InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Blind Stitch My Heart ❯ Sweet, Sweet Failure ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Written by: profiler120 PG-13 (rating is probably higher than necessary) profiler120@hotmail.com
I do not own Inu Yasha.

(. . .) - Denotes p.o.v. change within the same scene.
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Some valuable advice for writers. It's unfortunately true.
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -- Jack London (1876-1916)
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Kagome was back with him. At the table with him she sat, yawning quietly, staring sleepily into her morning soup.
"I wonder if Rin is okay," she mused.
Rin was fine. The Nazuna house was a perfectly safe haven, one Kagome should still have been at yet he couldn't be angry with her for coming. He hadn't wanted to send her there. Suddenly, she perked up and looked toward him.
"Oh, I forgot for a little while I but I remember now!"
He sat a bit straighter, that sounded promising.
"What do you think you're doing dismissing Sango and the others?!"
A grin perked up his lips.
She immediately set into railing at him about how wrong his actions were and how unjust he was being, her previous sleepiness apparently forgotten. Her anger was short lived as she suddenly slumped down next to him, dropping her head on his shoulder.
"Maybe I'm just bored Since I'm not your seamstress anymore I don't have anything to do, I don't know anyone here at this house either."
"You were supposed to be guarding Rin," he chastised.
"I know." She dropped her head. "I realize I should've stayed with her butI just couldn't."
"Why not?"
A rosy blush dusted her cheeks. "Because "She fumbled with her silence for a few minutes before she answered. "I don't take orders well."
"Obviously," he replied dryly. "Your efforts were wasted either way. I'm leaving in an hour."
"What?! Where are you going to now? Do you know how long it took me to track you down?"
"You should be minding your own business, woman. You do not own me."
Her recovering composure was quickly lost. "I'm aware of that."
She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead.
"Don't pout."
She scowled. How dare he order her around? Not only conventionally, but now he was telling her what expressions she could and couldn't use.
She huffed. He was doing what he always did. Going off and leaving her alone again. Asking him to stay would prove useless. She frowned.
"Is there anything I can do while you're gone?" She asked, watching as he stood, straightening his clothes.
"Don't go anywhere."
She pulled herself up, following him out of the room.
"There's nothing I can do? Something? Anything? I hate being bored."
He turned and she froze, frantically wondering if she'd done something wrong. He reached for her, trailing a hand down her cheek. The feathery touch caused her expression to soften, lightening.
She didn't resist as he reached around, sliding his hand around the back of her head and urged her forward. His golden eyes were alit with wild, untamable ferocity, a thought that made her tremble.
At times like these she wondered to herself how she'd ever come to draw the gaze of this male. How it was she'd not only received his notice, but his touch. She wasn't sure if she was lucky or amazingly lucky.
She didn't dare say a word, not want to break whatever line of thought of his that had brought him this close to her.
There was something about him today that seemed different. Perhaps it was the intensity of his eyes? Did he seem more determined than usual?
A man on a quest?
There was no way for her to know that, he wasn't going to tell her anything. Stubborn man.
She settled for a smile, becoming self-conscious under the weight of his intense scrutiny. It seemed to break him from his thoughts as his expression changed.
He leaned closer, their heads almost touching.
"Tell me you're mine."
It was spoken like a true order, but there seemed to be something else there. Maybe she was imagining it.
Did she want to tell him that? Was it true?
Was it true and she didn't want to admit it? What?
Perhaps it was just insecurity? She met his eyes uneasily, feeling vulnerable.
"I" Why couldn't she say it? "I am"
He didn't coax her, he didn't encourage her, he just waited staring at her like a predator.
She gave herself a million small pep talks, a million kicks to the shin, but it wasn't any easier. Was this some strange milestone? What was the point of this?
"I am yours." She forced it out, feeling suddenly like she'd just said something she shouldn't have. There was no explaining the feeling it gave her.
The turning up of his lips relieved the awkward feeling somewhat.
He tiled her head back. She could feel her breath against his lips.
He leaned closer, pressing his lips to hers. She sighed softly, bringing her arms up around his neck holding herself against him.
She arched, moaning against his mouth, not even aware of the floor coming to rest beneath her knees until she felt the hard wood planks against her.
Her eyes flew open, and he pulled away from her standing up straight, leaving her kneeling. He said something; she didn't hear what it was exactly. It might have been something like 'save that enthusiasm', but she couldn't be sure.
She sighed, watching him go.
Oh, what she wouldn't give for him to stay home for the rest of the day.
There couldn't be anything more boring than sitting around. Kagome shifted listlessly. The staff here wasn't friendly. They weren't mean , they just didn't talk, they worked. She direly missed the old place.
That had, at the very least, felt like a home to her. Here she felt like an outsider. She felt like she was Sesshoumaru's guest, especially with the way the staff was treating her. It had been hours since Sesshoumaru had gone.
She'd been moving from room to room, staring out windows, sliding her feet along the floor, doing anything and nothing.
She hung her head.
There wasn't anything she could do.
Nothing.
The staff wouldn't let her help clean around the house. They just bustled her out. She couldn't sew anything; he didn't have a sewing room here. She couldn't talk to anyone.
It was maddening!
She pushed the thought aside and stood up.
Just as she was about to take a nap she spotted one of the old maids heading for the door.
"Wait!" She called out. "Where are you going?"
"To town. I have to pick up some supplies, did you need anything, Higurashi-san?"
The woman was so polite it made Kagome uneasy.
"Can I come with you? I'm so bored!" She cried.
The maid was clearly stunned. "I don't see why not."
Kagome smiled, slipped on her shoes, and followed the lady out. . .
She'd had high hopes for the trip, hoping maybe she could talk to someone, but the maid was quiet. She seemed uneasy with Kagome tagging along with her, so Kagome didn't bother trying to start a conversation after the first few unsuccessful minutes.
The walk was short and the town was busy. She lost sight of the maid at her side almost immediately, but didn't worry over it. She didn't think she'd get lost in the market place, and she knew her way back, so she wasn't really worried.
She headed down a side path toward the fabric vendor. There had to be a machine somewhere in that house and she was going to find it and sew something.
Anything, it didn't matter what.
She sighed. She browsed the fabrics and frowned finding nothing suitable. Maybe she wasn't in the mood to sew after all.
She couldn't cook anything. Sesshoumaru had cooks and they weren't about to let her help. She couldn't have guests, she didn't know anyone here anyway.
She couldn't write a letter, to who and what would she say? What could she do?
Argh!
She turned heading along another path. This trip had seemed worth it last night being reunited with Sesshoumaru. She knew she'd fallen in love with her stoic employer, a fact she didn't loathe. It was the way it was.
Nor was it a fact that brought her sadness or uneasiness given Sesshoumaru's reactions to her. She could still feel the silken pressure of his lips against hers.
She trembled in remembrance, wandering along the pathway out of town.
What a beautiful memory.
What a beautiful man who'd given it to her. She was rounding a bend in the path when she saw it. Her footsteps halted.
"N-" She started, faltering.
There he stood, his hair billowing in the wind, the flaps of his haori sleeves shifting. He looked so picturesque.
So... absolutely eerie.
"Naraku..."
"I'm glad you remember me, lovely. I see you're back with that nuisance, Masaharu again."
She swallowed hard, backing up a pace.
"Um..."
"But that doesn't matter. I've come for you, we're going to skip a spring wedding. I'm such an impatient man."
She backed up another pace.
"W-wait! I don't think-"
"Good," he interrupted. "Don't think. I've done all the thinking for you."
She backed up once more, only to find herself enclosed in a pair of brawny arms and a cloth held over her face.
"Breathe deep and sleep, lovely. We're going on a little trip."
The last thing she saw was Naraku's sinister grin. * * *
Traveling with an unconscious female was easier than expected. He'd wrapped her in a rug and tossed her in the back of the carriage with him. He'd gotten strange looks from the footmen, but what did he care what the hired help thought?
The ride was long, but peaceful. He managed to keep the girl out cold for the duration. He arrived when earlier than expected, in the afternoon rather than the late evening after.
Once nightfall had descended, his men had broken into his new temporary headquarters and they had set up shop.
He peered around his hideout, relishing the lavishness of his new quarters.
It wasn't the lushness' of his new set-up that gave him his pleasure. It was the fact that his current residence belonged to none other than that pest, Sesshoumaru.
It was vastly convenient the man had shut the house up and sent everyone away.
He grinned in the darkness, heading toward her room. He didn't expect she'd wake until the morn. He slid open the door and stepped inside.
She looked heavenly there. Tucked neatly into a futon, her hair spread around her like an inky halo of darkness, she was magnificent.
Naraku stared down at the slumbering female with a frown. Having her was perhaps the only positive thing in his life for the moment. His damn father had done something stupid, although he didn't know what.
A mark had appeared on his back, a huge burn scar in the shape of a spider that ached constantly. It was worse at night, when it neared midnight it felt as though the burn sparked back to life, he could actually hear it crackle in the darkness, as he lay on his stomach, unable to move.
Worse than that was that the mark had appeared on all his children as well and they all shared the same torturous evenings, quietly bearing the pain. What else could be done? There was no ointment, no soothing lotion, nothing that would help. He'd exhausted all possible solutions.
When he'd tried to seek help from the holy shrines, he'd been warded off as monks and miko's alike declared him 'cursed'. Perhaps if he were a man of normal standing the whole matter would have depressed him.
Rather, it was all very invigorating. It made his blood warm with anticipation. He suddenly enjoyed the terror reflected in others so much more potently and he could attribute it to nothing other than the strange marking. He'd noticed the same happening in his offspring.
Aside from his physical condition, Masaharu was attempting to officially stake claim on his property. He'd been waiting for her to appear for weeks and finally she had.
Before, however, he'd had to take care of those troubling Higurashi's, but amazingly enough that had been simple. He'd anticipated Masaharu trying to go through them to gain permission for Kagome. Ensuring they would turn him down was merely nothing more than issuing a few notes with subtly worded threats threaded through them and it was a done deal. He'd thought about sending scraps of her clothes with bloodstains but ultimately thought it too gauche. Then he'd thought about sending blood-muddied hair, but decided that wasn't good enough either.
Night was wearing on and soon midnight would approach. He quietly crept out of her room slinking down the luxurious hall. Masaharu's hall, he thought with a grin.
Would Masaharu think to look in his own house to find him? Naraku smirked in the darkness retreating to his own room. He would just love to see the man's face right now. * * *
Sesshoumaru cursed. He still wasn't sure how this had happened. Kagome had, foolishly, gone to town with one of the old maids only for the woman to return to the house an hour later in a rush.
When this was over the woman, Kagome, was never leaving his side again. Ever.
He'd gone but there were no clues, and no witnesses. It wasn't a stretch, though, to think of who would lie in wait for her. Naraku had obviously reappeared and he cursed himself thoroughly for not guarding her more closely. He cursed her also for, again, not obeying him.
It felt like there was a rock in the pit of his belly weighing him down and causing him unforeseen amounts of dread. Who knew where Kagome was now. She could be anywhere.
Determined, however, not to lose time by contemplating, he collected Jaken and they headed off, unexpectedly picking up Kaijinbou along the way.
The annoying servant suggested they head to the mountain retreat despite its fire damage.
"I've heard things," he replied evasively.