One Ranch, Two
Brothers: Chapter Eleven
First half by KitKats, Second half by BelleDayNight
"Sango…"
"Miroku, I know what I'm doing."
"But Sango, it really isn't necessary—"
"It's something I want to do for you," Sango snapped irritably.
Miroku watched with despair as the object of his untimely affection stooped down onto the floor and began scrubbing the grease spots left from his earlier attempt at cooking. After Sesshoumaru had managed to come in while they were fighting, the kitchen had harbored tension at an intensity that could have been cut with a steak knife.
Sango had changed out of the cashmere sweater she had been wearing when she had first arrived and into an old work shirt of Miroku's. The man must have possessed a hidden talent when it came to dirtying up a kitchen. This one was filthy.
He watched her almost constantly as she worked to remove a stain here, and a black spot there. Miroku supposed that he should be of some help, and perhaps scrub the dishes, but it was so…interesting to watch her at work.
Miroku rarely ever got to observe Sango. When he did happen to stumble across her, Sango would immediately stiffen up, and either throw him out of her store, or bombard him with comments that dripped from over-used sarcasm.
It was a rare moment of simplicity for him.
Sango, meanwhile, wasn't sharing in his moment of bliss. Not only could she feel his eyes burning into her form, but she also had to deal with the little, nagging voice inside of her head. She felt so—bad after witnessing the angry outburst from Miroku, and if that wasn't awful enough it only added to her pain to know that she had been the cause of it.
"As hard as it may be for your biased mind to comprehend I don't have limitless amounts of self-esteem. All you have ever done is insult me. I have never done one thing to earn such…such…a foul impression."
Despite herself, her body let out a little shiver. Sango could still hear the angry exclamation in her mind. The way his eyes had flashed…there had been something there. She had clearly seen the outrage that had glittered in the depths of his eyes, but there had been another emotion…something sticky, something she didn't want to have to deal with.
A tremor of anger worked its way through her and without giving her arm permission to; she slapped the cabinet a little harder than expected as she brought it back down to rub at the now disappearing stain.
Miroku wasn't supposed to be a real human being.
He could walk, talk, and be a man as much as he wanted to, but he just couldn't have real emotions. Sango had never been able to picture him as anything more than a good body with a cocky attitude.
So why did he have to show his true colors now?
Her eyes clouded over as she recalled when she had first met him. It had been many years back when Kouga had just moved them onto their ranch. They had been living on the large piece of land for a few weeks before Sango had seen so much as a hair that belonged to either one of them. She may not have laid eyes on the brothers, but she sure had heard a lot about them.
Every girl in town was head over heels with the realization that two dark-haired bachelors had rolled into town. At the end of their first week living in this part of Texas, Sango had had the misfortunate of learning about the notorious Miroku.
"He's so bad!" The girls would squeal with approval as they drifted into her store.
She knew by just taking in their starry eyes that she wasn't going to like him.
Sango never had liked the pretty boys.
Their first meeting had left Sango about ready to kill any innocent thing that may have had the misfortunate of stumbling across her path.
The bell above the entrance to her store had rung, but Sango hadn't bothered to look up at the customer. The little grocery store had completely been emptied of eggs, and she had been busy restocking the cartons on the shelves.
She had always been one to pick up when someone was watching her, and the eyes burning into her back had been unmovable for a handful of minutes. Sango turned, while holding a carton of eggs in her hand, and had wrinkled her nose at the man standing almost directly behind her.
"May I help you sir?" She asked testily, while taking in his handsome face.
Miroku had flashed his infamous smile, and had leaned close as he spoke to her. It was almost as if he were about to share a secret with Sango.
"Ma'am, I was wondering if you'd show me where you kept your bottles of milk?"
Sango had never been a stupid girl.
"Get OUT!" She had screamed at possibly the highest point her voice could reach.
The smile on his face had never faltered, to her complete annoyance, until she had tore off the top of the egg carton, and had egged him directly in the chest. Miroku, taking the hint, had retreated from the store.
"See you next Tuesday!" He sang out as he shut the door.
He had continued to show up in her store, as promised, on every Tuesday after their first meeting. Sango had done everything within her power to avoid him for the first couple of years of knowing each other. She'd take her break, and have someone else come sit in the grocery store for her. Sango would often retreat to the coffee shop down the street while he did his shopping.
But the old saying goes, there's a thin line between love and hate.
After a while of totally despising him, she had begun to find him intriguing. She denied that there was anything behind her sudden interest in him, but the ache that pulled at her when he smiled at her said otherwise.
As much as it pained her to think in such a way, he had been right to accuse her of what crimes she committed against him.
She always insulted him. Sango grabbed at any chance she could get to throw an offensive comment his way. There was something about the way that he got to her, and she just didn't want to fall victim to his charms. So, she did what she could to keep her feelings at bay.
She looked for faults in him.
All her hard years of denying her emotions had gone to waste though. She was at his house now, attempting to have dinner. If she truly had no interest in him why had she allowed herself to show up for his dinner? Sango wasn't a helpless girl by any stretch. If she had wanted a good dinner, she could have made herself one. Yet, here she was.
"Sango?"
The voice cut through the fog in her brain, and she looked up to see Miroku staring down at her.
She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. Sango was almost afraid of what she would say if given the chance to think about it. There was no reason to push him any further. At least not tonight.
Miroku didn't wait for a response, and barreled on, "You've been sitting on the floor for the last twenty minutes. The kitchen looks great though."
She looked around, almost in wonder, and took in how the room seemed to sparkle. Sango could have laughed. She had been so deep in her own thoughts that she had cleaned the place in record timing.
"Miroku…about earlier…" She began hesitantly, as she stood up and brushed off his work shirt.
She blinked as he put a finger up to her lips and quieted her.
"Don't bother," He said softly, "I was out of line."
Sango's eyes widened slightly, and she simply wanted to hit him for being such a gentleman.
But she didn't.
"Nonsense," she said in a bit of an irritable tone.
He didn't say anything, and Sango took advantage of his blessed silence to lean forward just a few inches, and slip an arm around his neck.
And then she kissed him.
It was a brush of one person's lips on another's, and then it was over. The kiss wasn't something that could be labeled, 'raw passion', but she had gotten her point across none the less.
She slipped away from him almost as quickly as she had put her arms around him, and a huge smile blossomed across her face.
"I'm not really in the mood for Chinese, so I was thinking….pizza?"
Miroku stared at her with a very stupid look on his face.
He was most defiantly human.
"I'll take that as a yes," She chirped while picking up the house phone off of its base. She walked outside to make the order, and to let Miroku recover from his shock.
OOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOO
Inuyasha glared at Kouga as he and Kagome rejoined them at the table. "So how is the ranching business?" He asked, making an effort to sound friendly and casual.
"It produces cattle and horses," Kouga answered blandly. "How's pretending you know how to act?"
"The pay checks seem to think I'm pretty good," Inuyasha retorted, equally bland.
Kagome propped her elbows on the table and leaned towards her former fiancé. "Really? Then why are you here, snooping for clues about Sesshoumaru?"
The fork in Inuyasha's hand clattered to his plate in shock. He quickly picked it back up and as calmly as possible placed it on the table. He met Kagome's eyes directly. "What makes you think that?"
"Why else would you have hunted me down?"
"Maybe I just wanted to take a vacation down in Texas with my new woman," Inuyasha answered, wrapping his arm around Kagura's shoulder and pulling her towards him. The woman rolled her eyes and continued to try and eat her salad. Inuyasha pushed her away with an exacerbated sigh. "Fine. Do you know where he is?"
"Why would I know where he is?" Kagome asked.
Inuyasha put his elbows on the table and leaned towards her so that their noses were practically touching. "Because I know that the two of you used to be close. And sources tell me that the last time Sesshoumaru was seen it was in Texas. And right about the time he disappears this idiot," he gestured towards Kouga. "Suddenly has his ranch go from a financial disaster to a multimillion dollar industry. And now you just happen to have tried to pull a similar disappearing act and have also ended up in Texas."
"Did you do all that thinking by yourself?" Kouga asked, idly stirring his straw in his water glass. He kept his eyes blank as he looked up to meet Inuyasha's gaze.
"As a matter of fact I did," Inuyasha retorted.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to rethink your theory then," Kagome told him with a smug expression. "Because Sesshoumaru does not live here." She didn't need to tell him that Sesshoumaru had died years ago and that the man that now existed was but a shadow of her dear friend.
"I don't believe you," Inuyasha hissed.
"Well then it's a good thing that we don't care what you believe, now isn't it?" Kouga answered arrogantly.
Kagura had begun to tap her fingernails against her crystal glass during the interlude and cried out in dismay when she caused the crystal to shatter. Wine spilled all over her dress. "Damn it!" She cried, as she rose to her feet, and allowed the glass to fall in shards to the hard tiled floor.
Kagome cringed at the sight, knowing just how impossible it would be to remove such stains from her lovely, expensive dress.
"I told you to stop tapping your damn nails," Inuyasha told Kagura irritably.
"Oh shut up you moron," Kagura yelled storming towards the restroom to clean herself up. They watched her leave, Inuyasha and Kagome stunned into silence. Kouga began to snicker with an irrepressible grin plastered upon his face.
"Look Kagome," Inuyasha started, as he reached across the table and took hold of her hands. "Can I talk to you for a few moments alone?" He cast Kouga a disdainful look.
Kouga narrowed his eyes and then lightly grasped Kagome's elbow. "Why don't you dance with him on one song, let him speak his mind?"
"Alright," Kagome agreed. She didn't like Kouga telling her what to do, but it sounded more like a suggestion. She ignored the brief stab her heart felt when Inuyasha smiled at her boyishly, the way he used to. But she needed to remember, he was first and foremost an actor. She knew what he was really like. He was a greedy, selfish, spoilt, mean-spirited man.
Inuyasha led Kagome to the small dance floor, and took her in his arms. She kept her eyes on Kouga and felt reassured that he would protect her should Inuyasha try and act threateningly. "Would you stop looking at that stupid cowboy?"
"He's a rancher, not a cowboy," Kagome protested absently.
"Keh, whatever." Inuyasha pulled Kagome closer to him as he lead her in the dance. "So, do you know what happened to Sesshoumaru?"
"Why do you want to find him suddenly? All the times over the years that I brought him up you always said you'd rather walk around the north pole in your underwear than talk to him ever again," Kagome objected.
"He's my brother; I shouldn't need an excuse to want to find him."
"What happen, you run out of money?"
Inuyasha cringed slightly as her statement was right on target. Kagome sighed, still seeing the little boy she once knew Inuyasha as and forgetting what a rotten adult he changed into. "Inuyasha," she said softly. "Did you ever think that during all that time that you were avoiding Sesshoumaru, that maybe he didn't want you to find him?"
"Of course I thought that!" Inuyasha roared, his hands gripped Kagome's upper arms tightly causing her to cry out softly in pain. He shook her in anger, "You think I would bother with someone like you unless I thought it would be of some benefit to me?"
Kagome felt her eyes water in tears at his hateful words. Could it be that the whole time they were together it was simply because she was friends with his brother? Did that make her somehow more of a challenge? Was it a contest to see if she would choose him or his brother?
"You're hurting me," Kagome told him quietly, trying to pull her arms out of his grip.
"Stupid woman, you still don't know anything," Inuyasha informed her angrily. He opened his mouth to say more, but a fist was suddenly closing it for him while sending him flying to the floor. Kouga stood looming over him with Kagome tucked safely behind him.
"I think I've heard enough. Let's go home Kagome. There's no need to be around this trash any longer." Kouga gently ran his fingers over the bruised flesh of Kagome's arms. "Let's go," he repeated softer.
Inuyasha rubbed his sore jaw from his position on the restaurant floor. "You can't keep me from getting what belongs to me!" Inuyasha yelled out.
A pair of high heeled shoes were in Inuyasha's line of sight. He looked up from his vantage point to see Kagura looking down at him quizzically. "There are perfectly fine chairs at the table. Must you sit on the floor?"
He groaned and lay back on the floor staring at the ceiling. Frederick then stood over him. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're upsetting the band."
oooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo
Sesshoumaru paced back forth in the small house reserved for the ranch's foreman. It had been five years since he moved to Texas, trying to separate himself from his old life as much as possible. The letter that rested so innocently upon his kitchen table shattered his little bubble of peace.
Five years ago, Sesshoumaru had become the newest multibillionaire after the death of his father with the subsequent inheritance of his estate. At the time he worked for the government organizing and running covert operations. He had resigned his position upon the receipt of his inheritance, wanting to be more available for his wife and two young children.
Touran was a beautiful woman and the love of his life. They met sophomore year in college in Physics. After they graduated, they both started to work for the government. They then decided to have children. Touran always wanted to adopt and Sesshoumaru had no reason to disagree. He would have liked to have his own children, but she convinced him that someone needed to care for those existing children.
Rin and Shippou were the names of the little girl and boy that they had adopted. Everything was going well with his perfect life. Naraku, his boss, had been a little upset about Sesshoumaru's decision to retire but he had respected it.
At least that was what Sesshoumaru had always believed until he received the letter that was now sitting on his table. He remembered coming home after his last day of work, ready and anxious to start his new life. However, he didn't realize that meant his old life would be mere ashes. His quaint home no longer existed. In its stead were the charcoaled remains of the framework. He had rushed inside, paying no heed to the smoldering flames.
He remembered crying out in rage at the site before him. Three charred skeletons, a woman holding two young children, were against the far wall of the bedroom. They had been murdered and he knew it had to be related to the government work he did. There was nothing for him there.
So he took his name and father's legacy and disappeared.
His golden eyes fell back onto the letter and he snatched it up from the table, pulling out the photographs that came with it. He knew without a doubt that the first one was a photograph of his family, but that they were alive and well. Touran was beautiful still and Rin and Shippou were now eight years old. They were in second grade by now. Or actually they probably skipped a grade or two like he had done. He shook his head; no they were probably in second grade. He had forgotten that they were not children of his blood. Besides Inuyasha was of his blood and he certainly was no genius.
He shuffled to the next photograph; it was of Touran and the children at a park. The lovely sight brought a smile to his somber face. He shuffled again and came to what made him need to speak to Kagome. It was a picture of her holding a small white puppy and handing it to Rin. She had been his family's Veterinarian and didn't even know it!
He picked up the letter and skimmed over its words once more. It was from Naraku's right-hand man Bankotsu. Naraku had ordered him to murder Sesshoumaru's family so that the man would rejoin the government, having nothing left to lose. Bankotsu revealed that he could not do this. He respected Sesshoumaru too much. Naraku had searched for years for Sesshoumaru, but Bankotsu always undermined him and prevented his location from being discovered.
Sesshoumaru felt the corner of his lip twitch upwards as he continued to read Bankotsu's words. It seemed that the man had truly saved his life many times over. Bankotsu arranged for bodies to be placed in Sesshoumaru's family's stead. His family was safe; he had made sure of it. However, they were given new identities and a new life. It was a difficult thing to convince Touran but she had agreed for the sake of the children and for Sesshoumaru.
Naraku was dead. Bankotsu knew because he had killed him personally. With his death it was now safe for Sesshoumaru to know the truth of his family. However, Bankotsu could not disclose their location just in case the letter was intercepted. He trusted that with Sesshoumaru's resources he would be able to both find them and protect them.
He needed to talk to Kagome and find out exactly where his family was located. At this ranch he had found a place to call home. It was time to bring his family here with him as well. He looked around the small house. This would not do for a family with two energetic children. He would have to build.
Which is why he needed to speak to Kouga. He wanted to buy out half of the ranch.
TBC