InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver-Haired Beauty ❯ Face the Fear With Me ( Chapter 17 )

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Week Three

Morning

"Sango, do you think Inuyasha and Kagome are alright?"

"I don't know. I think they need more time together."

"Sango, will you marry me?"

BAM!

"It would have been nicer if you weren't grabbing my ass hentai!!"

*sigh*

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Afternoon

"Shinaki, what the hell is that smell?"

"Duck and goose excrement. It's good for the roses."

*wobbling a bit* "Shinaki, I don't feel so good."

"Yama, you look awfully green."

THUD! *groan*

"Kiso!"

"Yeah mom?"

"Take Yama in and lay him on the bed please."

"Yes mom."

*Lift and carry*

"Poor inu and their over-sensitive noses."

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Night

Kaede loved Inuyasha like the ruffian son one finds it hard to stay mad at. When he'd come that night and retrieved her from the village yelling about Kagome being ill for a week but not smelling sick, she'd gathered her things and left without a word. The fact that the girl had not awakened from the healing she had done earlier further worried her. She knew how protective the hanyou was of the girl he saw as his mate, and she herself saw as a daughter, but if he didn't stop hovering over her every move as she checked on Kagome's sleeping form she swore she would bind him to a wall just to make him be still!

"INUYASHA, will ye please sit down?" Something in her voice must have given away her irritation because he pulled back without comment. Satisfied that he would stay put, she turned back and finished what she was doing.

"How has Kagome's appetite been lately?" She asked calmly and touched the young woman's pulse, finding it smooth and even.

"She eats fine all day, except a night. Then she complains about her stomach and goes to bed." Sulking a bit, he craned his head to see better.

"When exactly do these spells of sickness occur?" The girl's color was good, not flushed with fever or pale from blood loss.

"Late at night or real early in the morning. Once or twice this week in the middle of the day." Since he couldn't see as much as he wanted, the hanyou scowled at the healer's back instead.

After asking him a few more questions, which he sourly answered, she placed a hovering hand over other various parts of Kagome's body before sitting back with a solemn expression.

Unable to take the silence when no answers appeared to be forthcoming, Inuyasha growled out, "Oi old woman! What's up with her? Is she gonna be all right?" When Kaede didn't answer, he angrily raised his voice a bit, "Can you fix her?"

Sliding him a pointed look, she rose painfully to her knees and packed her herbs back into her bag. "She is well Inuyasha, there is nothing wrong with her to fix yet." Giving him a small bag, she patted the sleeping Kagome on the hand before leaving the room. True to form, Inuyasha barred the door and thrust the bag in her face, "If she's not sick, then what the hell is this for?" A dangerous light danced in his eyes as he demanded an answer.

Ducking under his arm, she called back calmly, "It's tea to help the nausea. Most of the village women find it helpful for morning sickness when they are pregnant."

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From his perch on the bed Shippo got to watch the reaction Kaede's words had on Inuyasha first hand. 'Let's see.' he thought, 'There goes the shock…a little disbelief. Wow, I never knew he could even look THAT confused. Uh-huh, a little realization must be taking hold in his brain somewhere. Ah, there's the smile I was waiting for!'

Satisfied that all was well, the kitsune kissed his mother on the brow as she slept then hopped past the stone still figure and said, "She's having twins by the way." before dashing happily away from the descending claws.

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'Twins?' Walking over to the bed as if the floor was suddenly turned to eggshells, Inuyasha climbed gingerly in next to Kagome. Staring down at her peaceful face he tenderly stroked a cheek with the back of a finger. 'She's having my pups.' He repeated it aloud to really let it sink in. It was true, he could see it in her face, now that Kaede had told him. There was a stupid smile on his face, he could feel it, but it just wouldn't stop and he didn't care.

Suddenly, Inuyasha wanted to go outside and tell anyone, hell everyone. He wanted to shout it from the highest hill he could find. As she murmured in her sleep, the sound caught at his heart and awoke every protective instinct he ever knew he had, plus some he didn't. Yeah, he wanted to go tell the world, but he wanted to be by her side even more.

'Kuroi is going to be an aunt.' Just that thought clarified his earlier jumbled emotions. A little sister. That's why he'd felt that way when he'd seen her kiss Sesshomaru. He'd wanted to make sure his little sister didn't get hurt, especially around a frosty asshole like his brother. A pleased laugh slipped out and he rained feather soft kisses across Kagome's face.

Thinking about Shippo, he idly mused following the little kitsune to his 'hidden' camp and pound out how long the cub had known about Kagome being pregnant, but he passed it up. Instead, he gathered her close, gentler than he'd ever done before and held her. "I love you." he whispered as he tucked her under his chin, wanting to stay that way for the rest of his life.

But we don't always get what we want.

A knock on the door made him swear softly. Unwilling to move, he only did so when it became apparent that the sound was disturbing Kagome's sleep. Pulling away gently, Inuyasha scooted off the bed and left the room, promising to make the bastard that had disturbed him more sorry than he'd ever been in his life. Bounding to the front door, he snatched it open hard enough to break a hinge and hissed, "WHAT?!"

When no one was there, he stared around confused before closing it. A familiar staff stopped it's progress. "What the fuck?" Of anyone he expected to see at his doorstep that night, Jaken would have been the furthest from his mind.

The little youkai smiled up at him apologetically, "Good evening Lord Inuyasha."

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Jaken was desperate. He'd taken the fastest steed in the stables and searched far and wide the whole week to fulfill his Lord's command. All he had to show for it was nothing. No one in the Lady's family knew where she had been born. They had found her in the woods as an infant and simply raised her as their own. He'd wondered about that, but that type of youkai was notoriously kind-hearted. They had twenty of their own plus ten more human children of various ages around when he'd stopped by.

One of her little brothers, Kiso, had suggested he try her army post. Thanking the rather large youkai, the frustrated retainer had set out to do just that. Once at the out post, he'd questioned everyone from her superiors to soldiers under her command. He got tales of her bravery, beauty and incredible battled prowess. A young enlistee had even commented about her ability to drink anyone of them under a table, but not one of them could tell him anything about her.

There didn't seem to be anyone they could think of that she was particularly friendly with either. As he was about to leave, Jaken accidentally got hit with an arrow from the recruit target practice. While laying up in the infirmary, he'd heard two healers discussing his questions about Kuroi. They'd laughed and remarked that if anyone knew anything, it would be some "Inuyama guy she babbled about when she had gotten really injured one time."

With a sinking heart, the retainer knew that the 'Inuyama' being referred to was actually Inuyasha. Weary and desperate, he'd ridden hard to come almost full circle to the one person who could give him the answers he sought.

Looking up into the thunderous face of the hanyou in question, he wondered if maybe he should cut out Lord Sesshomaru and just kill himself now.

"What the fuck do you want?" Growling as he awaited the answer, Inuyasha dropped to his haunches and stared hard at the little youkai.

Not wanting to appear intimidated, Jaken switched to flattery, "You are looking quite well this evening Lord Inuyasha! I do apologize for this late intrusion, but I have urgent need of your help."

Ears pricking at the other's tone and use of the title 'Lord ' Inuyasha automatically scanned the surroundings for his older brother. Not sensing any immediate threat, he still scowled at the retainer. "What the fuck are you talking about toad?" He was getting some satisfaction in the way the other was trembling with badly disguised fear.

"I-I was wondering if we might discuss this in-"

"No."

The curt answer and raised pitch of the growl signaled that he had better get to the point. Fast. "A-hem. I wish to know a little bit more about the Lady Kuroi, please." the words came out in a rush as the little man curled up and awaited immediate dismemberment.

It took Jaken a minute to realize that he was still alive. Not only alive, but sill in one piece. Peeking through his arms at his imagined executioner, he saw the face of the young girl Kagome. His executioner was thundering down at her instead.

"Damn it Kagome, go back to bed!"

Placing her hands on her hips, she scowled back just as fiercely, "No, I just woke up and I feel fine now!" Noticing Jaken in the door, she was torn between being polite and asking him in, or kicking him as hard as she could. Polite won out. "Please come in Jaken." she said pleasantly.

Taken back, Inuyasha's face twitched uncontrollably as the woman he loved seated the servant of one of his worst enemies down to tea. "KA…GO…ME…!!"

"What!?" Eyes flashing, she glared at him as she poured some tea. "Jaken said he needed your help, I heard him. Now quit being an ass and just hear him out."

Something in the way she'd phrased 'I heard him' snapped the irritation out of his eyes. 'She heard him huh? I think what she really heard was Kuroi's name.' To test his theory, Inuyasha strode over calmly and took her wrist in his hand.

"Kagome, would you please not worry me and go to bed? Kaede said that you needed some more rest. Whatever Jaken wants to tell me is probably about dad or Sesshomaru, so you don't need to be here." Inuyasha mentally patted himself on the back for sounding so logical.

Jaken and Kagome just stared at him as if he'd sprouted a tail. Frowning at what he thought sounded like a perfect argument, he was getting angry that it wasn't working. "What? What the fuck did I say?" The relieved sighs that met his outburst didn't help his mood at all. "Oh, so I can't sound reasonable? If I'm not screaming my head off or cursing a blue streak you think I'm possessed or something?!" The simultaneous nods really pushed him over the edge.

"KAGOME GO TO BED!! JAKEN GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!!!!!"

Scrambling to avoid the claws that slashed at him, Jaken wailed "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please my Lord, I'm begging for your help!" He managed to dodge a particularly nasty swipe by ducking behind a table. A large cracking noise made him peek around it though. Kagome stood over a red and cursing Inuyasha with a broken rolling pin in one hand while she covered her mouth with the other.

"If I didn't love you I'd kill you." the low snarl was thick and very nasty. At that moment, Shippo walked by munching on a chocolate bar. "If you weren't pregnant with his twins he means." he added before he scrambled out of the open door to avoid Inuyasha's lightning fast attempt to grab him.

That's when all hell broke loose.

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Sesshomaru found himself wandering the halls again. He'd been doing that a lot lately, but he always made sure to stop in one of the rooms as if that was his destination all along. It wouldn't do to have the staff wonder about him. Even as he walked surrounded in an air of indifference, he couldn't stop thinking about that kiss.

He'd enjoyed it. He'd enjoyed it a LOT. While he did allow himself a few pleasures now and then, that wasn't what had him in a knot at the moment. The burr in his side was that he couldn't figure out if Kuroi had enjoyed it too. 'Or had it still been an experiment for her?' Snapping at a lower servant for not hurrying, he idly wondered if that was the real reason for his discontent.

'Did she really like it, or not? Does she care about me in the least? Does she only love that cursed hanyou? This would be so much easier if I was Inuyasha. He'd just bust down the door, grab her and demand an answer. No protocol at all.' The thought of wanting to be like his brother didn't help his mood in the slightest.

Turning a corner, he stopped as he realized where his feet had brought him. Right before him stood a flimsy door, the only thing between him and the woman he badly wanted some answers from. Looking up and down the hall, he started to tap on the door when a voice called out, "Come in Sesshomaru."

Yellow eyes narrowed in disbelief. He hadn't made a noise, so how had she heard anything, let alone known it was even him? '

The aura thing. She still must sense me when I'm nearby. Now if it would just work as easily for me…'

Drawing himself up, he opened the door and stepped inside. Madness flittered before his eyes. Silk, satin and other fine linen lay in haphazard piles on the floor. A large bolt of shockingly blue cotton was tipped out of the closet. Bending down, he picked up a lovely kimono that had been discarded on the floor.

"Give me a sec, okay?" The voice traveled to him from behind a changing screen. "I know, you've seen me naked like more than twice already, but hey. Just pretend I'm modest." A teasing lilt in her request made him smile inside. When she stepped out, instead of a sister to the kimono he held, she was wearing a simple sleeveless robe of the blue fabric he'd just seen. Belted by a thin sash of bright yellow, it was not what he'd been expecting. Seeing the kimono he held, she snorted as she took it and tossed it in a corner with some others.

"I just came to see if you were all right and settled in before the wedding next week." he said slowly, staring at the humongous pile. At a lost for excuses as to why he'd come, that had been the politest one he could think of. Two hands cupped his face and turned it around for a gentle kiss that rocked him.

"No you didn't." she murmured against his mouth assuredly. A nip on his chin preceded her next statement, which astounded him with its perception, "You came to ask if I enjoyed that kiss or was I just testing you again." Another kiss silenced his protest. He was finding it very hard to move at the moment. "I enjoyed it and it was still a test." she whispered huskily.

The honesty of the statement made him frown as he pulled away slightly. Sometime during the rain of kisses she'd bestowed, his hands had found their way around her waist. He removed them even though he wanted to put them right back.

'Fight this damn it! Two kisses and she's got you wrecked. You are Sesshomaru, future Inu no Taisho of the West. Get it together man!'

With that fortifying mental rally, he looked at her thoughtfully. "How can it be a test and enjoyed at the same time?" He almost swore she pouted while he spoke. With a sigh, she turned and sat down. "I been wondering what kissing you would be like since I got here, so I did it."

"It was an impulse?" once again her straight forwardness was confusing to him.

"You've got a nice face and really nice lips." A mischievous smile played across her mouth as she watched him, "I was curious if they felt as good as they looked. I enjoyed it because they do. I've enjoyed the kisses you gave me on your own even more."

Sesshomaru felt the blood rushing to his head because her scent was changing again. The arousal was stronger, but he pushed that information aside. He needed to clear a few things up first.

"Who are you?"

Raising an eyebrow at the gruff edge to his voice, she sat up straight and laughed lightly. "My name is Kuroi Hana and I am to be your bride."

Slightly infuriated, Sesshomaru knelt down and grabbed her arm in a bruising grip, "Look little girl. I am not someone to be trifled with. I do not know how you talked my father into this or how you claim to know my bastard half brother, but I will find out your secret and expose you before killing you."

Yanking back from the quiet venom in his voice, she did something he didn't expect. She slapped him. Hard. "How dare you." Hurt and disbelief warred for dominance in her voice. "How fucking DARE YOU!! I didn't ask your father for this marriage, he asked me! Hell, I'd never even thought he knew much about me since I serve in one of his furthest outposts! I was as shocked as you were when he asked me to marry his son."

"I thought after last night, you's understood. I thought that things had changed." Her voice was small and hurt, but she glared defiantly at him. "But you won't allow that, will you?"

She glared at him as her words heated up. "And for your information, I did know Inuyasha fifty years ago. He's one of my dearest friends and I'm tired of hearing you put him down! He's been true and kind and loyal to me for a long time even if he is a blockhead on occasions."

Starting to huff a bit from unshed tears, Kuroi glared weakly at him, "I never asked to be married to you." The confession seemed to open a floodgate of tears, "I thought, I thought I was going to be engaged to him!" Hot drops coursed down her cheeks and hit the back of his hand, which was balling into a fist.

"You two are nothing alike! I've never met such a stuck up, arrogant, cold, unfeeling bastard as you! You're so far gone behind that mask of yours that you can't even see when someone's telling you the truth! I don't have any secrets except one, and it's what keeps me alive. It isn't harmful and it won't stop until I die so it's none of your fucking business."

Pressing a hand to her forehead, she shook her head in disbelief, "Your father introduces you to a potential wife who tells you the truth, then you threaten to kill her when she does? What the fuck is wrong with you? Gods! I'd rather give myself to Inuyasha than a frigid lump of hate like you!!" Scrubbing furiously at her face, she started to turn away.

The hand that shot out and snagged her hand was surprising to say the least, but not half as much as the mouth that pressed against hers with almost crushing brutality. Pushing against the unyielding wall of his chest, she gasped when strong fingers fisted in her hair and tugged hard. The action parted her lips and allowed him to thrust his tongue inside of her mouth to taste each part of it with frenzied thoroughness.

His kiss shocked her more immobile than the sudden weight of his body on top of her, even as it made her begin to relax against him. At the feel of her body becoming more pliant, Sesshomaru eased up on the demanding kiss, but didn't try to make it any less deep.

The subtle smell of sandalwood wrapped around her, tickling her senses and cradling her brain in a sensuous fog as her arms wrapped around his neck and she fought the urge to moan.

'He feels so good, why won't he just let go like he did before?' she wondered before a gentle sweep of his lips halted most coherent thought. Dazed and completely mollified, she was dimly aware of a whisper against her lips.

"Wha…?" she asked completely bewildered.

"Don't say that…please…" thickened with desire, his breath trailed hotly as he kissed her again while his hands worked their way under her robe to span her waist and ribs. The contact made her shiver and arch against his fingers.

When he paused to nip lightly along her jaw, she held his face for a moment and repeated her question.

Almost black with desire, his eyes were bright and hot as the heart of the sun. "Don't ever say that about Inuyasha again."

Confused, she kissed him to stall his next move, "Say what?"

"That he could ever have you." he growled and claimed her mouth with a fierceness that left her reeling. 'So much passion, he could burn me alive with it.' Shifting beneath his weight, she felt the embodiment of his desire press against her urgently. The contact made her shiver again as she felt herself responding more and more to his touches even though his words had an opposite effect on her mind.

While she enjoyed the kiss, she didn't want it if it was only out of jealousy. Arching her body with a strength that startled the youkai, she flipped him aside and straddled him. Groaning in her mind as gravity pressed him harder against her sensitive flesh, she frowned down at him.

"Now it's my turn to ask the question. Are you doing this because you like me or because of what I said?!" Still heaving from the kiss, she couldn't quite get the intended force behind her words.

At the question though, the desire was again bottled up in his eyes as he turned his face away. "I can't answer that."

"Oh the hell you can't!" she cried out in exasperation, "Fuck, be honest." Dragging a hand through her hair, she flung out her arms, "I see you walk around here all the time looking so miserable I could cry. Why don't you just admit to feeling something? Anything? Would it kill you?" Twitching her hips against his erection, she said wryly, "Your body can be honest, so why don't you try it for a change?" More reluctant to get off of him than she wanted to admit, Kuroi contented herself with a seat on the edge of the mattress. She felt a hand stroke her hair from behind as his quiet voice reached her, "I honestly do like you."

Looking at him in disbelief, she stood slowly and moved away. "How can I be sure? I've seen you and Inuyasha when he comes here. You're like kids with a favorite toy. Well I don't want to be some toy between you two! At least I know why he likes me, you can't seem to make up your mind about whether to kiss me or yell at me. At least Inuyasha could do that." the lie left a bitter taste on her tongue.

Watching Sesshomaru rise gracefully to his feet and start to approach her, she shivered. Every line of his body screamed predator and she wondered what it would feel like to be the sole focus of his real desire. Her face flamed at the thought.

Mistaking the blush, Sesshomaru stopped and instead looked away from her. A bright color caught his eye. In a conversation switch that left her completely unbalanced, he held up a kimono, "Why don't you wear these? They're the height of fashion."

Dumbfounded, she blinked as her brain struggled to catch up with the sudden change and answered numbly, "They're not comfortable." Tugging on the short hem of her rumpled robe where it stopped mid thigh, she slid back to sit on the floor. "I can't fight in a full kimono, so I never learned to really wear one. Since all I do is fight or spar at the outpost, this robe has been fine."

Something was still refusing to click in her brain. Hadn't they just been fighting and kissing? Why was he discussing clothes? What the hell just happened?

Taking in his appearance, still polished despite what just happened a moment ago, she asked softly, "Don't you have any clothes like that?"

"I am always comfortable." was his last response to her before he turned and left the room. His sensitive ears heard a shuddering breath mumble, "Not with that stick up your ass, you're not." Gritting his teeth, he headed back to his room.

'Comfortable? I am the PICTURE of comfort! Hah!' disgusted with himself because he'd just caused more questions than he'd answered not to mention a painfully swollen erection, Sesshomaru discarded his over robe. He couldn't wear it anymore. It smelled like her now and there was no way he'd make it through the night with his sanity intact if that scent lingered to taunt him. Striding to the closet, he yanked open the door to get another one. As he opened the panel, light fell on a flat wooden box on the bottom.

Temporarily forgetting his mission, Sesshomaru knelt down slowly and brushed his fingers across the top of it. With a quick glance over his shoulder to ensure he was alone and the door was shut, he opened the lid and lifted the soft bundle out of it reverently.

A fire rat haori and hakama.

Identical to the one Inuyasha wore save for the color. Where his brother's was a deep red, this one was snow white with crimson piping along the sleeves and ankles.

Pulling it respectfully to him, Sesshomaru buried his face in it and inhaled the fragrance of the woman who'd made it for him so long ago. Ukiyo, his human stepmother.

Thinking about her still brought a sharp pain to his heart, even after all these years. She'd been so kind to him, even when he'd been at his coldest to her. The day she'd presented Inuyasha with his red robes, she drawn Sesshomaru aside and presented his to him in private. At the time, he'd cruelly thought it had been an act of shame because she was giving a gift to another on her son's birthday. Or more plausible in his mind back then, because she hadn't cared or had the nerve to ask Lord Yamatsu when her stepson's true birthday was.

As he had been about to refuse, he'd looked up at her face and stopped. The gentle, uncertain smile she had worn when she'd given it to him had spoken volumes. If he wanted to refuse her gift, he could do it that day in secret and not on his birthday where such a display of rudeness would surely have been punished by his father. If he didn't want it, she would never tell that he had refused. The secret would stay with her.

That simple act had broken something hard and lonely inside him for the first time since his mother had died, and he'd started to truly love Ukiyo.

Then she'd died and left his world in ruins.

Snatching the haori away before his hot tears could stain it, Sesshomaru put it back and slammed the lid with a bit more force than he'd intended.

That hurt. They hurt. Humans.

They made you feel for them so deeply you couldn't think straight without them around. Then they died so quickly, leaving a bottomless well of sorrow behind that lasted far longer then they had actually lived. Fragile, brilliant, beautiful creatures that flashed out of your life in the blink of an eye. Getting close to one was an invitation to suffer, loving one was lunacy.

Blinking back the rest, he swallowed his unshed tears, dashing away the wetness on his face before going out into the garden. Breathing heavily, he stood in the center and tried to will his tumultuous emotions to be silent. As the breeze caressed his skin, he knew the answer about Kuroi. She was making that hard and lonely place inside of him start to crack again and this time he couldn't fix it.