CH 1
Sesshomaru stared impassively down at the tired demoness; or, more specifically, the pup in her arms.
“What is the meaning of this?” His voice was low and dangerous.
The demoness flinched, not meeting his eyes. “I don’t know, Lord Sesshomaru.”
He glared at the infant, whose face was clean of everything; birthing fluids, blood, and most importantly, the mark of the House of Moon. “Have you been lying with another man, Izami?” Even as he spoke, he knew it could not be true. This inu demoness he had chosen to bear his heir had spent her pregnancy under his watchful eye. She could not have been with another, and it was not her fault the child was not the Heir. To count, she was the third female to fail at breeding him a Heir.
The first demoness Sesshomaru had chosen had birthed a daughter; the second, a son. Neither pups had been the Heir, and this most recent pup was not either, which was ridiculous, because the firstborn was the Heir. Always.
A throat cleared behind him. “This proves it, Sesshomaru.”
“Proves what?” Sesshomaru turned his back on the mother. The child he would keep, like the others; the mother would be sent away with only a miniscule fraction of the money she had been promised for bearing the Heir.
“Very rarely, a Heir has been the second born, but never a third or fourth,” said Kedakai Takahashi, the brother of his deceased father. “This can only mean one thing; your Heir has already been born.”
Sesshomaru pushed a button to summon a nurse. “Impossible,” he said dismissively. “I have never impregnated another female than the three I chose for breeding.”
“That’s the only answer left, Sesshomaru. Think hard. Before Takara, the first, did you ever bed another woman?”
“Of course,” said Sesshomaru almost defensively. “Do you take me for a prude?”
“Of course not. Which is why I’m telling you to wrack your brain.”
Sesshomaru fought the urge to roll his eyes. “I will just have to select another breeder,” he said. “Because all the females before Takara, I bedded with caution…” He trailed off, his eyes widening.
Kedakai saw this and was triumphant. “Alright, who was it, Sesshomaru?” Neither of them paid any attention to the nurse wheeling Izami’s bed out the door, leaving the two alone in the hospital room.
Sesshomaru shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “It was an insignificant girl… A human girl. There is no way she could have carried my heir to term- -that she would have. The morning after that only night we spent together, I left her. She was an independent creature with much ambition. She would have aborted him, I am certain.”
“Well, obviously not, because none of the children you have sired with your breeders have the markings of a Heir.” Kedakai walked out of the room, Sesshomaru following him. “You must find her immediately.”
Sesshomaru hesitated still. “It must be another,” he said, almost to himself. But that couldn’t be true; she was the only one he hadn’t used protection with. Damn, karma was a bitch. Out of all the females from his past, it had to be the one who hated him.
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Weeks passed, and nothing got better.
“I’m sorry, Lord Sesshomaru, but we cannot find anyone with the name Kagome Higurashi.”
Sesshomaru glared at the representative from the company he had hired to find the mother of his heir. “Impossible. Search harder.”
“My lord, the only records we can find are those from her school years. After she graduated college, it seems she disappeared.”
“Then look for women named Kagome. It’s not that common. Comb through all the results until you find what I seek.”
“We have, my lord, but none of the results are what you desire.”
Sesshomaru lost patience. “Then get out of my sight.”
“But my lord, the payment--”
“Your work was worthless. Now leave.” He sent the poor man his famous glare, and listened to the door swing shut with restricted satisfaction. This was getting ridiculous. Kagome was intelligent, but not so intelligent as to manage to hide herself so completely. Also, she was ambitious. She had to have a well-paying, respectable job, which meant the company should have been able to find her. Ends weren’t meeting up. What was going on? Frustrated, he stood up, intending to leave the office for today. And then his secretary piped up.
She was a timid little thing with huge brown eyes that could melt anyone’s heart but his. “Er, sir,” she began hesitantly. When he raked her over with an impatient glare, she shrank back, but still managed to stammer out, “I think I might have an idea as to how to find the woman you’re looking for.”
The wench had been eavesdropping. Sesshomaru was fuming. He didn’t want his little problem to be public knowledge- -and then her words clicked. He was rounding on her in an instant, demanding to know what she meant.
Nervous, she said, “A lot of my friends from college always complain about what their lives could have been if it weren’t for their children. They bemoan the fact that they didn’t have protected sex, that they didn’t take birth control, that they didn’t get an abortion. They’re constantly telling me how lucky I am that I was able to advance my career without a baby to drag me down. So… I couldn’t help but hear about the woman and how ambitious she was. Well, it’s quite possible that she was never able to make it as far as you thought because of the baby, which would explain the company’s inability to track her down.”
Sesshomaru cursed himself for not thinking of this. Well, he had considered it, but he had assumed she would have gotten a job regardless. But now that he thought of it, it would be extremely hard to land a competent job and work up a desirable career while caring for a child. Fresh out of college, she would have no money to pay for daycare services. And her mother had passed away several years before, leaving only her grandfather or little brother for family- -hardly the ideal candidates for taking care of an infant.
He hurried out of his office, nodding to Rin. He made a mental note to himself to add a bonus to her check this month- -and remind her to keep silent about this whole business. Stepping out of his company, he wanted to run to his destination, but he knew it was impractical. Flagging a taxi, he told the driver that the faster he could get him to the desired location, the bigger tip he would receive. The driver took one look at his clothes and peeled off down the street, his speedometer going higher than it ever had since the day it was manufactured.
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Kagome closed her laptop and put her head in her hands, trying to digest all she had learned.
Now that Asahiro was six years old, she had decided to tackle an online course. The shrine was her home, but she didn’t want to live here for the rest of her life, greeting the occasional guest and trying to pawn off souvenirs.
“Mom?”
She turned in her chair and smiled at her son. “Hi, Asahiro. Do you want something?”
“Can I go outside for a few minutes? I feel stifled.” His large golden eyes pleaded with her to say yes.
“Yes, you may,” she said gently, taking him by the hand and leading him from the room. She felt bad that she tried to keep him inside as much as possible, and concealed his markings with makeup and tucked his hair into a black wig whenever they did go out. She knew that he hated it, but she had explained it to him. If anyone were to see him without his disguise, he would be taken away from her. Why? It was a very long story, one that she would tell him once he was older.
Kagome should have disguised him today as well, but it was only a quick breather and then it would all come off again. Besides, no one visited the shrine nowadays. Getting jackets for the two of them, she opened the front door- -and gasped.
His hand poised in the air to knock, wide golden eyes staring into hers, was her worst nightmare… Sesshomaru.
Pushing Asahiro behind her, she tried to shut the door, but he quickly pushed his way inside, unfolding his tall frame inside her home.
“What do you want, Sesshomaru?” she asked, trying to sound brave. As if she weren’t trying to hide a six-year-old behind her back, who, by the way, was craning around her trying to catch a glimpse of the stranger.
He wouldn’t meet her eyes: he was staring at what was visible of Asahiro. With a growl, Kagome said tersely, “Go to your room and stay there.” With many a backwards glance, her son scurried up the stairs. She waved her hand in front of Sesshomaru’s face, and he finally looked at her.
“Leave, Sesshomaru,” she said firmly. “You got what you wanted from me seven years ago.”
He seemed to regain his cold composure. “No, Kagome. I want my heir.”
“He’s not your heir. You never intended for him to exist in the first place, and for the past seven years you never even knew he existed!”
“He is indeed my heir. The markings on his face indicate his proud heritage. And as for my not knowing of his existence, I admit that I did not intend to create him- -”
“Damn right you didn’t! You wanted to use me right from the start, and you got all you could from me before you left. You left the very morning after you convinced me to have sex with you, Sesshomaru. You’re dirty and you’re among the lowest.”
“Watch your mouth,” he said in a low voice, his eyes dark.
“Why should I? You’ve done nothing but take advantage of me and throw me away the moment you got what you could. Don’t come crawling back to me and expect me to show you respect. Now get out of my house.”
To her consternation, he seemed not taken aback, but amused. “I always did like your fire, Kagome.”
Well, that sent her blood pressure shooting up lickety-split. “Don’t you do that, Sesshomaru,” she snapped. “Don’t act like you ever liked anything about me but what lies between my legs. Now get out! Or does my grandfather need to chase you out?”
“One, your grandfather is not here, and neither is your brother. Second, we both know that his sutras are useless scraps of paper.” He was infuriatingly calm. “Now, let’s get back to the matter on hand. Give to me my heir, and I will leave.”
“He’s your son biologically, but that’s it. As far as family goes, I am his only parent!” Kagome crossed her arms. “Just go back to your fancy penthouse suite and your gaggle of whores. You will never have my son.”
“He is my son and my heir. Call him down or I will retrieve him myself.”
“Don’t you take a single step further into my home,” she snarled. “It’ll take me long enough to decontaminate what you’ve already touched.”
“I can have you arrested for not informing me about my heir, and for trying to keep me from him,” warned Sesshomaru. “I’m offering you a peaceful alternative.”
“You can take your peaceful alternatives and shove them right up your ass!” Kagome raised her chin defiantly. “As for arrest? You underestimate me. I can tell the court exactly how Asahiro came to be, and they will be easily convinced to vote in my favor.”
“So his name is Asahiro,” Sesshomaru murmured, and she wanted to punch herself for telling him even that much. “And Kagome, you are a fool if you think you will win. A heir belongs with his sire. Anyone who tries to separate them is held accountable by demon law.”
“It’s not separating if you were never with him in the first place.” Every line in Kagome’s body was drawn with tension. “Go away, Sesshomaru. You are no father.”
“Genetics disagree, Kagome. I am not leaving until Asahiro is in my arms. I hope you realize that I can provide better for him than you ever could.”
“You don’t even deserve to call him by his name!” she shouted. “Are you such a self-entitled, arrogant brat to think that you can throw me out like yesterday’s trash, then come running back to me once you realize I have something you want? I will never let you have my son!” The last words came out as a scream.
He simply gazed coolly at her, and in the blink of an eye, he had maneuvered past her and was halfway up the stairs.
“No! Stop!” Desperate, she dashed after him, but by the time she had reached the top of the stairs, he had already found Asahiro’s room and was inside. “Asahiro! Get away from him!” She ran down the hallway, but Sesshomaru shut the door in her face. Slamming into the door, Kagome tried to turn the doorknob, but a click told her he had locked it. Trembling, she beat frantically on the door. “Sesshomaru, let me in right now! I’m telling you, right this instant! Asahiro, don’t listen to anything he says. He’s going to try and take you away from me!”
But still the door remained closed, and realizing she couldn’t hear anything from within, Kagome collapsed to the floor, where she curled into a ball and let the first tears come. Everything she had tried so hard to salvage, a happy life with her son, it was all falling apart.
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Sesshomaru shut the door behind him and locked it, all with one hand behind his back. He put up a sound barrier as well, so they wouldn’t be disturbed. He did all this on some subconscious level, however. His eyes were hungrily fixed on his heir, who was huddled up on his bed, staring at him with fascination and fear. He was his heir indeed, with silver hair and golden eyes just like his, with the telltale crescent moon on his forehead and magenta stripes on his cheeks. From his looks, you would never know his human was a mother. His aura and scent as well radiated pure demon.
“Are you- -are you going to hurt me?” The child’s voice was tiny and timid.
“No, Asahiro, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to give you everything you have ever dreamed of.” Sesshomaru walked closer to the bed, ignoring the way his son shrank back from him. “Asahiro, I am your father.”
“You can’t be my father,” the child protested. “He’s left for good.”
“Well, I have returned, and you’re going to come live with me. You will like it, Asahiro. Your room alone will be bigger than this entire house.”
“My mommy told me bad people would try to come and steal me away. I don’t want to go. I want my mommy.”
“No, you don’t want your mommy, Asahiro. She’s been taking very bad care of you.” Sesshomaru swept his eyes around the room. “You will live like a prince with me.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his uncle, who was waiting outside, having met him here. When he picked up, he said curtly, “They are here. She is being resistant. We will probably have to extract him by force. Come.” He hung up and realized that he had underestimated the intelligence of his heir.
“You didn’t hurt Mommy, did you? If she doesn’t want me to go, I’m not going!” Asahiro clutched his bedsheets tightly. “Go away!”
This was getting tiring.
Sesshomaru scooped up his son, firmly disentangling his little claws from the blankets. “You will soon realize your good fortune.”
“No! No! Let me go!” Asahiro was screaming, golden eyes wide with terror. He struggled frantically in Sesshomaru’s grasp, miniature arms and legs flailing. “Mommy! Mommy!”
Shifting his hold so that the child was sufficiently restrained, Sesshomaru walked to the door, smelling that his uncle was on the other side, talking to Kagome. Unlocking it, he opened it and stepped out.
“We’re done here, Uncle.”
Upon seeing him, Kagome sprang to her feet, pushing away Kedakai. “Sesshomaru, let go of my son!”
“Mommy!”
“Asahiro! Don’t worry, Mommy will take care of everything!” She dashed forward to block the hallway, standing in Sesshomaru’s way. “Leave now, Sesshomaru, or I will call the police.”
“Go ahead,” drawled Sesshomaru. “Whose side do you think they’ll take: Sesshomaru Takahashi, CEO of the top company in Japan, or a mere shrine girl?”
“I think they’ll take the side of the woman whose baby is being stolen from her!”
Kedakai glanced at Sesshomaru. “Aren’t you being a little hasty here, nephew? Surely we can sort this out without it getting ugly?”
“She refuses to stand down, and neither do I.”
Stepping closer, Kedakai murmured in his ear, “You don’t want the media getting involved in this, Sesshomaru. It’s better to reach a compromise.”
Realizing the truth in the elder youkai’s words, Sesshomaru acquiesced. He could just see the headlines if the woman made a fuss.
Tycoon Takahashi’s shocking scandal: the family who wants nothing to do with him.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned: the mother of the Takahashi heir speaks out!
“Very well. Kagome, I am willing to compromise.”
“There’s no compromise. I want you gone from our lives, forever!” The tears were still drying on her face, and Sesshomaru almost felt a pang of guilt. Almost.
“Look here, woman. We can do this one of two ways: the hard way or the easy way. The hard way is, we take this to court and leave the decision up to a jury of strangers who really only care about getting home, not what is best for Asahiro. The easy way is, we come to an agreement about how to resolve this matter, a way that makes both of us happy. It’s quiet and it’s private.”
“Private. That’s all you care about, isn’t it, Sesshomaru? You just don’t want your public name sullied with this whole affair.” Kagome stomped her foot, eyes flashing. “Well, I’ll tell you, I am not budging on the stance that Asahiro stays with me, and we never see you again. Nothing else will make me happy. There won’t be any compromise, Sesshomaru. So unless you give up and leave, I will be telling everyone about how you used me and forgot about me for seven years, then tried to kidnap my son. We’ll see how well your precious company will do after that, Takahashi-san.”
That little bitch. Sesshomaru was about to backhand her when Kedakai placed his hand gently on his arm. Leave this to me, his uncle mouthed, then made his way to Kagome, who narrowed her eyes.
“Higurashi-san, you are an intelligent woman. Surely you can see how much better it would be for Asahiro to come with us. You are an unemployed female human. You can only provide him with so much before you die, not to mention the guidance he will need as he matures. That can only come from his father.”
“A better life? You only want Asahiro for what is marked on his face. If he were a hanyou bastard, you would not give a shit about him even if we were starving in the gutter. As for ‘father’? Ha! Don’t make me laugh. My son has no father, only an arrogant asshole who would like to fill that position all of a sudden now that he finds himself in need of a heir. And don’t waste your time worrying about my lifespan. I’m going to be around for a very long time.”
It was Sesshomaru’s turn to narrow his eyes. “Did you mate with some idiotic demon, you whore?”
“Don’t call me a whore, you monster. Who is it that slept around like a flea in college, jumping from bed to bed? And I bet old habits still stand. As for my lifespan, it is none of your business and I see no need to divulge it with you.”
She was angering him, this fiery little human woman with the blazing blue eyes. He was fully prepared to push right past her and damn the consequences, but Kedakai stepped in once again.
“Higurashi-san, please, think of your son. We can provide him a superior education, a prosperous home, and an empire to rule over. With you, he only has the life of a commoner. He can never hope for tutors in core subjects, of the fine arts. He will always be shunned and ostracized in any school you send him to. Besides, what kind of home for a taiyoukai is a shrine?”
“Maybe that’s what I want for him,” she said, but Sesshomaru could tell she was faltering. Kedakai seized on that opening.
“He will have private tutors on everything he ever wants. The piano, the cello, the violin, the flute. He will float at the highest of society circles, conversing with the prime minister and having lunch with stars. He will have servants at his beck and call, and he will take over one of the largest empires in the world. Fortune will smile upon him. Do not rob your child of such a glorious future, Higurashi-san.” The elder taiyoukai’s voice was low and convincing.
Kagome was visibly weakening. “I don’t… I don’t want my son to end up like him,” she finally whispered, looking at the floorboards. “I don’t want Asahiro to become like Sesshomaru. My child, growing up to break hearts indiscriminately and step all over the people he believes to be lower than him, carelessly ruining the lives of others- -I can’t let that happen. I would sooner die.” She looked up, meeting Sesshomaru’s eyes. “I can’t lose Asahiro. He’s everything to me. Without him… my life would be meaningless. He is my son. Don’t you see? I love him more than anything else in the world. I need him.”
Although Sesshomaru would never admit it, it hurt to hear those things. It hurt to listen to the mother of his heir speak so low of him, to wish that his son would never be anything like him. Before he could stop himself, he said quietly, “For what it is worth, Kagome, I did love you. Very much.”
She stared at him for a long moment, then blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Don’t lie.”
“It’s not a lie.” Sesshomaru looked away, remembering the night they had made love.
It had been magical, and they were lying together in bed, her sleeping and him watching her sleep, when his beast began to pull at him. It wanted to brutalize her, to make her bleed, to make her cry. He had been afraid of himself then, very afraid. He couldn’t trust himself enough to sleep for fear that his soul youkai would take over and break the girl beyond repair. He had realized then, what it meant: his beast wanted to mate with the human. It was absolutely out of the question.
When a taiyoukai mated, its soul youkai would take over and do as it pleased. And if this particular girl made his want to claw her to pieces as he mated her? No, he wouldn’t allow himself to do that. There was only one thing to do: cut the girl off completely. If he stayed with her any longer, it would only make his control over his soul youkai more unstable and make it more liable to lash out. He had to leave her immediately. But he didn’t know how to do it. He couldn’t tell her the truth- -if it ever got out, it would ruin his reputation. So how would he give her the excuse? Wake her up and thank her for the memories? How callous. Besides, he didn’t trust himself to speak to her, to look into her confused eyes, without his beast doing something he would regret. So he settled on a note, scribbling in the moonlight: My apologies, but this will never work out. This is for your time. He had tucked several hundred thousand yen under the note and left it on the bedside table. Allowing himself one last look at her peacefully sleeping face, he had walked out of her life.
But he couldn’t tell her that.
Quickly changing the subject, he offered, “Have him stay with me. You can visit anytime you please.”
That only made her angrier. “Don’t make me the outsider, Sesshomaru. I’ve raised him for six years by myself. I won’t become the visitor. If anything, you should be.”
He honestly thought the only solution then was to leave and take the boy with him, and fight her at court for his custody. And then his uncle piped up.
“Why don’t you come and live with us as well, Higurashi-san?”
“I can’t,” was the immediate answer.
“Why not? You would be with Asahiro.”
“I don’t want to stay under the same roof as him.”
“It’ll be as if you two are living in separate suites,” promised Kedakai. “Trust me, it’s big enough for that. And it’ll be completely charge-free. Just think of it as a pension for carrying the heir of the West to term and raising him for so long. We can even arrange for a salary.”
“Why should I? Why, when I’ve started moving on with my life, should I have to bow down to your whims? Why should I move out of my childhood home to stay with my son, whom I should be allowed to keep anyways? Why?”
“You know why, Higurashi-san. You probably have been very strict with Asahiro going outside, and you haven’t been sending him to school. Why?” Kedakai waited for her answer.
She faltered, and after a dejected pause, she replied softly, “Because no matter what I do, you will be able to take him away from me. The courts are in your pocket, and although the media would have a field day with this, in the end, Asahiro would be yours.”
“I’m glad we’re finally on the same page, Higurashi-san. Now can we come to an agreement?”
In that moment, Kagome looked so frail, so tired as she stood there in the hallway. Then she lowered her head. “Yes.”
“Good.” Kedakai clapped his hands briskly. “If you don’t mind, Higurashi-san, accompany us back to the office. Our lawyers can draw up a contract, and we can start moving your things in.”
Sesshomaru, sensing the conflict was over for now, lowered Asahiro, who had been watching the entire exchange with huge golden eyes, to the floor. Immediately the young taiyoukai ran to Kagome, who wordlessly dropped to her knees and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut, and the air was thick with the scent of her tears.
He knew he had won, but Sesshomaru hardly felt like a victor. His son and heir feared and distrusted him, and his mother hated him. He turned away, and his uncle rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“It’ll be alright. You’ll see.”
As he glanced over his shoulder at the weeping mother of his heir, Sesshomaru didn’t know.
-oOo-
Day Eleven of 12 Days of Christmas- -we’re almost done! Another oneshot tomorrow, I think, to round things off!
For those of you celebrating Christmas, Merry Christmas! Have fun decorating stockings, making cookies for Santa, or putting that extra touch on your tree! Wrap those presents well, and watch out for Santa tonight! (ho ho ho)
And for those of you not, happy holidays, and I hope you guys are getting a nice and snowy winter. Snow angels, am I right?
Cheers!