I don't own these characters.
13: Ashes to Ashes
Sesshomaru stood before his father and stepmother like a solider at attention. His stoic mask had slipped enough for his father to notice after his father asked him a very important question. The younger demon knew he had to weigh his words carefully before he answered, but he was not sure if he was going to have the time to be as cautious as he would have liked.
"Your silence is not an answer and it is not acceptable," the older demon stated. "Now, what does the name Kikyo mean to you?"
"Why do you ask?" Sesshomaru countered. What did it matter to his father? Kikyo was his and that was that. His relationship with her had no affect on his father or their family.
"I'm sure you can guess why."
"I'm sure I can't."
"You're having an affair with a married woman. Would you like me to walk you around the issue?" his father inquired.
"It is unnecessary," Sesshomaru replied. It was also no one's business, but he had to wonder how his father found out. Well, no. That was not much of a mystery. Rin probably said something and his father went digging from there.
"If it's unnecessary then why are you carrying on in such a distasteful fashion?"
Sesshomaru was silent. He considered telling his father what he did in his life was his own business and try to end the argument there, but that was not true. He was a representative of their family and whatever he did reflected back onto the family. So, whatever he did was their family business when it might reflect poorly on them. It was not usually an issue unless he grew impatient with something and then let his frustration get away from him. He did not see how his relationship with Kikyo reflected poorly on them, though.
"Sesshomaru, you must know by now that standing there saying nothing is not going to help," his father informed him.
"I don't know what to tell you, then. I am not carrying on distastefully as you put it," Sesshomaru replied. He would consider his relationship with Kikyo rather bland and banal, offensive to no one, save the fact that she was married.
"The woman is married."
"To someone lower than a worm's stomach. If he were thrown in mud, he would leave a streak in it as he exited," the younger demon argued.
"That does not make her any less married," his father pointed out.
"What about what she wants? He is unworthy of her and she wants me," Sesshomaru stated. This should have been enough, but his father was unmoved.
"She is married." Apparently, this would be his father's argument.
"No one knows," Sesshomaru decided to argue.
"Of course someone knows. After all, we know," his father said, motioning between himself and his silent wife.
Sesshomaru conceded that. Someone had to tell his parents. It was probably Rin, but he did not see how. Yes, she had seen Kikyo in his bed and she had claimed Kikyo looked familiar. Did his little sister really know Kikyo? He would find out.
"You will end this affair," his father ordered him, leaning forward in his chair as if that gave his command more power.
"I will do no such thing," Sesshomaru replied, tilting his chin in the air.
The older dog demon frowned and growled. He was about to tear into his eldest son verbally, but Izayoi spoke up first. She figured they would not get anywhere with the two proud demons barking at each other now that her husband's alpha status was being challenged by his son deciding to not comply with an order.
"Sesshomaru, think of the woman you're involved with. You're only doing her harm by interfering in her marriage," Izayoi said.
"Her husband is doing her harm," Sesshomaru stated.
"He is the man she chose to marry. It was her choice," Izayoi said.
"That doesn't excuse him for hurting her." It also seemed to suggest Kikyo did not choose Sesshomaru. Kikyo decided Sesshomaru was worth breaking her vows for. Kikyo decided to go on vacation with Sesshomaru. Kikyo decided Sesshomaru's apartment was home. Kikyo chose all of that. So, how did her husband being a chose matter? "Besides, Kikyo chose me over him," he decided to say.
His father's eyes flashed. "Listen, Sesshomaru." He was not about to watch Izayoi try to get some form of sympathy or understanding out of his eldest son when he was certain none of that existed in the boy's stoic being. He was too much like his birth mother.
"I have been listening to utter nonsense," Sesshomaru replied.
His father's jaw twitched. "You will end this affair or I'll simply cut you off from everything. I will not have this family involved in such a tasteless scandal."
"How is this a scandal?" Sesshomaru asked. No demon on Earth, save his father apparently, would consider his relationship with Kikyo scandalous. He wanted what he wanted and he would have what he wanted. The only thing most demons would find odd was Kikyo being human and his father should understand that.
"She is married. Now, you will end this affair or that is it. You will be disowned," his father stated through gritted teeth.
The elder dog demon thought he had his arrogant son. To Sesshomaru, his inheritance was everything. He was the heir to a vast legacy he was completely proud of. There was no way he would throw that all away for a little human female he could not even have since she was married.
Sesshomaru stood there. His expression did not change as he milled over the new information. Was Kikyo worth more than his birthright to him? In the past, he would have thought himself a fool for even weighing something against his birthright, but after spending so much time with her, he was certain she was the one thing that might actually come before his birthright to him.
The young demon doubted his father meant that threat anyway. After all, was he going to leave everything in the hands of Inuyasha? That thought was laughable since the empty-headed hanyou probably could not find his own ass with both hands and a map. No one in his right mind would leave everything to Inuyasha, Sesshomaru was certain of that. Beyond that, Sesshomaru had other options. It was not like his father was his only parent or his only parent with a deep, rich legacy. His father knew that. All right, he would call his father's bluff on the issue.
"Fine. Severe our ties," Sesshomaru declared in his usual tone.
Both of his parents were surprised by that answer and it showed very clearly on their faces. Izayoi even gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. He did not care to stick around to witness any more of their reactions, so he turned to leave. As he began to walk away, his father regained his voice.
"I'm not joking, Sesshomaru," his father informed him.
"We'll see," Sesshomaru commented.
Sesshomaru walked out and did not look back. He would wait to see what his father had planned, but he was not going to give up Kikyo. She had given up things for him, so he could do the same. She was his, even if she was married. It was not something to be argued.
As he made his way to his car, the dog demon again wondered who informed his parents of Kikyo. His only suspect was still Rin, so he would find out if it was her and then go from there. He called her and find out where she was.
"Hey, big brother!" Rin chirped as she answered the phone. She loved it when one of her brothers called her instead of the other way around. It was always nice to know they thought of her as much as she thought of them.
"Where are you now, Rin?" Sesshomaru inquired.
"With my friends. I am kicking butt in go-carts," she answered.
Sesshomaru would have chuckled if he was a lesser being. Her happiness was amusing, especially since she was always so energetic and sincere. He often wondered why she was like that. She was the only one in the family like that. Sure, Inuyasha was hyper, but it was not the same thing compared to Rin. Even her human mother was not like that. Izayoi was reserved and elegant. If Rin did not look like Izayoi, they might have to wonder if the girl fell out of the sky and landed in their family.
"Rin, there's something I want to talk to you about. Come by my house when you're done," Sesshomaru ordered.
"Yes, big brother," she agreed.
Rin had plans to go to Sesshomaru's place when everything was all said and done anyway since she and her friends had plans to go skating in the morning. She showed up at his apartment just in time for her curfew, which remained in place no matter where she stayed. Inuyasha was a bit flexible with it if she called, but Sesshomaru and their father were strict when it came to her being in at a certain time.
"Hey, big brother!" Rin greeted Sesshomaru as she entered the apartment, kicking her shoes off at the door.
"Did you eat, Rin?" he asked from his studio. He was working on a painting while trying not to let his father's threat bother him.
"I had pizza," she answered as she strolled to the back of the apartment to see what he was working on.
He turned to her as she stood in the doorway. "Rin, I need to talk to you about something."
"What?" she asked, her brow wrinkling. She had a cut along her eyebrow, which he was not surprised with.
"Remember when you saw a woman in my bed and you said you thought you knew her?" he inquired. His voice stayed steady. He did not want her to think he was accusing her of anything. He knew Rin. If she did say something, it was an accident, probably blurted out as she was telling their parents about her day.
Rin swallowed hard. She had been trying her best to forget about all of that. She figured if she thought about it, she might accidentally tell what she knew and they had the pact to not tell. She did not want to get anyone in trouble.
"Yeah," she answered hesitantly.
"Did you tell anyone about her?" he asked.
Rin swallowed hard again. She tried to remain calm, but it was rather difficult, especially when it felt like her heart was in her throat. How did her big brother know she had told? It was supposed to be a secret. Her friends always kept their secrets.
"Who did you tell Rin?" Sesshomaru inquired since he knew the answer to his previous question. He felt like he knew the answer to that question, too.
Rin cracked like an egg, throwing her hands up in surrender. "I only told Kaede! Well, Kaede, Kohaku, and Shippo, but we all promised not to tell anyone!" She thought he already knew and she was well aware to never lie to him if he knew the truth.
"You told your friends?" he asked.
"Yeah," she answered.
"You didn't tell Father?"
She made a face. "No." Why would she tell their father something like that? She would get her big brother into so much trouble and she was never looking to do that…well, with Sesshomaru anyway. Inuyasha was another story, but even with him, she would never get him into serious trouble. What Sesshomaru was doing would go beyond serious trouble and she knew that, so she had kept her mouth shut.
"Then how did he know?" Sesshomaru wondered out loud. It did not make any sense.
Rin yelped. "Father knows about you and Kikyo!" Then, she slapped her hands over her mouth, like she should not have said that.
Sesshomaru waved the matter off. "It's none of your concern. Wait, how did you know her name was Kikyo?"
"That's Kaede's big sister," Rin answered.
The world can't possibly be that small, Sesshomaru thought. But, then he remembered Kikyo looking at the picture he had of Rin and her best friend. He had assumed she was looking at his sister, possibly wondering why he had a picture of a human in his home, but perhaps she was looking at more. He wondered why she did not mention knowing his sister, not that it had a chance to come up in a conversation.
"Wait, you said you told Kaede?" Sesshomaru asked. He could feel a headache coming on, as this could easily blow up into something so much worse.
"Yes, but it's okay because we all promised not to tell," Rin replied.
The dog demon was not too sure if he could trust Rin's friends, but he believed her. He doubted they were the ones who spilled the beans anyway. They did not have anything to gain from it, unless of course they told someone who told someone and so on and so forth. He was aware Kohaku was the brother of Inuyasha's friend, so he could have brought the subject up, but did Kohaku know Kikyo to even want to say anything? And what did Rin's friends care anyway?
"Your friends, they know Kikyo, too?" Sesshomaru inquired.
Rin nodded. "Yes, she's Kaede's sister, after all. She's very nice. She always buys us things if we go somewhere with her. She also used to ride the train with us all of the time to show us how to get places. She always wanted to make sure we made it to where we had go and knew how to get home without having to rely on anyone else."
Sesshomaru fought down a smile. His sister liked her independence and it was good to know Kikyo helped her gain some of that by showing her how to use public transportation, even if he despised it. "So, you all like her then?" he asked. He doubted they would slander her name if they liked her.
"Yes, she's very nice," she repeated and squinted as she stared at him. "Big brother… why are you doing this?"
"What?" he inquired.
"Why are you dating Kikyo? You do know she's married, right? I mean, Kaede says her husband's mean and it's only a matter of time before Kikyo turns him into a pile of dust, but still, that doesn't make this right. Right?"
He sighed. He would probably have an easier time explaining it to her than their parents, but now he felt like he did not have the answer. "Rin, it's a complicated issue."
"Is she going to get a divorce? Are you going to marry her then?" the preteen inquired, her eyes sparkling with the idea of her brother and Kikyo being husband and wife. It would be so awesome.
"Rin, it's a complicated issue," he repeated.
Rin only rubbed the top of her head. She decided not to question things because she knew better than to pry into her big brother's business. She hoped Kikyo would get a divorce and then marry her big brother. It would be nice to have someone like Kikyo in her family. Plus, she would be related to Kaede if that happened. She hoped everything worked out, especially if Kikyo made Sesshomaru happy.
"You deserve to be happy, brother," Rin said, in case Sesshomaru did not know. Of course, there were times when she thought he did not know. Most of the time, it seemed like Sesshomaru just sort of existed without emotions and she did not think that was good.
"I know," he answered, but she did not look convinced. He put that out of his mind as he had other things to worry about.
Sesshomaru still had the mystery of who could have possibly told his parents about Kikyo. Rin and her friends seemed to like Kikyo too much to share information that might do her some kind of harm. So, who was there that might know and tell his father?
-8-8-8-8-
Naraku set up his plan to teach Kikyo a lesson as to never betray him. He had already put things in motion to make that mutt's life hell by making a little phone call to the bastard's father and telling him a few things about Sesshomaru's personal life. He knew from gossip around the office that making that call would do a lot of damage because Sesshomaru's father apparently did not take any mess from anyone, offspring included. Sesshomaru would also have his other surprise to deal with soon enough as far as he knew. This would be grand fireworks when he got to watch everything explode in Sesshomaru's face.
Now, he had to start training his wife properly. His first move was to leave her with nothing and force her to come crawling to him on her hands and knees. He would be the only thing that she had left when he was done and she would understand he was all she should ever want or need. He would take everything that she held dear, but even better than that. He would make everything she held dear abandoned her, so she could understand she was worthless unless he said otherwise. The first thing he would take from her was her family.
He knew how important family was to Kikyo and it had been hard wrestling her away from it the first time. In the end, he had to make it seem like the move was the best thing for his career, which was always a lie as he could have excelled in any firm. She would not fall for that now, especially when she brought up separating on quite a few different occasions, and it would not be what he wanted. He needed her family to walk away from her, not watch her leave. He needed her on her knees as she gazed at the backs of those leaving her behind like the trash she was.
Kikyo did not seem to notice Naraku scheming against her. It was more than likely because he was always plotting against her, so there was no real change in his behavior. He also did not let onto the fact he knew who she was talking to on her phone most of the time or who she was going out with when she left the apartment and did not come back in until late at night. She would pay eventually.
-*-(New day)-*-
Kikyo made her way to Sesshomaru's apartment as she did very often, as Naraku kept himself busy most days. She even had a key to Sesshomaru's place. She entered with groceries, planning to make dinner for them. She found him in his studio. She embraced him from behind.
"How was your day, Sessho?" Kikyo inquired while kissing his cheek.
"The same as always," the dog demon replied while turning around to give her a proper kiss.
Sesshomaru pulled Kikyo down into his lap and kissed her deeply. She returned the passionate embrace while wrapping her arms around his neck. His hands worked their way to her thighs, caressing with the promise of more eventually.
"Are you staying for the weekend?" he inquired when the kiss was done.
"Would you like me to stay for the weekend?" she countered, even though she knew the answer to that.
Sesshomaru would like nothing more than for her to be able to stay the weekend. He knew that fool Naraku had plans to leave town again for whatever reasons. Kikyo had been the one that informed him of that not too long ago. She was not sure why her husband was leaving town again and she really did not care. She was glad for the excuse to stay with Sesshomaru.
"You're going to stay the weekend," the platinum-haired male pretended to order her.
She gave him a coy smile. "We'll see. I'm going to fix us dinner, all right?"
"Human food," he groaned.
Kikyo smiled a bit. She believed he was complaining to complain and to maintain his image. She crawled off of his lap, much to his dismay, and exited the room. He turned his attention back to his work. He had to whole weekend to focus on her, but now only had a limited amount of time to devote his painting.
He considered telling her about what happened with his father last week. He did not see how it was any of her concern and thought it might worry her, so he decided against telling her. The fact that he was cut off from his family for the moment because he was dating her was not something he felt he should burden her with. The idea that their affair was now between more than just the two of them was also something he did not think she should trouble her mind over. She had her own problems, after all.
She actually had not told him that her sisters knew about them. She did not see how that was any of his concern. It was not like he would care about her sisters judging them over it or the fact that her older sister still was not speaking to her because of it. It was her problem and she would deal with it on her own. When he thought of her having problems, he just considered how she had to deal with Naraku on the daily basis.
They had a civil dinner as usual. They discussed going to out tomorrow. They were not sure where to go, though. They had gone through most of the museums that interested them and the same could be said of theatrical productions. There were no concerts that either could think of that they would like to see. They supposed they would just figure it out tomorrow rather than allowing it to weigh on them that night.
They retired for the night after listening to some music and doing some sketching. They spent that night forgetting they had angered so many people with their relationship. The only thing that mattered to them was each other.
-*-(New day)-*-
Naraku sat at his desk at work, but he was not doing something work-related. Work was actually working for him now while screwing over that stupid dog demon. He had time to focus on other pursuits. He had a couple of manila envelopes on his desk. He opened one and pulled out the high quality photographs that were inside. There were quite a few photos, but he should have guessed as much since they spanned a weekend.
"Not much here," he muttered to himself as he went through the first few. Rather dull shots, which he sort of expected. He then stopped and his jaw dropped open. He flipped the photo to look at it from every angle that he could. "He can make her do that?" he mumbled in disbelief. Even back when she liked him, she never did anything like that for him.
That one shocking picture was not the end of the tale. He had expected some racy photos, but not quite so many. He felt his fury rise, to the point where he gnashed his teeth at the pictures for a moment, but he kept it all in check to a degree. He would get his revenge, so there was no need to get angry, he reminded himself. He had to set the wheels in motion and then wait for the smoke, even though he had already done that in a way. It was amazing what one phone call could do. Now, he was going to see what some unidentified mail could do.
He separated the pictures between the ones he felt served his purposes and the ones that did nothing at all. Once he had two piles and no more pictures, he grabbed the pile he knew would cause an uproar and put them into another manila envelope. He closed that envelope and put it off to the side.
The hanyou then turned his attention the other full envelope and opened it. He flipped through those and nodded. Those should do nicely. He went into his desk drawer and pulled out some other photos. He found a couple of useful pictures there and tossed them into the full manila envelope. It was time for the next part of his plan.
He wished he could see the expressions that would be on the faces of the people he hated the most, but he supposed one could not have everything. At least in the end he would get everything he believed he deserved and those fools would get what they deserved. That was the important thing.
"They will all rue the day they looked down on me," he grumbled.
-*-(New day)-*-
Kaede trotted into her home while flipping through the mail. She loved picking up the mail, mostly because she liked hoping for mail for her. She rarely got mail, but it was great to hope. She saw there was just stuff for Midoriko, as usual. And then she came to a manila envelope. Oh, it was addressed to both her and Midoriko.
"Cool," Kaede practically cooed.
She entered the apartment and hollered for her sister. Midoriko sighed and scolded Kaede for acting like she was raised in a barn. She did go to see what all the noise was about, though, so not the best way for Kaede to learn the lesson.
"Look, we got mail!" Kaede grinned, holding up the envelope like it was a prize.
"We get mail everyday," Midoriko pointed out.
"No, it's addressed to both of us. See," Kaede said as she showed her big sister the names on the envelope.
"Oh."
"Can I open it?" Kaede pled.
"Feel free," Midoriko replied, smiling a bit because of her sister's enthusiasm.
Kaede grinned even more. It seemed like such an adult thing to get mail. She put the rest of the mail down and opened up the envelope. She yanked out the contents and they both looked to see what they got. Kaede yelped while Midoriko quickly covered her baby sister's eyes and took the items from her.
They had been sent photographs, but not any regular photographs. They were pornographic from what she could tell from the top picture and to make it even worse, the pictures involved their sister. Midoriko could hardly believe her eyes.
"Kaede, go start your homework," Midoriko ordered in a calm tone.
The preteen nodded and did not argue. She understood the reason for the command and she did not want to see any other pictures either. She trotted off to her bedroom while Midoriko steeled herself to flip through the rest of the photos.
Midoriko probably could not scowl any deeper than she was doing as she went through the pictures, each more disturbing than the last, even though the first one had been the worst. She already guessed the sick bastard who dared to send her such material and address it to both her and her baby sister, but she considered there might be another sick bastard who might have done it.
Her first guess was that hanyou scum her sister married. She was willing to bet he would do something so distasteful and disgusting. But, if it was him, then that meant he knew about Kikyo and that dog demon, which would mean Kikyo was probably in danger. No one with demon blood would stand idly by while his wife committed such lewd acts with another demon. And knowing Naraku, he would go above and beyond stupid to get back at Kikyo and Sesshomaru for what they were doing.
"I'll destroy that bastard if he tries anything," Midoriko growled. Of course, it might not be the half-breed.
Her next guess was the dog demon himself. She did not know much about Sesshomaru, but she did not have the highest opinion of demons. Maybe he was just as much a bastard as Naraku was and the package was his way of being an asshole. As if he was saying, "Look at what I can make your sister do. Your sister enjoys being my whore."
Midoriko was not sure what she should do. She was so infuriated with her sister for putting herself in such a spot. She wanted to leave her sister to the grave she had dug herself in, but there was chance that Kikyo was in danger if Naraku knew about the affair. There was also the chance that Kikyo was being used if Sesshomaru was behind sending those inappropriate photos.
The eldest sister then figured Kikyo should be able to take care of herself. She was the one that got herself in that mess, so she should be the one to get herself out. If she wanted to be some demon's whore, then that was on her, Midoriko decided. With that out of the way, she went to the kitchen and burned the pictures on the stove.
-8-8-8-8-
Seesshomaru went to his car after work, looking to go home. He noticed a manila envelope pinned to his windshield with the wiper, like a traffic ticket. He pulled the thing off of his car and he recognized the scent on it. He frowned, but took the envelope with him into the car. He threw it in the back seat and took off toward him home.
The dog demon almost forgot about the envelope by the time he made it to his apartment. He happened to glance at it as he was getting out, so he grabbed the envelope and went upstairs. He sighed and tossed the package onto the kitchen counter. He poured himself a glass of wine to help ease away the annoyance of the day.
He felt the backlash of the worm that had been found on his computer that had been stealing company money. He was under investigation. He was confident he would be exonerated. After all, Totosai did not even think he did it and was more investigating who framed Sesshomaru rather than the demon dog himself. He believed he knew who set him up, but the coward had been dodging him since the incident occurred. He hoped the fool did not think that just avoiding him would do any good. While he might not be able to confront the moronic bastard face to face at the moment, he could gather evidence to show his innocence and he was doing that. He still had plans to tear the fool's intestines out for playing games with him and trying to taint his name.
Speaking of games, he wondered what the hell the envelope was about. He walked over to the packet and picked it up. He placed his glass of wine down and opened the package. He pulled out the contents and noticed that there was a note attached to what appeared to be a group of photos. The note begged the question, "Do you think you're the first person to catch her eye?"
The platinum-haired male frowned at the question. He then turned his attention to the pictures. The first few pictures were small, album-sized photos and they caused him to growl. The first one was of Kikyo sitting with his little brother, Inuyasha. She was smiling at that simpleton. The next picture was not much better; she was petting Inuyasha's ears while he was pouting.
The next set of pictures was different. It seemed the first set of pictures was taken by a friend, but the next set seemed professional. They were taken at a distance and they also seemed more recent than the other set. They showed Inuyasha with a raven-haired female that looked very much like Kikyo. Sesshomaru became so enraged that he crumbled the photos in his hands.
"That bitch is dead," Sesshomaru quietly decided. No one made a fool out of him as she had. And here it was he had been ready to give her everything. He had been willing to lose everything for her. Well, he would correct his mistake and teach her not to play with him.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: things just get worse.