InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Spring Fever ❯ A Dream And A Nightmare ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter 19

 

A Dream And A Nightmare

 

Sesshomaru opened his eyes, and found himself staring at the sun. It was a nice day out, and stretching across the grass he could sense that no one was around for miles.

 

Small, warm hands suddenly covered his eyes then as tender lips pressed his briefly, and slender yet muscular legs straddled over his waist. Growling with pleasure he gently grabbed the wrists and turned the hands open. There she was, smiling with the sun hitting her front. The same front he had fancied in a certain bathroom.

 

(((Start of Lime))) (Lime, thing, doesn't go too far, you'll see why... It's a Lime minus citrus!!)

 

She giggled, putting her hands on his unclad shoulders, and slowly she lowered her chest to his. He growled with approval this time as she moved closer, her hardened nipples brushing his skin and spreading that unfamiliar fire through his blood. Her rich blue eyes were partially covered by lust weighed lids as she shamelessly brought her lips to his, sighing harshly through her nose at the contact.

 

He growled with even greater approval, and shutting his own eyes to heighten his sense of touch he brought his hands onto her bare skin. She moaned in his mouth as he felt the expanse of her back, right middle finger following the spinal dip as he pulled her down, pressing her body firmly to his. He held the back of her neck and deftly dipped his tongue into her mouth, her own replying as she tilted her head and sealed their lips, her hands lost in his hair as her breasts drew identical patterns across his skin.

 

His right hand slide further up her warm body, and she didn't mind being slowly turned onto the grass. She held on to him as he leaned halfway over her, still kissing her deeply, her left breast finding its way into his palm. She sighed, arching herself into his grip, and one of her hands began to trace patterns across his abdomen, making his muscles flex from her touch. He kissed her smooth brow, her velvety eyes, and upon laying his lip to her right cheek he held her chin and licked her. She shivered in his grasp, and he buried his face into the slope of her neck, nibbling and sucking the skin as his hand moved from her face to her hip, his left still harmlessly grasping her neck. He was so hot, and he needed her. He wanted her very badly, and that need had him pushing her hips under his.

 

“Sesshomaru,” she moaned, cut off by his attentions to her mouth. He growled her name in reply as their lips battled. For claiming to have never kissed before, she was indeed great at it. When he had her in place he buried his face into the side of her neck again.

 

She giggled, and jabbed his chest.

 

Sesshomaru, pulling back and propping up onto his left arm, opened his eyes to a very dressed and confused and blushing Kagome.

 

(((End of Lime))) XD

 

“Yes?” he replied dumbly, thinking for a moment that he was still dreaming. His chest still stung, and he noted his armor resting at the foot of the bed. If he had kept it on, that dream might have gotten better with a lack of poking... Holding back a yawn, he found that there was a funny but nice taste in his mouth, one he certainly didn't mind.

 

“Um,” she began, not meeting his eyes for a second as she shifted uncomfortably on her back. Her lips looked somewhat swollen, which explained the taste. “I was getting uncomfortable with you nuzzling the hell out of my neck...”

 

He did his best to keep a straight face, the dream crashing wonderfully down onto reality. That was a good dream... Too short though. Why did she wake him up? It was about damn time he got some comfort at the sacrifice of her own! “Oh was I?” he asked defiantly.

 

She gave him a flat look, and pulled back her hair from her right side of her delectable looking neck... He wanted to nuzzle some more... “I can't bite myself, Sesshy.” He blinked, and looked at her skin again. ... Dear kami, he had actually bitten her?

 

...

 

Kinky.

 

Shaking the profoundly misplaced though from his head he stared at the mark, seeing her slight scar about four inches down the sloping skin from it. His play mark was faint, and a bit more red between the teeth indents than a bite would incur, meaning Sesshomaru had quite a good time with a quite possibly petrified Kagome. If only he had awoken halfway through and kept his eyes closed... “You growl a lot, by the way.”

 

She looked so embarrassed that he couldn't help but say it. “You were unsettled by a man in his sleep?”

 

Her whole face got red. “I was beginning to think you weren't actually asleep, you deaf pervert!”

 

He frowned. “Deaf?”

 

“Yes!” she bit out at him, all humility flung out the window. “No matter how many times I said your name you just growled at me and got more bold!”

 

Somewhere, deep inside, he was giggling like a madman. He couldn't help that he enjoyed her saying his name... The only odd thing was how unraveled he must have become to do that to her. Wasn't he suppose to be a proper demon lord, and not pinning after human mikos in his sleep?

 

... Wait, never mind. He wasn't pinning, that was below him...

 

Her smooth belly just felt nice under his right hand, that was all.

 

Sure, he could want her. Any healthy male would want an equally healthy female. He wasn't pinning though... He absolutely forbid it.

 

“And I know that you knew I was there!” she yelled, jabbing his chest again. “You growled my name! The second time you EVER say my name and it's doing- ... THAT!!”

 

... Oops... That was rather embarrassing...

 

“Oh,” she continued. “And now that you're awake...”

 

He blinked when she suddenly slapped him in the face. It wasn't the hardest slap in the world, certainly not in his record which included demon-daddy's backhanded discipline, but hers hurt more than his face.

 

“My body is not a play thing, so get away!!”

 

He blinked again, and suddenly recalled his hand... ... Dammit! Why did she wake him up!!

 

“Did not enjoy yourself?” he asked sarcastically with a smirk, releasing her and getting off the bed. He actually felt quite good about the day already, if it had started... The sun wasn't up, and he always lost track of time if he woke up before it.

 

She scoffed. “Being felt up, nuzzled, and- and kissed by someone in their sleep is not how every woman wants to wake up in the morning!”

 

Ah, so they did kiss! Good. He didn't want to know that a simple peck on the mouth would linger with him until morning... And damn, if she wasn't a defiant one. “My apologies then,” he offered, taking note of her swollen lips again and noticing the cut gone. That must have been a fairly good session. “Next time a man does so, try resorting to physical diversions before kissing him back.”

 

She was simply boiling now, to the point that he couldn't tell if she was fatally humiliated or angered. ... Probably both. The good thing he was picking up was that she wasn't denying having kissed him back.

 

“You arrogant little bitch!” she cried as that savory scent reached him again. He bit back a growl. “Get out of my room! Get out!!”

 

He smirked, and she got up and began beating him with her spiritual pillow attack.

 

“Do not start fights you cannot win,” he advised, reminding her of his strength as he held her wrists to her sides, speaking inches from her face.

 

The pillow dropped from her grasp.

 

She head butted him in the nose.

 

It was thusly that their morning started. Apparently Sesshomaru's intriguing dream had done wonders for the bruises on her face, seeing as there wasn't a single one in sight, and it had also done wonders on her sense of security because she was trying to avoid him again.

 

That's alright. He could handle being avoided...

 

“Your tongue!!” she randomly shrieked from the bathroom, obviously no longer able to keep the rants bottled in. She made being avoided quite entertaining... “Why did you use your tongue, you sicko!!”

 

He lowered the thin shiny book he was reading to stare dejectedly at nothing. Why had he been asleep for that...? She spat, and began brushing her teeth for the fifth time. Alright, he was more humored than embarrassed now. Her innocence was quite fun to test. Besides, if she didn't like it, she should have bitten him.

 

Tenseiga beat then before he could return to the magazine, and looking down he saw the Jewel.

 

“What the hell do you want?” she seethed around her toothbrush. Her anger was gloriously countered by the scent she was giving off, so he just smirked and nudged the Jewel into the bathroom with his toe. At this rate, he wouldn't be curious about her by the time the sun set again.

 

She stared at it for exactly ten seconds, then spat into the sink and knelt down before even rinsing. Her fingers went to touch it, and with a painful sounding electric snap she suddenly yanked them away and stuck them into her bubbly mouth.

 

...

 

“That's not suppose to happen,” she commented, shocked.

 

“I know,” he replied, now not knowing what to do with the Jewel. Tenseiga pulsed again, and he held the hilt to quiet it.

 

“Why did it reject me?” she asked, sounding rather hurt.

 

He rolled his shoulders, and she reached out again. This time with her left hand.

 

She gave a small squeak and spread those minty bubbles to her shoulder when she grasped it. “Owie...”

 

Ah... That's right... She was still infected. Naturally, an equally infected Jewel would simply seek her out as a hostess.

 

Sesshomaru, not wanting to watch a dumb animal suffer, drew Tenseiga and was ready to use it to roll the Jewel away. Blade touched sphere, and the Jewel sucked up and into the sword like a water droplet returning to the lake.

 

He was rather baffled by that, but Kagome, as per usual, took the cake in being shocking and confusing.

 

She screamed with sheer horror and lunged herself at him hard enough to send him staggering out of the bathroom, where Tenseiga remained, and to hit the wall. She must have collided rather painfully against his armor...

 

“... Miko?” he asked, her blue eyes wide with fear as she stared up at him.

 

“Don't,” she muttered, tears coming, regrettably, to her eyes. “Don't do what he did! I can't take it!!”

 

When Sesshomaru deepen the furrow of his brow with confusion she lowered her head in a resigned manner between her hands, which were currently curled over the top of his armor, and wept.

 

“Do what who did?” he inquired. How dare someone make her cry other than himself? He was going to kill him!

 

“Idiot!” she yelled at him, the only part of her moving being her right fist as it slammed its side into his armor. “Ow! SIT!!”

 

There was silence...

 

She sobbed harder when that command didn't work on him, and he didn't know what to do. He vaguely wondered if there was any other poor sap of a man ever put in this situation, and lazily fell to instinct and put his arms around her.

 

Honestly, he didn't know why he did that. Maybe so she felt protected from something he couldn't see? Maybe to let her know he was there and if his hands were flat to her back then that meant he couldn't and wouldn't hurt her? Maybe she just felt good. He didn't know. But for whatever reason, his action made her cry all the harder. Damn. He didn't want her to cry. The smell of tears was as foreign on her as the coppery blood from last night.

 

The word 'sit' echoed in his mind, replaying from his memory a funny little scenario involving an idiot, and then he knew why she was in such a frenzy. Inuyasha had lost control and bitten her when the Shikon no Tama sank into Tetsusaiga, its jyaki overruling his hanyou body and mind, and now a month later she still suffered with what it did to her.

 

His pelt was twitching to wrap around her. If Sesshomaru could put words to what he felt from the remote appendage, it was asking to wrap around her, call her cute, and ask him if it could keep her. Damnable thing, he didn't mate the female, it shouldn't be so excited over her.

 

As the tears continued he still didn't know what to say, so he just stood there against the wall and held her. She certainly didn't mind being 'hugged by an assassin' when it was in a comforting way.

 

... Comforting... Hm... He really did lose his sanity in the last few days... He should check her pockets and take it back. He started wondering when his grip on himself actually began to loosen until she spoke.

 

“It's not fair!” she suddenly yelled, her narrow frame shaking and making her feel so small in his loose grasp. He felt sappy... “Why did I get shot back into my boring, wretched life with you and leave all of them behind!!”

 

Alright, she was fine, because she was being random and confusing him again and that was her quirky way of being absolutely normal. This was the first he had heard of her regretting being home... Then again, she had most nights to herself in her room, so maybe this wasn't a first? He still didn't know what to do... He was annoyingly reminded of how she had tried to console him when he discovered his home in battle-ravished ruins, and how it made him leave her...

 

Hm...

 

Figuring it couldn't hurt, he tightened his grip and mimicked what she had said to him.

 

“It's alright, Kagome.”

 

She stopped crying for a moment, then sniffled. “Stop pretending to be nice.”

 

He chuckled, and she smacked his collar bone before pulling away and turning for the bathroom. She stopped to stare at Tenseiga, then looked at him.

 

“I bite in my sleep, not when awake, remember?”

 

She blushed, but nodded. “You know,” she began hesitantly, exposing her neck by tucking her hair behind her ear. She may not have realized that that was a sign of interest, but it pleased him nonetheless. “It's only been a short while, since we came here. But...” He didn't know why his heart began to race as a small blush slowly surface to her cheeks. “And despite all the weird stuff you do and how undeniably self-pleasing and egotistical you are, I think I'm beginning to-”

 

She stopped, now an intriguing shade of red. He knew what was on the tip of her tongue, it was written all over her. He just wanted to hear it.

 

“To trust you...”

 

She wasn't lying, but she smelled disappointed. In herself. And that was that. She reached down to grab Tenseiga for him, and when she proffered it he took hold of the hilt above her own hand.

 

He was in the mood to see how innocent she was feeling now...

 

Both of them let go when the sword pulsed violently, and Sesshomaru took off after it when it began flying away, doors opening automatically for it. Damnable blade! He ran outside and felt the house's barrier ripple harmlessly around him.

 

“Sesshomaru!” Kagome yelled, stopping. He glanced back to see her hand hitting the shield, but no matter. He'd be back. Tenseiga was never this active before, and he simply had to reclaim it.

 

The doors to the Bone Eater's Well slid ajar for the blade to make a beeline through them, and Sesshomaru grabbed the sides of the gap and yanked them apart to his arm span, scanning the area. Nothing was in plain sight, which meant...

 

He looked down the well, and the sword twirled merrily and disappeared.

 

It disappeared...

 

Sesshomaru jumped in after it.

 

There was a calming effect as he slowly began to cease falling, being supported by nothing more than black air. His clothes remained billowed and his hair upright though, so in a way he was still falling. It just didn't feel like it. Blue swirls were highlighting the darkness, and it reminded him of how that miko's hair fanned out around her in the rippling bath water.

 

His feet touched the dirt softly, and a dull 'shunk' had him glancing to his side. Tenseiga had landed with its tip in the ground. He grabbed the annoying sword and sheathed it, then stood.

 

There were birds...

 

Funny, he thought he'd killed them all.

 

Looking up, Sesshomaru saw that the well was covered for some odd reason. He had noticed odd hinges on it before, but they had been rusted and snapped.

 

Jumping up, he braced the sides of the well and pushed at the cover.

 

It didn't move.

 

He sighed. What was going on? Drawing Tenseiga once more, he put the sharpened blade to the split between the doors and let a small fray of energy slice whatever was there silently in half. Putting his sword away again, Sesshomaru eased a door open, and winced when a thud sounded in the silence.

 

“Did you hear that?” came a gruff voice. Sesshomaru slipped quickly out of the well, replaced the split wood which had held the well doors shut, and jumped onto a rafter before the barred shut shrine doors slid opened.

 

Two guards came walking in, and they wore unfamiliar armor which glistened in the rising sun. They had scales on the sides of their humanoid faces.

 

Bashamon's men.

 

Dammit...

 

Sesshomaru quickly unsheathed his poison whip, and as they looked up while flicking forked tongues he slit their throats. This wasn't good. Reptiles had as keen of sense as he, if not better, so the comrades of these dispatched men would smell the blood at any second.

 

Sesshomaru quickly jumped to the roof of the shrine, and for the second he was there he looked around. He saw that the only familiar thing was the shrine. The ledge around the well made sense now for patrol duties, but as to why Bashamon had built a shrine around the well was beyond him. ... Actually, maybe the shrine was already there... The well was not in the Western Lands anymore. Right over there, he could see the side of Mount Fuji which didn't favor his territory. He realized he was currently in the beginnings of Tokyo, which meant he was also very deep in enemy territory. So, the well had been moved...? That's why it didn't work?! How infuriating!!

 

... Then again, he couldn't have asked for more... Save for armed forces to entertain the small fry while he went to bludgeon Bashamon for a second time. With no army, it would be a repeat of what he had to face before So'unga, just with trained soldiers instead of dead ones... Too bad, he'd have to save infiltrating this city now for a less discreet fashion later.

 

Sesshomaru saw a glimmer from armor as another guard rounded a corner, his tongue flickering madly, and Sesshomaru bolted. Not good, not good, not good. Reptilian demons were a pain. Forget the time with So'unga, it would be like taking on an army of his own men but have them covered in liquid metal and hype every sense they had. And they were fast. Much faster than they looked.

 

Sesshomaru's instincts told him to duck when he touched down on a roof, and a blade went slicing brightly overhead. There was a displeased hiss as the soldier went full circle and sliced down at Sesshomaru, who rolled back onto a palm and launched his feet into his foe's face, grabbing the sword which was eerily under his spine with his free hand. The reptilian guard clutched his overly sensitive nose and Sesshomaru quickly broke the lizard's neck before going on his way. He could have killed the man more easily, but he also didn't want a blood trail... He was quite surprised that was the only foe he encountered.

 

Even when the city was only big enough to appear the size of his thumbnail, the sun peeking over Mount Fuji just enough to bathe the budding city (well, budding in comparison to Tokyo), Sesshomaru still didn't trust releasing his powers. He was at quite a distance, but he didn't want the whole fleet of lizards on his tail. Leaping further away, he vaguely wondered if Kagome would ever follow him? He hoped not. Not into that. At best she would be raped and sent to her death. Maybe she'd fry a few demons with her powers first, but a bad outcome was simply inevitable. After all, reptiles were both dumb and cold blooded. A human didn't stand a chance.

 

A shiver wracked through Sesshomaru's body at the thoughts. No. Let her stay in her time. At least until his own was resolved to his liking.

 

Sesshomaru came to a stop and stared at the north. That sense...

 

The sun was well into its zenith by the time Sesshomaru was done traveling on foot for the day. He had run to the horizon and climbed Mount Fuji. He looked up, face calm but feeling ecstatic inside. He'd found it.

 

“Ah, you've returned!”

 

Sesshomaru, having just stepped through the barrier of his home, leaped to the top of the steps to see his mother in her typical spot. The soldiers muttered intensively behind his back, wondering where he'd been, why he'd left two human children in the care of demons, what was to happen... Typical concerns for those who didn't think for themselves. He didn't mind their chatter though. He was still feeling relieved at the sight of his home. It was all intact, and nothing was in flames.

 

Rin went, in no exaggeration of the term, ballistic when she saw him standing outside with his mother.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru!!” she cried, running for him. He swore, the idea of latching to his hakama was running through her mind, but she respected him more than some other female he knew and forced herself to stand attentively and eagerly two feet away, swaying from heel to toe and back again.

 

He ruffled her brown hair, which was only slightly longer, and she giggled. It felt like ages since he'd seen her. She also wore nicer clothes than he had offered her while they were traveling, which he highly approved of. There were no mud puddles to draw patterns into satin here...

 

“Lord Sesshomaru!” Kohaku exclaimed, rounding the corner and finally catching up with the spitfire Sesshomaru had adopted. The boy was in traditional wear as well, and he bowed at the waist in greeting to Sesshomaru.

 

Then came Jaken, who was the slowest of the lot with his tiny legs. Sesshomaru had to allow the bottom of his shoe to stop the squat demon from embarrassing them both. The loyal nuisance had a great tendency of being overwhelmingly dramatic.

 

“Rin,” Sesshomaru addressed her. “Go play with Jaken and Kohaku.”

 

She didn't ask questions, but rather went on her way to obey him. When he was done watching them leave he allowed himself to be led by the tilt of a head.

 

“Where have you been, son?” his mother asked as they sat formally over tea to discuss. Sitting formally was oddly uncomfortable now...

 

“Intense training,” he replied calmly. It wasn't a lie, he just didn't say he was the trainer... “Tenseiga has now surpassed Tetsusaiga.”

 

“Oh?” she asked. “That little relic of your father's?”

 

He nodded, glancing about the room. He couldn't keep the images of old blood and charcoal from his mind.

 

“You must have been far away, son,” she commented, almost nonchalantly. The glare over her cup gave away her cool appearance. “Even our extended family has heard of our plight.”

 

He nodded again. He had been very inescapably far away.

 

There was an analytical light in her eye, and he noticed her pointed ears twitch ever so minutely. She seemed to make a mental note on something, something she did a lot throughout his life, and he felt his emotions rein in even more strictly than before. It made him feel cold.

 

She blinked at him, then smirked. “You have changed, Sesshomaru.”

 

He glared at her. “You stray from important matters, mother.” He didn't want to talk about such a blatantly obvious thing, not in front of the biggest gossips royalty could afford. Although guards and servants didn't think for themselves too much, they certain spoke on their own accord as often as possible.

 

She conceded as much, and lowered her cup for a long discussion. It was indeed long... Apparently, if he had kept an accurate count, Bashamon had laid waste to the western lands within mere days of Sesshomaru's 'disappearance', claiming the terrain and even straying into the lands of the North and South, territories of the wolves and the birds. Bashamon had unified the land to call it the Central Domain, which brought back seemingly distant memories to Sesshomaru. He recalled himself being the only one able to read a particular scroll and demanding of an untrained miko that she drop the centuries old barrier which was around the house... He had been so eager to get back then, and it was the only thing he had thought about. Then she began treading on his thoughts...

 

“Do pay attention to your mother, son.”

 

Sesshomaru regarded her. She sighed lightly and continued. His mother had ordered the o-shiro to flee the western lands, as he had expected, and they were currently on the top of Mount Fuji. If there was one thing their enemy couldn't stand, it was the cold, but inside of the barrier of the o-shiro there was a mild climate. Most likely, more energy had been sacrificed to make the atmosphere more suitable for the humans. Demons could not get sick, and were not made lethargic by cool climates, so there was never a need to regulate it.

 

They did not need to preserve the atmosphere any longer though.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru?” Rin asked when he was finished with his mother and approached his adopted daughter. She was making a pink and green flower crown for Jaken, like she had the day Sesshomaru disappeared. It seemed like the only thing to change after so long was himself... It was odd. He had remained the same for hundreds of years, in appearance and attitude, while the world changed constantly around him. He was not use to the opposite...

 

“Rin, gather your things.”

 

Ah-Un, to his great displeasure, took a bath as did Kohaku and Rin. They were not assisted, for the only attendants were inu youkai, and the children wore clothes which had not been unwrapped from their original paper packaging.

 

“Really, son,” his mother sighed, watching Kohaku pack Ah-Un's saddle alone. “Are you not being just a tad picky?”

 

“Not at all,” he informed her. He was not going to let these children witness the attack upon this place, and he was definitely not going to send them into enemy territory smelling of inu youkai. Besides, they needed humans around them.

 

Ah-Un knelt to allow the children to mount, Kohaku climbing up first so he could assist Rin. She sat in front of him while he handled the reins.

 

“Kohaku.”

 

The boy looked over at Sesshomaru, who addressed him from ten feet away. “Find your sister, and seek refuge with her until I say otherwise.”

 

He nodded, looking a tad hesitant, and Ah-Un labored to his feet.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru?” Rin asked again, looking sad. He didn't want her to be sad, so he offered a faint smile which she caught. She grinned, and waved goodbye as the dragon took off through the barrier. Ah-Un was indeed a detectable demon, but he was a reptile and would go unnoticed by the enemy. Or so Sesshomaru hoped.

 

His mother sighed in a bored fashion next to her son. “How sweet of you. And here I once thought you would eat them...”

 

His stomach churned. “Ridiculous.”

 

“I know,” she replied, looking up at him through her lashes. “You said that last time too.”

 

A few days later Ah-Un returned alone, Sesshomaru seeing the beast merrily chewing on the garden vegetation as young maids tried to remove him as delicately as possible. They were failing miserably.

 

“You seem restless,” his mother commented another few days later, watching him as she sat to the side of the main chair of the room on a cushion. “Have you been sleeping?”

 

“No,” he answered flatly, pacing his study and personal meeting chamber. He was trying very hard to focus on what needed to be thought about, but some annoying blue eyes kept interrupting his thoughts.

 

“You'll surely wear a hole in the floor,” she commented a few hours later as he still paced, enjoying another cup of tea. The soaked herbs were suppose to render a calming leftover fragrance, but Sesshomaru was far less than calm. “Have you stopped pacing at all today?”

 

“What day is it?” he asked.

 

“The eighth of the month,” she supplied.

 

“Then no.”

 

She sighed. “Son, would you please sit down?”

 

He resigned himself with a huff to the padded chair she sat by, rapping his nails against the arm. A few minutes of that and she was asking him to resume his pacing for the sake of both her ears and her patience.

 

She finally left, bidding him a good night, and after a while he dismissed the guards and sat heavily again in the chair. He let out a long, weary sigh. He'd only been awake for eight days, yet he felt exhausted... Being in his prime as he was now, he should be able to last for nearly double that and have ample energy to spare, but right now...

 

He sighed again, and put his chin in a palm to stare at some random wall.

 

Sesshomaru had to admit, this was insanity at its finest. Here he was, a young lord newly returned to his throne and offered the great feat of reclaiming his lands and conquering more, and he was sitting. Here he was, on the brink of utter madness because he had seen what doom could easily befall the o-shiro, and he couldn't think.

 

He angrily scrubbed his claws through his hair. Maybe sleep would be good? But no, he couldn't. What would happen tomorrow? Would this place be found? They were unprepared, understaffed, and had minimal supplies, and he realized that he should have taken over immediately after his father's rule instead of allow his mother to run things... What was he to do? To mobilize forces which stayed hidden in his lands would mean to draw attention to their location before it was time. To move the castle would mean to be very easily noticed. To leave... That wasn't an option. He couldn't leave here again. The last time he departed his retainers were left to the instincts of a female, who probably ordered that they flee before even discussing it with the council. Jaken would have hated that...

 

So thusly, Sesshomaru had a taint on his reputation already, and he loathed the circumstances. Still, loathing would get him nowhere. He needed a plan, and he was certainly in no mood nor condition to make it...

 

He sighed, thinking he was being paranoid, and forced himself to relax. It took over an hour, but gradually his mind calmed enough to at least render him into a dysfunctional state of consciousness. Time passed. He couldn't tell the increments by which it did, but eventually his muddled senses flicked him when he heard the doors open. After a second he knew who it was, and didn't bother rousing himself let alone stirring.

 

“Ah, good,” came his mother's faint voice, the doors slowly drawing closed again. “Stay here. The person to wake him is the one to die by sunrise.”

 

He heard the rustle of the servant's clothes as they bowed wordlessly. He smirked at the thought of his mother realizing she had been the one to stroke his senses to awareness, but he easily brought himself back down to the state between awake and asleep, vaguely thinking of what to do and just as vaguely caring about it...

 

The doors slid open again, allowing someone through, and after their closing he heard bare little feet pad closer.

 

Blinking his eyes open he was rather surprised. “Miko?”

 

She scoffed, wearing one of her ridiculously short skirts and a thin shirt which was supported by only two thin straps. Both articles of clothing were white. “And here we made such progress,” she commented, closing the gap and taking a seat to his left. The chair was definitely big enough for two.

 

“Am I dreaming?” he asked her, shamelessly wrapping an arm around her side as she relaxed against his suddenly unarmed self. No armor, no swords, the clothes remained though.

 

“Probably,” she replied, grabbing the end of his pelt and wrapping it around her middle. It squeezed her happily and she nuzzled into his chest. “There's always the unbelievable thought of you thinking of me, which supports this being a dream in the first place. But, then again, I'm clothed this time, so I'll let you decide whether or not you're dreaming.”

 

He smiled at her, content. “Alright. If you are here fully clothed, then what purpose are you serving?”

 

She smacked his chest. “I'm here to calm you down so you can think, you jackass.”

 

“I do not require calming,” he informed her.

 

“Yes you do,” she replied. “Look at you. You're an absolute wreck, even your mother noticed it... And aside from that, you require clues.”

 

“Clues?”

 

“M-hm,” she answered, looking around. “... This place is dull.”

 

“Do tell.”

 

“I'm sure you already know all about it.” She shifted herself to sit on his lap, and the scenery suddenly changed. They were in the well shrine, and it was raining.

 

“There, better?” she asked, now huddled in his haori.

 

“Not really,” he replied.

 

She pouted at him. “Fine...” She remained in his lap, and looped her arms around her neck in a more-tight-than-necessary manner. “I hate this ride...”

 

They were sitting at the apex of the ferris wheel, and looking down he saw her dressed prettily in that dark blue kimono with the orange and white koi and yellow obi. He had untied that obi before...

 

“Get your head out of the gutter,” she scolded, her face twisted with displeasure as she regarded him. That's right, she knew his thoughts if she was already in his head. “So, are you settled enough to tell me what the plan is?”

 

He sighed, and looking up he realized they weren't in the ferris wheel cage, but on top of it.

 

“Oh, you just had to do that, didn't you?” she seethed, curling up tighter in his lap. At least now he could look at the stars. He admired them. They were flawless, brilliant, seen by everyone, touched by no one, and void of anything which altered perfection. His mother told him as a child to try and be a star.

 

“I do not know where to begin,” he admitted, looking away. His thoughts still rather muddled.

 

She hummed. “Well, then start with the obvious.”

 

“The obvious?” he asked.

 

She patted his chest, and they were standing in ruins. “Let's start here.”

 

“I do not wish to be here,” he told her.

 

She huffed at him, a hand propped stubbornly on the white skirt which hugged her hip. “Come on. This is all in your head, remember?” She grabbed his hand and pulled him to a start, her pace slowing to match his when he was willing to move. Despite walking side by side, she wouldn't let him go.

 

“Ew,” she stated, seeing the bodies of his men at the entrance. “I vote we don't start here...”

 

She said the exact same thing when they entered the council room. “No wonder you don't want to be here.”

 

He rolled his eyes. She could have just taken his word for it.

 

“Oh stop it, I'm going in chronological order here!” she yelled at him. “Come on. After this we can leave.”

 

They went to the burnt building, and when they entered she resigned herself to a corner, allowing him to walk.

 

“Why here?” he asked.

 

She merely smiled at him, nodding to encourage him to have a look around.

 

He sighed, and stepping over a charred timber he continued. There was furniture and destruction.

 

“There's nothing here, Kagome,” he told her, vexed.

 

She frowned at him. “You're looking too deep in your memory.”

 

“Too deep?” he asked. Why was she talking in riddles.

 

“Something doesn't belong,” she told him.

 

Yeah. It was a miko. But, he had a feeling something really didn't belong there.

 

She smiled, knowing what he thought. “Come on. The great future Lord of the Central Domain can surely find something amiss...”

 

He currently stood in the middle of the room, and making a slow circle he found nothing and held his hands palms up to her.

 

“You're hopeless,” she giggled, walking over and hugging him. She laced her arms around his neck and sighed against his shoulder, the crown of her head resting under his jaw bone. “Keep thinking.”

 

“There is nothing amiss,” he told her, settling his hands around her waist. Something was different... Her belly was huge.

 

“Did you think of it yet?”

 

Sesshomaru jerked awake, alone and sitting on the throne, and he watched as the room he was in burned, bodies being mutilated in shadow show fashion against the rice paper of the walls. There was a baby wailing in the background, and he was scared.

 

“Wake up!”

 

A slight hand slapped his face, and Sesshomaru's eyes shot open. The room was bright, but not on fire, and his mother was staring disapprovingly at him.

 

“Dear kami, were you planning to disturb the whole o-shiro with that dreadful yell of yours!?”

 

“Is there a cradle here?” he asked her in a panic, swallowing to wet his dry throat.

 

She gave him quite the look. “I am not exactly expecting grandchildren yet, Sesshomaru...”

 

She was being useless, so he got up and walked quickly for the sleeping quarters.

 

“Sesshomaru, are you sleep walking?” she asked, trailing after him. She had to gather her kimono to keep up though.

 

No, he wasn't, but he felt like it. His mind was in a daze, recycling the dream. Yanking open the door to the particular room, nestled in the corner of the building, he startled the maids and walked in.

 

“Oh my...” his mother sighed while holding her face with a hand, watching as he searched. It wasn't there. There was no cradle... There was a cradle when he saw that room in the future, which meant...

 

“It is not time yet...” he muttered to himself. That's right. There had to be a cradle there, or things would not be the same in the future.

 

Everyone, his mother, her servants, and the servants already there, stared at him when he let out a laugh.

 

“Sesshomaru,” his mother began, trying to glower through her surprise, “what has overcome you?”

 

He smiled at her. Today was going to be a great day. “Sanity has, mother.”

 

She shared a glance with her head maid, making sure she herself hadn't gone insane for what she saw. “Sesshomaru, perhaps you should lay down for a while. I feel you slept too little while training, as expected...”

 

The servants seemed reassured at that excuse. Good. Sesshomaru retired to his quarters, not really thinking at all, and this time fell into a deep slumber. He had a certain miko to thank.