I don't own these characters.
Chapter 2
Sesshomaru was staring out of his office window when his cell phone began ringing. He sighed under his breath, disliking the noise distracting him from his lunchtime hobby. He did not bother to check to see who it was that was calling him. In fact, he did not even look at the phone. He just wanted to stare at his Kikyo and nothing would stop him from doing so.
Yes, he was watching Kikyo at the café that was close to his office building. He was on a high floor, but he could tell that it was her even from the distance. It went beyond the fact that he was a demon; his eyesight was spectacular, but there was also the fact that he would know the true Kikyo in a sea of clones from ten times the distance. He just knew his woman, which was why he knew to be by his window during lunch.
Sesshomaru remembered when he used to meet his woman at the little café. She would always get there before he did and offer him a small smile as a greeting once he showed up. Sometimes, he managed to return her smile with one of his own. She would always have tea, as if she was health conscious in any way, and then she would have a cheeseburger or an exceptionally messy bowl of buffalo wings, yet she would manage to remain immaculate while eating them. Things like that about her amused him.
Technically, he was not much better than she was when it came to his diet and she was aware of that because she was very familiar with demon cuisine. So, he might tease her a bit about her meal, but she knew that he was having the demon equivalent of whatever she was having. They were both secretly junk food addicts. He missed sitting down there with her, just being with her and sharing their clandestine habits that no one else on the planet knew about.
Ever since they had ended their relationship, he had gone out looking for, well, another Kikyo as far as he could tell. The problem was that she was the only Kikyo in all of existence as far as he could tell. It was what his search had proven, anyway. Not that he was surprised to find that she was the only Kikyo in the universe.
He had gone out with females, human and demon alike, that were beautiful, first and foremost. But, none of them matched Kikyo's subtle, almost somber type of beauty. They were glamorous, glitzy, and some were subtle, but none of them had the eerie, melancholic beauty that seemed to be unique to his Kikyo. It was not even that she was sorrowful in any manner; she just had an exclusive look to her that made it seem as if the world would soon come to an end and she was the only one that knew. He did not know why she looked that way; she was not even aware that she had such a look to her, but she did.
He never thought much on the way Kikyo looked until he started searching for someone like her. Of course, he had noticed that she was lovely with both her enchanting face and her enthralling figure, but he never noticed that the look was hers and hers alone. It never occurred to him that she even had a type of beauty until he started picturing her in his mind to compare her to other females. She was a stunning creature and no other woman matched her in his opinion.
He then started in on intellectuals since he could not find anyone with her exact look. After all, his Kikyo was more than just a pretty face; she was brilliant on so many levels, so he was obviously attracted to her mind and desired to have someone with just as sharp a intellect. It turned out that Kikyo had a patent on her particular brand of intellect, which spanned several subjects, but mostly knowledge of the human world, the demon world, and how the two interacted with each other not just now, but also in the past. He had yet to meet another person, let alone a single dateable female, that held that combination of knowledge. And, even if he ever did, there would still be other requirements like knowing literature, politics, extensive medical science, and a vast amount of history of both the human and demon world. He had continued his search anyway; he did not have another option in his thinking.
"Hey, Sesshomaru, what are you doing?" Naraku asked as he entered the dog demon's office.
The demon lord frowned; he had forgotten to shut his door to keep out the riff-raff that roamed the building. He worked with Naraku; the half-demon's office was right down the hall. It was unfortunate in both of their opinions considering that they hated each other with a silent passion. Sesshomaru had several reasons to dislike the hanyou and all Naraku could do was return the favor since he knew that there was no way for him to ever be friends with the dog demon.
Sesshomaru was well aware that Naraku had gone out with Kikyo once. Before that incident, he mostly ignored Naraku or acted like he did not exist. Naraku was beyond background to Sesshomaru. He could not muster the emotion to detest the hanyou until the bastard creature went after Kikyo.
He was not too clear on the details on how the two met and he really would rather not know because he thought that it would led him to believe that Naraku was stalking his woman. After all, he knew that Naraku and Kikyo did not have the same taste in anything. As far as he knew, though, they had run into each other on the street and somehow Naraku managed to chat her up; Sesshomaru had been keeping an eye on Kikyo and he was glad that he was. He did not want her mingling with too many suspicious males, like Naraku and just about any other guy in his opinion.
The golden-eyed demon just disliked the idea of anyone else touching Kikyo, so he watched and made sure that no one did touch her. Now, he knew that it was a bit hypocritical of him since he had his way with a number of women through out the year, but in his mind, it was different for him to be with someone and for her to be with someone. He had unofficially claimed her a long time ago and no one else had better try planting his flag there, so to speak, or there would be heavy consequences and repercussions.
"What's got your attention so badly that you couldn't even be bothered to give me that royal glare?" the hanyou commented in a mocking tone. Sesshomaru, indeed, had not bothered to look upon the wretched half-breed.
Naraku went to the window and tried to see what Sesshomaru was focusing on. He spotted Kikyo rather quickly and he chuckled. The laugh was strange, almost ominous and bordering on sick.
Sesshomaru failed to see what was so amusing, but he did not bother with asking; he would rather not know how the half-demon's mind works. He also failed to see why Naraku was in his office and unless that was explained or fixed soon, he might be forced to make the half-demon leave. There was only so much disrespect that he was willing to take.
"You're looking at that one, aren't you? You shouldn't bother. She's mine," Naraku declared with a boastful smile.
Sesshomaru frowned deeper; he hated to hear someone claim her, apparently, even if it was a blatant and outrageous lie. There was a possibility that Naraku was deluded. The noble knew that Kikyo was nothing to Naraku and had not been near the crimson-eyed male in months. His Kikyo would not bother with such an annoying, listless, useless half-demon unless she pitied him. If she had one failing, it was that her heart was too big, which caused her to sympathize with the most pathetic of fools, like Naraku.
Naraku was a man with no morals, breeding, or anything else that would make a person consider respecting him or even conversing with him beyond any necessary exchange. He had no code in living his life and lived a more retched existence than a thieving vagabond in Sesshomaru's opinion. The shameful half-breed was probably lucky to have the job that he did and he had probably gotten that through nepotism, not that Sesshomaru could be certain of that claim. All Sesshomaru knew was that the moronic hanyou had better stay away from his beloved or there were going to be some serious problems.
Suddenly, the person of interest – Kikyo – rose from her seat; Sesshomaru knew that she to get to an undergraduate class soon. Naraku did not know such information, but he thankfully left now that there was nothing to look at; not that Sesshomaru liked Naraku ogling his Kikyo. If only he was allowed to shed blood in the building, Sesshomaru would rip Naraku apart into tiny little pieces, but with such a high demon population there were strict regulations in place to keep duels to the death from happening.
Sesshomaru actually had no problem with taking men outside to teach them to keep their eyes and other body parts off of Kikyo. He had been that way since before they first began going out and he had taken many men down; they were typically demons because it was not as serious an offense as long as it was between two demons because it went to a demon court and they were much more understanding of him trying crush a male for eyeing his woman. There was actually nothing very inappropriate about his behavior in demon society, but Kikyo often scolded him anyway about the way he acted, even back when they in high school. She had been quite a thing back then; a creature that he had accidentally become enchanted by.
She had been one of literally a handful of girls that showed absolutely no interest in him in high school, which he did not like for some reason. It was not like she was someone of importance and he required her attention, but he still disliked that she ignored him. Maybe it was just because he was the mighty Sesshomaru, the heir to his whole family and his father's lands. He was perfection. He always deserved everyone's attention, even if he would not return the favor. Everything about him demanded everyone's attention, hers included. She was not special; he had silently fumed back then.
So, he had made it his mission to get her to want him like all of the other giddy females of their school, but she typically appeared annoyed with his presence whenever he was around her. And that was if she showed any sort of emotion at all. She never smiled when he was around, yet she smiled with others. It was something that he noticed and it bothered him that they were worthy of her smiles, but she seemed to think that he was not. He always noticed how stiff she went when he showed up; she was extra-guarded around him. She always tried to be polite, but it was clear that she was irked that he was near her.
Gradually, though, she began to change. He did not understand why it was; she actually eventually just got comfortable with him being around. She expected him there and it was then that she started creeping by his defenses; he was doing the same with her. He actually lost sight of his mission somewhere along the line and did not even notice. Because he was often around her, they had somehow started dated without realizing it, but once they did, they continued on because they found out that they enjoyed each other's company.
They had been together ever since then, much to her father's dismay. His father was more accepting of the relationship, being married to a human himself, than her father was. His father did find it bothersome that Sesshomaru never formally claimed Kikyo as a demon would do his mate or that Sesshomaru never went through a human marriage; his father had done both.
Sesshomaru respected his father a great deal, but he looked to have some form of individuality, so he did not do either to avoid people comparing him to his father when it came to his personal life. Kikyo never brought up the subjects either. He suspected that she never mentioned such things because her father had once openly swore to mercilessly slaughter Sesshomaru if they did either of those things. Sesshomaru really had done nothing to even try to endear himself to that man; sometimes, he seemed to go out of his way to rub her father the wrong way. Sesshomaru just could not find it in him to respect someone that did not respect him, even if the person was his beloved's father.
One such incident had occurred on prom night when they were still in high school. He had purposely kept Kikyo out until some insane hour of the morning. By the time he returned her home, her father was practically foaming at the mouth and pacing a hole in the floor. The house was shaking from his spiritual powers running out of control in his body because of his anger and the only reason that he had not attacked the dog demon was because Kikyo assured him that nothing happened. At first, it seemed as if her father did not believe her because he knew what sorts of sordid things went on during prom night.
In all truth, nothing had happened, but the dog demon had been looking to get a charge out of her father and it did work. They had gone to the prom, were equally bored to death, attended the after party to be similarly bored, and then he had taken her to a scenic spot on the beach to watch the sunrise. It had been an enjoyable venture, even when her father wanted to kill him.
He got some strange kick out of infuriating her father. There was something about the way that Kikyo was such a daddy's girl, yet she went against his wishes when it came to Sesshomaru that the demon liked. It made him feel special. It let him know that he was precious to her and that made him feel several emotions that he never showed in public.
Sesshomaru had actually not done anything worthy of an all-out, horrible death in Kikyo's father's eyes until they were in college. He had waited two years to be with Kikyo; he had waited until she felt that she was absolutely certain that she was ready. He knew even then that he would never give any other female such time, devotion, and respect, but then again, very few people mattered to him like she did. He recollected the connection that he felt with her that night and how it confirmed that she was the only human, the only female for him. And yet, for the past year, he had been dating others.
To be honest, Sesshomaru could not even recall why he and Kikyo had broken up. It was a blur in his mind. He did not even know whose idea it was, but he had a creeping suspicion that it was his. He was the one full of bad ideas when it came to the both of them, but he could not see why he would even jokingly suggest such a thing. He replayed their relationship in his mind almost on the daily basis and he could not see what warranted their going their separate ways. The only thing in his mind in regards to their breakup was him moving out of their condo and then suddenly drowning himself in his work to gain a promotion, which he had done quite a while ago.
He had almost immediately missed Kikyo, though. It felt like there was a hole in his life that nothing could fill, except for her. He missed their lunch dates and little midnight snacks together where they would always have junk food and converse about almost anything until it was either time to go back to work or they needed to get some sleep. It actually did not occur to either of them to stay friends and at least keep their lunch dates, even though they terminated their relationship.
It was just that they had never really seen each other as friends. They had not realized that they had become friends long before they became lovers. They seemed to mistakenly think that their closeness and ease with each other was because they were lovers; it just happened that that was the one label that they were willing to put on each other. It was just that before getting into a relationship, they had both found each other irksome, for different reasons of course. But, they had been friends, the best of friends, and that aspect made being apart much harder than they imagined it would.
Sesshomaru sighed and asked himself why he had not at least tried to talk to Kikyo lately, if only for the intellectual stimulation. He had long ago noticed that most of the world's population was fools or idiots and he could not, for the sake his sanity, speak with them unless it was totally necessary. She was a breath of fresh air in a smoky world because of her mind. He had been wondering her opinion on so many matters, if she would agree or disagree with him on issues and for what reasons. He craved to speak with someone who had an opinion, did not mind sharing, and could easily back it up with sound logic and sensible facts. It was hard for him to find someone like that in the circles that he moved in.
As a demon noble, he attended many upper class functions and listening to them go on about something was so different than hearing Kikyo speak. He enjoyed bringing her with him just because she thought differently from all of those people, even him. He and Kikyo disagreed on things more often than not, but they had the most civilized and enlightening arguments. He liked watching her debate someone to the point where the person would withdraw to lick his wounded pride after throwing a petty insult her way or asking what a low class human like her knew about anything. She could be such a delightfully frustrating creature.
Also, the women that were around him tended to try to get on his good side, so they just agreed with his stance on matters. Kikyo offered opposition, intelligent opposition that was like a cool drink of water in a harsh desert. When they attended functions, women, actually people in general, would look at her as if she were completely and utterly mad if she dared to debate with him in front of them. Demons used to often tell him that he should get her under control, which only served to make her indignant and bring her calm and collected wrath onto them.
After a while, most people learned to just leave her be and let her be herself, which was a good way to go about things. Many people even enjoyed her company once they figured out that she was an independent little creature with sharp claws and teeth, mentally speaking. He still found himself attending functions only to be asked by someone where Kikyo was because they wished to speak with her.
Kikyo was different from everything that he was used to and he loved that about her. She was the perfect woman in his eyes, and he had often told her so. It was the only way that he could describe her; no other words would do. Of course, he was aware that she did not feel the same in regards to him. He knew that she questioned his perfection, but that was just another endearing quality of hers. She challenged him and a good portion of him loved that, craved that, and needed that. He seemed to need her, even though he had survived a whole year without her. He would never say so out loud, but he did not see how he had managed such a feat.
He imagined that Kikyo needed him too since she had given up dating and she still continued to travel to their café to sit alone. He could not figure out why they had not called each other; or more specifically, why she had not called him. Surely, she knew that he was miserable without her and she had to be the same. And then, his mind posed the question of why had he not called? He did not have an answer for himself. No answer that would have been satisfactory, anyway. All he could think of was that he had not called her because she had not called him.
Maybe his pride forbade him from calling her, as if he were crawling back to her, groveling to her. He did not want to discover she was actually able to get along without him or he just did not want to be the first to call because it would make him look weak. He would never do anything that might be perceived as weak, even though it was preventing him from at least interacting with Kikyo.
Sesshomaru sighed; he was damned if he did and damned if he did not. He then recalled that he had gotten a phone call minutes ago that he had promptly ignored. He decided to see who had called him and he was stunned to find that it was Kikyo. He hoped that she left a message, if only for the fact that it would allow him to hear her voice again. He did not even care what she might have said on the message; she could be reading the ingredients to a candy bar and it would have been all right with him. His facial expression remained neutral as he listened to the message; from the look his face, she might as well have been reading the ingredients to a candy bar.
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Next time: the end. What will become of the pair?