InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heart Healed Over ❯ Book Tour Round One ( Chapter 59 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: FullMetalArm 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.09.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.1K | Visits: 167 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.09.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.1K | Visits: 167 | Status: Completed
Chapter 59
Jerked from his sleep by the weight of his daughter on his stomach, Seiya rubbed his eyes asking why she thought his plane was going to be leaving. Pulling her shoes on she said, “Papa got a call from your manager. And he said that because they messed up with your schedule you have to be at your first interview tomorrow afternoon.” When asked what time it was the girl announced, “It’s seven o’clock, and your plane leaves at eleven so get your but outta bed mister!” Smacking her dad on the leg, Khilu rushed out of the room saying that he was out of bed.
Getting up he washed his face and cleaned his bare essentials, before getting dressed in a set of casual clothes. Remembering that he’d taken his bags downstairs the night before, he headed downstairs to find Lossonaur passed out on the couch. Seeing Sesshomaru coming in from the outside, Seiya asked if they had changed his flight information. Pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket he handed it to his husband saying, “The airline said that they’d accept your ticket so long as you’re on time. Do you have your passport?”
Holding up his wallet and passport Seiya shook his son awake telling the boy to get up. Dragging, Mr. Tanooki with him, Lossonaur walked out the door in front of his sister, who was in turn followed by their fathers. In the car, Seiya turned it to a morning show to listen for any possible traffic warnings. Hearing of a few accidents a short ways away from the airport, his nervousness already started to set in. The worry of leaving his kids to deal with the possibility of Sesshomaru getting sick. Not to mention he’d never been away from the kids for more than a week.
Going through the early morning commute, Seiya was surprised to find a warm cup of tea sitting next to him. Giving his husband a glance he lifted it to his nose, finding the smell pleasing he took a deep sip only to spit it out right away. Smelling the tea from his husbands side, Sesshomaru told him, “That tea is meant specifically for demons, not humans so I suggest you not take another sip.” Taking the cup away, Sesshomaru took a sip giving a satisfied sigh.
Yawning loudly, Seiya looked into the back finding his children sleeping lightly. Smirking he asked, “What time did they get up?” Learning that they had woken up when the phone rang at five in the morning, Seiya poked Khilu awake telling her, “Gotta get up now because we’re gonna be at the airport soon.” When she kicked at Seiya, only to have her feet collide with the back of Sesshomaru’s a few times, Seiya stopped her and growled, “I’m serious you need to get up or you don’t get to see me before I go.”
Scrunching her face up, Khilu shouted, “You know that you wouldn’t do that! And if you did Losso and I wouldn’t talk to you when you called!” Taking his Tanooki, Lossonaur hit his sister in the head telling her to keep quiet because he was tired. Snatching the Tanooki, Khilu told her brother, “You should hit Dad because he was gonna leave without saying good bye to us.” When her brother began to whine about that possibility, Seiya told her to tell him the truth. Pouting she said, “Fine, he’s not going to do that, but he was being a bit of a meany.”
Letting the kids whining die down, Sesshomaru pulled into a nearby parking garage and went to unfasten Lossonaur from his seat. While he was doing that, Seiya pulled out his bags and gave one to each of his kids since they were begging to help him carry it all. Seeing their eagerness he asked, “Are you really that anxious to get rid of me?” Learning that their reasoning was due to them wanting him gone sooner so he’d come back that much quicker, Seiya couldn’t help but intentionally slow down a bit.
Handing the bag he’d been carrying to Sesshomaru, Lossonaur went behind his dad and began pushing him by the rear saying, “You gotta go so we can see you again.” His attempts to remain stationary turned futile since Lossonaur was already stronger than him by a great margin. So he just let the boy push him into the airport only to step out of the way and have the boy lose his footing and stumble a bit. When he’d caught himself, the four your old stuck out his tongue and ran off to where Sesshomaru was waiting so that Seiya could begin checking in all of his luggage.
Handing the lady all of his identification, Seiya gave her all the necessary information about his bags, and flight info. Giving her all of his main luggage, he took his lap top and carry on toward his gate and turned around seeing his kids crying. Bending down he kissed Khilu asking, “You going to be okay taking care of these two?” The girl wiped here eyes telling him that she was ready to take care of them. Giving her a hug he told her, “You’re more than ready. You’re a big girl and you can’t cry right now okay.” Stepping back he saw her cheeks were a bit red but devoid of tears.
Going over to his son, he found the boy choking back every sniffle that seemed to come to the surface. Taking the kids hat off, Seiya rubbed his ears making him giggle and drop his Mr. Tanooki. Scooping the boy into his arms he said, “Your job is to protect them and make sure that your Aunts and Uncles all behave themselves when they’re at the house. I don’t want to come home to another broken window.” Remembering the time his papa had come home to find Kiba a bit hung over Lossonaur nodded and hug Seiya tightly.
Letting them go he gave Sesshomaru a strong hug, the demon returned it and whispered, “We’ll be fine, and don’t worry you’ll see us soon er than you think.” Brushing his mate’s hair back the demon gave him a gentle kiss before saying, “Now get to the gate because I don’t want to have to do this again, nor be blamed for you missing your first interview.” He practically shoved his mate away and held the children close as they watched the man make his way through the line and off toward his gate.
Finding a spot near his gate, Seiya looked at his ticket, and then at his watch to find he had almost no time left before boarding the plane. His stomach giving a loud lurch, he pulled out a granola bar and grimaced at the taste, but ate it just the same. When he finished the lady asked for all first class passengers as well as the special needs passengers to board the plane. Giving her his ticket, he went through the walk way and found his seat. Settling in he buckled his seat belt, listened to the safety messages, and finally he was able to kickback and choose a couple of movies to watch. His first choice was a new samurai movie that he hadn’t been able to see because of his work schedule, followed shortly by him choosing to watch an old Disney movie.
Well, it wasn’t as old as some of the ones he’d grown up watching, but as it was nearing the thirty year mark, the movie may as well have been considered old. Around the time his second movie finished, a lady stopped by with a couple of meals saying no thank you, he reached into his bag for some of the dried snacks he’d brought, to find a couple of badly made sandwiches with a note from his kids saying that they’d miss him. Opening one to find that it was peanut butter and honey, Seiya asked if it was possible to get a glass of milk. The stewardess came back with a tall glass and a couple of extra cartons in case he needed some extra to wash down the mass of peanut butter clogging his throat.
He finished both sandwiches and decided that before he went to sleep, he’d watch another movie. Going into the comedy section, he decided to pull up an old Jim Carey movie. As he watched it though, his eyes started to flutter from the generous amount of heat being let off by all the people on board, he fell into a kind of deep sleep. So deep was his nap, that when he woke up they were still in the air, stretching he stopped and asked a steward when they’d be landing in Hawaii.
Laughing a bit the man said, “Sir we stopped there nearly two hours ago, right now we’re about eight hours out of Seattle.” Asking if he could get a bottled water, the steward came back with a large cold one and laughed as Seiya choked from his throat becoming so quickly hydrated. “Looks like we should have woken you up when we stopped.” The man left leaving Seiya to find that some of the people in first class were in fact different from the ones that had boarded with him.
Getting up, he made his way to the restroom to relieve himself, and when he came back he caught sight of a familiar man sitting in the back of first class sleeping as he had been. Walking over he saw that his suspicion was correct, so in honor of the situation he poked the man right in the ribs making him jump. Rubbing his eyes awake, he glared to find who had poked him only to laugh and say, “I’m telling your father about you scaring the hell out of me. Now sit down and shut up.” When Seiya took his seat the man asked, “What the hell are you doing on this flight? Shouldn’t you be at home with Sesshomaru and the kids?”
Giving another loud yawn, Seiya said, “Actually Uncle Jiro, I’m on my way to the States to promote my books.” Taking the mans soda he took a swig saying, “I wasn’t supposed to even be on this flight, but somebody at my U.S. agents office forgot about time changes, so I have to leave from the airport directly to a local studio to do an interview on some afternoon show.” When asked about how his books were doing Seiya replied, “Still a bit underground back home, but supposedly I’m on a few best sellers lists out there. So, to boost sales they thought I should do a tour. I bet the fans’d be surprised if they learned how much of my stories were actually reality.”
“Well where do you go after Seattle? I’m on my way there because I have to visit my son, and then it’s on my way home to spend some time with the wife.” Hearing that he would be spending the next three weeks in California promoting his books, Jiro told him, “Be sure to check out a couple of stores for souvenirs. Who knows what would happen if you didn’t bring any home for the kids or Sesshomaru.” Seeing as he had nobody to sit next to, Jiro had Seiya bring his belongings over to where they were sitting so that he could catch up on what had been happening over the last few years. Putting his carry on under the seat in front of him, Seiya stretched out telling his uncle all about what happened since after he’d gotten back.
“Well let’s see, Khilu is doing pretty well in school, mostly A’s and B’s based on the American scale. Lossonaur is in preschool and shocks his teachers by yelling at kids in English.” Jiro had to chuckle at the sight of the four year old disciplining a group of kids in a language they didn’t know. “Yeah well, he’s starting to get a mouth on him,” replied Seiya with a chuckle. Pulling out his bottled water he then said, “Also, Jakotsu is out of the house, but still stops by a lot of the time to take the kids somewhere. And lucky for him he hasn’t pulled any of that crap he did before Lossonaur was born.” Seeing a flash of red pass through his nephew’s eyes, Jiro did not press any farther into that matter.
“What about those two people Sesshomaru has in the basement bedroom. Shiba and Kiba I think they’re names are.” When his nephew told him that Kiba stayed home and handled all of Sesshomaru’s filing and documentation, Jiro had to whistle saying, “That boy is going to be busy for a long time. If I’m right, Sesshomaru still has a good six-thousand years left on him.” His nephew choking on the water forced him to say, “It’s a good thing he does do this documenting because you might forget a lot of important events in your life, so it’s best you have it all down in paper, and video.”
The rest of the flight was spent talking about Jesse and all of the others. Sara had been married a while back and was expecting a child, while Jesse was still raising his only son, and Penny was trying to get him to have another kid. “Oh that’ll be fun, if I remember correctly, his boy is an even bigger annoyance then mine.” Sad part about that comment, laid in the fact that Jiro agreed with him on that point. The talk later turned to Sesshomaru’s teaching Inuyasha about the diplomatic proceedings in the demon world. Jiro found this to be quite funny, but when he heard how Inuyasha had yet to irritate any of his clients save for one group, Jiro shut up and wondered if he would have to deal with the hanyou next time he went to Japan.
The plane landed uneventfully into Seattle International where the local time was twelve-twenty-three in the afternoon. Waiting for the rest of the passengers to pile out of the plane like cattle, Seiya grabbed all of his carry ons and exited with his uncle. Out in the terminal, they left it and gave each other hugs goodbye and saying they’d see each other in a few months. When his uncle walked off to get his baggage, a black haired woman walked up with a sign saying, “Seiya Mizutani.” When Seiya introduced himself the woman told him, “Catherine Kagure.” Shaking hands she said, “I hate to rush you, but we need to get to the studio. Don’t worry about all of your belongings we have somebody getting them as we speak.”
Outside, Seiya found a large limo waiting for him and the lady, Seiya got in with the woman and they were soon heading to a local station called, KOMO T.V.. As they drove along he asked her, “So do you work for my Japanese or American publisher?” Hearing that she was hired by the Japanese publisher he then asked, “Were you the one who made the mistake about the time differences? Or was that someone state side.” The woman’s silence was after enough, so he then asked if she was married or had any children.
“No I don’t have any children, and I just got out of a relationship that was headed nowhere.” Looking at Seiya she asked, “I can tell by your ring that you’re married, but what about kids?” Smiling, Seiya pulled out a picture of Sesshomaru, himself, and the kids from the year prior when they went to the beach. Blinking she asked, “Your wife is, how do you say, a handsome woman.” A sudden burst of laughter had Catherine chuckling as well, “Don’t worry I was saying that as a cover. I know for about your personal life and keeping with the obligations of your contract, I’m not going to reveal that information to anybody else.”
Putting the picture back, Seiya got a strange feeling about this woman. From the way she talked about Sesshomaru, it seemed all to familiar. Putting that bit of information in the back of his mind, he saw them arrive at the studio gates. When the driver stopped, Catherine stuck her head out and showed all the information about them being guests for a show. The guard went around to Seiya’s side and compared the picture and information to the names that he’d been given. Satisfied he handed the papers to Seiya along with a book. “It’s for my wife.” Smirking, Seiya signed his book “Demonic Affections Vol. 2,” and handed it back to the guard telling him to say hello to his wife. “Thank you very much Mr. Mizutani and have a good show.”
As they arrived at the studio, Seiya was ushered into a room with a bunch of chairs and mirrors. Unceremoniously he was shoved into a seat and asked if he’d ever had to wear make-up before. Smirking he said, “Once when I was young and in need of money.” The make up lady, just stared at him wondering if he was telling the truth. Seeing that she was worried he then added, “No I’ve never had to wear makeup before.” Sighing in relief, the woman then applied some powder and a bit of foundation before letting the hair stylist in to do some damage.
“Nice, bounce, a bit long and tangled, but I’m sure I can get it looking like you’d actually showered today.” Seiya just sat back and let the woman do her work, she’d even given him a bit of a trim before showing off him his new hairdo. He had to admit that the woman did a hell of a rush job. Granted the stray bits of hair from the cutting were making his neck itch, and it was the first time he’d had a haircut like this one. But, he wasn’t one to complain. His only problem lay with the wardrobe personnel who were mad that they had to send him out in a long-sleeved tee-shirt, a pair of khakis, and a dirty pair of sneakers.
During his time off stage, a man came up and pinned a microphone to his shirt collar telling him all he had to do was speak and his voice would be amplified through the camera’s and speakers. Feeling a bit jittery, he had no time to calm himself as a woman said, “Welcome back to Northwest Afternoon. I am Cindi Rinheart and you all know my fellow hosts Elisa Jaffe and Kent Philips. Today we have a special treat for you. Many of you know him as the writer of the three volume sci-fi and romance series Demonic Affections. And we just so happen to have him in the studio to discuss when his fourth volume will be released in the United States. Please welcome Seiya Mizutani.”
Walking out on stage he shook each one of the hosts hands and asked where he was supposed to sit. Taking a seat Kent asked him, “Did our wardrobe people put you in that?” Everyone laughed as Seiya’s face turned bright red and he’d told them that he’d just gotten off the plane less than a couple of hours ago. Laughing the male host said, “Understandable, but I’m a bit shocked that you’ve come here so quickly. Why didn’t you at least give yourself a day to get some rest.”
Sipping at some water, Seiya told him, “Well, the management company who pushed my book, forgot to take the time differences into account when making my reservations. So, I had to leave yesterday morning and have spent the past eighteen hours on planes, got put into a limo, had makeup put on, and here I am.” Noticing he sounded a bit mad, Seiya laughed a little adding, “But, I got plenty of sleep and talked to my uncle who connected onto my flight from Hawaii. So all in all, I’d say the rush was worth the aggravation.”
Oddly enough, the audience got the joke, while the hosts were a bit too stuck up to even give him a chuckle. After the round robin contest, and the constant questioning about his clothes, the hosts finally decided to move onto the book series. The interview went well, Seiya told them about certain key-plot points that they should pay attention to. He also explained how the inspiration for a few of his characters came from people he actually knew. Such as the to comic relief characters being based off of his brother-in-law and his sister-in-law. There was also a character based off Shippou who brought his own comic relief, but it was best not to mention him because of the amount of questions they would begin to throw at him.
When the show was finally over, Seiya said goodbye to everyone and thanked them for allowing him to come on the show. As he was leaving the studio though a portion of the studio audience, men and women alike, started shoving books in his face for him to sign. Not one to turn down the people who’d made him popular, Seiya signed at least thirty books before climbing into the limo. Waving goodbye to all of them, he looked to Catherine saying, “If that happens again, I should just grow four extra hands.” Looking out the window he asked, “Are we going to the hotel now, because I need to get this make up off.”
Laughing a bit the woman said, “Yes, we are heading toward the hotel, and all of the information has been sent to your family so they know where to contact you in each city you’ll be visiting.” Upon not receiving an answer, Catherine found that Seiya had passed out with his head against the window. She would have woken him up to tell him about the foundation running on the window, but he was too at peace to bother. However, at the sudden jerking of the car stopping at the entrance to the hotel, Seiya hit his head against the frame and cursed loudly.
Finding that the make up he’d been wearing was smeared across the window, Seiya cleaned it the best he could with a handkerchief before getting out. Noticing that Catherine had followed suit, the grabbed the bags that the driver had unloaded and tipped him generously. In the lobby, Seiya couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed at the luxury he’d been thrown into. Not even the rooms he and his family had shared at the mountain spa resort they’d gone to the year prior had rooms like the one they were standing in. His thoughts were disturbed by Catherine telling him that he needed to check in. Going to the lobby, he gave identification and signed the sheet proving he’d been at the hotel should their be any questioning by his publishers.
Up on the ninth floor, Seiya found out that he and Catherine had rooms across from each other. Putting his key in the door he asked, “You’re going to be with me the whole way aren’t you?” The woman smirked at him saying that it was what she had been paid to do. Smiling back he added, “Not that I care, at least I don’t have to get used to a new person every city.” He then opened his door and let out a loud whistle at the size of his room. Dumping his stuff in the closet he ran to the king-sized bed and bounced happily onto it. Taking a pillow, he gave a loud sigh of happiness and closed his eyes immediately.
Sometime later the phone rang loudly in his ear making him jerk from his nap. Finding the clock read nine o’clock at night, Seiya rubbed his eyes and picked up the phone hearing a voice ask, “Papa?” Glad to hear Rin’s voice he replied asking what she needed. “Oh nothing, “ she replied, “I was just a bit mad that I went to the house to spend the day with everyone only to find that you had to leave a day earlier than you told me.” As he stuttered an apology, Rin stopped him saying, “It’s fine that you had to leave. I blame the person who forgot all about international date lines and everything. But, how was the first interview?
“It went pretty well in my opinion. It’s just that I had to go on the television dressed in the clothes that I’d spent almost two days in without even showering.” He and Rin shared a laugh at what he looked like with make-up and scruffy clothes on. Suddenly a voice in the background caught his attention. “Hey if that’s Shippou put him on for a minute.” He said to his daughter in an all too commanding voice. When the fox was put on the phone he asked, “Are you two over at the house? Or are you at Rin’s apartment?”
“Nope, we’re at your house. Apparently Sesshomaru wanted to talk to us about something and Rin just had to drag me along.” Hearing a sudden snarl, Seiya couldn’t help but yell as he heard bunch of whimpering after Shippou said, “Kitsune-bi!” Holding the phone away from his head, Shippou shouted, “Hey, Lossonaur transformed and started to attack my tails. And, I was given permission by your husband to fry him the next time he tried it.” Seeing Lossonaur in a corner licking the singed fur Shippou added, “You can blame Sesshomaru for letting me do that to you. So, I suggest you stop trying it or else I’ll be sending you to an Asian take out restaurant where your dad is.”
Saying goodbye to Shippou, Seiya hung up the phone and heard his stomach give a huge growl. Getting up he went over to Catherine’s door and knocked. When she answered the smell of pizza hit his nose. Hearing his stomach, she invited him in and gave him a plate so that he could feast on the large pizza she had ordered. While they were eating, the woman pulled a schedule from her bag and said, “Tomorrow you have the entire day off. Then the next day we head to California for the three city tour we have set up there. In Los Angeles you will be doing both Conan and Ellen in the same day, but the good news is that Conan is done a bit before Ellen so you get a short lunch break in-between.”
Chewing his pizza, Seiya gave her a thumbs up, swallowed, and then said, “What’s the next city after that?” She then read off a list of places that he was scheduled for radio interviews instead of television. A bit glad he wouldn’t need to appear on camera for each interview he said, “So it’s a whole bunch of radio interviews, and then what Oprah or something like that?” When he heard that Oprah was his next television interview after some interviews in San Francisco, he fell to the ground laughing surprised that the woman was still on the air. “But, then after that it’s like Howard and Daily Show, right?”
“Yes, that is correct, but just make sure you get some rest in between a lot of these shows because they’ll be asking you a lot of questions and some of these will be done four in a row.” After Seiya dumped his plate in the garbage she added, “I hope you have some better clothes than that for the television interviews. God only knows what the papers’ll say about you in the morning.” Shrugging it off, Seiya went back to his room and turned on the television, while Catherine went back to double checking bits of her schedule.
Next morning, Seiya went out without a word and took a camera with him. He stopped by a few record stores and picked up a few cd’s and then stopped by a few other stores. Inside one he found a couple of figurines that the kids would enjoy and purchased them without question to the prices. Making sure they were heavily wrapped, he then stopped by a pier and bought a cup of soup from a stand. It tasted incredible as he breathed in the salt water air and watched the fairies make their way from pier to pier. He even caught sight of a few whales going up to the boats and managed to get them on his camera thanks to the incredible zoom feature he had. At about one he went back to the room and dropped off his bags and went back out into the city.
Deciding not to stick with just the city, he found a bus stop and went to a suburb that was about forty-five minutes away. When he got off, he had to admit that the place had the feeling of home. Minus the amount of traffic, he had to admit he’d have loved to live in a place like this if he’d been born in the states. Seeing that he’d been dropped off in front of a mall, Seiya went in and looked through a few stores. Again his stomach gave a growl since the only thing he’d eaten all day was cup of street soup. Stopping at a Mongolian grill, he ate three large plates of noodles mixed with vegetables and meats. After finishing his third plate, his phone gave a loud ring. Knowing who it was by the ring he asked, “You need something, Sessh?”
“No I don’t. I am just a bit disturbed that you did not bother to talk to me when Rin called you.” When his mate tried to apologize the demon told him, “It doesn’t matter anymore, that was yesterday. But, Shippou has asked me something that’ll require both of us to be home so I hope you are home soon.” Getting what was being said, Seiya asked the question to which Sesshomaru told him, “You are correct, and I am inclined to allow it, but as she is our child both of us need to be their to bless him. I can test him on his worth anytime, yet he requested we do not do anything until you are home.”
Taking a sip of water, Seiya gave a light belch and asked, “Does Rin know about him wanting to propose?” Sesshomaru said that she did not and was thankful for it. “Yeah, we all know what happened the last time he asked us something and we told him no. And just think we’re going to have to do that two more times.” Sesshomaru gave a deep chuckle and told his mate to be careful and that he loved him. “I love you to, just make sure you don’t tell Lossonaur and Khilu about it. God only knows what half-truths they’ll go spilling to the family.”
Hanging up the phone, he paid for his meal and went to a book store grabbing a couple of new books to read on his trip. He’d already gone through most of his books and was inclined to read a few more. So he picked up a few fantasy and suspense books, paid, gave yet another autograph to the clerk, and left the mall only to have Catherine yell at him for not telling her where he was going. Saying that he was just about to head back she said, “That doesn’t matter because we need to prepare everything for tomorrow. So I suggest you get back here or else my boss’ll rip my head off.”
Closing his phone a second time, Seiya climbed onto a bus that was heading toward the downtown area and went to reading one of his new books. He heard a few people whispering as to whether or not he was the person they’d seen on the television the day before. Looking up from his book he said, “Yes I’m him. Can’t ya tell by the sneakers?” He lifted his dirty shoes and the girls who’d been whispering laughed and snapped a picture of him before hopping off the bus laughing. Going back to his book he occasionally glanced up looking for his stop.
Getting off he checked his clock surprised that it was nearly six. He took an elevator up to his floor and went into his room to get everything ready for his flight the next day. He saw that Catherine had put his ticket on the bed and he groaned seeing he had to be up by five in the morning. Zipping his bag up, he ordered some room service and ate in his room alone before showering and climbing into his bed. At four his phone rang and he just picked it up and set it down before getting up to brush his teeth. Around five-thirty Catherine started knocking on his door. Opening it he yawned in her face saying that he was ready to go.
The flight into San Diego was short and uneventful. He was given a drink and that was about it. Upon landing, he was then ushered off to a television station to do a local morning show and talk about his book. Nothing like his interview in Seattle had happened. He’d arrived dressed appropriately and had the same amount of hair styling and make up done to him and was let loose on the audience and hosts. He had to admit the show was a bit looser than Seattle’s which helped his mood tremendously. The hosts were extremely laid back and asked a few questions about his home life and how it affected his writing. All he told them was that it was a bit hard to do writing with kids running around screaming during their time off from school and that they were lucky enough to have a live-in nanny. HE then looked into the camera and apologized to Kiba.
That show being done, Catherine rented a car and they decided to make a day trip down to Los Angeles. They drove through a few vineyards and stopped to get some lunch at a couple of road side joints. The food was good and nobody gave them any trouble when they began to converse in Japanese. They guessed it was because of the fact both of them spoke fluent English. After lunch Seiya picked up a few post cards and sent them to his family, hoping they arrived before he got home. He gave the usual letter of how his trip had just started and that he still had a long ways to go before coming back home.
Making their way into downtown Los Angeles, both of them were sickened by the amount of traffic and grew impatient at the fact there were actually stop lights on the freeway. When they finally got through the heavy traffic, Catherine took them directly to the hotel for a small bit of rest before so Seiya could look fresh for Conan. Surprised once again at the lavish surroundings he’d been appointed, Seiya went to his room and took yet another nap and was glad that he did not have any interruptions to disturb him. That is until he had Catherine pounding on his door at eight the next morning to get him ready for his interview on Conan.
Yawning, he got dressed and after a decent breakfast, they made their way to NBC to do his interview with Conan. While he was in the middle of make up, the talk show host came and introduced himself saying, “Glad to see that you’re dressed up for this interview. We were hoping we wouldn’t have to give you one of my suits for this.” Seiya laughed saying that the first television spot would be haunting him the rest of his trip. Sitting down next to him the host said, “You’ll be fine, we have a few set questions to go through, but you’re getting fifteen minutes so we can wing it a bit.”
Nodding, Seiya said heartily, “Good that means I can talk about how I’ve worn more make up in the past few days than most men my age. I feel like Ru Paul or something.” Conan nearly choked on his water and said that was a bit of a stretch. Glad to hear that he was done, Seiya shook hands with him saying, “I’m glad I get to be on your show. Just make sure that if Triumph is here he goes a bit easy on me.”
Little did Seiya know, that he’d just jinxed himself to have a new one ripped to him by the famous dog puppet. Even though he was the first interview, Seiya was given a chance to sit through the whole shooting and got a chance to see Triumph make fun of a select group of people. When it was done, Seiya got a picture with the puppet, Conan, and the guest, he even got an autograph for Lossonaur by the drummer and then made his way over to Ellen’s studio in Burbank.
Thankfully the drive only took about twenty minutes, and Seiya was given an opprotunity to clean up a little before he had to get ready. Since he was the last guest of the day, he took his chance in the green room to relax. Taking the chance to read up on some current news, and get a little bit of television into his system, Seiya did not want to leave the comfortable couch he’d been given to relax on, but he thought it wise not to fight with the fussy make-up and hair people. As he was going through the rounds of getting made up. A stage manager came in and told everybody to turn on the t.v. to catch the show. Being as it was live, the crew turned on the show to find Ellen starign curioiusly at a young boy in a baseball hat.
As the boy was sniffing along the ground, Ellen got on the floor and asked, “Are you lost sweetie?” The boy shook his head and went back to sniffing around the studio floor. Crawling along her hands and knees she asked, “You know if you tell us what you’re looking for I’m sure we can find it.” The boy stopped and said that he wasn’t supposed to talk to people he didn’t know. Laughing she told him, “That’s a very good rule to have. But how about you get off the floor and you can sit up here and talk to me. My name is Ellen.”
Stopping his sniffing the boy said, “I’m Michael.” Saying that she was pleased to meet him, Ellen put him into the chair and began talking to him asking why he was alone in the studio. Wiping some dust from his nose Lossonaur told her, “I’m looking for my daddy. He was supposed to be here and we came to visit him.” Meanwhile in the back, Seiya removed himself from the stylist seat and went out onto the stage and watched as his son began talking to the woman. He was about to start looking for Sesshomau when the boy asked, “Do you know my daddy?”
Shaking her head Ellen said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t. Is he supposed to be a guest on the show?” Scratching his head, Lossonaur said that he didn’t know. All he knew was that his dad was supposed to be in that place. Smiling she told the boy that security could find him if they told him his name. Looking around the studio, Lossonaur saw a book and opened it pointing at Seiya’s picture saying that was his father. Her eyes bulging a bit, she asked, “He’s your daddy?”
Beaming Lossonaur said, “Uh huh! And we flew all the way from Japan to visit him and go to all the shows with him.” When asked who the group included the boy said, “My sister, Kiba, and a couple other people.” Again asked if the other people were his mom and someone else th boy said, “Well other person, but I don’t have a mommy. I have two dads.” When asked if that was because his parents were divorced and his mom died, Lossonaur scratched his head saying, “I don’t know. All I know is that I have two daddy’s who are married and sleep in the same bed.” At the sudden revelation his son had just given, Seiya’s lungs along with those of the whole audience sucked in so much air that they were about to burst.
Jerked from his sleep by the weight of his daughter on his stomach, Seiya rubbed his eyes asking why she thought his plane was going to be leaving. Pulling her shoes on she said, “Papa got a call from your manager. And he said that because they messed up with your schedule you have to be at your first interview tomorrow afternoon.” When asked what time it was the girl announced, “It’s seven o’clock, and your plane leaves at eleven so get your but outta bed mister!” Smacking her dad on the leg, Khilu rushed out of the room saying that he was out of bed.
Getting up he washed his face and cleaned his bare essentials, before getting dressed in a set of casual clothes. Remembering that he’d taken his bags downstairs the night before, he headed downstairs to find Lossonaur passed out on the couch. Seeing Sesshomaru coming in from the outside, Seiya asked if they had changed his flight information. Pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket he handed it to his husband saying, “The airline said that they’d accept your ticket so long as you’re on time. Do you have your passport?”
Holding up his wallet and passport Seiya shook his son awake telling the boy to get up. Dragging, Mr. Tanooki with him, Lossonaur walked out the door in front of his sister, who was in turn followed by their fathers. In the car, Seiya turned it to a morning show to listen for any possible traffic warnings. Hearing of a few accidents a short ways away from the airport, his nervousness already started to set in. The worry of leaving his kids to deal with the possibility of Sesshomaru getting sick. Not to mention he’d never been away from the kids for more than a week.
Going through the early morning commute, Seiya was surprised to find a warm cup of tea sitting next to him. Giving his husband a glance he lifted it to his nose, finding the smell pleasing he took a deep sip only to spit it out right away. Smelling the tea from his husbands side, Sesshomaru told him, “That tea is meant specifically for demons, not humans so I suggest you not take another sip.” Taking the cup away, Sesshomaru took a sip giving a satisfied sigh.
Yawning loudly, Seiya looked into the back finding his children sleeping lightly. Smirking he asked, “What time did they get up?” Learning that they had woken up when the phone rang at five in the morning, Seiya poked Khilu awake telling her, “Gotta get up now because we’re gonna be at the airport soon.” When she kicked at Seiya, only to have her feet collide with the back of Sesshomaru’s a few times, Seiya stopped her and growled, “I’m serious you need to get up or you don’t get to see me before I go.”
Scrunching her face up, Khilu shouted, “You know that you wouldn’t do that! And if you did Losso and I wouldn’t talk to you when you called!” Taking his Tanooki, Lossonaur hit his sister in the head telling her to keep quiet because he was tired. Snatching the Tanooki, Khilu told her brother, “You should hit Dad because he was gonna leave without saying good bye to us.” When her brother began to whine about that possibility, Seiya told her to tell him the truth. Pouting she said, “Fine, he’s not going to do that, but he was being a bit of a meany.”
Letting the kids whining die down, Sesshomaru pulled into a nearby parking garage and went to unfasten Lossonaur from his seat. While he was doing that, Seiya pulled out his bags and gave one to each of his kids since they were begging to help him carry it all. Seeing their eagerness he asked, “Are you really that anxious to get rid of me?” Learning that their reasoning was due to them wanting him gone sooner so he’d come back that much quicker, Seiya couldn’t help but intentionally slow down a bit.
Handing the bag he’d been carrying to Sesshomaru, Lossonaur went behind his dad and began pushing him by the rear saying, “You gotta go so we can see you again.” His attempts to remain stationary turned futile since Lossonaur was already stronger than him by a great margin. So he just let the boy push him into the airport only to step out of the way and have the boy lose his footing and stumble a bit. When he’d caught himself, the four your old stuck out his tongue and ran off to where Sesshomaru was waiting so that Seiya could begin checking in all of his luggage.
Handing the lady all of his identification, Seiya gave her all the necessary information about his bags, and flight info. Giving her all of his main luggage, he took his lap top and carry on toward his gate and turned around seeing his kids crying. Bending down he kissed Khilu asking, “You going to be okay taking care of these two?” The girl wiped here eyes telling him that she was ready to take care of them. Giving her a hug he told her, “You’re more than ready. You’re a big girl and you can’t cry right now okay.” Stepping back he saw her cheeks were a bit red but devoid of tears.
Going over to his son, he found the boy choking back every sniffle that seemed to come to the surface. Taking the kids hat off, Seiya rubbed his ears making him giggle and drop his Mr. Tanooki. Scooping the boy into his arms he said, “Your job is to protect them and make sure that your Aunts and Uncles all behave themselves when they’re at the house. I don’t want to come home to another broken window.” Remembering the time his papa had come home to find Kiba a bit hung over Lossonaur nodded and hug Seiya tightly.
Letting them go he gave Sesshomaru a strong hug, the demon returned it and whispered, “We’ll be fine, and don’t worry you’ll see us soon er than you think.” Brushing his mate’s hair back the demon gave him a gentle kiss before saying, “Now get to the gate because I don’t want to have to do this again, nor be blamed for you missing your first interview.” He practically shoved his mate away and held the children close as they watched the man make his way through the line and off toward his gate.
Finding a spot near his gate, Seiya looked at his ticket, and then at his watch to find he had almost no time left before boarding the plane. His stomach giving a loud lurch, he pulled out a granola bar and grimaced at the taste, but ate it just the same. When he finished the lady asked for all first class passengers as well as the special needs passengers to board the plane. Giving her his ticket, he went through the walk way and found his seat. Settling in he buckled his seat belt, listened to the safety messages, and finally he was able to kickback and choose a couple of movies to watch. His first choice was a new samurai movie that he hadn’t been able to see because of his work schedule, followed shortly by him choosing to watch an old Disney movie.
Well, it wasn’t as old as some of the ones he’d grown up watching, but as it was nearing the thirty year mark, the movie may as well have been considered old. Around the time his second movie finished, a lady stopped by with a couple of meals saying no thank you, he reached into his bag for some of the dried snacks he’d brought, to find a couple of badly made sandwiches with a note from his kids saying that they’d miss him. Opening one to find that it was peanut butter and honey, Seiya asked if it was possible to get a glass of milk. The stewardess came back with a tall glass and a couple of extra cartons in case he needed some extra to wash down the mass of peanut butter clogging his throat.
He finished both sandwiches and decided that before he went to sleep, he’d watch another movie. Going into the comedy section, he decided to pull up an old Jim Carey movie. As he watched it though, his eyes started to flutter from the generous amount of heat being let off by all the people on board, he fell into a kind of deep sleep. So deep was his nap, that when he woke up they were still in the air, stretching he stopped and asked a steward when they’d be landing in Hawaii.
Laughing a bit the man said, “Sir we stopped there nearly two hours ago, right now we’re about eight hours out of Seattle.” Asking if he could get a bottled water, the steward came back with a large cold one and laughed as Seiya choked from his throat becoming so quickly hydrated. “Looks like we should have woken you up when we stopped.” The man left leaving Seiya to find that some of the people in first class were in fact different from the ones that had boarded with him.
Getting up, he made his way to the restroom to relieve himself, and when he came back he caught sight of a familiar man sitting in the back of first class sleeping as he had been. Walking over he saw that his suspicion was correct, so in honor of the situation he poked the man right in the ribs making him jump. Rubbing his eyes awake, he glared to find who had poked him only to laugh and say, “I’m telling your father about you scaring the hell out of me. Now sit down and shut up.” When Seiya took his seat the man asked, “What the hell are you doing on this flight? Shouldn’t you be at home with Sesshomaru and the kids?”
Giving another loud yawn, Seiya said, “Actually Uncle Jiro, I’m on my way to the States to promote my books.” Taking the mans soda he took a swig saying, “I wasn’t supposed to even be on this flight, but somebody at my U.S. agents office forgot about time changes, so I have to leave from the airport directly to a local studio to do an interview on some afternoon show.” When asked about how his books were doing Seiya replied, “Still a bit underground back home, but supposedly I’m on a few best sellers lists out there. So, to boost sales they thought I should do a tour. I bet the fans’d be surprised if they learned how much of my stories were actually reality.”
“Well where do you go after Seattle? I’m on my way there because I have to visit my son, and then it’s on my way home to spend some time with the wife.” Hearing that he would be spending the next three weeks in California promoting his books, Jiro told him, “Be sure to check out a couple of stores for souvenirs. Who knows what would happen if you didn’t bring any home for the kids or Sesshomaru.” Seeing as he had nobody to sit next to, Jiro had Seiya bring his belongings over to where they were sitting so that he could catch up on what had been happening over the last few years. Putting his carry on under the seat in front of him, Seiya stretched out telling his uncle all about what happened since after he’d gotten back.
“Well let’s see, Khilu is doing pretty well in school, mostly A’s and B’s based on the American scale. Lossonaur is in preschool and shocks his teachers by yelling at kids in English.” Jiro had to chuckle at the sight of the four year old disciplining a group of kids in a language they didn’t know. “Yeah well, he’s starting to get a mouth on him,” replied Seiya with a chuckle. Pulling out his bottled water he then said, “Also, Jakotsu is out of the house, but still stops by a lot of the time to take the kids somewhere. And lucky for him he hasn’t pulled any of that crap he did before Lossonaur was born.” Seeing a flash of red pass through his nephew’s eyes, Jiro did not press any farther into that matter.
“What about those two people Sesshomaru has in the basement bedroom. Shiba and Kiba I think they’re names are.” When his nephew told him that Kiba stayed home and handled all of Sesshomaru’s filing and documentation, Jiro had to whistle saying, “That boy is going to be busy for a long time. If I’m right, Sesshomaru still has a good six-thousand years left on him.” His nephew choking on the water forced him to say, “It’s a good thing he does do this documenting because you might forget a lot of important events in your life, so it’s best you have it all down in paper, and video.”
The rest of the flight was spent talking about Jesse and all of the others. Sara had been married a while back and was expecting a child, while Jesse was still raising his only son, and Penny was trying to get him to have another kid. “Oh that’ll be fun, if I remember correctly, his boy is an even bigger annoyance then mine.” Sad part about that comment, laid in the fact that Jiro agreed with him on that point. The talk later turned to Sesshomaru’s teaching Inuyasha about the diplomatic proceedings in the demon world. Jiro found this to be quite funny, but when he heard how Inuyasha had yet to irritate any of his clients save for one group, Jiro shut up and wondered if he would have to deal with the hanyou next time he went to Japan.
The plane landed uneventfully into Seattle International where the local time was twelve-twenty-three in the afternoon. Waiting for the rest of the passengers to pile out of the plane like cattle, Seiya grabbed all of his carry ons and exited with his uncle. Out in the terminal, they left it and gave each other hugs goodbye and saying they’d see each other in a few months. When his uncle walked off to get his baggage, a black haired woman walked up with a sign saying, “Seiya Mizutani.” When Seiya introduced himself the woman told him, “Catherine Kagure.” Shaking hands she said, “I hate to rush you, but we need to get to the studio. Don’t worry about all of your belongings we have somebody getting them as we speak.”
Outside, Seiya found a large limo waiting for him and the lady, Seiya got in with the woman and they were soon heading to a local station called, KOMO T.V.. As they drove along he asked her, “So do you work for my Japanese or American publisher?” Hearing that she was hired by the Japanese publisher he then asked, “Were you the one who made the mistake about the time differences? Or was that someone state side.” The woman’s silence was after enough, so he then asked if she was married or had any children.
“No I don’t have any children, and I just got out of a relationship that was headed nowhere.” Looking at Seiya she asked, “I can tell by your ring that you’re married, but what about kids?” Smiling, Seiya pulled out a picture of Sesshomaru, himself, and the kids from the year prior when they went to the beach. Blinking she asked, “Your wife is, how do you say, a handsome woman.” A sudden burst of laughter had Catherine chuckling as well, “Don’t worry I was saying that as a cover. I know for about your personal life and keeping with the obligations of your contract, I’m not going to reveal that information to anybody else.”
Putting the picture back, Seiya got a strange feeling about this woman. From the way she talked about Sesshomaru, it seemed all to familiar. Putting that bit of information in the back of his mind, he saw them arrive at the studio gates. When the driver stopped, Catherine stuck her head out and showed all the information about them being guests for a show. The guard went around to Seiya’s side and compared the picture and information to the names that he’d been given. Satisfied he handed the papers to Seiya along with a book. “It’s for my wife.” Smirking, Seiya signed his book “Demonic Affections Vol. 2,” and handed it back to the guard telling him to say hello to his wife. “Thank you very much Mr. Mizutani and have a good show.”
As they arrived at the studio, Seiya was ushered into a room with a bunch of chairs and mirrors. Unceremoniously he was shoved into a seat and asked if he’d ever had to wear make-up before. Smirking he said, “Once when I was young and in need of money.” The make up lady, just stared at him wondering if he was telling the truth. Seeing that she was worried he then added, “No I’ve never had to wear makeup before.” Sighing in relief, the woman then applied some powder and a bit of foundation before letting the hair stylist in to do some damage.
“Nice, bounce, a bit long and tangled, but I’m sure I can get it looking like you’d actually showered today.” Seiya just sat back and let the woman do her work, she’d even given him a bit of a trim before showing off him his new hairdo. He had to admit that the woman did a hell of a rush job. Granted the stray bits of hair from the cutting were making his neck itch, and it was the first time he’d had a haircut like this one. But, he wasn’t one to complain. His only problem lay with the wardrobe personnel who were mad that they had to send him out in a long-sleeved tee-shirt, a pair of khakis, and a dirty pair of sneakers.
During his time off stage, a man came up and pinned a microphone to his shirt collar telling him all he had to do was speak and his voice would be amplified through the camera’s and speakers. Feeling a bit jittery, he had no time to calm himself as a woman said, “Welcome back to Northwest Afternoon. I am Cindi Rinheart and you all know my fellow hosts Elisa Jaffe and Kent Philips. Today we have a special treat for you. Many of you know him as the writer of the three volume sci-fi and romance series Demonic Affections. And we just so happen to have him in the studio to discuss when his fourth volume will be released in the United States. Please welcome Seiya Mizutani.”
Walking out on stage he shook each one of the hosts hands and asked where he was supposed to sit. Taking a seat Kent asked him, “Did our wardrobe people put you in that?” Everyone laughed as Seiya’s face turned bright red and he’d told them that he’d just gotten off the plane less than a couple of hours ago. Laughing the male host said, “Understandable, but I’m a bit shocked that you’ve come here so quickly. Why didn’t you at least give yourself a day to get some rest.”
Sipping at some water, Seiya told him, “Well, the management company who pushed my book, forgot to take the time differences into account when making my reservations. So, I had to leave yesterday morning and have spent the past eighteen hours on planes, got put into a limo, had makeup put on, and here I am.” Noticing he sounded a bit mad, Seiya laughed a little adding, “But, I got plenty of sleep and talked to my uncle who connected onto my flight from Hawaii. So all in all, I’d say the rush was worth the aggravation.”
Oddly enough, the audience got the joke, while the hosts were a bit too stuck up to even give him a chuckle. After the round robin contest, and the constant questioning about his clothes, the hosts finally decided to move onto the book series. The interview went well, Seiya told them about certain key-plot points that they should pay attention to. He also explained how the inspiration for a few of his characters came from people he actually knew. Such as the to comic relief characters being based off of his brother-in-law and his sister-in-law. There was also a character based off Shippou who brought his own comic relief, but it was best not to mention him because of the amount of questions they would begin to throw at him.
When the show was finally over, Seiya said goodbye to everyone and thanked them for allowing him to come on the show. As he was leaving the studio though a portion of the studio audience, men and women alike, started shoving books in his face for him to sign. Not one to turn down the people who’d made him popular, Seiya signed at least thirty books before climbing into the limo. Waving goodbye to all of them, he looked to Catherine saying, “If that happens again, I should just grow four extra hands.” Looking out the window he asked, “Are we going to the hotel now, because I need to get this make up off.”
Laughing a bit the woman said, “Yes, we are heading toward the hotel, and all of the information has been sent to your family so they know where to contact you in each city you’ll be visiting.” Upon not receiving an answer, Catherine found that Seiya had passed out with his head against the window. She would have woken him up to tell him about the foundation running on the window, but he was too at peace to bother. However, at the sudden jerking of the car stopping at the entrance to the hotel, Seiya hit his head against the frame and cursed loudly.
Finding that the make up he’d been wearing was smeared across the window, Seiya cleaned it the best he could with a handkerchief before getting out. Noticing that Catherine had followed suit, the grabbed the bags that the driver had unloaded and tipped him generously. In the lobby, Seiya couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed at the luxury he’d been thrown into. Not even the rooms he and his family had shared at the mountain spa resort they’d gone to the year prior had rooms like the one they were standing in. His thoughts were disturbed by Catherine telling him that he needed to check in. Going to the lobby, he gave identification and signed the sheet proving he’d been at the hotel should their be any questioning by his publishers.
Up on the ninth floor, Seiya found out that he and Catherine had rooms across from each other. Putting his key in the door he asked, “You’re going to be with me the whole way aren’t you?” The woman smirked at him saying that it was what she had been paid to do. Smiling back he added, “Not that I care, at least I don’t have to get used to a new person every city.” He then opened his door and let out a loud whistle at the size of his room. Dumping his stuff in the closet he ran to the king-sized bed and bounced happily onto it. Taking a pillow, he gave a loud sigh of happiness and closed his eyes immediately.
Sometime later the phone rang loudly in his ear making him jerk from his nap. Finding the clock read nine o’clock at night, Seiya rubbed his eyes and picked up the phone hearing a voice ask, “Papa?” Glad to hear Rin’s voice he replied asking what she needed. “Oh nothing, “ she replied, “I was just a bit mad that I went to the house to spend the day with everyone only to find that you had to leave a day earlier than you told me.” As he stuttered an apology, Rin stopped him saying, “It’s fine that you had to leave. I blame the person who forgot all about international date lines and everything. But, how was the first interview?
“It went pretty well in my opinion. It’s just that I had to go on the television dressed in the clothes that I’d spent almost two days in without even showering.” He and Rin shared a laugh at what he looked like with make-up and scruffy clothes on. Suddenly a voice in the background caught his attention. “Hey if that’s Shippou put him on for a minute.” He said to his daughter in an all too commanding voice. When the fox was put on the phone he asked, “Are you two over at the house? Or are you at Rin’s apartment?”
“Nope, we’re at your house. Apparently Sesshomaru wanted to talk to us about something and Rin just had to drag me along.” Hearing a sudden snarl, Seiya couldn’t help but yell as he heard bunch of whimpering after Shippou said, “Kitsune-bi!” Holding the phone away from his head, Shippou shouted, “Hey, Lossonaur transformed and started to attack my tails. And, I was given permission by your husband to fry him the next time he tried it.” Seeing Lossonaur in a corner licking the singed fur Shippou added, “You can blame Sesshomaru for letting me do that to you. So, I suggest you stop trying it or else I’ll be sending you to an Asian take out restaurant where your dad is.”
Saying goodbye to Shippou, Seiya hung up the phone and heard his stomach give a huge growl. Getting up he went over to Catherine’s door and knocked. When she answered the smell of pizza hit his nose. Hearing his stomach, she invited him in and gave him a plate so that he could feast on the large pizza she had ordered. While they were eating, the woman pulled a schedule from her bag and said, “Tomorrow you have the entire day off. Then the next day we head to California for the three city tour we have set up there. In Los Angeles you will be doing both Conan and Ellen in the same day, but the good news is that Conan is done a bit before Ellen so you get a short lunch break in-between.”
Chewing his pizza, Seiya gave her a thumbs up, swallowed, and then said, “What’s the next city after that?” She then read off a list of places that he was scheduled for radio interviews instead of television. A bit glad he wouldn’t need to appear on camera for each interview he said, “So it’s a whole bunch of radio interviews, and then what Oprah or something like that?” When he heard that Oprah was his next television interview after some interviews in San Francisco, he fell to the ground laughing surprised that the woman was still on the air. “But, then after that it’s like Howard and Daily Show, right?”
“Yes, that is correct, but just make sure you get some rest in between a lot of these shows because they’ll be asking you a lot of questions and some of these will be done four in a row.” After Seiya dumped his plate in the garbage she added, “I hope you have some better clothes than that for the television interviews. God only knows what the papers’ll say about you in the morning.” Shrugging it off, Seiya went back to his room and turned on the television, while Catherine went back to double checking bits of her schedule.
Next morning, Seiya went out without a word and took a camera with him. He stopped by a few record stores and picked up a few cd’s and then stopped by a few other stores. Inside one he found a couple of figurines that the kids would enjoy and purchased them without question to the prices. Making sure they were heavily wrapped, he then stopped by a pier and bought a cup of soup from a stand. It tasted incredible as he breathed in the salt water air and watched the fairies make their way from pier to pier. He even caught sight of a few whales going up to the boats and managed to get them on his camera thanks to the incredible zoom feature he had. At about one he went back to the room and dropped off his bags and went back out into the city.
Deciding not to stick with just the city, he found a bus stop and went to a suburb that was about forty-five minutes away. When he got off, he had to admit that the place had the feeling of home. Minus the amount of traffic, he had to admit he’d have loved to live in a place like this if he’d been born in the states. Seeing that he’d been dropped off in front of a mall, Seiya went in and looked through a few stores. Again his stomach gave a growl since the only thing he’d eaten all day was cup of street soup. Stopping at a Mongolian grill, he ate three large plates of noodles mixed with vegetables and meats. After finishing his third plate, his phone gave a loud ring. Knowing who it was by the ring he asked, “You need something, Sessh?”
“No I don’t. I am just a bit disturbed that you did not bother to talk to me when Rin called you.” When his mate tried to apologize the demon told him, “It doesn’t matter anymore, that was yesterday. But, Shippou has asked me something that’ll require both of us to be home so I hope you are home soon.” Getting what was being said, Seiya asked the question to which Sesshomaru told him, “You are correct, and I am inclined to allow it, but as she is our child both of us need to be their to bless him. I can test him on his worth anytime, yet he requested we do not do anything until you are home.”
Taking a sip of water, Seiya gave a light belch and asked, “Does Rin know about him wanting to propose?” Sesshomaru said that she did not and was thankful for it. “Yeah, we all know what happened the last time he asked us something and we told him no. And just think we’re going to have to do that two more times.” Sesshomaru gave a deep chuckle and told his mate to be careful and that he loved him. “I love you to, just make sure you don’t tell Lossonaur and Khilu about it. God only knows what half-truths they’ll go spilling to the family.”
Hanging up the phone, he paid for his meal and went to a book store grabbing a couple of new books to read on his trip. He’d already gone through most of his books and was inclined to read a few more. So he picked up a few fantasy and suspense books, paid, gave yet another autograph to the clerk, and left the mall only to have Catherine yell at him for not telling her where he was going. Saying that he was just about to head back she said, “That doesn’t matter because we need to prepare everything for tomorrow. So I suggest you get back here or else my boss’ll rip my head off.”
Closing his phone a second time, Seiya climbed onto a bus that was heading toward the downtown area and went to reading one of his new books. He heard a few people whispering as to whether or not he was the person they’d seen on the television the day before. Looking up from his book he said, “Yes I’m him. Can’t ya tell by the sneakers?” He lifted his dirty shoes and the girls who’d been whispering laughed and snapped a picture of him before hopping off the bus laughing. Going back to his book he occasionally glanced up looking for his stop.
Getting off he checked his clock surprised that it was nearly six. He took an elevator up to his floor and went into his room to get everything ready for his flight the next day. He saw that Catherine had put his ticket on the bed and he groaned seeing he had to be up by five in the morning. Zipping his bag up, he ordered some room service and ate in his room alone before showering and climbing into his bed. At four his phone rang and he just picked it up and set it down before getting up to brush his teeth. Around five-thirty Catherine started knocking on his door. Opening it he yawned in her face saying that he was ready to go.
The flight into San Diego was short and uneventful. He was given a drink and that was about it. Upon landing, he was then ushered off to a television station to do a local morning show and talk about his book. Nothing like his interview in Seattle had happened. He’d arrived dressed appropriately and had the same amount of hair styling and make up done to him and was let loose on the audience and hosts. He had to admit the show was a bit looser than Seattle’s which helped his mood tremendously. The hosts were extremely laid back and asked a few questions about his home life and how it affected his writing. All he told them was that it was a bit hard to do writing with kids running around screaming during their time off from school and that they were lucky enough to have a live-in nanny. HE then looked into the camera and apologized to Kiba.
That show being done, Catherine rented a car and they decided to make a day trip down to Los Angeles. They drove through a few vineyards and stopped to get some lunch at a couple of road side joints. The food was good and nobody gave them any trouble when they began to converse in Japanese. They guessed it was because of the fact both of them spoke fluent English. After lunch Seiya picked up a few post cards and sent them to his family, hoping they arrived before he got home. He gave the usual letter of how his trip had just started and that he still had a long ways to go before coming back home.
Making their way into downtown Los Angeles, both of them were sickened by the amount of traffic and grew impatient at the fact there were actually stop lights on the freeway. When they finally got through the heavy traffic, Catherine took them directly to the hotel for a small bit of rest before so Seiya could look fresh for Conan. Surprised once again at the lavish surroundings he’d been appointed, Seiya went to his room and took yet another nap and was glad that he did not have any interruptions to disturb him. That is until he had Catherine pounding on his door at eight the next morning to get him ready for his interview on Conan.
Yawning, he got dressed and after a decent breakfast, they made their way to NBC to do his interview with Conan. While he was in the middle of make up, the talk show host came and introduced himself saying, “Glad to see that you’re dressed up for this interview. We were hoping we wouldn’t have to give you one of my suits for this.” Seiya laughed saying that the first television spot would be haunting him the rest of his trip. Sitting down next to him the host said, “You’ll be fine, we have a few set questions to go through, but you’re getting fifteen minutes so we can wing it a bit.”
Nodding, Seiya said heartily, “Good that means I can talk about how I’ve worn more make up in the past few days than most men my age. I feel like Ru Paul or something.” Conan nearly choked on his water and said that was a bit of a stretch. Glad to hear that he was done, Seiya shook hands with him saying, “I’m glad I get to be on your show. Just make sure that if Triumph is here he goes a bit easy on me.”
Little did Seiya know, that he’d just jinxed himself to have a new one ripped to him by the famous dog puppet. Even though he was the first interview, Seiya was given a chance to sit through the whole shooting and got a chance to see Triumph make fun of a select group of people. When it was done, Seiya got a picture with the puppet, Conan, and the guest, he even got an autograph for Lossonaur by the drummer and then made his way over to Ellen’s studio in Burbank.
Thankfully the drive only took about twenty minutes, and Seiya was given an opprotunity to clean up a little before he had to get ready. Since he was the last guest of the day, he took his chance in the green room to relax. Taking the chance to read up on some current news, and get a little bit of television into his system, Seiya did not want to leave the comfortable couch he’d been given to relax on, but he thought it wise not to fight with the fussy make-up and hair people. As he was going through the rounds of getting made up. A stage manager came in and told everybody to turn on the t.v. to catch the show. Being as it was live, the crew turned on the show to find Ellen starign curioiusly at a young boy in a baseball hat.
As the boy was sniffing along the ground, Ellen got on the floor and asked, “Are you lost sweetie?” The boy shook his head and went back to sniffing around the studio floor. Crawling along her hands and knees she asked, “You know if you tell us what you’re looking for I’m sure we can find it.” The boy stopped and said that he wasn’t supposed to talk to people he didn’t know. Laughing she told him, “That’s a very good rule to have. But how about you get off the floor and you can sit up here and talk to me. My name is Ellen.”
Stopping his sniffing the boy said, “I’m Michael.” Saying that she was pleased to meet him, Ellen put him into the chair and began talking to him asking why he was alone in the studio. Wiping some dust from his nose Lossonaur told her, “I’m looking for my daddy. He was supposed to be here and we came to visit him.” Meanwhile in the back, Seiya removed himself from the stylist seat and went out onto the stage and watched as his son began talking to the woman. He was about to start looking for Sesshomau when the boy asked, “Do you know my daddy?”
Shaking her head Ellen said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t. Is he supposed to be a guest on the show?” Scratching his head, Lossonaur said that he didn’t know. All he knew was that his dad was supposed to be in that place. Smiling she told the boy that security could find him if they told him his name. Looking around the studio, Lossonaur saw a book and opened it pointing at Seiya’s picture saying that was his father. Her eyes bulging a bit, she asked, “He’s your daddy?”
Beaming Lossonaur said, “Uh huh! And we flew all the way from Japan to visit him and go to all the shows with him.” When asked who the group included the boy said, “My sister, Kiba, and a couple other people.” Again asked if the other people were his mom and someone else th boy said, “Well other person, but I don’t have a mommy. I have two dads.” When asked if that was because his parents were divorced and his mom died, Lossonaur scratched his head saying, “I don’t know. All I know is that I have two daddy’s who are married and sleep in the same bed.” At the sudden revelation his son had just given, Seiya’s lungs along with those of the whole audience sucked in so much air that they were about to burst.