The sun had not even risen when Sesshomaru found himself in the Western Bath. The heated water lapped at his skin, taking off the sweat from his heated sleep. The heat relaxed tense muscles: bunched up by his salacious sordid slumbering sent to him by his errant beast. He blamed the Mating Games. As a Cardinal Lord, the Games affected him differently. While each night the urge to rut intensified for all in the West, those who were in the Shiro and taking part in the Games had a heightened experienced. However, as the Lord of the enacting lands what he felt was doubled that of the guests in his home. And with the shortened time he was feeling the effects even more intense than he should be feeling only on the third night trickling into the third day.
His beast had filled his head with random women pleasuring him. Some he barely recognized from the equinox banquet. There were some he knew personally from relations at the Akayashi meets. He cared nought for their personalities, only for the pleasure he could ring out of them. He might have stayed longer in his world of dreams if his beast had not provided him with the recurring image that plagued him yesterday. Instead of Eiji, it was himself secluded in the armoury. It was he that had her legs wrapped around his ears. His face, however, would not be pressed into her soft stomach, but hidden beneath the flared skirt of her kimono where he feasted on her feminine essence and drowned on the symphony of her voice as it staccato into a crescendo.
In other words, he had a rough night.
He did not understand why his beast seemed so fixated on the Miko. For the eight and a half months he had spent in her presence before she left, his beast had only ever revealed exuberant curiosity and begrudging respect. She was the first female he had ever considered a "friend", and he was disgusted with his beast for supplying these images on the pure Miko.
"The next person that tries to poison me is getting purified," the voice of the one on his mind floated towards him.
He had heard the door open but didn't bother to move. Moving would announce his presence in his private bath hidden behind the "waterfall". Sesshomaru resists the urge to roll his eyes at her brash outburst.
He glared at the hazy figures before him, distorted by the steam and the flowing water, scents hidden by the herbs in the water heavily masking any other scents. He couldn't figure out whom she was with, other than the fact that she was with a male with black hair. He guessed it was the monk. A sick sense of satisfaction passed through him as it was black hair and not blonde.
"You can't purify anyone. No killing, remember?"
It was the fox with her, her teacher. He felt his lip curl up. Why was he in here with her? Bathing with the opposite sex was only done between those considered family or lovers.
Obviously, the only reasonable answer was lovers.
"I wasn't going to kill anyone, just zap them with it a bit"
Lovers... the word brought a stale taste to his mouth.
"Right, no you won't"
Sesshomaru imagined her to be pouting at those words. her plump bottom lip poking out, inviting the fox to nibble on it. Would the fox accept her invitation? Would he drink the moans he elicited with his tongue?
"Firstly, if there is more than one person that tried to poison you, it would be a group. also, they wouldn't do it themselves, they would have a servant do their dirty work."
Sesshomaru couldn't blame the fox for pursuing his Miko. She always had this uncanny ability to just attract powerful yokai to her. She was light itself with her easy smiles, musical laughs, kind personality, her inner strength, and her purity. any creature of the dark was naturally brought to that, either to snuff it out or keep it for himself for the others to covet.
"I wouldn't hurt the servant, just who they're working for"
but although he couldn't blame Natsu for pursuing her, he wished that she hadn't given in to his fox charms. Sesshomaru knew him. He knew the games Natsu played. lead them on, never acting on the emotions he brings out in them, dropping the easy ones and riling up those he cared for until they threw themselves at him.
"Well, that isn't going to happen with you going to breakfast and announcing that you know what's going on."
but something was different. The fox seemed to genuinely care for her.
"You expect me to act like I know nothing, so they can continue their poisoning attempts so I can catch the son of a bitch, don't you?"
"It's better than having to explain your immunity to poisons and how you got it," he said dismissively
Even with the falling water distorting his view, he could see the red in her face. He kept his focus on her face because his traitorous beast kept trying to draw his eyes down to her ample bosom.
"And I'd rather prefer them not to know. Just because today is the Skills Extravaganza doesn't mean you get to let out all your secrets"
She echoed the name after him, "That's a great name for today"
"I know. What skill are you doing for display? And don't tell me it's something with your Miko powers mimicking kitsune abilities-"
She scoffed at him, her tone becoming indignant. "Archery. I'm not an idiot"
An idiot she was not. Although her precarious position she had found herself in said otherwise, she has a natural mind for strategy. A skill most likely honed to deadly precision with her shinobi tutelage. It would be tactical misfire if she brought a skill that belied what was expected of a Miko, it would bring too much attention on to herself, and some may even realise that she was a shinobi.
He silently applauded her choice. Especially as it came without prodding from the Fox.
"Archery? So, you got a longbow. Convinced your new guard dog to take you to the armoury?"
"First, he's not my guard dog, he's just there so Sesshomaru wouldn't have to worry about me throwing the castle into chaos with a witch hunt.
" Secondly, yes, I went to the armoury with him, but my bow isn't from there. It's my old now that Sesshomaru returned"
There was a pause.
"How did he know you wanted it? I know you, and you wouldn't have willingly spoken to him after he put Eiji to keep you in check. So, how did he find out?"
There was another pause. Within that moment he relived his dream from last night. The beast sent the images unbidden. He clenched his fist to keep the unwanted erection down.
"You didn't." His voice broke Sesshomaru out of his beast's mental hold.
"Really Kags, I can't believe you let yourself get caught in that position. There were other ways he could have gotten you up there" He was laughing hard.
Sesshomaru blinked rapidly in secession. Did he miss something? He had not heard them speak, yet the fox seemed to know the details. Was he that focused on the images in his head?
"Haha, very funny. Let's go. In going to have to go to Miroku soon and wait on His Lordliness to meet us at dawn. And I, unlike you, have a job to do." He heard the water slosh signalling her exit from it. A sigh was heard, followed by the body following the Miko out.
"Might I remind you that what I'm doing is important"
"Important enough that if your father found out what you're doing he might you."
"True. But hopefully, by the end of the Games, I'd have his approval to continue"
"I just don't know how long you can continue in secret before he finds out."
"As long as I keep it quiet, I'll be fine. I just need to live long enough to be vindicated."
The door opened and shut leaving Sesshomaru behind the waterfall.
He was of two minds. One was smug that he was able to eavesdrop on "the best shinobi of the North" undetected.
The other was wondering what the fox was up to. Not that he actually cared about the particulars. He just needed to make sure that he wouldn't be endangering his Miko.
...888...
It was exactly dawn when he found himself in the monk's study. Scrolls upon scrolls we're stacked in front of him.
"What type of social Parish has all these people that want to fuck him?"
"One that has a lot of money, status and a reputation in the bedroom" the monk answered
"Then he isn't one. Where is rejection? I've never heard of an outcast so fuckable. "
He simply stared at her. She had no reason to be irate, he was the one swamped with many an unsuitable candidate.
"Your problem?"
"Why did you have to be so pretty?"
The monk could be heard stifling a laugh behind his hand.
"This Sesshomaru is not pretty"
"Yes. You. Are. If you were more average and less Kami-like, my job would be easier"
His beast purred at the comment. Kami-like, fuckable. He relished at the praise, even though it was backhanded.
"This Sesshomaru only knows perfection, anything else is a disrespect to my person"
"If you knew perfection, I wouldn't have to be here to specifically help you find your mate!"
He quirked an eyebrow. Where was all this venom spewing forth from her pretty pink lips? He enjoyed the fire of course but he wasn't too sure at whom it was directed.
"We do know perfection, and our Miko is it"
His face remained passive but, on the inside, he was shocked. His beast spoke to him. Not with the inu tongue but with actual words. He could, but he chose not to.
'Imagine her in our be-'
He decided that he could not stay with her in a casual setting. They had to go to the public where they wouldn't act out for the sake of assurances.
"Come," he said no more and strode out of the room. He heard her huff of indignation and a few other choice curses. The rustling if parchment was heard behind him as he continued walking down the hall.
Maybe in public, his beast would know some propriety.
...888...
He was nearly always wrong when it came to his beast. Why should he expect propriety from it? It was his animalistic side after all. All he focused on was blood, violence, and sex. Power as well, but not to the degree that his rational mind focused on it. The day's trial had to do with power, so it was not enough to keep the beast's attention.
So, he was of two minds. One focused on the events satisfactorily organized by his sorters into various events, classed by weapon, skill, power. He offhandedly delivered a compliment to them, impressed by their efforts to have order.
The other mind continued to feed the other with erotic images, mostly of the little Miko interchanged with the few demonesses that had managed to catch his attention. There were 20 that caught his eye due to power.
'21, if we count our Miko. Which I do'
Just like that his beast plagued him. Ever since he had opened the trial with a show of his weakest move with his Bakusaiga. Secretly, he did enjoy the attention his might garnered (just a little) and enjoyed his ability to gather awe with the weakest of his abilities. The unknowing masses sang his praise, those who had ever fought by him, or in some cases, against him saw it for it was. He even caught the Miko rolling her eyes at his display. That brought his beast's attention back to her. It whined at her to do something to impress her.
The whining continued when Kagome took the centre of the large flat garden they were using. Normally it was where his army trained in hand to hand combat, now the seats that were that overlooked the grounds were filled with the Akayashi.
The Miko demonstrated her skill and powers somewhere during the middle of the day. Before her, was the slayer showing her deftness with her boomerang. Inuyasha embarrassed a lower lord who claimed that he had an unbreakable barrier. One swing with the Tetsaiga was all that was needed to bring it down. He didn't even need to change the sword into any of its famed forms. The whelp's intended brought forth her Shinidamachūs. He did not understand why as part of the living she still held that power over the demons of hell.
The monk wielded his Wind tunnel with scary accuracy. Sesshomaru expected nothing less, he taught him how to do exactly that. The power was fuelled by his emotions of betrayal caused by the slayer. When he tempers it and comes to terms with it that's when the power is his for control.
He could be doing the same for the Miko, but his father believed that he would turn her emotionless.
Ridiculous.
After the monk, it was her turn. She was announced as his sister. It was funny hearing them both with the same last name. Higurashi Miroku and Higurashi Kagome.
As quick as his whip, the Miko shot up from his seat beside him, pulled out the bow he gifted her and a single arrow that reminded him of long-lost memory. The projectile launched from her weapon and sailed through the air powerless before lodging itself in a tree and exploding with her power. And while the power exploded, she fired 7 more arrows at once. The other demons may have thought she had several arrows, but Sesshomaru was able to see it was the same arrow replicating itself in her hand. Where did she get such a weapon?
When the dust settled, there were seven arrows in the tree. She snapped her fingers and lines of her holy power ran to the arrows. The symbol left-back was unmistakable. It was an eight-pointed star glowing in the purple of her powers. It was the mark of the North. The fox Prince's mark.
He cut his eyes down to where he sat, already finding him looking up at the Miko with pride. She seemed giddy from the approval. Sesshomaru wanted to mangle the fox right there.
"So Sesshomaru, " she said quietly, "Impressed?"
He was, but it was soured once he realized the display was for her lover.
"Hn"
She groaned at his response. She continued to make quiet conversation with him. She had asked him of whom he was inclined to. He described each of them to her. She began making a list of names from what he described. She even had her own suggestions on some females who had yet come to her to be sorted. His 20 female list enlarged slightly to 27.
Displays were still happening before them. Many of the males had taken a liking to the Miko. Some displays were done as the male continuously looked at her direction. Others were bold enough to come close. Amongst them were the Wolf Prince, using his speed, wrote her name on the ground within 2 seconds. The kanji dug deep into the earth by his powerful and fast legs.
She cringed at the display.
The snow wolf caused light snow to fall and created an ice bow that he gave to the Miko with a wink to test. It worked as well as any other bow before the Wolf allowed it to melt.
She was awed by it. Her eyes sparkled watching the fox create her preferred weapon within the palms of his hands out of the cold material. He had to bite back a growl when he saw her blush as the wolf handed her the weapon to test. His beast snarled at him for not being the one to do so.
The fox Prince broke into 24 copies of himself. All seemingly with a mind of their own. Which admittedly was a feat in itself. While a fix had magic, not all could replicate themselves and not all could do so much without flaws or exertion.
But the fact that he was the Miko's lover made it distasteful. It nearly escaped his notice of the pattern they stood in. The Kagome weave.
She was smiling widely and at that moment he wanted her to look at him like that. He wanted to do something to bring that level of joy to her face. He wondered what it would take for her to look at him like that.
These thoughts soured his mood more.
As the evening was ending, Eiji was moving away from them to finally display his powers. He was the last one.
"Sesshomaru, where's Toga-sama?"
He blinked at her and considered telling her the full truth. He decided against it.
"He left to bring Rin and the kit. They should return by nightfall."
She looked to be thinking something over. He tilted his head in a silent question: what is it?
"That means I should have enough time for you to visit me in my room before he returns"
She shouldn't have said that. In his mind all he saw was himself walking into her room. Her bathed in the evening light. Would she be dressed as she is now, or would she be dressed in her sleeping clothes? It mattered not. They would fall away in due times. She would already be sitting in the bed offering herself in her shy coquettish way. He would crowd her form on the bed, hovering over her before he laid claim to her sweet soft looking lips. Would she taste as sweet as the sounds he would surely elicit from her throat?
"It's been a while since we've spoken like we did during our shard hunting days." She punctuated the sentence with a cheeky wink.
Ah yes, talk. He couldn't believe that he allowed his beast to invade his mind so easily during an innocent conversation with the little miko.
He said nothing, watching a servant draw closer to them with a pot of tea. She was then stopped by Lord Harou who asked her to pour for him. He had never seen her before around his shiro. She readily poured the tea for him, but she kept her eyes on the Miko. The Miko didn't seem to notice. All her attention seemed to be focused ahead on her guard. Mesmerized by his control of lightning through whip sword. He kept it in his sword form for the demonstration.
"So that's what I'm up against" she murmured.
"Would you like some tea, mistress?" the weak voice of the servant asked. She was a fox but didn't seem to have much power. She seemed skittish and meek and slightly on the malnourished side with her gaunt frame and her soulless looking purple eyes. She was like a doll.
"Who are you?" his voice was cold and demanding. This was not one of his servants.
A gargling choke sounded behind the vixen.
"Father!"
The miko sprang up from her seat at the sound of her lover's voice. The fox took the small opening created to drop the pot and melt into the shadows. The smell wafted up from the spilled contents on the ground. The acrid smell was all he needed to know it was laced with poison. She had been so intently watching the miko while she was serving the northern lord. Kagome was the original target.
He swiftly moved to wear the Northern Lord lay. He was struggling to draw breath. The Akayashi in the stand was in a panic. Why wouldn't they be? Someone had just poisoned a cardinal lord.
The miko and Natsu seemed to be in an intense argument. She finally grew tired of what ever it was and pushed him off before flying to the Lord's side. The fox seemed to dislike what she was about to do, but still leant his support to her, pushing everyone back.
Then he felt it. The gentle waves of her power pushed out. It was like a warm caress against his senses. It picked at his tenseness and washed away his headache. The Akayashi stilled under the reach of her powers. The scent of her powers was a heady scent as she healed the Lord. He wasn't the only one to believe so. Male arousal was another scent on the rise. The male demons were getting excited by her powers even more.
"It's done. Someone carry him to his room. I purified the poison, but he might not be awake until tomorrow."
Natsu and Fubuki reached down and picked up Lord Harou taking him in to the shiro. The miko turned to look at him. Blue eyes with grey specks clashed against his gold ones. With her eyes she asked him permission for her witch hunt. With his he gave it to her, understanding that he would have more trouble once she was released.
She smiled up at him. It was almost as dazzling as the one she had for Natsu earlier, but her eyes darkened and had a strange glimmer to it. Her posture changed and she took on a more innocent look before his eyes. She was essentially a different person.
"Arigato, Sesshomaru-sama." Her voice soft and her eyes belied what she actually was. A predator preparing to hunt her prey.
She walked past him, pausing slightly behind him.
"Don't forget, my room later"
Kami help him.
Had to get this chapter out. with everything going on you deserved this chapter. i took a break and started a whole different fanfiction for miraculous over on ao3 as a one shot that has now become a chapter story. it was a needed creative break filled with fluffiness.
I need to thank Saphira17 from Dokuga forms finally giving me a name for this trial, Genuka I just had to use your insert for this fic because it had me cracking although I did tweak it.
Estefania: Tienes algunos puntos buenos pero no voy a decir cuál es.
My guest Tia, I like how you think. Your comment has something right and something wrong.
Fubuki's powers are like frozone meets ice bender if you're wondering.