Masquerade

Chapter Seventeen- Parading My Shy Security


Inuyasha had been angry, pissed off, full of rage, eaten alive by fury, even livid in long spurts.

But never before had he experienced a ferocity so righteous and mind-consuming as he did at this moment as he ran on the trail of Kagome’s and Sesshoumaru’s scents. Preoccupied, Kaede had said. But what she meant by ‘Preoccupied’ was that he had been held in place with several hundred sutras over his body back in Edo. It’d taken him two hours to break through the old woman’s magic, but he’d done it.

In the quiet of the night he raced through the forest, his red robes fluttering violently against his skin. His golden eyes narrowed and he bent over slightly, still gaining momentum. A rodent scurried out of his path, but he paid it no mind.

No matter how hard he fought, no matter how fucking hard he tried to reason with people, even when he tried to be sensitive and understanding, nothing ever went his way. When they’d first met, he’d despised the Kikyou in Kagome. When she’d first cried for him, he’d liked Kagome. When she’d supported his decision to stay behind Kikyou he’d been tempted to stay with Kagome. When Kagome had grown into a woman and fought alongside him in battle when Kikyou didn’t, he’d made his decision. Kagome had been his decision, but in a moment of mortal weakness he’d lost her.

Against the backdrop of the aphotic forest Inuyasha’s eyes blazed dangerously.

All things can be regained.

He was wrong.

Appallingly, terribly wrong, Kagome thought despondently, watching as Sesshoumaru inspected the ‘bridge’ they-

She. Alone.

-Was to cross.

Stretched between two towering walls of solid stone, swinging lazily over the deepest ravine Kagome’d ever had the displeasure of seeing, was the ricketiest bridge – it was more like a plank of wood, Kagome noted – since… ever. Kagome whimpered and edged closer to Sesshoumaru.

“Please. Sesshoumaru-sama, is it not enough your sticking me on a boat by myself in the middle of pirate-infested waters? Can’t you lower yourself by carrying me across this canyon just once? Please?”

“No.”

“But-”

“The bridge will hold,” he said, rising into the air deliberately, “and if not, at least you’ll land in water… eventually.”

Kagome watched him go then sighed and took a step toward the ledge. She followed the opposite surface down, down, down until her mind was reeling from the distance. Yes, there was a river. But it so very far down it resembled a single strand of hair lying at the bottom of the rift from hell.

Any last regrets?

Shaking her head of the negative thoughts, she straightened the pack over her shoulders and constricted her small fist around the wood of her bow. Just don’t look down.

Mistake #1- you say “Don’t look down” and you’ll always look down.

Sesshoumaru had already landed on the ground and was now watching her, his amusement veiled though present.

Kagome stepped onto the wooden bridge slowly. It creaked, it groaned, and Kagome wasn’t impressed.

She could still recall the bridge the old hag of a witch had dragged her across when Kikyou’s ashes were first stolen.

This was nothing.

Nodding at her newfound courage Kagome pulled her sleeves up and began marching, her eyes fixed on the white form of Sesshoumaru. Just don’t look down.

Kagome’s eyes stayed glued to Sesshoumaru’s while she crossed the swaying viaduct, noting vaguely how much his eyes reminded her of the glittering fish Grandpa would throw in the pond out back of the shrine. Sesshoumaru smirked, drawing her attention to the lower portion of his face. He raised a hand and beckoned her to move faster, his eyes never leaving hers.

Just don’t look away.

Often Leiko would fear she was but a joke to the youkai community.

Her father, though a trusted advisor to the great Inu no Taisho, had been taken down by a human disease.

His mate, only son, and almost his entire household had fallen as well, leaving not only part of Inu no Taisho’s council in shambles, but Leiko’s desire to get close to anyone had been all but destroyed.

Masao had been there of course, but he’d been young. He hadn’t cared much for the mental state of the young Leiko, rather focused on preserving the superficial items of his allays. Money, land, weapons, all of this took up his concern. Leiko didn’t.

Reason one.

The royal youkai viewed themselves as immortals. Yes, they lived a long time, but they were not the gods they believed themselves to be.

Leiko’s family had been wiped out by a plague humans carried.

She was mocked, ridiculed and scorned.

It was all done behind her back, behind closed doors, or in a polite way, but it was there. So, during the few get-togethers they held, it had eaten at her. Snapped at her heels, beat at her defenses, and played over the edge of her senses.

Reason two.

Masao, being young and still under training, hadn’t known how to properly handle a condition such as this. He’d fought those that publicly scorned her, and it had kept them quiet. For a time. And then they’d come back with even more material.

The last and final reason.

Her thoughts of future, her worry about anything but herself, had all snapped the night she’d found out about her pregnancy. Like the final draw of the bow before it shattered, she’d ran.

At daylight, only a few miles behind his prey, an ocean of grass surrounded Inuyasha.

He was tired, thirsty and hungry but he kept up his speed.

Her scent grew stronger, filled his aching lungs and left a sweet taste in his mouth. Rejuvenated as each pounding step brought him closer to the source, to Kagome, a smile played over his face.

Sesshoumaru’s back had begun to grow more and more stiff as the day progressed. Kagome had watched it happen.

At first his shoulders had merely expanded a little, then the column of his neck (from what she could see when the wind tossed his hair) had grown taller, and finally the entire expanse of his broad back had flexed and grown, like the chorus of a favorite song. Taking the initiative that something was wrong, Kagome stepped up to his side, wondering that, if she happened to place her hand on his arm, would it come back as a bloody stump?

We all must make sacrifices.

Wincing, she laid her palm flat on his right forearm.

Immediately his eyes turned to her, intense and alert.

She sucked her breath in unnoticeably and yanked the relics of her thoughts together to form a coherent sentence.

“Okay you are?”

Nngh. ‘Are you okay’, Kagome!

Once of his black brows rose on his forehead, mocking her in its pristine silence.

That’s it. The next thing I purify will be his eyebrows.

She ducked her head and pulled her hand away. “Are. You. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Except for Inuyasha.” Kagome finished the unvoiced thought, looking over her shoulder.

Sesshoumaru studied the taunt flesh of her neck, tracing a single vein against the pale flesh with his eyes, “You are aware of his approach, then?”

“Hn,” she replied, turning back around.

Snorting delicately Sesshoumaru turned his eyes to the fictional course ahead of them.

Inuyasha had lost his smile in favor of grasping Tetsusaiga’s hilt. As Kagome’s scent had grown closer so had Sesshoumaru’s.

Unpleasant.

Mainly because it was good smelling in its own right. Inuyasha hated that. How even his scent had to be perfect and damn near bleed strength.

He was in front of the canyon and just about to cross when something caught his eye.

An arrow.

He stopped running and picked it up, examining the solid, smooth shaft and sharp arrowhead.

Kagome must’ve dropped it.

Satisfied he started off again, but something stopped him-

The scent around the arrow! … It isn’t Kagome’s…

And in fact it wasn’t. It was… darker…

Like the musty scent of a dead rose, he noted.

But why would the arrow be here?

He raised his head and sniffed, ignoring the scent of his prey for the time being. The other scent, a scent of decay and evil, was far away to the right. He turned his head in that direction, taking a few steps that direction. The scent itself was weak and swiftly being tossed way in the wind, like someone was trying to cover their tracks. Inuyasha’s eyes strayed to the ground where he’d found the arrow. Several thin lines were in the dusty earth before the bridge, mainly around Sesshoumaru’s footsteps.

He looked back at the projectile, taking a few more breaths of the scent, filing it away into his memory.

He remembered what Kagome had said about the war brewing in the North, how a dark priestess had sided with them to enslave powerful youkai.

Mind made up, Inuyasha took off to the right, trained on the scent of death.

If Kagome’s lived this long, she can survive a little longer.

Masao never claimed he was the most sensitive young man.

Several decades ago, he’d been focused on gaining power, respect, and training.

Love had served no purpose to the fulfillment of his life. And had served no purpose to his throne, therefore he never bothered with it.

At first, when Leiko had run, he’d paid it little mind. But as the days grew longer and the nights blurred he’d been smacked in the face by his true emotions like the tide hitting the shore. Every thought of her emblazed he’d gone after her far too late, with far too much hope.

Inuyasha’s aura quickly diminished from the range of Sesshoumaru’s senses, making him blink in confusion.

And celebrate mentally.

Kagome, however, wasn’t having such a fun time. Did something happen to him?

“Girl.”

Is he all right?

“Priestess.”

Did he get hurt?

“Woman.”

Oh no! What if it was that blasted bridge!

“Kagome!”

“What!” Wait… did he just?

“We are stopping now.”

Kagome looked up and scowled, “But its still daylight!”

Sesshoumaru faced her, regarding her confused form with revulsion he didn’t feel. “Yes, but it is the last place near a water source for many miles.”

Kagome scowled at his condescending tone, walking toward the spring. “You could always just go jump off the cliff from before. You’ll hit water eventually,” she muttered, pulling the cap from her water bottle.

Sesshoumaru’s eyes trailed to her bent form silently, amusement once again present in the orbs no one would see. Always have to have the last word.

For several miles Inuyasha had traveled along the canyon side and seen nothing.

Finally, as the last light faded over the horizon, the very tip of a mountaintop broke the flat line of terrain before him. Revitalized by the sight he pressed on, the arrow held loosely in his left hand. His thoughts whirled, things like-

If I do something to help the war in the North, Kagome will think better of me!

Maybe the priestess herself is in there, and I can destroy her…

Why couldn’t Sesshoumaru sense that people were shooting at him and Kagome? Did they get hurt?

Was Kagome injured?

-Took up the forefront of his mind.


Sitting in front of the campfire, eating berries idly and letting her mind wander, Kagome’s aura danced.

Across Sesshoumaru’s skin, under the silk of his kosode and hitatare, tangling through the hair down his back, up the column of his spine, and over the stripes on his face the seams of her power and subsistence taunted him.

He remained passive, in control, blank.

Until her eyes turned to him, burning forcefully into his mind. The flames from the fire danced on the glassy surface of her sapphire orbs, turning them a burnt orange similar yet darker than his own. Her lips, stained with the red juice of the berries, curled into a sinful grin.

It caught his attention. It tugged on his control. That damned smirk shook him.

He pounced.

“What are you smiling at, wench?”

Verbally, of course.

“I was just thinking,” she began, settling her back against a log.

Her position opened the collar of her haori up, taunted him. “An improvement.” He jabbed, just to distract himself.

She turned to him, glaring, her bottom lip pouting. “About you.”

He could see where the juice from the berry stained her lips against the natural color- a light pink, almost nude tint. He liked the natural color. People weren’t born with cherry red lips. It was a fake paint woman (and some men) stuck on themselves to appear more appealing. Nude was more appealing.

Sesshoumaru’s hand twitched at the thought.

“Oh?” About me? Vast improvement. “And what did you deduce?”

“You’re an asshole,” she muttered, though he got the feeling that wasn’t her real answer. “No, seriously. I was just wondering how your life changed after…” Her eyes flickered to his empty left sleeve momentarily, and his eyes narrowed.

Actually she had been wondering how he dressed himself with only one arm, but it was a dirty train of thought that led her down an even dirtier road. It was the road of ‘Naked Sesshoumaru meets Naked Kagome and they shag like rabbits’ except it sounded a lot more elegant in her mind.

But that train of thought only depressed her more, only because it wasn’t ever going to happen. Not only because it was Sesshoumaru, but because she was Kagome - ‘The Shikon Miko who has no desires of the flesh and would never, ever think about tossing her escort on the ground and riding him like-’

“Kagome? What were you really thinking about?” Sesshoumaru asked her.

Kagome turned to him, wide-eyed. Mainly because the last little thing in her head he’d interrupted had turned into a visual. Then an audio. Then a 3-D model that left her palms sweaty and the hair lying on the back of her neck to heavy and hot.

“I was just… thinking about how we were going to stick ourselves together for the Shikon’s cleansing. And I’m sorry about what I said before; my mouth has a mind of its own,” she offered weakly, slumping against the wood.

Sesshoumaru looked into the fire, ignoring the ‘stick’ and ‘mouth’ and ‘together’.

He was tempted, so very tempted, to slam his head against a rock. Preferably a pointy rock. On the side of a cliff. So when he slumps from his unconsciousness he’ll fall over the cliff and never be enticed by the priestess Kagome again.

Sigh.

The scent of unresolved sexual tension held thick in the clearing for many days after.

Sesshoumaru: … Mouth…

Kagome: …Ride…

Leiko: Oh, come on! That’s not fair! They get UST and sex in later chapters! What do I get?! You better through a lemon between me and Masao in here!