As It Was by Zenaida

Chapter 1

Sesshoumaru hated hospitals. He hated the look of them and the various scents and sounds of machinery and illness. The tapping of his shoes echoed off of the walls as Sesshoumaru walked down the sterilized corridor. Physicians nodded as he walked past, while nurses tried to make eye contact with him.

He tried to resist the urge to look at his watch. It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go until after lunch, but it was a habit that he picked up when he first started working for the family business.

He followed his father’s long-time personal assistant, Jaken, a kappa youkai that barely reached his knee, to the suite at the end of the hall. Wordlessly, Jaken stepped to the side once they arrived, forcing Sesshoumaru to open the door as the diminutive youkai couldn’t reach the door handle himself.

The sound of a game show from the television inside the room met his ears, the heart rate monitor beeping behind the cheers and whooping of the contestants. The large youkai sitting up in the bed gave a hearty chuckle, golden eyes that matched Sesshoumaru’s own, squinting with laughter. He turned his head, long white hair unbound around him.

“Sesshoumaru, my boy,” he said fondly as his son entered the room.

The younger youkai stepped further into the well lit room. The morning sun shone through the opened blinds, illuminating tables of flower arrangements, cards, stuffed animals, and fruit baskets.

“How are you feeling, father?”

The older youkai shrugged. “About as well as can be expected for someone that’s dying, I suppose.”

“Have you eaten anything at least?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Father…it’s been two weeks. You need to eat something.”

“I just don’t want it.”

Sesshoumaru regarded his father. He had been in a meeting when the call came through that his father had been rushed to the hospital after collapsing. Since he was a powerful daiyoukai of inu heritage, he had to be rushed to the nearest hospital that specialized in treating youkai. His father’s youki had been greatly diminished, which was deadly enough for a youkai of any caliber, but what made matters worse was that no one knew why. His father had been in and out of testing to try to at least narrow down the plausible reasons. But so far, everything came back as inconclusive.

That was two weeks ago and no one knew anything more than what they knew now. Sesshoumaru had insisted on finding other physicians and specialists, better ones, but Touga wouldn’t hear of it. To Sesshoumaru, it felt as though his father was ready to die, as though he was actually looking forward to dying.

And that idea made him angry.

His father could be insufferable, grouchy, and a bit childish… but Sesshoumaru would never have imagined him to be a coward, ready to succumb to whatever was foolish enough to limit his time.

This simply wouldn’t do.

Maybe he could bring in another youkai specialist, secretly calling in a favor or two. As distasteful as the idea was, maybe he could even offer himself to keep one of their daughters’ company for dinner.

To top it all off, Sesshoumaru and Touga have been working to keep word of his illness out of the ears of the board of directors. He was sure that the vultures would barely wait until his father’s body was cold before they made their move. With the way his stepmother has been currying favor with the board members over the last couple of decades, he was positive that his younger half-brother would be maneuvered into the President’s chair.

If that happened, the gods needed to help them all.