InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver-Haired Beauty ❯ Naptime ( Chapter 9 )

Week One:

Day Seven

"What are you doing and where are your clothes?" Standing in the top branches of an ancient pine, Sesshomaru glared down at the naked young woman he would soon call his wife.

"I'm washing this shit off my face and out of my hair you asshole!" True to her crude words, Kuroi was rinsing away the last three hours worth of work the hand maidens had performed on her hair, face and nails. She didn't regret her words. The promise had been about tossing food, not insults. Besides, she felt he deserved it after the 'beauty' appointment he'd arranged for her that morning. There was a small consolidation because Midori had warned her about it beforehand.

She pointed to a haphazard pile of silks worth a king's ransom currently lying in the staining mud, "There's the clothes you told me I had to wear." She paused rinsing her hair to glare back at him, unabashed in her nudity before huffing and resuming the task at hand.

Sesshomaru noted that all the little injuries she'd sustained had indeed healed completely, leaving healthy glowing skin behind. He took a personal moment to appreciate the view her upturned posterior presented. There was no shame to his actions. After all, she would soon be his to admire as he wished. However, it did make him grouse sourly knowing that his bastard brother had been privileged to the same sight before him.

Cleaned to her apparent satisfaction, Kuroi walked out of the river, wringing her hair as she did. After a glance around, she went and stretched out face down on a warm rock, calling up, "You burned all of the clothes I brought here if you remember, so technically my clothes are unusable."

"Those clothes you discarded are…were the finest apparel a Lady could ask for. Your handmaidens all came highly recommended and the hair dresser has set the curls of empresses. How could you be so un…" he searched for the right word, "satisfied?"

A sleepy voice called back clearly, "Because I never asked for them baka boy." The last two words were mumbled into her folded arms which she was using as a pillow.

Sesshomaru was displeased, greatly. Jumping down to land soundlessly beside the rejected clothing, he picked up the sodden mass. Ruined. His eyes narrowed to slits at the contempt shown to such costly items. 'Who does she think she is?! I could have any youkai from peasant to princess screaming to take her place, and she…she…argh!' Flinging the clothes away in disgust, he glided over to her intent on giving her a sound lashing of every kind. He was brought up short by a small sound.

A sigh.

Frowning, he crept around until he could see her face clearly and almost tripped in shock. She was asleep!! Using his heightened senses, he made a quick check of her deep, even breathing and steady pulse to confirm that she wasn't faking.

She wasn't.

He could only stare down at her slack-jawed, eye twitching uncontrollably in amazement at the sheer audacity being tossed in his face.

Something cold and nasty inside of him wanted to be freed at that moment, truce be damned. In fact, the sound of emotional restraint giving way could be heard as he stood there quietly fuming down at this slip of a girl. He closed his eyes as he struggled to keep himself under control. 'A quick swipe of the claws,' he thought darkly, 'just a little poison miasma and I'd be rid of her. To hell with that silly little truce. I'd be free.'

He didn't consciously realize he was reaching out to fulfill those impulses until his hand touched her shoulder. At the contact, his eyes flew open to stare at the point of connection that suddenly seemed to be the focus of his entire being.

Was it his imagination, or did the world just hold its breath? That mental voice was screaming again…only now there were two of them.

'Move your hand away.'

Wow she's so soft.

'Move your hand away.'

I wonder if that's true all over?

'Moveyourhandawaynowgoddammit!'

Treacherously, the hand chose to move closer instead. Lightly, so as not to awaken her, he stroked his thumb across the soft ivory flesh. Warm and fragrant, with a texture smoother than the discarded silks that had adorned her, it was oddly dry considering her recent immersion. Golden orbs traversed the length of her body as it relaxed against the sun-warmed stone. A thick cascade of knee length hair made a modest blanket, but the sheen and shadows of it highlighted every dip and curve the inky strands covered, still rendering the illusion of nudity. Somehow, the distant sight of her nude wasn't quite the same as being up close touching her.

From somewhere a breath of wind knocked aside a silken tress to show the swell of a now exposed hip. His breath caught in his throat as the afternoon breeze teased him with her scent. Clean, fresh and smelling faintly of peach blossoms. Standing there staring and smelling her all around him, he felt something else slipping like quicksilver through his careful restraint.

Desire.

Not the faint physical twinge he sometimes experienced from seeing a particularly pretty girl. No, this was swift and hot enough to sear the air from his lungs. The treacherous thought that soon she was to be his and his alone to claim didn't help the heat in the least.

Why were his feet shuffling closer to her? Looking down he realized he didn't remember taking that last step. Pain flared bright as he bit the inside of his mouth to distract his body from its goal. He had to get out of there now!

'This is insane!' Wrenching his hand away, the young Lord took to the air to return home. He would rather have licked the soles of his brothers feet in apology than admit that he desperately wanted to turn around and ravish the girl until they couldn't even remember how to breathe.

"FUCK!"

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A dark blue, horned head peeked out of the water after the lord left and muttered sadly, "You really shouldn't be so mean to him sis. He is going to be your husband."

Kuroi opened clear, focused eyes and gave a smile of supreme self-satisfaction to her little brother as he dragged himself out of the river. After years spent palling around with Inuyasha, she'd learned a few body tricks to fool even the heightened senses of an inu youkai. Faking sleep was just the tip of the iceberg. "I know, but he's just so damned cute when he's angry Kiso." She couldn't suppress a chuckle as she sat up, her hair draping across her as she did.

Folding himself up to sit next to the rock she was on, he frowned down at her, "How can you tell he's angry? I never saw his expression change once."

Turning with a thoughtful look to face the direction her intended had fled, she whispered back, "I just…do."

Kiso snorted and pulled a magically dry bundle from his robe before tossing it at his sister's head. "Here, put some clothes on you hentai."

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Night

Gentle hands were stroking her hair. Smiling, she snuggled closer to the warmth. A deep rumble vibrated into her body from without, dragging her from her sleep. Bleary-eyed, she frowned and focused. Amber eyes stared back.

"Inu?"

"Hey." Brushing his lips across her forehead, he pulled her a little closer, still stroking her hair and back. "Kagome told me about the letter."

Kuroi wanted to roll her eyes. 'She wasn't supposed to say anything to you!' but there was no real malice in the thought. Kagome loved him as much she did so she wouldn't want him to suffer. Tracing a worry-line by his mouth, Kuroi guessed that he had been. Hurt colored his voice and echoed in her soul, confirming the suspicion, "Why didn't you want her to tell me you came back here? I was worried."

His hand fisted slowly at the nape of her neck, drawing her head back so he could bury his face in her hair piled between her shoulder and the bed. She just held him, trying to send wordless comfort as he inhaled her scent and confirmed to his heart that she was really there. Trembling from the heady rush of sorrow replaced by joy, his voice was thick and warm against her shoulder. "I didn't know where you were! If you were hurt, or dead or anything!"

His words mirrored hers from earlier so closely that she nearly wept. Kuroi knew what he'd felt for the whole day when she'd left without a word. After all, she had felt it for five years after he'd been released from the tree. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she positioned her head under his chin, breathing in his scent as well. It was never her intention to make him feel like that.

"I'm sorry Koinu. I just didn't want you and your brother to get in another fight." A shuddery breath tickled her scalp as he guffawed. "No, I'm serious. I know you Inu, and frankly I'm surprised you didn't try to kidnap me while I slept and take me with you." From the way his hand paused on her spine, she guessed the thought had occurred to him. 'Bless you for the restraint Koinu.' Giving him a quick squeeze, she closed her eyes smiling.

After a moment of comfortable silence, he whispered into the dark, "Kuroi? He didn't…he didn't try to…hurt you?"

Her eyes flew open as she frowned at the sense of wrong his words invoked. Inu sounded so tense, almost afraid to voice the question aloud. "Sesshomaru? No, he didn't hit me. That was the stupid platter." With a breathless laugh, she started to let her lids drift down again. A finger tipped her head back while honey hot eyes scanned her face.

"No, I mean…I mean did he…try to…hurt…you?" Something about the way his gaze shifted clued her in to what he was trying so badly to ask.

"No, no! Oh god no! No!" Cupping his face, she shook her head to deny it again. "No! He's an ass, but he's never touched 'stroking your shoulder by the river' me."

Not willing to give that traitorous thought a closer look, she trailed a hand across Inuyasha's forehead. "I am safe and whole Inu. Don't worry." Scooting up, she kissed his chin and dipped back under it. "I love you too Koinu."

"I'll protect you Cuckoo, I promise."

Once again, they passed the night in each other's arms.