InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Little Stone of Secrets ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Tae girl 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Drama / Romance / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.25.2010 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 234 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Drama / Romance / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.25.2010 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 234 | Status: Completed
- Sorry this took so long to get to you guys but darn school’s started back up so things have gotten crazy but I made this chapter alil longer as a peace offering to my faithful readers lol! So enjoy, read and Review and I’ll try to get chapter 15 to you shortly!
The door yanked open revealing a caffeine crazed Britt. “There you are! Come on! Hurry up! I’ve a deadline to meet.”
“Um, thanks, again for meeting with me on such short notice. This really means a lot to me,” looking around the room is seemed there was no one else around. “Where is everyone?”
“They’re out eating dinner celebrating being done for another month. You wanted to borrow the Canon Rebel Xsi, right?”
“Yeppers,” I answered as I sat down. “I guess you could say I‘m being a bit nostalgic.”
“How’s that?” she asked with her head stuffed into a locker.
“I took part in this big photography thing back in high school with one of my best buddies, Maycee, who got first place, I came in second and I used a…”
“Canon Rebel XSi?” she quietly laughed and handed the camera to me. “Is that why Izayoi Tashio asked you to take the pictures for the dance cards? God, can you even imagine people buying slots on our dance cards? Isn’t it already bad enough we have to put on the freak show in the beginning?”
I held my hand up in the air. “I hear ya’ sister. I told her to get Maycee to do it plus the worst part about it is I have to get a picture of everyone who is taking part in the Founders’ memorial dance in their natural states. EVERYONE.”
Thoughtfully, she tapped her finger against her chin. “Can you even find a broom big enough to sit both Kagura and her giant ass?” sitting back down she started typing away again.
I slipped the thumb drive out of my purse. “Not helpful what so ever!” raking my eyes around the room, again, I fiddled with the thumb drive. “Soo.. Where does this ‘Hiten Night’ sit?”
“And here’s the actual reason you wanted to come get the camera, tonight,” turning to face me as she raised an eyebrow. “What’s the plan?”
“Honestly, all I know is that I‘m suppose to plug this into his computer then open the file and let it run. Shippo tried explaining but it went in one ear and right out the other.”
“So, that’s why he‘s been in such a terrible mood, lately. It’s that one!” she pointed to a desk in the corner that had a computer and a bunch of empty Star Bucks coffee cups sitting on top of it. “I really don‘t know how much good it’s going to do you. Usually, he does all his work on his personal laptop and then just transfers the files to that computer.”
Wiggling the mouse, the computer snapped out of sleep mode. “I think, that’s the idea,” I had just finished and pulled out the thumb drive from the computer when the door banged open and people started pouring in the room.
“Dunn, what are you doing talking? Get done. It should have been done a week ago but no, all you can do is think about your side projects,” yelled a very chubby guy with a crew cut.
Standing behind Mr. Crew Cut, I waved good bye to Britt and silently slipped out of the room. Taking a deep breath, I slowly shut the door till it clicked and jumped back to make a break down the hall only to come crashing into someone.
“Oww! That hurt!” rubbing my head I stared down at the person whose hips I were straddling . “Oh God! I‘m so sorry!”
“Damn it!” I sat up. From under me, his charcoal black eyes glared up at me as he flicked his long braided hair off his shoulder. “Do you have any idea how much this jacket cost me!?” he growled as he pointed to the leather jacket he was wearing that was now covered in hot coffee.
Cocking my head to the side, I took a better look at the black leather jacket with vertical seams, stand up collar and on the cuff of the sleeves there was a silver stud with a ‘H’ on it. “Hhmm, I‘m guessing this is a Hitachiin original?” gently I reached down and ran my hand over the material of the jacket to feel it and smiled. “Italian Lambskin, so I would guess… $650... $660? Some where along those lines?”
He quirked and eyebrow at me. “650 and not to say that I‘m not enjoying our current position, however….”
I finally realized I was straddling a complete stranger. “Oh my God! I‘m so sorry…” my eyes drifted to the black lanyerd that hung loosely around his neck that led to his press pass ID that rested against his shirt. “Hiten Nigh, is it?” I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as I jumped up and off of him. “Listen, the next time we run into each other, I‘ll buy you a replacement coffee. That’s a promise.”
I got back to the apartment as fast as I could to repost to Shippo that my mission had been more successful then I thought it would have been. Now, I had a visual on the jerk trying to make my life more complicated then it already was. I fell asleep that night, thinking of making a Hiten Night voodoo doll and sticking lots of pins in it.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
My feet swung back and forth as I sat not so patiently, waiting for Mr. Banryu… or would it be Doctor Banryu to come back into the room? Sango hadn’t come home by the time I had gone to sleep last night and she had already left before I woke up. Which was starting to happen more and more often so I decided to kill time. I would text her. Sliding open the keyboard I taped away on the keys, sending her a quick message asking her how she was doing and then pocketed the phone again.
I watched the clock slowly tick by before my eyes came to rest on my personal file on the counter top where the nurse had left it. Hoping off the bed I walked over and flipped through a couple of pages. Looking at the charted times of all the times I had ever come in, I scratched my head in confusion when it said my first visit had been on April 9, 1991 which is when I was born… Flipping to another couple of pages I found a list of two contact one being my aunt Keade and the other being Izayoi and Satoshi Tashio who where also stated as the people to receive all my medical expenses. I could feel a headache coming on so I shut the folder and hoped back up onto the table just as Mr. Banryu came into the room.
“Why is it that all of the doctor offices smell funny?” I grumped as he sat on a rolling stool and scooted over so he was right in front of me and gently pressed against my throat. “Stupid private practices…”
“It’s good seeing you, too, Kagome. How are you feeling?” he asked as he grabbed a blood pressure cup and secured it around my arm.
“Peachy.”
“Yeah? I know you really have good blood pressure but whenever you have to come into the actually clinic, it sky rockets,” he used his middle finger to push his glasses back up his nose before giving the cuff a couple more pumps of air. “Sesshomaru.”
“What?!” I snapped my eyes around and searched the room before turning to glare at him as he chuckled.
Undoing the blood pressure cuff from my arm, he set it on the counter. “Well, that was interesting. Your blood pressure just went sky high. You might want to watch that.”
“I‘ll keep that in mind, Doc.”
He grabbed the otoscope off of the wall and used it to check both my ears. “Do you always make sure to clean your ears out before you come to see me,” he asked in a joking tone before turning to scribble down some notes on a piece of paper.
I glared at his back, thankful that he didn’t know how truthful what he just said was. Don’t get me wrong, I always keep my ears clean but when I had to come see him I always gave them a little extra attention. My aunt would just die if she heard her daughter, for all intensive purposes, went to the doctor with filthy ears.
“Hahaha! Very funny but let’s not forget the real reason I came here,” I reminded him as I pointed at the big ugly boot. “Can I have it off for the dance or not!?”
“All in good time,” using his stethoscope, he pressed it against my chest and listened silently to my heart pump away. “Not bad,” turning around again, he scribbled some more stuff down before finally turning back towards me. Patting his leg indicating to rest my foot there for him to look at it. Unstrapping my foot from the devil boot, he set it on the floor before meticulously poking and prodding at my foot.
“Well?” nervously I curled a strand of hair around my finger as I watched him.
“Well in short, you have Osteophytes or commonly known as a ‘bone spur’ which can be formed when the body tries to repair itself by producing more bone.”
“This is all very interesting but can I have the boot off for the dance or not!?”
He slightly shook his head. “Kids nowadays. Yes, you can stop using the boot however, take better care of your feet. You only have one pair!”
“Yes, sir,” I yelled as I squealed happily.
Walking into the apartment, I saw Shippo’s bag on the couch and the shower was on so the door was closed. Silently, I slid over to the couch and sat down next to the bag. My eyes drifted back and forth between the bag and my hands that where clasped together in my lap. Reaching over, I lightly poked the bag with my finger then quickly looked at the closed bathroom door. I was being stupid, there was no magical way that Shippo could tell I was touching his bag. Sighing, I reached over to it but jumped off the couch when my sell phone started vibrating in my pocket which of course snagged my shirt sleeve on one of the buttons on his bag knocking it over and spilling everything out of it. “SHIT!” I had just wanted a peek, not the whole grand experience.
Picking up the stuff, I started shoving it back in until a couple of magazines with beautiful hunky men on the covers. Spreading them out, I read the names of them. “The Situation - Burning Politics and Their Impact on the Gay Community,” “Hot Topics - Sizzling Conflicts Affecting Our Gay Community,” “Instinct,” and “Just Us Boys.” My head popped up when I heard the shower being shoved off and I quickly finished shoving everything back in. Then scurried over to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator as he popped out of the bathroom.
His eyes brightened when he noticed I was home, “Oh hey, Kag‘s. How was the appointment?” his hands securely tighten the towel around his slender hips.
“Oh you know, great…” I said smiling brightly at him. I had a feeling I had just stumbled on to something I wasn’t necessarily suppose to have.
When Shippo and I arrived at our philosophy class, it was a bit of a bitter sweet situation. Sesshomaru had indeed kept his word and come to class which is all I really could hope for. I really didn’t want the jackass to fail the class but I just couldn’t handle the site of some random chick wrapping herself around him in the back of the classroom. However, it was kind of funny watching Kagura silently fume in her seat.
As soon as class was over, I booked it to my next class. I practically collapsed into my chair wanting to erase the latest image of some girl pressing herself against Sesshomaru and practically gyrating on the spot.
I stiffened as a hand gently stroked the top of my head. “What’s wrong, babe?”
In spite of myself I could help but smile. “Koga, I hate men!”
“Me too. They’re all bastards.”
I turned so I was facing him, “so what exactly does that make you?”
His lips pulled into a full on smirk “Oh I‘m a bastard, babe but I‘m the very best kind.”
“Oh for goodness sake.”
“So beautiful, when are we going to hang out?”
“Not today. Mrs. Tashio wants to have lunch,” reaching up I swatted his hand off of my head.
“She certainly does have a fixed interest on you, doesn’t she? Wonder why that is?”
“Oh damn, look at the time,” I responded as I taped my finger on my imaginary watch just as the professor started his lecture. I certainly didn’t have a clue as to what the answer to that question was but I was damn sure going to find out!
I had been looking forward to art all day, in hopes of being able to finally get to talk to Sango who still hadn’t returned my text. Walking in the art room, I found her painting away at a easel with her headphones securely plugged into her ears.
I lightly taped her on her shoulder to get her attention. “Hiya!” awkwardly I gave her a little finger wave.
She plucked one of the ear buds out, “Oh hey, Kagome. How did it go?”
“Well enough. Hey, did you get my text?”
“Oh yeah. Sorry about that but I‘m just really busy. You know how much the advanced art student have to get done compared to the normal students.”
I smiled. Of course, its just my imagination. She’s not avoiding me. “So this is where you have been when you’re not home?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I have like 8 paintings that need to be finished for the up coming art show and I only have half off them done but perfection takes time, right?”
“Yeah, no. I totally get that, it’s all good,” giving her a quick hug good bye. I scurried to my seat next to Miroku, who reached up and tickled my ear lobe with a feather paint brush when he noticed I was slightly pouting. After class was over, I called Izayoi to confirm we were still on for lunch and at what restaurant we were suppose to meet at. I grew concerned when she told me that she thought it would be nice if we were to eat at her house. She had a strawberry cheese cake waiting for me. I suppose it was best because I had a few more questions that I wanted answers to, now then I had before. Like why the hell the Tashio’s were paying for all my medical bills?
As soon as I arrived, I was quickly lead into a very comfortable looking room with book shelves lining the walls, filled with books. In the middle of the room there was a very large plush looking couch and a very expensive looking coffee table in front of it. There was a fire lightly burning away in the fire that was securely tucked between two book cases. Above the fire place was a beautiful painting of the Tashio family. Izayoi was sitting in a large royal looking chair holding a infant Inu Yasha wrapped in a royal blue blanket that his silver little dog ears poking out. Mr. Tashio stood behind the chair looking as beautiful and deadly as ever with a hand gently on her shoulder. A very stoic looking little Sesshomaru stood by Izayoi’s other side, slightly grasping a hold of her long skirt with one of his tiny little clawed hands.
“It’s lovely, don‘t you thing?” Izayoi asked as she entered the room causing me to jump from shock. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you but please come and sit!” she grabbed a large book off the shelve before sitting down on the couch and patting the spot next to her for me to sit down. Just as I sat down, Rosa popped in leaving a cup of tea for Izayoi and a large glass of Doctor pepper with no ice for me.
“Okay, see that’s really creepy!” I yelled as I pointed to my very favorite drink that I always drank without ice. The cold of the ice hurt my teeth. “Normal people don‘t know these things about me. No offense but what is it with you? It’s very ‘Big Brother is watching you’ kind of thing!”
“How about we start with your first question about Sesshomaru and then will get to the other one?” she smiled gently at me and opened the large book she had pulled off the shelve which apparently was actually a photo album. Flipping through a couple of pages, she finally stopped on a page with two pictures on it. One of much younger looking version of Izayoi holding her finger like a gun standing next to one of the most beautiful demoness that I had ever laid my eyes on. She had long silk black hair and a crescent moon on her forehead who was holding her hands up in surrender to Izayoi’s finger gun. “That was my best friend in the whole world. Her name was Kimi,” she explained with a big goofy smile on her face. Then there was a picture of a much younger Izayoi and Mr. Tashio kissing in front of my collage. Which she pointed at.
“Satoshi and I met in our freshman year of collage and fell madly in love. We stayed that way until we finished up our four years at Shikon Tama University and it was time for us to move on to the next part of our goals for life,” her fingers lightly caressed the picture. “For Satoshi, it was going on for another four years at Harvard for his law degree and for me, it was to go be a model. We just talked about it logically and decided it was best to just focus on our goals so we broke up.”
“Couldn’t you have done the whole long distance relationship thing?” I asked still wanting to believe that love will always find a way. Boy howdy, was I ever a contradiction. Considering I had always wanted nothing to do with the stupid emotion. Damn Disney.
“He asked the same thing but he left the choice up to me and I made it. I loved him too much to put him through that kind of pain,” she flipped to another page that had two different newspaper clippings. One of them, talked about a new model who was on the fast track to being one of the best and the other article was a graduation announcement from Harvard saying that Satoshi Tashio had graduated at the top of his class. The next page she turned to held a invitation to one of Satoshi’s and Kimi’s wedding.
“Wait, you mean your best friend married Mr. Tashio? That’s jacked up.”
“It was an arranged marriage by Satoshi‘s and Kimi‘s fathers, who were business partners. Of course, it was Kimi who made her father do it. She has always been in love with him but I guess I slightly screwed up when I broke up with Satoshi. Interesting fact about dog demons, they’re stubborn as hell and I think once I called it quits for us, he just decided to hell with love. It was a loveless marriage but Kimi was happy because she got what she wanted and Satoshi was happy not to have to listen to his father’s guilt trips about not taking over the family business and instead becoming a worthless lawyer,” Izayoi took a long sip of her tea. “Kimi asked me to be her maid of honor. She said it was my duty as her best friend.”
“Did you?”
“Kagome, let me tell you one of the hardest things to do is watch the man you’ve never stopped loving, marrying your best friend but yes, I did it. Then I disappeared and went to model abroad for along time.
I traveled the world and made connections you could never dream of but I missed home that was for sure. In Ireland, I met this girl who was also a model and who was from Oregon. She told me that her father was a real asshole and the first way she found out of town she took it and that was modeling. We became the best of friends and it was weird because I had this intense relationship with this girl and more connected then I had ever been with Kimi. The dork told me she was pursing a whirl wind romance with the a very active member of the IRA named Samuel O'Reilly. I loved her dearly even though she was a dumbass and we kept in touch even after I had to move on to other modeling gigs across the world.
I was in France when Kimi contacted me and told me she was pregnant. I know it sounds horrible but my heart broke when she told me that. Then when she proceeded to tell me there was something wrong and she needed her best friend there with her to help her get through it, I hoped on the first flight I could to be there with her. Putting aside all history, I just needed to be there for her. I suppose it was my own way of trying to erase the guilt I felt for not being more happy about the whole situation.
She was about 3 months along and there where complications. The doctors suggested it might be a good idea to keep abortion as a thought which turns out was the actual reason Kimi wanted me there. It was a punishment for Satoshi because he wanted her to get it and not die but she wouldn’t even think about it. She said that she was going to carry that child to full term even if it killed her so I did the only thing I could and stayed with her. I made sure she was as comfortable as could be but slowly over time she started to seriously start loosing it!”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain but in Satoshi‘s own way, he really did care about her and didn’t want her to die. However, she was convinced that he wanted both the baby and her out of the way. She told him that even after she died, he would have to raise their child and feel all the pain she felt when she looked at the two of us. Except, it would be the in the form of their child and her never truly being gone. She said that she would haunt us forever. One night, she had a moment of clarity and realized she was poising Satoshi against the child and begged me to make sure the baby would be taken care of and loved. Of course, the next day she told me that I was the worst sort of whore who would take advantage of a situation like she was in, to steal her husband away.”
Nervously I fidgeted, “Uumm, did you and he… Yeah know, do anything?”
“Sadly, yeah we kind of did. It was just such a horrible situation, we ended up kissing and of course Kimi walked in on it. I felt terrible about it and right at that moment, her water broke. She was immediately air lifted to Ohtori hospital and was giving the very best of care but she didn’t make it. She died giving birth to Sesshomaru, who was then promptly taken out of Satoshi‘s arms and given to Kimi’s father’s maid. It was Kimi‘s last punishment to Satoshi.”
I left for awhile after that and didn’t return until it was time for Kimi’s funera,l which was a week of so later. When I got there, the first thing I noticed was a bawling Sesshomaru being left alone in his little stroller. When I tried to pick him up and hold him, I was informed that children at a young age needed to learn to be self sufficient. Is it really any big surprise Kimi was how she was? I think not,” looking into Izayoi’s eyes, I couldn’t help but be slightly taken back at the fierce emotions the swirled in them. “I couldn’t take it so I literally ran as fast as I could to get away from the whole thing and didn’t stop until Satoshi physically stopped me by pining me to my car. I think seeing my crying face made something snap inside him and I was too far gone. We ended up at a hotel doing a very stupid thing.”
“Aaww,” I took a drink of my pop and tried to rid my mind of any thoughts of either or them doing anything.
“The next morning, I woke up and found that the jackass had marked me as his mate that night. Something he had never done with Kimi. I freaked out, left and avoided his like the plague but I started to feel really sick. I went to Hiro‘s father to get checked out and found out I was pregnant. Of course, Hiro found out and told Satoshi…” she gently flipped to a new page revealing a picture of a very pregnant looking Izayoi.
“I‘m guessing he didn’t take the news, well?”
“Actually, he was ecstatic about it. Okay, maybe not the part about me hiding it from him but yeah. It’s just, I couldn’t imagine having him being a father and taking care of my child. I told him if he wouldn’t fight to get his first born child back, he would have nothing to do with his second born baby, either.”
“You’re one hard momma.”
“As crazy as Kimi had been, I made a promise to her and I never break a promise. To Satoshi‘s credit, Sesshomaru was back with us a day before I gave birth to Inu Yasha,” she laughed and ran a hand through her hair. “He was so advanced for a little one year old. He would be walking around, fall and would only get angry if you tried to help him. Then sadly, it was part of the deal for us getting to keep and raise him meant that Kimi‘s dad, aka Sesshomaru‘s grandfather, got to visit him whenever he wanted. When you asked him if his mom was the one who made him such the pleasant person he was, you weren’t that far off. Until he turned 18, he was forced to take all of the crap his grandfather threw at him like it was his fault Kimi was dead and it would have been better if it had been Sesshomaru that had died.”
My hands shot up and covered my mouth as I held back my tears. “That’s horrible! poor Sesshomaru…”
“Oh yeah. Both of Sesshomaru‘s grandparents are lovely people. The old jackasses. I’ve spent my life protecting, supporting and loving my children. Both of them. However, Kagome, my only wish from you is that you stay in their lives because I think you make a difference. You’re not like the Kagura‘s of the world, and that’s what they need.”
My cheeks slightly turned red. “I don‘t think, I‘m really as great as you think but I‘ll always be there to tell your kids their being dumb asses.”
“That’s all I can ask for,” her lips pulled into a smile just as Rosa walked in with a plate of sandwiches. “They’re tuna fish.”
I eyed her suspiciously, “Do you have any idea how weird it is to think of you enjoying eating these?” I asked as I pointed at the sandwiches on the table. “Not only are you a world famous model but you’re miss society… its just weird,” I know it was a rude thing to say but whenever I was with her, it felt like I was with a member of my family. Who wouldn’t get angry for me spouting of things like, she would just find it amusing and move on.
“You’re not wrong. It might sound snobbish but they’re defiantly not my cup of tea but you love them,” she sighed deeply when she noticed I stiffened at her comment and then ran her hand through her short hair. “Perhaps, it’s time I move onto the second part of your question.”
My arms crossed themselves over my chest. “That would be a really good idea because its very annoying. I want to know why you know so much about me? Why you care so much about me and why the hell are you paying for all my medical expenses?!”
She gently flipped through the pages of the photo album. “Remember earlier when I told you about that wonderful girl I met in Ireland?”
“Yeah. You mean the one with crappy taste in men?”
Her eyes widened in shock before she burst out laughing. “You are incredibly correct darling,” she sat the photo album in my lap and pointed to a picture. “That was this girl,”
My mind went blank when I finally looked at the picture. In the picture, there was my mother standing next to Izayoi in front of what I recognized to be the blarney stone. “Wait, you have it all mixed up. My mom wasn’t a model. I think I would have known if she had been!” I shut the book and gave it back to her. “Both my parents where just everyday druggie losers. There was nothing special about either of them except their stupidity level.”
“Yes that what your Aunt Keade and we decided the story would be and what we told you but that’s not the whole truth Kagome, you need to calm down you wanted to hear this!”
My heart was pounding away in my chest. “You don‘t know me and I don‘t know who you’re talking about but I know about my mother! I watched as all the drugs she had taken, even after she was clean, screwed her body up so bad that all she could do, when she talked was mumble,” I pounded my hand against my chest. “I watched as she have grand mal seizure as I could do nothing to help her but feel … ” I threw my hands up in the air. “Yeah! You know what? I‘m sorry but I‘m done,” grabbing my purse I headed to the door.
“KAGOME!”
“I‘m done!”
Izayoi sighed in defeat as she fished her cell phone out of her purse and dialed a number. She listened to it ring until the other end finally picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Keade. its been along time,” she lightly scratched her nose. “I’ve made a mistake…”
I drove back to the apartment as quickly as I could and instead of waiting for the old elevator I sprinted up the stairs. “SANGO?” the door flung open to a pitch black apartment. “Sango, you home?” opening the door to her bedroom I peaked inside to find it empty as well. Wiping out my cell, I called her a couple of times only to get her voice mail. I ended up staying at the Tashio’s a lot longer then I thought I had seeing as it was already past nine p.m.! Sitting down on the couch, I kicked my shoes off before pulling them up and wrapping the blanket from the back off the couch around me. “Stupid Shippo. Never around when I actually need you,” curling into a ball, I threw my cell phone at the love seat as the tears I’d been holding back finally broke threw the damn. “It’s just like you, mom. To still be screwing up my life even after you’re dead!” the tears poured down my cheeks leading me into a emotionally drained slumber.
Chapter Fourteen
“Hello?” softly I knocked on the door again, “Britt?”The door yanked open revealing a caffeine crazed Britt. “There you are! Come on! Hurry up! I’ve a deadline to meet.”
“Um, thanks, again for meeting with me on such short notice. This really means a lot to me,” looking around the room is seemed there was no one else around. “Where is everyone?”
“They’re out eating dinner celebrating being done for another month. You wanted to borrow the Canon Rebel Xsi, right?”
“Yeppers,” I answered as I sat down. “I guess you could say I‘m being a bit nostalgic.”
“How’s that?” she asked with her head stuffed into a locker.
“I took part in this big photography thing back in high school with one of my best buddies, Maycee, who got first place, I came in second and I used a…”
“Canon Rebel XSi?” she quietly laughed and handed the camera to me. “Is that why Izayoi Tashio asked you to take the pictures for the dance cards? God, can you even imagine people buying slots on our dance cards? Isn’t it already bad enough we have to put on the freak show in the beginning?”
I held my hand up in the air. “I hear ya’ sister. I told her to get Maycee to do it plus the worst part about it is I have to get a picture of everyone who is taking part in the Founders’ memorial dance in their natural states. EVERYONE.”
Thoughtfully, she tapped her finger against her chin. “Can you even find a broom big enough to sit both Kagura and her giant ass?” sitting back down she started typing away again.
I slipped the thumb drive out of my purse. “Not helpful what so ever!” raking my eyes around the room, again, I fiddled with the thumb drive. “Soo.. Where does this ‘Hiten Night’ sit?”
“And here’s the actual reason you wanted to come get the camera, tonight,” turning to face me as she raised an eyebrow. “What’s the plan?”
“Honestly, all I know is that I‘m suppose to plug this into his computer then open the file and let it run. Shippo tried explaining but it went in one ear and right out the other.”
“So, that’s why he‘s been in such a terrible mood, lately. It’s that one!” she pointed to a desk in the corner that had a computer and a bunch of empty Star Bucks coffee cups sitting on top of it. “I really don‘t know how much good it’s going to do you. Usually, he does all his work on his personal laptop and then just transfers the files to that computer.”
Wiggling the mouse, the computer snapped out of sleep mode. “I think, that’s the idea,” I had just finished and pulled out the thumb drive from the computer when the door banged open and people started pouring in the room.
“Dunn, what are you doing talking? Get done. It should have been done a week ago but no, all you can do is think about your side projects,” yelled a very chubby guy with a crew cut.
Standing behind Mr. Crew Cut, I waved good bye to Britt and silently slipped out of the room. Taking a deep breath, I slowly shut the door till it clicked and jumped back to make a break down the hall only to come crashing into someone.
“Oww! That hurt!” rubbing my head I stared down at the person whose hips I were straddling . “Oh God! I‘m so sorry!”
“Damn it!” I sat up. From under me, his charcoal black eyes glared up at me as he flicked his long braided hair off his shoulder. “Do you have any idea how much this jacket cost me!?” he growled as he pointed to the leather jacket he was wearing that was now covered in hot coffee.
Cocking my head to the side, I took a better look at the black leather jacket with vertical seams, stand up collar and on the cuff of the sleeves there was a silver stud with a ‘H’ on it. “Hhmm, I‘m guessing this is a Hitachiin original?” gently I reached down and ran my hand over the material of the jacket to feel it and smiled. “Italian Lambskin, so I would guess… $650... $660? Some where along those lines?”
He quirked and eyebrow at me. “650 and not to say that I‘m not enjoying our current position, however….”
I finally realized I was straddling a complete stranger. “Oh my God! I‘m so sorry…” my eyes drifted to the black lanyerd that hung loosely around his neck that led to his press pass ID that rested against his shirt. “Hiten Nigh, is it?” I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as I jumped up and off of him. “Listen, the next time we run into each other, I‘ll buy you a replacement coffee. That’s a promise.”
I got back to the apartment as fast as I could to repost to Shippo that my mission had been more successful then I thought it would have been. Now, I had a visual on the jerk trying to make my life more complicated then it already was. I fell asleep that night, thinking of making a Hiten Night voodoo doll and sticking lots of pins in it.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
My feet swung back and forth as I sat not so patiently, waiting for Mr. Banryu… or would it be Doctor Banryu to come back into the room? Sango hadn’t come home by the time I had gone to sleep last night and she had already left before I woke up. Which was starting to happen more and more often so I decided to kill time. I would text her. Sliding open the keyboard I taped away on the keys, sending her a quick message asking her how she was doing and then pocketed the phone again.
I watched the clock slowly tick by before my eyes came to rest on my personal file on the counter top where the nurse had left it. Hoping off the bed I walked over and flipped through a couple of pages. Looking at the charted times of all the times I had ever come in, I scratched my head in confusion when it said my first visit had been on April 9, 1991 which is when I was born… Flipping to another couple of pages I found a list of two contact one being my aunt Keade and the other being Izayoi and Satoshi Tashio who where also stated as the people to receive all my medical expenses. I could feel a headache coming on so I shut the folder and hoped back up onto the table just as Mr. Banryu came into the room.
“Why is it that all of the doctor offices smell funny?” I grumped as he sat on a rolling stool and scooted over so he was right in front of me and gently pressed against my throat. “Stupid private practices…”
“It’s good seeing you, too, Kagome. How are you feeling?” he asked as he grabbed a blood pressure cup and secured it around my arm.
“Peachy.”
“Yeah? I know you really have good blood pressure but whenever you have to come into the actually clinic, it sky rockets,” he used his middle finger to push his glasses back up his nose before giving the cuff a couple more pumps of air. “Sesshomaru.”
“What?!” I snapped my eyes around and searched the room before turning to glare at him as he chuckled.
Undoing the blood pressure cuff from my arm, he set it on the counter. “Well, that was interesting. Your blood pressure just went sky high. You might want to watch that.”
“I‘ll keep that in mind, Doc.”
He grabbed the otoscope off of the wall and used it to check both my ears. “Do you always make sure to clean your ears out before you come to see me,” he asked in a joking tone before turning to scribble down some notes on a piece of paper.
I glared at his back, thankful that he didn’t know how truthful what he just said was. Don’t get me wrong, I always keep my ears clean but when I had to come see him I always gave them a little extra attention. My aunt would just die if she heard her daughter, for all intensive purposes, went to the doctor with filthy ears.
“Hahaha! Very funny but let’s not forget the real reason I came here,” I reminded him as I pointed at the big ugly boot. “Can I have it off for the dance or not!?”
“All in good time,” using his stethoscope, he pressed it against my chest and listened silently to my heart pump away. “Not bad,” turning around again, he scribbled some more stuff down before finally turning back towards me. Patting his leg indicating to rest my foot there for him to look at it. Unstrapping my foot from the devil boot, he set it on the floor before meticulously poking and prodding at my foot.
“Well?” nervously I curled a strand of hair around my finger as I watched him.
“Well in short, you have Osteophytes or commonly known as a ‘bone spur’ which can be formed when the body tries to repair itself by producing more bone.”
“This is all very interesting but can I have the boot off for the dance or not!?”
He slightly shook his head. “Kids nowadays. Yes, you can stop using the boot however, take better care of your feet. You only have one pair!”
“Yes, sir,” I yelled as I squealed happily.
Walking into the apartment, I saw Shippo’s bag on the couch and the shower was on so the door was closed. Silently, I slid over to the couch and sat down next to the bag. My eyes drifted back and forth between the bag and my hands that where clasped together in my lap. Reaching over, I lightly poked the bag with my finger then quickly looked at the closed bathroom door. I was being stupid, there was no magical way that Shippo could tell I was touching his bag. Sighing, I reached over to it but jumped off the couch when my sell phone started vibrating in my pocket which of course snagged my shirt sleeve on one of the buttons on his bag knocking it over and spilling everything out of it. “SHIT!” I had just wanted a peek, not the whole grand experience.
Picking up the stuff, I started shoving it back in until a couple of magazines with beautiful hunky men on the covers. Spreading them out, I read the names of them. “The Situation - Burning Politics and Their Impact on the Gay Community,” “Hot Topics - Sizzling Conflicts Affecting Our Gay Community,” “Instinct,” and “Just Us Boys.” My head popped up when I heard the shower being shoved off and I quickly finished shoving everything back in. Then scurried over to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator as he popped out of the bathroom.
His eyes brightened when he noticed I was home, “Oh hey, Kag‘s. How was the appointment?” his hands securely tighten the towel around his slender hips.
“Oh you know, great…” I said smiling brightly at him. I had a feeling I had just stumbled on to something I wasn’t necessarily suppose to have.
When Shippo and I arrived at our philosophy class, it was a bit of a bitter sweet situation. Sesshomaru had indeed kept his word and come to class which is all I really could hope for. I really didn’t want the jackass to fail the class but I just couldn’t handle the site of some random chick wrapping herself around him in the back of the classroom. However, it was kind of funny watching Kagura silently fume in her seat.
As soon as class was over, I booked it to my next class. I practically collapsed into my chair wanting to erase the latest image of some girl pressing herself against Sesshomaru and practically gyrating on the spot.
I stiffened as a hand gently stroked the top of my head. “What’s wrong, babe?”
In spite of myself I could help but smile. “Koga, I hate men!”
“Me too. They’re all bastards.”
I turned so I was facing him, “so what exactly does that make you?”
His lips pulled into a full on smirk “Oh I‘m a bastard, babe but I‘m the very best kind.”
“Oh for goodness sake.”
“So beautiful, when are we going to hang out?”
“Not today. Mrs. Tashio wants to have lunch,” reaching up I swatted his hand off of my head.
“She certainly does have a fixed interest on you, doesn’t she? Wonder why that is?”
“Oh damn, look at the time,” I responded as I taped my finger on my imaginary watch just as the professor started his lecture. I certainly didn’t have a clue as to what the answer to that question was but I was damn sure going to find out!
I had been looking forward to art all day, in hopes of being able to finally get to talk to Sango who still hadn’t returned my text. Walking in the art room, I found her painting away at a easel with her headphones securely plugged into her ears.
I lightly taped her on her shoulder to get her attention. “Hiya!” awkwardly I gave her a little finger wave.
She plucked one of the ear buds out, “Oh hey, Kagome. How did it go?”
“Well enough. Hey, did you get my text?”
“Oh yeah. Sorry about that but I‘m just really busy. You know how much the advanced art student have to get done compared to the normal students.”
I smiled. Of course, its just my imagination. She’s not avoiding me. “So this is where you have been when you’re not home?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I have like 8 paintings that need to be finished for the up coming art show and I only have half off them done but perfection takes time, right?”
“Yeah, no. I totally get that, it’s all good,” giving her a quick hug good bye. I scurried to my seat next to Miroku, who reached up and tickled my ear lobe with a feather paint brush when he noticed I was slightly pouting. After class was over, I called Izayoi to confirm we were still on for lunch and at what restaurant we were suppose to meet at. I grew concerned when she told me that she thought it would be nice if we were to eat at her house. She had a strawberry cheese cake waiting for me. I suppose it was best because I had a few more questions that I wanted answers to, now then I had before. Like why the hell the Tashio’s were paying for all my medical bills?
As soon as I arrived, I was quickly lead into a very comfortable looking room with book shelves lining the walls, filled with books. In the middle of the room there was a very large plush looking couch and a very expensive looking coffee table in front of it. There was a fire lightly burning away in the fire that was securely tucked between two book cases. Above the fire place was a beautiful painting of the Tashio family. Izayoi was sitting in a large royal looking chair holding a infant Inu Yasha wrapped in a royal blue blanket that his silver little dog ears poking out. Mr. Tashio stood behind the chair looking as beautiful and deadly as ever with a hand gently on her shoulder. A very stoic looking little Sesshomaru stood by Izayoi’s other side, slightly grasping a hold of her long skirt with one of his tiny little clawed hands.
“It’s lovely, don‘t you thing?” Izayoi asked as she entered the room causing me to jump from shock. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you but please come and sit!” she grabbed a large book off the shelve before sitting down on the couch and patting the spot next to her for me to sit down. Just as I sat down, Rosa popped in leaving a cup of tea for Izayoi and a large glass of Doctor pepper with no ice for me.
“Okay, see that’s really creepy!” I yelled as I pointed to my very favorite drink that I always drank without ice. The cold of the ice hurt my teeth. “Normal people don‘t know these things about me. No offense but what is it with you? It’s very ‘Big Brother is watching you’ kind of thing!”
“How about we start with your first question about Sesshomaru and then will get to the other one?” she smiled gently at me and opened the large book she had pulled off the shelve which apparently was actually a photo album. Flipping through a couple of pages, she finally stopped on a page with two pictures on it. One of much younger looking version of Izayoi holding her finger like a gun standing next to one of the most beautiful demoness that I had ever laid my eyes on. She had long silk black hair and a crescent moon on her forehead who was holding her hands up in surrender to Izayoi’s finger gun. “That was my best friend in the whole world. Her name was Kimi,” she explained with a big goofy smile on her face. Then there was a picture of a much younger Izayoi and Mr. Tashio kissing in front of my collage. Which she pointed at.
“Satoshi and I met in our freshman year of collage and fell madly in love. We stayed that way until we finished up our four years at Shikon Tama University and it was time for us to move on to the next part of our goals for life,” her fingers lightly caressed the picture. “For Satoshi, it was going on for another four years at Harvard for his law degree and for me, it was to go be a model. We just talked about it logically and decided it was best to just focus on our goals so we broke up.”
“Couldn’t you have done the whole long distance relationship thing?” I asked still wanting to believe that love will always find a way. Boy howdy, was I ever a contradiction. Considering I had always wanted nothing to do with the stupid emotion. Damn Disney.
“He asked the same thing but he left the choice up to me and I made it. I loved him too much to put him through that kind of pain,” she flipped to another page that had two different newspaper clippings. One of them, talked about a new model who was on the fast track to being one of the best and the other article was a graduation announcement from Harvard saying that Satoshi Tashio had graduated at the top of his class. The next page she turned to held a invitation to one of Satoshi’s and Kimi’s wedding.
“Wait, you mean your best friend married Mr. Tashio? That’s jacked up.”
“It was an arranged marriage by Satoshi‘s and Kimi‘s fathers, who were business partners. Of course, it was Kimi who made her father do it. She has always been in love with him but I guess I slightly screwed up when I broke up with Satoshi. Interesting fact about dog demons, they’re stubborn as hell and I think once I called it quits for us, he just decided to hell with love. It was a loveless marriage but Kimi was happy because she got what she wanted and Satoshi was happy not to have to listen to his father’s guilt trips about not taking over the family business and instead becoming a worthless lawyer,” Izayoi took a long sip of her tea. “Kimi asked me to be her maid of honor. She said it was my duty as her best friend.”
“Did you?”
“Kagome, let me tell you one of the hardest things to do is watch the man you’ve never stopped loving, marrying your best friend but yes, I did it. Then I disappeared and went to model abroad for along time.
I traveled the world and made connections you could never dream of but I missed home that was for sure. In Ireland, I met this girl who was also a model and who was from Oregon. She told me that her father was a real asshole and the first way she found out of town she took it and that was modeling. We became the best of friends and it was weird because I had this intense relationship with this girl and more connected then I had ever been with Kimi. The dork told me she was pursing a whirl wind romance with the a very active member of the IRA named Samuel O'Reilly. I loved her dearly even though she was a dumbass and we kept in touch even after I had to move on to other modeling gigs across the world.
I was in France when Kimi contacted me and told me she was pregnant. I know it sounds horrible but my heart broke when she told me that. Then when she proceeded to tell me there was something wrong and she needed her best friend there with her to help her get through it, I hoped on the first flight I could to be there with her. Putting aside all history, I just needed to be there for her. I suppose it was my own way of trying to erase the guilt I felt for not being more happy about the whole situation.
She was about 3 months along and there where complications. The doctors suggested it might be a good idea to keep abortion as a thought which turns out was the actual reason Kimi wanted me there. It was a punishment for Satoshi because he wanted her to get it and not die but she wouldn’t even think about it. She said that she was going to carry that child to full term even if it killed her so I did the only thing I could and stayed with her. I made sure she was as comfortable as could be but slowly over time she started to seriously start loosing it!”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain but in Satoshi‘s own way, he really did care about her and didn’t want her to die. However, she was convinced that he wanted both the baby and her out of the way. She told him that even after she died, he would have to raise their child and feel all the pain she felt when she looked at the two of us. Except, it would be the in the form of their child and her never truly being gone. She said that she would haunt us forever. One night, she had a moment of clarity and realized she was poising Satoshi against the child and begged me to make sure the baby would be taken care of and loved. Of course, the next day she told me that I was the worst sort of whore who would take advantage of a situation like she was in, to steal her husband away.”
Nervously I fidgeted, “Uumm, did you and he… Yeah know, do anything?”
“Sadly, yeah we kind of did. It was just such a horrible situation, we ended up kissing and of course Kimi walked in on it. I felt terrible about it and right at that moment, her water broke. She was immediately air lifted to Ohtori hospital and was giving the very best of care but she didn’t make it. She died giving birth to Sesshomaru, who was then promptly taken out of Satoshi‘s arms and given to Kimi’s father’s maid. It was Kimi‘s last punishment to Satoshi.”
I left for awhile after that and didn’t return until it was time for Kimi’s funera,l which was a week of so later. When I got there, the first thing I noticed was a bawling Sesshomaru being left alone in his little stroller. When I tried to pick him up and hold him, I was informed that children at a young age needed to learn to be self sufficient. Is it really any big surprise Kimi was how she was? I think not,” looking into Izayoi’s eyes, I couldn’t help but be slightly taken back at the fierce emotions the swirled in them. “I couldn’t take it so I literally ran as fast as I could to get away from the whole thing and didn’t stop until Satoshi physically stopped me by pining me to my car. I think seeing my crying face made something snap inside him and I was too far gone. We ended up at a hotel doing a very stupid thing.”
“Aaww,” I took a drink of my pop and tried to rid my mind of any thoughts of either or them doing anything.
“The next morning, I woke up and found that the jackass had marked me as his mate that night. Something he had never done with Kimi. I freaked out, left and avoided his like the plague but I started to feel really sick. I went to Hiro‘s father to get checked out and found out I was pregnant. Of course, Hiro found out and told Satoshi…” she gently flipped to a new page revealing a picture of a very pregnant looking Izayoi.
“I‘m guessing he didn’t take the news, well?”
“Actually, he was ecstatic about it. Okay, maybe not the part about me hiding it from him but yeah. It’s just, I couldn’t imagine having him being a father and taking care of my child. I told him if he wouldn’t fight to get his first born child back, he would have nothing to do with his second born baby, either.”
“You’re one hard momma.”
“As crazy as Kimi had been, I made a promise to her and I never break a promise. To Satoshi‘s credit, Sesshomaru was back with us a day before I gave birth to Inu Yasha,” she laughed and ran a hand through her hair. “He was so advanced for a little one year old. He would be walking around, fall and would only get angry if you tried to help him. Then sadly, it was part of the deal for us getting to keep and raise him meant that Kimi‘s dad, aka Sesshomaru‘s grandfather, got to visit him whenever he wanted. When you asked him if his mom was the one who made him such the pleasant person he was, you weren’t that far off. Until he turned 18, he was forced to take all of the crap his grandfather threw at him like it was his fault Kimi was dead and it would have been better if it had been Sesshomaru that had died.”
My hands shot up and covered my mouth as I held back my tears. “That’s horrible! poor Sesshomaru…”
“Oh yeah. Both of Sesshomaru‘s grandparents are lovely people. The old jackasses. I’ve spent my life protecting, supporting and loving my children. Both of them. However, Kagome, my only wish from you is that you stay in their lives because I think you make a difference. You’re not like the Kagura‘s of the world, and that’s what they need.”
My cheeks slightly turned red. “I don‘t think, I‘m really as great as you think but I‘ll always be there to tell your kids their being dumb asses.”
“That’s all I can ask for,” her lips pulled into a smile just as Rosa walked in with a plate of sandwiches. “They’re tuna fish.”
I eyed her suspiciously, “Do you have any idea how weird it is to think of you enjoying eating these?” I asked as I pointed at the sandwiches on the table. “Not only are you a world famous model but you’re miss society… its just weird,” I know it was a rude thing to say but whenever I was with her, it felt like I was with a member of my family. Who wouldn’t get angry for me spouting of things like, she would just find it amusing and move on.
“You’re not wrong. It might sound snobbish but they’re defiantly not my cup of tea but you love them,” she sighed deeply when she noticed I stiffened at her comment and then ran her hand through her short hair. “Perhaps, it’s time I move onto the second part of your question.”
My arms crossed themselves over my chest. “That would be a really good idea because its very annoying. I want to know why you know so much about me? Why you care so much about me and why the hell are you paying for all my medical expenses?!”
She gently flipped through the pages of the photo album. “Remember earlier when I told you about that wonderful girl I met in Ireland?”
“Yeah. You mean the one with crappy taste in men?”
Her eyes widened in shock before she burst out laughing. “You are incredibly correct darling,” she sat the photo album in my lap and pointed to a picture. “That was this girl,”
My mind went blank when I finally looked at the picture. In the picture, there was my mother standing next to Izayoi in front of what I recognized to be the blarney stone. “Wait, you have it all mixed up. My mom wasn’t a model. I think I would have known if she had been!” I shut the book and gave it back to her. “Both my parents where just everyday druggie losers. There was nothing special about either of them except their stupidity level.”
“Yes that what your Aunt Keade and we decided the story would be and what we told you but that’s not the whole truth Kagome, you need to calm down you wanted to hear this!”
My heart was pounding away in my chest. “You don‘t know me and I don‘t know who you’re talking about but I know about my mother! I watched as all the drugs she had taken, even after she was clean, screwed her body up so bad that all she could do, when she talked was mumble,” I pounded my hand against my chest. “I watched as she have grand mal seizure as I could do nothing to help her but feel … ” I threw my hands up in the air. “Yeah! You know what? I‘m sorry but I‘m done,” grabbing my purse I headed to the door.
“KAGOME!”
“I‘m done!”
Izayoi sighed in defeat as she fished her cell phone out of her purse and dialed a number. She listened to it ring until the other end finally picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Keade. its been along time,” she lightly scratched her nose. “I’ve made a mistake…”
I drove back to the apartment as quickly as I could and instead of waiting for the old elevator I sprinted up the stairs. “SANGO?” the door flung open to a pitch black apartment. “Sango, you home?” opening the door to her bedroom I peaked inside to find it empty as well. Wiping out my cell, I called her a couple of times only to get her voice mail. I ended up staying at the Tashio’s a lot longer then I thought I had seeing as it was already past nine p.m.! Sitting down on the couch, I kicked my shoes off before pulling them up and wrapping the blanket from the back off the couch around me. “Stupid Shippo. Never around when I actually need you,” curling into a ball, I threw my cell phone at the love seat as the tears I’d been holding back finally broke threw the damn. “It’s just like you, mom. To still be screwing up my life even after you’re dead!” the tears poured down my cheeks leading me into a emotionally drained slumber.