InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heart's Landfill ❯ A Heart's Requiem ( Chapter 16 )

A/N: As always all characters will be walking that fine line called OOCness. I wasn't going to post this chapter today, but I figured, what the hell. It may take a minute for the next chapter to come out since I'm not really sure if I like what I've written thus far. So read this chapter slow and enjoy. As always, thank my beta, Neko Lady for handling my grotesque grammar and spelling errors…lol.

 

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to anyone with the exception of Nya, and Dr. Aikio.

 

Chapter 16:

 

A Heart's Requiem

 

Inuyasha brought his blade down in an arcing motion, causing Sesshomaru to weave backwards almost stumbling.

 

“Half-breed, you seem to be in better spirits today,” Sesshomaru observed half-heartedly as he charged straight at Inuyasha only to side step to the right, catching the hanyou off guard with an elbow to the chest.

 

“Feh, why don't you just shut up and bend over,” Inuyasha hissed, jumping back away from his brother.

 

“Let me guess, so you can shove Tetsusaiga up my ass?”

 

“Damn straight,” the hanyou replied as he leapt up and over his brother, landing squarely on the opposite side of the massive backyard.

 

The brothers stared at each other for a moment, both of them smirking confidently at the other, before they charged. They looked like nothing more than a blurred mixture of silver, white, and beige, since both were shirtless and wearing nothing but a pair of white hakama pants.

 

Sesshomaru swung first, barely missing Inuyasha's head.

 

“I knew you wanted to kill me!” the hanyou hissed as he kicked low, sweeping his brother's leg out from under him, but you wouldn't have known because the full demon rebounded so quickly that he barely had time to gloat.

 

“Don't be stupid,” Sesshomaru hissed sarcastically as he threw a punch that connected with Inuyasha's chest, sending him flying back.

 

Before the hanyou could recover, the full-blooded demon leapt up and over to his fallen foe. Landing so that his legs straddled both sides of his brother, he pointed Tenseiga down and towards the hanyou's jugular vein. Smirking down at him, he stated mildly, “Too bad this thing doesn't cut.”

 

Inuyasha let out a breath that he wasn't aware he was holding. “Being the bastard you are, you probably would've really killed me.”

 

Stepping back, Sesshomaru spared another moment to stare down at his younger brother. “You know so little,” he stated as he lifted his heirloom so that it was resting back against his shoulder blade.

 

Pulling himself up off the grass, Inuyasha retorted, “Maybe so, but I know you.”

After picking up his sword off the ground, he slowly began to dust off the bits of grass that was stuck to the front of his hakama as he finished, “You're a bastard and you always will be.”

 

“Are you two done trying to kill each other?” Rin asked from her chair on the patio.

 

Sesshomaru turned and smiled at his wife, but didn't respond.

 

Glancing up at his sister-in-law, Inuyasha smirked. She always sat and watched them `play' as if she was afraid that one day they would take it too far. Sure, they used real blades and never held back with their punches and/or kicks, but they had never, not once, caused any serious damage to each other. Besides, they were demons; any wounds would be healed in a matter of hours.

 

Climbing the stairs, Inuyasha had to admit that his brother was right; he was in a much better mood today. It could've easily had something to do with the fact that he didn't have any dreams of anyone last night, or it could've been that his first thought when he woke up was of her, Higurashi Kagome. Which it was, he wasn't quite sure, but the fact that the weekend wasn't turning out half as bad as he thought was really a plus.

 

Walking over to the table, he picked up a glass of lemonade that he was sure Hoko, the butler, had brought out and guzzled it. Swallowing the last of it, he watched as his brother lightly brushed his claws across Rin's bare shoulders as he passed to take a seat next to her. `No matter how cold he acts, he could never be cold towards her,' the hanyou thought absently as he turned and attempted to take a seat across the table from the lady in question.

 

“Come here, Inuyasha. I swear you two are as bad as little children.”

 

Knowing what she wanted, he turned and walked towards her. Turning so that his back was to her, he squatted down before her as if he was a child before his mother. Sitting back so that his back was between her legs and his butt on the ground, he argued, “I told you, you don't have to do that. I'll take a shower when I get home.”

 

“And I told you, I'm not going to let you walk around looking like you've been rolling in the grass all day,” Rin replied, her tone clipped as if she'd just chastised her child.

 

“If he'd learn to fight, he wouldn't eat grass so much,” Sesshomaru interjected, taking a sip of his lemonade. He knew that that was total hog wash because his brother could fight just as well as he could; he just chose to be careless when they were sparring.

 

“Feh, if you didn't always fight dirty…”

 

Cutting both of them off, Rin queried, “Have you two ever agreed on anything?”

 

“You,” they answered in unison, but not meaning to.

 

Sesshomaru glared at Inuyasha, who in return chuckled. He couldn't see his brother's face, but he could feel the invisible knives stabbing into the side of his head.

 

“Oi, you should just be happy that you met her first,” Inuyasha added, then continued, “Otherwise we'd be…”

 

“Not on your life, simpleton,” Sesshomaru snapped, cutting him off. He knew where he was going with his statement. It seemed like whenever Inuyasha wanted to get back at him for something, he always used the fact that Rin doted on him as ammunition.

 

Picking a few pieces of grass from Inuyasha's hair, Rin sighed exasperatedly and inquired, “Must you make `me' an argument as well?”

 

Ignoring her, Inuyasha finished his earlier comment, loving the idea that he was pissing his brother off, “…we'd be naming our children Taylor and Tyler, wouldn't we, Rin?”

 

Knowing that he was just trying to piss her husband off, Rin grabbed a patch of Inuyasha's hair and yanked, silently warning him to layoff.

 

“Ouch! If you keep doing that I'm not going to let you keep playing in my hair,” Inuyasha complained seriously, but knowing he was full of shit. Rin was one of two women in his life that he just could not say no to, the other being his deceased mother.

 

“Rin, leave him,” Sesshomaru ordered. “Mongrels such as him deserve to get fleas.”

 

Turning on him, Inuyasha growled, feeling thoroughly insulted, “I don't have fleas, you ass! And if I did, it's your grass I was laying on, so that means you got them too!”

 

“You confuse me with a common mutt,” Sesshomaru quipped dryly.

 

Picking up the comb that she'd brought out earlier to comb through his hair once she'd finished picking out the grass particles she could see, Rin smacked it against Inuyasha's forehead. “Turn around! You know you don't have fleas,” she snapped at the hanyou as she turned and glared at her husband who threw his hands up in mock surrender.

 

Glaring at Rin, Inuyasha snapped childishly, “He said I have fucking fleas!”

 

“And I said you don't,” Rin retorted, her voice formidable. Smacking him in the forehead with the comb again, she finished while rubbing her protruding belly, “And watch your mouth, my kids can hear you!”

 

Turning around, Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest and sat down, his face set in a deep scowl.

 

“Some things never change, do they little brother?” the full demon asked rhetorically, from his spot next to his mate. He could remember countless occasions when they were young, when he'd goad Inuyasha to the point that he was ready to tear the house apart, and then he'd sit back and secretly laugh as his father or Izayoi reprimanded him.

 

“Go to…”

 

“Inuyasha!” the aggravated young woman ground out. Without looking over at her gloating husband, she finished, “Sesshomaru, dear, I will advise you to leave him be.”

 

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, which was very out of character for him, but he obliged her just the same. He didn't know why, but he just felt like annoying the hanyou more than usual today.

 

The three sat in silence for a time before Rin sighed and asked as she parted Inuyasha's hair and pulled the comb through, clearing out the tangles, “So, am I the only one that's willing to face the ten ton, big, black gorilla standing over there in the corner?”

 

Inuyasha looked over towards the corner, but saw nothing, “Rin, are you becoming senile in this last trimester of your pregnancy?”

 

“You really are an…” Sesshomaru growled softly.

 

“For the love of the heavens above, Sesshomaru,” Rin hissed, cutting him off. Normally, she wouldn't feel this agitated by the brothers' back and forth banter, but today she just did not feeling like hearing it. Why couldn't they just have one Sunday when they didn't have to act like they despised each other?

 

One eyebrow raised higher than the other, Sesshomaru stared at his wife who was looking back at him with fire behind her eyes. “Rin, perhaps you should calm down before you pup before your time.”

 

“Perhaps you should stop goading Inuyasha on purpose,” she snapped, her tone harsh.

 

Inuyasha chuckled softly, but it didn't go unnoticed.

 

“And you are not helping,” she snapped. Pulling back on his hair, she continued, “As I was saying, what are we going to do about the gorilla?”

 

“Rin there isn't a gorilla…”

 

“Dimwit, she's talking about the closing,” Sesshomaru interjected.

 

“Oh, well why didn't she just say that?” Inuyasha sighed. They'd been avoiding this topic because neither of them really wanted to attend.

 

Most of their closings were done in their office or both Rin and Sesshomaru would go; he never had to attend. Unfortunately, this time their clients requested a neutral territory for the closing, which totally pissed him off.

 

“So has anybody got any ideas?” he asked, feeling Rin move his ear slightly to the right then begin to comb through the fine hair next to it. He would've sworn that she used the excuse of grass in his hair to play with his ears because he never had a problem getting it out himself.

 

Sesshomaru stood up from the table. “Well, Rin can't go in her condition, and because she can't go, I can't go. So that leaves you, Inuyasha.”

 

“Hell no! You guys ain't putting this shit off on me!” the hanyou hissed, pulling away from Rin and standing to his feet. “We'll just put off the closing until Rin has the pups and that way you and her can go and handle it like you do every other time!”

 

“That won't work, Inuyasha,” Rin interjected, setting the comb down on the table. “Alushonoroky won't wait that long. Besides, once I give birth, it will be another three months before I can fly.”

 

“Fuck,” Inuyasha hissed, stomping off to the other end of the patio. He hated, actually, loathed meeting with these uppity clients, especially the American ones. Not to mention the last time that he went out of the country on business was when he met Kikyo. Turning on his brother and Rin, he stated, “Well, we'll have to hire someone that can go in our place, because I'm not going!”

 

“Stop being a child, Inuyasha, this is business! We have no other options!” Sesshomaru growled.

 

Inuyasha's glare traveled from him to Rin, who looked like at any moment she would pop. `Fuck', he hissed silently, knowing that there really were no other alternatives. There was no possible way that Sesshomaru was going to leave the country knowing that Rin could go into labor at anytime, and there was no way that he would've allowed him to either. Growling, he stated hypothetically, “If I go, I still need a fucking attorney to go with me. How the hell are we going to pull that off?”

 

Rin glanced at her mate and then back towards Inuyasha, “Well, Kagome did such a good job with the conference call…”

 

Cutting her off, Inuyasha threw his hands up and shouted, “Fuck no!”

 

Both Rin and Sesshomaru stared at the hanyou as if they thought he'd lost his everlasting mind.

 

Finding it curious how emotional his brother was in regards to Higurashi, Sesshomaru took a step closer. “Why not, Inuyasha?”

 

“Because, damn it!”

 

“Because what, Inuyasha?” the full-blooded demon asked again.

 

“Because if you think I'm going anywhere with her, then you're out of you goddamn minds! That's why!”

 

Truth be told, just the thought that he would be some place…any place with her alone was enough to get a blazing fire burning in the pit of his stomach. If he agreed to go… If she agreed to accompany him that would mean that he had a second chance to fix what he'd damaged. It meant that…It meant that he'd have time to get to know her and her him. It meant…It meant that the woman that he dreamed about and thought about continuously for weeks now would have a very real possibility of becoming a permanent part of his life. This was something that he just did not want!

 

“Inuyasha, you act as if you know Higurashi on a personal level,” Sesshomaru commented.

 

“Feh, I know her type and that's all that matters!”

 

Sesshomaru scoffed, “You know her type? Well, I would suggest you take another look because I doubt you've seen anything like her before.”

 

Inuyasha turned on his brother. `What the hell does he mean by that? What is he trying to fucking say?' Shaking off his thoughts, he blurted, “Why the fuck are you so talkative today? Why don't you do what you normally do, shut the fuck up!”

 

“Inuyasha, no one is asking you to date her, we just need her there to handle the legal part of this closing,” Rin pointed out softly, hoping to calm the tension in the air.

 

Growling, Inuyasha turned away from both of them. How could he have let so much emotion show where `she' was concerned? Now his nosey ass brother was going to start snooping around. `Holy Buddha,' he thought exasperatedly. `It seems like she's being forced in my face! First she makes me almost wreck my bike, and then she just shows up at the restaurant I'm at, and then, the morning after, she's in my fucking office! This shit is not real!' Just then another, more soothing thought occurred, `She's even worse than I am and she hates me. She fucking hates me! She'll never tell them yes.'

 

Turning around to face his brother and sister-in-law, Inuyasha hissed, “Fine! If she agrees to go with me then it's a trip, but if she doesn't, you get someone else!”

 

Sesshomaru stared at his brother inquisitively, as if he was trying to read his mind. `He's betting on her saying no,' he thought while schooling his features. “Fine, I'll ask her myself,” he avowed as he turned to go back to his seat since he could smell Hoko coming out with dinner. `What's the story with you and Higurashi, Inuyasha?' he thought and would've asked had he been anyone else.

 

Holding her hand out for Inuyasha to take, Rin called to him, “Come, let's eat. That's enough business talk for one day.”

 

Taking her hand, Inuyasha squeezed it lightly then let it go as he took the seat he was going to take earlier, but said nothing. `She'll say no, I know she will.'

 

“Oh and Inuyasha, before you choose a mate and have pups, you've really got to work on that mouth of yours. I swear, you could use a good cleaning with turpentine,” Rin added jokingly.

 

The hanyou laughed and replied in earnest, “One of these days, Rin, I will.”

 

Simonkal of Inuy

 

“I hate when this happens,” Kagome complained, rubbing her right eyelid, but unable to get it to stop twitching.

 

“What's wrong?”

 

“My eye is jumping or twitching or… Shit, it's irritating the hell out of me!”

 

Glancing over at her friend, Sango giggled and stated, “They say that when it does that, the love of your life is talking about you.”

 

Tossing her pillow at Sango, she retorted, “You're such a liar! They say that your enemy is talking about you.”

 

Situating the pillow that Kagome had just thrown at her behind her head, Sango replied, “Whatever, someone is still talking about you, nonetheless. I just happen to believe it's the love of your life.”

 

“Yeah, leave it to you to believe it's the love of my life,” Kagome responded acerbically.

 

“And leave it to you to believe it's your enemy.”

 

Kagome stared down at her friend who was stretched out on her bedroom floor, thumbing through one of the two dozen wedding magazines she'd brought with her and wondered for the umpteenth time that day, `Why the hell did I let her in?'

 

Sango had arrived at her door a little before 10 A.M. carrying two large cups of coffee and a bag full of mini banana nut muffins, knowing that they were her favorites. For that reason alone, she let her in.

 

Since then, they'd painted their toes, done each other's hair, listened to Alanis Morissette, and killed a bottle of wine. Now they were looking through wedding magazines trying to find a wedding dress that didn't make Sango look too slutty, too fat, too skinny, too innocent, or too deflowered, as if that was possible.

 

“So are you going to make me ask you?” Sango queried, not looking up from the magazine she was quickly flipping through.

 

“Yes, I am because I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about,” Kagome retorted.

 

“The asshole from the other night… Tell me about him?”

 

“What's there to tell? He's an ass.”

 

Just the thought of him, Takahashi Inuyasha, was enough to make her head swim and heart palpitate. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and forced the image of him in his baggy, stone washed jeans and plain white t-shirt from her mind. `I'm not going to think about you. I'm not going to think about you,' she silently chanted.

 

Sitting up, Sango stared at her, not saying a word. `Getting her to talk is like pulling teeth from a Saber-Tooth tiger.'

 

Kagome could feel her friend's eyes boring gaping holes into her forehead, but still she did her best to pretend she was clueless.

 

Grinning, Sango leaned forward on the edge of the bed. “Let's play a game.”

 

Kagome glanced up at her, and then back down at the magazine, knowing that this was something she was going to regret. Exhaling, she asked apprehensively, “What kind of game?”

 

Grinning mischievously, Sango replied, “It's called 20 questions. We take turns asking each other questions that you have to answer truthfully. If you don't then you don't trust or like the other person.” She knew she'd lied about the last part and the manner in which the game was actually played, but what else could she do to get the truth out of her?

 

Kagome glanced up at her companion and asked, her tone blasé, “How old are you again?”

 

Knowing that her all-too-serious-at-times friend was being sarcastic, Sango replied in a high pitched voice as she closed her magazine and set it down next to her, “I'm 14 until I die, baby!”

 

Giggling, Kagome looked up at her again and sighed. `How much damage could one little game do?' she thought as she closed her magazine and sat up. “Fine, but if I have to tell the truth so do you.”

 

Holding her pinky out for Kagome to take, she queried, “Pinky swear?”

 

Linking her pinky with Sango's, Kagome hissed, feeling like she'd just reverted back to the tender age of 9, “Pinky swear.”

 

“I go first.”

 

“Whatever,” Kagome replied, truly not caring.

 

“What is his name?”

 

Kagome inhaled, already hating this game. “You don't beat around the bush, do you?”

 

“Just answer the question!”

 

“Takahashi Inuyasha.”

 

Sango's eyes bulged out of her head. “You're not talking about the Takahashi's that own the Western Office Complex are you?”

 

Ignoring her, Kagome replied, “Isn't it my turn?”

 

Hating that she had to let it go for now, Sango mumbled, “Okay, go ahead.”

 

“Have you ever cheated on Miroku? Or wanted to?”

 

“That's two question, but the answer is no.”

 

Kagome nodded her acceptance of the answer and said, knowing that Sango, the ferret that she was, was definitely going back to her previous question, “Yes, he owns the complex with his brother.” Taking a moment to take in Sango's look of shock, she asked, “My turn, right?” Not waiting on her friend to respond, she continued, her voice holding a small amount of mischief, “Do you think with Miroku working in that hospital with all those pretty…horny…nurses, he'd ever cheat on you or has?”

 

Sango thought that over for a moment, and then replied honestly, “I don't know what the future holds, but I trust him; so I'd have to say no, he hasn't cheated on me, but if he did…” She growled as if just the thought was enough to enrage her. “I would probably crush his fucking skull.” Leaning forward on the bed, she finished calmly enough, “You'd represent me in court, wouldn't you?”

 

Kagome laughed and answered honestly, “Of course, right after I help you get rid of the body.”

 

“I knew I could count on you,” Sango avowed with a smile. “So, is he hot?”

 

Kagome bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at the far corner of her room, a stupid smirk on her face. `Is he hot? That doesn't even begin to describe him,' she thought with a sigh. Shaking her head, she replied, “He's alright, but nothing to brag about.”

 

“Liar! I've seen pictures of him in the newspaper, and that man, if he's the same one with the long white silver-ish hair, is fine as hell!”

 

Kagome ho-hummed, and retorted with a smirk, “Well if you already know that, why'd you ask me?”

 

“I wanted to know if you were actually going to be honest, you liar!”

 

Kagome laughed at Sango's mock anger as she laid back on her bed, her head spinning from the wine they'd been drinking. Placing her hands behind her head, she stared up at the ceiling and said truthfully, “He really is a nice looking guy until he opens his mouth, but it's to be expected, right?”

 

Forgetting about the game, Sango crawled up on the bed and stretched out next to her friend. “What did he do that was so bad, Kagome? When I read about him in the paper, people are always raving about some hospital he's funding or a homeless shelter his family is backing. Last month the man and his brother, who no one ever sees, opened an orphanage in Beijing, China. The news reporters talk about him like he's some kind of saint or something.” She was quiet for a moment, and then she finished, “Wait, his last name is Takahashi! Is he related to Rin? Is her husband his brother?”

 

Kagome sighed again, ignoring her friend's last statement. “He's no saint, I'll tell you that. Then again, none of us are, are we?” Closing her eyes, she smiled, “Sometimes, people only see what they want to see. Regardless of what you show them, they'll only see what they choose to see.” She wasn't sure whether she was talking about her or Inuyasha anymore, or maybe the statement was true in both cases.

 

Sango and Myoga-san chose to see Inuyasha as someone next to a saint, whereas she saw him as the ultimate definition of an ass. Her mom, brother, grandpa and even Rin thought she could do no wrong, yet Inuyasha more than likely thought she was the ultimate bitch. Then again, maybe she wanted to see him as an ass, so that's what she saw. And maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see her as a royal bitch, so that's what he saw.

 

`Whatever it is, the damage has already been done,' she thought absently, her mind struggling to focus on any one thing.

 

Turning over on her belly, Sango stared at her companion and the soft content smile that was displayed over her beautiful face. In all the time that she'd known her, she'd never seen her this relaxed, this content…this peaceful. Reaching over, she gently pushed Kagome's bangs away from her closed eyes. “I don't know what he said to you or if he was really that much of an ass, but if he has anything to do with this pleasant little smile on your face, I like him already.”

 

Opening her eyes, Kagome stared at her friend who was staring back down at her. Rolling over onto her side, she asked seriously, “Sango, why do you have so much faith in men?”

 

Sango laughed. “I don't have faith in men. I have faith in Miroku and the love that he gives me.”

 

Kagome thought that over for a moment, then opened her mouth to say something, but Sango stopped her with a question of her own, “Why don't you have faith in love?”

 

“Honestly, I'm…” she stopped, bit down on her lower lip, and then started again, “I'm not sure, I know what love is. Kouga was my first…my only. Of course I had boyfriends in grade school, but they don't count. If all I have to go by is the way he loved me, then I'm a lost cause because that kind of love I can never have faith in.”

 

Sango smiled. “So it's like you're a virgin.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Where true love is concerned, you've never experienced it. Therefore, you're a virgin in that aspect.”

 

Rolling back onto her back, Kagome thought back to all the time, energy, and effort she put into her relationship with Kouga. She replayed all the emotions she experienced in her mind and all she could come up with was desperation.

 

From the beginning, all she felt was desperation. She was desperate to see him. She waited anxiously hoping that he'd come by. She'd frantically check the phone while waiting for his calls. She waited desperately for a believable excuse. She felt like she was coming undone at the seams when she couldn't be near him, talk to him. When she couldn't get to him or he didn't call like he said he would, she'd get angry, almost like she was going through withdrawal.

 

`I was the equivalent of a dope fiend. Is that love? If it is, then I don't want anything to do with it,' she thought. Turning her head towards her friend, Kagome asked softly, her voice pleading, “Sango, what does it feel like to be loved?”

 

Resting her head down so that it was elevated on her wrists, she replied without hesitation, “It feels like you're insides are being filled up with warm water that never grows cold. It's feels like… You know when your feet are hurting really bad and you soak them in hot water and Epsom salt? It's like that; it's soothing. It's… It feels like that giddy feeling you get when you eat something that is so sweet and delicious that it makes the inside of your mouth tingle. It feels like coming in from the cold to a warm house and a hot cup of coffee or cocoa.”

 

Sango smiled and closed her eyes, her mind focused on the one and only man, she'd ever loved. “It feels like you're falling, constantly falling, just…falling, and you never worry about hitting the ground because you know without a shadow of a doubt that he'll catch you.” Opening her eyes slowly, she glanced over at Kagome as she finished softly, while pushing herself up, “I need to call Miroku; I'll be right back.”

 

Kagome watched her leave, her eyes sad and hopeless. She could feel her heart…her soul…her very being craving that feeling, wanting just once to be able to say that she knew what that felt like. Turning her head towards the window and the swiftly darkening sky, she whispered, admitted as a single tear trailed out the side of her eye, “I…I want that. I…I want to feel that. I want to feel loved, just once.”

 

Until Next Time…(Your .02 cents are greatly appreciated.)

 

Next Chapter: Bamboozled

 

Acknowledgements

 

Angel-up-above-heaven ~ Dragon Kitsune ~ Briana D (I'm glad you took a chance) ~ lostgirl1 ~ silverwolfhalfbeast ~ lemon lover ~ jtcl ~ ScifiAmy ~ serenity101 ~ InuGoddess715 ~ Kawii-Ke-Ke-Chan ~