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Exactly What It Looks Like

Prompt: "This is not what it looks like."

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"This is not what it looks like."

A mortified Kagome squeaked as the direness of the situation finally set in. Straddled atop the fearsome Western Lord's lap and completely disheveled, she frantically adjusted the fabric of her loose kosode. Hoping against all hope that Inuyasha's eyeful hadn't caught her more exposed features. A slight movement of her hips just barely hid the bulge of silk that pressed hot and heavy against her thigh. She tried not to stare at the half-lidded, gilded eyes swimming with want in front of her.

"It looks like you're getting it on with my brother!"

"Half-brother," Sesshomaru corrected, a smirk lightening his normally placid features as he leaned back against the Goshinbuku, a picture of utter confidence. The silk hankimono and subsequent layers he wore gaped open and slumped down to gather at his elbows, revealing broad shoulders, defined biceps, and a sinfully muscular torso. Mighty hands still grasped Kagome's – thankfully – clothed hips. "It is, in fact, exactly 'what it looks like'. When did you become so astute?"

"Sesshomaru!" Kagome scolded, scandalized.

"I-I think I'm going to hurl…"

"Please do so elsewhere. The scent of your bile will 'ruin the mood' – that is the correct phrase, is it not, Ka-go-me?"

Kagome shot Sesshomaru a death glare in response. His smirk merely widened, golden eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Inuyasha, I'm really sorry you had to find out like this, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this when you got back," Kagome pleaded. She fought the instinct to look away from the pale, stricken face of her ex. "But you've been gone so long, over a year now, and this just kind of… happened? I didn't think we'd work out enough to ever bother telling you."

"This One knew—"

Frustrated, Kagome slammed a hand over Sesshomaru's mouth. A warm, wet tongue dragged across her palm, and Kagome prayed to all the gods in existence for the patience not to obliterate the being below her.

"What d'ya mean?" Inuyasha's voice seemed so small.

"H-he and I… We… W-We're…" Kagome stammered. "W-Well, what I'm trying t-to say is…"

In a flash, one of Sesshomaru's clawed hands left her hip, grasped her wrist, and pulled her hand away from his mouth. Before she had a chance to stop him, he spoke.

"We are mates, little half-brother. This One and Kagome."

"Y-you're… what?"

"Did I not speak clearly? Mates."

Despite Sesshomaru's sass, Inuyasha managed to stay relatively calm, but his hands were in fists, and Kagome could see his muscles shake as he repressed volatile emotions.

"Kagome is this… Is this true?"

Sheepishly meeting Inuyasha's affronted gaze, she nodded.

"B-but you hate humans!" the hanyo directed at his sibling.

"Indifference is a more apt descriptor. I was indifferent, until Kagome," he paused, glancing at her. "Then Rin, Kohaku, Kaede, and even Sango, Miroku, and their brood of miniature slayers proved that humans are worth knowing."

Inuyasha, seemingly too stunned to respond, merely blinked.

"Furthermore," Sesshomaru's smooth bass resonated in the clearing, "in approximately seven months' time you will be an uncle."

"What?!" two utterly shocked voices snapped in unison. Kagome's sapphire eyes stared at her mate, perplexed.

Inuyasha recovered first.

"You're joking!" he accused.

"It is uncouth to jest about such matters."

"Am… Am I really…" Kagome found it hard to get the words out. "I'm pregnant?"

"Hn," his thumb caressed the wrist he still held. "My intention was to tell you tonight after our coupling. Your scent has changed. When I am close, as I am now, I hear their heartbeats."

He had said it so matter-of-fact: the sky is blue, rain is wet, I hear their heartbeats. An unknown feeling bubbled up inside Kagome's chest, something like love, like hope, like joy. Maybe all of them once.

"Their?"

"Hn. Twins, perhaps triplets? It is difficult to determine at this time."

The scents of salt and elation permeated the clearing, driving out the previous cloying mists of arousal. Tears gathered in Kagome's sapphire eyes as she started at her mate. Letting her kosode loose, her free hand now cupped over her mouth in astonishment.

"Three?"

"Perhaps."

His clawed hand released her wrist and brushed away her tears. Slender fingers buried themselves in his silver mane as she leaned into his touch.

"You're going to be chichi-ue."

"Otou-san, preferably," he corrected. "Our father insisted upon chichi-ue, and this One does not wish for such formality with our own pups."

A smile broke out across Kagome's face, "I love hearing you talk like that."

"Hn?"

"'Our own pups'," Kagome repeated as she leaned in and her lips met his. It was near impossible to keep herself from smiling. Their kisses were short, but full of tenderness and care, excitement and love. Her kosode began to slip off her shoulder as she pressed herself closer to her mate. Skin craving skin. One large, clawed hand splayed across her lower back pushing her hips into his. The hidden, heavy heat against her thigh began to grow. She giggled, eyes bright as Sesshomaru peppered kisses across her tear-drenched cheeks and lapped at their snaking trails down her chin.

Her laugh must have knocked Inuyasha out of his daze, because a disgusted groan echoed through the clearing, followed by, "For fuck's sake! And under my tree, too?"

Kagome barely caught a glimpse of red and white as he sped away into the forest. A modicum of guilt rose within her. They really should have told him when he first got back a few days ago, and Sesshomaru definitely shouldn't have announced the pregnancy as he did, but she was too euphoric to care overly much in this moment.

"My brother is an imbecile, but he will come around eventually," Sesshomaru mumbled into her throat.

"When I'm capable of being mad again," she murmured as the yokai below her paid particular attention to their mating mark, fangs dragging across her bare skin, sending shivers down her spine, "I'm going to throttle you for how you handled that."

A pleased growl rumbled low in his chest, "I look forward to it, Ka-go-me. Now, this One desires to make love to the mother of our pups."