InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Assassin's Daughter ❯ Codename:Sunshine ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

This was unbelievable.

The concept of it was foreign to his ears–hell, he never even heard of such a ludicrous notion! Hmph, if he had the nerve to carry out assassinations in public, he'd dig his claws into her dainty throat in a moment's notice. While he was at it, he might as well add some blood red to the array of vibrant colors on the atrocious scarf wrapped around her neck.

Gods, he hated airports.

"Excuse me, but I don't think I heard you correctly. Could you repeat what you just said?" Sesshoumaru loved the way he sounded as if he was going to murder her if she uttered the wrong word. Not to mention the sight of her trembling in her navy suit eased his frustration–he loved scaring people.

Perhaps she's new and doesn't know what she's talking about. Yeah, that was it! Hopefully.

"W-Well, s-sir, there is n-no Maebashi J-Jet waiting for y-you. We have never r-received a notice of such a j-jet arriving, either." The lady working at the ticket booth in the French airport gulped and silently prayed for her life to be spared by this uncannily handsome demon...who had gelid honey eyes that instantly killed her soul.

Sesshoumaru sighed in dismay. Maybe his father had forgotten to send the family jet to come pick him up–the old coot had done that quite a few times just to get on his nerves. "Fine then. I'll just have to fly first class."

"Alright, sir." The woman brightened after no longer hearing the homicidal note in his smooth voice. "What is your destination and departure date?"

"Tokyo, Japan. I'll be leaving any time today. "

"Will you need a round trip? And how many passengers?"

"One way–and it's only for me."

She typed up the information on her computer and then faced him with a perky smile. "Ok, you said first class..." He nodded languidly, seeming as though he might shoot himself while admitting it. "I found an available flight leaving at approximately seven-thirty PM–in about an hour. Is that fine with you, sir?" Another nod. "What method will you be paying?"

"Credit. Account name: Maebashi, Sesshoumaru. Number: 442-34-478," he responded monotonously. He was tired of repeating the same thing over and over again every time he travelled abroad; it was annoying.

The lady nodded and typed the information. However, she soon clicked her tongue. The dog demon standing across from the desk wanted to know why she smelled of fear again... "Is something wrong?" There better be nothing wrong...

"Umm...well, my computer says that your account is inaccessible..."

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in contempt. "Try again."

And she did... "I-It's still the same, sir. Your account is blocked."

What in the hell? Blocked? Did he have to go ballistic to get on a measly plane in France? As if his account was blocked–why in the fuck would it be blocked?!

"Then use this account number: 586-72-359." Fear spiked in her scent after a few seconds... A growl emanated from his chest and lower throat, too deep for humans to hear. You better not–

"This account is also inaccessible." Too late, she already said what he dreaded to hear.

"Try. Again." He might as well begin pulling out his guns, which were conveniently unnoticeable by metal detectors and x-rays in his suitcase. Ah, the secret life of an assassin.

Anyway...the woman at the desk did as she was bid and... "Same results."

Sesshoumaru, at this point, desired to gut his father nice and slowly. He knew that his father was the only one who was able to block his account. "I'll be right back."

The dog demon then left the line and wasted no time to whip out his cell phone, speed dialing his home phone number in hopes that his joke-loving father would answer. After the fourth ring–he was beginning to flex his claws from impatience–someone picked up the phone, but it was a squeaky voice that answered, not his father's baritone one.

Ugh, now he had to deal with a servant who was unhealthily devoted to him.

"This is the Maebashi residence."

"Jaken–put my father on immediately," Sesshoumaru commanded crisply, leaving no room for nonsense. Unfortunately, the stupid little toad didn't completely understand the moods of his master...

There was a loud shriek from the other line that forced him to pull his BlackBerry away from his pointed ear. Damn, he hated it when Jaken shrieked like a schoolgirl... "My lord! It's so good to hear from you! I just finished arranging your under–"

"I believe I gave you an order." And I don't want to know what you've been doing with my boxers. The thought...deeply disturbed him.

"Y-Yes, my lord! Right away!" Why did Jaken have to call him 'my lord' in the first place? Gods, he might just have to assassinate him one day...

...when he felt like it.

After a few moments of silence, Sesshoumaru became bored waiting for Jaken to retrieve his father. What was there to do as he 'patiently' waited? He didn't know, so he decided to busy himself with staring at random people in the airport.

There was an American family of four sitting close to him, with two children disregarding the world around them in favor of their PSPs while their parents viewed pictures of their vacation. Obviously, they were boring him even more.

So, his golden honey eyes shifted to a heatedly bickering French couple. Their argument was reasonably interesting, though typical–whom he assumed was the man's girlfriend had caught him flirting with a foreign woman.

Bleh.

At this rate, he might end up committing suicide because of these boring people.

"What do you mean he neglected to send it?! How am I supposed to get home?!"

The annoyed shout in his native tongue coming from a young woman instantly caught his attention, and Sesshoumaru turned around to face the person who was...wow, she really was Japanese! She was yelling into her black cell phone–an iPhone perhaps?–as she paced in the waiting area, apparently frustrated with whomever she was speaking to.

He blinked–what a coincidence, they both had the same problem.

"I don't care if he's taking a piss, I don't care if he's visiting Satan in hell–I just want to speak with my father so that I can tell him a thing or two about playing stupid jokes on me!" The young woman was pulling on her obsidian bangs while she kept on ranting about some kind of strife with her father. Her conversation wasn't important anymore–it was the woman herself who interested him.

The dog demon noted she was human–of course, it was a feature difficult to miss. Her eyes were a soft cinnamon color, though they were currently on the border of becoming black with fury, and her dark, wavy hair reached all the way to her waistline. She had an ample body shape with nice curves where he liked them, accented by the form fitting blouse she wore, and her scent was tinted by the sweet fragrance of vanilla and lilies...

Truthfully, there was nothing special about her. If she was one day walking down the busy streets of Tokyo, he would never glance at her twice or even notice her. She didn't have striking eyes, she wasn't model material, she seemed partially insane–and yet, she intrigued him.

For some reason, he couldn't keep his eyes off the young woman...for some reason...

...he was curious about her.

It was far from a good omen considering his canine genes...

However, it bewildered Sesshoumaru when an image of the female assassin he met last night flashed before his eyes. It all came back to him all of a sudden: the intense look she faced him with as fire danced behind her, casting a shadow over her face...the determination in her eyes, the confidence as she held her chin high...

He shook his head, also shaking the images away. The Assassin's Daughter and this stranger had nothing to do with each other–he was positive. This human was obviously incapable of such a murderous look, even if she currently seemed ready to prove him wrong.

"My lord..." Jaken's voice brought Sesshoumaru out of his reverie, and he cleared his throat, remembering that like the woman near by, he was supposed to be angry.

"Where is my father?"

"Lord InuTaishou does not wish to speak with you, my lord. He said so himself."

What?! His father refused to talk to him?! Then that meant... Crap, his father was mad at him again. Wonderful! Glorious! It was just what he needed to complete his amazing day!

Now he couldn't wait to get home. Stress wait one more time. "Well, why is the jet not here to pick me up?"

"Lord InuTaishou did not wish to send it," Jaken replied, his voice trembling on the other line due to his frayed nerves.

"What...?" This couldn't be! Why was his father in a pissy mood today of all days?! "Then what about my accounts? I can't access them."

"Lord InuTaishou informed me to tell you that he temporarily closed them."

Great... "That is all."

"B-But, m'lord, I-I–"

And Sesshoumaru then hung up on his spluttering servant, restraining himself from squeezing his phone until it broke into tiny little pieces. Oh, how he wished he could kill someone right now! Evidently, his father had heard about his failed mission, and was 'punishing' him–argh!!!

He wasn't some disrespectful whelp to be reprimanded in such a puerile manner!

"I BARELY HAVE ANY MONEY ON ME!!! HOW IN THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO PAY FOR AN AIRLINE TICKET TO JAPAN?!?!"

So it seemed the mystery woman really did have the same problem as him. Just how much money was in his wallet to purchase a ticket? Certainly not enough for first class...crap. The dog demon willed himself not to think about what that meant...

I must not commit patricide. I need him alive at least until I buy a grenade gun. Yes, he would try out his new weapon on that old coot! Brilliant!

"GAAAH! I hate him!" CRASH!

Sesshoumaru, along with almost everyone in the airport, dumbly watched as the young woman, who had been shouting at the top of her lungs, promptly threw her cell phone on the pristine floor and marched off without glancing back. She muttered vehement curses under her breath about senile jerks that stranded their daughters in France for no valid reason.

He glanced at the poor, innocent iPhone. It was despondently lying in a broken heap on the ground, wondering why its owner was so cruel to it. After shaking his head at the evident waste of money, he let out a languid sigh. That was one angry woman.

Oh well, it wasn't his problem.

Vbbb! Vbbb! Vbbb!

The dog demon looked down at the vibrating contraption in his hand, taking a moment to guess who would be calling him during a mission. It certainly wouldn't be his father and he lacked an easily jealous girlfriend–thank gods. Hopefully Jaken was too busy to want to ask how to organize his boxers...

...so who could it be?

Finally, after failing to come up with a name, he allowed himself to view the caller-ID.

Call from Inuyasha...

He suppressed the urge to follow the psycho woman's example and throw his phone on the floor–why could he never savor peace? For the past few days, he had blissfully forgotten he was not an only child....oh his misery!

To live up to his code name, the Sadist, he hoped the annoying nitwit was in the same predicament as him... "What is it, little brother?"

"Keh! Do you know what our old man did to us?!" He sounded furious; Sesshoumaru imagined the hanyou's silver dog ears twitching madly atop of his head as he bellowed into his crimson Sony Ericsson.

Hmm, it wasn't scarce for the abrasive half-breed to relieve stress by shouting incessantly. Poor little hanyou...he was an embarrassment to all.

"Us? I assume you also failed your mission."

"Fuck, it wasn't my damn fault! I'm in the remotest city in all of Siberia!! Hell, I don't think this is even a city–it's not on my freakin map! By the time I got here these stupid-ass Russian crime lords were already on to me!"

"Excuses, excuses," the dog demon sighed. "This means we lost both the Blue and Red Diamonds. No wonder father's pissed."

"Well, there's still three more so he can calm his ass down! It's one thing not sending the jet to pick me up, but totally another when he cuts off my account and strands me in fucking Siberia! SIBERIA!!!"

"Did you call me solely to complain?"

"YES! At least you're in goddamn France, but nooo, I got stuck in the Siberian country side where it's freezing and fucking remote! Do you know what remote means? As in there are no fucking people for fucking miles!"

Sesshoumaru rolled his golden honey eyes, ignoring most of his younger brother's ranting by examining his wallet. Damn, he really didn't have enough for first class. "Could you lay off the swearing?"

"NO! I have to hitchhike to the nearest city so I can somehow get to an airport in Moscow–do you think I know where the hell Moscow is from here?! I'm still praising the fucking gods that my phone's freakin working right now because all I'm seeing here are cows and chickens! How the hell can they stand the cold?! I'm an assassin–I shouldn't have to deal with goddamn Super Cows and Mighty Chickens!"

"I'm certain father intended for you to make new friends."

"THEN I'M GOING TO KILL OUR FATHER WITH A MACHETE!"

"As much as I love hearing you rant, I have better things to do. For example, I need to go purchase my plane ticket so that I can get home before you do and rub it in your face."

"I HATE YOU!!!"

And with that, the furious hanyou hung up the phone, leaving Sesshoumaru blinking in confusion. Usually it was him who hung up...damn, he had actually been looking forward to it. Oh well–knowing Inuyasha, there would be other chances in the near future.

Vbbb! Vbbb! Vbbb!

Like right now...

This was the worst thing that had ever happened to him in his entire twenty-six years of life! Ok, maybe he was exaggerating, but when his father left him in France on a mission he sent him on without enough money to pay for a first class ticket, then he had the right to complain!

He had never foreseen such a thing occurring to him of all people! His family was wealthy enough to afford a private jet–no, multiple private jets–and yet here he was, sitting on a continental plane, in the economy (hmph, third) class.

"WAAA!!! WAAA!!!"

And to top it all off, the sniveling baby in front of him was grating on his last nerves.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his golden honey eyes in annoyance, hoping to block out the incessant wailing of the infant sitting on his mother's lap in the row before his. He absolutely hated being surrounded by these people! And gods damn the person in back of him who felt the need to kick his seat every so often!

He wanted peace, for fuck's sake! This was not how it was supposed to be after one of his missions–it was bad enough he failed in the first place! The nerve of his father to even think about torturing him like this!

However, his ire strangely dispersed when the delicious aroma of vanilla and lilies wafted into his nose. He delicately sniffed the air, wanting to inhale more of the tantalizing scent that uncannily calmed him. It was coming towards him at a steady pace, and he soon recognized the scent belonging to the 'crazy angry woman' from earlier.

What a coincidence–they were both stuck on the same plane together.

"C57...C58...C59...and C60! Here's my seat!"

The dog demon didn't bother glancing at the young woman who took the seat next to his; rather, he busied himself by looking out the window, glaring at the innocent passengers on the plane loading a few meters away. He couldn't deny that curiosity slinked its way into his mind, but, once more, he pushed it back. The last thing he desired was to get involved with a PMSing lunatic.

Again, it was a coincidence that they both ending up sitting next to each other.

"Hey there!"

Why in the world is she talking to me? It wasn't hard to tell he was currently pissed off and didn't want to be bothered.

Seemingly not discouraged by his lack of response, or his stoic expression, the chipper woman continued in fluent Japanese, "Ugh, sometimes I hate travelling. It's too hectic; especially when you don't have enough money to afford the much more peaceful section up in first class."

That was true...but did she need to remind him that he was not in first class? Since he merely desired for her to stop talking, Sesshoumaru's gelid eyes flicked towards the beaming young woman and narrowed in order to intimidate her. Even if she looked radiant when she smiled–and his attraction to her was apparent in his mind's eye–he still felt ready to kill someone.

She only smiled brighter, now satisfied that she got a reaction out of him, albeit a negative one. This handsome demon's icy glare truly had no effect on her... "Hopefully we can survive this twelve-hour flight. Oh, where are my manners? My name is–"

"Enough." He finally couldn't take anymore of this woman's blabbering! He was an assassin and until he landed in Japan, he was still on a mission–meaning there would be no conferring with a bystander! Besides, how the hell did she know he spoke Japanese?!

She was a stalker!

A weird, insane, beaming, captivating stalker...

"Oooh, you finally talked! You have a very sexy voice, by the way–you should talk more often."

Sesshoumaru ignored her statement for the most part. "I do not wish to know your name, human. Furthermore, I wish to know nothing about you–I am just a mere stranger. So keep to yourself, thank you very much." He made sure that his voice was extra cold just to scare her off...

...at least, any normal human would be petrified.

Apparently, 'normal' ran away in terror from her.

"Hmm...you're a stranger, huh? Then I'll have to call you Stranger! It's very nice to meet you, Stranger! I guess my codename will be Sunshine!" She grinned broadly and it grated on his nerves.

There was too much happiness in one single person! He needed hatred and sadism, dammit!

Sesshoumaru wondered why he was being so severely punished with an abnormal human woman–she wasn't scared of him! She was either stupid or mentally ill! It couldn't be difficult to understand his desire to have no human contact whatsoever!

This is going to be a very long flight, I suppose...

Two hours. Two hours on this flight from hell with annoyances everywhere he looked and a woman babbling her head off beside him. Two hours and he still had nine more to go...

"Hmm...what can we do now that doesn't involve getting to know each other?" The young woman tapped her chin while deeply pondering a suitable way to rid her boredom.

Sesshoumaru sighed for the millionth time that night. "I have an idea."

Her bright cinnamon eyes lit up in excitement–Stranger actually talked! "Oooh, what is it?"

"You can go to sleep and leave me in peace for nine hours."

"No way, silly Stranger! I'm sorry, but that was a terrible idea..."

"Do you plan to sleep at all?"

"Nope! At least...not yet."

He didn't bother trying to figure out what she meant. What was it with him today? Did he have bad luck or something? Ever since the Assassin's Daughter came into his life, things were haywire!

Argh, he only wished Inuyasha was having an even worse time than he was! That would definitely make him feel even better than hanging up on him as he continued to rant about supernatural farm animals. In a way, he was right–Siberian cows and chickens had to be mutated or something to survive the intense cold...

"Sooo..." The dog demon glanced to his right, wondering what she wanted with him now. Ah, he had momentarily forgotten about her. It was true bliss...

Yet, she seemed sort of sheepish, as though she realized what a vexation she was and longed to make up for it. Please let it be the moment she'll finally shut up...

"Ok, I know I'm annoying you to no end, but I just can't help it! Stranger, if you noticed or not, you're an easy person to talk to! At home, I have no one to occupy my time with; it gets really lonely and I have to resort to talking to myself."

"You told me something about yourself..." He sent her a half-hearted glare–yes, half-hearted, why should he care anymore if she was never going to shut up–without budging his head an inch. The assassin inwardly smirked at the look of genuine horror crossing her pretty face.

And yes, she was pretty; he didn't need to affirm himself all the time! Hmph.

"Crap! I'm so, so, so sorry! I'm completely out of it today! First my father strands me in France with barely enough money to buy a ticket and then I start losing my mind! -gasp- I told you another personal thing! I'm really bad at this! I get carried away talking to myself!"

Hmm, he steadily agreed–she did talk to herself immensely because in the two hours that they had been together, he had not responded to anything she said, much less uttered a word... Well, except to ask if she was going to shut up and sleep. Sesshoumaru at this point, however, hardly cared.

When they landed in Japan, he'd never have to see this social chatter-box again.

"Anyway..." the woman who had dubbed herself 'Sunshine' virtually represented the sun when she grinned, or so he unconsciously thought, "I respect the fact that you don't want to get to know me, but I think we should do something with our time. All you're doing is staring off into space attempting to ignore me and I'm just incredibly bored."

"Then why don't you go to sleep? By the time you wake up, the plane would have already landed." And I'll be out of your way before you know it.

"If you really want me to go to sleep, then you might have to drug me."

He wished he had sleeping pills on him... "Hn." Sesshoumaru had tried; he'd give himself that much credit. After a while, he plainly gave up–canine curiosity was killing him inside and obviously this woman was not going to submit to his demand of silence. "What do you suggest we do, since you're so energetic?"

She beamed brightly again, reiterating what he had stated. "Let's play a card game!"

"A card game?" He never played cards before... Duh, he had no time for silly human games!

"Yup, yup! Ok, I'll choose which one..." She paused for a few seconds as he inwardly berated himself for once again admiring her adorable expressions. "I know! We're going to play something simple! It's really easy, trust me!"

Sesshoumaru only raised one of his thin, dark eye brows. After this, he was attending therapy.

She was the devil in disguise; no doubt about it. His golden honey eyes glanced at her serious expression, with her lips drawn in tight and laughing cinnamon for once devoid of any emotion. He knew she was trying to deceive him...she would not win so easily. But he was forced to acknowledge her cleverness.

They were locked in a battle of wills, a battle of strategy, a battle of...

"Do you have any nines?"

...go fish?

Sunshine gazed up at him instead of the four cards she had in her hand, appearing as though she might devour his soul for asking her such a question. And suddenly, just to add to his mental torture, Sesshoumaru saw another image of the Assassin's Daughter flash before his eyes, and he pondered reasons why he was seeing her wherever his eyes landed.

Was he already obsessed?

For the last time, this lunatic woman, who came up with the strangest card games ever, had absolutely nothing to do with his rival assassin!

They. Were. Not. The. Same!

Anyway...

"Go fish, stranger!"

He cursed under his breath–he had hoped to finally make a pair. How was it that she already had two pairs and he had none?! His clawed hand drifted towards the stack of cards in the center of a makeshift table between them, and he hesitantly chose one from the thick pile.

A five.

Dammit–it was another useless card! Now he had eight in his hand!

She shrugged at his apparent disgruntlement and smiled. "My turn! Do you have any queens?"

Sesshoumaru glared at the young woman sinisterly, begrudgingly handing over the card. It took all his self-control to not take a knife and stab her repeatedly when she squealed at having three pairs in her pile.

Yes, he was a naturally violent, sadistic person...

But this was ridiculous! There was no possible explanation as to why he was losing so badly! It was their third round of playing this stupid, puerile game and he had yet to win any of them. He understood the concept of the game–the person with the most pairs at the end won. Heck, he even memorized which cards she asked for in case he needed them later!

Nothing worked.

Now she only had three cards in her hand...

...he shouldn't need to mention how many he had.

Sesshoumaru was actually losing.

Obviously, he hated 'Go Fish'.

It was only fifteen minutes later, right before the dog demon was about to make an appointment with a therapist, that the French pilot of the plane came on the loud speaker. He listened intently, instantly translating the man's words into his native tongue in his mind, if only to be distracted from his sudden rage.

Meanwhile, Sunshine threw herself a little party in her seat at having eight pairs–that was, eight pairs more than Stranger...

"Good evening, passengers. The time is 10:26 PM and we will be landing in Moscow, Russia in approximately ten minutes. Please fasten your seat belts once the red light flashes." The news confused Sesshoumaru–why was the plane landing in Moscow?!

Don't tell me I purchased the wrong ticket... No, he was certain he did! Unless that stupid desk lady had messed it up! Grr, he wasn't asking for too much when he said he just wanted to go to Japan!

But the pilot continued tormenting him.

"Due to the sudden change in weather, all flights for tonight to Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea have been cancelled and will not resume until 8:00 AM tomorrow morning. Free lodging is available at the Novotel Moscow Hotel in the airport–however, it is first come, first serve. My apologies for any inconveniences and thank you for travelling with Air France."

Sesshoumaru abruptly stopped in the middle of picking up another card from the decreasing pile in front of him, his eyes wide and lips parted in a small gape. He couldn't believe what he had just heard–his flight was cancelled? Another flight wasn't going to be available until tomorrow at eight?

What?!

"Hmm, it happened earlier than I initially thought... Oh well, no worries, right, Stranger?" He averted his blank gaze to land on the ever so optimistic brunette, and he merely stared at her in disbelief.

What is she alluding to? "You mean to tell me you knew about this?" And he hadn't?!

She blinked, wondering if there was a right or wrong answer with his deadly tone of voice. "Um...well, I checked the weather reports in East Asia before I came here, and I saw that a typhoon was recurving from the Pacific. I figured it'd be nearing Japan and therefore change the wind patterns. It'd be impossible for planes to keep on course, so I reserved my room ahead of time in Moscow."

There was no way she could've known they'd be landing in Moscow of all places! And who the hell checked weather reports and analyzed typhoon patterns before getting on a plane?!

His mind was reeling. If there was one thing he hated, it was when things didn't go according to plan–right now, he was one pissed off dog demon! This was all an outrage!

Since he still seemed to be paralyzed, the young woman blinked her bright cinnamon eyes inquisitively. "I thought almost everyone knew about the typhoon. Don't you watch the news?"

"..." He never had time to watch the news...

"Everything's going to be all right–you'll see! And it'd be real funny if we end up sitting next to each other again tomorrow!" She grinned and picked up a card from the pile, the last card from the pile.

Shit... The dog demon had failed yet another mission–finally winning against Sunshine in go fish.

"Oooh, I just won another round of go fish! Yay! Wanna play again, Stranger?"

Sesshoumaru, right then and there, began to plan his father's very painful death.

A/N: Hi.