Chapter 8
With a scowl, Sesshoumaru finally gave up and hung up his office phone. How dare that pathetic little hanyou ignore his call like that!
He leaned back in his leather office chair and picked up his neglected glass of whiskey. Sighing inwardly, he turned his attention to watching Tokyo's warm spring night come to life many stories beneath his office windows.
After five centuries, Sesshoumaru still looked perfectly beautiful. No wrinkles or liver spots would ever mar his smooth, silky features. He would remain eternally youthful. He had kept his sleek, soft hair long, usually just wearing it back in a low ponytail.
Even at this moment, he still looked incredibly handsome, although he slouched in his chair, his silk tie loosened, shirt collar open while he chugged his whiskey like an old drunk.
He leaned over and poured himself another glassful of the amber liquid from a crystal decanter that sat on his huge white marble desk.
Sesshoumaru stared again out of the windows, absently. He lifted his free hand and gently touched the side of his neck, searching for the mark that was never there.
Kagome's mating mark, the one he had forced her to give him. Even after all this time, he missed it.
He wanted it back.
Taking a sip, Sesshoumaru closed his magnificent golden eyes. The look on her face as she lay dying had never left his mind in the past 500 years. She looked so calm, so much at peace. It was as if she was thankful for the end.
And those haunting words she sent him...they still rang in his head. 'You are free now...Be happy.'
His chest tightened painfully. His heart ached. It ached for her. For his lost Kagome.
After all he had done to her, even after all the things he and Inuyasha had put her through, she had wished for his happiness...to free him from something he did not want.
It had taken him a long time to admit that he did indeed love her. The thought had shocked him like nothing had ever done, but he had to admit it. He loved Kagome.
He had taken many lovers since her death, in a desperate attempt he realized later, to rid his memory of her. But no matter how many he had had, none had compared to his Kagome.
So, after nearly a century of trying to forget her, he had decided tobecome celibate. Even though he was frustrated beyond belief, no woman save Kagome would EVER do for him.
A clap of thunder shook the glass windows. Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to see rain begin to fall, spattering against the wide expanse of window pane. 'Oh hell,' he thought with irritation.
On such nights as this, Sesshoumaru felt extra sexually frustrated. He adored the rain and he recalled that Kagome did as well. One night after their mating, she shyly admitted that she had always wanted to make love outside on a rainy night. He, of course, could have cared less and he promptly told her so. After that, she had completely stopped talking to him of personal matters.
After her death, rainy nights only served to remind him of her and his callous treatment of her. On those nights too, his youkai howled at him continuously until he could barely take it. Hence the beginning of drinking alcohol to make it shut the hell up. But from then on, whenever it rained at night, he would imagine he was outside, making love to his little miko while drinking himself to unconsciousness.
Sesshoumaru rose somewhat unsteadily and glared down at his now empty glass. 'I will win her yet,' he promised himself angrily. For he desperately loved her and she would HAVE to come back so he could have the pleasure of renewing his mark on her.
But for now, he would wait. He needed to wait until much later to see if his baka hanyou brother could get her to talk. He recalled that Kagome had once been in love with Inuyasha.
Sesshoumaru snorted into his glass before downing the last of the liquor. Oh well, there was no accounting for taste.
He rose to his feet and stretched stretched lazily, looking for all the world like a huge, sleek cat. He reached down for his coat that was draped over his chair and shrugged his broad shoulders into it. Next he grabbed his car keys and cell phone from his desk's mirrored surface before bending slowly down to get his briefcase. Slowly, because the room began to spin ever so slightly when he bent down.
He grunted. "Note to self: Lay off the whiskey," he muttered under his breath.
When he managed to get home without causing too many accidents, he went straight up to Inuyasha's bedroom and banged loudly on the door. "Open up, hanyou! I know your ass is in there!"
He almost snickered at the sound of Inuyasha's startled yelp. From within, there was a loud crash, accompanied by a thud and a muffled grunt.
Sesshoumaru couldn't help it. He burst into laughter.
Opening the door, Sesshoumaru reached out and flipped on the light switch. He let out a roar of laughter that shook the house to its foundations. He slid to the floor, holding his stomach.
Inuyasha was sprawled on the floor, completely tangled in his bedsheets. A lamp that had been sitting quite safely on his bedside table was now in pieces on the floor next to the table.
Inuyasha glared at Sesshoumaru. "You...you baka! What the hell were you thinking, bangin' on my door like that? Asshole!" He struggled, causing the sheets to tighten themselves around him. This only served to entertain his hysterical half-brother even more.
Inuyasha finally managed to extricate himself from his predicament using his claws. "Damn! I really liked those sheets too," he moaned, picking up the shredded strips of soft flannel. He turned to Sesshoumaru, whose laughter had now subsided to weak chuckles and was propped up against the doorframe.
Inuyasha bared his fangs. "You're a prick, you know that?" He sniffed the air around Sesshoumaru and covered his nose. "A drunk prick," he added, shaking his head. "At the whiskey again, were you? Filthy lush."
By now, Sesshoumaru had stopped laughing altogther and shut his eyes, trying to force the room to stop spinning. "That," he intoned as coldly as he could manage under the circumstances, " is none of your business, Inuyasha."
"Look, before I toss your drunk ass out of my doorway, would you please tell me what in Kami's name did you want?" Inuyasha grunted irritably.
"You were thinking of her, weren't you?" Sesshoumaru did not even need to open his eyes to see Inuyasha's face turn red. He knew what the hanyou had been doing when he had banged on the door.
"What if I was?" Inuyasha sounded defensive.
"You have no right to think of my mate in that manner," Sesshoumaru said quietly.
"I have no right! What the hell are you babbling about? Kagome is no longer your mate or had you forgotten?" Inuyasha snarled at his half-brother viciously. "She fucking killed herself to give you your damned freedom!"
Sesshoumaru's golden eyes snapped open. He turned and glared at Inuyasha, who had chunked his tattered bedsheets at him. "I have every right, Inuyasha," he responded dangerously. "She is mine and you will not dishonor her by jacking off to filthy thoughts of her!"
Inuyasha's face turned a darker shade of embarassed. "Keh! Whatever! Like you don't, Fluffy!"
Sesshoumaru managed to get to his feet with some dignity. "This Sesshoumaru does not do such low and vulgar acts."
Inuyasha growled. "Liar. You can tell yourself that all you want, but I know better. You are just as depraved as I am, so don't you fucking judge me!"
Without ceremony, Inuyasha shoved his angry, yet still inebriated brother out of the doorway. He slammed the door in Sesshoumaru's face and locked it.
When Sesshoumaru managed to drag his hungover carcass to his office the next morning, he found an expensively dressed, black-haired youkai sitting in his chair behind his desk. The unwelcome visitor was holding a small glass figurine of a girl, and was examining it intently.
Sesshoumaru walked into the middle of his office, watching the youkai, who was leaning back nonchalantly in the chair. "What do YOU want?" Sesshoumaru growled at the youkai. He was feeling as though a herd of water buffalo was at this very moment, trampling on his head in a mad rush. He didn't want to deal with the youkai sitting so comfortably at his fucking desk.
"I was wondering why you, of all youkai, would have such delicate piece of glass in your possession," Kouga remarked casually, still staring at the figurine. "But upon closer examination, I realized that this tiny statue looks just like Kagome."
Sesshoumaru stiffened. "What of it?"
Piercing ice blue eyes slid upwards, their hard gaze resting on the taiyoukai, studying him for a long moment. Slowly, Kouga set the figurine on the marble desk. "Leave her alone Sesshoumaru. She has just been through a terrible ordeal. She wants nothing to do with you or that filthy hanyou you've sent to spy on her."
Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth. 'Damn Inuyasha! I told his ass not to get caught!' The pounding headache grew in intensity, but Sesshoumaru forced it back by sheer will. "You dare tell this Sesshoumaru what to do?"
Kouga rose gracefully, straightening his black Armani suit coat. "Yes, I dare. She is no longer yours, Sesshoumaru. You wanted your freedom so damned much, she sacrificed her life for it. Don't you think you owe her something in return? Like a peaceful existance? Away from the ones who have hurt her most?" He glared at Sesshoumaru before brushing past him to the door.
"Kouga." Sesshoumaru did not turn around.
Kouga stopped but did not turn around either. "Nani."
Sesshoumaru's delicate mouth turned upwards slightly. "Kagome is still mine."
Kouga growled and opened the door. "Wrong. Kagome is no one's. She shall choose for herself when the time is right. But until then, she will be residing with me...and you will not be welcome in my home."
Satisfied at hearing Sesshoumaru's low growls, Kouga left. 'Cocky bastard,' he thought, heading for the elevators.
