I HATH BEEN REBOOOOOORN!!!!!!!!!!
Just kidding, but really seriously it has been waaaaay too long since I last posted a chapter. What can I say, Florida is proving more and more interesting with one Hurricane after another. We aren't sure about Jean yet, but I decided I need to get some kind of work done before it hits. I have been really busy since Charlie. We lost Internet after both him and Frances. Not only that but I had to take an eighteen hour drive back to my native Philadelphia for a funeral and another eighteen hour drive just to get back and prepare for H. Frances and I just got Internet back like last week. Good gawd, this sucks. (AN: the authoress is also slacking because this story is close to completion.)
But anyways, here I am an here's the next chapter and I know some of you probably have some questions so let me tell you a few things about my thought processes.
1. Kagura is in no way, shape, or form a good person and I didn't write her to be pitied. However, I did decide that I want to make her cooler in this story so you can probably (the operative word is probably) expect her to play a big part in the end (which is approaching fast my friends). Also, in case you were wondering about the title of the last chapter...let's just say that Kagura doesn't hate Sess, but...
2. About the whole Naraku/Onigumo thing. I was typing the previous chapter when I thought "Hey, I wonder who is technically more evil, the guy who is evil now or the guy who "gave birth" to the evil dude. Onigumo came first y'know and he's creepy as heck in this story but please don't mistake it as shounen-ai...More on that later.
3. Shippo and Jaken...ah good 'ol Jaken. I had to throw him in there somewhere and I'm glad you were amused, that was the plan. Expect more groveling in the coming chapters from everyone's favorite toad -um- like- human...yeah. As for Shippo, he's connected to the Yakuza because he's married to Souten and she she's Hiten and Manten's little sister. However, everyone has dirt on them and that's how Kagura can use him, but since I adore him I won't make him a bad guy (he's just too kawaii).
4. Also, Izayoi keeps very close tabs on both the Miyazawa family and Sesshoumaru. The Yakuza is the name of the Japanese mafia. I had the bad guys as the mafia because the feudal age is over with all the youkai and everything. Money is power now and Sess has lots and lots of it. His step mom is the daughter of the freakin' Prime Minister for goodness' sake and his dad wasn't too shabby either. Not only that but he is a very popular author because of his writing style and his mystique. You'll see at the party just how eager people are to see the "mystery author's" true face. Rin will too..Hehehe.
Another thing, I was told that a spot would be perfect for a lemon. Now then, I have absolutely nothing against them since artistic license is a wonderful thing. With that said, I won't add one in here, not because I can't since I am confident that I could muster up the courage, but I know myself well enough to realize that I wouldn't hold back and any lemon I write won't fly within the boundaries of 's guidelines. I really don't do things half-way because I tend to like detail, so anything sexual would either be hinted at or a full blown...something (tame R-ratings do not exist in me). () I AM considering having them do something but I won't go into detail, besides, I have absolutely no right to write about something I haven't experienced yet.
That's about it for the notes. Now for the thank yous and the love.
Very Special Thanks to: hm, miyako14, Yuki Haitani, Trinity, ChAnDrA16 (awesome name change), SuKiss, korosumina, Moonglow gal, drake220, Yogi Mutoh, Rednight-rider (for some reason I really like your name), Tinckerbell, Retta, gaijinmononoke (meow thanks for the compliment and I take absolutely no offense), Baka-chan10000, KitKat07 (ah, how I admire thee...let me count the ways: ichi (1), ni (2), san (3),...Go-Hyakuuuuuu!!! (500!!!) Thank for the support and I'll make sure I read your latest chapter), Jem, A flower-sama, WinterWing3000, Galenchia, materiathief06 (my sister would love getting a review from a Final Fantasy fan like you, if that's what you are. If you aren't then please disregard this little comment and accept my apologies), swirly87 (I swear up and down that i want to eat mints whenever I see your name), SakuraBaby, aishiteru-inu (Looking back at it I agree that the whole Rin with a gun imagery is a bit intense, sorry 'bout that and thanks a lot for reviewing anyways even though that part was offensive to you. Gomen, gomen, gomen nasai.), Haruya (I swear you say some of the cutest things, thank you thank you ), sarah (I'll work more on TOB when I finish this story 'kay?), RosieB, Luna the sheikah, Athar-Luna (ah, possibly one of the kindest reviewers ever, thank you ever so much), Peanut Gallery – Alaska's Own (), Lavender Valentine, Rin6, Obsessive Starchaser, Comets Chaos, and Kerichi.
Lot's of love for my beta, Rikou Suiyou who not only reads but REVIEWS my story AND looks out for me. :snifff: I'm so happy that you were concerned for my well being, I'll definitely R and R your latest chapter, I'm just being a slowpoke.
Note: otouto means younger brother
Thread Bound
Chapter Seventeen
The Wish for Happiness
"Mother," said the boy.
"Yes?" she replied.
"Though the bird is free, what of the person who saved him? Will she be happy as well? Will the story end at last? Will that be the end of their trials?"
"I fear that may not be so, my son. For the people who did not want the bird to be free, the people who did not succeed in breaking the bird's wings forever, will take his special person away from him."
"Why would they do that mother ?" asked the child.
"My dear boy, do you not know that the world is greedy? Full of envy and broken dreams? Ah, my innocent child, do you not know that happiness is as fleeting as the wind? For when one person gains happiness, something must be sacrificed and it is ever so much easier to have everyone suffering together than for two people to achieve joy. That is life, my child."
"But why must it be so hard, mother? Why can they not work for happiness?"
"Because, sweet child, not everyone wants to be happy."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"...So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind being my companion to this party, Rin," Sesshoumaru finished.
After his run in with Jaken, he had the strongest desire to kiss her until she was breathless, and he supposed that a lot of it had to do with what he had termed his "medicine" when dealing with the annoying man, namely images of Rin running around in her birthday suit floating through his head. Now he couldn't even look at her straight for fear of making those ever so delicious thoughts turn into reality.
Soft hands entwined themselves into his hair, disturbing his train of thought, and he received a long stroke that made him close his eyes from the sheer pleasure of having her touch him so familiarly. The hands transferred themselves to his face, tilting it downward, and he sighed when he felt her touch her lips to his, being careful to keep his eyes closed.
There was a softness about her these days, and he wondered for the hundredth time why he hadn't jumped her the day he awoke to her touch in the hospital all those weeks ago. Probably the single most foolish thing I've ever done, he thought, before a very distant memory floated up from the depths of his consciousness. It disappeared, however, before he could bring it into focus and mentally shrugged, deciding that it was likely an unpleasant one from the period in his life that was best left forgotten and buried beneath the happiness he found with Rin.
His Rin.
Opening his eyes, he saw her smiling at him as her hands wandered the contours of his shoulders and offered her a small upturning of his mouth in return.
"It's really important to you, isn't it?" she asked, her voice quiet and knowing.
"Yes...yes it is." Because I want you to know the truth about the author you so admire, Rin.
"Who's going to be there?" she wondered aloud before smiling even wider and grabbing tightly onto his arm. "Will HE be there?"
Her voice was so excited when she talked about a man that she believed to be someone else that for a second he felt something white-hot and angry go through him. Baka, he chided himself, there's nothing to get jealous of since you are in fact the one she wants to see. She just doesn't know it yet.
He patted her hair gently instead, lightly caressing the strands that begged him to bury his face in them and breath in her scent and moving to touch the neck that was so perfect, so kissable,...so bite-able. Sometimes he wondered where the desire to bite her—so hard, in fact, that she was scarred and left with a mark for all to see—came from. He had a primal urge to let the world know that she was his and his alone, and woe to anyone who touched what belonged to Lord Sesshoumaru. And there I go again with the Sesshoumaru-sama. Baka. Then again, there might some truth to the story that the first Sesshoumaru was more than human.
He realized that she had said something, and turned his attention back to his koi.
"Forgive me, what did you say again?"
Rin pouted ever so cutely and replied, "I was saying that I want to meet him if it's possible."
"Understandable , you've liked him for so long after all," he said coolly.
She frowned a bit before smiling even more brightly, "Don't be jealous."
He cocked an eyebrow at her audacity. "Excuse me?"
"I said—" and she looped her arms around his neck, "don't be jealous, Sessh."
Kami, her smell and the close proximity of their lips were driving him crazy.
"And why shouldn't I be?" he asked, playing along. "You talked about him constantly when we first met, you like him so much even though you don't even know him, and I even wound up arranging for you to design the cover art for his next book and I'm giving you the opportunity to meet him in person at the party. I really am helping my rival along."
Her brow wrinkled a bit as she mulled over his words. "But I want you most of all, and I'm sure I'm not even his type, and...wait a second!!!"
Straight face Sesshoumaru, keep it straight.
"You're telling me that the Kage Houshi, the man I've had a crush on for years, is going to let me illustrate his next cover?!!" her expression turned euphoric and he felt something twist inside of him again.
"It's nothing to get so excited about, Rin," he said rather stiffly, bringing the mood down in seconds.
"But..." she paused and looked at his face, apparently thinking better of what she was going to say, "Sesshoumaru."
"What is it, Rin."
"Sit down for a second," she didn't even wait for him to move, simply pulled him over to the bed and pushed him down before plopping her adorable rear onto his lap, moving around a bit to get comfortable. He briefly rolled his eyes heavenward and asked silently, Kami, why must you do this to me? Why did you give me such an oblivious person who doesn't know better then to climb all over the lap of a man like me.
"Are you alright, Sessh?"
Her eyes were concerned, and he used every muscle in his body to exercise the small bit of control he had left before answering in a voice that was noticeably more husky, "Yes, I'm quite fine. What do you want?"
"I just...you're upset so I should probably...I..um..." she fidgeted and he wondered if she was deliberately prolonging his torture.
"What is it you want to say? Can it wait?"
"No, it's...since you were worried...I have to say," she stopped and took a deep breath before whispering so quietly that he almost missed it, "I love you."
He froze and a deafening silence fell where he stopped breathing. Nothing existed except for him and the girl who was as much his master as he was hers.
"You heard that, Sessh...?"
"..."
"Sessh...?"
"..."
"Sesshoumaru." She shook him.
Blink...then another blink...and he looked at her as if seeing the young woman for the first time.
"Are you alright, Sesshoumaru? Do you need something to drink? Is it that odd? Kami, I should have kept my mouth shut." She moved to stand, but he pinned her with his large hands.
Sesshoumaru shook his head before looking at her again, "Did you...mean that?" he needed to know before the confusion and long denied want ate him alive.
She blushed a brilliant shade of red, twisting her pretty fingers together before looking away and nodding.
"I...I meant it. You are the one I…I love." She blushed prettily, squeezing her hands together so tightly that they turned slightly blue..
"Why did you pick now to tell me this?" And he swore that he would kill himself for real if the burning sensation in his ears signified that he was actually blushing. Sesshoumaru Toyotomi, the perfect ice king, blushing over three words that most people didn't even mean when they said them?! Then again, Rin is special.
"Well...you just...you seemed so upset at the way I was talking about Kage Houshi that I wanted to reassure you. I want to know everything about you—past, present...and I want to be in your future, so...there is...is no way that I could love Houshi-san more than you. Sesshoumaru is the best." She nearly choked on the last part before reaching up to wipe at the tears threatening to spill because of the intensity of her feelings.
Those salty drops were what convinced him of the sincerity of her confession, and he put his arms around her, bending to rest his cheek on top of her hair.
"...Is it that bothersome that I feel that way about you?" She tilted her head to look at him. "If so then I..."
He covered her lips with his own, effectively cutting her off before backing away once more.
"Rin...?
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
She gave him a steady look that softened into something beautiful before nodding again and catching his mouth once more.
"I'll go with you to the party, Sesshoumaru," she breathed, lightly kissing his chin then placing one more on his cheek before moving to stand.
He allowed her to get to her feet, lightly holding one of her hands and desperately wishing that he could explore her mouth in its entirety. Her lips were so very tasty and he wondered what the rest was like. Sometimes it was the hardest thing for him to let her set her own pace, but when she smiled, it told him that everything was worth it.
Not once as she walked towards the bedroom door did his eyes waver from her and when she stopped to look at him and ask, "What should I do about a dress, Sessh?" he had to force himself not to beg her to stay.
He smiled ever so slightly and said, "We'll think of something, Rin."
Rin, bowed in return and stop again, this time just short of the doorway.
"And Sesshoumaru..."
"Yes?"
"You're cute when you blush." Her eyes turned mischievous and she winked before exiting the room.
He scowled even though she was gone and humphed a bit before laying back on the bed and lifting his fingers to touch the warmth where her lips had been, darting out his tongue to taste the lingering traces of Rin on person.
It wasn't obvious from the outside, but his heart was ready to explode with something that he almost identified as happiness; but he wasn't sure since that was a state he hadn't achieved in years, actually for his entire life. Why would I change for someone like her? he wondered, and for a second time that old memory tried to surface. A memory of someone he once knew. If only he could bring their face into focus. But no, try as he might, he couldn't remember the person, just the pain that came with it, the pain that belonged to someone else and the feeling that he had missed something.
Then, without warning, the face of his ex-wife cropped up and he scowled, his mood taking a rapid down spiral. A reminder...that's what it is. Rin still doesn't know everything about me and I have no right to make her mine with such secrets still in my head...I'll have to tell her about my childhood as well. His hands gripped the sheets tightly in reflex. He felt tired just from the effort of remembering and rolled over onto his side to stare at the wall, letting his breath deepen. Amber eyes felt heavy and he allowed them to close, waiting for sleep to come. Just a few hours passed, but the moment his mind let go of consciousness, he began to dream, and in his dream there was blood...so much blood covering the face of the one he couldn't recall.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Onigumo Miyazawa listened quietly on his cellphone as Bankotsu described Kagura's state to him, letting a smile touch his thin lips as he played a bit with his little half-brothers hair. He had always been envious of Naraku. They shared the same looks, but his otouto had long, soft, wavy hair that she had adored when she was still alive, and his face was just a bit more sculpted. It was as if Onigumo was a rough design, but Naraku was the real sculpture, the one who was just a little more beautiful, just a little bit more charismatic, just a little bit more perfect. His grabbed a fistful of that silken hair and yanked, bringing his brothers startled eyes to stare into his. There was no resistance, seeing as how the other man was tied up on the floor.
"Onii-sama?" He nearly purred at the frightened way Naraku said his title as he hung up the phone and tucked it into a pocket.
"Naraku, we'll be having a guest soon. Won't you be happy to see her? Won't it be nice to see our cousin? Miss Kagura grew up to be so pretty, but I'm afraid she's useless and you know what happens to useless people in this family, don't you Otou-chan?"
He reveled in the shiver that passed through his brother's body. Control was such a wonderful thing and it was fascinating to see fear stamped into the face of a man who was close enough in looks to be his twin. Naraku was his best friend, his only friend that he had made to obey him so that he would never be alone again...not even after she died. It was all that man's fault that she wasn't here, that she had grown tired of living, that she was buried beneath the cold ground with the rest of his ancestors.
"Why is Kagura coming here, Onii-sama?" Naraku avoided meeting his brother's gaze directly, knowing exactly how unpredictable Onigumo was. And yet another memory floated up, a vision of the nightmarish days after she died. Onii-sama was left free to act on the evil things he thought about, to force people to do his bidding, even to the point of scarring his illegitimate half-brother so that they could be connected, so that he had to be his friend when others wanted nothing to do with him. There were very few things that Naraku Kagewaki feared, and his other, darker half put them all to shame.
The frightening truth was that the man himself was very much in his right mind. His atrocities were always done methodically, always well thought out, and acts of a mind that were malicious, not insane or unstable. He wanted a friend so he made the man who looked most like him his friend. He wanted money so he made Kagura do unspeakable things to things to get it. He wanted to keep his hands clean so he used others to accomplish his tasks. That was the type of man Onigumo was and he knew that this time would be the same as well.
The woman that his Onii-sama had wanted all those years ago was gone and Naraku had deluded himself into thinking that his sibling would allow him the freedom to run his small cleaning business, to stay out of his plans to avenge her, but he knew, the moment Kagome entered the building and asked for work, the moment Sesshoumaru became one of his clients....oh, he knew. His brother was tightening a noose that could easily strangle him and the rest of the family. Blood had been spilled and only more of the same would appease the tyrant.
"You'll see why Kagura is here in just a little bit, but first I'll have Bankotsu untie you before we go to the dining room. We haven't had a family dinner in so long, don't you think?" He flashed a smile that would have been charming if Naraku didn't know exactly who he was.
"Please...don't hurt her, Onigumo," he said mustering up his courage and wishing desperately that his captor would wipe the amused smirk from his face.
"Come now, Naraku, don't tell me you suddenly decided to grow a spine just because I let you have your leash." He laughed as if he had made the funniest joke in the world. "As long as you have that scar on your back, you don't have the right to freedom." He traced a finger lightly over the spider shaped burn mark on Naraku's back that was a duplicate of his own, and his brother forced himself not to feel sick as he remembered the agony he felt at that time.
"You'll be with me forever...friend. We both love her, but I'm the oldest so she belongs to me. But we have similar tastes so that make you my best friend and I'll make sure that everyone knows. And if you betray me Otou-chan—" white teeth flashed, "I'll kill us both."
Then there was agony as his brother's henchmen, Jakotsu and Bankotsu, held him down and the red hot poker touched his back, burning off the skin as Onigumo drew a spider mark on his pale flesh...just like his.
"Just like me..."
"Plans have been made, Naraku, and I need you for bait."
"Bait?"
"Of course, I need you to lead his precious person to me. He needs to learn a lesson in compassion."
He stared at him a second before going cold. His brother only used words like compassion or kindness when someone was about to die, and things clicked into place. The way he had been ordered to fire Rin, the hints Kagome had slipped about her being with her brother-in-law, and the way Sesshoumaru had demanded to have Rin as his new housekeeper. The past was coming back to haunt them, and he nearly wept at how powerless he was.
"Can't you let it go, Nii-sama? Don't you want to be happy?"
Cold eyes turned to him. "Happy?!" he sneered, "I'll be happy when he's dead after learning what it feels like to have your important person taken away."
He felt as if the world was crashing down on him as he listened, when the door opened and in stepped Bankotsu, the man who had summoned him to the monster that was Onigumo and his right hand man.
"Kagura's here."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Things aren't looking good, ma'am," Souta said, wringing his hands together in consternation as Izayoi plucked the documents from his nervous fingers. He had been very grateful to his sister and her husband for getting him a job with Inuyasha's mother, but at this point, he was at his wits end. It had been a struggle to get certain documents passed around in enough time to free her step-son from the clutches of the daughter of a family of murderers, and now Kagura's family was fighting back. It wasn't often that he told his big sister, Kagome, about the workings of Izayoi's office, but he had broken down the night before when he found out the Miyazawa family was doing its best the declare the divorce papers null and void because Sesshoumaru had supposedly "cheated" on his ex-wife.
I need to get a hold of myself. Sis told me to listen to Izayoi-san and to trust her...but I really have nothing to do with this whole thing. And the boss doesn't look happy, he looked over to where the Prime Minister's daughter sat, tapping a nail against the surface of her desk.
"Is it that hopeless, Izayoi-san?" he asked, wishing that he could be a bit more calm around her.
She surprised him by sighing and leaning back in her swivel chair and massaging her temples, closing her eyes in thought for a second before looking at him.
"Souta..."
"Yes?"
"You are aware of the fact that I love both of my sons, right?"
He nodded, not quite sure where this was going.
"And you are also aware that Sesshoumaru is the most stubborn brat I have ever known and that, for the plan I have in mind, we may have to fight to get him to agree to do it."
"I am aware of that as well, ma'am."
"Good, then I need your support. Get me his cell phone number and let's hope that he'll have sense enough to go through with a plan that is entirely for his benefit. He's finally found his special person and we need them to be together at the party in a couple of days, understood?"
"Yes."
"Good, now get me the number and I'll try to talk to him."
She waited while he complied and dialed her recalcitrant step-son's number, waiting with bated breath for him to pick up and smiling when an unmistakably sleepy Sesshoumaru picked up and said, "Hello?"
So cute...when he wants to be. "Sesshoumaru, this is Izayoi, "she said and she practically heard the synapses in his brain kicking him into full alertness mode.
"What do you want?" he replied rather rudely. Patience, Izayoi, you love the boy no matter how much you might want to wring his neck sometimes.
"I have something very important to tell you, but first I will remind you that you owe me for freeing you from that disgusting harpy you had the bad taste to fall for."
"I didn't ask for your help," he growled.
"Of course and I'm sure the little honey you've been dragging around with you would agree...or maybe not, seeing as how your wife was raining on your parade."
There were a few moments of silence before she heard a sigh on the other line and he said in a low voice, "I'm listening." Ha, ha, ha, still a child in so many ways, aren't you?
"Sesshoumaru, for the sake of your future, I want you to marry Rin before you go to the party in two days."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Oh my, oh my, what's going to happen now? What is Onigumo planning? Will Sesshoumaru be able to make a reply? What about Rin's reaction? Hmhmhmhmhm, I'll tell ya'll later in the next chapter. Bwahahahahahahahah Oh, and please R and R, 'kay. Luv ya'.