Title: Patience
Author: Priestess Skye
Word Count: 300
Prompt: Lure
Rating: G
Genre: Romance
He was nothing if not determined. Mistakes aside, Sesshoumaru knew what it would take to get her back. He just wasn't sure if it was something he could give. There were larger things at stake than his personal problems. She knew this. She had accepted it. She had spent time with him coming to an understanding. When it came to the big picture, her wants and needs just didn't seem to fit.
And yet, as it stood right now, without Kagome, it was as if he were working toward nothing. How could he protect the future of his kind if he had no future for himself waiting? How had she become so integral to his very existence that he doubted the role he needed to play?
Flipping through the ties on his tie rack, he stopped at the familiar red, white and blue one, one that he had worn with pride on his inauguration, not because it was appropriate, but because it was from her. Such a small token and it meant so much. It amused him to no end to see how cherished these small items were. Her jewellery box lay open on their dresser, earrings and necklaces and hairpins scattered about. Fingering the citrine hairpin, Sesshoumaru smiled. This was the one piece she would never leave behind.
It gave him hope.
Placing the tie around his neck and tightening the knot, Sesshoumaru grinned. Phone tag was done for the day as it was obvious she would not answer hers. However, the game was far from over. There was no place she could hide for very long, and sooner or later she would return for what's hers.
He only had to wait.
And like the mighty dog hunting its prey, he had plenty of patience to do just that.
Title: Questions and Answers
Author: Priestess Skye
Word Count: 1207
Prompt: Resolution
Rating: G
Genre: Romance
Notes: This is the final installment to the Presidency series
She stood outside his office, hand raised in a fist sitting inches from his door. He knew she was there. He could probably smell her, she thought with a grimace, and yet she couldn't find the courage to bring her knuckles upon the painted wood. The staff around the office stared at her blankly and she was sure some of them half expected her to walk away again. She half expected herself to walk away again.
"He's waiting for you," Miroku noted as he walked by before stopping next her and leaning against the wall. "He's cleared his schedule for the day…as much as he could given that he still has obligations."
"I know." Sighing she dropped her hand next to her side and backed up against the wall next to him. Closing her eyes, Kagome took several deep breaths trying to collect her thoughts. There were so many floating in and out of her head she didn't know what to do, or what to feel. There was no easy, and somehow she suspected there never would be. With Kouga, it was an easy decision to make, to leave him. It left her no doubts about how she truly felt about him. But the mere thought of leaving Sesshoumaru sent a pain so great through her chest she could do nothing but close her eyes and double over, focusing on her breathing instead to get through it. Clenching her fists together, tightly, she struggled not to cry. To stay with him meant she would get her heart broken time and time again as he would have to put his job and his legacy before her when she would need him the most, and yet to leave, she didn't know if she could survive it.
"You love him," Miroku whispered, sending a glare to the office staff silently demanding that they resume their duties. "If you didn't you wouldn't be standing here, still wearing his ring."
"I hate him as well," she murmured, still trying to sort through things. "I hate myself for allowing myself to feel this way but he hurt me in a way I never thought he would."
"Love and hate are entwined and often so close it's difficult to tell them apart. You wouldn't hate him if you didn't love him." He sighed alongside her. "I was against this union from the beginning but not only do you connect well with each other, you often act as if you're two parts of one unit. I am a believer in fate, but I am also a believer in making your own destiny. Way I figure it is this. You two were fated to be together. I have never witnessed a couple who understood each other as well as the two of you do. But what happens next is up to the two of you. You can walk away, and I wouldn't blame you, and neither would he. I can't guarantee that he would leave you be, but you can walk away. Or you can save yourself a great deal of time and effort by walking through that door."
Looking up, Kagome turned her head toward Miroku, only to see that he was already walking away, having said his piece. It was just one more thought to add to the already jumbled web within her brain. She wanted to run and scream and clear her head until the answer and the right path stood out before her. She wanted this to be easy.
"Nothing that's ever worth it is easy," she whispered to herself, steeling her spine and standing straight. Running a finger over the ring he gave her she found her strength. The answers were a mystery, but the ring wouldn't be on her finger if there wasn't something there that told her it was the right thing to do at the time. Lifting her hand, she knocked once before opening the door, knowing he would be alone waiting for her.
He sat behind his desk, back ramrod straight though his eyes betrayed him. Cool and confident to everybody else, she could see the wariness deep within. She had put it there. Guilt ate at her, causing her breath to catch in her throat several times. In all of her days with him she had never seen him so rigid and defensive. Stopping, she dropped to her knees, feeling the walls of the office closing in on her. Why was this so hard, she cried to herself. The answer was there, in front of her. All she had to do was reach for it and she could have it. But she couldn't move.
"Kagome," Sesshoumaru murmured as he leapt from his desk, catching her before she hit the floor. His hands were so strong and sturdy, a contrast to her which were shaking like a leaf.
"It shouldn't be this hard," she repeated, this time loud enough for him. "You hurt me."
"I know. I'll do it again, though I don't want to."
"I know." She leaned forward, pressing her head into his shoulder and breathed deeply. Sesshoumaru was never one for colognes she thought. His scent was all his and despite everything, it was comforting. "I don't ask for much. I know you have obligations to your country. But what about your obligations to me? You weren't there when I needed you the most. You weren't there when I had something important to say."
"I'm here now." The words sounded so smooth and practiced coming out of his mouth, she wasn't sure if they weren't that.
"It's too late. All of that has passed and we can't go back. I understand what you need to do and I won't get in your way. I just don't know if I can balance everything together."
"What do you want?" he asked, his voice carefully controlled.
"You," she whispered, afraid to speak any louder and ruin the sanctity of the moment. "I can care less about anything else, I just want you."
"With me comes a great deal more," he warned, slowly entwining his hands in her hair, tilting her head upward so she was looking him directly in the eye.
The nerves were gone, she realized. The fear, the trepidation, everything that had been running through her earlier seemed to have vanished with his touch, and in this moment, it was only the two of them in this room. "I know, and I will try to handle it. But you have to meet me half way in this."
"No more running," he demanded.
It wasn't hard at all, she realized as she pulled him against her, her mouth seeking out his. Sitting in the middle of the oval office floor, in the arms of both the president and the lord of all modern day youkai, she sighed, as his lips brushed across hers lightly. A promise of what was to come she realized.
No, not hard at all. The answer was right in front of her the entire time.
"No more running."
Thank you all for such a wild ride on this. I never thought there would have been such a demand for a continuation to Candidacy and i'm not one to do sequels typically. This was too much fun! It is done and while I'll never say never, there probably won't be anymore to this after this. Thank you to all of its supporters!
Skye
the characters portrayed in this fic do not belong to me. they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I merey borrowed them.
