InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 2: Defiance ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 13 )

~~Chapter 13~~

~Homecoming~

 

~*~

 

 

“So it's true . . . The runaway pup's come home.”

 

“Uncle Yasha!” Toga greeted as he rose from the chair and strode over to greet his uncle who stood, leaning in the doorway in his characteristically easy manner.

 

“You look like hell,” InuYasha remarked without preamble.

 

Toga grinned. “What do you expect? Jetlag is a horrible thing.” He'd only arrived a few hours ago, and thanks to the time difference, he didn't have time to lie down before everyone started arriving for the family dinner Kagura insisted on having.

 

InuYasha shrugged. “I wouldn't know,” he remarked with a shrug.

 

True enough. The same Uncle Yasha who feared nothing also adamantly refused to get on an airplane. Toga wasn't fool enough to ask InuYasha if he was scared, but it was an inside joke. The only times Aunt Gome had gotten him off the island was via cruise ship—which InuYasha had also hated but for entirely different reasons. Having grown up over five hundred years ago in Sengoku Jidai, InuYasha didn't care for confined spaces. How he could stand the congestion of Tokyo was beyond Toga, too. Maybe it was more bearable since he still owned and lived in the forest where he used to roam as its protector and guardian.

 

“You should come visit me,” Toga couldn't resist saying.

 

InuYasha ignored Toga's suggestion. “Where's this . . . friend . . . I've heard about?” InuYasha asked casually—too casually—as he glanced around and tried to look inconspicuous. Golden eyes darting around, he looked anything but innocent. InuYasha was a hunter from the very beginning, and Toga figured some things never changed.

 

“She couldn't get time off work.”

 

InuYasha nodded slowly, eyes taking on the intense glow that meant he didn't believe his nephew. “Does that bastard of a brother of mine know about her yet?”

 

Toga shrugged. “I don't think so.”

 

InuYasha's eyebrows rose. “Scared?”

 

Toga made a face. “No, not at all.”

 

InuYasha didn't look like he believed Toga. “Whatever you say.”

 

Toga grinned. “Well, it is Aiko's wedding. I figured I should wait until after it to have it out with the old man.”

 

InuYasha snorted more at the use of `old man' than at Toga's claim. “Give it up, pup. Sesshoumaru hears you refer to him that way, and he's liable to blow an ass gasket.”

 

Toga's grin widened. “You think?”

 

“Keh! Why do I think you'd like that?”

 

“I don't know.”

 

InuYasha shook his head and chuckled. “Careful or the bastard will say you've been around me too long.”

 

“He already does.”

 

“Stay away from my son, baka,” Sesshoumaru remarked as he strode toward the living room. “Toga, I want to speak with you.”

 

Toga shrugged. “All right, Father.”

 

Sesshoumaru stared at InuYasha with a pointed look. “Alone, if you don't mind.”

 

“Not at all, bastard,” InuYasha answered pleasantly. Toga nearly choked as his uncle pushed away from the door frame and ambled off toward the back doors.

 

“So you did come to your sister's wedding.”

 

Toga was careful in choosing his words. “Did you think I wouldn't?”

 

Sesshoumaru straightened his glasses and shifted his gaze to his son. “I know not, Toga. You've done many things of late that I cannot comprehend.”

 

Toga leaned back against the doorframe vacated by his uncle and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don't think there's much to talk about, Father. You refuse to bend, and I won't either.”

 

Sesshoumaru chose to ignore Toga's not-so-subtle barb. “Fujiko's brothers said you had a run-in a few weeks past. Care to tell me what it was about?”

 

Toga shrugged. “You'd have to ask them.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded slowly, narrowing his gaze on his son as he shifted his jaw to the side, considering his next statement. Toga braced himself but gave no sign on the outside that he dreaded what his father was about to say. “They said . . . you were escorting a human girl.”

 

“Did they? Then I suppose it must be so.”

 

“Toga . . .”

 

“It is none of your concern, Father. I told you, I will not follow your wishes on this.”

 

“Your sister has enough sense to marry a youkai,” Sesshoumaru pointed out, rapidly approaching the limit of his control, if the flashing of his gaze meant anything.

 

“Then make her tai-youkai, Father. I've never wanted it.”

 

Narrowing his eyes, he spared a moment to let his gaze wander over Toga's countenance. “You dare turn your back on your responsibilities?”

 

Toga sighed. “No. Kami, no. You've only drilled it into my head a million times if you have once. My choice of mate has nothing to do with it. Would it make me weak, if I were to choose a human?”

 

Sesshoumaru shook his head. “No . . . what it would do . . . It would make you look vulnerable, and if you show vulnerability, you will be challenged.”

 

Toga shook his head slowly. “Then so be it.”

 

Striding across the room to stare at the sword mounted over the fireplace mantle—the legendary Sword of the Fang, Tenseiga—Sesshoumaru studied them for several minutes before asking in his quiet, calm voice, “Do you honestly believe I would be so adamant about this simply to inconvenience you?” he demanded quietly.

 

Rolling his eyes, Toga reigned in the impulse to remind his father that they'd already been over this a hundred times. “No, I don't. The fact is, I have no idea why you do feel the way you do. Care to enlighten me?”

 

Sesshoumaru turned his back to the fireplace and stared hard at his son. Never being one given to showing emotions, it wasn't any different now. He could have been gazing at an employee he was about to fire or staring at Toga's mother. Toga didn't look away.

 

“You have responsibilities, and one of those is to be Inu no Taisho, whether you like it or not, and as such, you need a youkai mate—one that can help you instead of hinder you.”

 

Toga shook his head slowly. “I don't believe that, and you don't believe it, either. If you did, you wouldn't have taken in Rin, to start with.”

 

“My reasons for taking care of her are many and varied . . . and have nothing to do with this.”

 

“And if Aiko had found a human? Would you have had this discussion with her?

 

Sesshoumaru leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly. “That matters not.”

 

Toga shrugged. “It does. You wouldn't have cared, would you? I'm the only one, right?”

 

“This is not about Aiko, it isn't about Rin, and it isn't about anything other than what I expect of you, as my son.”

 

Toga shook his head and glared defiantly at his sire. “Listen to yourself, Father. The role of the tai-youkai has been relegated to little more than circumstance and ceremony. Youkai, human, hanyou . . . does it really matter so long as she pleases me?”

 

“And you believe that there are none who would oppose you? Who would seek to take your birthright from you by force?”

 

“And you believe that I—your son—could not take them? Come, Father. I was trained from early on, by your decree.”

 

Sesshoumaru shook his head. “That is hardly the same, Toga. What you learned was sparring. You have no experience in actual battle.”

 

Toga didn't back down. “Shall we agree to disagree on this? You won't change my mind, and I'm wasting my time trying to change yours.”

 

Kagura appeared beside Toga. Rising up on her toes to kiss her son's cheek, she patted his shoulder and smiled up at him. “Dinner is about to be served,” she stated.

 

Toga offered his elbow. Kagura slipped her hand under his arm as they headed off toward the formal dining room.

 

He could feel his father's gaze boring into his back between his shoulder blades. Ignoring him for the moment, Toga smiled at his mother and answered her questions about life in the United States.

 

He wondered once more if he had made a mistake in coming. He didn't particularly care if Sesshoumaru found out about Sierra, but . . .

 

Sinking down at the table between Ryomaru and Gin, Toga sighed. Kami, he missed Sierra, and he hadn't even been gone a full day . . .

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

“Come on, pup! Keep your defenses up or I'll flatten you,” InuYasha instructed as he tightened his grip on Tetsusaiga's hilt. The ancient blade, normally nothing more than a rusty-looking katana, shined and gleamed, transformed into the Sword of the Fang, forged from Toga's grandfather's fang.

 

Toga renewed his hold on the halberd he held in ready, turning as InuYasha circled. In a flash of crimson fire rat hide, he leapt forward, sweeping the razor-sharp blade in a neat arc toward Toga's shoulder. Toga dropped the halberd and back-flipped out of the path of the descending blade before sticking out his foot to flip the weapon back into his hands.

 

“Not bad, pup. Don't let your guard down.”

 

“Just bring it, Uncle Yasha,” Toga shot back.

 

InuYasha whistled. “Damn, boy, you're starting to sound more and more like your old man every day.”

 

“You'll regret that,” Toga rejoined.

 

InuYasha lunged forward again as Toga spun away, bringing his halberd in a full circle to catch InuYasha's leg. The hanyou sprawled onto the practice mat and rolled to his feet. “Better,” InuYasha remarked.

 

Toga grinned as InuYasha swung at him again. Toga spun the halberd, repelling Tetsusaiga as InuYasha nodded his approval.

 

“InuYasha, don't you dare hurt him!” Kagome hollered as she stepped into the studio.

 

InuYasha snorted but didn't take his eyes off Toga. “Keh! He's gotta learn . . . and I ain't gonna kill him.”

 

“As if you could, anyway,” Toga scoffed.

 

“Oh, kami,” Kagome muttered as she shook her head in disgust. “Are you two going to go to the wedding or not?”

 

“It's not for another three hours,” InuYasha rebutted as he lunged forward with Tetsusaiga again. Toga didn't move quickly enough and caught the blunt side of the blade against his ribs as he tried to scoot aside.

 

With a hiss of pain and a wince he couldn't hide, Toga raised his halberd with one hand and smashed his other elbow against his aching side.

 

InuYasha sheathed Tetsusaiga and nodded. “Enough for now, pup. Come back when you've practiced. Chicago is making you soft.”

 

Toga let his arm drop with a sigh. “See you at the wedding. I'd better get home and get cleaned up before the old man bellows at me about that, too.” Heading for the doors, he stopped long enough to kiss Kagome's cheek. She grabbed his sweatshirt and, with a glower at her mate, she tugged the shirt up to examine the damage.

 

“InuYasha!” she yelled as the hanyou's ears flattened against his head. “Toga, you'd better put some ice on that, at least for awhile before the wedding,” she remarked, tracing the already-swelling flesh with her fingertip before dropping the shirt and stomping over to intercept InuYasha. To Toga's undisguised amusement, his formidable uncle was slowly backing away from Kagome as he slipped out the doors with a chuckle and headed for his car.

 

The drive back to the Inutaisho estate took nearly thirty minutes in midday weekend traffic. Toga sighed as he sat at a stop light. Dialing Sierra's phone, he frowned as it rang and rang. He'd not talked to her in nearly two days, and he was starting to worry.

 

Remembering the reluctance to say goodbye that lent a shadow to her gaze as they'd stood outside the airport, Toga sighed.

 

“Two weeks, huh?” she asked as she tried to smile.

 

“Seems like a long time, doesn't it?”

 

“Not so long,” she argued then sighed. Her expression said it all. Sad and a little lost, Sierra seemed like she was loath to see him go. It did seem like a long time to her, too. “Yeah, it does.”

 

Tilting her chin up to kiss her gently, Toga winced when he leaned away, saw the brightness in her gaze. “I'll be back before you know it.”

 

She smiled and held onto his hand for a moment then reluctantly let go and stepped back. “You'd better go. I'll . . . I'll miss you . . .”

 

Toga sighed and quickly kissed her again. “I'll miss you, too.”

 

She nodded and smiled as he turned to walk away. As he stopped with his hand on the automatic panel beside the door, he looked back in time to see her dash a nimble hand over her cheeks, wiping away the tears he could smell—the ones she tried to hide . . .

 

The first week of his forced vacation had dragged by at an unbelievably slow pace. Toga had a feeling it was because Sierra was so far away. `Where are you, Sierra? Be safe . . .'

 

He was about to dial up the travel office and have them book him a return flight when the honk of cars behind him announced that traffic was moving once more. Toga sighed and nudged the car forward again.

 

Pulling into the wide driveway at his father's home, Toga decided that he'd try her number again this evening. If she still didn't answer, he'd hop on the next flight back to Chicago. For some reason, he had a feeling that Sierra was walking straight into trouble, wherever she was . . .

 

He spent the rest of the drive worrying about Sierra, wondering where she could have gone. Maybe she went to see her mother. There were a million places she could be, all of them safe and entirely reasonable . . . so why didn't Toga believe that, either?

 

With a heavy sigh, Toga ran up the porch steps two at a time. Wincing as he glanced at his watch, he shook his head. Since the guests ought to be arriving shortly, Toga should have already been dressed and ready to act the role of the good pup, greeting old family friends and basically being bored out of his mind in the process . . .

 

“You're late,” Kagura said as Toga stepped inside.

 

“I know, Mother. I apologize. Training ran a little longer than expected.”

 

Kagura patted his cheek. “Yes, well, hurry up, please. Your sister is already a bundle of nerves. The last thing she needs is to hear your father berating you for being late.”

 

Toga nodded and loped up the stairs.

 

Kagura smiled as she watched him retreat. `So like his father in so many ways,' she thought as her smile turned a little sad. She'd so hoped that they could come to some sort of understanding. She was starting to think that perhaps they never would.

 

Sesshoumaru stepped out of the study, decked out in his ceremonial garb, his traditional white clothes and black armor.

 

“Wow, that brings back memories, Papa,” Rin remarked as she lit at the base of the stairs. With a soft smile, she hurried over to hug her adoptive father and handed him the fluffy white Mokomoko-sama that Sesshoumaru had given her years before. He nodded his thanks as he flipped it over his shoulder, tucking one end into his waistband. Rin's smile widened as she reached up to adjust the fluff before Kagura could grab her and drag her off to the kitchen.

 

Mumbling about inept caterers, Kagura disappeared through the high arched doorway as Sesshoumaru smiled vaguely.

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Sierra stepped out of the cab and handed the driver a wad of bills. She wasn't sure how much she actually owed for the four block trip, but she didn't wait for change as she closed the door and slowly approached the imposing building.

 

Another fleeting thought that maybe she should have called Toga before she just showed up raced through her mind. Still, she'd wanted to surprise him. He had seemed so sad when she saw him off at the airport, so when one of the girls in her department's plans had fallen through, Sierra had jumped at the chance to switch a few vacation days, and after making a serious dent in her savings account, here she was.

 

She'd been so rushed when packing, though, that she'd forgotten a lot of things, like her toothbrush, and she'd had to spend all morning running around Tokyo to find the things that she needed. She'd even forgotten her cell phone, which just figured. But even that did little to dispel the sense of excitement that she'd carried around with her since her arrival. Maybe she could talk Toga into taking her on a tour or something—if he wasn't too busy with family stuff, that was.

 

Taking a deep breath as she patted the back of her hair self-consciously, she smoothed the dress she bought for the disastrous party months ago. Adjusting her long coat, Sierra squared her shoulders and climbed the porch steps to ring the bell beside the immense cherry wood double doors.

 

“Hi, I'm here to see . . . Toga . . .” Sierra trailed off, her smile fading as she stared in surprise at the man who had answered. Half expecting a mansion this big to employ a bevy of servants, she was amazed to find herself face to face with Sesshoumaru Inutaisho. She recognized him from the photos. Funny how she hadn't realized exactly how much Toga really did resemble his father . . .

 

Much taller and much more intimidating than he appeared in photos included with his press releases, the odd clothing he wore did little to dispel Sierra's mounting sense of anxiety. Billowing white material embellished with intricate embroidery in a vibrant shade of orangey-red on the shoulders and sleeves, he stood in the doorway with a bland air, a slight sense of recognition in his gaze. A slow narrowing of his eyes—Toga's eyes—was followed very quickly by a slight sneer that was hidden as quickly as it had appeared.

 

Staring at her with an inscrutable expression, he said nothing as he waited. Why did she almost felt as though he despised her . . .?

 

“Is Toga . . . here?” she made herself ask.

 

Sesshoumaru ignored her question in favor of asking one of his own. “Who are you, and why do you smell like my son?”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~* ~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

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Final Thought from Sesshoumaru:

… … …

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters inDefiance): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~