InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Heaven ❯ Enviable Positions ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter Eleven

Enviable Positions

She was aware of the texture of warm skin beneath the tips of her fingers. A little smile curled one corner of her mouth as she watched his head fall back, as she heard the low, rumbling groan sounding in the back of his throat. Yes, she thought wistfully, sinking to her knees before him, her lips and tongue dragging a moist line down his abdomen, over the flat muscles of his stomach and lower still.

Pausing a moment in her actions, she raised her gaze to watch his face, waiting patiently for him to look at her as she lightly held the tip of his hardened length between her lips. She was going to prove herself special to him.

The long waves of his dark mane spilled over his shoulders as he tipped his head forward, crimson eyes meeting hers and he sank his fingers into her hair, attempting to gently inch her forward, to slide a bit more of himself into her warm, perfect little mouth. She only continued to stare up at him refusing to budge, merely nibbling teasingly over his tip.

He groaned painfully and she felt a sweet thrill in the pit of her stomach at the sound. “How you torment me,” he murmured, “my Lyka.”

Kagome wrenched herself awake, as much for the alarm buzzing shrilly in her ear as for the need to get away from that . . . that nightmare. She hadn't needed to hear what he'd called her to know what she'd been seeing, nor had she needed the slowly sharpening clarity of her first fully-awake moments allowing her to notice their surroundings- that they'd been in The Thief's sacrificial chamber. But it had been different . . . colorful and fragrant with scores of blossoms and beautifully woven textile throws everywhere.

It must have been a glimpse from the day they'd . . . died. She forced a gulp down her throat, trying to detach herself from the feelings that realization brought with it. The idea that she could have easily relived the actual moment of death instead chilled her to the bone. Shaking her head she focused on the less frightening aspects of the dream.

Had she really just seen the demon's true form? But how could he . . . ? She clutched the smooth fabric of her sleeping bag against her chest for a moment as she puzzled over this . . . . He'd looked so . . . human. And . . . if she put aside how much she despised him, he was really kind of- No, no Kagome, you did not just start thinking that!

Rubbing sleep from her eyes angrily, she roughly pushed aside the acknowledgment that Nah Rah Ku had actually been quite handsome in his time . . . in a creepy, crimson-eyed, skin-crawly type of way. Her gaze darted around the tent. Sango was already off to the shower, apparently, and Dominique was bobbing her head to whatever was coming through her earphones as she laced up her boots, clearly unaware that Kagome had stirred at all.

Frowning darkly, Kagome turned her anger inward, combing through her consciousness and singling out the mischievous little orb of thought and emotion that wasn't hers. It was still locked up tight in a corner of her mind, but it seemed that being restrained didn't stop Lyka from trying to bother her.

Pointing a finger at the back of her own skull- where she envisioned Lyka's consciousness to be confined- she hissed in a seething murmur, “Once I figure out how, you are so gone!”

She didn't know what was worse about the smug confidence she felt rippling off of her unwanted guest. The fact that smug confidence was just always annoying, that she really didn't know how to rid herself of this troublesome spirit . . . or that the spirit, itself, was so confident because of just how strongly it doubted that she'd find a way to do so.

* * *

Kagome sighed heavily as their rickety, burrowed pick-up truck bumbled to a halt. She'd been hoping that today would be the day she could get the check-up she'd promised the professor she would have over with, but it had seemed the fates were against her. Not that Professor Taisho had been incredibly thrilled that the town's lone physician had been called out to help in another of the area's outlying villages- after all, he'd also made a promise to get a check-up- but he couldn't have just let it go, making certain to leave word of when they would return to see him.

“Higurashi,” the professor said sharply as she piled out of one side of the truck behind Shippo and Ayame.

Exchanging a quick glance with Sango, who was busy tumbling out of the other side, Kagome forced a gulp down her throat. Professor Taisho had barely glanced in her direction all morning and as he normally seemed to look to her expectantly when he asked a question, full-well knowing she was almost always the first to come to a correct conclusion, the slight had not gone unnoticed by anyone. She had spent hours in painful anticipation of another lecture. He'd not actually shared the why behind his thinly veiled agitation, only making an offhanded comment about recent lapses in normally sound judgment- a comment that had hit Kagome like an icy little jab in her gut. Somehow she thought perhaps the lecture would be a lighter punishment than his not-too-subtle hinting.

“Monday morning, no excuses. Please be certain to reschedule your duties accordingly.” Kagome was about to let her shoulders slump in relief when he continued, “I expect you at the site in twenty minutes.”

She managed a stiff nod, aware that she was speaking to the back of his head. “Yes, professor.”

He responded with a nod of his own before striding away. Ayame made a yeouch face, patting Kagome's shoulder reassuringly before turning and heading off to check her work list.

Shippo's turquoise eyes were huge as he stared up at her, shaking his head. “I don't know what you did to piss off the professor . . . but whatever it was, I'm glad I didn't do it.” The short boy repressed a shudder as he, too, wandered away.

Sango rounded the truck and came to stand beside her as she watched everyone else milling about the campsite. Kagome held in a second sigh. Great minds, even in the students . . . all individuals that prided themselves on their observational skills and situational awareness and yet not one of them had a clue as to the strangeness unfolding right beneath their noses. Lids drifted slowly down over blue eyes, closing them to the world for a long moment. She wished she could pretend she didn't know anything more than any of them.

“C'mon,” Sango said with a forced brightness, clamping her hands over Kagome's shoulders and spurring her into motion, “let's go fix up your research schedule so you can get to the site and get the impending chewing-out over with.”

Head falling back to dust the ends of her long dark hair against her hips, Kagome let out a miserable groan as she trudged forward. “Then it's not just me, huh? It really seems like he's just . . . waiting 'til no one's around to hear it so he can yell at me?”

“Yup.”

Kagome choked out another unhappy noise.

* * *

"Okay, I was over here," Kagome said, hiding her uncertainty as Professor Taisho watched her movements and Miroku checked the power on the hand-held G.P.R. device she always thought looked like a glorified metal detector. Ground Penetrating Radar searched for more than just metal, it transmitted information on cavities or other anomalies several feet beneath the ground.

She wasn't as certain as she would like to be- she also wasn't comfortable with the idea that Miroku, too, now knew about her sensitivity, luckily, though he only grasped as much of the situation as the professor did. It was hard to tell, though, forcing her to fidget as she stared at the pocked wall, the high and rough pitted ceiling, as she brought her gaze back down to dance over the darkened sand. Whatever had been reaching out to her last night had just seemed to . . . to- Hmm, a corner of her mouth twitched. She couldn't be certain if it was holding itself at bay or ignoring her.

Then she remembered how the presence had retracted last night . . . when Professor Taisho had come here.

Nodding to herself, Kagome spun on her heel, putting as much confidence into her voice as she could muster, positive that she was on to something. “Professor, I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you, and Miroku,” she added to make it appear as part of a process she was testing out, “to just . . . back up a bit and give me some space.”

A silver brow quirked and she cringed inwardly- it was still obvious that he was not happy with her. “How far back?”

Looking around again- wanting to be certain she recognized the same area she'd been drawn to last night- she gave another self-assuring nod and walked over to the professor and Miroku. She surprised herself when she nonchalantly grabbed Professor Taisho and his assistant by their elbows and started pulling them with her until they were approximately fifteen feet back from their original positions.

Both of his brows had arched up to disappear beneath long-ish silvery bangs when she glanced up at him.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to push away from feeling sheepish at all as she dropped her hands from them, “I was going on feeling rather than just my 'normally sound judgment' to estimate the amount of space.”

One corner of Professor Taisho's mouth curved ever so slightly upward as amber eyes narrowed fractionally at her. Kagome understood that look to mean touche. Ignoring that Miroku was stifling a chuckle, she turned away from them and dutifully marched back to her starting point. After a moment- she was also ignoring that her fingers were still tingling from where she'd taken the professor's arm- she felt she had collected herself enough to begin focusing as she had last night.

Her eyes drifted slowly closed and she shut everything else out as she concentrated on the simple sensation of air being drawn in to her lungs and the subtle push of forcing it back out again. It came to her much more quickly than last time- she didn't know if that was a product of being physically closer, or of some resonant familiarity in the wake of last night's interrupted communication.

It washed over her skin, like ice-water splashing against burned flesh, the mournful feeling- regret, she recognized a stinging, all-consuming regret- gnawed at her instantly. Separating it from her own emotions was difficult, and she couldn't fully manage, finding herself holding back inexplicable tears as she cautiously walked forward. Her progress was slow as she carefully felt around with her toes before taking any actual step.

A few silent moments passed as she continued forward and then simply . . . stopped. The energy that had been reaching out to her shifted, no longer pulling her forward, but downward and she knew whatever it was must be beneath her.

Given how this had played out for her last time, Kagome's eyes snapped open and she all but leaped a near-foot to the right, keeping a pointed finger trained on the spot she'd been standing. “There, whatever it is, it's there . . . somewhere.”

Nodding to her, the professor took his time, carefully double-checking the scanning equipment before allowing Miroku anywhere near the area. As the professor neared, the foreign emotions pulled away from Kagome and she found herself tired, suddenly- it was likely because she wasn't used to this sort of things yet, she surmised. She let her back sag against the craggy wall behind her as watched them return to their original places. Shaking her head, she raised a hand to rub at her eyes. It could also be her stunted sleep from the night before. Rolling her head on her shoulders, she gave a content sigh at the tension-easing sensation of her neck cracking.

Her eyes drifted closed again. She felt peaceful now . . . and relaxed. Distantly she could hear the low rumble of the professor's voice as he spoke with Miroku. He really had a nice voice, she realized- deep, faintly gravelly when he lowered it to speak quietly. It was almost against her will that she began to wonder what it would sound like to hear him make the kind of noises The Thief made. Yes, it was still the same voice, but there was simply something different to it when he was possessed.

With another sigh, she let her mind wander and almost before she knew it . . . she was witnessing a scene similar to the dream she'd had this morning, but she was removed from it, watching it play out before her like a movie. And Professor Taisho was in Nah Rah Ku's place.

Kagome felt her skin tingle again, only it was more than her on her fingers this time, as she watched the back of her own head moving lower over Taisho Sesshomaru's bared body. It was only by the grace of the gods that her breath didn't catch in her throat as she watched the blissful look on his face as his head tipped back, as she heard the delicious rumbling growls sounding in the back of his throat. She thought if she tried, she might just imagine the feel of his skin beneath her lips, against her tongue.

She watched the Kagome- the so-much-luckier-than-she Kagome- in the image turned her head slowly. She gave a start at the round, deep brown eyes staring back at her and the face she'd never seen before. The smile that curved those full, unfamiliar lips was both mocking and unnerving.

She was looking at Lyka . . . the spirit had sought to corrupt a private, happy fantasy.

The very idea of this . . . bitch thinking of things like that with the Professor . . . . Oh really? Kagome questioned angrily- this spirit had just crossed a line- and gathered up the inner anger and strength she'd felt last night when she'd initially confined Lyka. With a force that surprised her- happily, albeit- Kagome struck the foreign ball of consciousness as surely as if she was punching the entity in the face.

Lyka shrunk back from her instantly and Kagome gave a satisfied inward nod. She opened her eyes, not at all shocked to see the professor and Miroku in nearly the same spot. Only a brief moment had passed, she was sure of it. She gave herself a shake, that little voice reminding her that she should get back to work . . . and that being in this place probably wasn't the best thing for her current state.

“Professor, I think I should get back to camp now, we're almost done with the sifting, but I think Ayame will have my head if I'm late to take over for her again.”

He gave a nod as she pushed away from the wall and trooped past him. She was almost in the clear, she believed, until a nagging thought of her own popped up to run around in her head.

“Professor” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Higurashi?”

She raised her head to look at him over her shoulder. Finally he was actually looking at her, not merely turning in her direction and casting eyes somewhere in her vicinity. Taking a chance, she made a subtle nod of her head, asking him to step aside with her.

The face he made was one Kagome knew well as the man refraining from rolling his eyes. Thankfully, she didn't feel it was directed at the notion of her pulling him aside, rather that he was being pulled away from work. With a sigh he smoothed his palms over sleek, silver hair and walked over.

For a long moment she just stared up at him until he folded his arms across his chest and edged out a single word, “. . . Well?”

“Right, sorry, just um . . . still tired.” She shook her head briskly, trying to get back her focus. “I just wanted to ask, how did you know Sango and I sneaked out here last night?”

Professor Taisho unexpectedly gave a half-smirk, barely repressing a surprised chuckle. He'd been absolutely livid last night, but as he'd broken that down and realized it to be equal parts slighted that she'd felt she couldn't come to him about this and just plain old over-cranky from having his sleep disturbed, he was slowly letting it go. He was quite reluctant to admit it, but he was really beginning to think it was simply beyond him to maintain anger at her. He reasoned that this was only because she reminded him so much of his younger self and that he couldn't know what these experiences were like for her, so how could he expect to dictate her reactions?

And she and her friend had proved to have all the grace of inebriated rhinos.

Finally he swept a hand over his face, attempting to banish his amused expression. “I was falling asleep when I heard what sounded like someone- or someones- bumbling through camp.”

Kagome repressed a cringe, her hands clamped behind her back and her fingers twisting together nervously. Apparently she and Sango weren't the super-stealth ninja they thought themselves to be.

“So I went to take a peek at what was happening,” he continued, either not noticing, or letting her believe that he didn't notice, her awkward fidgeting. “And what should I see, but you and Ryoushi in this exaggerated and,” he shook his head, once more restraining a laugh, “sadly conspicuous sneaky-mode, if you will. I thought I was imagining things . . . I hoped that I was only dreaming it. There would be no way two of my most promising students would be sneaking off to the site after the area had been closed for the day, now would there?”

Blue eyes were darting about, touching the cavern ceiling, the sand beneath their feet, the toes of her own hiking boots, the walls . . . everywhere but at him. Regardless she could feel his gaze boring down on her.

“I did manage to fall asleep for a short time,” he said in a mockingly wistful tone, “but then I awoke once more, positive that I'd not simply imagined the nonsense I'd seen. So I changed back out of my sleeping clothes and grabbed a lantern and what should I find when I peek into the tent of these two promising young people and find them both missing. I could have ignored it, but I will go to the pain of reminding you- yet again, hmm, I believe this is the third time I've had to say this- you are my responsibility, that made it my obligation to come after the two of you and see what was going on.”

Kagome's shoulders slumped and her fidgeting eased a bit. Professor Taisho wasn't angry with her, after all. He was upset- that much she was clear on, but the painful and dread-inducing lecture wasn't coming after all. She at last risked bringing her eyes back up to his.

“You should have come to me about how you were feeling.”

“I know, I'm sorry,” she stopped herself right there- not only would she be lying if she tried to actually explain the truth behind the situation, but she would be lying to him and that was an aspect of this entire insane mess that she just couldn't deal with.

She felt a bizarre little tickle behind her forehead. Focusing on it for only a split second, she understood it to be Lyka flashing another image in front of her mind's eye- of being on her hands and knees . . . with Professor Taisho kneeling behind her and- with an inward growl Kagome slammed Lyka's consciousness once more. She didn't wait for the spirit to shrink back from her again- she didn't bother, knowing it would happen, understanding now that trying to trip up her thoughts and influencing her dreams were all Lyka was capable of doing.

“I . . .” Kagome shook her head, averting her eyes for a moment, just long enough to assure herself that her guest-from-hell had quieted and to be sure there wasn't a blush in her cheeks- it was difficult enough to look up into Professor Taisho's face knowing how very much she'd seen of him recently, but to stare up into those eyes after the images that had been fabricated in her mind was damn near impossible, “I didn't realize that you'd be upset about it, I'm really sorry.”

The professor seemed to weigh her words before squaring his jaw and letting a sigh slip out. “Higurashi, I don't know what more I can do to assure you that you can confide these things to me and I will do whatever I can to help you.”

“I'm sorry,” she said again, “this is just still all kind of new and I just sort of . . . acted.”

He nodded slowly. “I don't understand what you're going through, but I appreciate that you're being honest about what happened. I wasn't angry with you, Higurashi, but I was disappointed.”

Kagome didn't know what jabbed a sharp little point into her heart more- that he perceived her as being honest with him or that he was disappointed that she hadn't brought herself to trust him on that level. Teeth sinking deep into her bottom lip, she forced a nod before taking a backward step.

“I really should get going now.”

He gave a responding nod and strode back over to Miroku. Hanging her head for a long moment, she let a breath slip out from between pursed lips. He wasn't angry with her . . . okay, that made her feel a little better. Finally she raised her head and spun on her heel, only to collide with someone, wheeling around them and turning away from her initial direction.

“Whoa, whoa,” she heard as strong hands latched around her shoulders and kept her from stumbling about any further.

“Sorry,” she squeaked out sheepishly, finding herself staring up at Bruckner. “Huh,” the breathed hint of sound escaped her unexpectedly.

She hadn't had the opportunity to notice the last time she'd seen him up close because of his raggedly-tired appearance, but he was quite handsome . . . in a he-could-be-mistaken-for-some-American-surfer kind of way. Staring up into shockingly vibrant blue-green eyes- really, how could she have not noticed them before- she wondered briefly how anyone in academic society took the poor man seriously.

“Are you okay?” He asked with a small chuckle, apparently unaware of his hands still on her shoulders.

“Oh,” she couldn't resist a laugh at herself then, shaking her head. “Yeah, um . . . sorry, I just almost didn't recognize you.”

His brow furrowed before he realized what she meant and he relinquished his hold on her, making a vague waving gesture toward his face. “You mean the whole 'zombie' thing I had going on last time? Hmm, not sure you're one to talk.”

Her mouth hung open for a second. “Wh-what?”

Bruckner's mouth curved in a half-grin. “Ms. Fainting-Spell? Common knowledge seems to be that you have a penchant for self-induced sleep deprivation.”

She managed another laugh. “At least I didn't look like the walking dead. So very memorable.”

“Yeah, I should've known that would be the look to impress the pretty girls.”

Kagome sputtered for a moment. Had she really just heard that? “Um . . . did you just call me pretty?”

His eyes flashed a little wider for just a moment, giving her the impression that he'd not realized what he'd said. “Uh . . .” he coughed out a chuckle before offering a shrug. “I would actually say that's an understatement, but if the shoe fits.”

She wasn't really used to flirting or open flattery- not that she'd never received it before, simply that she'd never paid any mind to it. “Oh, uh, thank y-”

“Bruckner!”

Kagome gave a start at the sound of Professor Taisho all but barking for the man's attention. She had a glimpse of the professor's face over Bruckner's shoulder for a split-second.

“I take it you wanted to speak with me?” The professor went on only after Bruckner turned away from Kagome.

“Uh, yes,” Bruckner replied, laughing at himself as he gave a parting nod to Kagome and sheepishly trotted over to his colleague.

She watched in a dazed sort of puzzlement as Professor Taisho maneuvered the other man while they began talking and she suddenly found the professor's broad shoulders shielding Bruckner from her line of sight entirely. Attempting to put it out of her mind, she finally turned and started of toward the tunnel to the surface just beyond the main site.

It was both unsettling and oddly exhilarating to consider the look that had flickered across Taisho Sesshomaru's face as he'd called for Bruckner. She could be mistaken, but the mingling of rage and something lesser, yet still just as fierce left her thinking of something primitive and beast-like. A feral creature protecting its- okay, she commanded sharply, nearly stopping in her tracks with the force of the thought, being stupid again Kagome.

Despite those words, though, she couldn't help wondering if perhaps she wasn't imagining that he treated her just a little differently than everyone else. But she couldn't deny that even with his usual partiality toward her- the favoritism he showed her and her position as teacher's pet, that she possibly reminded him of his younger self or even her own, sad, dim little hope that someday he might feel a marginal aspect toward her of what she felt for him- this had been different.

Her brow furrowed as she trudged through the sand past the temple. She didn't know how to feel about having enjoyed that he'd just treated her like something that was his to protect.

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