InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Mark ❯ Never Spy on a Taiyoukai ( Chapter 7 )

Inuyasha jerked awake, unsure what had disturbed him. He glanced around the camp. Gin and Miroku were curled together. He felt a smile touch his lips. Those two certainly made an odd couple. Sango was sleeping near the fire and Kouga was watching her. The children were both in Kagome's sleeping bag and Kagome was…was gone. He sat up a little straighter. When he'd fallen to sleep, she'd been curled up near Sango, now she was no where to be found and Sesshomaru was gone as well. He was about to leap down and find them when Kouga's whispered voice reached his ears.

"They left about an hour ago. I wouldn't follow if I were you."

"Well you're not me."

He snorted. "Yes, and I thank kami everyday for that." Inuyasha jumped down and sniffed. "Can't you just leave them alone?"

"She's my responsibility."

"Not any more."

Shrugging off his final comment, Inuyasha began to track Sesshomaru and Kagome. It was not very difficult, they had made no attempts at hiding their trail. He followed a game trail to a small clearing where he found them. They were both seated in the lotus position with their hands resting in their laps. They sat facing each other with their eyes closed. What took Inuyasha's breath away was that they were both glowing and floating almost a foot above the ground.

Sesshomaru glowed a deep violet blue, the same shade, Inuyasha noted, as his crest of power. Kagome glowed a soft pink, the same as her sacred arrows. Their hair and clothes seemed to dance in a non-existent breeze as their magics permeated the forest around them. He moved back, and jumped up into a tree to watch them from a vantage that would allow him to remain hidden. After several minutes they lowered themselves to the ground. Their auras faded and they both sagged slightly. He watched as they rose, shaking out their clothes. Kagome smiled at Sesshomaru.

"That was incredible."

"You have never been trained before?"

"Not really."

"You are very disciplined for someone who has little training. I believe you will make a very good miko someday."

Her smile suddenly turned sad. "Sesshomaru, what am I?"

He touched her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. "Does that really matter?"

"It matters to me."

He drew her into his arms. "Whatever you are, I will love you."

Inuyasha felt like he was going to puke. How could Kagome be so gullible? He was obviously trying to get the Tetsusaiga again. This time though, he was going to get her to steal it for him. Well Inuyasha would not allow that to happen. The only way Sesshomaru would get the Tetsusaiga was if he pried it from his cold dead fingers. After a moment the two parted. Sesshomaru handed Kagome the Tenseiga and drew Tokijin. Kagome frowned at her kimono.

"This will not do."

She untied her obi, and removed the kimono, folded it neatly, and laid it on the ground. Inuyasha licked his lips and took in the view. She wore black undergarments that seemed to make her skin look even paler. Her breasts were well-formed though contained. Her muscles were toned and smooth, her skin supple and white. He felt himself grow hard at the sight of her. Sesshomaru was also running an appreciative eye over her.

"I need something I can actually move in. Something like what Gin wears."

"I have similar garments that I can give you, if you come with me to my palace."

Kagome laughed softly and shook her head. "You are impossible."

"You will come with me."

"When my duty is finished, I will come."

Sesshomaru shook his head. "Guard."

The swords came up. He watched as they moved slowly through the sword forms. He had never actually been taught these, but it was easy to see how Sesshomaru had attained such natural seeming grace with his weapons. Kagome moved smoothly from parry to thrust to block. They worked hard, and soon Kagome was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. The moonlight glinted off her skin, making her glow. A few minutes later the wind shifted.

Inuyasha knew instantly he had been detected. Sesshomaru stiffened. His lips curled in a silent snarl as his eyes fixed on the point where Inuyasha sat. With speed, surprising even for the taiyoukai, he launched himself at the hanyou. He had just enough time to block the attack with the Tetsusaiga. He flew backwards, barely regaining his feet before Sesshomaru crashed into him again. Again he was repelled. Inuyasha stumbled backwards into camp as Sesshomaru knocked the sword from his hand. He fell, backing away from the enraged taiyoukai. His back came up against a tree and Sesshomaru pressed the tip of Tokijin to Inuyasha's neck.

The others were up now, roused by the incredible noise of their battle. Gin held Sango and Miroku back, while Kouga took the children elsewhere. Sesshomaru's eyes were slowly starting to bleed red when Kagome, still without her kimono burst into the clear. She sprinted to Sesshomaru, but he was fixed on Inuyasha. She heard him growl softly. In his mind was only the thought that the hanyou had seen her, his mate, and now he had to die. She needed to distract him. Glancing at the others and throwing propriety to the wind she pressed her lips against his.

At first he did not respond then he seemed to suddenly snap out of his trance. He dropped Tokijin and his arms encircled her waist, pulling her closer as he deepened the kiss. His thumb traced lightly down her spine, careful not to cut the delicate skin. She moaned against his mouth, arching her chest into him. He could scent her arousal as his body responded to hers. After a moment they parted. He looked down at her, gratitude filling his gaze. At last his eyes shifted to Inuyasha.

"You have protected her in the past, and for that I am grateful. You do not need to act as her protector when I am here. If you follow us, Kagome may not be able to stop me in time again. Know this, Inuyasha, the only reason you are alive now is because my love for her is far greater than my hate for you."

"You have never loved anything in your life."

Sesshomaru merely shook his head. He picked up Kagome, using his sleeves to conceal her, and carried her back to where they had left her kimono and Tenseiga. He set her on her feet and picked up his father's sword.

"Sesshomaru?"

"Hai."

"Was I wrong to stop you?"

"No, you were right. I cannot kill him, though I do hate him."

"Why?"

He turned to look at her. Slowly, Kagome opened her mind fully to him and he showed her. Inuyasha, smaller and wearing a green kimono, ran through a field chasing a butterfly. Sesshomaru stood watching him, his face as still as ever. After a few minutes another inuyoukai came forward. His hair was as white as Sesshomaru's and his eyes were amber wells that seemed to swirl with life.

"Sesshomaru, return to the palace with your brother."

"He is not my brother."

"Fine, your half-brother."

"Even that is debatable."

"You think to question the fidelity of my mate?"

Sesshomaru stepped forward and gestured toward Inuyasha. The young hanyou fell into step with his older brother. They arrived in the palace to find the servants busily packing a carriage. He frowned slightly at this then gestured toward the garden where Inuyasha ran to continue playing. His father caught up to them.

"You will go to the great hall."

Sesshomaru followed the older inuyoukai to a great room where two women sat waiting. One was a human hime, her black hair pinned elegantly off her face. The other was an inuyoukai woman with long silver hair and eyes of pure golden hue. They both rose as the two entered.

"Sesshomaru, you and your mother will be moving to the sea-side palace. There you will live out the rest of your lives. Neither of you are to speak of me or my true son for all of eternity."

Sesshomaru's rage was sudden and blinding. He had been acting as the Lord of the Western Lands for well over a hundred years. Now he was being tossed aside, discarded for a ningen bitch and her hanyou son. He turned to his father, his eyes bleeding red. Whether he would have attacked or not he would never know, for at that moment Inuyasha launched himself at his brother with a feral yowl. Sesshomaru swatted the annoyance aside and growled deeply at his father. The ningen bitch cringed and shrank back.

"You will regret this, Inutaisho."

Those were to be the last words he ever spoke to his father. He and his mother had gone to the sea-side palace where she had not survived his betrayal for more than a month. After burying his mother, Sesshomaru had continued to patrol and rule the Western Lands as before. His father was too occupied with Inuyasha's mother to notice and when he died, Sesshomaru was awarded the title by the other Lords.

Kagome came back to herself very slowly. It took her a moment to realize she was crying. She wondered if she would be able to love Inuyasha if she had been placed in the same position. Cast out and disowned by his own father. It was no wonder Sesshomaru was so enraged with the man.

"I…I'm sorry about your mother."

"It was a long time ago."

She sensed he believed her sympathy to be false. She sighed and touched his face, forcing him to look at her. Slowly she sent him the memory, her last memory of her father. The room was white and as sterile smelling as it looked. The scent almost knocked her over then and the memory of it still made her queasy. He'd looked up at her without recognition in his eyes. Slowly he'd smiled, then the smile faded and so did the light in his eyes. The heart monitor emitted a high tone that showed his heart had stopped. Her mother reached over and turned the offending machine off. They sat in silence for long minutes. At last Kagome led her mother out of the room and home.

For the next week she took care of everything, staying home from school to see to her family. She cooked and cleaned and even had to bathe her own mother. Her grandfather seemed lost. Souta was the first to find his feet again. He hardly knew his father anyway. Her mother was the last. At last Kagome could go back to school and get on with her life. She released him and stepped back, but before she could he pulled her into his arms. His voice stirred the hair by her ear.

"We never got to mourn them."

"Life can do that sometimes."

"Or rather, death."

She leaned back and took his face in her hands. "Death is nothing more than a fore gone conclusion, the next logical step. My greatest fear is not Naraku or any of the other dangers I've faced here. My greatest fear is that when the time comes, I will not be able to face my death. The only people who seem to have a problem with death are the living."

A tiny smile pulled at his lips. "Come to think of it, I've never heard a single complaint from the dead."

She giggled softly. "Yes, they must be quite content if they can find nothing to bother us about."

He pulled her close again, burying his face in her hair. "How did I get so lucky that I should find you? The gods must truly have found something in me to their liking, though what I do not know."

"Perhaps it is because of what we have in common. Our grief and our broken love bind us, Sesshomaru, as it could bind no other." She pulled back from him and lifted his hand, lacing her fingers with his. "We are one in spirit and in heart."

-And someday, we will be one in body.-

She blushed, but did not remove herself from his embrace. -You do have a one-track mind, koishii.-

-Yes, but you have to admit some of my ideas are fun.-

He sensed her nervousness and let the topic drop. It always amazed him how inexperienced she was. She was beautiful, powerful, intelligent, and willful. Everything a youkai looked for in a mate. Why hadn't Inuyasha ever made an attempt to win her affections? Not that he was complaining. He knew she had been in love with him at one point, but that had faded to something more maternal. She took care of him, disciplined him, and kept others from harming him.

She dressed and they returned to camp. Everyone had settled down again. He moved Tokijin to lay next to Tenseiga. They curled up together. He loved the feel of his body next to hers. When had he come to love her? He had lusted after her before, but always he had been able to shrug the emotion off. Now though, this was different. His connection to her had brought him closer to another living being than he had ever been before. He smoothed the hair out of her face and heard her sigh softly. She was still awake and he needed to discuss something with her before morning.

-Koishii, I want to talk to you about Shippou. I don't want you to have to worry about him. He is close to Rin. Let me take him with me. Jaken and Ah-Un are protective of Rin. They would take care for him.-

-But he would not have his mother, and neither would Rin.-

-Rin…-

-Sesshomaru, I have decided about…about mating you.-

He gave her a gentle squeeze. -We will do nothing that you do not want to do. I will wait until you are ready-

-Thank you for understanding. The problem is, I want you, I would not object if you took me here and now. I do not think the others would find that very…very polite.-

-You think I care what they think?-

-No.-

She looked up at him and found herself suddenly lost in his eyes. Before either realized it, her lips were caressing his. He rolled her onto her back, his hand caressing her breast through her kimono as his lips teased hers. He coaxed her tongue into an erotic battle for dominance, that he won by capturing her tongue and sucking on it gently. She moaned and gasped against him, trying to keep her utterances to a minimum. One hand tangled in his hair as the other worried the knot of his haori loose. Her hand ran over his chest and dipped down toward his stomach. He groaned as she traced the muscles of his abdomen.

He pushed her kimono up, tracing his fingers along her thigh. She squirmed beneath him, her breath becoming ragged as heat pooled in the apex of her thighs. He nudged her knees apart and settled between her legs. She could feel his erection pressing against her heated core. He pressed himself against her and she moaned into his mouth. Suddenly he pulled back.

-If we don't stop this now, I'm afraid I won't be able to.-

Kagome could only nod slowly. He, reluctantly, moved off of her and pulled her against him. He felt her hook a leg across his hips and smiled as she settled her head on his chest. He rested one hand on her upper thigh, stroking the soft skin. She clung to him as if afraid he would leave her, and on some level he knew she was. She had lost her father and her first love, but he would not go anywhere. She would not lose him.