What Was Expected

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA AND CO, NOR DO I MAKE MONEY FROM THIS.

Thank you to possessed for beta-ing.

Chapter 12: What the Light Illuminates

Deceit and intrigue were his forte. While all kitsune excelled at misdirection, Floin had become an accomplished liar. It probably helped that he had a twin that he could easily frame as his scapegoat. Now that their very survival depended on how well they could distort truth and insert believable lies, the young fox saw no reason to curb his talents for the sake of morals. A smirk graced his lips. Yes, he was the evil twin that so many claimed to have and one of the perks of his role was that he never had to deal with the nagging feeling of regret.

The fate of his clan rested on his shoulders and he would not fail. Besides, the girl was a pretty little thing that seemed to have quite a bit of spunk in her when riled correctly. Not to mention, beating the arrogant silver-haired dog would be quite a feather in his cap. Being a fox of foreign lineage Floin did not hold any true alliance to any clans on these soils, but even he had heard of the ferocity of Japan’s western dogs. They would not be easy advisories to overcome, but their arrogance would be their downfall.

The hours that he had spent with Akio and his daughter had not exactly been fruitful. The old dog was too steeped in the traditions of old to be of any use and the daughter, Nori, had not been enthusiastic, to say the least, about teaming up with a foreign fox. The only thing that he had managed to accomplish in their meeting was to ensure that Akio’s pride was cut deep by the insult to his pack.

Tradition spoke that humans were nothing and should never be placed above any youkai, no matter the youkai’s status. The Inu no Taisho’s encouragement of his heir to pursue a human as mate was the equivalent of stating that Akio’s pack was lower than dirt. The old dog had snarled and bristled at such a slight, though the male knew not where to direct his anger. While his fury was to the point of giving him tunnel vision, the inu-youkai knew that there was no way that he could survive a challenge issued in the ways of old.

This was where Floin pointed out that in today’s society there was no reason to attack physically. Youkai were quite influential in the world of business and Sato Toga was bound to have left many who wished to knock him down a notch or two. Why not attack the Sato’s business? The shame of failing in something that even a human could master would force the great and terrible Inu no Taisho to retreat and lick his proverbial wounds for quite some time.

The redheaded devil left Akio to begin his assault on the Sato Empire. Floin had spent the rest of the night at the girl’s home, which by some cliché was a shrine, only to never have her return there. Later he would find out that the dogs had already moved the girl into their circle to protect her better.

With this new development, Floin saw another advantage to attacking the dog’s business. With their company on the verge of failing, it would force them to spend less energy protecting the girl thereby making her an easier target.

He watched from a distance, as the young college student was carted to and from the university. He watched as she became increasingly isolated, fellow students sneering at her good fortune instead of smiling. Jealousy was a common denominator between youkai and humans. He watched as she never fought back; as she accepted her friend’s abandonment with a smile and well wishes for said friend. From the shadows, he watched.

It was in those shadows that he came to see her as more than a simple girl. It was in those shadows that an obsession to possess her was born, fed, grew, and thrived. Floin, the master of deceit, the black sheep of his family, the evil twin, would conquer this pure being. He would warp her to him so that she would never be able to live without him. She would be his.

His smile faded as he watched the silver-headed bane approached his priestess. The smile reformed as he watched his girl fight against the dog only to vanish again as he watched her leave with said dog. Perhaps, if the dog had this type of power over her, it would be best if he approached her not as himself but an authority to which she had already yielded. It would give him the opportunity to establish his dominance over her in private.

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Light was everywhere. It seemed to taunt her as it filled the room effortlessly. It was said the sun never lost its luster, but that was not true. One day the sun would no longer burn, having used the last of its fuel. So was it too much to ask that she always keep her inner light as radiant as when she was a child?

The world darkened as she blinked, and it stayed dark as she refused to open her eyes. Kagome floated in the numbing that had over taken her life. Suddenly her eyes shot open. No more. Something had awoken in her in the last twenty-four hours and she could not bear what she had allowed herself to become. No more.

Her movements were quick and jerky, not the slow fumbling actions of a person barely aware of the world beyond their own sorrow. It was with this new determination that she got ready for the day.

Sesshoumaru sat on the floor leaning upon the opposing wall from her bedroom door. His amber eyes held a clarity that few maintained without sleep, and the very lucid silver-haired male just sat in silence observing her when she opened the door.

Kagome noted that he wore the same clothes as yesterday leading her to believe that he had not left since she disappeared into the room the night before.

“Good morning.” The pleasantry came from her mouth with a hint of questioning.

The fluid grace in his being came to a pinnacle as he rose from the floor with never once showing the effort of his muscles or the counterweight of momentum. “The morning has passed.” Sesshoumaru noted that her eyes looked clearly at him, no haze to distort their mesmerizing depths. Inhaling deeply, he did not detect the tinge of sorrow that had previously saturated her scent. “The correct response would be good afternoon.”

Blinking, Kagome just tilted her head as she stared at the male before her. Her plans of attacking the day had now officially flown out the window seeing how she no longer had any place to be. He had stayed here all night and had missed work today to what? Guard her door? “Why?” The question slipped from her lips.

Sesshoumaru was not sure how to answer the vague question. Really, the answer encompassed more than he was willing to vocalize so he continued to bore into her soul through her eyes.

There was no point in closing him out anymore. Kagome had come to a decision, between putting on fresh underwear and a pair of jeans, that she would either accept or deny him based on his own merits. The circumstances under their meeting had not been the best, but then in retrospect it was probably safe to say that Liam’s interest had not been differently motivated. That being admitted, Kagome had searched her soul and found that if Liam was still alive and his intentions had come to light, whether through confession or not, she would have and did forgive him.

It was her nature to always forgive past transgressions, hate never found a permanent home in her heart. With this in mind, she knew that she had never given any credence to any of the advice that her mother had tried to bestow upon her, it was time to start living again.

“I loved him,” she did not let the pain of her next words silence her voice. “There will always be a part of me that loves him. But, as so many have pointed out, he is dead. I have been haunted by his memory for over a year now for reasons that were never his fault. It was his face that I saw, I see, when I am reminded of the things, the moments, that I denied him.”

Shielded amber orbs never wavered from Kagome’s eyes. No movement was made by the tortured male to move closer or farther from the one person he want with every fiber of his being. A warrior by training he fought against the refinements ingrained in him to stay true to his baser nature. A predator innately knew the importance of laying still in wait for the moment to pounce.

Empathetic by nature, it hurt Kagome to lay out her tattered soul before one who never gave hint to the thoughts behind the closed amber watching her so intently. However, the pain would be there whether she confessed this to a stone wall or her most trusted confidant.

Taking a shaky breath, the miko ventured further into her own sorrow. “I don’t know how long this apparition will follow my heart, locking out all others that try to gain entry. I don’t know if Liam would have truly wished for me to find happiness as so many have suggested. I do know that I want to believe that the one I loved so deeply, so consumingly, would return the love so unselfishly thereby finding it in his being to forgive that I am not strong enough to live in this bleak world of mourning.

“I am sorry for how vengeful I have been to you. You were not the cause of my pain, if anything you were forced into a similar situation because of familial obligation. It was easier to try to make you into this horrible monster than to see you as anything else. Especially when every little action, all the little things you have done, proved that you were not that monster.

“A part of me wishes that I had met you first. The ghosts of my heart have no faults and any living being will always fail in comparison to those ghosts. How I wish I was a stronger person, but I have made many mistakes in my life and have to make atonements. The first will be now; I want to try for happiness. However, I cannot search for this with you if you do not know all that stands in our way.

“There is this light inside of me. It is where I found the strength to warm myself when the cold bears down. It used to be brighter than the sun… I am losing it… it is dimming. And I am so scared that once it is gone I will no longer exist and I am not talking about becoming a walking shell that everyone has accused me of being for the past year and half. No, there is this growing feeling that my very soul will cease to be. Yet, when you are near I feel that I have something to hold onto, a place to anchor myself against the swirling winds of chaos within my soul.”

The tears fell freely down her cheeks, her eyes pleaded with him for any sign that she might find forgiveness for her failings. The very air grew thick, making the act of breathing nearly impossible. Still neither moved towards each other, one waiting and the other beginning to understand how lost she had allowed herself to become.

Sapphire orbs closed, wishing that darkness could contain warmth. The numbness that had left her upon waking was slowly creeping back into her bones. She wanted to scream, to cry out for help, but she had already burned her bridges and no one would come to her aid.

Was she worth it? A miko on the brink of oblivion. A snarl in his very soul answered with an unequivocal yes. There was no hell too deep that would keep him from her. He had claimed her and now she was offering herself to him. He would have all of her.

Sesshoumaru snatched her petite body to his, crushing her against him in a dominant embrace. His nose dipped to the crook of her neck, inhaling all that was she. Words left his thin lips, decreeing his terms. “This Sesshoumaru will be second to none.”

He felt her stiffen and smelled the sorrow lace her scent once more. It did not take a genius to realize that she had taken his words as a rejection. If words lost their meaning in interpretation then he would respond in a way that left no room for doubt.

His lips sealed over hers, as one hand came up to tangle in her midnight tresses. The other was left to explore the span of her back. Even when he had held her a week ago, he had not let himself explore the contours of her body. No, his honor demanded that she be a willing participant in this endeavor, or at least able to voice her objections. So, it was with great enjoyment that he mapped the dips and rises of her back with the pads of his fingers.

As his lips moved against hers with fevered passion, Kagome began to surrender to his need. Slowly, her hands moved up his muscled chest, one moved to marvel at the muscles and tendons of his flexing shoulder while the other journeyed up his neck, tracing his jawline until she reached his elfin ear. Feather light fingers traced the pointed tip as the male’s chest released a low rumbling thrum announcing his pleasure taken from her actions.

Kagome had long since lost herself in the passion, but as the kiss deepened; she was jolted out of her blissful stupor when the unwarranted image of Liam passed through her mind.

The inu-youkai had been overly thrilled with the responses that he had been receiving from his advances. However, when he was ready to press for more, the willing female stilled and shame and despair laced her scent of arousal. It did not take any brilliant deductive skills to know what had happened. Pulling back to look into her apologetic eyes, his suspicions were confirmed.

“I’m so-“ The apology was silenced when he placed a clawed finger over her swollen lips.

He would not let her apologize for something that proved her humanity. In truth, it spoke volumes of her character that she would not allow herself to get lost in the escape that the sensations promised her. While this brought a new level of admiration from him, Sesshoumaru would not share this woman with anyone else, even apparitions, once he took her to his bed.

“It will take time.” He spoke as moved his finger from her lips to cup her cheek in his hand. “This Sesshoumaru knows how to be patient.”

A light laugh left her as she nuzzled further into the warmth of his hand. He had already proven to her that he possessed infinite amounts of patience. With his warmth soothing her chaotic emotions, she was left feeling tired.

Hesitant steps returned Kagome to the inviting embrace of Sesshoumaru’s arms. He had offered her much and right now, she needed to lean on his strength to reinforce that she had made the correct choice.

The world closed to steeled muscles securing her to a chiseled chest and life took a new rhythm as her head rested over the steady beat of his heart.

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Things were not going as smoothly as they should have. No, Nori was quickly learning how few avenues of approach she had when trying to work outside of her father’s notice. To add to it all in order not to create suspicion, she had to play along with her alpha’s ploy against the Inu no Taisho.

If she was ever going to place herself in a position of more prestige, Nori knew that she could not be attached to the debacle that her father was going to create. Damn him, damn Sesshoumaru, and most of all damn the whore that had captivated her male’s attention.

So far, the “miko” had withstood the ridicule of her peers. How could Sesshoumaru be so attracted to someone that was so weak that she could not even defend herself against words? Shaking her head, Nori had to find another way to shove the whore in her proper place.

The boy she had conned into approaching the little slip of a girl had been thwarted by Sesshoumaru himself and the punishment the boy had received for his actions would deter others from taking his place.

What Nori needed was a patsy, a fool that would follow her directives without question. It had to be someone that no one would ever believe she would work with and one who would be easy to dispose of later.

Glinting eyes reflected her inner mirth, as she pictured the perfect creature for such a job. Rin. The young human had a standing relationship with the Inu no Taisho’s pack. She could easily maneuver throughout its members and the girl already had a standing of trust amongst said members.

Rin had not been secret about her growing affections for the silver-haired inu-youkai and while this would diminish her creditability slightly where the “miko” was concerned it would also provide an easy means of motivating her.

Yes, Rin would do nicely. Besides, once she had disgraced herself to Toga, she had no family left to protect her. Now all Nori needed to do was to set the players into place and wait as time took them down their dictated paths.

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The afternoon had been spent together. Though not alone, Kagome and Sesshoumaru never left each other’s sides while visiting her family. Kagome had made a soft-spoken apology to her mother for the harsh words shared between them and her mother had eagerly declared that much of the fault rested on her own shoulders. The two estranged women took the first tentative steps towards rebuilding their torn relationship.

By the waning light of the evening sun, Sesshoumaru saw many of the burdens that had weighed Kagome down lift. Her heart beat easier and her soul shined more vibrantly through her eyes than he had ever seen. Watching her midnight tresses dance in the wind as she walked back to him from the Goshinboku, the youkai noted with amazement that the corrupted world of humans had managed to create a truly pure being.

Within a day, she had managed to bring back her inner light so that it blazed brighter than any star in the sky could ever hope. If a miko was said to be touched by the Kami, Kagome must have been bathed in their greatness.

His musings were cut short by a slightly panicked call from his Alpha. So as they had done everything else that day, the two went to meet with the great and terrible Inu no Taisho together. Nothing would overpower them as long as they had each other’s strength. As if to reassure this assumption, their auras mingled and blended as they walked side by side down the concrete steps of the shrine.

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AN: Thank you for reading, I love reviews if you have the time. I actually draw inspiration from them, believe it or not. So with that said, I hope that everyone is having a good new year so far.

emmaren