One Ranch, Two Brothers
Chapter Five
By: BelleDayNight
He stared at the ceiling with unblinking blue eyes that were as cool as glaciers. His head was killing him but he refused to sleep. Why would he refuse to sleep? Because she wanted him to sleep.
Kouga was certain that the woman that had trespassed into his simple life had ulterior motives for requesting that he sleep. He would not be taken advantage of by some woman.
He was thankful that none of his bones appeared to be broken, but he was going to have some words with his not-so-loyal horse. He continued to stare at his ceiling. Funny that he never noticed the two cracks that ran across the border on the western wall of the room. He'd have to fix that.
His ears were listening hard to the sounds of the hallway. He wanted his brother. He wanted Miroku here so that he could kill him with his bare hands. It was all that hormonal brat's fault that he was in this mess. If Kagome hadn't been off with Sess he would never have ridden so recklessly to find her.
So it was really a full circle. He would kill Miroku and then he would send away that woman. He'd send Sess away as well, except he wasn't a fool and knew that no one could run his ranch better than the white haired cowboy.
There was a timid knock on his door. He refused to answer. Maybe she would go away. No such luck was found when the door was silently pushed open. Kagome stood in the doorway looking him over with those appraising sapphire eyes.
"You're awake," she observed as she stepped inside holding a silver tray with hot tea and a bit of soup. She set the tray aside upon the bedside table as she sat in the chair positioned beside his bed. She reached her cool hand to feel his forehead.
"I am not a child, don't touch me." Kouga snapped as he ignored his bruised ribs and shifted away from her on the bed. He roughly pulled up the bed covers to hide his exposed torso from her. He had no intention of allowed her lustful gaze to skim over his goods.
An exasperated sigh escaped Kagome's lips as she pulled back her hand and sat back to glare at the man before her. "You act like a child and I'm a doctor. I'm just checking to make sure you aren't coming down with a chill." She tried to explain calmly.
Kouga snorted as he turned his head to glare at her harshly. "I'm fine, you may leave now." He offered in a sneer.
Kagome rose to her feet in indignation. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "Oh you impossible man! Enjoy your food!" She turned abruptly and stormed out of his room and made certain to slam the door behind her. The landscape painting that was hanging innocently on his wall shook as if in an earthquake and nearly crashed to the floor.
Kouga sat up in the bed and allowed the covers to fall. He should feel relieved that she left him. That's what he wanted after all. He certainly didn't need to be babied after, especially by some woman who was probably trying to worm her way into his heart for his money like so many other's had.
Why was it then that he felt ill at ease now? His stomach was twisted into guilty knots that wouldn't be relieved with the warm soup sitting beside his bed. His blood was warmed with excitement from a challenge those sapphire eyes presented him.
He would ignore the inconvenience. Having his mind made up he reached for his soup and spooned the contents. He washed it down with the hot tea, it was green tea, his favorite. How had she known?
There was another knock on his door. "What do you want now wench?" Kouga growled out frustrated as he angrily swallowed another mouthful of delicious soup, though he would be loath to admit such a thing.
Miroku opened the door and his amethyst eyes twinkled in amusement at the sight of his older brother doing a fine impression of a temperamental adolescent. "Oh, did Kouga fall down and go bang?" He asked in a baby voice that made Kouga's cheeks flare crimson and Miroku burst in helpless gales of laughter.
"Don't patronize me you lecher," Kouga scolded as he took a deep drink from his hot tea. It scorched his tongue, but he would ignore such minor inconveniences.
Miroku straightened. His sour mood from his confrontation with Sango forgotten, as was the twinge of jealously he felt at Kagome and Sesshoumaru rapport with one another. His almighty big brother was sitting in bed like a stubborn child eat chicken soup.
"How's your head?" Miroku asked, a twinge of worry creeping into his voice.
Kouga lifted a hand to feel past the fringe of bangs that fell over his forehead. "It's fine," he answered absently. "My ribs are a bit bruised," he grinned sheepishly, "as is my ego."
"Bruises heal soon enough," Miroku assured his as he plopped down into the vacated chair beside the bed. It was still warm from a recent body. He could guess who's body that would be. "Kagome fix you up?"
Kouga nodded, "Why did you have to hire her?" He turned to lock gazes with his younger brother. He could never hate his baby brother, but by golly was he annoyed with the man!
Miroku shrugged. "She was the best."
The silence stretched between the two brothers. Both had questions on their minds but neither wanted to share such private thoughts with the other. "She and Sess seem close," Miroku commented absently as he tried to gauge Kouga's reaction.
"So it would seem," Kouga answered, keeping his tone carefully aloof. He didn't care that his Veterinarian and foreman were getting along. They could get married for all he cared!
"Maybe they'll run off together," Miroku suggested. Kouga didn't say a word, but his jaw tightened and it didn't go unnoticed by his baby brother.
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Kagome stared at her phone in disbelief. This couldn't be happened. It was just like him to be spontaneous but she had it all planned so carefully. How could he do this to her?
"Something wrong?" Sesshoumaru inquired as he passed by Kagome in the stables as she flipped closed her cellular phone.
"Souta," Kagome answered baffled at what her brother just decided to do to her.
Sesshoumaru took hold of both of Kagome's shoulders and drew her to face him. "What's wrong with Souta?" He demanded, worry evident in his golden eyes as he automatically looked towards her abdomen where the scar would be.
Kagome followed his gaze and realized what he must have assumed. She smiled reassuringly at him. "No, nothing like that. He decided that meeting at café was unacceptable. He's decided to come to the ranch."
Sesshoumaru's hands released his hold on her shoulders and slid to lightly embrace her upper arms. "What does he intend?"
"He's decided that he wants to stay for a few days and to make it worse, he's on his way right now. He's about half an hour from the ranch." Kagome drew in a shaky breath. She hadn't even figured out how to get to the town café and avoid word traveling back to Kouga. For some reason, he knowing about her personal life was something she didn't desire.
"He can stay in my house," Sesshoumaru offered as he released her arms. "We could say he is my guest and the others would never know." He grinned mischievously at her. "Should he be my little brother or cousin Souta?"
Kagome frowned at the little brother comment and both thought of his younger half-brother. She bit her lower lip, fighting for composure. Sesshoumaru cursed under his breath and drew her against him, burying his face in her dark hair as she pressed her cheek against his heart.
"I'm sorry Kagome, I wasn't thinking," Sesshoumaru murmured. He ran his long, tapered fingers through her silky hair soothingly as he rocked her comfortingly.
A throat cleared behind them. Sesshoumaru looked over Kagome's head and met the violently frigid stare of Kouga. "Is this what I'm paying you for?" He demanded in icy, clipped tones.
"It's lunch, what we do on our free time is of no concern to you," Sesshoumaru replied smoothly and emotionlessly. He continued to run his fingers through Kagome's silky hair when she stiffened against him.
Kouga's eyes narrowed. He glared at Kagome once more with anger firing his blood before he stormed out of the stable. He didn't much feel like easing his horse out for a ride now.
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Souta was grinning from ear to ear as the cab pulled up in front of the ranch house. It was amazing! He had lived in San Francisco for the past few years and had forgotten what sort of wonders the country possessed.
He paid his cab driver before hauling out his duffle bag and greeting his beautiful, blessed older sister and a man who looked oddly familiar with long silvery white hair braided down his back like some sort of Indian.
He dropped his duffle to the ground and opened his arms for his Kagome to rush into and swung her into the air. It amazed him still that he had grown half a foot taller than her. She had always been the strength of the pair, but now, it was within his body that the physical strength was found.
There was strength within his firmly muscled frame that wouldn't have been there but for her generosity and warm heart. He kissed her forehead affectionately before setting her back on her feet with a possessive arm wrapped securely around her waist as he waited to be introduced to the white haired man.
"Souta, you remember Sesshoumaru," Kagome introduced the two most important men in her life.
A big childish grin broke across Souta's face. "Of course! He was the one that always accompanied you to the hospital," he recalled with warmth.
"I am pleased to see you are doing well. There was a time that I feared you would never leave that hospital." Sesshoumaru gave a brief nod of his head.
Souta kissed Kagome's cheek once more. "Well if my beloved sister didn't like to share things with her little brother then I wouldn't be here today," he agreed.
Kagome snuggled against him lovingly, unaware of a pair of icy blue eyes that viewed the exchange from his upstairs window.
"By the way, you're staying with Sesshoumaru while you're here. You're his cousin and not to call him anything but Sess. His employers don't know exactly who he is," Kagome explained.
Souta began to laugh as he leaned down to pick up his duffle and toss it towards his newly dubbed cousin. "Your wish is my command," Souta assured Kagome as he followed the pair towards Sesshoumaru's house.
"Will my favorite organ donor allow me to take her to a great feast on the town?" Souta asked as they walked towards the house that looked more like a log-cabin.
"I don't have a car," Kagome informed him.
"Surely someone has a car I can borrow," Souta mused aloud, knowing that Kagome's old friend would never deny him. Sesshoumaru had treated Souta like the little brother he always wanted. Kagome's family had been more his own than the family his father started after his mother's death.
"Very well, you may use my truck," Sesshoumaru consented. He felt a tug threatening to lift his lips, but suppressed the urge to grin like a fool. He had been such a hopeless miserable man for the past many years, it was a blessing to have the Higurashi's back in his life.
He felt that sense of family return to him that he had thought perished in that awful fire those years ago. "You okay?" Kagome asked, placing a concerned hand upon his shoulder.
Sesshoumaru looked down at her and nodded. "I am now," he answered.
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Kouga glared at the mess scattered across his desk. Several broken pencils lay across polished wood. His anger was started to hamper his work. He didn't care about his Veterinarian's social life.
If she wanted to seduce his foreman and apparently the foreman's cousin that was her own business. She had just better not do it on his time. He couldn't deny that she was excellent at her work, but he was not going to put up with the aggravation that seeing her flaunt herself and flirt shamelessly with his men would cause.
Kaede had mentioned to him as she prepared his lunch that Kagome and Sess's cousin wouldn't be joining them. Apparently they had gone into town to reminisce. Granted, Kouga didn't care about this it still annoyed him that someone would be staying on his ranch without his permission.
He didn't like how his routine life was being destroyed. Sess actually joked once in a while. There was a woman interfering with his thoughts. She was a nuisance if ever there was one. Now there was some boy from California whisking away said nuisance. Shouldn't that make him happy though?
"Problems boss?" Miroku asked as he plopped across from his brother at the dining room table to eat lunch.
"No," Kouga answered, trying to will the apparition of his smug brother away. It wasn't working.
"Did you see that young man Kagome went into town with? They seemed rather fond of one another." He watched Kouga stiffen in amusement. "And here I thought she had something going on with Sess, but I guess I was wrong. This Souta character seems more her style."
"Why do you say that?" Kouga wanted to punch himself. He didn't intend to ask that question. He really didn't care.
Miroku shrugged. "Well, he's tall, dark ebony hair, bright blue eyes, good physical shape, and he is quite clever. I talked to him for a few minutes before they left. He has quite the personality I tell you!"
"Charming," Kouga muttered as he ripped the beef sandwich with his teeth. He tried to imagine it was Souta's flesh he was devouring like a wild wolf. He would slay his prey and leave him to the wilds. The thought made him smile to himself.
"And here you were worried that she had a thing for you," Miroku added with a grin that quickly vanished with the brutal glare sent his way. "You okay?"
"Never better. I have work to do," Kouga answered stiffly as he pushed aside his chair and rose to return to his office. He didn't want to think about her anymore. She was out of his hair, so why did he feel so empty now?
TBC