InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Taisho's Darling ❯ A Hammock and Some Pineapple ( Chapter 8 )

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Disclaimer: I don't own these marvelous characters; they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I merely torture them at will and put them in uncomfortable situations whenever possible.

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Chapter 8

A Hammock and Some Pineapple

~.~

"Taisho-sama, what is that...thing? Thou lookest like a fish caught in a net; in truth." Kaede stopped in the middle of toweling dry her long chestnut hair to study the stringed object currently holding her master. He was lying in a cocoon strung between two trees, looking very at peace with his world.

Her master had been daydreaming and neglected to pay attention to her approach across the sand until she spoke, startling him from his reverie. "It's called a 'hammock', Kaede, and you owe me ten for your lapse in speech," Taisho answered, cradling his massive hands behind his neck comfortably. He moved from side to side in order to start the hammock swinging.

"Nay, I only owe thee five; I made but one mistake!" Kaede protested. She mentally reviewed her last sentence and groaned as she realized she had allowed herself to be tricked. "Now I truly do owe th-you ten! Shall I begin, Taisho-sama?" she asked as she knelt on the soft ground by the hammock.

"Yes, and make them good ones, Kaede. My self-confidence has been ebbing of late." Taisho twisted his head to grin at the ire flashing from her eyes. She was so much fun to tease. "Come on, dear Kaede; let's hear ten good reasons why I'm the greatest inuyoukai on the planet. And begin every sentence with 'you', please."

Kaede shot him a dirty look and began her litany. "You always use good manners, even when asking me to do something vile. You are an excellent player of cards, although I strongly suspect you cheat. You never back down from your duty, no matter how unpleasant the task. You are a fair hand in the kitchen; especially when it comes to making oden…might I use the kitchen skills and the oden as two separate items, Taisho-sama?" Kaede paused.

"Hmm, technically that should be one item, but I'm in a generous mood. Count them separately."

"You are most gracious with humble requests," Kaede continued. "And…you are a good father…"

"My sons would disagree with that assessment."

"Kagome would not," Kaede responded to his interruption. "You are a fearsome enemy, but a powerful ally. You are second to none in strategy and scheming." She ticked the items off on her long fingers. "I have but one item left, allow me to think for a moment..."

"Make the last one count, and I might overlook your next lapse," Taisho bargained, his golden eyes full of laughter. He noticed her shifting uncomfortably on the ground and the humor immediately left him. "What's wrong?" he asked with some concern, sitting up in the hammock with difficulty.

"It is nothing, Taisho-sama. I slipped on the way to the baths and struck my knee." Kaede stood and proffered her knee for his inspection. "It is a bruise only; I have not even scratched it."

"You shouldn't be kneeling before me on the ground anyway, Kaede. You know I don't require that of you." Taisho grasped her arm, preventing her from seating herself in the sand. "This hammock is big enough for the both of us. Join me," he offered.

Kaede looked at the stringed contraption with doubt. "Will this hold the combined weight?" she asked uncertainly. She attempted to seat herself on the edges of the hammock, sending the strange object careening wildly.

"Like this," Taisho demonstrated, pulling her body next to his. They sank to the middle of the netting with Kaede sprawled on top of him. "Stop squirming or you'll dump us on the ground," he warned the wriggling woman.

She stilled immediately, her body tense. "Thou, I mean, you cannot be comfortable, Taisho-sama." Kaede said. She refused to look him in the eyes, but Taisho noticed a pink flush creeping across her smooth cheeks.

"You are a strong, muscular woman, Kaede, but you remain as light as a silk kimono," Taisho commented nonchalantly, trying to put the woman at ease. He shifted Kaede so her head rested against his broad shoulder. "Now, I believe you still owe me another item."

"I was hoping that would be forgotten," Kaede confessed, relaxing and absently reaching over to play with a strand of his shoulder-length white hair. "Was your hair once silver; like your sons'?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, a number of centuries ago. You're trying to change the subject and it won't work, dear Kaede. Come on; name one more thing that makes me wonderful." He fully expected her to give him another one of her insults disguised as a compliment.

"I should mention that you are an entertaining companion in spite of being such a cantankerous youkai, but I won't," Kaede chuckled. Her eyes softened then, and her next words took him by surprise. "Instead, I will make note of how you always use your great strength to protect those under your care. You have provided a fine example to your sons in this matter."

"Kaede," Taisho murmured, both startled and pleased at such a genuine compliment. "I do believe that's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. Thank you, dear woman."

They lay next to each other in comfortable silence, enjoying the cool breeze drifting from the nearby ocean. The dark sky above them peeked through the trees, showing a clear, starlit night. "There is but a sliver of a moon tonight," Kaede observed.

"Almost time for the new moon, then," Taisho added, thinking of Inu-Yasha. He hoped his hot-tempered younger son wasn't making too much trouble for Sesshomaru. Leaving the two brothers in the same living space was asking for problems. Taisho would consider himself lucky if the mansion was still in one piece when he returned.

Something landed on Taisho's great expanse of chest and he instinctively swatted at it. "Taisho-sama!" the creature whined. "You would strike your most loyal servant?"

Taisho plucked the small flea youkai from his skin. "You'll not be dining on me tonight, Myoga. What news do you bring me?" he asked the elderly demon.

"Nothing of interest, Taisho-sama," Myoga replied with drooping shoulders, disappointed at being denied his master's delicious blood. "We remain unsuccessful in our attempts to discover Sakura's partner. You are certain, Taisho-sama, that she is not alone in her treachery?"

A deep growl rumbled from Taisho's massive form, warning the flea demon he had spoken unwisely. "I have been affianced to the wench for some time, Myoga. Do you doubt my knowledge of the workings of her mind? Perhaps you grow uncertain of my abilities in this age of dwindling magic," he accused.

"N-no, Taisho-sama! Your humble servant, who has remained by your side for so many years, would never question your abilities!" Myoga sputtered.

"Then remove yourself from my presence and find out who's helping the faithless bitch!" Taisho ordered the trembling youkai. Myoga hopped away without another word.

An uncomfortable tension remained between Kaede and Taisho after the flea's departure. "What is it, woman?" Taisho finally growled. When Kaede didn't answer, he softened his tone. "My anger is not with you, Kaede."

"You were most harsh with Myoga," Kaede said reprovingly. "He lives to serve thee, Taisho-sama. Canst thou not be kinder to thy servant?"

Taisho harrumphed and mumbled something about impertinent flea youkai. "I suppose I was a bit hard on the old fellow," he finally relented. "I'm just frustrated, Kaede. All of this inactivity is driving me insane," he blew out a heavy breath. "No matter how hard I try to pretend on I'm some tropical vacation, it doesn't help! I should be back in the city tracking this bastard down, not lying on the beach and - what was that for?" he asked as Kaede reached over and flicked him on the nose.

"Bitching and whining," Kaede answered with a smile chasing across her pleasant features. "It's not allowed. Check the rules."

"I'd like to see these 'rules' of yours," Taisho retorted, trying to maintain a scowl and failing. "And I counted at least three lapses in your speech, Kaede. Apparently, my punishment isn't very effective. I'll have to think of something else to get your attention." He gave her what could only be described as a dangerous look.

Kaede recognized trouble when she saw it and attempted to remove herself from the hammock. Taisho caught her around the waist and began to tickle her across the ribcage. "No! Taisho-sama that is not playing fair! Let me out of here!" she laughed helplessly as the hammock swung back and forth.

As they wrestled playfully within the netting, neither of them noticed the groaning of the ropes against the trees. With a snap, the string of one of the ropes began to unwind. One more tussle and the rope broke, sending the hammock and its laughing occupants spilling to the ground.

"Owww…get off of me, overgrown excuse for a youkai!"

……..

"Talk, Kikyo. And spare me the bullshit; I've shoveled enough of that today with Sesshomaru." Inu-Yasha glared at his former love sitting across from him. Kikyo gave every appearance of being calm and poised, but Inu-Yasha could smell her anxiety. Inu-Yasha was aware that she was risking a great deal by coming here to speak with him, but he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Want do you want me to say, Inu-chan?" she asked, calling him by the nickname she had given him years ago. Kikyo rested her cold grey eyes on him and the look within them caused Inu-Yasha to flinch inwardly. She was obviously trying to figure out how to tell him as little as possible.

"Why don't we start with 'you must be Taisho's sons' and work from there," Inu-Yasha snarled. "I can actually understand why you pretended not to know me in front of my brother," he admitted. "After all, Sesshomaru doesn't know our past history. But why in all the hells didn't you ever tell me Higurashi Kagome was your sister? Sometime during the time we were together, don't you think that was a fairly important item to overlook?"

"Why does it matter that my sister is your father's whore?" Kikyo asked, raising a dark eyebrow. "She serves his every base desire - what more is there to be said?"

She doesn't know Kagome's a slave? Inu-Yasha slumped back into his chair, rubbing his hand across his eyes. The resemblance between the woman he once loved and Kagome was overwhelming; how had he not seen the truth?

Kikyo hid the truth from you, stupid, he thought bitterly. When you commented on their similar looks, she brushed it off as a coincidence and you believed her lying tongue. "So why didn't you say anything to me?" he repeated his earlier question. "I wasn't some casual acquaintance Kikyo; I was your intended mate! How could you keep something like this a secret?"

"What did you expect, Inu-Yasha?" Kikyo asked coldly. "Did you really think I would announce to the world that my younger siblings were Disposal fodder? Should I have told you that Taisho's mistress was my younger sister? That your father picked my sister up off the streets as little more than a child and took her home with him? Should I have mentioned that my sister was prostituting herself when Taisho found her?" Kikyo bit out the last sentence, her pain and anger obvious. "Kagome was in that situation in the first place because of the youkai of this world! She should never have been there, should never have been forced into that life!"

"Kagome was a Disposal?" Inu-Yasha was startled by this new revelation. "I thought she was native to our country."

"Our father was Japanese, but our mother was from that hellish place," Kikyo spat, refusing to refer to the other hated country by name. "Our younger brother Sota was a Disposal as well. He and Kagome were both purchased as cheap labor, but Sota managed to escape to Japan shortly afterwards. Kagome wasn't as lucky."

"Why did your mother give Sota away?" Inu-Yasha interrupted. "She was allowed one girl and one boy, wasn't she? She could have kept Sota."

Kikyo swallowed hard a few times and stared down at her neatly manicured nails. "Our father died while our mother was pregnant with Sota. My father had enough youkai friends in high places that he was able to keep the Disposal team from being sent after Kagome, but after his death all of that changed," she explained. "Eventually our mother decided to escape the country. She had obtained safe passage, but only for herself and one child.

"And the child she chose to take with her was you," Inu-Yasha stated baldly, watching Kikyo wince.

"I can't help that," Kikyo whispered, her voice full of unspoken guilt. "She made that choice, not I." She looked up at him then, her eyes filled with tears. "I was too young to understand what was happening. I searched for Kagome and Sota for years, but I never found them. Their names had been changed..."

"So Sota and Kagome found you; you didn't find them." He steeled himself against Kikyo's tears, knowing if he gave in to his old desire to comfort her she would push him away. Damn, it was difficult, though. Inu-Yasha hated to see any woman cry; as a child he'd watched his own mother shed far too many tears on his behalf. "You blame Kagome's situation on the youkai, but it was her human mother who handed her over to the Disposal team," Inu-Yasha pointed out. "What kind of a mother would give her children up to a certain hell for a life?"

"Don't presume to judge her!" Kikyo's mouth thinned into its familiar hard line. "She was trying to survive and figured saving one child was better than losing all of them! It's not her fault the youkai government of her native country treated humans as having less worth than livestock!" She stood and readied herself for departure. "I'm through talking about it tonight. I must leave; my husband will arrive at the house and wonder where I am."

"This conversation is by no means over, Kikyo," Inu-Yasha told her as he escorted her to the backdoor of the club. "I still have a lot of questions about Kagome and how you fit into her life. And there's another situation we need to talk about."

"What more is there to say? I love my sister, but she has chosen a path I can never agree with. My husband and I have offered several times to take her in, but she refuses to live with us. Kagome insists on staying with your father, in spite of the fact he is about to marry someone else." Kikyo drew her expensive jacket around her slight frame. "Don't contact me again, Inu-Yasha. Your mere presence jeopardizes everything my husband and I have worked so hard to obtain." With that parting statement, she slipped into the dark night.

The frustrated hanyou clenched his fists, feeling his claws cut into his palms. After all this time, you'd think it wouldn't hurt so damn much. Kikyo had made her choice and her choice didn't include a tainted half-breed. Now she was married to a wealthy human with a successful law practice and a deep hatred for youkai. Hell, if the rumors he'd heard had any truth to them at all, Kagewaki wasn't just passionately campaigning for human civil rights; he was also funding the local Humanistas terrorist group. Humans like Kagewaki were never satisfied with compromises; they believed the only good youkai was a dead youkai. How had Kikyo, who used to at least tolerate demons, ever come to marry that guy? And to think I came so close to giving up everything for her…

Inu-Yasha made his way back to Koga's office, more than a little depressed. Yeah, I'll just bet Kagome didn't want to go live with Kikyo and that prick Kagewaki. She'd have to spend every waking minute listening to them tell her she wasn't worthy of the 'help' they'd given her. Kagewaki would probably call her a 'demon's whore' and any other insult he could think of to hurt her. No wonder Kagome didn't tell her sister she was a slave. Kagewaki would have her killed just to incite a race riot.

His mind turned to the human mother desperate to save at least one of her children and escape to freedom. He was trying not to condemn her actions, to form a mental picture of the situation, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't fathom handing over his own children to the Disposal team. He'd fight for the freedom of all his pups or die trying. Unbidden, a vision of a slender, muscular woman with a hanyou pup in her belly and fiery determination in her sad eyes sprung to his mind. I'd like to see someone try to tell Sango she had to give up her baby…the poor slob wouldn't get the opportunity to finish the sentence before Sango would cut his balls off and feed them to the sharks.

Shaking away the images, Inu-Yasha decided his empty stomach must be causing him to hallucinate. He could eat something here at the club, but Sango had told him she'd leave some dinner in the fridge. Licking his lips in anticipation of the former taijiya's incredible cooking, Inu-Yasha left the club in a sudden good mood.

……

For the first time in more years than he could remember, Sesshomaru was drunk. Not just a little drunk, but blinding, pissing, stupid drunk. Given his youkai tolerance for alcohol, he had to have drunk the bar dry in order to get into this state. And he didn't care.

The cab deposited him at the front of the mansion's gated entrance and he stumbled down the long driveway. Somewhere in the fog of his brain, Sesshomaru remembered he was supposed to be a responsible adult and a sober father to Rin. He studiously ignored that part of his conscience and settled for humming a song he'd heard a long time ago.

I see the same world

Through brown eyes,

That you see through blue…

Blue eyes, Kagome's eyes were blue. Not just an ordinary blue, either. No, her eyes were the kind of blue that shifted according to her emotions. They were brilliant when she was happy and turned almost black when she was angry. Sesshomaru staggered along the darkened pathway wondering what her eyes would look like if they were full of passion. A deep blue, perhaps like that of the ocean on a breezy day, and her lips would be red and swollen from his kisses…

But we're worlds apart,

Worlds apart,

Together, but worlds apart…

The rest of the lyrics spilled from Sesshomaru's mouth and had the effect of a slap to the face. It was foolish to even contemplate such a thing. He wasn't about to tie himself to some aggravating woman with no respect for authority and even less fear for her life. A life with Higurashi Kagome would be a life of constant irritation; a life spent wondering what challenge she would next cast in his face.

No, Kagome was the type of woman who would stand up to anyone regardless of the consequences of her actions. She could never be right for someone like himself; instead, she was the perfect match for his brash younger brother. If Inu-Yasha had any sense at all, he would realize he was damn lucky to be getting someone like Higurashi Kagome. The bastard doesn't deserve her.

……

"What are you doing up this late?" Inu-Yasha asked the nightgown-clad woman. "Shouldn't you be getting some rest? If I had to chase after Rin and Shippo all day; I'd be asleep before dinner."

"I've been asleep, but I just awakened. The pup is hungry and wants pineapple," Sango laughed as she ran a hand through her sleep-tangled hair. "Pineapple slices with whipped cream, mm..." She wrapped her thin robe around her nightgown and pulled the sash tight, only to discover the robe no longer met at her middle. Wincing, Sango loosened the sash immediately. "I need to buy a larger robe," she confessed to Inu-Yasha. The half-demon was watching her with considerable amusement.

"So what the pup wants, the pup gets?" Inu-Yasha said with a smile as he reached out a hand and patted Sango's stomach. "What about the grown pup?" he asked as he turned back to his previous activity of digging through the refrigerator. "He's hungry too, you know. Didn't you say you'd leave some dinner in here for me?"

"Move it," Sango ordered, pushing the hungry hanyou out of the way before he completely overturned the contents of the fridge. She removed a large container. "Your food's right here. Let me warm it up for you, it doesn't taste right when it's cold."

Inu-Yasha grabbed the container from her hands and stuck it in the microwave oven. "Your ankles are swollen. Sit down and prop your feet up; I'll take care of this. You wanted pineapple with whipped cream, right?" He opened one of the cabinets to search for the canned fruit as Sango seated herself at the kitchen table.

"Second pantry shelf on the right," Sango pointed out the location of the canned goods. "And the whipped cream is in the door of the refrigerator. Thanks," she added as Inu-Yasha opened the pineapple and fixed a plate for her.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get something from my room," Inu-Yasha said as he left the kitchen. A moment later, he was back in front of Sango. "Here. This ought to hold you until you buy some maternity clothes," he said gruffly as he tossed something in her lap.

The silk robe was a dark red and felt incredibly smooth. Since it was purchased to fit Inu-Yasha's muscular girth, it wrapped around Sango with room to spare. "Thank you," Sango whispered. "That's so sweet of you. I'll be sure to take good care of it."

"Mm," was Inu-Yasha's noncommittal reply as he waited impatiently for his food to heat. When the microwave beeped, he placed his dinner on the table and sat down to eat. "You've outdone yourself again, Sango," he said after swallowing the first mouthful. "How come everyone in this house isn't fat?"

"It's not for lack of trying on my part," Sango told him. She watched him shovel the food in his mouth with a pleased glow on her face. "I don't think the others enjoy my cooking quite as much as you do, though."

"Not my fault if they can't taste or smell what's in front of them. It's those weak human noses," Inu-Yasha responded, tapping a claw to the side of his nose as he spoke. "How does a demon-slayer become a cook, anyway? It seems like a bit of a stretch as a career move."

"My first master was hardly going to allow me to continue as an exterminator," Sango replied. "Not that he allowed me to do anything else, unless it involved something humiliating, painful or disgusting. He was rather brutal," she finished casually.

Inu-Yasha watched Sango as she dipped each section of pineapple into a froth of whipped cream and then slurped the sweet topping off before she popped the fruit into her mouth. The action was so full of innocent enjoyment and at the same so tantalizing that Inu-Yasha was finding it difficult to concentrate on her answer.

Her words finally trickled through to his brain and successfully banished all lust-induced thoughts. "Brutal?" Inu-Yasha asked, his anger rising on behalf of the beauty sitting across from him. "That doesn't sound like it covers the half of it! How can you speak so calmly about it?"

"It was a long time ago," Sango answered easily. "I've had a few hundred years to dull the pain. Besides, I was his slave for only a short time before your father's cousin took over. And Inu-sama was an incredibly generous and kind master. All of his slaves were heartbroken when he died." Her pink tongue darted out to lick a spot of whipped cream from the corner of her mouth. "After having it so good for all those years, we were more than ready to let the slave bond dissolve and follow Inu-sama to the grave. We really didn't think we could find another master who would treat us so well."

"Obviously, you changed your mind when you met my father," Inu-Yasha observed. There was still a dab of whipped cream on the curve of her cheek, and he suppressed the desire to remove it with his own tongue. Her skin would taste so warm and sweet…

"Yes. Kaede actually remembered him from when she lived in the human village near his lands. She said he had a kind heart and was a fair ruler over the Western Lands." Sango's delicate brows knitted as she tried to remember what else her surrogate mother had told her. "Oh yes, Kaede said she'd heard something once about a human woman your father loved. That must have been your mother, right?"

"Yeah," Inu-Yasha grunted, not liking the direction this conversation was heading. He was always uncomfortable talking about his mother. She had died when he was still a child and his father had wrapped himself in his grief, leaving his young son to be raised by a household full of prejudiced youkai and a bitter Sesshomaru. "Allowing a hanyou to be born was unheard of in those days. My father made a lot of enemies when he refused to have me killed at birth."

A film of moisture immediately covered Sango's eyes, causing Inu-Yasha to regret his thoughtless words. Nice going, Inu-Yasha. You're two for two in the 'making women cry' department tonight. Not that it's hard to make a pregnant woman cry. What are you going to do for an encore, start picking fights with Rin? "Aw hell, Sango, I'm sorry," he apologized as he moved over to place an arm around the woman. "I shouldn't have told you that. Don't cry, please? No one's going to hurt your pup."

Sango turned her face into his neck and sobbed harder, smearing whipped cream across Inu-Yasha's chin as she went. "I just…the thought of others hating you and being cruel just because you're a hanyou…" she wailed. "That's terrible!"

"It wasn't so bad," Inu-Yasha said as he brushed her soft hair away from his nose. A silky strand kept rising to tickle him, making him want to sneeze. Sango continued to soak his shirt with her tears and Inu-Yasha resigned himself to spending a long night trying to calm a hormonal expectant mother. Strangely, the thought of comforting this woman didn't bother him like it should have.

……

A/N: Giving credit where credit is due, my inspiration for the hammock scene came after I read The Hammock by Jeffs (on fanfiction.net), a cute little one-shot about Kagome bringing a hammock to the Feudal Era. Any resemblance to his story ends with the hammock, however.

The lyrics to the song Sesshomaru was (drunkenly) singing are not mine, either. Cyber cookies to anyone who recognizes them! Hint - think Broadway.

Thanks so much for reading! It warms the empty corners of my Bishounen-torturing heart :>D Lavender