InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Heaven ❯ The Thief of Bliss ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five

The Thief of Bliss

The first thing he became truly aware of was the unfamiliar sensation of breathing- drawing air into his lungs and releasing it again was something he had not felt in such a very long time.

Oh how many lunar cycles had he lingered here, waiting to be found? He understood this man, this . . . Taisho Sesshomaru. From the moment his essence had collided with this man's body, the demon began delving through his mind.

He had observed these people, unable to do precious little else, waiting to discern who was in a position of power and authority over these other humans. He had found that the more he focused on that person, the more he was able to slowly build himself within this Sesshomaru's shadow. Yet it was not until that girl had joined this man by his earthly remains that the blessings on his precious consecrated jars could be enacted.

Thoughts coursed through his mind at lightning speed as he raced to comprehend things essential to this moment. The rush of information he absorbed from this man's mind was exhilarating, yet a little alarming- his kind did not seem to exist for them. That could prove a problem he would have to think his way around quickly. More immediately he returned his attention to his host.

This Sesshomaru was fluent in languages the demon had never heard . . . Japanese? French? Latin? And what in all the bloody planes of existence was English? He grasped this man's history, his personal ties . . . his position of high standing within a formidably intelligent community.

The demon felt he should be more enraged. According to this man's mind, his people- his followers- had forgotten him. They had seen to his final wishes and then simply . . . disappeared, leaving him to stew, to mentally rot and fester here.

But he could not, he found his anger tempered by his host's natural inclination toward being calm and collected. That might prove to be infuriating all on its own.

Only mere seconds had passed between that first breath and this moment as he pulled himself to sit up, opening his eyes. For the space of a few heartbeats he was awestruck by the girl before him. Her irises were blue . . . none of his people had ever bared coloring such as this.

Another quick sift through this Sesshomaru's thoughts showed him what he needed to know about her. That it was only around her that this man showed even a hint of a smile, only around her that he gained the ability to laugh at himself. He had become aware that she was- notably against her will- possibly growing infatuated with him, but unlike those other, silly, females that looked at him in such a manner, from her he found he did not quite mind.

Taisho Sesshomaru told himself things that were not wholly truthful about this situation. To begin with, that he admired her intelligence and intuitive nature and that was the reason he did not find it bothersome might she have developed a crush- what a very odd word one should use to mean such a thing- on him. Or that he found himself so at ease in her presence only because they each seemed to understand the way the other thought.

It had only been a little earlier this very night that this Sesshomaru had realized . . . that for a hair's breadth of time she appeared as the perfect fit for something he understood to be wholly missing from his life . . . . He grasped that should he choose to act upon feelings he thought he was developing toward her, he could jeopardize her future. It was because of this that these realizations had been slammed into a far, cramped corner of his mind so quickly that his cognitive processes barely had time to register that he had those type of thoughts toward her at all.

He was protecting this girl on an almost instinctive basis. The demon gave a mostly humorless inward chuckle at that. How sweet.

He was acutely aware instantly of her closeness, of the sound of her rushed and panicked breathing. He could smell her skin, the unnatural, but sweet perfume scent of her hair. He spared a moment to look down at himself.

Long silvery-white hair draped his shoulders. His hair had been black as pitch during his time. He raised his hands, flexing slowly fingers that were tipped with fine, sharp claws. He already knew his face bore the markings with which his people had adorned his tomb, that- as with his strangely muted and detached temperament- was a product of merging his soul with a body which was already inhabited by one. A curious finger he touched to his ear and he repressed the urge to let out a small sigh of exasperation and utter a sound like hmph. What a very odd noise one should make.

He looked again to the girl with the sea-colored eyes not far from him and he realized that after all this time he so very, very . . . hungry.

Kagome didn't know quite what to make of the situation as she watched him examining his own hands and hair and ears as though they were all alien to him. She was unfamiliar with the feeling of being clueless and in absolute dread of the notion that she just might be helpless. Maybe, she hoped fiercely, this was still the man she knew.

"P- . . . Professor?" She ventured finally in a barely audible whisper.

Those bizarrely golden eyes blinked slowly at her and she got the oddest impression that he was consciously registering her speech.

After a long moment, the thing before her said, "Yes, Kagome?"

She fought not to go wide-eyed even a little, fought not to gulp. Kagome . . . this was not Professor Taisho. But she thought maybe he was testing her, checking to see if she understood what had happened. And she did- only a little, but it was enough, she was sure- but no way in hell was she about to let him know that. The demon had actually been a demon . . . such things actually existed . . . and she had no choice but to dwell on, and feel shocked about, that later.

"Are you alright?" She managed to force out the words at last.

He gave a nod, his entire expression even and detached- she'd seen Professor Taisho like this before, around others, but not with her . . . not recently, anyway, now that she noticed it. "I am famished." His voice came out in a low, emotionless monotone, but something about it seemed to whisper across her skin like a soft, heated breath.

She shook the sensation it created away- it was unnatural to feel her body shift gears so suddenly, to instantly go from chilled with fear to warm and wanting to respond to his very presence in the space of a single heart beat. It was such a shockingly primal urge that it scared her. That he could do that to her just by speaking only increased her dreaded feeling of helplessness.

Forcing herself to her feet, she nodded a bit emphatically as she spun on her heel and started for the chamber's entry way, trying to hide that she was unclipping her walkie from her belt. She didn't know who she was going to reach or what she would say, but she had to get out of here, she had to find someone to put between her and this thing.

She turned her head, calling over her shoulder, "I'll run back to camp and get you something, then."

"Where are you going?" Kagome heard as she set her head straight again.

He was standing in the chamber's entrance suddenly and she froze in her tracks, accidentally loosing the grip on her walkie. It clattered loudly to the temple floor, and she was too unnerved to even work up a cringe at the echo that followed. It wasn't possible for something to move that quickly! For a split-second, a tiny voice in the back of her head told her that if she paid just enough attention, she would likely her the sound of her psyche slowly fracturing This couldn't be happening- she had to be losing her mind. If she wanted anything to ever make sense again, it was the only explanation.

She tried her best to stay- at least visibly- calm, to not let him see her fear. "You, um, you said-"

"I said," he took a step, Taisho Sesshomaru's naturally long stride closing the distance between them easily. "I am famished."

This time Kagome couldn't stop the hard, painful gulp that went down her throat as she stared up at him. "I- I know, that's why I s- said I'd go-"

His hand shot out, snatching her wrist smoothly to spin her and pull her back against him. His voice remained calm, even and detached as he lowered his head, pushing her hair away and over one shoulder so that his lips brushed against her ear ever so slightly as he spoke.

"I am aware that you know who and what I am, little priestess."

Terror was edging around her brain like acid in odd contrast to the acute awareness of how warm and solid his body was against hers. She was at a complete loss for what to do. She couldn't outrun him- he'd just proved as much- she couldn't overpower him- Sango could take her in a fight, her thirteen year old brother could take her in a fight . . . oh hell, her pudgy ball of a cat Buyo could probably take her in a fight- and she didn't remember enough of her grandfather's rites to subdue him somehow.

As far as she knew, there was only one way to be rid of him- she knew his story, but he'd just called her priestess . . . he was speaking her language . . . he'd called her Kagome. Didn't that have to mean- as she hoped and prayed that it did- that Professor Taisho was still alive in there, somewhere? The only way to be rid of this thing would be to kill it . . . to kill Professor Taisho.

Her eyes drifted closed, trapping fearful tears beneath her lids. "Please," she whispered, aware that her voice shook a little. "Please, I am not a sacrifice for you. I don't want to die."

"I gain more from your continued existence than I do from your death," The Thief muttered with a barely quirked brow.

Oddly, this was the truth- he grasped that in this new world he no longer had the freedom to exist as indulgently as he once had- gorging himself was simply no longer an option. He would have to get by on scraps . . . distasteful, yet far better than starvation, but one does what one must to survive. This was the opportune moment to test the boundaries of her affections for this Sesshomaru.

"I will not take you as a sacrifice, little priestess," he paused briefly, slipping his arms around her and pulling her more firmly against him, his warm breath whispering over her throat, his lips brushing her ear still, "but you will present me an offering."

She felt again the irrational, unwilling change in her body's reaction to him. That little voice in her head told her that this was Professor Taisho's body The Thief was using . . . perhaps if she could pretend, for just a moment, that this was- no!

"Like hell I am," she replied, her voice barely a thread of sound and she wished she could have at least sounded as brave as she'd intended those words to be.

"You will comply with my need of you or I shall find myself forced to destroy this Sesshomaru."

Her eyes snapped open and she couldn't help turning her head, letting the back of it roll against his chest as she look at him. Leaning down as he'd been, she found herself face to face with The Thief.

"What?" That had to mean Professor Taisho was still in there! "You can't! Not- not without destroying yourself, right?" She nearly jumped out of her skin at the feel of him tugging on her shirt, pulling it up for his fingers to slowly trace up her abdomen.

A barely visible frown played at the corners of his mouth. "I intend not to destroy his being. Though I am only sharing this form, I am as subject to self-preservation as any creature. If you will not make offerings for me, then I will have to go to others for sustenance . . ." even though this wasn't really Professor Taisho, she felt a little burning jab at the notion of this thing using the professor's body to be with other women, "in this form. I understand that his reputation in your society . . . your Academia, would suffer greatly was he to become known as a . . . womanizer, I believe is the correct term."

Kagome felt another tight, painful clenching in her chest at his words. Being a bastard in any regard was hardly against any laws or regulations, but no one would want to work with him, his colleagues would shun him- all for fear that associating with him would be viewed as condoning such behavior. It would ruin his career and that, she knew, would destroy Taisho Sesshomaru.

His fingers continued to drag upward until they reached her breasts and she sucked in a shocked gasp at the feel of his claws raking delicately over her nipples through the satiny fabric of her bra.

"You're not leaving me any choice," she muttered bleakly.

After a few moments the soft bits of flesh had hardened into tight little points beneath his touch and he slowly slipped one hand away, back down over her ribcage and abdomen to start unbuckling her belt. "Such was my intention. Fear not, for now I shall sate myself on but a morsel."

It was odd, she noted in a detached corner of her mind, that even as his claws continued to stroke over her breast, even as his hand undid her zipper to begin creeping beneath her panties, his voice was still so utterly blank, so empty. She closed her eyes, turning her face away from his as she felt his fingertips parting her gently. Another gasp tore its way out of her throat as those fingers entered her slowly.

"You will calm yourself," he demanded smoothly, "I am truly," he withdrew his now-moistened fingers from her and slid them forward between feminine folds until her hips jerked involuntarily, "attempting to make this simple for you."

Her teeth sank deep into her bottom lip as the tips of his fingers began to rub over the sensitive little bead of flesh he'd found there. She didn't want this to feel good, she didn't want him to make her like this. Almost as though he sensed her stubbornness, he dropped his head then to drag his teeth and tongue along the pulse in the side of her throat and rolled his hips forward, pressing himself tightly against her.

His stroking fingers worked faster and she shuddered at the feel of him on her- he was already hard. Inexplicably, it was all she could do not to move back against him. She couldn't entirely banish the idea that this was the Professor . . . she knew it wasn't him, but that it was his body cradling hers . . . that it was Professor Taisho rocking his hardened length- unbelievably warm, even through their clothes- against her bottom.

She was still fighting him a little. He had to nudge her over the edge. "All you need do," he murmured softly, weaving his hunger into his voice, "is come for me, little priestess."

For just a moment Kagome lost touch with her fear, but it was long enough. She found her hips moving- rubbing herself harder against his fingers, rocking against the solid length of him behind her- of their own volition.

A tingling warmth was beckoning to her, forcing her muscles to go taut and he moved his head to bite down on the back of her neck, sucking just a bit savagely on her skin. The hand at her breast was grasping roughly now and his fingertips rubbed faster, working that precious little bead of flesh in rapid circles that had her moaning behind clenched teeth.

The orgasm washed through her and she couldn't help crying out, her hands gripping his forearms to steady herself as she raised up on her toes, every inch of her tense with it. She wasn't prepared for the delicious warmth dancing and spiraling through her body. There was a low, indistinct sound like a hungry growl behind her and she tried to cling to it, to remind herself of what was really happening, but another warm, tingling wave crashed through her forcing it away from her again. As it began to ebb, she found her hips rocking in time with his motions once more. His fingers moved over her still, guiding her through the sweet, shuddering aftershocks as it ended.

That was it, right? Please, that had to be it, she thought mournfully as her mind slowly regained control of her body. She instantly felt a deep self-loathing that was equal parts used and as though she'd somehow betrayed Professor Taisho even as her body trembled pleasantly in the wake of- what was so very unfortunately- her first orgasm.

He withdrew his hands and she immediately stumbled away from him on unsteady legs, spinning on her heel to face him as she angrily righted her clothing. His eyes were . . . glowing, the expression on that face- that didn't belong to him, she reminded herself- though still markedly reserved, gave a hint that looked nearly as though he'd shared in her climax.

"My name," he murmured, pausing long enough to slip his fingers into his mouth, those glowing golden eyes closing for a moment as he savored the taste of her- she was a virgin? What a pleasant surprise, though he wondered with a dim sort of amusement if her precious Professor Taisho Sesshomaru was aware of that, "was Nah Rah Ku. I am aware you understand what this means."

"Thief of Bliss," she whispered, her tone hollow and lifeless as she replied around the painful lump forming in her throat. She would not cry in front of this thing.

He nodded slowly as the glow in his eyes began to fade. "I find that I do rather like this new name, this Sesshomaru. It is what you will call me."

Her lip trembled and she folded her arms tightly around herself to keep from physically lashing out at him- he could probably tear her limbs from their sockets without breaking a sweat, wasn't that the sort of thing demons were capable of? "B-but that name isn't yours."

He glanced down at himself and then gave a small, unconcerned shrug. "Such is a matter of semantics. I kept my word, I took from you but a morsel of sustenance. Continue providing me with such and your Taisho Sesshomaru will be protected from my machinations- of which, I assure you, I am quite capable."

This was the reason the tale had done him no justice, she thought dully. The Thief of Bliss was cruel, manipulative and selfish. She wondered- she hoped- that this was why his people had forgotten him, that perhaps after his death the affect he'd had on them had worn off and they'd realized what a wretched, downright evil, being their Nah Rah Ku really was.

Cold settled in the pit of her stomach as she forced herself to nod. "I don't doubt that."

"You will make my offerings, then?"

She knew that even though he'd posed the statement as a question, it actually wasn't- she was well aware that he knew he had her backed into a corner. With another forced gulp, another fight to hold back tears, she gave a small, stiff nod. What else could she do? Who could she run to about this? She knew the answer, but still it hit her like a brick to the side of the head. She couldn't do anything. At least she wasn't insane, she hadn't imagined what had just happened, yet that thought- as much as she prized her mind- offered precious little comfort to her.

Suddenly a flash of light shown from him, like she'd seen in his whirling ashes and she found herself staring into familiar, if mildly confused- amber eyes. Though even in this, there was no relief for her - inside him somewhere, The Thief still lurked and she felt the tears she'd been fighting this entire time welling in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks any moment.

Professor Taisho glanced around the chamber, quirking a brow as he pointed to the shattered wall and the place on the floor where he'd been laying before . . . he couldn't recall what happened next, how he came to be standing at the entrance. He lifted his gaze to her, but one look at her expression had concern overriding his confusion.

"Higurashi?" the professor said, stepping directly up to her and thoughtlessly cupped a hand against her cheek. "What's wrong?"

"Professor . . ." she tried to clamp down on the tears working their way into her voice, "I don't . . . know . . . I can't . . . ." she was going to say she couldn't tell him, that she didn't know how to explain it, but the confused look came back into his eyes as his jaw rolled and she remembered, fear slamming into her all over again, that The Thief had tasted her.

Once more his eyes roved the area, much more uncertain now before bringing his gaze back up to hers. "What happened? Why do I . . ." he paused, and she knew already that he was looking for a way to describe it delicately, but then his eyes went cloudy, rolling upward.

"Professor!" she shrieked as he collapsed.

Kagome was frozen. She wanted to go to him but she was wary- so terrified The Thief was taking over again. She watched him for several painfully long breaths, but when there was no change- when the face she was staring down at remained unmarked and he still lay unconscious, she shakily lowered herself beside him. Her fingers felt numb and icy as she checked his pulse. It thudded, dull and slow under her touch and at last the tears spilled down her cheeks as she snatched up her walkie and ran, heading as far out and up into the tunnel as she needed until she could get a transmission to someone, anyone at camp.

* * *

Sango had insisted on going with the small crew that accompanied the team's RN- their on-site doctor had backed out at the last moment, too late to postpone the excavation and leaving them to scrape by with what they could find on such short notice- and had dragged Miroku along as well. When they got to the chamber she found Kagome sitting on her knees with Professor Taisho's head cradled in her lap. Her friend's blue eyes were ringed with a bright red that she somehow knew had little to do with lack of rest.

"What on earth . . . ?" Miroku said in a hushed tone, nudging his chin toward the shattered wall when Sango looked over at him.

It was a startling thing to see, but she couldn't pay attention to that just now. Kagome was nodding to something the nurse was asking as he bent to examine the professor. Now that help had arrived, the girl shuffled to her feet, stepping away from them by the time Sango reached her.

"What happened?" she breathed, turning on her heel to follow Kagome as she walked past and headed out into the temple corridor.

"I don't really know," she lied numbly. "We were talking about the translations and those anomalies and we were examining the walls and then that just . . . came down." Kagome sniffled, hugging herself tightly as Sango threw a protective arm around her shoulders. "I . . . we thought everything was okay until the professor collapsed."

She stopped her carefully edited explanation right there. Kagome really didn't know what happened, but if she tried to elaborate any further she would have to actually start lying and given how terrible she was at that, Sango was bound to know something was up and riddle her with questions until she spilled everything. And then Sango would have her committed.

"That's crazy," under any other circumstances, Kagome would have giggled at Sango's choice of words given her own thoughts a mere split-second ago, "I'm so sorry, Kags. If I hadn't had to see Miroku tonight you wouldn't have been here and . . . I don't know, maybe this never would have happened."

Kagome gave a lifeless nod as they climbed down the stairs toward the shore. "I just hope Professor Taisho's okay."

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Kags."

They continued descending the steps in silence and started across the shore to the tunnel.

"You know what?" Sango began quietly, she felt it doubly important to reassure Kagome because of the feeling she getting. Not a feeling like something was happening between her friend and their professor- taboo and possible legal complications notwithstanding- but that she believed she noticed them looking at each other just a touch differently lately, when they thought no one else was paying attention. The type of thing they probably weren't even aware of themselves.

"Hmm?" Kagome's brain felt fuzzy suddenly.

Trying to keep pace with Sango, she only blinked hard a few times to clear vision that seemed to be clouding over. She couldn't understand why her limbs were beginning to feel so heavy and sluggish, like they were useless things just weighing her body down. Well, she thought ruefully, at least it was distracting her from what had happened in the temple.

"It's most likely just exhaustion or like . . . malnourishment, dehydration. I swear, he probably works in his sleep, when he actually gets any. He's just about the only person here getting even less sleep than y- KAGS!" Sango shouted as Kagome collapsed right out from under her arm.

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