InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Death, Trust Me, as You Didn't in Life ❯ What Lies Beneath ( Chapter 20 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: kanna37 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.25.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.25.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 20: What Lies Beneath
So... I was right. These humans - always plotting, and causing havoc wherever they go. And they say demons are war-mongers... what lies beneath the surface with these humans is truly disturbing at times.
Kagura watched from high above as a large group of monks and priestesses fought a battle with a nest of snake demons, and shook her head. It was really no surprise, if she thought about it, that the turmoil with all the demons rampaging around had once again brought out those humans with a driving need to label anything not human as evil - trouble always seemed to bring those types of people out of the woodwork.
Still, at this point, she didn't really see how she could use this for her purposes - other than a slight hope that maybe, in some battle or another with demons or this group of fanatics, the little miko that was keeping Sesshoumaru from her got herself killed again. Of course, that would be too easy, and Kagura was well aware that nothing in life was ever that simple - so after a few more moments of watching the battle going on below her, she moved on, once more heading southwest.
She had decided to follow this course when she'd left the demon Lord and the miko, figuring that as Lord of the West, he'd soon be heading towards his own lands to deal with the trouble within his borders. She was pretty sure that he would soon return here - and he'd have the miko with him.
You know, it's too bad I'm not the miko... although it would suck to be human, I almost think it would be worth it to have that demon Lord between my thighs. If I could take her over, he'd never even have to know the difference.
If only there were a way to exchange souls...
Or even better, perhaps... possess her, make her betray him, and then kill her. It would cause him to turn away even from the memory of her, leaving him ripe for the taking - by me.
Yes, that would work - either plan would. If I could find a way to actually do one or the other...
Kagura continued on into the night, mind lost in plots and plans, looking at every possibility she could think of to get her hearts desire.
Sesshoumaru.
---wWw---
Inuyasha ran, hard, for miles and miles, hoping to outrun the knowledge of his loss, and not caring how far he had to go to do so.
If I have to spend the rest of my life running...
He let out anguished howls here and there as he ran, not even stopping when he would come across a demon in his path - he'd simply slash at it as he went past. He didn't even care to kill them, as long as they moved out of his way so that he didn't have to slow down, or worse, stop.
Because if he did, the knowledge that he was trying to escape would catch up - and he couldn't even bear that thought.
But eventually, of course, he had to come to a halt, because not even the greatest creature can run forever, and once he'd stopped, he'd fallen to his knees, drenched in sweat and pain, and cried his loss to the heavens. In that moment, his entire world came to a shuddering halt, and he wished he'd done what she'd asked originally and left the both of them dead.
At least that way, he'd never have had to hear the words that had come from her mouth.
"Is this how it's going to end, then, Inuyasha?"
End?
He shuddered...
"I will always be your friend, but if you make me choose..."
Don't say it... Kagome, please don't say it...
"I will choose him."
No...
He put his hands to his ears and howled again, a long, mournful sound that shattered the still night air, had anyone been around to hear it, they'd have cried - that sound had heartbreak written all over it.
It was a sound straight from the deepest, darkest parts of the psyche - a sound of loss, pain, and fear... a noise with loneliness implicit within it.
Those words, he knew, would echo through his soul for eternity, no matter where he went in this life, whether he took Kikyou as a mate or not, or someone else, or even no one, it wouldn't matter - in the instant that Kagome had said those words, a part of him had died, and nothing would ever be able to bring that piece of himself back to life - nothing.
No matter what anyone thought, Kagome had been a part of him for so long now, that her choice of another over him tore out that place inside him where she'd lived - leaving it hollow and aching, and it was a place that no one else could ever fill. He'd never been sure of what that place inside him was - whether it was a passionate love he had held for her, or a familial, but it seemed that it didn't matter anymore which it had been.
Because she was gone - and she'd never be back.
Feeling empty, hollow, and absolutely sick, the lonely half-demon folded over on himself, not caring at that point whether he lived or died.
He just wanted the hurting to stop.
---wWw---
Sesshoumaru re-settled himself a bit, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit while holding onto a very upset miko. She was still crying a little, not sobbing, just tears and sadness weaving its way through her aura.
"Kagome, why do you cry?" He understood that she hadn't wanted to hurt the half-breed, but why had it upset her this much?
She sighed, a deep, shuddering sound, as she let go of the guilt she carried for Inuyasha's hurt, and then looked up at him.
"All his life, Inuyasha has been rejected because of what he is - even by you, his only family." As Sesshoumaru opened his mouth to speak, she laid a tender finger over his lips. "Shh. Let me finish." He nodded, reluctantly, and she continued.
"It is not his fault that your father chose to love a mortal woman, Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha did not ask to be born, so blaming him for your father's choices accomplishes nothing." Removing her finger from his lips, she idly traced his crests, then the crescent on his forehead. "I know that most of your anger comes from how you perceive his behavior - but tell me. Who has there been in his life to teach him how to act? Who to show him right from wrong - to show him how to live with honor?"
"I think, personally," she said, as his eyes widened slightly at her words, "that he's done damn well with what he's had - sure he tends to be selfish at times, but what do you expect? He's never had anyone to really care for him - why is it so surprising that he would hold onto one who does with everything he has inside him? Inuyasha is a good, honorable man, despite the fact that he manages to piss me off more often than not with his stubborn ways - but it isn't surprising he's that way... look at you and your father. He comes by it honestly, Sesshoumaru, and you can't deny that."
She chuckled at the slightly sour look on his face.
"You are... correct, in what you are saying, though it galls me to admit it. I had never looked at it that way." He tilted his head back and stared at the moon for a time, then continued. "And it is also true that I do not hold his birth against him any longer - how could I when I myself have chosen to love a mortal woman?"
Kagome blushed and smiled shyly at him, and he lowered his eyes and watched her through his lashes.
"I will think more on what you have said at another time, but for now... I believe that there is another matter that I brought you out here to discuss."
"Mmhmm... I suppose so." She lowered her gaze from his penetrating one, suddenly finding herself feeling vulnerable.
"After everything that you have seen - that I have shown you, do you understand what it is that I want from you?" There was a peculiar intensity to his voice, almost as if he was testing her, as if what she would say next was truly important to him.
"Uhh," eyes wide, suddenly unsure, Kagome swallowed heavily. "I'm... afraid to guess, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said, formally, carefully. "I would not like to presume."
He sighed. In other words, she still fears that I will reject her. And that is Inuyasha's fault. If for nothing else other than this, I hold him responsible - that she should doubt herself so deeply is something that can be laid only at his feet.
"Is it presumption to take what I have said to you as truth?"
Kagome looked startled at that. "What do you mean?"
"Has not this Sesshoumaru said that he loves you? Has he not shown this through the forays into the past, and spoken of it in memories of our lives before our deaths?" He watched her face, still fascinated by the abundance of emotion visible in both eye and expression - and by the deep blush that painted her features as she lay in his arms and under his scrutiny.
"W-well, yes," she whispered, eyes lowered to her lap, and her nervously twisting hands. "B-but that doesn't tell me what your intentions are - so, you love me. What does that mean to you - and for me?"
He studied her face, slightly confused by her confusion. Did those in her time not take such emotion and expect it to have serious connotations? Did not something like this lead to mating - or marriage, as the humans called it?
"Kagome, my intention is to take you as my mate. Is this not what such a bond would come to in your time? Have things changed so much that emotions such as these would be given, and yet lead nowhere? Even one such as I, to whom 'love' and other emotions are a new understanding, does not see love as an ending all its own." He was having a hard time understanding how she could not know that when he said he loved her, it meant that she would be his mate.
A finger went to his lips again, only this time, accompanied by a look of such overwhelming love, that the cold Lord, the demon known for a lack of feeling, almost lost his stoic mien, and his eyes lit from within with the same expression that lay so brilliantly within her own.
"I would be beyond honored to live with you as your mate, Sesshoumaru - for as long as my life lasts." At that, she choked back a sob. "But... my life will not last near as long as yours - and I would not see you left alone when I inevitably pass on. It would hurt..." she trailed off, eyes blurry with tears at the thought of ever leaving him again.
He shook his head, then, and pulled her finger from his mouth. "It would not matter, even were that the case, miko. For if you were indeed to pass back into the other realm as a normal mortal, I would simply follow you. Death holds no fear for me." With that, he traced his own finger down her cheek, the one that Koga had hit her on... and though she flinched, she suddenly realized that it didn't hurt.
She frowned up at him in confusion, once again, and he smirked just a bit at that look. "Have you not yet realized that you are more than mortal? You have already died, Kagome - and your soul was returned forcibly from the other realm by the Path of Blood. You will be held here until Inuyasha releases you from your oath to him." A raised brow, and the smirk widened just a little more.
"Did you forget that you also gave a vow to this Sesshoumaru? And that he also gave you one? Until such time as we release each other neither of us will pass back into those realms. Even your healing is different than a normal mortal now."
She put a hand to her cheek and pressed, amazed, as she took in what he was saying. Then she shot him a curious look. "If avoiding death was so easy, how come others haven't done this?"
"Easy? Was it really so easy, miko? Only Bokuseno now knows the language that the spell is cast in, and only one holding Tensaiga can finish it. How then would the masses make use of such a thing?" He tucked her deeper into his embrace, a somewhat arrogant expression lighting his face at that statement. "This is a spell for use only by the house of Taisho."
She flicked a quick glance at him, a bit exasperated at the arrogance shining through. "Tell me - is the arrogance thing a dog trait... or just a Taisho trait?"
He raised a brow at her, then turned his gaze back up to the sky. "Someday, when we travel back to the other realm, you will ask my father that question. But for now - you have not answered mine. Will you be my mate? Understand that I will not ask again, miko."
"Do you really think I'd say no?" She rolled her eyes at him. "If you do, you aren't as smart as I took you for, Sesshoumaru." A questioning look lit her eyes. "When... well, what I mean is... uh - whenwouldwedothis?" she got out in a rush, flushing deeply when she realized what the word mate entailed.
Sesshoumaru blinked. "Once we have restored order to our lands, Kagome. I will not take you as my mate until I can offer you a safe den. That would not be honorable."
Kagome tilted her head, a curious look on her face as she thought about his choice of words. "Den? Don't you have some kind of palace or some such as a Lord?" She frowned. "Even though you are so obviously aristocratic, and wealthy, for some reason I can't imagine you living in something so... I don't know... human, I guess."
He nodded approvingly at her. "You are correct, miko. I am not human, and do not live as one. My lands are more than just property, as humans see them, they are my territory - as a wolf would claim a mountain range as his for himself and his pack, so I claim the west as my territory - mine to protect, it's borders mine to defend. I could not do such half so well while living in a human habitation and worrying about someone destroying it while I was away."
He nudged her face up to look at him for a moment, then let her look back down at her lap. "I am a spirit of nature, Kagome, and as such, I prefer to live closer to it rather than buried within walls and floors. The land provides all that I and those that I claim as mine will ever need."
Kagome stared at her lap, thinking about what he'd said, only looking up when he spoke again.
"Does that bother you? Did you think that a demon Lord was the same as a mortal - and that I held dear the same trappings and pretensions that they do?"
Kagome stared at him exasperatedly. "Oh, come on. Do you really believe that I'm that shallow?" She shook her head at him reprovingly. "For one thing, I was actually dreading that kind of thing - don't get me wrong, for you, the chance to be with you, I would have dared it, but that's not the kind of life I want. I... maybe I've been messed up from all the traveling around we've done over the years of chasing Naraku, but I'm happier moving around more than I am staying still."
He tilted his head, a small nod of acceptance. "That is good. For the way that I care for my lands, and my own habits, you and yours are a good fit. In the winter, I have a den that I use. It is comfortable - you will not want for anything while we winter there, but spring, summer, and part of the fall, I travel my lands and protect and defend them as necessary."
She smiled up at him and clapped her hands together happily. "That sounds wonderful. I could be very happy living that life with you, never fear."
"Fear. Hn." He turned that word over on his tongue, tasting it. "There is only one thing I fear, miko, and that is losing you."
Kagome melted at that, and spent the next several hours twined happily with her demon Lord, enjoying his heated kisses and touches - though he would not pass a certain level, saying only that he would not dishonor his intended.
She didn't argue, content for the moment with what he was willing to give.
After all, it was more than she'd had with any other, and being the rather shy girl that she was when it came to things like that, it was actually more comfortable to lead up to certain things little by little - at least for her.
The passion and desire were there... and time would only build them up, not tear them down.
---wWw---
Miroku sighed, then shifted, moving a bit closer to the fire, and, not incidentally, the sweetly rounded backside of his favorite victim. Before he could get within striking distance, however, Sango brought hiraikotsu around and lay it between them, a warning look on her face.
"Hands where I can see them, lecher. I'm really not in the mood for being felt up."
His eyebrow raised, a smirk crossing his face at that. "Ah, but Sango, from the many, many times I have suffered violence at your hands, I can honestly say that you are seemingly never in the mood. If there is a particular time when you would be receptive, please, let me know, and I will endeavor to keep my tendencies confined to those times."
She shot him a sour look as Shippo laughed, but before she could respond to that, Kikyou spoke up. She had a curious look on her face.
"Tell me, monk... do you really think a woman enjoys being grabbed the way that you do? If you have not realized by now, most of us find your behavior disrespectful - not a turn on, but a turn off. If you ever hope to win her attention, maybe you should try something different."
Sango inhaled deeply, and said, "Yes! At last, someone understands! Of course, it would only be another woman - men just don't get it."
Kikyou shook her head at Sango. "No, that's not right. Men with no honor act that way. They treat women as though we have no honor. Tell me," she asked, at Sango's disbelieving look, "can you imagine Lord Sesshoumaru doing something like that? Has Inuyasha ever acted that way?"
The slayer looked startled for a moment, then glanced at a rather red-faced monk, and slowly shook her head back at the miko.
"No, you know, you are right. Neither of them behave that way." She turned to Miroku and stared hard at him. "So the truth is, you simply have no honor when it comes to a woman. I see," she mused, looking into the fire then, thoughtfully. "I wonder why that is? Who taught you to treat women this way?"
Miroku looked at the miko and frowned, suddenly unsure. Am I really without honor in my treatment of Sango - and other women? Am I saying in a roundabout way that I think they have no honor merely because they are female?
Kikyou nodded then. "Good. I hope my words make you think, monk. In a different way, you are doing the same thing Inuyasha is... pushing the female you care for away."
His eyes widened as he looked at her, then flashed a glance at Sango, noting the look in her eye.
Underneath everything... what message am I really sending her?
What lies beneath my behavior?
And what is it that she means by saying I am doing what Inuyasha is?
---wWw---
A/N: Just a quick note to all the american readers - Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone enjoys their holidays with family and friends.
And as for the chapter - I have high hopes that people are beginning to see just what sorts of mischief Kagura could possibly cause, and how I see Inuyasha in this fic. Not as the bad guy, but as one who's never had the chance to really learn how to behave, and let go of things - and yet, is still a good man, one that does have honor, even if it's tarnished a bit.
Amber
So... I was right. These humans - always plotting, and causing havoc wherever they go. And they say demons are war-mongers... what lies beneath the surface with these humans is truly disturbing at times.
Kagura watched from high above as a large group of monks and priestesses fought a battle with a nest of snake demons, and shook her head. It was really no surprise, if she thought about it, that the turmoil with all the demons rampaging around had once again brought out those humans with a driving need to label anything not human as evil - trouble always seemed to bring those types of people out of the woodwork.
Still, at this point, she didn't really see how she could use this for her purposes - other than a slight hope that maybe, in some battle or another with demons or this group of fanatics, the little miko that was keeping Sesshoumaru from her got herself killed again. Of course, that would be too easy, and Kagura was well aware that nothing in life was ever that simple - so after a few more moments of watching the battle going on below her, she moved on, once more heading southwest.
She had decided to follow this course when she'd left the demon Lord and the miko, figuring that as Lord of the West, he'd soon be heading towards his own lands to deal with the trouble within his borders. She was pretty sure that he would soon return here - and he'd have the miko with him.
You know, it's too bad I'm not the miko... although it would suck to be human, I almost think it would be worth it to have that demon Lord between my thighs. If I could take her over, he'd never even have to know the difference.
If only there were a way to exchange souls...
Or even better, perhaps... possess her, make her betray him, and then kill her. It would cause him to turn away even from the memory of her, leaving him ripe for the taking - by me.
Yes, that would work - either plan would. If I could find a way to actually do one or the other...
Kagura continued on into the night, mind lost in plots and plans, looking at every possibility she could think of to get her hearts desire.
Sesshoumaru.
---wWw---
Inuyasha ran, hard, for miles and miles, hoping to outrun the knowledge of his loss, and not caring how far he had to go to do so.
If I have to spend the rest of my life running...
He let out anguished howls here and there as he ran, not even stopping when he would come across a demon in his path - he'd simply slash at it as he went past. He didn't even care to kill them, as long as they moved out of his way so that he didn't have to slow down, or worse, stop.
Because if he did, the knowledge that he was trying to escape would catch up - and he couldn't even bear that thought.
But eventually, of course, he had to come to a halt, because not even the greatest creature can run forever, and once he'd stopped, he'd fallen to his knees, drenched in sweat and pain, and cried his loss to the heavens. In that moment, his entire world came to a shuddering halt, and he wished he'd done what she'd asked originally and left the both of them dead.
At least that way, he'd never have had to hear the words that had come from her mouth.
"Is this how it's going to end, then, Inuyasha?"
End?
He shuddered...
"I will always be your friend, but if you make me choose..."
Don't say it... Kagome, please don't say it...
"I will choose him."
No...
He put his hands to his ears and howled again, a long, mournful sound that shattered the still night air, had anyone been around to hear it, they'd have cried - that sound had heartbreak written all over it.
It was a sound straight from the deepest, darkest parts of the psyche - a sound of loss, pain, and fear... a noise with loneliness implicit within it.
Those words, he knew, would echo through his soul for eternity, no matter where he went in this life, whether he took Kikyou as a mate or not, or someone else, or even no one, it wouldn't matter - in the instant that Kagome had said those words, a part of him had died, and nothing would ever be able to bring that piece of himself back to life - nothing.
No matter what anyone thought, Kagome had been a part of him for so long now, that her choice of another over him tore out that place inside him where she'd lived - leaving it hollow and aching, and it was a place that no one else could ever fill. He'd never been sure of what that place inside him was - whether it was a passionate love he had held for her, or a familial, but it seemed that it didn't matter anymore which it had been.
Because she was gone - and she'd never be back.
Feeling empty, hollow, and absolutely sick, the lonely half-demon folded over on himself, not caring at that point whether he lived or died.
He just wanted the hurting to stop.
---wWw---
Sesshoumaru re-settled himself a bit, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit while holding onto a very upset miko. She was still crying a little, not sobbing, just tears and sadness weaving its way through her aura.
"Kagome, why do you cry?" He understood that she hadn't wanted to hurt the half-breed, but why had it upset her this much?
She sighed, a deep, shuddering sound, as she let go of the guilt she carried for Inuyasha's hurt, and then looked up at him.
"All his life, Inuyasha has been rejected because of what he is - even by you, his only family." As Sesshoumaru opened his mouth to speak, she laid a tender finger over his lips. "Shh. Let me finish." He nodded, reluctantly, and she continued.
"It is not his fault that your father chose to love a mortal woman, Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha did not ask to be born, so blaming him for your father's choices accomplishes nothing." Removing her finger from his lips, she idly traced his crests, then the crescent on his forehead. "I know that most of your anger comes from how you perceive his behavior - but tell me. Who has there been in his life to teach him how to act? Who to show him right from wrong - to show him how to live with honor?"
"I think, personally," she said, as his eyes widened slightly at her words, "that he's done damn well with what he's had - sure he tends to be selfish at times, but what do you expect? He's never had anyone to really care for him - why is it so surprising that he would hold onto one who does with everything he has inside him? Inuyasha is a good, honorable man, despite the fact that he manages to piss me off more often than not with his stubborn ways - but it isn't surprising he's that way... look at you and your father. He comes by it honestly, Sesshoumaru, and you can't deny that."
She chuckled at the slightly sour look on his face.
"You are... correct, in what you are saying, though it galls me to admit it. I had never looked at it that way." He tilted his head back and stared at the moon for a time, then continued. "And it is also true that I do not hold his birth against him any longer - how could I when I myself have chosen to love a mortal woman?"
Kagome blushed and smiled shyly at him, and he lowered his eyes and watched her through his lashes.
"I will think more on what you have said at another time, but for now... I believe that there is another matter that I brought you out here to discuss."
"Mmhmm... I suppose so." She lowered her gaze from his penetrating one, suddenly finding herself feeling vulnerable.
"After everything that you have seen - that I have shown you, do you understand what it is that I want from you?" There was a peculiar intensity to his voice, almost as if he was testing her, as if what she would say next was truly important to him.
"Uhh," eyes wide, suddenly unsure, Kagome swallowed heavily. "I'm... afraid to guess, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said, formally, carefully. "I would not like to presume."
He sighed. In other words, she still fears that I will reject her. And that is Inuyasha's fault. If for nothing else other than this, I hold him responsible - that she should doubt herself so deeply is something that can be laid only at his feet.
"Is it presumption to take what I have said to you as truth?"
Kagome looked startled at that. "What do you mean?"
"Has not this Sesshoumaru said that he loves you? Has he not shown this through the forays into the past, and spoken of it in memories of our lives before our deaths?" He watched her face, still fascinated by the abundance of emotion visible in both eye and expression - and by the deep blush that painted her features as she lay in his arms and under his scrutiny.
"W-well, yes," she whispered, eyes lowered to her lap, and her nervously twisting hands. "B-but that doesn't tell me what your intentions are - so, you love me. What does that mean to you - and for me?"
He studied her face, slightly confused by her confusion. Did those in her time not take such emotion and expect it to have serious connotations? Did not something like this lead to mating - or marriage, as the humans called it?
"Kagome, my intention is to take you as my mate. Is this not what such a bond would come to in your time? Have things changed so much that emotions such as these would be given, and yet lead nowhere? Even one such as I, to whom 'love' and other emotions are a new understanding, does not see love as an ending all its own." He was having a hard time understanding how she could not know that when he said he loved her, it meant that she would be his mate.
A finger went to his lips again, only this time, accompanied by a look of such overwhelming love, that the cold Lord, the demon known for a lack of feeling, almost lost his stoic mien, and his eyes lit from within with the same expression that lay so brilliantly within her own.
"I would be beyond honored to live with you as your mate, Sesshoumaru - for as long as my life lasts." At that, she choked back a sob. "But... my life will not last near as long as yours - and I would not see you left alone when I inevitably pass on. It would hurt..." she trailed off, eyes blurry with tears at the thought of ever leaving him again.
He shook his head, then, and pulled her finger from his mouth. "It would not matter, even were that the case, miko. For if you were indeed to pass back into the other realm as a normal mortal, I would simply follow you. Death holds no fear for me." With that, he traced his own finger down her cheek, the one that Koga had hit her on... and though she flinched, she suddenly realized that it didn't hurt.
She frowned up at him in confusion, once again, and he smirked just a bit at that look. "Have you not yet realized that you are more than mortal? You have already died, Kagome - and your soul was returned forcibly from the other realm by the Path of Blood. You will be held here until Inuyasha releases you from your oath to him." A raised brow, and the smirk widened just a little more.
"Did you forget that you also gave a vow to this Sesshoumaru? And that he also gave you one? Until such time as we release each other neither of us will pass back into those realms. Even your healing is different than a normal mortal now."
She put a hand to her cheek and pressed, amazed, as she took in what he was saying. Then she shot him a curious look. "If avoiding death was so easy, how come others haven't done this?"
"Easy? Was it really so easy, miko? Only Bokuseno now knows the language that the spell is cast in, and only one holding Tensaiga can finish it. How then would the masses make use of such a thing?" He tucked her deeper into his embrace, a somewhat arrogant expression lighting his face at that statement. "This is a spell for use only by the house of Taisho."
She flicked a quick glance at him, a bit exasperated at the arrogance shining through. "Tell me - is the arrogance thing a dog trait... or just a Taisho trait?"
He raised a brow at her, then turned his gaze back up to the sky. "Someday, when we travel back to the other realm, you will ask my father that question. But for now - you have not answered mine. Will you be my mate? Understand that I will not ask again, miko."
"Do you really think I'd say no?" She rolled her eyes at him. "If you do, you aren't as smart as I took you for, Sesshoumaru." A questioning look lit her eyes. "When... well, what I mean is... uh - whenwouldwedothis?" she got out in a rush, flushing deeply when she realized what the word mate entailed.
Sesshoumaru blinked. "Once we have restored order to our lands, Kagome. I will not take you as my mate until I can offer you a safe den. That would not be honorable."
Kagome tilted her head, a curious look on her face as she thought about his choice of words. "Den? Don't you have some kind of palace or some such as a Lord?" She frowned. "Even though you are so obviously aristocratic, and wealthy, for some reason I can't imagine you living in something so... I don't know... human, I guess."
He nodded approvingly at her. "You are correct, miko. I am not human, and do not live as one. My lands are more than just property, as humans see them, they are my territory - as a wolf would claim a mountain range as his for himself and his pack, so I claim the west as my territory - mine to protect, it's borders mine to defend. I could not do such half so well while living in a human habitation and worrying about someone destroying it while I was away."
He nudged her face up to look at him for a moment, then let her look back down at her lap. "I am a spirit of nature, Kagome, and as such, I prefer to live closer to it rather than buried within walls and floors. The land provides all that I and those that I claim as mine will ever need."
Kagome stared at her lap, thinking about what he'd said, only looking up when he spoke again.
"Does that bother you? Did you think that a demon Lord was the same as a mortal - and that I held dear the same trappings and pretensions that they do?"
Kagome stared at him exasperatedly. "Oh, come on. Do you really believe that I'm that shallow?" She shook her head at him reprovingly. "For one thing, I was actually dreading that kind of thing - don't get me wrong, for you, the chance to be with you, I would have dared it, but that's not the kind of life I want. I... maybe I've been messed up from all the traveling around we've done over the years of chasing Naraku, but I'm happier moving around more than I am staying still."
He tilted his head, a small nod of acceptance. "That is good. For the way that I care for my lands, and my own habits, you and yours are a good fit. In the winter, I have a den that I use. It is comfortable - you will not want for anything while we winter there, but spring, summer, and part of the fall, I travel my lands and protect and defend them as necessary."
She smiled up at him and clapped her hands together happily. "That sounds wonderful. I could be very happy living that life with you, never fear."
"Fear. Hn." He turned that word over on his tongue, tasting it. "There is only one thing I fear, miko, and that is losing you."
Kagome melted at that, and spent the next several hours twined happily with her demon Lord, enjoying his heated kisses and touches - though he would not pass a certain level, saying only that he would not dishonor his intended.
She didn't argue, content for the moment with what he was willing to give.
After all, it was more than she'd had with any other, and being the rather shy girl that she was when it came to things like that, it was actually more comfortable to lead up to certain things little by little - at least for her.
The passion and desire were there... and time would only build them up, not tear them down.
---wWw---
Miroku sighed, then shifted, moving a bit closer to the fire, and, not incidentally, the sweetly rounded backside of his favorite victim. Before he could get within striking distance, however, Sango brought hiraikotsu around and lay it between them, a warning look on her face.
"Hands where I can see them, lecher. I'm really not in the mood for being felt up."
His eyebrow raised, a smirk crossing his face at that. "Ah, but Sango, from the many, many times I have suffered violence at your hands, I can honestly say that you are seemingly never in the mood. If there is a particular time when you would be receptive, please, let me know, and I will endeavor to keep my tendencies confined to those times."
She shot him a sour look as Shippo laughed, but before she could respond to that, Kikyou spoke up. She had a curious look on her face.
"Tell me, monk... do you really think a woman enjoys being grabbed the way that you do? If you have not realized by now, most of us find your behavior disrespectful - not a turn on, but a turn off. If you ever hope to win her attention, maybe you should try something different."
Sango inhaled deeply, and said, "Yes! At last, someone understands! Of course, it would only be another woman - men just don't get it."
Kikyou shook her head at Sango. "No, that's not right. Men with no honor act that way. They treat women as though we have no honor. Tell me," she asked, at Sango's disbelieving look, "can you imagine Lord Sesshoumaru doing something like that? Has Inuyasha ever acted that way?"
The slayer looked startled for a moment, then glanced at a rather red-faced monk, and slowly shook her head back at the miko.
"No, you know, you are right. Neither of them behave that way." She turned to Miroku and stared hard at him. "So the truth is, you simply have no honor when it comes to a woman. I see," she mused, looking into the fire then, thoughtfully. "I wonder why that is? Who taught you to treat women this way?"
Miroku looked at the miko and frowned, suddenly unsure. Am I really without honor in my treatment of Sango - and other women? Am I saying in a roundabout way that I think they have no honor merely because they are female?
Kikyou nodded then. "Good. I hope my words make you think, monk. In a different way, you are doing the same thing Inuyasha is... pushing the female you care for away."
His eyes widened as he looked at her, then flashed a glance at Sango, noting the look in her eye.
Underneath everything... what message am I really sending her?
What lies beneath my behavior?
And what is it that she means by saying I am doing what Inuyasha is?
---wWw---
A/N: Just a quick note to all the american readers - Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone enjoys their holidays with family and friends.
And as for the chapter - I have high hopes that people are beginning to see just what sorts of mischief Kagura could possibly cause, and how I see Inuyasha in this fic. Not as the bad guy, but as one who's never had the chance to really learn how to behave, and let go of things - and yet, is still a good man, one that does have honor, even if it's tarnished a bit.
Amber