InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Sesshoumaru Needs Not A Mate - ON HOLD ❯ PART THREE ( Chapter 3 )

DISCLAIMER - The ownership and general brilliance that is the original Feudal Fairy Tale remains the property of its honored and rightfully revered creator Rumiko Takahashi without whose brilliance, we would not have fodder.

 

Reviews are fuel.

 

Edited By The Inimitable WiccanMethusulah of Boundless Energy

 

EP

 

Part Three - This Sesshoumaru Needs Not A Mate

 

Kagome was abruptly brought out of her reverie by the frustrated little growl of her kitsune, Shippou, as well as the happy thought that she had `CHARGED THE IPOD!' only a day ago.

 

She snorted remembering how she had been allowed a brief visit home for medical supplies, the sacred ramen and some pocky for both Shippou and the visiting Rin.

 

As it was getting close to her birthday, Kagome, ever thoughtful, brought back an additional treat for her feudal family. The miko was looking forward to spending her BIG day with her modern family and friends on the other side of the well. She had not spent any time with them since graduation.

 

Her mother had been planning her birthday party for weeks and had kindly invited Inuyasha to join - despite Kagome's misgivings. He declined, rightly feeling that, if the others could not attend, he should remain behind. He would come for her the morning after all this “birthday rubbish” was done if she was late.

 

“Ja-ku,” Kagome bristled in anger, remembering her less than auspicious return to the feudal era the previous afternoon. Sometimes, she really did not know why they were friends anymore. Inuyasha systematically spoilt everything of late.

 

FLASHBACK

 

Said miko had made a special effort to prepare a traditional meal and then, with Souta's help, got it to the well-house, being extra careful with the festively decorated Bento boxes so they could safely make the short journey intact.

 

Inuyasha was a lot of things, but a gourmand he wasn't. Still, she thought, he might appreciate some of the delicacies - WRONG!

 

The surprise was on Kagome.

 

Once the iridescent blue light had faded, signaling her return, Kagome was greeted with the distinctive growls and foul language of an irritated flaxen-haired hanyou. `Okay so I'm a few hours late, big deal. Preparation takes time, for Kami's sake.'

 

Unceremoniously, Inuyasha grabbed the near bursting backpack and, with a rude sniff in the direction of the bento boxes - still in her hand - leaped out again, continuing with his stream of invective.

 

`Oh yes, this is going to be a marvelous surprise alright,' thought Kagome sarcastically.

 

She stood at the bottom of the well tapping her sneakered foot, expecting that he would be back momentarily to retrieve her and the food. Instead, however, all she heard were his curses growing ever-distant.

 

The realization slowly dawned on our heroine that the ja-ku had just left her there to get out on her own as a form of punishment for being late. `Well,' the miko thought `someone didn't get laid last night. Undoubtedly the soul-stealing bitch had a headache.'

 

It took Kagome fifteen minutes to make it back to their campsite. She made every effort to seem unperturbed by the incident at the well, deciding to put a good face on things for the sake of her friends and their little celebration.

 

A set of lambent amber eyes followed her progress back to Inuyasha's Forest.

 

Inuyasha - wisely - chose to take refuge in his favorite tree, listening to Kagome and Sango's elated `girlie' chatter as linen was unfolded and utensils placed for the coming celebratory feast.

 

“Inuyasha? You do intend to join us, don't you?” came an amused masculine voice from below the hanyou's perch.

 

“Feh… when I'm ready monk. I'm keeping watch,” he said gruffly.

 

A knowing smiled crossed Miroku's face. `No question about it, they had a fight.'

 

The houshi shook his head then turned, hearing a sudden squeal of delight coming from Rin, who was being entertained by Shippou with his foxfire. `The little charmer,' thought the monk, smiling. `Taught him myself.'

 

“Oi Idiot! Stop showin' off for your little girlfriend before I come down there and pound ya!” Inuyasha teased.

 

Shippou's innocent eyes widened in embarrassment, his illusion evaporating, as howls of derisive laughter came from Inuyasha.

 

Rin stopped petting Kirara and gave Inuyasha a look. He quailed, recognizing the familiar expression she wore.

 

`For a minute there she looked like… Nah, not possible.'

 

To ease the already tension-filled air, the houshi walked over to the children and the neko youkai, who purred lazily while Rin stroked her fur.

 

“Let's collect some water you two. There is a spring beyond that ridge.” He pointed, looking back at the hanyou with a `behave yourself while we're gone' look.

 

Kirara, who recognized her signal to go hunting, stretched and daintily stepped off her new friend's lap, sniffing the air for signs of prey.

 

The monk's violet gaze met that of Kagome. She nodded gratefully and returned her attention to their little feast. The miko smiled at the bemused expression on Sango's beautiful face, as the slayer furrowed her brows in focused concentration on how best to open an exotic container of liquid marked Coke.

 

“Beautiful,” declared Sango and Kagome simultaneously. They chuckled, standing back and observing their work. Okaa-san would be proud, Kagome decided.

 

She brushed a tendril of ebony hair behind her ear, watching the retreating figures of the dignified priest and the two little beings running on ahead, their buckets swinging, with a lopsided grin.

 

`Not even a single glare.'

 

Kagome had not looked up at him once. `This isn't good,' he thought, furtively watching her under pale bangs. `Women,' he shrugged, and returning to sniffing the air.

 

`Something is out there.'

 

This did not sit well with Inuyasha, as he cracked his knuckles in preparation for an oncoming confrontation. He felt watched.

 

He was right.

 

In the distance, a white-clad figure headed even closer to the pack, his scent masked.

 

All in her tachi enjoyed their meal, opening their respective boxes with reverence, showing appreciation, not only for the presentation, but also savoring all the delicate flavors and smells with relish. The little group ate in companionable silence, with the exception of Shippou, whose little cheeks bulged as he talked incessantly.

 

“Slow down, Shippou, there is more where that came from,” said Kagome with amusement.

 

Shippou was always appreciative of her efforts. She noted how graciously Rin ate; clearly she had adopted courtly manners. `Score one, Ice Prince,' she acknowledged, somewhat amused, while delicately popping another delicious morsel in her mouth and chewing with satisfaction.

 

Only Inuyasha sniffed suspiciously at the contents of his bento. Scowling at his lunch box, he finally prodded a piece of sashimi indignantly and shoved it into his mouth gracelessly - chewing loudly. As if on cue, the mangled confection hit the linen in front of Kagome's lap, just missing her jeans.

 

Chopsticks stopped in midair as a group of eyes swiveled from Inuyasha's disgruntled expression to that of the miko, who seemed oblivious to his atrocious table manners.

 

No, not true. There was that tell-tale ticking of her right eye and the tightening of her soft petal-pink lips.

 

`Peach in, green out… Peach in, green out,' she mentally repeated the mantra her Jii-chan had taught her for relieving stress.

 

“Inuyasha,” she said calmly, as a long tapered finger pointed in the direction of her backpack, “you will find the ramen there. Enjoy!” she said, with a false cheerfulness that never met her eyes.

 

Hindsight was twenty-twenty and, though true of humans, it was not so for the Taishou males. They worried their bones to death, as a matter of course, and never knew when to leave well enough alone.

 

“Good… `cause this stuff tastes like shit,” he said under his breath, getting up to retrieve the pack… but not quickly enough, as her now-empty Coke bottle skimmed his skull.

 

Kagome noted - with satisfaction - that her aim had improved.

 

“Ow! Dammit woman! What the fuck did ya do that for?!” he yelled, oblivious to his offence.

 

Five sets of eyes glowered at him… make that six.

 

“You really are despicable, you know that, don't you Inuyasha?” hissed Sango.

 

If he hadn't been her friend, Kagome knew that Inuyasha would be in traction, if the taijya had anything to say about it.

 

Unbidden tears of disappointment welled in the priestess' eyes. Of late, her fights with Inuyasha had become a daily occurrence. `Something has to give,' the miko thought.

 

“It's alright Sango,” she whispered, wanting nothing more than to be back home.

 

The red-clad half-demon was now busy fending off impotent little kicks to his ankle from a very angry fox demon. Miroku, always the voice of reason, stepped in for Shippou's sake.

 

This new battle would not end in the little kitsune's favor.

 

“Come with me, Inuyasha.” His tone brooked no argument, nor did the painful grip on the hanyou's arm.

 

Miroku had watched the verbal battles between his two friends and, to be truthful, wondered why Kagome put up with such a brash, reckless, temperamental being. Especially one who had the vocabulary of a fishwife and personal habits of a dung beetle.

 

`No accounting for taste,' Miroku thought sadly. `This has to stop. It's time for a man-to-man talk.'

 

Kikyou's Shinidama Chuu had been observed near their camp of late, which explained Inuyasha's mood swings and sudden disappearances. No one spoke directly about the obvious, but the tensions ran high between hanyou and the miko because of it.

 

A choice had to be made.

 

END FLASHBACK

 

“OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI!” she said at the top of her lungs, her fists clenched at her sides.

 

All was quiet in the verdant clearing where they had chosen to make camp the night before. Then, a thunderous crash filled the morning air and shook the land beneath their feet. Like so many times before, Inuyasha became one with the earth.

 

The first to recover from the eerie silence that followed was the Houshi, nursing a soon-to-be black eye, acquired just moments before.

 

Miroku raised himself with his shakujou, coming to stand next to Kagome with a knowing sigh. Inuyasha knew full well that antagonizing the kitsune would bring the miko's wrath.

 

“Ah, you are awake my dear priestess. I trust you rested well?” he intoned pleasantly, electing to ignore the foul-mouthed occupant of the crater a short distance from the miko.

 

“Does it hurt?” she queried, waving a hand in the general direction of the rapidly swelling peeper, a `gift' to the monk from his beloved taijya.

 

Kagome truly began to wonder, did the monk perceive pain as foreplay? They had names for people with proclivities like his in her era. Poor Sango, her man was quite possibly into S & M. The priestess' eyes widened with a sudden realization.

 

It really wasn't such a stretch to see Sango as a dominatrix, with whips, chains, stilettos, and tight black leather accentuating her athletic curves. One of these days, their sex life was bound to be the stuff of fantasies, the miko mused, blushing.

 

Sango, always imperturbable when it came to Kagome and Inuyasha's `conversations' of late, had been taking in the entire scene. She casually leaned against a boulder, repairing her Hiraikotsu, with Kirara wrapped sinuously about her feet.

 

She was curious as to the monk's response to Kagome's question.

 

“Nothing I can't handle my dear priestess,” he said, smiling roguishly in Sango's direction. The taijya's face set, instantly, into a righteously indignant expression.

 

Turning back to Kagome, the handsome houshi shrugged in resignation… at least for the time being.

 

There was still the delicious prospect of watching his demon slayer go through her morning paces - her firm, pert breasts heaving, those powerful thighs squatting, and that taut, yet femininely rounded, backside flexing in effort. `Ahhh,' he thought, `truly the stuff of wet dreams.'

 

Practically hearing his lascivious thoughts, the miko smiled at her friend's indomitable spirit and, apparently, raging hormones.

 

`No accounting for taste.' The miko shrugged, watching as her kitsune, with Rin at his side, approached Inuyasha's crater with purpose and retrieved his treats - vindication. Like the perfect little gentlefox he was, he handed one to Rin, ignoring the expletives being shouted at them both.

 

“Miroku, I think I am heading for the spring now… and I do NOT wish to be disturbed,” Kagome said pointedly, as she absently stooped and rifled through her pack, coming up with an unfamiliar package.

 

Her mother was the best! Her favorite new bubble bath and body silk scented with Ylang Ylang and Patchouli. `Well,' she thought, `at least the morning isn't a total loss.'

 

````sks````

 

The Taiyoukai's mood had not much improved since the myriad of incidents that morning: Jaken's insolence, rare porcelain in ruins, a near hysterical servant who now ran in terror each time he saw the taiyoukai , and the unfortunate destruction of a much revered Inu goddess' statue, as well as the thoughts that had lead to her decapitation.

 

`No… this was not an auspicious start to the day.'

 

Still preoccupied with how best to discipline his beast's amorous intent, the dog demon's cloud descended, seemingly effortlessly, just beyond the tachi's camp, followed closely by his pet dragon, Ah-Un.

 

It was time to collect his ward. Instinctively his arm moved to his hip and caressed the hilt of his favored katana, Toukijin.

 

“This Sesshoumaru will undoubtedly have need of you today Toukijin,” he said as a diabolical smile graced his patrician features. He looked forward to the prospect of play-time, with the pathetic hanyou's blood spattering his sword.

 

The Western Lord's smile faded as a familiar scent reached his nostrils. She was definitely alone and at the spring - excellent. He looked in that direction with a menacing smirk.

 

Now, with heightened awareness of her presence, another scent reached him… decidedly pleasant. The retrieval of Rin could wait a few moments, he decided. It was time to put the fear of Kami into that importunate onna!

 

What Sesshoumaru failed to acknowledge, as he approached the hidden spring, was the rapid beating of his heart and the sense of elation at the prospect of confronting the miko once more; it wouldn't hurt to see her flustered either, possibly nude and totally vulnerable to his penetrating gaze.

 

 

Author's Note

 

Hasten your steps Lord Sesshoumaru, who knows what you might be missing at the hot spring…*Bows Reverently*

Until next time, reviews are fuel.

 

ElegantPaws