InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust ❯ Unburied ( Chapter 8 )

Sesshomaru lay with his head on Kagome's lap, a tortured expression on his face, as Rin piled flowers in small heaps around him, "To make Lord Sesshomaru feel better."

He was surprised there were ever any flowers left after she was through, but he was too comfortable laying on Kagome to move away from them. The sun was warm but not hot, and the scent of crushed berries and cinnamon rose in soft wisps from her heated skin. The presence of his mate so near gave him enough of a sense of safety to relax his natural wariness, and he fell into a shallow sleep.

Kagome felt his breathing deepen, and she saw the relaxed tension of his sleeping face.

*Must have been the battle….despite what he says he really is badly injured. He wouldn't have had a chance if he were human…wouldn't have had a chance if he were any other demon either.*

She felt a strange welling of pride, that her mate had fought well, and an even stranger pride that she had defended him when he was injured.

*Instincts…never felt anything like this before…but I…like it?*

Kagome ran her claws gently through Sesshomaru's hair, careful not to tangle her fingers in it. She could still smell InuYasha, though the battle had been over for hours, and concentrated instead on Sesshomaru's scent, the rough pine that had become her comfort, the edges ragged with mint and the soft wood scent that belonged to all males. She could see Rin still running around and rolling in flowers on the other side of the field, occasional bits of the girls laughter and Jaken's cursing reaching her sensitive ears. She stared down smiling at Sesshomaru, and gently opened his haori to check on his bandages, but the moment she touched them his eyes shot open and he grabbed her wrist. The growl he made was deep and warning, and at once her head dropped to the side, her entire body going limp out of reflex. He sat up and sniffed at the mark on her neck, and immediately dropped her wrist.

"Forgive me, my Kagome."

"There is nothing to forgive, Sess-chan. That was very strange, but you did not hurt me. I knew what to do, somehow."

"Instincts. Your body will respond, even if your mind does not always understand, as it did when I mated you."

She looked at him quizzically.

"Your markings, you mean?"

"More than just my personal symbols…you took on the markings of this royal house. The hair color, the color of your eyes, everything else that changed about you made you part of this family line, made you to all eyes the Lady of the Western Lands. Your scent has changed as well, though not as much as your physical appearance. It happened to my mother as well, when my father mated her. You will see the same thing happen to any of our female pups when they mate."

She blushed slightly, a pleasant warmth flooding her body at the thought of children.

*No…not children…pups…*

"Sess-chan, I understand instincts…but what instinct was it that made you wake so suddenly?"

He clenched his hands tightly around hers, and she winced, but did not pull away.

"That was not instinct, Kagome. You did not ask me earlier why I hated InuYasha's mother. Why?"

"You did not wish to speak of it, I could tell. So I did not ask."

"Do you want to know, Kagome? You have a right to know…especially after what I just did."

She nodded hesitantly, and he stared hard-eyed across the field. She almost thought he wasn't going to speak, but his words when they came made her wish he had not spoken.

"I hated InuYasha's mother because she killed my father. The tapestry you were looking at in the hallway your first morning here shows my fathers victory…but it only tells a moment of the story. My mother died when I reached my fiftieth summer. Several months later, my father met InuYasha's mother, and brought her back to the castle. InuYasha has always had the impression that it was a match of love, but it was not. She was escaping from human enemies in her village, and my father desired her for her pretty face. She kept his bed, and I was disgusted that my father would descend so low as to take a human woman, but it did not trouble me overmuch. I was young, and he gave no sign that would dare to take her as a mate. Then InuYasha was born. His birth was unintentional, accidental, the result of a human woman's carelessness and my father's submission to his own desire."

Kagome's head spun.

"Did Inuyasha know all this?"

Sesshomaru nodded.

"Most of it…but let me finish, koi. After InuYasha was born, my father decided to do the honorable thing and accept him despite his human blood. InuYasha's mother did not feel the same way. She could not bring herself to hate the child, but she hated my father for giving her a baby with youkai blood. I do not remember when it started, but the Lord of the South insulted the woman, and InuYasha. They came to the brink of war before that damned woman convinced my father to meet the wolf lord in single combat, to avoid the bloody battles. War between youkai are not short, and they often result in the death of lords, and squabbles over land. My father recognized the wisdom in avoiding this, though not the treachery behind it, and he challenged the Taiyoukai of the South to personal combat, to avenge the insult to his honor. The battle took place as you saw in the tapestry, in their full youkai forms, with only the weapons that had been granted by birth. My father defeated the wolf, but his wounds were severe. InuYasha's mother took her chance, and poisoned the bandages she used on his wounds. If she had left him alone, he would have lived, if she had not changed the bandages so often and refreshed the poison he would have lived. But his body was too weakened by his injuries to fight the poison as well as heal, and he died."

His claws tightened into the ground, and his arms shook with their tenseness.

"I found the poison in the bandages by scent, and she ran, taking InuYasha with her. When I found them, I killed her, took her life with the poison in my claws like she had taken my fathers…but I did not kill InuYasha. I buried my heart with that woman's body. My father fell because of love, and I was not stupid enough to repeat his mistake. I hated her because she killed my father, and InuYasha hated me because I killed his mother. He never knew what she did to father, he would not listen to the truth."

Sesshomaru smelled the hot salt of her tears, and frowned.

"That is why I apologized…for being afraid that you would do the same thing, even for that one moment."

She shook her head and looked up at him slowly, and he kissed her, tasting the salt on the sweetness of her lips.

"That is not why I am crying, Sesshomaru. I understood that the moment you told me what she had done."

"Then why do you weep?"
"Because you cannot."

She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his, and he lapped the tears from her cheeks. When she pulled away, she opened his haori, and carefully untied and removed the bandages she had put there in the morning, glad to see that the skin had healed over the wounds, though the scarring was still terrible. She touched the marred skin gently, and though angrily of InuYasha, who had destroyed perfect beauty. He looked at her, half in surprise.

"You need to change them?"

She shook her head.

"No...I understand why you were reluctant to let me bandage you…so I'm taking them off."

He held her tightly.

"I am not my father…and you are not InuYasha's mother. I trust you. You told me that once…"

He kissed her, and she deepened it, tracing the points of his ears with her claws. He growled softly into her mouth, and she giggled.

"What could possibly be funny now?"

She wiggled back and forth on his lap, eliciting a series of louder and louder growls, and pointed across the small field.

"Rin."

He narrowed his eyes at the girl starting to run towards them, and stood and swung Kagome over his shoulder.

"The girl is not interrupting this time. She may abuse Jaken for a while longer."

"I can walk, Sesshomaru!"

She would have struggled more if she could have seen the smirk that spread across his face.

"Not for long."

I know I know, evil place to end it at, but I want to devote some time to what's coming. No naughty thoughts, that wasn't supposed to be a pun. I know this is a short chapter, but it was necessary for explaining…thanks so much to all you guys who reviewed, lots of people read and they don't, and it makes this poor Sesshomaru obsessed author happy when you do!