Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Naruto. Neither do I own Hitaru, she belongs to Satsukerin.
Last Time: They continued to watch the arrivals and Hitaru from the study window. It was going to be a few days of tension and it started then with him going to greet the arrivals. First he needed to convince Hitaru to join him and pray that she and he, himself will keep their tempers in check.
Sesshomaru sighed a big sigh of relief. It had been four days since his unwanted guests had arrived. His sigh of relief was because he had made it through another day with the annoying pests and that Hitaru and Nero had been on their best behavior.
Her behavior puzzled him though. She was attracted to him, he knew she was; with her eyes practically yelling it at him, her flirty words when no-one was around, and then there was the nightly dreams from his beast. Yes, those really helped him become more confused by her behavior when she would flirt with that damnable Kitsune Lord!
He was confused by her and her actions. But some part of him was seeing the big picture and knew that she was up to something and that part was refusing to share with the rest what it suspected. He really hated it when it did that. But what could he do? Nothing. Nothing but watch Hitaru and wait for his beast to say something.
(Hitaru/Nero)
"Ugh, he is such a player." Nero growled at Hitaru.
"I know." she said.
"He makes me sick!" Nero gagged.
"I know." Hitaru said impassively.
She had just returned to her chambers after a long day of interacting with Hiroki. Damn! She had to do it all again in the morning. She couldn't stand the demon; he was such a player. But she had to admit he wasn't shy about letting his intentions known. He sure knew how to make a girl blush but she knew it was lust speaking and the majority was just empty words.
He really did digust her. Not just him, all of the Demon Lords but Sesshomaru. They would speak of honor and truth and whatnot, it was a disgrace. She had to bite her tongue several times. She wanted to scream that they didn't know what honor and truth was. That they wouldn't know what it was even if it came up and bit them on the ass.
In her opinion only Sesshomaru seemed to have any honor. He had more honor in his little finger than they had in the whole bodies, combined. They wanted him gone because he was the most powerful and was so much younger than they were. To her he was more honorable because he was so much more powerful but he weilded it in a manner to keep peace than start war.
(AN: If you watch and read carefully the Inuyasha series it is true. Sesshomaru didn't go around killing willy nilly, he removed those who caused trouble and tried to start war. Like Naraku, The Four War Gods, The Band of Seven, etc. Just to name a few.)
To her the other lords were power hungry and cruel. Her father was powerful and seemed to be very cruel but he had a reason to everything he did, the same could be said of Sesshomaru. But these others, their only reasons were power and wealth. Nothing either of the important men in her life wanted more of. They both were the most powerful in their worlds, so they didn't need more.
"Hitaru?" Nero said.
"Hmmm?" Hitaru asked.
"How much longer are we going to have to put up with this charade?" she asked.
"Not much longer, just a couple of more days in the least." she answered.
"Oh, that is going to take forever." Nero complained.
"It sure is." she agreed.
"So what are we going to do in the meantime?" Nero asked.
"I want to play." Hitaru said with a grin.
"Oooh, with what?" Nero asked loving the devious look on her outerself.
"Nu-uh can't tell you." Hitaru said to her and left her room.
(Sesshomaru)
It was getting really late in the night and Sesshomaru was still in his study, going dilligently through the scrolls to help Hitaru get home. He didn't want to find the scroll or spell or whatever it was to help her leave but he would if only to help her escape the fate that had now befallen her.
"Sesshomaru?" Sesse asked in the recesses of his mind.
"What do you need?" he asked him.
"I want to know how much longer the fools shall be here." he said.
Sesshomaru stopped looking through the scrolls and leaned back in his chair. He sighed and rubbed his temples before he answered.
"Not much longer. A couple of days in the least." he informed his other half.
"Oh. Damn it." Sesse growled.
"I know. But being a Lord we must follow some of the protocals." he said.
"Keh, I don't agree." Sesse said to him.
"I don't like it either." he said and discarded another stack of scrolls.
Sesse sat down in a huff within his mind. It always amazed him how different he and his beast were. He never showed outward emotions but Sesse was very intune with letting the emotions show. He was one for protocal and only broke it when he saw fit but Sesse he didn't care one way or the other.
That was something he was doing at that moment, breaking protocal. He loved Hitaru enough to put everything up for grabs. But that didn't mean he wouldn't fight for what he had. He wanted Hitaru but he wouldn't get in the way of her mission and responsibilities. He was sure that Hitaru was the same way. Only he had a feeling that she would cause more chaos than he ever would but would still do what she thought was right.
"Sesshomaru?"
(Normal POV)
"Sesshomaru?" Hitaru said as she entered his study.
Sesshomaru looked up from the scrolls. He had not even heard her approach or come through the door. He nodded at her to let her know she had his attention.
"Would you like to go for a walk with me?" she asked.
"Yes I would." he said and stood to follow her.
"Way to go." Nero cheered inside her head.
"Shhh." Hitaru shushed her.
Nero stuck her tongue out at Hitaru and became silent. She wanted to know what Hitaru had planned for Sesshomaru, well the game that involved him. What was she up to?
She and Sesshomaru walked to the gardens but somewhere along the way Hitaru had grabbed his hand and he just held on. Neither noticed it had occurred until they let go.
"Come on." Hitaru said to him and led him to a bench in the middle of the vast garden.
"How was your day?" he asked sitting next to her.
He didn't really want to know what transpired between her and the fox. He was curious and all but what he asked was more to see if she would answer or not.
"Ugh, tiring. I wish they would leave." she said.
His ears perked at her answer and Sesse grinned.
"Why is that?" he asked really wanting to know the answer.
"I really don't like Hiroki. Seriously do they think I am stupid? I know what they are up to and I am not going to fall for it. I know what I want and I will not give it up because they want me to. They think Hiroki can seduce me and be his mate, HA, not going to happen. I will humor them though, let them believe I like him." she said.
Sesshomaru stayed silent. This was a new developement for him. She was playing with the other lords and from the looks of it she was going to win. He smirked as he thought of all the possibilities she could do to break it to them that she was not going to do as they said.
"Stop thinking of that." Sesse scolded.
"What?" he asked himself.
"The thing you should think about is what does she want." Sesse said.
"Hmn." he said.
"What are you thinking about?" Hitaru asked leaning close to him.
"What do you want Hitaru?" he asked.
Hitaru looked up at him. She read his face and saw that he was serious, he wanted to know what she really wanted. She sighed and smiled.
"I want many things. Like for instance I want to play a game." she said.
"That wasn't what I was hoping for." Sesse commented.
"You think." Sesshomaru said to him.
"What kind of game?" he asked her.
She leaned over to him and stopped mere centimeters from his face. A smile came onto her lips and she raised her hand touched the end of his nose.
"You're it." she said and disappeared.
She was gone and he was still sitting on the bench. She wanted to play a game the miko called, Tag. He himself had never played it but he had seen Rin play it with the mikos' kit, the miko, and the slayer when they had crossed paths.
He knew the concept of the game and he likened it to a courtship ritual for demons. For she was demon she must know what she was doing initiating it with him and the problems it could create if they were seen.
"She knows what she is doing." Sesse said reasoning her behavior.
He nodded to himself and waited. He waited to give her a head start and then he took off. He knew the gardens better than she and knew any and all round abouts. He cut her off and she skidded to a stop and whirled around out of his reach.
He huffed and lept after her. She was quick and light on her feet and used her instincts to evade him. He could tell then what she was doing, the initiation of the courting ritual. She wanted him as her mate and was letting him know without speaking it aloud, lest it be overheard. He wasn't concerned if anyone found out about them or not, she would be his by her doing or his own.
"Come on catch me." she called to him.
"She is challenging us." Sesse growled.
He whipped around a hedge and then a bush. She was darting around another hedge, getting closer to the center of the garden. He grinned and made a complete turnabout, straight to a secondary path in the garden that went straight to the center.
When she reached the center he was there and waiting. She rounded the edge to enter to center and was nabbed by Sesshomaru.
"I have you vixen." he purred.
She shivered. He had caught her. He had come willingly into her game, her plan was coming into fruition and she was going to be damned sure that it ended the way she had it planned out. No one was going to mess it up for her either.
"You're it." he said to her.
"No, you win." she said.
He nodded his head and smiled. She just told him that she was his by all rights and her own free will. He turned her to face him. She was glowing on the moonlight, giving her more of an ethereal glow, making her seem more angelic than demon.
She laid her head on his chest and sighed. It was the way it should be; face to face, heart to heart, body to body. It was her ideal man, she decided and to her the other lords would just have to get over it or face her in battle. She knew the consequences but she didn't care as long as she had him.
Sesshomaru placed a finger under her chin and tipped her face up to his. He claimed her lips as his and kissed her until she whimpered for air. She was slightly dazed from the kiss but still had her wits about her to not let it get too far. She stil had a couple of lords to toy with and piss off.
He kissed her again and ran his hands along her sides and stopped at her hips. She pulled away then and backed away. She shook her head at him.
"Not yet. I still have some toys to play with and they may need to be replaced when I am done with them." she said.
He nodded. He hadn't been told what she was up to but he knew it had something to do with the imbeciles that ruled over the North, South, and East. He was a little disappointed that it hadn't ended the way that he would have preferred it to have but he would let her have her fun.
"Thank you for taking a walk with me." she said and kissed him on the cheek.
He turned to her and caught her lips and kissed her thoroughly. When he pulled away she laughed lightly and patted his shoulder.
"That will have to wait until the game is done." she said.
"What game?" he asked.
"My game of, Who is more clueless?" she said heading back to the castle.
He nodded and watched her make her way back to the castle. She paused and told him good night before she continued on her way to her room. He watched her leave and then he sat down on a nearby bench to think about everything that had just occurred between him a Hitaru.
Above them watching from a window was a set of Jade Green eyes. Said eyes belonged to the one and only Lord Hiroki. He had seen the kisses shared between Hitaru and Sesshomaru as well as, he had seen the initiation of courtship that she had instigated. He glared at the silver/white haired male below on the gardens. Her falling for him was putting a major dent in his plans to overthrow the Inu.
He pryed himself away from the window and set about to bed. He was going to speak with the other lords about what he had just seen. There was no doubt in his mind that a battle was quickly cresting the horizon.
AN: Sorry for the lateness. I was so busy with end of the school year coming. And I had a personal decision to make. It was lifechanging.