Chapter two
Sesshoumaru had never been nervous. Never. He had heard about people referring to it but he hadn't expected it to be quite this bad.
He was gladder than ever that he hadn't suffered from it before. Doing business was hard when you felt like running to the bathroom to empty your stomach the entire time. His head felt light and he quite frankly couldn't stand seeing the man causing all this sitting there at the table looking like he didn't know what was going on.
Luckily the growing irritation gradually took over and the nervous feeling left him. He sat there on his usual seat answering questions and stupid suggestions abruptly and with a deepening frown. Over his shoulder he could feel Kagome's disapproval emanating from her.
He couldn't have cared less.
For the first time in his life, he simply wanted the meeting to end. He couldn't bring himself to care about the results, he just wanted it all to stop, so he could confront that irritatingly aloof man. It was all made even more irritating by the fact that their roles had completely swapped. Sesshoumaru was supposed to be the calm and collected one and that man was supposed to be the hot headed and temperamental one, not this cool and calculating shrewd of a lawyer.
How had he become a lawyer, anyway?
It even looked like he was in charge of everything. How was that possible?
Of course the man had always been smart but he'd never had any intention to actually do anything about it. Back then he had been happy just lazing around, doing whatever.
Sesshoumaru hated not knowing stuff.
He saw a flash of tea red eyes and he knew he had been staring. He quickly forced his eyes away and prayed it would soon be over.
Despite his quiet prayers the meeting went on and on, which was strange considering that all the details had already been figured out weeks ago. This was only supposed to be the meeting where they signed the contract.
And then it hit him.
It was him. That man was playing them all like he had a well tuned instrument in his hands. The conversation went round and round. Everyone thought they were making new points and having extraordinary ideas when in truth they were repeating the same things over and over again. He was in the middle of it, directing the conversation any way he liked, stalling things. Like a spider in the middle of a web, plucking the strings as he pleased.
But why?
For a split second Sesshoumaru thought about ending it but then he became so enthralled by the dance that he simply sat back and followed it.
His irritation level was higher than ever but there was a strange beauty in the way the man tied every string around his fingers and then pulled them like playing with marionettes. He manipulated them all to participate in that little game he was directing.
He had the other party to believe they had been fooled into making a lousy deal, he had his own people believing they had screwed up good. Then he flipped the tables and made others think they had fooled the opponent and his own people thinking that they were geniuses.
Sesshoumaru didn't particularly enjoy seeing his own people being so easily played but he couldn't bring himself to stop it either.
Finally the heated conversations died down and Sesshoumaru realized that the man had finally arranged him the opportunity to step in, gather the pieces and end the bloody thing.
When the contracts were signed, the shit-eating grin on the man's face was so infuriating that Sesshoumaru had to gather himself a moment so the pen in his hand wouldn't shake too much.
Finally, finally, it was over and people left to get some lunch and back to their offices.
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Okay yes, he had been irritated and pissy like a little teenage girl when he found out about Sesshoumaru, and yes, he did want to get out of there as soon as possible, but things hadn't worked out the way he had thought they would.
First of all, he REALLY hadn't expected Sesshoumaru to recognize him. That had been weirdly fun. That glint of annoyance in his eyes was even more so. Second of all, he hadn't expected the smart cream of the crop of that room to be so easily manipulated and quite frankly, inhumanly stupid.
They were so easy! He couldn't resist such a delicious situation.
In a way it was somewhat sado-masochistic, though….
It was so obvious that prolonging the meeting the way he did was getting on Sesshoumaru's nerves. His jaw tightened and his lifeless eyes weren't so lifeless anymore. Being able to irritate him was fun. Playing with his staff was fun (no dirty jokes here…). Very enjoyable indeed.
Then again, prolonging the situation was also torturous for him, since he didn't really want to be in Sesshoumaru's presence. The man made him quite simply just plain angry. He also knew that Sesshoumaru must have noticed the game he was playing, and could therefore have stopped it anytime he wanted. Not knowing why he didn't do so was killing him.
That's why who was torturing who was somewhat unclear to him.
He didn't like it.
He needed to be in control.
Apparently after all these years he still hadn't found a way to control that man.
In a way….that was good to know.
And that's why he stayed behind after the meeting ended and everyone else left to get lunch.
They were alone.
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He sat still watching Naraku gather his papers and sending the woman away ahead of him. She didn't look pleased. Her painted red lips curled, her pretty nose wrinkled and her eyebrows curved like some Disney villain's. She was beautiful in a fierce looking way, and she obviously knew it herself.
She whispered something to him and grabbed his arm, but he just flashed him a shit-eating grin and told her off. She march away looking pissed off. Just as she was about to leave the room, she shot a mean glance at Sesshoumaru, who for a split of a second thought that he ought to recognize her.
Then he noticed that he was alone with a man he didn't know how to face and a new wave of nausea washed over him.
The silence was quickly becoming awkward before it turned to heavy and then toxic. Apparently neither of them knew what to say.
Sesshoumaru turned his eyes to see the man, expecting to see him gather his stuff and looking everywhere but at him.
He was wrong, of course.
A pair of tea red eyes nailed him into his seat like a pair of flaming daggers. "It's been awhile hasn't it?" he said in a strangely even tone.
Sesshoumaru could only nod in return.
"You know", the man continued, "I often thought about what I should say to you if we ever met again, and I was sure we would. I came up with some brilliant alternatives and yet now that I have the perfect opportunity to spit them all right to your face I can't remember any of them." He clicked his briefcase shut with a little too much force. "'It has been awhile'…sounds so cliché, doesn't it?"
"Better than anything I've come up with", Sesshoumaru muttered turning his eyes away. He couldn't bear to look at him anymore.
Naraku's face twisted into a bitter grimace. "That's because you've never thought about it."
Sesshoumaru crossed his arms and leaned back in his chairs. "Yes… I suppose you're right…"
Naraku huffed. "Of course I am", his toxic tone could have burnt its way through metal and glass. "I don't know why I even bother talking to you. Have a nice life and I hope we never have to see each other again."
"Why did you come here in the first place?" Sesshoumaru asked, stopping Naraku. He honestly didn't want him to leave yet. The reason for that was still unclear, though.
Naraku was quiet for awhile. "I told my secretary that I didn't know you owned this company."
"Bullshit. Of course you knew. You have a bad habit of being too aware of other people's business."
Naraku's eyes snapped back to meet his. "I know that! I said that that's what I told her. I did, however, try not to think about it because every time I do I have the sudden urge to shoot the closest person. I thought about getting someone to cover for me several times during the preparations of this case, but luckily this thing got figured out without me needing to meet you before this."
"That didn't answer to my question."
"I know that."
"So your answer is….?"
"I was curious, okay! And I see you still haven't gotten rid of that annoying habit of yours to question every little detail."
"You're the same."
"No. I do that in my head without other people noticing. Saves others the trouble of listening stupid questions."
"No. You just like to be sneaky."
"We're not going anywhere with this, are we?"
"No. Not really."
"Is there anything you want to say to me?"
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know."
"Figures", Naraku huffed. He put his briefcase down and crossed his arms. "I'm a little surprised, though."
"About what?"
"That you recognized me."
"I'm not that prone to forget people. Besides, you are infuriatingly hard to forget."
"True, but what I meant was that it surprised me that you bothered to acknowledge recognizing me. And why didn't you put a stop to my little game just now?"
"So you were playing a game."
"Sesshoumaru, I always am. You should know that."
"Are you playing one now?" Sesshoumaru asked. He stood up and looked at Naraku with an unreadable expression on his face.
Naraku was quiet for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and walked towards the door with long steps. "I never learned the rules for this game, Sesshoumaru." He stopped when he was about to step through the doorway and glanced over his shoulder. "Take care of yourself. You need sleep."
Then he was gone, and Sesshoumaru did nothing to stop him.
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Hello again! Hope you enjoyed. This chapter was a bit short but I didn't want to cram more stuff in it. Next one's longer (and possibly hotter). See you soon!
Love, Val