InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust ❯ Returning Preparations ( Chapter 20 )

Kagome braced herself against the wall, and sprang into the air, flipping in a blur high over Sesshomaru's head and turning quickly, holding tetsusaiga stead at his throat.

"Control, good. But you still are not seeing me as an enemy. If I truly wanted to kill you, you would have been dead the moment your feet touched the floor."

She shook her head slowly and leaned on the sword.

"I can't separate my miko and my youkai the way you want me to, Sess-chan. They are meant to work together, I can't train them separately."

He observed her closely for a moment, and nodded his head.

"No…you are right. You cannot depend entirely on your miko, but neither can you use only your youkai. Tell me, when you sent that blast through tetsusaiga, how did you do it?"

She knelt beside the sword and let her forehead rest on the hilt, feeling the pulse of tetsusaiga tug at her youkai.

"It was miko power…but the tetsusaiga used my youkai strength to magnify it. I didn't even know I could do it until it was done - seems like that's been happening a lot lately. It was force of will, like how I can transform tetsusaiga now, without having to be in mortal danger."

He nodded.

"Then use them together. Do not be afraid of hurting me, or you will not fight to your potential, and that is what I need to see. Now, ready yourself!"

Kagome took a deep breath and planted herself firmly on the floor, tetsusaiga at the ready. She tamed her heartbeat until it matched the gentle pulsing of the sword, and let a battle-calm wash through her body.

Sesshomaru watched her sink into an almost-trance, and nodded his satisfaction, before he swept out his katana and went after her in a vicious, slashing assault of gleaming steel. She whirled, parried, and a miko pulse flashed from her eyes, closed to slits, and through the fang's blade. Her first offensive swing snapped Sesshomaru's katana cleanly in two and burned his hands on the second vibration of her miko, and he hissed in pain. Her eyes snapped open when the steel of the katana hit the floor, and she stared at his scorched hands.

"Sess-chan!"

She dropped tetsusaiga, and it transformed back into the unobtrusively rusted katana that always managed to surprise with its power. She caught his h ands gently, and he looked down at the angry red burns with a hint of surprise in his expression.

"Interesting. The wounds do not heal. Perhaps I should have chosen to use Toukijin after all."

A warm glow moved from her hands to his, and the wounds faded away from his pale skin. He collected the pieces of the katana from the floor, and she laughed nervously.

"I think that is enough for today, Kagome…I would suggest you find Lady Sango and being the preparations for her mating ceremony. Houshi-Miroku should return any time."

Kagome grinned and moved to kiss him quickly, but he pulled her close and nipped gently at her lip. She moaned softly and his claws tensed in the silk of her haori, and he sucked slowly on the small wound in her lip, teasing her with the cinnamon heat of her own blood. Her body went limp against him, and he pulled away reluctantly, smiling slightly at the swift, panting flutters of her eyelashes.

"You are not nice, Sess-chan. But you know, if Sango and I are going to be planning the wedding, that means you will have to take care of Shippou and Rin. Alone."

She ran out of the dojo and down the stairs, and he stared after her in horror.

*She can't be serious…*

Kagome followed Shippou's scent outside into a pile of ferns and picked flower blossoms.

"Where is Rin, Shippou?"

He shrugged.

"We were playing the seeking hide game that you showed me, so I'm not supposed to know where she is."

He crossed his arms and pouted.

"And she made me promise I wouldn't find her by smelling her out."

Kagome laughed.

"Well that just proves how smart she is. You know it wouldn't be fair if you could just find her by following her scent Shippou, she's not youkai."

"I know…"

She picked him up and caught Rin's softer, human scent wreathed around the base of a tree, and caught a glimpse of orange checkered fabric in one of the lower branches, heard a stifled giggle, and made a hushing motion to Shippou and leapt up into the tree beside the girl.

"'Kaasan! That is not fair! Rin was hiding from Shippou, and now `Kaasan brings Shippou up to Rin's hiding place!"

Kagome laughed and jumped lightly down with the girl and the kit in her arms, and Sango rushed up to join them, sliding ungracefully through a patch of dew-wet grass and falling unceremoniously onto her back. The Taijiya winced slightly and let Kagome pull her up to her feet.

"Well, that was embarrassing…but better me than you."

Kagome looked at her with a blank expression on her face.

"Huh…?"

"I'm not the pregnant one, Kagome dear. And from how Sesshomaru looked yesterday, I think if you fell over he might send you to bed with a battalion of guards at the door to keep away moths."

Kagome laughed softly, and a soft glimmering touched her skin.

"I don't know if he'd go quite that far, but you're right…he has gotten more protective. And to think, its twice now that I've saved his life! You'd think he'd realize that I'm quite capable of taking care of myself…at least now that he's trained me. He could've done three years ago or so, and saved the bunch of us a lot of trouble while we were shard hunting."

Sango blinked in confusion.

"I…don't think that would have happened, Kagome."

She sighed.

"No, probably not. But on the brighter side, he has magnanimously given his `permission' to let us start planning your wedding."

A wicked grin spread across her face.

"And that means, of course, that you two should go inside and find him, today is h is turn to watch you while Sango and I get started."

Rin let out a high-pitched squeal of joy and ran with Shippou close behind into the castle, yelling at the top of her voice for her Otousan. Sango giggled and turned to look at Kagome, who had a look of complete and utter evil satisfaction on her face.

"You really are evil, you know Kagome. Beyond evil. But tell me, how did you get Sesshomaru to agree to this wedding?"

Kagome shrugged.

"It was his suggestion, actually, though don't ask me where it came from. His mind works in unfathomable ways…although you really couldn't imagine how long it took me to explain the difference between mating and marriage."

Sango grinned.

"Oh yes I can."

Kagome flushed hotly and glared at her.

"Have you been borrowing Miroku's mind? Because lately, I swear, you've been worse than he is!...and that is pretty bad."

Sango laughed.

"I know he's been rubbing off on me…but I'm going to be married to him, its not like I have much of a choice - and I wouldn't really want him to change, as long as I'm the only one he's groping."

She sighed.

"And to think we thought he was cured of that curse too…some things are too good to be true. But he hasn't rubbed off on me nearly as much as you have on Sesshomaru."

Kagome turned towards the castle and Sango followed.

"What do you mean, rubbed off on him?"

"You remember how he was when we first me him - and you met him before Miroku and I ever joined your search. Even when didn't go after InuYasha and try to kill him, he was cold, emotionless. You've changed that about him. I don't think he'll ever be exactly…emotional…but he's not so stoic any more."

Kagome smiled.

"I know what you mean, I remember. But he was never really emotionless…he just knew that to show emotion around other youkai of his station was to show weakness, and he couldn't afford it. I can tell, it comes out when he's asleep. But I think that it will only ever be with us that he is warm this way; he was his old self at that dinner, and the ceremony afterwards. But it is enough for me that I know how he really is, that he isn't afraid to show it to our family, at least. And you know Sango, he had plenty of chances to kill us all and take tetsusaiga, but he never did."

Sango looked amused.

"Of course he didn't. He was too busy being in denial that he was in love with you."

Kagome blushed, and her eyes glinted fiendishly.

"Yes, like a certain demon exterminator and monk I know."

Sango crossed her arms and stalked past Kagome into the castle with her nose in the air.

"I thought you were going to help me plan my wedding?"

"Right! And I have all these ridiculously ornate kimono…we'll be sure to find you the most beautiful one, and hopefully we can convince Kaede to perform the ceremony…"

Kagome's voice trailed off into her thoughts, and Sango poked her arm to bring her back to reality.

"She doesn't travel much any more Kagome - taking care of our little group the past few years was hard on her."

Kagome looked startled and nodded.

"I keep forgetting how old she really is. Still, she would come for this. She's been waiting for the two of you to come to your senses for even longer than I have, you know she wouldn't miss out on the wedding."

"Then lets not make her travel, lets have the wedding there, and spare Sesshomaru the pain of having an entire human village encroach on his castle."

Kagome giggled.

"I don't think an entire human village would survive encroaching on his castle…and I know Kaede will appreciate the thought."

She crossed her arms in careful thought, and snapped mental fingers.

"Lets go up to the library…Shippou and Rin should have cleared Sess-chan out of there by now, and that will give us some space to get things down on paper, and make sure the children don't interrupt us for a while. Just thing, we'll be able to surprise Miroku by having all this ready!"

Sango smiled slightly and nodded.

"It will be good to have him back, wedding or no. I don't like to think of him out there alone…a three day journey in two directions like this worries me. We were always a group…there was always someone watching out for us."

"He took care of himself before he met up with us, Sango…even without the Kazanaa he is a formidable fighter. Try not to worry so much."

Sesshomaru sat next to Rin, watching with abbreviated interest as she explained how to make a flower chain to Shippou. Silently, he plotted how to extract a fitting revenge on Kagome, and submitted to numerous sweet smelling wreathes being piled across his lap and through his hair. Shippou grinned.

"'Tousan, don't look so sad! Rin, lets make more!"

The two ran off, and it was then that Miroku walked into the garden. Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder at him quickly, and raised one clawed hand.

"Houshi-Miroku, it is good to see that you have returned so quickly. But not a word."

Miroku opened his mouth and shut it just as quickly, noting the death glare in Sesshomaru's eyes.

"How was your journey?"

Miroku shrugged.

"Uneventful, for the most part. I was surprised that I did not run into any youkai, except for those at Lord Kinawai's castle of course."

"I am not so surprised. You carry my scent on you, and that is quite enough warning to the lower youkai who might have attacked to stay away. They have learned that it is…unwise…to touch what is mine."

The Taiyoukai untangled flower stems from his waist sash and his hair, and left them in a pile on the ground.

"I am, however, surprise to see you so soon. I had expected you would stay longer with Kinawai."

Miroku folded his arms carefully into his sleeves.

"To tell the truth, I did not want to stay very long. Lord Kinawai was kind enough to allow me to stay, so that I could assist him in drawing up the council summons, but I truly was not comfortable staying there longer than was necessary. Lord Kinawai is quite tolerant of humans, but the rest of his household is not as…appreciative."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow in slight amusement.

"You were uncomfortable because his servants did not like humans, so you returned here? To me?"

"Forgive me if it offends, Lord Sesshomaru, but no matter what you might say, you do not seem to hate humans as much as you claim, or you would not have invited Sango and I to live with you, nor would you allow yourself to be covered in flowers by a human child."

Sesshomaru glared at him coldly.

"Do not underestimate my feelings towards your species. And I told you not to mention the flowers."

Miroku just grinned, and the youkai lord shook his head resignedly.

"I am assuming you bring the council summons?"

Miroku nodded and pulled the small, sealed scroll from a fold of his robe. Sesshomaru took it and slit the seal with one claw, reading it over carefully before he turned to Miroku.

"Your future mate and my Kagome are somewhere inside planning your mating ceremony. I suggest we go find them before the children come back. Kagome needs to be educated as well, before she and I leave for the council, and we have only a week to do so."

Miroku looked at him curiously and followed him up the stairs into the castle.

"The children?"

"The are watched."

Miroku looked around him carefully, watching out of the edges of his vision, and caught a glimmering clearness moving quickly through the trees.

"Ah. The servants that can not be seen. If I may ask, what sort of education does Kagome require?"

"She knows something of youkai politics, which I made her aware of before her presentation to the other lords, but customs and etiquette, forms of address and such could be more useful to her than fighting skills, and much more necessary."

"Are these customs so different from those of humans?"

Sesshomaru shrugged liquidly.

"I do not know human customs, so I can not compare them. I do believe, however, that human reactions to stepping beyond the boundaries of courtesy would not be quite as bloody as the reaction of a youkai. I would not be responsible for endangering her or my pup because I failed to instruct her properly."

"Kagome and your…pup? I was not aware that youkai pregnancy was so…fast."

Sesshomaru looked at him in startled surprise.

"She will not give birth for some time, but that makes both of them even more vulnerable."

"But how can you possibly know if she has conceived?"

Sesshomaru stiffened.

"We…do not speak of it."

Miroku nodded.

"Forgive me. Lord Kinawai told me of youkai custom concerning the heat - iI was not aware it extended into this as well."

Sesshomaru nodded his acceptance of Miroku's belated realization, and Kagome and Sango ran down the stairs towards them. Miroku found himself at once with a double armful of vividly blushing Sango, and Kagome giggled and tugged Sesshomaru away to leave the two of them alone so Sango could give Miroku a proper homecoming.

"Sess-chan, Sango wants to have the wedding at Kaede's village. Kaede should perform the ceremony for them, but she is old, and it would be hard for her to travel this far."
"It matters not to me, my Kagome. You will go?"

She nodded.

"Yes…and the children, I know Shippou especially will want to go, and Rin should see too. Someday she'll have her own wedding, and it will be good for her to see what a human wedding is like."

Sesshomaru growled deeply, and his claws tightened in the railing of the stairs, leaving deep gouges.

"Rin will never have a human wedding. I will not allow her to mate with a human!"

Kagome stopped with her foot on the bottom step and looked back at him in shock.

"I thought…why do you still hate humans, Sess-chan?" Sango and Miroku, and Rin? You do not express such distaste for them."

He relaxed his hold on the stair rail, and walked past her up the stairs, but she slipped in under his arms to hold him tightly around the waist.

"I know you think that they are exceptions, that they are unusual and rare - and they are. But on the whole, humanity is more like them than….than like InuYasha's mother."

She braced herself against him as if for a blow, but the tenseness eased slowly out of his body, and his words were almost gently.

"I forget that you lived as one of them for so long, my mate. But I cannot change my feelings for them. You have been with me months now koi, and changed my thoughts on many things, but humans are not one of them. I have not seen this rare beauty that you describe as though it were common. The humans of Rin's village beat her and chased her away, and still she was kind enough to try to save me, though even in that weakened state I could have killed her with the slightest effort. I wondered often after I brought her back why I had done it, why I had burdened myself with a human child. She followed, she was company, she obeyed without groveling at my feet - and she was not afraid. Your friends, they too are unique, though I know less about them. A female demon hunter, without family or clan, and a wandering cursed monk are less than usual, and it is their singularity of existence that I appreciate. Your view of humanity is optimistic my Kagome…but I cannot believe that it is realistic, as well."

His arms tightened slowly around her waist, and she leaned into his embrace as though she could draw strength from his larger frame. On the floor of the hall downstairs from where they stood, Sango and Miroku watched with their own tenderness the soft moment on the stairs. Kagome pulled slightly away, and wove her fingers through his.

"When do you leave, Sess-chan?"

"We leave in a week's time."

She blinked.

"We?"

He nodded.

"You are the lady of these lands my Kagome, and protocol requires that you attend council with me."

Sesshomaru stood straighter and tugged her gently after him towards the library.

"Which reminds me…there are things you need to know koi, and we have only a week to teach them to you."

"What will we do with the children while we are gone?"

"They will go with Lady Sango and Houshi-Miroku to the old miko's village - they will be safe there, and I would rather they all left the castle if I am to be gone for more than a day or so…it is not…safe here."

"You are going to leave the castle empty and unprotected?"

A cryptic smile ran across his face, and his voice was low, as though he spoke half to himself.

"Leave the castle unprotected? Never unprotected, too well protected…protected and watched."

The smile disturbed her, and his words even more so, but she shook off the trembling that wrapped around her spine, and followed him down the hall.