InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Lovers ❯ The Lead ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: saphira404 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.29.2011 | Updated On: 11.03.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 592 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.29.2011 | Updated On: 11.03.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 592 | Status: Work In Progress
Part 4: The Lead
A/N: This one will be a long one. Lemon Alert.
Disclaimer: Sadly even though I love writing AU stories on my OTP, they don't belong to me. I tried to buy them, but all I could afford were plushies. Oh well better than nothing lol.
“Talking”
'Thoughts'
‘Life is a funny thing’, Sesshoumaru could not help but muse to himself. He was sprawled in the middle of Kagura’s bed, surrounded by her crimson colored pillows, his sweaty body feeling extremely satisfied but tired by their long love making session.
‘If someone had told me when I first started working at Shikon Magazine that Kagura and I would one day be lovers, I would have never believed it.’ He thought to himself. He was more than aware that by sleeping with his co-worker he was compromising his strong code of morals and ethics, and that if anyone was to find out there would be trouble, but the witch was just too good for him to give up.
“Ugh! What are you still doing here?!” A huffing Kagura stepped inside her bedroom. She was annoyed at seeing that Sesshoumaru was still comfortably settled in her bed.
“It is two in the morning.” He commented dryly. It was late, and they both had to be at work at 8 am the next morning as Naraku had called for another ‘special’ meeting. In the past few weeks their boss had called for several of such meetings as he wanted all his employees to brainstorm on new ways to make his magazine edgier to attract new readers.
“You can only blame yourself. You’re the one who insisted we have dinner and drinks after work…” She started rubbing her hair with the small towel she had looped around her shoulders, hoping her dark tresses would dry quickly so she could tie them back.
“The drinks were your idea… besides you are the one who said you were hungry; I could not let you starve.” He was gracious enough not to point out that she had also been the one who had invited him back to her place for a session in bed; although he had been the one to initiate their second bout of lovemaking.
“Yeah yeah whatever. No matter how late it might be, you have plenty of time to drive back to your place, so I’ll ask again. What are you still doing here?” Satisfied with the state of her hair, she threw the damp towel in the general direction of the armchair facing the window, hoping it would make its mark. The piece of furniture was once again used more as a storing object than a seat, but that did not bother the young woman one bit.
“Have you forgotten that Naraku has asked us to have the name of a summer intern on his desk by tomorrow morning?” He called over to her, a proud grin on his lips.
She glared at him as fiercely as possible while she at the same time tucked the larger white towel covering her body to prevent it from slipping away and bearing her naked form. They had a tacit arrangement. Even if they made love in her bed, he had to be out of it, and on his way home by the time she got out of the shower. But most important of all, they never ever spoke of their work during their ‘personal time’.
“I was going to do it before going to sleep. Now goodbye. You know where the door is, so please feel free to go through it, and sooner rather than later.” She walked over to her closet and retrieved one of her favorite nightgowns. It was not as sexy as the one she had worn during their trip, but was a pink cotton baby doll which still showed a lot of skin. She briefly hesitated before discarding her towel in favor of her sleeping garment.
‘How can dressing in front of him still make me feel so uncomfortable? That is stupid considering all that we’ve done to each other.’ She inwardly groaned. Unlike the first time they had slept together, she did not have the ‘help and support’ of alcohol, and was faced with some inhibitions.
“We were asked to collaborate on this task.” He did not bother expanding on his words, she knew he was right, and that single handedly choosing their interns simply because she did not want to stay in his presence longer than was necessary for them to make love would be unprofessional. And being unprofessional was one thing she never wanted to be called as her career was the one thing she was most proud of.
“Okay, fine. Just put some clothes on then.” She headed towards the living room of her condo where she had left the pile of applications Naraku had dumped on her desk earlier in the day.
‘I don’t know why he insisted Sesshoumaru and I deal with this. He could have had anyone do it…’ She reflected on her father’s unusual request. As co-editors of the magazine she and Sesshoumaru were usually too busy to have to deal with such small tasks. Picking interns was usually something that fell upon Yura, her father’s young and large breasted personal secretary who Kagura suspected to be one of his many girlfriends as well.
‘Not that I give a damn who that man decides to sleep with, I have enough issues dealing with my own sex life...’ As she gathered the different applications and resumes, she could not prevent her mind from briefly straying to her relationship with Sesshoumaru. ‘I don’t know if we can even call it a relationship. All we do is have sex, very good sex, several times a week, but that’s mostly it. We do go out for dinner or drinks sometimes, but we barely talk. I don’t even know anything about him or his family…not that I’ve ever told him anything about me. ’
Kagura decided not to dwell too much on her complicated relationship with her coworker. She knew it would amount to nothing to try to reflect on it as things were fine just the way they were. She gathered her strength, and her arms full with a stack of papers, she walked back to her bedroom.
She decided to ignore the fact that Sesshoumaru had only bothered to slip on his underwear and unbuttoned white dress shirt. He was now reclined against the headboard of her bed, looking as regal as possible. She self-consciously ran a hand through her messy dark curls when she noticed how silky and shiny his hair looked even after their earlier long love making session. She walked over to the bed and dropped the pile of applications between his spread legs.
“There, knock yourself out.” She tried, but failed to suppress the little smirk dancing on her lips as she noticed how surprised Sesshoumaru was at seeing the large piles of applications. She knew how much he hated it when other people were able to read his emotion, one thing that she was strangely becoming quite apt at.
“Our magazine’s pretty popular among college students. A lot of them apply for our internship programs as well.” She pointed out. What she did not say was the reason why they took in so many students. ‘Nothing beats free labor for Naraku…’
“Which is not surprising since we have a tendency of hiring our interns for full time positions…” He agreed, thinking about Ayame, Yura and Touran, a few employees at Shikon Magazine who were all former interns. Kagura repressed the urge to snort at seeing how blind Sesshoumaru was at seeing her father’s true motives.
“We should begin by sorting through all these applications, and then review them again before making the final decision. I know that the old man asked the applicants to add their pictures to their files, but please don’t be like Naraku, and just decide to pick an intern based on the size of her bra cup.” Thinking once again back to the young women who had been hired in the past after being interns, this seemed to have been a deciding factor to Kagura.
“You know very well that I am not this sort of man.” Since he knew she was teasing him, he did not send her one of his famous cold glares. “Let’s get to work.” He wasted no time picking up the first file and reading it.
Even though Kagura had tried throwing him out of her condo only some minutes ago, she did resent the fact that he was suddenly all about business. As much as she hated it, she did like the time they spent together. It was because she was afraid of coming to care for him too much that she always tried to get rid of him. The last time she had put her heart on the line, Kouga had crumbled it to pieces. It had taken her so long to mend her abused organ together that she had promised never to put it in jeopardy.
‘Not that I could fall for that arrogant cold bastard of Sesshoumaru. He may be a great lover, but his personality isn’t that great.’ She thought to herself. She wanted to distract her mind, and therefore decided to do as he said, and start working. She picked up the second file on the pile, and after quickly scanning the contents of the resume and cover letter attached to the application threw it away.
Sesshoumaru hated untidy environments, so seeing Kagura throwing the file over her bed annoyed him. The first time he had visited her condo, he had been horrified at seeing how messy it was. Clothes had been thrown around the living room, dirty dishes were piled inside her kitchen sink, and piles of former editions of their magazine adorned almost every surface of the place, even her bedroom side tables. Although he had to admit that ever since he had become a frequent visitor at her home, she had made an effort to keep things a little bit more organized, which was something he actually appreciated, not that he had let her know about his approval.
“What was wrong with this application? You barely looked at it.” He pointed out as Kagura picked up the next one on the pile.
“Unlike you I don’t intend to spend the whole night on this, so excuse me for being time efficient.” The young woman tossed a second file off her bed.
“Being time efficient does not entail overlooking…” He carefully put away the rejected application to the ‘discarded pile’ he had just created to his left.
“Whatever. You have your ways, and I have mine…” She started, but interrupted herself, her crimson eyes wide in surprise. The reason for her abrupt pause was that the picture of the applicant staring back at her was a perfect version of a younger Sesshoumaru.
Because of the long periods of time they had spent together, he was quite attuned to Kagura and her volatile moods. He therefore quickly realized something was up with her.
“What is it?”
She chuckled when she handed him the opened file, and the picture it contained. “That Inuyasha guy looks just like you!” She had expected him to laugh as well or at least smile as she knew he was more than able to. She had seen him smile on a couple occasions, but of course never when they were at work; she was sure he did not want to break away from his ice king persona.
To Kagura’s surprise, Sesshoumaru did not smile. A dark scowl came over his face, and he took the application file and tore it to pieces.
“What the hell are you doing?!” She exclaimed. She had never seen him lose his composure in such a way before, and was completely shocked.
“He will never work at the same place as this Sesshoumaru!” She had not heard him refer to himself at the third person in a long time either, so this was also a shocker to her.
“Do you know that guy?” She searched his beautiful amber eyes for some kind of answer.
“He is… my younger half brother.” He grudgingly muttered the words, but she easily made them out. He was uncomfortable at seeing how her crimson eyes bulged in shock.
“What?! How? I mean the kid’s like twenty, twenty three at the most and you’re…” She trailed off realizing she had no idea how old her lover was. This was not surprising considering that the little time they spent alone together mostly took place under the covers of a bed. She however knew that Sesshoumaru had to be older than her 33 years, or at least she hoped so; it wasn’t easy to tell how old he was because of his unusually silver hair, pale complexion and lean body. The last thing she wanted was to be a cougar.
“I am 35.” He did his best to ignore her sudden sigh of relief, but made a mental note to later on ask her about it. “We may share a sire, but Inuyasha was born from my father’s second wife.” He hated talking about his father’s second family, but if he was going to vent about his long bottled in anger to someone, Kagura was the best suited for that.
“Wow I don’t know why, but I always figured you were an only child. Must be because you have a tendency of being an arrogant bastard. You did earn the nickname of ‘demon’ from me after all.” She frowned when he did not respond to her taunt as he usually would have, with a glare. She decided to try another approach. “So why exactly is it that you don’t want your brother…”
“Half brother.” He interjected.
“Your half brother,,.” She amended. “to work with us? Did he do something to you?”
“I have not seen him ever since he was three years old. I left my father’s house as soon as I turned 18.”
“Why?” She asked burning with curiosity. As much as she had told herself over and over again not to get too close to Sesshoumaru, she wanted to find out more about what was hidden behind his cold façade.
“You are being unusually curious.”
“And you are being unusually annoying. Why won’t you just answer my questions?” She smiled at him coyly.
“I will… if your answer some of mine. Why don’t you get along with your father?” He fired back. It was not the first time he had questioned her about her unusual relationship with Naraku, but Kagura had always refused to give him a clear answer. For the sake of their relationship he had never insisted. An irritated Kagura was not something he wanted to have to deal with; especially when he was trying to get her naked and in bed with him.
It was now her time to scowl. One topic that was definitely off limit with her was her relationship with their boss Naraku.
‘As much as I want to find out about Sesshoumaru and his brother, the last thing I want is to tell him about Naraku… then again would it be too bad? He has proven himself to be more than able to keep our little affair a secret.’
“Fine I’ll tell you, but I swear that if you let anyone know, I will destroy you.” Her remark finally earned her a little smile from him.
“As I told you in the plane.” She tilted her head to the side briefly. To this day she was still embarrassed by how she had easily given into her fear of airplanes. “My mother died when I was ten. After that my sister Kanna and I were raised by our aunt Kaede. It was when I turned eighteen, and was about to go off to college, that my aunt told me about my dad. I’d never even heard his name until then…” She took a short pause as she remembered the emotions of pain and betrayal she had felt when her aunt had finally told her about her father. She decided to push away from her mind her conflicting feelings towards Kaede, and decided to focus back on her present conversation with Sesshoumaru.
“Kaede told me about my parents splitting up and Naraku coming to this city to start off his magazine.” She then added.
“And?” He could not help but try to get her to move along in her story.
“Do I really have to tell you everything?”
He briefly smiled again at the irresistible annoyed pout present on her lips. “If you want to hear my own tale, then yes.”
“You better be as forthcoming when it is your turn to spill.” She muttered under her breath even if she made herself more comfortable by burrowing her back through the many red pillows always present on her bed, and mirrored Sesshoumaru’s stance, who too was propped against the headboard of her bed.
“When I was two years old, my parents separated. That was the last time I saw my father until I was twenty three years old. I had just graduated from college, and I presented myself at Shikon Magazine looking for a job. I’d always had an interest in written press, and I figured that since he had never provided anything for me, the least he could do was give me a job.” She then sighed as she recalled how disappointed she had been after her first meeting with her father. Being who she was she had not expected a happy family reunion, but one thing she had not been ready for was to be rejected by her father so openly.
“Of course Naraku being Naraku, he promised that if I proved my worth, he would make me editor in chief, then he would give me the magazine… which is understandable since I am his only heir.” ‘Kanna may also be his daughter, but unlike me she never went to college, and never even worked a day in her life. I’m the only person Naraku could give Shikon Magazine to.’
Kagura’s revelations helped Sesshoumaru understand her better. ‘It explains why she was so mad when I was hired. In a certain way I did take her job…’ Sesshoumaru came out of his thoughts to pay attention to Kagura once more.
“I worked my butt of for the past ten years to make Shikon the best magazine it could be… I even turned down offers of employment from many other publications. You’d think that would earn me one word of praise, but no, nothing. The only time that bastard of Naraku ever spoke to me about my work was when that asshole of Kouga dumped me. My dear old dad told me that he hoped I wouldn’t mind that Ayame would be a full time staff member. He had the nerve to remind me that I would have to treat both Ayame and Kouga as professionally as possible!” Only thinking about how frustrated the conversation had made her caused Kagura to shake in anger.
She could not help but blush slightly in embarrassment when she realized how much more she had disclosed in Sesshoumaru than she had originally intended. “I’m sorry! I can’t believe I said all this…”
He suddenly felt her pulling away from him. Her beautiful crimson eyes had lost the light shinning in them, and she had a certain look on her face he hated, the one look she always had before she either kicked him out of her bed, or slipped out of his.
“My father cheated on my mother.” Before he even realized it, the words were out of his mouth. He was glad to see that he had managed to get Kagura’s attention back, and did not try to block the words as they started tumbling out of him. He did not have any close enough friends to whom he could tell about his past, so talking to Kagura was the closest he probably would come to disclose about his family’s history.
“I was fourteen years old when I found out the kind of man my dear old father really was.” She was surprised by the sudden bitter tone present in his voice, but would soon find out the reason why. “My mother had breast cancer, and he was cheating on her.”
“This is horrible!” Kagura gasped. He sent her a sad smile as he started speaking again.
“Being the honorable man that he is.” Sesshoumaru said sarcastically. “My father intended to stay with my mother until her cancer would be in remission. Unfortunately he had not planned for his long time girlfriend to become pregnant.”
“What did he do?” She asked breathlessly, afraid of finding out even if she was burning with curiosity.
“He wanted his second child to bear the name Tashio, so he divorced my mother and married his mistress.” Even after all these years, Sesshoumaru still felt the sting of his father’s betrayal, and it showed in the way he spat his own last name. “The three of them have been living happily ever since.”
“What about your mother?” Kagura could not help but ask. She did not know the other woman, but if she was anything like her son, the young woman was sure she must be a strong prideful woman, and her husband’s betrayal must have hurt her. She did not like the faraway look that was displayed in his golden eyes after her question, and immediately regretted having asked about his mother. ‘He did tell me she had died in a car accident when he was a teenager.’ She recalled one of his few revelations during their weekend away a few weeks before.
“Not even two weeks after their divorce was finalized, my mother drove her car into a tree. Of course it was ruled as a tragic car accident by the authorities, but…”
“You think she killed herself.” Kagura finished for him truly shaken. She had her own family issues and tragedies, so it was easy for her to empathize with Sesshoumaru’s pain.
“Since I was still a minor I had to go live with my father and his new family. However the second I turned eighteen, I was out of that house.”
“I am so sorry.” It was only when she felt one of his warm fingers gently wipe away one of her tears that she realized she had been crying.
“Are we not pitiful? You, trying so hard yet failing to have your father acknowledge your existence, and me not even able to face my own family.” Sesshoumaru chuckled bitterly as he wiped the last of her tears.
At that moment she would have given anything to take away the sad light in his eyes. She wanted her demon back, the man who could infuriate her with his quick wit, and arouse her with a well placed small kiss.
“Don’t say that. I understand why you wouldn’t want your bro… Inuyasha” She quickly corrected herself. “to work at Shikon. I’m the pitiful one. Every time I am offered a position at another magazine, I always swear to myself that I will go work somewhere else, but I always stay at Shikon, waiting for Naraku to finally acknowledge me… that is being really pitiful.”
She was surprised when instead of lessening, the amount of tears falling from her eyes increased.
“Oh damn it! What the hell is happening to me?!” The idea of bursting into tears in front of him was simply mortifying. She did not want him to see her cry, and aimed to get to the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom in order to conceal her sudden emotional breakdown. She got to her knees and crawled over the pile of unread files she was going to look over before she and Sesshoumaru started talking, but before she could escape from the bed, Sesshoumaru looped an arm around her waist. Before she could protest about his treatment of her, she found herself slammed back against his broad warm chest.
“You have no need to hide your tears from me.” He leaned forward to gently whisper in her ear. He could not have said anything else to make her heart melt more.
It was Sesshoumaru’s turn to be surprised when Kagura suddenly turned around in is arms, and raised her face to fuse their lips in a kiss. His shock quickly faded away, and he returned her kiss eagerly. They were both on their knees on her bedcovers littered with application files from interns, but they could care less.
As their kiss became more intense, he allowed her to push him backward. He quickly found himself sitting on the bed with a flushed Kagura straddling him. Not liking to be outdone, he wasted no time divesting her of her nightgown. They may have had sex less than an hour ago, but he wanted her with a burning intensity. He therefore quickly latched his mouth at her breast and gently nibbled her nipple, causing her to moan appreciatively.
While Sesshoumaru kept pleasuring her mound, her hand reached down to slip inside his underwear, and her smile turned into a mischievous smirk when she noticed how ready he was already for her. Kagura gently caressed his length, and it was his turn to groan in pleasure. Since she did not want him to climax before he was inside her, she stopped her ministrations. He let out a disappointed sigh when her hand left him, but did not complain when she reached behind him to divest his body of the shirt he had slipped back on earlier when she had asked him to get dressed, and get out of her bed. He did not even say anything when she thoughtlessly tossed his garment over her bed. Not that he had room to protest since he had given her nightgown the same treatment earlier.
The young woman slid his underwear pass his lean hips, and down his long legs before it too joined his shirt. As she crawled backwards, her action caused most of the application files they had meant to review earlier to tumble down on the carpeted floor of her bedroom. As soon as his naked body was revealed to her appreciative crimson eyes, she wasted no time leaning down to put his length in her mouth.
“Kagura.” He let a strangled moan to escape the back of his throat as she started working him over with her hand and her mouth. She had treated him to such delights before, but never had it been this pleasurable. In a show of appreciation, he lowered his hand to gently caress her dark damp mass of hair. Too soon, in his opinion, Kagura let go of him, and sat up. Before he could express his discontent, the young woman crawled forward on the bed to straddle his hips.
She grinned mischievously at him as she slowly sheathed his hard length inside her womanhood. Sesshoumaru observed her silently as she started making love to him. She rested her hands on his strong shoulders for support, and performed a slight rise and fall motion, pleasuring the both of them.
Eager to speed things up, he suddenly reversed their positions. Before she had a chance to gasp, Kagura soon found herself staring up into Sesshoumaru’s golden eyes as he thrust his body into hers harder than ever. There was a sense of desperation in their lovemaking this time around that she could not explain, but she was not going to complain. The young journalist’s amber eyes stared into hers attentively, causing a thrilling shiver to run down her spine.
Sesshoumaru noticed how intently the young woman was looking up at him. He felt uncomfortable by all the emotions mirrored in her deep crimson eyes, and lowered his face against the soft skin of her neck even as he kept repeatedly bury himself inside her soft body. She let out a small moan of pure pleasure when he nibbled on the skin of her neck; just the way she liked it. Her reaction emboldened him, and he increased his furious pace.
One particularly deep thrust from him caused her breath to catch in her throat. She wrapped her legs around his waist, not willing to let him go anywhere, not that he was intending to stop things.
With each of his hard and fast movements inside her, she felt it, the hard barrier she had built around her heart after Kouga’s betrayal slowly but surely breaking. And then she knew. She just knew that she could fall in love with Sesshoumaru, but was not sure it would be a wise thing.
Her climax came at a complete surprise to her. She and Sesshoumaru had made love enough times to know each other’s body very well, so it was no wonder that he knew exactly how to pleasure her. With this objective clear in his mind, the silver haired man lowered his mouth to bite one of her breast while his nimble fingers trailed down to where they were connected to gently circle her hidden jewel. He was proud to see that in no time Kagura had reached bliss. As soon as she had, he did not hesitate to let go and climax as well.
She lowered her legs, but allowed him to rest over her body, breathing heavily against the damp skin of her neck, and causing little aftershocks to rack her frame. Contrary to her habit, she did not push him away when he pressed little kisses on the side of her neck. Too soon to her taste he separated their bodies, and rolled off her.
The young man panted heavily as he lay back on Kagura’s bed, his golden eyes fixed on the white ceiling. Even though his present position was very similar to how he had been lying earlier in the night while Kagura had been taking a shower, things were quite different for him this time around. Little did Kagura know that Sesshoumaru had felt it too. A tiny crack in his heart, but he decided to ignore it; feelings made things too complicated.
Now that Sesshoumaru was not holding on to her anymore, and that her sweaty body was assaulted by a breeze coming from the bedroom window she always left opened, she felt slightly chilly, so she reached for her bed covers, and happily settled under them. He was shocked when she reached under him to tug at the blanket, then laid it back over him. Usually this was the part where Kagura either asked him to leave, or if they were at his place, excused herself.
‘It’s late, so I’ll let him sleep over for tonight…’ Kagura reached over to her right to flick the side lamp off. She did not bother voicing her explanation as she estimated he should just be glad she was not kicking him out at three in the morning.
“We did not pick an intern.” His reminder caused her to groan in annoyance. She really could not fathom how he could be thinking about work, when she still had pleasurable shivers running down her entire body.
Kagura reached for one of the lone applications still precariously hanging on to her blankets and brandished it in the air before throwing it on her side table.
“Here! We have a winner. Now go to sleep.” She could tell he was going to argue about her method of picking their summer intern, so she reached up and placed a kiss on his unsuspecting lips. She was relieved when he did not speak, but contented himself with encircling her with his arms and pressing her naked body against hers. Their tongues entangled in a sensual kiss, which left her breathless. She wanted to break their embrace, and when he felt her start to pull away, he buried his large hand in her hair to bring her body even closer to his.
“Sessh…” She opened her mouth to protest, and he took advantage of it to deepen their kiss all over again. Before she realized it, she was returning his kiss eagerly, and was even mirroring his earlier posture and had her hands plunged deep in his long soft silky silver strands.
“Enough for now.” She breathlessly pushed him away. “Let’s go to sleep. We have an early meeting with my dear old man tomorrow.” He was disappointed, but did as told. His body felt boneless and pleasured, and on top of that Kagura was allowing him to sleepover, so he did not see why he should argue. She lay down next to him on the bed, and allowed him to encircle her body in his arms. A little smile managed to find its way on her lips unchecked when she positioned her head on his chest, and heard the thundering beat of his heart.
‘It seems like I’m not the only one who was left unaffected.’ The thought made her feel proud of being able to make a man as contained as Sesshoumaru lose control.
That night for the first time since they had come back from their trip, they slept in the same bed, Sesshoumaru’s large body gently holding on to her more delicate form.
To be continued…
A/N: Revelations were made, and it seems their relationship has grown. How will they survive a little love triangle? We shall see next time in Critic Pages.
Converting /tmp/php5Zyic8 to /dev/stdout
A/N: This one will be a long one. Lemon Alert.
Disclaimer: Sadly even though I love writing AU stories on my OTP, they don't belong to me. I tried to buy them, but all I could afford were plushies. Oh well better than nothing lol.
“Talking”
'Thoughts'
‘Life is a funny thing’, Sesshoumaru could not help but muse to himself. He was sprawled in the middle of Kagura’s bed, surrounded by her crimson colored pillows, his sweaty body feeling extremely satisfied but tired by their long love making session.
‘If someone had told me when I first started working at Shikon Magazine that Kagura and I would one day be lovers, I would have never believed it.’ He thought to himself. He was more than aware that by sleeping with his co-worker he was compromising his strong code of morals and ethics, and that if anyone was to find out there would be trouble, but the witch was just too good for him to give up.
“Ugh! What are you still doing here?!” A huffing Kagura stepped inside her bedroom. She was annoyed at seeing that Sesshoumaru was still comfortably settled in her bed.
“It is two in the morning.” He commented dryly. It was late, and they both had to be at work at 8 am the next morning as Naraku had called for another ‘special’ meeting. In the past few weeks their boss had called for several of such meetings as he wanted all his employees to brainstorm on new ways to make his magazine edgier to attract new readers.
“You can only blame yourself. You’re the one who insisted we have dinner and drinks after work…” She started rubbing her hair with the small towel she had looped around her shoulders, hoping her dark tresses would dry quickly so she could tie them back.
“The drinks were your idea… besides you are the one who said you were hungry; I could not let you starve.” He was gracious enough not to point out that she had also been the one who had invited him back to her place for a session in bed; although he had been the one to initiate their second bout of lovemaking.
“Yeah yeah whatever. No matter how late it might be, you have plenty of time to drive back to your place, so I’ll ask again. What are you still doing here?” Satisfied with the state of her hair, she threw the damp towel in the general direction of the armchair facing the window, hoping it would make its mark. The piece of furniture was once again used more as a storing object than a seat, but that did not bother the young woman one bit.
“Have you forgotten that Naraku has asked us to have the name of a summer intern on his desk by tomorrow morning?” He called over to her, a proud grin on his lips.
She glared at him as fiercely as possible while she at the same time tucked the larger white towel covering her body to prevent it from slipping away and bearing her naked form. They had a tacit arrangement. Even if they made love in her bed, he had to be out of it, and on his way home by the time she got out of the shower. But most important of all, they never ever spoke of their work during their ‘personal time’.
“I was going to do it before going to sleep. Now goodbye. You know where the door is, so please feel free to go through it, and sooner rather than later.” She walked over to her closet and retrieved one of her favorite nightgowns. It was not as sexy as the one she had worn during their trip, but was a pink cotton baby doll which still showed a lot of skin. She briefly hesitated before discarding her towel in favor of her sleeping garment.
‘How can dressing in front of him still make me feel so uncomfortable? That is stupid considering all that we’ve done to each other.’ She inwardly groaned. Unlike the first time they had slept together, she did not have the ‘help and support’ of alcohol, and was faced with some inhibitions.
“We were asked to collaborate on this task.” He did not bother expanding on his words, she knew he was right, and that single handedly choosing their interns simply because she did not want to stay in his presence longer than was necessary for them to make love would be unprofessional. And being unprofessional was one thing she never wanted to be called as her career was the one thing she was most proud of.
“Okay, fine. Just put some clothes on then.” She headed towards the living room of her condo where she had left the pile of applications Naraku had dumped on her desk earlier in the day.
‘I don’t know why he insisted Sesshoumaru and I deal with this. He could have had anyone do it…’ She reflected on her father’s unusual request. As co-editors of the magazine she and Sesshoumaru were usually too busy to have to deal with such small tasks. Picking interns was usually something that fell upon Yura, her father’s young and large breasted personal secretary who Kagura suspected to be one of his many girlfriends as well.
‘Not that I give a damn who that man decides to sleep with, I have enough issues dealing with my own sex life...’ As she gathered the different applications and resumes, she could not prevent her mind from briefly straying to her relationship with Sesshoumaru. ‘I don’t know if we can even call it a relationship. All we do is have sex, very good sex, several times a week, but that’s mostly it. We do go out for dinner or drinks sometimes, but we barely talk. I don’t even know anything about him or his family…not that I’ve ever told him anything about me. ’
Kagura decided not to dwell too much on her complicated relationship with her coworker. She knew it would amount to nothing to try to reflect on it as things were fine just the way they were. She gathered her strength, and her arms full with a stack of papers, she walked back to her bedroom.
She decided to ignore the fact that Sesshoumaru had only bothered to slip on his underwear and unbuttoned white dress shirt. He was now reclined against the headboard of her bed, looking as regal as possible. She self-consciously ran a hand through her messy dark curls when she noticed how silky and shiny his hair looked even after their earlier long love making session. She walked over to the bed and dropped the pile of applications between his spread legs.
“There, knock yourself out.” She tried, but failed to suppress the little smirk dancing on her lips as she noticed how surprised Sesshoumaru was at seeing the large piles of applications. She knew how much he hated it when other people were able to read his emotion, one thing that she was strangely becoming quite apt at.
“Our magazine’s pretty popular among college students. A lot of them apply for our internship programs as well.” She pointed out. What she did not say was the reason why they took in so many students. ‘Nothing beats free labor for Naraku…’
“Which is not surprising since we have a tendency of hiring our interns for full time positions…” He agreed, thinking about Ayame, Yura and Touran, a few employees at Shikon Magazine who were all former interns. Kagura repressed the urge to snort at seeing how blind Sesshoumaru was at seeing her father’s true motives.
“We should begin by sorting through all these applications, and then review them again before making the final decision. I know that the old man asked the applicants to add their pictures to their files, but please don’t be like Naraku, and just decide to pick an intern based on the size of her bra cup.” Thinking once again back to the young women who had been hired in the past after being interns, this seemed to have been a deciding factor to Kagura.
“You know very well that I am not this sort of man.” Since he knew she was teasing him, he did not send her one of his famous cold glares. “Let’s get to work.” He wasted no time picking up the first file and reading it.
Even though Kagura had tried throwing him out of her condo only some minutes ago, she did resent the fact that he was suddenly all about business. As much as she hated it, she did like the time they spent together. It was because she was afraid of coming to care for him too much that she always tried to get rid of him. The last time she had put her heart on the line, Kouga had crumbled it to pieces. It had taken her so long to mend her abused organ together that she had promised never to put it in jeopardy.
‘Not that I could fall for that arrogant cold bastard of Sesshoumaru. He may be a great lover, but his personality isn’t that great.’ She thought to herself. She wanted to distract her mind, and therefore decided to do as he said, and start working. She picked up the second file on the pile, and after quickly scanning the contents of the resume and cover letter attached to the application threw it away.
Sesshoumaru hated untidy environments, so seeing Kagura throwing the file over her bed annoyed him. The first time he had visited her condo, he had been horrified at seeing how messy it was. Clothes had been thrown around the living room, dirty dishes were piled inside her kitchen sink, and piles of former editions of their magazine adorned almost every surface of the place, even her bedroom side tables. Although he had to admit that ever since he had become a frequent visitor at her home, she had made an effort to keep things a little bit more organized, which was something he actually appreciated, not that he had let her know about his approval.
“What was wrong with this application? You barely looked at it.” He pointed out as Kagura picked up the next one on the pile.
“Unlike you I don’t intend to spend the whole night on this, so excuse me for being time efficient.” The young woman tossed a second file off her bed.
“Being time efficient does not entail overlooking…” He carefully put away the rejected application to the ‘discarded pile’ he had just created to his left.
“Whatever. You have your ways, and I have mine…” She started, but interrupted herself, her crimson eyes wide in surprise. The reason for her abrupt pause was that the picture of the applicant staring back at her was a perfect version of a younger Sesshoumaru.
Because of the long periods of time they had spent together, he was quite attuned to Kagura and her volatile moods. He therefore quickly realized something was up with her.
“What is it?”
She chuckled when she handed him the opened file, and the picture it contained. “That Inuyasha guy looks just like you!” She had expected him to laugh as well or at least smile as she knew he was more than able to. She had seen him smile on a couple occasions, but of course never when they were at work; she was sure he did not want to break away from his ice king persona.
To Kagura’s surprise, Sesshoumaru did not smile. A dark scowl came over his face, and he took the application file and tore it to pieces.
“What the hell are you doing?!” She exclaimed. She had never seen him lose his composure in such a way before, and was completely shocked.
“He will never work at the same place as this Sesshoumaru!” She had not heard him refer to himself at the third person in a long time either, so this was also a shocker to her.
“Do you know that guy?” She searched his beautiful amber eyes for some kind of answer.
“He is… my younger half brother.” He grudgingly muttered the words, but she easily made them out. He was uncomfortable at seeing how her crimson eyes bulged in shock.
“What?! How? I mean the kid’s like twenty, twenty three at the most and you’re…” She trailed off realizing she had no idea how old her lover was. This was not surprising considering that the little time they spent alone together mostly took place under the covers of a bed. She however knew that Sesshoumaru had to be older than her 33 years, or at least she hoped so; it wasn’t easy to tell how old he was because of his unusually silver hair, pale complexion and lean body. The last thing she wanted was to be a cougar.
“I am 35.” He did his best to ignore her sudden sigh of relief, but made a mental note to later on ask her about it. “We may share a sire, but Inuyasha was born from my father’s second wife.” He hated talking about his father’s second family, but if he was going to vent about his long bottled in anger to someone, Kagura was the best suited for that.
“Wow I don’t know why, but I always figured you were an only child. Must be because you have a tendency of being an arrogant bastard. You did earn the nickname of ‘demon’ from me after all.” She frowned when he did not respond to her taunt as he usually would have, with a glare. She decided to try another approach. “So why exactly is it that you don’t want your brother…”
“Half brother.” He interjected.
“Your half brother,,.” She amended. “to work with us? Did he do something to you?”
“I have not seen him ever since he was three years old. I left my father’s house as soon as I turned 18.”
“Why?” She asked burning with curiosity. As much as she had told herself over and over again not to get too close to Sesshoumaru, she wanted to find out more about what was hidden behind his cold façade.
“You are being unusually curious.”
“And you are being unusually annoying. Why won’t you just answer my questions?” She smiled at him coyly.
“I will… if your answer some of mine. Why don’t you get along with your father?” He fired back. It was not the first time he had questioned her about her unusual relationship with Naraku, but Kagura had always refused to give him a clear answer. For the sake of their relationship he had never insisted. An irritated Kagura was not something he wanted to have to deal with; especially when he was trying to get her naked and in bed with him.
It was now her time to scowl. One topic that was definitely off limit with her was her relationship with their boss Naraku.
‘As much as I want to find out about Sesshoumaru and his brother, the last thing I want is to tell him about Naraku… then again would it be too bad? He has proven himself to be more than able to keep our little affair a secret.’
“Fine I’ll tell you, but I swear that if you let anyone know, I will destroy you.” Her remark finally earned her a little smile from him.
“As I told you in the plane.” She tilted her head to the side briefly. To this day she was still embarrassed by how she had easily given into her fear of airplanes. “My mother died when I was ten. After that my sister Kanna and I were raised by our aunt Kaede. It was when I turned eighteen, and was about to go off to college, that my aunt told me about my dad. I’d never even heard his name until then…” She took a short pause as she remembered the emotions of pain and betrayal she had felt when her aunt had finally told her about her father. She decided to push away from her mind her conflicting feelings towards Kaede, and decided to focus back on her present conversation with Sesshoumaru.
“Kaede told me about my parents splitting up and Naraku coming to this city to start off his magazine.” She then added.
“And?” He could not help but try to get her to move along in her story.
“Do I really have to tell you everything?”
He briefly smiled again at the irresistible annoyed pout present on her lips. “If you want to hear my own tale, then yes.”
“You better be as forthcoming when it is your turn to spill.” She muttered under her breath even if she made herself more comfortable by burrowing her back through the many red pillows always present on her bed, and mirrored Sesshoumaru’s stance, who too was propped against the headboard of her bed.
“When I was two years old, my parents separated. That was the last time I saw my father until I was twenty three years old. I had just graduated from college, and I presented myself at Shikon Magazine looking for a job. I’d always had an interest in written press, and I figured that since he had never provided anything for me, the least he could do was give me a job.” She then sighed as she recalled how disappointed she had been after her first meeting with her father. Being who she was she had not expected a happy family reunion, but one thing she had not been ready for was to be rejected by her father so openly.
“Of course Naraku being Naraku, he promised that if I proved my worth, he would make me editor in chief, then he would give me the magazine… which is understandable since I am his only heir.” ‘Kanna may also be his daughter, but unlike me she never went to college, and never even worked a day in her life. I’m the only person Naraku could give Shikon Magazine to.’
Kagura’s revelations helped Sesshoumaru understand her better. ‘It explains why she was so mad when I was hired. In a certain way I did take her job…’ Sesshoumaru came out of his thoughts to pay attention to Kagura once more.
“I worked my butt of for the past ten years to make Shikon the best magazine it could be… I even turned down offers of employment from many other publications. You’d think that would earn me one word of praise, but no, nothing. The only time that bastard of Naraku ever spoke to me about my work was when that asshole of Kouga dumped me. My dear old dad told me that he hoped I wouldn’t mind that Ayame would be a full time staff member. He had the nerve to remind me that I would have to treat both Ayame and Kouga as professionally as possible!” Only thinking about how frustrated the conversation had made her caused Kagura to shake in anger.
She could not help but blush slightly in embarrassment when she realized how much more she had disclosed in Sesshoumaru than she had originally intended. “I’m sorry! I can’t believe I said all this…”
He suddenly felt her pulling away from him. Her beautiful crimson eyes had lost the light shinning in them, and she had a certain look on her face he hated, the one look she always had before she either kicked him out of her bed, or slipped out of his.
“My father cheated on my mother.” Before he even realized it, the words were out of his mouth. He was glad to see that he had managed to get Kagura’s attention back, and did not try to block the words as they started tumbling out of him. He did not have any close enough friends to whom he could tell about his past, so talking to Kagura was the closest he probably would come to disclose about his family’s history.
“I was fourteen years old when I found out the kind of man my dear old father really was.” She was surprised by the sudden bitter tone present in his voice, but would soon find out the reason why. “My mother had breast cancer, and he was cheating on her.”
“This is horrible!” Kagura gasped. He sent her a sad smile as he started speaking again.
“Being the honorable man that he is.” Sesshoumaru said sarcastically. “My father intended to stay with my mother until her cancer would be in remission. Unfortunately he had not planned for his long time girlfriend to become pregnant.”
“What did he do?” She asked breathlessly, afraid of finding out even if she was burning with curiosity.
“He wanted his second child to bear the name Tashio, so he divorced my mother and married his mistress.” Even after all these years, Sesshoumaru still felt the sting of his father’s betrayal, and it showed in the way he spat his own last name. “The three of them have been living happily ever since.”
“What about your mother?” Kagura could not help but ask. She did not know the other woman, but if she was anything like her son, the young woman was sure she must be a strong prideful woman, and her husband’s betrayal must have hurt her. She did not like the faraway look that was displayed in his golden eyes after her question, and immediately regretted having asked about his mother. ‘He did tell me she had died in a car accident when he was a teenager.’ She recalled one of his few revelations during their weekend away a few weeks before.
“Not even two weeks after their divorce was finalized, my mother drove her car into a tree. Of course it was ruled as a tragic car accident by the authorities, but…”
“You think she killed herself.” Kagura finished for him truly shaken. She had her own family issues and tragedies, so it was easy for her to empathize with Sesshoumaru’s pain.
“Since I was still a minor I had to go live with my father and his new family. However the second I turned eighteen, I was out of that house.”
“I am so sorry.” It was only when she felt one of his warm fingers gently wipe away one of her tears that she realized she had been crying.
“Are we not pitiful? You, trying so hard yet failing to have your father acknowledge your existence, and me not even able to face my own family.” Sesshoumaru chuckled bitterly as he wiped the last of her tears.
At that moment she would have given anything to take away the sad light in his eyes. She wanted her demon back, the man who could infuriate her with his quick wit, and arouse her with a well placed small kiss.
“Don’t say that. I understand why you wouldn’t want your bro… Inuyasha” She quickly corrected herself. “to work at Shikon. I’m the pitiful one. Every time I am offered a position at another magazine, I always swear to myself that I will go work somewhere else, but I always stay at Shikon, waiting for Naraku to finally acknowledge me… that is being really pitiful.”
She was surprised when instead of lessening, the amount of tears falling from her eyes increased.
“Oh damn it! What the hell is happening to me?!” The idea of bursting into tears in front of him was simply mortifying. She did not want him to see her cry, and aimed to get to the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom in order to conceal her sudden emotional breakdown. She got to her knees and crawled over the pile of unread files she was going to look over before she and Sesshoumaru started talking, but before she could escape from the bed, Sesshoumaru looped an arm around her waist. Before she could protest about his treatment of her, she found herself slammed back against his broad warm chest.
“You have no need to hide your tears from me.” He leaned forward to gently whisper in her ear. He could not have said anything else to make her heart melt more.
It was Sesshoumaru’s turn to be surprised when Kagura suddenly turned around in is arms, and raised her face to fuse their lips in a kiss. His shock quickly faded away, and he returned her kiss eagerly. They were both on their knees on her bedcovers littered with application files from interns, but they could care less.
As their kiss became more intense, he allowed her to push him backward. He quickly found himself sitting on the bed with a flushed Kagura straddling him. Not liking to be outdone, he wasted no time divesting her of her nightgown. They may have had sex less than an hour ago, but he wanted her with a burning intensity. He therefore quickly latched his mouth at her breast and gently nibbled her nipple, causing her to moan appreciatively.
While Sesshoumaru kept pleasuring her mound, her hand reached down to slip inside his underwear, and her smile turned into a mischievous smirk when she noticed how ready he was already for her. Kagura gently caressed his length, and it was his turn to groan in pleasure. Since she did not want him to climax before he was inside her, she stopped her ministrations. He let out a disappointed sigh when her hand left him, but did not complain when she reached behind him to divest his body of the shirt he had slipped back on earlier when she had asked him to get dressed, and get out of her bed. He did not even say anything when she thoughtlessly tossed his garment over her bed. Not that he had room to protest since he had given her nightgown the same treatment earlier.
The young woman slid his underwear pass his lean hips, and down his long legs before it too joined his shirt. As she crawled backwards, her action caused most of the application files they had meant to review earlier to tumble down on the carpeted floor of her bedroom. As soon as his naked body was revealed to her appreciative crimson eyes, she wasted no time leaning down to put his length in her mouth.
“Kagura.” He let a strangled moan to escape the back of his throat as she started working him over with her hand and her mouth. She had treated him to such delights before, but never had it been this pleasurable. In a show of appreciation, he lowered his hand to gently caress her dark damp mass of hair. Too soon, in his opinion, Kagura let go of him, and sat up. Before he could express his discontent, the young woman crawled forward on the bed to straddle his hips.
She grinned mischievously at him as she slowly sheathed his hard length inside her womanhood. Sesshoumaru observed her silently as she started making love to him. She rested her hands on his strong shoulders for support, and performed a slight rise and fall motion, pleasuring the both of them.
Eager to speed things up, he suddenly reversed their positions. Before she had a chance to gasp, Kagura soon found herself staring up into Sesshoumaru’s golden eyes as he thrust his body into hers harder than ever. There was a sense of desperation in their lovemaking this time around that she could not explain, but she was not going to complain. The young journalist’s amber eyes stared into hers attentively, causing a thrilling shiver to run down her spine.
Sesshoumaru noticed how intently the young woman was looking up at him. He felt uncomfortable by all the emotions mirrored in her deep crimson eyes, and lowered his face against the soft skin of her neck even as he kept repeatedly bury himself inside her soft body. She let out a small moan of pure pleasure when he nibbled on the skin of her neck; just the way she liked it. Her reaction emboldened him, and he increased his furious pace.
One particularly deep thrust from him caused her breath to catch in her throat. She wrapped her legs around his waist, not willing to let him go anywhere, not that he was intending to stop things.
With each of his hard and fast movements inside her, she felt it, the hard barrier she had built around her heart after Kouga’s betrayal slowly but surely breaking. And then she knew. She just knew that she could fall in love with Sesshoumaru, but was not sure it would be a wise thing.
Her climax came at a complete surprise to her. She and Sesshoumaru had made love enough times to know each other’s body very well, so it was no wonder that he knew exactly how to pleasure her. With this objective clear in his mind, the silver haired man lowered his mouth to bite one of her breast while his nimble fingers trailed down to where they were connected to gently circle her hidden jewel. He was proud to see that in no time Kagura had reached bliss. As soon as she had, he did not hesitate to let go and climax as well.
She lowered her legs, but allowed him to rest over her body, breathing heavily against the damp skin of her neck, and causing little aftershocks to rack her frame. Contrary to her habit, she did not push him away when he pressed little kisses on the side of her neck. Too soon to her taste he separated their bodies, and rolled off her.
The young man panted heavily as he lay back on Kagura’s bed, his golden eyes fixed on the white ceiling. Even though his present position was very similar to how he had been lying earlier in the night while Kagura had been taking a shower, things were quite different for him this time around. Little did Kagura know that Sesshoumaru had felt it too. A tiny crack in his heart, but he decided to ignore it; feelings made things too complicated.
Now that Sesshoumaru was not holding on to her anymore, and that her sweaty body was assaulted by a breeze coming from the bedroom window she always left opened, she felt slightly chilly, so she reached for her bed covers, and happily settled under them. He was shocked when she reached under him to tug at the blanket, then laid it back over him. Usually this was the part where Kagura either asked him to leave, or if they were at his place, excused herself.
‘It’s late, so I’ll let him sleep over for tonight…’ Kagura reached over to her right to flick the side lamp off. She did not bother voicing her explanation as she estimated he should just be glad she was not kicking him out at three in the morning.
“We did not pick an intern.” His reminder caused her to groan in annoyance. She really could not fathom how he could be thinking about work, when she still had pleasurable shivers running down her entire body.
Kagura reached for one of the lone applications still precariously hanging on to her blankets and brandished it in the air before throwing it on her side table.
“Here! We have a winner. Now go to sleep.” She could tell he was going to argue about her method of picking their summer intern, so she reached up and placed a kiss on his unsuspecting lips. She was relieved when he did not speak, but contented himself with encircling her with his arms and pressing her naked body against hers. Their tongues entangled in a sensual kiss, which left her breathless. She wanted to break their embrace, and when he felt her start to pull away, he buried his large hand in her hair to bring her body even closer to his.
“Sessh…” She opened her mouth to protest, and he took advantage of it to deepen their kiss all over again. Before she realized it, she was returning his kiss eagerly, and was even mirroring his earlier posture and had her hands plunged deep in his long soft silky silver strands.
“Enough for now.” She breathlessly pushed him away. “Let’s go to sleep. We have an early meeting with my dear old man tomorrow.” He was disappointed, but did as told. His body felt boneless and pleasured, and on top of that Kagura was allowing him to sleepover, so he did not see why he should argue. She lay down next to him on the bed, and allowed him to encircle her body in his arms. A little smile managed to find its way on her lips unchecked when she positioned her head on his chest, and heard the thundering beat of his heart.
‘It seems like I’m not the only one who was left unaffected.’ The thought made her feel proud of being able to make a man as contained as Sesshoumaru lose control.
That night for the first time since they had come back from their trip, they slept in the same bed, Sesshoumaru’s large body gently holding on to her more delicate form.
To be continued…
A/N: Revelations were made, and it seems their relationship has grown. How will they survive a little love triangle? We shall see next time in Critic Pages.
Converting /tmp/php5Zyic8 to /dev/stdout