InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torn Apart ❯ Chapter 4

 

Chapter 4:

 

The night lights of Tokyo city shone in the darkness as Sesshoumaru stood at his office window, a glass of brandy cradled in his hand. Velvet shadows caressed his pale skin and magenta stripes as the effects of the drink dissipated his control over his youkai allowing his tail to return to its resting place over his right shoulder as the concealment charm he wore on his wrist failed to contain it. His jacket and tie had been tossed unto a nearby leather couch leaving him in a white business shirt unbuttoned halfway down his smooth chest. Feet spread to anchor him, he let the warmth of the ruby liquor melt down his throat.

 

`It's been five hundred years since I've spoken to her, and I still manage to hurt her.' Shaking his head, he reached for the decanter sitting on the desk behind him and refilled his glass. `Why can't I ever seem to get it right? First I try to kill her over the Tetsusaiga, then I beat her half to death, and finally I humiliate her in front of her friends by fighting over her with Inuyasha, again.' Tossing back another gulp of the potent drink, he shook his head. “Where the hell is Shippou?” he growled glancing at the clock resting on the wall in front of his desk. `It shouldn't take three hours to eat a bloody meal.'

 

Finishing the last of his drink, Sesshoumaru began to pace around the luxuriously furnished office. Long years spent walking the path from door to window to desk and back again had allowed him to traverse the path without thought. Speed built as his thoughts tumbled in a chaotic mess as he waited for his adopted heir to return from Kagome's.

 

“I'll wring that kitsune's neck if he so much as even thinks of hurting her,” barked Sesshoumaru as he flew across the room away from the window. Stopping in mid-stride, he paused. `Wait. Why would Shippou hurt Kagome? That doesn't make sense.' Slowly his mind returned from the frenetic pace it had traveled at throughout the long afternoon and night and in truthfulness many times since Kagome's disappearance. Walking over to the couch, he sank into its plush softness and leaned his head back. Wiping his face with a sweaty palm, he again returned to gloomily staring out the window at the vista of Tokyo spread before him.

 

`Who am I kidding? I never had a chance, and I still don't. There's no point in pursuing her. She barely even registered I survived all these years. She was more concerned with keeping Inuyasha alive then looking at me.' Sighing, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and slipped into an alcohol induced slumber.

 

—Many hours later—

 

Shippou walked into the dark office and stared at the softly snoring inu-youkai sprawled out on the couch. Shaking his head, he walked over to the desk and pulled out his otouji-san's appointment book. Picking up the phone, he began to reschedule and cancel appointments for the day. Voicemail was such a wonderful device. Confidant that all was taken care of, he settled down for a long night of waiting; a night of waiting for Sesshoumaru to sober up.

 

—The Higurashi household the next morning—

 

“Ugh,” said Kagome as a warm hand shook her roughly awake. “Five more minutes,” she said before pulling her blanket over her head.

 

“Wake-up!” said Sango as she pried off Kagome's fingers from the coverlet. “You have to get ready for school!”

 

“But I just got in bed,” she mumbled.

 

Sango shook her head and pulled the coverlet completely off the bed exposing Kagome to the cool morning air. “It's not my fault you were a baka and kept talking to Shippou until two in the morning. Now, get up!”

 

Kagome shivered as she sat up in bed and rubbed at her blood-shot eyes. “I had to study for history and advanced bio. There was just way to much information to study!” Kagome shuddered thinking of the horrible exam she had to take later that afternoon. Evolutionary theory and species diversity wasn't her idea of a grand time.

 

“Stop being a whiner and get ready for school. You know I have calculus to get through today. Besides, I've already let you sleep in as much as you can. So, you better get ready!” Sango swept out of the room and down the hall to Kagome's muffled shrieks as she once more dove into her closet looking for a clean school uniform. Hurrying down the steps, Sango walked into the kitchen and greeted Mrs. Higurashi with a warm smile.

 

“So did you get a good night's rest dear?” she asked as she fixed Sango a bowl of miso soup and rice. Placing it in front of a cheery Sango, she reflected on the light gracing her eyes. It was amazing how much the return of friends could brighten up a melancholy disposition for both of her girls.

 

“I slept very well thank-you, Aikouitsu-sama.” Sango dove into breakfast with an uncharacteristic zeal as a muffled thump and groan filtered down from the ceiling above them. Shortly thereafter, the sound of water could be heard as Kagome turned on the shower.

 

Mrs. Higurashi looked askance at the innocent looking girl busily eating breakfast. “Did you do something to Kagome?”

 

Sango grinned cheekily. “Nope, didn't do a thing. I just woke her up. It's not my fault she stayed up late studying for her final examinations last night.”

 

“No, I don't suppose you did.” Mrs. Higurashi trailed off into silence as she wondered what in the world she was going to do with the two girls.

 

—Elsewhere that morning—

 

“What do you mean you've been here all night?” yelled Inuyasha as he paced around the office, unknowingly mimicking the path Sesshoumaru had taken in drunken agitation the night before. Sesshoumaru was still sprawled on the couch nursing a hangover; something his youkai healing abilities never seemed to take away quickly enough. Shippou, on the other hand sat calmly at his otouji-san's desk playing with a pen.

 

“I told you, I came straight here once I realized that Sesshoumaru wasn't home. It's not my fault you didn't check your voicemail until this morning.”

 

“But—that's beside the point!” sputtered Inuyasha as he came up to lean menacingly over the cherry wood desk. “You came straight here after you realized he,” Inuyasha glared at Sesshoumaru, “wasn't home. How am I supposed to have a fair chance at Kagome if you come straight to Sesshoumaru!” Inuyasha crossed his arms in irritation and tapped his foot against the plush carpet.

 

Shippou sighed and set down the silver pen to place his paws solidly on the glossy desk top before pushing himself up. “I left a message on your cell phone telling you to meet me right away at the office. If you had checked it, you would have gotten here at the same time I did.” Shippou glanced at the wincing Sesshoumaru before continuing.

 

“As it was, it wouldn't have matter anyways since uncle here was puissant drunk when I arrived.”

 

Inuyasha opened his mouth to yell at his son before turning to stare speculatively at Sesshoumaru. “Drunk did you say? Brother, you haven't done that since Katsu nearly got to Kagome about five years ago!”

 

Sesshoumaru glared coldly at Inuyasha. “This Sesshoumaru was not drunk. I had but a few drinks to while away the time until Shippou called.”

 

Inuyasha grinned slyly and leaned closer to Sesshoumaru's ear. In a loud booming voice, Inuyasha yelled into Sesshoumaru's cringing face, “Then I'm sure you won't mind if I yell in your ear!”

 

The taiyoukai winced as his ears reverberated from a shout that would normally have sent a headache pounding through his head thirty yards away. Instead, he felt like passing out from the blood throbbing through his skull. “Ugh,” he said as his head listed from side to side in pain.

 

“Ha! So what did you get drunk off of?” asked Inuyasha as he sniffed the air around Sesshoumaru. “Brandy? You got drunk off of brandy?”

 

Sesshoumaru glared at the hanyou yelling in indignation yet again. “Just because I care for the more refined taste of brandy over that of your western whiskey does not mean you can gloat. If it weren't for me, you'd still be a useless half-breed.”

 

Inuyasha smirked at getting a rise out of the elder inu-youkai as he settled into another chair opposite the couch. Propping his feet on an end table, Inuyasha turned towards Shippou who continued to stand behind the desk. “Well, are we going to call this meeting to order or should we wait for your uncle's head to repair itself?”

 

Sesshoumaru sighed and pulled himself into an upright position rather then the sprawl he had adopted the night before. “Best if we get on with it.” Turning to Shippou, he motioned for him to take a seat in another armchair. “Please, pronounce Kagome's mandate if you will.”

 

“Mandate?” asked Shippou. “Mandate! Only a lawyer would use that word.”

 

Sesshoumaru growled in annoyance. “You forget that you yourself are acting part-time as a lawyer for this very firm.”

 

Shippou shrugged. It was true. He was doing a couple of part-time jobs while waiting for his reputation to die down a little bit in the science world. “So,” he asked.

 

Sesshoumaru pounded his fist on the end table, wincing as the shock made another headache ripple through his brain. “So! She was supposed to tell you who she chose last night!”

 

“No she wasn't. She was supposed to define what type of relationship she was going to have with the both of you.” Shippou said flippantly.

 

“Just spit it out,” growled Inuyasha from his corner.

 

“What'd I say?” asked Shippou innocently. Receiving twin glares, one freezing cold and the other burning hot, Shippou ducked his head to hide a smile. “Alright, this is what she told me. She has the rest of school to get through which means that she doesn't want to see either one of you until she's finished. That also includes her graduation. Although if you're nice, I might be able to convince her to let you both attend.”

 

“You? You'll convince her to let us go to her bloody graduation?” Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears. The kitsune was getting full of himself. If he thought that he could keep him from being there to see the miko finish her schooling, he had another thing coming. After all, he was the one who kept having to come back to let her take her damn tests every week or so instead of hunting for jewel shards!

 

“Keep it up and I'm sure that she'd be happy to let Sesshoumaru attend instead of you.” Shippou smirked behind a paw.

 

Silence permeated the room as Inuyasha's ire fell flat and Sesshoumaru's lips twitched in amusement. “Stuff it Sesshoumaru,” huffed Inuyasha. There was no need to have Sesshoumaru witness his humiliation. He glared again at brother and son for good measure.

 

“So what happens after she graduates? Will she make her decision then?” Sesshoumaru waited expectantly for the answer though he hid it behind cold indifference.

 

Shippou took a deep breath, anticipation running up and down his spine, before releasing it as he spoke. “She'll see you both the day after graduation at her house for dinner. Then, the collective house and myself included will judge who is able to get through the evening the most congenially and be rewarded the first date with Kagome and either myself or Sango as chaperone. The loser will be have the honor of the second date. This will be repeated ad nauseum until Kagome decides to mate one of you or neither.”

 

The silence that greeted these terms lay thick over the luscious office. Sesshoumaru's eyes locked down to stare deadpan into that of the kitsune's as he digested the news. `Kagome…didn't…choose Inuyasha?' Sesshoumaru's stomach knotted in turmoil as he tried to bring his mind back from the edge of acceptance.

 

“What are you saying? The wench is going to make us both court her?” Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears. What in the world was she thinking? They'd kill each other if they had to be in the same room with her!

 

Shippou nodded his head yes. “She cannot decide between you both right now. She hardly knows you since we've all aged five hundred years to Kagome's two.” Shippou sighed. “Can you hardly blame her?”

 

Inuyasha scoffed. “Of course I can't blame her, but what is the woman thinking trying to put us both in the same room together!”

 

Shippou smirked. “Well, you're in the same room now aren't you, and you haven't killed each other yet by all appearances.”

 

“Yes, but with the possibility of a new heir in the future, what's to stop me now?”

 

Inuyasha and Shippou turned to stare at the taiyoukai who was calmly gazing out the window. “Do that, and Kagome will surely refuse to look at you let alone mate with you.” Shippou shuddered as Sesshoumaru turned his cold gaze upon him.

 

“Then I had best mate with her before anything happens.”

 

“Now wait just a minute! You can't go around threatening us like that!” Inuyasha jumped to his feet in anger. “Kagome deserves better then some cold-blooded monster like you to take care of her!”

 

Sesshoumaru turned to stare at his brother. “And you think you could do better then I at protecting her?” Arrogance dripped from his throat as he challenged the rash hanyou. `Good, he will be prepared when she chooses him.'

 

“To protect her from you, I'll do anything.” Inuyasha growled as he leaned towards his brother, ready to start a fight then and there should the elder even twitch in his direction.

 

Shippou sighed. “Then I guess I'll tell Kagome that you will both be there after her graduation to formally start the courtship. Remember, you have to be on your best behavior otherwise neither gets a date!” Shippou looked sternly at both males before strolling out of the office. As soon as the door closed behind him, he skipped to the elevator in jubilee and headed home for some well deserved rest.

 

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