InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Vivication ❯ Upside Down ( Chapter 21 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"Fai?"

Staring out the window at the beautiful sunshine that felt completely at odds with the irritation very evident in Fai's expression, he stood abruptly, sending the chair clattering loudly as it scooted back a few feet across the slightly uneven flagstone veranda.  It careened, it tilted, but it didn’t fall over—quite a feat, really . . . Striding over to the low wall that surrounded the area, Fai's scowl darkened even more, his eyes darting quickly over the peaceful landscape: the garden behind the vast Demyanov castle.

"Fai?"

"I heard you the first time, Yerik," Fai growled.

He heard his brother's sigh.  "It's been almost a week," Yerik said, opting to ignore Fai's uncharacteristic gruffness.

"I realize that," he ground out.  "They promised they'd be finished today."

"They?" he echoed quizzically.

"The contractor," Fai clarified in a tone that indicated that Yerik ought to have realized that on his own.

"Yes, well, that, too, I suppose," Yerik replied.  "I wasn't talking about the damages, though—the Hanyou of Legend actually blasted the doors with Tetsusaiga?"

"I fail to see the humor of it," Fai snarled.

Yerik chuckled, letting Fai's irritation roll right off his back.  "Is it as impressive as they say?"

Fai snorted indelicately.  "What are you talking about?"

Yerik shrugged when Fai peered over his shoulder to level a scowl at him.  "Tetsusaiga, Fai.  They say it's massive."

Fai only grunted in answer as he turned away once more.

"I'm sorry I missed that," Yerik admitted.  "Who would have thought that little Saori would have relatives like that?  Talk about intimidating, and it probably didn't sit well with them that you'd arrested . . . Sesshoumaru's granddaughter?"

"You're five minutes from being told to fetch your sword, Yerik," Fai warned dryly.

"So, if you had gotten killed on accident, did Sesshoumaru bring Tenseiga to revive you?"

Fai's jaw ticked as he ground his teeth together.  "I think I saw it in the hall," he growled.

"Saw what in the hall?  Tenseiga?"

"Your sword, Yerik.  Go get it."

The younger Demyanov had the audacity to laugh outright at that.  His amusement wound down slowly, though, and he finally sighed instead.  "You know, Fai, if you miss her that much, you could go get her," he suggested.

Fai didn't bother to respond to that.  Turning on his heel, he stalked away, down the steps that led to the garden, striding along the cobblestone paths that meandered through the many flowerbeds.  He was dangerously close to losing what was left of his temper, and if he didn't get a handle on it, he'd be sorry for it later.

Go get her?

He snorted and quickened his pace.  'I don't . . . I don't need her!  She kidnapped me, for God's sake!  The last thing—the very last thing—I need is to bring her back!  She has serious impulse control problems—kidnapping me, the Asian tai-youkai . . . cuddling with men she barely knows . . . kissing random strangers . . .'

'You're not a random stranger, Fai—and you liked it, that kiss—and the cuddling, for that matter.  You're just coming up with excuses.'

'I'm not,' he argued.  'Why on earth would I want to bring her back?  She has a horrible lack of decorum, doesn't really think about the things she does until after she's done them, runs off with strange men she doesn't know . . . I could go on.'

'Her heart's in the right place, Fai, and that has to account for something.  Maybe if we called . . .'

Fai snorted.  'Sesshoumaru was very clear when he said to stay away from her.'

'And you're afraid of him?'

'There is a huge difference between being afraid—and I'm not—and possessing a healthy respect for someone's abilities—which I do.  That aside, they say things work out the way they're meant to, right?  So, if that's the case, she was meant to go home—to go back where she belongs.'

'Do you really believe that?'

'I have to.  It's done.'

Besides, he figured, he had bigger things to worry about.  After all, he was still dealing with budget restraints—he really wasn't sure just where his father came up with the money to fund all the ongoing services that were slowly chipping away at the bottom line—not to mention that he had yet to come up with a workable plan to keep the orphanage going, long-term.  The reality of it was that he really needed to find someone that he could trust, someone who could help him figure out a way to not only find placements for the children already in the home but to keep it above water, too . . .

His first thought was to talk to Evgeni, maybe ask him if he had any suggestions regarding the home.

'Except the last time you mentioned it to him, he laughed and told you to shut it down—and that's what you were going to do, wasn't it?  Do you think he'll say anything different this time?'

Fai rolled up his sleeves a few times as he kept walking, thinking over his youkai-voice's assertions.  It was true enough.  Evgeni had maintained that the children in that home wouldn't amount to much in the long run, too, and had suggested, albeit in a very droll sort of way, that maybe the children ought to be killed off, too—that it might well be somehow kinder than living the life of beggars in an orphanage that was too poor to adequately care for them . . .

'That was just a joke—a really horrible joke, but a joke . . .'

'Was it, Faine?  Was it, really?  You know, sure, he came to discuss things with your father often enough, but you know as well as I do that the only person your father ever really trusted was your mother.  Maybe they were friends, but how often did your father warn you not to trust anyone more than you trust yourself?  He had to have said that for a reason, don't you think?  So, is it okay to tell Evgeni as much as you have?'

'Point taken, but that doesn't help the situation at hand.  I've thought it over and over again, and I've tried to come up with way too many workarounds, but you know that all I'm really doing is biding time, and if I cannot rely on Evgeni, then who do you suggest?'

His youkai voice snorted indelicately.  'You already know the answer to that.  You're just too stubborn to get out your phone and to make that call . . . For the record, I don't think she'd decline your request if you asked her to help you, and you know her well enough to know that she doesn't have ulterior motives, either.  Besides, she wants to see that home stay open as much as you do.  Do you think she'd really turn you down?'

Digging his phone out of his pocket, Fai scowled at the numbers he kept programmed in it.  The only number he had was the Japanese tai-youkai's office—Toga—Saori's uncle . . .?  He wasn't entirely sure, but he did know that they had to be related.  He seemed to recall at one point, someone mentioning Toga's younger sister, which would explain why Saori's last name wasn't Inutaisho.  Now, if luck was on his side, he'd at least get a phone number where he could reach Saori . . .

"Inutaisho."

"Toga?  Hello, this is Fai Demyanov—"

"Demyanov-dono?  Well, this is a surprise," the tai-youkai said.  He didn't sound unkind, but he didn't sound friendly, exactly, either . . .

Fai licked his lips.  "Yes, I suppose it is," he allowed.  "I know you're busy, so I won't take up your time.  I need to reach Saori Senkuro and wondered if you had her phone number?"

"Yes, I do," Toga remarked slowly, almost thoughtfully.  "I assure you that we're very sorry for what she did, and we're taking care of the situation.  You really needn't worry yourself over anything.  We're so incredibly sorry about what happened.  Please be assured that she has been duly reprimanded.  She . . . She's a bit impetuous at times, not that it excuses her behavior because kidnapping anyone, let alone the Asian tai-youkai, is very, very serious."

"Ah, no, I—"

"Under the circumstances, I think it's best if you were to let us deal with her.  If you require monetary compensation for the inconvenience, I'll be happy to authorize whatever you demand, and I promise you, she won't ever be returning to your jurisdiction, so there won't be any more trouble."

"No, you don't understand.  I—"

"Let me know if there's anything we can do to for you, Demyanov-dono.  Thank you for calling."

Grimacing when the line went dead, Fai let out a deep, frustrated breath and slowly shook his head.  Not even letting him speak?  Didn't that just figure, and why was he being treated like he'd done something wrong when she was the one who had felt the need to . . . to appropriate him, in the first place . . .?

'The whole damn family is insane,' he thought sourly, resuming his stomp through the gardens that should have brought him a level of calm, but was absolutely not working at all.  Just how on earth was he supposed to talk to her, to ask her to help him, if her family was so dead-set against the idea of her even speaking to him?  He wanted to offer her a job, needed her help with the children—something that he knew damn well that she'd want.  After all, it was her concern for the children that had led to the rest of the whole debacle, to start with.  Sure, he could understand the reluctance to allow him to speak to her when he'd had her arrested for it, but he hadn't even gotten a chance to defend his reason for calling, in the first place.

The unsettling and unwelcome sense of melancholy that slowly closed in around him slowed his pace, a terrible feeling of desolation that he didn't fully understand . . .

None of it made sense, did it?  After everything that had happened since the moment he'd met her, and now . . .? He'd tried, and he'd failed, and somehow, Saori had slipped a little farther away from him . . .


Saori tapped on the door then pushed it open, only to blink and raise her eyebrows at the vision that greeted her.

"Saori-chan!" Izayoi Bellaniece greeted brightly from where she sat, directly in Inutaisho Toga's lap.  Across from him, her aunt—Toga's wife—was very comfortably nestled in Bellaniece's husband's lap.  "Come in; come in!"

"Oba-chan . . ." Saori greeted.  In truth, Bellaniece wasn't actually her aunt—was, in fact, more like a second-cousin—but she'd always called both her as well as Nezumi and Gin, 'oba-chan', anyway . . . "Am I interrupting?" she asked, smiling as she noticed the tell-tale blush on her uncle's face.

Toga cleared his throat, peering around Bellaniece and slowly shaking his head despite the good-natured smile on his face.  "Oh, uh, Saori . . ."

Saori checked the urge to giggle and cleared her throat instead.  "I dropped off the file like you asked, and then, I picked up these," she said, stepping over to hand a binder over to Sierra.  "The florist said to let her know what all you want for the Inutaisho gala, but if you want any of the specialty flowers, let them know soon since they'll have to be imported."

"Tou-san say anything about the file?" Toga asked.

Saori shrugged.  "He said he'd call you later, after he's had a chance to look the file over."

Toga nodded.  "Thank you," he replied.

"Anything else you need me to do?"

Toga chuckled.  "You could sidetrack Belle, here, if you wanted."

"But, Toga-chan!  I thought you liked me!" Bellaniece protested, twisting around to peer over her shoulder at him.

"I like you well enough," he agreed.  "Kich . . .?"

Kichiro chuckled, making a show of tightening his hold around Sierra's waist.  "I'm okay with this," he teased.  Sierra giggled while Bellaniece winked at her mate.

"I'm good with it, too," Sierra piped up.

Toga heaved a sigh.  "Figures . . . Thank you, Saori.  I'll call if I need anything else," he told her.

She nodded and let herself out of the office.  Only after the door closed behind her, did she let out a deep breath of her own.

In the week since she'd been so unceremoniously brought home, she'd done very little.  Sure, she'd submitted her résumé to a few agencies and a couple schools, but she hadn't heard anything yet, and all she'd been doing otherwise was sitting at home, fielding lectures from various family members about how reckless her actions were.  Then Toga had called and offered her a part time position as an aide of sorts—at least, until she was able to find a job in her chosen field.  At least it gave her something to do, and Toga, unlike most everyone else, hadn't said a thing at all to her about the kidnapping of the Asian tai-youkai.

Shaking her head as she headed toward the elevator, Saori bit her lip.  She was just reaching out to hit the call button when the soft chime sounded and the doors slid open.  Blinking as she took a step back, she broke into a small smile as her cousin stepped off the elevator, straightening the sleeves of his blazer as he quirked his black eyebrows and leveled an otherwise bland expression at her.  "Well, if it isn't my cousin, the felon," Inutaisho Mamoruzen—better known as 'Gunnar'—remarked.  "If you're here to kidnap tou-san, I'll have you thrown in a real jail," he warned.

She wrinkled her nose.  "I'm working for him," she corrected.  "It's bad form to kidnap one's boss, isn't it?  Anyway, I've gotten enough lectures already, thank you."

He snorted, which meant that he really didn't care, one way or the other.  "What were you thinking?"

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.  "If you're going to have your go at me, the least you could do is buy me a cup of tea," she informed him, brushing past him and into the elevator.

He checked his watch, then opted to follow her.  "I have a few minutes," he allowed, pressing the button for the first floor of the impressive Inutaisho Communications building.  "What the hell were you thinking?"

That he'd asked that question in a very mild tone wasn't surprising—neither was the very real censure in his expression.  Golden eyes, unnecessarily bright as he stared down at her, he seemed to be daring her to try to lie to him, and she sighed.  "It wasn't . . . I wasn't trying to kidnap him," she heard herself explain for what had to be the hundredth time since she'd arrived back in Tokyo.  "I just wanted him to meet the orphans before he cut off funding for the home, is all."

Gunnar snorted and held his hand over the sensor when the doors slid open to allow her to exit the box first.  "So, you kidnap Fai Demyanov, and —"

"I prefer 'appropriated'," she muttered.

"Appropriated?"

She wrinkled her nose and shrugged.  "'Kidnap' sounds so violent.  Appropriated is much more diplomatic."

He grunted.  "Only you, Saori-chan, could possibly try to make the whole thing sound like the weird and twisted plot to a misbegotten rom-com."

She stopped short, blinking as his choice of words sank in.  "Wh-Who said anything a-a-about romance?" she choked out.

Gunnar's already nonplussed expression seemed to blank even more.  Fighting down the livid blush that threatened, Saori sped past him out of the elevator and through the foyer of the impressive building, veering to the right, across from the huge, circular reception desk, toward the glass walls and door of the upscale tea room that was a very popular place for people to conduct casual meetings or to grab a bit of refreshment before heading up to the offices above.

Slipping into the nearest empty table, Saori hurriedly buried her face behind a plastic-encased menu, all before Gunnar could sit down across from her.  He didn't reach for a menu, though, and instead lifted a hand to bring a waitress scurrying over.

"You're acting weird," he pointed out under his breath.  Glancing up at the waitress, he didn't smile, but he didn't have to.  This cousin of hers had an uncanny way of making women practically fall at his feet, after all, and now was no exception.  Saori rolled her eyes as the waitress' cheeks pinked, her gaze skittering nervously to meet his, only to flick away, back and forth in an entirely ridiculous display of girlish angst.  "Two teas," he said.  "Would you like anything else, Saori-chan?"

Saori peeked over the top of her menu.  "No, thank you," she replied.

The waitress chirped out something that sounded like it was meant to be a giggle before hurrying away once more.

"What are you doing in Japan, anyway?" she demanded before he could elaborate on her 'weird' behavior.

Settling back in the chair, Gunnar slowly shook his head, his impeccable hair, shimmering in the hazy bluish light, floating around him in a ripple of kinetic flow.  "In a word?  Okaa-san."

"Reminded you how long it's been since she's seen your face?"

He nodded slowly.  "That, and tou-san wanted an update on a few cases that Bas and I have been working on."  Pausing long enough to nod at the waitress while she set the tea on the table, he waited until she was moving away before continuing.  "Don't think I don't know that you're trying to change the topic."

"What was the topic?" she quipped.

She should have known that her little attempts at distraction would never work on this particular cousin, anyway.  "Your strange behavior just now."

"I'm not acting strangely," she insisted, hoping that he couldn't see right through her as she took her time, closing the menu and setting it back in the wire rack.  "As for Fai-sama . . . It really wasn't as bad as everyone thinks."

"They said he arrested you," Gunnar pointed out indelicately.

She sighed, tucking a long strand of hair behind her ear as she frowned into her tea.  "That's what he said," she agreed slowly, "but . . . but he didn't actually treat me like I was under arrest.  All he did was take away my phone, and that wasn't really a big deal—or it wouldn't have been if nii-chan hadn't freaked out over it . . ."

"Rinji-san worries about you.  Everyone does.  You know that you're entirely too impulsive, don't you?"

That earned him a rather petulant little frown.  "You would have been, too, if you had spent any time around those pups.  I'll admit, I was desperate, but you know, if I hadn't done what I did, then he would have cut off the funding, so I can't be sorry for it.  I'm not sorry."

"I know you're not.  So does everyone else.  That's the whole problem," he pointed out.  "You have everyone in the family up in arms; all of them think that it's just a matter of time before Fai-sama tries to force the issue.  It doesn't matter what words you want to use to describe what you did, you still kidnapped a tai-youkai, and that is just not something that can be brushed off.  The only thing that saves you from being charged with treason is that you're not from his jurisdiction.  Can you understand that?"

"I'm not a child!  Of course, I understand.  He knows why I did what I did, and he doesn't hold it against me," she insisted, wishing for the life of her that she believed her own words as much as she wanted it to sound like she did.  "Besides, when the van broke down, he started to go back home, but then he followed me instead, so I really only appropriated him for a couple days.  After that, I guess you could say that he . . . He came along with me of his own volition.  Then Dmitri and I took some of the children camping, and he wanted to come along, which is probably for the best since those Bershetoyev cousins made me go with them—Well, Nikolai did.  Pavel was shot in the shoulder, and he needed me to give him first aid . . ."

"What are you talking about?"

Saori shrugged, sipping her tea as she considered those few frantic hours . . . "Fai-sama and his brother found me—rescued me, I guess you could say—even though I wasn't really in any danger, but I suppose they didn't realize that at the time."  Trailing off, Saori sighed inwardly as the memory faded.  Gunnar looked like he was ready to reach across the table and give her a good shake, and she sighed.  "Fai-sama . . . He's a very kind man.  I don't think he likes to show it.  He thinks he needs to be tougher than anyone else . . ."

He scowled at her for a long moment.  She didn't look at him, but she could feel his frown, boring into her skull.  Then he let out a deep breath—about as close to a sigh as he ever made, anyway.  "He's got a lot of enemies, Saori-chan," he finally said.  "That's what I hear, anyway.  You're better off here."

She didn't miss the rest of that sentence—the part he didn't say out loud, and she rubbed her arms to chase away the bumps that rose on her skin, even though she wasn't at all cold.

'Where it's safe.'

That was what he hadn't said.