Universe: Inuyasha
Pairing: SessKag
Genre: Romance, Smut
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and its characters do not belong to me (sadly).
Author Notes: Hallo~! Continuation for Beauty-School Dropout series. Sesshoumaru was not very adept at french-braiding; perhaps he'll fare better at tying kimonos...if he can keep his hormones in check.
also, ummm...NSFW? :'D i hope you like lemon, if not then consider the previous chapter as the last one. i always get nervous when i post smut abdjskd
Kimono School Dropout: EXCERPT
888
Sesshoumaru didn't know what he had been expecting when the miko had first proposed obi-tying lessons, but he realized now it was only logical that untying obis would be part of it.
This didn't particularly present an obstacle in the practical sense of the word. Sesshoumaru was quite adept at untying tangles - unless they were ones created by his own person in a pretty miko's hair, but he digressed. Allow him to clarify: this Sesshoumaru was (usually) excellent at anything he applied himself to, and he had tied (and untied) his own obi knots sufficient times during his 500-year-old existence to be more than a little familiar with the practice.
Undoing the obi for someone else - a female someone, to be exact - was quite a different story, though. The issue therein did not lay on the knot itself, but rather, what lay beneath it. Before him, the miko blinked up at the warring demon lord, then down to the obi knot keeping the thin silk kimono wrapped around her slim, feminine frame. She looked back up and raised her eyebrows, encouragingly.
"Undress me", the silent command of her eyes projected.
Sesshoumaru's throat became dry.
Yes, definitely much more different than undoing his own obi.
Sesshoumaru was not sure when this shift had begun. There once was a time when he thought nothing of the keeper of the Jewel of Souls, except that she was his half-brother's odd wench. Tolerance had settled after he realised how much his little ward Rin adored the strange-mannered miko, and then tolerance grew to respect as they battled side by side against Naraku. Once strangers, later enemies, then antagonists with a similar goal, he could freely admit that their relationship now was closer to that of allies, comrades even. Sesshoumaru was big enough to acknowledge the miko's strength, regardless of her apparent humanity, and welcomed her as a useful part of his alarmingly growing pack.
It was only recently that intrusive thoughts drew his attention constantly to her.
A laugh from the fair maiden had him obsessively committing the sound to memory, to be replayed during the times she was away in a village practising her purifying duties and he needed something to drown out the sounds of his idiot half-brother arguing with the kitsune boy over ramen noodles.
A smile would be traced, diligently, with his mind's eye, the image overlapping his eyelids at night when Sesshoumaru would fantasise different scenarios that would illicit that jovial quirk of her lips, and how he could become the author of it.
His mind had been possessed with those and a hundred more confusing thoughts, and suddenly the title of allies, which had priory left him quite content, was now insufficient. He wanted...more.
Kagome was looking up at him with that innocent doe-eyed look that bordered on disingenuous, but dammit if she didn't look positively alluring, and he allowed himself the pleasure of drinking in her beauty, as pleasures were few and far between for the retired demon lord.
It was fortunate that the others had decided to go visit the nearby village - a full day and a half's walk away - to replenish their supplies. Kagome had offered to stay back to study for something called "quizzes", and Sesshoumaru had agreed to keep guard over her and their belongings. One to usually put up a fight at leaving the two of them alone, his boorish half-brother Inuyasha had magnanimously complied with the taiyija when she had asked for his help carrying their shopping back. Though now that Sesshoumaru thought about it, perhaps the demon huntress's insistence had been at Kagome's instruction - he had seen them colluding earlier the day before while "sneaking" glances at him. He thought he'd heard his name mentioned, but little else could be made out from their private conversation.
Could the miko have orchestrated their privacy at camp for an entire day? To what end?
The possibilities had something sinfully warm pooling in his abdomen, and Sesshoumaru swallowed thickly as he looked down at the woman with a shrewd narrowing of his eyes.
She was standing before him, all 5 feet and 2 inches, offering her torso to him like some perverse gift waiting to be unwrapped and her treasures discovered. His demon hearing caught the smooth rustle of fabric against bare skin as Kagome fidgeted, and with a rush to his lower regions he concluded that it was quite possible the miko was wearing nothing underneath.
Sesshomaru's clawed fingers hovered, tentatively, over the clever knot at the back of her waist, his arms awkwardly around her as she stubbornly insisted on facing him, unsure of how to best proceed.
Privately, Kagome smiled at the marvel that 'panic', as an emotion, was universal and transcended even across species, as she gleefully witnessed Sesshoumaru clearly struggling with the concept of undressing her. It was almost endearing.
After what had, quite rationally, become a horrible memory in the young woman's life when her attempts at teaching Sesshoumaru how to french-braid had led to an impromptu haircut, Kagome had thought their relationship - if their reluctant companionship up to that point could even be called that - had been doomed to failure.
Instead, quite the opposite happened.
It was miraculous, but Sesshoumaru had become...kinder, somehow. His tone was less sharp when speaking to her, gentle even, and his gaze was careful instead of hateful. Now they could enjoy a quiet meal together without anxiety crawling up and down Kagome's spine at the sepulchral silences. It wasn't that Sesshoumaru didn't want to speak to her; he was just a naturally quiet person. Rather than rude, she now found those shared silences between them meditative, relaxing even. It was a well of calm after the constant screaming matches she would have throughout the day with Inuyasha and Shippo (and sometimes, even Miroku). One could call those moments they shared almost...friendly. It was strange.
Stranger still was that...it seemed like Sesshoumaru enjoyed those moments just as much as she did, and actively sought them out. He would continuously follow her around the camp like a loyal stray, wary of her attentions and yet adorably unaware of his growing attachment to her, and more often than not Kagome would find his alien yellow eyes staring intensely at her face.
She found she rather liked that. A lot.
Kagome wanted those eyes staring at other parts of her body too.
One couldn't blame her, really. It had been a while since the young miko had had any form of sensual touch from the opposite sex, and being surrounded by comrades with super-human hearing didn't really offer Kagome many opportunities to, ah, relieve herself.
She was alone and horny and at her limit, and he was so very pretty and at the very least intrigued by her.
What harm was there in trying? The worst that could possibly happen was that Sesshoumaru would reject her advances, which would send her spiralling into a chasm of despair so deep her past happiness would only ever exist as a purely theoretical concept, and she would die of shame so efficiently that not even Tenseiga could bring her back (and that was only if Sesshoumaru would even entertain the idea of reviving a creature as pathetically desperate as she).
Yep, no harm in trying!, the time-traveller thought shrilly.
On the other hand...
She really wanted to touch his hair, and everything else attached to it, and if she could defeat the most evil demon in history, then she could face one measly hot demon man-boy. It was a huge risk, but Kagome was nothing if not the world's most remarkably optimistic gambler with a unique inability to recognise disaster, as her foresight was clouded by silver linings.
It was then that a plan bloomed in the clever miko's mind.
If tying hair had been a disaster for the young demon lord, she wondered how well he would fare with tying obis. It seemed he wasn't particularly adept at domestic tasks requiring his hands as well as he was at using those hands for more, erm, lethal activities. And so, Kagome - very innocently - had proposed the lessons to the lord, under the guise of helping Rin yet again.
Sesshoumaru, surprisingly, agreed.
She had expected some resistance from the demon lord; what she had not accounted for was timidness!
"Here." she said, adopting her gentlest teacher voice as she captured his flinching hands on her own thinner ones and brought them to the front of her abdomen, to rest limply over the sash. "You start by undoing this knot, my lord."
Sesshoumaru scowled at her, though the potency of it was diminished by the tell-tale blush at the tips of his ears.
"This Sesshoumaru knows, miko. But I merely wondered if this part is truly necessary. After all, I will not be undressing Rin, merely helping her get dressed."
"Well, there may be times when she is too tired to undo it herself, milord." Kagome reasoned sweetly, tracing a maddening thumb across his knuckles and scattering his thoughts with ease. "The knot may be too complicated for a sleepy young girl to tackle. She'll need a strong, capable demon lord to help her. And it's sensei, not miko." she reminded him with a heart-stopping smile, all pink lips and pearly straight teeth.
Sesshoumaru glared down at his fingers, urging them into motion, but he was still so thrown by the situation that the brain signals never made it to his muscles. It didn't help that he was incredibly distracted by her smell. Her aroma was...ripe. Inviting. But why? Was it his equally excited nearness that had her producing such an intoxicating smell? Bitches often responded, without their will, to his Alpha pheromones, and went into premature heat at his presence. Were female humans affected similarly? But what if he was misinterpreting Kagome's signals? What if-
Sesshoumaru caught the muffled cough of a giggle, and looked up with a baffled scowl at the laughing woman.
"Do you mock me?" Sesshoumaru snapped with a hiss, bristling defensively. He usually enjoyed the sound of the miko's laugh - it was clear, musical and pleasant on his sensitive ears. But to see it weaponized against him did something terrible to his pride.
"Forgive, me! I do not laugh AT you, milord. I am merely surprised that the great taiyoukai is so shy!"
Sesshoumaru blinked owlishly at the adjective.
Shy? Sesshoumaru had been called many things in his life before. Certainly worst ones, things he would never dare say in public company, let alone one of the female persuasion. Yet shy had never crossed anybody's imagination.
"You hide it quite well with your whole "Sesshoumaru-ness" - aloof, silent, mysterious, always keeping to yourself. But I wonder if that cool-guy persona is actually just timidness." she laughed again, as if surprised by her own discovery.
"And how exactly am I being shy, right now, sensei? By refusing to callously undress you?"
"Shy and chivalrous. It keeps getting better."
Sesshoumaru growled.
Kagome squeaked as Sesshoumaru yanked her by the obi and she crashed against him, arms splayed across his chest to keep her balance and put distance between them.
"Silence! I will not hear such insolence!" He yanked again, crushing them closer still, rattling her body like a ragdoll and Kagome gasped as his pupils tinted reddish pink, his facial stripes jagged. Oops, she thought distantly, her own eyes glassing over with fear (and excitement?) as she belatedly realised there were consequences to teasing haughty demon lords.
She was counting on it though.
Kagome had been so distracted by the growing tips of his fangs she didn't at first process the rough hands working the obi until the demon lord gave a triumphant tug that had the half-undone sash sliding down her waist and yanked the top of her kimono open, revealing her to the world.
The air between them ceased to exist as Sesshoumaru promptly forgot how to breathe.
Sesshoumaru had been incorrect in his initial assessment. (Being incorrect; that was never something that happened frequently until he met the little miko, and yet now it kept happening with alarming regularity.) Kagome was not (fortunately or unfortunately, he wasn't sure yet) naked underneath the kimono as he had surmised earlier.
But with what little she wore, she might as well have been.
Yellow eyes hungrily devoured the frilly, delicate lace covering the soft swell of her breasts, cupping them tenderly in virginal white. It was another one of those weird garments from wherever it was she came from, and Sesshoumaru stared, transfixed, a burning yearning coming over him. He had never seen anything quite like it. It was like armour dipped in sex.
Her breasts looked so soft.
Before he knew it, one curious hand stretched forward. Sesshoumaru hooked a long finger under the thin strap that kept the minuscule cloth suspended upon her chest, and almost as if he were watching it from outside his body, the finger dragged the flimsy strap down the curve of her thin shoulder and to the crook of her elbow. The fabric nearest the strap stretched, pulling down with it, revealing the edge of a pink areola to the world.
Desperately, the taiyoukai tried to hush the voracious greediness that nearly overwhelmed him, as Kagome trembled against him.
"What is this?" Sesshoumaru asked as he tugged on the strap carefully, and even to his own ears the sound of his voice was rough, hoarse. He grasped at coherency.
Kagome was breathing shallow, the action making her lovely chest, adorned in the risque fabric, rise and fall with maddening sensuality. "Lingerie, milord." At his blank stare, Kagome smiled indulgently, the pretty dusting of blush on her cheeks deepening. "It is undergarments, milord, but for...special occasions."
Sesshoumaru liked the sound of that way more than what was probably morally correct.
"And pray tell, Kagome, what is the special occasion today?"
Kagome breathed through the pause, demanding his attention, testing his patience, and a small smile bloomed across her full lips as she stepped in closer still, their bodies touching at every possible point.
"You." she whispered honestly, and he was so hard it was painful.
888
IF YOU WANT TO READ THE COMPLETE SHORT, PLEASE HEAD OVER TO MY "BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT" SERIES ON MY PAGE. I have more people following this collection, so i thought it would make sense to advertise it here (where the series was originally posted) so my other story could get traction! please R&R over there if you can! story will be deleted from here at a later date so make sure to fave/follow over at the other series link!