AUTHOR'S CORNER:
Yay! I got it done in time! X3 Little bit of Kagome and Sesshomaru interaction in this one... we're winding up to some good stuffus so keep your pants on everyone! XD There's more to this story though than just fluff, so I'll be throwing some in here and there, but there's more story to come too.
R&R:)
Chapter 27
Once breakfast was finished, Kagome and Yoko rose to excuse themselves to take a walk in the gardens and offered an invitation for Hoshiko to join them, though the woman declined in favor of retiring to her rooms. The two women were barely out of sight of the dining hall before Yoko launched in on Kagome again.
"Now, young lady! You never told me any of the juicy details between you and Mr. Icicle!" Kagome blanched slightly before stifling a giggle at the appropriate nickname for the taiyoukai as the two women stepped into the gardens with a dutiful Akiko following silently in their wake.
"Oh, you make too much of it!" Kagome insisted, her face aflame, "there are no juicy details!" she insisted again and the eastern lady narrowed her eyes at the little miko making her blush more.
"You're a horrible liar! Now out with it or I'll go and tell Sesshomaru that you've dreamt about him in his undergarments!" to the oceanic lady's utter confusion the little miko's face went strangely blank before she burst out laughing and doubled over, holding her sides with the sheer force of her outburst. Yoko raised an eyebrow at the girl wondering what was so funny while the girl got herself under control, wiping her eyes with small fingers before she was capable of responding.
"Oh, Yoko-chan! You have no idea how close to reality your threat is! Although it doesn't do you much good because he already knows!" Another peal of laughter escaped the miko and Yoko's eyes grew impossibly wide.
"You've dreamt of him in his undergarments!" she asked aghast, never dreaming the innocent miko would have such amusingly dirty thoughts. Once she was under control again, the miko deigned to explain herself.
"Not quite, though actually worse," Yoko stared at her, waiting for her to continue, "you see, right after the final battle with Naraku, he brought me to my home because I was badly injured. My home is very different from here and his curiosity was peaked, so he stayed with me for a while. During his stay, for some unknown reason, I had the most appalling dream about him running around giggling like a school girl and stripping out of all of his clothing," Kagome swallowed another bout of laughter at the look on Yoko's face. The woman's jaw would hit the grass if her mouth was any wider and her eyes were as big as saucers. Her jaw worked itself, opening and closing a few times, though no sound came out and she looked curiously a lot like a fish out of water.
"KAGOME-CHAN! …. That makes for very interesting mental images you know…" a huge grin broke over the woman's features before she completely dissolved into giggles.
"The worst part is, the next morning I was grumpy because of the dream and not paying attention, so when I walked in the kitchen and saw him sitting at the table staring at me, all I could think of was the silly version of him giggling and throwing his clothing everywhere with me chasing him and trying to cover him with a blanket!" Yoko had collapsed on the grass at this point and was howling with laughter, holding her sides as if they were about to burst open.
"Oh, my Kami! What did you do?" she asked between pants. Kagome swallowed another peal of laughter before responding.
"I fell on the floor laughing," Yoko was rolling again.
"Oh no! He must have been furious!" she said giggling madly at the mental picture this produced.
"He actually seemed more confused than anything else. Especially when I finally realized the danger of my situation. I had just walked into the kitchen where a very dangerous taiyoukai was enjoying his morning coffee and randomly stared at him as if he had two heads… or was running around giggling and stripping… and fell on the floor laughing. So I stopped laughing abruptly, picked myself up and walked out of the room so that I could make a better entrance." Yoko was turning a few interesting shades of red and Kagome ferverently hoped the woman was getting enough air.
"So I walked back into the kitchen as if nothing had happened and went to prepare my coffee. Turning around I was face to face with a very irritated demon who has very sharp and poisonous claws on both hands and he inquired quite politely I might add as to what the hell I was laughing at. Eventually he managed to weasel it out of me, though I have no idea how he understood what I said because I believe I said something to the effect of 'Imeanwhowouldn't?,',Imeanitwasadream,right?'" Kagome stopped her narration so Yoko could actually take a few breaths to regain her circulation since it had stopped due to lack of air.
"Though the look on his face when my words actually sunk in was priceless," Kagome took on a very serious look and Yoko stopped laughing in order to look up at the woman curiously.
"So what did you do?" she asked.
"I did what any normal miko would do when faced with a very dangerous youkai who was about to get very angry in a few moments," she said solemnly and Yoko breathed in slightly thinking she was going to say something serious like 'seal him,' or something. "I squealed like a little girl and ran away and locked myself in the bathroom," Kagome finished and Yoko was rolling again.
"Oh, Kami, that's priceless!" Yoko panted between giggles. Akiko for her own part was having problems holding her laughter back in front of the lady of the east. She had never heard this particular story, nor had the priestess talked much about her past experiences with the taiyoukai and this was very interesting indeed. When the teal haired lady finally schooled her giggles to a manageable level she sat up and her ocean blue green eyes twinkled up at the miko who then plopped down onto the grass next to the older woman.
"So I guess threatening you with that won't exactly work then, huh?" Kagome shook her head with a grin and the demoness sighed in defeat. "I guess you'll just have to fess up then because if not then I'll find other more creative ways of making you talk," the human woman blanched slightly as the demon woman grinned ferally before breaking into laughter.
"I'm afraid if you wanted to know something of that nature we'd have to talk somewhere else. I don't think his lordship would appreciate me talking about something like that when it would be possible to be overheard," the little miko responded and Yoko nodded glumly.
"Yes, I suppose you're right," she said with a defeated shrug of her shoulders before grinning mischievously at the young woman. "I'll just have to weasel it out of you at a more appropriate time!" Kagome groaned as her new friend laughed evilly.
A short distance away, two youkai stood at the window to the taiyoukai's study, watching and listening to the two women. Takehiko turned and regarded the taller man almost smugly with a small chuckle.
"How undignified, the little miko dreams about you in such an unseemingly manner!" he chuckled and Sesshomaru leveled him with a look of death which he promptly ignored in favor of staring off into space. "Although I must say, I am slightly jealous… except for the whole 'giggling like a school girl' part… though I don't know what a school girl is, I know what giggling is and all in all it doesn't sound flattering!"
Sesshomaru wanted to strangle both the lord and the little miko. He and Takehiko had been discussing the very irksome miko when loud, boisterous laughter had floated to them from the window overlooking the gardens. Their sojourn to the window to discover what the disturbance was resulted in Takehiko overhearing the entire story and thoroughly enjoying himself at Sesshomaru's expense.
Returning from the window, they settled back down to discuss matters dealing with Matsu and the southern lands. After an hour or so of debating and weighing their options, Takehiko finally excused himself so he could go and find his wife and his son.
Sitting back at his desk, Sesshomaru signaled to a servant and curtly instructed them to bring the little miko to him at once. The servant beat a hasty retreat from the study at the sight of his lordship's icy demeanor (though you'd think they'd be used to it after working for him for a while) and quickly returned with the girl in tow.
Kagome for her part was a little nervous. A servant had popped up out of nowhere during her walk with Yoko and insisted that Sesshomaru wanted to see her at once. Excusing herself, she followed the servant back toward his study wondering the whole way why he would so suddenly ask to see her. Her presence was announced and the servant slid the door open at his command to enter before closing it behind her with what sounded like a final blow to Kagome. She stood there waiting for the lord to acknowledge her presence before sitting down.
Pretending to read the paper he seemed to be so engrossed in, he waved with one elegantly clawed hand for her to sit and wait for him to be finished. Kagome sat on the cushion he'd indicated and stared at him pointedly, refusing to be bullied into being nervous and look at anything in the room but him. The youkai wanted to laugh out loud at the girl's obvious irritation with the way he was acting, but chose to stare at his paper boredly instead.
Finally, after what seemed like forever of staring at the gorgeous youkai, not that she minded terribly, he set the paper down and slid his amber eyes up to regard her through his silver bangs instead of raising his head and Kagome swore he did it just to make her blush.
The room suddenly became way too warm for the young girl and she resisted the urge to squirm, hoping her face didn't show any of what she was thinking. His eyes dropped to the desk to hide the amusement twinkling in them at the slow, tantalizingly pink flush that had spread across her cheekbones and he sat back, steepling his claws before him and studying them intently.
"So, I hear you have been telling Yoko-sama… stories," he said, his gold eyes never leaving his fingertips that each sported a long deadly claw which he suddenly decided to take to ticking together in the most unnerving manner. The little miko before him did an amazing job of sitting still, though the flush on her cheeks deepened slightly and the taiyoukai realized just how much he had missed seeing that.
"Uh… what stories do you mean, Sesshomaru?" little fingers began picking at the embroidery on the sleeve before remembering how expensive it was and taking to creasing the fabric between her fingertips instead. Leaning forward, he locked his golden gaze on her intently and folded his hands on his desk, looking for the world like a teacher who caught his student passing notes in class.
"I don't know, why don't you ask Takehiko-sama?" he asked somewhat icily, though Kagome caught a small twinkle in the amber depths, "he seemed to be quite amused by some of the things he heard…" the silver head tilted slightly and his bangs fell across his forehead in such an enticing way that her mouth went dry.
Lifting her chin and gathering her thoughts back where they should be, she glared down at the taiyoukai who was still leaning forward on his desk and regarding her with a curious expression in his eyes. Games are more fun when two play.
"I don't see why you would care that I told Yoko-sama about a dream that I had. Besides, there are much more interesting stories that I could tell her that I'm sure you would have cause to be embarrassed about…" a smirk crossed the miko's features as a light glimmered in a dangerous and exciting way in those guilded depths.
"Is that so," a silver waterfall fell over one shoulder as he shifted slightly, leading her eyes inevitably in the direction of the flow and over his heavily muscled chest and fuzzily it registered in her mind that he wasn't wearing his armor today. Mentally slapping herself, she brought her attention back to his face hoping that he hadn't noticed her lapse. He had indeed noticed and his beast purred happily though he showed no outward signs of having seen anything.
"Yes, that's so," she said, one slender black eyebrow raised giving him the sudden random urge to nibble on it before roughly shoving that thought to the side and concentrating on her next words. "I have quite a few stories that my new friend might find quite entertaining," Kagome continued. "There's this really funny one about a really tall, silver haired guy who went to a dance club with a mere ningen and proceeded to rub himself up and down her in a most interesting manner," the youkai's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Although my favorite was the time that same guy crawled under my desk to tickle me and make me smash my head against the underside of the same desk…" she said, giving him a superior smirk. When he leaned forward a little more, a predatory gleam in his eyes she began to lose a little confidence.
"And how, little miko, do you plan on ending that story?" he asked his eyes boring into her and suddenly she realized the hole she'd dug herself into. Crossing her arms over her chest, she gave him her best smug look, though butterflies had made themselves at home in her stomach just remembering how that particular 'story' did in fact end, the memory of his lips against hers coming unbidden to mind.
"Oh, I do believe she would very much enjoy the ending to that particular story since she's convinced that something has…" Kagome stopped then and her face grew a little redder and she cleared her throat, "…gone on between us," she finished lamely and the taiyoukai had to actually fight not to chuckle, the girl was just too amusing.
"Oh? And has something gone on between us?" he asked and Kagome couldn't help but be a little confused. The perplexing taiyoukai was downright flirting with her right now, she just could never tell what the annoying and baffling man was going to do or say next. Let alone what possible mood he might be in. Her eyes grew darker and took the stoic youkai back a little.
"I'm sure as far as you're concerned nothing did go on between us," she retorted with slightly more bitterness than she'd intended and briefly something unknown flashed through the amber eyes regarding her coolly across the desk before it was gone.
"You always astound me with how well you know me," he said, sarcasm seeping out of his voice and startling the young miko. Did I judge him wrong? But that would mean that… no, he couldn't possibly… could he? Sesshomaru watched as emotions warred across the girl's face. She seemed to be fairly adept at hiding her emotions and thoughts fairly well from others now, though she was still open and friendly, he took great satisfaction in the fact that with a look or a well placed comment all her walls came down and he could see every bit of her in her face and eyes.
"Now with that out of the way," he waved a dismissive hand and left the subject to let the miko stew over it on her own, "I wanted to inform you that your training will be conducted by me tomorrow morning. You will meet me in the dojo shortly before sunrise and you will not be late," he said with finality making the girl bristle slightly. His eyes narrowed at her. "If I have to come and fetch you in your room you will not like my form of punishment," he said and Kagome's face flushed, though this time in anger.
Rising to her feet, she glared down at the youkai before turning on her heel and sweeping out of the room, not waiting for his dismissal. Part of him demanded he follow his prey and bring her back and make her wait for his dismissal, but another part told him he could make her pay in a much more satisfying manner in the morning. A small evil smile spread over his features since there was no one there to witness it. Yes, it would be much more fun to exact his punishment for her in the morning.
Yoko smiled knowingly as Kagome stormed past, completely missing the eastern lady on her way to her room to find Akiko. Oh dear, the girl had it bad! Well, not that the youkai didn't return those feelings. Just the way he acted around her convinced the oceanic demon that there would soon be little demons running around with Sesshomaru's hair and Kagome's eyes. Giggling slightly to herself, she decided to go after the miko and seek her out just so she could tease her.
The day flew by quickly with Kagome finishing preparations for the hopeful lord's arrival and the celebration the following night. Soon everyone assembled around the table for dinner and creating quite an amusing picture. Sesshomaru had sent another beautiful miko outfit to the dark haired girl's room to wear to dinner, but she refused to put it on, arguing with Akiko for a few minutes before the neko finally gave up and let the girl be stubborn. Therefore, Kagome had appeared for dinner wearing a traditional miko hakama in cream and midnight blue but in a rougher fabric and with no ornamentation, her hair in a simple ponytail.
She pointedly ignored the taiyoukai at the head of the table the entire meal, much to everyone's bafflement except for Akiko and Yoko. Akiko stared at her mistress's back in irritation from her vantage point against the wall and Yoko winked and laughed behind her hand at Kagome, earning herself glares of death throughout the entire meal. Sesshomaru for his part stared at her intently the entire time with the look of a predator stalking his prey simply to unnerve her. Conversation was rather weak that night and everyone excused themselves hurriedly from the table once the meal was over, happy to be out of the oppressive atmosphere.
Finally rising, Kagome waved to Akiko to accompany her before leaving the room without so much as a bow to the lord sitting at the end of the table. A few servants gave their lord worried glances, sure that he would go into a rage, but much to their surprise he sat calmly sipping his tea as if he hadn't a thing to worry about in the world.
Kagome breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally alone it the gardens with her friend Akiko who stared at her worriedly. The little miko ignored her and sat thankfully on a little bench next to the koi pond deep in the gardens out of sight of the palace.
"Kagome-san, why do you act that way around him?" she asked, and Kagome couldn't help but be pleased with how her servant was progressing. Before she wouldn't have dared to ask a personal question let alone call her by her name. Sighing slightly she slipped off her sandals and let the soft grass tickle her toes.
"Because he does it back to me," she responded, staring at the beautiful orange, red and white fish swimming gracefully just under the surface with the light of the moon reflecting off the ripples.
"Kagome-san, do you realize what he's doing?" she asked curiously, wondering if the human girl understood what she was starting and if she could even survive the process. Heaving a heavy sigh, she glanced up at the moon.
"Whatever you think is going on, you're wrong. You should know him better than that. He just likes to torture me, it's the closest thing to friendship that I've had with him. He beats the crap outta me and I return in kind," she said and Akiko's eyes grew wide.
"But Kagome-san, that's not friendship, that's…" a servant approached them then and announced that Akiko was needed in the kitchens for something. Looking to her mistress, Kagome waved her off.
"It's fine. I have Fubuki with me and I can feel several guards nearby. I'll wait here for your return," Akiko nodded at her mistress before following the servant and disappearing into the flora. Kagome stared at the pond for a few more moments before slipping off the bench, gathering her hakama pants high around her knees and wading a little into the pond, enjoying the feeling of the cool water against her feet and ankles.
She was still standing there with her feet in the pond and her face turned to the moon when she suddenly felt youki that didn't belong to any of her protectors coming too close for her own comfort. It wasn't Sesshomaru, Akiko Sho, or Daichi, therefore it wasn't welcome to her. Spinning around when it was close enough she back handed whoever it was, sending enough miko energy to her hand to knock the unwelcome presence to the ground. Just then she caught sight of who it was.
"Toshi!" she exclaimed, leaping out of the pond to reach down and help the youth to his feet, a stunned expression still parked on his handsome features and one hand rubbing his cheek.
"Good Kami, Kagome-chan, is that how you greet all your visitors?" he asked rubbing the small burn mark on his cheek bone and Kagome frowned. Though she appreciated him using her name and not calling her 'miko' or 'wench' or any other disrespectful name, she didn't appreciate him being so familiar with her.
"Gomen, Toshi-san, I didn't know it was you and past experiences have taught me to be cautious," she said, moving away slightly, now uncomfortable with the fact that her sandals and socks were over by the bench and that the bottoms of her night blue pants were soaked when she leapt from the pond and were now clinging to her calves. The clinging pants did not go unnoticed by the noble's son whose eyes lingered on them appreciatively as she returned to the bench to gather up her sandals and socks.
"I see, I'll make sure I give you ample warning next time I'm coming. I'd rather not get fried every time I startle you," he said playfully and Kagome shifted uncomfortably, wishing Akiko would come back.
"Was there something you needed, Toshi-san? Akiko should be back any minute and I can have her get whatever it was that you wanted," she said, keeping the stone bench between herself and the youkai as he stepped closer.
"Oh, I assure you, Akiko will not be returning any time soon since it was me that sent her off on an errand," Kagome's breath hitched in her throat at the suddenly possessive and lustful light that gleamed in the yellow eyes. "I came out to see you." Kagome's mind whirled with this revelation and she frantically searched for a way to get herself out of this situation.
"Toshi-san, I really have to get back to the palace, I have a lot to do before tomorrow, so if you'll excuse me," she turned and hurriedly walked by the bench only to find the young youkai now standing in front of her and much too close for comfort. He advanced a step when she took a step back and reached out as if to cup her chin in his hand. She involuntarily jerked backward, her natural barrier singing his fingertips slightly.
Growling low, he made to reach out and grab her and the young miko panicked. Throwing herself backward in an attempt to gain some space she suddenly bumped into something solid and her throat closed over in panic, not remembering that anything had been behind her.
Suddenly she saw the youth's eyes go wide and she stared at him curiously until the solid object behind her rumbled against her back and a white silk clad arm was raised from behind her, the tip of Tōkijin resting against the underside of Toshi's chin.
Kagome let out a tiny gasp and her head shot up, her bewildered vision now filled with a pale expanse of silk clad chest, a long graceful neck and a well sculpted underside of a jaw.
Feeling her cheeks heat impossibly red, she gulped and looked straight ahead instead as the icy voice broke the silence.
"I believe the miko made it clear to you that your advances were undesired," Kagome shivered at the tone in his voice and suppressed a groan as Takehiko, Hoshiko, Yoko and Akiko all burst in on the scene just then. Toshi glared back at the taiyoukai.
"And exactly what business is it of yours?" his voice rising, anger showing in his eyes. A slight twitch of the wrist was all it took to make a small trail of blood run down the youth's neck and take him down a few notches.
"She is my miko and in a high position in my employ. Therefore it is my duty to protect those who serve me," Kagome wanted to wince at the 'duty' part, "you will treat her with respect and you will honor her wishes. If I catch you attempting to touch her in any way shape or form again…" his eyes iced over and the young youkai swallowed hard at the certain death he saw looming there. Bowing slightly and attempting to gather the shreds of his honor, he looked down at the miko still in the protective youkai's grasp.
"Sumimasen, Kagome-sama, please accept my apologies for my behavior and rest assured that it will not happen again," the miko nodded mutely as the youth backed away from the blade slowly before bowing, his blood gleaming crimson on Tōkijin's edge. He turned and excused himself, his parents following him and Akiko and Yoko excused themselves shortly thereafter once they were sure their friend was ok.
Sesshomaru's arm crossed over her body as he re-sheathed the sword making Kagome all too aware of their proximity and the fact that she was still up against his chest. She went to move away from him and found herself held in place by a strong arm that she hadn't even noticed was wrapped around her slim waist. His voice right next to her ear startled her and made shivers run down her spine.
"Why were you out here alone?" he asked, his breath caressing her ear and she had to fight hard to concentrate on his words and form a response.
"Akiko was out here with me, but she was called inside and was only supposed to be gone a moment," she said, unbelievably keeping the tremors out of her voice.
"What did I say about being by yourself?" the voice seemed even closer and was dropped a pitch, barely above a whisper. A small smile cracked his lips as he felt a flare of anger from his tiny miko.
"I am more than capable of taking care of myself!" she exclaimed, squirming against his arm and pulling at it with her small hands, attempting to move away from the alluring man. Suddenly she twisted around in his grasp and wound back as if to hit him, her hand flaring pink when he heard her breath catch in her throat and her heart double its pace, the aura around her hand fizzling out as her concentration slipped. His eyes found her wide blue ones staring up at him and he raised one eyebrow.
"It's called breathing, I suggest you do it before you pass out," he commented dryly and Kagome sucked in a greedy, involuntary lungful of air and he resisted the urge to chuckle. He felt his own breath hitch in his throat unexpectedly when the small woman reached her hands up and touched his cheeks softly, a look of absolute wonder on her beautiful face.
"You were smiling just now…" she trailed off, her fingers brushing his skin lightly, setting every nerve ending on fire in the entire vicinity. "Exquisite…" she murmured more as a voiced thought than an actual comment to him, almost as if she'd forgotten he was listening. Exquisite, huh? His beast yowled happily and he couldn't help but agree. If that's the kind of response he got when he merely smiled at her a tiny bit, his mind reeled with all sorts of other enticing and amusing possibilities.
Lowering his head and holding her in place so she couldn't move away, he came closer to her until his forehead was pressed against hers and their noses touched. Kagome had to practically cross her eyes to keep the pools of gold filling her vision in focus.
"I do know how to smile, little one. I just never have cause to," Kagome's eyes were huge as he spoke and he was so tempted to just lose himself in them. "You'd be surprised, I think, at some of the things I know how to do." The little miko's cheeks flushed crimson at the implication behind his words as she stared back at him, remembering a vivid day so long ago when he'd said those same words. This was just too much for her. Twice in one day he's treated me flirtatiously. What next? Will pigs fly?
Her lips were so close and her scent surrounded him, intoxicating him and setting his senses on fire. The beast whimpered pitifully in his chest as he pulled back, putting some distance between the two of them, hoping to regain some control over himself. It pleased him to no end to see the look of disappointment and loss flash across his miko's features before it was gone.
"You should smile more often," she commented, her voice seeming far away as if she were lost in thought. A small smile played across his lips and she stared.
"I really shouldn't though," he said and disappointment filled her eyes, "I can't have people thinking I'm getting weak and soft, you know," Kagome rolled her eyes and he resisted the urge to chuckle.
Taking her by the arm, he escorted her back to her rooms where Akiko waited patiently for her mistress to return. As he turned to leave, he glanced at her over his shoulder.
"Remember, tomorrow before sunrise," he said haughtily and laughed inwardly at the waves of irritation he felt coming off her as she stormed into her room and slammed the screen shut.
Oh she was so amusing.