A/N: The Good News: We finally have cover art! A million thanks to Kura ou for doing such an amazing commission! Super cute and beautiful!
The Bad News: The cover art is such a spoiler! Hahaha! Now you know what to expect. Gosh, I was saving it for the next chapter but dang it, now you know the plot twist. Oh well. Youkai Kagome later in the story. =P
Stomach Problems
The Shishi-odoshi dumped its fill of water. Distant wind chimes sang its melody in the quiet breeze. Everything was good, but the human girl did not hear any of that, only one verbalized word was stuck in her head.
Married.
In the tranquility of the morning, an earsplitting scream resounded through the whole mansion.
Sesshomaru winced, pulling back from the high pitch with a grimace. "Onna. I know this is a tragic event, but control yourself."
Kagome turned to him, equally grimacing. "As much as I would like to claim such appropriate reaction, Sesshomaru-sama, that wasn't me."
Both of them turned behind, and the small form of the imp retainer was on his knees, having heard the turtle youkai's proclamation. Jaken fainted again, slumping by the entrance of the door. Kagome lurched.
"Onna. Is your stomach-"
"Yes," she dismissed, finishing the sentence for him. He had suggested this so many times and now it freaking came true. "My stomach is upset." And strangely, her ass. And now her head. It was throbbing before, and it was about to explode now.
Married.
The word whispered to her again, squeezing itself into her ears, right through the nooks and crannies of her frayed brain, teasing her into unattainable, unwanted heights.
For as long as you both shall live.
Her brow started twitching, and she turned to her "trusty companion." Why was he so detached with all of this? He was supposed to be the first one to react...
Married.
She will not snap. She was not a child anymore. Surely, her companion was too mature to think her way? Yes, that was it. He's a complicated daiyoukai, he's thinking over solutions instead of panic-rambling in his mind, like her.
I will follow the Zen ways of Sesshomaru-sama. I am calm and collected.
She breathed deep and closed her eyes. "Inoue-sama, you have to undo whatever we signed." It was only the unnerving silence that answered her, and when she opened her eyes, she finally snapped.
His head was tucked again into his shell, snoring away.
She lunged right at the turtle, the movement startling him. She reached for his neck in attempts to strangle him, "You stupid turtle! Wake UP! WAKE UP!"
Inoue's eyes bulged out, desperately trying to push the madwoman away. "K-Kagome-chan! I thought we had a consensus!"
She choked him relentlessly, his tongue hanging out from his mouth. "Consensus my sore ass! Undo it, RIGHT NOW!" A strong force pulled her from behind. It was her "trusty companion." She landed ungracefully on his lap, his strong arms imprisoning her wild self.
"Onna," he warned, Kagome continuing to thrash against him.
"Let me at him, Sesshomaru-sama! Can't you see we're in a deeper hole right now?!" He only crushed her back harder into his chest.
"You're acting like a wild pig!" he finally said, and Kagome stopped, her hands dropping to her side, a heavy blush of embarrassment and guilt washing over her. She sheepishly looked at the victim of her assault, who was on the floor, rubbing his sore neck.
"I...I'm sorry," she said to him as she leaned on Sesshomaru, the daiyoukai's arms finally loosening, but still holding her. "Inoue-sama."
The old turtle youkai shook his head.
"Here I am doing you both a favor, and poor old me gets repaid like this." He shook his head morosely. "The world has really changed. Goodbye."
Kagome's hairs stood upon hearing the last word uttered. "Wait, what do you mean, 'Goodbye' ?"
The old turtle did not move. Kagome froze.
"Hey, are you asleep again?" she asked softly, and she realized-
HE WAS NOT BREATHING.
"He's dead," she proclaimed, as she spun madly around to her 'husband,' her eyes wide and delirious. She cupped his face and hovered close, their noses almost touching. "He's dead!" she bleated, and Sesshomaru took hold of her shoulders and shook her.
"Onna, get a hold of yourself!" he said, but she was breathing heavily, her heartbeat racing so fast she felt as if it would explode.
"Inuyasha!" she rambled as she pulled away, and she retrieved the paper Nobume handed to her earlier that morning. She opened the paper, expecting a long letter of how he loved her so much, and how he had started a journey to find her, explaining his devotion for her and his efforts to go 'through hell and back,'
but instead, what met her eyes was a mere two sentences in the middle of the parchment.
-Kagome, I'm not ready to marry.
K bye.-
Her brow twitched, as she stared at the infuriating letter.
She turned the paper around. Maybe she was just reading the P.S. part. But there wasn't any writing anywhere, and she swore she felt the lumbering Spirit of Godzilla emerge from her head.
It was screaming, breathing out fire.
"K bye?" She repeated, her head finally exploding. She blacked out.
When she recovered, the beautiful vision of Sesshomaru the Daiyoukai was hovering close. His white hair fell around her face, enclosing them both in a privacy curtain that left her feeling a sense of comfort.
"Sesshomaru-sama," she said, and he reached out and laid his palm on her forehead.
"Onna. You're burning with fever," he said, and she sighed.
Then it probably was all a nightmare, a mad delirium. Kagome found the courage to smile.
"I had the craziest dream, Sesshomaru-sama. I dreamt that we got ourselves into a stupid engagement, and we ended up married." She paused. "Hah! You and me, married? Imagine that?"
"Onna," he said as he pulled away,
"And you know, Sesshomaru-sama? It was a blood contract! Irrevocable. Oh my gosh, your cooks must have added some strong mushrooms to the breakfast omelet! What a realistic hallucination!"
She thought she saw him chuckle, but when she looked to verify, his face was as stoic as ever.
"Gosh," she said as she sat up, the room spinning around her. She had to steady herself when Sesshomaru's strong arms supported her, and she ended up leaning on him.
She saw the turtle's shell on the corner of the room, and Inuyasha's crumpled note beside her. It was then that she realized.
"There weren't any mushrooms in the omelet, were there?" She looked up at him, and he shook his head.
"What do we do now?" she whispered, and he sat still, careful not to move her.
"I don't know about you, but as for me, I wait," he said, and she pulled away from him.
"What do you mean?"
"You're in your late twenties. And the average human lifespan is about a hundred. So you have seventy years left... When you're dead, I'll be free with the contract."
Kagome deadpanned. "Well that sounds really encouraging," she said dryly. But she did not want to argue with him, it was the least of her concerns.
How will she tell her mother about this? She would be heartbroken. And Kagome herself was heartbroken, too.
She was trying not to cry from Inuyasha's cold rejection. Hey, she was still a woman. And in fairness, she loved him. Legit loved him, and she was not prepared for the pain it brought.
She lurched when the painful streak throbbed on her body.
Sesshomaru caught her again, and she grimaced. "I..." she trailed off, unable to speak from the terrible pain.
"Onna, your stomach,"
She nodded, too embarrassed to tell him the truth. It wasn't her stomach that was bothering her. It was two other things.
One, she felt as if she were to sprout two bloody narwhal horns on her head,
And two, her freaking ass was throbbing. Why the hell was it throbbing? The last one was what left her troubled to no end.
She tried to stand up but couldn't. She cursed the three Daiyoukai mentally, the ones who threw her out of the room like a sack of potatoes. A heavy cloud of gloom hung over her head as she thought of the culprits of her present torment.
Those damn cretins, wait until I get my hands on them-
She felt herself being lifted up, and too much in pain to protest, she clung to him, her "trusty companion" who was stuck with her for the next seventy years and vice versa. (She hoped she would live longer than that, though.)
"We have to cut down on your food rations," the Demon Lord said. "I think we're feeding you too much. For a small woman like you, you sure weigh like Ah-Un."
Kagome threw her head back and laughed, despite the debilitating pain. She knew it was just an honest, blunt comment, but she allowed herself to imagine he was actually joking. What else could she do?
She wiped the tears from her eyes, tears from her laughter and pain weirdly mixed together.
"Sesshomaru-sama," she then murmured softly, "This accidental arrangement...I hope you don't leave me by myself to face this alone." It was an offhand comment, rendered by the fear of the unknown thatwas sneaking into her heart.
She hoped he didn't hear. But he did, and he carried her securely through the hall, stepping off the wooden floor, bare feet on the dirt ground as he could not put his boots back on with her in his arms.
He gave her his quiet reply:
"I ask the same of you."
Nobume walked back and forth across the hallway, hesitantly stopping by the doors to his host's room. Kagome was not present for either lunch or dinner that day, she had been in her room the whole time. The moon had already made its appearance on the starry sky, and her absence worried him to no end.
He heard she was experiencing terrible stomach problems. The healer could not find anything wrong. His six tails swished in apprehension, what could be happening to her?
The plan was to bring her tomorrow to the healer in the village, the one who knew Kagome the most. Kaede, he recalled her name. His white ears with black tips flattened, as he looked out the arch windows. The morning was still a far-along event, and he thought about the fragile girl and if her fiancé was even looking after her.
Knowing Sesshomaru's stoic attitude, images of Kagome writhing from pain, like a worm sprinkled with salt, filled his mind,
as an evil Inu-daiyoukai with white hair and golden eyes pointed at her, laughing at her torment.
His eyes widened in alarm, and bracing himself, he quietly opened the door and stepped into the large, dim room.
What met his vision immediately stopped his tails from swishing, and he looked closely, trying to make sure what he was seeing was not a trick of the light.
Nobume stepped back, and as quiet as he came, he left.
A blush crept across his cheeks.
Sesshomaru, you sneaky little dog.