InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Lovers ❯ Late Edition ( Chapter 27 )
[ 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: 11.30.2013 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 239 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.30.2013 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 239 | Status: Work In Progress
Part 27: Late Edition
A/N: Ugh another month since the last update. So sorry! At least this chapter will be super long, and good! I know it will please many of you. As it started to run quite long, I decided to divide the last chapter in two, so there will still be one chapter and an epilogue after this.
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'
The couple had barely stepped into the waiting room with which Kagura had become too acquainted the previous evening, that Yukiyo came barreling down on them. The usually neat fiscal analyst looked unusually frumpy and disheveled. His pale hair was messed up and his lavender eyes were bloodshot.
“How are the boys?”
Kanna may complain that her husband was too much of a workaholic, but she had never doubted the fact that he loved him family above else. The second he had received the call that she was hospitalized, he had dumped the project he was working on, rushed out of work to go to her, and had not left her side since. He was torn between being there for his beloved wife, or their precious children. Even though he had complete confidence in Kagura, it was with reluctance that he had placed the children in her care.
Kagura sent her brother in-law a reassuring smile. “They’re fine. We dropped them off at preschool and school respectively.”
“We?” He echoed then for the first time took his eyes off of Kagura, and noticed she was not alone. “Sesshoumaru?” He was surprised to see the other man there. From what Kanna had told him it seemed that Kagura had broken things off with him. He as his wife had been sorry to hear that since he genuinely enjoyed spending time with Sesshoumaru. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yukiyo, how is Kanna, has there been any improvements?” While she could tolerate him wanting to ensure his children were cared for, Kagura did not have enough patience to bear hearing him exchange niceties with Sesshoumaru while she waited.
“She just fell asleep, but… well there’s something you should know… after monitoring her and the baby’s vitals all night the doctors decided to schedule a C-section for this afternoon.”
“You’re just telling me this now?!” Kagura’s angry roar caused Yukiyo to flinch. If Sesshoumaru had not placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, she would have been tempted to pounce on her brother in-law. She had always been very protective of her little sister, and not being appraised of her condition the moment her doctors had made their decision angered her beyond words.
Yukiyo was at a loss for words. He had always thought that the older Jiyuu sister was a little bit scary, and still marveled that she and his wife had come from the same place. “Hum well… Kanna asked me to wait, you can ask her why.” He knew his wife would give him hell for deflecting the blame on her, but at the moment he did not want to bear the brunt of Kagura’s anger.
‘Besides she’s having a baby, Kagura won’t be too hard on her…’
“I’ll step in and have a look at Kanna then...” Without giving anyone a chance to stop her, the young woman walked through the corridor, and headed towards the last door on the right. She was glad not to have run into the stern nurse who had relegated her to the waiting room the previous evening under the pretense that Kanna’s room was too full. At the time Kagura had wished she had been a kaze youkai like the fierce warriors in the stories her mother used to tell her when she was a child, she would have love to blow away the nurse with a wind blade.
Kagura stepped into her sister’s room, and did her best to ignore the various monitoring machines hooked to the small pale body lying on the bed. She saw her sister’s eyelids twitch before the big dark eyes opened.
“Hey bunny, how’s it going?” She forced as wide a smile as she could on her ruby lips. She walked to the side of the bed, and looked down at her beloved little sister.
“If you’re calling me that, then I must really look like crap.” Kanna muttered.
‘Bunny’ was the nickname Kagura had given her when they were children. It used to bring Kanna comfort especially after their mother died, and they had to move with their unknown aunt. It was of course a reference to her pale skin and hair and wide dark eyes, but also Kagura’s wish to always be there to look after her younger sibling. She had always seen herself as her sister’s keeper, and despite the years that have gone by, this had not changed.
Kanna attempted to prop herself higher against the pillows behind her back while not trying to dislodge the IV she was hooked on. Seeing her sister struggle, Kagura rushed forward, and helped her by fluffing her pillows.
“You’re about to have a baby, you’re allowed to look like shit.”
Kanna chuckled at her sister’s words. It felt good to be able to laugh despite her current predicament.
Kagura was however not in the mood to joke around, and dove straight into issue. “I thought the doctors wanted to be cautious and wait before doing anything drastic.”
“They did, but this one has a mind of its own, and it wants to come out now!” The younger sister took a deep breath as she felt a contraction rip through her. “I’ve been having contractions non stop since this morning so I agreed to have a C-section; it’s safer.”
Kagura felt a frown form between her eyebrows. Despite her sister’s usual calm assurance, she could not help but feel worried. She knew she needed to be strong for Kanna and her family, so she kept her worries to herself, and her fake smile plastered on.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to do some final tests, and get her prepped before we take her up to the operating bloc.” A young and smiling white clad nurse walked into the room with a medical tray containing syringes and medical articles that Kagura was unable to identify. She felt her heartbeat quicken in anxiety.
The young journalist reached down to squeeze her sister’s hand in a reassuring gesture. She wished that through that simple action, she could give Kanna all of her strength.
‘I don’t know if I can leave her… she might need me.’ Kagura resisted the urge to bite her lower lip as she looked down on her sister’s small pale form, and the large bulge containing her nephew to be.
“Do you want me to go in with you?” When Hakudoushi had been born, Kagura had been by her sister’s side as Yukiyo had been away and while she had not been in the room when Kanna had given birth to Akago, she had been right outside, there for her. However she was aware that this time around she would not be able to be as close to her sister as she wanted as Kanna was going to be in the surgery ward, and she would not be granted access to it.
Kanna squeezed her sister’s hand back. “Yukiyo will be there. Why don’t you go wait with Sesshoumaru in the waiting room? He’ll be able to keep you sane, we both know you could use some calming influence.”
Kagura was amazed that at such a time Kanna was worried about her instead of focusing on herself. ‘If she’s able to make fun of me, then she must feel better than I thought.’ She leaned forward to press a kiss to Kanna’s forehead.
“Alright bunny, I’ll be in the waiting room, and looking forward to meeting my new nephew.” Kagura reluctantly headed towards the door, but paused when something occurred to her. “How did you know Sesshoumaru is here?”
Kanna sent her older sibling a small smile before answering. “You love each other, and he’s family now, of course he would be here.”
Since she could not find anything to retort to that, Kagura answered her sister’s smile with one of her own. Just as she stepped outside, she ran into her brother in-law.
She gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Look after her, okay.”
“You know I will.” Yukiyo wiped the worry out of his face, and put on a goofy grin for his wife’s sake. He stepped into Kanna’s room and let out a loud joyous exclamation “Honey, ready for number 3?”
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Kagura’s crimson eyes lowered to her jerking leg. She very much disliked showcasing such an obvious outward display of weakness, but did not curb her behavior as she was alone in the waiting room. She once again wished she could be with her sister.
‘It’s okay, they must have started the surgery by now, and Kanna will be out very soon… besides Yukiyo is with her.’ She would not exactly think the words, but she also wished that Sesshoumaru was at her side at the moment. As if she had conjured him, she saw his reassuring presence stroll in.
“Aunt Kagura, did mom have the baby yet?” Hakudoushi has barely spied his beloved aunt that he broke away from Sesshoumaru’s side to rush towards her.
Kagura put back on her large fake smile, and stood up to greet the new comers. “It will take a little bit longer, but the doctors should be done soon. In the meantime, why don’t you play with your video game? I won’t tell your mom if you don’t.” She punctuated her statement with a mischievous wink. She knew her sister rationed the amount of time her son was allowed to play with his hand held device, and being able to play with it without limit would be too tantalizing an offer for Hakudoushi to resist.
As if on cue Sesshoumaru retrieved from his pocket the device he had stopped by the Jiyuu-Saito household to retrieve. Hakudoushi greedily snatched it and ran over to one of the chairs pushed against the wall. In a matter of seconds he was engrossed in his game. He had been about to pass a new level when his mother had interrupted him earlier, and was looking forward to fulfilling his quest.
His aunt shook her head, clearly amused by his actions. “If only there was a way to get you this easily distracted.” Kagura went over to her boyfriend, and retrieved her youngest nephew from his arms. Akago replied by letting out a yawn. “Ah maybe taking a nap would be a good idea.” She punctuated her statement with a peck on his forehead. After balancing the toddler on her hip, she looked up to the man without whom she did not know how she would have managed to weather the crisis she was in the midst of.
“Sessh, thanks for picking up the boys.”
Hours had gone by since Kagura had been kicked out of her sister’s room. All she could do was wait while the doctors concluded final tests and had Kanna prepared for her surgery. When the time had come to go pick up Hakudoushi and Akago from school, Sesshoumaru had happily volunteered. He knew that his lover had to stay at the hospital in case there were changes in her sister’s condition. He was glad that she had at least managed to pry herself away from the phone-free waiting room long enough to give a call to the boys’ school to let them know who he was, and the extraordinary measures that required for him to pick them up.
“Thanks for everything, I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Sesshoumaru took in her words of praise, but did not voice his feelings out loud, and contented himself with a small smile. The tenderness of the moment was interrupted by the shrill ringtone of a cell phone. He repressed the urge to curse. He had forgotten to put the device on silent when he had come back to the hospital. He took it out with the intention of turning off the device. Since Kagura was already by his side, he did not see the relevance of keeping his phone on. After all he had no intention from answering a call from anyone else at the moment; nothing was more important to him than her.
“You should probably get that. I’ll wave you over if anything happens.” Kagura assured him even as she reclaimed her previous waiting spot, taking Akago along. She was aware that she had taken so much out of his time, and did not wish to get in his way more than she had already had.
He would never admit it aloud, but once he saw the name of the caller, Sesshoumaru was quite willing to take the call. With an apologetic nod sent over to Kagura, he walked out of the waiting room.
“Naraku, what do you want?”
“Ha, so you are alive? Where have you been, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”
Sesshoumaru was amused by Naraku’s fake concern. He was tempted at the moment to let his boss know where he was, and why, but decided against it.
‘Kagura would be mad at me if I decided to speak about her or Kanna with him.’ His girlfriend’s potential reaction was however not the main reason for his refusal to let Naraku know he was going to be a grandfather once again. ‘In my opinion, he lost any rights to his family.’
“I am using my vacation time, and it is against the law to ask your employee what they do during their off time.”
The casual way in which Sesshoumaru spoke angered Naraku beyond words. He however realized that as much as he hated it, his employee was right. “I can however ask you if you could cut your vacation short. Without our sole editor, we are encountering… hurdles when it comes to finishing up our current issue. We are late, but the printers assured me that if we finish the issue by tonight, they can have Shikon ready for the shelves by the 1st as usual.”
Sesshoumaru did not need to mull things over before giving an answer. “No.”
Naraku tried his best to keep in his anger. He had always been a man able to control his displays of emotions, but ever since Kagura had quit, and Sesshoumaru had decided to take an unexpected vacation, he had had to shoulder the whole responsibility of Shikon Magazine and its various employees as well as figuring out a way to mend fences with Shigeno. After Kagura had utterly humiliated Oshiko Shigeno, his father had refused to offer the political support Naraku had counted on. ‘And now I have to deal with that fool of Sesshoumaru!’
“Sesshoumaru, let me make something very clear to you. If you do not report to work in an hour, you will not have a job to come back to. Award or no award, I don’t give a shit, and I will throw you out.” Naraku hated being looked down on, and completely expected for Sesshoumaru to discard his pride and to mumble an apology.
After a brief pause, Sesshoumaru gave his final answer. “So be it, I will expect my severance check in the mail. You can have Shippou bring me my personal affairs.” Ordinarily the idea of someone else looking through his belongings would have bothered him, but considering that his desk was mostly empty, and did not contain any personal items, he did not care overmuch. He kept a few files with preliminary research in his office cabinets, but the bulk of his writings were safely on his laptop computer, which he always took home with him at the end of the workday.
“Well… maybe I spoke too harshly. I did not mean to say I would fire you… why don’t you stay on your vacation. Once you come back we can renegotiate your contract. Now that I got rid of Kagura, I can increase your salary… substantially.”
Sesshoumaru’s left eye twitched in anger at the casual way in which Naraku spoke about his daughter, whom he knew the younger man had been having a liaison with for several months. He was also insulted by Naraku’s assumption that he was bluffing in an attempt to get a raise.
“So Sesshoumaru, do we have a deal?”
The younger man was not fooled for one minute by his former boss’s attempt at backtracking. The moment he had said he was quitting, he knew it was the right decision. He had been discontent at Shikon Magazine for a couple weeks now, and since Kagura was not working there any longer, he saw absolutely no reason to retain his position; no matter how much money he stood to make.
“Do not bother calling me again.” On this final note, Sesshoumaru hung up the phone, and shut off the device. He had things to attend to, and did not wish to be disturbed by any other kind of uncalled for distractions.
He pushed away all thoughts of his girlfriend’s father, and strolled back into the waiting room.
“Is everything okay?”
He looked at Kagura upon hearing her question. The two of them were so close now, that she had been able to see through him. He briefly wondered if he should tell her right now about the decision he had made about his professional future, but before he had a chance to, Yukiyo came bursting through the door, grabbing everyone’s attention.
“We have a healthy baby boy!” He jubilantly exclaimed, tears of joy and relief shining in his pale lavender eyes. “He’s a tiny little runt, but the doctors say he should be just fine.”
Kagura immediately jumped to her feet, and walked towards her brother in-law with the intention of questioning him, but before she could formulate a question, he gave her all the details he could think of.
“Kanna is doing as perfectly as possible. She’s now in recovery, and should be up for visits soon. The baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit since they had to put him on a ventilator and inside an incubator for the time being.”
Kagura felt instant dread, but refrained from asking a question as Hakudoushi came to stand next to her.
“What’s a neo tensive unit dad?” He scrunched up his face in confusion, and looked up in the eyes that mirrored his own.
Yukiyo allowed himself a little chuckle before replying. The way in which his son had mangled the name of the unit gave him the chance to laugh in truth for the first time in a while. “It’s just a special place where the doctors can check if your brother is all ready. He’ll stay there until they have a chance to make sure his lungs work perfectly, and he can warm up by himself and breast feed. Some more tests are needed, but he looks just as beautiful as your mom.”
Kagura let out a sigh of relief, and let the new father’s happiness and confidence rub off on her. “When can we see him?”
Yukiyo plucked his middle son from Kagura’s arms, and placed his free hand on his eldest child’s head. “How about I take you all upstairs to have a look at him? It will be behind a window, but you’ll get to meet our newest family member.”
After weeks of constant worry, Kagura was glad to be finally able to see her new nephew. After seeing the baby, she was resolved to go look in on her sister to make sure the surgery had gone well, and that Kanna was doing as good as Yukiyo promised. “Well, lead the way!”
A big goofy grin on his lips, and his two sons in tow, Yukiyo did just that.
Kagura paused on her way out the door when she realized that Sesshoumaru was not following behind them. She turned towards him, and silently arched an eyebrow, perfectly mirroring his silent interrogation technique.
As much as he had been willing to offer Kagura and her family his love and support during the past trying days, he now felt out of place. He had never been around a family welcoming a newborn, and he absolutely did not want to intrude in their intimate moment.
‘Hakudoushi may call me ‘uncle,’ but we all know I am not really a member of the family.’
He did not know how to voice his uneasiness, but in the end did not have to. Kagura was able to read him despite his closed off facial expression, and took his hand in hers. “I never would’ve imagined you’d be terrified at the idea of facing a newborn. Don’t worry he’ll be behind thick layers of glass, so you should be safe.” She had to admit it felt good to be able to crack jokes now that things were settling down.
“Aunt Kagura, Uncle Sesshoumaru, come on hurry up!” The child and his father were holding the elevator for the two stragglers, but the former did not intend to wait overlong for the two adults.
Kagura chuckled at hearing her nephew’s enthusiastic command. “You heard the man, let’s go.” To punctuate her words, she looped her arm around Sesshoumaru’s, and they walked together towards her family members. To Sesshoumaru’s surprise, not another thought of reluctance went through his mind for the rest of the day.
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Kagura averted her crimson eyes from the open road in front of them to look at her lover. The two of them were in his car, driving towards the train station where she had left her own vehicle. Originally she had planned on taking the train back before doing the three hours plus drive to her own home, but Sesshoumaru had volunteered to drive her. She could not help but wonder if he was afraid she would disappear again if he let her out of his sight.
‘Maybe seeing a newborn affected him more than he would ever admit.’ She reflected. After all the two of them had been mostly silent during the entire ride. ‘Or maybe Kanna’s words gave him more food for thought than anticipated.’
*Flashback*
“He might be on the small scale, but he’s adorable.” Kagura commented as she put her arm through the opening on the side of the incubator and caressed her baby nephew’s back. Her gentle gesture put him at ease, and he immediately stopped mewling.
She beamed. “See he already likes me better than you Kanna! Maybe I should take him home.”
Kanna was still in pain from her surgery, and was not so easily amused at the moment. “Don’t think I’ll let you snatch my baby away.” She turned as much as she could from her wheelchair, and addressed Sesshoumaru.
“Just make her a baby already, so she can stop obsessing over mine.” The reaction of the couple was immediate. Kagura blushed furiously, and turned back to give her nephew her undivided attention, and Sesshoumaru turned around to look at the wall. Up until then he had been leaning against the wall, a nice spot from where he could observe the baby without having to worry about the machines and plugs surrounding his incubator, but Kanna’s comment had caused him to shift his attention from Kagura to the fascinating list of guidelines about the neonatal intensive unit hung on the wall.
Seeing how the silence had suddenly become charged with energy, Kanna decided to take things up a notch. “If you get pregnant now, your baby has a chance of having the same birthday as Hakudoushi, wouldn’t it be great if we could have parties for the two cousins together?”
“Kanna…” Kagura was about to scold her sister for spinning fantasies like this; especially in front of Sesshoumaru, but she stopped dead in her tracks. She felt her entire body shiver as she spied the way Sesshoumaru was looking at her. The unusual way in which his glittery amber eyes were staring at her made her feel self-conscious, so she quickly turned back to the baby.
“Your baby is really handsome, you did good bunny.”
*End of flashback*
“Are you sure you’re up to drive?”
Sesshoumaru’s question thrust Kagura out of her musings. She looked out through the window, and realized they had made it back to the train station, and were now next to her car. As she recalled how her vehicle had ended up here, she could not help but feel her heart constrict in pain. Earlier she had called the specialized center where her Aunt Kaede resided. She had wanted to let her know that Kanna had given birth to her third grand-nephew, but once Sesshoumaru had volunteered to drive her, she had also wanted to see if her aunt was up for a visit. It was therefore a painful blow when she had been told that her aunt was having a bad day, and would not be up for visitors.
‘We will be back. I swear that I will bring Sesshoumaru to meet her. I know that Aunt Kaede will love him.’
Sesshoumaru noticed that Kagura was distracted. He did not know what was wrong with her, but the pain filled look in her crimson eyes let him know it was not necessarily good.
“Are you bothered by what your sister said earlier?”
It took her a second to figure out what he was referring to, but when she did she felt herself blush, to her own horror. They had discussed the possibility of having a child together months ago on the rooftop on Shikon Magazine, but neither of them had brought up the topic since then. As much as she wanted to have a child with the man she loved, Kagura did not want things to happen too quickly. They had just started to patch up their relationship, and she wanted to make sure they would go the distance before making things permanent. She was aware that in the past two days they had grown closer due to worrying about Kanna and the baby, and caring for Hakudoushi and Akago, but could not shake the feeling that it had been akin to living in a bubble out of regular time and regular life. As much as she loved Sesshoumaru and knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, she was aware that they needed to have a few long conversations about their future and where things would head from now on.
‘Things are still a bit murky between us, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make things work. Now that Kanna and the baby are out of danger, Sessh and I can focus on our relationship and make some decisions.’
The way in which her lover had stepped up to encourage her while she supported her family had pleasantly surprised the young woman, and in truth made her want to be as good a person as she could be.
‘I also need to fix my own life.’ Now that she had stopped running away, she knew she needed to face things. She was without a job, and while she still had some savings that she could rely on for a while, she wanted to find a new position. Idleness had never suited her, and she knew that for the sake of her own sanity, she needed to find a new employment as soon as possible.
“Nah, I know Kanna was just teasing us. Alright see you at home!” With these parting words, Kagura scurried out of her boyfriend’s car. She took the time to blow him a kiss before heading towards her own car.
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Sesshoumaru had not realized just how tired he had been until he woke up the next morning. After picking up Kagura’s car, the two of them had gone home, and had fallen into bed. They had only taken the time to make a quick call to Yukiyo to inquire about Kanna, the baby and the boys, then ate for dinner some fast food that they had picked up on their way before tumbling into bed. In a matter of minutes they had both fallen asleep.
He glanced over at the alarm clock on his side table, and was surprised by the lateness of the hour. He had never been the type to sleep in, but at the moment had to recognize the benefits of it. He propped himself higher against the headboard then took a few seconds to bask in the moment, and enjoy his present situation. They were lying in their bed, Kagura snuggled as closely to him as possible, and neither of them had any reason to move out of the bed any time soon.
The familiar buzzing sound of a vibrating cell phone disturbed his moment of pleasurable stillness. With a small moan, Kagura woke up, and immediately reached for her phone. Throughout the night, she had been periodically woken up by messages from her brother in-law and sister. Complaining about the disruption was out of the question since she had been the one to ask them to keep her appraised of everything going on at the hospital. Luckily so far she had only received good news.
“Aw, Yukiyo just texted me another picture of Kanna and the baby.” Kagura extended her arm towards the other end of the bed, thrusting the glowing screen towards Sesshoumaru to show him the photograph.
“Lovely.” He could not quite find an adequate word to describe how the image of an exhausted, but smiling, Kanna posing next to her tiny son whom he could almost make fit in the palm of his hand caused an unfamiliar warm and scratchy feeling to spread throughout his chest.
“Damn it, I didn’t realize it was this late.” Kagura shot upright, causing him to halt his disturbing thoughts. “You’ve got to get to work!” She may have quit Shikon Magazine, but she still wanted them to put forward the best possible edition, and this she knew was contingent on Sesshoumaru going in to the office and setting everyone straight.
‘I needed him by my side earlier, but now that Kanna and the baby are out of the woods, Sesshoumaru needs to focus back on work.’
“There is no need for you to concern yourself over this… I quit my position.” Sesshoumaru off handedly told Kagura as he settled back among the pillows on their bed. He knew he was not going to be able to go back to sleep, nor relax.
‘Indeed Kagura will explode in 3…2…1’
“You did what?! When? Why?!” She was confused by his sudden decision. ‘Now that I left he would be the only one in charge of the magazine, why would he give up everything now?’ She turned to her side to peer down casually at the man sharing her bed. She tried to see through the casual front he was putting forward, but to her surprise did not feel as thought he was masking how affected he was by the situation.
“Naraku and I had some creative differences, and decided to part ways. As I have mentioned to you before, I have intended for a while to move on from Shikon, and am looking for other professional opportunities.”
Kagura recalled how the last time he had spoken about his dissatisfaction with working at Shikon, she had accused him of looking down on her and the magazine.
‘I should have realized how wrong I was. He wouldn’t have stayed on with Shikon this long if he had not wanted to stand behind our work. I guess putting together the investigative piece on the Miko Powder did affect him enough for him to want to change jobs.’
“And how is the job search going?” Kagura asked him, trying her best to keep her voice as neutral as possible.
Sesshoumaru attempted to decipher her passive expression, but was unable to do so. “Actually some time ago I received an offer by Jaken…”
“He was your roommate when you were attending university, right?” She could tell he was pleased she recalled such a small detail about his life.
“Yes. He also works over at Headline Daily, and recommended me to his boss. The newspaper has been searching for a new contributor for thire international desk, and Jaken thought I could be a good fit. Since I already had a job, at the time I said I would pass up the proposition, but now…”
Kagura was impressed that Sesshoumaru was managing to put things together so quickly in his life, but worried about the implications of his possible new position. ‘Will he have to travel a lot? I am sure he won’t be content with overseeing fellow journalists dispatched all over the world. He wants to be involved in the nitty-gritty of the business, which is why he left Shikon.’
Unaware of the turmoil emerging in his girlfriend, Sesshoumaru decided to orient the conversation away from him. “I do not know if you recall, but I made earlier a suggestion about your own career that I think you should consider.”
It took a few moments for Kagura’s memory to be jolted, but it finally did. “Is this about the job your dad asked Shiyounin Katsuyama to get for you?” She visibly bristled. During their argument, Sesshoumaru had indeed suggested that she would be a perfect fit for the position, but at the time she had been too angry with him to think things through.
He could tell Kagura was about to shut him down, but just as she opened her mouth to protest, he placed a finger against her lips. “At least meet with Katsuyama to discuss the possibility. Rest assured that the job would not be handled to you on a golden platter. You will of course have to go through the usual selection process… for now just think about it.”
Kagura gently displaced her lover’s fingers before speaking. “If the opportunity is as golden as you make it sound, why don’t you take it?”
“If I were to take the offer, it would please my father too well, and I do not intend to give him any reason to believe he can have a say in my life.” Sesshoumaru felt his lips twist. “Moreover as I said earlier, I have no wish to work as an editor for a magazine… at least not at the moment. I know however how much you enjoyed being editor of Shikon, and working for Katsuyama you would have the opportunity to use your skills without being restricted by Naraku and his narrowed view of things. Not to mention that he pays well, and now that I am unemployed, I could stand to be a kept man while I figure things out about my own professional future.”
While she could understand the reasoning before his first arguments, she knew the latter had only been added to bring some levity to their current conversation. She was all too aware that Sesshoumaru’s massive pride would prevent him from ever being a kept man, and relying on her financially; not to mention that his savings account was as well stocked as hers.
‘Katsuyama is a legend in the periodical world, and I guess that I could learn a lot while working for him… not to mention that unlike my dear old dad, he could come to value my opinion.’
“Alright.” She conceded. “I’ll think about it, but I make no promises, okay?”
Sesshoumaru leaned down to press a small peck to her forehead, right over her dark bangs. “That is all I asked.”
Kagura lay back down next to him, and placed her head against his shoulder. She took a few seconds to suck in the comforting feeling before tackling something that had been on her mind for a while. She was dying to know about it, but also eager to change the topic of the conversation.
She idly ran a tender hand down her boyfriend’s T-shirt covered chest, and burrowed herself deeper against his side. “By the way… that comment you made to Haku the other night… the one about Inuyasha...”
She did not need to go into more detail to have Sesshoumaru understand what she wanted to know. He mulled over a possible answer. A part of him wanted to brush things away, and find a way to distract Kagura, but another wanted to confide in her. Ever since she had come back, things were a bit different between them. He could not quite put his finger on him, but the closest he could come to it as an explanation was that the relationship had somehow grown deeper. To his own surprise he actually enjoyed that.
“I ran into him, and we shared a beer.”
Kagura shot up from the mattress as if an electric current had shocked her. “You two had a drink together? Without killing each other?! Wow… I’m speechless.” She leaned a bit forward to stare back into the amber eyes of the man she had grown to know so well in the past year. “Does that mean you’re opened to the possibility of getting to know him then?”
“It just means that I do not hate him any longer.”
‘To think that in a matter of months Sesshoumaru would go from hating Inuyasha and blaming him for his mother’s death, to being able to have a civil encounter with his brother, and sharing a drink with him…’
Kagura was amazed by how far her boyfriend had come. She vividly recalled how not too long ago when she and Kagome had set up a dinner reunion between the two brothers, getting Sesshoumaru to engage in a conversation with his estranged half brother had felt as if she was trying to pull teeth out of his mouth.
“Me not hating Inuyasha any longer does not mean that you can think about planning another ridiculous dinner.” As if he could read her mind, Sesshoumaru quickly added. “At least not without telling me beforehand.”
She chuckled at hearing his words. It felt nice to be able to laugh about what at the time had been such a horrible experience.
“Speaking about that evening. I realize now that I treated you so unfairly.” Every time Sesshoumaru remembered yelling at Kagura and storming out of the condo, he recalled how angry, how cold he had been towards hers, and deeply regretted his actions.
‘To think that I stupidly broke up with Kagura over this. I was lucky that she forgave me, and we managed to patch things up.’ He reflected to himself before speaking aloud. “I let my anger get the best of me at the time.”
“This is history. I forgave you, and you forgave me for meddling in your family business. I realize now that I shouldn’t have tried to force things behind your back.”
Sesshoumaru took a moment to think about how to put his next thought into fitting words. “There is one thing I wish to say. After doing some thinking, I have to admit that your actions might have been for the best.”
Kagura’s crimson eyes widened in surprise, but before she could comment, Sesshoumaru continued. “If you had not gotten Kagome involved, she would not have spoken with my father, and in turn he probably would have never given me the letter mother wrote to him. Knowing the truth about their relationship, and about her last days gave me closure that I did not know I needed. So for that I am grateful.”
It may have taken him a while to realize it, but Sesshoumaru truly was grateful to have this part of his past resolved and laid to rest. Now that he had met with his father, and managed to have a civil conversation with Inuyasha, he honestly felt as if a load had been taken off his shoulders.
Despite the pain of his memories, he had never moved away from the city where he had been born. He had attended university and worked in the same city where his family lived. Despite the many opportunities he had had to move away he had never left the city where on any given day he could have run into a member of his family. He also recalled his father’s observation that he had kept his last name, when he could have taken his mother’s maiden name if he had wanted to.
‘Maybe deep down I did want to keep a connection to the family no matter how messed up our relationship was.’
However that was not the case anymore, and he now did not see a reason to stay close to the Tashio family. If Kagura took the job offered by Katsuyama, she would have to move, and he would have no problem going with her. She was all the family he wanted and needed, and he had no intention of leaving her behind.
The young woman turned her face away from her lover long enough to wipe the tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. She was extremely touched by his admission of gratefulness; especially as she knew firsthand how hard it was for him to express his feelings.
Sesshoumaru reached over to cradle her face, and orient it back towards him. He did not want her to hide from him. The pad of his thumb brushed away a lone tear that had escaped and was trickling down her cheek.
“Now you’re making me feel like shit for blowing up at you, and storming out of the house that night in the middle of our argument.” Kagura reached down to lace her fingers with his.
He brought their linked hands up to his lips, and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. Sesshoumaru knew they were not going to talk about him and his feelings any longer. “Your actions were understandable. I acted like an idiot. I should have told you about your father’s plan sooner, and prevented you from feeling such pain.”
“Yes, maybe, but I shouldn’t have left you. These past few days have made me realize just how much I need you. Ugh! I feel like an overemotional fool for saying that, but it’s the truth. I love you, and I need you. Things might get tough in the future, and we might argue, but I promise that I won’t walk out again. We just need to find a way to communicate better that’s all.”
“Come here.”
The thought of refusing him never even crossed her mind. Simply hearing his deep voice utter the command was enough to turn her insides to jelly, and make her comply. Kagura threw a leg over Sesshoumaru’s body to straddle him, and leaned her face down towards his. He gently reached up to unbound her wild wavy hair, and placed a hand behind her head, bringing her red lips closer to his.
He allowed her to tease his lips with a feather like touch, but not for too long. Soon he became impatient, and traced her lower lip with the tip of his tongue, silently asking to be granted entry. Kagura did not fail to comply, and her lover took the opportunity to deepen their kiss. She may have been the one on top, but he was the one dominating their kiss. With the help of his tongue, Sesshoumaru slowly and methodically mapped out his lover’s mouth, heightening her desire for him.
They had not been intimate in what felt to her like an eternity, but she wanted to take things slow, and savor every single moment. She eased their kiss into a small peck, and sat up upright as she studied her possible options.
Sesshoumaru placed his hands on her hips, and encouraged her to move over him, their nether regions connecting. She ground he hips harder against his in response, and despite the blanket and his pants, she could feel his reaction to her ministrations grow. She allowed a wicked smile to spread on her lips.
“Be still!”
Her words caused him to arch an eyebrow in question. He was not one to easily follow orders, but he did as told. Something told him he was going to thoroughly enjoy what his lover had in store for him. He therefore leaned back against the pillows propped at his back, and let her do as she wished.
Kagura slid down his body to have more of him at her disposal. She raised the hem of his T-shirt, revealing the smooth skin of his stomach to her appreciative gaze. She bent forward to press small kisses all over the area of skin she uncovered. Her lips danced all the way from his waistband to the center of his chest.
Sesshoumaru had managed to stay silent as she teased him, but he lost it when her small kisses reached a more sensitive part of his anatomy. He felt her chuckle against his skin before nibbling on his nipple. Still her kisses went higher, and soon she was too hampered by his T-shirt to play with him as she saw fit. She made short work of getting rid of it. When she threw the offending piece of clothing in one corner of their bedroom he did not complain, and in fact reciprocated her actions by ridding her of her pink cotton nightshirt, and discarding it in the same fashion.
“I thought you were going to stay still?”
Instead of saying anything, he sat up in bed, careful not to dislodge her from his lap, and repaid her for every teasing touch she had given him. When he pressed an open mouth kiss to her left breast, she threw her head back and pressed her chest even closer to him. His left hand went back to the back of her head, and brought her face to his for another deep kiss. Without breaking their lip lock, he trailed the fingers of his free hand down to across her body to finally reach the place where he wanted to touch her most. Slipping past her underwear, Sesshoumaru’s fingers went down to toy with the hidden jewel nestled in her womanhood. A cocky grin formed at the corner of his mouth when he encountered clear evidence of how excited and eager for his touch she was.
Kagura flushed in slight embarrassment and offered an explanation. “It’s been a while.”
Neither of them was fooled by her words. After all before they had embarked on their affair, she had been celibate for three years following her break up with Kouga. A week without sharing Sesshoumaru’s bed would in comparison mean nothing.
‘No more games.’
As he did not want to keep her wanting, but also wished to fulfill the need burning through his own body, he decided to speed things along.
“Let’s switch.” Sesshoumaru instructed even as tugged on her hips to encourage her to get off of his lap.
Kagura reluctantly did as told and laid back on the bed. “You’re a real control freak, you know that?”
Sesshoumaru leaned over her and kissed away her pout before replying. “Do you wish to argue the point, or do you want me to take care of you?”
She stuck out her tongue petulantly, causing him to chuckle. He knew he had her there, but if he were to be honest, he would admit that arguing was the last thing he wished to do at the moment. His mind was halfway gone already, and all he really wanted was to bury himself into his lover, and work towards getting them both to the high they were aching to reach.
“Open.”
Kagura knew what he wanted. She did not wish to refuse this request either, and after taking off her underwear splayed her legs as wide apart as she could. He may have been the one issuing commands, but Kagura was aware that she yielded a tremendous amount of power over Sesshoumaru. If his labored breathing was not enough of a giveaway, the intensity in his amber eyes was all the indication she needed. He was looking down on her as if he could not wait to devour her. Shivers of pleasure and anticipation coursed down her spine, never had she felt more desirable in her life.
Seeing the woman he loved more than anything offering herself so trustingly to him made his heart flutter in an uncanny way. He needed her, now. He hastily rid himself of his own pants and underwear before falling on top of her and covering her body with his. He melded their lips together in a deep kiss even as his left hand ran down her right thigh, encouraging her to place her legs around his waist. His other hand traveled south once more to play with the center of her pleasure. He wanted to make absolutely sure she was ready for him before he took her.
“Sesshoumaru.” Her pleasure filled moan encouraged him, and he wasted no more time finally giving them what they both needed. In a fluid motion he inserted his length inside of her.
He started with a slow rocking motion, but as his pace increased, Kagura tightened her hold on him, and moved her hips in tandem with his. She was sure her fingers would leave marks on the pale flawless skin of his back, but she was too far gone to care. She was not the only one going wild, and the usually collected Sesshoumaru was also finding it hard to contain himself as he slammed himself inside his lover.
Over the course of the past year, they had made love enough times for each of them to know how to please the other. Sesshoumaru set out to do just that. He knew that he would not be able to last long at this fast pace, but he wanted to ensure Kagura would also find release. He reluctantly put some distance between them, but just enough to allow him to lower his head to one of her breasts. He had barely placed the oversensitive tip in his mouth that Kagura fell apart in his arms. She threw her head back against the pillows, screwed her eyes shut and let out a strangled moan. Now that he had reached his goal, he could focus on his own pleasure. It did not take him long to reach climax himself.
Kagura had barely fluttered back from her bliss-induced haze that she felt Sesshoumaru’s warmth spill inside of her and his movements slowing to a gradual halt. She opened her crimson eyes, and burnt him with the intensity of her gaze. They stared at each other for a short while as they regained their breaths, their clammy chests pressed closely together, and their bodies still as intertwined as possible.
“I love you.”
Kagura shivered at hearing Sesshoumaru’s words and felt another shallow explosion ripple through her going from the place where they were still connected all throughout her body. She had not expected him to speak his feelings in such an overt way, especially not at that moment, and the effect they had on her was surprising as well. Of course considering that she had told him she loved him on several occasions, she had wanted him to reciprocate, but had not anticipated how much happiness it would cause her to hear him say so.
“I love you too Sesshoumaru.” She reached up to press a kiss to the sweat drenched side of his neck, and let out a giggle when his strands of his long silver hair tickled her nose. For the first time in a long time she felt truly happy. Kanna and her family were safe, and she had the man she loved with her.
‘I couldn’t ask for more.’ Kagura sighed happily.
Sesshoumaru was not sure what got into him. He had not anticipated voicing his feelings to Kagura that way, but seeing the way her crimson eyes were shinning happily, he was glad he had.
‘And this time she stayed awake long enough to hear me out.’ He mused to himself. He carefully disengaged his body from hers, and lay back on the bed, taking Kagura with him. She snuggled back against his side, and tucked herself as close to him as possible.
Her hair was snarled and shooting in every direction, her lips were bruised from his kisses, and her dark rimmed eyes sparkled with happiness: she had never looked more beautiful to him. He tucked a finger under her chin, and raised her head to bestow a kiss on her lips. He wanted to do more, but he knew it would take a while for him to recuperate enough to do a repeat performance. In the meantime he contented himself with kissing her as deeply as he could.
The buzzing sound of her cell phone interrupted them.
Kagura reluctantly broke their embrace, and reached over for the device on her side table. Had her sister and nephew not been hospitalized, she would not have bothered with her phone, but considering the situation, she could not afford not to at least read the text message she had received. When she saw the words on her screen she felt her entire body stiffen.
Sesshoumaru who had been running an appreciative hand down the expanse of her back, felt her reaction, and frowned.
“Is it Yukiyo? Did something happen to Kanna?” He sat up, sudden worry gnawing at his insides, and tried to peer at the screen from over her shoulder.
“No.” Kagura turned to face her lover. She was still too incredulous, but nevertheless answered. “It’s Naraku. He wants to meet with me. He says it’s important.”
Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow. He was curious to find out what his lover intended to do after receiving a summons from her father.
Kagura stepped off the bed unabashed by her naked self, and looked over at where Sesshoumaru was seating up on their bed. She gave him a bright reassuring smile. She could tell he wanted to find out about her plans, and wasted no time divulging them.
“Well, why don’t I give my dear old man what he wants?”
To be continued…
A/N: Some questions were answered, some more were added to the mix, and our couple is blissfully in love… for how long lol. The next (and last regular) chapter will be aptly named Last Edition.
A/N: Ugh another month since the last update. So sorry! At least this chapter will be super long, and good! I know it will please many of you. As it started to run quite long, I decided to divide the last chapter in two, so there will still be one chapter and an epilogue after this.
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'
The couple had barely stepped into the waiting room with which Kagura had become too acquainted the previous evening, that Yukiyo came barreling down on them. The usually neat fiscal analyst looked unusually frumpy and disheveled. His pale hair was messed up and his lavender eyes were bloodshot.
“How are the boys?”
Kanna may complain that her husband was too much of a workaholic, but she had never doubted the fact that he loved him family above else. The second he had received the call that she was hospitalized, he had dumped the project he was working on, rushed out of work to go to her, and had not left her side since. He was torn between being there for his beloved wife, or their precious children. Even though he had complete confidence in Kagura, it was with reluctance that he had placed the children in her care.
Kagura sent her brother in-law a reassuring smile. “They’re fine. We dropped them off at preschool and school respectively.”
“We?” He echoed then for the first time took his eyes off of Kagura, and noticed she was not alone. “Sesshoumaru?” He was surprised to see the other man there. From what Kanna had told him it seemed that Kagura had broken things off with him. He as his wife had been sorry to hear that since he genuinely enjoyed spending time with Sesshoumaru. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yukiyo, how is Kanna, has there been any improvements?” While she could tolerate him wanting to ensure his children were cared for, Kagura did not have enough patience to bear hearing him exchange niceties with Sesshoumaru while she waited.
“She just fell asleep, but… well there’s something you should know… after monitoring her and the baby’s vitals all night the doctors decided to schedule a C-section for this afternoon.”
“You’re just telling me this now?!” Kagura’s angry roar caused Yukiyo to flinch. If Sesshoumaru had not placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, she would have been tempted to pounce on her brother in-law. She had always been very protective of her little sister, and not being appraised of her condition the moment her doctors had made their decision angered her beyond words.
Yukiyo was at a loss for words. He had always thought that the older Jiyuu sister was a little bit scary, and still marveled that she and his wife had come from the same place. “Hum well… Kanna asked me to wait, you can ask her why.” He knew his wife would give him hell for deflecting the blame on her, but at the moment he did not want to bear the brunt of Kagura’s anger.
‘Besides she’s having a baby, Kagura won’t be too hard on her…’
“I’ll step in and have a look at Kanna then...” Without giving anyone a chance to stop her, the young woman walked through the corridor, and headed towards the last door on the right. She was glad not to have run into the stern nurse who had relegated her to the waiting room the previous evening under the pretense that Kanna’s room was too full. At the time Kagura had wished she had been a kaze youkai like the fierce warriors in the stories her mother used to tell her when she was a child, she would have love to blow away the nurse with a wind blade.
Kagura stepped into her sister’s room, and did her best to ignore the various monitoring machines hooked to the small pale body lying on the bed. She saw her sister’s eyelids twitch before the big dark eyes opened.
“Hey bunny, how’s it going?” She forced as wide a smile as she could on her ruby lips. She walked to the side of the bed, and looked down at her beloved little sister.
“If you’re calling me that, then I must really look like crap.” Kanna muttered.
‘Bunny’ was the nickname Kagura had given her when they were children. It used to bring Kanna comfort especially after their mother died, and they had to move with their unknown aunt. It was of course a reference to her pale skin and hair and wide dark eyes, but also Kagura’s wish to always be there to look after her younger sibling. She had always seen herself as her sister’s keeper, and despite the years that have gone by, this had not changed.
Kanna attempted to prop herself higher against the pillows behind her back while not trying to dislodge the IV she was hooked on. Seeing her sister struggle, Kagura rushed forward, and helped her by fluffing her pillows.
“You’re about to have a baby, you’re allowed to look like shit.”
Kanna chuckled at her sister’s words. It felt good to be able to laugh despite her current predicament.
Kagura was however not in the mood to joke around, and dove straight into issue. “I thought the doctors wanted to be cautious and wait before doing anything drastic.”
“They did, but this one has a mind of its own, and it wants to come out now!” The younger sister took a deep breath as she felt a contraction rip through her. “I’ve been having contractions non stop since this morning so I agreed to have a C-section; it’s safer.”
Kagura felt a frown form between her eyebrows. Despite her sister’s usual calm assurance, she could not help but feel worried. She knew she needed to be strong for Kanna and her family, so she kept her worries to herself, and her fake smile plastered on.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to do some final tests, and get her prepped before we take her up to the operating bloc.” A young and smiling white clad nurse walked into the room with a medical tray containing syringes and medical articles that Kagura was unable to identify. She felt her heartbeat quicken in anxiety.
The young journalist reached down to squeeze her sister’s hand in a reassuring gesture. She wished that through that simple action, she could give Kanna all of her strength.
‘I don’t know if I can leave her… she might need me.’ Kagura resisted the urge to bite her lower lip as she looked down on her sister’s small pale form, and the large bulge containing her nephew to be.
“Do you want me to go in with you?” When Hakudoushi had been born, Kagura had been by her sister’s side as Yukiyo had been away and while she had not been in the room when Kanna had given birth to Akago, she had been right outside, there for her. However she was aware that this time around she would not be able to be as close to her sister as she wanted as Kanna was going to be in the surgery ward, and she would not be granted access to it.
Kanna squeezed her sister’s hand back. “Yukiyo will be there. Why don’t you go wait with Sesshoumaru in the waiting room? He’ll be able to keep you sane, we both know you could use some calming influence.”
Kagura was amazed that at such a time Kanna was worried about her instead of focusing on herself. ‘If she’s able to make fun of me, then she must feel better than I thought.’ She leaned forward to press a kiss to Kanna’s forehead.
“Alright bunny, I’ll be in the waiting room, and looking forward to meeting my new nephew.” Kagura reluctantly headed towards the door, but paused when something occurred to her. “How did you know Sesshoumaru is here?”
Kanna sent her older sibling a small smile before answering. “You love each other, and he’s family now, of course he would be here.”
Since she could not find anything to retort to that, Kagura answered her sister’s smile with one of her own. Just as she stepped outside, she ran into her brother in-law.
She gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Look after her, okay.”
“You know I will.” Yukiyo wiped the worry out of his face, and put on a goofy grin for his wife’s sake. He stepped into Kanna’s room and let out a loud joyous exclamation “Honey, ready for number 3?”
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Kagura’s crimson eyes lowered to her jerking leg. She very much disliked showcasing such an obvious outward display of weakness, but did not curb her behavior as she was alone in the waiting room. She once again wished she could be with her sister.
‘It’s okay, they must have started the surgery by now, and Kanna will be out very soon… besides Yukiyo is with her.’ She would not exactly think the words, but she also wished that Sesshoumaru was at her side at the moment. As if she had conjured him, she saw his reassuring presence stroll in.
“Aunt Kagura, did mom have the baby yet?” Hakudoushi has barely spied his beloved aunt that he broke away from Sesshoumaru’s side to rush towards her.
Kagura put back on her large fake smile, and stood up to greet the new comers. “It will take a little bit longer, but the doctors should be done soon. In the meantime, why don’t you play with your video game? I won’t tell your mom if you don’t.” She punctuated her statement with a mischievous wink. She knew her sister rationed the amount of time her son was allowed to play with his hand held device, and being able to play with it without limit would be too tantalizing an offer for Hakudoushi to resist.
As if on cue Sesshoumaru retrieved from his pocket the device he had stopped by the Jiyuu-Saito household to retrieve. Hakudoushi greedily snatched it and ran over to one of the chairs pushed against the wall. In a matter of seconds he was engrossed in his game. He had been about to pass a new level when his mother had interrupted him earlier, and was looking forward to fulfilling his quest.
His aunt shook her head, clearly amused by his actions. “If only there was a way to get you this easily distracted.” Kagura went over to her boyfriend, and retrieved her youngest nephew from his arms. Akago replied by letting out a yawn. “Ah maybe taking a nap would be a good idea.” She punctuated her statement with a peck on his forehead. After balancing the toddler on her hip, she looked up to the man without whom she did not know how she would have managed to weather the crisis she was in the midst of.
“Sessh, thanks for picking up the boys.”
Hours had gone by since Kagura had been kicked out of her sister’s room. All she could do was wait while the doctors concluded final tests and had Kanna prepared for her surgery. When the time had come to go pick up Hakudoushi and Akago from school, Sesshoumaru had happily volunteered. He knew that his lover had to stay at the hospital in case there were changes in her sister’s condition. He was glad that she had at least managed to pry herself away from the phone-free waiting room long enough to give a call to the boys’ school to let them know who he was, and the extraordinary measures that required for him to pick them up.
“Thanks for everything, I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Sesshoumaru took in her words of praise, but did not voice his feelings out loud, and contented himself with a small smile. The tenderness of the moment was interrupted by the shrill ringtone of a cell phone. He repressed the urge to curse. He had forgotten to put the device on silent when he had come back to the hospital. He took it out with the intention of turning off the device. Since Kagura was already by his side, he did not see the relevance of keeping his phone on. After all he had no intention from answering a call from anyone else at the moment; nothing was more important to him than her.
“You should probably get that. I’ll wave you over if anything happens.” Kagura assured him even as she reclaimed her previous waiting spot, taking Akago along. She was aware that she had taken so much out of his time, and did not wish to get in his way more than she had already had.
He would never admit it aloud, but once he saw the name of the caller, Sesshoumaru was quite willing to take the call. With an apologetic nod sent over to Kagura, he walked out of the waiting room.
“Naraku, what do you want?”
“Ha, so you are alive? Where have you been, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”
Sesshoumaru was amused by Naraku’s fake concern. He was tempted at the moment to let his boss know where he was, and why, but decided against it.
‘Kagura would be mad at me if I decided to speak about her or Kanna with him.’ His girlfriend’s potential reaction was however not the main reason for his refusal to let Naraku know he was going to be a grandfather once again. ‘In my opinion, he lost any rights to his family.’
“I am using my vacation time, and it is against the law to ask your employee what they do during their off time.”
The casual way in which Sesshoumaru spoke angered Naraku beyond words. He however realized that as much as he hated it, his employee was right. “I can however ask you if you could cut your vacation short. Without our sole editor, we are encountering… hurdles when it comes to finishing up our current issue. We are late, but the printers assured me that if we finish the issue by tonight, they can have Shikon ready for the shelves by the 1st as usual.”
Sesshoumaru did not need to mull things over before giving an answer. “No.”
Naraku tried his best to keep in his anger. He had always been a man able to control his displays of emotions, but ever since Kagura had quit, and Sesshoumaru had decided to take an unexpected vacation, he had had to shoulder the whole responsibility of Shikon Magazine and its various employees as well as figuring out a way to mend fences with Shigeno. After Kagura had utterly humiliated Oshiko Shigeno, his father had refused to offer the political support Naraku had counted on. ‘And now I have to deal with that fool of Sesshoumaru!’
“Sesshoumaru, let me make something very clear to you. If you do not report to work in an hour, you will not have a job to come back to. Award or no award, I don’t give a shit, and I will throw you out.” Naraku hated being looked down on, and completely expected for Sesshoumaru to discard his pride and to mumble an apology.
After a brief pause, Sesshoumaru gave his final answer. “So be it, I will expect my severance check in the mail. You can have Shippou bring me my personal affairs.” Ordinarily the idea of someone else looking through his belongings would have bothered him, but considering that his desk was mostly empty, and did not contain any personal items, he did not care overmuch. He kept a few files with preliminary research in his office cabinets, but the bulk of his writings were safely on his laptop computer, which he always took home with him at the end of the workday.
“Well… maybe I spoke too harshly. I did not mean to say I would fire you… why don’t you stay on your vacation. Once you come back we can renegotiate your contract. Now that I got rid of Kagura, I can increase your salary… substantially.”
Sesshoumaru’s left eye twitched in anger at the casual way in which Naraku spoke about his daughter, whom he knew the younger man had been having a liaison with for several months. He was also insulted by Naraku’s assumption that he was bluffing in an attempt to get a raise.
“So Sesshoumaru, do we have a deal?”
The younger man was not fooled for one minute by his former boss’s attempt at backtracking. The moment he had said he was quitting, he knew it was the right decision. He had been discontent at Shikon Magazine for a couple weeks now, and since Kagura was not working there any longer, he saw absolutely no reason to retain his position; no matter how much money he stood to make.
“Do not bother calling me again.” On this final note, Sesshoumaru hung up the phone, and shut off the device. He had things to attend to, and did not wish to be disturbed by any other kind of uncalled for distractions.
He pushed away all thoughts of his girlfriend’s father, and strolled back into the waiting room.
“Is everything okay?”
He looked at Kagura upon hearing her question. The two of them were so close now, that she had been able to see through him. He briefly wondered if he should tell her right now about the decision he had made about his professional future, but before he had a chance to, Yukiyo came bursting through the door, grabbing everyone’s attention.
“We have a healthy baby boy!” He jubilantly exclaimed, tears of joy and relief shining in his pale lavender eyes. “He’s a tiny little runt, but the doctors say he should be just fine.”
Kagura immediately jumped to her feet, and walked towards her brother in-law with the intention of questioning him, but before she could formulate a question, he gave her all the details he could think of.
“Kanna is doing as perfectly as possible. She’s now in recovery, and should be up for visits soon. The baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit since they had to put him on a ventilator and inside an incubator for the time being.”
Kagura felt instant dread, but refrained from asking a question as Hakudoushi came to stand next to her.
“What’s a neo tensive unit dad?” He scrunched up his face in confusion, and looked up in the eyes that mirrored his own.
Yukiyo allowed himself a little chuckle before replying. The way in which his son had mangled the name of the unit gave him the chance to laugh in truth for the first time in a while. “It’s just a special place where the doctors can check if your brother is all ready. He’ll stay there until they have a chance to make sure his lungs work perfectly, and he can warm up by himself and breast feed. Some more tests are needed, but he looks just as beautiful as your mom.”
Kagura let out a sigh of relief, and let the new father’s happiness and confidence rub off on her. “When can we see him?”
Yukiyo plucked his middle son from Kagura’s arms, and placed his free hand on his eldest child’s head. “How about I take you all upstairs to have a look at him? It will be behind a window, but you’ll get to meet our newest family member.”
After weeks of constant worry, Kagura was glad to be finally able to see her new nephew. After seeing the baby, she was resolved to go look in on her sister to make sure the surgery had gone well, and that Kanna was doing as good as Yukiyo promised. “Well, lead the way!”
A big goofy grin on his lips, and his two sons in tow, Yukiyo did just that.
Kagura paused on her way out the door when she realized that Sesshoumaru was not following behind them. She turned towards him, and silently arched an eyebrow, perfectly mirroring his silent interrogation technique.
As much as he had been willing to offer Kagura and her family his love and support during the past trying days, he now felt out of place. He had never been around a family welcoming a newborn, and he absolutely did not want to intrude in their intimate moment.
‘Hakudoushi may call me ‘uncle,’ but we all know I am not really a member of the family.’
He did not know how to voice his uneasiness, but in the end did not have to. Kagura was able to read him despite his closed off facial expression, and took his hand in hers. “I never would’ve imagined you’d be terrified at the idea of facing a newborn. Don’t worry he’ll be behind thick layers of glass, so you should be safe.” She had to admit it felt good to be able to crack jokes now that things were settling down.
“Aunt Kagura, Uncle Sesshoumaru, come on hurry up!” The child and his father were holding the elevator for the two stragglers, but the former did not intend to wait overlong for the two adults.
Kagura chuckled at hearing her nephew’s enthusiastic command. “You heard the man, let’s go.” To punctuate her words, she looped her arm around Sesshoumaru’s, and they walked together towards her family members. To Sesshoumaru’s surprise, not another thought of reluctance went through his mind for the rest of the day.
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Kagura averted her crimson eyes from the open road in front of them to look at her lover. The two of them were in his car, driving towards the train station where she had left her own vehicle. Originally she had planned on taking the train back before doing the three hours plus drive to her own home, but Sesshoumaru had volunteered to drive her. She could not help but wonder if he was afraid she would disappear again if he let her out of his sight.
‘Maybe seeing a newborn affected him more than he would ever admit.’ She reflected. After all the two of them had been mostly silent during the entire ride. ‘Or maybe Kanna’s words gave him more food for thought than anticipated.’
*Flashback*
“He might be on the small scale, but he’s adorable.” Kagura commented as she put her arm through the opening on the side of the incubator and caressed her baby nephew’s back. Her gentle gesture put him at ease, and he immediately stopped mewling.
She beamed. “See he already likes me better than you Kanna! Maybe I should take him home.”
Kanna was still in pain from her surgery, and was not so easily amused at the moment. “Don’t think I’ll let you snatch my baby away.” She turned as much as she could from her wheelchair, and addressed Sesshoumaru.
“Just make her a baby already, so she can stop obsessing over mine.” The reaction of the couple was immediate. Kagura blushed furiously, and turned back to give her nephew her undivided attention, and Sesshoumaru turned around to look at the wall. Up until then he had been leaning against the wall, a nice spot from where he could observe the baby without having to worry about the machines and plugs surrounding his incubator, but Kanna’s comment had caused him to shift his attention from Kagura to the fascinating list of guidelines about the neonatal intensive unit hung on the wall.
Seeing how the silence had suddenly become charged with energy, Kanna decided to take things up a notch. “If you get pregnant now, your baby has a chance of having the same birthday as Hakudoushi, wouldn’t it be great if we could have parties for the two cousins together?”
“Kanna…” Kagura was about to scold her sister for spinning fantasies like this; especially in front of Sesshoumaru, but she stopped dead in her tracks. She felt her entire body shiver as she spied the way Sesshoumaru was looking at her. The unusual way in which his glittery amber eyes were staring at her made her feel self-conscious, so she quickly turned back to the baby.
“Your baby is really handsome, you did good bunny.”
*End of flashback*
“Are you sure you’re up to drive?”
Sesshoumaru’s question thrust Kagura out of her musings. She looked out through the window, and realized they had made it back to the train station, and were now next to her car. As she recalled how her vehicle had ended up here, she could not help but feel her heart constrict in pain. Earlier she had called the specialized center where her Aunt Kaede resided. She had wanted to let her know that Kanna had given birth to her third grand-nephew, but once Sesshoumaru had volunteered to drive her, she had also wanted to see if her aunt was up for a visit. It was therefore a painful blow when she had been told that her aunt was having a bad day, and would not be up for visitors.
‘We will be back. I swear that I will bring Sesshoumaru to meet her. I know that Aunt Kaede will love him.’
Sesshoumaru noticed that Kagura was distracted. He did not know what was wrong with her, but the pain filled look in her crimson eyes let him know it was not necessarily good.
“Are you bothered by what your sister said earlier?”
It took her a second to figure out what he was referring to, but when she did she felt herself blush, to her own horror. They had discussed the possibility of having a child together months ago on the rooftop on Shikon Magazine, but neither of them had brought up the topic since then. As much as she wanted to have a child with the man she loved, Kagura did not want things to happen too quickly. They had just started to patch up their relationship, and she wanted to make sure they would go the distance before making things permanent. She was aware that in the past two days they had grown closer due to worrying about Kanna and the baby, and caring for Hakudoushi and Akago, but could not shake the feeling that it had been akin to living in a bubble out of regular time and regular life. As much as she loved Sesshoumaru and knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, she was aware that they needed to have a few long conversations about their future and where things would head from now on.
‘Things are still a bit murky between us, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make things work. Now that Kanna and the baby are out of danger, Sessh and I can focus on our relationship and make some decisions.’
The way in which her lover had stepped up to encourage her while she supported her family had pleasantly surprised the young woman, and in truth made her want to be as good a person as she could be.
‘I also need to fix my own life.’ Now that she had stopped running away, she knew she needed to face things. She was without a job, and while she still had some savings that she could rely on for a while, she wanted to find a new position. Idleness had never suited her, and she knew that for the sake of her own sanity, she needed to find a new employment as soon as possible.
“Nah, I know Kanna was just teasing us. Alright see you at home!” With these parting words, Kagura scurried out of her boyfriend’s car. She took the time to blow him a kiss before heading towards her own car.
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Sesshoumaru had not realized just how tired he had been until he woke up the next morning. After picking up Kagura’s car, the two of them had gone home, and had fallen into bed. They had only taken the time to make a quick call to Yukiyo to inquire about Kanna, the baby and the boys, then ate for dinner some fast food that they had picked up on their way before tumbling into bed. In a matter of minutes they had both fallen asleep.
He glanced over at the alarm clock on his side table, and was surprised by the lateness of the hour. He had never been the type to sleep in, but at the moment had to recognize the benefits of it. He propped himself higher against the headboard then took a few seconds to bask in the moment, and enjoy his present situation. They were lying in their bed, Kagura snuggled as closely to him as possible, and neither of them had any reason to move out of the bed any time soon.
The familiar buzzing sound of a vibrating cell phone disturbed his moment of pleasurable stillness. With a small moan, Kagura woke up, and immediately reached for her phone. Throughout the night, she had been periodically woken up by messages from her brother in-law and sister. Complaining about the disruption was out of the question since she had been the one to ask them to keep her appraised of everything going on at the hospital. Luckily so far she had only received good news.
“Aw, Yukiyo just texted me another picture of Kanna and the baby.” Kagura extended her arm towards the other end of the bed, thrusting the glowing screen towards Sesshoumaru to show him the photograph.
“Lovely.” He could not quite find an adequate word to describe how the image of an exhausted, but smiling, Kanna posing next to her tiny son whom he could almost make fit in the palm of his hand caused an unfamiliar warm and scratchy feeling to spread throughout his chest.
“Damn it, I didn’t realize it was this late.” Kagura shot upright, causing him to halt his disturbing thoughts. “You’ve got to get to work!” She may have quit Shikon Magazine, but she still wanted them to put forward the best possible edition, and this she knew was contingent on Sesshoumaru going in to the office and setting everyone straight.
‘I needed him by my side earlier, but now that Kanna and the baby are out of the woods, Sesshoumaru needs to focus back on work.’
“There is no need for you to concern yourself over this… I quit my position.” Sesshoumaru off handedly told Kagura as he settled back among the pillows on their bed. He knew he was not going to be able to go back to sleep, nor relax.
‘Indeed Kagura will explode in 3…2…1’
“You did what?! When? Why?!” She was confused by his sudden decision. ‘Now that I left he would be the only one in charge of the magazine, why would he give up everything now?’ She turned to her side to peer down casually at the man sharing her bed. She tried to see through the casual front he was putting forward, but to her surprise did not feel as thought he was masking how affected he was by the situation.
“Naraku and I had some creative differences, and decided to part ways. As I have mentioned to you before, I have intended for a while to move on from Shikon, and am looking for other professional opportunities.”
Kagura recalled how the last time he had spoken about his dissatisfaction with working at Shikon, she had accused him of looking down on her and the magazine.
‘I should have realized how wrong I was. He wouldn’t have stayed on with Shikon this long if he had not wanted to stand behind our work. I guess putting together the investigative piece on the Miko Powder did affect him enough for him to want to change jobs.’
“And how is the job search going?” Kagura asked him, trying her best to keep her voice as neutral as possible.
Sesshoumaru attempted to decipher her passive expression, but was unable to do so. “Actually some time ago I received an offer by Jaken…”
“He was your roommate when you were attending university, right?” She could tell he was pleased she recalled such a small detail about his life.
“Yes. He also works over at Headline Daily, and recommended me to his boss. The newspaper has been searching for a new contributor for thire international desk, and Jaken thought I could be a good fit. Since I already had a job, at the time I said I would pass up the proposition, but now…”
Kagura was impressed that Sesshoumaru was managing to put things together so quickly in his life, but worried about the implications of his possible new position. ‘Will he have to travel a lot? I am sure he won’t be content with overseeing fellow journalists dispatched all over the world. He wants to be involved in the nitty-gritty of the business, which is why he left Shikon.’
Unaware of the turmoil emerging in his girlfriend, Sesshoumaru decided to orient the conversation away from him. “I do not know if you recall, but I made earlier a suggestion about your own career that I think you should consider.”
It took a few moments for Kagura’s memory to be jolted, but it finally did. “Is this about the job your dad asked Shiyounin Katsuyama to get for you?” She visibly bristled. During their argument, Sesshoumaru had indeed suggested that she would be a perfect fit for the position, but at the time she had been too angry with him to think things through.
He could tell Kagura was about to shut him down, but just as she opened her mouth to protest, he placed a finger against her lips. “At least meet with Katsuyama to discuss the possibility. Rest assured that the job would not be handled to you on a golden platter. You will of course have to go through the usual selection process… for now just think about it.”
Kagura gently displaced her lover’s fingers before speaking. “If the opportunity is as golden as you make it sound, why don’t you take it?”
“If I were to take the offer, it would please my father too well, and I do not intend to give him any reason to believe he can have a say in my life.” Sesshoumaru felt his lips twist. “Moreover as I said earlier, I have no wish to work as an editor for a magazine… at least not at the moment. I know however how much you enjoyed being editor of Shikon, and working for Katsuyama you would have the opportunity to use your skills without being restricted by Naraku and his narrowed view of things. Not to mention that he pays well, and now that I am unemployed, I could stand to be a kept man while I figure things out about my own professional future.”
While she could understand the reasoning before his first arguments, she knew the latter had only been added to bring some levity to their current conversation. She was all too aware that Sesshoumaru’s massive pride would prevent him from ever being a kept man, and relying on her financially; not to mention that his savings account was as well stocked as hers.
‘Katsuyama is a legend in the periodical world, and I guess that I could learn a lot while working for him… not to mention that unlike my dear old dad, he could come to value my opinion.’
“Alright.” She conceded. “I’ll think about it, but I make no promises, okay?”
Sesshoumaru leaned down to press a small peck to her forehead, right over her dark bangs. “That is all I asked.”
Kagura lay back down next to him, and placed her head against his shoulder. She took a few seconds to suck in the comforting feeling before tackling something that had been on her mind for a while. She was dying to know about it, but also eager to change the topic of the conversation.
She idly ran a tender hand down her boyfriend’s T-shirt covered chest, and burrowed herself deeper against his side. “By the way… that comment you made to Haku the other night… the one about Inuyasha...”
She did not need to go into more detail to have Sesshoumaru understand what she wanted to know. He mulled over a possible answer. A part of him wanted to brush things away, and find a way to distract Kagura, but another wanted to confide in her. Ever since she had come back, things were a bit different between them. He could not quite put his finger on him, but the closest he could come to it as an explanation was that the relationship had somehow grown deeper. To his own surprise he actually enjoyed that.
“I ran into him, and we shared a beer.”
Kagura shot up from the mattress as if an electric current had shocked her. “You two had a drink together? Without killing each other?! Wow… I’m speechless.” She leaned a bit forward to stare back into the amber eyes of the man she had grown to know so well in the past year. “Does that mean you’re opened to the possibility of getting to know him then?”
“It just means that I do not hate him any longer.”
‘To think that in a matter of months Sesshoumaru would go from hating Inuyasha and blaming him for his mother’s death, to being able to have a civil encounter with his brother, and sharing a drink with him…’
Kagura was amazed by how far her boyfriend had come. She vividly recalled how not too long ago when she and Kagome had set up a dinner reunion between the two brothers, getting Sesshoumaru to engage in a conversation with his estranged half brother had felt as if she was trying to pull teeth out of his mouth.
“Me not hating Inuyasha any longer does not mean that you can think about planning another ridiculous dinner.” As if he could read her mind, Sesshoumaru quickly added. “At least not without telling me beforehand.”
She chuckled at hearing his words. It felt nice to be able to laugh about what at the time had been such a horrible experience.
“Speaking about that evening. I realize now that I treated you so unfairly.” Every time Sesshoumaru remembered yelling at Kagura and storming out of the condo, he recalled how angry, how cold he had been towards hers, and deeply regretted his actions.
‘To think that I stupidly broke up with Kagura over this. I was lucky that she forgave me, and we managed to patch things up.’ He reflected to himself before speaking aloud. “I let my anger get the best of me at the time.”
“This is history. I forgave you, and you forgave me for meddling in your family business. I realize now that I shouldn’t have tried to force things behind your back.”
Sesshoumaru took a moment to think about how to put his next thought into fitting words. “There is one thing I wish to say. After doing some thinking, I have to admit that your actions might have been for the best.”
Kagura’s crimson eyes widened in surprise, but before she could comment, Sesshoumaru continued. “If you had not gotten Kagome involved, she would not have spoken with my father, and in turn he probably would have never given me the letter mother wrote to him. Knowing the truth about their relationship, and about her last days gave me closure that I did not know I needed. So for that I am grateful.”
It may have taken him a while to realize it, but Sesshoumaru truly was grateful to have this part of his past resolved and laid to rest. Now that he had met with his father, and managed to have a civil conversation with Inuyasha, he honestly felt as if a load had been taken off his shoulders.
Despite the pain of his memories, he had never moved away from the city where he had been born. He had attended university and worked in the same city where his family lived. Despite the many opportunities he had had to move away he had never left the city where on any given day he could have run into a member of his family. He also recalled his father’s observation that he had kept his last name, when he could have taken his mother’s maiden name if he had wanted to.
‘Maybe deep down I did want to keep a connection to the family no matter how messed up our relationship was.’
However that was not the case anymore, and he now did not see a reason to stay close to the Tashio family. If Kagura took the job offered by Katsuyama, she would have to move, and he would have no problem going with her. She was all the family he wanted and needed, and he had no intention of leaving her behind.
The young woman turned her face away from her lover long enough to wipe the tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. She was extremely touched by his admission of gratefulness; especially as she knew firsthand how hard it was for him to express his feelings.
Sesshoumaru reached over to cradle her face, and orient it back towards him. He did not want her to hide from him. The pad of his thumb brushed away a lone tear that had escaped and was trickling down her cheek.
“Now you’re making me feel like shit for blowing up at you, and storming out of the house that night in the middle of our argument.” Kagura reached down to lace her fingers with his.
He brought their linked hands up to his lips, and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. Sesshoumaru knew they were not going to talk about him and his feelings any longer. “Your actions were understandable. I acted like an idiot. I should have told you about your father’s plan sooner, and prevented you from feeling such pain.”
“Yes, maybe, but I shouldn’t have left you. These past few days have made me realize just how much I need you. Ugh! I feel like an overemotional fool for saying that, but it’s the truth. I love you, and I need you. Things might get tough in the future, and we might argue, but I promise that I won’t walk out again. We just need to find a way to communicate better that’s all.”
“Come here.”
The thought of refusing him never even crossed her mind. Simply hearing his deep voice utter the command was enough to turn her insides to jelly, and make her comply. Kagura threw a leg over Sesshoumaru’s body to straddle him, and leaned her face down towards his. He gently reached up to unbound her wild wavy hair, and placed a hand behind her head, bringing her red lips closer to his.
He allowed her to tease his lips with a feather like touch, but not for too long. Soon he became impatient, and traced her lower lip with the tip of his tongue, silently asking to be granted entry. Kagura did not fail to comply, and her lover took the opportunity to deepen their kiss. She may have been the one on top, but he was the one dominating their kiss. With the help of his tongue, Sesshoumaru slowly and methodically mapped out his lover’s mouth, heightening her desire for him.
They had not been intimate in what felt to her like an eternity, but she wanted to take things slow, and savor every single moment. She eased their kiss into a small peck, and sat up upright as she studied her possible options.
Sesshoumaru placed his hands on her hips, and encouraged her to move over him, their nether regions connecting. She ground he hips harder against his in response, and despite the blanket and his pants, she could feel his reaction to her ministrations grow. She allowed a wicked smile to spread on her lips.
“Be still!”
Her words caused him to arch an eyebrow in question. He was not one to easily follow orders, but he did as told. Something told him he was going to thoroughly enjoy what his lover had in store for him. He therefore leaned back against the pillows propped at his back, and let her do as she wished.
Kagura slid down his body to have more of him at her disposal. She raised the hem of his T-shirt, revealing the smooth skin of his stomach to her appreciative gaze. She bent forward to press small kisses all over the area of skin she uncovered. Her lips danced all the way from his waistband to the center of his chest.
Sesshoumaru had managed to stay silent as she teased him, but he lost it when her small kisses reached a more sensitive part of his anatomy. He felt her chuckle against his skin before nibbling on his nipple. Still her kisses went higher, and soon she was too hampered by his T-shirt to play with him as she saw fit. She made short work of getting rid of it. When she threw the offending piece of clothing in one corner of their bedroom he did not complain, and in fact reciprocated her actions by ridding her of her pink cotton nightshirt, and discarding it in the same fashion.
“I thought you were going to stay still?”
Instead of saying anything, he sat up in bed, careful not to dislodge her from his lap, and repaid her for every teasing touch she had given him. When he pressed an open mouth kiss to her left breast, she threw her head back and pressed her chest even closer to him. His left hand went back to the back of her head, and brought her face to his for another deep kiss. Without breaking their lip lock, he trailed the fingers of his free hand down to across her body to finally reach the place where he wanted to touch her most. Slipping past her underwear, Sesshoumaru’s fingers went down to toy with the hidden jewel nestled in her womanhood. A cocky grin formed at the corner of his mouth when he encountered clear evidence of how excited and eager for his touch she was.
Kagura flushed in slight embarrassment and offered an explanation. “It’s been a while.”
Neither of them was fooled by her words. After all before they had embarked on their affair, she had been celibate for three years following her break up with Kouga. A week without sharing Sesshoumaru’s bed would in comparison mean nothing.
‘No more games.’
As he did not want to keep her wanting, but also wished to fulfill the need burning through his own body, he decided to speed things along.
“Let’s switch.” Sesshoumaru instructed even as tugged on her hips to encourage her to get off of his lap.
Kagura reluctantly did as told and laid back on the bed. “You’re a real control freak, you know that?”
Sesshoumaru leaned over her and kissed away her pout before replying. “Do you wish to argue the point, or do you want me to take care of you?”
She stuck out her tongue petulantly, causing him to chuckle. He knew he had her there, but if he were to be honest, he would admit that arguing was the last thing he wished to do at the moment. His mind was halfway gone already, and all he really wanted was to bury himself into his lover, and work towards getting them both to the high they were aching to reach.
“Open.”
Kagura knew what he wanted. She did not wish to refuse this request either, and after taking off her underwear splayed her legs as wide apart as she could. He may have been the one issuing commands, but Kagura was aware that she yielded a tremendous amount of power over Sesshoumaru. If his labored breathing was not enough of a giveaway, the intensity in his amber eyes was all the indication she needed. He was looking down on her as if he could not wait to devour her. Shivers of pleasure and anticipation coursed down her spine, never had she felt more desirable in her life.
Seeing the woman he loved more than anything offering herself so trustingly to him made his heart flutter in an uncanny way. He needed her, now. He hastily rid himself of his own pants and underwear before falling on top of her and covering her body with his. He melded their lips together in a deep kiss even as his left hand ran down her right thigh, encouraging her to place her legs around his waist. His other hand traveled south once more to play with the center of her pleasure. He wanted to make absolutely sure she was ready for him before he took her.
“Sesshoumaru.” Her pleasure filled moan encouraged him, and he wasted no more time finally giving them what they both needed. In a fluid motion he inserted his length inside of her.
He started with a slow rocking motion, but as his pace increased, Kagura tightened her hold on him, and moved her hips in tandem with his. She was sure her fingers would leave marks on the pale flawless skin of his back, but she was too far gone to care. She was not the only one going wild, and the usually collected Sesshoumaru was also finding it hard to contain himself as he slammed himself inside his lover.
Over the course of the past year, they had made love enough times for each of them to know how to please the other. Sesshoumaru set out to do just that. He knew that he would not be able to last long at this fast pace, but he wanted to ensure Kagura would also find release. He reluctantly put some distance between them, but just enough to allow him to lower his head to one of her breasts. He had barely placed the oversensitive tip in his mouth that Kagura fell apart in his arms. She threw her head back against the pillows, screwed her eyes shut and let out a strangled moan. Now that he had reached his goal, he could focus on his own pleasure. It did not take him long to reach climax himself.
Kagura had barely fluttered back from her bliss-induced haze that she felt Sesshoumaru’s warmth spill inside of her and his movements slowing to a gradual halt. She opened her crimson eyes, and burnt him with the intensity of her gaze. They stared at each other for a short while as they regained their breaths, their clammy chests pressed closely together, and their bodies still as intertwined as possible.
“I love you.”
Kagura shivered at hearing Sesshoumaru’s words and felt another shallow explosion ripple through her going from the place where they were still connected all throughout her body. She had not expected him to speak his feelings in such an overt way, especially not at that moment, and the effect they had on her was surprising as well. Of course considering that she had told him she loved him on several occasions, she had wanted him to reciprocate, but had not anticipated how much happiness it would cause her to hear him say so.
“I love you too Sesshoumaru.” She reached up to press a kiss to the sweat drenched side of his neck, and let out a giggle when his strands of his long silver hair tickled her nose. For the first time in a long time she felt truly happy. Kanna and her family were safe, and she had the man she loved with her.
‘I couldn’t ask for more.’ Kagura sighed happily.
Sesshoumaru was not sure what got into him. He had not anticipated voicing his feelings to Kagura that way, but seeing the way her crimson eyes were shinning happily, he was glad he had.
‘And this time she stayed awake long enough to hear me out.’ He mused to himself. He carefully disengaged his body from hers, and lay back on the bed, taking Kagura with him. She snuggled back against his side, and tucked herself as close to him as possible.
Her hair was snarled and shooting in every direction, her lips were bruised from his kisses, and her dark rimmed eyes sparkled with happiness: she had never looked more beautiful to him. He tucked a finger under her chin, and raised her head to bestow a kiss on her lips. He wanted to do more, but he knew it would take a while for him to recuperate enough to do a repeat performance. In the meantime he contented himself with kissing her as deeply as he could.
The buzzing sound of her cell phone interrupted them.
Kagura reluctantly broke their embrace, and reached over for the device on her side table. Had her sister and nephew not been hospitalized, she would not have bothered with her phone, but considering the situation, she could not afford not to at least read the text message she had received. When she saw the words on her screen she felt her entire body stiffen.
Sesshoumaru who had been running an appreciative hand down the expanse of her back, felt her reaction, and frowned.
“Is it Yukiyo? Did something happen to Kanna?” He sat up, sudden worry gnawing at his insides, and tried to peer at the screen from over her shoulder.
“No.” Kagura turned to face her lover. She was still too incredulous, but nevertheless answered. “It’s Naraku. He wants to meet with me. He says it’s important.”
Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow. He was curious to find out what his lover intended to do after receiving a summons from her father.
Kagura stepped off the bed unabashed by her naked self, and looked over at where Sesshoumaru was seating up on their bed. She gave him a bright reassuring smile. She could tell he wanted to find out about her plans, and wasted no time divulging them.
“Well, why don’t I give my dear old man what he wants?”
To be continued…
A/N: Some questions were answered, some more were added to the mix, and our couple is blissfully in love… for how long lol. The next (and last regular) chapter will be aptly named Last Edition.