Playing with Fire

Chapter Two
Submission
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Author's Note
A little sexual tension starts in this chapter, so enjoy!
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The light scent of sakura blossoms floated in through Izumi's window, and she inhaled it while the human girl, Rin, pulled the many pins from her dark mass of buttock-length hair, lifting the heavy tresses carefully before allowing them to fall against the inu's back, the ends brushing the floor even though she sat on a low cushion.

The two of them hadn't spoke much, but Izumi didn't mind the silence, and it seemed that Rin wasn't bothered by it either; she worked quickly and efficiently, her hands gentle. Izumi watched her discreetly as she worked, noting the serene expression on the young girl's face and the soft beauty she possessed.

Our pup is a beautiful onna

'Our pup?'

Yes, our pup. Our mate chose well; she shall bring great pride to the West.

'She is human. The Court will never accept her, especially since Lord Sesshomaru has not formally adopted her yet. And he is not our mate.'

Our pup shall be accepted! None shall disrespect her!

Izumi frowned slightly, noting that her temperamental beast had ignored her last comment. 'You have become attached.' Her beast sniffed, sitting calmly in the darkness of her mind.

This Izumi has already accepted our fate. She only wishes that her Mistress would do the same.

A light, barely audible rumble started in Izumi's chest, but not wanting to frighten the girl who was so diligently working on her hair, she stifled the urge to make her beast submit, instead dismissing it with a mental hand wave. It said nothing, although Izumi felt its obvious disdain of her actions.

"Your hair is very beautiful, my lady," Rin murmured, smiling at her in the mirror. Snapping quickly out of her thoughts, she looked at the girl, not having to force a smile onto her lips as she would have had to do with anyone else.

"Thank you, Rin, and please, call me Izumi." The girl flushed prettily, and Izumi smiled at her, earning a smile in return.

They sat in silence for a while longer, then, as Rin picked up a comb, fell into an easy chatter. The girl's cheerfulness was contagious, and Izumi found herself completely enraptured in every story the human told, laughing harder than she had in years at her enthusiastic voices and completely uproarious jokes. After a particularly funny moment, Izumi wiped her eyes and looked at Rin, who was busily doing the same.

"I don't understand how you can stand being around Sesshomaru," the inu murmured, a smile on her voice and in her face. Rin, however, seemed to sober up immediately.

"Sesshomaru-sama brought me back to life, and even though I don't feel indebted to him anymore, I would hate to leave him..." She trailed off, and then fixed Izumi with such an intense look that the demoness almost averted her gaze. "He's not as cold as he was nine years ago. Other people don't see it, and he probably doesn't recognize it, but he's different. He's changed."

In the silence that followed, Izumi's mind wandered to what her mother had told her a week before her departure. "Lord Sesshomaru isn't what he seems, Izu. Trust me." And now Rin was pretty much telling her the same thing. Was she judging the inu-lord too quickly?

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He smelled them before he saw them. Rin's scent was the same one he'd grown accustomed to, the happiness seeping from her pores tingeing the wood forest smell with a sweet, flowery odor. The other scent, the one he had not paid much attention to until that moment, reminded him of a cool stream in the summer-time, cool, calm, and collected.

He watched dispassionately as the screen slid open, revealing his mate-to-be and his ward, both smiling as they bowed to him, a gesture which he diligently ignored, opting instead to sit silently as they took their proper positions at the table, Izumi to his right and Rin to his left. The two women were face to face, and Sesshomaru found them smiling at each other across the table. He resisted the urge to snarl at Izumi's general misconduct and lifted a hand, summoning a line of servants who quickly placed plates in front of them.

Sesshomaru took the first bite, and the women followed. It was silent.

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"Sesshomaru-sama, may I be excused? I have finished my meal."

Izumi's head snapped up, and Rin smiled gently at her. The demoness narrowed her eyes, and the mischievous glint in Rin's chocolate ones glittered for a moment before she looked away, giving Sesshomaru a look that almost made Izumi forget why she was becoming increasingly angry with the human.

"Hai." Rin graced him with a beaming, brilliant smile, turned to Izumi, bowed and winked, then stood and left the room, shutting the screen behind her. Izumi listened as her footsteps faded down the hall, the scowl on her face becoming increasingly prominent. In the seconds that followed the last audible footfall, Izumi stared disbelievingly at the door, shocked that Rin, after their extensive conversation in which Izumi explained her aversion to be left alone with Sesshomaru, had left her alone with Sesshomaru. She decided not to bash her head on the table and instead picked up her chopsticks and resumed her meal, glaring slightly at Rin's vacant seat.

After twenty minutes of silence, Izumi looked up, turning toward Sesshomaru as a servant carried away her empty plate. "Lord Sesshomaru, may I be excused?" He looked at her.

Izumi felt as though someone had delivered a blow to her stomach, but she just barely remained sitting upright, the fierce golden hue of Sesshomaru's eyes locking her in place. She hadn't noticed before how utterly beautiful he was, but, looking at him now, she couldn't help but notice the smooth, pale planes of his face, his high, maroon striped cheekbones adding an aristocratic look to him. Her eyes drifted down to his full mouth, and she marveled at it for a moment before forcing herself to look back up, meeting that intense gaze again.

Remembering that she had asked him a question, she waited. And waited. And waited.

"Ano... Lord Sesshomaru, did you hear me?" He blinked.

"This Sesshomaru is not hard of hearing," he answered, his voice like liquid silk.

"Then why didn't you answer?" she asked, fighting to keep her rising irritation out of her voice. How dare he deliberately ignore her question?

In response, his gaze became pointed. "This Sesshomaru did not realize that his intended had the authority to demand answers from him." Irked, Izumi straightened and glared at him.

"And this Izumi did not realize that her intended had the audacity to declare that she had no authority, or that he was so ungracious that he would not welcome her at the gate!" His blank stare riled her further. "So the rumors are as true as I thought them to be... you're a cold-hearted bastard who doesn't care for - "

His hand was around her neck and her back against the tatami mat before she could blink. She raised a hand and instinctively began to pull at the threatening appendage around her throat, but the low rumble in his chest stopped her, her clawed fingers just inches from his own. She stared into his eyes, her beast whining pitifully in the back of her mind. Every instinct began to scream at her, demanding that she strain underneath his grip and bare her neck like he expected her to, the increasingly irritated glare he was giving her causing shivers to race up and down her spine. But she did not move, her body stiff underneath his.

His hand tightened, and the rumble became a pronounced growl, his features finally distorting from the bored indifference he seemed to always show and his mouth thinning as his lips moved to put his fangs on display. She kept her eyes locked with his, refusing to submit, refusing to obey her beast's growling commands. His face got closer, and his warm breath caressed her mouth before his lips parted and his fangs snapped mere inches from her nose. She did not flinch, and he growled loudly now, the claws around her neck starting to puncture her skin. Still, she did not move.

Suddenly, his fangs were on her throat and her hands were held above her head in one of his own, and instead of the jolt of fear she was supposed to receive when an angry Alpha male lowered his face to her neck, heat splashed against her cheeks and her entire body felt as though it had begun to burn, the delicious heat swimming in her head before shooting throughout her system. The scent of him, which she hadn't really noticed before, swirled around her face, the majority of the spicy masculinity focused in his hair and the crook of his neck, which he had inadvertently allowed her a brief glimpse of before his lethal fangs had touched her pulse point.

Remembering that glimpse now, her body reacted more violently, and she opened her mouth, intending to tell him to get off of her, but clamped it shut again as he sniffed once, twice, and then a third time, pressing his bared fangs forcefully against her skin. He was trying to smell her submission. Closing her eyes to shut out the sight of his moon-colored hair, she stamped her pride and tilted her head to the side, going limp beneath him.

Almost immediately, Sesshomaru's growl turned to a soothing rumble, acceptance and praise rolling off of him in waves. He gently licked the side of her neck, as if to erase the memory of his threat, then moved and began to clean his poison from the small wounds he had inflicted, closing the small lacerations after sniffing them to make sure that his toxic was no longer present. He released her wrists, pulling them down and massaging them with the hand that had held them while simultaneously lifting her into a sitting position with the other, his face in clear view.

His mask was in place, the gold of his eyes completely blank, and Izumi looked down, extracting her hands gently from his own.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I - "

"This Sesshomaru will have a servant escort you to your rooms." His voice was as emotionless as his face, and the demoness nodded slightly, her eyes still trained on her lap. She did not look up as he moved away from her, nor did she acknowledge him with anything more than a barely audible 'good night' as the servant led her from the room.

In the hall, she took a deep breath, trying to clear her still foggy mind. You are physically attracted to your mate... This Izumi fails to see how this is a problem. The beast was gentle, but Izumi chose not to answer.

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Sesshomaru watched Izumi leave the room, his hand twitching.

Her skin had felt so soft underneath his palm, and her body, pressed to his in such an innocent manner, haunted him, the ghost of her form still sprawled out on the mat beneath him. He imagined her differently, at a different time, limp from exhaustion and panting from -

He snarled, breaking himself from the train of thought. Our mate wanted us, and you let her get away!

'Silence! You know nothing.'

But the memory of her soft curves, hidden underneath her many layers of silk fabric but pressed against him so provocatively, were burned into his mind, and he inhaled deeply, the heady scent of her arousal filling his nose. His beast growled at him again, but said nothing, seemingly content with giving him a headache.

He stood, and, with a purpose he didn't actually possess, walked from the room and toward his study, leaving the servants to clean up.

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Author's Note
Sooooo, how was it?
By the way, Sesshomaru's gentleness didn't come from the fact that he is starting to love or even remotely like Izumi... It was a natural reaction his beast urged him to give after she submitted to him, a sort of reward for doing what he wanted her to do.
Anywho, the next chapter should be out soon, although I might need a day to think up an idea... Suggestions are welcome!
TTFN
[Ta-Ta For Now]