InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 2: Defiance ❯ Contention ( Chapter 14 )

~~Chapter 14~~

~Contention~

 

~*~

 

 

Sierra frowned in confusion as she took another involuntary step in retreat. The man who filled the doorway seemed to large, too looming, to be real, and yet . . . Shaking her head, unsure she understood the question that he'd presented, Sierra's brain slowed to a crawl as she struggled to make sense of the unadulterated hostility that was emanating off Sesshoumaru Inutaisho in surge after surge of undeniable rage. `Why do I smell like . . . Toga . . .? What is he talking about?'

 

“So you're the one with whom my son has been dallying,” Sesshoumaru said quietly as his eyes narrowed just a little bit more. “I smelled you on him . . . faint enough. It will fade, of course.”

 

“I'm . . . Sierra . . .” she informed him slowly.

 

His expression blanked, an icy chill stoniness entering his gaze. “You do not belong here. You shall have nothing at all to do with my son.”

 

Shaking her head, Sierra couldn't quite grasp the reason why this man would hold her in such contempt. “Is he . . . here?”

 

Sesshoumaru's golden eyes seemed to cut right through her, taking in everything about her in a moment. It was obvious to her that he found her lacking. Gazing upon her as though she were little more than a speck of dirt on his pristine white suit, she had to curb the desire to turn and run. “You should leave. My son is here at his sister's request. You are not welcome here.”

 

“Father?” Toga stepped up beside Sesshoumaru and muttered a curse as he pushed past him to hurry to Sierra's side. “What the hell are you doing?”

 

Sierra shook her head and glanced up to Toga only to see that his question had been directed at his father. Glaring at him with his lips pulled back in a grimace, Toga didn't back down from Sesshoumaru's obvious irritation. Sierra stayed behind him, letting him shield her from his father's blatant hostility. Knees weak and trembling, she had to grab Toga's clothes to keep from crumpling to the ground.

 

“Toga,” Sesshoumaru commanded in a tone that should have left no room for argument. In that moment, all the things that Toga had said to her made sense: about his father's strange desire to command his son, about a lot of things.

 

`How could . . . his father . . .? Toga . . .' she thought as she pressed her palm against her forehead as if she were checking herself for signs of fever.

 

But Toga ignored Sesshoumaru's harsh utterance and stood his ground. “No. I told you how I feel about this. I'll tell you this, too. If you ask her to leave, I will go. I will not bend.”

 

Long moments ticked away as the two men glared at each other. Neither looked like they were willing to budge. Finally Sesshoumaru nodded once. “So be it, Toga. We shall discuss this further after the wedding.” His cold gaze shifted to Sierra, half-hidden behind Toga's back. “Enjoy the hospitality of my home.” With that, he turned and strode away.

 

Only then did Toga glance down at her. “Sierra? What are you—? Are you all right? What did my father say to you? I thought you couldn't come,” he rambled, drawing her into a quick but heartfelt hug.

 

“I don't think he likes me at all,” Sierra managed to say as she forced a smile for Toga's benefit.

 

He winced. “I'm sorry . . . that's my fault. I didn't tell him much about you. I didn't know . . . I was worried . . . I tried to call you, and you didn't answer . . .”

 

“I-I t-tried to call,” she stammered. “You didn't answer, and the only flight I could get—the phone on the plane was broken, and I forgot my cell phone . . .”

 

“No, no! It's fine,” he assured her though his smile was dim, his eyes troubled. “I'm glad you came.”

 

She shook her head and sighed, wondering how it could be that the idea of surprising Toga had somehow managed to backfire on her. The very last thing that she wanted to do was to go inside and meet anyone else. Given her less than warm reception thus far, Sierra was sorely pressed not to hail a cab and head straight back to the hotel . . . “I just got here . . . I thought . . . I should have tried to call again.”

 

Toga heaved a sigh and smiled again though this time seemed a lot more natural than his prior attempt had been. “No . . . my father was rude, and I'm so sorry.”

 

Sierra frowned as she finally got a good look at Toga's clothing. Dressed in much the same manner as his father, the only real difference was that the shoulder and arm embroidered design on Sesshoumaru's clothing had been an orangey-red shade while the accents on Toga's clothes were jade green. Her frown darkened as she leaned back, raising her hand to touch the . . . blanket? Why on earth was he wearing that?

 

“Toga? What's going on?”

 

He sighed and shook his head, taking her hand and leading her out of the way as the first of the guests arrived. “I'll tell you everything after the wedding, okay?”

 

She nodded slowly. “All right, but why are you wearing your blanket?”

 

He made a face. “It isn't a blanket. It's called Mokomoko-sama.”

 

“A . . . what?”

 

He waved off her question as he muttered a greeting to some of the newly arriving guests.

 

Sierra blinked in confusion. Almost all of the people were dressed in a similarly archaic manner, like Toga and Sesshoumaru. But why? It only served to bring back into focus the complete hostility with which Sesshoumaru had greeted her. “I . . . maybe I should go back to the hotel,” she offered with a wince.

 

Toga chuckled. “The damage has already been done, and while I don't agree with him, I can assure you that my father will honor his word. You're welcome to stay—I want you to . . .”

 

She wasn't sure if she should feel worse about the feeling that she was completely unwelcome or because she had a decent idea that whatever trouble existed between Toga and his father, she'd just intensified it. “It's okay . . . I'll just go back.”

 

He shook his head stubbornly, catching her hand and holding on tight. “No. I meant what I said. If you go, then I will, too.”

 

She grimaced, hating that she sounded like some calculating woman, hell bent on luring the hapless man away from his family from some cheesy and clichéd paperback novel. “But it's your sister's wedding. It's her day, and she wants you here.”

 

He shrugged. “And I want you here. Forget it, wench. If you stay, I'll stay, but if you want to go, then I'm going with you.”

 

Sierra's rebuttal was cut off when a loud male voice interrupted her. “Damn it, Kagome, get off me, will you?”

 

Sierra peeked around Toga to see another version of the two silver haired boys she'd met before—Toga's cousins? This one was being trailed by a petite black haired woman with shining brown eyes that were, at the moment, centered on something in the man's hair. What surprised Sierra, though, was the crimson red outfit he wore. `MC Hammer pants,' she thought with a bemused grin. She wasn't sure why that idea popped into her head, but it seemed fitting . . . And just why was he wearing a sword on his hip?

 

At least the woman was dressed in more modern fashion. The crimson silk kimono-style dress matched the man's clothes perfectly, and when she caught Sierra's questioning gaze, she smiled and let go of the man to hurry over to the two of them.

 

“Is this her?” she asked in a loud aside, leaning up to kiss Toga's cheek as Toga leaned down to let her.

 

“Yes. Aunt Kagome, this is Sierra. Sierra, this is my aunt and her husband . . . my Uncle Yasha.”

 

Those bright golden eyes darted over her quickly enough. Sierra couldn't help but feel like this Uncle Yasha had just made quick work of garnering an opinion of her, and that the opinion wasn't likely to change, no matter what it was. “So . . . you hit her dog?” Uncle Yasha asked, folding his arms together under the cover of his billowing sleeves.

 

Toga flushed and had the grace to shuffle his feet almost nervously. “Yeah, I . . . I did,” he admitted.

 

InuYasha snorted. “Keh! And she still likes you? Damn lucky if you ask me . . .”

 

Sierra managed a weak laugh as Toga slipped an arm around her waist to offer her his silent support.

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome scolded. She made a face and leaned toward Sierra. “Ignore him. He's got the manners of a mongrel.”

 

“And you love it, wench.”

 

Kagome blushed as two faces Sierra did know stepped up behind InuYasha and Kagome along with a very pretty silver haired girl. “Mother, looking lovely, as always,” one of the twins greeted with a loud kiss on his mother's cheek. “Sierra-chan! I wasn't expecting you, though it is a very nice surprise . . . I hope you are enjoying Japan?”

 

Momentarily amused by the use of the honorific, Sierra felt a small measure of her trepidation slip away.

 

“Keh! Step aside, Kich,” Ryomaru said as he shoved his brother out of the way to greet his mother and Sierra. “Nice to see you again.”

 

Sierra blinked in surprise. Her interactions with the twins hadn't been quite like this. They almost seemed . . . formal?

 

“Told you the act differently when their mother is around,” Toga muttered in her ear. Sierra nodded slowly. “And that is my cousin, Gin, who is absolutely nothing like her hentai brothers.”

 

“Hentai?” Kagome echoed as she peered over her shoulder at her sons.

 

“What does that mean?” Sierra asked, unfamiliar with that term.

 

“Perverted,” Toga remarked as InuYasha turned to eye his sons, too.

 

Ryomaru blinked innocently. “I don't know what he's talking about, Mother,” he assured Kagome.

 

“Must be all the pollution in Chicago. It's affected his brain, and he's starting to mutate,” Kichiro joked.

 

Gin shook her head. “Bakas,” she mumbled as she offered Sierra a little grin. “Ignore them . . . they were an accident.”

 

Toga suddenly coughed. Sierra turned to look at him curiously. “Something in the air,” he remarked, dropping his fist away from his mouth.

 

“Has that bastard of a brother of mine met your friend yet?” InuYasha asked, arching a black brow in a pointed manner.

 

Toga sighed and couldn't quite hide his grimace. “Yes. Yes, he has.”

 

Sierra shook her head in wonder. It was obvious that Toga's infamous Uncle Yasha didn't care for Sesshoumaru. She didn't have time to wonder why as Kagome slipped an arm around her shoulders and led her away from the men. “Let me introduce you around, since Toga's not seen fit to do it, himself,” Kagome remarked loud enough for the men to hear.

 

“Oi!” both Toga and InuYasha hollered after them.

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Ignore them. So I take it you haven't met Toga's mother? She'll like you; I know it.”

 

Sierra winced and shook her head. If Sesshoumaru's greeting was anything like what she should expect from the other parent, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to, either.

 

Kagome led Sierra deeper into the huge mansion, through the dining room—which was absolutely immense—to the kitchen beyond. A very regal-looking woman dressed in about a dozen layers of silk fabric with an overlying kimono of white silk with embroidery that must denote the family, since it was nearly the exact same as Sesshoumaru and Toga's though hers was in a brilliant shade of magenta, was directing caterers with the authority of an Army general. That was Toga's mother? Sierra reigned in the impulse to turn and run.

 

“Kagura . . . look who I found outside,” Kagome joked as Kagura turned and smiled at them both.

 

Her smile dimmed a little as she stepped forward, but it didn't disappear completely. Sierra stared at the woman's magenta eyes, heightened or maybe embellished by the white fabric and matching magenta embroidery. `M-magenta?' She'd never seen such a color—so deep that they almost looked crimson—and the first thing thought that came to mind was, `Those have got to be contacts . . .'

 

“This is Sierra . . . the girl Toga's mentioned,” Kagome supplied.

 

Kagura nodded. “Pleased to meet you. Welcome to my home. I'm Kagura, Toga's mother.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Kagura's smile widened again as she leaned her head to the side, regarding Sierra critically. “What a lovely girl . . . Where is Toga? I think I need to speak with him before more guests arrive.”

 

“Out side with InuYasha,” Kagome said.

 

“Please, Sierra-san, make yourself welcome in our home,” she said with a formal bow. Sierra watched as Kagura swept from the room. “That went better than meeting Toga's father,” she remarked.

 

Kagome made a face as she led the way back through the dining room and toward the living room. “Don't worry about Sesshoumaru. There aren't many people he does care for. Besides, Toga's the one who matters, and he likes you just fine, right?”

 

Sierra smiled. “Yeah, you're right.” Staring at Kagome so close up, Sierra frowned. “Can I ask you something?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Sierra shook her head slowly. “You don't look old enough to have full-grown children.”

 

Kagome grinned and shrugged. “Toga hasn't told you much about his family, has he?”

 

She grimaced, hoping that the woman hadn't taken offense to her rather blunt statement. “A little . . . I know he's been at odds with his father lately . . .”

 

Kagome nodded, and for what it was worth, the smile she cast Sierra was full of compassion and was even a little apologetic. “Well, there's a bit more to it than that, but I think Toga ought to be the one to tell you everything.”

 

Sierra digested that in silence. Just what was going on, anyway?

 

 

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

 

 

“We've always thought he was pretty hideous, too.”

 

Sierra jumped at the soft voice beside her and turned to stare into the shocking amber eyes of the bride, Toga's sister, Aiko. Silvery hair twisted up in an ornate convolution of curls and spirals, the girl was absolutely stunning. `Stunning?' Sierra thought with an inward wince. No . . . that word wasn't even close to describing Aiko. She looked like she'd just stepped out of Modern Bride magazine or even straight off a runway in some exotic locale . . . Sometime after the wedding and before the reception, she'd changed out of the traditional kimono she'd worn for the ceremony and was now decked out in a very ornate western style wedding dress that had to have cost a small fortune. Hundreds of seed pearls were affixed to the gown with silver thread, and Sierra didn't doubt for a moment that the glittering stones that accented the girl's shoes were genuine diamonds, and not exactly small ones, at that . . .

 

She wasn't sure what she'd really expected when she'd thought that she could surprise Toga, but meeting his family had proven one thing in her mind: the phrase `beautiful people' really was true, and it wasn't money that had created them. That Toga was an exceedingly good looking man was something she'd realized long ago, but the rest of his family—aunt, uncle, cousins as well as his immediate kin—were all just as gorgeous as he was, and that, in and of itself, was more than a little daunting.

 

Daunting enough that Sierra couldn't help but feel completely backward and out of place even if Sesshoumaru had been good to his word. The few times she'd been anywhere near him, he hadn't been outwardly rude at all, and if the earlier altercation weren't so fresh in her mind, she might have wondered if she were imagining the hostility that she'd sensed from him earlier.

 

“I can see why he cares for you,” Aiko went on with a little smile. “But you'd better make sure that he toes the line. He's always gotten away with murder.”

 

“H-has he?” Sierra murmured, dragging her eyes off Toga, who was dancing with a very tall, very graceful, very gorgeous golden brown haired woman. Willowy and elegant, the stranger looked a little too comfortable, dancing with him, as much as Sierra didn't want to admit it.

 

Aiko laughed softly. “Of course! Papa's only son? Are you kidding? Mama used to say that it was because Toga was too cute for his own good . . . then again, I get the feeling that you wouldn't use that exact word to describe him, would you?”

 

“O-oh, I, uh . . .” Sierra stammered as the blush she was trying to hold back shot to the fore.

 

The bride's laughter escalated. “It's okay,” she said with a conspiratorial wink. “Between you and me? I've always thought that Toga was a lot more handsome than he ought to have been.” Her smile slowly faded though her eyes still shone, and she shook her head, leaning toward Sierra just enough to be heard. “And about Papa? I'm terribly sorry . . . He just has these . . . ideas . . . especially when it comes to Toga . . . but he really is a nice man; I swear it.”

 

Sierra winced inwardly as she remembered the strange undercurrent to Toga's behavior around his father. She couldn't even summon the wherewithal to comment. It had seemed to her that the tension between the two was unbearable, and yet no one else seemed to notice it in the least—or maybe they simply were ignoring it, though in Sierra's estimation, she wasn't entirely certain how that could even be possible . . .

 

“Toga . . . there are other guests here,” Sesshoumaru remarked as he drew up beside them at the reception. “You will make yourself available, I assume?”

 

Sierra didn't miss the almost hostile flicker of light behind Toga's gaze. “Certainly, Father. Far be it for me to ignore your guests.”

 

Sesshoumaru's bored gaze settled on Sierra for a moment longer before he turned and strode away.

 

“Dance with me, Toga.”

 

Casting Sierra an apologetic look, Toga let the woman lead him off like a . . . Sierra snorted. `Like a dog on a leash.'

 

She snapped out of her reverie and forced a smile for the new bride. “Toga said you invited me. Thank you.”

 

Aiko shook her head. “As if you need to thank me! Anyone who makes Toga as happy as you seem to is welcome anytime, I say.”

 

“I . . . do?”

 

Aiko grinned a little sadly. “Not saying I know him better than anyone, but it's a close thing. For the last few months before he, err, left, he was so miserable . . . He wouldn't talk to me about it, of course, but everyone could see it—well, maybe Papa didn't . . . Although I've got to admit, if it were my man dancing with an ex, I think I'd have a thing or two to say about it.”

 

Sierra's gaze shifted back to the couple again. “His ex?”

 

“Uh huh . . . Fujiko-san. They dated forever, but I think it was more to please Papa than anything . . .” Aiko suddenly giggled and laid a hand on Sierra's arm. “As often as he keeps looking back at you, though, I'd say you've got nothing to worry about.” She winked and moved on, leaving Sierra alone to ponder that.

 

`So that's his ex? He didn't want to be with her?' She shook her head. The graceful creature exuded an air of refinement that Sierra knew damn well she'd never actually possess. Everything about her was perfectly shaped, perfectly proportioned. She looked like a supermodel, didn't she? Flinching inwardly, Sierra tried to ignore the ugly feeling of complete inadequacy that nipped at the edges of her psyche. The woman was gorgeous, no doubt about it. How could he not want to be with her?

 

“Enjoying yourself?”

 

Sierra stifled a sigh and glanced at the short, black haired woman beside her. “Yes . . .” she replied with a small smile as she hoped that she wasn't being too obvious with her lie.

 

The woman tucked a lock of her shoulder length hair behind her ear as her friendly smile widened. “I'm Rin, Toga's older sister.”

 

“Oh, yes . . . he's mentioned you.”

 

Rin nodded. “I wish I could say the same. I haven't talked to Toga since he got back. Everyone's been monopolizing him . . . We miss him.”

 

Biting her lip, Sierra found herself staring at the man in question once again. As though he sensed her blatant perusal, he turned his head and smiled at her. “He . . . seems like he misses you all, too,” Sierra heard herself say.

 

Rin winced as she shrugged her thin shoulders then smiled. “Most of us, sure. I doubt he misses Father very much.”

 

“He said they weren't seeing eye to eye,” Sierra commented.

 

“That's an understatement. Father's being pig-headed, and Toga . . . it's about time Toga told him where to stick it.”

 

“Toga doesn't stand up to him often?”

 

Rin sighed. “Not so much, but then, he's never had a reason to do it. They used to be so close, and now . . . Well, I guess things change. Everyone thinks Father is being stubborn for no good reason, at least on this. He and InuYasha have fought over it a few times, which doesn't really mean much since they don't really need a reason to fight, in the first place . . .”

 

Sierra managed a weak laugh. “Sounds like my brothers.”

 

Rin rolled her eyes and patted the back of her hair. “Guess some things are just universal.” She winked at Sierra. “Never mind them. If you make Toga happy, then I wish you both the best.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Rin sucked in a sharp breath of air and touched Sierra's arm. “I hate to run, but I don't see Kagome, and it looks like InuYasha is about to do some Tetsusaiga shoving. If you'll excuse me . . .”

 

Sierra frowned. `Tetsusaiga shoving?' Watching out the window of the huge French doors as InuYasha started to unsheathe his sword as he stalked toward a young man who had been talking to Gin, Sierra could only figure that his sword must have a name and wasn't just for ceremonial show . . .

 

She blinked suddenly and narrowed her gaze, not really believing what her eyes were telling her. She hadn't noticed it before, but InuYasha was outside barefoot in the middle of December?

 

Turning her attention away from Rin, who was outside trying to restrain the silver-haired man, Sierra sipped champagne as she stared around the gathering. Catching the eye of a woman nearby, Sierra blinked at the open hostility in the woman's features. She wasn't glowering, but she was looking at Sierra in a completely angry sort of way. Slowly turning to look behind, to see if there were someone else that the woman could be glaring at, Sierra turned back in time to see the woman casually walking toward her.

 

“So you're here with Toga?”

 

Puzzled over the flash of anger in the woman's violet gaze, Sierra nodded but didn't speak.

 

“How long have you known him?”

 

That seemed like a reasonable enough question to her, and Sierra set her champagne glass on the table beside them. “A few months.”

 

A sense of recognition seemed to infiltrate the woman's gaze, and she nodded once as she let her eyes flick over Sierra's form. “A few months . . . I see . . . he didn't waste time, did he?”

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

The woman offered her a tight little smile. “Oh, it's not important . . . I saw him a few months ago, and he hadn't mentioned you, so I assume he hadn't met you then. It was in Germany.”

 

Sierra remembered Toga's words. `The last place I was? Berlin . . .' She shifted slightly. “He mentioned being there.”

 

The flare of something dark and ugly in the woman's eyes surprised Sierra. The woman smiled insincerely, the expression as thin and tight as the subtle lines around her eyes. “I dated him, too, did you know? It was only for a week . . . his father made sure of that.”

 

“His father? How?”

 

The woman laughed but it was a bitter sound. “Paid my father to move us. I wasn't good enough for him, I guess.” She shook her head slowly, shifting those violet eyes toward the dance floor—to Toga. “It was a long time ago . . .”

 

“And you were invited to the wedding?”

 

She shrugged. “My husband is trying to sell Sesshoumaru his business, and Aiko is an old friend . . . I suppose I'm not a danger anymore.” Turning her gaze back onto Sierra, the woman narrowed her eyes, as if she were trying to see into Sierra's mind. “Is that why you're with him? Because of whom his father is?”

 

“What?”

 

“He's rich . . . heir to a fortune . . . makes sense . . .” She brought her gaze back to pin Sierra, to assess her. Violet gaze flicking over her from head to toe, Sierra couldn't help but feel as though this woman absolutely despised her. “Don't hurt him.”

 

“I wasn't planning on it,” Sierra remarked stiffly, her own irritation rising at the very insinuation that she would do any such thing. `Fine, she's just concerned . . . Hold your temper, Sierra . . .'

 

“Everyone has a price,” the woman commented cryptically as she moved away. “It's just a matter of time before the almighty Sesshoumaru Inutaisho finds yours.”

 

A million comebacks shot through her mind. Not one of them was appropriate in the given setting. Sierra clenched her jaw, trying to restrain her desire to let the woman know she'd overstepped herself. Righteous indignation seethed inside her, anger at the cynicism that she'd been forced to endure. Maybe she could understand and commiserate about the evils of the rich and the excesses by which they lived, but that woman, whoever she was . . . what right did she have to judge Sierra?

 

“Sierra? Are you all right? What did Lily say to you?”

 

Whipping around to glare up into Toga's concerned expression, she felt her anger slowly seep away, and she sighed. “It's not important. I'm fine.”

 

He didn't look convinced. “I shouldn't have left you alone . . . forgive me?”

 

She forced a smile to reassure him and shrugged offhandedly. “There's nothing to forgive.”

 

“You're sure?”

 

Her smile brightened into a real one. “I'm sure.”

 

He seemed to relax just a little, and he shot her a lopsided grin as a slight hint of pinkness filtered into his cheeks. “What do you say I take you somewhere special tonight? Just . . . just us?”

 

“I think I'd like that,” she murmured, pretty certain that the shade of her skin matched his.

 

His eyes brightened as his smile spread, and for a moment, he looked like he might kiss her. Then he seemed to recall where he was, and he took a step back. “I'm surprised my family hasn't scared you off yet,” he remarked with an embarrassed little chuckle.

 

Sierra shook her head. “Your family is . . . eclectic.”

 

He winced. “That bad, huh?”

 

She giggled. “No . . .”

 

“Oi, Toga . . . so this is Sierra . . . At least you have good taste, pup . . .”

 

Toga rolled his eyes and gestured at the man who joined them. “Sierra, this is my brother-in-law, Shippou. Shippou, this is Sierra. Did you lose Rin? I thought she kept you locked up during the day.”

 

Shippou shrugged. “I found the key.”

 

Sierra giggled. This relative, she decided, was very, very nice.

 

Shippou grabbed her hand and started to drag her away. “Oi!” Toga hollered.

 

Shippou waved over his shoulder. “It's just a dance, pup! Get a grip.”

 

When Sierra glanced back, Toga was staring at the two of them with a glower on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.

 

Shippou swept Sierra into his arms with such a flourish that she had to giggle. Shippou chuckled and held her at a respectful distance as he started to dance with her. “So you're the one he chose, huh? Doesn't surprise me.”

 

Sierra blushed but smiled. The way he'd worded that seemed a little weird, but Sierra discounted it as the differences between the Japanese language and English, which everyone had been using around her since they all seemed to figure that she didn't know their language. She was thankful for that. “Chose me?”

 

He shrugged. “Sure. Youkai mate for life . . . he didn't tell you?” Shippou made an exaggerated face, a very pronounced grimace. “That figures. Just like InuYasha . . . he rubbed his scent off on Kagome long before he ever bothered to mark her . . .”

 

She hadn't heard that term before. Shaking her head slowly, Sierra frowned as she asked, “I don't understand. What's a `youk'—?”

 

“All right, you've had your dance, Shippou. Step aside.”

 

Sierra stepped back as Shippou raised his eyebrows apologetically before holding out his hand that still had Sierra's clasped in it. Toga took her hand and shot his brother-in-law a dark look. Shippou's grin widened and he bowed slightly to Sierra before ambling away to find his wife.

 

“What did he mean?” Sierra asked softly as Toga pulled her close to dance. It struck her that even in the strange clothing, he still looked every bit as comfortable as he did in anything else he wore. A sudden thought crossed her mind, a strange sense that maybe she didn't know him at all. His eyes seemed deeper, darker, shrouding some sort of secret that he didn't want to tell her, and if that were true, then what could he be hiding?

 

He winced and sighed before offering her an apologetic smile. “Remember those things I said I'd tell you later?”

 

Sierra nodded.

 

“I'll tell you later.”

 

She didn't answer right away. Positive that there really was much more to this that Toga was reluctant to tell her, she still trusted that he would tell her whatever it was that seemed to be hanging in the air over them like an invisible cloud. “Okay.”

 

They danced in silence for a few moments. Sierra felt as though her head was about to pop. Nothing made sense to her, nothing from the time she rang the doorbell until now . . . Well, nothing except the idea that being here with Toga . . . It was where she wanted to be.

 

 

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A/N:

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Reviewers

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Clawfang (FFnet) :

Toga came out of hiding, check. But couldn't Sierra tell that those fangs were real? I mean, I've worn fake fangs, and they don't look real at all. It wouldn't be hard to tell the difference between those and the real thing Next, when is Toga gonna tell Sierra that he's a youkai? When he does, I'm expecting some angsty chapters where they don't talk, but you do what you do, and I'll enjoy it no matter what.

 

I think that truth lies in whatever you want it to be, and Sierra, since she doesn't know youkai exist, and since she did buy more realistic looking fangs probably didn't look for them to be real, so they didn't strike her AS real … As far as Toga telling her? I don't know if HE will …LoL!

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MMorg

Firetrixs ------ DarklessVasion ------ Aitu (not signed in) ------ angelica incarnate ^_~ ------ kolohe (not signed in) ------ Kyonarai ------ chichiwvu-being lazy nsi (you dare call me a ::gasp:: POO POO HEAD??? This means WAR, woman!!! LOL) ------ Gemini Dragonstone ------ jennifer_luvs_fluffy ------ hopuchan (she speaks English) ------ Shadow_Within (at work) ------ FullmetalArchivist

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FFnet

grand admiral chelli ------ myeerah ------ Rinicat ------ btrains126 ------ Flames101 ------ kestral-tudorica (Thanks! I can stare at those forever and NOT see them!!!) ------ My Own Self ------ DarkSerenity93 ------ hopuchan

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AFFnet ------ AScom

Meres ------ Anna ------ Zmyrra ------ Sess_2005 ------ inugrl15 ------ Hanyou Slave ------ sozoteki ------ Midnight_Sparrow ------ mars ------ akdreamer ------ Jasmine Fields ------ moon_girl ------ Melissa Eisler ------ rachainu

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Final Thought from InuYasha:

… I can't believe the pup ran over her dog …

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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~