InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 2: Defiance ❯ Halloween ( Chapter 8 )

~~Chapter 8~~

~Halloween~

 

~*~

 

 

“Explain this holiday to me again?”

 

Sierra giggled and smoothed her skirt. Turned out in a filmy black dress that looked more like a configuration of hundreds of handkerchiefs rather than an actual gown, Toga's first thought, when she'd removed her coat, had been, `Oh, hell, no.' Upon closer inspection, though, he had realized there was a slip dress of sorts underneath it . . . He sighed as he tried to figure out a good way to ruin the dress before she got out the door in it. Short of spilling something on her, which would only make him look like a fool, or rending it to scraps, which it already was, there wasn't a damn thing he could do . . .

 

“It's mostly for kids,” she admitted as she gently tugged a lock of his hair as she passed. “They go door to door and basically extort candy from you.”

 

Toga shook his head. “American holidays are strange.”

 

She wrinkled her nose. “You're supposed to be dressed up.”

 

“I'm dressed up.”

 

“Oh, yeah? What are you?”

 

He shrugged. “I'm a corporate landshark,” he remarked, using her description of his occupation.

 

She giggled again. “No, I mean a real costume . . . please?”

 

Toga smiled innocently—maybe too innocently. “I don't have one . . . sorry.”

 

She grinned a very big, very happy grin . . . one that struck immediate and intense foreboding in his heart. “As luck would have it . . . I just happen to have one for you.”

 

“Oh, kami . . .” Digging into the bag she'd brought with her, Toga winced as she dragged out a long black brocade cape. “What . . . is that?” he asked slowly.

 

“Dracula,” she informed him with a happy smile.

 

“Dracula?” he echoed. “Oh, I don't think so . . .”

 

“Look!” she said as she shoved the cape into his arms. “I even brought you fake teeth. Fangs . . . Guys with fangs are hot.”

 

Toga blinked suddenly, fighting down the rapid flush that crept up his skin at her teasing claim. “I don't think so,” he said, dropping the cape over the back of the sofa. “I can't wear fake teeth, anyway,” he grumbled.

 

“But everyone is going to be dressed up at the party, Toga . . . You'll stand out like a sore thumb if you don't dress up too . . .”

 

“Nice try, wench. No.”

 

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Wench?” she echoed.

 

“Wench,” he stated again.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wench,” she repeated once more.

 

“Did I stutter?” he shot back.

 

She sighed and shook her head. “All right, I didn't want to have to resort to this . . . but you've left me no choice.”

 

Toga crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

 

Ducking her chin and peering up at him through her thick fringe of lashes, she pursed her lips in an exaggerated pout and blinked a few times for good measure. “Those fake teeth cost a lot . . . it'd be horrible if I bought them for nothing . . .”

 

Toga shook his head slowly. “That's not fair . . .”

 

She narrowed her gaze at him. “Does that mean you'll wear them?”

 

Toga rolled his eyes and snatched the teeth out of her hand as he grabbed the cape off the sofa and stalked off toward his room. `Baka . . . you fell right for it! She's laughing, do you hear?' He winced. She was laughing, and her laughter made him feel a little too warm inside which must have been the real reason that he'd agreed to any such thing. Staring at the fake teeth in his hand, he made a face. They certainly looked real enough. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that they looked painful . . .

 

Yet he still donned his tuxedo, figuring that it was probably the best match for the ungodly cape though he opted instead for a black silk shirt instead of his normal white one. Staring at the teeth, however, Toga made a face. He tried putting them in. After thirty seconds, he spit them out again. With a grimace, he stared at the mirror on the back of his door. Those things hurt, and he wasn't about to wear them.

 

`Fangs? Baka . . . you have fangs . . .'

 

Frowning at his reflection, Toga shook his head slowly. The alternative was those nasty fake teeth, and he just couldn't wear them, no matter what . . .

 

Mumbling the incantation that removed the concealment, Toga sighed. This wasn't exactly how he wanted to show her his real face, his crests that marked him an inu-youkai. The streaks of blue ran the length of the shadows that accented his cheeks, and he slowly shook his head again. He wasn't entirely certain how she'd react, but at least his fangs fit the bill . . . After all, he might as well use the real things than suffer with the fake ones. With that thought in mind, Toga tossed the fake teeth into one of his bureau drawers and slammed it closed before heading out of his room.

 

“Wow,” Sierra commented as she glanced up from the newspaper she was leafing through. She smiled. “What's with the blue stripes on your cheeks?”

 

Toga shrugged. “Vampires in Japan always have them,” he lied.

 

“Oh . . . I like them. They make you look a little more . . . dangerous.” She set the paper aside and stood. “Let's see the fangs.”

 

Toga rolled his eyes but grinned. Sierra clapped her hands. “Nice . . . those look real . . .”

 

Toga didn't answer as he helped her with her coat. `Father would have a fit if he knew,' he thought as he led the way out of the apartment and closed the door. So worried that the secret of the youkai would be exposed, Sesshoumaru had always told Toga that he must always keep his concealment charm in place even though most youkai removed it in the privacy of their own homes. Toga had always just followed his father's orders. Surely, though, just one night wouldn't hurt anything . . .

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

“Good God, Sierra . . . he's absolutely sinful, isn't he?”

 

Startled out of her reverie, Sierra blinked in surprise as she dragged her eyes off Toga, who was standing nearby discussing work with a couple of guys he apparently knew. Brenda giggled, taking in Sierra's obvious preoccupation. “Is he?”

 

“Oh, come on! Like you haven't noticed . . .”

 

Sierra blushed and drained her glass of champagne. “He's a nice guy.”

 

“Nice? He's hotter than Satan, and you say he's nice?” Brenda's gaze turned calculating as she twirled a strand of kinky auburn hair around her finger. “Are you telling me that you haven't even kissed him yet?” When Sierra refused to answer, Brenda sighed melodramatically. “Oh, Sierra . . . what will I do with you?”

 

“It's not like that . . .” she said slowly as a slight frown surfaced. “We're just friends.”

 

“Just friends?” Brenda echoed. “Hell, woman, why?”

 

Sierra's blush intensified. “We've only known each other a month or so . . .”

 

“Sierra, if I was seeing a guy that looked like him? I'd have kissed him on the first date.”

 

“He's shy,” she said.

 

Brenda rolled her eyes. “Oh, that's not good . . . that means the two of you will never kiss . . .”

 

Sierra shoved her friend playfully. “That's so not funny.”

 

“But it's the truth . . . have you even kissed any other guys? Other than Allan, and he certainly doesn't count.”

 

Sierra made a face. “Can we not talk about this?”

 

Brenda sighed. “Sierra, you make it sound like there's something wrong with you. There isn't: not a thing. I'll bet Toga would love to kiss you. I could go ask, if you'd like.”

 

“No . . .!”

 

Sierra stifled a groan. The trouble was, being raised with four older brothers, she'd always been more of a tomboy than anything else. Until her senior year of high school, she hadn't worn a dress in years. Always considered `one of the guys' because of her brothers, it had taken awhile before she'd grown more comfortable in her own skin, and sometimes she still felt a little—or a lot—awkward . . .

 

“Just kiss him, I dare you.”

 

She wrinkled her nose, refusing to take the bait. “Dare all you want, Brenda. I'm not falling for it.”

 

Brenda wrinkled her nose. “You're hopeless, Sierra. You'll end up all buddy-buddy with him and then he'll break your heart when he finds someone who will kiss him.”

 

Sierra winced at the truth behind Brenda's words. It had happened to her in the past, and that, coupled with her four football-playing brothers had accounted for the main reason why she hadn't dated anyone seriously until Allan . . .

 

Toga turned his head, catching her eye. His shy smile was enough to make her heart flop over in her chest, and she couldn't even summon the strength to smile back. Brenda giggled. “All right . . . maybe he'll get around to doing the kissing . . . then you won't have to do anything but let him.”

 

Sierra reached for another glass of champagne. Her parched throat was so constricted that she felt as though she were dehydrated. Toga's gaze came back to her again. Sierra pressed her hand against her stomach. When she glanced over at Brenda, her friend laughed. “What's so funny?”

 

“Him . . . you . . .”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Brenda waved away Sierra's question. “I can't tell which one of you is more smitten . . .”

 

Sierra grinned. “You're nuts.”

 

“Mark my words, Sierra . . . he's rich, he's handsome, and he's only got eyes for you . . . you don't stand a chance.”

 

Sierra watched as Brenda moved off to mingle with her other guests. `I don't stand a chance?' Draining that glass of champagne, she shook her head slowly. `A chance against what?'

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Sierra laughed as Toga led her through the park. While she normally avoided it in the darkness, she felt a lot more daring with him beside her. Closing in on two in the morning, they'd opted to walk home instead of catching a cab since they didn't want to add to traffic with so many children out for the evening. The party had been at her friend, Brenda's townhouse, and Sierra was feeling pleasantly `happy' after indulging in a few glasses of champagne—an indulgence she didn't often allow.

 

“You enjoyed yourself, right?”

 

He nodded. “Of course . . .”

 

“Are those fangs uncomfortable?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“The fake teeth . . .”

 

He shrugged. “Oh . . . no . . . forgot I had them in.”

 

“You look good with fangs, like you could just bite into my neck, and—” she giggled then suddenly frowned. “Wait . . . I didn't mean it that way . . .”

 

He chuckled. “I didn't think you did.”

 

“Still, you have to admit there's something incredibly sexual about vampires . . . maybe it's the intimacy of the approach . . .” she babbled then shook her head as Brenda's words whispered in the back of her head. “Toga . . . can I ask you something?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“ . . . Why haven't you kissed me?”

 

In the dim light of the small lamps along the path, Sierra could discern the slight blush on his face. It registered in her mind that she wouldn't ever have asked that if she hadn't had that champagne . . . for some reason, though, she really wanted to know.

 

He didn't answer right away. Reaching out with gentle fingers, he brushed her hair out of her face. The motion grated against her skin, sending ripples down her spine as a wealth of tactile sensation surged through her. `Claws?' she thought vaguely. `And those same blue lines on his wrists . . .'

 

He frowned without appearing unhappy; more thoughtful than upset, she knew. As though he were searching for the right way to explain things, he took a moment to compose his thoughts before he spoke. “I like you, Sierra . . . I-I like you a lot . . . and . . . and I can wait for you.”

 

For some reason, Toga's answer brought tears to her eyes, and she blinked them back. He smiled shyly and jammed his hands into his pockets as he started walking once more. Sierra fell in step beside him, a small smile widening over her face.

 

“Tell me more about your family,” she prodded. “You have a sister . . . any others?”

 

“I have a much older sister, too. She was adopted.”

 

“How much older?”

 

Toga shrugged. “Quite a few years,” he hedged.

 

“Your sister that's getting married . . . how old is she?”

 

“Twenty-three . . .”

 

“How old are you?”

 

He grinned. “Almost twenty-seven.”

 

She stared up at him, eyes bright and luminous in the night. “Are you going to your sister's wedding?”

 

Toga paused a moment. It was barely noticeable. “Yeah. Father already knows where I am. It doesn't matter now.”

 

Narrowing her gaze, Sierra stared at him for a moment. Turning his face up toward the inky sky, he blinked once, twice, as he watched the stars. His eyes seemed to glow in the darkness—they startled her, unsettled her but not in a bad kind of way. No, there was something intangible about him; as though he were an indefinable creature that had somehow been trapped in human form.

 

Shaking her head, she scoffed at her own thoughts. She must have had too much to drink if she was suffering such fanciful thoughts . . . “Why is it that you don't have your picture all over the place? I mean, you might as well be a celebrity. Why do you hide?”

 

Toga winced. “I never really cared, I guess. I spent much of my time with Uncle Yasha and his family, especially when it came time for publicity shots. It's never really interested me.” He laughed softly as he stared up at the balding trees. “Whenever we did anything as a family, Ryomaru and Kichiro were more often mistaken as Father's sons than I was. It became a bit of a game, to pass off one of the twins as me.”

 

“And what did your father think of that?”

 

Toga's nostalgic smile faded. “Back then . . . Father was a little more tolerant.”

 

Her sense of contentment stretched and faltered as his smile dissipated. Though he had never really said what the trouble was, she knew, didn't she? Whatever had happened had hurt Toga much, much deeper than he wanted to admit. “He hurt you, didn't he? Whatever he did?”

 

“Maybe. Or maybe I just realized that my father wasn't always right.”

 

Sierra's gaze took on a grayish light, a concerned lilt to her eyebrows, a sadness in the dark. “What happened?”

 

He sighed and shook his head, and for a moment, Sierra didn't think he was going to answer. Clucking his tongue, he shrugged as though he were trying to brush aside whatever it was that troubled him, and he forced a small smile just for her. “We disagreed on the kind of woman I should look for . . . on the kind of life I wanted to live.”

 

“Maybe he only wants what's best for you?”

 

Toga shook his head slowly. “No . . . he wants what's best for our kind.”

 

“Your kind?”

 

His smile took on an enigmatic little turn, and he shrugged once more. “I come from a very old family.”

 

She digested that in silence, staring at him with a million questions; all unvoiced. “Sometimes you sound so mysterious . . . what are you hiding?”

 

The startled look on Toga's face faded quickly as he untied the cape and draped it over his arm. “Right now? Not a thing.”

 

She laughed. “Open book?”

 

“For you.”

 

She stopped and turned to stare at him. “Just for me?”

 

Blinking as a hint of a blush tinged his skin under the strange blue markings, Toga seemed flustered by her question. A fleeting glimpse of longing set off a chain reaction in her body. Sierra swallowed hard as his gaze dropped to her lips and stayed there. Breathless moments passed as time stood still. Afraid to move, afraid to upset the precarious balance between wanting and needing, Sierra could only gaze back into those eyes, the ones the same color as the uppermost part of a candle's flame . . .

 

“I . . . I'd better get you home,” he finally said, his voice throaty, as though he had to struggle to make it work. “You're shivering.”

 

Sierra forced her gaze away and nodded as they started walking once more. Funny, though . . . she wasn't cold, at all . . .

 

Stopping abruptly, Toga growled, grabbing Sierra's arm as he gently but firmly pushed her behind his back.

 

“Toga?”

 

“Quiet.”

 

Sierra frowned. The authority in his tone was too prevalent to ignore. She waited, wondering just what had wrought so drastic a change in his demeanor.

 

“I know you're there,” he called out in a calm tone. “Show yourself.”

 

Sierra gasped as two large men stepped out of the trees to the right. Easily as tall as Toga though about twice as wide, she couldn't help but dig into her purse for her cell phone. Sure she knew Toga was strong, and yes she knew that he had trained in some sort of fighting, but . . . these guys were huge, and there were two of them . . .

 

“Awfully far from home, aren't you, puppy?” one of the men said in a rumbling sneer.

 

“Showing his credentials, no less,” the other remarked.

 

“Come out of hiding on Halloween? Are you so brave?”

 

“What do you want?” Toga asked in a careless tone. Sierra frowned but finally located her cell. “Put it away, Sierra. The police won't understand.”

 

`How did he know? They won't understand?' Sierra hesitated but didn't dial the number that would have brought help.

 

The first man snorted and grinned, pleased that Toga had commanded her not to call for help. Thumb hovering over the emergency button on her phone, she still hesitated. “You have no authority here, son of the Inu no Taisho, and your daddy isn't here to save you.”

 

Toga didn't blink, didn't move. “You two haven't changed at all, have you? Bakas till the end . . . This Toga needs not his father to deal with the miserable likes of you.”

 

“Fujiko sends her regards,” the second man remarked tightly.

 

The first one slapped the second man in the center of his chest to silence him. “You dishonor her? For that bitch?”

 

A low growl issued from Toga once more, and Sierra blinked, unsure what to think of the absolute coldness in the man she'd thought was so gentle. “I dishonor no one, and I'd watch my tongue if I were you, unless you want to eat it,” he said mildly.

 

The two laughed menacingly. Sierra stood on tiptoe to glance over Toga's shoulder. The men stepped closer. “Toga . . . ?” she whispered, grasping his arm.

 

She gasped and stumbled as Toga shot forward in a blur. Moving too quickly for her to discern, all she saw was the dark streak that was him as he whipped around in a circle with his hand outstretched. A convoluted streak of momentum, and when he stopped, both men were backing away clutching their stomachs as Toga stepped back to shield her from their view. “Be gone,” Toga commanded. He wasn't even breathing heavily, “Unless you really wish to try my patience.”

 

Mumbling curses under their breath, the men disappeared back into the trees. Toga stood still for a few minutes, as though he were making sure that they were really gone. He must have been satisfied that they were, though, because he finally let out a deep breath as he turned on his heel to face Sierra once more. “Bastards,” he said with a soft snort.

 

“What was . . . how did you . . . ?” Sierra's knees buckled and she leaned against Toga. Fear assailed her after the fact, and she knew that the altercation she'd just witnessed could have easily come to a very different conclusion. “Do you know them?”

 

Toga sighed. “I dated their sister.”

 

Sierra shook her head, recognizing the name the one man had said. Unable to make sense of the situation, she sighed and focused on the one thing she did understand. “Fujiko must have loved you, to send her brothers after you. Is that why you didn't want me to call for help?”

 

“Keh!” he scoffed, squaring his shoulders in an unconscious show of righteous indignation. “I didn't need help . . . As for Fujiko? On the contrary. I don't really think she gave a damn . . .”

 

She must have looked as confused as she felt, because Toga sighed softly as he rubbed his eyes and frowned. “Didn't you date for awhile?” she asked quietly.

 

“We did,” he admitted. “Sierra . . . you have to understand that it was never my choice to date her. Father thought we were well suited, and we both knew that we weren't.”

 

“You . . . dated her because your father wanted you to,” she murmured, unsure exactly why the idea of that both horrified her as well as made her feel extraordinarily sad for him.

 

As though he could read her thoughts, he shook his head quickly and forced a smile. “Come on. The park is dangerous at night.”

 

Sierra let him lead her along the trail. She didn't miss the way his eyes shifted, the way he turned his head slightly as they moved. She'd thought it before but had discounted it. For some reason, it struck her again. Almost predatorial in his every movement, something about him . . .

 

He was a mystery. Where had the sudden coldness in him come from, the icy demeanor that precluded any other emotion when he'd faced down the two brothers? She shook her head. `Toga . . . who are you really?'

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~* ~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

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Reviewers

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angelica incarnate (MMorg) :
Not meaning to ruffle feathers......but it's kind of rude to CONTINUALLY compare Sueric's work to Terri Botta's The Lucky Ones. I'm not taking sides here; I've read almost everything that Sueric has written as well as The Lucky Ones and what is up so far of its sequel The Coyote Child. Both women are excellent authors and deserve all the accolades they've received. But by comparing you could really offend, rather than compliment. What if they've read each others work and aren't particularly fond of it? Then the comparison is an insult and the continuous comparisons are like rubbing salt in an open wound. I don't know if the same thing happens in Terri Botta's reviews, I've not read them. I read TLO on another site without reviews. But I think you would all compliment the authors more if you praised their work for being theirs and not compare it to another piece. That said-- Couldn't Sesshoumaru smell Sierra or weren't they in Toga's apartment? And Sueric, does this mean Sierra is going to get a trip to Japan soon? I somehow doubt Toga will be able to leave her behind, especially since Mommy knows...and the twins...well, everyone has to meet her, right?

 

The meeting was in Toga's office, lol … and no, Sesshoumaru didn't smell her since the two aren't or haven't been that `close' yet . . . hmm… depends on how much closer the two get before the wedding . . . since the wedding won't be until December . . .

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Corrupted Purity (FFnet) :

One question: Just how in the world did Sesshoumaru find our boy!?! Great story, update soon!

 

LoL… Toga's too much like his father at times . . . hiding isn't something he is very good at doing. He really didn't try to, other than not using his own money because of possible tracing… It'll be explained later, but . . . Kagome found out, and being a mother, she told Kagura, and Kagura, worried, told Sesshoumaru . . . Vicious circle of parent stuff . . . lol!

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MMorg

cjflutterbye ------ DarklessVasion - not signed in ------ BloodyKitsune (Not gonnna bother signing in.... tired....) ------ Shadow_Within (NLI) ------ RadiosNmyHead

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FFnet

Flames101 ------ kestral-tudorica ------ Noki-san ------ Rabid-Inu-Girl ------ My Own Self

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AFFnet ------ AScom

Midnight_Sparrow ------ Diane (thank you, edit caught!) ------ Anna ------ Teresa ------ akdreamer ------ Teresa

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Final Thought from Sierra:

Who . . . what. . . is he . . . ?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Defiance): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~