InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hereditary Secrets ❯ Chapter 2

I lay no claim to any of the characters, instances, companies, or products that may be mentioned in this story. This story is a work of fiction. The events and characters portrayed are imaginary. Their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts are entirely coincidental, except for the names of a few select companies, most or all Japan based, that have no real affiliation with this site, the original author of the “Inuyasha” manga (Rumiko Takahashi), the events occurring in this work of fiction, or me. They are there purely for lack of imagination. Toshiba, by the way, is not a private company as portrayed in this story. Nothing in this story should be taken as factual, unless you research it and find it to be true. Rumiko Takahashi is, to the full extent of my knowledge, the one and only owner of the Japanese comic “Inuyasha” and its characters.

 

The point of this fanfic is to pay homage to the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of a new teen cult…that was a joke, so laugh already!!

 

For readers who may not be aware of this, Japanese names are usually presented with the family name in the front (i.e., John Smith would be, in Japan, Smith John.) and the personal name at the end.

 

Chapter 2

 

Rin's POV

 

Rin stared at the man sitting next to her. Well, not stared, par se, but glanced at him more than occasionally. He had long, silver, soft looking hair, and deep golden eyes. His face was stoic (some might call it stony or icy) and relayed almost no emotion. `To most people,' she thought, `his face probably relays no emotion at all.'

 

Rin was very good at reading people. That was probably why she was being sent to negotiate with Mitsubishi over the pending contract. The Higurashi Corporation was looking into expanding into the US, but wanted a partner for `insurance'. Mitsubishi was one of the best-known Japanese corporations in America - much better than Toshiba, headed by Inutaisho Sesshomaru, the Higurashi's worst nemesis.

 

“I understand your fascination with the unusual color of my hair, but I would ask you to stop staring at me.” The man did not look up from his laptop as he said this. His voice was not loud, but it startled her, considering the monotone it was uttered in.

 

“What makes you think I was staring? I was only looking out the window. You are the one with the window seat.” Rin sniffed disdainfully, and looked away. She expected him to say something - like an apology - but when she glanced back at him a few moments later, he had returned to whatever he was perusing on his computer screen.

 

`Jerk.'

 

Sesshomaru's POV

 

He could feel the girl next to him staring. He didn't really believe her when she said that she was looking out the window instead of at him - or, more specifically, his hair. `Why does the woman still stare at this Sesshomaru, even after he had upbraided her?'

 

He determined to ignore the girl. Usually, once he determined to do something, like ignore an impudent girl, he managed to do it extremely well. But this time… he supposed it was the air pressure. Flying was especially hard on his sensitive ears, especially flying commercial. He had his own private jet, but its wing needed repairs this week. `Damn. This air pressure must be distracting me worse than usual today.'

 

Sesshomaru quickly finished looking over the document on the screen of his laptop. The laptop was top of the line technology, made by his own company. The contract he was reviewing had been presented to him covertly by a representative of the Higurashi Corporation. His family's age long nemesis, the Higurashi Clan, was seeking a merger with his family. It was obvious to him that they no longer remembered why there had been so much `bad blood' between their families since the Feudal Era - the Sengoku Jidai. Their rivalries had caused both of the families - Higurashi and Inutaisho - to grow, prosper, to lead. Sometimes, it was difficult for even Sesshomaru to remember that the Higurashi Corporation had only been around since the fifties - only a few generations. It was even harder to believe that, before the Corporation, the Higurashi family had been merely a simple shrine family.

 

The Inutaishos, one of the few noble families left in Japan that remembered the old day, the old ways, and the meaning of their family obligation, had never had their family name pulled - dragged! - through the mud like all those others, who were merely the next day's gossip. The name Inutaisho had never been besmirched like the names of the other prominent families of Japan.

 

It had been considered one of the highest affronts possible when the Higurashi family settled their shrine down next to Inutaisho territory. In the Feudal Era, the head of the Inutaisho family had been known as the Lord of the Western Lands. When the Higurashis has settled down right on the edge of official Inutaisho territory, the rule of his ancestors had been contested.

 

What the known histories failed to mention was that the Higurashi family had been full of the most powerful priests, priestesses, and monks to ever grace the shores of Japan. Their decision to move in next door to the Inutaisho clan had not only threatened Inutaisho rule, but also Inutaisho well being.

 

The document he was reading at the moment was a merger offered by the very same Higurashis that his family had contested with for hundreds of years. The merger suggested the combining of both companies and both families; upon the signing of the contract to merge the companies, the marriage documents would also be signed. Unfortunately, the requested merger included Sesshomaru marrying his half-brother, Inuyasha, to the cousin of the Higurashi heir. The marriages propositioned were thus: Sesshomaru to the Higurashi heir and eldest child, Kagome, and Inuyasha to the young cousin, Rin. Sesshomaru was trying to find a way out of an obligatory marriage for Inuyasha; he was certain that the half-breed brother of his would never agree to such a thing as what was proposed.

 

Sesshomaru saved the changes to the document as a new document. The Higurashi Corporation could wait until after the coming meeting; the Higurashi Corporation could certainly wait until after her told off the young woman beside him a second time.

 

“This time, this…I am well aware of the fact you are staring at me. Will you kindly tell me why? It may have been simply view gazing the first time, but this time, it is not.” Sesshomaru mentally berated himself (he would never mentally curse himself; it was too crude for his liking) for almost referring to himself in the “Imperial Third Person”, or “This Sesshomaru”.

 

“I am staring at you, waiting for you to apologize for the rude comment you made earlier. You should have apologized directly after the fact, buster.” The girl glared at him, then grinned. “But I really was staring at you. Your hair is silver! I've never seen that color hair on anyone younger than my mother.”

 

Sesshomaru stared at the girl. “Why would you expect me to apologize to you if you had been staring at my hair?”

 

“You had to have expected that kind of thing when you got on the plane. Besides, you were staring at me earlier when we were waiting to board.” She quirked her eyebrow at him. “Or were you just looking out the window, too?”

 

“I was not staring, wench. I was simply… gazing.”

 

“Oh, were you? Can you tell me the difference?”

 

“Staring is a negative term used when the person looking is unmannered. Gazing is something a person does when he or she finds something of interest.”

 

“Oh! So, now, I'm a thing that interests you. So nice to know.”

 

“For some reason, you caught my attention in the airport. I did not call you a thing.”

 

“Yes, you did! You said, `Gazing is something a person does when they find something of interest.' You called me a thing.”

 

“I was speaking objectively. Besides, I should not have to explain myself to you, woman. I have work to do, so I would ask you to stop staring at me for the small duration of that time.”

 

“Small duration of time? We still have most of the ocean to get over. We're still in international waters! We still have almost three hours left on this plane. That is not a `small duration of time', stony.”

 

“Stony? Now you insult me? I am not amused by this.”

 

“Does it look like I care if you are amused? You need to learn common courtesy, pal.” The young woman glared at him. This time, her stare was unrelenting, and Sesshomaru felt a strange urge to shift in his seat.

 

`Damn airplanes. They always make me act strange. I should just apologize and go back to work.' Sesshomaru didn't want to admit, even to himself, that it wasn't the airplane that made him so ornery. He didn't want to go into it…

 

“I am… sorry if my words have offended you. I have important things to do, now. Do not stare at me anymore.”

 

“What am I, your vassal? I ain't gonna let you just boss me around, Mister. You can say please and thank you like everyone else.” The girl sniffed and looked away. “I'm not going to talk to you anymore, because you're so rude.”

 

Sesshomaru thought that meant their conversation, and therefore their acquaintance, was now terminated, but after a few minutes, the girl mad a strange half-growl-half sigh, and said, “You were supposed to apologize and keep up the conversation. Honestly, do you know anything about women?”

 

“I do not make a habit of entering into conversation with complete strangers without a reason. I had been completely content with my assumption that you meant it when you said that out conversation was, for all effectiveness, over.”

 

“I didn't say that the conversation was over; I only said that I wasn't going to talk to you while you're being rude and overbearing.” The girl gave him a scathing look. “I guess that means that you are one of those uptight business men who think that they are better than everyone else just because they were born into money?”

 

“I am not, I will have you know, uptight. I am merely aware of my responsibilities.”

 

“And your station in the social pecking order?”

 

Sesshomaru stared at the girl for another second, then snorted indelicately. “If we are to be talking, then please, grace me with a name.”

 

“You don't deserve to know my name. You have to earn it. You can start by giving me a name to call you.”

 

Sesshomaru paused. “Alright. Call me Jaken.”

 

“Fine, then. Call me Sango. And I can tell that isn't your real name.”

 

“Just as I can tell that one is not yours.”

 

“Touché. Now, Jaken, tell me a bit about yourself.”

 

“I am a business man. I have a younger brother who is, mildly putting it, stubborn and hard to control…”

 

 

Inuyasha's POV

 

The girl sitting across from him was very intriguing. Her name, as he had already found out, was Kagome. She was the only daughter of one of Tokyo's rich families; Inuyasha told her that he was unaware that Tokyo itself had claim to many rich families.

 

“Oh, we've just lived here for forever. Apparently, the drive from our country home is too long a commute for daily work at the Corporation.”

 

He and Kagome had a lot in common. They both were the same approximate age - give or take some on Inuyasha's part. They both went to the gym almost regularly. And they both had stalkers.

 

“How long have you had that idiot as a stalker, Kagome?”

 

She smiled. “He's been following me around for ages. It's only been recently that he's gotten so bad. I have a friend in the gym who tells me if Koga's there or not.”

 

“Isn't that against the rules?”

 

“Yeah, but Shippo's pretty cool. He realizes that Koga's a pain in anyone's ass. Koga thinks that just because he's rich, he can get anything he wants - and that would include me. Apparently, I am the perfect trophy girl.”

 

“Well, you are gorgeous. Maybe he's just madly in love with you?”

 

“Nope. He's supposed to be engaged to a girl named Ayame… but I don't think he even realizes it.” Inuyasha gave her a confused look. “It was an arranged marriage. Koga's about eight years older than Ayame, who's only now eighteen… He's a few years older than me, even. He's the old man at our group in the country club.”

 

“You have a country club group?”

 

“Unfortunately. The only things I like about the club are the dances held there every few months or so. My friend Sango only goes to keep Miroku from groping other girls… Koga goes because he actually enjoys it. Shippo's barely old enough to go, but he does, sometimes. He's only sixteen. Ayame's there sometimes, too, to try to catch Koga's attention. Koga has a couple of lackeys… Ginta and… I don't know the other guy's name. My cousin Rin goes a lot, too. She's still trying to find a boyfriend who doesn't seem like a complete and total jerk. She's really good at reading people, so I doubt she's going to find a guy anytime soon. The guys she finds at the country club - or at any other clubs, for that matter - are too transparent. My only wish is that she finds someone who isn't as easily read as that.”

 

“Maybe I should introduce her to my brother. His face looks like it was carved out of stone. Of course, I don't think she'll like him anyway; he's a bastard.”

 

“Bad relationship with your brother?”

 

“Half-brother. He's really mad that I got a third of our father's possessions. He thinks that I shouldn't have any at all, for some reason. My parents were married. He just thinks that as the older brother, he was entitled to more.”

 

“More? Tell me if I got the calculations wrong or something, but if you only got one-third of the estate, didn't he get two-thirds? Isn't that enough?”

 

“Well, your math is okay, but one third of the estate also went into a bank account for charity. A couple million dollars are distributed evenly among the charities every year in Japan; not just Tokyo, either. All across Japan, in orphanages, children's centers, homeless shelters, shit like that. My brother thinks that it's a waste of time and money to even bother.” Inuyasha said all this absently, as if didn't even matter.

 

“A couple million every year? And you say it like is isn't a very big thing! How long has your father been dead?”

 

“He died the day I was born.”

 

“And the bank account is still going millions strong?”

 

“Well, yeah. He put a ton in to begin with, and waited a few years for interest to accumulate. After it did, he set it on the schedule it's on now, except it was only one million when he started it. When I came into my money at sixteen, I joined it with an account that I set up using the money gained in interest from when it was in the bank. I put about a half mil into the account every year, give or take how much my paycheck is every month. With the interest accumulated every year, the account should be staying strong for a while.”

 

“But that still doesn't explain why you and your brother don't get along very well.”

 

“My brother kicked my mom and me out of the house when my father died. My mother was sent back to her family in disgrace. When she died, and I was five years old, her family kicked me out. They just left me on my brother's front step. He was very kind, now that I think on it; he made sure that I was in one of the better orphanages, with only a few rats and more than one meal a day.” Inuyasha looked at the soda that he had ordered like he wanted a drink way stronger than the one on the table. “Of course,” he grudgingly admitted, “he also gave me a full college scholarship. He made sure I got into the best colleges; I have a very prestigious degree in business. He even gave me a credit card for monthly expenses, like food and clothing. He told me - or he had Jaken tell me, anyway - that if I used the card for anything other than necessities, it would be revoked. Kept me pretty in line in college.”

 

“Your brother wasn't that bad, then. If he paid for your education, then he couldn't have been as heartless as you thought. He probably wanted you to learn how to take care of yourself and learn the value of what you have.”

 

“Or he just wanted me to suffer until I could be of use to him.” Inuyasha became quiet.

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

Kagome's POV

 

“Or he just wanted me to suffer until I could be of use to him.” Inuyasha became quiet.

 

“I'm sorry.” Kagome felt horrible about what she asked, now. She finished her lunch in silence.

 

“Keh. Come on, wench. I'll take you home.” Inuyasha looked at her when they left the restaurant. She had seriously been contemplating taking the bus home; she felt like she had ruined her budding relationship with Inuyasha.

 

“What?” `I can't believe that he's offering to take me home!'

 

“I said, come on, so I can take you home. Just because we had a bad conversation doesn't mean that I'm just gonna leave you here. You tried to see the good in my baka brother. Not really that bad. We have bad blood between us, that's all. We've learned how to get past it. Kikyo - my stalker - helped a little, since he had to go through what I did.”

 

“I hate to say it, but that sounds a little amusing, since you've told me about what you've gone through. It must have been horrible, though.”

 

“Nice to know that someone finds this amusing. So, where do you live, precisely?”

 

“Oh, don't worry about taking me home just yet. What are you doing for the rest of the day?” Kagome fluttered her eyelashes at him. `I hould be soooo embarrassed. I have no idea why I'm not. He's so hot…' `Yeah, he is hot. You should monopolize him for the rest of the day, Kagome.' `Oh, great. You're back. I thought I lost you my senior year? I don't need one of those demons on my shoulder, telling me the opposite of what would be the wise thing to do.' `What would be so bad about spending the rest of the day with Inuyasha? I think that he might be THE ONE.' `The one?' `Yeah, the one. You may not pay attention to our heart, but I sure as hell do. And it says go for it.'

 

“I'm free, unless my brother calls me to take care of business. He's out of the country, and can't attend any emergency meetings. His toad-vassal, Jaken, would call my brother, and he calls me, if it demands `the family's attention'.”

 

“So, what do you want to do, instead?”

 

“What do you mean, wench?”

 

“I mean, you're going to do fun stuff with me, all day today. If you can't tell, I'm asking you out.”

 

“You are asking me out… why am I scared?”

 

“I don't know. Since you don't have any ideas, though, I guess we'll start with… a movie. Come on!” Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand, and pulled him towards his motorcycle. “Since this was my idea, I'll pay for the tickets.”

 

“What movie, precisely, are we going to go see?” Inuyasha quickened his pace until he was in front of Kagome. He turned around and backpedaled as he waited for her answer.

 

“I really don't know, Inuyasha. Let's see what's playing, first.”