InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ My Devotion ❯ Raging, Plotting, Finding ( Chapter 27 )

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

Author's Note: Thank you all for your suggestions. I came up with this from them. I know it's not really anything like what was suggested, but ideas help me brainstorm. Don't get put off by the problems arising, they will work themselves out as most things do with time and after it is all done, Rin and Sesshoumaru will be even closer. Inuobsessed004 and Blue Wolf, thank you for your suggestions. I hope this meets your expectations. Lil6ter, this is for you. Puppies will follow eye roll

Other than that, I still need people to buy my novel. You can find it on createspacedotcom or luludot com. Just look up crimson ink.

Come on people, I have to go to college in August and any purchases will be much appreciated. R&R.

Raging, Plotting, Finding

Eventually, after the girls had stopped their excited chattering, everyone was able to go to sleep in the early hours of morning when the light of dawn was ready to peek up over the horizon and shine in the distant sky. Sesshoumaru had waited for everyone to leave, urging them on with a steely glare. When they were finally gone, he calmly closed the door and turned to go to bed himself, but was dismayed to find Rin there, turned away from him. It made him angry. He wanted to transform and make her recognize him as her Lord. But he could no longer do that. She was his mate, not his servant or ward. She was to mother his children, not assume the lowly duties of a common concubine.

“Rin.”

She grunted lightly and snuggled deeper into the bedding, feigning sleep like she did so many things when she didn't want to be bothered. If he were human, he might have believed her act. Almost. But Sesshoumaru's instincts told him more than any regular mortal could pick up on. And he knew her. She was upset still and she didn't want to talk to him, didn't want to look at him. Strangely enough, he realized that he desperately wanted her gaze on him. Being deprived made him value that simple action all the more. He could not help that.

“I know you're awake.”

She growled, yanked back the blankets, and sat bolt upright, scowling at him with her nostrils flaring. “Well I guess you just know everything, now don't you Sesshoumaru?”

How dare she take that tone with me? He thought angrily, his aura flaring with deadly energy, his hair and clothes spreading outward with his rage. Rin sat back, the rigidness in her back becoming slack fear. At first it pleased Sesshoumaru enough to have him calm down, but then he was upset by it. She of all people should never fear him. And when Rin turned away from him again, he didn't know what to do. For the first and possibly last time in his long life, Sesshoumaru lowered his eyes in shame.

“I know you want me to apologize, but I will not apologize for your being insensitive, koi. That isn't my fault,” she murmured as she got back beneath the covers and turned away from him again.

Sesshoumaru turned from her as well, determined not to accept his mate's rejection. He loved her, but thought she was being extremely over reactive about the whole situation. And as the door clicked into place behind him, Rin began to cry. He paused just outside the room, his back against the hard, supporting wood, resisting the strong urges rattling him, compelling him to comfort her and to apologize for whatever he had or hadn't done, and to do anything at all to trade each tear for one of her laughing smiles. He did not submit to these desires, his conscience. He would not be her lapdog; he was Lord of these lands he told himself on his way to spend the last few hours of a sleepless night by himself.

The Silkworm Queen sat just outside the shade village with her nice size of soldiers, and knocked back her third cup of sake. She had been waiting all night for news of how the infiltration of the Western Castle had gone. The shades had sent three of their kind to carry out the mission: two to play Fumiko and Masako and one to report if something went wrong. At the longest, it really shouldn't have taken this long. They should have returned and as far as she was concerned, she should already have been back in the safe harbor of her forest home. Of course, that wasn't the case. The drinks were only serving to numb the habit of eradicating annoying creatures like these.

But, of course, that wouldn't be the proper (not to mention suicidal) thing to do considering they could all be killed before they made it a mile away. All it would take was one of those demons to shift into a silkworm demon and travel with them. Shades were dangerous and it was a big risk asking them for their help. But she had done it anyway. That abomination needed to die at all costs.

A horse approached at a fast pace from the distance, dust rising all around it. The shimmering as it turned into one of those indefinite forms was almost unrecognizable in the dusty cloud. However, the swift decrease in speed made it easily obvious that the being was a shade. The Queen stood as he approached and bowed to her.

“Your Highness.”

She didn't even nod his way in acknowledgement, she only stared until he continued, the rest of the Shades coming out of the village to flank her own soldiers as if on cue. He was alone and from that she could guess things had not gone as planned. This made her angry and so the Queen sharpened her claws against each other to keep from doing anything rash.

“The others did not make it. They blew their cover. Lord Sesshoumaru made quick work of them.”

“Are you completely incompetent?” she snapped. “Was my money not good enough?”

“Highness—”

“Was it not enough for you to properly carry out the simple task which I entrusted to—”

“There is more to the story, Queen,” he cut her off, turning instead to speak with Lord Daiyami, annoyed with the stuck-up woman's unruly manner. “Before they were terminated, the one posed as Fumiko knocked the Lady Rin to the ground.”

“And?” pressed the Silkworm Queen.

“She fell on her abdomen and there were some very strange and interesting side-effects I think you'd like to know about.”

The Shade went on to explain to everyone present how Rin had “transitioned” into a demonic human and attacked even her mate. It told how she was sedated and where all of this had been observed. Then, after all of these details, he went on to explain the complete layout of the castle. Daiyami thanked him for his service and sent him off to file a report on the mission. Though she wouldn't admit it, the Queen was impressed. They were thorough in their jobs and though the creature had kept her waiting, he'd given her all the information she'd ever need.

“Queen,” spoke the Lord of the Shades.

“Yes?”

“I'd appreciate it if you could calm yourself while we make copies of the report to take back with you.”

She sat down but did not answer. That was fine for her. But she should have known this would happen in the first place. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. And that's exactly what she intended to do.

Kagome was sleeping on her bed, not smiling or murmuring to herself like she did in the stages of sleep that were not so deep. She was underneath a thick blanket, the weather starting to hint at a colder season, but what she wore that made it obvious that she favored warmer climates. Barely peeking from beneath the blanket were the thin pink straps barely holding the loose yet form-fitting nightie to her body. Something about it made InuYasha want to climb in bed with her. He didn't really, though he was very close, perched beside her and watching her even more closely. From where he crouched he could almost feel her sweet breath on his face and before he knew it, his nose had lightly touched her face.

She awoke to his presence, right before his nose touched her and nearly jumped out of her skin in alarm.

“HOLY CRAP!!” she scrambled back against the wall, pulling the blanket to her chest even as the satiny straps on her nightie fell down her shoulders. “Inu Yasha!”

He licked her face—which would have been a completely gross thing to do had he not been a dog hanyou—and Kagome went rigid and stock still. He thought it might be fear as he heard her heart race. But then, a familiar scent assailed his sensitive nose, making his nostrils flare.

“InuYasha…” Kagome breathed warily.

He tilted her chin up with his finger and ran his nose over her throat, breathing in her unique smell. “You said you loved me.”

Is he out of his mind? What is he doing? What is he getting at? thought the miko, even as the blanket began to slip from her fingers.

“Yes…I-I do,” she stuttered.

He crawled closer to her, his weight on the blanket pulling it from her hands, leaving only the thin silk between his heated gaze and her body. All of the skin on her face flushed with color in embarrassment.

“You seem afraid,” he murmured, his voice taking on a husky tone. He even went so far as to let his clawed fingers caress her bare shoulders, already imagining what she would look like and feel like all over, covered in her soft, creamy skin.

“I was afraid,” she confessed on a gasp and moved away from his touch. “InuYasha, how would this work?” Her question was sobering and had the desired effect on him. He sat up to think, really think about the question Kagome posed even as she continued, “We live in different times. Sometimes it seems like different worlds. It would be so difficult to choose between you and a life here and my family and the life I already have back home.”

He took her hands in his clawed ones and stared into her eyes, noticing that she hadn't called this era her home. Here she had friends, his love, and a family if they were to wed, yet still she didn't call this pace her home. The friends and family that awaited her in the future, on the other side of the bone-eaters well she considered part of her home. Even though, if she were to go back, she would lack a love that could transcend all of that.

“There's no place for me in the future. But here in the feudal era, there is a place for both of us,” he explained, letting his fingers run up her arm to cup her cheek when she would have looked away from him in shame. He wanted to sway her to stay. He needed her. She wasn't Kikyou, but if she left him, he didn't think he'd be able to stand the rejection or to trust in the benevolence of fate. And so, for his own sake, he would sway her the best way he knew how.

InuYasha feathered the fingers of one hand over her cheek while his other thumb stroked her lips until she sighed and tilted her head back, her lips parting. He could sense how much she wanted to stop resisting and when he brought his lips down to cover hers he could feel her body shudder in submission.

When her own hands came up to close over his wrists he eased her back down onto the bed and made quick work of both of their clothes before running his hands over her stomach and up to cup her breasts, letting a low growl start in his through when she gasped and arched into his touch. After a while, meaningful thought abandoned them, leaving them slaves to their desires. She gripped his hair in her hands, wanting more so he settled his body on top of hers and pinned her to the bed. Then, he kissed her with such passion that neither of them could think, nor breathe, nor force a beat from their hearts for moment after moment as time slowed and life ticked away.

The brief pain she experienced was nothing in comparison to the pleasure she felt when they became one. Kagome felt herself become complete in a way she never had, and not just because she was with InuYasha, but she felt that a part of her soul that had been Kikyou in a past life finally returned and ceased to be the burden that, henceforth, she had been. InuYasha felt it as well. In that time, he didn't have to wonder about what this would have been like with Kikyou or how things could have been different had Naraku not caused the two of them to be parted. Then and there, he was with neither Kagome nor Kikyou, but with the woman he loved. All parts included.

Hair pulled back into a tight and high ponytail that swung behind him fiercely like a whip and porcelain skin that glowed in the moonlight, sparkling as sweat beaded and disappeared in the wind behind him. He was giving chase to a demon that had breached the perimeter of his lands, his domain. It wasn't a lowly demon either; it was full-fledged and could pose somewhat of a threat. After the run in with those shades, he wasn't taking any chances.

His kimono was tied around his waist. Sesshoumaru had been in his dining room again but had figured as long as he was going to be awake for the majority of the night he might as well go scouting his lands again. After all, the repeated attempts on Rin's life were definitely cause for alarm. So, when he noticed a demon in the forest encompassed in his lands, he gave chase. Since then he had really only been following him to try and find out what exactly he was doing and if he had a superior, where he was going to report.

The longer this went on, the more annoyed Sesshoumaru became, especially when the demon led him on a chase in and out of his domain. Finished with the game, the dog demon sped up and flung his boa out like a whip, catching the intruder with it by the throat as the fluff wrapped thrice around its throat and brought him to the ground.

Even as he fell to the ground, Sesshoumaru leapt forward with the boa in his hand and stopped in front of the demon fast enough to snap its neck. This was release. This was freedom. The ability to kill on a whim. This was Sesshoumaru.

His eyes clouded with red as his youkai threatened to come forth after being kept dormant for so long. He might have even gone through with his transformation if not for the woman walking calmly towards them, staring at him the whole time. She reeked and with his sensitive nose, he almost gagged on the stench as she stopped before them and looked back and forth between him and the grisly scene of the felled demon, his head lying at an unnatural angle.

“Lord Sesshoumaru, I hardly think that was necessary. I thought you were prided on your self control, were you not?”

He narrowed his eyes at her and said wit only a hint of a growl in his voice, “I'm tolerating your presence here after the attack on my lands here aren't I, Queen of the Silk Worm Demons?”

A sly smile graced her lips.

Author's Note: So I'm aware this chapter isn't exactly sweet make-up and everything, but things take time and these problems do come up in marriages. Souten and Shippo will be close to being resolved in the next chapter.

I tried to resolve the fluff issue for whoever wanted it. I know the rest of you are probably wondering what I'm doing having the SilkWorm Queen make an appearance in the Western Lands, so stay tuned.

SakuraAnkh