InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fleeting ❯ Crisis ( Chapter 22 )

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

un_love_you prompt:  #18 – “I pity you.”

Damn it, Inuyasha, Kagome swore silently, wincing when Sesshoumaru stiffened with anger beside her.  You really have a sense of timing, don’t you?

Her stomach twisted into a knot of dread as Inuyasha approached, on calm and determined feet, and she found her eyes falling away from her companion, toward the ground.  I knew this was a mistake, she thought swiftly.  It wasn’t supposed to happen like this!

“What the hell do you want?” Sesshoumaru intoned coldly.

Her heart dropped to the lower reaches of her stomach; he was very definitely not happy with this sudden turn of events.

“Like I said,” Inuyasha replied tersely, “we need to talk.”

Please, Kagome pleaded silently, watching Inuyasha’s boots draw ever closer, don’t tell him how you found us.

It was why she’d been late for this particular dinner; she’d hemmed and hawed and hesitated over the decision to relay their location to Inuyasha.  He’d spent the better portion of the night before, during her weekly night on the town with her friends, pleading with her to help him figure out a way to talk with his brother.  “It’s urgent,” he’d told her, practically begging by that point.  “Please, Kagome – you know if I could contact him in any other way, I would.”

She’d realized that, whatever it was Inuyasha was so desperate to tell Sesshoumaru, it had to be pretty damn important if he was bugging her about it.  After all, she’d made him swear he wouldn’t use her to get to Sesshoumaru any longer, as the most important term underlying the renewal of their friendship.  And so, she figured there was little harm in texting him after receiving Sesshoumaru’s invitation to dinner, telling him at which restaurant they’d be.  If anything, a public place meant neutral ground, and less of a chance of an ugly scene erupting.  

But she hadn’t expected Sesshoumaru to be so attentive, to hold her hand through the course of the meal, or for the conversation to be pleasant and flirtatious and oh, so promising.  She’d finally managed to relax halfway through it, confident that if Inuyasha hadn’t shown his face by then, he wasn’t going to.  And then she’d promptly forgotten all about it, under the rush of coy euphoria and a sated stomach, and she’d given in to impulse and kissed him, and she was so close, damn it –

– that of course Inuyasha would choose that moment to make himself known.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Sesshoumaru declared, garnering Kagome’s attention once more.  She shivered at the strength of the ice in his voice, inwardly despairing when she saw his eyes narrow and his lips thin as he took in the sight of his reviled half-brother.

Inuyasha bristled, clearly affected by his chilly tone as well.  “Well, maybe I have something to say to you,” he shot back, halting abruptly a few feet from where they stood, just beyond arm’s reach.

“Hmph,” Sesshoumaru grunted, clearly unimpressed.  “Have you nothing better to do with your time than follow me around?”

That brought Inuyasha up short.  “What?”

Sesshoumaru smiled grimly, the corners of his lips barely lifting.  “How did you know I was here?” he demanded, rephrasing his question bluntly, if not cruelly.

Kagome seized, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her teeth, cringing in anticipation of some of this malice being directed her way, undoing all of the good and amazing that had built up over the course of the evening.  

Luckily for her, Inuyasha had the everlasting grace to dodge his brother’s query.  “What the hell does it matter?” he challenged instead.  “If you had just answered my emails, we wouldn’t be having this pleasant conversation right now.”

“And how do you propose I answer email that I don’t have access to?” Sesshoumaru countered.

Once again, Inuyasha looked confused.  “What?” he bit off, frustration spiking in his voice.  “What are you talking about?  I know I sent them to you.”

“But did it ever occur to you that I might not receive them, you gaijin son of a bitch?” Sesshoumaru returned in clipped tones.

When all Inuyasha could do was stare back stupidly, Sesshoumaru heaved an exasperated sigh.  “I’ve been cut off, you idiot!  From my corporate email account, from the whole damn family website, from everything.  And it’s all because of you, and your patented inability to send important information via secure connection!”

Shit, shit, shit, Kagome thought, taking a step back.  The air was thick with tension, and she had the distinct impression that they were merely at the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  She’d never seen Sesshoumaru so angry – and he was definitely angry, way past mere irritation or mild upset, headed straight for total volcanic eruption – even if said emotion was buried under a calm, impassive exterior.  The little things gave him away – the murderous slant of his nearly-closed eyes, the way his hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides, the absolutely rigid stance of his posture – little details she could only hope Inuyasha was also picking up on, lest he continue to goad him needlessly.

“Or maybe you’re not completely incompetent,” Sesshoumaru murmured a moment later, relaxing his stance imperceptibly, though his posture was still guarded as he continued to size up his rival.  “Maybe you’re still following Daddy’s orders, like a good little boy.  Did he put you up to this?”

“Now why would he do that, instead of taking the pleasure of humiliating you personally?” Inuyasha sneered.  “You know what your problem is, Sesshoumaru?  You’re way too paranoid.”

Kagome made a grab for Sesshoumaru when he advanced upon his brother, but he was out her reach before she could stop him.

“I don’t have time for this,” he muttered, brushing past Inuyasha none-too-subtly.

“Then I suggest you make time,” Inuyasha grumbled in response, his eyes following his brother’s every move as he passed.  “You think this is a social call?  This shit is important.”

Sesshoumaru pivoted, leveling the coldest, darkest glare at Inuyasha that Kagome had ever seen.  “I loathe you with every fiber of my being,” he declared, his voice preternaturally calm.  “I don’t want to talk to you.  I don’t even want to look at you.  I want nothing to do with you.  So I’m only going to say this one more time:  leave. me. alone.”

With that, he turned on his heel and continued down the deserted sidewalk.

“You’re just walking straight into his trap!” Inuyasha called after him, but Sesshoumaru paid him no heed.

“Damn it,” Inuyasha swore under his breath.

“Damn it, Inuyasha!” Kagome cried, picking up her shopping bags and lobbing them at his shoulder as he turned to face her once more.  “What the hell was that for?!”  She didn’t give him a chance to respond before barreling on.  “I thought you wanted to talk to him!”

“Hey!” Inuyasha cried, throwing up his hands to deflect any further blows.  “It’s not my fault he’s a stubborn jerk!”

“You didn’t have to provoke him!” she argued.  “Christ, Inuyasha!  Stop making me regret ever helping you!”

He took a deep breath.  “I’m sorry, Kagome,” he apologized.  “I think we both know my very existence is enough to provoke him.”

He shook his head and heaved another sigh.  “It all makes sense, though,” he mused aloud, more to himself than her.  “I had no idea he’d be cut out of company communications – but that definitely makes sense.”

Kagome threw up her hands.  “What is going on, Inuyasha?” she asked, irritated.  “If you didn’t come here to fight with him, then what the fuck was so important that you had to crash one of our dates?”

Heat flooded his face as he shoved his hands into his pockets.  “I had to warn him,” he said simply.  “Our father is making a move, and he’s setting Sesshoumaru up to take the fall.”

Kagome could only stare at him in utter disbelief.  Whatever she’d expected him to say, this was certainly not it.  “Are you sure?” she breathed.

Inuyasha nodded solemnly, rocking back on his heels.  “Sesshoumaru’s latest rebellion?  Rejecting the reigns of Taisho Industrial in order to take a job at SHK, Taisho’s biggest rival?  That will be his last rebellion, if our father has his way.”

Kagome shrugged helplessly.  “I don’t understand.”

Inuyasha was silent for a long moment before taking her elbow and guiding her down the sidewalk, in the opposite direction from Sesshoumaru’s retreat.  “Do you know why I came to this country?” he asked abruptly.

Kagome started at the sudden change in subject.  “Because your mother died,” she replied.  What does this have to do with anything? she wondered warily.

He nodded, indicating a bench situated under an illuminated street lamp.  They sat, Kagome taking her shopping bags into her lap.  “Right,” he confirmed.  “When my mother died, my father came for me, just like she always said he would.”

His lips curved up into a slight smile.  “She idolized him,” he said, his eyes growing misty as memories rushed back.  “When I was little, she used to tell me stories about him – about how he was this great, wonderful, kind superhero, and that’s why he wasn’t around much – because he had to look after the whole world, not just me.”  He shrugged.  “She used to tell me, ‘even though he’s not here, he’s always looking out for you.’”

Kagome averted her gaze for a moment, unable to take in the striking sadness with which he was relaying these recollections.

“As I grew older, the stories became a bit more complex,” he continued.  “No longer the sort of hero that fulfilled childish dreams, he morphed into a secret agent, working undercover in Japan, ferreting out the bad guys – you know, spies and traitors and stuff.”  He shrugged.  “He could never come home to us, because that would blow his cover, and he’d be injured, or kidnapped, or worse.  I missed him, of course, but something in those stories comforted me.  And he always remembered my birthday – he always sent me a card, with a super secret note inside, and sometimes it’d take me and ma mère days to decode.  But it was always worth it, and I cherished those notes so much, because it meant he still thought about us, about me, even though he wasn’t there.”

“I didn’t actually meet him until a few days after my mother died…and, amazingly, he was everything she’d promised he’d be.  He was so loving and thoughtful and caring.”  He sighed, lifting his gaze to the middle distance.  “I remember the day he finally showed up at our house – it was right before her funeral, in fact – but he walked through that front door like I’d imagined so many times in my childhood, and he grabbed me up in a big hug, and he just held me and let me cry, like he’d never been away a day in my life.”

Kagome furrowed her brow.  “But I thought you didn’t want to come to this country,” she mused quietly, in deference to the conflicting emotions he was struggling through.  She herself was remembering what it was like when her father died, how raw and vulnerable she’d felt, and tried to imagine how difficult it would’ve been without the support of her extended family.

He chuckled, but it sounded forced and sad.  “I didn’t,” he agreed.  “I didn’t want to leave my grandparents – my mother’s parents, who had helped take care of her when she was sick.  And they didn’t want me to go either, but my father insisted.”  He folded his arms across his chest.  “They begged me not to go, but he wanted me, you know?  After so long – and he was going to take care of me, just like my mother promised he would.”

Inuyasha’s mouth twisted into a sneer.  “It wasn’t until we landed in Japan than I learned he had a whole other family,” he continued, his tone taking a decidedly bitter, almost strident course.  “His wife – Sesshoumaru’s mother – met us at the airport, and she had such a disapproving expression.  ‘I won’t raise him as my own,’ she’d declared, right in my face, like I wasn’t even there.  ‘I already have a son, and so do you.’”

“Ouch,” Kagome murmured sympathetically.

He shrugged.  “Yeah, the rest of the family wasn’t so nice, either.  Sesshoumaru hated me from the moment he first laid eyes on me, but our father just took it all in stride.  He told me they’d warm up to me as they got to know me, and that I was just as much a part of his family as his wife or his mother or his other, older son.  And you know what?  That was enough for me, because it meant I still had a parent to love me.  My mother died a horrifically painful death, and I never thought I’d know that sort of love again.”

Kagome swallowed hard, choosing her words carefully.  “I’m truly sorry for your loss, and all the upheaval you went through after your mother’s death, but what does this have to do with what’s going on right now?”

“Do you remember when I left school in November?” he asked, earning an affirmative nod.  “That was because my father pulled me out of university, saying he had a very special project for me to work on, for his company.”  Inuyasha ruefully shook his head.  “If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it…”

“But?” Kagome prompted.

“But he was offering me a spot at Taisho Enterprises, and from what little I could get out of Sesshoumaru, I knew it was a Big Deal.  Father just told me Sesshoumaru was jealous, because he lacked the natural charm and charisma of the Taisho men, but I had it in spades.”  Inuyasha couldn’t help the proud smile that broke his unhappy expression at that.  “And he set me on your path.”

He barreled on before she could react to that little revelation.  “I’ve always liked you, Kagome.  I’ve wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you,” he told her.  “And if this gave me an excuse to pursue you, well.  I was going to take it.”

Kagome’s gaze fell to her feet.  She could feel the blood draining from her face.  “So what changed?”

“Everything,” he replied with a sigh, lifting both hands palm-side up in the air.  “Everything, all at once.  You and Sesshoumaru broke up, but you and I never got together.  Sesshoumaru rejected our father’s offer to take over the very company that was to be his inheritance, the one he’s been gunning for forever.  He also beat me out for the internship at SHK, effectively slamming that door in my face – especially in my chances with you, as well as any larger goals my father had, aimed at SHK itself.”

“And you realized he was more than a spoiled brat with an entitlement complex?” she mused sarcastically.

To her ultimate surprise, Inuyasha shook his head sadly.  “Not until I saw my father’s reaction to his rebellion.  When he published that article in the paper, splashed all across the front page of the finance section, I started to wonder – why?”

“I remember that,” Kagome cut in, nodding as she drew the memory to mind.  “Sesshoumaru showed it to us, during his interview for the internship.  It may very well have been what changed some of the department managers’ minds.”

“That’s what my father was counting on, I think,” Inuyasha said grimly.  “Because he changed tactics, almost as soon as Sesshoumaru stormed out of his office.”

“How do you mean?” Kagome pressed.

Inuyasha scowled.  “Let me make sure I get this right,” he said, frowning a bit.  “He wanted Sesshoumaru to take over Taisho Industrial, so that he – our father – could make two bids for two different companies at once.  I’m not completely sure how it works, but apparently it’s some legal loophole, or something.  Well, now he’s shifted course – he’s going to buy up Hidecki Financial Group, and then he’s going after SHK.”

Kagome’s heart began to pump a little harder at this sinister mention of her family’s company.

“But the thing is, he’s going to make it look like an inside job.  He published that article in the paper so that Sesshoumaru might more easily get his foot in the door at SHK – so that way, when Taisho Enterprises makes a winning, uncontested bid to take over the company, it looks like he has an inside man,” Inuyasha explained.  “In the mergers department, no less.”

Kagome’s jaw dropped.  “You have got to be kidding me,” she sputtered incredulously.

Inuyasha shook his head, disgusted.  “I wish I was.  I can’t believe my father is using Sesshoumaru’s ambition and turning it against him like this, making him complicit in an act he doesn’t even know about.  After it all goes down, he’s counting on Sesshoumaru being fired from his position at SHK, and he’s going to cut him out of the will, leaving him high and dry in order to make him pay for crossing swords with him like this.”

Kagome could only stare at him in absolute disbelief.  “Are you sure about this?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes,” Inuyasha sighed, a note of rejection in his voice.  “I’ve seen the memos; I’ve overheard the conversations.  My first clue was when he didn’t give me any power at Taisho Industrial, after Sesshoumaru blew him off.  He effectively cut me out of the loop when I failed to deliver SHK, just like Sesshoumaru, and I became suspicious.”

“That meeting about Taisho Industrial was an eye-opener,” he continued.  “I saw the way he treated Sesshoumaru then – hell, half the time I think they forgot I was even in the room – and then I saw what he was willing to do when his own plans were thwarted by another’s ambition.  When I realized that he was willing to treat his son like that – the son he’d raised and acknowledged and made his heir – that’s when I realized…he wasn’t the man ma mère described.”  

He choked back a shaky breath.  “I realized – he didn’t love me.  He didn’t want me.  He needed me, and for only one specific purpose.  And now that said purpose is no more?  I’m not treated any better than Sesshoumaru.”  He averted his head and scrubbed at his eyes, as if he didn’t want Kagome to see him cry.  “If I had one thing going for me, it was that he always treated me better than he treated Sesshoumaru.”

Kagome’s mouth opened and closed several times as this shocking turn of events sank in.  “This is unreal,” she breathed.  “Even if all of this is true – God, especially if all of this is true – why do you want to help Sesshoumaru?!  He hates your guts!”

“Yeah, well, I’m not too fond of him, either,” Inuyasha muttered, “but even that jackass doesn’t deserve this.  The way I see it, right now, he’s the lesser of two evils, and by helping him, I’ll further my own goal.”

“Which is?”

Inuyasha looked at her, his emotions written plainly across his features.  “I want to go home,” he admitted softly.  “I want to go back to France, to live with my grandparents.  I want to be with people who love me, and not just use me.”  He dropped his gaze.  “I never should’ve left them in the first place.”

Kagome felt herself still reeling from this continuous barrage of information.  “Forgive me for being a dunce,” she murmured, “but I’m just not connecting all the dots here.  Helping Sesshoumaru means you get to go home?”

Inuyasha gave a bitter snort.  “Considering the way our father treats the child he raised from birth for defying him?  I doubt he’ll have any compunction about sending me back to France for aiding in Sesshoumaru’s rebellion – especially if we manage to be victorious against him.”

“Jeez, you’re really willing to fall on your sword here,” Kagome observed incredulously.

Inuyasha laughed, genuinely this time.  “That part isn’t for Sesshoumaru,” he relented.  “It’s for you.”  He reached out, cupping one of her hands in his.  “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Kagome, and you have no idea how truly sorry I am that I fucked it all up.  I love you, ma chérie, but I want you to be happy.  And if Sesshoumaru makes you happy…”

He trailed off, squeezing her hand gently before letting it go.  “I saw you two tonight, sitting in that restaurant,” he confessed softly.  “I saw the way you looked at him, the way you held his hand the entire time…and that’s why I didn’t go in when I arrived.”  

He swallowed hard, averting his gaze to the ground in front of them.  “You deserve to be happy.”

The two sat in silence, following the revelation of this little piece of truth.  Inuyasha rested his arms against his thighs and leaned forward, his head bowed, as if it was hard for him to look at her, knowing she could never admit these same sweet feelings for him.  For her part, Kagome could only stare, watching as the gentle night breeze lifted the dark tendrils of his hair, and wonder:  if she hadn’t met his brother first…if he hadn’t already stolen her heart…could she love this man before her now?  She understood the depth and breadth of his feelings, almost painfully, because this was how she felt about Sesshoumaru.

She reached out hesitantly, wishing she had some way to reassure him – or even thank him for such an impromptu gesture – but then she remembered the pang of rejection she’d felt when her relationship had fallen apart, and realized the last thing he needed right now was more pain, on top of everything else he was going through.

She eased her hand back into her lap.  “And it’s my company,” she said out loud, her voice slicing through the air.

“Hmm?”  Inuyasha lifted his head, sliding a glance her way.

“SHK – it’s my family’s company,” Kagome clarified.

Inuyasha shrugged.  “Yeah,” he agreed.  “Another reason to figure out a way to foil my father’s plans.”

Kagome looked at him thoughtfully.  “Sesshoumaru already thinks your father is up to something.  He told me as much at dinner tonight.”

Inuyasha sat up fully, clasping his hands in his lap.  “Ah, but he doesn’t trust me, and he probably never will,” he reminded her.  “He told me that he wants nothing to do with me, remember?”

Kagome straightened, the wisp of an idea floating into her mind.  “Do you trust me?”

Inuyasha looked at her, confusion creasing his brow at the sudden shift in topic.  “What?  Of course I do.”

Her gaze met his, wide and serious.  “Then let me be your go-between,” she suggested.

“Between me and Sesshoumaru?”  He regarded her skeptically.  “I don’t know, Kagome – this is our beef, not yours.”

“But ultimately, it’s my company that’s in danger,” she reminded him.  “I have a vested interest in this information, too.  SHK has been in my family for six generations, and I’m not going to be the one responsible for losing it.”

“No one would blame you,” Inuyasha argued.

Kagome shook her head.  “Yes they will – especially if they believe that Sesshoumaru is the one who destroyed it.”