DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha and co. do not belong to me. I wish they did. But they don't.
SUMMARY: AU. Sesshoumaru/Kagome. Inspired by Inuyasha, the fanfic Yakuza, and various other stories.
With the death of Kagome's father, the Higurashi family found themselves quite tight with money. Souta, in his teenaged attempt to help, lies to go to Tokyo and gambles. However, he finds himself in trouble with a prominent underground figure in both human and youkai society. Kagome gets Souta out of the mess by promising to work the money back with Sesshoumaru... who is not nearly as nice or reasonable as Kagome considered humans to be. Maybe that's because he's not human.
WARNINGS: I'm going to make it simple: Don't read the story if you don't like it.
Author's Notes: Sorry about the lateness of this... lots of school stuff, and then I had to clean up the complete mess that's called "my residence." But I was thinking about this story day and night (among a few other things, like the calculus exam that I had--and most probably failed). So, very late happy-happy holidays! (And yes, it's still summer in the story.)
But the good part is that I have most of the plot of the story all worked out. Shippo still doesn't have a part and probably never will.
Another good news for all of you who like the story, my New Year resolution--one of them, anyway--is to have this story finished. I'm thinking that starting February, I'll be able to update every two weeks or so, since I'm having a slight shift in my schedule and I will have more time.
Also, in case you were wondering, Kagome doesn't really know who Kikyou is. She had heard of this distant cousin a couple of times, but to Kagome, Kikyou isn't a big part of her life. Now, as for Kikyou... I think she should be gone, too, but I don't think she wants to go anywhere.
by Ethidda
Written 1/10/05
Chapter Seven
"You really shouldn't," Miroku argued with a rare passion about something that didn't involve a woman bearing his child. Although even that proclivity had eased since his engagement with her.
"I need to," Sango replied stubbornly without looking at him. "I have to do this one thing before our marriage."
"But what if..." Miroku paused and took a deep breath before continuing. Even then, it was as if the thought was too painful to imagine. "What if something happens to you?"
"Then it was meant to be. But I can't let the murderer of my parents roam scot-free as I enjoy life." Tears started shimmering in her beautiful brown yes. "I have to avenge them."
"But then you may never be able to even enjoy our marriage."
Fire returned to Sango's eyes as she turned to Miroku and demanded angrily, "Is that all you ever think about? Sleeping with women? Is that why you asked me to marry you at all? Because I wouldn't sleep with you otherwise? Are you going to divorce me right after?"
"No, no," Miroku answered quickly. "I--"
"You what? Well, you should know this." Sango stood up jerkily. "The engagement is off, since the upcoming marriage was causing you so much grief. I wanted you to support me, but you know what else? I don't need you to help me. I can do this all by myself. You are not the only person that matters in my life. My parents--my dead parents--matter. And more than you!"
Sango took several steps to the door before she stopped again. This time, her voice was quiet and Miroku had to strain to hear her. "I'm leaving, Miroku, and I don't know if I can ever come back."
"San-," Miroku yelled after her even as he toppled the table over in his attempt to stand up quickly, but she was already gone. And if there was nothing else that he had learned about her in all the years that he had known her, he knew the steadfastness of her determination.
He sat back down again and sighed into his hands. He hoped that she could and would come back to him.
Sesshoumaru really didn't care what would happen to his pitiful half-brother's human wench.
Really, he didn't.
After all, she was the one that had acquiesced to leave his omnipotent protection to be with the turd. No matter how he tried to deny it, though, that had rankled. So, he thought, let her find her fate there.
But something nagged at him, and it was most certainly not his conscience.
This... thing that nagged at him berated the logical and sensible part of him: He had left her in danger, because she does not truly know the evil--Naraku--that will now dog her heels. This was all because she has affiliated herself with him by saving his life.
Somehow, that mattered.
And Inuyasha couldn't protect her adequately.
Especially since he had never told Inuyasha about Naraku.
Now that Sesshoumaru thought about it, he realized that he probably should have just told Inuyasha instead of trying to spare him the pain. All that crap about brotherly care.
Sesshoumaru had thought that nobody deserved to feel the bitter sting of betrayal, but he didn't enjoy looking at Inuyasha mope about the wrong that Sesshoumaru had supposed done to him.
As if Sesshoumaru had betrayed him.
No, he had simply been trying to save Inuyasha from the pitiful fate of being mated with a human.
When they had become orphans, Inuyasha had been too young to understand. Although their father had ostensibly died from barely defeating an enemy youkai within the inuyoukai's territories, Touga had given up his life long before then.
Touga Taisho's wife--human wife--had been the love of his life. He had mated her and doted on her against the wishes and advice of his court. They had thought that if Taisho most settle down, he should at least make an advantageous match.
But Taisho had loved her.
Then, for several nights, his new mate had come home late, smelling like another male. Touga had tried to remain calm and question her, but she had only played innocent.
On the forth night, Touga followed his wife silently on her late-night excursion. He was being fair to her, but the Great Lord of the Western Lands would not be cuckolded.
She had indeed met with a man.
When his mate and the strange man started exchanging hugs, Touga had seen enough. He had revealed himself in his fury, and with one leap in a half-human, half-dog form, Touga had landed on top of his wife and pinned her down.
It was supposed to be a position that would force her submission.
Instead, in all his passionate fury, Touga's claws had dug deep into her chest and his sheer weight had crushed most of her ribs. He had forgotten that she was just a mere, fragile human.
The irony of it all had been that the man had been her brother, worried about her lack of visits and coming to see how she was doing in her new position. She hadn't wanted to bother Touga or for him to feel obligated to go with her to placate her brother. She knew that he had many things that needed to be done as a Great Lord.
Sesshoumaru shook himself out of his reverie. He hadn't thought about his childhood in a very long time, but even without reliving his childhood, he still despised humans.
Humans were fragile, short-lived, and weak. They made every negligible thing seem all-important. They made bonds with others that would only be broken in sadness or anger. Then, they'd cry and sob and go on about how it could possibly have happened to them.
They were just plain pitiful.
Inuyasha, Kagome, and Souta arrived at the door of Kohaku's the moment that Sango arrived. Kagome saw and recognized Sango from pretty far away, but she had been a little surprised and unsure and so waited until they were a bit closer before she called out her greetings.
"Sango!" She exclaimed as she gave Sango a big bear hug. "I haven't seen you in three years, and now we're here together." She took a critical look at Sango and then the apartment behind her. "I wonder if Kohaku has enough rooms for us all. But of course, you're just visiting."
"Actually, I'm staying." Sango smiled a little at her friend's enthusiasm. Ever since Sango had first become Kagome's neighbor, she had liked Kagome. Kagome was easy to like; She trusted, she cared, and she was suspicious of very little.
"That's great! That means we can stay up and watch TV all night like we used to." Then, Kagome added an afterthought. "Very quietly, of course. We wouldn't want to impose on your brother too much."
"Sure, whenever we can do it," Sango answered noncommittally.
"Uh-huh. So, how's Miroku doing?" Kagome asked the Inevitable Question.
Sango flattened her lips a little before answering, "We broke up."
It took Kagome a moment to speak her thought, "But you were engaged, and so good with each other."
"Look," Sango answered tiredly as she pushed on the doorbell again impatiently. "I don't really want to talk about it."
But she did. She wanted desperately to talk somebody who could understand and sympathize. She wanted affirmation that what she was doing was correct and right--that her parents would rest easy in the grave after she did it.
She wanted somebody--anybody--to acknowledge that she didn't choose foolishly, and that she didn't give up happiness in vain.
But Sango had never told Kagome why she had needed to move away three years ago. Three years ago, Kagome had been so bubbly and full of life that Sango didn't want any unhappiness to mar it. Now, still, Sango didn't want any of the toils of the real world to trouble the happy angel.
Sango felt a sense of relief when Kohaku finally opened the door. He looked slightly surprised at first at the people that crowded the door to his apartment, but recovered quickly and showed them inside.
Sesshoumaru followed Kagome's trail with his superior sense of smell. It was growing faint and timeworn, but so distinct that Sesshoumaru doubted he would ever forget her tantalizing mixture of spring and innocence.
Suddenly and silently, he stepped behind the corner of a building, hiding in the long shadows of dusk. He took another careful inhalation, just to be sure that he had not mistaken the smell.
But of course he couldn't; He was, after all, the Great Lord of the Western Lands.
The human passed in front of him, so close, and yet didn't seem to notice him at all. Sesshoumaru would have thought that the human would have seen him, giving their animosity towards each other.
Actually, Sesshoumaru only pitied the human.
Normally, he would just leave a human alone--they die soon enough by themselves anyway. But this time, it almost seemed as if the human was following Kagome as well.
And he doubted that the human had kind intentions towards Kagome.
After her attempt to save his life, he owed her a debt.
She is only a human, he knew somewhere in the back of his mind. Even so, he would not owe anybody anything. In fact, the sooner he paid his debt, the sooner he would be rid of his responsibility towards her.
Silently, he followed the human, and sure enough, the human was following Kagome. He wasn't quite sure how, because the human obviously couldn't smell Kagome, but the human did it as well as any human he ever saw.
He admitted grudgingly that he was relieved to be able to pay the debt back so quickly. He didn't want another episode like Rin.
Do you, really? Some annoying part of him asked.
No, he answered himself honestly. I wanted the bloodshed to last longer.
Kagome had barely set her bags down on the queen sized bed that she was going to share with Sango when the doorbell rang.
She heard Kohaku opening the door.
Then, a loud, female screech that had Kagome covering her ears, "Where the hell is Inuyasha?"
In the next room, Inuyasha dropped his bags quite loudly onto the floor. Kagome could only imagine how loud the screech was for Inuyasha, who had youkai ears that amplified sound.
Obligingly, Inuyasha went down to the hall. Curious and concerned, Kagome followed him down the stairs. Sango came slightly behind Kagome, knowing that Kagome couldn't protect herself very well.
Sango had wondered why Kagome had a demon companion when they first met up in front of Kohaku's house. She had almost doubted that Kagome knew that Inuyasha was, at least partly, youkai, but those ears were a little hard to hide.
If it weren't for those ears, Sango would have thought that he was the one she was looking for. Even now, she doubted the wisdom of letting him into the same house with so many people that she cared about.
But her father had told her, tall... human... white...
Inuyasha wasn't exactly tall, but he most certainly wasn't human.
A sharp change in the feeling of the air brought Sango out of her thoughts. It wasn't quite youki. It felt... more like a holy sort of power, but some youki tainted it.
More alarmed than ever, Sango went down stairs to investigate.
Souta glanced around the room as Inuyasha left. There was a loud commotion outside, but there was always some sort of commotion when a lot of people congregated. Then, again, there was a lot of commotion when Kagome was by herself, too. So, he didn't worry very much.
Besides, he wanted to finish reading his Garfield book.
Ok, so I was going to combine this chapter with the next chapter (which I didn't write yet), but I figured this is long enough for a short chapter (I'll write a longer chapter next time, promise). So, I posted it up. Like I said (or did I say?), I'm trying to set up the plot a little bit more so that I can actually make the story interesting and give Kagome and Sesshoumaru some time before they decide.
Parody Scene
"Oh, Sesshoumaru!"
"Kagome!"
"Sesshoumaru!"
"Kagome!"
"Sesshoumaru! I know I've only known you for two days, and we haven't done anything except that I was mentally (and physically) harassed by you. But I love you! I know you would never hurt me, even though that makes absolutely no sense at all to me! But you know, I'm a high school teen-aged girl with lots of rampant hormones!"
"Kagome! It's true, I would never hurt you. I would--and probably will--wipe humanity off of the face of the planet... and that includes you little brother and my little brother, but I would never hurt you. Because... aside Well, I can't say I love her, because I'm supposed to be in denial and besides, I'm supposed to play the cold-hearted bastard... to Kagome ...because... well, you smell so good!"
"Smell good? You sound just like Inuyasha. And he ran off with Kikyou... look, I'm shivering from the trauma... comfort me, Sesshoumaru."
"You dare compare me to that half-demon disgrace! My high and mighty pride is wounded (even though it's supposed to be my layer of stone hard protection). I will never speak with you again!"
Sesshoumaru turns around to leave.
"Sesshoumaru!"
He keeps walking.
"Oh, Sesshoumaru!"
He stops.
"Please, Sesshoumaru, you know I love you."
He runs back to her. "Kagome, my darling, you know I love you, too. I love you more than anything, but I'm just an insecure wimp and I can't handle it when you touch my sore spots. I'll be nice as long as you listen to me."
"Oh, I will. I love you, Sesshoumaru."
"I love you, too, Kagome, you should know I do."
end of cut scene
Ok, now isn't that a horrible version of my story--and it is my story, because I wrote it. But just think, another one of those cliché Sesshoumaru-turns-good-and-falls-in-love stories...
Fine, fine, fine, so Glitter is one of those too, but like I said, if you don't like it, don't read it. And so for all of those who do, thanks! I really appreciate it (and the patience).
So, tell me how I did... R/R