InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Lovers ❯ Scoop! ( Chapter 7 )
[ 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: 12.03.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.7K | Visits: 370 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.03.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.7K | Visits: 370 | Status: Work In Progress
Part 7: Scoop!
A/N: Hello dear readers! I know I have been neglecting Secret Lovers, but now that I’m all done with Special Delivery, I will give this story my whole focus. Just to redeem myself, I hereby issue a fluff & WAFF alert! This will also be a long chapter.
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'
Kagura felt like crap. For the first time ever since she had started working at Shikon Magazine, she had been forced to make use of her sick days. It was late at night, and she was laying on her bed, bundled in her favorite red comforter, a hot cup of tea and diverse cold medication packets were placed on her nightstand for easy access.
‘Ugh when is this damn sickness going to go away?’ She wondered angrily as her body was racked by a heavy fit of coughing. ‘I need to get back to work soon. The deadline to send the draft of next month’s issue to the printers is getting near; I can’t let Sesshoumaru deal with everything alone.’ Another reason why the young woman was eager to get back to work was the false assumptions that were sure to be running through the minds of her co-workers. Kagura was convinced that the fact that she had taken ill not long after Ayame had announced her pregnancy to the Shikon employees would make everyone believe that she was faking being sick in order not to have to face the blissfully happy expecting parents. ‘I never get sick. Why did my body have to betray me now?!’
She threw her hand in the direction of the empty side of her bed to reach for a tissue. She blew her nose noisily, and tossed the soiled material off her bed. She knew she should take the time to properly dispose of the tissues she had used, but could not muster the force to. Her whole body ached, her head was pounding, her throat felt raw, and her nose kept running. She closed her crimson eyes, and tried to force herself to fall asleep. She had been unable to get any sleep in the past two days due to her illness, and was truly exhausted. Just when she felt her headache ease, and her mind start to shut down, her doorbell rung loudly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She croaked as she managed to drag herself up, and over to her front door. She had a suspicion of who would dare intrude this late at night, and therefore threw the door opened without hesitation.
“Sesshoumaru.”
“I brought you some soup for a late dinner.” The young man nodded his greeting as he held up a plastic bag with a container in it.
“You didn’t have to.” She was touched by his thoughtfulness, and despite her aches and pain, managed to smile at him. She slowly opened her front door wider to allow him inside.
“I did have to bring you the draft for the next issue for review before it’s printed.” The young man lied through his teeth. He had struggled for the past few days to find an excuse to come look in on his younger coworker. He would never dare voice his concern aloud to Kagura as he himself was uncomfortable at seeing his own feelings.
After placing the soup on Kagura’s dining table, he opened his briefcase, taking out a large wad of papers. Since the two of them shared the position of editor in chief, it was required of both he and Kagura to review the final draft before it was submitted to the printers. However Sesshoumaru had an ulterior motive he was not about to share with his lover: he wanted to see if she was really doing fine. Ever since she had fallen ill, they had talked on the phone every day, and every time she had assured him that she was doing well. Since he did not believe her, he decided to come in and look in on her himself. He would have come sooner, but had been swamped with work at the magazine because of her absence.
“You managed to get all the articles already?!” She croaked in surprise. She took the file he had handed in to her, and started looking through it. ‘He probably intimidated everyone into submitting their work before the deadline. Hum I guess the demon is quite effective.’ Kagura coughed slightly before asking “Did Touran turn in her article on the benefits of Argan oil on damaged hair?” The young blue haired woman had a tendency to give her work late, and Kagura doubted that after the fiasco of their dinner ‘date’ Sesshoumaru would dare browbeat Touran into turning her work in sooner. After all, the male journalist had done his best as of late to stay out of Touran’s range.
“Indeed she has. It is under the beauty section on page 88.” Sesshoumaru informed Kagura. He frowned at seeing that her voice sounded hoarser than on the phone the previous day. ‘She has coughed on several occasions, and is looking quite flushed. Could she be feverish?’
“Great job. I’ll look through it, and give you my feedback as soon as I...” She was interrupted by a sharp pain resonating in her throat. She cleared her throat, and made a mental note to take some additional syrup to soothe her pain as soon as Sesshoumaru left.
“There is no need to hurry; we still have time.” He pointed out, worried for her. As much as he tried, he could not detach his golden eyes from the deep dark circles under her beautiful crimson eyes.
She was about to remind him of the deadlines they had to respect when she was affected by a coughing spell. Before she had a chance to react, Sesshoumaru had walked towards her to press a hand on the warm skin of her forehead under her thick black bangs.
“You are burning up. To bed with you!” He did not wait for her to protest, and dragged her towards her bedroom. He had spent enough time at her condo to know where everything was located. In under five minutes he therefore had the young woman lying under the covers of her bed while he made her a cold compress.
Sesshoumaru brought the ice filled towel back to the room of the sulking woman. ‘She may be glaring at me, but Kagura is being unusually compliant today.’ He marveled at her unusual behavior. The Kagura he was used to would not have done as he had asked this readily. ‘It seems she is lacking energy. She otherwise would be screaming my ears off. Her discomfort is probably greater than she let on then.’ As the young man walked towards Kagura’s bed, he spied something that annoyed him greatly. He did refrain from commenting on it as he knew that in her present state his lover would not be receptive to his criticism. With a deep frown on his brows and jaws clenched tightly, he pushed away with the tip of his left shoe the mountain of soiled tissues littering her carpet.
‘Her distaste of performing chores can be excused only today because of her illness.’ He thought as he then sat on the unoccupied side of Kagura’s bed, and gently ran the cold towel all over her fever flushed face to cool her down before placing it on her forehead.
“I hate to admit it, but this feels heavenly.” She sighed in relief. “I took my cold meds and antibiotics earlier, but it doesn’t seem to affect me that much.”
“Antibiotics?” He echoed in surprise. ‘I thought she had a common cold… or the flu at the worse.’
“Yeah the doctor prescribed it because I have strep throat on top of my cold. Two for the price of one. Yep I am an overachiever.” She joked hoping to lighten the mood, then as something occurred to her, she quickly added. “You probably shouldn’t be next to me; I’m very contagious.”
Sesshoumaru moved the cold towel around her face and neck some more, even going as far as unbuttoning a bit of her pajama top to cool down the top of her breasts before answering in a stern tone. “This Sesshoumaru does not get sick.”
“I warned you. Don’t expect me to bring you soup when you get sick too.” She grinned before closing her eyes to allow him to run the compress over her eyelids. The coolness of the towel was helping her relax and was easing her headache.
Sesshoumaru grunted since he did not want to roll his eyes in annoyance. “You should get some sleep, it will help you get better.” He set the cool towel aside, to her masked disappointment, and gently pushed Kagura down towards her bed.
“How do you know so well about taking care of sick people? I thought you never got sick.” She decided to follow his advice, and buried herself deeper inside her crimson pillows in the hopes of falling asleep quickly. Her lover hitched the covers higher on her body and when he picked up the towel once more to cool down her face, she sighed in pure pleasure.
“I left my father’s house at a young age, and as a young man with limited funds, for many years I had to live with roommates.” Only thinking about that time of his life caused a wave of annoyance to grow inside him. He was a man, who loved privacy, and having to share his living space had not been an easy thing; especially, when his roommates did not share his very high standards of cleanliness. “One of the young men I shared an apartment with was a small man by the name of Jaken who had the infuriating tendency of falling sick every winter. His mother came to nurse him back to health several times, and I observed.”
“You are very good at that…” She let out a loud yawn, and quickly regretted it as it caused her throat to burn. She had struggled to fall asleep for most of the day, but after spending a few relaxing minutes with Sesshoumaru, she suddenly felt sleepy.
The young man noticed her drowsiness, and quickly decided to spend the night at her place. ‘The little witch is obviously unable to take care of herself. I have no choice but to help. Not to mention that it is very late at night.’ When he had come to Kagura’s apartment he had somewhat anticipated for her to be asleep. He had come straight from the office after putting the finishing touches to the latest edition of the magazine as he planned to use the draft as an excuse to talk to Kagura.
He discarded the wet towel for good by placing it on her bedside table, and headed for the young woman’s closet where he now kept one of his favorite pair of pajamas, and a few changes of clothes. After he had convinced Naraku to give Kagura back her restaurant critic section, she and her lover had grown closer. Even though they had yet to talk of their relationship or place a distinct label on it, the two of them had consented to provide the other one with some closet space for merely practical reasons. Kagura had at first been opposed to Sesshoumaru’s suggestion, but a few sweet kisses and his logical mind were enough to convince her. When he had pointed out that keeping clothes and toiletries at the other’s house would keep them from having to go back and forth between their homes in the mornings, and would therefore limit the chances of people finding out about them, she had agreed to let him use one of her drawers. The fact that she had already suffered because of their complicated arrangement, had also influenced her decision. Once instead of being late to a very early morning meeting, Kagura had come in to work wearing the same dress she had had on the previous day. She after spending the night at Sesshoumaru’s place had woken up late, and had not had the time to go back home to get changed. ‘And that damn bitch of Touran just had to point out to everyone that I apparently had not spent the night at my apartment.’ Being her usual self, Kagura had simply ignored the other woman, and had made use of her lunch break to swing by her place to change in fresh clothes.
The young woman did her best to push thoughts about work away from her mind, and focused on the man getting undressed in front of her.
“You really can’t be expecting us to have sex right now.” Kagura groaned as she spied her lover changing into his sleeping clothes. As if hoping to dissuade him of such a notion, she pointed towards her reddened runny nose.
Sesshoumaru paused in the middle of buttoning his top to send her a vicious glare. “What kind of man do you take me for?! This Sesshoumaru intends to look after you, not bed you.”
She had the grace to slightly blush in embarrassment. “I do appreciate you taking care of me, but you don’t need to spend the night.” Even as she spoke the words, she could not help but sense a warm feeling course through her. The last time she had had someone care for her was in her childhood. Her aunt Kaede, who had been her only parent growing up had always been the only one in front of who Kagura dared look weak; that was until she had met Sesshoumaru. When alone with him she sometimes allowed herself to discard her tough façade. Being able to be the real her was a true relief. Before she had started a ‘relationship’ with Sesshoumaru, she had not realized how exhausting keeping a constant armor was. It was only with him that she allowed herself to appear vulnerable as she had learned to trust him. In fact to her own surprise the role of the young man was growing in her life. He indeed was proving to be a friend, a lover and a confidant all rolled into one, which to her own shock Kagura was enjoying quite a bit.
“You know you can’t sleep here; you’ll get sick.” She told him reluctantly. The thought of having Sesshoumaru as a personal nurse was a very appealing one, but she would hate for him to get contaminated by her.
He decided to ignore her latest comment, and addressed her previous words. “It is in my best interest to see you come back at Shikon as quickly as possible.” Once he saw the question in her gaze, he decided to explain himself. “Having to deal with the idiocy of our fellow employees is even beyond this Sesshoumaru’s strength. I would also rather have you be the one dealing with your father. You know my opinion of Naraku…” He walked back to the bed, and settled in next to her. He had correctly guessed that Kagura would be more amendable to him spending the night if he made up an excuse related to work.
‘I cannot come outright and tell her I am staying to take care of her because I am worried about her.’ He thought to himself as he rearranged the covers once again to make sure she was well covered.
‘He feels so good.’ The young woman thought as a sigh of pleasure left her mouth. Despite the fact that she still felt a bit feverish, the idea of pushing Sesshoumaru’s hot body away from her did not even cross her mind. ‘It’s the first time we share a bed without actually having sex. It just feels so good to be in his arms… I know I shouldn’t let us get this close, that I should push him away, and that we should stick to a purely sexual relationship… but I can’t help myself from enjoying his presence.’ She burrowed herself closer against his side, pressing their bodies as close as possible, and allowed a little chuckle to escape her throat. Laughing caused her pain, but she could not help herself. “Ah so the almighty Sesshoumaru finally admits that he needs my help?!”
He turned to her side to look at the younger woman lying next to him. Before he could reflect on his action, he smoothed a tender hand over her head. “I have never denied such an obvious thing, you do have your uses.” His cryptic words caused her to furrow her brows. The young female journalist opened her mouth to ask what exactly he meant by that, but he spoke before she had a chance to.
“Now enough, go to sleep.” He ordered, not giving her the opportunity to speak. He reached over her to turn off her bedside table. Once he lied back on the bed, and slipped under the covers, he looped his arm around warm body.
She smiled, and rested her head on his chest. “Fine fine. Goodnight.” Not long after the words left Kagura’s mouth, she fell deeply asleep. She had wanted to stay awake longer in order to savor the feel of his body against her, but she had been too sleep deprived as of late to resist the urge to fall into slumber. She had fallen asleep so quickly that no one would have ever believed that less than a half hour before she had been tossing and turning in bed, unable to find sleep.
Sesshoumaru waited until her breathing had evened out, then carefully stepped away from her embrace, and outside of the bed. He knew the layout of her bedroom well enough to get by without the lights on. He padded over to the living room, and got to work. Before allowing himself to sleep in the arms of his lover, he wanted to get Kagura’s apartment cleaned up. He had been called a clean freak by all of his roommates, and Kagura had often remarked with a frown on how unbelievably tidy his condo always was. He simply could not stand messy environments; especially, places where he felt comfortable. And he did feel comfortable, even at home, in Kagura’s apartment. He had therefore for a long time wanted to clean the young woman place of living, but she had always refused. Since she was not in any state to object, he decided to seize this occasion.
‘How could the witch turn her apartment into such a mess this quickly?!’ He wondered as he headed towards the sink filled with dirty dishes. He mentally made a check list. First he would take care of the dishes, then take the thrash out and straighten the living room before tackling Kagura’s bedroom where he would take care of the discarded clothes and used tissues he had noticed were littering the carpet.
‘The night will be long, but this Sesshoumaru’s work will be worth it.’ He thought as he put on Kagura’s purple rubber gloves. Even as he started washing the dishes, he could not help but think that the best reward for his efforts would not be being able to be in a clean environment, which was something he had always liked, but rather the fact that after his hard work, he would be able to slip back into bed next to Kagura.
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“Who’s your favorite aunt? Yes, it’s me.” Kagura cooed gently at her toddler nephew who she was bouncing on her knees. The young child responded by giggling happily.
“You are his only aunt.” Kanna pointed out. The two sisters, and Kanna’s two young sons were seated in the kitchen of the younger Jiyuu sister where they had just had lunch.
“You just have to ruin everything. You’re just jealous of how much Akago loves his auntie.” The older woman pressed a sloppy kiss to the pale round cheek of the infant in her arms. “Although he’s getting a little too heavy for me to carry him around.” She put back the pale haired toddler on the tiled kitchen floor, and Akago wasted no time scampering towards his big brother.
“Soon there’ll be a smaller baby for you to play with aunt Kagu!” Hakudoushi, Kanna’s oldest son exclaimed as he stuffed in his mouth the last bite of his sandwich his mother had made earlier for him.
“Haku! It was supposed to be a surprise.” His mother reminded him. The six year old boy simply shrugged, and finished off his glass of apple juice. He jumped off his seat at the dining table to play with Akago who had been tugging at his pants ever since their aunt had released him.
Kagura stared down at her younger sister’s flat stomach and smiled before enveloping the shorter woman in a tight hug. “Congratulations Kanna. I’m so happy for you. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” The young journalist was slightly vexed about her younger sister’s silence. While she had been pregnant with Hakudoushi, and then Akago, Kagura had been the first to find out about the upcoming births, even before Kanna’s husband.
Kanna produced a small smile. Outward displays of affection were very rare with the young woman, which caused most people to call her cold.
‘She strangely reminds me of Sesshoumaru in that regard.’ Kagura thought to herself. She was surprised to see that her mind had strayed to her lover. ‘Well I have been seeing more of him lately, so this should explain it.’ Ever since Sesshoumaru had nursed her a little over three weeks ago, the two of them had been spending more time together; not that she was minding much. The young woman had even been spending an increasing number of nights at her lover’s apartment, which was shocking because she had always preferred the comfort of her own bed. Sesshoumaru was not only the only man she had allowed to sleep over at her place, and at whose house she had spent a full night, but more importantly the only one she had given a spot to in her closet. The young woman had always been careful not to let any man come too close to her, but Sesshoumaru was quickly destroying all her carefully built barriers, and even more surprising, she was not doing anything to stop him.
“I wasn’t sure how you would take the news.” Kanna finally admitted. Kagura was surprised by her younger sister’s words. Knowing that she would have to explain herself to her sibling, Kanna added albeit reluctantly. “Haku, now that you’re done eating, can you take your brother and go play in the living room?” The oldest of her son rolled his lavender eyes in annoyance, but did as his mother asked him.
Once her two sons had left the kitchen, Kanna took a deep breath before explaining herself. She could tell the conversation was going to be unpleasant, and was not really looking forward to talking with Kagura… After all her sister could be scary sometimes.
“I know how much you love children, and want to have some of your own.” The youngest Jiyuu sister squeaked. “I remember when you were with Kouga, the two of you almost made a baby together. If he had not betrayed you, you would be a mother already.”
‘True, but Ayame is the one who’s pregnant.’ Kagura felt her heart throb in pain, but for her sister’s sake ignored the hurt. “That may be, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for my little sister. Besides it might happen to me soon enough too…”
“Are you seeing someone?” Kanna asked eagerly, her dark eyes suddenly shinning. She had waited for so long for her big sister to stop with her obsession with their father’s magazine, and focus on her love life.
An image of Sesshoumaru flashed though Kagura’s mind, but she chose to ignore it. Their relationship was too complicated for her to try to explain it to her sister. “Not exactly…”
“Oh okay…” Kanna sighed with disappointment. “If you’re interested… Yukiyo has a very nice co-worker, who I think you would get along with well.” She perked up.
Kagura rolled her eyes in annoyance. It was not uncommon for her sister to try to set her up with one of her husband’s co-workers. ‘As if I would ever date a financial analyst…’
“I’m not interested in seeing anyone right now, but when I will be, I’ll let you know. Besides you know I’m just getting over an illness.”
“You told me you were completely recovered…” Her sister said with a frown.
“Well I did have to go on antibiotics… but I’m all better now.” Kagura smiled at her sister.
“You didn’t tell me you had to be put on antibiotics…” Kanna said thoughtfully. Ever since they had been little girls, Kagura had always tried to protect her from everything, and even now had a hard time confessing to her younger sibling when she was in trouble.” ‘However she is always willing to try to solve my problems…’
“Don’t worry about me, I told you I’m feeling great. Otherwise I wouldn’t have stopped by. You know I’d never put your boys in jeopardy; the last thing I’d want would be to contaminate them.”
“Of course not. I know you love Haku and Akago very much.” Kanna quickly interjected, the last thing she wanted was to make her sister feel bad. She decided to quickly change the topic of conversation. “Well it’s a good thing you’re not seeing anyone. In my book club we are reading a novel about a woman who got pregnant after a one night stand. She was using birth control pills, but they failed because of the antibiotics she had taken. Of course the father found out, and the two of them enter a marriage of convenience. Thankfully they end up falling in love.”
“What are you talking about?” Kagura asked as casually as possible as an uneasy feeling grew inside her.
“Well you know that some antibiotics negate the effects of birth control pills.” When Kanna noticed her sister sending her a dubious look, she quickly added on a defensive tone, “If you don’t believe me, check online.”
“It’s true that the internet is such a reliable source to get information…” Kagura snorted sarcastically.
Kanna bristled at her sister’s tone. “Well I’m sorry if not all of us are journalists who rely on original sources.”
Kagura reached over to gently mess up her much shorter sister’s white bangs as she used to when they were children before answering. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. So anyways what’s the title of the book you guys are reading? It sounds really interesting.” The young woman hoped that Kanna would not be able to notice her sudden upset.
Kanna reacted just as her sister had hoped. She forgot about her earlier vexation, and quickly answered the question eagerly.“The consequences of a night of passion. I’ll lend it to you once I’m done; it’s a really good book.”
“I’ll be looking forward to that.” Kagura lied effortlessly. She did not share her sister’s guilty pleasure: torrid romance novels. “Listen Kanna, I’ve got to go. Naraku asked me to work on a project for the magazine. It’s due on Monday, and I barely started it.”
As usual Kanna’s smile disappeared at the mention of their father’s name. Unlike Kagura, she had not moved to go live closer to the man who had sired them nor had she ever wanted to come in contact with Naraku. She did her best to brush off her offense, and smile back at her sister.
“Thanks for stopping by for lunch. You know how much I appreciate when you drive out to come see us.” While Kagura had first started working at Shikon Magazine, Kanna had often times driven to the nearby city to go visit her bigger sister; she had even on occasions spent the weekend over. However ever since the pale haired woman had gotten married and given birth to her oldest son, Kagura had become the only one to make the three hour commute between their two houses. After all the older Jiyuu sister knew how much harder it was for Kanna to drive out to see her with her sons in tow. Besides Kagura loved her young nephews too much to want them to stay cooped up inside their mother’s car for such a long time.
“I know you’re busy, but you should come more often. The boys adore you, and you haven’t seen Yukiyo in a while.” Kanna said to her older sister. “Besides your birthday is coming up…”
“We’ll do something, I promise.” Kagura interrupted her sister as she suspected she would produce an idea about fixing her up with a man on a date as she had tried to do the previous year for her sister’s birthday. “I have to go now, I’ll kiss the boys on my way out.” She hugged her younger sister fiercely before adding with a chuckle, “Congrats on the baby. This time around make me a little niece. I’m dying to buy some cute pink dresses.” Kanna smiled good naturally, and returned the embrace happily.
As the young journalist drove away from her younger sister’s house, she could not help but wonder if she would soon be sharing the fate of the heroine of the novel her sister was reading.
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Sesshoumaru Tashio was deep asleep. As usual he was slumbering comfortably without the hindrance of dreams or nightmares. Suddenly his usual quiet was disturbed by a nagging resonating sound. He at first tried to ignore it, but the noise was incessant; he had no choice but to attend to it. He had to force himself to wake up, but soon enough his eyes were wide opened.
‘What in the hell is going on?’ He wondered with a groan as he stood up, and reluctantly left the comfort of his bed.
He turned lights on as he walked through his living room to reach the front door of his apartment as it was where the ongoing ringing noise was coming from.
“What are you doing here?” He asked as he carefully opened his door. He knew for a fact that she had not planned on coming over because of an assignment Naraku had given her.
“You were in bed?” Kagura asked incredulously as she took in his messy hair and pajamas clad body. Without waiting for an invitation, she pushed past Sesshoumaru to walk inside his apartment.
Since he had noticed her incredulous glare, before answering her, he reached up to run a hand though his long tangled mass of silver hair in the hopes of making himself a little more presentable. “It is one in the morning…” He pointed towards the digital clock on his television.
“Oh how time flies.” Kagura noted casually. “Anyways I’m not here for idle chatter; I think we have a problem.” She nervously clutched the papers she held in her fist.
“Kagura, did you not tell me that you had resolved the issue with the ads on pages 34 and 35?” He asked referring to a company who had decided at the last minute to pull out its advertisement from their magazine. Naraku had consequently asked Kagura to find new potential clients to place their ads in the two empty pages.
“I did deal with it. What I’m talking about is much more important than that!”
Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing her words. ‘What could cause her to be so upset? And what is more important to her than her beloved Shikon Magazine?’ He wondered.
She took a deep breath, and launched herself into her explanation. “This afternoon I had lunch with my sister, and she told me about this novel she’s reading with her book club. The heroine gets pregnant because of her antibiotics…”
He did his best to follow what Kagura was saying, but had a hard time as he had just woken up, and she was speaking unusually fast. He walked towards her, and placed his hands over her shoulder. “Breathe.” He instructed. “Then explain again.”
Kagura groaned in frustration, and smacked Sesshoumaru on the chest with the papers she had been clutching in her hand the whole time. He ignored the pain caused by her attack and took the papers to scan them. After reading the incendiary title of the first article, he carefully read the rest of the research she had compiled.
“What is the meaning of this?” He asked as calmly as possible as a sinking feeling grew inside him.
“At first when Kanna told me about it, I thought it was some crazy stupid urban legend or something. But then I researched it, and it can be true in some cases.” She babbled quickly. She had always hated not being in control of herself, and having Sesshoumaru be the one to witness her reaction was embarrassing to her. However she found no other way to deal with her emotions towards her new discovery.
“Are you trying to announce me something?” He asked cautiously. His mind was racing, and he was not very sure what to make of Kagura’s discovery.
She balked. “No… at least I don’t think so. I managed to get an appointment with my gynecologist tomorrow to get a blood test done, so until then I just have to wait and wonder.”
“And you thought having this Sesshoumaru fretting along with you would be more beneficial?” He said before adding. “Unless you came to see me for another reason… Did you wish for me to go to the pharmacy to buy some pregnancy tests? I will if you make sure not to fall asleep before I come back.” Sesshoumaru said with a smile in reference to his lover falling asleep during the first night they had spent together while he had run out to buy some more condoms. A small part of him was amused by seeing Kagura this flustered since he really could not understand why the younger woman was this worried.
‘All the ridiculous articles she made me read agreed on one thing. Mixing birth control pills and antibiotics very rarely do result in a pregnancy…’
Kagura’s eyes thinned in anger at seeing how lightly he was treating the problem at hand. The young woman had been driving herself crazy ever since she had followed her sister’s advice, and researched online the probabilities of getting pregnant after taking antibiotics. She had been so disturbed by her findings that she had been unable to fall asleep, which had propelled her to come to his apartment in search of some reassurance.
“I cannot believe you would dare make a joke at such a time! What is wrong with you?! I could be pregnant, and all you can think of is make jokes?!” She expressed her frustration by delivering a swift punch to his left arm.
Sesshoumaru sighed, but repressed himself from voicing the snappy answer that was running through his mind as he could see that Kagura was genuinely upset. “How did you come to such a ridiculous conclusion anyways? According to the documents you have presented to me,” he brandished the pieces of paper, “odds are you are not with child. One of the experts quoted in one of your articles did say that the risk of pregnancy is actually extremely low, and can only happen in the case of a specific type of antibiotics. What kind of antibiotics were you put on?” One thing he had always appreciated about Kagura was that she was a very intelligent woman he therefore resorted to speaking with her on a more intellectual and rational level.
‘That didn’t occur to me. I actually have no idea.’ She thought pitifully. ‘I didn’t tell my doctor I was on the pill. Guess I should have. All I wanted was for her to give me something to make my throat stop hurting…’
He noticed that his simple question caused a shadow to come over her crimson eyes, and that displeased him. Since he did not like seeing her being this dispirited, he decided to cheer her up. He did miss his usual feisty witch after all. Sesshoumaru as a result engulfed his lover in a tight hug. “I really do not understand why you are so nervous.” He leaned forward and spoke in her ear. “Besides you were sick weeks ago, should you not have realized before speaking with your sister that something was amiss?”
At first when Sesshoumaru had taken her in his arms, Kagura had felt reassured and comforted, but upon hearing his words, she stiffened. “What did you just say?”
He repressed the urge to roll his eyes in annoyance. “I said that if you were indeed pregnant, which I highly doubt, you probably would have realized by now, no?”
“I heard what you said.” She cried out in anger then quickly disentangled herself from Sesshoumaru’s arms. “Well I’m sorry I’m smart enough to have figured out such an eventuality was possible.”
“Kagura.” Sesshoumaru cut her before she could say something else. “Do not misinterpret my words. I never said you were unintelligent.”
“No, what you meant was that I’m just an overemotional female who should think before she acts. Well, I’m sorry I’m not an ice block like you, and that sometimes I might need to express how I feel.”
‘What is she talking about? It is as if she is determined not to hear what I say!’ An exasperated Sesshoumaru thought to himself.
“Kagura…” He started, but she purposefully ignored him.
“I’ve gotta go. It’s late at night, and we have to be at work early. I’ll let you know about what the doc says tomorrow anyways.” She turned to flee, but before she could he took a hold of her slim wrist.
“Wait…”
“Let me go.” The young woman twisted her arm away from his hold, and before Sesshoumaru had a chance to form any kind of protest, Kagura had opened his front door, and had run away from his apartment.
‘What just happened?!’ Sesshoumaru thought to himself as shock rolled through him. It took him a moment, but he finally moved to the window of his living room, only to see Kagura’s small red car drive down his street. He had been taken by surprise by the young woman’s sudden announcement, and was now regretting his words.
‘Damn it!’ He cursed to himself. ‘I handled that badly. She was obviously upset, and obviously something I said made her run away.’ He knew that for a very long time, he would remember the look of horror displayed in Kagura’s crimson eyes when she had flung his distorted words back at him.
‘It is not too late for me to make things better. I will make sure to talk to Kagura tomorrow at the office. She is a rational woman, and once we get a chance to talk to each other, we will be sure to reconcile.’ He hated the fact that the young woman had run away before she gave him a chance to explain his words. A small part of him was also offended that Kagura had seemed so distraught at the mere idea of having his child. He had never given marriage or children much thought, but the idea of sharing a life with Kagura was not as distasteful to him as he would have envisaged earlier. For the longest time, to him who had never really known what a happy family life was like, the mere thought of marriage, children and a white picket fence house was enough to cause him to break out in hives, but somehow his previous disgust had lowered to simply cause him to feel nervous, but not necessarily in a bad way.
‘The woman is a true sorceress; she has truly bewitched me. How else could she in so little time manage to make me change in such a way? ’ He wondered as he headed back towards his bedroom. Thinking about his complicated relationship with Kagura caused a feeling of weariness to come over him. There is no need to be thinking about that right now. I will have plenty enough time to think about the two of us tomorrow.’ He went back to his bed, but unsurprisingly was unable to fall back asleep.
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Kagura Jiyuu heard Sesshoumaru call her name behind her, but she ignored him as she ran down the stairs. To her relief, she soon enough reached the street, and easily found her bold red colored car. With shaking hands, the young woman struggled to insert her car keys in the ignition. After several unfruitful attempts, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and was finally successful. She then wasted no time starting up her vehicle, and driving away as quickly as possible.
‘What is wrong with me?! Why the hell did I react that way?’ She lamented as she pressed her foot on the accelerator. ‘I acted like a stupid child. Since when do I behave so irrationally? Why the hell did I go see Sesshoumaru tonight anyways?!’ Even as she insulted herself, she knew the answer to this question. She was frightened, and all she had wanted was for Sesshoumaru to comfort her. She wanted once more for him to hold her tightly in his arms and assure her that everything was going to be alright. Since her lover had taken such good care of her during her illness, she had expected for him to be understanding towards her fears, and manage to make her feel better. ‘Instead that jerk acted like I was some irrational stupid person.’
Even as she thought back to what he had said, two emotions overcame her: anger and embarrassment. ‘As much as I hate the way he talked to me, I really shouldn’t have let him know how much he affected me.’ She let out a deep sigh as she stirred her car towards her neighborhood. ‘I really don’t know what I was thinking about. All I know is that I really shouldn’t have come tonight.’ She felt tears blur her vision, but pushed them back by sheer willpower. Never had she been more embarrassed in her life. She who always prided herself in being a strong intelligent woman had simply let her emotions rule her. ‘What the hell must he think of me now… I won’t be able to face Sesshoumaru anymore. At least I have the excuse of the doctor’s appointment not to go into work tomorrow morning. I know it’s cowardly, but I can’t help it.’
Kagura was glad to have found a reprieve, but remembering the look of determination burning in Sesshoumaru’s golden eyes when had left him, she was sure that unlike her he was not about to pretend their encounter had never occurred.
‘Knowing that damn demon, he will never let me live this embarrassing moment down.’
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Sesshoumaru Tashio was not having a good day. He had spent his entire morning trying to get a hold of Kagura. She had not come in to work, which was unusual for her, and had not answered any of his many phone calls. He had even gone out of his way during his morning commute to drive by her apartment. To his disappointment there had been no sign of Kagura’s car in her parking space, nor had he seen any light coming from the windows of her condo.
‘I knew I should have followed her yesterday night. She was so upset, I shouldn’t have let her drive.’ He threw away the pencil he had been twirling between his fingers in nervousness. He was full of frustration, and all of the Shikon employees who had dared try to come ask him a question had suffered the brunt of his sharp tongue and colder glares. ‘At least they are leaving this Sesshoumaru alone for now.’
After he had chased Kouga from his office, only Shippou had dared come disturb his peace to inform him of the time of the office celebration the Shikon employees were throwing in a few days, but the young intern had quickly scampered away when Sesshoumaru had barked angrily at him to leave him alone. Since the young red hair’s departure, no one else had set foot near Sesshoumaru’s office door.
‘As if this Sesshoumaru would be interested in attending a stupid office party. Especially at such a crucial time…’
He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket, and reached for it immediately. He sighed in relief when he saw that he had received a text message from Kagura. His feeling of relief was quickly replaced by one of pure anger as he read the message she had sent him.
‘U were right. False alarm. All’s ok.’
He growled when he saw her succinct message. What he had really wanted to know was if Kagura was alright, what she was thinking, and how she was doing. He used the speed dial on his cell phone, and waited for Kagura to answer his call. However after several rings he was directed to her voicemail.
‘All is definitely not okay! Why is that infuriating woman not answering my calls? Why won’t she tell me where she is?!’ He slammed his phone shut, and placed it back in his pocket. It had taken all of his self restraint not to fling the electronic device against the wooden door of his office.
‘Why is she hiding from me? Does she not understand I am worried about her?!’ He still had a hard time understanding why she had reacted so strangely the previous evening. Sesshoumaru growled angrily before jumping to his feet. He picked up his jacket, and readied himself to head out of the Shikon Magazine headquarters to go look for Kagura. He was supposed to review the article proposal Kouga had been working on for weeks, but at the moment he could not think about work. All he wanted was to see his elusive lover. Then as he realized where his thoughts were taking him, Sesshoumaru took a long pause. He placed his jacket back to where he left it hanging behind his desk, then sat back on his chair. To his own shock he realized that until her message, he had not worried one bit over the fact that his lover might be pregnant. In fact all of his concern was directed towards the dark haired woman, and his anger was due to the fact that she was blatantly ignoring him.
‘It doesn’t mean anything serious. I was just concerned because she filled my head with ridiculous ideas of babies.’ His own words rung false to him, but he nonetheless tried reassuring himself as the only other alternative to his unusual behavior was unthinkable to him.
The young man smashed his fist on his desk, and sighed as he now had no choice but to face the truth as annoying as it may be to him and his pride. ‘No. This has been going on for longer than last night.’ He finally admitted to himself. For the longest time he had resisted the feelings assaulting him every time he thought of Kagura, but he decided to finally be honest to himself.
‘I get along with the witch like I have never had with a woman in the past. I enjoy her company, in and out of bed. I have taken care of her when she needed me, and most damning I let that infuriating woman get away with talking back to me. Not to mention that I let Naraku insult me for her sake.’ He silently reviewed the evidence. His naturally fair skin paled even more as he was forced to face a question that had never been an issue for him in the past.
‘Have I fallen for Kagura?’ Even as the question resonated through his mind, there was another thought, even more daunting that ran through him. ‘More importantly… What am I going to do about it?’
To be continued…
A/N: Having Sesshy be the one caring for Kagura or realizing his feelings first is rare in my fics, so I had a lot of trouble with that chapter. Don’t worry guys, Kagura has not gone crazy, she simply does not deal with her feelings as well as Sesshoumaru does (for once). There is also a deeper explanation for her major freak out. The next chapter will be named Bundle of News. I posted not long ago the epilogue of my other fanfiction Special Delivery, so don’t forget to go check it out!
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A/N: Hello dear readers! I know I have been neglecting Secret Lovers, but now that I’m all done with Special Delivery, I will give this story my whole focus. Just to redeem myself, I hereby issue a fluff & WAFF alert! This will also be a long chapter.
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'
Kagura felt like crap. For the first time ever since she had started working at Shikon Magazine, she had been forced to make use of her sick days. It was late at night, and she was laying on her bed, bundled in her favorite red comforter, a hot cup of tea and diverse cold medication packets were placed on her nightstand for easy access.
‘Ugh when is this damn sickness going to go away?’ She wondered angrily as her body was racked by a heavy fit of coughing. ‘I need to get back to work soon. The deadline to send the draft of next month’s issue to the printers is getting near; I can’t let Sesshoumaru deal with everything alone.’ Another reason why the young woman was eager to get back to work was the false assumptions that were sure to be running through the minds of her co-workers. Kagura was convinced that the fact that she had taken ill not long after Ayame had announced her pregnancy to the Shikon employees would make everyone believe that she was faking being sick in order not to have to face the blissfully happy expecting parents. ‘I never get sick. Why did my body have to betray me now?!’
She threw her hand in the direction of the empty side of her bed to reach for a tissue. She blew her nose noisily, and tossed the soiled material off her bed. She knew she should take the time to properly dispose of the tissues she had used, but could not muster the force to. Her whole body ached, her head was pounding, her throat felt raw, and her nose kept running. She closed her crimson eyes, and tried to force herself to fall asleep. She had been unable to get any sleep in the past two days due to her illness, and was truly exhausted. Just when she felt her headache ease, and her mind start to shut down, her doorbell rung loudly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She croaked as she managed to drag herself up, and over to her front door. She had a suspicion of who would dare intrude this late at night, and therefore threw the door opened without hesitation.
“Sesshoumaru.”
“I brought you some soup for a late dinner.” The young man nodded his greeting as he held up a plastic bag with a container in it.
“You didn’t have to.” She was touched by his thoughtfulness, and despite her aches and pain, managed to smile at him. She slowly opened her front door wider to allow him inside.
“I did have to bring you the draft for the next issue for review before it’s printed.” The young man lied through his teeth. He had struggled for the past few days to find an excuse to come look in on his younger coworker. He would never dare voice his concern aloud to Kagura as he himself was uncomfortable at seeing his own feelings.
After placing the soup on Kagura’s dining table, he opened his briefcase, taking out a large wad of papers. Since the two of them shared the position of editor in chief, it was required of both he and Kagura to review the final draft before it was submitted to the printers. However Sesshoumaru had an ulterior motive he was not about to share with his lover: he wanted to see if she was really doing fine. Ever since she had fallen ill, they had talked on the phone every day, and every time she had assured him that she was doing well. Since he did not believe her, he decided to come in and look in on her himself. He would have come sooner, but had been swamped with work at the magazine because of her absence.
“You managed to get all the articles already?!” She croaked in surprise. She took the file he had handed in to her, and started looking through it. ‘He probably intimidated everyone into submitting their work before the deadline. Hum I guess the demon is quite effective.’ Kagura coughed slightly before asking “Did Touran turn in her article on the benefits of Argan oil on damaged hair?” The young blue haired woman had a tendency to give her work late, and Kagura doubted that after the fiasco of their dinner ‘date’ Sesshoumaru would dare browbeat Touran into turning her work in sooner. After all, the male journalist had done his best as of late to stay out of Touran’s range.
“Indeed she has. It is under the beauty section on page 88.” Sesshoumaru informed Kagura. He frowned at seeing that her voice sounded hoarser than on the phone the previous day. ‘She has coughed on several occasions, and is looking quite flushed. Could she be feverish?’
“Great job. I’ll look through it, and give you my feedback as soon as I...” She was interrupted by a sharp pain resonating in her throat. She cleared her throat, and made a mental note to take some additional syrup to soothe her pain as soon as Sesshoumaru left.
“There is no need to hurry; we still have time.” He pointed out, worried for her. As much as he tried, he could not detach his golden eyes from the deep dark circles under her beautiful crimson eyes.
She was about to remind him of the deadlines they had to respect when she was affected by a coughing spell. Before she had a chance to react, Sesshoumaru had walked towards her to press a hand on the warm skin of her forehead under her thick black bangs.
“You are burning up. To bed with you!” He did not wait for her to protest, and dragged her towards her bedroom. He had spent enough time at her condo to know where everything was located. In under five minutes he therefore had the young woman lying under the covers of her bed while he made her a cold compress.
Sesshoumaru brought the ice filled towel back to the room of the sulking woman. ‘She may be glaring at me, but Kagura is being unusually compliant today.’ He marveled at her unusual behavior. The Kagura he was used to would not have done as he had asked this readily. ‘It seems she is lacking energy. She otherwise would be screaming my ears off. Her discomfort is probably greater than she let on then.’ As the young man walked towards Kagura’s bed, he spied something that annoyed him greatly. He did refrain from commenting on it as he knew that in her present state his lover would not be receptive to his criticism. With a deep frown on his brows and jaws clenched tightly, he pushed away with the tip of his left shoe the mountain of soiled tissues littering her carpet.
‘Her distaste of performing chores can be excused only today because of her illness.’ He thought as he then sat on the unoccupied side of Kagura’s bed, and gently ran the cold towel all over her fever flushed face to cool her down before placing it on her forehead.
“I hate to admit it, but this feels heavenly.” She sighed in relief. “I took my cold meds and antibiotics earlier, but it doesn’t seem to affect me that much.”
“Antibiotics?” He echoed in surprise. ‘I thought she had a common cold… or the flu at the worse.’
“Yeah the doctor prescribed it because I have strep throat on top of my cold. Two for the price of one. Yep I am an overachiever.” She joked hoping to lighten the mood, then as something occurred to her, she quickly added. “You probably shouldn’t be next to me; I’m very contagious.”
Sesshoumaru moved the cold towel around her face and neck some more, even going as far as unbuttoning a bit of her pajama top to cool down the top of her breasts before answering in a stern tone. “This Sesshoumaru does not get sick.”
“I warned you. Don’t expect me to bring you soup when you get sick too.” She grinned before closing her eyes to allow him to run the compress over her eyelids. The coolness of the towel was helping her relax and was easing her headache.
Sesshoumaru grunted since he did not want to roll his eyes in annoyance. “You should get some sleep, it will help you get better.” He set the cool towel aside, to her masked disappointment, and gently pushed Kagura down towards her bed.
“How do you know so well about taking care of sick people? I thought you never got sick.” She decided to follow his advice, and buried herself deeper inside her crimson pillows in the hopes of falling asleep quickly. Her lover hitched the covers higher on her body and when he picked up the towel once more to cool down her face, she sighed in pure pleasure.
“I left my father’s house at a young age, and as a young man with limited funds, for many years I had to live with roommates.” Only thinking about that time of his life caused a wave of annoyance to grow inside him. He was a man, who loved privacy, and having to share his living space had not been an easy thing; especially, when his roommates did not share his very high standards of cleanliness. “One of the young men I shared an apartment with was a small man by the name of Jaken who had the infuriating tendency of falling sick every winter. His mother came to nurse him back to health several times, and I observed.”
“You are very good at that…” She let out a loud yawn, and quickly regretted it as it caused her throat to burn. She had struggled to fall asleep for most of the day, but after spending a few relaxing minutes with Sesshoumaru, she suddenly felt sleepy.
The young man noticed her drowsiness, and quickly decided to spend the night at her place. ‘The little witch is obviously unable to take care of herself. I have no choice but to help. Not to mention that it is very late at night.’ When he had come to Kagura’s apartment he had somewhat anticipated for her to be asleep. He had come straight from the office after putting the finishing touches to the latest edition of the magazine as he planned to use the draft as an excuse to talk to Kagura.
He discarded the wet towel for good by placing it on her bedside table, and headed for the young woman’s closet where he now kept one of his favorite pair of pajamas, and a few changes of clothes. After he had convinced Naraku to give Kagura back her restaurant critic section, she and her lover had grown closer. Even though they had yet to talk of their relationship or place a distinct label on it, the two of them had consented to provide the other one with some closet space for merely practical reasons. Kagura had at first been opposed to Sesshoumaru’s suggestion, but a few sweet kisses and his logical mind were enough to convince her. When he had pointed out that keeping clothes and toiletries at the other’s house would keep them from having to go back and forth between their homes in the mornings, and would therefore limit the chances of people finding out about them, she had agreed to let him use one of her drawers. The fact that she had already suffered because of their complicated arrangement, had also influenced her decision. Once instead of being late to a very early morning meeting, Kagura had come in to work wearing the same dress she had had on the previous day. She after spending the night at Sesshoumaru’s place had woken up late, and had not had the time to go back home to get changed. ‘And that damn bitch of Touran just had to point out to everyone that I apparently had not spent the night at my apartment.’ Being her usual self, Kagura had simply ignored the other woman, and had made use of her lunch break to swing by her place to change in fresh clothes.
The young woman did her best to push thoughts about work away from her mind, and focused on the man getting undressed in front of her.
“You really can’t be expecting us to have sex right now.” Kagura groaned as she spied her lover changing into his sleeping clothes. As if hoping to dissuade him of such a notion, she pointed towards her reddened runny nose.
Sesshoumaru paused in the middle of buttoning his top to send her a vicious glare. “What kind of man do you take me for?! This Sesshoumaru intends to look after you, not bed you.”
She had the grace to slightly blush in embarrassment. “I do appreciate you taking care of me, but you don’t need to spend the night.” Even as she spoke the words, she could not help but sense a warm feeling course through her. The last time she had had someone care for her was in her childhood. Her aunt Kaede, who had been her only parent growing up had always been the only one in front of who Kagura dared look weak; that was until she had met Sesshoumaru. When alone with him she sometimes allowed herself to discard her tough façade. Being able to be the real her was a true relief. Before she had started a ‘relationship’ with Sesshoumaru, she had not realized how exhausting keeping a constant armor was. It was only with him that she allowed herself to appear vulnerable as she had learned to trust him. In fact to her own surprise the role of the young man was growing in her life. He indeed was proving to be a friend, a lover and a confidant all rolled into one, which to her own shock Kagura was enjoying quite a bit.
“You know you can’t sleep here; you’ll get sick.” She told him reluctantly. The thought of having Sesshoumaru as a personal nurse was a very appealing one, but she would hate for him to get contaminated by her.
He decided to ignore her latest comment, and addressed her previous words. “It is in my best interest to see you come back at Shikon as quickly as possible.” Once he saw the question in her gaze, he decided to explain himself. “Having to deal with the idiocy of our fellow employees is even beyond this Sesshoumaru’s strength. I would also rather have you be the one dealing with your father. You know my opinion of Naraku…” He walked back to the bed, and settled in next to her. He had correctly guessed that Kagura would be more amendable to him spending the night if he made up an excuse related to work.
‘I cannot come outright and tell her I am staying to take care of her because I am worried about her.’ He thought to himself as he rearranged the covers once again to make sure she was well covered.
‘He feels so good.’ The young woman thought as a sigh of pleasure left her mouth. Despite the fact that she still felt a bit feverish, the idea of pushing Sesshoumaru’s hot body away from her did not even cross her mind. ‘It’s the first time we share a bed without actually having sex. It just feels so good to be in his arms… I know I shouldn’t let us get this close, that I should push him away, and that we should stick to a purely sexual relationship… but I can’t help myself from enjoying his presence.’ She burrowed herself closer against his side, pressing their bodies as close as possible, and allowed a little chuckle to escape her throat. Laughing caused her pain, but she could not help herself. “Ah so the almighty Sesshoumaru finally admits that he needs my help?!”
He turned to her side to look at the younger woman lying next to him. Before he could reflect on his action, he smoothed a tender hand over her head. “I have never denied such an obvious thing, you do have your uses.” His cryptic words caused her to furrow her brows. The young female journalist opened her mouth to ask what exactly he meant by that, but he spoke before she had a chance to.
“Now enough, go to sleep.” He ordered, not giving her the opportunity to speak. He reached over her to turn off her bedside table. Once he lied back on the bed, and slipped under the covers, he looped his arm around warm body.
She smiled, and rested her head on his chest. “Fine fine. Goodnight.” Not long after the words left Kagura’s mouth, she fell deeply asleep. She had wanted to stay awake longer in order to savor the feel of his body against her, but she had been too sleep deprived as of late to resist the urge to fall into slumber. She had fallen asleep so quickly that no one would have ever believed that less than a half hour before she had been tossing and turning in bed, unable to find sleep.
Sesshoumaru waited until her breathing had evened out, then carefully stepped away from her embrace, and outside of the bed. He knew the layout of her bedroom well enough to get by without the lights on. He padded over to the living room, and got to work. Before allowing himself to sleep in the arms of his lover, he wanted to get Kagura’s apartment cleaned up. He had been called a clean freak by all of his roommates, and Kagura had often remarked with a frown on how unbelievably tidy his condo always was. He simply could not stand messy environments; especially, places where he felt comfortable. And he did feel comfortable, even at home, in Kagura’s apartment. He had therefore for a long time wanted to clean the young woman place of living, but she had always refused. Since she was not in any state to object, he decided to seize this occasion.
‘How could the witch turn her apartment into such a mess this quickly?!’ He wondered as he headed towards the sink filled with dirty dishes. He mentally made a check list. First he would take care of the dishes, then take the thrash out and straighten the living room before tackling Kagura’s bedroom where he would take care of the discarded clothes and used tissues he had noticed were littering the carpet.
‘The night will be long, but this Sesshoumaru’s work will be worth it.’ He thought as he put on Kagura’s purple rubber gloves. Even as he started washing the dishes, he could not help but think that the best reward for his efforts would not be being able to be in a clean environment, which was something he had always liked, but rather the fact that after his hard work, he would be able to slip back into bed next to Kagura.
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“Who’s your favorite aunt? Yes, it’s me.” Kagura cooed gently at her toddler nephew who she was bouncing on her knees. The young child responded by giggling happily.
“You are his only aunt.” Kanna pointed out. The two sisters, and Kanna’s two young sons were seated in the kitchen of the younger Jiyuu sister where they had just had lunch.
“You just have to ruin everything. You’re just jealous of how much Akago loves his auntie.” The older woman pressed a sloppy kiss to the pale round cheek of the infant in her arms. “Although he’s getting a little too heavy for me to carry him around.” She put back the pale haired toddler on the tiled kitchen floor, and Akago wasted no time scampering towards his big brother.
“Soon there’ll be a smaller baby for you to play with aunt Kagu!” Hakudoushi, Kanna’s oldest son exclaimed as he stuffed in his mouth the last bite of his sandwich his mother had made earlier for him.
“Haku! It was supposed to be a surprise.” His mother reminded him. The six year old boy simply shrugged, and finished off his glass of apple juice. He jumped off his seat at the dining table to play with Akago who had been tugging at his pants ever since their aunt had released him.
Kagura stared down at her younger sister’s flat stomach and smiled before enveloping the shorter woman in a tight hug. “Congratulations Kanna. I’m so happy for you. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” The young journalist was slightly vexed about her younger sister’s silence. While she had been pregnant with Hakudoushi, and then Akago, Kagura had been the first to find out about the upcoming births, even before Kanna’s husband.
Kanna produced a small smile. Outward displays of affection were very rare with the young woman, which caused most people to call her cold.
‘She strangely reminds me of Sesshoumaru in that regard.’ Kagura thought to herself. She was surprised to see that her mind had strayed to her lover. ‘Well I have been seeing more of him lately, so this should explain it.’ Ever since Sesshoumaru had nursed her a little over three weeks ago, the two of them had been spending more time together; not that she was minding much. The young woman had even been spending an increasing number of nights at her lover’s apartment, which was shocking because she had always preferred the comfort of her own bed. Sesshoumaru was not only the only man she had allowed to sleep over at her place, and at whose house she had spent a full night, but more importantly the only one she had given a spot to in her closet. The young woman had always been careful not to let any man come too close to her, but Sesshoumaru was quickly destroying all her carefully built barriers, and even more surprising, she was not doing anything to stop him.
“I wasn’t sure how you would take the news.” Kanna finally admitted. Kagura was surprised by her younger sister’s words. Knowing that she would have to explain herself to her sibling, Kanna added albeit reluctantly. “Haku, now that you’re done eating, can you take your brother and go play in the living room?” The oldest of her son rolled his lavender eyes in annoyance, but did as his mother asked him.
Once her two sons had left the kitchen, Kanna took a deep breath before explaining herself. She could tell the conversation was going to be unpleasant, and was not really looking forward to talking with Kagura… After all her sister could be scary sometimes.
“I know how much you love children, and want to have some of your own.” The youngest Jiyuu sister squeaked. “I remember when you were with Kouga, the two of you almost made a baby together. If he had not betrayed you, you would be a mother already.”
‘True, but Ayame is the one who’s pregnant.’ Kagura felt her heart throb in pain, but for her sister’s sake ignored the hurt. “That may be, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for my little sister. Besides it might happen to me soon enough too…”
“Are you seeing someone?” Kanna asked eagerly, her dark eyes suddenly shinning. She had waited for so long for her big sister to stop with her obsession with their father’s magazine, and focus on her love life.
An image of Sesshoumaru flashed though Kagura’s mind, but she chose to ignore it. Their relationship was too complicated for her to try to explain it to her sister. “Not exactly…”
“Oh okay…” Kanna sighed with disappointment. “If you’re interested… Yukiyo has a very nice co-worker, who I think you would get along with well.” She perked up.
Kagura rolled her eyes in annoyance. It was not uncommon for her sister to try to set her up with one of her husband’s co-workers. ‘As if I would ever date a financial analyst…’
“I’m not interested in seeing anyone right now, but when I will be, I’ll let you know. Besides you know I’m just getting over an illness.”
“You told me you were completely recovered…” Her sister said with a frown.
“Well I did have to go on antibiotics… but I’m all better now.” Kagura smiled at her sister.
“You didn’t tell me you had to be put on antibiotics…” Kanna said thoughtfully. Ever since they had been little girls, Kagura had always tried to protect her from everything, and even now had a hard time confessing to her younger sibling when she was in trouble.” ‘However she is always willing to try to solve my problems…’
“Don’t worry about me, I told you I’m feeling great. Otherwise I wouldn’t have stopped by. You know I’d never put your boys in jeopardy; the last thing I’d want would be to contaminate them.”
“Of course not. I know you love Haku and Akago very much.” Kanna quickly interjected, the last thing she wanted was to make her sister feel bad. She decided to quickly change the topic of conversation. “Well it’s a good thing you’re not seeing anyone. In my book club we are reading a novel about a woman who got pregnant after a one night stand. She was using birth control pills, but they failed because of the antibiotics she had taken. Of course the father found out, and the two of them enter a marriage of convenience. Thankfully they end up falling in love.”
“What are you talking about?” Kagura asked as casually as possible as an uneasy feeling grew inside her.
“Well you know that some antibiotics negate the effects of birth control pills.” When Kanna noticed her sister sending her a dubious look, she quickly added on a defensive tone, “If you don’t believe me, check online.”
“It’s true that the internet is such a reliable source to get information…” Kagura snorted sarcastically.
Kanna bristled at her sister’s tone. “Well I’m sorry if not all of us are journalists who rely on original sources.”
Kagura reached over to gently mess up her much shorter sister’s white bangs as she used to when they were children before answering. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. So anyways what’s the title of the book you guys are reading? It sounds really interesting.” The young woman hoped that Kanna would not be able to notice her sudden upset.
Kanna reacted just as her sister had hoped. She forgot about her earlier vexation, and quickly answered the question eagerly.“The consequences of a night of passion. I’ll lend it to you once I’m done; it’s a really good book.”
“I’ll be looking forward to that.” Kagura lied effortlessly. She did not share her sister’s guilty pleasure: torrid romance novels. “Listen Kanna, I’ve got to go. Naraku asked me to work on a project for the magazine. It’s due on Monday, and I barely started it.”
As usual Kanna’s smile disappeared at the mention of their father’s name. Unlike Kagura, she had not moved to go live closer to the man who had sired them nor had she ever wanted to come in contact with Naraku. She did her best to brush off her offense, and smile back at her sister.
“Thanks for stopping by for lunch. You know how much I appreciate when you drive out to come see us.” While Kagura had first started working at Shikon Magazine, Kanna had often times driven to the nearby city to go visit her bigger sister; she had even on occasions spent the weekend over. However ever since the pale haired woman had gotten married and given birth to her oldest son, Kagura had become the only one to make the three hour commute between their two houses. After all the older Jiyuu sister knew how much harder it was for Kanna to drive out to see her with her sons in tow. Besides Kagura loved her young nephews too much to want them to stay cooped up inside their mother’s car for such a long time.
“I know you’re busy, but you should come more often. The boys adore you, and you haven’t seen Yukiyo in a while.” Kanna said to her older sister. “Besides your birthday is coming up…”
“We’ll do something, I promise.” Kagura interrupted her sister as she suspected she would produce an idea about fixing her up with a man on a date as she had tried to do the previous year for her sister’s birthday. “I have to go now, I’ll kiss the boys on my way out.” She hugged her younger sister fiercely before adding with a chuckle, “Congrats on the baby. This time around make me a little niece. I’m dying to buy some cute pink dresses.” Kanna smiled good naturally, and returned the embrace happily.
As the young journalist drove away from her younger sister’s house, she could not help but wonder if she would soon be sharing the fate of the heroine of the novel her sister was reading.
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Sesshoumaru Tashio was deep asleep. As usual he was slumbering comfortably without the hindrance of dreams or nightmares. Suddenly his usual quiet was disturbed by a nagging resonating sound. He at first tried to ignore it, but the noise was incessant; he had no choice but to attend to it. He had to force himself to wake up, but soon enough his eyes were wide opened.
‘What in the hell is going on?’ He wondered with a groan as he stood up, and reluctantly left the comfort of his bed.
He turned lights on as he walked through his living room to reach the front door of his apartment as it was where the ongoing ringing noise was coming from.
“What are you doing here?” He asked as he carefully opened his door. He knew for a fact that she had not planned on coming over because of an assignment Naraku had given her.
“You were in bed?” Kagura asked incredulously as she took in his messy hair and pajamas clad body. Without waiting for an invitation, she pushed past Sesshoumaru to walk inside his apartment.
Since he had noticed her incredulous glare, before answering her, he reached up to run a hand though his long tangled mass of silver hair in the hopes of making himself a little more presentable. “It is one in the morning…” He pointed towards the digital clock on his television.
“Oh how time flies.” Kagura noted casually. “Anyways I’m not here for idle chatter; I think we have a problem.” She nervously clutched the papers she held in her fist.
“Kagura, did you not tell me that you had resolved the issue with the ads on pages 34 and 35?” He asked referring to a company who had decided at the last minute to pull out its advertisement from their magazine. Naraku had consequently asked Kagura to find new potential clients to place their ads in the two empty pages.
“I did deal with it. What I’m talking about is much more important than that!”
Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing her words. ‘What could cause her to be so upset? And what is more important to her than her beloved Shikon Magazine?’ He wondered.
She took a deep breath, and launched herself into her explanation. “This afternoon I had lunch with my sister, and she told me about this novel she’s reading with her book club. The heroine gets pregnant because of her antibiotics…”
He did his best to follow what Kagura was saying, but had a hard time as he had just woken up, and she was speaking unusually fast. He walked towards her, and placed his hands over her shoulder. “Breathe.” He instructed. “Then explain again.”
Kagura groaned in frustration, and smacked Sesshoumaru on the chest with the papers she had been clutching in her hand the whole time. He ignored the pain caused by her attack and took the papers to scan them. After reading the incendiary title of the first article, he carefully read the rest of the research she had compiled.
“What is the meaning of this?” He asked as calmly as possible as a sinking feeling grew inside him.
“At first when Kanna told me about it, I thought it was some crazy stupid urban legend or something. But then I researched it, and it can be true in some cases.” She babbled quickly. She had always hated not being in control of herself, and having Sesshoumaru be the one to witness her reaction was embarrassing to her. However she found no other way to deal with her emotions towards her new discovery.
“Are you trying to announce me something?” He asked cautiously. His mind was racing, and he was not very sure what to make of Kagura’s discovery.
She balked. “No… at least I don’t think so. I managed to get an appointment with my gynecologist tomorrow to get a blood test done, so until then I just have to wait and wonder.”
“And you thought having this Sesshoumaru fretting along with you would be more beneficial?” He said before adding. “Unless you came to see me for another reason… Did you wish for me to go to the pharmacy to buy some pregnancy tests? I will if you make sure not to fall asleep before I come back.” Sesshoumaru said with a smile in reference to his lover falling asleep during the first night they had spent together while he had run out to buy some more condoms. A small part of him was amused by seeing Kagura this flustered since he really could not understand why the younger woman was this worried.
‘All the ridiculous articles she made me read agreed on one thing. Mixing birth control pills and antibiotics very rarely do result in a pregnancy…’
Kagura’s eyes thinned in anger at seeing how lightly he was treating the problem at hand. The young woman had been driving herself crazy ever since she had followed her sister’s advice, and researched online the probabilities of getting pregnant after taking antibiotics. She had been so disturbed by her findings that she had been unable to fall asleep, which had propelled her to come to his apartment in search of some reassurance.
“I cannot believe you would dare make a joke at such a time! What is wrong with you?! I could be pregnant, and all you can think of is make jokes?!” She expressed her frustration by delivering a swift punch to his left arm.
Sesshoumaru sighed, but repressed himself from voicing the snappy answer that was running through his mind as he could see that Kagura was genuinely upset. “How did you come to such a ridiculous conclusion anyways? According to the documents you have presented to me,” he brandished the pieces of paper, “odds are you are not with child. One of the experts quoted in one of your articles did say that the risk of pregnancy is actually extremely low, and can only happen in the case of a specific type of antibiotics. What kind of antibiotics were you put on?” One thing he had always appreciated about Kagura was that she was a very intelligent woman he therefore resorted to speaking with her on a more intellectual and rational level.
‘That didn’t occur to me. I actually have no idea.’ She thought pitifully. ‘I didn’t tell my doctor I was on the pill. Guess I should have. All I wanted was for her to give me something to make my throat stop hurting…’
He noticed that his simple question caused a shadow to come over her crimson eyes, and that displeased him. Since he did not like seeing her being this dispirited, he decided to cheer her up. He did miss his usual feisty witch after all. Sesshoumaru as a result engulfed his lover in a tight hug. “I really do not understand why you are so nervous.” He leaned forward and spoke in her ear. “Besides you were sick weeks ago, should you not have realized before speaking with your sister that something was amiss?”
At first when Sesshoumaru had taken her in his arms, Kagura had felt reassured and comforted, but upon hearing his words, she stiffened. “What did you just say?”
He repressed the urge to roll his eyes in annoyance. “I said that if you were indeed pregnant, which I highly doubt, you probably would have realized by now, no?”
“I heard what you said.” She cried out in anger then quickly disentangled herself from Sesshoumaru’s arms. “Well I’m sorry I’m smart enough to have figured out such an eventuality was possible.”
“Kagura.” Sesshoumaru cut her before she could say something else. “Do not misinterpret my words. I never said you were unintelligent.”
“No, what you meant was that I’m just an overemotional female who should think before she acts. Well, I’m sorry I’m not an ice block like you, and that sometimes I might need to express how I feel.”
‘What is she talking about? It is as if she is determined not to hear what I say!’ An exasperated Sesshoumaru thought to himself.
“Kagura…” He started, but she purposefully ignored him.
“I’ve gotta go. It’s late at night, and we have to be at work early. I’ll let you know about what the doc says tomorrow anyways.” She turned to flee, but before she could he took a hold of her slim wrist.
“Wait…”
“Let me go.” The young woman twisted her arm away from his hold, and before Sesshoumaru had a chance to form any kind of protest, Kagura had opened his front door, and had run away from his apartment.
‘What just happened?!’ Sesshoumaru thought to himself as shock rolled through him. It took him a moment, but he finally moved to the window of his living room, only to see Kagura’s small red car drive down his street. He had been taken by surprise by the young woman’s sudden announcement, and was now regretting his words.
‘Damn it!’ He cursed to himself. ‘I handled that badly. She was obviously upset, and obviously something I said made her run away.’ He knew that for a very long time, he would remember the look of horror displayed in Kagura’s crimson eyes when she had flung his distorted words back at him.
‘It is not too late for me to make things better. I will make sure to talk to Kagura tomorrow at the office. She is a rational woman, and once we get a chance to talk to each other, we will be sure to reconcile.’ He hated the fact that the young woman had run away before she gave him a chance to explain his words. A small part of him was also offended that Kagura had seemed so distraught at the mere idea of having his child. He had never given marriage or children much thought, but the idea of sharing a life with Kagura was not as distasteful to him as he would have envisaged earlier. For the longest time, to him who had never really known what a happy family life was like, the mere thought of marriage, children and a white picket fence house was enough to cause him to break out in hives, but somehow his previous disgust had lowered to simply cause him to feel nervous, but not necessarily in a bad way.
‘The woman is a true sorceress; she has truly bewitched me. How else could she in so little time manage to make me change in such a way? ’ He wondered as he headed back towards his bedroom. Thinking about his complicated relationship with Kagura caused a feeling of weariness to come over him. There is no need to be thinking about that right now. I will have plenty enough time to think about the two of us tomorrow.’ He went back to his bed, but unsurprisingly was unable to fall back asleep.
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Kagura Jiyuu heard Sesshoumaru call her name behind her, but she ignored him as she ran down the stairs. To her relief, she soon enough reached the street, and easily found her bold red colored car. With shaking hands, the young woman struggled to insert her car keys in the ignition. After several unfruitful attempts, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and was finally successful. She then wasted no time starting up her vehicle, and driving away as quickly as possible.
‘What is wrong with me?! Why the hell did I react that way?’ She lamented as she pressed her foot on the accelerator. ‘I acted like a stupid child. Since when do I behave so irrationally? Why the hell did I go see Sesshoumaru tonight anyways?!’ Even as she insulted herself, she knew the answer to this question. She was frightened, and all she had wanted was for Sesshoumaru to comfort her. She wanted once more for him to hold her tightly in his arms and assure her that everything was going to be alright. Since her lover had taken such good care of her during her illness, she had expected for him to be understanding towards her fears, and manage to make her feel better. ‘Instead that jerk acted like I was some irrational stupid person.’
Even as she thought back to what he had said, two emotions overcame her: anger and embarrassment. ‘As much as I hate the way he talked to me, I really shouldn’t have let him know how much he affected me.’ She let out a deep sigh as she stirred her car towards her neighborhood. ‘I really don’t know what I was thinking about. All I know is that I really shouldn’t have come tonight.’ She felt tears blur her vision, but pushed them back by sheer willpower. Never had she been more embarrassed in her life. She who always prided herself in being a strong intelligent woman had simply let her emotions rule her. ‘What the hell must he think of me now… I won’t be able to face Sesshoumaru anymore. At least I have the excuse of the doctor’s appointment not to go into work tomorrow morning. I know it’s cowardly, but I can’t help it.’
Kagura was glad to have found a reprieve, but remembering the look of determination burning in Sesshoumaru’s golden eyes when had left him, she was sure that unlike her he was not about to pretend their encounter had never occurred.
‘Knowing that damn demon, he will never let me live this embarrassing moment down.’
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Sesshoumaru Tashio was not having a good day. He had spent his entire morning trying to get a hold of Kagura. She had not come in to work, which was unusual for her, and had not answered any of his many phone calls. He had even gone out of his way during his morning commute to drive by her apartment. To his disappointment there had been no sign of Kagura’s car in her parking space, nor had he seen any light coming from the windows of her condo.
‘I knew I should have followed her yesterday night. She was so upset, I shouldn’t have let her drive.’ He threw away the pencil he had been twirling between his fingers in nervousness. He was full of frustration, and all of the Shikon employees who had dared try to come ask him a question had suffered the brunt of his sharp tongue and colder glares. ‘At least they are leaving this Sesshoumaru alone for now.’
After he had chased Kouga from his office, only Shippou had dared come disturb his peace to inform him of the time of the office celebration the Shikon employees were throwing in a few days, but the young intern had quickly scampered away when Sesshoumaru had barked angrily at him to leave him alone. Since the young red hair’s departure, no one else had set foot near Sesshoumaru’s office door.
‘As if this Sesshoumaru would be interested in attending a stupid office party. Especially at such a crucial time…’
He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket, and reached for it immediately. He sighed in relief when he saw that he had received a text message from Kagura. His feeling of relief was quickly replaced by one of pure anger as he read the message she had sent him.
‘U were right. False alarm. All’s ok.’
He growled when he saw her succinct message. What he had really wanted to know was if Kagura was alright, what she was thinking, and how she was doing. He used the speed dial on his cell phone, and waited for Kagura to answer his call. However after several rings he was directed to her voicemail.
‘All is definitely not okay! Why is that infuriating woman not answering my calls? Why won’t she tell me where she is?!’ He slammed his phone shut, and placed it back in his pocket. It had taken all of his self restraint not to fling the electronic device against the wooden door of his office.
‘Why is she hiding from me? Does she not understand I am worried about her?!’ He still had a hard time understanding why she had reacted so strangely the previous evening. Sesshoumaru growled angrily before jumping to his feet. He picked up his jacket, and readied himself to head out of the Shikon Magazine headquarters to go look for Kagura. He was supposed to review the article proposal Kouga had been working on for weeks, but at the moment he could not think about work. All he wanted was to see his elusive lover. Then as he realized where his thoughts were taking him, Sesshoumaru took a long pause. He placed his jacket back to where he left it hanging behind his desk, then sat back on his chair. To his own shock he realized that until her message, he had not worried one bit over the fact that his lover might be pregnant. In fact all of his concern was directed towards the dark haired woman, and his anger was due to the fact that she was blatantly ignoring him.
‘It doesn’t mean anything serious. I was just concerned because she filled my head with ridiculous ideas of babies.’ His own words rung false to him, but he nonetheless tried reassuring himself as the only other alternative to his unusual behavior was unthinkable to him.
The young man smashed his fist on his desk, and sighed as he now had no choice but to face the truth as annoying as it may be to him and his pride. ‘No. This has been going on for longer than last night.’ He finally admitted to himself. For the longest time he had resisted the feelings assaulting him every time he thought of Kagura, but he decided to finally be honest to himself.
‘I get along with the witch like I have never had with a woman in the past. I enjoy her company, in and out of bed. I have taken care of her when she needed me, and most damning I let that infuriating woman get away with talking back to me. Not to mention that I let Naraku insult me for her sake.’ He silently reviewed the evidence. His naturally fair skin paled even more as he was forced to face a question that had never been an issue for him in the past.
‘Have I fallen for Kagura?’ Even as the question resonated through his mind, there was another thought, even more daunting that ran through him. ‘More importantly… What am I going to do about it?’
To be continued…
A/N: Having Sesshy be the one caring for Kagura or realizing his feelings first is rare in my fics, so I had a lot of trouble with that chapter. Don’t worry guys, Kagura has not gone crazy, she simply does not deal with her feelings as well as Sesshoumaru does (for once). There is also a deeper explanation for her major freak out. The next chapter will be named Bundle of News. I posted not long ago the epilogue of my other fanfiction Special Delivery, so don’t forget to go check it out!
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