Because many people raised the question (including one guest reviewer I couldn't respond to), I'm going to address it here.
The question: Why didn't Kagome just reveal she was mated/have Sesshoumaru rescue her?
The answer: Why should she have? Why wasn't just saying "no" enough? Kagome is an intelligent woman and her intelligence was acknowledged by the bats before they tried to trap her into a betrothal with their son. Why didn't they respect that intelligence enough to accept she could choose not to want Lars, because she didn't want Lars? Why did her refusal have to be substantiated with a relationship? And once the fact she was already involved in a "committed monogamous relationship" was revealed, why then did she have to prove it? These are more pertinent questions to my mind. Being rescued by Sesshoumaru would have proven bad all around. For starters, the information would leak to the press and his promises not to use the phone to search for her would not be effected if he found out who she was and where she was through tabloids and newspapers. Hiroyuki's business may not be global, but it is international and bad boy, playboys of rich men will always be universal, even if they haven't behaved that way in years. Face it, we love to watch the wealthy misbehave. That's why Paris Hilton is/was a celebrity. She has no personal virtue or talent that would have made her famous if she wasn't also a Hilton. And we love wealthy bad boys even more, else we wouldn't pay attention to European princes. Sesshoumaru was a bad boy who's turned over a new leaf since his engagement to some unknown, never publicly seen female. Wouldn't the reveal of who that woman is make newsstands everywhere?
I was also asked why Inuyasha hasn't identified Kagome to Sesshoumaru. This confusion I will address as I suspect it's been carried around by a number of other people who haven't been brave enough to ask. Kagome and Inuyasha are not close in this fic. She doesn't call him and talk to him. She gets her information about him from her mother. He is close to Kagome's family, mostly through Souta. Kagome is actually older than Inuyasha but younger than Sesshoumaru. (that leaves a 6 year gap). Sesshoumaru is not and has never been particularly chatty so he's never told either of his roommates about his mate's specific goals or locations. So Inuyasha and Kikyou could not identify her that way. Sesshoumaru does not and will not share the pictures she's sent as most of them are risqué. So again, Inuyasha could not identify her from them...not that he would know her well enough to identify without a face shot.
Lastly, (again because the guest could not be responded to directly) Kagome's interference with the bond has only been dropped for the interim of her injury. Once she is healed up, the noisy barrier will most likely be put back in place but, if you haven't notice, it's been coming down a little more often over the passage of time. Some things in life are just that subtle.
Anyways, there is some drama in this chapter, but it's mostly Inuyasha and Kikyou not communicating clearly with each other. So things are mostly more cheerful than they've been. Read on reader, read on!
Calendar: November.
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 Shellbabe's Lost Mate found on FFN.
Home Coming
"Come on, Inuyasha! We're going to be late!" Kikyou hollered after her slow-moving hanyou. The Maxwells had finally gotten Max's stitches out, leaving Max a clean bill of health even if he was required to continue with physical therapy to rebuild the muscles that had weakened in the sling during the previous weeks. To celebrate the mated pair had invited Sesshoumaru's pack to join them for an early dinner. "Inuyasha! Will you move it?"
"Keh!" the hanyou offered in mindless response tugging a shirt over his head and somehow catching one ear in the process. "Damnit! I told you I hate these fancy shirts!"
"It isn't a fancy shirt! Just because it has three little buttons at the top doesn't make it fancy," Kikyou retorted. As she tried to pack up the appetizers she'd made to supplement Nonny's food offerings. As a neko mix, Kikyou was certain the elder female knew how much male youkai could consume, but it was still polite to bring something.
"It ain't a t-shirt," Inuyasha grumbled back as he finally freed his ear only to catch a button in his hair. Sesshoumaru tried not to snort in amusement. The boy had all the troubles of a toddler attempting to dress himself for the first time at an age that should preclude such problems.
"It's a polo shirt, which still doesn't make it fancy," Kikyou argued back. She'd carefully packed the edibles in a flat glass dish but worried over the safety of the dish in her tiny car packed around her and Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru handed her a box left over from a gift sent from his mate and indicated a stack of dish towels. The woman flashed him a quiet smile of thanks before carefully arranging dish and towels in the box.
Kikyou was nervous. Inuyasha was unruly. Sesshoumaru just wanted to get out to the Maxwell's already. His visits out to the underground residence of his sensei had been sporadic the last few weeks and he missed them and his daily run. Maxwell was unable to work beyond sketching out ideas as they occurred. His inspiration had been lacking under the influence of painkillers and periods of un-medicated pain. Only being able to use one hand also made it difficult to sketch in any case as the paper moved under the press of whichever marking implement he attempted to use. Frustration often shortened any brainstorming effort. The man was also in high dudgeon most days. Maxwell did not handle frustrated inspiration well.
Nonny had warned them all to keep an eye on Maxwell. He still wasn't supposed to be working his craft yet, he hadn't full use of his arm or the strength of former days. Sesshoumaru had fixed his wagon by padlocking all of the supplies and tools in the store room. Only the inu youkai had the key and he was a rock against all persuasion and resolutely refused to cough it up without a valid note from Willem Maxwell's doctor and a verbal okay from his neko mate.
The supplies had finally been delivered the day after the incident. Sesshoumaru had been required to run out to meet the delivery truck and finally unload and store everything. Nonny had called him from the hospital about it and he had very much appreciated the distraction though Kikyou had tried to keep him home in their shared flat. He supposed she worried about his reaction to being alone in the place his mentor had suffered his injury, but truly, the inu had needed the activity.
That was the day his mate had been injured by a set of thankful yet prejudiced kitsune parents.
Seshoumaru had understood that talking her into orgasm would have proven detrimental to her health as the muscle spasms and exaggerated tensing and subsequent release could dislodge or further damage her fragile bones. It still didn't alleviate the urges of his instinct or the continued desire to kill the ones responsible. He'd needed to exercise the tension from his blood.
It had helped to be able to monitor the level of her pain from day to day since then. She'd been careful to remind him what to expect while she was healing and how long healing her injuries would take. Feeling her health clearly through their unimpeded bond had been equal parts heady and worrying. He'd learned to identify increases of pain that were a direct result of her breathing exercises or the wearing off of her medications. He could tell when she was asleep and a contented sigh would wake her in pain. He knew when she forced herself to eat against inclination due to the spikes of pain at the start of her day. And he knew when the spikes were an indication that she was trapped in a situation she wasn't physically able to handle.
Such as the situation that arose last weekend on that trip to Sacramento.
Like her, Sesshoumaru had thought a group trip would protect her from any assumptions about romantic aspirations on a youkai heir. As long as the male didn't pick one person out of the group to fixate his attention on, no misunderstanding should have arisen. Sesshoumaru had known before calling that something had gone wrong. He had not appreciated being told to wait for an explanation, but he hadn't been angry about it.
His mate was always honest with him about her situation. If she couldn't talk right then, she really couldn't. His upset had been thoroughly mollified over the wait when he felt her drop off to sleep. Sesshoumaru had felt her restlessness throughout the hours when she normally slept. He knew she'd been sleeping more since her volatile meeting with the foxes at the hospital. Her body was exhausted with the effort to heal the damage done to her at their hands.
The sweet, secret miko refused to tell him any names, knowing full well that Sesshoumaru would hunt them down no matter how much time lapsed between her injury and their reunion. Someday he would be in the same country as those narrow-minded, ungrateful wretches. It would be easier to hunt them down if he had a name.
She was a kind, upstanding woman, his mate. Protecting even the ignorant, prejudiced fools who hurt her. Though she had been more than willing to expose the names of the bats.
Sesshoumaru smirked. He imagined the only reason she'd coughed up those cretins was because she was rather pleased with how her friend had meted out punishment. Instead of getting the female they wanted for the pup, they got one they had dismissed out of hand. And they couldn't get out of it. Their own legal document had seen to that. Despite Sesshoumaru's desire to handle them personally, he could not think of a more divine punishment that would last for quite so long. The family of bats would never remove the plucky and sarcastic Marcy Reynolds from their midst. Bats may not mate for life like some breeds, but official matings amongst the old families required a betrothal or subsequent mating last until at least one scion came of the union.
Humans rarely let go of connection with their own children entirely. The connection would never be severed so long as the human or any of her family lived. The flying rodents may well view the connection as a curse ere long but they're the ones who cast it on themselves. Instant karma was occasionally gratifying to see...or hear about second hand. It was inevitable that his mate would lose her friend with the passing of time, Marcy would always remember that the family and her "bat boy" had chosen another before her. That other would always be held suspect around Lars, even if the female never gave reason for it. The break would happen.
Right now, his lovely resilient mate was taking a nap. He actually loved it best when she was unconscious because he could reach across the distance and wrap his youki around her rather thickly. It wasn't impossible for him to do it while she was conscious, but it would distract her and likely upset her for the distraction. She was having a tough time focusing around the pain and the hovering of her peers and compatriots. In all likelihood, she was feeling smothered enough without him compounding things. Sesshoumaru was pretty sure just having their bond active without impediment tugged at her sometimes too. Sensations went both ways, and while hers would always be more immediate for her, she would still feel his too. He'd certainly been distracted by her in the last weeks since her injury.
So he saved the increased youki blanketing for the times when it couldn't do more than effect her dreams a little. His mate knew he was doing it, Sesshoumaru believed in full-disclosure. She'd even thanked him for his thoughtfulness in limiting his efforts as much as he did. His youki was speeding her healing along and as far as the fragile miko was concerned, the less time spent barred from the youkai wards, the happier she'd be. Him too, he supposed. The more time she was restricted from that part of her learning regimen, the longer it would take her to complete it.
Sesshoumaru could only be thankful it was for such a short duration. Not that she didn't still have years to go after completing this part of her education.
His mate had sent two bottles of California wine, one white and one red for this little party. Despite her discomfort, difficulty focusing on her studies, and frustration with the present situation, she showed her support for his own tribulations. Max and Nonny were important to him. Their troubles worried him and she did what she could from an ocean away to help him work through it.
The day those bottles arrived, he realized something important.
He loved her. Quite thoroughly.
Sesshoumaru hadn't known what it was to love until he'd held proof that she thought about him even when her world was rocking out of alignment and physical pain threaded every breath. He'd never known a person who cared about others so much. She'd impressed him with her intelligence, soothed him with her understanding, and opened up his world in so many ways that couldn't be measured. She gave him art, challenged him to empathy, and frustrated him with her kindness. She'd taught him that protection and support could be things less than physical and more than empty words.
Sesshoumaru supposed it was little surprising that he loved the contrary woman voluntarily. His mate hadn't made him do it. She'd never set out to win his affections therefore she'd won them by default through her care of his pack and himself despite her distance.
Perhaps she didn't love him like Sesshoumaru did her. He'd decided he could live with that for now. She'd sparked the first love of his life that wasn't familial and it wasn't necessary for her to reciprocate it right now. It would be nice, but he didn't think she had the necessary energy or emotion available to feel so deeply yet. He could live with that. In a lot of ways, it was comforting that her heart was on hold for the interim. He'd continue to court her from afar just to keep him fresh in her mind and other takers out in the cold, naturally. Just because she wasn't in love now and likely didn't have the wherewithal to actually fall, didn't mean that some interloper wouldn't try to move in while he was lazily content with the status quo. Too many human relationships ended in separation for him to risk it given his mate's species.
In the meantime, the effervescent feeling of a new experience kept his sketch book full of inspiration. Such that being unable to work with his more engaging medium was a greater hardship than Max made it out to be. Sesshoumaru was made of stern stuff and the locks on the sculpting materials would stay in place until his teacher could safely work with them, which also meant that the inu student was blocked from using them too. On one hand he was trying to respect his sensei's feelings of sacrifice and frustration by not rubbing it in doing his own projects. On the other, well Sesshoumaru knew he lost track of the world while working his craft and couldn't risk the old man sneaking materials out of storage while the inu was enthralled by his own art.
His mate had suggested he find other mediums to work with while his main metal teacher was out of commission. She suggested wood or marble, something harder than clay that would require utilization of his inherent strength along with Sesshoumaru's creativity. More proof that she cared and knew him fairly well.
Once Inuyasha's fiance had fussed over things to her content, Sesshoumaru gingerly carried everything down to the car. Carefully stowing the bottles and Kikyou's offerings in the miniscule backseat of her bug, Sesshoumaru listened as Kikyou tried to leash the wrecking ball that was her hanyou dressing in the morning. Once he had everything situated, mostly behind the driver's side since Inuyasha's seat would be pushed all the way back and possibly set to recline as well, Sesshoumaru shut and locked the door before wandering back into the flat to hand Kikyou back her keys.
Sesshoumaru smiled a private smile as he took off without Inuyasha and Kikyou. The other two would have to drive out to the Maxwell's hydraulic home entrance. Inuyasha may have the stamina to make the run, but his fiance rightfully refused to show up to any kind of celebration with wild hair and disheveled clothing. Which would be inevitable should Kikyou allow her hanyou to carry her across country the way he wanted.
Sesshoumaru had only remained within the city limits long enough to help Kikyou load the car before leaving. Inuyasha would be a while as the boy never seemed to leave for anything on time. They would most definitely be late, but Sesshoumaru wouldn't be and he'd make their excuses upon arrival. He wondered if even Kikyou had taken in to account that both would be required to go through a thorough cleansing once they appeared. Maxwell-sensei may be getting better after his injury, but Nonny was still allergic to city pollution.
Sesshoumaru had informed his pack mates about her special situation to combat Inuyasha's incessant curiosity over the neko's unusual outfit at the hospital. But that had been weeks ago and while Kikyou's memory was normally sufficient on such things she'd been distracted of late.
Inuyasha hadn't noticed her increased anxiety, but Sesshoumaru had. The hanyou was as unobservant as usual and while he went about his business under the misconception that all was well, Kikyou was worrying herself into a restless exhaustion. Sesshoumaru suspected the woman feared an unplanned pregnancy. His inu nose was well aware that her menses hadn't started three days ago when her calendar indicated it should have. He could as easily tell her that she had no reason to worry. About pregnancy at least. She wasn't carrying, he could tell. Inuyasha could have told her that as well, his nose was sensitive enough if brought close enough to the source. That is, if he noticed she was nervous and asked her about it in the first place. He probably already knew she wasn't carrying his pup given how much time the two spent in close quarters, but the hanyou likely hadn't thought to tell her. Inuyasha had no idea that a scent that hadn't changed was the source and the answer to the uncertainty Kikyou had yet to clearly convey to him.
Inuyasha simply wasn't equipped to pick up subtle communication. Kikyou had to know that already given their long relationship. If she didn't already know or had forgotten, she would certainly learn different.
Sesshoumaru wouldn't ease her fears in this instance. It wasn't his place. To do so would embarrass her and enrage Inuyasha. Just because an inu nose could detect personal information like that didn't mean people wanted it made so emphatically clear. He was hoping that some time on the drive out or the drive back, Kikyou and Inuyasha would break down and actually talk about it. Her tension made Sesshoumaru edgy, waiting for the moment Inuyasha exploded in response. That is, if the half-inu ever realized something was wrong.
The flat wasn't big enough to house their dysfunction sometimes.
Sesshoumaru shook his silver head as the changing building came into view. Kikyou's uncertainty laced the air with the smell of her cold sweat and strong soap as she cleaned absolutely everything she could get her hands on, including the glass in the picture frames strewn about the apartment. Most housekeepers were satisfied with merely dusting the things on the wall. The hanyou's girl polished the wood frames and sent the glass panels through the dishwasher. It had almost ended up a dangerous situation.
Some of the glass broke in the wash and if Sesshoumaru hadn't been there to prevent the anxious woman from opening the machine to remove the pieces, the apartment would have been perfumed with the scent of her blood. It wouldn't have been all that strong, and wouldn't have bothered him that much, but Inuyasha would have been unbearable. The hanyou came positively unhinged in the wake of a paper cut that Sesshoumaru could have prevented. No telling just what a more serious injury would entail.
Routine saw him changed and racing towards his destination in a few scant moments. The sun warmed him in a way reminiscent of his dreams of late.
It was the best thing to come out of his mate's injury as far as Sesshoumaru was concerned. The brief period in which their rest overlapped were some of the best dreams he'd ever had. They weren't even erotic in nature! Unless simply holding his mate fully clothed was erotic, because that's all he did. He held her in his arms. They didn't talk and they didn't move from the initial position they started in.
The dream would start with him holding her to his chest and they'd be sitting against one of Max's pewter bus sculptures gazing out on the open land of the secluded property. Or they'd be sitting under a tree that he recognized with the pewter buses in view but not dominating the land scape. Sometimes it would start with him standing behind her, with his arms wrapped about her shoulders staring out at the Golden Gate Bridge. The times of day varied, but the unmistakable sense that she was really there for him to touch was all he needed from the dreams. They held a warmth of companionship that pleased him more than the burn Sesshoumaru found in carnal exchanges. Although, if her injury were fully healed, he had absolutely no doubt such dreams would become erotic fairly quickly.
He woke from the dreams of holding her better rested and desperate to open his sketch book. It was a nice break from the almost wet dreams Sesshoumaru tended to suffer usually. Those had started with her disappearance and never quite stopped. He could still remember her reaction when he'd first told her about them and blamed her for it. She'd firmly put him in his place then, she'd even laughed at his predicament. She would probably laugh at him even now if he brought it up. At least she'd stopped advising he find a lover every time he tried to talk her into carnal activities.
That had been really upsetting. More so than Sesshoumaru had allowed himself to express. It was true that Inu were fairly promiscuous, especially when the female of a pair chose to withhold carnal affections. It was his conscious choice not to act in such a way. It was a difficult one to abide by and he would have preferred that at least the female he was sacrificing for be kind enough to support him.
Sesshoumaru dropped his travel pack with his clothes and phone next to the bus shells guarding the entrance to the Maxwell home. He wasn't ready to end his run yet, he'd missed the exercise and he was early in any case. A quick jaunt around the property lines served to give him more than just a work out, it answered the instinct to walk the bounds of his territory. His grandfather had taught him the rounds in Japan and he'd made them every time he'd had cause to go out to his father's property for a run. The move to Australia had temporarily forced him to stop, but Nonny had suggested he monitor the outskirts of their land as a way to help Sesshoumaru mourn the loss of his sire's father.
It wasn't his purpose today. Sesshoumaru was just killing time. Their dinner wasn't for another couple hours as it was and he had a little too much energy to sit quietly underground with nothing else to do. It wasn't like he could work on his art. With Maxwell getting desperate to break into his own storerooms for materials, he was getting equally more wily in his efforts to get into them.
The less time the old man had to wear down Sesshoumaru's resolve to keep him locked out, the better. It was why the keys locking Max away from his tools and materials was in the inu's possession and not Nonoka's. It was at her behest that Sesshoumaru take on that responsibility well knowing that it would be difficult for him to be denied his home away from pack and would be limiting his own creative expression.
Sesshoumaru could recognize that the neko would have found it more difficult to stay away from her mate and withstand his cajoling, pleading and whatever other methods the artist resorted to hoping to get around the soft female. There was little doubt in the inu's mind that Nonny would have given up the key and any effort to lock her suffering mate out of the rooms of his best communication with the world he had such a limited part of. There was love there. The type of love that would make denial of the one's happiness painful to both regardless of the reason for it.
Sesshoumaru hoped that someday he and his mate would achieve such an easy companionship, but he wouldn't attempt to rush it. What Nonny and her Maxi had was the product of long years of affection and living together. His relationship hadn't nearly so many years nor so much affection just yet, but they'd both come a long way from the start.
Once finished with the circuit of the property, Sesshoumaru returned to the bus shells. He hadn't known the first time he came out here, but the pewter sculptures housed more than just the motors for the lift. The back of each bus had a small room for changing and decontamination, though the word room was a bit generous. They were more the size of closets but then, it wasn't as if a person needed a lot of room to cleanse themselves and change into safer, cleaner clothing for Nonny.
The only reason Sesshoumaru hadn't been shown to a cleaning room on first visit was because Maxwell could see Sesshoumaru had made the run to the property since there wasn't a car to be seen. Any run from any direction that arrived at their front door was long enough to remove enough of the contaminants that gave Nonny trouble. Their property was just that expansive and that remote. Chosen for those very reasons.
Shifting from his fur before stepping inside, Sesshoumaru dragged the bag of necessaries from his teeth as he stood to full height. Here he had no reason to fear the stalking behaviors of his erstwhile would-be lovers. No one could follow the inu all the way out here without detection and none of the worst offenders were stealthy enough, informed enough to stake out the Maxwell's home in search of some naked flesh. Without the risk of being jumped by some female creature set on fucking him into the ground, Sesshoumaru lacked any fear of nudity in the open. All there was to fear this far from Brisbane was Nonny's sarcastic wit and aged humor. She would say something if he gave her an opening, but her comments were merely slightly embarrassing whilst the actions others would take were harassing.
With a peaceful sigh, he stepped back out into the sun and headed for the slightly less ostentatious entrance to the Maxwell home to make excuses for the rest of his pack and see just what was on the menu for the day. He'd missed Nonny's cooking in the last few weeks. And the cat's penchant for biting commentary on the politics being played in the press. Despite being forced into such seclusion, she kept abreast of current events and consulted on a lot of legal issues for officials at the highest level of government. Her snarky views were entertaining and informative.
Sesshoumaru wondered what she would say about the state of his home country or even just the politics within the greater Taishou pack. He imagined she would see things that even the manipulative Taishou had missed.
At the same time, he never wanted either of the Maxwells known to his father in any capacity. He didn't want Hiroyuki to disrespect them for not being inu, extensively wealthy on the only scale his father understood or exploited for his sire's personal gain. The last was unlikely, as Hiroyuki had little use for art and Nonoka was too reclusive to prove effective, but Sesshoumaru wouldn't take any chances where his distant alpha was concerned. Nonny and Max were a precious secret shared only with his mate and now his miniscule sub-pack. He could only hope Inuyasha wouldn't be so foolish as to tell their parents about them in incautious blabbermouth fashion. So far the phone connection to his mate hadn't been revealed, perhaps Inuyasha was slightly craftier than Sesshoumaru had given him credit for.
