Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bane of Existence/Love of A Lifetime ❯ Chapter Sixteen ( Chapter 16 )

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By order of the Lord of the Western Lands, Kagome had been restricted to her bed for the entirety of the day she had been brought back to the palace and the entire subsequent one. She had tried insisting that she was fine but her protests had been promptly brushed away by four very protective - and extremely stubborn - youkai. It hadn't helped her cause when the palace healer had stated that she did in fact - much to her dismay - need to keep off her feet for at least a day and a half if she wanted to walk again.

 

Of course, the power of her miko blood had already completely repaired all the bruises and damage done to her body from her fall and successive trek through the forest and had been working to heal her feet as well. Seeing as how it was Sesshoumaru she was dealing with, Kagome had been unable to leave her bed for anything other than baths and bathroom trips. He had even ordered her meals be brought to her in bed. When she heard that, she had protested vehemently, telling him that hell would sooner freeze over before she would eat all by herself.

 

Just as everything else seemed to have been prepared for, so too were her eating arrangements. Seeing as how she had been confined to her room for two full days, she had spent six meals in her room and never once had she been alone. All meals had been attended by any combination of four youkai and two children.

 

Now, she stretched her arms far over her head and yawned. It was finally the morning of the third day and she could leave her room. She really was hoping to spend some time with Youko; she had only seen him once since arriving back in the Western Lands and that was when he joined her for lunch that first day. He had told her he had been spending most of his time teaching Shippou all about illusions and fox magic. Apparently, he and Yusuke had devised a training schedule for the kit; Youko would work with him on anything kitsune related for two days and then Yusuke would work with him on defensive and offensive fighting techniques for two days.

 

Turning her head towards the window, she noted that the sky was still navy and only slightly lightening, meaning that it was still early in the morning. Not that it mattered because she had been confined to her bed entirely too much and she was wide awake. With a sigh, she threw back the covers and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Hesitantly, she placed her feet on the floor and shifted her weight slightly. When there was no pain, she smiled and stood up.

 

After a few moments to get her legs used to carrying weight again, Kagome moved to the armoire against the wall and pulled out a beautiful kimono. As she had been doing nothing but being lazy, the miko hadn't worn anything other than a sleeping yukata but now that she was able to move about, she intended to get dressed. The kimono was beautiful black silk with deep red roses flowing from her left shoulder down across the front of the material to dance along the hem before sweeping around the back and up towards her shoulder. The obi that accompanied it was white and the slippers were black with a single red rose curling around the toe from the sides.

 

Grabbing up her backpack, Kagome padded quietly towards the door and as soon as she opened it, she came face-to-face with Satsuki, a young human girl who had been positioned as her handmaid for the time of her stay.

 

Kagome gave the young woman a bright smile and whispered cheerfully, “Good morning Satsuki.”

 

Satsuki returned the smile, “Good morning Lady Kagome. Would you like to take a bath?”

 

Her answer was a bright smile and a quiet nod of her head.

 

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Forty-five minutes later found Kagome entering her room once more, dressed in the chosen kimono with her hair down and still slightly damp. She had just set a foot inside the door when she felt his presence and looked up startled. There, lounging casually on her bed was none other than Youko. A basket sat close to him on the bedside table while he had his head tilted back against the headboard, his golden eyes closed and his silver tail lying on the bed next to him.

 

She giggled at the picture he made and watched in awed fascination as pale eyelids opened slowly to reveal brilliant amber depths. The first rays of dawn were just slipping through the curtains and delicate tendrils of light danced across his features. If there was ever a being that could rival Sesshoumaru in masculine beauty, it was definitely the fox. Smiling to herself, Kagome walked to the wardrobe and dropped her backpack to the floor with a quiet `thud' and draped her sleeping yukata over a nearby chair.

 

Turning to greet Youko, she was caught once again by how perfect he was…in both forms. A soft wistful sigh escaped her rosy lips as she thought about how perfect both he and Yusuke were…in either form. She was sure they could wear nothing but burlap for clothing and still be two of the most attractive men she had ever met.

 

What did they want with her again?

 

Mentally shaking her head at the errant thought, she settled her sapphire gaze on the kitsune and gave him a warm smile. “Good morning Youko. What are you doing here so early?”

 

He returned the gesture and stood up from the bed, grabbed the basket and walked towards her. When he was standing no more than a foot from her, he tucked a strand of dark, damp hair behind a delicate ear. “I am here to join you for breakfast my lady. Yusuke is busy with your pup already and I thought we could take the time to talk.”

 

A brilliant smile was Kagome's immediate reaction as she tilted her head back to look at him. Kami! And she thought Sesshoumaru was tall! “That sounds wonderful Youko-kun!”

 

Before she could even begin walking towards her door, she felt strong arms wrap around her and lift her easily from the ground. She huffed indignantly and glared up at the kitsune, “I can walk you know. I walked all the way to the hot springs and back just fine.”

 

Situating Kagome to be held in one arm for a moment and shifting the basket onto his forearm. Youko opened the door and walked through it letting it close behind him. He was already walking down the stairs to the front door of the palace before he answered her. Looking down into her stormy blue eyes he grinned, “I know koi but would you really deny me the pleasure of holding you? After all, I believe I am the only one who has yet to be granted that privilege.”

 

A warm blush stole across her cheekbones at the mention of the word koi and Kagome bit her lip. Was he serious? “Fine but I hope you don't plan to carry me all day,” she pouted up at the fox.

 

He laughed at her childish antics and had to tear his gaze away from her soft, inviting lips. A spark of jealousy floated in his heart for a moment when he thought about the fact that Yusuke had already tasted those sweet petals but he shoved it away. His friend needed her almost more than he did. Soon, he thought, soon I will claim those lips as well, Yusuke be damned. Even if she chooses to have only the detective as a mate I want to taste her.

 

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Kagome found herself in the garden. Youko sat her down on a soft patch of grass in a meadow-like area to the side of the garden. She could see the dojo from where she sat and smiled as she watched Yusuke adjust Shippou's fighting stance.

 

Once the two were seated, Youko prepared their breakfast and soon they were eating and making small talk. After about twenty minutes, their light meal was completed and Kagome sighed happily before falling back into the grass. The kitsune spread out on the ground next to her on his side, propping his head up in his hand. He watched her quietly as her blue-grey eyes focused on the soft tufts of clouds in the sky. A contented smile spread across her lips and she closed her eyes.

 

It wasn't hard to feel Youko's golden eyes boring into her and Kagome was curious what he was thinking about. She was also curious why on earth he and Yusuke even seemed to want to be around her. Deciding enough was enough, she voiced her questions.

 

“Youko?” She questioned, her eyes never opening and her voice soft, “Why are you even bothering with me? You and Yusuke both have so much going for you…why waste your attention on me?”

 

Amber eyes widened suddenly at the sound of her voice. It was soft and defeated and the words that tumbled from her delicate lips sent spears of pain into his heart. Seeing a creature as loving and pure as she suffering so because of one she held so close to her heart was a despicable sight. His claws twitched unconsciously with his desire to spill a certain hanyous' blood.

 

Reaching towards her and brushing a lock of hair from her cheek he spoke in quiet tones, his voice projecting love and warmth, “Because we want to. You are so much more than what you see…what you have been led to believe. We want you Kagome; we want to hold you and live with you and show you the love that you deserve.”

 

Tears gathered under her closed eyelids and her heart rose into her throat. Such beautiful, caring...final words; did he realize what he had implied? Surely not for she was only good enough to be second best. Besides even if what he said was the truth, how would something like that would be handled?

 

“I don't understand,” she whispered in agony as the tears finally broke their restraints and trailed aimlessly down her cheeks to fall into her hair. “Do you know what you are saying? Do you understand how…binding those words are? And even if you are telling me the truth - which I don't know how you could be - I can't be with both of you. Inuyasha wanted both Kikyou and I; I refuse to make someone feel second best.”

 

He had kept his actions restrained for as long as he could for he didn't want to scare or rush her. Now though…now as such painful words left her mouth he couldn't take it. Without warning, he scooped her up from the ground and into his lap. Wrapping his arms and tail around her petite form, the fox held her close to his body.

 

Running his fingers through her dark hair and marveling at how it slipped through the digits like shadows, he spoke softly to her. “Kagome, Yusuke and I are demons. While the concept of sharing a mate isn't something widely done it has been known to occur. The reason why it isn't practiced more is because most demons of higher intelligence protect their mates viciously and would trust no other with them. The only times such a thing has ever worked has been when the two wanting to share a mate are close and trust one another without fail.”

 

“But,” she spoke brokenly as her sobs crept up from her throat, “I can't put you two through what Inuyasha has put me through and I won't stand for your friendship being ruined over me.”

 

Giving the body in his arms another squeeze, Youko answered the miko, his voice still soft and comforting, “It would not be the same thing koi. Inuyasha has his mate in Kikyou and has no plans of offering you the same position, you know that. If you were to accept both Yusuke and I, we would both be your mates.”

 

Quietly sniffling, Kagome moved away from the handsome fox to sit on the ground again and looked at him with watery blue eyes, “Are you sure? I-I mean…I haven't even really had a boyfriend before…and I don't know what would happen in our own time. What would we tell people?”

 

Giving the shaken miko a warm smile, Youko brushed away her tears with the pads of his thumbs, “It doesn't matter. I am sure that you would marry one of us so things could be legal in the world of humans. As far as anything else goes, it wouldn't matter. Your family knows of demons and all of our friends either know of and accept youkai or are youkai, with the exception of Yusuke's mother. I had kept my secret from my own family for too long and they now know the truth.”

 

More tears leaked slowly from her already reddened eyes as she protested again. “What about Yusuke? What does he think about such a thing?”

 

A smirk was her answer and before she could get upset and grill the fox, strong arms wrapped around her stomach and Kagome felt warm lips descend on her neck. Azure orbs widened a moment before Yusuke's aura wrapped around her small frame and the tiny miko melted into his embrace. His presence alone brought immense amounts of comfort to her abused heart and tired soul and Kagome willingly accepted the unconscious offer.

 

Yusuke's soft lips trailed up the side of her smooth neck and he nipped at the tender flesh of her earlobe before whispering against the delicate appendage, “I think that you are the most precious thing that has ever come into my life and I want you protected from everything. I know you are strong enough in your own right but that same strength will draw youkai to you like a moth to flame. What better way to make sure you're safe than for you to have two mates?”

 

She sputtered and grappled for words at the serious tone of his voice. He was okay with such a thing? How? She had refused to share Inuyasha with Kikyou…why were these two so willing to share her?

 

Turning her head to press her tear-streaked face against Yusuke's neck, Kagome let a bone-weary sigh escape her lips. “What exactly are you asking of me? Isn't being mated the equivalent of being married? I-I…I don't think I am ready to be married…how does it work? I mean…does it just…happen…when we…”

 

Her words trailed off there and Yusuke could feel the heat of her embarrassment rising in her cheeks and warming the skin of his neck. Kami could there be any other woman even half as innocent and endearing as her? Just the thought of being her first - of her being his first - and never having to let her go caused a jumble of emotions to flood his mind and soul. While he was most assuredly ecstatic with the prospect of having the lovely miko as his forever, a small part of his baser instincts wanted to rear up in jealousy at having to share such a prize.

 

Yusuke knew to give into jealousy would be in vain; it would only serve to sever the connection the three held. Kagome would refuse to break apart their friendship and would most likely chose to be with neither of them so she wouldn't interfere. That would not do. So it only stood to reason that he and Kurama share her. Of course, he considered the fox lucky that they had been friends so long and that he was even going along with the idea; had it been anyone else, they would have died in an instant.

 

A chuckle broke him from his thoughts and he looked up and into the amused golden irises of the silver fox. “My dear miko,” Youko said, his voice a low and seductive purr, “while humans have the ability to break the binds of marriage, a mating is eternal. Being intimate is not required for one to be marked as a mate and we would both be content with courting you for now.”

 

Kagome lifted her head from Yusuke's comforting warmth and intoxicating presence to look questioningly at the kitsune. “Marked? What does that mean?”

 

A silvery eyebrow quirked, “You have spent all these years traipsing about Feudal Japan and you don't know what a mating mark is?” At seeing her shake her head in the negative, Youko sighed. “Well, a mating mark is a bite made at the juncture of the neck and shoulder. It marks one as the mate of a youkai and is irreversible.”

 

Pushing all modesty aside for the time being, Kagome leaned toward the fox. “It's a bite mark? But…but how is it that a bite mark solidifies a relationship? Wouldn't love bites technically mean the same thing?”

 

Warm laughter tumbled through the lips of the two youkai and Kagome became confused. “What is so damned funny? I am being serious here ya know!”

 

Yusuke hugged the lithe form in his arms and pulled her into his lap. Kissing her neck again he focused on his partner. Youko caught the look and quickly began to explain. “You see little one, a mating mark is more than just a bite mark. Love bites, as you so eloquently put it, will heal over and fade. A mating mark will never leave your skin. When a demon marks his mate, his fangs pierce the skin of your neck and he drinks some of your blood. In return, a small amount of the youkai's very essence is left within the wound to keep his scent upon his chosen. The mark will only fade slightly and even long after it the initial damage heals, the mark will remain. A mating mark has to be accepted by both parties; the one giving has to known in his heart that he wants one as his mate and the one receiving has to know the same.”

 

A look of understanding crossed her eyes and Youko smiled. “So…you're saying that a youkai can't force a mating mark on someone? It has to be consensual?”

“Exactly! It assures that no one is ever mistakenly marked as a mate.”

 

Tapping a slender finger against her chin, Kagome thought on all she had learned. Her thoughts were jostled away when she felt herself being slid to the ground and Yusuke's arms and warmth left her. She turned a questioning gaze on him that he caught easily. “Sorry but I am supposed to be training your kit. I'll see you later Kagome.” With a sweet kiss to her cheek, he was gone.

 

And she was once more alone in the company of the fox.

 

Not that she was nervous about it anymore. He had been wonderful at explaining everything and she felt an invisible weight lifted from her shoulders when she realized that even if she should become intimate with either one, it wouldn't mean she was married right away. She hadn't even been dated seriously!

 

Kagome opened her mouth to talk to the fox but soon found herself laying back on the ground with a smirking kitsune laying on top of her. She quirked an eyebrow at him and had to bite the inside of her cheek when he wiggled his body against hers to spread her legs so he could lie between them. Her head spun with the sheer proximity of such a being as Youko; he was beyond powerful and his aura wrapped around her and tingled against her skin while his beautiful visage seemed almost too perfect to be real.

 

Once he was settled - snugly situated in the midst of two very delicious legs - Youko placed his arms alongside Kagome's head and smirked down at her. “Well, now that all that is cleared up, don't you think it's time I got a chance to kiss you?”

 

The miko shifted as the hardness of the ground bit into her lower back with the small amount of added weight against her hips. Apparently, he read her discomfort because he gave her that devilishly handsome smirk and whispered “Watch.”

 

His strong hands pressed palm-down against the earth and before Kagome could even question what in Kami-sama's name he was doing, she felt the ground underneath her soften remarkably. “How-?” She started but cut herself off as she looked around her and noticed various wildflowers springing up around their forms and growing tall to hide them away.

 

Again she made to speak but soon found her words being swallowed as warm, sensuous lips pressed eagerly against hers. Her eyelids flitted closed and she melted into him. Rosy lips easily parted under the assault from his tongue and Youko found himself nearly drunk off the sweet taste of her mouth alone. The spicy scent of her arousal spiked as he nibbled on her lower lip and he reveled in the nearly inaudible moan that issued forth from the back of her throat.

 

Keeping his weight on his forearms severely inhibited his ability to let his hands roam her body as they itched to do and silently he thought it to be a blessing in disguise. Youko knew she was untouched and although he wanted nothing more than to teach his miko every single pleasure of the flesh he knew, he had conceded to Yusuke. The fact was the fox was indebted somewhat to the Mazaku; after all, if Yusuke had denied the opportunity to share Kagome, he wouldn't even be lucky enough to taste her lips. And since Yusuke met her first, Youko only thought it proper that she give that part of herself to his partner.

 

The feeling of her dainty hands threading through his silver tresses and caressing the back of his neck forced him to break the hold he had on her lips. She mewled at the loss and he quickly gave her another chaste kiss before leaning up and away from her. Lust clouded sapphire orbs opened halfway and Youko swore he had never seen a more erotic sight; her dark hair was mussed and spread around the brilliant green grass, her lush lips were ruby red and slightly swollen and those eyes.

 

He realized then that it was a very good thing he was unable to explore her body with his hands for the moment; he knew if he hadn't stopped, she wouldn't have either.

 

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