a stilted affair, as far as he was concerned. The talk around the table had been pleasant and happy, and he contributed to it when he was asked a question, as did Sierra. Other than, 'please pass the gravy,' she'd not said a single word to him.
If anyone else noticed it, though, they didn't comment. Maybe it was his youkai senses that made it so glaringly obvious. Even now, though, as Toga lounged unobtrusively in the doorway as everyone else gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents, he wondered if Sierra would notice if he slipped outside for awhile. He had a present for her stashed in his jacket pocket. He just wasn't sure if she would want it . . . .
Sierra laughed as she opened a present from her mother---a fat, squirming little golden retriever pup. Toga frowned. The box had holes, and he was sure that her mother had been careful not to leave the pup in the box long. Still, the idea bothered him . . . .
The pup lifted her nose and sniffed the air then squirmed out of Sierra's grasp. Making a beeline straight for Toga, the pup barked happily. Toga barely had time to react as the pup lunged for him. He caught her and blushed as Sierra's brothers started in with commentary about how strange it was that the pup seemed drawn to him.
Toga lifted her to stare into her eyes. The pup whined. Toga growled low as he stared at her. 'What's your name, pup?'
The pup whined again. 'N-n-no n-name, Lor-rd Dog.'
'Let the girl name you?'
'Y-yes.'
Toga nodded and set the pup back on the floor. She scooted around his feet, whining and yipping at him.
"Look, Sierra . . . Toga's taken your dog," Mike pointed out.
Sierra caught Toga's embarrassed grin. She smiled. "He has a way with dogs."
"Oh, hey, Sierra . . . look where Toga's standing," Carol, Kevin's wife, said, pointing above Toga's head.
He glanced up and stared at the tiny sprig of green leaves and white berries suspended by a red ribbon over his head.
"I'd kiss him for you, but I don't think certain people would like it," Christine joked as she winked at Bill.
Toga didn't have to look to know that Sierra was blushing.
"You've got to kiss him," Mrs. Crawford pointed out. "He's just been standing there since dinner."
"Nah . . . if he wants one that bad then he should've pointed it out himself," Brent remarked with a frown.
"Will you guys stop it?" Sierra groaned. "He's from Japan, remember? He doesn't know what mistletoe means."
Toga stepped back so that he wasn't directly under the dangling branch. "Better?"
Mike snorted. "So you don't want to kiss our sister?"
Why did he have a feeling that this was another of those catch-22 type questions? Toga tried to figure out a good way out of answering but came up blank.
Sierra threw a wad of wrapping paper at her brother and stood up to stalk over to Toga. He didn't get a chance to say anything as she leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips against his. Meant to be a quick kiss, Toga couldn't help it as he caught her and held onto her. Her body was stiff in his arms for a moment before she relaxed against him and returned the kiss.
She sighed softly. He did, too, but for other reasons entirely. Mindful that this was neither the time nor place for the kissing he'd like to do, Toga ended the kiss far sooner than he'd have liked. Sierra hugged him. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Don't be," he whispered back.
"Good God, someone needs to separate those two," Mike grouched loudly.
Sierra hid her face against Toga's shoulder but laughed.
The yipping pup caught his attention, and Toga made a face. "I'll take your pup out while you open your gifts," he told her. Sierra nodded.
Toga didn't bother with his coat as he scooped up the pup and headed for the front door.
The pup barked and whined as she stared at the snow. She turned back to stare sadly at Toga. He shrugged. "Nope . . . snow won't hurt you."
He set her down despite her protesting whines. She stood still for a few moments, shivering and groaning and casting Toga sad little looks.
"Come on . . . you said you had to go," he told her.
She yipped then whined again. 'Paper-r-r,' she whimpered.
Toga shook his head. "No paper, pup. If you want to go back inside, then you'd better go."
"Talking to the dog?"
Toga stiffened and turned to eye Brent. He hadn't heard him slip outside. "Sure," Toga said cautiously. "They're not stupid."
Brent didn't look impressed. Standing with his arms crossed over his chest, Brent's glower was menacing as he could make it. Toga wasn't impressed. "What'd you do to make my sister so unhappy earlier?"
"I had to work extra hours this week . . .not that it really concerns you."
Slowly, Brent moved forward to stand directly in front of Toga, obviously trying to intimidate him. "I warned you, didn't I? Don't hurt my sister."
"Because I have two sisters of my own, I won't take exception to your belief that I'm trying to hurt Sierra," Toga remarked softly. "I'm not trying to hurt her. I won't let anyone do that. I believe you'd better step back."
"Or what?"
"Stop it! Brent! Toga!"
Toga didn't back away as Sierra ran out the door and down the porch steps to push her way between the two. "It's fine, Sierra. Your brother was concerned."
"Brent . . . you don't need to protect me from Toga, okay? Knock it off."
Brent didn't look happy about having his sister call him on his threats. "I mean it. If you hurt her, I'll hurt you."
Toga didn't reply as Brent finally turned and stomped back toward the house. Sierra didn't take her eyes off him until he had closed the door behind himself. "You wouldn't fight him, would you?"
Toga sighed. "Not if I could help it," he answered.
She wasn't comforted by his answer. "What does that mean?"
Toga shrugged. "Do you expect me to back down from him?"
"What I expect is that it never comes to that." She sighed and turned to face him, her arms folded over her chest as though she were cold. "You could kill him, and he doesn't know that."
Toga shook his head, caught her under the chin to make her look at him. "Is that what you think? Do you really believe I'd kill a human?"
"No, I don't . . . . Has your father?"
"That was a long time ago . . . before he took in Rin."
She nodded. Her eyes were clouded with doubt, and he couldn't blame her for that. From what she had told him about her meeting with Sesshoumaru, Toga was certain that his father had tried to scare the hell out of her, and he'd succeeded. "Sierra . . . I'm not like him."
She smiled. "I know. Do you want to go home? I'd just like to be alone . . . with you."
Toga smiled, too. "Sounds nice."
--0--0--0--0--0--
"She said you can name her," Toga remarked as he watched the pup happily scampering around the floor chasing a red rubber ball.
Sierra grinned, lifting her head where she had been resting against Toga's chest. "Did she? Can you talk to her?"
He shrugged. "Sort of . . . more like I hear what she's thinking."
"That's . . . weird."
"Is it?"
"Isn't it?"
He chuckled. "Maybe. I'm used to it. Uncle Yasha has had dogs, too. The first one---Dammit---adopted him, I guess you could say."
"Dammit?" Sierra echoed. "He named the dog---?"
"No. Most dogs already have names. That was what she told him her name was."
She shook her head slowly and let her temple fall against his shoulder again. "I said it before, Toga . . . your family is quite . . . eclectic."
Toga grimaced. "That was nice of you to say."
She giggled. "Your father seems a little less intimidating when he's halfway around the world."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that . . . ."
"It's all right. I'm sorry my brother was being mean to you."
Toga chuckled. "I think I'll live."
She wiggled around to scoot up and kiss his chin. "Do you want your present?"
"More of that?" he asked hopefully.
She giggled again. "You're so cheap . . . ."
"Don't knock it."
She sat up, bracing her hands against his chest, and untangled herself from him before retrieving the last two packages under the tree. Handing him the presents, she sat back down between his legs and waited.
He sniffed at them. She laughed. He tore away the festive wrap and opened the velvet jeweler's box to stare at the small gold bar tie tack. "Thank you." He made a face. "Trying to remind me of work?"
She snorted. "Not hardly . . . I might have to come by and see you one of these days . . . ."
"Trying to catch a glimpse of Kari, you mean?"
She didn't deny it. "Open your other present."
He did and laughed when he pulled the stuffed black dog out of the box. "Is this what you think I look like?"
She shrugged. "No . . . maybe a little . . . ."
He let her take the stuffed animal and smiled as she wrapped her arms around it before settling back against his chest again. "I think you bought that for yourself," he accused.
She didn't deny it.
"Do you want your present?"
She leaned away to stare at him. "Yes!"
Toga pulled the small box out of the sofa cushions where he'd hidden it earlier. She stared at the box through narrowed eyes, as though she wasn't sure what to expect and was reluctant to find out. "Open it."
She did, hesitantly. She got the paper off and stared at the wine colored velvet jeweler's box for a moment. "Toga . . . ."
"You can't say you don't like it if you don't look at it first," he pointed out.
She flipped the lid back and shook her head slowly as she gazed at the strand of pearls in the deep red silk. "It's beautiful."
He took the box and pulled out the necklace. Working the clasp and carefully draping it over her neck to fasten it, Toga smiled. "It's not beautiful. It's just a necklace. You're beautiful."
She stared at him, her eyes oddly bright. He reached out, stroked her cheek. "Merry Christmas, Toga."
He pulled her closer, his lips brushing against hers as her eyes fluttered closed, as she sighed. "Merry Christmas, Sierra."
A/N:
Final Thought from Toga :
Merry Christmas …
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
