InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Side Story, Part Three ❯ One-Shot

A side story, part three

Disclaimer: Sesshoumaru is not mine, although I really really REALLY wish he was, especially after writing this.

Author's note: Please read Under the Dog Star first. This lemon alternative falls in chapter 18.

***

Makoto was feeling drained. The events of the evening -- learning she harbored a mononoke in her mind, having said mononoke attack the court, and Tomiko's insistance that Inu-Taisho had died -- all wore on her already fragile human mind.

Perhaps that was what she hated most about this time of the month. It wasn't just that she was physically weaker, but also that she was mentally vulnerable. Without her preternatural senses, she jumped at shadows and saw other youkai in everything. And now that she knew why she had lived -- because Yumemaru had resided in her mind, shielding her -- she had even more reason to fear for her life.

Sesshoumaru held her arm lightly as they walked down the dark streets of Kyoto. Makoto did feel a lot safer with him by her side. She glanced over at him; he was staring straight ahead, an unreadable expression on his face. Tomiko had said that Inu-Taisho was dead. Makoto couldn't sense that herself, but then the bond between her and Inu-Taisho was much weaker. Tomiko had proved her visions true on more than one occassion, but Makoto still knew better than Sessshoumaru that what a seer sees is only a possible reality.

Makoto looked back at Tomiko, who followed not far behind, carrying the sword as if she was afraid of what it could do.

"I hope she'll be all right," Makoto commented. Sesshoumaru said nothing. The chosen mate of his father would be his . . . well, not responsibility, but at least his concern, if something had indeed happened to Inu-Taisho.

"She will live," he finally said. Makoto sighed. As if Sesshoumaru weren't already unemotional. Right now he exibited the same life signs as a rock.

"The moon will be setting in four hours," Makoto tried again, and glanced up at the starry canopy above. She'd be back to herself . . . back to her kitty ears and hanyou powers.

"I will stay with you until then," Sesshoumaru said, shocking Makoto.

"There's no need," she protested. "Our ruse for the evening is done . . . you're safe now. The emperor can't force you into a marriage."

"Was it really a ruse, Makoto-chan?" he asked softly, looking at her for the first time. "To the court we are man and wife. To each other, what are we?"

"We're . . ." she gulped, and tried to still her suddenly pounding heart. "We're friends." Whoops. Bad choice of words.

"Then you feel nothing for me after all." They had reached Sesshoumaru's mansion, and he slid open the main door, nodding to one of the serving guards there.

"Now, wait a minute, did I say that?" Makoto protested, and stomped after him inside, shedding her geta in the foyer. Sesshoumaru whispered to the servant to allow Tomiko in once she arrived. "We've been friends since we were little. You've always been there for me, Sesshoumaru . . . don't take the word 'friend' so lightly. I care for you a lot."

"Then you won't mind if I stay with you this evening, 'friend,'" Sesshoumaru said firmly. "Now that you are without the protection of my mother, the dragon clan and many others will try to destroy you. I do not wish that to happen." He took her arm once more, and led her toward the master suite.

Makoto could find nothing to say. Sesshoumaru was concerned for her, and that gave her soul a tiny thrill. And he had been upset -- well, as close to upset as Sesshoumaru ever got -- when he thought she might not care for him.

And he'll be with me . . . until the moon sets.

Sesshoumaru's master suite was as spartan as the rest of his mansion, with only the two expensive down futon marring the vast sea of tatami, and a chinese screen near the far wall closet. Makoto had never been in here before, either. Out of nowhere two human servants appeared and helped her remove the beautiful haori and kimono that had belonged to her mother. Stripped of the insulating silk, Makoto suddenly felt exposed, even though she was still wearing several layers of clothing. Sesshoumaru was similarly undressed; with both his armor and boa gone, he looked smaller. Only his hakama and under kimono remained.

Forthright, headstrong Makoto felt very insecure here in the heart of Sesshoumaru's modern lair. That their only light came from two small lamps in the corner didn't help.

The servants left. Makoto swallowed hard. This wasn't going to be easy . . .

"Your hair is falling down," Sesshoumaru warned without fanfare, and knelt on the far futon. Makoto cursed under her breath and reached up for the ebony sticks that held her hair in place.

"And Tomiko spent so much time on this, too . . ." she wailed, and followed Sesshoumaru's lead, kneeling gracefully on the soft futon. She tugged and tugged, but Tomiko had done some sort of witchery on the sticks and they wouldn't budge. Makoto grimaced and whimpered a little as she pulled too hard on a strand of hair.

"Here, let me," Sesshoumaru said, surprising her for the second time that night. She felt his strong hands untangle the sticks, and her knee length hair, usually bright gold but a rich jet black at the moment, tumbled free to the floor. One hand followed the curve of her jaw to keep her hair from her eyes.

He lay the sticks aside, but did not remove his hand from her head. Makoto made herself breathe. His hand . . . the thumb was twitching ever so slightly against her human ear, and that small movement caused something deep inside her to melt.

"I feel odd having black hair," she blurted, trying to ignore the melting feeling in her tummy.

"Your hair is beautiful either way, Makoto," Sesshoumaru said, and caught one of the strands that insisted on spilling forward, tucking it gently behind her ear.

"Not as pretty as yours," she replied, smiling, for it was true. The pretty silver hair that Sesshoumaru and his ancesters all sported put even her exotic golden hair to shame.

"Of course," Sesshoumaru said smugly. "No one has more beautiful hair than this Sesshoumaru."

Makoto grinned at his honest arrogance. "Except maybe Inu-Taisho. And Inu-Natsu's hair is the most unusual color."

"I have it on good authority that Inu-Natu's hair is magenta only by magic," Sesshoumaru intoned.

"No way . . . she dyes it?" Makoto stifled a giggle, and she suddenly realized what Sesshoumaru was doing. He was trying to distract her from the disastrous evening that had happened earlier. It was working, too; she felt much calmer now than she had only an hour before. Surely Tomiko wasn't right. Surely . . . Inu-Taisho lived.

"Thank you," she told Sesshoumaru sincerely.

"I have done nothing," he answered, and only then did he let go of her cheek. Makoto felt the loss of contact keenly. She liked being touched by him. She liked it a lot.

"I suppose I should get ready to sleep," Makoto said reluctantly. "I usually don't sleep on this night, but . . ."

"You are safe in this house. I will protect you."

"Right." She stood up, and wandered over toward the corner closet. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare yukata on hand, would you?" she asked hopefully. "I don't want to sleep in Mother's court kimono.

"I'm not sure." Sesshoumaru followed her over to the corner, and they both perused the various garments displayed on hanging dowels. "I believe Aunt Natsumi has one she left her the last time she came through. There," he said, and pointed to a green yukata that looked bright even in the darkened recesses of the wall closet.

"Oh, good." She reached up and removed the summer kimono from its dowel, then ducked behind the imported chinese screen. "Don't peek."

"This Sesshoumaru has more honor than that."

"Uh huh." She took off the kimono quickly, leaving on only the breast binding, then sashed the yukata with Inu-Natsu's prefferred narrow obi tightly, leaving her covered from head to shin. It should have been head to ankle, but then again, Makoto was a bit taller than Inu-Natsu.

She stepped out from behind the screen, freeing her heavy silky curtain of black hair from where it had caught in the yukata. Sesshoumaru glanced at her once before slipping out of his own outer haori. Underneath he wore the longer, men's kimono, and it wasn't until he started untying his own obi that she realized he was taking off his hakama.

Burning with embarassment, she retreated to her futon and stared fixedly at one of the lamps. Of course he wouldn't sleep in the silk hakama. But . . . was he? Hating herself, she stole a peek out of her eye and was quite grateful to see that he wore fundoshi underneath the hakama.

"You needn't act like a bride on the first night with her husband," Sesshoumaru said, his low voice slicing through her mind like a sharp katana through silk. "You were the one who said we were to only be friends on this night."

He sounded almost . . . hurt. Well, let him be hurt then; she wasn't going to let him think her human half was wanton or anything. Nope, she had just as much control over her emotions now as she did as a hanyou. No way was she going to let him know that she loved him dearly. Nuh uh. Not now, not . . . well, maybe not never . . . but certainly not tonight.

Wordlessly she slipped underneath the warm futon, and snuggled against the pillow. The cushioned mattress beneath her was soft, so that she barely noticed the wood underneath the tatami matting. She screwed her eyes shut and willed herself to sleep.

Sesshoumaru won't let anything hurt you . . . it's fine, human body . . . no one can hurt you . . .

Despite her instincts, she fell into a dreamless sleep quickly, as she was still feeling drained from the adventurous evening. She did not know that Sesshoumaru stayed awake, watching her with an unreadable expression.

* * *

A sharp sound woke her up, and she sat up bolt upright, going from sleep to wakefulness instantly, a rarity for her. Normally it took her a long time to wake up, but the sound had set off her adrenerline, and with hormones prepping her for fight or flight, she was instantly aware of her surroundings.

Futon. Mansion in Kyoto. Sesshoumaru hovering over her protectively.

Sesshoumaru hovering over her protectively?

"That noise-" she began, but he stopped her question with a staying hand. His back was to her, and he stared coolly toward the high window.

"There are bat youkai outside the house."

Makoto scrunched under the covers. She was still human, which meant the moon had yet to set. Great. Word had already gotten out that the one who protected her before had been destroyed. Just how fast DID gossip travel in the youkai world, anyway?

She peeked out at the high windows on the near wall, trying to see how many of the nasty bat clan had come to kill her. She didn't see a thing, and she'd never been good at sensing youki in her human form.

"Are they after me or Tomiko, do you think?" she asked in a very quiet voice.

"You. Bat youkai cannot distinguish between humans, however, so she too would be in danger if I had not made sure she was placed in an inner room. She is safe. You are too. Go back to sleep."

"Do you honestly think I can sleep when there are youkai I can't sense flying around outside?" Makoto hissed, but retreated further under the covers. Please let me go back to myself, she prayed fervently. Please let me stop being human soon . . .

The kami-sama must have decided to be benevolent, for at that moment she felt the flooding pulse of her hanyou power returning. Her ears shifted to points before sliding up to the top of her head. Tiny claws replaced her human fingernails. And her hair . . .

Sesshoumaru must have sensed her returning youki, as he glanced back just as her hair changed. Like a liquid ink on silk, her jet human hair bled to gold starting from the roots. In only seconds she was back to her usual appearance, and with a final pulse of returning power, her youkai senses kicked in.

Three bat youkai. One older, two younger. All taiyoukai since all the bats were taiyoukai. Two in human form; the eldest in true form.

The bats, too, sensed her sudden power, and became agitated. Of course she was no match to them in human form, and Sesshoumaru would be hard pressed to defend a human against three of them, but with her hanyou powers back she and Sesshoumaru might be able to hold their own. So they had failed their mission; they were supposed to have killed her while she was weak.

As if on cue, the bats' youki suddenly faded. They had left. They would need to wait another month to try to kill her.

Even so, Sesshoumaru stood in front of her for a long time. With the moon gone, the only light in the room came from the lamps near the door. He looked so strong and proud in the flickering lamplight, his shadow looming large on the far wall.

Once he decided that they were not coming back, he turned around to see her sitting up in the futon, clutching the blanket to her chest modestly.

"You will be in danger for the rest of your life now," he said sadly, and gracefully sat cross-legged beside her.

"I'll just have to hide on the night of the first quarter moon," she said, biting her lip. "They can't tell me from other humans then."

"But if they find you, you will not be able to defend yourself." Sesshoumaru's voice was cold and cruel, and Makoto looked away angrily, unable to face the truth. He was right. If she were to be found in her human form, she would die. No human could fight off a single taiyoukai, let alone several of them.

"I want to protect you."

Makoto's kitty ears twitched. Had she heard . . . had he just said . . .?

"You said we were friends either. You also said that you cared for me. Will you allow this Sesshoumaru to care for you, as well?"

"I-" she began, but she didn't know what to say. She wanted to tell him yes, of course she would want him to care for her . . . and to love her and adore her and be with her forever . . . but Sesshoumaru wasn't the kind of guy you could just spill your feelings to.

Unable to find the words, she met his yellow eyes with her own violet ones, which glowed luminously in the dim light. And in his eyes she saw . . . a softness that she had never noticed before. In all the years she had known him, she had never imagined that Sesshoumaru could look at someone so . . . tenderly.

Well, then. It was all right.

"Sesshoumaru, you may care for me as long as you wish," she offered, and reached up to his cheek. He had let his stripes appear sometime during the night; probably when the bats had arrived. She traced one.

He caught her hand, and held it for a moment. He closed his eyes and sighed softly. "I am glad." He opened his eyes again, and this time the tenderness was replaced by a low burning.

Makoto's heart began pounding again.

We're both nervous, she decided. We're both afraid. Admitting you love someone to their face is a terrifying thing to do. If they reject you, the moment is shattered. If they accept, then you're faced with an even scarier path. Would one of them have the courage to take the first step? Was one of them strong enough to risk it all?

"Marry me, Makoto-chan."

Okay, apparently one of them was.

"Hai," Makoto whispered with a grin. She pulled Sesshoumaru's head closer to her own, and reached up to catch his lips in their first kiss.

Hmmm, not bad. Not bad at all. She closed her eyes. Sesshoumaru leaned around to pull her closer to him, and the action brought back the melting feeling in her tummy. He then angled his jaw a little, so that their mouths fit together better, and the melting feeling spread quite a bit lower. She blinked when he opened his mouth, but followed his lead, and nearly gasped in surprise as she felt his tongue trace her front teeth.

She had seen other people kiss like this, but she'd had no idea that it could turn one's brains to mush so easily. She hesitantly touched her tongue to his own, and the melting in her tummy turned to pure fire.

Oh, dear.

"Fortunately it is not spring, or else we would neither of us have the patience for this," Sesshoumaru said, breaking the kiss. He began nibbling on her neck.

"Mating season," Makoto agreed. The aching loneliness was horrible during the spring, but bearable; female youkai didn't suffer from mating heat nearly as much as the males did. And the instincts were much stronger once youkai reached maturity, at age thirty. Neither she nor Sesshoumaru would have to deal with that ache now, she realized. They would have each other.

They shifted a little, Sesshoumaru unfolding his legs and pressing her down against the futon. He slipped one hand toward the narrow obi holding the yukata closed, and Makoto blushed. It's a little too late for modesty, she chided herself.

He opened the yukata to reveal her curvy breasts, which were at the moment held flat by a long strip of cloth. Sesshoumaru sighed when he saw the bindings.

"I wish someone would invent another method of support," he complained, and stroked one of the compressed mounds with his thumb. "You'll have to sit up."

She complied, and he slipped her arms out of the yukata. She held her hair away from her back with one hand, and Sesshoumaru took his time unwrapping her, kissing her shoulder blades and nipping her neck occasionally. The loosened bindings fell away to reveal her plump breasts, and Sesshoumaru atacked them once she was untangled completedly.

He worshipped first one nipple then the other with his tongue, and Makoto arched back, reveling in the sensations. Unlike Sesshoumaru, she had been naked but for the bindings underneath the yukata, and his hand dropped down to her stomach, which shuddered in response.

"You're skinny," he admonished, and stroked one of her ribs.

"Would you rather I were overweight like a grandmother?"

"No," Sesshoumaru murmured against her breast, and then dropped his teasing mouth lower, to her belly. "I prefer you as you are now, even if you are skinny."

"Well, good then, because I'm not going to get fat for you."

She felt Sesshoumaru grin against her stomach, and also grinned. Score one point for Makoto! She had made the ice prince amused!

He continued kissing her stomach, and the muscles there contracted at the new sensation.

"This is a little unfair," she protested, and squirmed in delight as his mouth set off another shudder in her belly. "I'm naked and you're not."

"This Sesshoumaru wishes to remain clothed."

"Oh no you don't," she declared, and before he could stop her, she had hauled him up even with her, untied his under kimono, and spread it open, revealing his own smooth expanse of chest. "That's better."

"You made me cold," he said evenly.

"Cold? You're sizzling!" To prove her point, she kissed the hollow of his throat. He stiffened from his position above her. "Come under the futon if you're so chilly," she mumbled against his neck.

He did so a bit awkwardly, because she took that opportunity to slip the kimono completely off his shoulders. Now he lay nearly on top of her, and only the fundoshi separated their bodies. Those had to go, too.

She slid her hand down his back, liking the feel of smooth muscle, and then slipped the hand into the undergarment, cupping one firm cheek because she couldn't resist. She then began to tug them off, but they were caught on something. A rather hard something that was even now pressing against her leg through the thin fabric.

"I think I need a little help here," she said with a faintly embarassed giggle. Sesshoumaru wordlessly aided her, and in a few economical movements kicked the garment down to his ankles and off his feet.

"You know, it is considered unseemly in court to make love while unclothed," he pointed out, and began kissing her shoulder again while kneading one breast with his hand. "It detracts from the mystery."

"Bah, I'm no courtier, and if you ask me, all of them don't know what they're missing. I like the feel of your skin against mine."

"Mmmm." He began sliding his hand lower once more. Unsure of how to proceed at this point, but very much wanting to be rid of the tension that was building up in her loins, Makoto shifted her legs so that Sesshoumaru's organ was pressed near her opening. They almost fit together that way, but she needed some lift to her hips, so she drew her knees up a little. Heated air on her skin there made her realize just how damp Sesshoumaru's ministrations had made her.

"Not just yet, Makoto," he warned, and dropped his free hand down to her damp mound. "Tell me what you like." He slipped a finger in, and stroked a firm nub that Makoto had never even realized existed. A jolt of sensation rippled through her legs, causing them to jerk reflexively. Sesshoumaru brushed it again.

"That . . . oh, my," Makoto gasped as he found the sensitive swollen nub again. "Do that again."

He did so. Makoto bit her lip as he wiggled his fingertip against it. How could so much sensation be centered in one little stub of flesh? Spots began to appear before her eyes, and an unfamiliar tingle of pleasure appeared on the edge of her mind. I must be glowing, she thought, arching her back and mewling helplessly. A flash of white light suddenly spread through her body, and she cried wordlessly in shock, her eyes screwing shut as the feeling enveloped her.

She dropped her head to the side, gasping for air as the pleasure ebbed away. "Kami-sama," she croaked out. Sesshoumaru kissed the corners of her mouth tenderly, and slipped his finger lower, to the core of her body. He pressed inside her, making her acutely aware that she still felt a little empty.

"Now," he said simply, and repositioned her legs so that he was settled firmly between them. His hard shaft tickled the inside of her thigh. "This will hurt." He guided himself toward her entrance, and pressed forward.

Makoto winced. "Now you tell me." Her body reluctantly gave in to his relentless pressure, and it struggled to adjust to his invasion. Geez, mother nature, you didn't have to make this so miserable the first time, she complained mentally. Now there will be blood all over Inu-Natsu's nice green yukata.

The pain did fade pretty rapidly, though, and Sesshoumaru slid back out, then thrust forward a little further. He went slowly, and after a few moments of confusion they found a rhythm with each other.

"This is nice," she said, mildly surprised. Sesshoumaru grunted in answer, and she leaned back, pressing her breasts against his chest by arching her back to meet his own. She pulled his face down for another wet, openmouthed kiss, and the combination of his ardor and tongue both thrusting within her brought back the tingle of pleasure dancing along her nerves.

She didn't know if she could survive it again, but then the wave of light crashed against her once more, and she nearly screamed into Sesshoumaru's mouth. He slammed into her a few times more before his own orgasm, and then he collapsed, too weak to support his weight on his arms.

How beautiful we must look, she thought, and kissed his nose, loving the helpless expression of pleasure on his face. His hair spilled down over his pointed ears, mingling silver with gold against the futon.

It took him several minutes to recover, and he looked almost guilty once he realized she was holding his full weight.

"This Sesshoumaru hopes that he is not crushing you," he said, and Makoto grinned at his attempt at formal language.

"Naw, you feel good where you are." She wriggled a bit beneath him, circling her arms around his neck. He was still inside her, although she knew he wouldn't be in any shape to continue for the rest of the night. But that was okay. They had their whole lives to do this again.

"I wonder what this'll be like in the spring," she pondered aloud.

"More intense, I would imagine. If that is possible."

"Mmmm. I don't know how it could be more intense . . ."

"We shall have to practice before then."

Makoto felt like purring. She thought of something else then.

"You know, you succeeded very well in distracting me tonight." She nuzzled his jaw a little, and kissed just below his pointed ear. "I thank you for that."

"You are welcome."

"So this WAS a distraction."

"A very pleasant one, you'll agree."

"Uh huh." She wrinkled her nose and started to say something, then thought better of it. Things were still miserable in their lives, but thoughts of Inu-Taisho and Tomiko could wait until tomorrow. Tonight, she wanted to think only of her own youkai lord.

***

Owari!