Whew! With my writer's block cleared up, the thoughts are just FLOWING! Not to mention that all you guy's/girl's reviews have sent my inspiration level through the roof! THANK YOU! Now, some cake to my most AWESOME recent SIXTEEN reviewers: AmyRoseAlice, DeathlyIceMaiden, lilemokid1991, bur bur, Nobody is King, Tempest NightMoon, karlachan18, Forevermore21, Neeky-chan, Enlightened Tenshi, JerseyPrime23, Emzy2k11, AlyKat120, ChiChanNya, Angel-Of-Life1990, AnimeGmr101, and Xerxes'Girl! LOVE YOU ALL! Also, another HUGE thanks to all the AWESOME people who have favorited and/or followed this story. Hope everyone enjoys chapter twenty-one! :D
Terms to know…
Daiyoukai – Great Demon
Youkai – Demon
Hanyou – Half Demon
Miko – Priestess
Inu – Dog
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha, the Inuyasha plot, NOR the Inuyasha characters. I only own my own OC Kaze Hijikata, any other OCs created along the way, and any part of the plot NOT a part of the Inuyasha anime or manga. This fanfic, however, is MINE and I'd like to keep it that way.
Chapter 21-Creeping Feelings
Sesshomaru's Pack/In the Woods…
The Western Lord peered down silently at the delicate female sleeping softly in his lap. Compliments of his continued comforting strokes and purrs, the Daiyoukai had been pleased when Kaze finally drifted back off to sleep…
In Sesshomaru's lap.
…
Not that he minded any.
Unlike before, the spiritualist's face was now a picture of peace, causing the Inu to hesitate in removing her from his person. In the end, he (and his beast) decided they were quite comfortable with the position; resulting in the fact that Kaze would be spending the rest of her night curled up in Sesshomaru's lap; his mokomoko wrapped around her for warmth.
Falling back on several previous thoughts, the white-haired lord again mulled over his intended's reaction to her dream. It was the first time the Daiyoukai had ever seen the spiritualist truly frightened. Even more surprising was what had frightened Kaze in the first place.
What frightened her was losing him.
"A ridiculous notion." Sesshomaru growled mentally, almost feeling a bit insulted that she though he could succumb to death so easily. But all the same, the way she reacted to such a (minor) possibility proved something very important to the Western Lord.
She cared about him.
Of course, the Inu knew from the beginning that she must have had to care to some extent in order to call him a friend, but seeing the spiritualist display it to such lengths caused an odd but not particularly uncomfortable warm feeling to well within him and his beast. After all, other than Rin, no other human - no other creature, for that fact (Jaken did NOT count) - had shown such open caring and/or concern for the Daiyoukai before.
Golden eyes narrowed slightly as he again studied Kaze's peaceful face, "Finding peace sleeping in the presence of one such as myself… What a strange creature."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
-Morning-
As usual, Kaze came to consciousness quickly, but continued to play sleep for several more seconds in order to scan her surroundings with her senses.
Warm and fuzzy.
"The hell?" her eyebrows creased ever so slightly in confusion before shooting up as the spiritualist realized she was sitting in someone's lap.
Though her body may have become frozen, the raven-haired girl's blood heated up at an exponential rate as she realized she was sitting in Sesshomaru's lap.
Let's just say that her brain, by this time, was screaming a whole dictionary's worth of uncouth phrases that shall be censored for sake of the audience.
In the meantime, Sesshomaru had watched this whole little scene unfold with no small amount of amusement; even if he didn't show it. To an average person, his intended looked as if she was still sleeping, but Sesshomaru was no average anything. He'd sensed when his spiritualist had woken up, and hadn't been surprised when, before letting on she was awake, Kaze had carefully scanned her surroundings.
The Daiyoukai's amusement had first come when he spotted the raven-haired girl's eyebrows crease in confusion before shooting up in surprise as she realized just who and what she was sleeping on. While the small blush forming on her cheeks assured the Inu that he'd made a good call by keeping her with him through the night.
"Hn… This one is curious to know how long you intend to fane sleep." Sesshomaru's voice rumbled softly through the silence, causing the female in his arms to jump slightly before her aura sparked with irritation.
Dark red eyes snapped open to pin him with an irritable look. "I was just checking my surroundings." Kaze defended stubbornly. Although, judging by her companion/pillow's raised eyebrow, he clearly didn't buy it. Also, call her crazy, but the spiritualist could swear that those damn golden eyes were laughing at her.
Forcing down another both unwelcomed and unwarranted blush, the raven-haired girl struggled in vain to disentangle herself from Sesshomaru's mokomoko which had been keeping her warm through the night. After several more failed attempts, and no help from her Daiyoukai friend, Kaze let out a huff before turning to glare at the Inu, "You gonna let me up or not?!"
"Hn." The Western Lord's smirk caught her off-guard, especially seeing as he eyes now had a slight red tint to them, "You say it as if this Sesshomaru is preventing your departure."
A pair of dark eyebrows shot up with disbelief. "Is he… being playful?" Kaze wondered incredulously.
However, before such an amusing thought could be proven, Sesshomaru's eyes suddenly snapped back to their normal blank gold before he turned to gingerly sniff the air, letting out a soft growl as he did so, "Inuyasha."
(A/N: Gosh, Inuyasha! STOP RUINING THE MOMENT ALREADY!)
Blinking with slight surprise, the spiritualist took her chance to stand up before letting her senses spread out. Indeed, her hanyou friend was fast approaching along with the rest of the small shard hunting party. "Guess I should get going, huh?" Kaze rubbed the back of her neck with a wry grin.
Standing up himself, the Western Lord gave his intended a long look. "Hn." He finally replied with a small growl, taking a couple steps towards the girl, "This Sesshomaru will take you, for he will not have the hanyou's brash actions endanger Rin."
"Point taken." A small laugh escaped the raven-haired girl before she let off a grin, "But really, you don't have to take me. I can make it there by myself, so-"
Having already made his decision to escort his intended, the Daiyoukai cut the girl off as he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against his body. "We shall go." He stated simply.
"Hey, wait a moment! Did you not hear a word I just said-" the spiritualist's irritable retaliation was once again cut off as the Inu took to the skies. Now standing on a small cloud with nothing but Sesshomaru's arm around her waist, erm… now actually hip, holding her in place, Kaze made quick work of securing a good hold on her flying friend.
His beast purring up a storm, the Western Lord allowed a small smirk to grace his features as he watched his intended marvel at the sceneries below them. One thing he'd noticed about the female was that even the smallest of pleasantries seemed to make her happy. She was a human who took joy in the simplest of things, signifying her lack of greed. Although, the Daiyoukai figured this trait simply came from the fact that Kaze had clearly suffered plenty in her life. Hence, the reason she savored the small but good things whenever she could.
"This is awesome." The spiritualist's awed voice snapped the Inu out of his musings.
Sesshomaru raised a delicate eyebrow at her statement. "Did you not inform this one that in your world, humans have are ready taken to flight?" he inquired, remembering one of their previous conversations.
"Well, yeah, I did. But," Kaze stated with a grin before continuing, "I also said that we usually have to fly in those things called airplanes I told you about. So, being able to just fly without being in something is pretty freaking cool."
Making a mental note to make sure to take his intended flying more often, the Daiyoukai responded with a simple nod before focusing his senses back on the fast approaching hanyou and his pack. Spotting them charging across a small clearing, the Inu let out a small growl before descending to the ground.
"Kaze!" Inuyasha shouted skidding to a halt as the Daiyoukai spiritualist duo landed.
"Yo, Inuyasha!" the raven-haired girl replied with a bright grin as her feet touched the ground, "What's up?"
"What do you mean, what's up?!" the white-haired youth finally let the water boil over, causing Sesshomaru to growl while shooting him a death glare, "You've been gone nearly a week! Don't tell me you were with Sesshomaru this whole time! I swear, if he did anything to-"
"SIT!"
WHAM!
The Western Lord's growling ceased as his intended sat the insolent whelp. Looking down, he could see the small female twitching with barely suppressed irritation and rage.
Ignoring her Daiyoukai friend's warning growl as she pulled away, the pissed spiritualist stormed over to the Inuyasha-shaped crater her 'sit' had created. Crouching down beside the hanyou, Kaze grabbed the front of his red fire rat haori, dragging him up so his face was only a hair's breath from her own.
"You done bitching yet?" the raven-haired female hissed venomously with a crooked grin, causing her dog-eared friend to sweat up a storm.
"S-Sure." Inuyasha replied, deciding that if he wanted to live to defeat Naraku, it would probably be best not to die by the hands of his newest friend.
"Glad to hear it." The spiritualist smirked before dropping the hanyou back in his crater.
By this time, the rest of the shard hunting party had caught up with their rash leader. Kagome was the first to speak as she ran up and tackled her cousin in a hug. "I'm so glad your back!" the miko laughed as she practically squeezed the life out of her best friend.
"Yeah, yeah." Kaze smirk softened into a smile as she patted the midnight-haired girl's back in a gentle manner, "I wasn't gone that long, dummy. No reason to have worried. Besides, I was with Sesshomaru."
Blinking her chocolate colored eyes in slight surprise at how warmly her cousin had spoken of the Daiyoukai, Kagome pulled away to give said male a bewildered look which was promptly returned with a cold and indifferent stare. Deciding that she could bug her best friend about it later, the young miko simply grinned in a mischievous manner before pulling away, "Oh, I see."
Giving the girl a suspicious look, the spiritualist simply bonked her cousin lightly on the head before turning around to give newest friend a warm but slightly sad smile, "Guess I'll catch ya later, pal."
"Hn." Sesshomaru replied calmly, still feeling a little more than annoyed with the fact that his intended was departing from his presence; even if only on a temporary basis.
"Are you just going to let her out of your sights without marking her in any way!?" his beast raged from within, "Fool! What are you thinking!?"
Golden eyes began tinting red as the Western Lord stared after the retreating figure of his intended. A low growl left his throat as he sent a glare towards to the other males in the pack, one of which was beyond a hopeless lecher. Then there was still Inuyasha who had finally just managed to pull himself out from his crater and was now walking beside the miko about ten feet ahead of the spiritualist. Ah, yes, the hanyou still thought Kaze was his. This could not be allowed.
"Kaze." Sesshomaru's baritone voice rumbled stopping not only his intended but the rest of the pack dead in their tracks.
The raven-haired girl halted in her steps before turning around to face the one who had called her. Before she even had a chance to react, the young female suddenly found the Daiyoukai directly in front of her, his mokomoko sliding softly around her body while his head dipped to rest in the crook of her neck. Dark red eyes widened with shock as Sesshomaru softly nuzzled his face against the bare skin before giving it a swift lick, causing the spiritualist's face to become as red as her very eyes themselves.
"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha roared furiously with realization, his golden eyes nearly popping out of his head, "Get away from Kaze right now, you bastard!"
Even with the insult thrown his way, seeing his younger half-brother so worked up and understanding caused a smirk to rise to the Inu's face. "Silence, Inuyasha!" the Western Lord growled, although the smirk still remained in place as he pulled away from his intended, "You shall not order this one how to behave around his alpha female."
The hanyou stared at his half-brother in open shock, "YOU'RE WHAT!?"
Sesshomaru's smirk remained in place as he turned around and silently made his way back to the woods. He was satisfied that he'd sufficiently scent-marked the female that belonged to him. At least for now he had. However, if the Daiyoukai thought Kaze would remain shell-shocked long enough for him to make his escape, then he had another thing coming.
"SESSHOMARU, YOU JACKASS!" the beyond embarrassed, not to mention confused spiritualist snapped back to life and roared after her friend's damnable retreating figure, "JUST WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"
Continuing to smirk, the white-haired Inu turned to face his red-faced future mate. "A temporary goodbye." He stated simply before entering his energy orb and taking to the skies.
Still as red as a ripe tomato, Kaze watched - or more like glared - after the Western Lord until he completely vanished from sight. Placing a hand over the side of her neck, the young female took a deep breath and tried to slow down her heart which seemed to be beating about a thousand miles per minute.
Good grief! Was she still blushing!? WHY!?
And just why the hell was her heart attempting to burst from her damn chest in the first place!?
…
Still frozen in place, Kaze looked up at the morning sky, "Scratch whatever the hell's wrong with him. Just what the hell is wrong with me!?"
Fufufu... OMG I LOVED TYPING THIS CHAPTER OUT! *squeals* XD Anyways, I hoped you guys/girls loved it as much as I did! I'm BEGGING you to please, PLEAAASE review! Seriously, I'm DYING to know what you thought of this one! The reviews I get really do mean the world to me, and the more I get, the higher my inspiration flies, meaning the FASTER you get new chapters! Also, please follow and favorite this story as well. See you all in the next chapter! :D
IMPORTANT QUESTION: Okay, so do you guys/girls WANT or NOT want me to write out the panther demon arc? Make no mistake, there WILL be some parts in this fanfic that will be from the anime simply because those particular scenes are necessary. However, the panther demon arc is NOT a necissary part, but it just so happens to have a lot of Sesshomaru. So, it's up to YOU readers if you DO or do NOT want it included. Make sure to let me know when you review!
Rock Out!
Kira