Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters in this fan fiction are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. The original characters and plot are the property of Chiaztolite, who is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary of Previous Chapter: After the king informed them that they could not eat anything that came from the underworld, Sesshōmaru and Kagome had no choice but to leave the king's Elysium to seek out Sesshōmaru's father. Talking led to more things physical, until Sesshōmaru told Kagome to wake up.

The Way to Elysium

Chapter 10: Gaudia – Guilty Pleasures

The pain on Sesshōmaru's forearm was what ultimately had awakened him. That, and an odd rhythmic thumping of something hitting a wall. The sound echoed — like a pebble tapping against an empty barrel.

Tck. Tck. Tck.

When he cracked his eyes open, he saw he was in a dark, fleshy, cavernous tunnel. It was warm, slimy, and infinitely disgusting — like being trapped inside the bowel of a giant creature: a slug or a worm of some kind. Finding himself unable to move his limbs, he shifted his gaze lower and, just as he thought, he saw himself bound with what looked like… intestinal tract.

Looking around for the miko, he found her on the opposite side, trapped against a fleshy wall underneath a thin translucent membrane, a stomach lining, slowly being absorbed into the body of the beast.

Tck. Tck. Tck.

There were those sounds again, keeping him grounded to the real realm, even when the other, a more enticing alternate reality of some sort, tried to pull him under.

He clawed his way out of the rope of entrails that fettered him, tearing them into pieces. A persistent piece of entrails was stuck to his forearm and he ripped it off. He winced slightly when his flesh tore; it had little mouths and teeth that latched tight onto him, slowly leaking acid. That was when the other miko, the very mobile miko, did something with her hips: a little snap that made him staggered. It transported him straight back to the other realm where she was straddled on top of him, her warm lips on his neck.

"Miko," he called her, trying to keep his head clear enough to get them both out of this strange conundrum.

"Hmm?"

"You need to wake up," he told her. She stopped and lifted her head for a moment, but only to stare at him and laugh.

"Oh, I am awake. Very, very awake," she said before her head dipped down again and she went back to kissing his neck.

Gods… He knew he should be keeping a level head, but the pull of this reality was much stronger than the other, and he could not help but want to stay here awhile. He rolled her over, pinning her on the ground under his much larger frame. Even now, even knowing what was happening to them on the other side, his beast clamoured to be released. He wanted to squeeze himself into her body and rock her until neither of them was capable of thoughts. Already, his hips moved on their own accord, thrusting against her core in age-old rhythm of a mating.

But they did not come this far only to be a hefty meal for a slug-like creature of the underworld.

When her arms reached out to wind themselves around his neck, pulling his head down, he held her wrists in both hands.

"Miko," he tried again, feeling his resolve wavering when she silenced him with another kiss.

Tck. Tck. Tck.

Those sounds again, they called to him, reminding him of the dire situation they were in. As pleasurable as this interlude was, their real selves were at stake.

"This place… where you think we are, it is not our reality," he whispered to her between kisses. "In truth, we are slowly being digested inside the bowel cavity of a giant slug."

It was not a sentence he ever thought he would say — anywhere, anytime — and especially not when he had her beneath him, soft, slick, and ready, but it got her attention. She scooted back to look at him, forehead drawn.

"Truly?" Shifting herself to sitting position, her eyes widened as she inspected their surroundings. There was nothing around them other than grey feathery grass — a vision of Asphodel Meadows true and true. "How did you find out?"

"A piece of toothy entrails was stuck to this arm," he said, pointing at his left forearm, skin smooth, showing no sign of being injured. "It woke me up."

She bit her lower lip, the scent of her concern and uneasiness chasing the scent of desire away.

"Can you wake yourself up?" He asked her.

She nodded and pressed each palm of her hands to her cheeks. Then, she slapped herself, really really hard.

Kagome awakened with a gasp. The immediate stench of her surrounding assaulted her nostrils; she nearly gagged. As she looked around, she saw it was as Sesshōmaru had said. They were inside the belly of a kind of a giant beast. Something long, worm-like, judging by the elongated shape of the bowel.

Sesshōmaru came to her side and sliced off the thin membrane that held her in place. She pulled her arms and legs away from the sticky wall that imprisoned her and landed on the wet, slimy floor. Her feet made a repulsive squelch as she stepped into a puddle of ooze.

Tck. Tck. Tck. Tck.

"Do you hear that?" She asked Sesshōmaru.

He nodded. "I have been hearing that sound since I awakened."

"Is someone outside?"

He nodded again, eyes narrowed. "It certainly seems like it."

Placing his palm on the wall of flesh, he felt around. A living thing, it thrummed and pulsated. He jabbed his claw-tipped hand into the flesh, digging deep, the squelching sound it made was nauseating. As he drilled, their host rumbled and shook. He could feel hard skin past the spongy layers of flesh, gristles, and sinew. It was a body armour, too durable even for his claws to puncture.

He retracted his hand, red and grey mucus splattered and joined more slime at their feet. In one smooth motion, he pulled Bakusaiga out of its sheath. The miko knew immediately to move out of the way. The blade glowed green as sparks of energy emanated along its length. One swing was all it took for the living walls around them to disintegrate from head to tail.

Grey sky emerged from between the rapidly vanishing flesh. Soon, there was nothing around them other than the meadow itself and…

That red-garbed death god's advocate, Yami. She had a pomegranate in her hand, cracked open, and was in the middle of extracting a seed from a large cluster within the fruit.

"Ah, I thought it might be the two of you in there," she said by way of greeting, a slight smile on her lips.

"What was that?!" Kagome asked, still shivering with disgust from the feeling of being trapped inside the slug.

"It was one of the monsters that roam the underworld," Yami replied. "It's called Gaudia, also known as: Guilty Pleasures."

"Guilty pleasures?" Kagome's blood rushed to her face immediately, making her cheeks hot.

Her vigilant red eyes observed them from head to toe, mild interest in her gaze. "Gaudia traps its victim by transporting them into an alternate reality, keeping them occupied inside a pleasurable realm of their own imaginings while it slowly consumes them. I have heard it's a very pleasant way to perish." The corners of her mouth lifted into a smirk as she watched them both, noting the discomfort that had arisen the moment she mentioned 'guilty pleasures'.

"Did you two experience something nice while you were in there?" She asked, feigning innocence.

As Kagome's blush darkened even further, Sesshōmaru's eyes narrowed dangerously, as though he was truly considering unsheathing Bakusaiga once more and using it on this vexing creature.

"You flicked pomegranate seeds at its body to wake us up," he said. "Why?"

She gave a nonchalant shrug and pointed at Kagome. "The woman is still under my care, sort of. I wouldn't want her to perish unnecessarily, especially before she reached the Pavillion of Judgement."

"Well—" Kagome paused uncertainly. "Thank you, for your help. Are there any other monsters we need to worry about?"

"Yes, there are others," Yami said, and added thoughtfully: "I'm quite surprised you've only encountered Gaudia so far."

"Don't you think you could've warned us when you saw us off?" Kagome asked, feeling irate that the death God's underling had chosen to keep such information from them.

Yami lifted one shoulder in another carefree shrug. "I thought you two would've been on your guard the entire time. Honestly, you are in the underworld. The realm of the dead. You don't seriously think this will be a walk in the park, do you?"

"What are the other creatures we need to be wary of, female?" Sesshōmaru asked.

"There are Nosoi — Diseases, Geras — Old Age, Algea — Agony, Penthos — Grief, Curae — Anxiety, Phobos — Fear, Aporia — Need, Thanatos — Death, Hypnos — Sleep, and…" Yami paused to stare at Kagome, who had in turn stared longingly at the pomegranate arils in Yami's hand. Red juices dripped from her stained fingers.

"Limos," Yami finished softly. "Hunger."

Kagome swallowed, feeling her stomach clenching painfully. Dismayed, she turned away from the tempting piece of fruit in the female's hands. What was she thinking? She did not even like pomegranate, though at this point, anything that could quench her hunger – even just a little – would be most welcomed.

"Mind where you tread, or rest," Yami said, turning around to leave them, but not without throwing them another smirk. "I might not be around to save you the next time."

With those cheeky words, she vanished into thin air, leaving Sesshōmaru and Kagome to stand side by side in awkward silence.

"You're hurt," the miko said when she saw his left forearm.

He looked at it, at the destroyed flesh, not yet healed even though it had been many moments since he ripped off the offending appendage that caused the harm. It was a sure sign that his yōki was low, if his body was unable to heal an injury of this level without conscious thought. He would have exerted his yōki if one thought did not cross his mind: how long exactly were they going to be trapped in the underworld?

It was imperative that he reserved his yōki until they were able to leave. The consequences would be dire otherwise.

"It will be fine," he said.

She held his gaze for a brief moment before she went and disappeared behind the tree.

"Just a second, okay?" She called out to him. For a time there was no sound coming from her other than the soft rustles of her clothing, the swish of a long strip of cloth being unwinded…

Oh.

She was taking off the binding around her breasts to use to tend to his wound.

He resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Just as he suspected, here she came now, with the long strip of white cloth trailing behind her, still warm from her body heat, bearing the scent of her skin, of mandarin peels, and shrine incense. The memories of burying his face between her breasts, of kissing her, of suckling her nipples, came flooding back like a tidal wave.

When she took his arm and began to wind the strip of cloth over his injured part, transferring her body heat from the binding to his own skin, he swallowed a growl that was rising in his chest. This was turning out to be a new breed of torture for him.

"Nē, Sesshōmaru," she said softly. "What do you think happened… earlier?"

"My guess is that we were resting right above Gaudia's lair," he replied. "As soon as we sat down, it transported our consciousness to the alternate realm, while it swallowed our bodies."

"So… what happened in the other place… Was that…" She paused, looking at him uncertainly. "… real?"

Their eyes met and held.

Perhaps the better question was if she wanted it to be real. It had been real to him, but he could see in her eyes the uncertainty, the hesitation, and her wish — just a little bit — that no, it had not been real. Now that they were out of that realm, the moment of attraction had passed, leaving her confused and ashamed, and wishing they could erase that part of the past and chalked it up as a dream.

How convenient that would be.

"We were talking, weren't we?" She asked, wetting her lower lip. "Was that part real?"

"I remember… talking. About Chikatani, and my father. And then, I remember—" He paused.

I remember you touching me, kissing me.

From the heightened colours on her cheeks, it seemed that she remembered too. Heat flared once more, a slow burn.

… …

Kagome knew she was only fooling herself.

How could it not be real, she thought as she drew a shaky breath and tried to concentrate on wrapping the bandage neatly around Sesshōmaru's forearm. She could still feel the heat of his skin, his masculine flavour on her tongue, the sheer power of him as he rocked between her thighs. Her nipples felt exactly how she imagined they would feel after a voracious daiyōkai had fed on them: tender, swollen, and so sensitive they hurt as they rubbed against the fabric of her white top. Just the memory of him alone – his strength, his hunger – made her knees weak.

She could blame it all on the effects of Gaudia. She could say the monster had somehow put them under its spell, and everything she had started, had done to Sesshōmaru, was simply because she was under its influence.

But Gaudia had been destroyed. Every part of it had been disintegrated into nothing.

If it had all been because of Gaudia, how come she wanted him still? Even now, every part of her ached. Every fibre of her being told her to reach out to him, be with him. But how could that be? She had been given a second chance to do the right, honourable thing: keep her promise to Inuyasha and return to the world of the living to be with him.

… …

She was aroused again, he thought. He could smell her arousal, that enticing musk, and his own lust soared to answer the call of her desire.

But…

Her scent had changed subtly. He caught her confusion, shame, and… guilt mixed in with her desire.

She wanted him physically, yet wished to remain faithful to Inuyasha as his future mate, a small voice inside him spoke. Perhaps it had been a momentary lapse in judgement, or a few seconds of blindness due to lust, that made her touch him, kiss him, start something she would have come to regret if they had continued to its culmination.

Then, why did she start anything at all?

A vine of anger began to curl itself around his chest. He was not one to utilize sex as a fodder for playing mind games, and he had no intention of starting now. If she had known his full history, she would have understood that. His lust, yearning, and anger all mixed into one, just simmering inside with no outlets. He wanted to claw at something, crush something, kill something. How did he get himself in this situation?

He told himself it was not her fault completely. He was in this just as much as she was: responding to her, encouraging her. Perhaps this was all because they were under Gaudia's influence, though a part of him would not accept that an outside force had such power to rule over his actions. More and more it became evident that this realm was somehow designed to confuse them, making them lost their grasp on the reality of the world above.

But now he knew he needed to tread very carefully. This he needed to remember, and remember well: she was his brother's miko. Nothing more.

Something hard and cold passed through him as he slipped on his impenetrable mask, and he welcomed it like an old friend.

"Sesshōmaru, I —" He heard her intake of deep breath. It was only now that he realized she had finished tying the bandage around his forearm. "I'm sorry, Sesshōmaru. About earlier. I shouldn't have—"

"Cease the thought, miko," he intercepted her and took his arm away from her grasp, turning away from her. He modulated his voice; the tone cold, flat, impassive. "I allowed it, and actively participated. It will not happen again."

He did not want her sorry, nor her regret. He certainly did not want her scent of confusion, shame, and guilt. He wanted to continue this mission and be over and done with it.

He wanted her back in the village where she belonged, and him continuing his life in the opposite direction, away from her eyes, her scent, her questions, her fondness for conversation, her gentle disposition…

Away from her.

A/N: One step forward, two steps back. What seemed like a dream at the end of the previous chapter was not a dream at all, but here's the dilemma now: was it real, or was it not? Sesshōmaru was quite clear on that front but sadly, Kagome was not. Aaanyway, more adventures coming up. Thanks again for reading :)