Disclaimer: Characters owned by: Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Entertainment, etc.
I don't own it. I wish I did, particularly Sesshomaru…
Kagome and Sango sat in the hot springs, relaxing their sore muscles after the battle with Naraku.
"Sango, I am so sorry about Kohaku," Kagome said, her words inadequate in expressing her concern for the slayer, whom she now considered her sister after traveling with her for so many years.
She moved over and gave Sango a quick hug, which would have sent Miroku into a state of euphoria if he had been peeping on them, which fortunately, he was not.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Sango said as she sniffled and wiped away a tear as Kagome moved away and leaned against a boulder, closing her eyes. "At least he is at peace now."
"Yes," Kagome agreed softly, as her thoughts began to drift in another unexpected and unsavory direction. Kagome bit her lower lip in worry, which did not go unnoticed by her sister.
"What is it?" Sango queried.
Kagome's eyes snapped opened wide and guilt flooded her system at just who she had been thinking of just now.
"Hehe…um…well, you see," she muttered while twirling her index finger in the water in front of her.
"Is it Inuyasha?" Sango asked.
That would have been a whole lot easier. When exactly did her life stop revolving around Inuyasha? Kagome couldn't exactly mark the exact point in time in her memory, but if she had to make a guess, it would have had to of been when he had reached the ten-thousandth 'Wench you're so stupid' remark. That certainly could deflate any school girl's notions of a possible romance.
Kagome decided to answer Sango's question with one of her own. "Did you see if Sesshomaru made it out of the battle okay?"
Sango's right eyebrow disappeared under her bangs at Kagome's inquiry and when her eyes that were cloudy in confusion started to clear, there was only one thought that drifted across Kagome's mind, 'Oh shit.'
"I'm not sure. I saw some sort of blast hit him from behind, and his body hurling through the air, but I didn't see where he ended up. Naraku had just released another veil of miasma."
"Right. Never mind then," Kagome said with falsetto cheer, clapping her hands in front of her and moving on to more frivolous, safer topics.
Sango would have none of that. She raised her hand in the air, stopping Kagome before she could get her next word out, "Why would you ask about Sesshomaru? He has tried to kill you many times."
Not lately, Kagome thought and grimaced. Damn, she had lowered the bar in terms of potential suitors. She could almost picture herself asking a prospective boyfriend a serious of questions to determine if he would be a good fit.
Will you promise to not call me wench or stupid more than five times a day?
Will you promise not to try to kill me once we are going out?
Kagome giggled at the thought. Sango looked at her nervously, probably thinking that all of the stress related to being the Shikon No Tama miko was finally getting to her.
Sango's next observation floored her. "You know it makes sense that you might be interested in Sesshomaru. He is more mature than Inuyasha, and you two are closer in age now, so you would relate better…I mean, if he wasn't a bloodthirsty demon, that is," she finished lamely.
"More mature?" Kagome said, her cheeks reddening with the connotations of that word.
She certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity to take a peak at what lie beneath that pristine white haori and hakama he always wore. Damn, she would pay money for the chance.
"Well yeah," Sango said, looking slightly uncomfortable with the subject matter. "I mean your twenty-three now, but because Inuyasha is a hanyou he hasn't really aged since you met him. I don't know how old Sesshomaru is, but he looks like, in terms of human years, he would be somewhere in his mid-twenties."
"You're right," Kagome said, and with Sango's words the pieces of her waning attraction to Inuyasha over the years were slowly falling into place.
She had to admit, when she first met him she had been deathly afraid of Sesshomaru, as anyone in a right frame of mind should have been. Upon first meeting Kagome, he had tried to kill her (not unlike a certain hanyou), and Kagome sardonically mused that she must be sadistic on some level to fall for men who tried to kill her. However, over the years, their tachi had run into Sesshomaru's entourage on many occasions, as was inevitable with both of the groups hunting Naraku and Kagome's physical attraction got stronger and stronger with each meeting. Her face and the tops of her breasts flushed at the memory of their last run in with the noble Taiyoukai prior to the battle with Naraku.
----FLASHBACK----
Kagome had been lingering behind the group, observing them, in a rare moment of introspection. Kagome liked to think of herself as a woman of action, but had recently come to the conclusion that had she pondered things more deeply, she may have not spent the last eight years giving her heart away to someone who did not want it.
Inuyasha still would leave the group some nights to meet with Kikyo, doing Kami only knows what, and Kagome had come to accept the fact that where his heart lie had never really been up for debate. Sometimes she felt like a fool, but more times than not, she just felt a deep sadness that she had been willing to give her most prized possession – her heart – away so easily. Kagome would always love Inuyasha, but only as a friend. Even so, it was still difficult when he left the group for his evening rendezvous with Kikyo.
Kagome could hear the gentle murmurings of Miroku and Sango as they walked. Miroku's head was inclined towards hers, and Kagome thought they looked like secret lovers, but laughed as she watched Miroku's hand slowly creep towards Sango's backside. Kagome was about to let Sango know, but Sango had developed a sixth sense over the years where Miroku was concerned, and she clubbed him over the head with Hiraikotsu.
Sango was such a virtuous woman which may be more a reflections of the times - Sengoku Jidai – than anything else. Sango had already told Kagome that once they had defeated Naraku, she planned on marrying Miroku. Kagome was happy for them, but she was loathe to admit, a bit envious as well. Why couldn't she form a special bond with a man like that? Was there something wrong with her? Something that sent the opposite sex running in the other dirction? She had been a fairly popular girl in high school despite all of her absences, but this no longer mattered, as she had lost any chance at a normal relationship when she took up the search full-time for the Shikon No Tama. She only went home a handful of times each year, and she was not sure if she could even return to her old life even if she wanted to. Houjou and her high school girlfriends had all gone onto college, and left her behind. She had changed too much and her old life no longer fit.
Kagome let out an exasperated sigh, lifting her head to observe Inuyasha and Shippo's latest quarrel.
Inuyasha was chasing Shippo around a large tree, after Shippo had changed a walnut into a small boulder and dropped it on Inuyasha's big toe. Shippo's powers had progressed much over the last few years, although he still looked the same as when Inuyasha and Kagome had saved him from the Thunder Brothers. In many ways, Kagome considered Shippo to be an adoptive son, and he considered her, she was sure, his adoptive mother. On the heels of that thought, Kagome chastised herself. How could she have ever, even for the minutest of seconds, considered abandoning him, or any of her feudal relationships for that matter?
Just as Inuyasha had caught the fox kit by his tail and raised him to meet his face, he paused and sniffed the air. Kagome froze on the spot, knowing that the flaring of his nostrils indicated there was the scent of something troubling nearby. Oh Kami, please don't let it be Naraku, she thought. As much as she wanted to end Naraku's life and purify the jewel, she dreaded it as well. She would feel obliged to let Inuyasha wish on the jewel and he would undoubtedly wish for Kikyo to live once again so they could have their fairytale ending. She was fairly certain since the jewel would be used as an expression of undying love, that it wouldn't be corrupted by his wish.
"Hell no, I ain't lett'en that bastard sneak up on us," Inuyasha yelled before taking off into the forest.
"Inuyasha wait," Kagome screamed but knew that his speed had carried him too far, too fast.
Kirara transformed and Miroku and Sango jumped on. "Kagome, get on. We will be able to catch up to him much faster riding Kirara," Miroku said. Kagome leapt on Kirara, looping her arms around Miroku's middle, all the while adjusted her quiver full of arrows on her back.
They skimmed above the treetops in search of the elusive hanyou, when they finally saw him standing not ten feet from the very man she had been pondering too much of late: Sesshomaru.
Sesshomaru was walking away from Inuyasha, who already had his sword in hand, when the inu-taichi set down. The dragon Ah-Un, Rin, and the toad-imp Jaken were close at his heels.
"Don't tell me you just happened to be in the area, Sesshomaru. I don't believe that for a minute," Inuyasha groused.
Kagome got down from Kirara's back and stood a few feet behind Inuyasha, but off to the side enough, that she could have an unobstructed view of the very dangerous, yet very beautiful creature she could not help but feel an attraction to.
Sesshomaru suddenly stopped, let out a soft sigh of annoyance and turned around to face Inuyasha, his companions following his lead.
Kagome almost gasped when she first laid eyes on him after so long. She had not seen Sesshomaru for almost a year, and her heart twinged at the first sight of him after such a prolonged absence.
When Sesshomaru spoke, the deep timbre of his voice, made her inner thighs quiver. "Mongrel, I have no business with you. Leave." Then almost unnoticeably, Sesshomaru inclined his head and took a delicate sniff of the air, his nostrils flaring slightly.
As the brother's continued to stare each other down, Kagome noticed the beautiful woman standing just behind Sesshomaru, dwarfed by his height and overall presence. She was dressed in a beautiful midnight blue kimono with silver sunburst threading concentrated around the sleeves and the neck. She had a silver obi and an inner haori the color of the sky that perfectly complemented the outer layers. Kagome caught Sango's eye and noticed she was eyeing the beautiful hime with as much consternation as Kagome, probably wondering how long it would take for Miroku to ask the woman to bear his children. Kagome noted wryly, that Inuyasha hadn't given any indication that he noticed the girl standing behind Sesshomaru, making Kagome question, not for the first time, his sexuality, or lack thereof. Necrophilia seemed to be Inuyasha's only sexual inclination, she mused. A gentle warm wind swept across the forest carrying with it the smell of flowers and springtime, and Kagome wondered how the two brothers' sensitive noses could handle the aromatic breeze. Sesshomaru's perfect white locks danced around his broad shoulders, and Kagome's hands twitched at her sides, eager to reach out and test the texture and feel of them.
The hime, who had thick, raven hair that was wavy and hung to her waist, moved closer towards Sesshomaru, but her forward progress was checked when Sesshomaru said softly, "Rin, stay back," as his fingers slowly drifted to his sword hilt, seemingly unimpressed with Inuyasha's display of aggression.
Kagome's eyes grew wide in realization. Rin. That was Rin? She had changed so much over the past year. No longer did she sport unkempt hair and a childish side ponytail on top of her head, but instead a head of hair that rivaled her own, which meant the girl was spending time on it every morning, and Kagome had to wonder how such a thing was even possible. Would Sesshomaru actually wait around while Rin bathed and combed her hair? He did not seem like the type to indulge a human girl in such a way, given his previous words and actions. Kagome could not help but notice how, although Sesshomaru never took his eyes of Inuyasha while speaking, similarly, Rin had not once glanced in their direction, instead keeping her eyes firmly fixed on her lord. Kagome could have sworn she saw a spark of obstinacy in Rin's eyes at Sesshomaru's command, but then she nodded her head demurely, and returned to where she stood only moments ago.
Inuyasha pointed his sword in Sesshomaru's direction. "Bastard, I don't know what you're playing at, but you're not getting my Tetsusaiga."
Kagome inwardly groaned. What is he doing? Does he want to get beaten into a bloody pulp by his older brother?
At Inuyasha's rude comment, Sesshomaru's right eyebrow rose into his hairline and Kagome could surmise what he was thinking: To kill or not to kill, that is the question.
"Stop your yapping, Inuyasha, you…" Sesshomaru said, but his words degenerated into a barely audible growl, which Inuyasha joined with one of his own. Sesshomaru looked over the Inu-taichi towards the forest, and a demoness emerged.
She wore a light pink kimono with ivory folds underneath and crescent moon designs sprinkled throughout. She had mint green hair that reached halfway down her back, maroon colored eyes, and a green tail sprouting from the back of her kimono to match her hair. She sauntered towards Sesshomaru and stopped a few feet from him. He continued to look past the diminutive demoness, cataloging the surrounding forest, for, as yet, some unknown reason. A small trickle of sweat dripped down the side of his perfect face and his left leg began to tremble noticeably.
"Hello, my love…Did you miss me?" the beautiful woman said as her sensuous lips pulled into a tight smirk.
"No," Sesshomaru remarked finally bringing his cold eyes to meet hers. His left leg continued to tremble.
Rin stepped forward and caught one end of his billowing sleeves. "Sesshomaru-sama…what?" but was rudely interrupted by a loud Inuyasha.
"Hey, what's that smell?" Inuyasha said, taking an unconscious step towards the two demons.
Kagome watched the scene unfold, truly perplexed, and noted that Miroku and Sango had expressions that reflected her own confusion. Kagome had watched Sesshomaru slaughter a hundred demons and put his fist through Inuyasha's chest in the span of minutes without breaking a sweat. He never showed any emotions, or made physical displays of any kind. What was going on?
Sesshomaru shot Rin a sideways glance, obviously conveying something important to Rin, as she let go of his sleeve and took a step back.
The demoness stepped towards Sesshomaru and tried to cup his cheek with her hand, but he intercepted her, holding onto her wrist so tightly that his claws dug into it. "Natsumi, I thought I made it clear to you," his every words dripping with scorn, "there will be no repeat performance."
The demoness pulled abruptly away from him, her features awashed in fury. "You were promised to me. I am in heat. It is time for you to return to the crescent moon pack."
"The marriage contract our parents made became null and void when my father died, leaving me Inu no Taisho."
Kagome gasped as she finally understood what was going on, and a flush of embarassment stained her cheeks as Sesshomaru lifted his eyes to meet hers, his eyes narrowed in disapproval.
Obviously, Kagome thought, he doesn't like mere ningens knowing such intimate details of his life, but despite being stared down by such a lethal creature, she couldn't help but be intrigued by his physical reactions, which indicated…Kagome mind supplied almost excitedly, which indicated Sesshomaru was not some inanimate statue of beauty but actually had physical desires of a more corporeal nature.
Natsumi turned and walked away, her hips swaying seductively side to side, her mint green tail hanging off to the side, indicating her readiness to mate with a desirable Alpha.
Sesshomaru clenched his teeth and his fisted hands dripped blood where his claws had pierced through them. Inuyasha watched Natsumi walk away, and a thin line of drool escaped the corner of his mouth.
"Shut your mouth, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered through gritted teeth, unable to keep the hurt out of her voice. It bothered her that Inuyasha spent only a few minutes in this strange woman's prescence and he already wanted to fuck her, after Kagome had spent eight years with the hanyou and she had only been able to score a few quick pecks on the mouth. What Kagome did not fully realize at the time, is that her upset was not so much a result of the hanyou's interest in the demoness, but the other highly desirable male that was walking away…Wait, he is leaving already? Kagome thought sadly.
Rin glared daggers at the demoness as she walked away from the group, and 'humphed' conceitedly, turning to follow in Sesshomaru's wake, assured of her place at his side. She gently led Ah-Un by the reins and Jaken picked up the pace so that he wouldn't get left behind.
"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama," the demoness trilled out as she stopped at the outer edge of the forest and looked back over her shoulder one last time.
Sesshomaru's back went visibly rigid through the silken layers of his haori, but he did not turn around.
"My heat lasts for months. See if you can resist me each and every time I come to you."
A deep, silken voice rang out in the clearing, "Know that if you appproach me again, I will have to kill you."
Sesshomaru and his band disappeared into the forest.
---End of Flashback---
"Kagome, are you alright?" Sango asked, her brows crinkled in worry, effectively snapping Kagome out of her memory.
"Oh, I'm fine, Sango," Kagome said, and leaned further back onto the ledge of the hot springs for a soothing soak.
There will be no repeat performance. Sesshomaru's words echoed through her head. His words were purposely vague, but she knew what he meant. At least one Inu brother was sexually active. When her heart leapt at the thought and she felt her folds release a trickle of moisture, she knew she was in too deep.
Nothing good can come of this, her mind supplied, but her heart claimed otherwise.