Chapter Fourteen

"My former bedroom," Kagura announced, stepping into a room with Hiasaki in toe. "It is so nice of Hitomi to keep it unoccupied."

"Indeed," Hiasaki agreed, watching Kagura prepare for bed. He was set on asking Kagura about Sesshomaru, but didn't know how to approach the situation. "I heard something from one of the slayers…"

"If you mean the rumors about me being the slayers' whore, then those are false," she stated impassively, settling herself under the blanket.

"No, it concerned the other matter, about you and the youkai."

"Oh, that." Kagura stared at the ceiling for quite some time to find the right words, to find any words to describe the situation right. "Rin is his favorite child, and while I was raising her, he visited more frequently than other families of his pack. That's all."

"Somehow I don't believe it."

Kagura frowned. "What do you mean by that?" She sized up the man, sitting beside her. He was emitting an angry and dangerous aura. She had never seen Hiasaki like that.

"Because I saw those slayers looking at you like some piece of candy! That's why you weren't a virgin when we married! You were sleeping with all of them, whoring yourself!"

"Are you fucking nuts? Don't you believe your own wife?" Kagura hissed, unconsciously moving back from him.

"Do you mean the wife that doesn't tell me even a bit of her past? And I must just treat well every monster that appears in my house?"

"What the Hell are you talking about? Youkai are not monsters!"

"And you say so because you are intimately acquainted with them, hah?"

"What is it with you, Hiasaki? Are you jealous?"

"And how do you suppose I must feel when I am told you belong to him?"

"What nonsense are you blabbering about? I belong to whom?"

"To Sesshomaru, who else?"

"I belong to no one, especially to Sesshomaru," Kagura declared with pride, no realizing what mistake she was making.

"Belong to no one? And who am I then? Just some fool who is convenient enough to live with? I am your husband, thus you belong to me and no one else! Remember that very clearly, but for you not to fail, I'll show it to you." Hiasaki grabbed one of her legs and pulled Kagura towards him, the next moment he was already on top of her, pushing her nightclothes over her head.

Kagura wanted to scream, but her whole body went numb. Her nightmares were becoming reality. Again. She couldn't even fight her attacker, her own husband, because she was paralyzed by terror and the fatality of the situation. She should've been used to it by now. This one or the other, what's the difference? Hiasaki slapped one of her buttocks and that movement snapped Kagura out of her dazed state. She gathered her last strength, pushed Hiasaki off her and jumped out of the window, her legs following the familiar path to the pond.

This time it was Sesshomaru's turn to say, "We were here before," when Kagura collapsed behind him and burying herself in his hair. "Having a late stroll?"

"You could smell it all from here, so why do you ask?" Kagura mumbled through the hair. She always wondered why the only place where she felt completely secure and protected was by Sesshomaru's side.

"Does it happen often?"

"No! It must be all the talks of those goddamn slayers. They are good guys, and I like them, but they have no delicacy, and told Hiasaki who knows what. He is such a simple guy, he believed all the rumors about me, about you. Got into a jealous rage, I've never seen him like that. The tension must've gotten to him, we haven't… been intimate for at least half a year."

"So you've already forgiven him yet you don't want to live for him."

"He loves me, Sesshomaru. We will work things out. I am sure he apologizes in the morning and we will put it behind us."

"So you don't return the sentiment."

"I agreed to be his wife and strife to be a good one. I shouldn't have danced tonight, that dance brought everything upon me."

"That dance was worth living for."

"Oh really?" Kagura drawled, hearing uncovered praise in Sesshomaru's voice.

"This Sesshomaru never lies."

"Glad to hear that. Well, I must get going. It is turning quite cold out here."

The monomoko circled her to her shoulders, basically binding her to Sesshomaru. "You shouldn't return to your room tonight."

"So you suggest I stay here during the whole night?" Kagura asked incredulously. He couldn't be suggesting spending it with him, right?

"There are a lot of unoccupied rooms in the house."

"You have a point. I'll be going then." Kagura attempted to stand up, but the fur held her firmly in place.

"Do my hair."

"Why should I?" Kagura protested, offended by the outright order. And he was praising her just a moment before!

"You said that it calms your nerves, did you not?"

She was shocked that he remembered such a thing. He indeed had an excellent memory, but for what purpose could he remember such tiny detail about her personality? "But I don't have any bands on me."

"Doesn't matter."

Kagura had nothing better to do than to start on the hair; braiding indeed calmed her nerves. "Ryou invited us to his and Yasha's mating celebration," she mentioned half an hour later, tired of the prolonged silence. "Why is it called a celebration?"

"Because youkai mating isn't public. But since Inuyasha's pack is partly human, they are conducting festivities for participation of everyone involved with the family."

"Oh. Will be something grand then. With both brothers mating at the same time. It made me wonder, why Inuyasha and Kagome accepted Kaoru so quickly. I understand Ryou was about to introduce her properly if not for the accident with the wolves."

"She came instantly after catching the scent of Ryou's blood and licked his wounds without hesitation. Those were proof enough for her to be a devoted mate. However I don't doubt Inuyasha consented just to spite his old rival."

Kagura chuckled. "It indeed must be so. Why are they waiting then? It happened almost six years ago."

"A house must be constructed for the mates to live in. Yasha has been building one for the past twenty years in the forest he found her since his future mate is a water sprite and must protect the water body she lives on."

"A sprite, huh? No wonder she looks so eerie. Such an ideal beauty," Kagura remarked with a hint of jealousy.

"Woman's beauty is seen through man's eyes."

"So if men tell me I am ugly, I am indeed ugly?"

"Has any man told you such nonsense?"

"Well, some men don't express any opinion at all," Kagura responded with a clear subtext. She didn't hope that Sesshomaru would change the matter in the nearest future by saying anything about her beauty or the lack of it, she just wanted to get the point across.

"Not said doesn't mean unthought-of."

"Oh." Was that admittance? "All done. You could come by sometimes, you know. Somebody must fix that enormous hair of yours."

"What about your husband's jealousy?"

"Well, if he is so stiff about it, I can do it in his presence!"

"As you wish."

…

Kagura was right. Hiasaki indeed apologized for his behavior and promised to never do it again, he also was quite stiff when Sesshomaru appeared near their hut two months later. And what disturbed him even more was Kagura's unnaturally uplifted mood the whole day before the encounter. She was even humming while cooking. Hiasaki was outside when Sesshomaru appeared on the horizon. At that same moment Kagura burst from the house, her whole form shining with barely contained happiness and excitement. Her husband didn't deem it good at all.

"What is he doing here?" he questioned, obviously displeased.

"Oh don't tell me, you are jealous again," Kagura threw dismissively, her eyes glued to the silhouette moving towards them. "You can watch us, if you don't trust me."

That accusation was certainly below the belt, but Hiasaki still remained outside, far enough from the pair, who took a seat right on the lawn. Kagura was arranging the youkai's hair of all things, equipped with all kinds of bands. They were conversing but Hiasaki couldn't hear a word.

Suddenly Kagura was pushed to the ground with Sesshomaru covering her body with his. The act definitely brought Hiasaki to his feet. What were they doing down there?

The next moment, however, Sesshomaru leaped towards the forest and Kagura started running towards her husband, making some strange signals with her arms.

"Run!" she cried, passing him. "Youkai attack!"

Hiasaki had nothing left but to oblige. They ran uphill and remained on the top to watch the battle below. Actually Kagura stopped and Hiasaki followed suit, thinking that the distance was safe enough if she stopped moving.

The attacker didn't remain in the shadows much longer. The youkai rummaged through the forest, appearing on the lawn in his full glory. He looked like a giant armadillo who presented quite a challenge to anyone fighting him.

"Wow, Sesshomaru is taking his sword; I've never seen him fight with a sword," Kagura noted, still attempting to catch her breath from the long run, but the adrenalin from excitement about the happenings below was unmistakable.

"You've seen him fight before?"

"Kill mostly. He finishes them too fast to call it a fight."

"Kill?"

"He is a youkai, what do expect? They kill to protect their territory and those living on it, they kill to protect their pack."

Meanwhile the battle was raging in its earnest. The armadillo was large thus couldn't move a lot, but his shell made him an impregnable fortress. He was also attacking with thorns sent in multiple and unpredictable directions.

Hiasaki watched and couldn't help but be fascinated by Sesshomaru's elegant and precise movements. There was nothing extremely violent, gore or bloody about the fight, like he heard it happened between youkai. He was watching so intently, that noticed the movement of the armadillo and Sesshomaru's turning of his head right after it. The expression in Sesshomaru's eyes was unmistakable, Hiasaki saw it on every patient before an operation – it was fear. Hiasaki didn't have time to comprehend what taiyoukai could be afraid of since Sesshomaru attacked the youkai head on, which didn't help in the slightest – the thorns were already in the air. Hiasaki heard as several swished pass him, but he was the only lucky one, Kagura was lying at his feet with three large thorns in her side and stomach.

Hiasaki hurriedly went down to his knees to inspect the wounds, but was instantly at a loss – something black was oozing out of the wounds. If it was poison then why was it coming out instead of going through the body?

Ten minutes later Sesshomaru appeared on the hill. Hiasaki didn't ask of the reason. The blast a moment before indicated that the enemy was destroyed.

"Leave us," Sesshomaru barked.

"I am not going anywhere, she is my wife. And this all is your fault. If you hadn't come, nothing of this would've happened."

"Such pests follow this Sesshomaru everywhere. Now leave."

"I won't! I will heal her to the best of my abilities!"

"You won't. The blood will work as far as removing the poison, the wounds are too deep to heal on their own."

"Blood?"

"This Sesshomaru's blood runs in her veins, hasn't she told you? Haven't you ever questioned why she doesn't age?"

"Kagura didn't tell me anything about her past: about her parents or where she was from, about her life with Rin or about you. That doesn't mean it made me love her any less."

"Indeed," Sesshomaru agreed softly, brushing away several strands of hair from Kagura's sweaty forehead. "What happens now, stays sealed as Kagura's past."

"What do you mean by that?... Hey! What are you doing?" Hiasaki protested as Sesshomaru ripped Kagura's kimono to get better access to the wounds.

Sesshomaru didn't hear him, forgot about Hiasaki's presence all together. He pulled thorns out to meet fountains of blood onto his white robes. That didn't faze youkai in the slightest. What Sesshomaru did next shook Hiasaki to the bone; from all possible actions, he didn't expect Sesshomaru, the Lord of the Western Lands, to lick Kagura's wounds. Due to Kagura's previous braiding, Sesshomaru's hair didn't obscure his motions which were mostly systematic to close the wounds in the most effective way, but there were moments when Sesshomaru slowed as if restraining himself.

"Does the smell of blood make you want to eat her?" Hiasaki asked, noticing Sesshomaru's strange behavior.

"Ridiculous," Sesshomaru answered, pinning Hiasaki with his gaze. He scooped Kagura into his arms and headed towards the hut as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Hiasaki remained on the hill contemplating youkai's behavior. If he didn't want to eat her, when what didn't he allow himself to do?