Hindsight

A/N: Oh, I'm late. Yaar. I would say sorry, but I have it on the best authority that pirates do not apologize. ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!

Disclaimer: Great Flying Dutchman, Batman! I don't own Inuyasha!!!

Day Two, Act Four: Sesshomaru
Chapter Fourteen: An Avian Interlude


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Sesshomaru had once had a tiny bird as a pet when he was but a pup.

Surprisingly, it had been the crusty old bastard Inutaisho who had given him the delicate little bird in a simple wooden cage.
Claiming that it was to be a test of Sesshomaru’s skills at responsibility, Sesshomaru distinctly remembered seeing his mother giggling behind his father, flashing a bright smile at her delighted son.
Ecstatic at the thought of a new friend, Sesshomaru had taken meticulous care of the bird, and six months into ownership, he learnt something about his pet.

It was a bloody devil.

At that time of six months, it was old enough to fly long distances, which it took full use of as often as possible.
Then, it proceeded to get itself entangled in an unimaginable amount of trouble all through the palace.

It pecked up the cook’s delicate creations for an important Taiyoukai gathering its first day of flight, necessitating Sesshomaru capturing it in his claws and running for dear life as the cook threw all her sharp knives at his bird, which insisted on chirping mockingly at the infuriated chef.

It all went downhill from there.

It made lasting enemies with the head of guards, after an unfortunate incident concerning a birdy bathroom break and the head guard’s favourite helmet.
It ripped the flower heads off a meticulously crafted garden masterpiece showing the symbolic unification of the Four Kingdoms for another Taiyoukai gathering that the head gardener had spent twenty sleepless months carefully cultivating.
The bird even managed to alienate the gentle livestock master, after it incited all the kept animals in the palace to riot, causing a massive stampede that destroyed the newly built enclosures the master had spent fifteen years begging the notoriously tight-fisted Inutaisho for. It had taken a further half-year to get Inutaisho to contribute the necessary funds to rebuild, a short campaign culminating in the hysterical livestock master grabbing a sword and promising a ritual suicide halfway through the next Taiyoukai gathering if he didn’t get his way.

It also terrorized the maids, soldiers, courtiers…in short, everyone in the castle.
The occupants of the palace took to wearing coats coated with wax, as protection from the bird’s surprise bombings.

The blacksmith made a roaring trade in thin metal eye-guards, as the bird seemed to love darting its beak at anyone stupid enough to venture out with unprotected eyes.
Covert operations were undertaken, tactics utilized therein that Sesshomaru used even today in battle, whose sole objective was to slaughter the avian terror.
Sesshomaru saved his pet from poisoning attempts, assassins in the dead of night, snarling cats and the odd thrown dagger.

Upon telling his mother of servant dissatisfaction with his pet, she advised him to lock the cage, but Sesshomaru could never move himself to confine the tiny, bright-eyed bird, who always landed gently on his hand when he was near, chirping cheerfully at him.
Nevertheless, by the time the bird finally died of old age, there were days of drunken celebration throughout the castle, many of the beleaguered servants dancing merrily on the bird’s tiny grave, casks of sake flowing freely, the head guard, gardener and livestock master all taking turns to spit liberally at the mound of earth.

It had been many years since Sesshomaru had thought of his bird, but now, this damnable miko brought memories of that feathered fright rushing back.
Unintentional it may be, but her proclivity for getting herself into scrapes almost matched the calculated mischief of his first pet.

He swore to the gods, he had just turned for a second, to eye Inuyasha malevolently after his thirty-fourth snide comment of the day. When he shifted his gaze from a now-silent idiot, the bloody miko had once more taken herself off.
How she managed to move so swiftly and silently he did not care to speculate upon, mainly because it would mean that he, Sesshomaru, had not noticed, and that just would not do.
He batted ill naturedly at an offending branch that dared to obscure his way to...wherever he was going.

He also frowned ferociously when he could just feel Inutaisho’s smug, snarky smirk.

'Couldn’t keep a hold of her? I remember you saying something about a human being easier to keep track of than a one-legged cat in a glass box?'

Sesshomaru gritted his teeth and valiantly tried to ignore his bloody sire.
He suddenly sensed a flare of miko power, and turned towards it, cursing.
Stupid woman, getting in trouble every second.
As he dashed towards her, he refused to consider just why the thought of her dying was violently disagreeable to him.

He flashed through the forest, trees wisely shifting out of his way as he marauded his way to Kagome.
He finally saw her, and stopped in utter surprise. Kagome was glaring at three huge snake youkai, two glowing sticks twirling effortlessly in her fingers.
As the snakes attacked, she dispatched two and ducked the third, landing hard on her rear. Sesshomaru winced as the snake crashed hard into a tree, sliding to a stop inches from Kagome, who turned and shrieked, bashing the unconscious snake with her twigs.
When she got up, staring at the dust of the youkai, Sesshomaru’s eyes widened at the warrior grin on her face, at the immensely satisfied look in her eyes. For some reason, he could suddenly feel his heart thud painfully in his chest, and he scowled blackly.

He did not at all like these reactions around his miko. Not for any reason that the idiot would claim, though.
Somehow, the dolt had gotten it into his head decades ago that Sesshomaru despised both humans and hanyou in general. Seeing as it kept contact with the idiot’s smell and horrendous behaviour to a bare minimum, Sesshomaru had cheerfully fostered this misconception. In actuality, Sesshomaru really had no problem with humans, mainly because they could not compare to his strength and power. And, as he was intrinsically honourable (one of the many unwanted gifts from Inutaisho), Sesshomaru would not dream of attacking those unable to defend themselves. Indeed, the humans on his lands knew that he was protective of them, which is why he rarely had a human uprising to deal with.

As for hanyou, they were rare enough that Sesshomaru did not have to form a definite opinion on the species in general.
Truly, if Inuyasha would just embrace a daily bath and absorb some politesse, Sesshomaru would not be as reluctant to deal with him civilly.

In fact, the real reason why Sesshomaru disliked his reactions to his miko was that he was not one to form feelings for anyone in any short period of time.
Well, except for Rin, but she truly did not qualify as ‘normal’…
It all had to do with his prolonged lifespan, lengthened first because he was a full-blooded inuyoukai, secondly because he was a seated Lord, and finally because of his two magical swords.
Forming affections for anyone was a risky gamble, humans especially, as they had the unfortunate tendency to die rather quickly.

He watched, bemused, as she started to wiggle her way around the clearing, the glowing twigs a pink blur as she danced and sang, kicking gleefully at piles of youkai ash.
As she shook her rump wildly at random trees, Sesshomaru’s eyes followed the trembling globes, and he suddenly felt rather hot.
Shaking his head rapidly, he took several deep breaths, ignoring the feel of Inutaisho’s eyes on the back of his neck, and quickly composed himself. It would not do to approach the miko like the basest dog in heat.

As he calmly walked towards her, hands clasped loosely behind his back in a subconscious effort not to grab her and devour her whole, he smirked at the slow, deliberate turn she executed, and the careful, wary look in her eyes.
As she realized that it was him, and relaxed, Sesshomaru could not for the life of him explain why the opinion of this inarguably insane, loud and mercurial female was important to him.

He walked right up to her, smiling ever so slightly when she dropped her weapons, an obvious show of trust.
As she stammered her way through a greeting, Sesshomaru took the time to observe her closely, trying to ascertain if there were any physical indicators as to why she fascinated him so much.
She was attractive, yes, nothing evident that gave credence to the idiot’s constant proclamations of her utter repugnance.
However, he had seen others that were equally beautiful, but did not pull at him like this extremely odd miko did.
Sesshomaru shifted his gaze to the slightly steaming piles of ash, before looking back at her.

“What did you just do?” he had not been aware that she could transport her power to handheld weapons. He would now have to take greater care not to irritate her too much.
As she turned, her grin back in place, Sesshomaru blinked slowly, the brilliance of her joy slightly blinding.

“I, my dearest Taiyoukai, just kicked comprehensive butt! Shows those stupid snakes who to attack! They won’t do it again, just you see.” She crowed, turning to look proudly at her handiwork.
Sesshomaru half-smiled at her obvious pride, before smoothing his expression into bland disinterest.

“Because they’re dead?” As Kagome laughed, Sesshomaru eyed the steaming piles of former youkai warily one last time, before turning his attention once more to the giddy miko.

“There is that. And you haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”
As he contemplated her suspicious question and nervous look, he decided to try once more to instill into her some semblance of common sense.

“You were not with the group when I turned around.” He said sternly, schooling his face to convey nothing more than his utter displeasure and censure. He had the sinking feeling, however, that he may have displayed more.
It truly would not do to indicate to the miko that he was inappropriately concerned for her. It did not do that he was.

“Uh...I’m sorry. But I just kind of glanced this way and I saw some rare flowers that I kind of need for something, and I got a little lost and did I mention that I’m so very sorry?”

As he picked his way through her rambling sentence, he felt utterly relieved that he was not worried, only amused at her antics.
It was much better for his peace of mind, amusement as opposed to worry.
He had learnt that ages ago, with Rin.
Speaking of Rin, who had a temperament remarkably akin to Kagome’s, Sesshomaru speculated that treating them the same might garner similar results. He dusted off his best lecturing tone and aimed it towards the miko, a tone that always got Rin to behave immediately.

“I cannot uphold my debt of honour if you persist in placing yourself in danger.”

When Kagome’s eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and her eyes slid firmly down, he smiled in triumph.
When she whispered an apology, Sesshomaru gleefully decided that he had finally found a way to control the crazy ally he had burdened himself with.
‘Ah, look again, you smug whelp. Submissive, she ain’t.’ Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed at the gleeful quip his sire pelted his way, before capitulating gracelessly and peering at the miko’s slumped shoulders.

He gritted his teeth so tightly, enamel started to powder his gums lightly.

Her shoulders were shaking.

She was bloody laughing at him.

He toed his way to her, the tips of his boots crowding her dainty feet, and glared down as hard as he could at her, bending down slightly in order to bring the full brunt of his displeasure down on the disrespectful devil.
When she gasped and looked up, Sesshomaru dimly considered that close proximity with the intriguing miko was not the best idea he had ever acted on.
As her deep blue eyes locked with his, mere inches away, and she gasped in breath, slowly pressing her breasts to his chest, Sesshomaru could not find it in any of his capabilities to move away, or to break their locked gazes.

His heart started to squeeze slowly in his chest, then beat harshly, painfully fast, thumping into his chest wickedly, sending rushes of scalding warmth all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes.
He leant forward slowly, eyes still locked with hers, bringing his face closer to her, causing his heart to speed up.

“What magic is this, miko?” he asked softly, his chest now screaming with the unbearable ache.

“Wh-what magic?” as her plump, pink lips whispered her reply, Sesshomaru tilted forward a bit more.

“This...tingling. I do not like it. You will cease immediately.” He gestured sharply towards his heart, which was in serious danger of bursting.
As he gestured, his knuckles ghosted over her breasts, and his heart wrenched.
As she protested her innocence, he knew his miko was lying to him. Such a powerful physical reaction to her had to be magic.

“Perhaps...” he started, but her gaze dropping to his lips had all subsequent words chased out of his mind as he fixated on her quivering lips as well.
He realized, utterly surprised, that his lips were a hairsbreadth from hers, and wondered what she would taste like.
As her eyelids fluttered down, and her chin tilted up in blatant invitation, Sesshomaru found himself leaning down, halting right before his lips touched hers.
His claws drifted reverently over her bare arms, not touching, but coming very close, and he found himself wondering dimly, very dimly, very very very dimly, what it would be like to enfold her into his arms and never let go.

What in all the hells was he doing?

Gods, he couldn’t bloody well kiss this woman!

Even as he thought it, she shivered at his almost-touch, shifting closer to him, so that his fingers closed ever so gently around her arms.
As he stared at the temptation literally in his grasp, he scowled.
Not only would it make all future interactions with her highly awkward, but…it was insanity!

She would probably fry him with her reiki.

And she would...she would do something utterly wicked to him.

He just knew it.

He jerked away and fled like the basest coward, making it halfway across the clearing in a second.
He would have fled all the way to the end of Japan had she not whispered his name.
The soft utterance had him jerking to a sharp halt, cursing fluently. As he turned, and saw her staring at him, beautiful blue eyes wide and fingers pressed to pink lips, he cursed a bit more.

'What the hell do you think you’re doing? Not for all the power in the world do you kiss her, do you understand me?'

At his father’s indignant screech, Sesshomaru forcefully and carelessly gave his opinion for the first time in his life.

“Oh, shut up, you conceited old windbag.”

He looked down at Kagome, who he was suddenly in front of, and slid his lips over hers, sighing at the utter rightness of the moment.
As he deepened the kiss, gathering her tightly in his arms and smirking inwardly as her knees gave way and she clung to him desperately, he cheerfully ignored his father’s outraged squawks to slide his tongue gently over her lips.
And as their tongues flicked slowly, carefully over each other, as she exhaled a short, gasping breath, as they lost themselves in the most spectacular kiss of Sesshomaru’s long life, Sesshomaru thought very, very, very dimly that he didn’t particularly mind her incessant troubles.

The treasure at the end of that trial was sweet, indeed.


A/N: I know, the ending sentence sucks, but I just couldn't get it prettier. The first sentence was much worse! Oh, as for that reviewer, um cm-34, or something, I'm sorry that I'm taking so long to write my story. I just want to make it more than PWP. Had I wanted them to get down and dirty immediately, this would be an entirely different plot.
Anyhoo...next up, KAGOME!!!