Chapter 13 Unexpected
Sango was visibly surprised by her brothers request as she turned to focus her attention on him. "Kohaku you want to go with Kagome? I got the impression you had little interest in going through the well. While Shippou and Rin have been badgering them-" Sango motioned to Sesshoumaru and Kagome, "-for the past 6 months about a trip, you've remained pretty quiet."
A twitch ran across Kohaku's face. "I...wasn't sure how to ask."
Sesshoumaru couldn't resist an opening like that. "Well Kohaku," he began in a condescending lecturing tone eerily similar to what college professors must have practiced years for. "First you form thoughts in your head. Then, using your tongue, teeth, and lips you should form words and string them together in a sentence. Understand?"
Kagome and Sango both were glaring daggers at Sesshoumaru for his sarcasm which had rendered Kohaku mute and flaming red in the cheeks. Miroku, however, evidently thought it was most amusing and had to bite the back of his hand to prevent himself also earning Sango's ire.
Just as Kagome was opening her mouth to ask how Sesshoumaru could go from being so sweet to a total jackass, Rin entered the conversation with her own pleadings. At 11 years old, one could begin to see the woman she would grow into with time. The extra weight of her youth was being melted away to leave what Sesshoumaru imagined Sango to look like when she was younger. As with Sango, Rin's form had become lean and her movements were fluid and controlled, like that of a feline. Her lustrous black hair had grown out and been gathered into a braid at her back allowing full attention to be focused on her oval face with its refined cheekbones and disarming smile. A smile that Sesshoumaru always found difficult to resist. "Please lord Sesshoumaru? Won't you take Kohaku with us?"
Sesshoumaru was fairly certain that if he were to say "no" Kagome would go from being irritated with him to being totally furious with him. If there was one thing that even powerful Taiyoukai treaded carefully around, it was an enraged lover. Especially if they are the guardian of the Shikon no Tama and have powers like Kagome's. I wonder how often my father found himself in similar straits?
A long forgotten memory sparked in his mind, like a gem that captured an errant ray of moonlight and shone out in the night. Once more he heard his father's voice intone a piece of wisdom to his son.
"Sesshoumaru, a woman's wrath is nothing to take lightly."
He recalled daring to ask whether it was perhaps better not to love at all and to avoid becoming a slave to the heart.
As the reflections of the fiery light thrown by the torches danced in his eyes, Sesshoumaru realized more than ever just how profoundly wrong he had been in his past life. Love isn't bondage in chains; it is liberation. Before, when I sheathed my heart in ice, that's when I was in a cage; one of my own making. With Kagome, I'm more free than I've ever been.
Sesshoumaru adopted a softer expression for his face.
"Yes Rin, Kohkau may, but while you two are in the future don't think you can neglect your training. I expect him to continue teaching you no matter which time he is in."
Rin clapped her hands together and thanked her Lord before turning to Kohaku and almost knocking him over with one of her overly enthusiastic hugs. Although his eyes did not linger on the display of affection, Sesshoumaru easily smelled the renewed nervousness that the boy gave off in the close and public embrace with Rin. An inspiration struck Sesshoumaru to win Kagome's approval back.
"It's fine Kohaku, I'm sure Rin's judgment can be trusted in this matter." Kohaku immediately relaxed and while not looking directly at Kagome, Sesshoumaru could feel her icy anger at him beginning to drain away and be replaced with the usual warmth she held for him.
"So then, Shippou," Sesshoumaru began in an attempt to create a better atmosphere. "Rin tells me that your skill in gaming is not nearly as impressive as hers. Apparently she has a higher Tetris score than you and is quite proud of it."
Shippou jumped from Kagome's lap and began to shake his tiny fist furiously much to the amusement of everyone. "That's only because she has a death grip on the Gameboy! If it could be pried away from her for more than two minutes at a time my score would be much higher!"
Rin immediately denied this and insisted that Shippou was secretly afraid of the Game Boy and thought that if he used it too long he might be unable to put it down ever again. The spirits inside might enchant him forever.
A valid belief considering how addictive games are Sesshoumaru thought privately
As the accusations and counter-accusations were leveled by the youths, Miroku decided to put in that his score in Tetris was higher than either of theirs and that if anyone was the superior player it was him because Tetris required a lot more skill than first appearances suggested.
Kagome only rolled her eyes as the competition expanded to include Kohaku's accomplishments but privately she was pleased at the conversation's absurdity and the smiles it brought to the participants faces. It's nice to see them bantering like this, but I think I want to call it quits for the evening.
Gently grasping Sesshoumaru's hand, she rose from the table with its oblivious occupants and stole away to her residence in the feudal era. Her home away from home was actually quite well outfitted thanks to Jaken. Knowing his master's tastes, Jaken had it built along lines that he thought were neither too ostentatious nor unimpressive to an observer. Built under the influence of the Shinden Zukuri style of architecture, it contained a number of elegant rectangular rooms that had been joined by long corridors surrounding a landscaped garden and pond. In a perfect model of refinement and simplicity, its interior posts formed a supporting skeleton for the roof of thatched cypress. The exterior walls consisted of movable panels that slid in grooves. Wood panels (for use at night or in rainy weather) alternated with screens of mounted rice paper (used for warmer days). The interior of the house was flexibly subdivided by shoji screens into a series of airy spaces.
As Kagome pulled back one of the shoji screens to reveal the impenetrable darkness inside, she was hit by the realization that the screen was a perfect metaphor for death. Just like death it, it acted as an inscrutable portal from the known to the unknown. From the softly moonlit grounds outside to the unseeable confines of the house, she had suddenly arrived at a pivot point between two worlds. Looking into that dark abyss, questions of whether she had made the most of those precious few steps she had taken on the path of her life filled her mind.
The most poignant in her mind was also the one that filled her with a sudden need. It wasn't enough to just kiss Sesshoumaru or to be held in his arms; she needed to be one with him in the most intimate way possible. For at least once in her life, she wanted to know all that there was to being a woman, to know what it was to be in the deepest of embraces. She wanted all barriers between her and Sesshoumaru, both the physical and the intangible, to be stripped away in a perfect expression of their love.
When Kagome turned around to face Sesshoumaru, the look in her eyes sent burning shivers of desire racing down his nerves. The moonlight cascading over her illuminated not only her feminine perfection, but also the exquisite hunger that shone out of the almond depths of her eyes. Gently and with a mouthwatering smile, Kagome took his hand and led him to the promise of paradise. Penetrating the darkness inside, Kagome didn't even bother to light the interior lamps, preferring instead to call on her holy powers to release a soft, pinkish-white luminescence from her person, which gave an ethereal magnificence to her already angelic grace.
Following Kagome to the bedroom, Sesshoumaru noticed the light she gave off pulsed to the rhythm of her heartbeat. When her heart expanded during its rest, the soft light dimmed slightly as if in sympathy. When her heart contracted to give its liquid life to the body, the light brightened momentarily. And as Kagome pulled back the shoji screen to enter the bedroom, he could hear her heart increase its pace in anticipation of what was coming. The steady pulsing of light bathing the room responded in perfect sync to the tempo set by her heart.
As Kagome gently pushed him down to a sitting position on the futon, she knew Sesshoumaru was more than ready. She could feel the power radiating off of him as his senses were pushed to their peak in his desire to stitch this night flawlessly into the tapestry of his memory.
Kneeling before him, Kagome drank in the sight of his glorious golden eyes as they blazed like twin stars, searing her with their inner fire. Although neither could articulate it, both had the unexplainable impression that fate had been leading them to this exact moment; a moment when the rest of the universe ceased to exist, when all that was or would ever be had disappeared beyond some unseen horizon and left them alone to create a new world between just the two of them.
Author's Note: For whatever reason murder is OK as part of a story but sex scenes are taboo so I can't post the next chapter here, it will jump to 15. There is an important plot point though so to read it you will need to go to either www(insert a period here)dokuga(insert a period here)com or www(insert a period here)inuyasha-fanfiction(insert a period here)com