I received my first ever flame...I think I feel privileged, validated even. I think this is an opportune time to remember that you can't please everyone and that the story is already written far into the future. If one chapter can ruin a story, then apparently that was it.
It's too bad my flamer wasn't signed in. There was some confusion expressed that I would have liked to address. Such as the fact that witnesses are required for human unions. Granted, nobody is naked during a wedding, but most medieval marriages started with a naked display the first night after a wedding. and there was touching involved too. Anybody who has seen "Oklahoma" knows that the wedding night is prime time for being interrupted by the attending guests mid coitus. Look up the word 'chiveree' or 'Chirivari'. The modern versions are incredibly tame compared to their origins.
I would also like to add that they don't have to visit the witnesses again. Sesshoumaru's intention to mate Kagome permanently saw to that. The one time was sufficient to legitimize every child birthed from their union. Without, only the first would have been allowed pack protection. I explained it, but it appears some individuals missed it. The only possible reason Sesshoumaru and KAgome might find themselves at the mercy of the Witnesses again, would be if they opted to have evaluations done upon puberty of the one pup willing to be heir, but it isn't required to inherit. Virility would be as easily proven after a successful mating after all. Might proves right to rule over potency.
I should also remind everybody that the disclaimers and warnings are posted for more than legal reasons. Keep that in mind!
I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's Hot Salsa found on Dokuga. I asked and received permission to post this from her.
Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!
Mating
Kagome hadn't quite managed to finish dressing before she found herself pressed against a nearby tree with Sesshoumaru knelt commandingly between her legs. Less than a second after telling her body to resume the orders delivered unto her back in their private little cave, she came. Then she peaked again as his tongue delved deep into her to taste what was left after she'd absorbed his seed. "Sesshoumaru?"
"Hn," he rumbled against her, sending the miko soaring into the stars again. Sesshoumaru's mind was amazingly clear for the first time since the season had started. Kagome's burst of Reiki had cleared out the Witnesses' strange taint in the air, clearing it from his lungs and the effects it had on him. When they both found themselves back in the forest they had started from, the pheromones had been there, but their effect was greatly reduced given the interrupted exposure. It was further proof that the strange realm that housed the detestable Witnesses existed outside the real world they knew. It also proved that the increase in instinctive drives was completely artificial.
As such, he had the presence of mind to remember that, although he had quickly gained his end before they'd been set free, the roughness Sesshoumaru had used prevented his female from doing the same. He'd caused her pain, injury and forced her to re-experience the loss of her virginity without bringing her pleasure for allowing him to do so.
It was a new sentiment, but Sesshoumaru never wanted her to feel that he took her for granted. He never wanted to be compared with Inuyasha in any way. The hanyou had abused her, browbeaten her, and pushed her to the far edge of mildly good health. Sesshoumaru would work to keep her in optimum health, abuse her only at her request and with full permission, and he would try to avoid patronizing her. She wanted a partner. He would work until, even if no one else knew it, she was his equal and helpmeet in all aspects of their lives. If he enjoyed a thing he wanted to be sure that she knew he did, that it was because of her and that he appreciated it. Besides, she tasted good.
After the poor female exploded over the edge of passion three more times, he withdrew and helped adjust her clothing back into place. Much as Sesshoumaru would like to continue, much as he would love to push her to orgasm using other parts of his body, they needed to relocate this to his den.
It wasn't unheard of for even a lord to take his mate out in the open during the season. Most hadn't the forethought to plan it any other way. Certainly, lords needed a certain amount of planning ability to successfully retain their position, but most lacked the ability to apply that specific character trait to mating season. Or more to the point, most preferred to let the season happen like it was some uncontainable, un-tameable, instinct-driven free-for-all. As if hedonistic raptures found in the season with whomever one got trapped with was more fulfilling that way.
Sesshoumaru preferred that his pleasures remain undisturbed by uninvited guests. While he may be willing to bed his Kagome in front of others to prove who she belonged with, it wasn't his first inclination and he had no doubt it wasn't hers either. Kagome had been far too reluctant to put up with the Witnesses to want to do it unnecessarily. He matched her there.
Back when she was just a means to releasing stress and achieving pleasure, none of his fantasies had included taking the miko in front of others. It wasn't just the miko's need to keep their liaisons in secrecy. It wasn't even a deranged need to keep his relationship with a human from the eyes of youkai who supposedly mattered, because there were none whose opinion would matter to him. It was simply his prevalent desire to keep his pleasures to himself, the instrument of those pleasures away from any who would try to take it – her - from him.
He'd never bothered to analyze his drives more than that. Possessiveness was part of an inu's nature. Sesshoumaru had simply accepted his unwillingness to let off his times with Kagome as being part of that. It didn't really matter if it was more than that. She was his mate now.
Even if he weren't so prone to keeping her to himself. Even if Sesshoumaru weren't so determined to preserve their privacy from other instinct driven males that would encroach on them, attempt to usurp his place over a female of any kind, he would have sought to bring their mating out of the lustful melee. Their appointment with the Witnesses really took their toll.
It was the only thing that usually lingered after escaping their clutches: a weakness from the blood-loss. The pocks in Sesshoumaru's skin where the barbs had found purchase were already closed. The muscle that had been effected were already firming up under the skin. But the power lost, the temporary weakness, left him nervous and feeling vulnerable.
Such a thing could not be discerned from the outside, and Sesshoumaru would hide it from any and all to the best of his ability. But he would not risk Kagome.
And it was not the reason Sesshoumaru found his hands shaking as he went to lift his female off her feet. He didn't really know why the subtle tremors swept through his limbs all of a sudden.
"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome grabbed at his hands, holding them tightly in her own before pulling him bodily into her arms. "It's okay, it's okay. It's just a reaction to getting away from them in one piece." The big inu shook his head in confusion, such had never happened to him before. He'd survived the wretched, grabbing, violating, grasping, biting tentacles three times before. The thought had him shaking even more. "It's a natural reaction," Kagome insisted. "You probably never noticed it before because there were other things to distract you: pheromones and dangers and your father. There were things you had to focus on to survive. None of those things are present here. -Well, not to the extent they were then anyway. There's still the pheromones and dangers, but not the same as they were then. It'll ease up in a minute." She cradled his head against her shoulder, soothingly running her fingers over the sensitive hair at the nape of his neck. "It's like a bow string pulled taut and ready to fire. If an arrow isn't flung from it, the tension still has to be released." Sesshoumaru turned to rub his nose over the smooth skin of her neck. "If it is released quickly, the string hums and vibrates a while afterward."
Her words proved prophetic, though the time frame allotted wasn't entirely accurate. Not that he was terribly aware of the time that passed. Kagome kept talking softly, "Shippou used to shake like a leaf after every violent encounter, especially when he couldn't run and hadn't the chance to strike a blow – successful or not – at his attackers."
Of course, the kitsune was a babe compared to Sesshoumaru, but he knew she meant him no offense, merely providing examples of other full youkai in her acquaintance that had similar reactions. The big inu certainly wasn't suffering more than minor tremors and those were only noticeable in his hands. "Kirara used to twitch quite a bit whenever we'd met up with Naraku during the Shikon quest. But she was always active in every serious altercation which probably helped. I don't know how Kouga handled such things because his first instinct is to run from any situation he knew he couldn't handle and by the time he'd escaped it he was always too far away to see his reaction, but Ginta and Hakkaku occasionally had fits of uncontrollable shaking whenever they took the time to rest with us."
And despite the fact that the wolves were weaker than him, and the feline incapable of producing and holding a human form thus didn't really compare, he appreciated that she was citing proof that full youkai of various breeds and strengths showed similar reactions when subjected to situations beyond their control in which reciprocal violence was either insufficient to insure their safety or implausible. Such as attacking the Witnesses on their home ground. No matter how much he might desire to assault them in defense of his person, doing so was impolitic and – mostly – impossible. It was clearly, the only time when he was in a position similar to that of Kagome's fox kit during the days of Naraku's pretensions, unable to avoid the danger and unable to properly combat it.
"Humans can have a similar reaction," she offered in comfort. "It's a residual response to releasing a hormone when faced with a dangerous situation."
He pulled back to glance her over, looking for any flaw in her rock steady countenance and raised an eyebrow at her when evidence failed to surface. Kagome smiled ruefully back up at him. "The danger's not quite over for me, Sesshoumaru."
"Hn," he allowed as the youkai lord finally finished the move to lift her off her feet for easy transport. Kagome's assessment wasn't wrong. While Sesshoumaru was fully capable of surviving anything that came his way despite his current lingering weakness and the unsteadiness in his claws, he couldn't insure that he could both survive and protect her. And while she was fully capable of blasting anything that came at them, she was in danger of being overwhelmed, exhausted, or simply pushed into a bad step on uneven ground so common in this part of the wilderness. Her words also brought it to his attention that, in all likelihood Kagome hadn't been allowed many moments in the last years of her life where she would have a chance for her nerves to relax completely.
"I still have to survive you for the next couple weeks, which is asking an awful lot of my pitiful human stamina," she added pointedly.
Sesshoumaru couldn't help the smirk that tickled at the edges of his mouth, even if she couldn't see it. Kagome was a great deal more capable of doctoring the health and feelings of others than she could her own it seemed. That was a deliberate ego stroke on the heels of a moment of weakness. Sesshoumaru imagined it was a long practiced tactic she'd used on many of the males in her acquaintance, most especially Inuyasha. He hated the thought that she would treat him the same as that ingrate, but appreciated the reality that she treated the hanyou far better than he deserved after the abuses that brat had heaped on her through the years.
Or maybe, it was an inborn talent, something all miko were born with. If so, other miko seemed to lose part of this talent through the rigorous training in which they are taught discipline at the cost of compassion for the youkai they are forced to combat regularly.
Either way, her statement was entirely accurate. Kagome still had to survive a mating season locked up with Sesshoumaru. It was going to be a test of her stamina that would be exceptionally trying. Oh, she would definitely enjoy it. He would see to that. But she would be sore, among other things, when the season ended.
Instinct driven lust would make it difficult to insure Kagome received sufficient nourishment for the duration. She was so fragile already despite the many inroads made into correcting the issues brought upon her by long term semi-starvation. Once locked into his private den, the seed he had been allowing her to absorb would be reserved for the creation of pups.
It did not take long to reach his den. It wasn't that it was near the gateway, because it wasn't, but because he was in a rush to get inside his miko and then put some space between them for as long as he could before instincts took over. The longer he could hold off the better off she would be.
But she was so tempting.
Sesshoumaru strode through the entryway that stood unlocked and waiting for them both. He didn't worry about anyone encroaching on his private den. The place was well concealed and at this point, no one was looking for shelter or privacy. Most males were either already sequestered with their contracted mates, dominating hard won females, or still being driven feral by the pheromones in the air hunting for a fertile female of their own. All such activities would drive the females not in heat into hiding (such as the females of other species), the humans into their relatively safer villages, and the other youkai males into other pursuits. All those looking for sanctuary from the mating rampages of inu, ookami, tanuki, and kitsune in lust would have already found such weeks before.
In short order he navigated through the inner paths of his hidden den until reaching the chamber he had readied for this season's activities. The pile of furs had been augmented with fresh supply in the last moon since he'd made his decision to mate. He'd wanted to protect her fragile human skin from the cold hard rock that served as flooring throughout the maze of interconnected underground rooms. The added furs allowed him to drop the miko on top of the pile with the confidence that she would suffer no harm from the mildly rough treatment.
"Hey!" burst from her lungs in protest of the cavalier treatment before Kagome found herself stripped bare in mere seconds. "I just put those back on," she grumbled as the big inu stripped down to his own skin before climbing over her sprawled form.
"You won't be needing them for a while," he rebuffed her protest. The furs would keep her warm until he was driven to keep her warm in a more active way.
For now, Sesshoumaru didn't immediately move to initiate sex.
As enjoyable as it would be to just jump right in to pleasing himself and her physically, Sesshoumaru wanted to check her over for injury. The witnesses weren't supposed to harm their visitors beyond what was incurred from paying them for their services. That didn't stop them from doing some mild amount of damage at the best of times. They were not gentle, not that he had been, but he already knew what Kagome had suffered in his presence. He wanted to know if she had been hurt before that.
So, in intent and motions similar to days previous, Sesshoumaru carefully went over every inch of healthy pink skin. His mouth followed his eyes and hands, mapping out her personal, intimate topography. There were marks of the Witnesses handling in various places. The scar on the Miko's side was brightly bruised instead of smoothly white or roughly browned by lingering dirt.
Kagome jumped uncomfortably when he pressed a little too hard. "They got tired of prodding halfway through my bath. Pinching wasn't any better. They were a little too curious about that spot though," she rasped down at him from where she'd propped herself up to watch him. "That's where the Shikon no Tama came from."
"Hn."
He found a blood blister on the back of her hand, probably caused by the pinching she had already told him about. "Nothing to be done about that or the other bruises," Kagome hummed quietly. "They'll heal on their own. In fact they do better when allowed to do so."
He completed his inspection and like Kagome had told him, found nothing more painful than ugly bruises and another blood blister. Relief in her honesty and the reality that this time the witnesses had not done more harm, swept through him like a tidal wave, knocking the strength out of his arm so that Sesshoumaru collapsed over her with his nose buried in the hair by her shoulder.
He now had a decision to make.
Kagome hadn't lied when she said the injuries she'd sustained from the rough treatment of her sightless tormenters would heal perfectly fine without interference. The problem Sesshoumaru had with her assessment was that it would take time and the pain would linger for the duration of her healing. For most humans there was no other option, humans were left to the healing abilities and whims of their mortal bodies, but Sesshoumaru had made Kagome different. And he didn't like that she should suffer pain because of something he'd made her do. Something she'd been reluctant about in the first place.
On the other hand, it was a waste of her limited energy to force her body to heal these superficial wounds on the eve of the rut. Sesshoumaru acknowledged her concerns about surviving it already. He even shared some of them. Oh, Sesshoumaru didn't worry about her living through it. He'd never allow her to expire on him now. It was more a worry over how much damage she would suffer. There was no help for it. Time was against him and his self-control was already being tested. Much as she needed more time to regain her health, he simply couldn't see any way that his limited resistance to the potent chemicals in the air could last that long.
"I'm okay," she murmured in his ear. "You're okay, and we'll get through all of this somehow." It sounded like affirmation, like a mantra she'd adapted and smoothly adjusted to fit every situation.
Curious as to why those words sounded so well-worn rippled through him and rebuilt the strength his relief had stolen from him. Sesshoumaru raised himself up to study her expression, finding nothing but peace there, acceptance. The serene contentment he found there drew him in to kiss his miko and slide smoothly home in the intimacy their joint bare state made so invitingly easy to achieve.
She was still so wonderfully wet after his show of appreciation earlier, smoothing his slow, gliding slide in and then the reciprocal withdrawal. It was ecstasy to be so close to her and allowed him further proof that what damage had been done had not been too terrible. Kagome was as willingly receptive as she'd always been. Her flesh quivered around him and clutched at him with involuntary need to keep Sesshoumaru inside with every move to pull out and hugged him so tightly with joy upon his return movement that it was almost impossible to achieve the full depth needed to hit that special spot she seemed to like so much.
Sesshoumaru kept the pace slow and measured. He couldn't have explained why he chose to love her this way when everything in him screamed for a rougher, faster pace. Pheromones whispered along his brain, tickling instinct from its recesses and instinct could only rush things along. Or rather, it should. He supposed the reality that his miko was not yet fertile and peppering the air with the telling scents of that particular state in her cycle allowed him to hold instinct at bay. Perhaps the pace was his proof to himself and his new mate that he was master of himself still. That only her pheromones would render him at the mercy of his biological urges.
It was romantic nonsense. The infection of his sensibilities was growing increasingly troublesome and he couldn't blame Kagome for it. She had never once said anything that would or could plant such ideas in anyone's head. Sometimes it was almost frustrating how prone she wasn't to the sorts of things most females of his acquaintance were. No major proclivity for rare and expensive jewels. No strong desire for rich and new cloths that would visibly elevate her from her fall into poverty. Even the occasionally naïve romantic notions of her youth had fallen to the wayside of passing years, she was sturdy and sensible and lacking in the whimsy he'd formerly found so amusing in her dealings with the child Rin. Or perhaps the whimsy had been put away in the absence of children to perpetuate it with.
Sesshoumaru hadn't seen much of her more recent interactions with the kitsune in the one brief visit home from school. He'd been too busy throwing a tantrum over having to cut his fun short to answer the duties of his station. And Shippou had been long gone by the time of his next visit.
The remembrance drove his pace a little faster, a little deeper, and more forceful. She would have pups to resurrect that whimsy with. Sesshoumaru knew that much as he enjoyed observing her moments of seemingly foolish and silly actions, she would never allow herself to return to that sort of behavior with just him around. That sort of mischievousness she reserved for children who delighted in the wonder of it rather than those who have seemingly long outgrown it. He could admit that the time for him to partake in such minor games had long since passed, even if he had never been allowed to participate when he was young enough for even Kagome to want to play with.
Then all thought of the parts of his miko that had been chipped away and hidden fell under the more immediate, overriding pleasure derived from what she still had. Sesshoumaru nuzzled into the damp hair collected at her temple a few moments as his mind slowly cleared from the euphoria of coitus.
Eventually he managed to drag himself away from her warm, inviting embrace with barely contained sounds of reluctance. "This Sesshoumaru recommends rest while you can still achieve it. Once the den is closed off and locked up with us inside, such repose will be long in coming for you. The furs should keep you warm enough for comfort and there is water to be had along the back cave wall though it is slightly brackish in taste." As he raised himself even further, he drew the furs up around her slightly damp flesh partly to protect her from the cave air and partly to remove the temptation to partake of her again. "You should be safe here. I will not be gone long."
"I should think not," Kagome chuckled lightly, giddy with the lingering sensations of their last coupling. Despite her slightly addled senses, she knew that the moment when even Sesshoumaru's self control would break under the encouragement of pheromones was ever creeping nearer.
"Indeed," he responded mildly before partially redressing in order to pursue his last hunting effort before locking them both inside. Once locked, the den could not be opened from the inside. Jaken was supposed to release Sesshoumaru once the rut had concluded, bringing supplies necessary for Sesshoumaru's recovery from a season spent alone. He had not informed his Servant that the supplies this time around would not be as urgently needed as they had been in the past. Excess supplies could not hurt and Jaken could be terribly annoying when given warning of significant changes in his duties.