Lessons Learned
Author: Shortey 83
Chapter 33 - Attraction
Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim!
Author's Note: Thank you all for being patient! I am still tinkering with my other stories, but as I am working on my own novel series, fanfictions get pushed to the backburner for days when I have writer's block and need a simple change of pace. I am working on rewriting 'My Dog, Sesshomaru" (sorry to those of you who have been through several rewrites already) and 'Heirlooms'. Hopefully I'll have the reworked first chapters to those stories out in the next month or so, but I will leave the other chapters up as I rewrite and only change them one chapter at a time.
Story Start:
Summer faded to fall, and Takara had a few small memories return to her, but it seemed no matter what she tried, she couldn't quite break the dam holding her mind hostage. InuYasha and Kagome had come to visit several times to try and lend whatever assistance they could offer, but it seemed InuYasha was unwilling to travel in excess anymore as it turned out that Kagome had also conceived shortly after Takara's return.
"You can help me prepare for what to expect," Kagome had teased, but Takara had doubted that would be the case. So far, Kagome hadn't experienced much in the way of morning sickness other than an aversion to strong, fishy odors. Takara, on the other hand hadn't seemed to shake her morning sickness completely. It persisted but wasn't as frequent once she figured out the triggers.
Sesshomaru continued to be attentive to her needs but made it a point to never crowd her space and Takara appreciated that. If she needed time to herself, he let her be, but if she wanted to be close to him, he allowed and encouraged it. He seemed eager to bed her as well, but as the weeks went by, Takara found herself being more concerned with her body's changes.
As she sat in the bathhouse with Kagome and Sango, she placed a hand on her stomach which begun to swell in the past few weeks as her child grew within her.
The rational part of her mind told her that she looked as she should for a pregnant woman, but the irrational part of her continued to call her size into question as her clothes slowly stopped fitting.
She had even refused to bed with Sesshomaru during daylight hours, thinking he might find her distended stomach unattractive. She shared these fears with her friends and Kagome laughed.
"Let me just say," Kagome laughed, dumping a bucket of the warm water down her back as she sat on the smooth stone seat in the bathhouse. "If I was a betting woman, all you would have to do is walk right into his room and drop your kimono and you would have Sesshomaru's complete and undivided attention."
"That's because my boobs are getting bigger." Takara rolled her eyes, turning to allow Sango to scrub her back.
"Huh," Sango remarked as she ran a cloth up the length of Takara's back. "I don't know, Takara. Sesshomaru doesn't seem to be the kind of male to be distracted by a woman's breasts."
Takara didn't answer her out loud, but she silently admitted that Sango was right. Then again, from what she could remember, Sesshomaru hadn't really shown any intense interest in her body aside from when they were in the heat of things. Other than the occasional caress to her cheek, he wasn't handsy at all. His composure only slipped when they were in bed.
When Sango had finished scrubbing her back, Takara stood to grab a clean cloth to return the favor. She paused beside Kagome, grabbing another bucket for Sango, when Kagome's hand gently stroked her slightly rounded belly. "Sorry," Kagome apologized with a little laugh. "Don't take this the wrong way, Takara, but just imagining you in a couple of months..."
"I'm gonna be huge." Takara groaned in mock despair.
"You're going to be so cute!" Kagome finished with a laugh.
"I just hope I don't have bad mood swings. Sesshomaru might feel them and whoa boy..."
Takara returned to wash Sango's back while the three of them had a good laugh at her mate's expense. "Then again," she added. "I don't think it will be all that bad. Even when I'm upset, Sesshomaru's really good at not letting it show if he knows that nothing is wrong."
The girls murmured their agreement as they all rinsed off, sitting in the bathhouse's foggy heat for a while longer.
"So, nothing's really come back yet, as far as your memory goes?" Kagome asked, leaning against the wall behind her.
"No, nothing important. It's kind of like putting a puzzle together without the box. There are a few pieces I can put together in order to see a tiny picture, but the big picture is still far from done."
"Well, don't worry about it too much," Sango assured her with a pat to her hand. "If they come back, they come back, and if not, you'll just have to make some new memories."
"Yeah, but I could speak dragon." Takara sighed. "That must've been so cool."
Her friends agreed with her before deciding it was time to dress and leave the humid confines of the bath. They each put on a sleeping yukata and headed back to the main house for dinner. Sesshomaru didn't join them, not that he ever ate, but he did usually make his presence known whenever Takara had company. He had been busy trying to find the dragon responsible for Takara's initial disappearance as of late. It seemed that he had received a potential clue for its whereabouts. When Takara had questioned about whether or not he would go after it, he had assured her that he wouldn't be leaving her side unless absolutely necessary.
She had no complaints.
After putting Rin to bed and seeing her guests to their rooms for the night, Takara retired to her room for a while. Lighting a lamp, she decided to write down any of the memories, no matter how small that they may have been, to try and help piece things together. She also had begun to write down a small diary of what had happened throughout the day should there ever come a time when her memories fled again.
In an unusual turn of events, Sesshomaru came to find her first, inquiring if she would be retiring in her rooms or his for the evening.
"I'll be there in a few minutes." She told him, waiting for the ink to dry on her scroll. "I just wanted to write somethings down."
"What are you writing?"
"Just a little synopsis of my day. A little letter to myself in case I forget things again. "
He didn't say anything for a moment afterwards, but as Takara rolled up her scroll and put it away neatly, he inquired about the second scroll she had sitting out. "And the other?"
Takara hesitated, fearing he might be upset or find her explanation ridiculous, but at his patient silence, she finally explained. "I'm not sure if I've told you before, but my mom died when I was little. The few memories I do have of her, she was always in a hospital and sick. Thinking back to when I was in the hospital recently, I kept thinking of her and could only imagine how bored and trapped she must've felt sitting there day after day."
Takara reached up and touched the scroll Sesshomaru had referred to before she filed it away with the others. "For all of her kids, she wrote them a little book, just an entry or two everyday while she was pregnant and the years after until the book was filled from cover to cover. My dad gave them to each of us on our 16th birthday, but since my mom died before she could fill it up with memories, she wrote me a letter instead."
She tried to get a hold of her emotions as Sesshomaru reached down to stroke her head, but a few tears slipped by anyways. "It was a nice letter and it made me realize how much I had missed without having a mother around. Even now, I have so many questions about... everything; Being a mother? What to expect? How do I avoid messing things up?" Ever her rock, Sesshomaru continued to wait patiently for her to finish.
"I mean, I forgot my husband. Dragon or not, what does that say about me? What if I forget my own children? I just don't want that to happen, but if it does, I don't want them to ever question that I love them. I want to make sure they know how much they mean to me, despite that there will probably never be enough words to tell them."
For a moment, Takara was concerned that she had frightened her husband away with her blubbering, but when he shut the screen to her room, she knew that wasn't the case. "They will know because you will tell them every day, my treasure. You will not forget them or me again, and I will ensure that you are kept safe so that you may enjoy them for as long as you like."
She may not have remembered too much about Sesshomaru, but she didn't take him for one to show any emotion aside from possibly anger or irritation. The sincerity in his eyes quickly grew until, dare she say, desire danced in them. The intensity in his molten honey eyes made her avert her gaze from his as she felt a flush begin to color her cheeks.
Her earlier conversation with Kagome and Sango in the bathhouse came flooding back and she decided to test their theory. If he thought her body was unattractive, surely the desire in them would fade, wouldn't it? Now or never. She thought, standing from her table and moving towards her futon.
"Close your eyes for a moment?" she asked him. He considered a moment before complying to her request and as Takara untied her obi and slipped out of the soft silk of her kimono's layers. Each layer fell to the floor in the barest whisper of fabric, but each sound was like a bell tolling in her ears as her nerves began to get the better of her. For a moment, she wrestled with the idea of extinguishing the writing lights she had left burning near her desk.
But then you couldn't tell what he thinks when he sees you... She eventually reasoned with herself. She fidgeted with her hands, trying to figure out the most natural/comfortable way to hold them, before she finally laced them behind her back. "Ok," she told him and watched his face as his eyes instantly went to hers. The flush staining her pale cheeks had yet to fade, instead, it grew darker the lower his eyes fell down her body. A low rumble tumbled its way out of his chest as he slowly stalked forward, his eyes never lifting from where they were focused.
She watched as a large, sword roughened hand reached out to rest on her gently rounded stomach. With that simple touch, her worries vanished, and calm settled over her as Sesshomaru gently stroked her belly, growling contentedly. Her eyes flickered to his face for a moment before she returned her gaze to his stroking hand, unlacing her fingers so that she could rest a hand on his.
She barely noticed his movement when he leaned forward, rubbing his head against hers as his mouth teased her mating mark, drawing sparks of desire from her.
"Lie down, my treasure." He commanded, and she obeyed, slowly dropping to her knees before him, her eyes on his face as he towered over her. She only had to scoot back a little way until she ended up where she needed to be on her futon.
A delighted smile sprung to her face as he gently tossed his fur to land beside her. Not waiting for instruction either way, she reached out to grab the silky, fluffy mass and arranged it until it surrounded her. Pillowing her head, the ends of his fur rested at her side for a moment before Takara grabbed each end and folded them across her chest as she luxuriated in the excellence that was her mate's fur. She turned her head, burying her face into the soft whiteness, enjoying the feel, but also the smell of Sesshomaru that lingered.
"Enjoying yourself?" Sesshomaru's voice snapped her back to the present. She knew he couldn't see her smile from how she had his fur pulled up to her neck, so she gave him a little nod. His hands untied his obi, but his eyes never left her face.
Takara's tongue darted out to wet her lips as his haori joined hers on the floor, but he didn't join her on the futon yet. "Put your hands your side." He commanded.
Takara complied with his request.
"Takara..." He growled his voice thick with an emption she couldn't remember hearing before. Was that annoyance?
"What?" She giggled. "You said to put my hands at my side."
"Disobedient female. Move my fur as well or you shall not be allowed to enjoy it further."
With a huff and a feigned pout on her face she moved his fur to surround her once more. "Spoiled sport." Truth be told, she was fighting hard to suppress her amusement.
"Now spread your legs." He commanded next, and Takara hesitated as she realized that doing so would completely expose her sex to him. After reminding herself that she wanted to gauge his reaction to her body, she bent her legs at the knees and allowed them to fall open.
The low rumble he emitted reverberated throughout her body and Takara shivered in anticipation combined with the cool fall air. Despite his order to lay his fur at her side, she couldn't help but wrap herself upper half in the fluffy down. She watched as he narrowed his eyes at her disobedience, but she didn't remove her furry blanket.
"It's chilly in here." She explained. "Won't you come warm me up?" A subtle flutter in her stomach pulled her attention away from Sesshomaru's response and her hand went to her stomach. Takara didn't think much of the feeling for a moment afterwards, but she felt the same movement again, like butterflies in her stomach and a smile crept onto her face.
Finally, she took notice that Sesshomaru had decided to join her on the futon, hovering over her, watching her raptly. A glance told her of his curiosity, so she reached out to grab his hand, placing it on her belly where she felt the movement. "I don't know if you can feel it, but I can feel the baby moving." Sesshomaru waited a moment before removing his hand. Takara worried he was uninterested as he moved down her body, but when he settled down between her legs, and turned his head to the side, resting his ear on her stomach she felt her chest tighten with emotion.
Gently she reached down and stroked his head as she waited for his next move, her heart feeling as if it would burst with love for him and their child with every passing second.
"I can hear the heartbeat." Sesshomaru told her, briefly lifting his head to look at her before he returned to his previous position.
Takara let out a small sigh of relief. "I'm glad you said, 'the heartbeat' and not 'the heartbeats'. I don't know how anyone can handle twins the first time around." She paused, thinking back to her own family. "Then again, my mom did it."
Sesshomaru looked up to her again, moving his arms to rest on either side of her waist and lifting his upper half off of her.
"My oldest brothers are twins. Actually, me and my brother Hachiro are the only children that weren't twins or triplets."
Sesshomaru growled a little at the mention of her brother, but Takara went on to explain that her oldest brothers were twins, the next three were triplets, the following two were twins and then it was Hachiro and then herself.
"I didn't consider that I might be prone to twins when I found out that I was pregnant. Now I'm glad I didn't because I think I might have been even more worried than I am now."
"Why do you worry, My Treasure?" He asked, his hand now gently caressing her stomach.
Takara shrugged. "A lot of reasons. When I was growing up, the thought of having as many children as I was supposed to have was daunting especially given my relationship with one of my brothers. I didn't want to have any children deal with that. Besides, normal people don't set out with the intention to have as many children as I'm supposed to have."
Sesshomaru listened without comment as she rambled on.
"Then there is the fact that I'm living in the past, and let me say, if the future is good for nothing else, humans have come pretty far in the realm of medicine. So, giving birth in this time is... scary. Then there is the fact that the baby is going to be a half-demon. I don't have a problem with that, but after hearing about some of what InuYasha went through... I don't want our children to go through that."
"Is that all that worries you?"
"Nope. That's just the tip of the iceberg, but for the sake of time, those are the most pressing."
An amused smirk ghosted across his face as he shook his head at her worrying. "Then allow me to distract you from your worries."
Any arguments she may have had, flew from her mind as he settled down between her legs and feasted on her intimate flesh. "Please do," she moaned, allowing him the night to do as he pleased.
The following day, Takara and her friends reconvened in the bathhouse.
"So, what's the verdict?" Kagome asked as Takara scrubbed her back.
"Well, let's just say that I won't be walking around the mansion naked."
Kagome spun around so quickly she knocked the bucket by Takara's feet over and nearly knocked Takara off her stool. "What?!" She demanded. "That jerk! How could he be so rude?!"
"Kagome wai-"
"Don't worry, Takara. I won't purify him."
"Kagome, he didn't-"
"I'll just do some population control."
"KAGOME!" Takara finally yelled as she wrapped her arms around her friend's waist to keep her from storming out of the bathhouse.
"Takara?" Sesshomaru's voice came from outside of the bathhouse.
"We're fine, Sesshomaru! Don't come in here." Takara called to her husband. Guessing he had felt her concern and come to investigate, she had no doubts he would storm in to see what had troubled her.
"He better not go in there!" InuYasha yelled from a distance away.
"The two of them better not start fighting." Sango grumbled.
"Now all we need is our hat trick." Takara laughed.
Sango turned to her, "Our what?"
"Now, Now you two. There's no need to argue." Miroku's voice came from further than InuYasha's, but it was growing louder. "I will gladly go in and check on the ladies."
"And there it is." Takara rolled her eyes before speaking to Miroku. "Miroku, you can come in."
"He can?!" Sango and Kagome shouted in unison.
"Sure, he can if he's happy with only three children. Then the four of us ladies can do each other's hair." Takara watched as her friends grinned. "Now, where's my knife?"
She waited for a response from Miroku but heard InuYasha instead. "Go on, Miroku. You heard'em."
There was silence for a few seconds before Miroku's voice came from some distance away. "I can't leave the twins for too long. No telling what trouble they'll get into."
Laughter burst from the three women in the bathhouse and after a few moments of hearing no more voices, nor the crashing of the world around them to tell that Sesshomaru and InuYasha were fighting, Takara finally pulled Kagome back down to her stool to finish scrubbing her back.
"As I was trying to say, before you so rudely interrupted me, I couldn't walk around the mansion naked because I wouldn't be able to walk."
Sango laughed. "That bad, huh?"
"No, Sango. That damned good." She may have started drooling just thinking about what Sesshomaru did to her, but she didn't care. In her mind, there was nothing to be ashamed of.
"So that's why you didn't wake up until nearly midday." Kagome laughed, turning to return the favor and scrub Takara's back. "We thought things may not have gone too good. You looked worn out and we thought you didn't sleep well."
"They did. I was. And I didn't" Takara sighed dreamily as she thought about how Sesshomaru had barely let her rest. Her friends giggled like naughty high school girls at her response.
"I'm glad you came back, Takara. It wasn't the same without you." Kagome told her as she dumped a bucket of water down her back.
"You just like the bathhouse."
"That's not true!"
"But let me just say. You could've just told me I was married to Sesshomaru and not mentioned that he was a demon, and I would've figured it out eventually."
"How so?" They asked in unison.
"Because his mouth is absolutely wicked. Purely demonic."
They laughed and Kagome admitted. "Okay, I do like the bathhouse."