InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 2: Defiance ❯ After Hours ( Chapter 30 )

~~Chapter 30~~

~After Hours~

 

“Hey, Toga, do you have a minute?”

 

Toga didn't look up from the contract in his hand as he drummed his pen against the blotter on his desk. “Not really. What do you need?”

 

Kari sighed as she closed the door behind herself and sat down across from him. “You won't believe this.”

 

“Another missing contract?”

 

He could see her wince out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah.” She shook her head. “The first time I thought I was careless. The second time, I thought it was suspicious. The third time? There's definitely something going on.”

 

“Where'd you leave this one?”

 

Kari sat up straighter. “That's the thing. I know it was in my briefcase, and I know I locked it.”

 

That got Toga's attention. Dropping his contract on the desk as he finally met Kari's gaze, he shook his head slowly. “That's not possible. If you really did lock your briefcase, it'd still be in there.”

 

“Or so you'd think.”

 

Toga shrugged. “So . . . what do you think is going on?”

 

She sighed, face contorting in a disgusted frown. “I don't know. Sometimes I think . . .” she trailed off as she drew a deep breath and pinned Toga with a glare that dared him to make fun of her. “I think someone's trying to get me fired.”

 

He didn't laugh, at least not out loud. He did snort, and loudly at that. “Feh! That's a new one. Do you suppose it's the same aliens that abducted Elvis? The ones that masterminded the whole Roswell incident?”

 

“Oh, you're funny, Toga. Never mind. I was hoping you'd believe me.”

 

He rolled his eyes as Kari shot to her feet and headed for the door, jerking it open with a vicious yank.

 

“Hold on,” he called after her as he asked himself just why he was about to offer to help her. “I was joking, I'm sorry.”

 

She sighed and shut his door again. “You know, this really isn't funny! If I can't keep this job, no one else will hire me. It'll follow me around for the rest of my life! A huge black mark on my professional life, like . . . being Catholic and getting a divorce.”

 

Pulling off his glasses and dropping them on top of the contract he'd been going over, Toga shook his head again as he crossed his arms over his desk. “What contract this time? And be more careful, damn it. I'm out of leverage with the girls in legal.”

 

She grimaced. “The, uh . . . Pfeiser-Telecorp merger.”

 

Toga's eyes widened as he raised his fist to catch his cough. “Wow . . . that's . . . not good.”

 

She made a face and rolled her wrist in a gesture to make him hurry with the teasing she figured was coming. “No, it's not.”

 

That was an understatement. Pfeiser and Telecorp was another of those huge mergers that could make or break the company. He winced. “Did you break a mirror or something?”

 

She narrowed her icy gaze on him. For a moment, she almost reminded him of his father . . . . “Toga, please . . . there's no one else I can ask for help.”

 

“All right, all right,” he agreed as he stood up. “I'll go ask the girls, but if they ask for my first-born son, I can't do it . . . .”

 

“That's not what I had in mind.”

 

He frowned. Why did he have a feeling that he wasn't going to like whatever she was thinking? “Okay,” he said slowly. “I hesitate to ask, but . . . what?”

 

“I have another big merger coming up.”

 

For some reason, Toga was assailed with memories of his cousins trying to get him to help them with one of their many schemes in the past, and none of those ever had a good ending, either. “And you want me to try to catch whoever is taking your contracts?”

 

Kari expelled her breath in a sudden rush. “Yes.”

 

A million reasons why that was a really horrid idea flashed through his brain. He opened his mouth to give her just a few examples then sighed as he caught the desperate hope in her pleading gaze. If it were him, he'd feel the same way, he supposed. Making a face as he looked away, cursing himself for being way too nice, Toga finally nodded. “All right.”

 

She smiled at last, her expression melting into instantaneous relief. “Toga, you're absolutely the best!” She opened the door and started out of the office but stopped and stuck her head back inside to smile at him again. “Sierra's really, really lucky . . . .”

 

He watched her go and sighed. `Lucky . . . .'

 

In the week since Sierra's diagnosis, it was all Toga could do to make himself get up every morning, all he could stand to leave his apartment and drive past her building. He found himself staring out his window, hoping to see her, wishing that he dared to approach her. The fear of causing her more upset was just too much for him, and yet he couldn't quite help himself when he trailed her on her errands, always careful to stay hidden from her view. Afraid that she would be in danger if he wasn't there, he told himself it was because of the promise he'd made to her. He knew in his heart it was because he loved her.

 

Everywhere he went reminded him of her, of the places they'd been together, of her smile, her laughter. Her scent still lingered in his apartment, both comforting and hurtful at the same time. He felt as though a part of him was dying slowly, withering away, desperate for the light of her presence, and the feeling was excruciating.

 

His mind told him to leave Chicago, to escape the pain of being near enough to touch her and yet unable to do it. His youkai blood repelled that idea. He needed to be here, even if he couldn't be with her.

 

If only he could make her listen. He shook his head slowly as he headed out of his office to see if he couldn't get the girls to draw up a duplicate contract. If he could make her listen, what could he possibly say? There wasn't a damn thing he could say to change her mind. He doubted that his side of the truth would even matter, and he couldn't do that to her, either.

 

He had a feeling that he wasn't going to be able to come out of this unscathed. He was in far, far too deep for that, wasn't he?

 

 

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

 

 

Sierra stepped onto the street and knelt down to offer Kirara the gourmet dog biscuit. The puppy sniffed it and turned up her nose with a low whine. Sierra winced. They were the same kind that Toga always bought for her. It just confirmed what she had suspected. Kirara was more Toga's dog than hers. She couldn't really blame Kirara. It was just too easy to love him.

 

“I know, Kirara,” she mumbled as she dropped the biscuit into the bag and sighed. “You miss him, too.”

 

`But not nearly as much as you do, Sie. Stop being so stubborn. He knows what the disease means, and he doesn't care. Doesn't that say a lot about him?'

 

She ignored the voice in her head. Sure it said a lot about him, but nothing that she hadn't already known. She really didn't have the right to ask it of him, though, did she? She didn't have the right to ask it of anyone.

 

Kirara jerked on the leash as she let out a loud yelp. It slipped through Sierra's fingers, and she hollered as the dog darted away. “Kirara!”

 

Breaking into a sprint as she tried to catch the dog, Sierra muttered under her breath. It was her own fault for not holding the leash tight enough. As she weaved her way through the crowd on the sidewalk, Sierra stopped suddenly, a gasp lodging in her throat as Kirara came into view.

 

The dog must have smelled him. Toga knelt down with her, talking to her in hushed tones as Kirara yipped and wagged her tail happily. For some reason, the sight of him with her puppy sent a sharp, aching pain straight through her; a pain that only grew worse as he slowly lifted his chin, as his eyes locked with hers.

 

“Toga.”

 

He tried to smile. He really did. The expression looked more like a grimace, and he held out Kirara's leash. “You look well.”

 

“Thanks,” she said as she hesitantly took the dog's leash from him. Her fingertips brushed his hand, and she winced as she heard his sharp inhalation. “I . . . I need to go. I've got some copies to proof, and . . . yeah.” She swallowed the lump growing in her throat and blinked quickly as tears started to form. “Take care, Toga.”

 

“You, too,” he answered as she hurried past him, stumbling blindly to her apartment building. Her heart expanded as her chest contracted. The resulting pain made her gasp for breath as she closed the door of the building behind herself, blocking out the image of him, standing there on the sidewalk, of the unsteady brightness in his gaze as he watched her go.

 

Trudging up the stairs to her apartment, Sierra felt the tears sliding down her cheeks. She didn't try to stop them. Kirara whimpered. Sierra didn't even try to delude herself into thinking that the puppy was unhappy because she was. No, Kirara was sad because they'd left Toga on the street below.

 

Closing the door behind herself, Sierra unfastened the leash and hung it up before dropping the bag of dog biscuits into the trash since Kirara didn't want them. Her coat fell on the floor and she picked it up as the phone rang.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey, brat. Ma told me what the doctor said. You okay?”

 

Sierra managed a little smile at the concern in Brent's voice. “I'm still kicking.”

 

Her brother hesitated before speaking again. “How's that pretty boy of yours treating you?”

 

Sierra winced. “He, uh . . . we broke up,” she said as she tried to keep the sound of her tears out of her voice.

 

“Son of a . . . couldn't take it, huh? Little bastard . . . I knew it!”

 

“Brent, it wasn't like that! I don't want to talk about it.”

 

“Damn, Sierra! Why do you always pick the assholes?”

 

“He's not,” she argued, gripping her forehead and rubbing furiously. “It wasn't like that!”

 

“You need anything? Anything at all?”

 

She sighed. “No, but thanks.”

 

“You sure? I'd be happy to hunt that fucker down for you and skewer his balls to the wall.”

 

“Look, I said it wasn't like that, okay? I've got to go. Just let it go, Brent. I don't want to talk about it.”

 

Before he could answer, she hung up then turned the answering machine on before turning the ringer off.

 

With a sniffle as she wiped her cheeks, Sierra stumbled toward the bathroom. `Tears in the shower don't count,' she thought with a wince.

 

 

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

 

 

Toga set the contract aside and pulled his glasses off, rubbing his eye with the knuckle of his index finger, a habit he'd picked up early on to keep his claws away from his eyes. The next big contract in Kari's workload wasn't to be finalized for another week, and since he'd been suckered into helping her catch whoever was trying to set her up, he also had already asked the girls in legal to draw up a second one, just in case.

 

He wasn't sure if he really bought into Kari's theory but he did have to admit that she wasn't scatterbrained. There wasn't a good reason for her to be losing so many contracts otherwise. Something wasn't right, but he knew from prior experience how to tell when someone was lying. He could tell when their body temperature spiked, could scent the discomfort in them as they tried to do it. It was one of the first lessons that Sesshoumaru had taught him. Kari wasn't lying.

 

A sardonic smile surfaced on Toga's face at the thought of his father. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Sesshoumaru, if he knew, was probably as happy as he'd ever been. At least someone would be thankful for the breakup.

 

The trouble was, it wasn't getting any easier. Every day seemed to get a little harder to deal with, a little more mundane, a little more hurtful. Every morning brought on a new ache in his chest, a pain that got worse and worse, tighter and tighter, and Toga had to wonder if he was really losing his mind, after all.

 

He saw Sierra everywhere, even places where he knew she couldn't be. He'd glance around and see her only to look again and find that she wasn't really there.

 

He'd even started to wonder if he had dreamed her up, until this afternoon. When he'd heard Kirara's happy bark, his first instinct was to run, knowing that Sierra couldn't be far behind. She ran out of the crowd, her cheeks pinked from the exertion of chasing down the pup, her eyes bright, sparkling, her hair mussed by the wind . . . .

 

And he hadn't realized that just seeing her, looking at her, yet unable to reach out to her would hurt so badly. He'd never felt so desperate before, never felt so empty. Watching her disappear into her apartment building as the scent of her tears assailed him . . . it was all he could do not to charge in after her, to beg her to love him, because not being with her was enough to kill him . . . .

 

The jarring trill of the telephone jerked him out of his glum musings. Grimacing as he checked the caller ID, Toga sighed but answered. “Yes, Aiko?”

 

Aiko's pleasant laughter rippled over him, the familiarity an instant balm on his frayed nerves. “Toga! Just the dog I wanted to talk to.”

 

He chuckled though it sounded a little hollow. “Aren't there enough dogs in Tokyo for you?”

 

“None I call brother,” she quipped. “So . . . how are you?”

 

“Never better,” he lied with a wince.

 

“Really,” she countered, her voice giving away her disbelief. “You're saying Aunt Gome was wrong then?”

 

“Aunt Gome?”

 

“Sure . . . I saw her a little while ago. She said she's been having one of her feelings . . . she said you're upset.”

 

He sighed. If it wasn't bad enough that everyone else in the family could sniff out emotions, he had to be blessed with a clairvoyant aunt blessed with an overabundance of miko power, and with that power came the intuition that was rarely wrong. “If that's the case, why didn't she call me?”

 

“I told her I would . . . I thought maybe you could use some sisterly advice.”

 

“Since when do you give advice?”

 

“Since I surpassed you mentally . . . at about five.”

 

“Oi!”

 

She giggled. “Seriously, though . . . is something wrong? With you and Sierra?”

 

“Sort of . . . I'll live.”

 

“Uh oh . . . you sound as depressed as Ryo was last week.”

 

“Why was he depressed?”

 

Aiko snorted indelicately. “He blew up his transmission---again---and Nezumi raked him over the coals for it. I swear, there are moments I think he just might be scared of her . . . .”

 

Toga grinned a little. Nezumi was Ryomaru and Kichiro's best friend---and a mechanic. It was a mystery to him how a nice girl like Nezumi had ever gotten mixed up with those baka cousins of his. “Maybe she should whack him a good one with one of her wrenches.”

 

“Nah . . . might hurt the wrench, they're so thick-headed . . . sort of like Uncle Inu, just not nearly as endearing for it.”

 

“It's no wonder. She's smarter than both of them put together.”

 

“Well . . .” Aiko agreed then sighed. “So is there trouble in paradise?”

 

“I guess you could say that,” he admitted.

 

“You going to tell me more or do I need to have Mother give you a call?”

 

He winced. “We're just . . . uh . . . not together anymore.”

 

Aiko uttered a sympathetic `aww'. “What did you do?”

 

“Me?” he sputtered indignantly. “Why did I have to do anything?”

 

“Come off it, Toga. You're not a saint. You're a baka. I know you did something, so spit it out so I can help you fix it.”

 

He smiled sadly. “You can't fix it, Aiko. No one can.”

 

“Shows what you know. Women are far better `fixers' than you men. If it weren't for women's abilities to correct men's mistakes, the world would have a lot of single people in it. Now spill your guts.”

 

“Seriously, Aiko, it isn't like that.”

 

“Don't make me come over there,” she threatened. “You know I hate flying, but I'll do it, if I have to.”

 

“Why?”

 

She sighed. “Because . . . Aunt Gome said something else.”

 

“What?” he made himself ask.

 

“She said that Sierra has a familiar aura. She said that Sierra belongs with you, and you know Aunt Gome is never wrong on this.”

 

“What do you mean, she's never wrong? She closed the well because she thought that Uncle Yasha belonged with Kikyou!”

 

“Duh, Toga! No woman is good at knowing this sort of thing about herself! Cut Aunt Gome some slack or I'll tell her you doubted her abilities, and you know what she'll do then.”

 

Toga winced. Yes, he had a good idea what she'd do. She'd hustle Uncle Yasha onto the next transcontinental flight bound for the USA, that was what . . . . “She'll never get Uncle Yasha on a plane,” he countered.

 

Aiko snorted. “It was Uncle Inu's suggestion.”

 

“Kami, she told Uncle Yasha about her feeling?”

 

“And Mama.”

 

Toga sighed. He was---what was that slang? Ah, yes. He was screwed. “Listen, Aiko, I appreciate your concern, but really, there isn't a damn thing anyone can do to change her mind. I've tried. It isn't simple.”

 

“Toga,” Aiko said softly in reaction to his rising tone, “we're just concerned because we care. All of us. Even Father.”

 

“I find that difficult to believe.”

 

“He asks if anyone has spoken with you lately.”

 

“So he hasn't found someone else to control then? Jaken's remains are in the mausoleum. He could use Tenseiga on him . . . .”

 

“That's not funny,” she chided with a giggle. “Anyway . . . is there really nothing any of us can do? Maybe if one of us talked to Sierra----”

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

Aiko sighed. “Promise me something? You'll call if you need us?”

 

Toga swallowed a suspect lump that rose to choke him. “Yeah.”

 

The knock on the door interrupted his concentration, and Toga blew out a deep breath. “I've got to go. Someone's here.”

“Maybe it's Sierra! I'll cross my fingers for you!”

 

“Bye, Aiko.”

 

He hung up before she could say anything else.

 

Dropping the phone on the sofa as he strode around it toward the door, Toga frowned at the scent of his visitor. He knew that scent . . . .

 

Toga barely got the door open when Brent Crawford swung at him. His fist connected with Toga's jaw, and had it been anyone else, they probably would have gone flying. Toga's head snapped to the side but he didn't budge. The fist flew at him again. Toga dodged it easily.

 

“Is there a reason,” Toga asked as he sidestepped another fist, “that you're trying to hit me?”

 

“You bet there is, bastard! What the hell did you do to my sister?” Brent bellowed as he swung again---and missed.

 

“Oh, that,” Toga remarked dryly as he backed up, dodging punches.

 

“Yeah, that! Just because she has the gene, you left her? What kind of jackass are you?”

 

“The worst kind,” Toga agreed as he ducked again. “I won't fight you.”

 

“Like you have a choice!”

 

“I let you hit me once. That's more than most get away with,” Toga answered.

 

“Don't you understand anything? She needs support now, not cowards who leave her when she needs them! Damn, pretty boys like you, you're all the same! Taking off when the tough gets going? Spoiled rich bastard! Not even worth the money you've got!”

 

“I won't hurt her more, Brent. Get that through your head. She's better off without me.”

 

Frustrated with his inability to connect any of his strikes against Toga, Brent stalked toward the door, his anger, his hostility a viable entity surrounding him. “Yeah, she probably is. I hope you can live with yourself. I knew you'd hurt her. You don't deserve her.”

 

“No, I don't.”

 

Brent shook his head. “Stay the hell away from her. If you come near her again, I'll kill you.”

 

Toga didn't argue. Brent slammed the door so hard that a picture hanging on the wall beside it fell off, the glass shattering on the floor.

 

He stared at the door for a long time.

 

 

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

A/N:

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Reviewers

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Drake Clawfang (FFnet) :

I'm not big on crying. But if I was, I would now. But here's a thought; I'm not sure how you described Huntington's disease before, but I'm guessing it's fatal? If so, there's a chance for ole Fluffy to redeem himself and Tenseiga Sierra and bring he rback if the disease kills her.

 

Actually, no the disease isn't deadly, which is one of the really debilitating things about it. Most often the afflicted person succumbs to death because of pneumonia or the like…

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My Own Self (FFnet) :

I'm pretty sure that you've mentioned before that a demon's mate lives as long as the demon, well if the mate is human of hanyou. So if Toga and Sierra were to get together, wouldn't she live as long as him and be fine, or would she live as long as him and have the disease?

 

This is all dependent on what Toga knows … remember, Sesshoumaru has NEVER wanted Toga to be with a human… so why would he tell him anything that would pertain to taking a human mate?

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MMorg

Nymphminxgoddess ------ mmmmmsubway15 ------ Kyonarai(not signed in) ------ Aitu (Muahahahhahahaa!) ------ DarklessVasion - not signed in ------ LadyOrion(notsignedin) ------- notzathros ------ kikyou_104(nsi)

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FFnet

My Own Self ------ Ryguy5387 ------ Jasmine Fields ------ Fairia13 ------ lil-epad ------ kestral-tudorica ------ xSilverShadowsx (She doesn't have it but she will develop it) ------ WiccanMethuselah ------ Flames101

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AFFnet ------ AScom ------ ATnet

flyer_byer ------ Quiet_beautiful_soul (woo hoo, you've not read the first chapter of Purity 3 yet, huh? LoL!) ------ akdreamer ------ Midnight_Sparrow ------ Saria ------ Fruitcake ----- Mel ------ psyco_chick32 ------ snowfall

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Final Thought fromToga:

Missing contracts?

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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~