Title: X 'marks' the spot
Author: Angelicatt
Theme: Horror
Genre: Romance/Humor/Minor Fluff
Rating: T
Word Count: 3,077
Summary: Continued from #83: Bury: Sesshoumaru and Kagome discuss youkai marking and it doesn't go over very well
A/N: My apologies if Kagome acts a little too much like InuYasha in this one. After 3yrs together, he kind of 'rubbed off' on her some. Her roller-coaster emotions get to me too. Sorry that it's so long too...I couldn't stop myself. Originally posted on LJ 4/18/2010
Disclaimer: I do not anything but my own cracked imagination.
Kagome's face was leaning on mokomoko during the flight back to camp. Her contentment was at an all time high, and nothing short of a surprise attack by Naraku could have dampened her mood or her elation about being with Sesshoumaru. Glancing up at him from the corner of her eye, his face was as straight and stoic as ever, but the glimmer in his golden orbs was all for and about her. Add to that, the way he had both of his arms, wrapped succinctly around her waist, which only served to further highlight his possessive inu nature. 'I am his, just as he is mine' she crooned inwardly, as her smile echoed the feelings in her heart.
Sesshoumaru sensed the warmth pouring out of his miko's aura. Clearly she was happy and he was doing a little dance in his head knowing that he was the cause of her joy. He looked down at her and saw the smile gracing her luscious mouth, it reached all the way to her brilliant doe-eyes and for once she seemed content with the silence brought on by both of their wandering minds. But he couldn't leave well enough alone; realizing that these precious minutes he held her would probably be the last private ones they would have for some time, he figured that now was as good a time to talk to her about the courtship mark, as well as his plans to traverse the well. He didn't really care what it took, he would make it happen.
"Kagome" he said so softly, that his whispered voice made her shudder, "this Sesshoumaru wants to ask your permission to give you a courtship mark." There was hesitance in his statement that he secretly hoped she missed.
"A courtship mark? Doesn't that mean that you have to bite me?" she inquired nervously.
"Well yes, though it is only a temporary mark that essentially means that you are my intended and that all others should stay away. Being that it would come from me, it would be a powerful deterrent to lesser youkai, if we were ever separated." he calmly elucidated.
"When you say temporary, do you mean it will fade away? And where would you do it exactly?" her inquisitiveness was peaking, there was still much she did not understand about youkai culture and here she was already planning on mating one.
"The mark lasts only as long as the courtship and that varies from species to species. Since this Sesshoumaru is an inu and a daiyoukai, the traditional steps could take as long as six months. It is entirely up to you. There are only two known ways that a courtship mark 'fades away' as you so eloquently put it, the first being, that the pair end their union, whether amicably or otherwise; and the second and most logical way, is that the couple have mated, in which case the courtship mark is replaced by the mating mark, which as you know is permanent; not even death can remove a mating mark. As for where, it is customarily done right here." his detailed explanation ended with a smirk and the gentle touch of two of his clawed fingers to the pulse point located between her neck and left shoulder.
Kagome's head whipped around so fast, you could hear the bones in her neck crack. Her eyes were huge as she looked at him in horror.
"You mean you have to bite my neck like a damn vampire, not once but twice" she hollered at him.
~*~*~*~*~
She wasn't mad at him, really she wasn't. It was just the shock of it. 'Why hasn't Sango told me about youkai markings before? If I had ended up with InuYasha, wouldn't he have had to do the same? I guess it never progressed that far for it to have come up. Oh hell, what should I do? It's plain as the nose on my face that it's tradition and there's no way to worm out of it. If I want to be with him, I'm just going to have to get over it. Damn it Kagome, stop being a baby.'
Sesshoumaru felt like his heart had fallen out of his chest when she looked at him with such fear in her eyes and then she yelled at him. 'All I want to do is protect her and what is a vam-p-ire?' he moued silently. He sighed heavily, not wanting to anger her further, so he said nothing and turned his face forward; his internal turmoil clearly etched onto his brow and sullen eyes.
The little miko saw his expression falter and she could have kicked herself, if she wasn't standing atop his youki cloud miles off the ground. She had done it again. 'You know for as much as you yell at InuYasha about spouting off crap before thinking, you're doing a pretty good job of that yourself. Shame on you Kagome! You should know better than making Sesshoumaru suffer for your own verbal diarrhea; especially since you know how much it sucks, when you're the one on the receiving end. Fix this now or you don't honestly deserve him.' her conscience railed at her. You could have sworn that she had some internal beast talking to her; but that's impossible, right?
Before she could utter anything, they descended just past the tree line of the pack's camp. As soon as they hit the ground, Sesshoumaru let go of her and started walking away, leaving her no option but to chase after him.
"Sesshoumaru, stop please!" she begged, her breathing haggard from her forced run.
He stopped but did not turn to look at her; a clear sign that he was upset. She ran around the front of him and still he avoided meeting her eyes. Kagome tentatively reached for one of his hands with one of hers and put her other over his pounding heart.
"Oh Sesshoumaru, I am so sorry I shouted at you. It was totally uncalled for. Please forgive me." she pleaded to him. 'Holy kami, why can't I learn to stop putting my foot in my mouth?' she sighed to herself. "I was a little freaked out by the whole biting thing and when I get nervous, sometimes I say stuff I don't mean or the words just come out the wrong way. I am not mad at you and I am definitely not refusing you…I'm just a little scared about all the changes and differences in between human and youki relationships." her apology ended with a distinctive sourness to her smell, she was crying again.
He couldn't stand the scent of her tears; the salt marred her natural spiced vanilla and jasmine smell and it frustrated him that he had made her cry again. She was worried and afraid and frankly, he couldn't blame her. He picked her up bridal-style and walked over to a fallen log and sat with her across his lap; her head resting against mokomoko once more.
"Anata Kagome, please do not cry." he told her, while running a hand through her messy ebony locks. "This Sesshoumaru does not wish to frighten you. This..I am just as confused about your human customs as you are of my youkai ones; but know, you only need ask and I will endeavor to explain them as best as I can. For a moment, I thought you had changed your mind about us – the thought of being without you was painful." His confession was passionate and heartfelt. This new daiyoukai was not afraid to wear his inexperienced heart on his sleeve, if it made the onna he loved happy.
She looked up at him with such unbridled love and devotion. The tear trails below the brown pools that were her eyes, glistened in the morning sun; but it was her sparkling smile that did him in. As he bent forward, she reached up and got to his lips first, initiating the intimacy of their kisses, in an effort to soothe both of their troubled hearts. When they broke free for much needed breaths, her face was flushed, lips full and red from the urgency of their mouths and still she smiled, and he smiled back a fanged grin for her. 'Now to broach the other topic.' he mused, imaginary fingers crossed that she would not be quick to anger at his second request.
~*~*~*~*~
"While we are on the topic of human customs, this..I..,gomen nasai, but it will take some time for me to not talk to you in the third person. I have done so for over a thousand years, but I will do my best for you." he apologized to her. He remembered how many she had begged him to stop talking to her using his formal 'big dog' speech; even going so far as to mock him on occasion, so he would get the point of how obnoxious it sounded. She was going to be his mate, his partner, his equal, and therefore she deserved to be talked to and treated as one. 'Where was I? Oh yes.' his jumbled mind questioned.
"In my past conversations with you and your pack-mates, there have been discussions on the proper protocol for human courtship. Correct me if I am remembering this incorrectly, but the male must ask for right to court and marry the onna from her parents and seeing as your family is on the other side of the Bone Eater's well, that leaves me with only one option." he related to her, with all the seriousness that he was known for.
"So you're going to write a formal request to my mom?" she questioned, totally missing his desired connotation. It was sweet though, that he thought enough of her propensity for maintaining her human traditions to want to do it the right way. It was so Sesshoumaru.
"No my little miko, this Sesshoumaru intends to accompany you through the well and ask them myself. As you said yourself earlier, your mother would be most aggrieved if she could not plan and throw you a most appropriate wedding; especially as you are her only daughter and a shrine maiden." he announced, like it wasn't the craziest proposal that had ever come out of his shrewd mouth.
"Nani??? Kami, Sesshoumaru pray tell how do you plan on getting through the well? You do remember that only InuYasha and I can accomplish that little feat currently. Not even Kikyou could have, and she had a piece of my soul too." She was flabbergasted at his pronouncement and wanted desperately to roll her eyes at him; but when she saw the determination in his gaze, she thought against making fun of him. He was not known to foolishly jump in head first into anything.
"I have given the matter some thought and done some research on my own, as to the power of the well. It allows you to travel thru and fro because of the Shikon shards and without them you would be stuck on whatever side you were currently on." He watched her as she nodded her head in agreement.
That theory had already been agonizingly tested when Kikyou had pushed her through the well and left her hopelessly stranded without any shards. It was only because of InuYasha's sealing arrow that she had managed to get back to the Feudal era. It was not something she ever wanted to go through again.
"The half..InuYasha is able to pass through due to the subjugation rosary around his neck. It is the thing that binds him to you, even though it was the dead miko that made the necklace. It is your command that allows him to follow; should you remove it, he would be trapped as well." Again she nodded. She was not in the least bit surprised that he knew all of this, when the daiyoukai wanted to know something, he made sure to find out.
"It is also common knowledge that the well was created with wood from Goshinboku, which you have said is still very much alive and well in your time, at your shrine. However, that sacred tree is one of many that fall under the domain of Bokusen, the ancient tree youkai that both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga's sheaths were created from. It is my belief that an exchange between us would also create a formidable bond and would allow me to journey to the future with you."
~*~*~*~*~
"An exchange? What can I possibly give to you?" she exclaimed wearily. She was really hoping that this would work but she had nothing to give him.
"Worry not little one, it is I who will connect the two worlds by giving you not one but hopefully two gifts, if you will allow me." he replied, stroking her soft cheek with the back of his palm.
She knew instantly that he meant the courtship mark as being the tentative second offering. The merging of his youki and her reishi into her body would create a bond that could only be overshadowed by the complete Shikon itself. The initial mark would be strong but nowhere as powerful as the eventual mating mark would be. So what could he possibly thinking of giving her that was stronger? Her feminine curiosity was definitely peaked.
He didn't give her any time to ask, before he set her on her feet and stood up in front of her at arms' length. She gave him a raised eyebrow that reminded so much of his own trademark expression that he had to stifle the chuckle that was threatening to come out. This was serious.
"Ever since I regained my left arm back and got Bakusaiga in the process, I have had little need of this. I have kept it out of honor; both, because it was my father's last request that I have it and because it made from his very own fang. You are well aware of my past dissension because of that; but I am not a fool and I know that InuYasha was always meant to have the Tetsusaiga. It is a family heirloom that will pass down to my pups, our pups; but until such time, this Sesshoumaru would like to present you with Tenseiga, as the first of your courting gifts." he boldly announced to her, unsheathing the Sword of Heaven and bowing to her.
"You're giving me Tenseiga. Are you for real? This was your father's fang" she sputtered.
"And one day you will be my mate. I am how do you put it, 'keeping it in the family'." he told her with a shrug.
"But I barely know how to use a sword." she countered in disbelief.
"So I will teach you. Are you rejecting my gift?" he asked cautiously.
"No, no. I accept. I am proud and honored that you chose to give this to me; but until such time that I can successfully wield it, I think it's safer that you hold on to it..for me." she responded, before re-sheathing the sword, bowing and presenting it back to him.
"As is your wish, my lady." he smirked back at her. "Now about your second gift…" he began slowly, golden eyes firmly trained on her. He never got a chance to finish.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, Daiyoukai of the Western Lands, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you; however long that may be. I would be deeply delighted to wear your courtship mark" she proclaimed, while bouncing on her heels.
"You will? This Sesshoumaru understands your need for modesty and privacy and I offer an alternative placement for your mark, if you have no issue. No one will see it, unless you show it to them yourself; although, the taijiya will probably see it while you two are bathing." the thought of seeing Kagome naked in the onsen, had his blood rushing to the surface and he had to mind-wrestle his control back. 'Maybe I am spending too much time with the hentai houshi.' he pondered quietly, awaiting her response.
"Where would like to put your mark then my lord?" she cheekily came back with.
He leaned forward and whispered it into her ear; even though they were alone, knowing already that the mere suggestion would turn her as red as the emblem on his sleeves. In seconds, she was covered in a bright pink blush and timidly tittering – but she had not said no. That was very interesting.
"OK but do it quickly before I change my mind. Wait! Kiss me first, then do it." she was all a fluster and couldn't believe that she had actually said yes.
Wrapping his arms around her, Sesshoumaru kissed her for all she was worth, tongues battling for dominance, the scent and taste of her overcoming his senses. He planned to leave her breathless and use his youkai speed to complete the act before she could regain her rational, over analytical mind. Thanking the Kami once again for granting this boon and for the fact that she was only wearing low-waist jinbei, he slid down her body, supporting her wavering form with one arm around her back and lifted up her top just enough to expose her left hip bone.
She was extremely sensitive and just the slight draft made her shudder. He licked it once, then twice, with no desire to stop, as she whimpered above him. He would have to remember that for later use. One of her hands managed to snake its way into his hair and she gently tugged, sending shivers down the mighty inu. He could not allow himself to be distracted, so steeling his mind and clearing all erotic thoughts of Kagome moaning for him, he nipped the skin right above her hip bone. As she whined again, he sank his teeth into her silken flesh; ignoring the burning fight of her reishi against his youki. She instantly went frigid on him; but relented, when he released his hold and soothed her bruised skin with his dexterous tongue. The pain was forgotten in seconds.
Standing back up, he looked her straight in the eyes; his own golden orbs were rimmed ever so slightly in pink and said simply to her, "Mine" before kissing her once again.
They would test his theory in a while; at the moment neither wanted to let go of each other.