"Okay! Okay! You got me!" Jessica laughed squirming out of Sesshomaru's tickling hands. She sighed resting her back against one of the oak trees surrounding the park and Sesshomaru scooted back next to her. They watched the children play on the playground for a few minutes in comfortable silence until her sweet voice broke it. "I remember I used to take Luna to the park all the time."
He looked over at her, but her eyes didn't meet his. She was staring straight ahead at a couple with their two children laughing and playing together. He could tell what she was thinking. She longed for a family like that. One where her children could be happy and she could be carefree. But for her, at the moment, that wasn't meant to be.
He lightly placed his hand over her left one resting in the luscious green grass between them, "Why don't you anymore?"
She looked over at him as if just broken out of a daze. "Because I don't have the time. I hardly get time for my friends anymore too. With working two jobs and having only Sundays off. Sometimes Friday or Saturdays, but that isn't very frequent. Besides, I don't care to be in public places all that much." She looked away from him and down onto their hands between them.
"What really happened between you and Darien?" He couldn't help it. He had to know what happened.
She looked up at him and by the way his eyes narrowed she knew he was daring her to change topics. Daring her to lie to him. Daring her to overcome her fears and tell him. It may have been only a day and a half, but they felt like they'd known each other for years: being able to read each other like open pages in books just by eye contact. It was this bond that seemed to draw them closer. But at how fast they were moving, how close was too close?
"Sesshomaru, I don't want to talk about it." She looked down at her knees about to take her hand away from his, but his hand clutched hers tighter causing her to look back up at him.
"There is no secrets between us. Besides, keeping something like that balled up for five years seems long enough to me."
She bit her lip. Her heart fluttered in her chest. He cared. She could see it. Something inside her made her want to start crying into his chest and spill out everything to him. Sighing to rid the thought from her head she looked down at the ground submissively. "I- I don't know where to begin."
"What did he do to you that sent you into the hospital?"
"He… he lost it. I don't really remember what he did, but… I remember grabbing the phone and dialing the hospital number when he hit me with something really hard and I-I blacked out."
He looked away from her to the children again. Time was all she needed. It was too painful for her. He could sense it in her aura and him prodding her past like he was wasn't helping at all. She sighed standing causing him to look up at her as she stretched. The sunlight hit her hair in bright rays causing it to beam a bright golden color. She turned back to him smiling.
"I should probably go pick up Luna now. Want to come?"
Sesshomaru nodded then followed her back to the car. He stopped suddenly about a foot from the parking lot turning back to the forested park behind him, a shiver running down his back. What was this strange feeling? He felt as if he was being watched closely, too close for comfort. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned the surrounding trees.
"Sesshomaru?" Jessica called causing him to turn to her, "Are you coming?"
He turned back to the park then picked up were he left off towards the car. Whatever was making him uneasy had to wait.
"You look tense. Is everything okay?" She asked as she slid into the driver's seat after he shut the passenger door.
"I'm fine." He lied staring at the park. She gave him a look, but deciding it best not to push for answers drove off.
A dark figure watched the couple leave from behind the cluster of trees his blue eyes trained on the car as it tuned on to the main road and disappeared out of sight. An evil chuckle left his lips as he turned to venture deeper into the woods.
A month later…..
"Beat that!" Sango cheered as her lover slumped in his seat on he couch his controller falling from his hands and on to the floor.
"This isn't fair. Two against one. Inuyasha please help me out!" Miroku begged as Luna gave her "aunt" a high-five.
"Nope. I don't play silly games." Inuyasha replied gloomily from his seat at the kitchen table.
"Oh, Inuyasha, play with them. What are you going to do when you have one of your own?" Jessica walked past him to the stairs of her apartment.
"I'll deal. I just don't feel like it right now."
"You are awful." Kagome muttered placing the pizzas in the oven, "Speaking of awful, where is Sesshomaru?"
"He still hasn't called. And to make matters worse he is a half an hour late! Where is he?" Jessica came back downstairs cell phone in hand and a worried look on her face that made her look like she was holding back the urge to cry. "He's never late. Where is he? Where could he be?"
"He probably went to the store to pick you up a present." Miroku suggested trying to make her feel better.
"Or he probably got into terrible traffic." Inuyasha muttered bitterly grabbing a carrot, "I wouldn't be too worried about it. He'll be here when as soon as he can"
"You're right. Thanks, guys." She plopped down on the last steps of the stairs.
"Sorry I'm late." Came Sesshomaru's firm voice from the front door followed by the slam as the door closed behind him.
"Sesshy!" Jessica shot up from her seat on the stairs and ran up to him in a tight embrace, "I was so worried!"
"Worried? Why?" He questioned emotionlessly handing her the bouquet of flowers he hid behind him.
Her eyes totally lit up, "Sesshomaru, you shouldn't have! I'll go put them in a vase." With that she hurried into the living room and set the twelve dozen red roses into a clear vase sitting on one of the corner tables.
"Sesshomaru!" Luna threw the controller to the Xbox on the floor running up to him and jumping into his arms. He caught her and walked into the kitchen, "Look, Sesshomaru, mommy and I made Halloween cookies for tomorrow." She pointed to the counter next to the oven where a plate of pumpkin shaped cookies laid.
He smiled. The whole entire house was decorated for the holiday the humans called Halloween. Luna told him a few weeks ago that this particular holiday was her favorite because of the costumes and candy. In so many ways the young girl reminded him of her mother. Not just because of her looks, but she had a rare gentleness and kindness about her.
"Oh, Sesshomaru! I've missed you!" Rin came running downstairs with a baby boy cradled in her arms. Kohaku followed her at a slower pace.
Rin, now nineteen, had grown into a beautiful young woman. She still had the childish way about her, but not so much after her first son was born six months ago. She wore a black long sleeve shirt that had a black kitten peeking out from behind a pumpkin and a pair of black jeans to go with it.
Her husband, Kohaku, just wore a simple black T-shirt with black jeans to go with it also. Their baby, whom they named Ryu, had Rin's hair color and Kohaku's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
"I've missed you too. It's good to see you are doing well." Sesshomaru replied setting Luna down so she could help her mother put water into the vase.
"Have you spoken to Jaken lately?"
"Of course I've spoken with him."
"Hey! Inuyasha get out of the food!" Kagome swatted him over the head.
"Hey!" He tried ducking, but ended up not only getting hit by his wife, but also hit his head on the counter and crumpled to the floor.
"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Jessica walked over staring at Inuyasha's crumpled form.
"I'm… okay." He was able to choke out his eyes whirling around in his skull.
"What took so long? And why didn't you call? You know how worried I was?" She turned on Sesshomaru while Luna reached up begging Sesshomaru to hold her, which he obliged.
"I had a few errands to run. My cell phone died which is why I couldn't call you. Why were you worried?"
"Because there is a killer out there! Have you been watching the news?"
"No. I never watch it." He replied sitting down at the kitchen table with the little girl leaning against his chest seated on his lap.
"Well, somebody killed about ten people yesterday and they still haven't found him. Nor do they have any suspects." She sat down across from him. "I didn't want you to get hurt that's why I was worried."
"Well, don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He said reassuringly and she smiled standing up.
"I know. I'll be right back. I'm going to go to the garage to see if I can find anymore goodies."
"Okay!" Everyone cheered and Sesshomaru watched silently as she left out the front door.
Jessica walked down the stairs and turned immediately right to come face to face with the garage entrance. Music was blaring from the apartment underneath her's and right next to the garage. She could hear people laughing and having a good time just like Jessica and her group of friends were planning. Smiling to herself she turned the knob and walked in then suddenly stopped. 'I could've sworn I locked that earlier today.' An uneasy feeling crept into her chest as she reached over to her right to turn on the lights, but was stopped thanks to a sudden pain in the back of her head. Before she could cry out she lost consciousness and fell into someone's strong and too familiar arms.
A/N- Yeah I finally updated! First off I want to thank you for the reviews and support! I'm extremely sorry it took so long to update, but it's been really hectic lately. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to make it longer and not leave you with a cliffy, but I have like four projects due tomorrow that need to be typed so I don't have enough time. Please review and thanks again! :)
