AN: Whew…. I was expecting mixed reactions to last chapter, but I can't say I was expecting the…vehemence with which some of you expressed your opinions. On the bright side, I guess it showed me there were more people than I thought invested in this story. A gentle reminder that the story is called "Unresolved Feelings" (as is Part Three) for a reason, haha. I would say a story with perfect characters is rather boring—but of course, imperfect characters can also be quite frustrating, so I understand some of your sentiments. Anyway, if you're still here and reading this, you're probably interested to see the fallout from this debacle, so read on.

Part Three: Unresolved Feelings

Chapter 16: Regret

Time, our precious time

In the beginning

Your heart and mine

I thought our love

Was one of a kind

I thought we were winning

But I was one step behind, ooh oh

Words, I couldn't say

The words that would keep you

From running away

But I should've tried

Even begged you to stay

I felt the tears of an angel

Fall from Heaven that day

I know, I know

Your voice keeps haunting me

Come home, come home

Come on back to me

I know it ain't easy

You're a part of me

You're the wings on my heart

Can we give our love another try?

Can we keep our broken dream alive?

Now more than ever

With heaven on our side, ooooh

Can we give our love one more night?

I miss you angel, can we make it right?

Now and forever

With heaven on our side, on our side

This tender love slipped through our hands

Two broken hearts, could not withstand it

Girl, I know what I put you through

If you need me now, I'll be there for you

– "With Heaven on Our Side" by Foreigner

Touga tore off his ruined suit, throwing it at the too-small garbage can in the bathroom. He turned on the shower and stepped right into the spray of icy water. It didn't affect him like it would a human, but it was still uncomfortable.

He deserved all the discomfort he could get.

Inukimi's words rang in his head: Face it, Touga. You enjoyed fucking me.

He hadn't been able to deny it. Still couldn't deny it.

What have I done?

He slumped down onto the floor, curling his limbs into himself as if he were trying to preserve body heat and propped his forehead on his knees. The water ran down his long, silken hair, plastering it all over his naked, nicked body, the ends pulling towards the drain on the floor. The scratches Inukimi gave him were already healing, but they still stung, reminding him with every beat of his heart of just what he had done and what he was.

He was trash. Complete and utter scum.

How could he betray Izayoi like that?

How could Inukimi still rile him up so much?

How could he give into those baser instincts that made him no better than a common animal?

He could still smell their coupling on him. Even through the water, Inukimi's scent was imprinted on his chest, his lips, his hair. And most of all, his cock.

He stood up and grabbed his bar of soap, scouring himself with it. He had never rubbed his cock so hard when he wasn't trying to masturbate.

Gods, what had he done?

This should have been a special night for him and Izayoi. Their son had finally married a woman who didn't care what he was. He should have been railing Izayoi into the bed in celebration.

Not Kimi. And not in anger or shock or euphoria or whatever the hell it was he had been feeling.

Her confession had blindsided him. She claimed to have felt this way since before he brought Izayoi home, but was that true? He could understand being unaware of her feelings for the first five or so centuries of their separation, but damn it all, they had been living together for 150 years now! How had he missed it? Why hadn't he suspected that she would try to do more than keep their marriage alive on paper?

He knew she still cared for him—her actions during the World Wars had proved as much. But she had never tried to actually seduce him before now.

No, that was a lie. A few months ago, there had been that business about Kirinmaru. She had purposely riled him up, but he thought she was just baiting him. It was in her nature to play games. She had been on a roll that night, poking and prodding at Inuyasha and Kagome, lobbying jabs at Touga when she could. He never smelled any arousal on her—not like tonight. Back then, he just thought she had been continuing her game.

Apparently not. Now that he looked back, she had all but screamed her intentions at him: she had no intention of letting him go.

But could anyone blame him for becoming so complacent? For goodness' sake, she and Sesshoumaru had insisted on living separately. And she rarely came to family gatherings unless he brokered no argument. She—

Dear gods. She had done the exact same thing that Sesshoumaru had been doing these last few months with Inuyasha and Kagome: distancing herself so she wouldn't have to watch her husband's happiness with another, all the while keeping her own feelings a secret—until they boiled over.

He was so blind, he might as well have gouged his eyes out, for all the good they did him.

So not only was he apparently a terrible father—to Sesshoumaru, at least—but he was the worst kind of husband out there: the one who cheated on his first wife and then, despite years of wedded bliss with his second, turned around and cheated on her too with the former.

When Inukimi refused to divorce him the first time, just fifty years after he had married Izayoi, he had let the issue lie. Half a century was nothing to a demon; best to let a few hundred years pass before her pride relaxed enough to ask again.

But he didn't see her again until he went to bring her back into the family fold; asking her for a divorce then would have sent conflicting messages, so he refrained.

But perhaps not reiterating his desire for divorce had still sent her mixed signals.

He hadn't asked her to live with them out of any lingering feelings for her. He felt he owed her a duty to protect her. He was still the beast king of the west and her alpha; she was the mother of his firstborn. They had spent many good years together, and nothing could erase that.

Well…perhaps he had had some lingering feelings after all.

Touga banged his head against the tile wall.

He was trash. Complete and utter scum.

When he couldn't stand the freezing water anymore, he turned off the shower and toweled off, wrapping a robe around himself. Then he stumbled into the bedroom like a drunk and collapsed into a chair, holding his head in his hands.

What was he going to do? What was he going to tell Izayoi?

Because he had to tell her. He could not keep a secret like this from her—even if she hated him for it. Not only was it the right thing to do, but he had no doubt that Inukimi would rub it in Izayoi's face somehow, someway. He had to come clean before she could.

But that didn't make it any easier to find the words.

He did not have to wait long before his mate's familiar tread clacked against the floorboards outside their room. Even so, he didn't dare look up.

"There you are," Izayoi said when she entered the room. She put a hand to her heart. "You feel terrible. You've been upset all night. Did it go that badly?"

"Horribly," he grumbled, staring at the floor.

"Oh dear," she said, coming over and tilting his face up so that the faint scratches still on his cheek were bared to her. "I can see that Inukimi was…angry."

Touga shied away, breaking contact. "Don't touch me."

Izayoi recoiled in shock. "Dearest, what's wrong?"

"I don't deserve your touch."

"What are you talking about?" his mate asked, kneeling down so she was eye-level with him. Her hand went to his arm, like an automatic reaction. And it probably was.

He yanked his arm away. "I fucked her!" he snapped, tears rolling down his cheeks. Gods, he didn't want to look at Izayoi's face, to see the hurt there…but he forced himself to. Seeing her pain would be his punishment. He turned his gaze onto her expression of disbelief, though it was blurred behind so many tears. "Or she fucked me. What's the difference? I let her. We rutted like mindless animals."

He shouldn't have tried to punish Inukimi in such an erotic way. But he had been so angry, and their fight had stirred up demonic instincts he thought he had long tempered and old feelings he told himself he had long forgotten….

And then when she seated herself upon him as if upon a throne…he hadn't thrown her off. He'd had the power to, certainly. But his protests had been feeble. If he had really not wanted to have sex with her, then he would have been able to escape—like he did when she tried to mate him—right?

But he hadn't. So he was just as complicit in this disaster as she was.

Izayoi just stared at him, saying nothing. But her heartbeat picked up its tempo.

He waited for her to lash out at him. He would take every strike, physical or emotional. He deserved whatever she gave him.

But what Izayoi said next cut him deeper than he realized it could.

"I always knew this would happen."

"What?" Touga asked, incredulous.

Izayoi took a deep breath, throwing back her head to stare at the ceiling. Her throat worked, and she blinked her eyes rapidly. "I didn't have to sense your emotions to know you never stopped loving her, in whatever way that was."

"Izayoi, it wasn't like that—"

"Then what was it like, Touga?" she spat back, shooting to her feet. "You pledged your love and fidelity to me. You mated me, and yet you still crawled back into her bed!"

The words of self-defense rose to his lips before he could stop them. "I didn't—she seduced me. She tried to put a goddamn mating mark on me!"

Izayoi laughed. "Of course she did!"

Touga stared at her in disbelief. "You're not surprised?"

"Really, Touga, sometimes you are such an idiot. Don't you understand? The only reason Inukimi deigned to live with us all those years ago was for a chance to have you back. And now her patience is paying off."

"That's not true—"

"Isn't it? I told you back then that I didn't want us living together!"

"I know, but I told you how I felt—"

"Oh, yes, your 'noble intentions.' Look where those got you." She glared. "Of course you dismissed my feelings on the matter."

"I didn't dismiss them, but I didn't think jealousy was any reason to—"

"Jealousy? Jealousy? What reason did I have to be jealous of an ex-wife? The reason I protested, Touga, was because I knew what she would try to do! In her eyes, I'm the woman who took away her husband. Of course she would be looking for payback!" She barked a laugh and sighed. "I'm only surprised it took this long. …So did she mark you?"

"Of course not!"

Izayoi considered him. "Is it even possible to mark a mated man?"

"I don't know," he answered, clutching his head. "Our mating bond only goes one way. I could never give her one in return—she knows that—but I think she wanted some sort of hold on me regardless. I wasn't about to find out if she could or not."

Izayoi's brows darkened. "So, what, you thought that to calm her down, you'd at least give her a quick roll in the hay instead of a full-on mating? I know she's been starved of love for centuries, but it's no longer your responsibility to give that to her!"

Touga winced. Inukimi had only tried to mate him after the sex. He knew he should set that record with Izayoi straight…but he was too drained to fight back now. So instead, he confessed to the one lie he had told her for centuries. "In my heart, it's not my responsibility. But by law…she's still my wife, Izayoi. And now I wonder if a part of me still recognizes that."

Izayoi's brows puckered together in befuddlement. "What are you talking about?"

Touga sighed and hung his head. "She never granted me a divorce, Izzy. By demon law, we're still married."

Izayoi shook her head. "No. No, you told me that a demon mating was as good as a marriage!"

"And it is, but gods, Izayoi, you were a princess—you understand how marriage contracts work! Even demons have laws, and they don't just dissolve when they're challenged. Back then, human men may have been able to call for divorce on a whim, but not demons. Our kind has always been on equal terms, and until Inukimi acquiesces, our marriage cannot be nullified. I've talked to dozens of lawyers about it, trying to cite the custom of mating, but no self-respecting demon would recognize a mating to a human—especially since the bond only works one way."

Izayoi's mouth dropped open. "So is our marriage a sham then?"

"We married according to human customs. So by your people's standards, we are married. But by my people's standards…we are not." You are just seen as the concubine you once said you would become. But he didn't have the heart to say that now.

"So you are a bigamist!" she exclaimed.

He glared at her. "Five hundred years ago, you had no problems with that."

"Well, a lot has changed in five hundred years, Touga. Contrary to what many of you believe, I'm not so old-fashioned that I still believe men should be able to have as many wives as they want!" Then her eyes widened, and she sucked in a shuddering breath. "So is that it? Do you still want her back?"

The denial sprang to his lips, but then he stopped himself. Was that even the truth? Because if it wasn't, then why had Inukimi's confession struck such a deep chord with him?

He had long stopped wishing to hear such words from her, yet they had still torn him apart and stitched him back together. He didn't want to lie to Izayoi again—whether inadvertently or not.

"I don't know," he finally confessed.

Izayoi sniffed, tears glistening in her eyes, and stood straighter. "Then it seems like you have some thinking to do, because I don't know where we go from here, Touga. But you won't be doing your thinking in this house."

"Izayoi—"

"I can't do this right now." She put a hand to her forehead and took a deep, shuddering breath. "So just get out before I give you a matched set of scratches on the other cheek."

Touga swallowed thickly. He'd known it was coming. Known it was deserved. "Of the room…or the house?"

Izayoi took a few seconds to think. "For tonight, the room. Inuyasha and Kagome are still here. I don't want to ruin their night. But once they leave tomorrow…you will too."

Touga nodded. "I understand. …And if you need to hit me, then do it."

Izayoi turned away from him and shook her head. "I don't have the energy. Your misery is making me sick."

Guilt stabbed him. He was only drowning in his own sorrows, but poor Izayoi was suffering the blows of both his and her own emotions. He had to numb those for her. He walked towards the door, already trying to recount how many bottles of demon liquor he had stored away that he could demolish by morning.

"This should have been a happy night for us," Izayoi whispered.

He didn't need a mating bond to feel her torment pierce his heart, and more tears burned in his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry." He poured every ounce of regret into those words, hoping she could feel it through the bond. But if she did, she never let on.

So he left.

The next morning, Izayoi watched from the upstairs window as Touga left the house first thing. So he can keep his word about that, but not about being faithful…. Tears burned in her eyes again. She thought she had wrung all of them out on her pillow last night, but apparently not. Touga's emotions still felt wretched. For once, she wished she could purge her body of his mating mark and get rid of all these feelings.

She splashed some water on her face and took extra time getting ready so that when she faced her son and daughter-in-law that morning, she was able to smile without showing the pain behind her heart.

Once Inuyasha and Kagome left to go visit the Higurashi family before jetting off to Hawaii, Izayoi got her tools and went to her personal garden. She needed to keep her hands and mind busy, or she would go crazy from despair.

Or do something stupid, like going to confront Inukimi.

Ever since they began living together, Inukimi had never threatened to physically harm her, and Izayoi had never seen the placid woman lose her temper, but seeing those scratches on Touga's face last night had given her pause. They would have words…but she was going to wait until she was sure the demoness wouldn't slit her jugular in a fit of pique. She was furious and despairing but not suicidal.

If she'd still had her gun from her Demon Slayer days, she might have taken the risk.

Only when the spring sun had crossed its way completely across the sky did Izayoi venture back inside. She went upstairs to take a quick shower to wash the dirt off her body and noticed a folded note with her name on it resting on her nightstand. Touga's familiar scrawl stared at her. So, he had slunk inside and left without a word to her. Was that how they were playing this?

I guess so. I did tell him to leave.

Even so, before she could rethink it, she opened the note.

Izayoi,

Sesshoumaru and Rin have made up. She will be moving in with him in two weeks. He has gone to stay with her and help her pack. While he's away, I will handle matters at the Sanctuary. I will return then.

With all my love,

Touga

That's it? she thought, reading over the note again. No more apologies or pleas for reconciliation? The words "with all my love" taunted her, making her feel sick, and she slammed the note back down on the nightstand, rushing into the shower to wash all her thoughts away.

When she was done, she went down to the kitchen to get something to eat. Currently, they didn't employ a full-time cook, because she liked to make some meals herself. But now she didn't want to expend the energy.

She grabbed one of Inuyasha's instant ramen bowls and heated it up. As she sat at the table, her soft slurps were the only sound in the house.

Inuyasha wasn't yelling at whatever he was watching on TV. Touga wasn't laughing over some story he was recounting. She had even started to get used to Kagome's constant attempts to get her up-to-date with the latest app or trend.

The house suddenly felt too quiet.

She was used to being home alone while the men were at work, but knowing that they weren't coming back for two weeks lent a coldness to the air.

Tears plopped into her ramen.

How was she supposed to survive without her mate?

Izayoi couldn't stay in the house crying anymore. Three days after the wedding, she decided to drown her sorrows in shopping. But as she drove their golf cart past Sesshoumaru and Inukimi's house on her way to the garage, she noticed construction trucks parked on the drive. Curious, she turned onto the gravel road. A tarp full of broken furniture sat outside the manor. Izayoi walked through the open front door that let the spring breeze in.

She steeled herself, her heart hammering as she peeked into the living room, where one could usually find Inukimi reading on her tablet. But the demoness wasn't there. Following the sounds of construction further into the house, she arrived at Inukimi's bedroom.

Her mouth fell open when she saw the shattered shoji doors and broken plaster on the walls.

Did they fuck or fight?

Was this aftermath normal for demon couples? Had Touga been missing out on the release of such wild sex for all these centuries? Was that why he hadn't objected to Inukimi's advances? That was either some intense angry sex or some amazing makeup sex.

She had seen enough. She left the house, determined to vent her frustrations on her credit card, but as she was heading back to her golf cart, she caught sight of the flutter of fur rounding the side of the house.

Suddenly, she was storming across the bridge over the ornamental pond and through the pebble paths until she came out on the other side of Inukimi's garden. But the demoness was now further out in the trees lining the edge of the estate, and Izayoi went after her, discarding her heels when they proved too troublesome, sticking in the sod.

Finally, Inukimi stopped. She stood still, gazing out towards the estate fence with her back turned to Izayoi. Of course she knew who was following her. It ticked Izayoi off that the demoness was waiting for her.

As soon as she was within a few meters of Inukimi, she snapped, "Are you happy now?"

Inukimi's eyes glowed like burning embers as she cast them over her shoulder. "So you've finally crawled out from under your bedcovers, hm? Done enough moping?"

Heat rushed through Izayoi's body, burning her cheeks. As if she didn't mope for seven fucking centuries. "Is that what you wanted? For me to feel the betrayal you felt? Well, if that was your grand plan, congratulations: you succeeded. I hope it's an empty sense of accomplishment."

A minute twitch of Inukimi's lips and a crease in her brow were the demon's only response.

"And I hope you're satisfied with what you got, because let me make this clear: you're never getting away with it again."

Inukimi snorted and finally turned to face her. "You presume much to think I'd be satisfied with a wild rut."

"Aren't you? You proved that even a mated demon can stray."

Inukimi laughed. "A married demon has been straying for seven hundred years. No, hurting you was not my intention. Merely an added bonus."

Married demon. Izayoi clenched her teeth. "I'm not the only one you've hurt with all this. If you had any sort of feeling for Touga, you would never have done this to him. And I'm not just talking about the sex. I'm talking about withholding the divorce. How could you drag something like that out? What do you gain from it? You've divided him for long enough!"

Inukimi's brows rose. "And here I thought I found a solution that proved to be a…compromise."

"What?"

"You asked to be his concubine. You swore to me you would become nothing more, if that was what I wished. I have honored your wishes—and mine."

Izayoi's mouth dropped open. "Inukimi…that was seven hundred years ago!"

Inukimi glared at her. "Did you think I would get over it by now?" She huffed. "You've lived with demons for this long and have yet to realize just how slowly we change."

"Even so, this is the 21st century. Surely by now, even you understand that polygamy is against the law."

"This entire family breaks the law with its very existence. Pardon me if I don't abide by the laws of humans."

"So you still have no intention of divorcing him? Even after this?"

The demon frowned. "Somewhere along the way, you changed from an interloper who knew her place to a mistress who believes herself the wife. I admit your spunk surprises me…though I do not welcome it in this instance."

"Perhaps that's because I am his wife, despite whatever legal hold you still have over him. If you think you've won Touga over, you're wrong. You didn't see him afterwards. He looked like he wanted to flagellate himself."

In fact, that was the only balm she had in this situation.

I've rarely seen Touga so broken up like that. Only the morning after we mated and when Inuyasha was on his deathbed.

Inukimi slid her gaze over. "You are mated. Tell me: could you give him up?"

"Of course not! But that's the point: we're mated."

Inukimi chuckled. "No. He mated you. You never mated him. Nor can you."

The retort stung, but Izayoi refused to let it show. "Physically, perhaps, but in my heart, I have. Which is more than I can say for you."

"He offered to mate me, you know."

Izayoi frowned. "Yes, I know. He also told me you refused him."

She nodded. "It was a mistake on my part, but I wasn't ready at the time. Unfortunately, once I was…it was too late. In general, dogs are loyal creatures, but Touga has proven to be an exception. Even so, I do not stay with him out of sheer loyalty. We may not be mated, but I consider him my mate. So to answer your question: no, I too cannot give him up."

"Is that why you tried to put your mark on him?" Inukimi shot Izayoi a look that was almost surprised. "What, did you think he wouldn't tell me about that?"

"I do not care what he told you. But yes. I felt it was well past time to mark my territory. You have infringed upon it for too long."

Heat flashed through Izayoi's body. By the gods, she is infuriating! Why doesn't she understand? "He's never going to come back to you the way you want him to. You know that, right? Why can't you just move on? Start over with someone new? Surely—"

"Why does everyone tell me that?" Inukimi snapped, her eyes flashing red. Izayoi froze, her body sensing the predator before her. "Are you all so fickle that you can just turn your love for others on or off on a whim? Is that why it was so easy for him to just leave?"

The old guilt burst open in Izayoi's heart like a festering boil, tainting her righteous fury. Why? Why do I still have to feel this way after all this time? After she fucked around with my husband, no less?

But deep down, she knew why. She was getting her karmic just desserts. She had thought her troubles conceiving, her murder, and Touga's near death had evened the scales. But she was wrong. Now the gods had served their justice, leaving two heartbroken women longing for the same man.

Inukimi stalked past her without another word, but Izayoi couldn't let her final comment slide. "It wasn't easy for him, actually."

Inukimi stopped, though she didn't turn around. However, Izayoi was certain she was attuned to every word.

Izayoi had never expected to tell Inukimi this. But for some reason, pity compelled her. "The day he mated me should have been the most joyous day of our lives. Instead, Touga spent the rest of the day in the throes of despair, thinking about you. So don't delude yourself. This relationship hasn't been easy on anyone."

"And it's not going to get any easier," Inukimi answered before walking away.

Izayoi hated letting Inukimi have the last word, but their confrontation had drained her. So she returned to her house in misery, no longer in the mood to run up her husband's credit card debt.