InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Heaven ❯ Distractions, Beautiful & Fleeting ( Chapter 20 )

Chapter Twenty

Distractions, Beautiful & Fleeting

After a time she wiped a hand across her cheeks, though she was certain she'd been sitting there for so long since the tears had stopped that her skin was already dry. It seemed odd that this place was so very quiet. Perhaps it was always like this, but she supposed that was only her perception making it feel more acute- that it probably felt doubly so to her in the wake of her misery. She'd become so used to having a shoulder to lean on that being alone in such a moment was a more stark state of being.

As Kagome was about to push herself up to stand, a hand braced against the wall and the other against the floor for leverage, the chiming of an elevator drew her attention. Strange that she'd not noticed the elevator doors the first time, but then she'd been rather focused on keeping up with the surprisingly quick-stepping Myoga.

She looked up to see the tall, lanky figure partially step out, leaning back against one of the elevator doors to hold them open and folding his arms across his chest. In the dim light it took her a moment to make out that it was Professor Taisho. A handful of seconds slipped past before she realized it wasn't Professor Taisho . . . the long silver hair was loose, spilling around his shoulders and she knew that up close she would see the markings that stained his face.

He seemed to be waiting for her to make this recognition, she thought, because it was only after she frowned up at him that he slid an arm free and crooked a finger, beckoning her to him. Nodding slowly- she'd always known Nah Rah Ku would reappear sometime and that she didn't have the freedom to simply say no- she finally did push up from the floor, reflexively smoothing her hands over her clothing before dragging her feet down the corridor and stepping into the antiquated elevator.

She wondered vaguely if Myoga had any inkling that the demon was in the very same building as he, but then it was likely the old medium had some sort of wards in place to keep such things from entering his apartment and thus didn't feel the need to expand his extra-sensory knowledge any further than his own front door. That was probably what all that puffy, hanging smoke alluded to, as there'd been no incense lit before the lilac stick he'd selected specifically for her.

There was an odd numbness in her now as she stepped to the back wall and turned, leaning against it as she faced him and watched him retreat inward, allowing the doors to close. He pressed for the basement and midway through their quiet descent hit the stop button. Swiveling on a heel he mirrored her stance for a moment.

“Should I take it, perhaps, that I was not missed?” He murmured at last.

Though he never appeared to take much amusement from his own little jokes, she thought he must feel quite humored and couldn't help scowling at up at him. “Honestly I thought you were taking so long that by the time you visited again you'd be starving and do something I wouldn't want you to.”

“Truly?” He asked with a fractionally quirked brow, closing the meager distance between them with a single, long-legged step and reaching a hand out to slip the strap of her purse from her shoulder and slide it down, letting the small bag fall to the floor. “You are less observant than I have been giving you credit for- surely you remember that before my first 'visit' I had been slumbering for so very much longer and yet I only claimed a morsel from you?”

She didn't even have it in her to roll her eyes at him then. “Look, I'm not in the mood for your usual banter, I'm having the worst day of my life and you- YOU- are the last thing I wanted to deal with right now so just . . . take your stupid offering and go away for a while, okay?”

Kagome thought she'd fall over when her outburst brought a small, slightly confused-seeming frown to grace his lips. “No,” he said after a moment, not only looking confused, but a faint edge in his normally level tone hinting, as well, to some inner confusion. “It is not 'okay'. You are upset and, for once, it has not to do with me.”

Dropping her gaze from his she folded her arms tightly under her breasts and slumped against the wall supporting her back. Was this all some sort of test from the fates to see how much crap she could deal with and still come out sane or something? It certainly felt like it sometimes. She didn't want to think the demon had any sort of concern for her beyond keeping his sole source of sustenance functioning. She couldn't think on that level- she didn't want to think of him on that level, not ever and especially not now. It would just be too much for her to handle.

“Gee, you noticed that? Fan-friggin'-tastic for you!”

She didn't look at him, but from his voice she could tell that his brows had shot up. “What has gotten you so riled up?”

“Look, if I' wasn't gonna tell Professor Taisho, what the hell makes you think I'd tell you?” she did lift her eyes, then, only to continue scowling at him. “Seriously, could we please, please, just get this over with; my head's not really in a place for conversation right now.”

Kagome wanted to go, wanted to be walking out of this stupid elevator, out of this stupid building and go find Sango. At least if she told Sango it was a thing she couldn't talk about, her friend would let her cry it all out without asking any questions. She was trying to compartmentalize- to throw her misery into a box and not look on it again, but it wasn't working very well. She wanted to forget that last thing Myoga had told her . . . . That was all . . . she just wanted to forget.

“If you are truly so insistent,” the demon murmured with a faint shrug as he raised a hand once more, pushing her hair away from her throat.

He lowered his head, bringing his lips and tongue to sweep over her skin and she was surprised at how sharply she felt the warm tingling sensation that it sent coursing through her. It occurred to her distantly as the tip of his tongue swirled and lapped, beginning to force her thoughts away, that this wasn't his power- he wasn't using that strange, if delightful, ability now- this was her, this was her mind's drive to put something between herself and her pain. He was using her to survive . . . maybe she could use him to help her forget, if only for a few blissful moments.

She was trying to numb her mind, to still her thoughts and let her body just do what it wanted. A quiet, trembling sigh escaped her and she turned her head away, offering more of her skin to his wandering mouth and it seemed of their own volition that her arms lifted, her hands linking behind his neck.

She felt the sweet friction of one of his thighs pushing up between hers, to press firmly against her as he brought his hands to her breasts, cupping them, kneading them roughly through her clothing. It almost shocked her that she found her hips rocking, found herself moving to rub that delicate little spot over his thigh through the thin fabric of her panties. Each time she worked her way forward she thought she could feel his length growing harder and harder as she pressed against him and pulled back again.

The demon dragged his teeth slowly upward along her throat, chuckling quietly at the soft moan that tore out of her as he spared a minute to suck on her earlobe. “It would seem we are quite eager for once,” he whispered, pulling back just enough to look in her eyes.

He still appeared a bit confused, perhaps even caught off-guard, she thought. She didn't really care right now- not anymore, she was at her fill of things worthy of being cared about and Nah Rah Ku didn't make the list- and all but hissed at him, “Shut up and take your stupid offering, already!”

Immediately his expression iced over and in a blink he pulled away from her, before she could even react he'd snatched both of her small wrists in one of his hands to pull her arms up over her head, all but slamming them into the wall behind her. “It would seem you have again forgotten your place, little priestess.”

“Have I, now?” she asked, her voice raised a bit as she frowned darkly at him- she refused to let him intimidate her, he might make a good show in reminding her of how much faster and stronger he was than a human being when it suited his purpose, but she felt certain he wouldn't actually hurt her.

A silver brow quirked at her as those gold eyes narrowed almost lethally. “I should say so. When did it become apparent that you are in any position to make demands of one such as me?”

“It really didn't,” Kagome replied in an oddly reasonable tone- interesting, even letting him make her angry was a wonderful distraction. When she was around The Thief he filled her thoughts, there was simply no way to think about anything besides him, “but I just . . . Ah! Gods, you're so impossible! For once I'm not fighting you about this and you pick a fight with me, I just don't understand!”

“I do not take well to being ordered about, little priestess. I should have thought that point perfectly clear.”

She realized that he wasn't trying to be difficult- though he was spectacular at that- but that he was such a prideful creature. Hearing her speak to him as though she was in a position to make demands had pinged at his metaphorical armor and he was lashing out in retaliation.

“I wasn't trying to 'order you about', I just . . .” her frown lessening she simply stared up at him for a long moment before deciding to be honest about it, “I just need you to take your offering and I don't want to talk about why. That's all.”

It did trouble him, oddly, that she was so vexed over something, but then, combing through this Sesshomaru's thoughts had let him understand that she was grieving for an ailing older relative. His flash of anger had not merely been for show, but perhaps it should have been more internalized, he considered, as he was angry with himself and not her. He did not like that he found himself wanting to know the cause when something was upsetting to her. She wished for this offering to be taken so very much, wanted him to take her mind from her worries . . . and he would oblige her.

After a moment of seeming to consider her words he took a single step backward, pulling her away from the wall with him and releasing her hands. She'd not noticed that he'd actually been supporting her weight and without the wall to fall back against she slipped to the floor, making for a decidedly graceless landing on her bottom. Sooner than she could even raise her face to yell at him he was on the floor beside her, sitting on his knees and clearly watching her expression.

She opened her mouth to rail at him, but just as quickly he had a finger pressed to her lips, silencing her rather effectively. “As you wish, little priestess,” he whispered, slipping his hands beneath her arms and moving her until her back was pressed to the wall again.

“If you are going to be so very compliant,” he went on in that same low, grumbling of words as he lifted her knees, parting her legs wide before pulling her panties only far enough up her thighs that they were out of his way, “then, this once, I believe I want to see your face.”

“Say what now?” she asked in a low, breathy tone. Something in the way he was speaking and the way he was carefully positioning her was getting to her already and she wondered briefly if this wasn't what anticipation was all about.

He only quirked a brow as he tugged up her sweater, pushing it up over her breasts. Frowning at her strapless bra and looking for a moment as though he was consulting with himself- she thought he was likely rifling through Professor Taisho's thoughts for a way to deal with it- he folded it downward exposing her breasts.

“I said,” he paused, leaning down for a moment to catch one of her nipples between his teeth and suckling at it, bringing a soft gasp from her before continuing, “I want to see your face. I wish to watch the exquisite expressions you make while I am making you come.”

The gasp she uttered then was for an entirely different reason. “But,” she dimly thought it odd that this would be the thing to make her blush, “that's so . . . embarrassing.”

He smirked as he shifted himself to sit closer to her, slipping a hand between her thighs to part her delicately. “I would think,” he murmured, once more pausing ever so briefly to watch her tremble as he rubbed the tip of his finger over that precious little bead of flesh, “that after all this you would no longer have such concerns around me.”

It crossed her mind that he was probably right- that she had actually thought this once before, herself- but had no time to offer a response before his slid his other hand down, as well, entering her with two fingers. He pulled his face back, sitting up as straight as he could while he continued stroking his fingertip over her and she couldn't help herself from moving her hips forward, forcing his fingers to slide deeper into her.

He stilled the hand that had entered her, only watching for a moment as she kept moving, causing his fingers to enter and withdraw all on her own. It occurred to him that perhaps he should always come to her when she had thoughts she wanted to escape. Smirking, he at last gave in, pushing into her, thrusting his hand against the rocking of her hips, delighting in the way it caused her to groan behind clenched teeth.

Kagome was trembling ever so slightly each time she moved forward, each time his fingers sank into her as deeply as they could and she again tried to let her thoughts go and allow her body to do whatever it wanted. The finger working over her was moving almost slowly, in pace with the thrusting of his hand and she felt emboldened just now, knowing she wanted more than this.

He couldn't help the surprised chuckle that escaped him as she slipped a hand over his, trying to move that finger over her faster. What she did next was even more surprising, her other hand slipping around her leg to rest in the center of his lap.

Those golden eyes drifted closed as she gently drew her fingers back and forth over his hardened length. “I should think you would not want to start something you will not be willing to finish.”

“Well,” she whispered breathlessly, her voice trembling as she continued rocking herself back and forth against his delving hand, “I'm not asking for sex, but I . . . I want to try something and you . . . said yourself the offering is stronger when you come too, right?”

“That I did,” he murmured, thinking perhaps he understood what she wanted.

He allowed her to draw the zipper of his pants downward, still mildly shocked when she proceeded to fumblingly pull his length free. She grasped him gently and he instantly stilled in his ministrations.

Blue eyes snapped open, not knowing if she should be angry with him or if this had somehow made him angry with her, but just as quickly as he'd stopped he'd slid his hand over hers, pulling it away. “But I thought-”

“I am not stopping you, little priestess,” he purred, bringing her fingers between her own legs and pressing them against the moist warmth there for a moment, letting the dampness make them slippery, continuing as he brought her hand back to grip around him again, “I am aiding your endeavor.”

She nodded slowly, jumping a little when he suddenly slid his fingers inside of her again. Kagome let her eyes drift closed, her head falling back against the wall as she began working her hand up and down his length. He responded in kind, starting to rub his fingers over her again as his other hand slid into her in hard, steady thrusts.

“Move with me,” he whispered, leaning down again so that his breath brushed across one of her breasts as he spoke, “allow the rhythm of my hand to guide yours.”

Again she nodded, doing as he instructed. It was a little difficult to keep pace with him because of how wonderfully distracting the motions of his hands between her legs were. He closed his lips over her nipple and she cried out, arching her back as he suckled and nibbled at her. She was dimly aware that this did feel as it had in that sinful dream she'd had- the velvety texture of his skin beneath her fingers, how very hard and warm he was in her hand.

She shuddered as the fingers rubbing over her quickened, as the hard, deep thrusting of his other hand became faster and she tried, still, to keep pace with him but it was becoming more difficult as she felt herself wanting to give in already. Every now and again as she moved her hand forward over him she thought she felt a little bead of moisture coming out of him. She was certain, though, that this was supposed to happen because each time it did she could feel the faint tremor that shook through him.

He let out a low grumbling sound as he sat back from her again and she could feel him beginning to move against her grasp, his hips thrusting to force his length through her circling fingers faster. In response to his own motions he began driving his fingers into her faster, working that precious little bead beneath his fingertips faster.

She clamped her lips shut, quieting her scream behind them as she started to come against his hands. She could hear him growling, that deep, hungry sound he always seemed to make when taking his offerings from her.

He was watching her face, as he had said he would, losing himself in the feeling of her hand working his length, in the feel of that moist, tight warmth within her becoming only tighter still as she clenched around his fingers. It was a losing battle and he let his eyes close, his head tipping back as his hips jerked erratically, almost helplessly to push himself through her gripping hand, through her instinctively talented fingers all the faster.

Kagome moaned softly, the sound echoing through the tiny space as it started to ebb and she moved against him again, hazy blue eyes opening to watch her hand moving over him. She was dimly surprised that she'd managed to keep this up while in the throes of an orgasm. As she continued rocking herself against his hands she felt it, the rippling of that smooth skin beneath her fingers.

His head fell forward then, his hips thrusting forward one final time and stilling as she slid her hand over him in steady, gentle motions. She couldn't help the small giggle of surprise that escaped her as he released himself and it shot out, decorating the wall beside her.

When he was fully spent and the last of the delicious little aftershocks of her orgasm had left her, he removed his hands from her, speaking as he delicately extracted himself from her grasp. “That,” he whispered, opening his glowing golden eyes to peer down at her through narrowed slits, “it not funny.”

She laughed again, realizing- though it was a reluctant realization- that she did find him amusing during these unguarded moments as she pointedly turned her head to look at the wall before turning back to gaze innocently up at him. “Yes it was. I've never done this before, so . . . maybe it gets less humorous over time.”

He quirked a brow at her as he gently eased his length back into his pants and zippered them closed. “That may become a theory I will make you test.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” she muttered as she reached for her purse, delightfully in the moment as she opened the tiny bag and began rifling through it.

“What in all the bloody planes of existence are you doing?” It was comical, if odd, to watch the girl in her current state of rumpled undress fishing through the tiny pocket of fabric before making any attempt to right herself.

“Well, I'm sure I have tissues in here somewhere, see I emptied everything I normally carry in my pockets into here and . . . ah-hah!” She grinned triumphantly as she withdrew a small package of tissues from the bag. “See, after that time in the school I started carrying these around with me out of habit since I figured there would be times I'd need to, um . . . 'clean up' after you and there wouldn't always be a bathroom around.”

“So I have made you a more practical person, then?”

She frowned up at him, noting with some minor embarrassed awkwardness that he was watching her clean herself up as effectively as she could manage. “Not practical enough, I should have brought a little trash bag or something, too. Ugh, that means I'm going to have to carry these with me 'til I find a waste basket.” For good measure she took a few extra tissues and unfolded them to wrapped around the used ones before bundling them away in a tiny zippered pocket inside her purse.

Thinking on it, she handed him a few, as well, before locating the tiny bottle of hand sanitizer her mother always insisted she carry- that she'd honestly forgotten about until this moment- and he only blinked at them before looking up at her with an ever so slightly furrowed brow. “Whatever am I expected to do with these?”

One of her brows inched upward so high it caused her eyelid to itch. “Um . . . clean up after yourself? That gum fiasco from last time is not something I think you want to repeat, so . . . no more licking your fingers!”

“Ah,” was all he said, nodding as he shifted to sit cross-legged and opened the tiny bottle to begin cleaning his hands.

Kagome kept an eye on him as she straightened out her clothes and shifted, herself, to sit on her knees as he'd been before. It was very strange to watch him do this- to see him dispense the clear liquid and rub it across the lines of his fingers and palms with an almost childlike curiosity.

He was about to use the tissues to wipe his hands dry, but she quickly caught his wrist. “No.”

“I beg your pardon?” He raised his head to look at her questioningly, the glow in his eyes still fading.

She shook her head laughing a little in spite of herself. “The sanitizing lotion will dry on its own. The tissues are for cleaning up after yourself.”

When he seemed to not grasp her meaning, she tilted her head, nodding toward the mess he'd made on the wall. “. . . I will do no such thing!” He muttered indignantly.

“Oh my gods . . . are all demons such big babies? This is not your temple, you don't have servants to clean up after you anymore and I'm certainly not going to do it. It may make no difference to you, but I'm pretty sure that anyone that knows what a guy's . . . well . . . you-know-what looks like is going to recognize that and I'm not going to have the little old people that live in this building walk into their elevator and see that!”

He turned his head away, lifting his chin defiantly. “. . . No.”

“Oh for pity's sake!” Raising up a little on her knees she gripped the wrist of the hand that held the tissue in both of hers and brought his hand to the wall, wiping up the mess. Releasing her hold on him as soon as that was done, she sat down again, propping her hands on her hips.

“There!” she said when he turned a barely-there frown on her.

“Hmph,” he breathed the sound as he reached toward her, snatching up her purse and the package of tissues before she could blink.

“Wha . . . ?” She could only watch as he did exactly as she had earlier, unfolding clean tissues to wrap them around the used ones and shoved them into her purse before tossing it lightly back into her lap.

“There!” he echoed, a silver brow quirking slightly as he'd said it.

Kagome scowled at him. “Does childish behavior come naturally to once being worshiped as a deity or something?”

He seemed to take a moment to mull that over. “. . . Possibly.”

It was only then that it occurred to her that there was a strange sort of comfort in being with him in these moments. Not that she found him- or anything about him, for that matter- comforting, merely that in these moments when he was unguarded she was comfortable around him. She wasn't even certain that made sense, but that was the conclusion she'd drawn.

“Where will the professor find himself after this?”

He rolled his head on his neck and she cringed a little at the sound of the joints cracking as he withdrew a black elastic band from his pocket and began smoothing his hair back into a low pony tail. “There is a basement level parking garage here where he has left his car. He will awaken from having dozed off after introducing you to your new mentor. Possibly to remember a rather pleasant dream of his most favored student.”

She frowned darkly- she didn't like the idea that he was making Professor Taisho's situation more difficult for him. “Do you have to do that to him?”

Nah Rah Ku offered a nearly imperceptible shrug as he rolled his eyes back, like he was thinking about something. “He is having one such dream all of his own design at this very moment, what just occurred here would not be a far stretch.”

Kagome could only shake her head at that. There was just no reasoning with demons, she supposed. She watched, that numbness beginning to steal over her again, as he stood up and dusted himself off.

You could tell him, that nagging little voice in the back of her head piped up suddenly. That terrible thing she knew, that thing she couldn't share with anyone . . . she could him and it wouldn't matter. He wouldn't care, but maybe it could ease the burden on her just a little to be able to say it out loud.

“My grandfather is dying,” she blurted out, causing him to halt as he turned toward the buttons beside the elevator doors.

She raised her eyes to find him staring down at her. “Everything dies, little priestess,” he said, his voice level and strangely reasonable.

“No,” she shook her head, dropping her gaze again as she let herself remember, “I mean, like, soon. As in he'll be dead in maybe a week? And . . . there's nothing I can do about it. I can't tell anyone 'cause it's just . . . I know it's his time, but I . . .” she allowed her voice to trail off, tears returning to clog her throat.

Letting out a sigh he lowered himself to sit on his heels and reached a hand out, cupping her chin and lifting her face to meet his gaze. “What would you do, had you the power? Would you prolong his life? This Sesshomaru's thoughts tell me he has troubles breathing?”

“Had I the power,” she repeated in a trembling whisper, “I'd . . . I'd heal him. I'd make it so that he didn't have to hurt.”

The demon nodded slowly. “And if you did and it was still 'his time'?”

She sniffled, almost dazed when a tear trickled down her cheek and he raised his free hand to wipe it away, holding her gaze steadily. “Then I'd have done all I could- I'd know I'd done everything I could. But this . . . I can't do anything!”

“I believe you drawn your own conclusion.”

“I don't understand,” she whispered, giving another sniffle.

“Do everything you can for him while he is still here.”

She stared back at him, into those no longer glowing eyes and understood in a jarring and painful way that perhaps she already had. “I think . . . I think I somehow already knew. Before my 'mentor' told me. I saw my grandfather and . . .” she shrugged weakly, “we're not the type of household that you normally throw the word 'love' around in, we all just sort of know and that's usually that, but . . . I told him because . . .” she paused, forcing a sniffle and blinking back a fresh wash of tears only to continue, having to speak around the hard lump that had wedged its way back into her throat, “I just felt like I needed him to know. And I needed him to know before he's not here for me to say it anymore.”

Nearly against her will she broke down again. She hadn't wanted this- hadn't wanted to remember everything so vividly, but she couldn't help it. Kagome felt she understood now, it was a dim understanding, playing second-fiddle to her pain, but she grasped that Myoga had had a good reason for telling her. So that she could come to terms with it now . . . so that when the time came she could be there, could be strong for her family.

Nah Rah Ku felt terribly confused as he watched the small female crumble into a gibbering mess before him. Gold eyes darted about the small space of the elevator as though expecting some sort of reprieve, but- of course- none would come. Nodding reluctantly to himself he carefully eased himself to sit beside the girl and slid his arms around her. He did not deal well with crying females, he had to get her to stop somehow!

She pushed away the part of herself that was freaking out in shock over The Thief offering her comfort and put her head against him, letting herself cry into the hollow of his shoulder. It felt odd to be with him this way- she'd not expected him to act like this, but she supposed that nagging voice had been right, there was no one she could turn to and for all intents and purposes he was no one.

He let his head roll back against the wall behind him- suddenly glad she'd been so insistent that he clean up after himself- his gaze on the ceiling as she sobbed, her thin frame shaking and trembling against his. In most instances he quite liked the idea of her shaking and trembling in his arms, but this was not one of those instances. He felt awkward holding her as she cried, awkward acting as though he cared to be comforting to her.

It bothered him deeply that he wanted her to stop crying and it was not because he- like most males, from his understanding of it- simply did not know how to handle a woman when she was gibbering like an idiot. This somehow, simply and strangely, seemed to be because there was something about seeing this woman cry that he did not like.

After a few moments she quieted and pulled away from him, wiping her hands over her face in erratic, fluttering motions. “You should go,” she declared abruptly.

Nah Rah Ku nodded slowly, slipping his hands around her shoulders and pulling her up with him as he moved to stand. “As should you,” he replied as he at last reached out and set the elevator into motion again.

Kagome managed a small, stiff nod of her own. “Um . . . don't let Professor Taisho know about this.”

His arm fell from her then, and she didn't know if it was something about what she'd said or because the doors were about to open to let him out into the parking lot. “I will not,” he said simply, not turning his head to look at her, “you have imparted this knowledge to me and with me it shall stay.”

She was left watching the doors for a long moment after he'd stepped out. Finally she hit the button to bring her back to the first floor, to that sad little lobby, and leaned back against the wall as the elevator chugged and sputtered slowly upward.

Oddly, she did feel a little relieved. It was hardly as though her pain had subsided at all, but being able to get it out had taken a least a bit of the edge off of it, enough that she could function around the pain. It dawned on her distantly that, again- whether he'd intended to or not- The Thief had helped her and again she hadn't the faintest clue how to feel about it.

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