InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust ❯ Uneasy Protection(lemon) ( Chapter 21 )

Kagome growled in frustration and let her head fall forward onto her hands.

“I can't do it Sess-chan! There's just no way I'm going to remember all of this…its worse than when I was trying to study for school and search for shikon shards!”

Hot, angry tears smudged the ink on the scroll that lay on the table in front of her, and her hands clenched in her hair. Sesshomaru looked at her in silent concern, and carefully untangled her claws from the thick silver strands, pressing her hot fingers between the cooler palms of his hands.

“You will learn, my Kagome. There are still three days before we depart - you will know what you must by that time.”

She stood and walked into his arms, and he held her tightly close, resting his chin on the top of her head. The smallest of mischievous sparkles appeared in his eyes, and he let his hands wander through her hair to the back of her neck.

“I think you need to relax, koi.”

She sighed deeply and slowed her breathing, searching for the calm center of her being. The half-trance that usually managed to melt away her tension eluded her, distracted by his hands, and her claws tightened against her palms. Sesshomaru lifted the thick mass of her hair away from her neck.

“I will help, my mate.”

He drew one claw across her mating mark, and lapped gently at the shallow scratch, feeling the familiar rush of her blood and the slow release of tension from her taut muscles. Kagome closed her eyes and let her head fall to the side, encouraging him to continue, and felt her body relaxing involuntarily under the gentling motion of his tongue. The wound closed too quickly for his liking, and his eyes glowed slightly with red lust when he lost the taste of her. He smirked and moved quickly, claiming her smooth skin with his fangs. Her body jerked from limp relaxation against his aroused tightness, and the shock tore a low, growling moan from her throat.

Sesshomaru growled his approval, and the vibration of his chest against her forced subtle shivers through her body, and his hands drew circles on the silk of her kimono. Her body rippled to his touch, longing for the pale touch of his hands on her skin. Memory teased her gently, and her eyes full of a wanton plea when he pulled away from her, licking stray drops of blood from his lips. His eyes danced amusement and desire, and he spoke roughly against the skin of her shoulder.

“Better, my Kagome?”

She glared at him in desperate need, and her voice was lower, tempting.

“Not really - but this time its all your fault, Sess-chan. You should help.”

“Haven't I done that already?”

She pressed herself against him, and he cupped the pleasant weight of her breasts in his palms, waiting for the low groan of pleasure that accompanied the movements of his hands. He undid the tie of her obi, and slid one hand along the edge of her kimono, allowing the tips of his claws to brush feather-light across her skin. Kagome gasped and arched reflexively back, allowing her kimono to fall open, the heavy embroidered silk shifting lightly under his hands. Desire coiled in his body and pulsed heat through his veins, enticing his senses with the thick scent of her arousal. She reached for the tie of his hakama and haori, passion-laced growls speaking her distaste for the layers of silk hiding his skin from her touch. A wicked grin caressed flawless features, and he took them off for her, pulling her quickly against his chest. Her softness met his strength, and his claws drew red-blooded scratches across her breasts. She moaned thickly against his neck and nipped gently around her mark, matching his smile when he growled in impatience, teasing with pleasure. His hands tightened around her arms, and his lips took her mouth, drawing blood against his fangs.

Kagome panted heavily through bruised lips, and her eyes pled with him to end his teasing. He pushed her back against the wall and lifted her easily, letting her wrap her legs around his waist. He thrust deep into her, fighting with his youkai to give her gentleness, even as hers stole swiftly through her consciousness. Her hair hung down over bloodied eyes, glazed with lust. Her mouth panted half-open, claws scrabbling at the wall, and a reaching, strained expression tightened the line of her jaw. Slowly, teasingly, he let her move with him, nipping at the tender skin of her breasts. She reached for his shoulders, pulling him deeper into her body as she bit into the mark on his neck.

She felt pressure build from her bones, deep and shaking, and an instant swelling wash of pleasure forced a cry from her lips and her legs around him loosened. Sesshomaru smirked, and dragged his fingertips over her slick heat, his eyes lit more darkly when she cried out again. He stroked the soft pebble of her core in slow, tormenting circles, and her legs tightened around him, pressing his hard length deeper into her body. Her fingers clenched convulsively against his chest, and he felt the clenching of her body hot around his desire. He let his fingers slow, stop, and she cried out again, and gasped for air, letting his name become a tormented mantra that flowed past her lips. When he saw she could stand no more, he pulled one last, piercing scream from her throat in a flash of white-hot rapture. He tumbled gently with her onto the pile of silk their clothes had made, and they clung together in violent shuddering. Kagome lay limply across his body and let her eyes flutter half-closed. He nuzzled the top of her head gently, and she rolled slowly over, laying beside him and resting her head on his chest.

“Better now, koi?”

She mumbled incoherently against his skin, and he chuckled.

“I will take that as a yes.”

He looked out the library window, and heard Rin's tingling laughter, the bounce of a ball, the patter of Shippou's feet. The sun was drawing near the horizon, catapulting stars swiftly into the darkening sky. The last few rays of sunlight shimmered deep red-orange in the sprawled out length of Kagome's hair, and he watched her nose twitch slightly as the scent of supper cooking drifted up the stairs and to her sensitive nostrils. She sat up, her movements slow, and she blinked drowsily, stretching languid muscles as she stood and looked down at him.

“You did that on purpose…”

He met her glare with an amused expression, and stood, shaking out her kimono and helping her into it, careful not to catch his claws on her pale skin.

“Of course. And you did say you wanted to relax.”

She shooed his hands away from his waist sash and tied it deftly, smoothing the silk of his haori across his chest and wrapping her arms loosely around his waist.

“Dinner is ready, Sess-chan. We should collect the children.”

His ears twitched slightly, and he shrugged.

“Lady Sango has already done that…but you are right, we should go. Someone is hungry, I think.”

There was an amused glint in his eyes when her stomach growled softly, and she crossed her arms defensively.

“I'm eating for two you know, and that's all your fault too!”

“Yes, I know.”

He swept her up in his arms and carried her down the stairs, and her laughter followed them down. Kagome managed to wriggle free of his arms before he sat her on his lap for dinner again, and sat across from him at the long table. Sesshomaru watched her closely through the meal, pleased to note that her time spent traveling with his half-brother had not caused her to pick up his bad habits. The bell-tones of her laughter broke him away from his thoughts, and he looked up startled to meet silver eyes.

“What is funny, Kagome?”

“You! The oddest set of expressions just crossed your face all at once.”

“Odd?”

Miroku nodded sagely.

“I would have to agree with Kagome, Lord Sesshomaru. They were indeed very odd.”

“How?”

Sango giggled and winked at Kagome.

“Because they were there.”

The table erupted in laughter, and Shippou fell out of his chair and bounced across the floor of the dining room. Sesshomaru stared at them in shock, and then nodded slowly.

“I see. Kagome my mate, you do know that you can not laugh at me without consequences, don't you?”

“Sess-chan!”

She flushed brilliant pink, and he grinned his satisfaction at her.

“You were staring at me! It wasn't fair!”

He blinked thoughtfully.

“I was watching you eat. Table etiquette is another of those things…”

She groaned..

“Do I have to learn that too?”

“No, that is one thing you have managed to learn better than most of the other lords. They can be rather…nauseating at times.”

She nodded, and her brow furrowed slightly.

“Which reminds me….we should tell them, Sess-chan.”

She motioned towards Sango, Miroku, and Rin, and Shippou ran back to his chair and bounced up and down on it excitedly.

“Tell us what, `Kaasan?”

“Sesshomaru and I must leave for the council in three days time, and…the castle is not safe after he is gone. Sango, Miroku, will you take Shippou and Rin and go to the village?”

Sango nodded, but Miroku looked up at Sesshomaru with an oddly fixed gaze.

“The day the dragon clan abducted Rin, Sango and I were left alone here while you and Kagome went to find her. We will of course do as you have asked, but I am curious to know what could make the castle unsafe, when it did not do so before.”

Kagome looked up quickly and met Sesshomaru's eyes.

“I wondered that as well, Sess-chan. No harm came to them that day, though neither you nor I was present. Is it because they are human?”

Sesshomaru rested the tips of his fingers against each other and stared seriously into the space of Kagome's head.

“No. It is because you are not bound to the land.”

He brought his eyes down to meet Kagome's insistent gaze.

“Even you, my mate, are not yet bound to the rule of these lands as I was. This binding allows me to protect my lands even when I must be away from them. For a day, perhaps two, there is safety here. Without my presence after that time, that safety is replaced by impossible danger.”

Kagome looked startled, and she gathered her arms around her body, as though to ward off some malevolent force that might seep from the very walls themselves.

“What is this…protection, Sess-chan? What does it do?”

“The day you birth our pup, I will take you to a chamber in the bowels of this castle that is the source for the force that protects it. The other lords have armies, soldiers to fight and defend their lands.”

Miroku nodded slowly.

“There were soldiers and guards at the castle of the North, watching the walls. Do you mean you have no need for such things, Lord Sesshomaru?”
He nodded.

“This castle and these lands were bound to the blood of my family. There is a spring of powerful youkai energy that flows into that chamber and from it through every stone of this castle and into the land itself. Those not bonded to that source are rejected by it, and the repercussions for the presence of such is dramatic violence. There have been…intruders…before. They did not live, and I did not kill them. The focus for this power is through the blood ruler…when you give birth, the birthing blood will bond both you and our pup, my Kagome.”

Miroku looked at Sesshomaru with wide eyes.

“What exactly do you mean by a spring of youkai energy? That is a phenomenon I have not heard of before.”

Sesshomaru stood quietly, and Kagome stepped quickly around the table to stand by his side.

“This scares me, Sess-chan. Does it mean if something happened I could not come back here alone? That the children could not come back here?”

He held her protectively close, a resting his palms on the gently curve of her waist, and tilted her chin until she stared directly into the gold of his eyes, reflecting the candlelight from the table.

“If something happens, you will not be returning alone.”

She relaxed softly into the comfortable security of his embrace and looked over at her human companions and the children.

“Shippou, Rin, do you think you can manage to behave for a few days with Sango and Miroku?”

They nodded vigorously and Kagome smiled at them. Sango excused herself to pack clothing and gather her weapons together, and Miroku did the same, walking slowly up the stairs, and anxious and puzzled expression creeping across his face through the shadows in the hall.

Kagome nuzzled her cheek against Sesshomaru's chest, worry etched clearly in the indigo-laced silver of her eyes.

“I don't understand this, Sess-chan, I don't understand it at all. Leaving Shippou and Rin in that village, without me to protect them…”

“Lady Sango and Houshi-Miroku may only be human, but they have proved to me that if the occasion arises they are willing to defend them with their lives.”

She hid her face in the soft folds of his haori.

“If anyone tries to hurt them, koi…I will find them, and they will answer to me.”

She nodded slowly and stood away from him so he could walk beside her to their rooms.

“It is early, Sess-chan, but perhaps we should get some sleep. I have so much to remember…”

He walked slowly beside her, and thoughts roiled with hatred towards those who had disturbed the peace of Kagome's thoughts.

 

Miroku shooed Shippou and Rin into Kaede's home, trying forcefully to convince himself that spying on Sango while she bathed would result in more pain than pleasure, but he was saved from his dilemma by Kaede's timely arrival. She looked slightly surprised to see him, and more surprised to see Rin, but the old miko took the sudden appearance of her charges in stride, as she did with so many things.

“Miroku, have Lord Sesshomaru and Kagome and Sango returned with ye?”

“Only Sango. Something which I do not quite understand is responsible for protecting the castle of the western lands, and Lord Sesshomaru was intent on making sure we were out of the castle while he and Kagome were away at the youkai council. Sango is bathing, as we have been traveling for several days.”

Kaede sat heavily next to the constantly burning fire, and looked up at the monk with a snort of laughter.

“Sango is bathing, and ye are still here? What is wrong with ye, Miroku?”

He folded his arms in the sleeves of his robes with as much dignity as he could muster.

“We are to be married soon - I have no need for such an attempt.”

He frowned slightly.
”Besides, that Hiraikotsu of hers hurts.”

Shippou giggled and fell out of Miroku's lap, rolling around on the floor, and Rin jumped up and rolled around with him for the sake of rolling around. Kaede focused on the girl, who she had not seen before, and her eye slowly opened as wide as it could go.

“Who is this girl child, Miroku?”

“Kagome and Lord Sesshomaru's adopted daughter, Rin. Apparently she found him after InuYasha attacked with the Kaze no Kizu, and tried to take care of him while he was injured. Later he found her dead in the woods, killed by wolves, and used Tensaiga to resurrect her. She has been with him ever since, and when Kagome mated Sesshomaru, she became the girl's mother.”

Kaede nodded, and kept her observation about the girl to herself, but she watched her aura, noting the flickerings of something that would not manifest itself enough to be believed, but would not allow itself to be denied.

“How long with this council last?”

Miroku let out a long slow breath and shrugged.

“I asked Lord Sesshomaru this before we left three days ago, and he was uncertain. Two or three days at least, I would expect. From what I learned during Kagome's….lessons….protocol for such gatherings of youkai is very strict.”

Kaede nodded.

“Aye, it would have to be, so as not to have them all killing each other.”

Miroku shook his head and smiled, resting his arms across his knees.

“It is more than slightly nerve-wracking that you are probably right. It is hard to remember sometimes how Sesshomaru used to be. The cold-hearted killer is still there, but she has tamed him. The frightening bit is that Kagome has become more like him as he has changed to be with her. There is that same killer in her, though I don't think she enjoys it as much as he does.”

Kaede looked at him closely, noting how signs of both worry and contentment had mingled on his face, and sat back, shifting until she was comfortably cross-legged.

“I do not think he enjoys it in the manner ye mean, Miroku. I had some talk with him when ye were last here, and he is not cold - hearted. That is only the face he presents to the world. The thrill for him is in the test of his own strength that comes with battle, not joy in the taking of a life. If he could kill with joy, do you truly think Kagome would love him?”

“I suppose not. Still sometimes there is a fierce fire between the two. You did not see the battlefield after they rescued Rin from the abduction of the dragon clan, I did. The two of them together had slaughtered an entire clan and its leader, and in the end they both escaped unharmed, though it did not look that way at first.”

“What are ye talking of? Abductions and dragon youkai? It seems as though every time I see ye, stranger and stranger things have occurred.”

Miroku laughed, but sobered quickly and told her an abbreviated version of the dragon clans offenses, and the old miko sat back with a heavy sigh.

“No good will come of this, Miroku. I sense in it a deeper evil than the dragon youkai's desire for the western lands.”

“How do you come to that conclusion, Kaede?”

“The dragon clans must be aware of the fact that his youkai council would never allow them to keep lands acquired through treachery. Even had they managed to kill Lord Sesshomaru so that he remained dead, they would have been decimated in retribution by his allies, or so I would assume from what you have told me of the politics of the situation.”

Miroku's forehead tensed with this new interpretation of events, and his thoughts sprang worriedly to an expectation of new and unforeseeable evil. When Sango returned, she was confronted with a studiously meditating Miroku, and watched Kaede's preparations for dinner for a few slow seconds before she noticed the absence of the kit and the girl.

“Kaede! Where have Shippou and Rin gone?”

“Don't ye get all flustered now Sango, they have gone only as far as the Goshinboku. There is no danger here, or one of us would sense it.”

Sango nodded and relaxed slightly, peeking out through the weave of the hanging door to watch them run in circles around the sacred tree. She shook her head slightly and smiled, turning back inside to help Kaede prepare their evening meal. The older woman noticed the wistful look on Sango's face, and her nearly shy glances at the monk, sunk too deeply in a meditation trance to notice much of the outside world.

“Do ye wish for children of your own, Sango?”

“I…well I never really thought about it, to tell you the truth. There was never time while we were searching for the shards of the jewel to worry much about such things, and since then there have been other concerns. But now Miroku has made a formal proposal of marriage, and I have accepted, and…Kagome is with child, did you know?”

Kaede nodded, and gestured casually across the room.

“Miroku mentioned it. Does that make you wish for children of your own?”

Sango blushed and nodded, and Kaede patted her arm reassuringly.”

“When Kagome and Lord Sesshomaru return here from their council, we will have your wedding, and between then and the end of your days there will be plenty of time for children.”

Sango paused in the middle of slicing the meat, and her eyes took on a distant, fogged look.

“That worries me too.”

“What does?”

“The end of my days.”

She pulled aside the woven door and stared into the eyelash-fringe of sunset that flickered along the edges of the night, tinting the sky with ambrosia and the soft scent of dusk.

“Kagome, Sesshomaru, even Shippou…they are nearly immortal. They will not grow old, will not die…and Miroku and I and all of our children will be gone so soon in comparison. I want to see the things Kagome spoke of, see the wonder of her time. She may not realize it, but there are so many things that she speaks of, tall buildings and strange foods, even the cloth her old strange kimono was made of…I want to know them!”

Kaede looked up with concern etched in her eyes, and shook her head.

“Ye are human, Sango, and she is not, and ye will have your time of life, and she will have hers. Your task is to find joy for yourself, for you friends, as long as you are able, and then to go with heart in hand to the quiet darkness until it is time for you to return.”

Sango shook off the gloom that had collected around her with the night, and smiled into the corner where Miroku sat, stretching slowly.

“You are right, Kaede, as always. It is not something to worry about.”

Miroku blinked several times, looking back and forth between the two women.

“What did I miss?”

Sango smiled at him, pulling him in with the warmth she exuded.”

“Nothing important. Kaede says that once Kagome and Sesshomaru return, we will have our wedding.”

Miroku grinned widely and danced in circles with Sango's hands clasped tightly in his. She laughed freely and loud, and Kaede smiled, happy in her own right that the almost-children she had shepherded through four years of danger and pain had finally begun to make a little happiness for themselves. Her thoughts lingered on the demon lady who she had trained, who she was closer to than any of the others, and who had become recently the greatest mystery to her as well. She went out to bring the children in, and her eyes strayed west.

 

Kagome stepped carefully off the soft cloud of youkai mist that had brought her the last bit of distance with Sesshomaru to the enormous open clearing she saw in front of her. From the edge of forest away to the west and the steep slope of mountains to the north, a wide swathe of cleared and maintained meadow stretched in waves of green shimmering in a silent breeze. The presence of the other lords pressed heavily on her miko, and her arms tightened reflexively around Sesshomaru's waist. He looked down at the top of her head and spoke in a low, harsh whisper.

“They can smell your fear, Kagome, taste your nervousness on the air. Calm my Kagome. We worked on this.”

She nodded slowly and let the deep forest calm of his scent wash the fear out of her body. She smiled up at him, and stood by his side as a group of lords approached where they stood. The cool pressure of his hand around hers startled her momentarily, and she squeezed his fingers gently, grateful for the small, nearly invisible reminder of his affection. She saw the cold mask drop over his features, and dropped her eyes so that she did not meet the gaze of any of the approaching lords. She felt Sesshomaru tense slightly, and the sharpness of a familiar scent reached to her from the tangle of others that did not speak so loudly to her senses.

*Kouga…*

The wolf prince bowed stiffly, and Kagome fought down the growl building in her throat.

“The Lord of the South answers the call of the Lord and Lady of the West to council.”

Sesshomaru returned his bow, and kept his voice calm and neutral, despite the obvious and hostile tension that flowed thickly between them.

“The Lord of the West acknowledges the presence of the Lord of the South at council.”

Kagome watched through half raised eyelids the procession of youkai lords, the form repetition of phrases almost chanting in her ears. She saw the first of the youkai ladies approach, and switched position with Sesshomaru, watching him lower his eyes in deference to youkai custom.

“The Lady of the North answers the call of the Lady and Lord of the West to council.”

Kagome returned her bow, making note that she must be Kinawai's mate, and spoke the proper response carefully.

“The Lady of the West acknowledges the presence of the Lady of the North at council.”

Sesshomaru's hand tightened imperceptibly around hers, and she smiled inwardly, secure at least in his love for her. She did not notice the glint in the eye of the Lady of the North, and the procession of youkai ladies continued in front of her without incident. She turned at a rumbling noise, and saw a portion of the meadow split completely in half, lifting a long low table through the dark earth to rest on the once again unmarred grass. She blinked several times, sure she was seeing things, then mentally chalked up another one for youkai magic and followed the gently tug of Sesshomaru's hand towards her place at the table. Sesshomaru remained standing, and his voice turned lethally serious.

“I summon the council to a matter of honor and vengeance, to a matter that requires the council enforce its own edicts of eighty summers past.”

Kinawai stood facing him, and matched Sesshomaru's tone and posture.

“What business does the Lord of the West bring before the Council of Lords?”

“Eighty summers past, Lord InuTaisho died from a poison made and given by the dragon clan that formerly occupied the western lands. With the approval of the council as vengeance for my father, I destroyed half of the clan responsible for the manufacture of the poison, and half the clan responsible for its distribution. That poison was banned. Two weeks past, the same association of dragon youkai used the same poison to kill me. My mate brought me back with the Tensaiga and her miko. I called the council for vengeance, for the enforcing of its own proclamations, or to see it dissolved by its failure to do so.”

He sat coldly and silently by Kagome's side, and there was complete silence for a series of moments that tripped over each other and exploded in a cacophony of troubled growls. Disbelief scattered itself across the faces of the assembled lords, and was swept away just as quickly by a flash of anger that hung throbbing and oppressive in the bright air. Kagome shuddered under the intensity of it.

*What are they going to do, Sess-chan?*