InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 2: Defiance ❯ Three Weeks ... And Counting ( Chapter 44 )

~~Chapter 44~~

~Three Weeks … And Counting~

 

Toga dragged a tired hand over his face as Sierra paced the thick blue carpet, arms crossed over her chest, fingers drumming impatiently against her biceps. Rin tucked her feet under the chair demurely as she shifted in her chair to lean toward her brother. “Shouldn't you try to calm her down a little?”

 

Toga shot Rin a bored stare. “Right, so you can tell Father that I was misbehaving? No, thanks. Three more weeks . . . I'm not waiting any longer than that, no matter what he comes up with to delay the wedding---again.”

 

Rin coughed into her fist but Toga didn't miss the upturned corners of her lips or the telltale light in her deep brown eyes. “That really was a fluke, and Papa had nothing to do with it,” she remarked, referring to the latest delay in the wedding plans that had pushed back the date another four weeks. With three weeks left before the blessed occasion, the ever-calm Toga was ready to lose his cool, and everyone knew it. “Who would have thought that Sierra's mother would injure her foot?”

 

Toga snorted. “Feh. That's hardly a reason to postpone the wedding, don't you think?”

 

Rin narrowed her gaze. “Do you want me to answer that?”

 

It was enough to make him grind his teeth together, actually. With the influx of guests for the upcoming wedding, Toga was being forced out of his home and back into his parents' house. It was decided that it would be best for him to stay in his childhood home so that Sierra's family could use his house since they didn't speak Japanese and would have an easier time if they weren't at a hotel. Toga had offered to hire a translator. Kagura had told him not to be ridiculous.

 

Sierra stopped pacing long enough to stare out the window of the airport's private waiting room as the Inutaisho plane touched down. “They're here!”

 

Ignoring the knowing look Rin cast him, Toga stood up stiffly and wandered over to Sierra's side. Sierra tapped her foot as she waited impatiently for the plane to stop and for the occupants to disembark.

 

“I hope the trip went well,” she commented as she wrung her hands and stared at the empty hallway with a slight frown.

 

“Your brothers came with her, right? I'm sure she's fine,” Toga remarked.

 

Sierra made a face. “Just Kevin and Bill. Kevin gets motion-sick, and Bill always sleeps when he travels.”

 

Toga stifled a sigh. As if having his family constantly surrounding them, now Sierra's family was arriving to thwart him, too. Kevin Crawford and his wife Carol were the first to step into the waiting room. Sierra hurried over to greet her brother with a tight hug that ended in a squeal as her brother lifted her off her feet and swung her in a wide circle. Depositing her on her feet again, Kevin kissed her cheek before Carol hugged her.

 

Bill and Christine were next. Sierra laughed when Bill hugged her. Toga smothered the urge to growl when her brother held on just a little too long. Christine seemed tired but looked happy enough as she greeted Sierra with a quick hug. Mrs. Crawford was the last out of the hallway. Moving clumsily with a cane to offer support, she smiled at her daughter and hugged Sierra with her free arm before waving Sierra's offer of assistance away.

 

“I'm fine, Sierra. You don't have to worry about me.”

 

“Still, Mom . . . we can take you to Toga's house, if you'd like . . . .”

 

Toga plastered on a tepid smile as Sierra's family seemed to finally remember that he was there. “Are you sure this isn't an inconvenience?” Mrs. Crawford asked.

 

Toga shrugged. “Nope, it's fine.”

 

“Papa said he would make sure your luggage is taken to Toga's house,” Rin said as she stepped up beside her brother.

 

Toga made the introductions and offered Mrs. Crawford his arm before leading the Americans out of the waiting room and through the airport. Sierra walked between her brothers, laughing and chattering happily.

 

“I'm glad my Sierra came to her senses. She was miserable without you,” Mrs. Crawford said as Toga glanced over his shoulder at Rin, who was quietly explaining things to Christine and Carol. She grinned at him just before he turned around again.

 

“I missed her, too.”

 

“I have to admit, though, it is strange, to think of her living so far away from all of us.”

 

“I'll bring her back to visit whenever she wants to go,” he assured her.

 

“You're a good man, Toga.”

 

He smiled. “I'll take good care of her.”

 

Mrs. Crawford poked his side. “You'd better.”

 

 

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

 

 

Toga tossed the Frisbee to Sierra and laughed as Kirara leapt between them to intercept the hot pink disk. Sierra caught it in her fingertips and giggled as the happily yapping dog ran around her. Sierra whipped the Frisbee to Bill, and Kirara chased after it.

 

Kagura sat on the wide stone patio with Mrs. Crawford as Rin and Aiko led Christine and Carol on a guided tour of the Inutaisho estate. Sesshoumaru was actually talking with Kevin about kami-only-knew what, and Toga breathed a sigh of relief that his father was showing no outward disgust at the idea of his home being overrun with humans.

 

It was a good sign, he figured. Considering that he had yet to explain to Sierra's family that he wasn't human, he needed all the help he could get. `Some after-dinner conversation that'll be,' he thought with an inward wince. `By the way . . . I'm not human, and our kids won't be, either . . . .'

 

For some reason, he didn't really think this would go over well.

 

Fortunately for him, dinner was a quiet affair as Kagura and Sesshoumaru took turns asking inoffensive questions and answered ones posed to them. Sierra caught Toga's gaze and smiled. Toga stifled a sigh since he knew very well that it was no accident that she was seated across from him. Shippou kept the Americans entertained with his quick wit while Toga didn't speak much at all.

 

As dessert was served, Toga could feel what little he had eaten turn to lead in his stomach. The prospect of telling Sierra's mother about his heritage wasn't sitting well with him. He declined the thoroughly American dessert of vanilla ice cream and apple pie with a quick shake of his head. Sesshoumaru also waved off dessert. “Toga . . . .”

 

He made a face as visions of his future in-laws choking on their desserts rushed through his mind. A quick glance at Kagura made him wince even more. She was shaking her head ever-so-slightly at her mate though she did spare Toga a quick glance complete with a raised-eyebrow look.

 

`This is liable to make me look like a complete idiot,' Toga mused as he stifled a sigh. “I need to tell you a bit more about myself before Sierra and I get married,” he blurted, silencing everyone at the table as Sesshoumaru sat back in his chair with an inscrutable expression. Toga narrowed his eyes. If he didn't know better, he would swear that his father was enjoying the entire affair . . . .

 

Forcing himself to meet Mrs. Crawford's puzzled gaze, Toga pushed his chair back and fumbled for the right words to explain his heritage. “I'm . . . uh . . . not . . . human.”

 

Mrs. Crawford's eyebrows lifted though she didn't offer any commentary. Sierra fidgeted in her seat as she stared at her hands in her lap. Bill and Kevin stared at Toga in varying degrees of disbelief while the women glanced from Toga to Sierra and back again. Rin quietly excused herself to start gathering dishes. Shippou---the ass---was grinning from ear to ear.

 

“Come again?” Mrs. Crawford asked quietly as she blinked in a helpless sort of way, like she didn't know what to do with the given information.

 

Toga drew a deep breath before blurting, “I'm not human. I'm youkai, as are my father and mother.”

 

Mrs. Crawford digested that for a moment before looking at Sierra. “What is he talking about, Sierra?” she asked mildly enough.

 

Sierra made a face. “It means . . . he's . . . a creature spirit---not human.”

 

The brothers looked like they thought both Sierra and Toga had lost their minds. Shippou chuckled unmercifully as Sesshoumaru raised a fist to tap against his twitching lips. “Smooth, Toga . . . nice,” Shippou muttered.

 

Toga reigned in the desire to smack his brother-in-law silly. “Because of this, though, I can save Sierra. She'll never have Huntington's disease, and neither will our pups.”

 

Kevin's gaze narrowed. “Pups?”

 

“Children,” Sierra blurted as her cheeks reddened. “Toga's . . . a dog spirit . . . .”

 

“Dog?” Bill muttered incredulously. “As in . . . dog?”

 

“All right, this is insane,” Kevin pointed out with a quick shake of his head. “Just . . . insane. There are no such things as `you-whatever', and---”

 

“What do you mean, you can save Sierra?” Mrs. Crawford broke in, her voice cautious yet still reasonable. “There isn't anything that you can do to fix it . . . it's genetic.”

 

“It is,” Toga agreed. “Since I'm not human, my blood can save her. Youkai are immune to human diseases. As my mate---”

 

“Mate?” Bill echoed, obviously disliking Toga's choice of words and ready to take issue over it.

 

“Mate,” Toga stated again. “She'd be more than my wife. She would be with me as long as I live.”

 

A foreboding expression passed overshadowed Kevin's normally friendly countenance as he shot his brother a wary glance. “What do you mean by, `as long as you live'? Why do I get the feeling . . . you're not talking a human lifetime?”

 

“Youkai live for centuries,” Toga explained. “Sierra . . . she won't age like humans do.”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Bill interrupted, waving his hands in a gesture meant to silence Toga. The young man shot to his feet and paced the length of the dining room as Sesshoumaru leaned back a little more and watched in avid interest though he didn't offer to help Toga explain, either. Shippou's laughter escalated, quelled only when Rin finally shot him a scathing glare. “You can't honestly expect us to believe all this . . . .”

 

Toga sighed. “Well, I'd hoped, yes,” he confessed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

 

“Maybe I can help,” Shippou offered as he choked back another round of laughter. Standing slowly, the kitsune held out his hand. “Kitsune bi!” he yelled as a flash of fox fire shot across the room over Sierra's head, earning Shippou a slap upside the head from Toga and a little yelp from Sierra. The fox fire hit the wall and vanished without leaving a trace behind.

 

“Well, that was stupid,” Rin remarked as she rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips, glowering at her nit-wit mate. “You could have hurt her!”

 

“She wasn't going anywhere, and the worst it would have done would be singing her hair or something,” Shippou grumbled as he flopped back down.

 

“Yeah . . . singe her hair,” Rin snorted, “three weeks before her wedding? Sometimes, Shippou . . . .”

 

“Shippou's a kitsune---a fox youkai . . . and a moron,” Toga explained to alleviate the shocked expression on the human's faces. When they still didn't look like they wanted to believe it, Toga sighed and removed his concealment.

 

“What the hell are you?” Kevin demanded as he grabbed Carol's arm to pull her out of her chair.

 

Kevin tried to drag Sierra to her feet, too. “Stop it!” Sierra insisted. Carol was still too stunned to fight her husband's hold. Sierra, on the other hand, wrenched her arm free and glowered at her sibling. “He's still Toga, that's what! Now quit it! He had to tell you this---all of this---because I won't age with the rest of you, either!”

 

Toga stood up, too, intent on keeping Sierra away from her brothers if they really meant to try to take her. He wasn't sure what he was thinking, though if he stopped to consider it, his mind was repeating a few words over and over again: `Three weeks, damn it . . . three kami-forsaken weeks . . . .'

 

Sierra didn't need his help, however, and Kevin looked like he definitely heard what she was saying, even if he didn't like it. “This isn't . . . it's weird!”

 

“It isn't,” she said, her tone softening now that he was listening to her. “They stay hidden because they choose to. Just be happy for me, okay?”

 

Kevin still didn't look convinced but he seemed to relent despite the glower he shot at Toga.

 

Kagura stood up and clapped her hands briskly. “Perhaps we should let them finish this discussion alone,” she remarked. Shippou and Rin followed her out of the room though the kitsune did spare one last glance over his shoulder at Toga. His soft chuckle was, in Toga's opinion, sorely misplaced. Sesshoumaru stood, too, but didn't follow the others. He strode over to his son and stood beside him, silently facing the humans but making no move to leave. He looked bored, his expression completely blank. Toga knew better. His father didn't have to speak for Toga to understand that, in his own way, he was giving Sierra his approval.

 

Mrs. Crawford dropped her napkin on her untouched dessert and sighed. “Is there anything else you need to tell us, Toga?”

 

“Aren't you rushing into this just a little?” Bill finally asked as he stood up, too. “You're talking about a long time here.”

 

Toga couldn't stop the low growl that escaped at the inference that the wedding should be delayed---again.

 

“My son has waited this long to claim his mate,” Sesshoumaru finally spoke up. “His family has taken great care to make certain nothing . . . irreversible . . . happened up until now. He has waited in deference to Sierra. I trust you aren't thinking of trying to make him wait longer.”

 

Toga shot Sesshoumaru a sidelong glance, finally understanding his father's motives. He hadn't been trying to test Toga's patience at all. He'd been protecting Sierra, giving her time to adjust and ultimately, to refuse.

 

Sierra shook her head. “I'm going to marry him, and you can either be happy for us, or you can't, but . . . I'm not going to change my mind.” Her gaze met Toga's, and she smiled. Toga nodded once.

 

Sesshoumaru laid a hand on Toga's shoulder and propelled him toward the doorway. “She will not allow them to derail your wedding.”

 

“Feh!” Toga snorted, glancing back over his shoulder as Sierra sat back down at the table to finish talking to her family. She winked at him, and he started to turn around, to go back. Sesshoumaru shoved him forward again, and Toga heaved a heavy sigh since he didn't see any way of escaping his father's intent. “Like I'd let that happen.”

 

Sesshoumaru chuckled. “No, I didn't think you would.”

 

 

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A/N:

Youkai does not translate to `demon', as the dubs would have one believe. In the truest form, it translates to `bewitching apparition' ie, spirit, in this case.

Kitsune bi: Fox fire.

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Reviewers

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Aitu-- not signed in (MMorg):
hehehehe. This was a giggly chapter indeed! Loved the unlimited platinum card at the end. I want one!!! Especially if it's being paid by someone else. In a perfect life, that would be true. Hmm, I liked the term demon-in-laws, that was cute, haha. And double hmm, where exactly will Toga and Sierra decide to reside? I'm guessing that they will be in Japan due to clues in Purity 3? And when exactly does Toga become the Tai-youki? Does Sexxhoumaru have to die first? Or when ever Sesshoumaru gets bored he can step down?

 

They'll live in Japan though I'm sure they'll visit her family often enough. Toga would become Tai-youkai if Sesshoumaru couldn't do it anymore or if he died.

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MMorg

Fruitcake ------ MouF (Thanks!) ------ cj flutterby ------ DarklessVasion ------ LadyOrion ------ Iggy Lovechild ------ blzzrd53 ------ LadyBarrista ------ rdsjr_1989 ------ suzehowe (No, Sesshoumaru wanted to keep the line of the Inu no Taisho purely youkai to make things easier for Toga)

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TheFanaticInTraining ------ Drake Clawfang (When was it ever an `if'?) ------ xSilverShadowsx ------ Toyas Gurl (I don't know. It depends on whether or not something strikes me as far as wanting to do another story like that.) ------ Jasmine Fields ------ Ryguy5387 ------ myeerah ------ SkaQueen ------ Flames101 ------ lord andross ------ Midnight_Sparrow ------ akdreamer ------ agent-doo ------ Rinicat ------ WiccanMethuselah

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

Yasha 101 ------ inugrl15 ------ Shiga ------ Mel ------ Colshalin ----- moon_girl ------ Sess_2005 ------ CheshireAngel ------ InuyashaGurl ------ jragoneyes

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Final Thought fromToga:

… Damn kitsune …

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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~