A Christmas Rebirth by Natalia

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Six years ago

It was a busy morning.Kagome had woken up very early, and drove to the airport to meet a very important client. It was one of the major partners of their company, and she, being the personal assistant of the general Director, was tasked with organizing everything in the best way possible.

Kagome walked around the VIP lounge she had booked and inspected that everything was in order.  Taping her foot intensely, she looked at the watch on her wrist and took a deep breath. It was one hour past the arrival time. The snow storm was delaying the planes, and she hoped everyone would be safe. She called her boss to inform him about the delay while assuring him she would let him know as soon as the plane landed.

Approaching the glass window she looked around, smiling at the mass of people rushing home. Many had gift bags and presents in their hands, the Christmas fever being in full bloom. It was three days before the big day. Kagome loved Christmas and hoped to give Sesshomaru the best gift ever. She felt giddy at the idea of it, hoping to shock him, but not worrying about making him speechless. He usually didn’t talk much, so she hoped to see surprise on his face.

She looked at her watch again, but then inspected the people again, when her peripheral vision caught a mass of silver hair.

“Could it be Inuyasha?” she mumbled and with her eyes followed to the direction she saw the apparition. She took a few steps toward the glass panel and smiled when she realized it was him.

“Sessho...” she started waving her hand trying to gather his attention, she was happy to see him. Lately he had been busy, and she, herself, had less time as well. She was ready to run toward him, so she took a few steps toward him, but he didn’t see her. He was looking straight at the VIP exit where a stunning female with shining silver hair stood looking around. Seeing him, the female was definitely youkai, waved and smiled then walked with confident steps towards him.

Kagome’s hand fell down when she saw that the silver haired beauty approached Sesshomaru intimately with a wider smile, and took his hand in hers. Instead of shaking their hands like Kagome thought she would, the female embraced Sesshomaru and kissed him directly on the lips. The strangest thing was that he didn’t pull away like he did with Kagome, usually following up with how he was a private person and didn’t show affection publicly. Instead he embraced the female. Kagome’s heart twisted in her chest.

“It's probably a client, or a business partner,” she prayed and tried to convince herself at the same time, while her eyes shone with tears. Her hands trembled, and she took a big breath trying to calm her hurting heart. Too soon, before Kagome could regain her composure, the pair vacated the VIP lounge and were accompanied by a few bodyguards. Within seconds they completely disappeared from her vision.

Kagome was constrained to push the incident to the back of her mind under the duress of her job when she heard the announcement for the flight from Zurich, but her mind was chaotic and her heart was bleeding the whole time. Mister Yashimoto, the man she had been waiting for, was kind enough to not mind her absent-mindedness. However, Kagome felt guilty, so she plastered a false smile on her face and endured the day.

She arrived at home well into the night with a stack of letters from her post and documents from the office. Taking off her clothes and shoes, she fell on the couch bonelessly and sighed deeply. Looking at her phone, she bit her lip. No missed calls or messages from Sesshomaru since the early morning, when he told her he would be busy today and they wouldn’t be seeing each other. Kagome massaged her temples and bit her lip harder. Should she try calling him? Message, perhaps? He didn’t like to be disturbed and often told her to not bother him with useless matters. She felt hurt at his dismissal, but she loved him too much to stay angry.

She loved him since the first time she saw him in high school. He was in his last year when she was a freshman, and they had a meeting Kagome considered fate. They met in the library where she was studying and he was hiding from female admirers. From there, as they say, everything was history. They were always together in high school, and then again at the University of Tokyo. Now ten years later, Kagome being twenty-six, they were still together. She had her dream job, personal assistant that was to be promoted to Marketing Director at the beginning of the new year. Sesshomaru had his father’s corporation that had everything starting from automobile, to computers and hotels, and finally medical facilities.

Kagome smiled softly through her sadness.  She knew he was busy and couldn’t see her whenever she wanted, they didn’t even live together. Kagome’s friends kept telling her that she was too selfless, Yuka even called her foolish for not asking him to commit. Maybe in a way she was, but she loved Sesshomaru too much and she also wanted a career. She wasn’t ready for a family. Not until now at least, when all her plans were put in motion and functioning like a well oiled machine.  

She looked at the stack of letters that kept staring at her, but felt too tired to open them, so she opted for rest instead. After a quick shower, Kagome fell asleep before her head touched the pillow. Unfortunately her dreams were plagued by nightmares of two silver haired youkai. She woke up tired and sad, and went directly to her bathroom. A sensation of doom was gnawing at her, but she shook her head stubbornly hoping it would go away. She then went through the motions of preparing breakfast when she heard the postman bringing her the newspaper. Opening the door, she took the paper from the old postman, and politely asked him if he wanted a coffee before freezing in place upon seeing the front page.

There in a colourful photo stood Sesshoumaru with the beautiful youkai female she saw yesterday. Kagome started numbly at the words written on the page. She wished she didn’t know how to read, or at least forgot how to, for the time being. On shaking legs she took a few steps back and grabbed the table edge.

“Miss, are you ok?” asked the postman when Kagome started praying a mantra of:

“No, it can’t be! No, no, no!”

“Miss!” cried the old man, concern on his face when he saw Kagome shaking on her legs and trying to support herself on the table.

“Do you see this, can you read it?” she asked him, pushing the news agent toward him with trembling hands.

“Miss,” started the old man, but Kagome looked at him and begged.

“Please!”

The man looked at her strangely, but finally took the paper from her hands and started to read, “It says, ‘Western heir Sesshoumaru Mikazuki of the Flying Moon was spotted with his mate and wife at the airport yesterday. The Chinese Princess Nei-Ling of the Snow Dogs Clan arrived to spend the Holidays with her new family. Many speculate the royal couple that tied the knot only two years ago in Younmakai (The Royal Sacred Temple that is hidden from view except for the Royal family) are awaiting for a new addition to the family.”

Kagome couldn’t breathe, the pain in her chest was agonizing. Tears travelled down her cheeks and her vision blurred. It felt like her heart shattered, and the shards infected her veins travelling through her whole body. She needed to vomit.

It couldn’t be true! He couldn’t be so cruel as to lie to her, and take her from a deluded girlfriend to an actual mistress! No! She couldn’t believe it! She refused to believe it, but the words were black on white in the news paper she knew never lied.

The old man looked at her in the same moment her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground knocking down the stack of letters from the table. The letters fell in a wave of white and brown.

“Miss, miss!” called the man running inside her home and knelt down next to her, trying to shake her already unresponsive body.The old man panicked, took his phone out, called for the ambulance without paying attention to the letter from Kagome’s doctor that fell on the floor nor her phone that kept ringing, the ID saying one single name, Sesshoumaru.