You and Me After All
Chapter 21: Voyage
Aboard the ship, Kagome was still dazed by the events that preceded the voyage. It had all seemed so miraculous, so overwhelmingly astounding, that she was now on a vessel bound for the yōkai realm, which turned out to be separate from the human's — which, actually, was closer to the legends her grandfather had told her while she was growing up.
Sesshōmaru had presented a small, long strip of wooden plaque to the officer on board, who bowed to him in deference to the daiyokai's superior status. The plaque must have been his passport — a tsuko tegata — which allowed him freedom of movements between the human realm and the yōkai's.
Now, she was to live in that realm with… Her chest cinched with uneasiness. Who was Sesshōmaru to be? Her husband? Mate? Lord and Master?
Father of her unborn child.
Kagome glanced at him furtively. After they were admitted entry, they had naturally gravitated away from the crowd of other passengers and stood side by side in front of the bulwark, staring out into the open sea as the briny winds blew and tousled their hair and clothing. Seagulls cawed above; their squawking mingling with the sounds of the crashing waves.
A whiff of salt, brine, and algae roasting under the sun assaulted her nose. Suddenly, she was fighting a wave of queasiness that churned in her stomach. She clamped a hand over her mouth.
Sesshōmaru looked at her and frowned.
"Are you alright?" He asked, peering at her, his golden eyes seemed so bright against the blue of the sky.
Her tongue swelled inside her mouth, and she began to heave. She could not tell if her nausea was caused by the sea smells, the uncertainty of her future, the swaying movements of the ship, or the baby growing inside her.
The conception had just happened, so she doubted it was the baby.
But again, she had never been pregnant with a hanyō baby — or any baby before.
Just then, the ship lurched. She would have fallen and hit her head on the gunwale had it not been for Sesshōmaru's hand grabbing her upper arm, keeping her upright.
Too late. Her stomach had lurched with the ship. Her fingers grasped the spike at the top of his chest plate as she leaned over and retched, hurling the content of her stomach all over his armour. Some of the vomit even spilled behind his cuirass, undoubtedly soiling the clothing underneath.
As the motions of the ship stabilized, she pulled her arm from his grasp, stepped away, and pressed her back tight against the bulwark.
They stared at each other, at an impasse. Sesshōmaru looked stunned beyond recognition, which was unprecedented. A perverse laughter tickled Kagome's belly — the giddiest she had been since it happened. She doubted he had moved even a hair's breadth since she vomited on him. His pallor seemed to have adapted a shade more pale than usual.
Kagome lifted her chin and stared at him defiantly.
"I'm not sorry," she told him, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
Those intense golden eyes flickered, meeting the blue of her gaze.
"I know," Sesshōmaru flatly said before he left to clean himself up.