InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Vivication ❯ Suspicion ( Chapter 48 )

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

‘Do you think we should do something?’

Perched atop the low railing that surrounded the patio directly behind the mansion, Saori crossed her arms over her chest and thoughtfully bit her lip as she watched the ridiculousness laid out before her.

Four grown men, all of them acting fairly foolish since all of them were also well beyond drunk, too.

The gorodki battle had ended with Fai and Rinji holding the upper hand since they’d opted to divide into teams, leaving Konstantin and Yerik on the other one.  Every time one of them tossed a bat to knock over the wooden pins, they’d all swigged the vodka in the huge brown jug.  Saori had no idea, just how much was left in that jug, but all four of them were currently staggering around in such a way that she really had to wonder about the wisdom of it all.

Since their team had won the gorodki match, they’d gotten to choose the next tournament, which, in hindsight, was probably a pretty bad idea.  Fai, in one of his more inspired moments, had decided that Rinji should choose the next round, and her brother—kami help her—had decided in his infinite wisdom that sumo wrestling would be a great way to go.

So, she was watching four nearly naked men, stumbling all over the yard while Rinji tried to explain the basic rules of the sport, but she was pretty convinced that he really had no idea, because she didn’t really believe that there was an official rule regarding the pantsing of one’s opponent.  According to Rinji’s unofficial-official rules, the first one to force their opponent out of the ring—it was lopsided—or to the ground with any body part other than the soles of one’s feet, or to de-pants the opposition would win the match, best three of five . . .

‘Well, look at the bright side.  You’re seeing a whole lot of Fai-sama at the moment, right?  So, that has to account for something . . .’

She snorted, digging out her cell phone and snapping a picture of her beloved brother, who had been more than happy to strip down to his boxers along with the rest of them.  Then she sent the picture to Aiko and stowed her phone once more.

“Saori, come over here!  We need an official!” Fai called.

She quickly shook her head.  “Oh, no . . . No, thank you.”

“Are you kidding?  She’s entirely biased!” Yerik complained.  “She’s your mate and his sister!  Where’s Vasili?”

“We are all honorable men,” Konstantin interrupted.  “We can judge ourselves!”

Fai snorted.  “Yeah, that’s not going to work, Kostya,” he muttered.  “Saori, will you go find Vasili?”

She hopped off the wall and headed inside.  It was entirely likely that Vasili had no clue when it came to the rules of sumo wrestling, either, but she supposed that wouldn’t really matter too much; not when the participants were all drunk, anyway . . .

She found the butler near the back doors, staring outside in such a way that it was quite apparent to Saori that he had no idea what the men were doing—and rather didn’t look like he really wanted to find out, either.  “Vasili-san, Fai asked me to come find you.”

The butler shot her a look that could only be described as, ‘suspect’.  “Forgive me, my lady, but . . . Do you know why . . .?”

She giggled.  “Well, I think they wanted an impartial judge,” she explained.

He looked entirely horrified—not that she blamed him.  “But . . . What are they doing?”

She tried to keep a straight face; she really, really did.  She didn’t, but she tried.  “They’re sumo-wrestling.”

“Oh, dear God,” the butler mumbled.  “I . . . I see . . .”

She laughed again.  “Better you than me,” she told him, shaking her head since she was entirely pleased that she wasn’t the one who was going to have to judge the ridiculous tournament.

Vasili didn’t look at all pleased as he heaved a sigh and made his way outside.

Saori followed at a bit of a distance, just in case the butler thought that he’d try to weasel out of it.  Her phone chimed as she hopped back onto the wall, and she wasn’t surprised at all to see that it was her mother, video calling.

“Kaa-chan!” she greeted happily when the video feed connected.

Aiko laughed as she tucked her hair behind her ear.  She was wearing one of her smart suit jackets with the security clearance badge hanging around her neck from a black lanyard.  “Saori, what’s this picture you sent me?” she asked, her smile brightening as she sat at her desk and settled the phone into the docking station.  It transferred the feed to a bigger screen she’d pulled down over her desk.

Saori giggled and turned the phone so that her mother could see just what was going on.  Rinji was facing off against Konstantin, and, though her brother was very tall, fairly broad of shoulders, even if he was very narrow of waist and well-toned overall, he looked so pathetically small in comparison to the lumbering bear-youkai . . .

“Oh . . . That doesn’t really look like a fair match, does it?” Aiko remarked, sounding rather concerned.  Then, she giggled, too.  “Two thousand yen says that your brother takes him down.”

“Kaa-chan!” Saori gasped.  “Okay.”

It took a few minutes for Rinji and Fai to explain the sport to Vasili, who had a very limited grasp of English.  Rinji explained everything once more to Fai, who then translated it into Russian for Vasili.  If she’d thought that he looked entirely horrified before, the expression was even more pronounced now.

“I don’t know . . . Nii-chan made up some weird pantsing rule,” Saori muttered.

Aiko laughed.  “Well, that’s actually a rule,” she said.  “It didn’t used to be, but awhile back, they decided that you would win if you could manage to remove your opponent’s mawashi . . . I believe that rule was created when more of the attitudes toward nudity started to change . . .”

Saori snorted.  “It disturbs me that nii-chan knew this.”

“Your brother is a fan of sumo wrestling.”

“He is?”

Aiko laughed more.  “Yes, he is.  Anyway, tell him to take down that big ol’ bear!”

“Rinji!  You’d better win for kaa-chan!”

Saori pressed her lips together when Rinji’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing on the phone that Saori held out to catch the action.  He chuckled, swaying slightly on his feet.  “Hai,” he replied, thumping his chest in a rather tipsy kind of way.

“Drink before battle!” Konstantin announced, stumbling over with the jug of questionable vodka.  Uncorking the jug with a flourish before tipping it to his lips, he unleashed a loud growl as he handed it over to Rinji.

“What’s he drinking, Saori?” Aiko asked as she looked on.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she replied.  “They said it was homemade vodka, and they’ve been passing that jug around awhile . . .”

“Oh, that can’t be good . . .” Aiko murmured.

Saori laughed.  “Do you want to change your bet?”

She thought about that.  “No . . . I mean, they’ve all been drinking, right?”

“Yes, they have.”

Yerik wandered over to Fai, handing him the jug as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tried not to look like he might well be sick.  Fai took it and tipped it back, managing to swallow with a grimace as the fire liquid burned all the way down while Rinji and Konstantin stomped one foot in customary sumo style before bending over, smashing both hands down at the same time.  They also both nearly toppled right over, but . . .

It was more of a farce than an actual match.  Konstantin had no idea, just how to go about doing it while Rinji was far too tipsy to do much more than shuffle his feet.

“This is kind of sad,” Aiko remarked after a minute of the combatants doing nothing.  “Rinji!  Take him down!” she hollered.

Rinji lunged, actually stumbling toward Konstantin instead of properly attacking.  He caught the bear around the neck, and it was the brunt of his weight that forced Konstantin off balance enough that he dropped to one knee.  The offset caused Rinji to fall, too, but Konstantin’s knee had touched down first.  Vasili raised his hand as soon as he saw it.  “Winner, Master Rinji,” he announced.

The two men fell over, laughing hysterically, and Aiko laughed.  “You owe me, Saori,” she remarked.  “You can pay me when we get there.”

“You’re coming?” she asked, turning the phone to face her again.

Aiko nodded.  “Demyanov-sama invited us—your father and me.  He said you were homesick, so we’re flying out tonight.  We just had to take care of a few things here in the office first.”

“Really?” she asked, unable to help the happy smile that shot to the fore.

“He’s a good man, your Demyanov-sama,” Aiko told her.  “I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got a meeting to get to.  Tou-chan and I will see you in a few hours.”

The call ended, and Saori bit her lip, staring at the phone for a moment before hopping down off the fence and hurrying over to Fai.  She didn’t stop to think about it or to worry that everyone was there, watching.  So overwhelmed with the idea that he’d care enough to call her parents, to invite them to visit, all she could think was that she . . . She loved him . . .

Throwing herself against him, uttering the smallest little scream as the two of them fell, hit the ground, Saori laughed suddenly, kissing Fai before he could even make sense of what was happening.  Slowly, his arms closed over her as he started to kiss her back.

“What was that for?” he asked her, making a valiant effort to focus on her face when she leaned up to smile at him.

“For being you,” she replied simply.  He looked entirely confused for a long moment.  Then, he smiled.


Slumped over the table on the enclosed patio off of the dining room, Fai made a face as he slugged back another cup of black coffee in an effort to rid his body of the toxic ooze that Konstantin called vodka.  The other three?  Fai snorted, grimacing when the sound of it rattled through his head.  They were upstairs, sleeping it off—bastards, the lot of them.

He didn’t get that luxury, nope.  Considering Saori’s parents were due to arrive soon enough, he was trying to sober up before then . . .

‘Considering you want their daughter to be your mate?  Greeting them, drunk off your ass is probably a pretty poor idea; you’re right.’

He groaned, lifting a hand to shield his eyes against the sunshine that streamed through the bank of windows.  How was it that he could have forgotten that little nugget of information, anyway?  If he had, then he certainly wouldn’t have accepted Konstantin’s ridiculous challenge—well not until tomorrow, maybe.

‘That might be, but you know, after all of that, we’re still tied with Konstantin.’

Fai sighed.  There was that, too.

‘You know, it’s kind of sick, just how competitive you get when Kostya alludes to the idea that you may not be the manliest man in Russia . . . You get that, right?’

‘It’s not such a bad thing, to be competitive,’ he argued, rubbing his forehead, wondering if anyone would notice if he really did, steal away upstairs to try to sleep it off.  As it was, he was stuck in that middle area, somewhere between happily besotted and feeling like complete and utter crap . . .

“Here you go, Your Grace . . . A nice bowl of porridge and some black bread . . . Olga swears that it’s a good thing to eat when you’re . . . um . . . slightly under the weather, as it were . . .”

Sparing a moment to glower at the butler as he set a bowl of very bland looking food before him.  He was about to push it all away, but then, thought better of it when his phone chimed.  It was Saori, letting him know that she had just left the airport with her parents and were on their way back.  She’d at least taking a little bit of pity upon him and mentioned that they’d be stopping for dinner before returning to the castle, which might give him another hour . . . Maybe . . .

He grimaced after the first spoonful.  “Vasili, bring me the salt,” he called before the butler could slip away.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace.  Olga insists that it needs to be as bland as possible so you can eat it all without getting violently sick from it.”

For some reason, he had the feeling that the butler was enjoying the entire thing just a little more than he really ought to.

“Then pepper is off limits, too?” Fai growled.

Vasili nodded.  “If you’re good, then I need to make sure that the guest chamber is entirely in order?”

“Go,” Fai muttered.

It didn’t take him too long to finish off the food that Olga had sent out for him.  Willpower alone had pushed him through it as he choked down the last of the bland and dry bread.  It was helping, though, he thought as he slugged down the rest of the cup of black coffee before reaching for the carafe again.  He still felt fairly miserable, but the food seemed to be soaking up some of the vile vodka still in him, he supposed.

Of course, it didn’t do anything about the thundering headache that ricocheted around his brain.  If he lived through the next few hours, he supposed he’d deserve some kind of medal . . .


Saori slipped into Fai’s office after leaving her parents with Vasili, who was showing them to their room.  Fai hadn’t appeared to greet them.  She only hoped that he was feeling a little better than he was when she left, so it had surprised her when Vasili had told her that he’d gone to his office and hadn’t been seen since.

Of course, Aiko wasn’t surprised at all that Fai wasn’t with her when she’d picked them up at the airport.  Seiji, however, had grunted, looking entirely offended that Fai hadn’t come along.  She wasn’t sure if her mother hadn’t told him about the drinking match that she’d seen or not, but he hadn’t said anything—yet, anyway . . .

Fai was laying on the sofa, fast asleep, and she smiled.  Snoring lightly, his arm stretched up over his head, bent over his eyes, he looked so much different, didn’t he?  It was so hard to see other parts of his expressions, his face, when his eyes were open.  So bright, so vivid that she usually found herself mesmerized, she loved these moments when she could take some time to just look at him, to appreciate him . . . and to wonder just what she’d done in her life to deserve to find someone like him . . .

‘Do you really think so?  I mean, sure, he’s fun to look at, but you realize, right?  He’s your mate, so that means he probably feels a lot like you do . . . And you need to remember, too.  He’s just a man, as fallible as any other.  Don’t expect him to be perfect . . . Just love him for who he is.’

It was a rare thing when her youkai-voice offered her advice that wasn’t based upon some wacky idea that she would do better to ignore.  This time, however, the words . . . They made sense, didn’t they?

Biting her lip as she knelt beside the sofa, taking her time as she gently brushed the long bangs out of his face, she giggled softly when he leaned into her touch, uttering the softest little moan, the sweetest little sigh . . .

She really could just sit there, staring at his sleeping face.  Too bad it wasn’t really an option.  Still, she took the time to kiss him gently, to snuggle her cheek against his before leaning in to whisper to him.  “Fai . . . Fai-sama . . .”

He let out a deep breath, slowly opened his eyes.  It took him a moment to focus on her face, and when he finally did, he arched an eyebrow.  “Didn’t we already talk about the whole -sama thing?”

She giggled and planted a noisy kiss on his cheek.  “Well, we did,” she allowed with a shrug as he turned onto his side, slipped his arms around her.  “But you were sleeping, so . . .”

He nodded, though he didn’t look like he was buying her excuse completely.  “Did your parents have a good flight?”

She nodded, too, idly letting her fingers lift his hair, only to watch it flow through her fingers and drift back down again.  It looked like rich sable with a vague tint of red, hints of gold . . . He managed a wan smile despite the lingering darkened smudges under his eyes.  “They did.  Tou-chan was a little . . . unhappy that you weren’t with me at the airport, but right now, he’s settling in with kaa-chan, so you’re safe for the moment.”

He snorted.  “I’m not afraid of your father,” he grumbled despite the hint of pink that crept into his cheeks.  “. . . I could take him, if I had to . . .”

Saori giggled, and when he narrowed his eyes on her, she giggled harder, to the point that she brought her hands up, covering her mouth as the laughter bubbled out of her.

He grunted.  “You know, I’ve fought far more life and death battles that your father has,” he pointed out haughtily.  “Stop that, will you?  You’re underestimating my abilities.”

Even so, the harder she tried to control her laughter, the worse it became.  In the end, he heaved a sigh, letting his arms drop away from her as he pushed himself upright and rubbed his face.  “You’re hell on my ego, you know,” he grumbled.

She rose up on her knees, snuggled against him, forcing her head under his chin.  “I know, you’re absolutely a fierce man,” she said.  He sighed at the hint of mollification in her tone.  “You did very well in your sumo-wrestling match.”

He leaned back to look at her as though he thought that she was simply pacifying him.  “It was against Yerik,” he muttered.  “It wasn’t that hard to do, especially when he was drunker than the rest of us, put together.”

Pressing her lips together to keep from laughing outright, Saori nodded slowly, deciding it was better to allow his ego to remain intact, even though he did have a point.  Poor Yerik, at only eighteen, wasn’t nearly as good at holding his liquor, and, given that we weighed less than anyone else, it wasn’t really surprising that he’d suffered the most from the overindulgence.  Then again, it wasn’t like anyone made him do it, either . . .

“If it makes you feel better, you’re my manliest man in all of Russia,” she ventured.

He didn’t look like he actually believed her, but he sighed and kissed the top of her head.  “Somehow, I feel like you’re just saying that,” he muttered.

She smiled, leaning up to kiss his chin.  “Well, I’m not,” she assured him.  “As for tou-chan . . . If you know anything about Intelliface, you could just get him talking about that.”

“Are you giving me advice on how to woo your father?”

She laughed again.  “Maybe.  Is that bad?”

“Nope,” he decided.  Then he chuckled.  “Thank you.”