All right, folks, I still don't own these characters.
A/N: I gave Sesshomaru's parents names, but here's the tricky part, I'm really lazy and didn't check how the names were supposed to be spelled. So, if I spelled the names wrong, we can just pretend that they're OCs and that means I'm not really wrong, right? Besides, it's not like Sesshomaru's father actually has a name, right? If you haven't guessed it yet, this is another one of those rants that you should just skip over and read the story.
Chapter 8
Sesshomaru and Kikyo picked up their relationship as if they had not been separated for over two weeks. They went back to spending much of their time at Kikyo's apartment, watching classic comedies. Sesshomaru made sure to pick her up from work everyday to keep that unworthy gnat of a man Naraku away from her; he had actually come close to fighting with that man a few times, but Kikyo convinced him that to do such a thing would be beneath him.
Now that their sisters knew about the relationship, Kaede and Rin shared as much information as possible with each other about their siblings. They were very enthused when they spoke, wanting to get to know the other's sibling as much as possible. With each conversation, they helped convince each other that their siblings needed to get married and stay together forever. What really excited them was that if their siblings got married that would mean the two nine-year-olds would be related and, man, they loved that idea.
The little girls also shared their information with their older siblings, even embarrassing things that only siblings should know about each other. They told their parents about the couple, also. They really just liked talking about the couple, mostly because Kikyo and Sesshomaru were like heroes to their respective sisters. Thanks to their little sisters big mouths, Sesshomaru's and Kikyo's cell phones were being blown up with calls almost all the time, like that very moment.
Kikyo had been resting peacefully against Sesshomaru's side when his cell phone went off. She groaned in a low tone as she sat up; they were cuddled up on her sofa, watching a movie. She moved so that he could retrieve the offending object from his pocket. He sighed when he saw that it was his father calling him for what he considered the millionth time in just that week alone.
"Aren't you going to answer it?" Kikyo asked curiously since he was just staring at the phone, as if he was trying to will it to stop ringing.
"No," he decided while placing the phone on the coffee table and then grabbing her around the shoulder to put her back against him. She snuggled against his side while he rested his head on top of hers.
"Your father again?" she inquired since she noticed that Sesshomaru was less likely to answer a call from his father than from his mother for reasons that she had not asked about.
"Yes."
"Won't he be upset if you keep dodging him?" she pointed out.
"Won't your mother be upset for the same reason?" he countered, hoping to get her to dismiss the subject with the mention of her mother.
"My mother worries," she replied, as if that answered his question.
"Is that all?"
"I suppose she's curious too. I am not usually in a relationship, especially one that she is aware of. Who knows what Kaede has been telling her," she said with a small, amused smile. She could only wonder why her mother continuous called her, but she could guess that Kaede was saying all kinds of fanciful things to their mother and that was more than likely why her mother hit up her phone as if she thought that Kikyo was involved in some dire emergency.
"Probably the same thing that Rin has been telling my parents. How do you suppose they'll react when they find out that we're going to move in together?" Sesshomaru wondered aloud.
"My mother may faint," she said quite seriously. She already knew that her mother was surprised to know that she had a steady boyfriend and her mother did not even know what to make of that information. If her mother found out that she moved in with said boyfriend, who knew what might happen. She just doubted that the reaction was going to be good considering the way that her mother seemed to feel about Kikyo having a steady boyfriend. Her mother seemed to think Sesshomaru was somehow taking advantage of her and she was not sure why.
"Mine may do the same," he realized. After all, moving in with Kikyo showed a sign of commitment and intimacy with her that he had never expressed with any woman that he was with. The relationship was obviously serious and that would be a shock to his family because it would be a first.
"Do you think that perhaps we should just tell them? We can't avoid them forever," she stated. The reason that they had been dodging phone calls was because they did not want to go into the facts that they were moving in together.
Sesshomaru sighed because his dearest did have a point. She made such a point that the next time his father called, he took the call. He listened as his father told him how worried his mother was and all the usual things. Then his father practically demanded to meet Kikyo.
"Meet Kikyo?" Sesshomaru echoed as if he did not understand what his father meant. He really did not understand because he could not recall a time when his father wanted to meet a woman that he was interested in.
"Yes, bring her to dinner tomorrow," his father ordered. His tone saying that there would be no talking him out of the idea.
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, and stop repeating everything I say. You sound like a parrot."
"Yes, sir." Sesshomaru closed his flip phone and then glanced down at Kikyo, who was sleeping soundly against him.
Sesshomaru sighed again as he gathered up Kikyo in his arms and carried her to her bedroom. He moved Fluffy from the center of the perfectly made bed and placed her down on the pillows. He was about to turn to leave, but he noticed that she was still holding on to him. He glanced at her to see if she was still awake, but she was not. He gently removed her hand, tenderly kissed her soft cheek, and quietly left the apartment.
The next day when Sesshomaru went to pick Kikyo up from work, he informed her that they were expected at his parents' house. She nodded, but did not say anything; she was just accepting it as if it were fate. They drove to her apartment and she wondered what she should wear for such an event.
"Don't make a big deal out of it," Sesshomaru told her to ease her nerves. Most people would not have noticed her anxiousness, but he could read her rather well at that point; the same could be said of her in reference to him. There was a particular look in her mahogany eyes that conveyed her nervousness to him.
"I've never … well, I've never met parents before, not like this anyway," Kikyo admitted while staring at the clothing that was hanging in her closet. She felt like she did not have anything worthy of appearing in to meet her beloved's parents.
"My parents are like any other parents," Sesshomaru pointed out with a bored wave of his hand. Well, he was not too sure about that, but he did want her to be calm about it.
"No, they are not. They are your parents. What if they dislike me?" she more wondered aloud than asked him the question.
"How could they dislike you? Rin has been telling them all sorts of great things about you. She completely adores you, so she would never let them get it in their heads that they might dislike you. She has probably made them believe that you created the universe. I heard her telling them about the trip you took her and Kaede on to some arcade and she left me believing that you were the best thing since the sun. Well, maybe I already believed that," he remarked, being surprisingly sweet. People that knew him would not believe their eyes and ears if they saw him right now.
Kikyo smiled a bit and lightly kissed Sesshomaru on the lips as thanks for the compliment. She felt at ease, knowing that Rin had been putting in a good word for her; she took Rin out when she and Kaede went on trips now since she knew that her little sister had a good friend. Of course, she did consider that Kaede had been speaking well of Sesshomaru to their mother and their mother was still suspicious of him. So, it was possible that even having someone already on her side in Sesshomaru's family would not help.
"It will be fine," he assured her, tenderly caressing her arm.
She nodded and then went to get ready. He sighed and shook his head a bit. He had no doubt that his parents would love Kikyo, but he wondered how his moronic brother was going to act. He doubted that Inuyasha would behave himself as it was against the young dolt's nature to do such a thing as act civil.
When Kikyo was done getting ready and they were about to leave, Sesshomaru caught a whiff of the perfume she was wearing. He completely halted what they were doing just to smell her. She was wearing a rather subtle, but sublime fragrance. He recognized the scent.
"This is that perfume I bought you?" he asked with his whole face pretty much pressed into her neck as deeply as possible without merging with her. She did not mind his actions; she knew that he had a scent fetish.
"Of course," Kikyo answered.
"It smells heavenly on you," he stated in a low tone. It was like he was in a trance thanks to the scent.
Kikyo did not respond and Sesshomaru stayed pressed into her neck for a moment longer. He never knew that something could smell so good, but he supposed that anything that mixed with Kikyo could only be delightful. His knees were ready to go weak and that was when he decided to pull away from her tempting flesh.
"This isn't over," he commented and she laughed.
They left the apartment and went to his parents' house. They entered the dining room to find his family already sitting around the table. They always managed to make Sesshomaru feel as if he was late, even though he never was.
"Sesshomaru! Kikyo!" Rin cheered as she charged the couple. She hugged her brother first and then Kikyo.
Rin then grabbed Kikyo by the hand and informed everyone that they would be sitting next to each other, as if the announcement was the most important thing that the family would hear that night. Kikyo did not argue with the child; she learned early on that it was best not to argue with Rin because the girl had selective hearing, meaning she never heard the argument against something that she wanted to do. She was definitely related to Sesshomaru and Inuyasha in that regard.
Sesshomaru sat by his mother while Rin took the seat that Sesshomaru usually occupied. Kikyo sat down next to Rin; she was across from Sesshomaru. She glanced to the side to see Inuyasha, who did not look at all happy. He was not paying Kikyo or his older brother any mind and they decided to return the favor. Sesshomaru was about to introduce Kikyo to everyone, but the eager Rin beat him to it.
"Kikyo, that's my mother Izayoi and then that's my papa, Inutaisho," Rin informally introduced Kikyo. "Oh, and that's my other big brother, Inuyasha," the child added when she glanced at the middle sibling, who still was not paying anybody any mind.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," Kikyo said politely to the parents.
"We've heard a lot of things about you," Inutaisho commented, sounding friendly toward her. He knew that if he sounded hostile in any way, his daughter would pick up on it and call him on it immediately since she thoroughly adored Kikyo.
"Positive things, I hope," Kikyo replied.
"Mostly."
Kikyo did not know if that was good or a bad thing. She could see where Sesshomaru got his best neutral expression from because Inutaisho did not give her any hints as to which way she should think the comment went from his expression. She decided not ponder too much on it as he did not follow it up with anything negative.
Kikyo silently noted that all of the males in the family looked very much alike. She did not think too much on that as she and her sister resembled her mother so very much. Sometimes, she just figured that certain people had strong genes.
The dinner did go relatively smooth for a while; Sesshomaru guessed it was because Inuyasha was being quiet for probably the first time in his life. The one bump that they hit was when Inutaisho inquired if she was the same Kikyo that Inuyasha dated so long ago; it was really a couple of years ago, but he made it seem like eons had passed. Kikyo did not lie.
"I am one and the same," Kikyo answered in a very neutral tone. It was almost controlled neutrality, not her usual monotone manner of speaking. She was not sure how the family would take such news and she doubted that Sesshomaru wanted to be reminded of her past relationship.
"And this isn't a problem?" Inutaisho asked his sons with almost an amused look in his amber eyes. He was trying to start trouble, both of his sons thought.
"Feh," Inuyasha answered, adding a wave of his hand to show that he did not care one way or another. Well, he pretended that he did not care.
"If it were a problem, wouldn't some sort of action have been taken by now?" Sesshomaru pointed out.
Inutaisho conceded the battle there, not bothering to bring up the fact that Sesshomaru had broken up with Kikyo not too long ago. He did like the fact that Kikyo was honest about her previous relationship with Inuyasha. He also knew not to drag the matter out because if he started something and it upset any of the kids, his wife would be breathing down his neck for ruining the evening.
Dinner went back to being bearable and Kikyo was oddly charming. She was clearly intelligent, honest to the point of being almost blunt, and unfazed by many things. By the end of the night, Sesshomaru knew that Kikyo had won his parents over. It seemed like every time they said something to her, she had a pleasant and well thought out response for them. She was easily capable of holding a conversation with them on a variety of topics. They admired things like that.
Inuyasha had not done anything stupid by the end of night, which surprised Sesshomaru. He had expected Inuyasha to act out, but since everything was fine, he decided to inform his parents of his and Kikyo's plan. It seemed like it would actually go over well with the way the night went.
"Mother, Father, Kikyo and I plan to move in together," Sesshomaru announced with about the same amount of emotion in his voice as person would have who was commenting on the weather.
"Cool!" Rin declared with a giant grin. It was a step closer to her brother and Kikyo getting married, which would make her related to her best friend, which would be sort of like gaining two sisters in her opinion and that was something beyond outstanding to her.
"What?" Inuyasha hollered in disbelief. His face twisted in a rage; apparently, he was done behaving himself and he was not in favor of his brother's plan.
"You've thought this out?" his father asked, even though he knew the answer to that. The day Sesshomaru had not thought something out would be the day that Sesshomaru died.
"Thoroughly," the eldest son answered.
"I'm coming over your house like every night. Kaede will be there, right?" Rin asked Kikyo.
"Of course she will be there every now and then," Kikyo replied with a small smile on her face; the energy that Rin gave off just made her smile almost every time she was around the child.
"Great! You two should get a dog too. No, better still, you should have a baby," Rin suggested and all of the adults balked at the idea.
"Um … Rin, I believe that you are moving much too fast," Kikyo commented with a light laugh.
Rin only smiled; she obviously thought that it was a great notion. No one protested to the couple's arrangement even Inuyasha took it in stride after his initial shock. He had wanted to say something, but when he looked at the couple and he saw that Kikyo was genuinely happy, he kept his mouth shut. It was a difficult thing for him to do, but he managed. Inuyasha later explained that he thought if they were happy together and that was what mattered; besides, it was not like he was going to get Kikyo back when he already had a girlfriend. Apparently, he could be mature every now and then.
The couple thought on their next task now that dinner with Sesshomaru's family was out of the way; they would have to tell Kikyo's mother. They knew that that was going to be far from fun. In fact, it would probably be hell, they considered. Her mother hated Sesshomaru.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: Well, Sesshomaru gets to meet Kikyo's mother and tell her some news that she really won't want to hear.