An Unexpected Spring
Chapter Twenty-One
It hurt.
The light that shone on my face made my head thud painfully even before I opened my eyes. Groaning quietly, I turned my head to the side which caused a wave of dizziness and confusion to wash over me. Why did my head hurt so badly? Peeling my eyes open, I realised with a jolt of shock that I couldn't recognise the bed I lay in.
Gasping, I sat up hurriedly and was rewarded with a strong wash of pain through my head. 'Ow,' I hissed, slumping forward and resting my heavy head in my hands. It felt like I'd fought with several youkai the night before and…
My eyes shot open as the pieces fell together abruptly.
The last thing I recalled was agreeing to leave the Gensei building with Sesshomaru. Lifting my head gingerly, I winced at the ensuing pain that flashed through it. I stared around at the unfamiliar bedroom, faint hysteria building inside me as I put the facts together. My head was pounding, I didn't remember how I'd come to be here and… I was in a bedroom… that I didn't recognise.
Alarmed, I threw back the sheets and could have cried in relief to find I still wore my familiar work clothes. 'Oh god,' I whispered, dropping my head back into my hands.
All I knew right then was that I'd apparently been drinking the night before and I was now experiencing my first hangover. Fear flashed through me as I considered the fact that I must have left Sesshomaru at some point.
I didn't believe for a second that he would have let me drink too much in his presence. Surely he would think it unacceptable to completely abandon inhibitions as people normally did when they drank.
I lifted my head and peered uneasily around the room again. Which meant that I was in somebody's house – somebody that I didn't know. My eyes caught on the bedside table and, more specifically, the pack of painkillers resting beside a glass of water. My eyes narrowed. Oh?
At another thud of pain through my head, I winced and found myself reaching for the painkillers. My first priority, I decided as I pressed the tablets from the pack, was getting the hell out of wherever I was.
The water felt heavenly on my dry throat and I wished the painkillers would have such an immediate affect. Everything felt blurry and indistinct; something which would make getting home a little difficult.
Gritting my teeth, I slowly got to my feet and righted my clothing as best as I could. I felt the beginnings of shame but even more than that was the overriding anger I felt. So I had apparently screwed up worse than I ever had in my life before.
But I wasn't the only one.
When I worked out just how I had gone from getting in a car with Sesshomaru to being completely hung-over at someone's house I was going to strangle him mercilessly.
With that in mind, I headed for the door. Although my head still ached, I found I could ignore it quite well. Apparently, all my injuries from fighting in the feudal era had taught me how to function in near blindness. Oh, I was just going to kill Sesshomaru.
Pushing the door open, I froze on the spot.
Even with my vision as hazy as it was, I still recognised the apartment. From where I stood, I could see straight down the stairs that lay a few metres from the bedroom door. Turning my head, I spotted the sliding door to the room I'd first thought to be an office. The door was currently closed, though I already knew what was inside.
Movement caught my attention and I turned to look back down the stairs, unsurprised now to see Sesshomaru standing at the bottom of them. Despite how sick I felt, I still managed to be surprised by how he was dressed. The suit was gone and in its place was a loose, white cotton button-up shirt over a pair of black pants. It was casual – but only to a degree.
Sesshomaru moved then, striding up the stairs with an understated grace. I still hadn't moved by the time he stood in front of me. 'You found the painkillers?' he enquired softly.
I could only nod mutely as my mind struggled to process the new information. This was Sesshomaru's apartment. That meant… he'd been the one to see me get drunk, apparently.
An eyebrow arched at my lack of speech. 'Perhaps you would be better resting a little longer.'
I snapped out of my daze to focus on his face. 'I'm at your apartment,' I stated.
'Yes.'
'And I…'
'You consumed a little too much alcohol last night, Miko,' Sesshomaru replied simply. 'I brought you here so that you could rest.'
It was a perfectly reasonable thing to say, I thought sluggishly. But even so…
My eyes narrowed on his face. 'Why was I drinking?' I demanded. 'Where did we go that I was drinking?'
Sesshomaru stared back at me and for a long moment, I thought he would deflect my question. Then, I stared in disbelief as a triumphant gleam appeared in those golden eyes of his and the corners of his mouth curved just slightly.
'First,' he said at last, a strange tenor to his voice. 'You agreed to have dinner with me.'
I swallowed nervously, unable to look away. 'I don't remember,' I admitted quietly.
'Don't you?' Sesshomaru nearly breathed, his eyes locked on mine. 'After dinner, you asked me if I would accompany you somewhere.'
The breath froze painfully in my throat and it took a few seconds for me to remember how to breathe. It took even longer to find the words to reply. 'W-where…?' I whispered.
Sesshomaru took a small step closer and I had to lift my face higher to continue meeting his eyes. 'We drove to your family's home,' he replied silkily, his keen eyes observing my start of surprise. 'We stood beneath Goshinboku.'
Hearing the name of that tree from his lips tore at my heart and I glanced away. Goshinboku… the tree to which Inuyasha had once been sealed. It's name brought back so many memories; some sad, others… bittersweet.
'You told me how you felt meeting Inuyasha.'
My startled eyes shot to his face. It was only the second time I'd ever heard him refer to Inuyasha by name. The first time had been during my trip to the "wrong" time in the feudal era. Except for those times, "half-breed" had clearly been sufficient.
I swallowed, still trying to wrap my mind around what he was telling me. 'Okay,' I said, deciding that I could deal with having told him more than I probably should have. If I'd told Sesshomaru too much about missing the feudal era, then that was fine. What wasn't fine was my apparent alcohol consumption. 'Okay,' I repeated. 'Where did the drinking come into this?' I demanded, lifting my chin.
Again, that glimmer of amusement shone from his eyes and I wanted to hit him. 'We then left the shrine,' he continued smoothly. 'We stopped for a few drinks at a local establishment.'
I stared at him uneasily, aware that there were a whole lot of details omitted from his explanation. 'What aren't you telling me?' I asked quietly.
The open amusement vanished from his expression, replaced with something much more… focused. Sesshomaru took a step closer and I instinctively retreated the same distance. 'Do you not remember?' he asked meaningfully.
I stared at him, my eyes widening. He couldn't mean….?
A chuckle escaped his lips and I froze. 'Do not look so panicked,' he murmured, closing the distance between us. I felt the wall at my back and tensed as he lifted a hand to rest against the wall beside my head. His hand found my left and he curled his fingers around it. 'It would be highly unethical of me to compromise a woman I was not married to,' he added.
Sesshomaru lifted my hand and my heart skipped a beat as he brought it to his mouth and kissed it. His eyes remained on mine as he straightened. Confused and with my heart thundering nervously in my chest, I tore my eyes away to rest on the hand still clasped in his.
All at once, my heart stopped beating.
There on my left hand, was a slender gold band I was sure I'd never seen before. My eyes shot back up to his face and I gasped at the confirmation in Sesshomaru's eyes. My heart beating fiercely, I turned my head and immediately spotted the matching gold band on his own finger.
My eyes darted back to Sesshomaru's face as the truth sunk in.
Oh, god. We were married.
I felt my knees abruptly give out as darkness crashed in from all sides.
…0…0…0…0…0…0…0…0…0…0…
I had complete recall as soon as consciousness returned to me and I found myself staring up at Sesshomaru's ceiling for the second time that day, although I couldn't even be surprised by it this time.
Dimly, I realised that my head no longer hurt.
'I will admit that was not quite the reaction I was expecting,' a deep voice spoke casually nearby.
Turning my head, my gaze focused unerringly on Sesshomaru. He stood with his back to me, looking out the window to the balcony. For a long moment, I allowed myself to simply observe him. Everything had changed, as was inevitable with so much time gone. He was heart-breakingly familiar and yet he blended almost seamlessly into modern society.
Almost, but not quite.
He'd retained that crucial mantle of power that went unseen by the humans who passed by unawares each and every day. But it was there. It was present in the proud lines of his posture; of the latent lethalness of his muscles and the hairstyle he kept, which was far longer than was strictly fashionable.
He'd conformed so far as to hide his markings and the true colour of his hair, yes, but it only took a single glance at his piercing golden eyes for me to remember that he truly was Sesshomaru, the daiyoukai who had commanded so much fear and power in the feudal era.
And as of last night, he was supposedly my husband.
I turned my face away, instead pushing myself up so that I was sitting. Bringing my hands together on my lap, I stared at the gold band on my finger, still a little disbelieving. 'What did you expect?' I enquired calmly, trying to work out just how mad I was. From the corner of my eye I saw Sesshomaru turn around, no doubt detecting my confused emotional state.
'I was undecided,' he surprised me by saying. 'Though the possibility that you would faint did not actually occur to me.'
I took a deep breath, carefully counted all the way to ten and slowly released the oxygen from my lungs. It didn't really help. 'How did it happen?' I asked, my voice still amazing calm. I tried distracting myself from my building anger by running my fingers through my sleep-tangled hair. At some point, I'd obviously removed it from its elastic.
There was a beat of silence and I waited.
'In the usual way,' Sesshomaru replied just as calmly. 'Our agreement was witnessed and the notification filed.'
I stared at the wall ahead of me, thinking over what he'd said. Apparently, we were very much officially married. 'Who witnessed it?' I asked quietly.
'A friend of mine,' he replied, without hesitation this time. 'A lawyer.'
'Ah,' I murmured.
Silence fell between us and I decided I would not be the one to break it. Despite his taunting earlier, I realised now that we were only legally married. By all accounts, I would have known if we'd actually…
Pushing that thought away, I carefully got to my feet and turned to face Sesshomaru. I took one look at his calm expression and my resolution to wait for him to speak vanished into thin air. 'Did you drink also?' I asked bluntly.
An eyebrow arched at the question. 'Yes,' he replied simply.
I just barely stopped myself from screaming in rage. 'And yet you have perfect memory of what happened,' I pointed out. 'Were you drunk as well?' I demanded.
'No.'
Shock slammed through me and I gasped, my eyes widening. I'd half expected… well, any other response to that one.
'You look surprised,' Sesshomaru murmured, stepping closer. 'Alcohol does not affect youkai the same way it affects humans.'
'That's not the point,' I hissed, my hands curling into fists at my sides. 'You deliberately got me drunk and… and… married me?' I demanded, a breath away from shouting. 'Why on earth would you do such a thing?'
Sesshomaru's gaze shifted then and it was as though he threw away all pretence. His eyes became focused, full of intent as he walked closer. 'I waited five hundred years for you, Kagome,' he murmured and I froze, the fierce gold of his eyes silencing me.
He came to a stop in front of me and although he made no move to reach out, I felt completely surrounded by him. 'I wasn't prepared to wait any longer,' he added softly, the implacability of his tone sending a shiver down my spine.
'And I don't have a say in this?' I demanded, my voice shakier than I would have liked. 'What if I don't love you?'
His lips curved abruptly into a predatory smile that made the breath hitch in my throat. 'I have faith that I can change your mind,' Sesshomaru intoned silkily.
I gasped as his hands suddenly slid through my hair and I found my face tilted up towards his. Then his lips were on mine. His kiss was as coaxing as it was passionate and my world narrowed sharply until all I knew was the feeling of his lips moving over mine.
Shocked, I lifted my hands to push away from him. The sensation of his toned chest under my hands made me hesitate though and in that moment I was lost. Instead, when one of his hands slid down my back and pressed me closer, I allowed it.
Hell, I found myself sliding my own hands up to link around his neck, my lips meeting his with equal intensity. The heat of his mouth on mine and the feeling of his hand curving down to draw me closer with a shocking intimacy was enough to send fine shudders of need through my entire body.
Sesshomaru tore his lips from mine then and a hoarse sound escaped my throat, only to be silenced as he used the hand woven through my hair to tilt my head back further and his lips found the pulse thundering on my neck.
I gasped, shocked by the unfamiliar sensations and I found my fingers had clenched on the fabric of his shirt. 'Sessho…'
'Five hundred years, Miko,' Sesshomaru murmured darkly against the skin of my neck before running his nose along the line of my jaw. 'I have had five hundred years to think of the things I will do to you.'
A strangled gasp escaped my lips, silenced once more by his mouth on mine. I felt myself sinking further against him, swept up in the maelstrom of sensation and need. I hovered over the edge of throwing caution to the wind, of giving in to the building want I felt.
Then I remembered.
Breaking my lips suddenly from his, I dropped my forehead to his shoulder with a quiet groan. 'What have you done?' I whispered, my voice shaking as my sudden realisation hit me.
Sesshomaru froze, his arms becoming tense around me. 'What do you speak of?' he questioned, a faint rasp to his voice that sent an answering shiver through me even despite my despair.
I lifted my head and met his eyes. Slowly, I raised my hands and drew the tips of my fingers along his cheeks, though they were currently missing those markings. 'I'm human,' I whispered. 'You married a human, Sesshomaru.'
His eyes never left mine. 'And this is your only concern?'
I stared at him, feeling my heart begin to slowly shatter. Here was a creature who'd come abruptly back into my life against five hundred years after I'd vanished from his and he expected that there could be something between us. I knew what would happen just as much as he had to. I would age – rapidly, in comparison – and Sesshomaru would be left to carry on as best he could.
It wasn't fair – to him.
I shook my head slowly, trying to hold back the rush of despair I felt. 'I'd say it's a pretty big problem,' I whispered.
For a long moment, Sesshomaru said nothing. Then he sighed, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear while I watched him incredulously. 'In that case,' he said at last, 'this marriage will go ahead. It was my decision,' Sesshomaru added when I would have spoken. 'Your humanity is not a problem.'
Words escaped me. Stepping back out of his reach, I crossed my arms over my chest. 'I… I don't know what to say to you,' I admitted, looking away.
'I will give you time,' Sesshomaru said then and my eyes darted to his face. 'I do not expect you to take the final step until you are ready.'
The meaning of his words hit instantly and I felt my face flame. Here I was, worried about his emotional state meanwhile Sesshomaru was talking about matters a little… less plutonic. 'I can't even think right now,' I said between clenched teeth. 'I think I need to go back to my apartment—'
'That is not an option,' Sesshomaru stated flatly.
I lifted shocked eyes to his face. 'Excuse me?'
The resolve in his expression was more than enough to make me wary. I'd never once won a battle of wills with the youkai in front of me.
'This will grate heavily on your modern sensibilities,' Sesshomaru replied, his voice dangerously soft. 'But you are not leaving here until you are certain about your decision. You have to remember, Miko, that there is something between us which has yet to be resolved.'
I opened my mouth, ready to demand to know exactly what he was talking about but then I froze. The glint of intent in his eyes was more than enough to indicate he'd be only to happy to demonstrate what he meant. I closed my mouth and swallowed nervously.
'I… I have to go to work,' I argued weakly.
'Kimura is youkai,' Sesshomaru returned with an arched brow. 'He will not interfere in matters such as this.'
Especially not when he'd been pushing for me to go to Sesshomaru in the first place, I realised. I gritted my teeth in anger. 'This is illegal,' I said bluntly, hoping to appeal to his pride. It would be quite the media sensation for a prominent business figure to be caught holding someone captive.
'We're married,' Sesshomaru stated, closing the distance between us again. 'Try again.'
The words died on my lips as his fingers brushed along my cheek. 'You may be human, Miko,' Sesshomaru murmured, his voice dangerously soft. 'But I am still youkai. One day, you will understand what pack means.'
He dipped his head suddenly and my eyes fluttered closed at the sensation of his cheek brushing against mine. My breath escaped my lips shakily and I felt myself sway forward.
'Though,' he murmured into my ear, 'perhaps you are closer than you believe, Kagome.'
…o…o…o…o…o…o…o…o…o…o…
A/N: Ah, yes. I am aware that there are a whole lot of complications with a person entering into a legal agreement while intoxicated but – a) Sesshomaru is a pretty powerful kind of guy and b) as if I'm gonna tell Kagome she has a perfectly good escape clause ;)