InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Prize ❯ 11. The Prize Revealed. ( Chapter 11 )

The Prize [NC-17]

 

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha and give thanks to its creator; it's such a wonderful series.

 

11. The Prize Revealed.

 

They had slept through dinner time. In the middle of the night they went downstairs to whip up something to eat for themselves. They enjoyed each other's company and Kagome marveled at how skillful he was at the art of cooking. She was a bit stand offish at first after revealing herself so much earlier. He took this into account and made her focus on cooking instead. His voice was deep and soothing making her more and more at ease around him. He would touch her often and kept his body real close to her whenever he had the opportunity. She wondered if this was him or “the Youkai way.” Either way, it worked and she was able to put her awkward feelings aside.

 

The sun rays came bright and hard through the morning window. Sesshomaru and Kagome had no choice but to wake up.

 

Sesshomaru gave an enviable stretch when he got out of bed. Kagome took a good look at his entire back side from heels, buttocks, to the top of his head and outstretched arm. He stilled in the process and caught her watching.

 

She blushed but did not stop looking at him. His arm fell unceremoniously to his side and gave her a smirk. She could not help but put her face against the pillow. Shyness had finally crept up on her.

 

I wish she'd stop being shy with me, I am her mate after all, thought Sesshomaru as he walked away towards the door.

 

He knew that their breakfast was waiting for them outside. He returned with the platter and brought it to the bed revealing this time bread, cheese, marmalades, fruit, fruit juice and water.

 

She picked a piece of cheese and brought it to her mouth and said, “I'm sorry if I'm still shy but why did you talk to me in the third person?”

 

He was about to get his choice to eat when he stopped half-way. He looked at her with no expression on his face.

 

He inquired, “Explain.”

 

She looked at him and said, “You said, `I wish she'd stop being shy with me, I am her mate after all.'” She popped in some grapes in her mouth and sipped her juice, she finished saying, “That was strange.”

 

He sat there, observant and silent.

 

She noticed the contrast between her stuffing her face and his remaining seated without taking one bite. She noticed how he was looking at her as though she had grown two heads.

 

She returned his gaze and asked, “Wha-at!?”

 

He gave away nothing. He just sat there observant and finally said, “I said that in the third person Kagome, because I was talking to myself.”

 

She looked at him and swallowed the fruit.

 

“Odd, I don't usually hear you talking to yourself out loud.” She said.

 

He replied, “I didn't.”

 

“Of course you did,” she said, “I heard you.” She looked at the platter some more, chose a really ripe piece of kiwi and bit into it enjoying its sweet sour taste.

 

He brought her focus back to him with a caress on her cheek. As she perused his handsome face she heard his voice say, I only talk to myself in my mind Kagome. His lips had not moved.

 

She blinked once, twice. She looked at his eyes, then his lips and back to his eyes.

 

With half closed eyelids he asked, “What did I say?”

 

She looked at him and she muttered, “Uh…”

 

He brought his forehead against hers and said, “Tell me what you just heard.”

 

His movement was tender but his tone was harsh. She looked at him with a panic, and asked herself, did I just hear him talk but his lips did not move?

 

In a hard swallow she forced down the fruit that was still in her mouth.

 

You do hear me correct?

 

She heard his voice, it was there once again but his lips were not moving. Her breathing became erratic. She leaned back and looked around her. She covered her ears as if to stop a sound from coming. Strangely enough the sound wasn't coming through her ear drums.

 

He noticed her distress and he put the breakfast plate aside. He took her hand away from one of her ears.

 

He said, lips moving this time, “Did you hear me? Answer me yes or no.”

 

Her mouth slightly opened and then she shut it. She opened it again about to say something but she closed it. His eyes sparkled with interest still he revealed nothing else.

 

“Sesshomaru, what are you asking? What am I hearing?” Then she paused. “I think that I am going crazy,” she stated solemnly.

 

Unexpectedly, he chuckled and pulled her into his arms.

 

Did Sesshomaru just …laugh? She thought. Oh my, he is going nuts also!

 

Sesshomaru approached her ear and whispered, “No, I'm not going nuts and neither are you.”

 

Kagome exploded away from him getting off the bed and stood next to it. Her heart was beating fast.

 

She asked, “Wha-What? Did you hear what I was thinking? Wait; did I hear what you were thinking?”

 

She started to back away from the bed and banged against the arm chair in the room. She turned to look at it distraught.

 

Sesshomaru stood up and walked towards her. She, on the other hand, backed away from him. He then grabbed her wrist and with a strong pull he brought her to his frame and hugged her protectively.

 

He began to sway from side to side. She was still bewildered by what had just happened. His movements and the thumping of his heart beating against his chest began to soothe her. He smoothed her hair and slowly persuaded her back to bed. Once inside he covered their bodies with the bed sheet.

 

They were sitting against the head board in silence. Her head was leaning against his shoulder, his right hand was clasping her left one and the two were covered by the bed sheet. She was covered up to her chest; he was covered up to his waist.

 

“Kagome,” he said.

 

She looked up at him.

 

“What you just experienced was my power.” He said but he remained looking at their clasped hands.

 

“The power,” she swallowed hesitating for a moment, “the power to read minds?”

 

“Yes,” he affirmed.

 

She asked, “How? When? Why?”

 

He raised his head looking distantly and then he looked at her directly. He said, “Kagome, I have the ability to read minds and as my mate you are now acquiring that ability as well.”

 

She heard the words. She saw them as they came out of her mate's handsome lips. Yet, this was hard to believe. She had never known of any demon that could read minds, that is, except for Goshinki.

 

She looked at him and said, “How come we never knew this? How come InuYasha never knew this?”

 

He responded, “Nobody knows about this; nobody but you.”

 

“But then, how is it that I have it?” she asked.

 

He said, “My mark on you is the beginning. As for how exactly this happens is still a mystery to me. I just know that as my mate you will acquire some of my powers.”

 

“Will I turn into a giant dog?” she blurted out.

 

He smirked, “You will acquire some of my powers but you are not becoming an Inu-Youkai. It would not be surprising should your miko powers become stronger. It is expected that you will live longer than a mortal.”

 

He noticed her silence and looked at her carefully. She was evidently digesting everything.

 

Everything was so surreal from the get go. Everything was like a dream. But it wasn't. First, Sesshomaru took her, then he made her his mate, and each time they made love it was always at high octane intensity. Then the most incredible thing of all was her admission to him, and to herself, that she was falling in love with him. After devoting herself for so many years entirely to InuYasha that was something she herself found hard to believe. But to find out that Sesshomaru could read minds and that now she too would have this ability along with becoming immortal….

 

Yes, she concluded mentally, all this must be a dream. I am going to wake up in my time and realize that this was all a dream.

 

He turned to her and said, “What do you mean by `my time?'”

 

“Eep!” she exclaimed. “You shouldn't eaves drop…mind drop… whatever!” she said flustered. Abjectly she looked at him saying, “Let's not go there okay? I am still collecting my thoughts here.”

 

He observed her misery and said, “This is what I wanted to give to you Kagome.” She glanced at him giving him her full attention.

 

As anticipated she asked, “Why?”

 

He continued, “When I saw you in the forest alone, unprotected and unclaimed by InuYasha your thoughts were consumed with fear for me and yearning for his presence. But then images of the two of them together flooded your mind.”

 

He resumed, “When I confronted InuYasha his thoughts admitted his constant worry about how vulnerable and unprotected you were. I then decided that if you were not going to have InuYasha in your life then you were going to have better. Me.”

 

She raised her eyebrows. She had sensed that Sesshomaru was arrogant but this was laughable.

 

She had not expected his long silence and turned to look at him. She saw how his amber eyes squinted at her in displeasure.

 

He read my mind! She thought horrified.

 

“Ah, come on!” she said, “This mind reading business has got to end!”

 

Since she was caught red handed she decided to plead her case, “Admit it Sesshomaru, you do sound arrogant by saying that.”

 

Calmly, almost royally irritated he asked, “May I continue?”

 

Considerably embarrassed she looked at her hands on her lap and nodded.

 

“Had I been another Youkai you would have laid dead at that very spot. Admittedly, you are a powerful miko. But the chances do not favor you when it is only you against a Youkai,” he paused and Kagome saw images of her destroyed body in the forest—involuntarily she was seeing his thoughts. It had dawned on her the seriousness of his perspective.

 

“You deserved better than a pitiful ending like that. Not only that, you thought and justifiably so, that you deserved to be compensated. After all, you had been working towards a prize. And since you did not get what you wanted, I decided that you would get me.”

 

She reacted to his words, “Back up a bit, what you say is not true. I did what I had to do because I was the one who split the Shikon-No-Tama. It was my responsibility to collect the shards and make the jewel whole again. I did not expect anything in return. I never expected a prize.”

 

“But you did.” He contradicted. “You cannot hide from me what you secretly wanted. It was subtle but I saw it when we met at the forest.”

 

He paused.

 

“I don't know what you are talking about,” she stated guardedly.

 

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

 

He invalidated her statement saying, “Although everyone thought that you had given up on him you really hadn't. You believed with every fiber in your being that InuYasha belonged to you.”

 

Kagome's body went rigid and her hands fisted into a ball the moment that she heard her confession come out of his lips. Her throat began to hurt as she could feel tears blur her sight. What he said was painful. It was undeniable.

 

He discerned her internal struggle and paused to wait for her to compose herself.

 

She was trying to control the tears that flowed evenly and without end. The pain she felt in her throat became unbearable as she tried in vain to stop her tears.

 

He turned to her and said, “Deny it all you want but the prize for you was InuYasha.”

 

An agonizing sob bellowed out from the depths of her being and reached every corner of the large master bedroom. Her entire body collapsed forward as though someone had stabbed her with a sword deep in her gut. White knuckled fists pressed against her stomach. She then bowed her head as her entire body shook from the deafening and mournful cries.

 

Her mind raced as she cried woefully. Sesshomaru had revealed a secret that she had kept guarded in her heart since she could remember. In fact, she had built a damn to keep the façade of happiness for her sake and the sake of others. It was at that moment that all the pent up emotions of sadness, loneliness, and frustration broke free.

 

Sesshomaru revealed that despite InuYasha's decision to protect and be with Kikyo, she could not deny her love for him. She didn't know how but somehow she secretly turned the whole situation into a competition. She selfishly wanted InuYasha all for herself. As a result, he was the prize that belonged to her if and when they defeated Naraku.

 

She had tricked herself to believe that after all was said and done, InuYasha would turn away from Kikyo. She believed that in the end InuYasha would abandon his promise and would give her what she deserved. After all, she had struggled and sacrificed a lot for him. She believed that he would clearly show to her and the rest of the world that she was the only one worthy of his love.

 

Sadly, when Sesshomaru took her, she had been still waiting.

 

Twenty minutes had passed when the soft sounds of noon ebbed against the window. The room was now lit softer from the high noon sun.

 

Sesshomaru held Kagome's shaking body as the emotional overhaul ended in tremors and sniffles.

 

Kagome sat up and went to wash her face at the basin nearby. She picked up their robes from the floor and they proceeded to put them on. Sesshomaru prepared a glass of water for his mate. She accepted it and huddled next to him on the bed once again.

 

After she was completely settled Sesshomaru noticed her observing her cup deep in thought. He continued, “InuYasha may have been the prize, but now that you are with me you will have more power than you have ever imagined.”

 

She nodded still looking at her cup and said, “I remember when you said that yesterday. But I thought that you meant that said power would come because I am the mate of the Lord of the West.”

 

He replied, “The prize I had in mind for you was split in three. It was part mind reading, part stronger miko powers and part immortality. Although these may stem from me, in the end they are your own powers. It is clear that you will use your newly strengthened powers for the benefit of the people of our land.”

 

Kagome had to blush at this.

 

He continued, “And as mistress of this land you are in a place of honor; a place which I bestow to you since no one else has.”

 

She had never imagined that she would be held in such high regard by anyone; least by him. She put her glass of water aside and hugged him.

 

Sesshomaru widened his eyes at the unexpected move and then reciprocated.

 

She started to cry once again but this time out of joy. The responsibility given to her was overwhelming but if he believed in her so much how could she even consider it to be too much.

 

She whispered, “Thank you.”

 

Sesshomaru turned his head against her neck to inhale and drown into her scent. He said softly against her neck, “Now you get to spend the rest of your life with me. I know that it is not with InuYasha. But in time, and when we have our own pups, you will find that this could be a fine life.”

 

She tensed slightly after hearing this. She sat back placing her forehead against his and asked meekly. “Don't hate me for asking this but, although InuYasha does not know about the mind reading bit, he does know about the other aspects about mating with you right? That is, the whole long life and enhanced powers side of it?”

 

He watched her intently as she looked directly into his eyes.

 

He said, “Yes, except for the mind reading aspect, InuYasha and all Youkai are aware about the strong and superior bond that full blooded Inu-Youkai and their mates share.”

 

It was then that she leaned against his side facing the room. She finally said, “I think I understand now. InuYasha once told me that I deserved so much more than what he could ever offer to me. I think that I finally understand why he thought that it was best for you to take me.”

 

He sat there silent. Unintentionally, a quiet voice came from him in her mind saying, Of course, his seal of approval is what matters after all.

 

She felt a feeling of sadness emanating from him. She turned to him.

 

He sensed her gaze and faced it head on.

 

“Sesshomaru,” she said, “Please forgive me if I am still hung up on InuYasha.”

 

She caressed his cheek and then kneeled right in front of him cupping his face with both hands. She leaned her forehead against his once again.

 

“I don't believe that I will stray in that direction very often after all of this. I am falling in love with you and it is scary. I never knew I could feel this way about anyone other than InuYasha. And yet here I am falling hopelessly for you.”

 

A tear drop fell from her shiny eyes and Sesshomaru could feel a knot in his throat.

 

She kissed his lips softly. He leaned into her to receive her kiss. He then opened his mouth slightly and she smiled welcoming the invitation and tasted his tongue. By now he too was cupping her cheek and took in the kiss of this woman that took his heart, mind and soul with her honesty, her beauty, her intelligence and strength.

 

She smiled saying, “It will take some time to get used to this mind reading thing.”

 

He smiled understanding that she had just read his mind. Aloud he said, “I may not say a lot but you can read my thoughts from now on.”

 

Between kisses and tears she finally said, “It is an honor and I shall cherish what they say to me.”