Chapter Seventeen – Promises
Kagome felt something spurt against the palm of her hand just before her finger was forcefully ejected from her, and as her body trembled much more violently than it usually did, a cry—"Kotono!"—tumbled from her lips. The dragoness was beside her in an instant, but over the roar in her ears, Kagome couldn't hear the words coming from the demoness' moving mouth. She felt one cool hand just above her breasts to keep her from thrashing, and the other fell against her quivering thigh, keeping her legs at least partially splayed as more of the unfamiliar liquid shot from her body in long, intense spurts. Her skin was on fire and her nipples tingled, and the bundle of nerves between her legs jerked and pulsed each time a new gush splashed against the floor. When it finally stopped, she felt as though all of her energy had gone, and she gasped in exertion as she fell back against her cushions. Her eyes slipped shut, and she pushed the gentle pressure of Kotono's hands away from her skin—in the aftermath of her release, even the cushions at her back were almost too much, and she lay in languorous bliss for just a moment before opening her eyes. "What was that?" Her voice didn't sound quite like her voice, but Kotono didn't seem to mind. "When your body is stimulated just right, there is the possibility of your release being very strong." She gestured toward the floor. "That is the result." Kagome sighed. "It won't always be like that, will it?" "No, not unless you wish it to be." The words gave her a bit of relief, and Kagome stared up at the ceiling. She blinked once, and then twice, and then her eyelids wouldn't raise and she sank further into her pillows. "Has that ever happened to you?" she asked, voice slurred as sleep began to cloud her mind. "On a few occasions, yes." The miko hummed, and her tongue felt thick and heavy in her mouth, but she worked around the sensation. "Did I get it that time?" She heard the sounds of water being sloshed around in a basin, and as a cool, damp cloth lit against her upper chest, she sighed gratefully. "Yes." It was a simple response, but Kagome went to sleep with a smile on her face. When she woke, it was to an empty room, and gathering the yukata draped over her body Kagome stood and slipped it over her shoulders. The silk was cool and light on her skin, and as she stepped away from the pile of cushions that her body had obviously decided was a second bed, Kotono's voice flitted through her consciousness, repeating a single word over and over again: "Yes." The sense of accomplishment that washed over her then stole her breath and brought with it a pride unlike anything she had ever known. 'I haven't felt this glad since…since I learned how to read…or has it been since I wrote my first character…?' With a shake of her head, Kagome decided that it didn't matter—she'd done the very thing she'd been trying to do for two weeks, and she was proud. 'Now Sesshomaru-sama will—' But then the realization of what her conscious mind had just confirmed stilled her pride, and it curdled so swiftly to apprehension that she wasn't sure if she'd ever been truly glad in the first place. "Now Sesshomaru-sama will take me," she finished in a whisper, throat tight with potent anxiety. Her voice echoed slightly in the empty room, and she moved from behind the partition and walked slowly to the full length mirror that lay innocently against one wall. For a long while, she stared at her reflection, smooth and clearly visible in the shimmering glass. She noticed absently, though not for the first time, that Lord Sesshomaru was extremely wealthy to have such a clear piece of glass—to have as much glass as he did spoke of his affluence—and she wondered, also not for the first time, what he could see in a poor village girl like herself. She shook her head, and narrowed her eyes at herself. "We're not going down that road again, Kagome," she stated firmly, despite the fact that her stomach roiled uncomfortably. "You're beautiful and worth everything that Lord Sesshomaru says you are." If she hadn't heard Kotono's footsteps and seen her approaching out of the corner of her eye, the words that the alluring demoness spoke would have startled her, but instead Kagome only shifted to allow the youkai to stand beside her and see her own reflection. "Worrying again, little one?" Gone was the teasing note that Kotono usually employed when speaking with her, but Kagome couldn't find it in herself to question her mentor's sudden seriousness. She ducked her head, and suddenly the resolve she'd built up crumbled away under the weight of her uncertainty. "Just a little," she whispered in response, shifting on her feet. With gentle hands, Kotono slipped behind her and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at their reflections in the mirror. "It is only natural to worry," she soothed, brushing back thick locks of black hair behind Kagome's shoulders. "You are not at fault for that." Kagome shook her head. "It's not that," she mumbled, fiddling with the hems of her sleeves. "Well, it is that," she amended after a moment, brow scrunched in thought, "but it isn't the idea of it that's making me nervous." She flicked her gaze upward and then back down to her toes and the warm tone of the floor. "I'm scared that I might not…do well." Kotono hummed, and with a straightening of her spine that only came when she'd made up her mind about something, she placed guiding hands on Kagome's shoulders and led her out of the room. The miko had no choice but to walk where the dragoness steered her.
:..:..:..:..:
Kotono settled into the springs with a sigh, and across from her, her little miko companion did the same, tilting her head back to rest it against the lip of the steaming pool. As she gathered her thoughts, Kotono observed the little human, remembering when she had first spoken with her. Then, as now, she admired her determination and fire; if there was something that Kagome wanted to do, she would do it and she would do it well. 'And although she is frightened about letting Sesshomaru-sama have her, she is still resolute.' Slim, blunt-nailed fingers skimmed lazily across the surface of the water, and in the movement was the subconscious touch that she would bestow upon her own flesh. Kotono cocked her head to one side as she watched. 'She does not know how deeply her sensuality has embedded itself into her flesh…and so she is upset because she does not believe that she will be able to please our lord.' "Would you like to hear a story, Kagome?" Blue eyes opened, and long bangs stuck to delicate cheekbones as the human lifted her head and nodded. Kotono settled more comfortably in the water. "When I first became Lord Sesshomaru's concubine," she began slowly, ordering her thoughts as she spoke, "I was just as untried as you." Surprise sparked in Kagome's eyes, and Kotono nodded. "I had no experience in the ways of the flesh, nor had I any knowledge of how to please myself, much less a man." "But how—" "Do not interrupt, little one," the dragoness chided gently, continuing after waving off Kagome's apologetic murmur. "However, though Lord Sesshomaru and I were not on the best of terms, he was not an unfair lover, and it was only after I let go of my insecurities that I began to learn what pleased him, and he what pleased I." She took a breath, and gave the miko a sly smile. "It was not easy, because he and I are not as alike in personality as most would believe." She felt her smile soften. "I was much like you, in fact." "Like me?" Kotono nodded. "Headstrong and stubborn, yes, but determined to—" Her thought interrupted her sentence—'No, that is a conversation for another time.'—and then she smiled to cover her hesitance. "Determined." She shifted, and continued before the intense curiosity in Kagome's expressive eyes manifested itself. "I suppose my determination eventually endeared me to him, and when he took Aoi as his second, I was the one deemed capable of teaching her." "Did you teach everyone?" "Yes." Blue eyes darted down to the water, and Kagome's bottom lip drew itself between her teeth. "Were they as difficult to teach as me?" Kotono couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled up in her throat, and before Kagome could take offense, she waved a hand and beckoned her over. Hesitantly, the miko came to sit beside her, and she turned to take one of her small hands in hers. "No, but only because they are not human," she said lightly. "You presented me with a challenge, and I suppose we'll see if I've done as well as I think I have." She received a small smile for her light tone, and as the moments ticked by, Kotono could see the progression of Kagome's thoughts playing out on her face. 'She is very expressive…my lord will have no qualm with pleasing her.' The miko's lips settled into a frown, and Kotono waited. "What if I can't please him?" "It may take a while," Kotono conceded, laying a gentle hand on the miko's shoulder, "but you will learn, just as I did." She paused, and brushed Kagome's bangs away from her face. "I promise." For a moment, worry sparked to life in Kagome's bright eyes. She frowned and stared at the water, and then, with a simple shake of her head and deliberate clearing of her face, she pushed the emotion away and smiled. The expression was free and light and Kotono marveled at her determination once more. 'She will be fine.'
:..:..:..:..:
Kagome looked up when the sound of the shoji sliding in its track whispered in her ears, and found that she wasn't surprised to see Lord Sesshomaru ducking into the room, the black silk of his kimono splattered with a white and gold honeycomb pattern across the shoulders. She smiled softly and bowed lightly over the scroll in her lap, straightening just in time to see the polite incline of his head. She watched as he walked toward her—if one could call it walking instead of gliding—and felt a blush stain her cheeks as his amber eyes flashed in muted amusement. "I hope my lord's day went well?" she asked, distracting herself by turning her gaze back to the scroll in her lap. "As well as can be expected," he responded mildly, the baritone of his voice smooth in the still air. "Hmm." She couldn't concentrate on the scroll with him in the room, and she looked up, observing the way that the torchlight made his blank eyes dance with light. "Suzume left today," she said eager to fill the silence. "I am aware." "I'm going to miss her," Kagome said after a moment, remembering the brief goodbye that Suzume had gifted her before leaving the shiro. "I'll be back to visit," she'd said in her usual chirpy tone, giving Kagome a single, short hug before waving and leaving without another word. Kotono had been quick to explain that Suzume had never been fond of goodbyes, and Kagome supposed that she could agree with the sentiment. Lord Sesshomaru shifted and brought her out of her musings, and she smiled, shrugging. "She said that she would come and visit…If that's okay…?" His head tilted forward just slightly, and she felt her smile widen. "What are you reading?" he asked after a moment of silence. Kagome felt a little of her joy at his permission fade away under the weight of her thoughts, and instead of answering, she shifted the scroll from her lap to his, careful of the delicate paper. She watched him read for a moment, and then looked down at her fiddling fingers, unable to meet his gaze. 'He's going to think I'm not ready,' she thought, worrying her bottom lip. 'He's going to suggest that I—' "Miko, why are you reading this?" She couldn't tell if the blankness in his voice was good or bad, and so she peeked at him through her lashes and tried to fight the blush she could feel spreading across her face. "I don't want to be…bad at it," she whispered, silently cursing herself and wishing she hadn't found the erotic fiction. The silence stretched on for so long that she lifted her head, and when she did, the slightly narrowed gaze of the inuyoukai made her stomach twist in apprehension. She swallowed, and then began to justify her actions. "I just don't want you to be disappointed in me," she explained, the words tripping over themselves in her rush to say them. "I wanted to have something else besides Kotono's lessons to guide me…I didn't want you to…" She dropped her gaze and lowered her voice. "I didn't want you to send me away." As she stared at her lap, wishing that the floor would swallow her up or that time would reverse to before he'd entered the room, a pale, long fingered hand entered her line of vision. It was deceptively elegant and tipped with deadly claws that glinted dully in the torchlight, and then her chin was being held between a thumb and forefinger and she was looking up into a calm, unreadable amber gaze. "This Sesshomaru," he began quietly, "does not expect you to know everything." His hand shifted, and she felt his thumb graze her mouth as his eyes darted down to follow the movement. Lazily, slowly, those golden orbs rose to hers once more, and he slipped his hand up to cup her cheek. "But I've never even been kissed before, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome mumbled, her anxiety and insecurity bubbling to the surface even as his touch sent butterflies fluttering violently in her stomach. "I don't know what to do." He shook his head once, the movement decisive and quick. "It matters not what you have or have not done," he answered in that calm, monotone voice. She bit her lip, and again his thumb touched softly against the flesh, pulling downward to dislodge the tender skin from her teeth. It felt like a gentle rebuke, and she refrained from biting again, twisting her fingers into her kimono sleeves instead. "What if I disappoint you?" she asked, finding that voicing her fears to him—the one who they were directly connected to—was helping to calm her frazzled nerves. "You will not," he assured immediately, his tone leaving no room for argument. She wondered at his authority to claim such a thing, but then sighed and closed her eyes. 'Why worry?' she mused. 'I know that it's going to happen, and I know that I don't know everything there is to know, but…' "Sesshomaru-sama?" "Yes?" She opened her eyes, and was almost shocked to find him closer than he was before, the amber of his eyes filling her vision. "Kiss me?" Something deep and profound sparked to life in his eyes, and as the color of them deepened into warm honey, Kagome felt an answering heat flare in her cheeks and belly. The youki that Suzume had taught her to sense brushed heatedly against her senses, and she thought that the swirling, undulating waves of power had a distinctly satisfied feel to them, as though Sesshomaru had been waiting on her to ask that very question. Absently, she wondered where the nerve to inquire about such a thing had come from, but Lord Sesshomaru reached up with his free hand and framed her face in his large palms, and her thoughts flew away with the warmth of his touch. He leaned even closer, and she could feel puffs of his breath as they passed his parted lips, passing her own mouth and cheeks in a near harmless way. Her anticipation built higher, and she found herself clenching her hands in her lap, watching the magenta striped lids slide down to rest languidly at the halfway mark. His bangs tickled against her own hair, and then against the parts of her face that his hands hadn't yet covered, and though the sensation made her want to reach up and brush the hair away, the liquid heat that was slowly growing in her stomach reduced her limbs to useless lumps. Her heart picked up pace. Then she felt it—a gentle swipe of warm flesh against her mouth. It was light, like the brush of a feather, but when it came back a second time, it was firmer and more substantial; she found her breath panting faster through her lips. Three swipes, and then four, five, six, and seven. Each time, the pressure built, until the eighth pass stopped just above her lips. She'd managed to keep her eyes open before, but now they slipped shut of their own will, closing out the burning gaze of the inuyoukai before her while heightening her senses to a nearly unbearable degree. The heat from his lips and the rough pressure of his palms against her face sent signals she didn't truly understand through her body, and the flame she could now recognize as arousal burned hotter and hotter with each passing second. She whimpered. And then his mouth was pressed insistently to her own, the warm softness of his lips sending sparks all the way down her spine. Her hands clenched tighter in her lap, and Lord Sesshomaru's hold on her loosened and shifted until his claws tangled in her hair, which she now realized that she'd left down during the day. He pulled gently on the thick locks, and she tilted her head back in compliance, feeling a pleased rumble vibrate against her lips. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. It went on and on, and Kagome finally lost track of time as her mind gave up the pursuit. Her world had narrowed down to the singular points of contact between them, the main one being the melding of lips that had her suddenly ready for more than just a kiss. She could feel the throbbing ache of her womanhood, and as she shifted in an effort to relieve just a fraction of the pulsing pressure, Lord Sesshomaru pulled back from her with a deep inhalation. She too gasped for breath, and watching his chest rise and fall, she had the sudden urge to touch him. Her mind went back to the brief and embarrassing hug that she had bestowed on him so rashly before, and she wondered if he was still as lithe and slender as she remembered. She swallowed, still panting for breath through swollen lips, and reached out with a shaking hand. He sat still until the moment her fingers touched his kimono, and then he reached up and caught her wrist in a firm, gentle hold. "No, miko." She blinked. "But—" "Miko." The warning in his voice finally cut through the strange daze that had clouded her mind, and she withdrew her hand as if he'd burned her, feeling her face flush fiercely. 'Oh dear gods, what just—' But the thought wouldn't finish, and she looked away from Lord Sesshomaru's piercing gaze. "It is late, miko." She jumped, realized that he was giving her a way out of the awkwardness that suddenly clogged the air, and then nodded and bowed. "I will take my leave, my lord." But when she stood and turned to walk to the door, he caught her wrist and pulled her unceremoniously into his lap, where she sprawled in shock, eyes wide and cheeks infused with heat. "You worry unnecessarily, little miko," he said quietly, speaking into her ear. His nose nuzzled into the curve of her shoulder, and she shivered involuntarily. "You will find nothing but pleasure in this Sesshomaru's bed, that he swears on his honor." He paused, and dropped a kiss against the skin behind her ear. "And he can assure you that he will not be disappointed with you." She nodded, and felt his hands on her hips before she was suddenly on her feet once more. She bowed again and fled, mind whirling with his promise. She could only hope he was right.
Author's Note: And there's that! The lemon is next (and it's coming soon), but if you can spare a moment to review despite my quick-draw uploads, I'd greatly appreciate hearing from you!
Thanks for reading!
~Aubrey
