White Dogs: Perversity.
Rating: PG-13. R, to be safe for some parts.
Pairing: Sess/Kag, we get to see something of affection in here. Or would that be desperation?
Song-fic: Uerk….::searches franticly:: Well, just listen to a random song. Ot how about "Wonderful again" (correct title?) by Everclear.
Disclaimer: ::rolls eyes upward.:: Oh, that I were the one who had created Inuyasha that I had given life to Sesshoumaru. But alas, I cannot claim anything at all. For I was not the one to do the creating merely the one to envy the creator. Translation: I own ..::checks stock:: two pieces of lint and a monkey. Nothing more. I wonder where the third piece of lint went to?…::we switch scenes to see a piece of lint, obviously the runaway one, having a snog-fest with a dust bunny.:: …!!!::pales:: I didn't want to know that bad!!
Summary: Shippou arrives at the scene, ready to be reunited with his adoptive mother. However….
Genre: Everything left of the middle. But count on some comical relief. I can't write a good, complete uninterrupted angst-drama to save my sorry existence.
A.N.: BWAHAHAHA! …. Ha!…::clears throat:: There, now that that's out of my demented system, I can get on with this note. Uerk…. And, of course, I forgot what I was going to say. ::Bangs head into desk chanting in some sort of macabre worship mantra.:: @,@. Whooo…. SO, anyways, there was this fruit walking down the street right? And…wait, that's not it. Gahh! Oh, right, right. Thank you all for the marvelous reviews. They really perk a psycho up, really they do. As for who guessed the closest on Toujikin feeling it's oats ::laugh, laugh, laugh:: was Eden. Congrats, fellow author, do pick up your prize sometime. ^___^. And yes, SilverRaven, you are right on the money with George Carlin. He amuses me immensely. "I am indeed highly dandy. However, fine…" And thank you so very much for the wonderful review. I feel praised. And, do you know Steve Martin- I believe his name is. He's very amusing as well. Here's one by dear George. "Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?" ::cackles::
I have a bit more humor in this, as I said above in the Genre area, I can't be strait out angsty if My life depended on…it…That sounds kind of Ironic, does is not? Angsty, life depended on it…anyone seeing what I'm seeing? Yes, No? But, One part humor, two parts angst mixed in with our lovely little sarcasm, beaten with a stick not shaken, than you very much. And what do we have? I have no idea but you can find it below, since I'm just killing space right now. Babbling. Shutting up.
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" Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterward." –Vernon Law.
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Perverse: Marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict. Resistance to guidance or discipline. Marked by immorality; deviation from what is good, right or proper.
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Chapter Seven: Everything Was Wonderful Again.
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It was the pungent aroma of mint that startled Sesshoumaru from his nostalgic state in the wee hours of morning. The sun's rays had just barely crawled over the horizon, spearing through fat clouds with brilliant lances of golden colors. He shook the sluggishness from his mind, dislodging memory after past memory from the fore of thoughts he was chewing over. Sampling the air, he decided there was nothing to truly worry over; Kagome's powers were just active once more. As long as he did not show himself a threat, he would not be toyed with. The scent wasn't as strong as when it had first tickled his senses.
As it was, he had work to do. The guest room wasn't self-prepping.
Sitting at his table, the guest room properly fixed up in preparation for Shippou's visit, Sesshoumaru quietly read the newspaper that conveniently stationed itself outside his door each morning. He was unsurprised to see that the headlines read of the bum's death at an unknown 'beings' hands, since there was no possible way that any man made weapon was able to do so much damage to the vertebrae in the neck, no weapon was able to slice through tendons and arteries like a knife through soft butter. And the corpse (which he was surprised to find that it had not decomposed or been eaten away by his acid venom) showed signs of having something not unlike battery acid, only ten times more potent. Or, police speculated, some other viscous and erosive chemical of that sort. There was further speculation on whether there was yet another psycho killer out on the streets, prowling for victims. Waiting in the shadows to strike quick and hard then fleeing, leaving a wake of blood and entrails. "Who would be struck next?" the paper asked. The police were stuck scratching their heads over the whole thing. And the fact that there was barely even any evidence left to go by whatsoever left them positively befuddled. All they had in the way of clues was the residue of the strange acid. There was little else. No witnesses, no fingerprints, no clear murder weapon, not even a single strand of hair. Nothing. Just acid.
He snorted, gentlemanly of course, and turned the page, a papery and musty smell fanning his face, to the stocks to check on his own investments. As if he, Sesshoumaru, would waist his time killing random people. Not bloody likely. There were more interesting things he could part take in. Thusly, he ignored the headliner and went on with his reading, lips twitching occasionally in either disgust at the political workings of things or amusement over others. He did, however, congratulate himself over the simple chaos he'd caused.
At about seven thirty a.m. several things happened at once. One, the hall outside the door of his pent house rumbled with the growling of the elevator as it crawled up its steep hole of steel and concrete. Two, the minty scent suddenly leapt into the foreground harassing his sensitive senses with it's tantalizing promise of dormant power. Three, the private phone line came to sudden, shrill life, chirping merrily on it's hook, the ID flashing "Lobby" at him as he lifted the offending noise maker from it's nook to bark a "What?" into the phone. The abrupt activity of necromancy was putting him on edge.
The receptionist- a meek little thing really- gave a startled squeak then promptly told him that a maniac was storming up to see him, gallivanting about like a lunatic and only partially dressed.
Ah, yes, that confirmed it; Shippou had arrived.
That little item of business attended to, he growled a "Thank you, Miss" then delicately slammed the now quiet phone back to it's cradle where it gave a half-hearted hiccup and remained silent.
Several heartbeats afterwards, he felt and heard the growling monster that was the elevator come to a squealing halt (they really should see to that, he mused) and 'bing' importantly, announcing its passenger to the vacant hall, then listened to the doors slowly slide open. There was a muffled curse, and the doors hissed as the occupant of the elevator pushed his way out with brute force. Or, at most, tried to. The elevator was putting up a decent fight from the sounds of it.
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, listening to the cacophony of hardy curses and machinery complaints about the rough treatment, with nary a twitch. Tough, he did lift a brow when words that could very well turn an acid to a base flitted through the corridor, surely peeling the paint off the walls. Said words were promptly followed by a frantic yelp, a bang then a "HA!" of apparent victory and, finally, light foot falls reverberated in his eardrums.
The kit would need to learn patience soon; Sesshoumaru was not interested in trying to explain to his land lord why there was several dents in the shiny chrome elevator (as he was certain there where, judging by the volatility of the words.) and why there were scorch marks on the walls. He didn't think "I didn't do it" would cut it with that stick-terminally-up-arse man.
After a long, suspicious pause, his front door clicked and opened, revealing a tousled young man wearing what seemed to be something of a cross between pajamas, business clothes and…something else. Sesshoumaru stared at the youth a moment then went back to sipping his up till now neglected tea. It was lukewarm; he hated that.
The grown kitsune finished his panting, rubbing his toe as he eyed the entirely too calm countenance of his foster father. How very annoying. Sesshoumaru acted so nonchalant, as though he didn't have someone so very important lost so very long ago in his care. Every hard angle and line that composed the taiyoukai denoted calm casualty, though this didn't fool Shippou one iota. Sesshoumaru was just the kind of guy who could be leaning against a wall in complete relaxation, seemingly oblivious to the goings on of the world around him one second and flying into a blur of motion that more often then not ended up in a fatal experience for whoever was at the business end of his claws the next. One never quite knew what the bloke was going to do next. That was probably one of the scarier things about him.
That aside, Shippou grinned with impish delight, dropping his leg back to the floor (his big toe was a little tender, but the elevator had come out in worse shape).
"Oh, I've been a naughty boy." He caroled, moving to the counter and hauling himself up onto the veneer of marble.
Sesshoumaru approached the bait then dropped it, uninterested.
"Indeed." He sniffed, and then sipped from his beverage, coal eyelashes brushing his pale cheek as he closed his eyes.
Shippou pouted and lowered his head in mock sadness. His lips quirked in a frown when he realized that the buttons of his black silk shirt were askew. He unbuttoned it and restarted, speaking as he did so, peeking up through flaming strands of hair. For all that gel he used, his hair refused to be tamed protesting even his traditional ponytail. Why did he bother? Bah, honestly.
"Oh, come now. Aren't you going to ask me what I've been doing?" He wheedled, bouncing from foot to foot exhibiting all the antsy characteristics of a five year old with some grand achievement he wished to show off. Shippou would be the first to tell anyone that his banter with Sesshoumaru was routine and that he very much enjoyed it. It was a kick to seek out buttons to press on Sesshoumaru, then stand back and see what transpired. Experience gave him caution, but trust allowed him to throw that same caution to the four winds and charge in with a war cry.
" 'Knocking up' nuns and defiling other such holy markers? Or have you given that up? Very well, what have you been doing, you little deviant." Sip. Exhale.
Shippou closed one eye and wagged a finger in the taiyoukai's general vicinity.
"Tsk, tsk, Sessy. You know I'm too...ah, what was the word for it?" The hand not connected to the condescending finger of moments ago came up and rubbed thoughtfully at its owner's lightly tanned chin.
Sesshoumaru gave up on his tea, setting it down on the table with a little clatter, thus signifying the mischievous kit that his full attention was now up for the toying. The impish grin widened to face splitting proportions.
Sesshoumaru offered, ticking off on his fingers as he did so, " Depraved? Desperate? Perverted? You really should learn better manners, or at least seek out better company than with that lecherous monk's offspring." Those oddly hued eyes his foster father now wore fixed their full intensity on him.
The kitsune wondered which was creepier. Their previous golden hue, or the freaky opaque gold-green of now. Either way, they were just as intense as they were when they were gold. And, foster father or not, Shippou still found himself shivering in something much akin to fear of what power this man before him held. Caution had recovered from its free fall out the window and had crawled back in, a bit of a broken heap but still in good working order.
Kagome…(and once again, caution was flung out the window) "Oh, hey! Where is she? I'm gonna go see her, hug her to death, wake her up –is she asleep?-…and not entirely in that order." He bounced down from his perch with a dramatic flourish, automatically pinpointing that delicate scent that he knew very well. That he had missed so much over the past five hundred years. The scent of something is the most powerful memory trigger. Just one whiff of something could dig up thousands of images from the past. Shippou's mind flooded with so many memories he'd had to block away because of the pain they caused him, that he was rendered just a tad lightheaded.
Down the hall, well then, that's where he was headed. Finally, after so long… He would finally be able to be held by her arm's that felt like home, and be engulfed in her heavenly scent. He'd be able to feel secure again; as he always had when Inuyasha had been particularly cruel to him with is harsh words and rough treatment. Kagome was home, mother, and family. Everything…he'd lost her once. Now that she was right down that hall, everything was wonderful again. The craving and yearning that had lived inside him since she'd left them all so long ago pounced on him, tearing into him with a vengeance for all those desperate times he'd pushed back memories of Kagome.
He started forward, painfully happy and bursting with the need to see her, touch her, hear her voice and her serene heartbeat, and now. He'd have made it, had an arm of a certain youkai lord not been extended in his path.
"Patience, foolish one. Going in there now and scaring her might not be to your interest. Take a deep breath, tell me what you smell." The arm was withdrawn, Sesshoumaru closing his eyes once more his warning delivered.
Shippou's eyes pinched in confusion, the dark eyebrows knitting over them. But he did as told, sniffing discretely and warily watching Sesshoumaru out of the corner of his eyes for any signs of a hoax. Just by looking at the former lord, he could tell Sesshoumaru was completely serious and wasn't quite in the mood for tomfoolery. His senses however, distracted his attention from the rigid form at his side, pulling his eyes back down the hall. Dark auburn eyebrows shot up, vanishing under a mess of bangs.
He took a deeper breath then several more, the way one would do when there was an odd unidentifiable scent dancing in the air and teasing their noses with it's mystery and trying to draw in as much of it as possible to identify it. Mint? His nose tickled…
After he sneezed, one hand flying up to rub his agitated nose, Shippou dared a look at Sesshoumaru, question in his darkly green eyes. The scent itself was pleasant really, just in small doses. No more deep breathes for a good while. "What is it? The mint-"
"It is the miko's powers. Don't ask me why it is that way. It is and that's enough. She is sleeping but her power is actively healing her. I would not suggest you going in that room till she is fully awake and aware. You have no idea how her power will react to you. Friend or not, you will still register as youkai to it and therefore a threat."
Shippou stared in down at the pale blonde head of spiked hair in absolute shock. Or what could pass for shock. It was more like disbelief. Why would Kagome see him, her adopted son, as a threat? It was ridiculous. Therefore, Shippou decided, he was going in there. She wouldn't attack him; he had full faith in that. It was fact. He'd waited so long…his heart lurched. She was so close, who was Sesshoumaru to tell him to stay put? He deserved to see her again. Nothing was going to stop him.
Sesshoumaru had waited five seconds before the boy began moving again, and when that five seconds was up he oh-so-bloody-calmly reached behind him hooking his fingers in the fabric of the black shirt Shippou wore and hauled him back, spinning him around till he was seated opposite him at the table. The end result was a rather frazzled looking kitsune, sputtering in indignant fury. But all that was a clever act, the taiyoukai knew. Inside, Shippou was most assuredly trying his hardest not to burst into tears and bawl his lonely little heart out. He understood the boy's emotions and actions well enough to know what he was thinking as well. Longing for something just out of reach, but painfully close was very aggravating to say the least.
Even sitting, the boy seemed to strain forward towards the room at the end of the darkened hall, perched at the very edge of the seat.
"Shippou," began he, shifting his gaze to pin the boy in his place, both literally and figuratively, " You are five hundred years older, and you do not look as you did when she knew you. To go in there now and wake her up to the face of a complete stranger would only scare her. I have no doubts that you intend to charge in there and, well, hug her, blubbering about this and that and so on. There is also the matter that her powers are highly active, and very dangerous to youkai. Even I would not dare to touch her now. I suggest you wait, and plan how you will tell her about this whole affair between the lot of us. She's not going anywhere, boy." The fact that he had touched her and had been zapped was carefully left out of his speech. No need to give the boy an excuse to fly off the handle with his over-protective instincts in full throttle as they were. He had such a clean, orderly kitchen and he wished to keep it that way.
Strange eyes examined the boy's tense figure, then the lips below them parted for a nearly non-existent sigh. "I had not pegged you for someone to be so stupid. Put that clever nature of yours to use. I will make more tea."
The chair gave a protesting croak as Sesshoumaru pushed back from the table and got to his feet. As he passed Shippou, he gingerly placed his hand on the shimmering ebony clad shoulder and pushed down forcefully. Shippou sank back down to sit fully, no longer suspended five inches over his seat.
Practiced ease and time and time again routine lent Sesshoumaru speed in the process of tea making, and as he moved about the kitchen he directed the boy's hectic thoughts on a central issue.
"You told me earlier you were, ahem, naughty? Why? What did you go and do that you would end up half dressed in my presence?" The dried tea leaves fluttered into the water, floating on the lucid surface and Sesshoumaru turned up the heat glancing over his shoulder once or twice to see that Shippou now had his elbows on the table, cradling his head in his hands.
"Yeah. I uh, worked my magic and found out where Kagome lives. I called her mom, disguising myself as one of her friends and told her Kagome was at my house and that I was helping her study for a test that was coming up in a few days. Her mother is an exceptionally understanding woman, I tell you what. Not a question from her aside from the typical 'How long will she be there?" which I just said a few days since we were spending quality time together as well, what with all of the sicknesses Kagome's been having. I remember Kagome telling me once that her grandfather spun far-fetched tales of Kagome's bouts of sudden aliments. Che, go figure eh? How is she, I mean really? What happened to her? Has she said anything about the others or me? Is she-"
"Shippou." The tone was a warning one. Sesshoumaru stirred the pungent mixture with a wooden spoon the soaked leaves secreting their trademark flavor into both the water and air.
Shippou, twisted in such an angle that would give acrobat headaches, attempted to dig holes in the older youkai's back with his eyes, "Fuck you, you emotionally-constipated-anal-retentive bastard. I've been without her for five hundred bloody hellish years, I think I have a right to ask questions about how she is, so have a heart." He slumped in his chair with all the fury of a petulant child, crossing his arms over his chest and allowing his head to fall so that his errant bangs overshadowed his turbulent eyes. In so many ways, Sesshoumaru thought, the boy had grown up, but in so many other's he'd stayed as young as he had been so long ago.
Sesshoumaru's glare was far more deadly then arsenic could ever hope to be. He very rarely got angry, or even annoyed to this point, but woe betide the poor sap that bore witness to it.
"Let us say I had a heart and allowed you to go on ahead full speed without covering your ass, and you were purified right out of your worthless hide. Then what? You have no idea how she may react to you, fool. I'm not concerned with her; it's her power I'm worried over. It's erratic and unpredictable. She's strong, and she's sleeping and has no control over what she is doing as we speak and that makes her all the more dangerous. Now sit down, shut up, stay seated till I give you permission to move and I will answer what questions I can. Are we agreed?"
Shippou's slack jaw closed with an audible snap, as though someone had reached under his chin and delivered a swift uppercut. It had been so long, he realized, that he'd forgotten just who Sesshoumaru was. He, in title alone if not in reality, had been born and raised with the iron hand of lordship. Suckled and weaned on nothing but the ways of being a royal, this youkai was in no way shape or form going to tolerate his shit. No doubt all the times before that he'd gotten off Scott free had only been because Sesshoumaru was humoring him. The enlightenment made his cheeks burn with embarrassment.
He peeked up at the taiyoukai through a curtain of vibrant red strands, sheepish in his actions. Sesshoumaru was watching him intently, with an expression in place that defied interpretation, before he regally turned back to the now incredibly mundane task of stirring the tea, one long arm lifting to turn down the heat and then finally switching it off.
The silence was oddly deafening. Shippou decided to twiddle his thumbs to help pass time, flirting with an idea on how exactly to explain everything to Kagome once she'd woken up. Everything meaning Sesshoumaru. Now there was a tough one. How to explain that the Taiyoukai Sesshoumaru-sama, killer of many, savior of only three so far, now counting Kagome, emotionally frozen and the one that had nearly killed their whole group many times before, had gone and turned over a new leaf, to coin the phrase.
Hell, it was completely mind-boggling even to him, and he'd experienced the change nearly first hand. It had been started long before he'd been found by Sesshoumaru. The one who'd begun thawing his lord's heart was a little girl named Rin. Shippou had come to know her when she was an older woman, at an age that Kagome had once called mid-forties. It was remarkable really, that such an aged woman had been around Sesshoumaru for so long and it had been clear to him even then that the youkai lord cared for the human woman very much otherwise she'd have been reduced to little more then boneless goo. Shippou had once fancied that the lord was in love with her, but it was apparent there was nothing between those two other then the affection of father and daughter. It was only natural, he figured. A father did not go and fall in love with his daughter unless he had some serious issues. Adoptive or not.
As it was, Sesshoumaru wasn't such a tight ass anymore, though he was still pretty much the same old "I shall kill you now" as always. There was just something more approachable about the lord now, than there had been when Shippou had been a kit bearing witness to the fight between half-brothers. Well, no not that exactly. But it was there somewhere. Sesshoumaru wasn't a glacier any more, he'd changed a great deal, but mostly in the smallest of ways hat weren't really easy to pinpoint and explain.
Sesshoumaru was still Sesshoumaru but he wasn't the same Sesshoumaru that Shippou had first crossed paths with.
"Okay, here's the plan." Shippou started, leaning his elbows on his knees and slapping on a conspirator-like grin, hoping that the end result would work to their favor. His stomach clenched at the prospect that it wouldn't before he forcefully punched it's lights out and threw it to the back corner of his mind along with all the other little voices of failure.
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Okay, Long in wait for this chapter, and not much happened. I feel like my writing is getting weaker and weaker as I go along. Bah. I don't know. You tell me, Kay? I'll be going on a four day trip, so I'll have plenty of time to plan out the next chapter. I'll be handwriting it so I can start it immediately.