Ukime No Sekisetsu
Part XIII
Unbreakable: Sesshomaru
Just as Shippou had predicted, it was hours past sunset when Sesshomaru returned. The night was dark, and cold, and clouded. During the day, he had come through thick snow, but that could not stop him; he knew she was waiting for him. Kagome. He stepped forward quickly now, down long hallways and through screens. He was bloody, and it would not be good to look on her this way...but...he paused outside her bedroom, and slid the screen open just enough that he could see in.
The room was cold and scentless.
His thoughts scattered, wondering where she could be at this time of night, why she would not be sleeping, if she was gone…when she had left. He stopped. He still could not go to her this way, even if he had to go out and find her again.
He went outside, and lit the fire for the water to heat, and stripped down to his kosode. Much less bloody, he sat, and waited. Footsteps approached him after a few moments, and he stood up, staring into the darkness.
"You!"
Shippou stared through smoke at Sesshomaru, and glanced at the heating water.
"Where is Kagome, Shippou? She is not in her bed!"
The green eyes narrowed at him, and Shippou pointed towards the house.
"She is sleeping in your bed, Sesshomaru-sama. She has sat in your chair, in your library, reading youkai history or Chinese poetry, wrapped in your fur, dressed in your silk. So, now she is yours, Sesshomaru-sama - go take care of her!"
Sesshomaru accepted this rebuke silently. It was true; he had left her without warning, with only words on paper…but it was necessary. Scents spread faster than words; the scent of Kagome's power was definitely miko, and contained him, now. Only humans were miko. He would not suffer his father's fate.
"I will go to her when I have bathed. She would not like this…mess."
Shippou shook his head.
"Now it is you who does not remember her right. She has treated many wounds, washed away more blood than you have spilled. She will not care at all. You go, and I will bring this water to you. It is better that way."
Sesshomaru stood, and turned his head only slightly, so that he could face Shippou and not get smoke in his eyes.
"Do not think, kitsune, that because I do nothing to you now means you have such license with your mouth in the future. It is only because this time…I deserve it."
He left Shippou behind him, staring at his back, his mouth half open. His footsteps into the house were sure, straight through the main hall and into the north wing to his own bedroom. Calmer now, he could taste the warm breath of her presence; Shippou had been telling the truth. It pleased him to see her there, curled under his furs, the pelt he had left with her wrapped as if she had never gone anywhere. He sat on the edge of the bed, and touched her cheek.
"Kagome."
She turned, nuzzling his hand, smiling now, but she did not wake. Sesshomaru leaned close to her, spoke so that his breath warmed her cheek.
"Kagome, wake now."
She blinked slowly, and then opened her eyes to the darkness.
"S'homaru?"
He kissed her; it was more of an answer than she had been expecting, but when he let her go, she flushed and turned her face away, almost mumbling.
"You are not allowed to leave without me any more."
He laughed silently, and pulled her up so that she was sitting with her back against his pillows.
"I am going nowhere soon, Kagome. There is - "
He paused. He did not want to tell her, not yet. There was time...time. And first -
"You are sleeping in my bed, now?"
She flushed – he could sense it through the darkness, feel the heat even in her fingertips on his cheek.
"The first night after you left, I went to my own room, but - it was so cold in there, worse than - last time - "
She wriggled closer to him, and shivered as the fur slipped off her skin. He pulled it up, felt her bare shoulder, the curve of her breast, and leaned close. She was tempting him, and he was not in a mood to deny himself, but -
"Stay just this way, and do not move. I am going to light the lamps. Shippou is coming with bath water, and I will not touch you while I am so bloody."
She did not listen, and leapt from the bed instead, searching for wounds, a tear in his skin, a scratch, by the light of the first lamp he lit.
"I am not hurt, Kagome!"
He held her shoulders in his hands, stared down at her until his conviction killed the worry in her expression, soothed it. He looked down at his bloodstained silk, the places on his skin where...things...had stained his skin, and his forehead wrinkled in disgust.
"This is just the mess my enemies make when I kill them."
The screen slid open, and Shippou entered pushing a large tub, almost empty. He paused, stared at Kagome, her skin peeking widely through the falling folds of fur. Almost immediately, Sesshomaru moved so she was behind him, only her face, suddenly red, peeking around his arm.
"Should I - should I...wait?"
"No."
Shippou stayed still for another moment, as if he expected Sesshomaru to say something else, but there was only a growl, low, tangible, and he scurried out the door. He returned momentarily, and poured water in silence, until the tub was full - and then he almost ran from the room. Sesshomaru looked stripped quickly and looked across at Kagome as he stepped in the steaming water, gestured for her to come to him.
The long fur that had been wrapped around her body did not stay so well while she was walking, and the sliding white strands exposed more of her skin than they concealed. He reached up one hand, traced a moist line from her lips to one nipple...downward. He was rewarded with her faint intake of breath, the brightening of her flush.
"Are you going to bathe with me, Kagome?"
She shook her head, and knelt beside the tub, drawing the fur closer to her skin. It was almost irritating, how easy it was for him to awaken this desire in her, now that she had given in to it once. Looking at him, being close to him, she could not allow herself to think of her own feelings. It was - it was...
"No, but I will sit with you."
The lamplight made his eyes ruddy, a deepening of color that he turned on her in silence. Shippou had brought the bath oils, Kagome's own mixture of shampoo, a pile of towels. The water was hot, and it was good to be clean again...but it was not what he wanted. He was pleased to see that Kagome's eyes did not stray from him, but her hands were tight, holding onto the fur. He could see the questions building up inside of her, and waited. It was not long.
"Will you tell me…where you went, Sesshomaru?"
His face was inscrutable.
"To battle; not a specific place, Kagome, but where my enemies were. I went to seek them out."
To keep them from you.
"Then…why? Couldn't you have waited, told me, said good-bye?"
She smiled sharply, shook her head.
"But I forget, I have no hold on you."
Her voice faded to the merest whisper.
"There is nothing binding between us."
Dark-eyed, he stood up, quickly. Water sloshed out of the tub and onto the floor, but he ignored it, reached for one of the towels Shippou had left. Could she be so foolish?
"Nothing...binding?"
The thought was almost enough to make him angry. Something did bind them, something invisible, like a single strand of silk thread. If she could not feel it, if it was not real -
"Kagome, you were sleeping here, why?"
She blinked, and the sharpness faded out of her features.
"The house was empty, silent – you can't know what it's like when you aren't here. I could not sleep at all, so I stole in here and…it was warm, in your bed."
He wrapped the towel around his waist, and pulled his hair through his hands, getting rid of the excess water.
"But - nothing binding, you say."
Her eyes loomed at him, mysterious, dark in the shadows between lamps.
"Is there? You do not find it difficult to leave me behind, but…it is different for those left behind. I do not - I do not like it, Sesshomaru. I am afraid, whenever you leave, that you will not come back. I am afraid that I will not see you for a season...or a year. Or - ever."
He knelt next to her, and pulled her close. His skin and hair were damp, and clung to her, but not as tightly as she clung to him.
"Listen to me, Kagome - listen carefully."
He pulled her up with him, and led her back to bed.
"I left you here because some of those who are my enemies, and some of those who serve me, do not like that I have taken a human for my mate. It does not matter to them that you are miko; that makes it worse...and if they knew who you are..."
He shook his head, smiled.
"If they knew who you are, they would probably try to kill you for that reason alone. As it is, I am in your scent now, and they know that you are mine, and intended violence...and so I killed them."
She was staring at him, wide-eyed.
"They - just because - just because - "
"Yes. That is enough. They will leave us be for some time, until they have a chance to lick their wounds, and decide whether or not to be sufficiently...convinced. I am not worried about them. There are other things..."
He shook his head.
"Other things?"
"Humans. I smelled them, as I was returning...and I think they are coming here, bringing war. It is my own fault; I was foolish, allowed a human to see me as I am, and then flee. But, I promise you, Kagome - "
Suddenly he was on his knees in front of her, his eyes brighter than the lamps, full of something indescribable.
"I promise you - I am not my father. I will not be defeated by humans; I will not let them have you."
She was barely aware of what he was talking about, but she could see that it was important; carefully, she lay her hands on his wet hair, nodded.
"I know, Sesshomaru. I know you will protect me. But don't forget, I'm not helpless either."
He stood then, and sat beside her, pulled her close and began to peel the fur away from her skin.
"If you want to sleep, Kagome -"
"Then I should go away? But you are here now, Sesshomaru; the moon is very bright, and suddenly I am not tired at all."
Hungry growls slid out of his throat; his fangs vibrated suddenly against her skin, pulling her blood against his tongue. Swiftly, he unraveled the winding fur that covered her, hardening her nipples with the gentle tug of his teeth, brushing his tongue across the very tip of the tight point. His hands slipped between her thighs. Kagome shuddered, moaned, felt his mouth moving over the sensitive skin below her breasts. His breath tickled her stomach, the tops of her thighs; with his hands, he parted her softest flesh and dragged one claw delicately over a moist nub.
Suddenly she was glistening with wetness, a scent that drew him, and he let his tongue flicker over the same place. Her hips rocked, struggling in his hands. Again, that single flicker; again, she moaned and moved against his hold.
"This is good for you, Kagome."
Only her breath answered him, her wanton exhalation.
A/N: And...I'm continuing onward! Part 13, second half, coming up!
Revisions, complete! (joy!)