[color=#800080]Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha & co. belong to the illustrious Rumiko Takahashi. [/color]
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[color=#FF0000][size=4]1 - Caught in the Act[/size][/color]
Sesshoumaru lay glaring at the ceiling over his bed. It had been two whole months since he'd found and then lost the perfect woman and it was decided. His life sucked. His father hadn't been any help at all, but it wasn't the old taiyoukai's fault. It was his. He was the idiot who didn't get her last name. He was the fool who'd put off 'til morning what should have been said that night. He was the poor excuse for a demon that didn't even notice when she'd slipped out of his arms, gathered her things, dressed, wrote a note, and left his life for what seemed like would be forever. He still couldn't understand how he'd slept through it. It just didn't make any sense.
It didn't do any good to beat himself up over it. He knew. He'd been doing it for the last sixty or so days and nothing positive had come from it. At least he'd remembered the maid before it was too late. By the time he thought of it and called her she was just about to start cleaning his bedroom. If she'd washed the sheets and vacuumed the floor he would have gone crazy. The sheets had long ago lost her scent, as had the curtains, but the carpet still had the faintest trace remaining in one particular spot.
Even the panties had lost the wonderful aroma that was Kagome, but then it was bound to happen the way he carried them around with him. He knew it was pathetic but it was all he had left of her and he needed that little reassurance that she'd really existed, that he hadn't imagined her. It was his calm in the tumultuous storm that was his life. He'd tried to move on, tried to forget about her, but he just couldn't. He'd tried dating, but he couldn't bring himself to touch any of them, no matter how beautiful, attractive, and willing they were. He refused to settle for second best. He wanted her and only her.
So he'd thrown himself head first into his work, slaving for a ridiculous amount of hours at a time, sometimes not even going home for the night. Returning to his empty penthouse apartment just reminded him of the woman he lost. It was like her ghost haunted him. Everywhere he went he could almost feel her. Every time he closed his eyes he could almost hear her voice. There were even times when he was certain he'd caught a whiff of her intoxicating aroma, but it was never real. She was never there. She never spoke to him. She was just gone, lost without a trace.
------
"I don't know, Inu," Kagome said reluctantly. "You refuse to be civil to him and I refuse to leave him here to visit you. It's just not right. He's my boyfriend. You're going to have to accept that sometime. Sooner rather than later would be nice."
"He's no good for you, Kaggie! Why won't you believe me?"
"Um, maybe because you've hated every guy I've ever shown any interest in? Maybe because you barely took one look at him before deciding he wasn't acceptable? Look Inuyasha, I know you're only trying to look out for me but I'm a big girl. I can pick who I want to date. He's not so bad. He takes me nice places. He pays attention to me. Sure, he isn't perfect, but then who is?" Her voice had taken on a slightly depressing tone towards the end as she remembered. 'Sesshoumaru was perfect, well except the whole only wanting a one night stand thing. But he was as close to perfect as I've ever found.'
Inuyasha heard her sigh, something he was hearing more and more often since her last visit. "Kagome, why won't you tell me what's wrong? I know something is bothering you. It's been bothering you for the last two months. I don't understand why you won't tell me. I'm supposed to be your best friend."
Kagome's shoulders slumped and she leaned back further in the couch, allowing the cushions to cradle her like he had that night. "Because," she said with another heavy sigh. "All you're gonna do is say I told you so and laugh at me."
"What if I promise not to? And I would never laugh at you about something you're so obviously upset by."
"You remember the last time I visited, how I came a day early?"
"Yeah, of course I do. I thought you were dead! Not something I'd forget," he said in a sarcastic tone.
"Do you want me to tell you or not? Because if you're gonna be a jerk I'm going to hang up!"
"I'm sorry, alright?? Now just tell me already!"
"Well, the guy I met at the club, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him."
"So? What's the problem?"
"It was a one night stand, Inu! He never gave me any kind of indication that he wanted anything more and I don't want to be that pathetic clingy girl that tries to force a guy into a relationship he doesn't want!"
"Oh," he said quietly. He had no idea what to do, what would fix the problem for her. That was his job after all. She would get herself into some kind of mess and he would rescue her, save the day, make it all better, whatever was needed of him. This though, he had no clue where to even start. If the guy wasn't interested then he wasn't interested, though he would have to be a fool if he didn't see what a prize Kagome was.
The guy she was dating now, he certainly didn't deserve her, and now Inuyasha understood why she was with a guy that didn't really make her happy, why she'd moved in with him only a few weeks after she'd visited. She'd known him long enough and he'd always been after her to date him but she'd never been interested before, which was why he'd been so confused when she told him about it.
"Settling for second best isn't going to make you happy, Kagome."
"Don't you think I know that? It was stupid, okay? When Kouga asked me out again, I guess I was just lonely. He's always been so sweet to me so I figured he deserved a chance."
"And now you've given him that chance and you aren't happy. So why don't you leave then? I know the right guy's out there for you somewhere."
"I gave up my apartment, Inuyasha! I can't just leave! I have no place to go!"
"Fucking idiot," he grumbled.
"Excuse me? Did you just call me a 'fucking idiot'?" Kagome went from down and depressed to pissed in three seconds flat.
"Yeah, I did! You're a fucking idiot!" he yelled through the phone. "Damn it, Wench! You always have a place to go! Pack your shit. I'll be there by sundown."
"But Inu..." she stopped talking and just looked at the phone. He'd already hung up. Calling him back wouldn't do any good. She knew that he'd come no matter what she said, and he was right anyway. Staying somewhere she wasn't happy wouldn't do her a bit of good. She sighed again and flipped the phone closed before sliding it into her pocket.
"Well, might as well get started then," she said before dragging herself out of the depths of the couch to stand. She turned around to head to the bedroom and froze. "Kouga," she whispered. "How long have you been here?"
"Long enough."
-------
Inu Senior shook his head as he watched his youngest son speeding down the driveway, flipping the bird to his eldest son who was coming towards the house at a much slower pace. He was proud of Inuyasha. He cared about Kagome so much so that he would go to the ends of the earth to protect her. Too bad he didn't want to mate her. She would be the perfect daughter-in-law. He was worried about Sesshoumaru. Ever since he'd come to him two months earlier he hadn't been the same.
Sure, Sesshoumaru was always distant, standoffish, and cold, but it was different somehow. It seemed like instead of choosing to separate himself from the world he was now stuck that way with no hope in sight. He knew his son was depressed and had tried everything he could think of to pull him out of it, but nothing seemed to make any difference. If only there was some way to find the girl, but there just wasn't. There was not enough information, no last name, not even a clue as to what city she lived in, nothing at all to go on.
His son had refused to speak her name, like it was something sacred that he had to keep close to his heart, and Inu understood. He still loved Sesshoumaru's mother and she'd died years ago. There was so little left to remind him of her and every little bit was to be guarded with everything he was. They never spoke of her, but her portrait hung proudly in his den over the fireplace where it always had been and always would be. Her scent had long ago faded from the house, from the room they shared, but he would never forget it. Once an inu youkai had identified a scent, it was catalogued and filed safely away forever.
When he'd met Izayoi he thought he had to be the luckiest demon on the planet, to find two beautiful, perfect women that were willing to love him. She understood that he still loved the one he'd lost and she wasn't threatened by the memory of the dead but not forgotten. It didn't bother her that her portrait wasn't the only one he looked at with adoration. His son had never understood and had never really forgiven him for marrying again, and Inu blamed himself for the wall between his children. Sesshoumaru had never given Inuyasha a chance and Inuyasha learned young that his older brother wanted nothing to do with him, even if he didn't understand why.
He'd called his son to his childhood home for a reason. This had to stop. He had been informed about the hours Sesshoumaru was putting in, as well as told about the many complaints other employees had made about his short temper. He'd frightened enough secretaries to last a lifetime, and had even reduced several to tears with his insults. He knew Sesshoumaru was frustrated. He knew he was depressed. However that didn't excuse his behavior. His son had been taught better and needed to be reminded of such.
He turned from the window and sat in the high backed soft brown leather chair behind his large antique desk, looking at the door expectantly. He wasn't left waiting long, as his eldest son swung the door open rather violently before stepping through and slamming it behind him.
"Having a bad day, Sesshoumaru?"
The younger taiyoukai glowered at his sire. "For what reason did you summon me, Father?"
"What, no hello? Fine then. You're taking a vacation."
Sesshoumaru looked at his father like he had three heads, each with four eyes, crooked noses, a duck's bill for a mouth and live snakes as hair, or more simply, like he'd lost his mind. "This Sesshoumaru is not taking a..."
"Oh yes you are, my boy. You either take a vacation or I fire you."
The snarl that ripped through the still air would have made a lesser demon wet his pants but Inu simply stared at his furious son. "You would not fire this Sesshoumaru."
"Do you really wish to find out? Look, you've been working crazy hours, you've been increasingly short with the other employees, and you've even made some of the secretaries cry."
"The little twits deserved it," he growled.
"Your behavior is not acceptable and will stop now. Sesshoumaru, I understand you're having a hard time, but you need to accept that she's gone. It's very unlikely that you'll ever see her again and even if she showed up tomorrow you yourself said that she wasn't interested in more than the one night. What are you holding on to her for? There are millions of beautiful women in the world, billions even, but you don't see them because you refuse to look. You need to let her go. You never had her to begin with."
Sesshoumaru snarled again, this time louder and even more vicious. "This Sesshoumaru does not need your opinion on my private life." His eyes began to bleed red as his beast rose through his rage.
"Look at you! It's pathetic! You can't even keep control of your beast! You will not be allowed to return to work until you forget all about this girl and regain control of your beast, your mind, and your life."
He wanted to scream. He wanted to attack his father to make him feel the pain he was feeling. He had absolutely no understanding of the situation if he thought he could just forget about her.
"Besides, I don't see what you'd want with a girl who obviously sleeps around. My son deserves better than a common whore." As soon as the words passed his lips he wished he had kept them to himself because it looked like his son was about to come over the desk and disembowel him.
"Do not... call her... a whore..." a crimson eyed Sesshoumaru growled out. "This Sesshoumaru will not forget about her. This Sesshoumaru cannot forget about her. You have no understanding of what I am feeling or thinking. If you wish to fire me, fine. I will not obey like a mindless fool. Somehow I will find her or I will die trying." Inu finally let out the breath he was holding when Sesshoumaru stormed from the room. The force he used to open the door shook the wall and caused thing to shake and fall from the shelves, breaking when they hit the floor.
'How dare he tell me to forget her? How dare he order me to move on? How dare he call her a whore? He knows nothing! He understands nothing! He tries to force this Sesshoumaru with the threat of my job? I have no need of his job. He can attempt to keep the business running without me. He will be begging for my return within the week.'
The fuming taiyoukai stomped through the mansion to the front door, his rage evident in his aura, causing servants to scatter and flee from his presence. No one wanted to be between him and his destination. He slammed the heavy front door and the stained glass panels on either side of the entrance shattered. In an instant he was in his car and nearly flying down the driveway. He didn't know where he was going. He only knew he had to go.
------
"Kouga, I..." she started, the look in his eyes tearing at her heart.
"Don't bother, Kagome. I already knew." His voice was sad but also understanding. "I knew you weren't happy. I knew you we're really with me. You never wanted to date me before. It was like a dream come true when you finally said yes, but somewhere inside I knew that you were just trying to replace what was missing."
"I'm sorry, Kouga. I didn't mean to..."
"I want you to be happy more than I want you to be with me. I understand. I just wish I could be that guy for you."
She looked up into his eyes before walking up and wrapping her arms around his neck. "So do I. You deserve someone better than me, someone who can give you their whole heart with no reservations or regrets." When his arms wrapped around her waist she laid her head on his chest. "Thank you for understanding. You're a great guy and I wish you could be the one for me. Some girl is going to be really lucky to get you."
He stroked her back softly as she cried into his chest, tears of regret, knowing she'd hurt him. He was innocent and wonderful and she hurt him. She cried tears of loneliness for the man she was missing. She cried tears of sorrow knowing that she would always compare every man she met to Sesshoumaru and she didn't even know his last name. She cried tears for her empty and hollow heart. She knew she could never love someone else. Her eyes widened and she wiped away the tears with her sleeve. "How is it possible for me to love someone I hardly know?" she whispered so low his demon ears almost missed it completely.
"Your heart makes the decision. It doesn't care how much or how little information you have. Your heart just knows. You should find him, talk to him. He'd have to be an idiot to not want you. Now no more tears. I'm guessing Inuyasha's coming to get you?" She nodded. "Well then I guess we have some packing to do."
She gave him a bright smile, a real one, and his heart ached in his chest, knowing he was loosing her to a man that might not even want her at all. He wanted to sit down and cry, knowing that the love of his life would never be his, but he had to stay strong for her. Once she was gone he could allow himself to really feel all the things he was keeping at bay for the moment.
"I don't deserve your love, Kouga," she said softly, leaning up to brush her lips across his. "You'll find her. I know it. I'm so sorry I'm hurting you."
"I'll be fine if you promise me that you'll look for him, that you'll try to get what you want. And I want you to know that you'll always be welcome here, in my home, in my arms, and in my heart."
His words were too much and she found herself crying again. He gently wiped the tears from her cheeks before returning her soft kisses. Changing slowly from soft light pecks to a passionate lip lock, Kagome had to drag herself away. "I... I can't..."
"I know. I'm sorry," he said before pressing his lips to her forehead. "You're just so damn hard to resist," he joked. "Now let's get to work so he doesn't have a reason to bitch and moan when he gets here."
----
Sesshoumaru was still driving, no real destination in mind. As he looked at the road ahead of him his eyes were drawn to the hood. 'Even the fucking car reminds me of her!' On the hood were two very obvious dents that had been made by his knees as he knelt over her. He couldn't bring himself to have it fixed. He hadn't cared about making the dents at the time so he'd decided he didn't care about them now. They weren't bothering him, at least not until he started thinking about how they'd been made and how much he wished he could make a matching pair on the other side. Hell, he'd happily take a sledgehammer to the entire car if it would bring her back to him.
His father was right on one thing though. He'd never really had her to begin with. If she'd wanted to see him again she would have left her phone number in the note. She could find him if she wanted to. She knew where he lived. If she'd felt anything at all she would have made some kind of contact by now, but she hadn't. He couldn't understand how she hadn't felt what he had. From the moment her eyes met his he was addicted. There was this intimate connection that had taken him forever to identify. When he'd looked into her eyes, the intensity of the feelings flowing through him that made him look away, he finally understood it. He was in love with her, one hundred percent, head over heels in love.
She was perfect in so many ways. Not only was she beautiful and enchanting, she could keep up with him in bed, something that he'd never found before, not even in demonesses. It was like she was made for him, a custom order; her body carved to those amazing curves, her voice the perfect pitch and tone for his delicate ears, and her eyes... the eyes that had the ability to paralyze him, to make him ache for her with just a glance. The way she could communicate with her eyes was like nothing he'd ever experienced. Before they'd ever spoken a word to each other her eyes had promised him the best night of his life, and she'd more than fulfilled that promise. If only the morning after had been better...
----
Kagome was rather proud of Inuyasha. When he'd arrived and learned that Kouga not only understood but was okay with it enough to have helped her pack, he'd managed to be nice. The wolf helped them carry her bags down to the street and all of Kagome's worldly belongings were crammed into the trunk and backseat of her best friend's car and her own. They drove back to the Taisho family home, chatting through their cell phones using their Bluetooth wireless headsets so that it was almost like they were sitting side by side rather than driving separately. They didn't make it back until nearly one a.m. so they decided to just leave her things in the cars until morning, both more than ready for sleep.
After a short discussion it was decided that she would stay with him that night and she would pick out a guest room in the morning. She'd gotten used to sleeping with Kouga and she knew an empty bed would be a difficult adjustment so she was all for it. Inuyasha gave her one of his t-shirts, knowing how she liked to sleep in them and loving how she looked in his clothes. It was just one more thing that declared to the world that she was his; his to love, his to protect and take care of, his best friend in the entire world. As he lay in his bed beside her staring at the ceiling, he thought about how she'd come to him in the first place.
They'd been friends since the day they met in middle school. She'd noticed his ears immediately and was intrigued, having never seen a half-demon before. When she asked politely if she could sit with him at lunch he'd looked at her like she was nuts. He would never be able to forget it. He'd asked why she would want to be anywhere near a filthy half-breed and she'd immediately smacked the back of his head, causing him to splash milk up his nose and all down the front of him. He of course jumped up and started screaming at her, asking what the hell her problem was, all the while snorting and sneezing as he tried to remove the milk from his nose.
She'd just laughed at him before saying that she didn't ever want to hear him call himself that again. Something about the way she looked at him, the sincerity in her eyes and the beautiful smile that shone just for him, made him fall in love with her right then. She taught him that just because other people hated him because he was a hanyou didn't mean he had to too. Those words had never passed his lips again and he spent every single day trying to repay her for what she'd done for him, for how she'd changed his life, made it worth living with just one sentence uttered between her musical laughter.
She'd met his father and mother, but she'd never met his half-brother. She didn't even know his name. Inuyasha didn't like to talk about him and she never forced the issue. Sesshoumaru had been off at some hoity-toity business school, being groomed to take over their father's business and the two had never encountered each other, much to Inuyasha's pleasure. He was certain that Sesshoumaru would insult her in some way, probably just for being human, and then he'd probably die trying to kill the arrogant bastard for it.
Inuyasha growled softly at the thought. Chances were good with Kagome staying with him that she would eventually run into Sesshoumaru. He had always hoped to make it through their entire lives without his sweet Kagome being exposed to his rude, cynical, condescending ass of a half-brother, but it wasn't looking very promising. It was like she sensed his worry and frustration in her sleep because she rolled from her side of the bed to rest her head on his chest, her soft scent relaxing him until he drifted off to sleep as well.
-----
Sesshoumaru was pissed. When he'd finally returned to his penthouse he had a message from his father demanding he return in the morning. Apparently he wasn't done with his lecture yet. He'd barely slept, staring at the same spot on the ceiling as always while his mind wandered. When it was finally morning he climbed out of his bed, dressing and forcing down some coffee before he left to face his father one again.
When he got there he noticed a car he'd never seen before parked next to the idiot hanyou's and when he walked past he saw the overfull backseats, furrowing his brows in confusion. 'What stray animal has the half-breed brought home with him? And of course father allows it.'
He smirked as he took in the wood nailed over the broken windows. That at least had been gratifying. All he wanted to do, besides find his elusive love, was to break something, anything... or everything. He let himself in and froze two steps from the door. 'Impossible. Why would she be here?' He thought for a moment before it dawned on him. It had to be her car outside, her things stuffed in both hers and Inuyasha's.
His eyes bled red as he reached his conclusion. 'This Sesshoumaru was not worthy of more than a one night stand but she will move in with the half-breed?' He felt like his heart was breaking, but his anger was so kind as to distract him from the pain. His eyes snapped to the top of the stairs where his soon to be dead younger sibling stood, staring down at him with a confused on his face.
It took everything he had not to fly up the stairs and strangle the hanyou, but he refused to let his emotions rule his actions. He'd tried that and all it did was make him look and act like a love sick fool. He refused to let the hanyou know that he somehow got the girl that his brother had fallen for. The gloating would never end if it was discovered.
He wanted to see her so badly, but that would only make matters worse, as she would surely tell Inuyasha and they would laugh at him together. That and if he laid eyes on her again it would just make the pain of losing her worse. His father was right after all. He never really had her in the first place.
He forced his beast to recede before turning away as if he'd never seen the hanyou to begin with, walking towards his father's study. He wanted to get it over with so he could get out of there.