EPILOUGE

"You're nothing but a filthy HYPOCRITE, Sesshomaru! How dare you tell me I cannot date a human, but your over her turning Rin into you own personal WHORE!"

SMACK!

I blink back tears as I turn my face to him, "Whether you like it or not, RIN. IS. YOUR. WHORE. You and I both know nothing more will come of your meetings, and if by some chance something does, then that will be a new level of hypocrisy punishable by rotting in the deepest depths of hell. You fucking asshole!"

That moment from our argument two weeks ago continues to replay over and over in my head. Sesshomaru has never hits me unless I've done something truly offensive to him, but what I said was the truth. Whether or not he accepted that truth was up to him, but he had NO RIGHT to strike me. I clench at my arm harder as I glare at the egg timer before me. Three more minutes and my required 'Banned from staying in my room' law will be over for the day.

Since then, I have not spoken to anyone in this accursed house. Inuyasha is upset with me for breaking my promise to him, but I have not given him the opportunity to express that yet.

"Are you SERIOUS right now!" I swirl around to glare at Inuyasha who stood at my door with clenched fists and bared teeth, "Now NOW, is when that feeble mind of yours decides that it wants to express your outrage!"

"You promised me, Lizzy!"

"If you do not get out of my room with that foolishness…."

"LIZZY!"

"GET OUT!" I hurl a book at him and he dodges it, "GET OUT YOU STUPID MUTT! NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR HURT FEELINGS!"

As far as Rin is concerned, she is nothing more than a mere whore, unfit to breath the same air as me.

I pant heavily as I rest on my bed surveying the damage done to my room. My door opens, and Rin slips in.

"Get out…"

"Elizabeth, please, this is childish."

My body stiffens as I turn towards her, "In what world does a whore like you think you can address me by my first name as if we are equals."

"Elizabeth…"

I rush over to her and strike her clean across the face. She stumbles back, shocked. "You are just as much human as Bankotsu, and yet Sesshomaru expects me to treat you with respect simply because you're his whore. If you ever speak to me again, or if you ever touch anything of mine with your filthy hands," I lift her up by the collar of her uniform, "I will break you in half with my bare teeth." I drop her and turn away.

"…I do not agree with your brother, but just because you are angry with him does not give you the right to treat others around you this way."

My body trembles with rage as I grab the curtain rod I ripped from the wall.

"You will need a friend in this house soon, and if you do not stop while you are ahead, you will not find one in me."

I chuck the rod at her face, and she screams dodging it by falling backwards and out of the room.

"I DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH SLUTS!"

And naturally, I would rather chew glass while bathing in a pit of acid, than speak or even acknowledge Sesshomaru's presence. At this point, I would not even spit on him if he were aflame.

As a result of our argument and my actions towards Rin, Sesshomaru has stripped me of all access to the outside world, pulled me out of school, and forced me to follow a very austere schedule.

Everything, outside of a bed and dresser, was removed from my room.

"Since you feel so incline to hurl items at people and destroy things that I BOUGHT, I can safety assume you want nothing, so all your items will benefit some other unfortunate child. Perhaps they will appreciate it more. Be thankful I am leaving you a bed."

I remember slamming my door after Sesshomaru and the movers had left, and the next day….I had no door.

The egg timer goes off, and I immediately shoot up from the arm chair farthest away from where Sesshomaru was reading his paper and made a beeline to the stairs.

"Elizabeth."

I keep walking.

"Continue, and I will order Rin to fry that precious duck of yours."

I freeze halfway up the stairs, and Sesshomaru casually closes the paper, "Come here."

I stomp down the stairs, but stop once I reach the bottom.

"In. Front. Of. Me."

I make my way over to him, kicking everything within range of my feet. I stop in front of him and glare at the furthest wall arms crossed.

"Rin tells me she had not seen a tutor at all in the past week, and yet, the checks I make out to pay them are all gone. Would you care to explain that?"

"….."

"Elizabeth."

"…..I am not fluent in hypocrisy, so I am incapable of answering that question."

"Then I suggest you become fluent before we have duck for dinner."

"…The tutors knock on the door, I open the door, I throw the check at them, I slam the door, and I return to my room."

He sighs folding the paper and tossing it on the table, "Since you insist on acting like a child I will treat you like one. The tutors will come here every night, and you will stay up with them until you have completed the work you missed, your current work, and the work I will add on for wasting my money. You will bring it to me, I will sign off on it, and then you will clean the house top to bottom EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. for the next three months, and you better be done by the time I return from work, or I will add another month."

"Areyousure,Ifeellikethatwouldinterferewithyoursluttime."

"What did you say?"

"I said are we done?!"

The look on Sesshomaru's face tell me he heard, but opted to ignore it….this time, "…..No, you need to be dressed and ready for dinner-"

"I am not eating with you."

"You WILL. Be dressed. For dinner. By 5, because we are having guest, and I ADVISE you to correct your behavior BEFORE you come down those stairs."

I sharply turn on my heels and kick my way back to the stairs. "Ass." I say just loud enough and stomp up the stairs.

Five o'clock rolls around, and I slap on a soft green dress, throw my hair up into a high pony tail and smash in to some random green shoes before walking over to the stairs.

I stop at the top of the stairs, ensure that my bad attitude is in rare form, and stomp down the stairs. Sesshomaru immediately meets me at the bottom and snatches my ear twisting it hard.

I fight back the urge to cry.

"Correct it!" he says in a venomous whisper as a knock on the front door sounds.

I blink back tears as I stand next to him and watch as Rin opens the door.

A large man stuffed in a deep blue suit with a blue and white striped tie enters and gives off a loud hearty laugh, "Hello! Hello! It is good to see you again, Sesshomaru my boy."

He playfully slaps Sesshomaru on his back and turns to me, "Oh, my….my my my….this can't be young Elizabeth. Why my dear you were only this big the last time I saw you." He motions towards the areas right below his knees.

I give a sneer, "Yes, well that is what happens when one grows up."

Sesshomaru gives off a growl, but the man merely laughs, "I'm glad you haven't lost your mother's sass over the years. Do you remember who I am?" He smiles brightly exposing his sharp fangs.

I examine him over taking in his sharp red eyes and slicked back blue hair. He did seem familiar, but I could not pinpoint why."

"No."

He chuckles, "Why, I'm Uncle Junkin! A dear friend of your fathers, but I suppose you were a bit young, but you MUST remember my son. You two were thick as thieves when you went to that summer camp together."

He steps to the side, and I feel the blood drain completely from my upper body as I stare in to the eyes of Ryura clad in some black slacks and a button down red dress shirt with the first three buttons undone.

He gives me a devilish smirk as he walks up to me and takes my hand. "It's good to see you again, Elizabeth." He kisses the back of my hand and I snatch it away without thinking.

I feel a hard pinch on my back and I glare over at Sesshomaru who glares back.

"Charming." Junkin says with a chuckle, "Elizabeth, why don't you be a dear and show Ryura around the estate while Sesshomaru and I discuss some important business."

"I'd rather no-"

I catch Sesshomaru's violent glare, and I exhale loudly, "Fine."

I turn on my heel and quickly walk towards the entrance to the back yard.

Ryura fell in perfect step beside me.

We walk down the cobble stone path for what feels like an eternity before Ryura sighs, "I'm pretty sure my father told you to show me around the estate."

"Is that not what I'm doing?"

"You're not telling me anything at all."

"You want me to tell you about….FINE!" I stop to face him, "To your left you see tall green structures we like to call trees, on the other side you see structures similar to tree, but shorter that we call bushes—please do not get them confused with the hedges that you saw bordering the front of our estate. Now, the even shorter green structures are what we like to call grass. The blue thing above you is known as the sky—it can vary in color depending on the time of day and weather, but by default it is usually blue, and if you look REALLY closely between the blades of grass you notice a brown substance commonly referred to as DIRT! Do you wish for me to continue?"

An annoyed look crosses Ryura's face, "I'd be mindful of my tone, if I were you."

"Oh, dear me. I'm terrified."

He steps up to me and immediately that same dominating aura overwhelms me.

Taco suddenly appears from nowhere and quacks gently as he stops at my feet. Ryura sneers and kicks him away from me.

The sound of my slap seems to echo within the quiet yard, and Ryura's face develops an enraged look. "Don't you ever touch him again!"

The fire behind Ryura's red eyes brighten as an evil smirk finds its way to his lips. Before I could stop him, he snatches Taco up by the neck.

"STOP!" I take quick steps towards him but stop once I see his grip tighten.

"Ah, ah ah…..move and I'll break its neck."

Taco squawks and flutters in his grasp and tears begin to well up in my eye.

"STOP! LET HIM GO!"

Ryura shakes Taco, and I scream taking a dangerous step forward.

His mouth twists in to a sadistic smile as he watches me watch him abuse poor Taco.

"PLEASE! STOP!"

"But you stuck me…..that wasn't a very nice thing to do now was it?"

"LET HIM GO!"

Ryura shakes Taco again, "WAS IT!?"

"N-no."

"No, it wasn't. So if you are allowed to do things that aren't nice to me, why am I not allowed to do things that aren't nice to you?"

"Stop, please."

Ryura inhales sharply, "See, now you're giving me orders." He makes it a point to show me that his grip tightens, "You don't give me orders. You take orders."

My eyes remain glues to the struggling Taco, and I feel tears running down my face.

"Please…..I-I'm not ordering…I'm begging….please…let him go."

He chuckles, "Then you should be on your knees if you're begging."

I collapse to my knees without hesitation and Ryura laughs. He shakes Taco harder and I scream.

"PLEASE!"

He stops again and looks at my pained face. An aroused look forms on his face and walks up to me,

"Do you really want me to let it go?"

"Yes."

"Then kiss me."

I shoot up and grab his face pressing my lips to his. He flings Taco to the side and pulls me closer to him, deepening the kiss.

My eyes watch as Taco flutters around unable to steady himself due to the lack of air, but Ryura has me pinned to his body keeping me from tending to him.

"I don't know whether to be disgusted or excited at how weak you are." He says after breaking the kiss.

I struggle against him, but he tightens his grip, "I mean, on one hand, you're a demon. You're aggressive by nature, but being around humans has made you disgustingly soft….BUT on the other hand, a weak wife opens up endless possibilities in bed."

My body stiffens as I look him dead in the eye, "Wife?"

He smiles, "That's right, you don't know. Well, a long time ago, your father and my father agree that we would be married; when we came of age, of course."

"My father would never do such a thing!"

"Oh, but he did. We have a contract and everything."

"You're lying!"

"Am I? Well, why don't you ask that brother of yours. He's known for quite some time, and we've actually had several meetings about it. In fact, that is the 'business' they are discussing right now."

"My brother can be a foul creature at times…but, he WOULD NEVER keep something like that from me!"

Ryura presses his forehead to mine, "It seems you don't know brother dearest as well as you thought, huh?"

Ryura lets the information sink in before he kisses me again.

I turn my head, so he ends up kissing my cheek.

He chuckles and licks the side of my face. "I guess now it's my concern who you socialize with."

My heart begins to ache as Ryura laughs darkly.