InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Vying for Dominance ❯ Second to None ( Chapter 17 )

Second to None

 

 

The fine silk spilled from its bindings when it landed so carelessly on the ground at his feet, like a wave of the deepest blue flashing with silver tides as it broke upon the shore. But as water can not truly break, nor could the sea of blue against the hard stone. It remained, its dark depths what connected so many lives, and which concealed so many secrets.

 

Auria…

 

By her skilled hand had this garment been crafted. Of infinite patience and century crafted arts would she create such things to be worn in show and fancy. She would never part with one unless it was fine enough for her to wear; and she demanded only the finest for herself, as any true Lady would. She was demure, respectful, obedient, submissive, beautiful, powerful, talented, and respected. She was perfect, everything he should want for in a mate.

 

And yet…

 

Even through the misty haze of fog and the scent of soft rock giving its minerals up to the heat of the spring waters, bitter salt marred the heavy air.

 

Had there been a decision to make, it had been made before it was known. To the pile of silk on the ground was added the hard metal of armor and swords, and blanketed with soft fur to keep them from the brushing touch of the mist's teasing hands.

 

He followed into the water, heedless of the weight of his clothes as they were pulled down by heavy moisture.

 

She had been curled up on a shallow ledge, her knees held desperately to her chest and her head dropped in anguish upon them so that her hair spilled down into the water like black ink into the clear pool. As he drew nearer, she stiffened, drawing in a sharp breath that even sounded of pain. Turning her head even further to conceal her face against the soaked fabric that still clung to her, she whispered in a voice cracked by pain, “Just leave me alone.”

 

“No.” He wouldn't. He stepped closer.

 

“Haven't you done enough already?!” The anger that fueled her accusation gave her strength, and in a rush, she stood to face him. Her face flushed and her eyes red from shedding the tears that still glistened on her cheeks, still she faced him. Fisting her hands at her sides, she made her stance hard and unyielding. “You've already used me, insulted me, humiliated me, and degraded me by making me into some thing that can be bought and sold. What more do you think you can do to me? Or is your word so meaningless that you seek my life as well?”

 

He should have been angry, would have, in fact, had any other accused him as she was now. And yet it was not anger he felt, but remorse. Because no matter how false her accusations against him were, he was responsible for her pain. Indirect and unintentional it may have been, still he could not deny that had it not been for him bringing her into this world she would be safe now with her hanyou and her friends.

 

Though he would not regret what had brought them together, he would not have for the world had her memory of that night marred by these unfortunate circumstances. Never would he have thought that things would have come to this. She was to be a memory to him as he to her. Nothing more. And yet she was here, in this place of his ancestors, breaking under the weight of the burden he had placed upon her shoulders.

 

No. Not she. She would not break. She would shed tears of pain and sorrow, raise her voice in anger, make accusations of betrayal; but she would not break. Let the world come down upon her, and still she would find a way to make the impossible happen. She didn't see it, perhaps she couldn't; but she had already accomplished the impossible so many times just on this day. True, he had helped her cause; but it was she who had risen above adversity, she whose light had chased away the shadows of doubt.

 

She had been so strong to stand, so bold to speak, so flawless in her strategy that had gained her not only attention but forced fear, if not respect, by revealing her ties to himself and her pack mates as well. And through it all she had been respectful, charming, graceful in her acceptance; but still proud and defiant when any would dare belittle her or those she cared for.

 

She had done so much, more than he could ever have hoped, and far more than he had the right to ask for.

 

But there was no going back now. She was here, and he…He would have her know that she wasn't alone.

 

“Question my words if you must, but you will hear me speak them.”

 

“Why should I?”

 

“Because,” he answered slowly as he stepped forwards again. Even without having touched her, she flinched as though he had suffered her a blow by his very presence. But she refused to back away, holding her ground despite everything, just as he knew she would. “Because no matter what you think you know, even now you want for me to tell you that it is false.”

 

Had her heart not been broken enough? How much more could she bear it to suffer? “What does it matter?” she asked as her tears fell anew. “Hope is false when it lives in lies. I know that better than anyone. So spare me your pity. True or false, it still won't change the fact that I will never be anything more than second best.”

 

How could she ever believe such a thing? How could she be so deceived?

 

“You are wrong.”

 

She looked away, unwilling or unable to believe it was so. But he would not let her hide from this truth. Reaching out to her, he caught her chin and forced her to look back. Anger hardened the sapphire of her eyes, turning them with a dark covering of cobalt that shielded away the watery blues he knew lay just beneath the surface. But even torn with misery and fierce with righteous anger, nothing could take away from her beauty.

 

“I stand here with you now, Kagome, because you are second to none.”

 

Her lips trembled, unable to form words; and that he might soothe them, he joined them with his own in a tender kiss.

 

For a moment she was too lost, too much in shock to do anything but feel the warmth he breathed into her by his kiss; but a moment was all before she remembered herself. Pulling back from him with a jerk, she lifted her hand to cover her treacherous lips which even now would dare to yearn for more.

 

“Why…?” she asked weakly. “Why are you doing this?”

 

His head tilted slightly in puzzlement. He would have thought it was obvious. His reply, however, was simply that, “This Sesshomaru is not unaccustomed to the need expressed by human females for physical comfort.”

 

Her confused expression shifting to one of suspicion, she asked tersely, “And why is that?” Because if he just used the `I hate humans' line to put the idea in the heads of mortal women that they should try and `convince' him otherwise, she was going to kill the bastard, or at least purify one very specific part of him.

 

She was indignant. How she managed to shift through her moods so rapidly would never cease to be a mystery to him. “Rin is occasionally subject to night terrors,” he explained. “She is unable to sleep without first being allowed some measure of physical reassurance.”

 

Breathing out a few pent up frustrations, Kagome laughed at her own foolishness. Rin. Of course Rin.

 

“You find something amusing, miko?”

 

Shaking her head to try and deny it, her mirth betrayed her when another light giggle managed to slip out. He was clearly not amused, but that didn't stop her from giving in to the welcome relief of laughter. “The Great and Terrible Inu rocking a human child to sleep…” She couldn't help it, it was just too cute.

 

“Hn.” His remark was meant to be disapproving, but it wasn't. Hearing the light chimes of her laughter, knowing that the heavy burden that had settled upon her to darken her thoughts and emotions was lifting; pleased him in a way beyond what he thought he understood. A faint smile played on his lips as he stepped closer to her again and slipped his arm around her waist. She gasped softly at the contact, but when she did not pull away, instead lifting her startled eyes to his so that he could see the clarity in the sapphire depths; his smile only grew.

 

“The absurdity of such a situation is no less than the Shikon Miko receiving the same comforts from myself,” he told her. “Though,” he drawled out slowly as his hand caressed down the soft curve of her hip, “I must say that I find this experience far more gratifying.”

 

It would have been so easy to let him charm her, so easy to give herself over to his hold and have him make her forget all over again who she was. But she couldn't forget. She wouldn't. Pulling back from him, she forced herself to turn away.

 

“What about Auria?”

 

“An arrangement resulting from my position that I have managed to avoid for the past hundred years,” he replied evenly. “This year shall be no different.”

 

“But…” She couldn't understand. He was so dismissive, as though Auria was nothing more to him than an inconvenience to be brushed aside. “She is to be your mate.”

 

Yes, she was to be his mate. It had been so for as long as he could remember. An edict passed down from their parents made inescapable by their own accomplishments as they grew in power. Over the years there had been many occasions where they had been forced into each others company; but in every instance the encounter was uncomfortably awkward, his disinclination to speak unless necessary only exacerbated by her demure submissiveness.

 

While on the outside they may appear a perfect couple and would no doubt breed powerful offspring; the very idea of spending a century with her to do so was so distasteful that he simply avoided the matter. He was not foolish enough to believe that by doing so he might escape his responsibility forever, but there was always a chance…

 

“Perhaps,” he finally replied, a long breath of resignation leaving him. “But she is not yet. Nor will she be so long as I hunt Naraku.”

 

Even with her back turned to him as it was, he could still see her shoulders drop away from their stiff posture as she sighed in relief.

 

But still Kagome wasn't satisfied. She shook her head slowly. It just wasn't enough. “You said I was your enemy.”

 

He smirked at her words. She was looking for excuses. “I did,” he replied. He wouldn't deny it.

 

As he stepped closer again, she stiffened; but she held her ground, still refusing to face him, defiant until the end. Reaching up to her shoulder, he brushed her water-heavy locks to the side to expose the soft curve of her neck. “You are perhaps the most dangerous enemy I have ever encountered,” he said as he leaned in closer, breathing in deeply of her scent and letting its sweetness wash through him as his senses were ignited by its electric pull. His lips ghosted over her skin as he slowly made his way upwards from her shoulder. When his mouth was level with her ear, he finished by telling her in a whisper thick with unquenched desire, “A woman always is.”

 

A faint tremor coursed through her, shivering pleasure that danced across her skin as her senses were ignited by the heat of his breath and the fires of his desire brushing against her. Oh, if only she had the strength to deny him. To give in to him was to loose herself, to let herself feel the heat of those fires a sin beyond redemption.

 

But she was so tired of being strong, and she ached for someone to carry her free of her burden of loneliness.

 

Then why not him? He with all his strength and power…If only he knew what power he truly had over her.

 

Turning slowly in his embrace, she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. Her hands lifted, brushing absently against the water-heavy silk covering his chest. “I'm sorry for this,” she whispered meekly, knowing it was for her had had so recklessly stepped into the spring's waters.

 

He brought his hand up to cover hers, holding it to his chest. “I have many others,” he soothed her. Following up her arm, he gave a gentle tug against the tattered sleeve. “As you do.”

 

Kagome closed her eyes tightly, a sad attempt to block out the memory of what she had done. “Sesshomaru…” Her voice was small and pleading. “The things I said…”

 

“You were angry,” he interrupted her. “It is understandable.”

 

“No.” She shook her head, and finally lifted her eyes to meet his. “I was wrong. And I'm sorry.”

 

“Then accept my gift, and we shall be even.”

 

Her lips quirked in the trembling beginnings of a smile. “It was Shaeda's gift,” she reminded him.

 

“Ah, yes,” he intoned, his hand lifting to brush his fingers across her tender lips that were only that much more inviting when she smiled. “How could I have forgotten?”

 

Swooning from his gentle caress, her eyelids fluttered and she sighed softly. “I thought it wasn't like you to be forgetful,” she breathed out.

 

“Hn,” No, it wasn't like him. And yet, she could make him forget his name with only a look. And with a kiss…Oh, a kiss. With a kiss from her sweet lips he could forget to breathe, and it wouldn't matter so long as he could taste her.

 

His hand moving to cup the side of her face, he leaned in closer and whispered in reply, “Then perhaps you would help me to remember.”

 

Her lips trembled against his own as he covered them in a gentle kiss. But her need was too great, and her hesitation was soon abandoned as she gave herself over to the strength of his hold. For one moment, she allowed herself to be fragile, a broken doll in need of loving care. Her lips were bitter-sweet with the taste of her tears, but desperately seeking his that he would cleanse her of them. In centuries of battles won and conquests taken, never had he felt so strong. For in that one shining moment, he was to her all that there was; the hand that soothed her, the strength that held her, the breath that gave her life.

 

Fleeting as a moment can be, it passed them by. Still she remained, held tightly in his embrace, her lips joined by his; but her desperation had passed, her need becoming of a different sort as her body was heated by her rushing blood.

 

She pressed herself against him, her soft curves even more tempting now that he knew each one by touch alone. Irresistible was the urge to feel her once more, to run his hand over her skin and feel the shivering tremors that his touch would bring to her. He tightened his hold on her, lifting her from the water as he easily maneuvered her against him to straddle his waist so that he could carry her.

 

She moaned softly into his mouth, but it only drove him onwards. He deepened their kiss, the softness once to bring comfort becoming harder, more demanding of a price not to be paid but felt for each as sparks of passion's fire were ignited once more.

 

Had it not been for his lightning reflexes, he might have stumbled when he backed into the ledge she had been sitting on; but he recovered himself so quickly she hadn't even noticed the lapse. Still held captivated by her hungered kiss, he lowered them slowly, giving her time to readjust herself as he sat back upon the rocks.

 

She came so easily with him, her body moving with his as though they were one. With her weight settled down on his lap, his hand was free to do what he most desired. Slipping his arm around her waist, he racked his claws delicately down her back, shredding away the soiled fabric she wore to leave her skin bare to his touch.

 

A startled gasp left her when she felt his hand upon her skin. She pulled back from his lips.

 

Growling disapprovingly at the loss, he quickly lifted his hand, tangling it in her hair as he pressed her forwards again.

 

Pain shot through her, and she cried out at the stinging burn against her scalp as his claws scraped against the terrible welt concealed beneath her hair.

 

He had pulled back from her abruptly, the question in his eyes needing no words to be expressed.

 

Shaking her head slightly, she told him. “It's nothing.”

 

“Nothing?” He was not appeased.

 

With a drawn out sigh, Kagome lifted her hand to rub against the aching throb. “Yeah, nothing,” she said again. “That bitch ambushed me while I was bathing. I barely had time to scream before she knocked me out cold.”

 

“That is how you were brought to this place?”

 

“Yeah,” she sighed again, lowering her eyes in shame. But, after a moment, she spoke again. “Is it really so bad,” she asked him quietly, her eyes hesitantly lifting to find his, “Having me here?”

 

“It is…” He paused for a moment to search for the right word before finally settling on, “…Interesting.”

 

Interesting? Well, she decided, at least that wasn't a bad thing. After all, what was eternity without a few bumps in the road? And, speaking of bumps, there was one in particular that she could feel very distinctly pressing against her centre which told her plainly that whatever he had said, there were other parts of him that were far more enthralled by her presence than he was willing to admit with his words.

 

Rolling her hips forwards purposefully, her lips quirked into a crooked smile as she asked, “Care to make it more interesting?”

 

When his only response was the lifting of a single silvery eyebrow, Kagome was thrown into a light bout of giggles. “It is so cute when you do that!” she exclaimed giddily as she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close in a tight hug. His arm wrapped around her back to hold her to him, and she sighed in contentment, closing her eyes to just feel him as he held her.

 

“Thank you, Sesshomaru,” she whispered against him, “For reminding me why I'm doing all this.”

 

Letting her left hand slip away from her hold around his neck, she pulled it over his shoulder, slipping her fingers beneath the folds of soaked fabric to trail along his skin in a feathery caress as she made her way down his chest, and lower, lower…

 

He shifted, his hand catching hers before she could reach his waistline. “What is it you think you are doing, miko?”

 

Pulling back from him enough so that she could meet his eyes, she smiled coyly. “Reminding you why you're doing this.”

 

“This is not the place for such things,” he replied. Well, in all actuality, it was the place for such things. But not for him. And not with her. And not to mention the fact that she was on top of him.

 

“Why not?” Kagome asked in confusion. She had been under the impression that this was the place for such things. Wasn't that the whole point of this gathering? “There's no one else here, and they can't penetrate the barrier with their senses, right? So who would know?”

 

“I would know.”

 

A wicked smile pulled on her lips. He was looking for excuses. “Exactly,” she replied, her hand slipping free of his to slip past the waistline of his pants and wrap around his hardened length, squeezing him firmly as she pulled against it in a long, hard draw.

 

His eyes fell closed, a low groan spilling from his lips as his hips surged upwards to feel more of her sinful touch. How could she wonder why he would call her his enemy when she was going to be the death of him? He simply couldn't deny her. Even when he knew he shouldn't, when he knew that giving in to her would only make things worse than they already were; he couldn't turn her away, couldn't deny himself the treasure she was offering to him all over again.

 

Though her focus was distracted as she worked to untie the knots holding his pants in place with her free hand, Kagome couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. “There now, puppy,” she crooned, “You will have your treat soon enough.”

 

Cracking his eyes open, he leveled the smirking miko with a hard glare. “Why do you insist on calling me by that ridiculous title?”

 

Pausing in her activities, she tilted her head slightly to regard him. “Would you prefer Fluffy?” she asked innocently.

 

“I would prefer Sesshomaru,” he replied firmly.

 

“Huh,” she responded vaguely. Using his shoulders for support as she lifted herself, she leaned into him, her lips just a breath away from his as she replied, “That's funny, because I would prefer Kagome.”

 

He knew what she was doing, could feel the radiating heat of her womanhood brushing tentatively against the tip of his arousal as she shifted ever so slightly to direct herself downwards; and he was horrified to find himself settling his hand on her hip, not to stop her, but to guide her descent. This was beyond an indulgence, beyond wrong. He was humiliating himself by letting her have control, insulting his position as an alpha male, degrading himself by submitting like some lusting bitch in heat, and…

 

“Fuck, Kagome.” Not one to swear, he was likely more shocked than she to hear the word. But great Kami. She was as tight as the first time he had entered her, and hot, oh, so hot. Feeling her tender lips wrap around his throbbing cock, hearing the tiny mewling sound of pleasure she released, and being immersed in her heat at the same time as surrounded by the sharp currents of her power; and he was lost to her.

 

Timid and uncertain at first, she slowly rocked herself against him, feeling with every motion the pull and stretch from within her as he filled her tight passage with his heavy cock. But, oh, to have him with her, in her, knowing his pleasure in the deep vibrations that rumbled in his chest and the low groans that escaped his lips, to feel it as his arousal surged and pulled within her; and she was in bliss, lost to sensation, to the fires of passion and lust, to him.

 

With every roll of her hips, she grew bolder; her thrusts taking him deeper, driving them both to new heights.

 

And he, forgetting why he would have thought to protest, let her take him for her pleasure, and for his own.

 

Her pace quickened, and to each of her thrusts he would meet her with his own, finding that place within her that sent jolts of shivering pleasure running rampant across her senses. She was panting, straining for breath; but it didn't matter. There was only the need, and the drive to completion. She could feel it, so close, but just beyond her reach. And so she pressed on, every stroke bringing her closer as he would fill her once again.

 

Fire spread through her veins; his, hers, she couldn't tell. But the heat washed over everything, flowing like molten lava to ignite her passions, to drive her onwards. She whimpered against its onslaught, feeling the leaded responses of her tired limbs, but unable to quench the thirst for more.

 

“Sesshomaru…” She called his name desperately. She couldn't do it alone.

 

He hadn't needed any encouragement, but to hear his name flow from her lips in such desperate need was nearly enough to throw him over the edge of control. Bracing his hand against the small of her back, he guided her movements to meet with his, pressing into her fully and holding her from pulling away again.

 

She cried out as her body was taken over by pulsing tremors, her voice a sweet melody that broke through the raging fires that clouded his mind as the consuming heat and energy burning in her release flowed over him.

 

He held her tightly, not letting her slip an inch even after her climax had passed and she relaxed against him. Deep, meditative breaths managed to calm the rage of the fires and the thrashing of the beast demanding its freedom. But that her heat still surrounded him was soothing, and soon he too managed to relax and join her in her blissful afterglow.

 

The time that passed was meaningless, both simply content to hold the other, breathe in deeply of their scent, and feel their bodies joined so intimately. But time was precious, and their time together had quickly come to its end.

 

“Kagome….”

 

“I know.” She nodded slowly against his shoulder. “You have been away too long.”

 

Lifting his hand to brush softly against the side of her face, he turned her to him and took her lips with his one last time. The kiss was soft, tender, and filled with things nameless and always meant to be so. Yearning, longing, need, things unfinished, unsaid, and without words.

 

But he had to go. The pain of separating from her was nothing compared to the struggle that raged inside of him. How could he leave her again? How could he let her walk back into that place that was death considering what she was?

 

He was lingering, and she could see his hesitation as he stood before her. Offering him a timid smile, she told him, “I'll be alright.”

 

And though he said nothing, only nodded shortly before turning away, he knew she would be. He would make certain of it.

 

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Happy New Year Everyone! Lol, and what a way to kick it off!

 

Cheers. Here's to 2008!

 

Shadow