InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dystopian Story of Lovers ❯ Transition ( Chapter 8 )

 

 

 

 

Transition

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Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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Inuyasha pushed the button of the elevator furiously, ineffectually rushing it. When he got off on the destination floor, he dashed towards her desk only to find it was empty. Hadn't they arrived yet? He knew for a fact that Sesshoumaru never allowed himself to be late for anything.

 

His sensitive ears caught then subtle movement's noise inside the office. He went inside without knocking.

 

“Inuyasha,” Sesshoumaru nodded, acknowledging him. “Come in. I've been expecting you.”

 

“Where's Kagome?” the hanyou asked him brusquely.

 

“I gave her the day off, so she can rest properly. Sit down.”

 

Waiting for an explanation that never came as to why she had to rest properly, Inuyasha conceded and took a seat.

 

“Do you have something to say to me, Inuyasha?”

 

“What do you mean?” Inuyasha asked him back as he took a paperweight in shape of the ship `Endurance' from the table and held it carelessly.

 

The only indication that Sesshoumaru was disturbed by his action was the sudden tick on his right jaw.

 

“Cut the crap, little brother. I listened to your heartrending message last night.” Sesshoumaru's tone of voice was unlike the unconcealed anger in his eyes indifferent.

 

“And you erased it, right?” Inuyasha replied just as nonchalantly.

 

“Care to explain to me the meaning of your message?”

 

“You heard it.”

 

“Yes, and I thought I give you a chance to confess to me of a more intriguing plan than what the message summarized, but then I thought again that the mastermind in question here was you. So I guess that pretty sums it up.”

 

Inuyasha smiled sinisterly. “You're right. I can never carry out a plan. Along the way I get bored with it, but I can always think of a new one.”

 

“Is that a threat?” Sesshoumaru asked him with a bored expression on his face.

 

Inuyasha shrugged. “Should I convince you otherwise?”

 

A note of respect glinted in his older brother's eyes, but Inuyasha couldn't care less. He might have yearned for his acknowledgement a few hundred years ago, but now, somehow the ambition died.

 

“A proof of legitimacy, is that what you want?”

 

Inuyasha laughed.

 

“And half of the inheritance?”

 

“Stop,” Inuyasha said as his laughter grew louder, “You're killing me.”

 

Sesshoumaru waited until Inuyasha's empty laugh subsided.

 

“I'm afraid what I want is one, you'll never give me.”

 

A feral anger darkened Sesshoumaru's eyes. For a moment Inuyasha was intimidated by his brother's fury, but he was at a point when he couldn't care about anything except for her.

 

“Let her go. What you're doing now is wrong,” Inuyasha stated gravely.

 

“You're the one who started it,” Sesshoumaru reminded him sarcastically.

 

“She is no substitute.”

 

“Shut up!” Sesshoumaru lost his composure for a second.

 

“She is not who you think she was.”

 

“Enough!”

 

Inuyasha seemed unfazed by his brother's loss of temper.

 

“Don't speak of things you know nothing of,” Sesshoumaru warned him.

 

“Fuck that!” Inuyasha felt his temper rose. “You're the one who's absolutely fucking clueless. I know more about her than you do.”

 

“Her fate and mine is already predetermined. That should explain our reencounter. She was meant to be with me. It is only a matter of time that she'll remember who I was in her previous life.” Sesshoumaru didn't know where this sudden urge to explain the stand of things came from. It was as if he was trying to convince himself as well.

 

“Yeah, let's hire a few experts to hypnotize her into remembering her previous life. I thought you were one twisted son of a bitch, but I realize now you're just a fucked-up loser!”

 

Sesshoumaru willed himself to stay calm. “I'm impressed. It took you five hundred years to refine your speech. It represents the status of your muddy heritage just perfect.”

 

“You think that words such as that, coming from you, can hurt me? I'm disappointed, brother. You have lost your touch,” Inuyasha said sneeringly.

 

“Well, I guess the reminder sounds a bit old. After all, it changes not the truth.”

 

“The older you get the more repetitive you become.” Inuyasha shook his head in pretend pity. “You should check for a sign of senility.”

 

“We can sit here and bitch at each other the whole day, but I will not sink to your level, hanyou. Besides, I already won before you stepped into this room.”

 

“You think this is about winning?” Inuyasha asked him in disbelief. “And you think you deserve her?”

 

“So you tell me then, Inuyasha. Who deserve her? You? Have you claimed her? Has she claimed you?” Sesshoumaru asked him tauntingly.

 

“Maybe; maybe not, but I'm sure as hell going to make sure that you'll never have her for the wrong reason.” For the first time that day there was a sincere determination in his eyes.

 

“What makes you so sure I don't deserve her? Haven't you heard a word I said? She's reincarnated to be with me again.”

 

“I will articulate this question for you very slowly, okay? Why do you think humans do not remember their previous lives? Because they're not supposed to remember, that's why. They're given a chance to live a new life. It's not natural for them to live the lives that they lived before just as it naturally shouldn't be allowed for us to live this long and bind another soul to us. So don't you come to me explaining about predetermination and all that shit, because gods do not care for us, freaks of nature.”

 

“She was not a human,” Sesshoumaru defended weakly.

 

“No, she wasn't, but Kameko sure as hell deserved the chance to reborn to be one, as god-fearing as she was.” Inuyasha sighed heavily. “And besides there is that chance that she might not be her reincarnation at all. I was just ten when I met her, but I remembered how different her traits were than Kagome even though they look inexplicably alike and seem to share the same scent.”

 

“I won't allow it,” Sesshoumaru said quietly.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I won't allow it that she's not her.”

 

Inuyasha's eyes widened. Immense fury surged up anew in him, hearing that statement. “You know what I can do? I will find another individual that looks the same as her and probably has the same traits that you've searched for. What would you do then?” Inuyasha whispered darkly.

 

“It's impossible.”

 

“You know what they say. There are four people in this world, who shared the same physical traits.”

 

“You wouldn't do that to her,” Sesshoumaru replied confidently.

 

“If it is necessary to inflict momentary pain in order to save her, then I would.”

 

“I think the only one, who needs saving here, is you, little brother. You dared interfere in my affairs and then in hers. Have you forgotten with whom you're dealing with?”

 

“If I was ever afraid of you, Sesshoumaru, then I wouldn't —”

 

A knock interrupted them. Sauntering cheerily in a pale pink linen sundress and a white cardigan, Kagome greeted Sesshoumaru while holding a large leather tote bag and a white parasol. “It rains in drizzle outside, yet the weather is so refreshing.”

 

“Inuyasha,” she cried out happily, “Why didn't you tell me!?”

 

“Huh?” Inuyasha stood there, perplexed.

 

She came to him and gave him a hug. “I'm so happy for you.” She pulled back slightly when she noticed that Inuyasha wasn't returning her hug and just standing there stupefied, looking at her dusty plum plastic headband.

 

“Congratulation,” she tried again.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Your upcoming wedding, silly. You've been scooped,” she announced holding a freshly bought newspaper.

 

He snatched the paper from her hand and searched for the said news.

 

Kagome saw the paperweight still held in his grasp and extricated it from his hand. “What were you doing with this?” She scolded him softly and put the ship paperweight back to the table while she was waiting for Inuyasha to finish reading the article of his wedding's announcement. All the while she missed the slight relieved expression on Sesshoumaru's face when he saw her salvaging his belonging.

 

“You bastard,” Inuyasha said quietly, so quiet that Kagome missed it, but Sesshoumaru heard him loud and clear.

 

“Like Kagome said, a congratulation is in order here, is that not correct, brother?” The words came smoothly out of his lips as if a moment ago they hadn't been just on the verge of murdering each other.

 

“How?” the question was uttered without any expectation of an answer.

 

He was going to include him in anyway. “I took the liberty of reminding your fiancé that the wedding has been put off long enough. She, of course, had the same sentiment, and, in fact, it was her idea of pushing ahead with the wedding's date.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head. “It doesn't matter —”

 

“She also agreed to accompany you on your transfer to New York. You get the promotion that you always wanted. Congratulation for a job well done, Inuyasha, you earn it.” A note of true exhilaration entered his tone. For once he was not cruel or taunting.

 

Her cheeks still pinking from the familiar way Sesshoumaru had called her, Kagome looked between the two men in confusion. It seemed that the congratulator was more felicitous than the receiver.

 

“You have committed a big —”

 

“Save it, Inuyasha,” Sesshoumaru interrupted him.

 

“What's going on here?” Kagome asked timidly, “Shouldn't I be here right now?”

 

“No,” Sesshoumaru responded, grasping her arm to hold her by his side, “You have every right to be here.”

 

“Kagome,” Inuyasha began.

 

“Yes?” She in turn was looking at him with these big innocent, trusting eyes.

 

If he was to tell her now, would she hate him forever? Could he take it, being shunned by those eyes that he loved so much and fell in love with? There wasn't an ounce in him that wasn't pushing him into spilling everything, but in the end he couldn't do it. He was not born that strong.

 

“I'm sorry,” he said.

 

“What for?” she asked, puzzled.

 

“For not telling you,” he confessed.

 

Misreading his apology, she came to him like the first time she had into his life, all acceptance and sweetness. “But that's okay, silly. You don't need to apologize for getting married. I'm so happy for you, Inuyasha.”

 

~*~

 

That night when Sesshoumaru was in the solitude of his own room, a flood of anxiety attacked his conscience. What had he become? Everything that seemed so right felt so wrong. And yet he couldn't stop; every next move he made was a precaution. He actually understood what Inuyasha said about being freaks of nature. Gods wouldn't want them to exist, so being what were not meant to be, they had to ordain their fate themselves. This, he desperately hoped to believe.

 

This gave him the power to defy everything, defy gods, defy his kind, and deny this wrongness.

 

But the fact was he was so deep in the dark right now that he started to question his existence to the point of self-destruction.

 

The room was vast and empty, but the air was hot and heavy. It was as if he was punishing himself with the sweltering heat. And then, in the middle of the disturbing silence, a phone rang.

 

“Yes?” His voice was harsh and shaky.

 

“Sesshoumaru?” The voice on the other line answered timidly.

 

“Kagome …” Sesshoumaru let out a sound of relief and went to the balcony. He stood outside and felt the cool night breeze against his face.

 

“I was wondering who this number one automatic dial was,” she giggled softly, “When did you put it in?”

 

“What?” His weary mind was trying to pick up the trail of the conversation.

 

“Is there something wrong?” she asked worriedly, perceiving the confusion in his voice. “You sound upset.”

 

Sesshoumaru shook his head. His voice went gentler. “Nothing's wrong now that you call.”

 

“Oh,” she whispered embarrassedly, touched by his reply.

 

A silent pause

 

“What are you doing at this hour?” Sesshoumaru asked frowningly. It was almost three in the morning.

 

“I couldn't sleep.” She sighed in frustration.

 

“I couldn't either,” he admitted.

 

“I meant to ask you this all day long. Is that okay,” she gulped nervously, “We're calling each other by our first names?”

 

“This is what couples tend to do, I presume,” he answered matter-of-factly.

 

A choked cough was heard on the other line. “Couple!?” she repeated disbelievingly at first, and then she sobered up, “I mean, yeah I guess we are.”

 

“Do you have any second thought?” he asked half jesting and half in fear.

 

“No,” she whispered wearily, “It's just that the swift transition is hard to take. I'll have to adjust more to the idea of being in relationship again. But still,” she said accusingly, “I felt as if I had no part in the decision of being in it.”

 

“Care to refresh our yesterday's conversation?”

 

“No,” she answered firmly, “Can't you trust me to have my own thoughts? That maybe I put doubt in this because I want it to work?”

 

“You should not doubt your mate-to-be,” even to his ears, his own reply sounded annoyingly self-righteous.

 

There was a pregnant pause.

 

“Do we have to talk like this?” she whispered tiredly, “It was as if every time we're talking in circles.”

 

“What would you have of me?” He wanted to yield. He really did, but he was afraid to lose control of the situation and left alone without being able to stop her from leaving.

 

“Be yourself, and allow yourself to let your guard down if only for tonight. Sometimes new lovers need this assurance, to be tender with each other's hearts. Do you understand?” This, she said in a soft sad tone.

 

“They said that to venture great things had to start with a promise. Do you want me to cite a litany of vows?” How do one keep affectation out of something that he wasn't quite sure himself?

 

“Is it great, what we have now?” she asked in confusion, and then she said in much lower tone, “Is this even love?”

 

“What would you call it then?” Fear crept into his heart.

 

Instead of answering his question, she needed to know something else. “Do you love me?”

 

He pondered long, and even though the answer had always lied there underneath of all feelings of anxiety and loneliness, he didn't want to admit that he himself doubt if this was love. For once he had no names for the emotions he had in him. It seemed too sweet and too raw to be called something that he had once tasted, that he had bragged to have known; the true love, he thought he had had in his life. But if he began to seek deeper in him for the answer of all answers, how would he keep the memory of his wife alive? So he had to believe in one thing, in one of the safest reason there was for love, the connection, the reunion of soul mates.

 

“I do.”

 

Kagome was astounded. “When?”

 

“It's always there.”

 

“When?”

 

“Even before we met,” truthfully said.

 

“We're talking on the phone,” she cried out exasperatedly.

 

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

 

“What you said,” she didn't even know where to begin, “Is supposed to be a confession.”

 

“And I was confessing,” he tried again, perplexed.

 

“But not like this. Not over the phone where we can't see each other's eyes, and, damn it, isn't one supposed to feel something when —” she stopped, horrified by her faux pas.

 

Another silent pause

 

“I'm sorry,” she timidly said.

 

“One shouldn't apologize for telling the truth.”

 

“But I shouldn't just blurt it out like that —”

 

“You're right,” he interrupted, “It is more effective, were we face to face.”

 

“Oh,” Kagome was a bit surprised, “Yeah.” Was he really that dense?

 

“It's almost four. You should get some sleep,” he suggested.

 

“Okay,” she complied. “Wait, tomorrow's Saturday.”

 

“Yes, and we have a date.”

 

“We do?”

 

“You said you wanted to date.”

 

“I did,” Kagome nodded. “So where will we be going?”

 

“It's a surprise.”

 

“Oh, you do surprises too?” she asked dryly and then immediately regretted it. “Sorry, just couldn't help it. Is there any dress code that goes along with the date?”

 

“Just wear something you feel comfortable with,” he answered, “And bring something to keep you warm. The night can be chilly sometimes, and you tend to be susceptible of the cold weather.”

 

“Okay,” she was genuinely touched by his observation, “And thanks.”

 

“I'll pick you up at seven. Is that okay?”

 

“Seven it is.”

 

“Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow.”

 

“Alright, and Sesshoumaru …” the name just rolled off her tongue smoothly, triggering pleasant warm emotion in him.

 

“Yes?” he queried in a tender tone.

 

“Sweet dreams.”

 

He smiled softly and waited until the other line was disconnected.

 

~*~

 

To pick something that she felt comfortable with proved to be a harder task than what it had seemed at first. She underwent eleven dresses, six camisoles, nine blouses, five different colors of skinny jeans, three pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, five mini skirts, and a pencil skirt for the sake of being comfortable.

 

She woke up at nine in the morning and finished picking an article of clothing by three, which left her four hours to clean, pamper, and dress herself.

 

As she sat before the ornate vanity in her silk slip dress, polishing her fingernails, the doorbell rang. Frowning in annoyance, she went to the built in intercom with monitor to check the visitor.

 

“Inuyasha?”

 

“Kagome, can I come in?” He sounded desperate.

 

“Yeah, sure.” She pushed the key button and allowed him into the building. As she started to the door, she realized that she was inappropriately dressed to receive a guest. Rushing back to her room, she silently screamed in frustration realizing that she couldn't put her robe on because of her freshly paint fingernails.

 

A brief knock on the door jarred her from her small dilemma. She went to the door and opened it slightly to sneak her head out. “Hi, look, can you please come another time? I'm sorry to have to send you away, but now is a really bad moment,” she spoke in a rush.

 

Inuyasha was staring at her funnily. “Is there someone else in the apartment with you?”

 

“No, that's not it.”

 

“What are you wearing?” he fingered the thin strap of her slip on one of her exposed shoulders.

 

“Could you please not do that?” She swatted at his hand annoyed. This action caused the door to open wide enough for Inuyasha to fully appreciate her state of attire.

 

“Yikes!” she cried out as she tried to close the door.

 

“Kagome, look, this is really important.” Inuyasha tried to block her attempt.

 

“And it's important to keep your eyes somewhere else, you pervert! I can't believe you!” she scolded him as she struggled to shut her door, “You're almost married! You're not supposed to look at other woman's body parts! You're not supposed to look at other woman. Period!”

 

She somehow managed to exceed his power with the strength of desperation and succeeded closing the bulky door. “Come back another time, okay? I'll call you. Bye!” she shouted from the other side of the door.

 

“Wait!” Inuyasha yelled in vain. “I just want to say goodbye.”

 

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*end of chapter*

 

 

AN: please do review, Thank you.