Our Blessings
First set two years after second season ends... Some themes, language, and situations may offend some... topics that are touched upon are the following:
Foul Language
Rape
Violence
Self-inflicted pain
Suicide
Spoilers: Season 2 and some of the beginning of Season 3
Rated: R for reasons above (might occasionally change to NC-17, but you'll be warned beforehand...)
Summary: How a four year old boy helped bring together a broken man and a struggling woman... Yes people, it's a Chlex fic... *go figure.. mehehehe*
Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville, or any of the characters from that series (damn!); I don't own any characters from the Japanese Animated Series: Rurouni Kenshin (a.k.a. Vagabond Kenshin/Samurai X). This piece is merely for the entertainment of others - as well as myself.
Author's Note:
Thanks to Jem, my beta-reader for finding time in her busy sched to help with this fic.
Also to kinipela92, who helped with the 'Age Factor' hehehe
******** End of Author's Ramblings ********
Chapter 1
Oto-san would be so angry, she thought with tears flooding her ebony eyes. She stood outside the towering manor at the outskirts of Metropolis, hugging her used body as she looked up at the ominous building. She could not go back to her father like this – not while she was carrying his baby. She had hoped so hard for it not to be so – waiting out a week; not attending her job, before she took the test. The results were as she had suspected and dreaded: positive. She had been impregnated by a powerful insane man.
It was not her fault, though! The man was not himself at all. When her father first assigned her to keep a tab on him and his dealings, he hadn’t made it a point to tell her that her employer was partially crazed already. She had heard a bit of what his past ordeals were, but it told nothing of how he had reacted to these occurrences. It was Oto-san’s fault, too, for not telling her! But even as she thought it, she shook her head. She knew how to defend herself and Kami-sama knew she tried when he forced himself on her. It was her own weakness that brought about this unwanted outcome. But now what? Was she really going to return to her father as she was?
No, Oto-san would surely disown her – never look at her again with love and pride in his aging eyes – if she went back to him with a bad man’s baby in her body. But Kami-sama, where would she go now? She had returned here, thinking that perhaps she could demand his support, but there was a strange pride in her. She was not going to crawl back to the man who violated her body. She could feel the desperation rising in her as she took a step back. It was destroying her from the inside, this guilt; shame; the anger. Her heart and mind were in conflict.
Should she abort the child? But it was a precious life that she would throw away – a small innocent soul that did not deserve such an injustice. She could not decide on whether to throw away her maternal instincts and be gone with the spawn of a crazy man, or to follow the mother in her and give birth to the child. She hung her head in humiliation. Her reputation – her father’s reputation, when he finds out of this – would be in ruins. Her long, black hair slipped from behind her shoulders and covered her face. She turned away from the house where she lost her virtue and ran towards the gates never to return again.
~~ o0o ~~
He was in no condition to see anyone – as it had been over two years since he had been brought back from the island to the world of corporate monsters and sixteen months since he had found out that his wife had been the one to send him spiralling down the path of insanity. His father’s intervention by putting him in Belle Reve didn’t help either. Remembering all the betrayals and deceit in his – family – was a painful ordeal. And it all started with one woman.
It was Helen’s fault. Yes there was his father who had a hand in this, as well, but he was used to having the man screw him over. It was the person he had actually trusted with his life, however, who had very near killed him and he blamed her for this betrayal wholly. It was all her fault that everything happened the way it did. She was guilty for his ending up on the path he was on now – where his destiny became his transformation into the spitting image of his father: scheming, cynical and always backstabbing others.
Over the years, he had brought it upon himself to swallow all the other companies, and laugh at the faces of those who had lost their integrity, wealth and power to his growing one. And all of this was done in the recesses of his manor just outside Metropolis. Insanity, anger, and indifference to other people’s welfare were a potent mix for ultimate power in the business world.
Still, as his business thrived, he was always haunted by her… The reasons for him doing something – killing someone for betrayal, taking someone’s business, bankrupting another – they were all because of her. It was all her damned fault that he was ruining everyone. With bringing about their downfall – it temporarily satisfied his hunger to cause hers… squash her; hoping it would allow him to lose the sinister feelings inside him.
Stupid fuck, she was merely avenging herself for the betrayal you did unto her. Don’t think you are blameless. Always, that annoying voice lingered in his mind, nagging him, pointing out his faults. Even after a long period of time had passed, it was there just as loud as it had been that first moment it began. As he sat in the soft armchair, he squeezed his eyes tightly and hit his head against the palm of his hand, hoping it would dispel all thoughts in his mind.
“Stop it,” he growled to the voice his hand pounding more forcefully into his head.
I won’t until you admit that you’re just being an ass and blaming someone of your own faults. The voice sounded a lot like his father’s, but it could not have been him speaking into his ear for physically, the man was away in Russia, making arrangements to search for oil there. Lex gritted his teeth and hit himself all the more harder, but less frequently, muttering to himself, “You’re wrong. She was a bitch who was merely marrying me for my money.”
So are you saying that she was the one who stole the blood from her own damned office? You made her that way, Lex. She is blameless. Only you are guilty…
“Fuck OFF!” he roared and shot out of his chair in his rage. He stumbled over himself and with a feral growl, fell down.
He hit the ground hard – found pleasure in the painful sensation – curled tightly into himself and began to claw at his arms over the long, dark purple sweater he wore. His mind was chanting and chanting how wrong he was and he let out animalistic screams as he writhed on the marble floor as the tips of his fingers pushed into his forearms through the clothe covering him. Damn it, he wanted to rip it all out of him! His nails struggled to pierce through the clothing, his teeth bared and his face scrunched in the internal war he was facing. He was too caught up in this that he didn’t hear the quick footsteps over to him; nor did he hear the alarmed cry of his loyal butler. But he did notice when he was suddenly yanked up to stand, his wild stormy blue eyes suddenly coming to rest on the flustered old man, who probably didn’t know what to do with him.
“Sir?” he questioned hesitantly in his reserved tone. “Are – are you alright, sir?”
Lex blinked, feeling the fury in him subside. Mechanically, he nodded and felt the pressure of clamped hands ease off his arms. The young multi-billionaire looked around him in a daze. This was the fourth time this week that he lost himself to his thoughts. Was he that much of a threat? He didn’t know. He was aware that he had hurt someone before, and whoever it was had left. Was that why most of the women in the household hurried off when he passed by? It had been a year. He did have more self-control… just a bit.
“Very sorry, Malcolm,” he apologized stiffly.
The old man shook his head then stood straight again, hesitating as if he needed to tell him something. “Sir, there is a couple here to see you; a Mr. Shinomori of the Honshu Industries. He says it’s urgent.”
Lex frowned. He was in not in the proper disposition or mind to be entertaining guests. Neither was he properly dressed for company. Still, there was something to be said about those who turned big corporate holders down. He gave a curt nod and his butler left as composed as possible to bring his guests in. Closing his eyes, Lex took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to gain some semblance of calmness. What he thought was merely a minute changed to five and finally the clearing of another’s throat caught his attention.
His haunted blue eyes glanced at the old Japanese man and someone that Lex presumed was his assistant standing just inside the living room. Mr. Shinomori’s companion was holding a basket – large and covered with a heavy blanket… an offering of some sort? Lex was not sure. However, he was very sure that whatever was in there was making him feel uneasy.
Remembering his manners he bowed respectfully, bending from the waist, and greeted, “Mr. Shinomori, I was never aware that I had a meeting with you. Is there something of great urgency that must be discussed?”
Small obsidian eyes, behind wrinkled eyelids stared intensely back at him. “Kisama,” the old man growled after a small tense moment.
Lex was taken aback. Bastard… that was what the man had called him. But what the hell did he do? He could feel the irritation bubbling just below the surface… first tremors detected. This might be a big blow, Hoblitt. “I’m sorry but I don’t see what the hostility your displaying is for,” he commented with his eyes narrowed on his visitor.
“You Luthors are all the same,” he said in a thickly accented voice. Lex almost couldn’t understand the jumble of words he was saying. “Doing things without thinking of the consequences of your actions seems to be genetically imprinted in your blood.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” the younger bald man replied coldly.
The old man began to let out a string of foreign expletives and turned to pace the room. In his place, the younger man spoke. He was tall – towering over Lex, in fact, with a slim body, black hair and exotic, icy blue eyes. “Ne-chan –” he was swiftly cut off by the old man, who spat something in Japanese – don’t you dare claim her as family, Aoshi – so he began again. “A girl named Megumi came to work for you here as your secretary. One day – a few months after she was employed – she came back to our household with a baby growing inside her. Do you remember any such thing happening?”
Lex searched his memory for any recollection of such a time. Then came the snippets of moments – a woman with long raven hair crying; his hands bruising creamy flesh. Bitch, you’ll pay for this. The words rang in his ears, roaring painfully as he recalled the insane episode. He thought it was Helen. Holy shit, he thought it was Helen!
“I see your memory has finally come to you,” the young Japanese man said frostily.
Lex searched for some reason – some idea that would justify himself. He narrowed his eyes on Mr. Shinomori’s son. “What the hell was she doing as my employee when she was from such a powerful international family as yours?”
“That is nothing that truly concerns you. We have not intervened in any of your dealings, if that is what you believe. But you have caused a tint in our clean name and for that you must pay.” Then he held out the basket to Lex. “This is yours. We have no reason to keep this illegitimate child. We shall not press charges, Luthor, as we are not ready to ruin our name in the process. Just take this child. What you do afterwards is of no concern to us.”
“Where is the girl now?” Lex asked in a low voice.
“Kanojo wa shindeiru,” Aoshi answered in a deadpan tone. Reverting to his native tongue made what he said all the more piercing. “She performed jumonji giri when she handed the child to us. She told us she had endured a life of shame for two long years. Now we give this burden to you.”
“You can’t –”
“We will not take refusals, Luthor-san,” the older Shinomori interjected forcefully. “You will take this child as your own. Aoshi, leave it there. Ikuzo.” Having said this, he turned and walked out. The young man reluctantly put the basket down and followed his father.
Lex was too stunned to move for a moment. How could he let this happen? How could he be so irresponsible of his actions? What was he going to do with the child? His mind was overflowing with questions that he did not know the answer to. He could feel his heart speeding as he realized that his father could hear about this incident. A sudden keening came from the basket and his eyes snapped onto the parcel on the floor. He took an unsteady step away from it. He needed to get rid of it… before anyone found out about it.
~~ o0o ~~
Gabe Sullivan stared out the window of his kitchen in Smallville on a Saturday morning as he idly sipped his coffee. It was quiet in his household so much more so than he liked it to be. Chloe had left about a year and a half back, and had visited, called and emailed as much as she could – which was now so rarely considering she was so hung up with her studies and was also in another country. She was probably busy exploring. After all, her emails did include pictures of her previous escapades with friends.
No, the communication was not as much as he would have wanted. And because it was so lacking, his days were strangely vacant as he liked to be called upon often by a daughter who had a knack for getting into trouble. Now she was miles away, and he was stuck in his little house all by himself. It was a sad feeling – a lonely feeling. Perhaps he should date, he thought, but he shook his head at the idea. He wasn’t in any position to start a new relationship with the opposite sex in that way. He just wanted pure and platonic companionship… one that would depend on him as Chloe had for the past eighteen years of her life.
Sighing he put down his cup of bitter brew and picked up the newspaper, flipping through it lazily, barely making it a point to read anything. As he got to the back pages, a small ad caught his attention, causing his breath to catch in his throat. It was almost like fate. There it was, right in front of him. It would make a wonderful addition, too.
But how would he tell Chloe? He shrugged. He would tell her in due time. She was too busy with her classes. She would eventually be told. It had to be a surprise, though. He wanted everything to be prepared so that she would see that it was such a good idea for him to do exactly as the ad said. He could feel his nerves jump in his stomach and he got out of his chair to answer the request he saw on the newspaper.
TBC
******** Author's Note ********
Some update on the vocabulary and unfamiliar phrases:
Oto-san - Father
Kami-sama - God
Ne-chan - little sister
Kanojo wa shindeiru - she is dead
jumonji giri - a more extreme form of Seppuku, or disembowelment. A individual would take a tanto - or dagger - and cut his lower abdomen quickly from left to right. This action is believed to bring a faster death. Afterwards, the individual would then re-insert the tanto into his body and cut upwards, creating a cross on the torso. This action allowed their guts to literally spill out of their bodies; in a figurative way, it also shows that the person admits their fault (spill your guts)
Ikuzo - Let's go
Other notables:
Reference to Hoblitt - US scientist that went to the Philippines in 1991 to monitor the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo...
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