DISCLAIMER: Sesshy is all mine... I wish! Unfortunately, he isn't mine at all. Neither is any other characters in this story.
SUMMARY: AU. Sesshoumaru/Kagome. Inspired by Inuyasha, the fanfic Yakuza, and various other stories. So far, Kagome is still trying to work off the debt Souta owes Sesshoumaru. Kikyou is still pissed at Inuyasha for leaving her. Naraku is still self-obsessed and self-deluded. Sango is still unengaged to Miroku just so she can worry about dead people. And Kohaku and Rin are still a couple who just want a normal, quiet life. I wonder if Shippo is going to make an appearance this chappie... maybe. Maybe not.
WARNINGS: I'm going to make it simple: Don't read the story if you don't like it.
Author's Notes: This story is alive! This is the ten chapter celebration! What makes me really happy is that this story actually has a plot carrying it.
Thank you to readers who pointed out that Kanna's eye color are black. I have fixed this on my copy, but it will take some time before the changes are uploaded. (Hey, I'm not going to be the one interrupting the sudden influx of muse-talk.)
As goes without saying, a big thanks to all of you have read my story and enjoyed it. And a bigger thanks to all of you who reviewed. It makes me smile for days and it prods the muse. I'm not big on the whole "write to each reviewer" thing, but I really want you to know, that I read each of your reviews very carefully and appreciate each of them from the bottom of my heart. The reviews are huge part of what makes this story worth writing.
Oh, and the Garfield bit from a couple of chapters back is in tribute to my little cousin, who's the cutest cousin in all the world. He was obsessive about Garfield last time he visited me.
by Ethidda
Written 6/21/05
Chapter Ten
That night, nobody slept easily.
Everybody who knew of the Shikon no Tama worried over its momentary appearance, and those who didn't, worried about it simply because everybody else did. Even Souta had a hard time getting to sleep, wondering about how he would convince Kagome to buy him the next volume of Garfield.
Consequently, the six people who stayed over--Sesshoumaru had been too worried about a possible attack on either Kagome or the Shikon no Tama to leave--crammed haphazardly in the three-bedroom house with their two hosts, and nobody woke up quite in a good mood, even for those who had a bed to sleep in.
Sango shared her room with Kikyou, and Kagome stayed in the guest bedroom with Souta, leaving Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru in the living room. It took over an hour just for the brothers to settle who would sleep on the couch and who on the floor. In the end, Sesshoumaru ceded the couch to Inuyasha only because Sesshoumaru was too tall to be comfortable on the couch anyways.
Rin had come downstairs bright and early at five o'clock, humming some obscure song. She greeted Sesshoumaru quite happily, disrupting him from his sleep before she proceeded to make a lot of noise with breakfast.
At six o'clock, Kohaku came down, dressed very neatly, and greeted Sesshoumaru in a much more subdued manner, though he still disrupted Sesshoumaru's sleep. He then greeted Rin and ate breakfast with her, all the while talking about their classes and current events.
Every morning, Sango practiced her youkai-slaying at seven, without fail. This day, too, she came downstairs at seven. During the night, she had forgotten that there were more than just several guests at her house, and when she saw Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha sprawled all over the living room floor, she yelped loudly in surprise.
"Well, good morning," she said quite cheerfully to the both of them, before going into the backyard. Although she didn't hum or talk, the woosh-woosh of the Hiraikotsu carried quite well through the wall and window. An occasional bang signaled when her boomerang hit something.
At eight o'clock, Kikyou woke up, and started praying. She never missed her morning prayer, which consisted mostly of praying beads, sitting in the lotus position, and chanting in an obscure language. While this wouldn't bother most people, both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha could feel the fluctuation of her spiritual energy and found this quite disturbing.
Souta must have woken up before nine o'clock, but around nine o'clock, he started getting bored, having reread his Garfield book. He was quite anxious to get the next one, but he didn't have any money, which meant that he would have to convince his sister to buy him the next book.
Therefore, at nine o'clock, Souta began waking Kagome up, which included clapping his hands next to her ear, jumping up and down on her bed, and generally being noisy and obnoxious.
However, Kagome was a deep sleeper, and not easily brought back to the world of the wakeful. Using her pillows and her blanket, she managed to stay in bed for another hour before she finally gave up at ten o'clock. She found herself tired and groggy and her brother quite annoying, and proceeded to give him a blistering lecture.
The lecture went over, of course, like water off a duck's back. Souta simply responded, "So, can we get more Garfield?"
The two residents of the living room, however, were not nearly as lucky. Being inuyoukai, they inherited superior hearing, and were hard put to ignore anything said within fifty meters of them. Both of them heaved a relieved sigh when the front door banged quite loudly and Kagome and Souta left to find some breakfast (and maybe the Garfield book).
At eleven, though, Kikyou finally came down from her prayers and decided that lunch would be a good idea. Since it would have been quite rude of her to raid her hosts' kitchen, she left, as well, to find food. But not without first informing Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, and making sure they heard.
The twelve o'clock mark was only significant, because Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were finally able to fall asleep again at twelve.
At one, however, the doorbell rang, to the irritation of both brothers. They each wanted the other to open the door, and so both tried to pretend to be still asleep, carefully maintaining their breathing. Still, after the doorbell escalated to four successive ones to finally pounding on the door, neither of them could ignore the visitor any longer.
Inuyasha opened the door, and Sesshoumaru yelled, "What is it?" before he even took a good look at the visitor.
"Ha!" Kouga pointed triumphantly to Sesshoumaru. "I knew it."
"What is it?" Sesshoumaru asked irritably. "I'm not in the mood to kill you right now, but that might change if you stay longer."
"Ha!" Kouga repeated.
Sesshoumaru frowned. "What is it? Just spit it out."
"Ha!" Kouga said for a third time and kept on talking. "I knew that you never had enough power in you to gain such an exalted position. Now I know why: You have the Shikon no Tama."
"I do not have the Shikon no Tama," Sesshoumaru refuted.
"Of course I understand why you would not want to broadcast it, since it does bring out your weakness, but after the... thing yesterday, you can't deny it any longer. You have the Shikon no Tama."
"That actually sounded logical." Despite his words, Sesshoumaru's face remained as impassive as ever. "Except that I do not have the Shikon no Tama."
"Like I said," Kouga tried to explain patiently, but his excitement at his new discovery was obvious. "You never could have done what you've done without the Shikon no Tama."
Sesshoumaru glared at Kouga in impatience. "What are trying to say? That you want to fight me for the jewel which you claim I have?"
Kouga scoffed. "Of course not. I'm merely pointing out that you are not quite as powerful as you appear to be and that Kagome should be mine since you can't protect her adequately anyways."
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at Kouga. "Do you have a death wish?"
"Well, I got to go," Kouga said quickly, realizing that he had probably pushed Sesshoumaru too far when he questioned his ability. "I'm not stupid enough to fight with you when you have the Shikon no Tama. I'll fight you on equal footing any day, though, as soon as you're man enough not to rely on a jewel."
As Kouga disappeared in a flurry of dust, Sesshoumaru set foot to give chase. Inuyasha, however, held on tightly to Sesshoumaru's haori, not letting Sesshoumaru leave.
Sesshoumaru turned to Inuyasha. "What is the meaning of this?"
Without looking at Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha said, "He thought you had the jewel because you smell like me."
Sesshoumaru remained still for a moment, not understanding what Inuyasha had just said. Then, he rounded suddenly on Inuyasha, "You have the jewel?"
Inuyasha nodded quietly.
Sesshoumaru took a step toward Inuyasha. "And you didn't tell me?"
Inuyasha shook his head sullenly.
Sesshoumaru leaned down so that his face was mere inches away from Inuyasha's. "I want you to explain. All of it. Now."
"Well..." Inuyasha gulped. For all that he defied his older brother's suggestion and carried on with Kikyou, he had lived with his brother for over a hundred years. He knew quite what his brother was capable of. Even if Sesshoumaru didn't do permanent damage to Inuyasha, Inuyasha knew he could still be made damn uncomfortable.
Quickly, Inuyasha moved to the couch. "Why don't we sit down."
Sesshoumaru nodded regally. "Yes, let's."
In a temple near Miroku's house, he knelt in front of the statue of some spirit. A picture of Sango was beside the golden idol. Miroku knew that he had to give something up in order for his wish to have any chance of being granted, and that's why he brought his favorite picture of Sango.
Technically, Miroku could have made another copy of the picture, or scanned it into his computer, so that he wouldn't have to lose the picture even after he burns it. But the burning was symbolic of him handing over Sango's protection to the more powerful spirits. It also showed his determination to keep Sango alive and well, even if it wasn't with him, however much that pained him to think.
"Please," he prayed under his breath after the door to the praying room was shut. "Please, keep Sango safe happy. Don't let anything bad happen to her. Please, you can let anything happen to me, as long as you keep Sango safe and happy."
He fell silent, then, not knowing what else to say. He truly only wanted Sango's safety and happiness.
At the flair of spiritual energy from the temple, Miroku felt much reassured. At least his prayer was heard, if nothing else. Too often, people came to pray insincerely, and Miroku feared that the spirits had begun to stop listening altogether.
Miroku felt like he was saying goodbye to Sango forever as he saw the picture curl in the fire. He knew that he could very possibly never see her again, since he had agreed to that in his prayer.
Suddenly, the door to his praying room slammed open, and a flurry of wind blew out the fire. Coincidentally, the lights shut down as well. All Miroku could see was what seemed like a little girl in white at the entrance of the prayer room.
The girl stalked toward him quietly, and soon Miroku could see that she held something in front of her. It looked round and elaborate, like a mirror, but it seemed misted over, because Miroku couldn't see any reflections.
"Why are you here?" he demanded, keeping a tight hold on his staff. "This is a private praying room."
"I am following the spiritual power," Kanna answered simply in a monotonous voice. Slowly, she turned her head to scan the room, finally resting her black eyes on Miroku.
She demanded, "Show me your spiritual power."
Miroku frowned in incomprehension. "What are you talking about?"
"I felt a spiritual power, but I don't feel it anymore," Kanna explained calmly, evenly. "Therefore, you must be hiding it."
Miroku frowned harder. There was something wrong with the girl. She carried a large mirror with her, dressed all in white, and seemed completely devoid of any emotion--not just tightly controlled emotion, but no emotion. Furthermore, if her spiritual sense was as acute as she claimed it to be, Miroku wondered how she could not differentiate between the spirits' powers and his own.
"I hide nothing," he declared as he stood up. "The powers you feel are not mine. They are the spirits' power."
"I will not hesitate to use my powers," Kanna said. It would have been more threatening had she sounded like she was speaking to Miroku. Instead, though, she seemed to be reassuring herself.
Kanna turned the mirror sideways, and suddenly, Miroku saw himself reflected in the mirror. But the Miroku in the mirror seemed to be slightly older, and Miroku was sure that he was not smiling right now.
Miroku felt some sort of mild attraction. As he looked down, though, he realized with a shock that the white balls light floating toward the mirror were parts of his own soul. Unwilling to give up without a fight, Miroku sought to use his spiritual powers, only to have them dissipate quickly into the mirror as soon as he gathered them.
Hopelessly, Miroku tried to think of a way to combat the girl's unnatural powers even as he felt his soul distancing from his body. Soon, his thoughts slowed and became muddled.
All the while, Kanna felt mildly puzzled. The influence of the man was gone, but she still couldn't feel the spiritual power that she had felt a moment ago. Maybe he didn't have the Shikon no Tama after all.
Kanna came to the decision that he couldn't have the Shikon no Tama and turned and glided out of the praying room. She supposed that she would just have the wander around the city some more.
And maybe use her powers some more.
Kanna was newly made, and she understood very little. She had no idea what her power really was. Only, she knew that she felt much more energetic than a moment ago. Her master had instructed her to use her powers without hesitation, and so she supposed her powers could be used as often as she wanted.
Miroku barely felt the girl leaving. He was left with a minimum amount of his soul, and he struggled to remember to breath, even though it felt as if his soul, mind, and body were no longer connected. He had enough presence of mind, though, to thank the spirits before he passed out completely, because his wish must have been granted.
At two in the afternoon, Sango had an epiphany. She had just finished her second session of practice with the Hiraikotsu. Desperate for vengeance for her clan's deaths, Sango had practiced more and more feverishly everyday.
Everytime she practiced, she thought about her father's dying words, "Tall... human... white..."
She had thrown her Hiraikotsu out into the field, targeting the three little practice boomerangs she had thrown out earlier, and she had thought about what her father had said.
And she had understood.
The only being who had enough power to wipe out an entire clan of demon killers was right in front of her eyes. He was tall, he had white hair, and he was relatively human-like.
Sango didn't know how she could have missed that the first time she met Sesshoumaru. She could only suppose that she put too much trust in Kagome's judgment.
Sango always knew that Kagome's was too trusting. Although Sango didn't want to be the one to tell Kagome that she was associating with the wrong sort of people by talking with Sesshoumaru, Sango also felt a great weight lifted off of her with her new realization.
Finally, she would be able to avenge her clan, and she couldn't help but feel a moment's exhilaration at that.
Finally, she would be able to let the past rest.
There was of course, a small problem, being that he currently stayed under her brother's roof, and therefore under his protection. Sango, thought, though, that that was an easy problem to solve. She was sure that she could come up with some way to lure him out at night, by himself.
For the first time in a long while, Sango truly smiled.
At two in the afternoon, Inuyasha sat at a table with a silent Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha had managed to sum up the long history between Kikyou and himself in five minutes. And the other fifty minutes had been pure hell waiting for his brother to react. Somehow. Anyhow.
When somebody knocked on the door, Inuyasha was grateful to have an excuse to do something besides waiting. He hated waiting, especially if it looked like Sesshoumaru was about to have a fit anyhow.
"Hi, Kagome," he greeted cheerfully as he opened the door. The cheerfulness bounced off the walls and rang hollow in his ears, but he managed to keep up his overly-bright smile.
Kagome cast Inuyasha a suspicious look and stuck her head through the door, looking for any suspicious activity. When, she found everything normal--it seemed that Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were the only ones home--she stepped inside the house.
Before she could question about Sesshoumaru's silence, though, Inuyasha asked, "Where's Souta?"
Kagome shrugged. "I refused to let him buy Garfield books, so he decided to stay and read at the bookstore. I'm picking him up in a couple of hours."
"You're leaving him alone?" Inuyasha asked. He remembered Souta as a little child of ten. Besides, even fourteen years was very little time for a youkai.
"Yes, well, it's just the bookstore." Kagome flattened her lips. "It's not like I'm leaving him in a casino or a night club or something."
"Uh, okay," Inuyasha said lamely. He snuck a peek behind him to see how Sesshoumaru would react to what Kagome just said, but Sesshoumaru remained still as a rock.
Kagome, too, seemed to just realize how badly her statement could be taken. She, too, noticed Sesshoumaru's unnatural stillness.
"What's up with him?" she asked Inuyasha as she hung her coat up.
"I don't know." It was Inuyasha's turn to shrug. "Kouga came by around one and said a couple of things. Then we talked for five minutes. And he's been silent ever since."
"I wonder what Kouga said," Kagome said more to herself than to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha answered anyways. "He said some things about Sesshoumaru using this jewel to augment his own power, and that without this jewel, Sesshoumaru would not have beaten him at all."
"The Shikon no Tama?"
Inuyasha nodded. "But he doesn't have it."
"And he still looked like would have won that fight against Kouga." Kagome thought for a moment. "I wonder what made him so upset."
"Well," Inuyasha continued his story. "Then, Kouga basically said that Sesshoumaru can't protect you adequately and therefore should let Kouga claim you quietly."
Kagome frowned in distaste. "Is he talking about that again? Anway, Sesshoumaru has protected me adequately."
"Keh." Inuyasha lifted his nose contemptuously. "That's just his pride talking. He probably can protect you, but he's too selfish to. And basically, it amounts amount to the same thing, because you'll just get hurt by hanging around him."
Sesshoumaru slammed the table suddenly and stood up, making both Kagome and Inuyasha jump. "Of course I can protect a mere human," he said darkly, replaying Kouga's accusation in his head. He would show that wolf what he was made of. "I'll protect you, Kagome."
"Oh," Kagome exclaimed softly at Sesshoumaru's vehement declaration, as Sesshoumaru walked away.
Inuyasha sighed in relief as Sesshoumaru left. It seemed like Sesshoumaru wasn't going to interrogate him. At least for today.
Yes, I add notes both at the top and the bottom, in case you haven't noticed. I didn't have so very much to say this time, though...
Shippo Appearance
Shippo stared at his father's picture above the fireplace. The brow was just a bit thicker than he thought he remembered, and the hair just a bit brighter orange.
"Papa," he confessed painfully to the picture. "I can't remember you anymore."
Shippo knew that just after his father had been butchered, he had always slept with his father's skin, and it had comforted him when nothing else could. Back then, he had just been a little cub.
But now, after five hundred years, he was finally coming close to becoming an adult. He was no longer fearful that his tail would slip out inadvertantly, but worried about self-righteous humans and what they would do if they ever discovered that he was a youkai.
His father's skin lay carefully preserved in a storage box at the bank. Despite the multitude of spells he had slapped onto the skin, the skin had started decaying in the last century, and was now very fragile. Shippo doubted very much that his father's skin would last through the twenty-first century.
He had long ago realized that it wasn't his father's skin protecting him, but his own confidence when he had the skin with him. Perhaps, he thought sadly, it was finally time to let go.
Nothing lasted forever, Shippo was coming to realize. Even his memory started to deceive him, replacing some of his father's features with those he saw in the mirror everyday. He remembered feeling safe, but couldn't conjure those exact feelings up anymore.
Even if I wrote him in a book, Shippo thought, language would still change and he would still be changed, if not lost.
That was my little Shippo segment... since nobody actually likes reading vignettes, I thought I'd fit it in here. It's in the same timeline and world, but he's not actually in the story.
Question: Would you rather see a fic about an arranged marriage, or one about Sesshy as a (pleasure) slave. I have multiple beginnings (five, I think) and I want to get one of those two actually started. (Or tell me if you want to see what I wrote as a plot bunny.)
Another question, for all of you who write: I have issues writing really long chapters (they never seem to want to go over six pages) and I was wondering if there was a trick to writing the sixteen page long chappies...