InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Twisted Hearts ❯ Darkness In the Corners ( Chapter 8 )

Twisted Hearts

Darkness in the corners

 

Kagome sat at her table, feeling suddenly very alone. The dance floor was right in front of her, all the other tables at the side. She was right at the middle, at a table for two, but only one person was there, and it happened to be her. She didn't know why she suddenly wanted Sesshoumaru to be at her side, if only to annoy her and keep her mind from Inuyasha. She had tried to look for Miroku and Sango, but the floor seemed to have swallowed them. Her brother and his friends were eating incredible amounts of food, so they didn't pay any attention to her. Her mother was chatting with someone that was interested on restoring their family shrine. The reporters had stopped asking her questions for a moment and were now interviewing all the guests. All in all, no one was paying attention to her at the moment, and when she looked at how happy everyone looked and how miserable she felt, she decided she had had enough.

Except on her way out she bumped into someone.

“I'm sorry”, she murmured, not even raising her head. “I wasn't even looking and…” She looked up, only to find that she had bumped into none other than Kykio.

`Today', Kagome silently thought as she looked at the other woman, `is just not my day.'

“Don't worry about it.”

“Oh, no, really, Ky…” Kagome stopped, realizing that she had no permission to call her by her name. She suppressed the sigh that was threatening to come out. “I'm sorry, Mrs. Taisho.”

God, how it hurt to say it out loud, to accept that Kykio was Inuyasha's wife. Kagome moved her eyes from Kykio's and looked at the side, not wanting to continue to look at that woman that had everything she wanted.

Kykio let out a soft laugh.

“There is no need for formalities between us. After all, we are both Mrs. Taisho. You can call me Kykio.”
Kagome faked a smile. Really, she was becoming too good at faking them.

“You can call me Kagome.”

Kykio smiled at her, that bright smile that made her look even more beautiful. Kagome felt so dull…

“You look beautiful tonight, Kagome. I've never seen such a beautiful bride.” Kykio kept smiling at her, and Kagome made a note to kick fate as soon as she died.

“Thank you, you also look great.”

Which was the truth. Kykio, in a red dress that hugged every single curve she had, with a V neck, a low back, and had a little cut on the end of the dress that made one of her legs show, Kykio was a sight. If you added her hair that was made into a bun and her red lips and pale complexion, Kykio was simply breathtaking. There was nothing that was out of place. Nothing that wasn't perfect.

“It's been a lovely night, and such a great party! Inuyasha and I have been having a lot of fun!”

“I'm glad you are enjoying your time here. Sesshoumaru and I are very grateful that you came.”

“Oh, we wouldn't miss this for the world! We even moved our trip a week for you! I can't believe we are from the same family. We're like sisters.”

Kagome decided it was time to change the subject of their chat.

“Talking about family, have you seen Sesshoumaru? We were dancing and then he suddenly disappeared.”

Not that she really wanted to find him, but he was better company than Kykio.

Kykio thought for a moment before answering. “No, I haven't seen him since you two danced.” She thought a little more. “Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Inuyasha either. They must be talking family stuff and all that.”

“Oh, I see.”
”Would you like to join me at my table?”

Kagome gulped. “Actually, I think I'll go look for him.”

Kykio gave her one last smile. “Alright, I understand. I didn't want to separate from Inuyasha on our wedding day either. Well, I'll see you later.”
Kykio went away to talk to some people, and Kagome closed her eyes to stop the tears that were already forming. She stumbled out of the ballroom and went through the corridors, trying to find a place where she could pull herself together.

She opened one door randomly, and when she got a look at what was inside, her heart stopped.

Sesshoumaru was in the air, and Inuyasha was falling, falling, falling…

He hit the ground, blood at his chest, and Kagome could not hold her worry for him.

“Inuyasha!”

She yelled his name, not even realizing it until it was too late to take it back. She ran to him, kneeled down, and pressed her hands on his chest, trying to stop the blood. She didn't care that her white dress was becoming red. All she wanted was Inuyasha to stop bleeding. She heard Sesshoumaru land a few feet away from her, and she turned to glare at her with all the anger she could muster.

How she hated him…

She wanted to burn a hole through him.

She wanted to hurt him for hurting Inuyasha.

She wanted to hurt herself for still caring about a man that had left her for another.

She wanted…

She wanted to not be here because Sesshoumaru was looking at her with those hard eyes, and as his eyes went from her to Inuyasha, she pushed her body up, covering Inuyasha, protecting him from his brother.

Sesshoumaru narrowed her eyes. Kagome glared harder. She would not let him hurt Inuyasha more. It did not matter that he had hurt her and broken her heart. She would not, could not let Sesshoumaru inflict more damage on him.

“Get up.”
Sesshoumaru's voice was like iron: strong, unbendable, and indestructible.

“I will not until you promise not to hurt him anymore.”

Kagome's voice was like fire: strong, determined, and challenging.

“What happens to him is none of your business.”

His eyes were the color of the sun, and they threatened to burn her if she didn't do as he ordered.

“It is my business!”

Her eyes were locked on his, daring him to move closer.

He did.

He took her by the arm, forcing her away from Inuyasha, dragging her to his side. She was very aware of his claws on her skin. She was suddenly aware of just how powerful he was. She did not care.

“One reason for it to be your business.”

She did not think about her words or the consequences they would have. She said the first things that came into her mind.

“I love him.”

The claws made more pressure against her skin, but he did not let them go through her skin.

It seemed stupid, the silence that had suddenly settled, and the tension that was floating in the air because there was nothing but a contract between Kagome and Sesshoumaru. There were no feelings between them. There would never be any feelings between them, and it did not matter who Kagome loved because she was sure Sesshoumaru could care less. As long as she maintained her true feelings hidden from the public, she could give her heart to whoever she wanted.

At least, that was what she had thought.

Looking at the reaction that her words had caused, she could just assume that something was not right, and that for once, she should have held her tongue.

Inuyasha was at the side, his mouth open, forgotten to both Kagome and Sesshoumaru. Kagome decided this was the most stupid thing she had ever done. She gulped, waiting for Sesshoumaru's reaction.

`He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!' Kagome's mind was already creating a thousand horrible deaths when Sesshoumaru let go of her. She allowed herself to steal a quick look at him. His expression was blank, his eyes cold, devoid of the emotions that had ran through them just moments ago.

“You were not afraid of what would happen to you as long as I left that hanyou alone.”

“I…”

Sesshoumaru's eyes turned to her once more.

“You will learn to fear me and respect me, miko. You are inferior to me, and just because you have become a wife doesn't mean that that has changed.”
”I am not inferior!”

Sesshoumaru simply rounded her neck with one hand. “You will learn not to talk back to me. I have had enough of your disrespect.”
Kagome saw Inuyasha starting to move towards them, but she made him a sign to stop. When he stopped, she silently thanked whoever had made him listen to her just once.

“Sesshoumaru…” She started, her voice firm “I am not below you, and you will learn to accept the fact that we are equals.”

He tightened his hold a little before letting her go.

“We will leave now. Inuyasha, tell the guests that she was not feeling well and we left. Tomorrow I will start running the company. After you return from your trip, we will arrange a meeting. As our father's wish was to see us work together, we will have to distribute obligations and put everything in order.”

Sesshoumaru left without waiting for a replay. Kagome hesitated for just one second before following Sesshoumaru out.

She did not look back at Inuyasha.

She had the bad feeling that things were about to get worse.

---

Sango was really worried. She was so worried that she had even asked Miroku for help. She glanced at him and got the sudden urge to hit him real hard.

“You!” She yelled at him, while going over to, grabbing his ear, and dragging him away from the women he was flirting with. “We are supposed to be looking for Kagome, focus!”

“But Sango, I was just asking those lovely ladies if they would like to bear my child.”

Sango's vein popped.

“By the way”, Miroku got in front of her and kneeled, “Would you like to bear my child?”

Sango smacked him on the head.

“We are looking for Kagome!”

Miroku got up, a frown on his features.

“I haven't seen her for over an hour, and Sesshoumaru-san and Inuyasha are also nowhere to be seen.” Sango continued. “If those three are together, then surely something will go wrong.”

“Ok, we'll find them, don't worry, Sango. I'm sure they aren't causing any trouble.”

Just then, Miroku saw something white, and he quickly turned to see it. His frown deepened.

“There's Inuyasha.”

Sango followed Miroku's eyes.

“Let's go ask him.”
Miroku and Sango hurried to Inuyasha, who was already by Kykio's side.

“Have you seen Kagome?” Miroku asked politely, but Kykio interrupted him.

“What happened to you? Why does your shirt have blood?”

Inuyasha grimaced. “I had a…a talk with Sesshoumaru.”

Kykio frowned at him. “This…” she said, pointing at his bloody shirt “is more that just a fight.”
”Kykio…”

“Oh no, from now on you can't fight with Sesshoumaru”
Inuyasha quickly got up. “But he started it!”

Kykio forced him to sit down again. “You can't just walk around if you're injured.”

“I heal fast.”

“Good, then you're an idiot, fighting with your brother on his wedding day!”
”Half brother.”

“Inuyasha….”

Inuyasha's ears fell, a sure sign of his defeat.

“Ahem….” Sango said, “Do you know where Kagome is?”

Inuyasha's eyes glowed dangerously, but that was missed by everyone but Miroku, who tried not to smile. “She left with the idiot. They're not coming back.”

Sango's eyes grew worried. “Why did the leave like that?”

Inuyasha's eyes grew darker. “He was mad.”

“And you let him take her like that?”

“Kagome is Sesshoumaru's wife.” Kykio said, her voice suddenly cold, “Inuyasha doesn't have to solve their problems.”

Sango and Kykio glared at each other, while Miroku sweat dropped and Inuyasha continued to try to make a hole through the floor with his eyes.

“Feh, he won't hurt her.”
The three of them looked at Inuyasha.

“Why are you so sure?”

“Because…” Inuyasha said, looking very arrogant, “I'll hurt him if he does.”

“Inuyasha…” Kykio said in half a whisper.

“It's the least I can do fore her after what I put her through.”
Kykio nodded. “Let's go home.”

After they were gone, Sango sat down.

“Do you think she'll be alright?”

Miroku laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Kagome is strong. She'll know what to do if anything goes wrong. Don't worry that much about her.”

“I can't help it. She is like a sister to me.”

“Then trust her to be alright.”
Sango sighed and hoped with all her heart that things turn out good for Kagome. She deserved it. No matter what mistakes she had made in the past, Kagome deserved the best. She deserved to be happy.

Sango decided she would have a very serious talk with Sesshoumaru.

She did not care if he was a powerful and rich youkai. She had her influences too.

---

Sesshoumaru did not say one word all through the ride from the party to his mansion. In fact, since he had ordered the miko to come with him, he had not said a word. He hadn't even look at her.

Sesshoumaru was trying to ignore her and was finding it more difficult now that she was quiet than when she was talking.

“You didn't have to hurt him.”

The words were whispered so quietly that, if he hadn't been a youkai, he would not have been able to hear. He glanced at her from the corned of his eyes. Her hands were resting on her lap, both of them tight into fists. Her hair was undone, bangs hiding her eyes. Her mouth was tightly shut.

It unnerved him to see her like that, and he got angrier at being unnerved by her actions.

“I do as I please, and I wanted to hurt him.” He said it because it was true, but he also said it because he wanted her to shout at him, to yell, to bring her back to normal, to the human that he had come to know. She was safer when she was talking loudly than when she was quiet. He hated her for making him want her to talk. He had tried to shut her up so often…

“You jerk!” Finally, she shouted. He turned to look at her straight on the face and found her blue eyes darker, filled with anger and possibly hate.

This he could relate to.

This was safe.

This he could handle, not like there was anything he couldn't.

“You will respect me.” He said, looking straight into her eyes. He only managed to make the blue orbs darker.

“Respect is something to be won, and you deserve none of it!” Her words were spat angrily at his face, and he once more grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“Respect is something I was born with.”
”You were only born with arrogance bigger than the world!”

They continued to spat insults at each other until the limousine came to stop, and the chauffer quickly got out and opened the door for them. He pretended he didn't feel the tense atmosphere.

Sesshoumaru got out of the car gracefully and did not wait for the human to come out. He started walking towards the door of his mansion. He could see Jaken was already waiting for him.

“Welcome home, Lord Sesshoumaru.”
He heard Kagome cough behind him, saying something that sounded very much like `Lord my ass.' He decided to let that one go.

“Jaken, is the room ready?”

“Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru.”
”Good.” He turned to the miko. “Follow me.” She glared at him, but did as told.

He heard her gasp as she went into the reception room. As they kept walking through the mansion, he could sense she wanted to stop and look at everything, but he did not give her time. In fact, he walked faster. Finally, they reached their destination.

He opened the door, allowing her in.

“This is where you will be staying. If you need anything, call any of the servants. Tomorrow you will choose your personal maid.”

He turned to go, but paused. “And try not to get in my way.”

With that, he left and went to his room, which was two doors from his wife's.

Sesshoumaru's room was every bit the same as his personality. The room was decorated in brown and gold colors. Despised this, it was cold as his golden eyes. The bed had a golden cover that fell on both sides of it. It was big and luxurious. There was a desk of light wood and various couches all over the room. All of them were gold. A laptop laid at the desk, various papers also over it. There was a very comfortable looking chair by the desk. The floor was made of wood, but Sesshoumaru had ordered a rug to be put over it. The rug had a silver crescent moon on it. It was the symbol of his family, and as Sesshoumaru looked at himself on the mirror, he could see it on his forehead.

Sesshoumaru turned away from his reflection and went to sit on one of his couches.

He was angry, no, mad, no, furious.

He wanted to rip something apart. He wanted to make something bleed. He wanted to go to the miko's room and yell at her until she was on the floor crying.

He didn't know why he wanted to hurt her so, and that only made him madder.

“I love him!”

He could still hear her words clearly on his head. She had dared say that to his face, and it wasn't that he cared about her, or that he had any feelings towards her. That would be like lowering himself to her. Still, when she had said so and looked at him with those fiery eyes and covered his half brother's body with hers so that he wouldn't hurt him…something inside of him had snapped, wanting him to just hurt the bastard all over again.

He didn't understand this.

He had gotten the same feeling when he had seen her dancing with the idiotic Miroku. She had been smiling at him, comfortable in his arms, and he had left the media just to take her away from him. A feeling of possession had come over him, and he hadn't been strong enough to stop it.

Sesshoumaru was not used to be won over by anything, much less his emotions. He was angry and, for an odd reason, hurt, and he didn't know where all this things were coming from.

“Why did you hurt him?”

He was Sesshoumaru. He didn't have to explain himself to anyone, and much less a human. Even so, he had found himself giving half explanations. He had even found himself making her mad on purpose because her quietness made something inside him…He didn't even know what it was that he made her feel. All that he knew was that it was wrong.

Deadly wrong.

Completely wrong.

It was unaccepted.

He was a youkai, and not any youkai. He was Sesshoumaru Taisho, head of his father's company, powerful, rich, and if he said so himself, sexy. There was no one above him, and a human female could not be having this much effect on him. Kami, he hadn't even had a decent conversation with her. He hadn't known her for more that two months. Not that he thought he would find anything interesting, but still…

He shouldn't lose his temper so fast because of her. She was just a nuisance. He had married her because he had no other option. He had not wanted to lose what was rightfully his, and that was the only reason why he allowed her to be in his house, in his life.

There was nothing more.

She was nothing more than a contract to maintain his heritage.

Still…

She made her angrier than even the hanyou, and she accomplished that faster. He actually answered to some of her questions, and more than once he had allowed her into his personal space. His mother had been the only person allowed into his personal space, and she had died a long time ago. When he saw her with someone else, something inside him snapped, making him go to her and take her away from whoever dared touch her.

He didn't understand, and that just made him even angrier.

He had to control himself. He couldn't let this continue.

No matter what, he could not forget that he was a youkai, and youkais were superior to humans.

He just had to get that through her thick head.

Somehow, he knew that that was easier said than done.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes ad opened them with new determination.

He would block out the miko completely. He was just…weird-ed out because of how fast his life had changed. His father's death and his wedding had made his defenses low. Now, though, it was time to get back on track.

He would ignore the miko for as much as he could, and he would be cold to her because she deserved nothing more.

She should be happy he was even acknowledging her presence.

`She is nothing to me. She will never be anything to me, and that will never change.' Sesshoumaru decided as he prepared to sleep.

---

It was time.

He had waited, and now it was take to make them suffer.

For years, he had sat back and watched them grow stronger. At first, he had only wanted to become powerful with them. They'd make an alliance and become richer and influential together. He had asked rather nicely, but of course he had been put down.

A hanyou wasn't enough for them. At least, not at the time he had asked.

Time, though, had changed everything.

He had watched his enemy get attached to a human, had watched how he had put his pureblood son aside for the hanyou, had watched him give up everything for a filthy human and an unworthy half demon.

He hadn't been so benevolent with him. He had thrown him aside just because of what he was.

He never was one to forgive easily.

He chuckled, a light laugh that made even the bravest tremble.

`Actually', the man thought, `I don't forgive at all.' He looked at the youkai that was trying to gain his attention back. She was a pretty one, he'd give her that, but she was annoying him. Besides, he had already been with her for some hours. She was beginning to bore him. He took her chin with his hand and forced her to look at him. She gave him what he supposed she thought was a sexy smile.

“You”, he said, “displease me.”

She didn't have time to show surprise before he broke her neck. He pushed her aside and threw her to the floor, treating her body like garbage.

He would do the same with his family. He would destroy them, torture them, make them suffer, and then he would throw them aside like they were nothing.

No one in that family would ever have peace. No one would know happiness. Rejecting him was their first mistake. Through the years, they continued making mistake after mistake. Now, no one would save them.

The first part of his plan had already been achieved. The next was slowly moving into action. He had waited for a long time. He could wait a little more. After all, everything had to be perfect.

A knock was heard.

“Come in.”

The door opened, revealing a dark haired woman with violet-red eyes. He turned his head slightly towards her. She didn't even flinch when she saw the body on the floor.

“Is she his wife?” He asked her.

The woman bowed her head before giving her answer. “Yes.”

“And the other one?”

“He married a human too.”
He let an evil smile spread across his features.

“Do you know why they both married so fast?”

“It was his father's last wish.”
His smile broadened. The fool had made things faster for him. Without that little order, it would have probably taken him more time and effort to achieve his goal.

“Is she becoming closer to his wife?”

The woman hesitated. “No, she won't accept her.”
His smile disappeared, all his face suddenly screamed anger. He walked towards her and grabbed her by the neck. Her feet stopped touching the ground and she coughed. Her eyes were redder. His were full of hatred.

“She has to trust her, do you understand? The plan will not work as I want if she doesn't have her complete trust.” He put her down and let go of her neck.

She rubbed her neck. “It won't be easy. She truly dislikes her.” Her voice was raspier than before.

“That is not my problem. Tell her to find a way.”

She nodded.

“And what about their relationship?”

The woman had to hold a groan and prepared herself for another physical attack.

“They…don't get along.”

To her surprise, he merely nodded. “Investigate her; see what we can find about her that might help us. We have to get her on our side.”

The woman bowed again.

“You can leave now.”
She turned to go, but he stopped her.

“Wait, Kagura, get rid of this body. You know I hate how they smell when they rot.”

She shrugged, as if it was not important, as if she got rid of bodies every day.

“I'll call someone immediately to take it away.”

The man's eyes shone with malice.