Author: SavingRain
Rating: R
Summary: After Naraku's death, Kagura needed to find her place in the world.
Sesshoumaru's expression didn't change; he simply turned to Azumamaro and lifted an eyebrow.
"This Sesshoumaru is familiar with you. You recently rose up against Daisetsu in the North." He looked back at Kagura, and for a second, she was almost afraid that he was going to ask her why she had made such a foolish choice for her mate.
Of course, I do not care at all how he feels about my choices; I am still myself after all.
"Sesshoumaru," she saw him flinch, "-sama." Azumamaro quickly added, he was a tall youkai who equaled the Western Lord in height and stature.
His back was perfectly straight as he leaned against his weapon, a long fish-hooked spear that appeared to be finely crafted, with feathers on both ends. Long dark hair flowed down his back to the backs of his knees, framing his handsome features. Sesshoumaru silently took in his fine clothing and armor. He noted the way he confidently threw his weight around, even in the presence of a taiyoukai lord.
Kagura noticed it too, and she couldn't help a slight chuckle at his superior stance. She wondered if he knew he was facing down his death.
Sesshoumaru, he doesn't seem impressed. Still, the way he is acting…
"Kagura, we will return to my palace." He was simply ignoring Azumamaro, intentionally focusing his gaze entirely on the slight woman before him. Inwardly, Azumamaro scoffed, as if she had more value than he did. "Of course," Sesshoumaru said, and then, as if it were an afterthought, he added,"you are welcome to come as well."
Oh shit…
Kagura's back tensed. If Sesshoumaru was familiar with Azumamaro, then certainly he was familiar with him as well. Despite Sesshoumaru's terrifying strength and imposing figure, Azumamaro was not one to back down. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he gripped his spear and lifted it from the ground. Her heart beat was throbbing inside of her chest, and her mind was running wild.
I can't let him…
Reflexively, she reached out for Azumamaro's arm and wrapped him in her embrace. He stiffened and looked down at her. His wide, chocolate colored eyes took her in, and he smiled with familiar ease.
"Missing me already, Kagura?" he asked, and he easily slipped an arm around her waist. She smirked back, lifting a suggestive eyebrow in his direction. She pulled on his arm and began to steer him after Sesshoumaru, trying to appear casual as she snapped her fan against her thigh to send a cool breeze across her face. Looking at Sesshoumaru's back, she could clearly see that this would be a difficult couple of days. ~
Kagura supposed that dinner was the usual affair at Sesshoumaru's court, having never actually been there before; she simply sat back and tried to appear aloof to everything around her. Azumamaro took it all in with ease. She watched him during dinner and was reminded of what had drawn her to him in the first place, he wasn't mysterious or awe-inspiring as Sesshoumaru had been. In contrast, he was affable, demanding, and relatively easy-going. He loved to fight and was ambitious, with grand ideas for the future that often dumped him in life or death situations.
That was how I first met him.
She gave him a lascivious smile as he nodded to her, lounging back on pillows with a few serving girls cooing around him.
I still remember the rain. Sesshoumaru had succeeded in teaching me many lessons, like how to survive, and how to read an opponent without giving oneself away. When we parted ways I went farther away than I had before because I felt that I was going somewhere this time. I wasn't aimless, I wanted to make a name for myself in the north, in the east, anywhere.
It had been raining for weeks, and one day it poured down so badly that I couldn't ride on my feather. I took the loss in stride and walked, having heard rumors of a declining youkai lord who's lands were up for the taking. A rustle in the trees alerted me to another's presence, and I flicked out my fan, easily sending several wind blades in the direction of the noise to drive out the intruder. A tall figure leapt out, and I charged forward, producing a tornado from thin air that took up rain, loose earth, and rocks, and buffeted into him. I still remember Azumamaro's shock when I knocked him off of his feet.
A haughty laugh and I was ready to attack him again, if only he hadn't pinned me down in the next second, one foot against my chest and the other holding his spear at an angle that could easily cut my throat. I balled my right hand up into a fist and was shocked to find that I had been separated from my fan. I looked to the side and saw it caught in the bushes…Some how, I still don't know how, he had managed to get it out of my grasp.
The easiest thing to remember about him is his face. I looked up at him, and he smiled at me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
To tell you the truth, I was annoyed as hell.
"Get the fuck off of me you bastard!"
He merely laughed and dug his foot a bit deeper into my chest before stepping off of me to offer me his hand. I smacked him away and quickly retrieved my fan, throwing it open to create another volley of wind blades to cut off his head. He stared at me, open-mouthed and completely confident as he side-stepped my attacks, bringing his spear up in a wide swing. I nearly had the air knocked out of me as it pulsed with blue energy, sending me backwards and into the skyline.
I recovered easily, landing some yards back. Even from that distance I could see him smirking. I smirked back. The look on his face was priceless, as I spread out my fan again and used it to rip the surrounding trees from their roots, burying him in a hurricane of trunks and branches…
"Kagura." She looked away from her mate with a slight start. Sesshoumaru was standing next to her, completely ignoring the others around him, vying for his attention.
Kagura noticed the respectful distance they kept, even in their eagerness. He walked away; simply saying her name was indication enough for her to follow. She didn't bother to look at Azumamaro to see if he was sober enough to restrain from picking a fight, it didn't matter at this point, from the sounds of the serving girls, he was well occupied.
She followed him out of the crowded dining hall and into the more secluded hallways that ran around the chambers of the palace. She was shocked by the silence of the place, usually there were so many youkai present, crowding her way. They walked some ways in silence until they reached a deck that looked out on the side of the mountain, giving a substantial view of Sesshoumaru's grand residence.
The palace appeared to be carved into the mountain itself, created from stone and ancient magic; it loomed over the surrounding valleys and lesser domains in plain sight of all. Kagura had never imagined that Sesshoumaru had such a place to live, in all the time she'd known him, he had been a wandering lord, she had never asked why, she had simply assumed he was surveying his lands. Now, she wondered if there were some other reason for his absence from his stronghold.
--Or could it be that he finally had a reason to return?
"This." He said, finally looking at her as he stood, imperialistic in all his glory, bathed in the moonlight. Kagura's breath nearly caught in her throat. She'd forgotten how handsome he was…"is idiotic."
Her temper caught up with her heart.
"What the hell did you just say?" she spat.
He looked at her, glaring slightly.
"You sent some lesser youkai to this Sesshoumaru to relay a message that you were returning to the Western Lands," he seemed to grow taller as he berated her. "And you have returned here, with a youkai that is wanted dead by every other Lord in the region."
".."
He went on.
"You would never have sent a message before. It was foolish of you to announce your presence, traveling with one such as he, and it is foolish of you to stand here now, in this Sesshoumaru's presence, mated to a youkai that offends him."
Kagura shook her head angrily.
"What the hell are you talking about? You let him come here!" She waved her arm out to indicate the palace. Sesshoumaru didn't respond. "If you're so touchy about it, when I announced that I was mated to him, then you should have killed him then!"
His eyes narrowed.
"This Sesshoumaru is already aware of such a thing." He appeared to speak to her dismissively, but before Kagura could raise her voice and yell at him again, he casually continued, "It would have been a waste to kill you simply because of your mate's indiscretion."
Her heart caught in her throat.
Sesshoumaru, did you think that's what I meant? Did it cross your mind to—
He seemed to relax, lifting his gaze from her to stare out at the sky.
"If I had killed your mate, you would have wanted vengeance. I would have killed you as well as a result."
I'm shaking.
Kagura wrapped her arms around her body to still the involuntary uneasiness that filled her.
"I would not fight you." She said, he turned to her and lifted an eyebrow in interest. She smirked. "I have no desire to be known as the one who finally killed the Lord of the Western Lands."
Sesshoumaru growled. She delighted in it. Then she paused—Is he looking over my head? Turning, she saw Azumamaro standing at the doorway, casually taking them in.
A familiar feeling of foreboding filled her. He smiled at her, and she almost shook her head at him. Why was it that he always surprised her?
"I have a feeling it is time to retire to bed," he said, and then off of Sesshoumaru's look, added, "if Sesshoumaru-sama pleases."
Sesshoumaru stiffened.
"Do not speak to this Sesshoumaru in such a manner," he bit out.
Oh, Kami, please…don't…
Kagura had a horrifying image of him reaching for Toukijin and ripping Azumamaro to shreds. She felt her heart beating wildly in her chest again, until Azumamaro did something surprising. Looking at Kagura, he smiled again, and then bowed, humbling himself on his knees. If she didn't have so much self control, she would have gasped.
Sesshoumaru, she noticed, didn't say anything; he simply turned back around and pretended that Azumamaro didn't exist.
"You may go, Kagura." He said.
She felt her temper flare up.
As if I needed his damned permission…
Azumamaro's hand slipped into her own, and he pulled her obscenely close considering they were in public. Kagura noticed that the hall had filled with other youkai, pouring out of the banquet. She liked the feel of him against her body, and let him hold her there as they walked through the cavernous residence, towards their bed chambers for the night.
Sesshoumaru didn't move.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken's familiar voice broke the silence and Sesshoumaru turned around, not bothering to look down at the toad as he entered the grand hall, heading towards his own room for the night.
~
Kagura stretched her hands towards the ceiling as she entered her guest chambers. Azumamaro was walking ahead of her, complete with his superior air. She couldn't help but shake her head at him.
"I've never seen you lower yourself before anyone," she said, lightly tugging at her sash to undo her robes.
Azumamaro was pulling off his dark armor and throwing it onto the floor as if it were nothing. He was always wearing black and gray, the only sign of color was a red sash he wore across his chest that held a small pouch where he carried his papers. Kagura slipped a thin robe on meant for the evening and sat down on a cushion across from a small table. She was leaning forward on her elbows, waiting for him to sit down across from her as he always did and set down his rice paper and ink to begin writing another battle plan he'd thought up while drinking too much sake. Instead, he stood over the two futons on the floor, frowning.
"Asshole." He muttered.
Kagura couldn't help but smile.
"Oh?"
"Look at this," he said, gesturing as if she hadn't noticed. She clearly had.
I knew he would overreact…
"Why did we come here again?" he said, as if he were speaking to no one in particular. Kagura didn't answer him.
She leaned back and pretended not to hear.
"I'm sorry," she said, "Did you say something?"
He looked at her and she flinched when he didn't smile. His eyes narrowed.
"We came here to see Sesshoumaru. Why?" He prodded.
Kagura rolled her eyes at him and casually raised one hand to untie her hair.
"I told you, I have unfinished business."
He glared. Kagura stopped. She had never really seen him angry before.
"That is not why we are here."
Her temper quickly rose and she shot to her feet, balling her fists up at her side.
"You'd better think hard about what you are accusing me of you son of a bitch—"
"A bitch?" He smirked and gave her a scoffing laugh. "Is that what you were to him?"
He smiled.
"I thought about it during dinner, I figured the damn thing out." He walked from one end of the room to the other, turning on his heel to give her a wicked grin when he reached the window. "You were his whore!"
He laughed, and Kagura actually felt her cheeks coloring and her heart race increase.
"That's why he's such an asshole."
Despite her embarrassment and rising anger, Kagura smirked at that.
"He's that way to everyone." She dryly intoned.
"Except you," Azumamaro leaned against the wall, folding his arms against his chest. "Now, what am I going to do about that?"
-----
I'd hate to take up room in the story to respond to reviews, but I had to thank everyone who responded, and say a little something back.
BattleJoyW- Your review took me off guard, because I absolutely love your Searching story, and I am a fan of your work. You are an amazing writer, so your review was high praise indeed. Thank you for your suggestions on grammar and getting a beta reader. That is a good idea, because despite re-reading the chapters several times, I find that there are still errors left behind that I need to fix.
Seaouryou-I've seen you around, fellow Kagura/Sesshoumaru lover, heh?:)
PuppnReckie&A-Stray-Fayth- Thank you very much for the compliments.
Ok, that's it, and I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, I had more difficulty writing this one, but I think it came out decently.