Aaah! I am sooooo sorry! I have been drawing so much lately, and I have had no inspiration to write. But here is the next chappy, for those of you who are still reading this….SO SOORRRYYYYY
Disclaimer: I dun own Inuyasha. I promise. No, I pinky promise. Yeah, that's right. I went there.
Sesshoumaru folded his hands together in front of his face, seemingly deep in thought. Kagura watched nervously, waiting for some reaction. She had told him too much, he shouldn't know all this; her own head was at stake now. But something made her divulge her secrets. Something about Sesshoumaru made her want to do things she only dreamed of doing. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he let out a sigh.
"Well. We can't have that happen, can we?" He noted quietly. She shifted uncomfortably and shook her head no.
"But…what can we do? There isn't anything. He's got it set up so either way everyone loses." Sesshoumaru looked at her confusedly and she continued her explanation, "If he loses the business, then you lose Rin. If he loses the business, than I'm as good as dead. If you lose Rin, than you're as good as dead." He glanced at her flatly, but she ignored him. "We have to make a way for him to feel threatened, but not enough to do something drastic. Like I said earlier, he's not gonna let Haku go until he milks him for all he's worth, so the sooner we do something the better."
"Kohaku is a big boy. He can take care of himself."
"Maybe, but he's not really the one we're worried about here, now is he?" Sesshoumaru looked back at the woman in surprise at this,
"We? Since when do you care about Rin?" Kagura looked cornered for a second, but quickly recovered herself.
"Well, I was referring to myself and my family. I could care less about any little girlfriend of yours." The silver-haired man just nodded, not buying her excuse but not caring enough to press the issue any further.
"So he owns a tabloid company." Sesshoumaru thought for a minute, "That's the stupidest job I've ever heard of."
Kagura just shrugged, "hey, what can I say. He's a sadistic bastard who gets pleasure from other people being in pain. Making up shit about people and watching the rumors spread is his favorite hobby, and apparently it was his father's too. That's what started this whole business. And that's why I'm here today." She saw the confused look on Sesshoumaru's face and sighed. "You really don't want to hear my family history, do you?"
"Will it be of help to me?"
"Dunno, maybe." Sesshoumaru told her to spill it then.
"My dad was a wealthy business man. Just an average guy really, but he wasn't exactly honest in his dealings. Somehow Naraku's father got a hold of this information and threatened to expose everything unless he did exactly what he told him to do. Dad was easily frightened and consented immediately, without even knowing the terms. Gods, he could be so damn stupid sometimes. I swear when he came home and told me and my sister that I about" Kagura was interrupted by a cough and she looked down to find herself ringing a pillow viciously. Embarrassed, she smoothed the pillow back on her lap and continued on. "Anyways, the terms were that my father, and then the eldest child of his would "work" for him and his eldest child until their dying day, without a word of protest. If my father were any smarter than a flea he would have taken this chance to alert the authorities, but he was too scared to do anything. He signed the contract, and handed me over to Naraku. Thank the gods that man is dead now, I don't know what I'd do if"
"Who's dead?" Kagura blinked.
"My father." Sesshoumaru nodded and told her to continue. "Well, that's pretty much it. I've done my best to keep Kanna out of it, and I've been successful thus far. But with Naraku closing in on Haku, that's one step closer to my sister that I'd rather him not take."
They sat in silence for what seemed like eternity to Kagura. She couldn't keep from fidgeting with her hands, a very un-Kagura like thing to do. She was a calm, composed woman, not a nervous child. But she wouldn't deny she was impatient, obviously not a great quality when dealing with people like Sesshoumaru. The silence finally becoming unbearable, Kagura stood swiftly and went to her door.
"Say something and leave. I have stuff to do." She grumbled opening it and pointing outside. Her guest glared at her for a minute before standing and walking to her.
"I'll see what I can do. My plan so far is to fight fire with fire, but I don't want to have to degrade myself unless it's absolutely necessary. In the meantime, you will keep me informed with anything that the enemy says or does." He walked calmly out of the door, not even pausing for a reply. Kagura resisted the urge to salute and yell a hearty "SIR YES SIR!" after him. Barely.
"Well, Kagura. This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into this time around. How do you think you're gonna get out of this one, huh?" Kagura locked her door, not forgetting to bolt it this time, before shaking her head and mumbling quietly that she should remember to stop speaking to herself.
Running a hand through his hair, Sesshoumaru pondered what he should do next. It was, after all, her birthday. And Kohaku had seemed pretty upset about his no-show. And he really didn't want Rin to cry. Of course, knowing full well what he had to tell her, he knew she probably would cry anyways. Sesshoumaru took a deep breath and closed his eyes. 'might as well get it all over with,' he thought to himself, and changed his course to the Taijiya residence.
The rest of the family had long ago retired to their rooms, but for some reason Rin wouldn't allow herself to join them. She couldn't imagine why, though. It wasn't like she was upset about anybody deciding not to come visit her or anything. No, she was just feeling overwhelmed by…her birthday.
Rin sighed and brought her knees to her chest. She was an awful liar; it was a stupid excuse even in her own head. Trying to get her mind off the reason she was so upset (which of course wasn't really the reason she was so upset), she began to hum to herself. It was an old song she had made up when she was all but three, but it had stuck with her through the years. Her whole town had learned it within a few months of her singing it, so every year she would add something different onto it, just to change things around a little. The young girl smiled slightly at the memory and began to sing the words proudly,
"Yama no naka, mori no naka. Kaze no naka, Yume"
"—no naka." A deep voice sang from somewhere in the yard. Rin jumped at the voice, and started to stand up, getting ready to run if necessary. It was dark and Rin couldn't make out who it was that seemingly knew her little song so well, but whoever it was was slowly advancing to her. Rin was at the door ready to run inside by the time the mysterious person had made it into the light. Rin gasped and her hand left the knob.
"Sesshoumaru-sama." She whispered softly, staring at him with eyes brimming with unshed tears. He nodded and walked towards her agonizingly slow, until he was finally standing no more than two inches in front of her. They gazed at each other for a long time, neither saying a word, lest they break the magic of the moment.
Finally, a small wind decided that their time was up and blew a cold breeze from the north, making Rin shudder in response. Sesshoumaru didn't think twice before enveloping her in a hug, his strong arms wrapping around her small waist, making him feel like a giant in comparison. This was apparently too much for her and she began to cry, beating her fists against him and mumbling harshly into his chest. He merely sighed and dragged her over to the little bench that she had been sitting in before his interruption. As soon as he had her cradled in his lap she stopped her fussing and wrapped her arms lazily around his shoulders, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
"Why didn't you come earlier?" She mumbled into his neck softly, her soft lips moving against his skin as she spoke. The young man had prepared answers for every question he had thought she might ask, but now found himself struggling for words at this simple question.
"I had something I had to do." He responded finally. Rin nodded but said nothing, obviously waiting for him to explain more thoroughly. "I wanted to come, Rin. I really did. But there are things that have come up…and I don't want you to be involved. I don't want you to be hurt Rin, do you understand?" She nodded sleepily and he continued, not entirely sure she was listening to him. "Rin, I want you to stop writing to me. I can't have you contacting me unless I contact you first. Do you understand what I'm asking you, can you do that for me?" He tried to keep the pain out of his voice, but it was so hard for him to say these things when she was here. In the car he had done it just fine, but with her here in his arms, it was a whole other deal.
After a while she sat up, her arms still around his neck, and spoke very softly and carefully, "Sesshoumaru-sama. I trust you. I'll do as you say. I…" she looked away and took a deep breath, "I don't always understand your reasons, but I'll stop if it will make you happy." That seemed to be the right thing to say because he held onto her a little tighter. Rin tried to force a smile, to show him that she was ok, but she was immediately reminded of her horrendous lying skills when his grip went from approving to scolding.
Sesshoumaru began to say something, but was immediately cut off when her lips covered his in a desperate kiss. He brought her closer to him, and pulled his lips away, leaving the kiss chaste but deep.
"I'm sorry, Rin. I'm so sorry." Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and put his chin on top of her head. Neither knew how long they stayed that way, but when Sesshoumaru finally brought her up to her room, rays of sun were filtering through the window. He let his fingers trace the delicate contours of her face, smiling a little as he did. This would be a good way to remember her, he decided. And with that, he walked out of the house, hoping to never have to go back there again.
Rin was rummaging through the fridge, and Sesshoumaru was watching her with amusement. How a small thing like her could ever manage to hold so many items at one time was a mystery to him. Finally deciding she had enough food to last her for the moment, she made her way over to Sesshoumaru, placing everything down in front of him.
"Rin, I told you already. I'm not hungry." He smiled at the girl, she was trying so hard to be a good hostess. But at the same time he couldn't help but feel a little offended at her politeness. Since when had he required such care?
"Nonsense. There's always room for more food. Now pick what you want. You can't have the string cheese though, that's mine." She added as she saw him eyeing her cheese. He chuckled and reached for one of the things she had brought out,
"Broccoli?" He asked raising an eyebrow inquisitively. She just shrugged and said,
"I can't remember what you liked to eat. So I grabbed a little of everything."
"Well, I can tell you now that I don't like cold broccoli. Or," He paused reaching for another item, "yams? Rin, what in the world…"
"Whaaat? Some people like yams!" She grabbed the yams out of his hands and shoved it back in the fridge. She came back and brought up a chair on the opposite side of the counter, examining his face thoughtfully. "What did you eat when you were over here?"
Sesshoumaru thought for a moment, "Pizza." He said finally.
Rin smiled and dug through the pile of food items before pulling out a piece of pizza wrapped in tin foil.
After they had finished eating and Rin had put the rest of the food back in the fridge, she led Sesshoumaru up the stairs, whispering for him to be quiet as to not wake her parents.
As they approached Kohaku's room, they heard faint noises coming from behind his door. Rin reached out to knock, but Sesshoumaru grabbed her hand before she could.
"Eh? Haku ha Kanna no uchi kaemashita. Koko janai yo"
"—unless they decided to come back here instead." Sesshoumaru whispered, looking towards the door disgustedly. He turned away, guiding Rin back towards her room.
"Wait wha—eeewww my parents are just down the hall! Ack I'm scarred for life now." She made a face and opened her door. "Well, in that case you'll have to sleep in Sango's room. Just don't mess it up or she'll kill you when she gets back from her honeymoon."
Sesshoumaru nodded and wished her goodnight before going next door to Rin's older sister's room. He had always liked the older girl's room, nothing too cutesy, just simple. She had her trophies from various sports she had been in lined up on her dresser, but other than that and a few pictures on her wall, there weren't any other accessories. Sesshoumaru went to the bed and lay down, not wanting to even go under the sheets. Sango was not someone he wanted to be on the bad side of. Her extensive knowledge of aikido had shown her to be extremely strong and skillful in the art of beating people up.
Finally, he closed his eyes, knowing that he would need all the sleep he could get for tomorrow.
Sorry, it's really short and sucks, but I haven't written in forever. Also, i've been so invaded by Japanese and Chinese latelyit's really hard for me to speakEnglish correctly...which is really stupidI guess. lol. But after Japan Bowl (if anyone else has heard of it,I love you. lol x.x) I'll be able tofocus less on Japanese and more on writing better.
I'm gonna guess that this chappy will confuse quite a few people, but bear with me! It will get better!
:VOCAB:
Not much this time, ne?
Haku ha Kanna no uchi kaemashita. Koko janai yo: Haku was going to Kanna's house. He isn't here!
That was short...
Thank you so much, all of you reviewers! You are all so kind to me! ;-;
Animegirl007: I hope this chappy helped a little, but I didn't want to give that away quite yet, so you might have to wait another chapter! sorry!
Youkaigirl99: Aww, you're so kind! yeah, he sorta is. Lol we'll just have to wait and find out! Hehe
Lynn-Minmay: thank you! I hope your patience paid off…I'll try to have the next chappy out sooner so you don't have to wait so long!
Athar-Luna: wow…you liked a lot of things. Thanks! XD but yeah…I was wondering why they were too…I figured it out now though… (Haha the author is so unorganized)
G27: o.o my, my. This chapter is for you then cos you wrote so very many reviews! Lol. Thank you!
AnimeFreak-TrunksPan-Lover4ever: . long name lol, sorry it's so confusing! I don't want to have to change it to say "—PAST—" and "—PRESENT—" though. Just think of it this way. When there's a line, and it doesn't flow with the last part before the line, then it's most likely beginning the new tense. Also, I think I've been pretty consistent in keeping the past parts in the very beginning. thanks!
And thank you everyone else who reviewed! You guys are way too nice to me…lol
Heart heart –nekura
PS. Shameless plugging, but I sorta kinda drew a scene from the next chappy, albeit a very short almost unimportant part, it is a part. So if you're really bored the link for the piccu is: http:www. / view/ 15977586/ (minus the spaces of course.)