InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Special delivery ❯ Filling in the blanks ( Chapter 66 )

Chapter 66: Filling in the blanks

 

 

A/N: Hi, remember me? Yep I'm the fanfic author who's so very ashamed for not updating sooner. Ugh let's just say I'm glad midterms are over. Now onto brighter things. Here's time for the long awaited explanation about Kagura's birth. Hope you're not disappointed.

 

Thanks to all of you guys for the support:

 

Syzhale

Sesshkagufan13

Little25victor

DeathAngel69

AutumnroseHigurashi

Halloween265

Roguereader (Yikes! Hum it seems I may have to enter a protection program by the end of this fic… after all who knows if it will indeed be a happy ending for all :P)

New2fanfiction (Thank you for the support. Wow 2 days; that's a lot of effort.)

 

 

Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, Sesshy and Kagura would be happily mated and working on silver haired baby number three by now…

 

 

 

“Talking”

`Thoughts'

 

 

“I cannot believe Haruka managed to trick me.” Sesshoumaru thought aloud just as he started his car. Despite his acceptance of the situation, he still had a hard time getting over the young woman's deception.

 

“What are you muttering about now? Is something wrong with the adoption? I think I heard you mention Haruka.” Kagura asked after she sat down next to her fiancé in his vehicle. The couple had just dropped Kanna to her soon to be uncle's house as they were going to go meet up with the Fujibayashis. As much as Kagura was eager to get answers about her past, and reconnect with her family, she would never hurt her daughter in the process. She had therefore thought it best not to let Kanna know about the upcoming `family reunion.'

 

`And in any case Kanna is too over the moon to care about anything other than Sesshoumaru and me getting married.' The wind sorceress thought to herself, a smile on her lips. When she and Sesshoumaru had announcer to Kanna that they were going to get married, and that Sesshoumaru would be her father, and Rin her sister, the young demoness had been overjoyed.

 

“I found out not too long ago that Haruka lied to me. There was not another couple trying to adopt Rin, she just told me so because she wanted me to petition the court to adopt Rin.” The dog demon sighed, feeling a frown appear between his brows.

 

“I don't see what the big deal is. She lied while trying to do the right thing… You did that to me too.” Kagura scoffed. Her remark caused him to send her a glare.

 

“When exactly did this Sesshoumaru do that?” He asked, truly not able to recall.

 

“Well for starters there was the time you swore you had returned my sapphire gown, but you had not…”

 

“This was a surprise, not a manipulation.” He interrupted her.

 

“Fine, what about the time I started working for you? You had all the employees dress in jeans to make me fit in.” She pointed out smugly.

 

“You knew?!” He did his best not to sound as astonished as he really was. The thing that truly surprised him was that Kagura had not said anything as soon as she had found out, and that she did not seem to be very upset by his deceit.

 

“Hari and Ruri told me after only a week; you know how they can't keep a secret.” Kagura chuckled. “I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't tell you about it, right?... Well let's just say that in a slightly twisted way, I thought it was kind of cute. I mean you went through great lengths to make me feel comfortable at your work.” She turned her head to smile sweetly at him.

 

“Although I am pleased, I must admit that was quite an unusual behavior coming from you.” He smiled faintly at the idea that ever since then Kagura had appreciated his care for her so much.

 

“I'm not the only one who's being weird.” Kagura said deciding to change the topic of their conversation. After all getting into an argument about something that had occurred so long ago was the last thing she wanted. “I mean, is it me, or was Kagome kind of cold to us today?” She reflected on the lack of usual cheerfulness in the young woman.

 

“I did not notice anything amiss.”

 

“Feh! Surprising coming from you, who are usually so perceptive.” She snorted.

 

“Do not adopt my brother's ridiculous way of speaking.” He growled in annoyance. He knew that she was only doing so to irritate him, and to his exasperation it was actually working.

 

“Why so hostile towards the only member of your family that has ever mattered to you?” She smirked, paraphrasing the words with which Sesshoumaru had qualified his brother the night he had proposed to her.

 

“I knew I was going to pay for this one.” The dog demon sighed. Kagura chuckled before blowing him a kiss, and adding:

 

“Don't worry honey, after this afternoon I am sure you will have plenty of ammo to fire back…” As much as she wanted to pretend that her upcoming meeting with her `family' was not frightening her, Sesshoumaru, as usual, saw right through her.

 

“Whatever happens, my opinion of you will not change.” He assured her just as he removed one of his hands from the wheel to rest it over her palm. She smiled faintly when he gave a reassuring squeeze to her hand with his.

 

“Glad to see you will always love me, even after you find out about my messed up past.” She tried to laugh off her worry, but was not able to fool him.

 

“Kagura…”

 

“Well looks like we're here. You should be able to find parking in the alley on the right.” She quickly interrupted him. She knew he was about to try to comfort her, but she did not want him too; the last thing she wanted was to break down in front of him before they even actually met her family.

 

“Very well.” He muttered disappointed not to have her lean on him in this instance. `Whether you realize it or not, you will learn to rely on me.' He vowed to himself as her parked his car.

 

 

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000

 

 

“Are you sure you want to go through with it?” Sesshoumaru asked the woman walking next to him.

 

“Yes, I have to do it.” Kagura answered. Her fiancé could easily tell she was faking bravado, so he did not hesitate to take her hand in his. She may have not wanted to appear weak in the eyes of the man she loved, but she was touched when he offered her support, and reluctantly took it.

 

He nodded in assent, and walked forward. He was taken by surprise when Kagura suddenly stopped merely two feet away from the door of the coffee shop where she was to meet with Sakura Fujibayashi.

 

“How very strange. I just realized that we had our start in a coffee shop as well… I don't really count the evening I went to your penthouse as Kaze…. It must be a good sign, right?” She turned to her side to ask Sesshoumaru.

 

“Kagura. If you are not willing to go through with this, do not feel forced to.” He said in a last chance attempt to prevent her from what he knew would be a painful experience.

 

“Don't worry honey, it will all be alright.” The wind sorceress released his hand, and pushed through the door of the establishment.

 

“Oh Kagura over here!” The young woman was not surprised to see none other than Sakura Fujibayashi waving excitedly at her from a secluded table in a dark corner at the back of the establishment. A very handsome older demon with long dark hair, and pale lavender eyes was seated next to her.

 

Following her invitation, Sesshoumaru and Kagura made their way to the table, and sat across from the demon couple.

 

“Well I would like to start off by expressing how glad I… I mean we are that you accepted to come. I am sure it must have not been easy for you to accept our invitation…”

 

“Sakura, let's not bother with niceties. I am sure Kagura and her friend have come to find answers, which we are willing to finally provide. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Morio Fujibayashi, and I have the honor to be Sakura's husband. I believe you have met my eldest son Byakuya.” The dark haired man seated next to Sakura said, a bright welcoming grin on his lips.

 

“Sesshoumaru Takahashi, Kagura's fiancé.” Sesshoumaru offered in response. Hearing him revealing their relationship so openly truly surprised the wind sorceress, yet pleased her at the same time.

 

“Fiancé?!” Sakura gasped before adding “Oh how wonderful. I am so glad for you Kagura. I was so afraid that Naraku would be able to take away from you any chance of happiness.”

 

“Talking about that bastard, how exactly did I end up in his diligent care?” Kagura's sarcastic question caused Sakura's smile to fall.

 

“I see you really do not wish to waste any time.” The older woman then paused to nervously run her tongue over her pale upper lip. Sensing the great distress coming from his wife, Morio took a hold of Sakura's hand before pressing a kiss over her whitened knuckles.

 

“Go on honey. You have been keeping everything in for too long.” He then gently encouraged his wife.

 

After taking in a deep breath, the void demoness started her tale. “When I was eighteen years old, I ran away from home… let's just say that I tired of arguing with my step-father; especially when our arguments always ended up with me covered in bruises. While on the streets, I met up with Naraku. I was young, alone, impressionable, but mostly stupid.” Only thinking about the spider hanyou made her shudder in disgust. She was slightly surprised when Morio ran a comforting hand along her back, helping her relax.

 

“Thank you honey.” She added before continuing her explanation. “While I made odd jobs for him like delivering product to his clients, Naraku introduced me to drugs.” Sakura then took another pause, and pondered for a few seconds before speaking. “I will be honest with you Kagura, and will not sugar coat anything. I became severely addicted to drugs… and not long afterwards I met your father… He was a regular client of Naraku, and I will not lie to you, and tell you we were madly in love… this was not the case. I cared for him deeply, but I do not think he returned my feelings in any way.”

 

“So basically I am the product of two drug addicts, who needed a way to have some fun when they were high.” Kagura snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her bitter words pushed Sesshoumaru to send her an inquisitive glance. She knew that if she wanted he could have her out of the coffee shop in a matter of seconds. However she replied to his silent inquiry with a gentle shake of the head. She was here to get answers, and even if they might hurt, she would get all of them.

 

“No!” Sakura exclaimed and smacked her hand on the table at the same time. It was only because the coffee shop was empty at the time that the foursome did not attract more attention.

 

“Do not say that. Never say that. I love you. I've wanted, and loved you ever since I realized I was pregnant. As hard as it was I stayed off drugs during my entire pregnancy. I wanted to make sure you would be fine… and you were. You were the most perfect and beautiful baby girl.” Only reminiscing about the first time she had held her daughter brought tears to Sakura's crimson eyes, the ones so similar to the young woman seated across from her.

 

“If you cared so much, then why did you leave me alone with Naraku?” Kagura asked trying to understand what had happened. Ever since her younger age Naraku had told her that her mother had abandoned her because she did not love her enough, being convinced otherwise would need a lot of work from Sakura.

 

“I had no other choice!” This time when she spoke, Sakura let go, and tears fell from her eyes.

 

“I believe this is when I come in.” Morio smiled nicely. “When I first met your mother, she was a patient at a free clinic I volunteered with. I was a young doctor eager to help people. She… wasn't in a good shape when I came across her.”

 

“What he means is that I ended up at the clinic after an almost deadly overdose. Naraku had brought me there because he did not want to have to deal with me. He proclaimed he would look after you until I was feeling better… Morio helped me clean up, and while doing so we fell in love.” Sakura supplemented.

 

“As soon as Sakura told me about her daughter, I decided to help her try to get you back. Unfortunately Naraku had vanished, and by the time we managed to find him…” He paused to send a look at his wife, silently asking her how much she wanted to disclose to Kagura.

 

“He had told us he had given you up for adoption. We hired a private investigator to help us find you, but his search amounted to naught.”

 

“Even after we got married, and that Byakuya was born, we kept looking for you. Sakura would never give up.” Morio then interjected.

 

“I realize now that the reason why we couldn't find you was that Naraku had not only moved to another city, but had also changed your name.” The older demoness reflected.

 

“Throughout the years we kept looking for you, but in vain. You must understand how it came at a complete surprise to us when that monster came back in our life several years later. By then our lives were very different. Morio was a successful surgeon, and me quite the accomplished housewife. Hakudoushi, our second son had also been born by then.” Sakura took a pause before continuing. “Naraku started blackmailing us then. In exchange with providing us with the name and contact of the family that had supposedly adopted you, we paid him large sums of money.”

 

“Except that he had not actually shipped me off to another family.” Kagura said. For the first time since the beginning of the encounter, bitterness was absent from her voice. She was so stunned by the revelations that she felt numb inside, unable to register any other emotion but shock. For years she had tried to imagine what could have happened for her parents to decide to leave her, but never could she have imagined Naraku had played such an important role in keeping her away from her mother.

 

“To think that all this time you were so close… yet so far.” Sakura said sadly as she fished inside her designer purse to retrieve a lace trimmed handkerchief to wipe her tears. “It was only a few months ago that Naraku finally gave us your new legal name, and that our private investigator was able to find you.”

 

“I guess that's about the time you started popping everywhere in my life…” The wind sorceress snorted, causing Sakura to blush slightly.

 

“I just wanted to see you… I wanted to know if you were alright.” Her mother explained her behavior.

 

“I trust your curiosity was satisfied.” The wind sorceress said. The coldness present in her gaze broke Sakura's heart. She had played over their big reunion several times in her head over the years, and their present encounter was quickly shaping out to be what she deemed to be a total disaster.

 

“I understand your anger.” Sakura said drying her tears. “You have every reason to be mad at me. I am the reason your life was ruined. Please forgive me, if I had been stronger I would have found you an adoptive family as soon as you were born.”

 

“Sakura!” Morio gasped, shocked by his wife's words.

 

“I am being serious.” Sakura persisted, turning to her side to face her husband. “If I had given her up, she would have grown up in a stable loving family, not with that psychotic bastard! If only I had not been this weak! I wanted to keep her for myself, to see her grow up, but all I ended up doing was hurting her.”

 

The void demoness then turned to face Kagura before adding “It may be a lot, but I would like you to forgive me. I may have not been here for you all these years, but I would like to be now. You may doubt it, but I love you Kagura. You are my daughter, and I will always love you.” As much as she ached to stretch her hand to touch the young woman seated across from her, Sakura dared not.

 

“I think it's time for us to go.” To the surprise of everyone else, Kagura suddenly stood up and headed towards the door, Sesshoumaru faithfully following behind her in silence.

 

“Kagura wait!” Sakura exclaimed as she followed suit. When she had caught up to her daughter she asked “Do you think we could meet again? I know this must have been hard for you, but please give us a chance.” Just as the words left her lips, Sakura opened her purse to get one of her visiting cards containing all her contact information, and with shaky hand and eyes filled with hope, extended it towards Kagura.

 

When his lover did not turn around to take the offered card, Sesshoumaru took pity on the hurting woman and took the card before placing it in his pocket.

 

“Let us go now.” At hearing Sesshoumaru's words, the wind sorceress resumed walking.

 

Just as she was about to go through the door, Kagura turned around and faced her mother, looking straight into the crimson eyes, which mirrored hers perfectly. “What… What was the name you gave me when I was born?” She finally managed to ask.

 

“Jiyuu; it means freedom. I wanted you to be free in a way I had never been able to. I'm sorry for failing you.” The older demoness answered. Then as something else occurred to her, Sakura added “If I am not mistaken, Kagura means dance of the gods. Naraku must have settled on it to slight me. Before I ended up on the streets, I wanted to be a dancer…”

 

Without offering a farewell Kagura went through the door, and headed towards Sesshoumaru's car. Just as the dog demon was about to follow her, he was interrupted by Sakura.

 

“I am glad she has you; you seem to be a responsible young man. If I had not met Morio, I probably would be dead by now. I can firsthand attest of the power love can have, and how it can help heal the deepest of hurts. I only hope that you will be able to help Kagura the way my husband was able to help me.”

 

Sesshoumaru only offered her a response in the form of a nod before he rushed after the woman he loved.

 

 

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000

 

 

Even though Kagura and Sesshoumaru had been settled inside his car for a few long minutes, the dog demon had yet to start the engine. The two of them had stayed in a deep silence for a long time when he suddenly decided to break it.

 

“How are you doing?” He asked, his softened golden eyes trained on his beloved.

 

“I'm confused.” She murmured before adding louder. “When I agreed to meet her I was sure I would end up hating her after hearing her story. I want to hate her, I really do, but I can't.” To her exasperation, the wind sorceress could suddenly feel warm tears rolling down her cheeks.

 

“I can't really blame her for what happened because it could have happened to me. If I had not left Naraku's house, if I had not met you, if we had not thwarted his many plans, who knows where I might have ended up in a few years?! Would he have taken Kanna from me, and blackmailed me for years in exchange for snippets of info on her whereabouts? I can't imagine the way Sakura must have felt… not to mention her insecurities. I wondered for a long time if I should have given Kanna up for adoption rather than forcing her to live with Naraku, but just like my mother I was weak. The idea of not having Kanna in my life was… and still is unbearable. I knew that living with Naraku was bad for her, but I couldn't part ways with her.” She took out a tissue from her purse, and dried her cheeks, before blowing her nose in a completely unsexy fashion, yet Sesshoumaru had never wanted to hold her more in his arms.

 

He cursed the small environment they were in for there was nothing he wanted more at the moment than hugging Kagura to him tightly, and comfort her.

 

“Do not blame yourself. Naraku is the one who has caused pain on you and your daughter.” He corrected her.

 

“Yeah, and that bastard is also the one who kept me away from my mother.” She added, surprising herself by how easily she had accepted the fact that Sakura was indeed her mother, and that it was due to Naraku's machinations that they had been kept apart all these years. It had not even occurred to her to doubt the other woman's story.

 

`The pain I saw in her eyes was too real for her to be lying.' She thought to herself, hurting for the void demoness in return.

 

“I can't imagine what she has gone through. Despite everything, she never gave up on me. She did everything she could to find me, and get me back. What else can I do but forgive her, and hate Naraku even more?” Kagura thought aloud. If ever she needed one more reason to hate the hanyou, and be glad that she had agreed to Touran's plan to get revenge on him, her mother had just provided her with one.

“So you know what you have to do.” A relieved Sesshoumaru asked her just as he retrieved from his pocket the card Sakura had given him.

 

With a sigh Kagura took the card, and on her cell phone quickly dialed the number written on it. After only a few seconds the person on the other end of the line answered.

 

“I want us to meet again.”

 

It was only after Kagura had spoken the words that Sesshoumaru started his car, and headed towards his brother's apartment to pick up Kanna.

 

 

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000

 

 

Naraku was seated at his usual table in the bar of the Yuki tower. His bright red eyes scanned the area, his anger growing at seeing how empty the place was.

 

`Ever since Sesshoumaru got involved with Kagura, my business has suffered. That arrogant bastard has done everything in his power to hurt my business, and he has succeeded.' Naraku thought angrily, quickly downing the glass of whiskey placed in front of him.

 

“You wanted to see me Naraku-sama?” One of his newest girls asked as she approached him, shaking in fear. Even though she had just started working for the hanyou, she had quickly found out to fear his temperamental nature, and his crushing blows.

 

Naraku smirked as seeing her blatant fear. There was nothing he enjoyed more than seeing the terror written on people's faces when they faced him. At least that made him feel a little better.

 

“Have you had any clients tonight?” He asked his employee.

 

“I am very sorry Naraku-sama, but no.” She whispered, ready to take a step back in case he would strike her again. Despite her best efforts, the young woman had not been able to entertain as many patrons as the other girls, and for this she had been severely punished by Naraku several times.

 

“I see. Well, I am in need of a distraction, and you will provide it.” He growled before refilling his glass, and downing it in the same motion. “Go to your room. I will meet you there in a few minutes.”

 

“Yes master.” She lowered her tear filled gaze, before leaving to get prepared for the night ahead of her. She easily recognized the anger in Naraku's eyes, and knew that she was going to be the one he would take it out on.

 

“Kagura. Sesshoumaru. As promised I will soon make you pay.” The hanyou smirked as his eyes lowered to the picture of a small daycare establishment placed in front of him.

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

A/N: Will Kagura be able to form a real relationship with her new found family? And what is Naraku planning? We will see later on. In the next chapter Sesshoumaru and Kagura will be growing closer, and we will also see some IY/Kagome. The chapter will be named Trusting embrace. I don't know when I'll update next, but I'll try not to make you guys wait too long. To help tide you over, I can reveal that the next chapter will be very lemony. See you next time!