A/N: Hey everyone, long time no see! Sorry for the super-long delay in updating. I really don't have any particular reason except that I got addicted to CrunchyRoll and my ebook reader... so, yeah. Since I've kept you waiting for so long, I'll keep you no longer than I have to.
This chapter was difficult to write, mostly because I love Kagura. However, she just had to have her say and well, you'll see how well that works out for her. This is a bit shorter than I wanted it to be, but if I didn't stop here the chapter would be insanely long. If all goes as planned, the next installment should hold some of the citrusy-goodness I know you've been waiting for.
As always, I own nothing with regards to Inuyasha (except for my cute little Sesshy-flower necklace that I adore) and make no profit from any of this crap I write. Reviews are love, and all constructive criticism is appreciated. Enjoy!
She could feel his eyes on her.
Ever since her little triumph in the field, Rin had pointedly ignored him and made sure that there was no possible way he could do the same to her. Courtesy of Kagome and Inuyasha, she now knew all of Sesshomaru's favorite places in the house and, under the pretext of exploration, went down the list until she found him. She never stayed long, just greeted him and left, but she could always feel his gaze as she walked away. All yesterday and most of today she had put herself in his way.
He had to know what she was doing. He was too intelligent not to see it. Flaunting her pursuit wasn't part of the plan, but she wasn't going to deny it; besides, it was plain to see if anyone cared to pay attention. Hopefully Kagura isn't looking for anything. The sorceress had plastered herself to his side at the group meeting today and refused to take his no for an answer. Even though she couldn't help but feel bad for them both –Kagura for her inability to see his disinterest, Sesshomaru for having to put up with her increasingly intimate pushing- it was kind of funny to watch from the outside.
Kagome had warned Rin off of acting like anything resembling Kagura. Seeing the wisdom of the advice, she took it gratefully. Indifference would get her further with him than anything else, separating herself from all of the other women that had pursued him with a single-minded determination before.
Bankotsu finished his story and Rin laughed, smacking his arm playfully. Risking a glance at Sesshomaru, she was dismayed to see him glaring at her companion. If looks could kill, Bankotsu would have been nothing more than a smoking hole in the carpet. Kagura hung on the demon's sleeve, blathering on about something, completely oblivious to him ignoring her.
Excusing herself politely, Rin made her way outside to a shaded area underneath an ancient oak. Closing her eyes, she listened to the birds twittering above her and the breeze rustling through the leaves. Her mind drifted and she listened carefully to the random thoughts, always alert for any ideas that could be spun into a story, but it always came back around to Sesshomaru.
No longer convinced of the brilliance of her and Kagome's "ignore-him-until-he-realizes-he-needs-you" plan, she was concerned about the effect it may have on Bankotsu. Somehow in their scheming, they forgot to take into account that Sesshomaru would see the other man as a threat and his demon would demand violence. Had she unwittingly put Bankotsu in danger? Rin had no intentions of being with him, but using him for her own purposes was just wrong and shame crept up on her.
The snap of a twig broke her reverie and she opened her eyes to see Sesshomaru standing calmly with his hands behind his back, looking better than anyone had a right to in jeans and a t-shirt with some obscure band logo. He didn't say anything.
Rin crossed her arms. "Why did you follow me?" Silence answered her and she huffed in annoyance. "Listen, the whole strong-and-silent thing you have going on really isn't doing it for me right now, so if you don't have anything to say, just go."
His left eyebrow twitched slightly, his only reaction to her harsh words. "I will not have that human pawing at you like an animal."
"He wasn't! I know we kissed yesterday, but that doesn't mean you can tell me who I can and can't talk to. You made it abundantly clear that you nothing to do with me because I'm human, but when I talk to someone else, you go all caveman on me! Either you want me or you don't, Sesshomaru. It isn't going to be both ways."
His eyes widened at her tirade and she was surprised as well. Where had that anger come from all of a sudden? Apparently she was still upset over the whole piano incident. Rin stood and brushed the dirt off her jeans. Sesshomaru watched her, his expression carefully blank.
Unable to stand the ever-present silence, Rin sighed wearily. "Fine. Since you won't talk I will, and you'll listen. I like you. A lot. You know this. But you're a demon, and I'm not. I don't know if you're a racist or a species-ist or whatever you'd call it, but regardless, I don't appreciate it either way. I'm not going to pant at your heels like some others I could mention, but I'm not going anywhere for five more days. If you want to see where this attraction goes, fine. If not, that's fine too, but don't you dare even think about doing anything to whoever I talk to."
His jaw moved slightly, as if he was grinding his teeth. She waited for him to say something, anything, to put her mind at ease. Rin was done tormenting herself over Sesshomaru if he couldn't get over this human-demon thing. Although it made for great story fodder, it sucked in real life.
After a couple minutes of charged silence, Rin took a deep breath and walked around the demon, content with the realization that he wasn't going to get over himself, even if she wasn't happy with his decision.
She didn't make it three steps.
A low growl sounded as a pair of strong arms grabbed her around the waist and pressed her back against the tree. Warm lips descended on her, distended fangs nipping at her mouth lightly. The knot in her guts uncoiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in the silky fall of silver hair.
Clawed fingers inched up her shirt and scratched her skin gently, settling in the curve of her waist. He pulled her lower body against his, his enjoyment evident in the lump pressed against her hip. The sensation kicked her brain into gear and she released her grip on his hair. Pressing against his shoulders, she broke the kiss, letting her head fall back against the rough bark.
"Sesshomaru, you can't just… ah-" Denied access to her mouth, his clever lips found their way to her neck and suckled at her pulse. "Stop. Sessh… stop, please."
Groaning, he released her neck and pulled back a few inches, looking down at her with blazing red eyes. "What?" His voice was lower than usual and had a husky timbre that sent a shiver of excitement down her spine.
"You can't just molest me after everything that happened."
"Why not? You seem to be enjoying it."
Her jaw dropped in astonishment. Did this man's ego know no bounds? "You aren't going to be with a human, so don't do this crap to me. I know what I want and I know what you want, and they aren't the same. I'm not going to be some toy for your amusement."
Sesshomaru closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "I will make no promises for the future, Rin, but I will say that I cannot refrain from harming the other males for much longer. I know what game you played and I do not find it amusing. However, I cannot deny this."
"So… no going caveman and we'll just see where this goes?"
"Precisely."
Rin chewed her lip thoughtfully, noting how his eyes darted to the movement. "Okay." She barely got the word out before he attacked her again, the full force of his desire barreling into her. The hands at her waist lifted her up with ease and her legs wrapped around his hips.
Distantly she felt movement and ignored it, more concerned with tasting the hint of wine on his tongue, the last remnants of dinner. Suddenly the world tilted and she broke their desperate kiss to squeak in surprise. Sesshomaru laid her down in a small clearing a little way into the forest and lowered himself between her legs, his hair cascading over them like a curtain screening them from the rest of the world.
Instead of the frenzied joining of a few minutes ago this kiss was soft and sweet, teasing a reaction out of her. One hand traveled up and down her side outlining the swell of a breast, the gentle curve of her hip. Rin's hands wandered over his body, marveling at the wiry strength in his lean frame. Unabashedly, she yanked his shirt up and traced the muscles in his abdomen. He growled against her mouth when she scraped him with her nails.
The slight sound sent them both into a fervor. Sesshomaru sat up and pulled his shirt off in one swift movement. Rin fumbled with the buttons of her shirt, cursing at her clumsy attempts. With deft fingers, the demon quickly solved the problem, spreading the cloth open to reveal her creamy skin and full breasts encased in a lacy black bra. Seeing the look on his face, Rin said a silent thanks to Kagome for insisting she bring the sexy undies.
He came back down on top of her, nipping her earlobe instead of her lips. A small moan escaped her as he feasted on the tender skin of her throat, working his way down. One hand snaked its way under her and unhooked the lacy cloth.
Rin had to laugh at his expression when he realized that even though her shirt was open, it was still on and the bra wasn't going anywhere. With a deep growl, he pulled her up and divested her of the offending clothing.
"Think that is funny, do you?"
She giggled and shifted her hips against his. "Lighten up. Sex is funny. And you should have seen your face."
His lips twitched. "You want funny? I'll show you funny." He pushed her back to the ground and lowered his head to her chest. He took a nipple in his mouth and teased it with his tongue. A spear of lust ran to her center and she moaned loudly when a fang scraped the tender flesh.
Talented fingers plucked the other nipple, sending shocks through her as his claws pricked her. Her hands were entwined in his hair, pressing his head to her chest. Her hips shifted against his without any conscious thought and he bit down softly, eliciting a gasp of pleasure from her. Tightening her fingers, she pulled him away from her breast, a wet pop sounding as the suction released.
Rin reclaimed his mouth with enthusiasm. Releasing one hand, she snaked it between their bodies to where their hips shifted against each other and traced the shape of the bulge stroking her most intimate parts. He shuddered, freezing for a moment as she rubbed him through the denim.
"Rrrriiin…" The raspy groan was easily one of the sexiest things she had ever heard. Even if they went no further than this, the way he said her name, rolling the 'R' and drawing it out almost as if in prayer, would keep her fantasies fueled for quite a while.
Suddenly Sesshomaru pulled back and growled menacingly at something off to his left. Rin turned to look and yelped in surprise. Onigumo stood there, eyes averted and his hands raised in a gesture of peace. She fumbled for her bra and shirt as Sesshomaru poised for an attack, blocking the human's view of her. When she was covered, she touched his shoulder and the demon relaxed from his crouch and stood, still glowering at the uninvited guest.
"What do you want, human?" Sesshomaru's voice was still husky from desire, but laced with a seething anger. He stepped in front of Rin, mostly shielding her from his sight.
"Nothing. I was just walking the trails and heard something and came to see. That's all."
Sesshomaru growled. "I should kill you for this transgression." Rin sucked in a breath. He couldn't possibly mean that, could he?
Onigumo smirked. "You could. Or you could decide to not let your woman see you like that. Your choice, demon. Apologies for interrupting your… conversation." With that, he turned and walked back into the trees. Sesshomaru turned to Rin, anger still radiating from him.
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek against his firm chest. "No harm done. Let's go back. We can continue later."
He grunted and looked around for his shirt, which was halfway across the clearing. After pulling it on, he kissed Rin deeply. "We will finish what we started."
They made their way back to the house carefully maintaining a safe distance, even though she was hyper-aware of his every movement. When she tripped over a root, he caught her the second she stumbled, proof he was paying just as much attention to her.
Inuyasha and Kagome were in the kitchen when they entered. The hanyou took a deep breath and his eyes widened in shock a split second before a shit-eating grin split his face. Kagome took one look at him and her jaw dropped as she turned to Rin.
Now a dark shade of red, Rin decided to make her escape. Unwilling to hear whatever lascivious comments Inuyasha was bound to make, she mumbled something about working on her story and nearly ran to her room. Shortly afterwards she heard light footsteps and the door across the hall close. She breathed a sigh of relief; he was going to give her time to collect herself.
After changing into a tank top and matching lounge pants, Rin brushed her hair and was dismayed to find several pieces of bark and leaves falling on the floor. Thanks for telling me, guys, she sighed inwardly. Sitting down at her laptop, she quickly reread a few pages and made some edits to a few awkward sentences, the familiar action soothing her nervousness about what was going to happen. Just as she was saving the work and getting ready to go across the hall, a loud knock sounded.
The first knock quickly turned into two, three, four… it was an urgent pounding by the time she made it to the door. Fully prepared to run and grab the laptop in case the house was on fire or bolt to someone who had hurt themselves, she flung the door open and stopped short when she saw Kagura standing in the hallway, fist raised to hit the door again.
"Kagura? What's wrong? Why are you-" Rin broke off at the sorceress' expression. Angry ruby eyes flashed, lips pressed into a thin white line, a muscle in her clenched jaw ticked erratically, nostrils flared with every breath. "Kagura?"
"You… you… WHORE!"
-x-x-x-
Sesshomaru combed his hair absently. He hadn't really needed to take a shower after coming back inside, but he had always been fanatically clean. Even hundreds of years ago when soap was a luxury few could afford, he had never hesitated to wash almost every day. Back then it was nearly unheard of for anyone except the most wealthy to bathe more than once or twice a month, unless one was to count a quick dunk in freezing lake water, which Sesshomaru never had.
His dog protested when the scent of his mate was washed away but was quickly consoled when Sesshomaru informed it of his plans for the evening. Since then it had been content to wait, happy it would get its way.
Before he and Rin had been so rudely interrupted, the dog –not to mention the man- had been in total bliss. Rin had the most wonderful scent of anything he had ever smelled. Her taste was the finest ambrosia, her appearance the stuff of legend.
The dog was completely tamed by her and had not a single complaint. Sesshomaru growled at the happy little noise the dog made when he considered her unconscious control over him. Even though he was now willing to admit to himself that he wanted Rin, Sesshomaru was still adamantly against the fact that she was his mate. The dog sighed at him, but made no other indication of its displeasure.
Sesshomaru didn't want to be anyone's mate. Especially not some little human who pushed all his buttons. She wasn't tall, voluptuous, and tractable like the women he usually contented himself with. Nevertheless, he wanted her. Badly. And it grated.
Satisfied his hair was at its usual perfection, Sesshomaru put on a different band t-shirt, warm-up pants, and tied the silver mass back into a low ponytail to keep it out of his way. Even though his hair was the one true vanity he had, it was a lot to deal with sometimes since there was just so much of it. If Rin wanted it down, she could take it down herself. He could already feel her slim fingers caressing his scalp as she loosed the strands that would cover her and mix so well with her own hair and-
A furious pounding echoed through his room. Cocking his head slightly to hear past the commotion, Sesshomaru could hear heavy breathing and quick footsteps. A small voice. "Kagura? What's wrong? Why are you- Kagura?"
"You… you… WHORE!"
The last word was screeched loud enough that his ears rung. Before he knew what he was doing, Sesshomaru wrenched his door open and stared down at the females in the hallway. One looked up at him with no small amount of fear in her eyes, the other glancing up petulantly and returning her glare to the smaller woman.
It was no wonder why Rin was scared. Kagura's hair was whipping around her face, her clothes snapping back and forth in the whirlwind she had conjured around herself. Her eyes were glowing red and small tendrils of energy sparked off her fingertips.
Sesshomaru moved into an aggressive stance, ready to defend his mate from any danger. A low growl rumbled in his throat as he sized up the sorceress. Rin's eyes widened and she let out a small whimper. His eyes snapped to hers for a split second before returning to the threat at hand.
Several sets of footsteps ran up the hallway and slowed a few feet away. All the demons had come running, their human counterparts arriving a moment later. Taisho pressed through to the front of the group. "What the hell is going on?"
Stepping to the side, Sesshomaru kept his attention on his mate and the threat, all while watching the new arrivals. His father wore rumpled clothing and his hair was tangled. When Izayoi hurried towards them in a similar state of dress, it was plain to see why Taisho was so annoyed.
The Lord of the West fixed his gaze on Kagura who, to her credit, met his eyes fearlessly. "What are you doing, Kagura? I thought we went over this."
The sorceress returned to glaring at Rin. Sesshomaru tensed, but froze when Taisho raised his hand in a signal to wait. "That whore lied to me! I'll kill her before I see her with my Sesshy!" Inuyasha snickered at the nickname and gasped in pain as Kagome jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow. Kagura's eyes shot to the hanyou. "That's right, half-breed, laugh it up. Just because the rest of you dogs can't find a demoness that would have you doesn't mean that Sesshy should lower himself to your level, you worthless human-loving piece of-"
"Kagura! That is more than enough!" Taisho drew himself up to his full height and allowed his demon to exert some of its power. Everyone who had started to speak in indignation over Kagura's damnation of demon-human couples fell silent, quailed under the force of his presence. Even the sorceress paled slightly, but still held her ground. "I have put up with enough of your ignorance to last me a lifetime. I want you out of here by morning! We'll speak about your position within the company next week. Until then, I had better not hear a single word from or about you. Understood?"
Kagura took a deep breath. "I'm not the troublemaker. She is. If she hadn't come here with the intent of seducing everything with a dick-"
"I SAID BE QUIET!" The force of his command drove the less powerful demons to their knees. The humans froze in place. Onigumo stumbled, affected by his demon ancestry. Inuyasha winced slightly, the strong blood of his father helping him remain on his feet. Sesshomaru didn't move, still prepared to leap to his mate's defense, even though his demon made a small submission noise in the back of his throat. Taisho didn't use his full authority often, but when he did the results were always impressive. He hadn't held onto the Western Lands for centuries for no reason.
Kagura finally dropped her gaze as the mini-tornado died. Taisho's eyes blazed down at her, demon marks streaking across his cheeks, his face contorted in the beginnings of a transformation, a sign of exactly how incensed he truly was.
"Kagura. You will leave these premises within one hour. I don't care how you do it, but you will not be anywhere within my lands by morning. I have put up with your nonsense for too long as it is. Nobody insults my mate. NOBODY! Consider yourself lucky you get an hour. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind."
She opened her mouth to say something but thought the better of it when she saw the look on Taisho's face. Sesshomaru's lip curled when Kagura looked at him. She recoiled as if he had slapped her and fled down the hallway as quickly as she could without running. As soon as she turned the corner and left their line-of-sight, Taisho let out a long breath and the air returned.
The demons got to their feet and bowed to Taisho before returning to wherever they had come from, taking the various humans along with them. Izayoi and Kagome took a stunned Rin to the side and spoke to her in low voices. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru nodded to their father, canting their heads to the side in a show of submission. When he nodded in acceptance, the half-brothers approached him.
Taisho clapped a hand on Sesshomaru's shoulder for a moment before he shrugged it off. Knowing his son didn't like to be touched, his father didn't take offense. "What on earth was that, Sesshomaru?"
"Yeah, Fluffy, I knew Kagura had a thing for you, but damn…"
"I have no idea." It grated to admit it, but Sesshomaru knew it was no time to conceal things from his father, considering how his demon must still be worked up after the confrontation. "I had the understanding that she was just a glutton for punishment. I never knew she was truly unbalanced."
"Yes, well. We'll have to consider her position when we get back to work. She's a great board member, but I refuse to have my mate insulted and my commands ignored." Taisho sighed deeply and turned to Inuyasha. "Normally I would tell you to supervise her removal from the house, but with these circumstances…"
The hanyou growled. "I get it. I'll kill her if I see her right now. Koga or Ayame should be able to handle it."
The females, finished with their conversation, joined their small group and collected their mates, leaving Sesshomaru and Rin in the now-empty corridor. His dog paced restlessly in his head, wanting to make sure she was okay and stake its claim right then. The man overruled it and looked over her. Seeing she was unharmed except for a slightly stunned look, he pulled her into his chest. She melted into his embrace and let out a shaky breath. After a moment, she backed away and met his gaze.
Sesshomaru knew he should say something to comfort her but had no idea as to what. He didn't relish speaking like some others he knew and had little experience with any females with whom he would care to hold a real, non-work-related conversation. The dog came to the rescue and he felt the corners of his mouth tilt upwards slightly. "Care for a drink?"
The smile on her face lit up dark places inside him he hadn't known existed. "God, yes."