Fox Tales

Fox Tales


Chapter Five:

Sango sighed contentedly and she tightened her arms around his neck. 'How had they gotten there?' She rested her forehead against his and whispered out, "I love you Miroku." He smiled and with a burst of energy swept her up and spun around. Her joyful laugh echoed through the halls.

Kagome strolled down the halls, glancing at the paintings on the walls. One caught her eye and she stopped. It was a painting of a young looking demoness. She had long midnight black hair and beautiful golden eyes. A blue crescent symbol resided on her forehead and a red strip ran from her right temple to her cheek, reaching to the middle of her eye. She was dressed in an extravagant kimono and sat on a bench smiling softly.

"That was my mother." A voice spoke to her.

"She is very beautiful. When was this picture painted?" Kagome looked over to Sesshoumaru when she had finished her study of the painting.

He seemed off in a memory and she smiled in catching him in it. His eyes focused back and he answered while still gazing at the picture. "I painted it when I was 57."

Whatever Kagome had expected this was not it. "You painted it?" She quickly picked her jaw off the floor at the look he gave her. "I'm sorry but I never expected you to be a painter....or anything that didn't involve killing." Kagome sighed, "I guess I've never seen this side of you before. It is a pleasant surprise. Do you still paint?"

"No." Sesshoumaru began to turn around, "Dinner will be ready shortly. You should go clean up and dress. There will be proper attire in your rooms." He left then. Kagome felt kind of bad for him. He was always so closed off.

Shrugging her shoulders and trying to gain back her cheerfulness she continued down the hall before remembering she had no idea where she was. 'Great. Just great. Now how am I suppose to take a bath, get dressed, eat, or do anything!? I'm lost!' She huffed in annoyance and turned around only to bump into somebody. "Oh!" She looked up and found Sly grinning down at her.

"You called?" He grinned as he held out an arm for her to take. "Come on. I'll lead you to the bathing chambers. I could use a bath myself." Kagome looked at him nervously, hoping he didn't mean he was going to bath with her.

Sly smiled at her innocently and continued walking. It was then that she realized he was listening to her thoughts again. She frowned and promised him a very painful death if he didn't get out of her head right now. He winced at the mental images she sent him and sent his own images back at her.

Kagome’s eyes widened as she saw herself writhing in passion beneath him. Her blush intensified as she found the prospect more than appealing. She felt a sudden awareness in her, a tingle in her stomach, but ignored it.

"You are such a pervert." She muttered to him. He laughed lightly and pulled her to the side. He pushed her up against the wall and leaned in closely.

His breath fanned across her neck and her breathing sped up. He held onto her hips and she gripped at his forearms, unsure whether she wanted to push him away or pull him closer. "I may be a pervert Darling, but I assure you it is directed at only you." He whispered against her neck and he nibbled there lightly. Kagome's eyelids lowered a fraction as the sensations washed over her.

"Lucky me." She whispered although it didn't come out quite as sarcastic as she had meant for it to. He smiled against her and continued his attentions to her neck. He nipped, licked, and sucked, loving how she tasted and how well she responded to him. His right hand traveled up her body, brushing the side of her breast and she arched against him, a shaky breath escaping her lips.

Kagome desperately tried to calm her body down. This was not what she wanted. She knew it was wrong because he did not love her and she did not love him. They had just met and he was ravishing her in the hall! She closed her eyes tightly, focusing on calming herself down.

Sly pulled back from her. "I'm sorry." Kagome’s eyes sprang open hearing his words. Her breathing was still heavy and the sent of her arousal hung thick in the air. "I should not have done that. I keep forgetting you are human."

"What is that suppose to mean?" Kagome's anger flared. "Am I not good enough for you because I'm human?"

Sly's eyes widened. "No! That’s not what I meant. It's just that with demons, casual relations are normal, but with humans....they expect more, they need more that just a good tumble in the bed."

Kagome’s eyes narrowed, "So that’s all I am to you? A possible 'good tumble in the bed'?"

"I'm not going to win this argument no matter what." Sly gave an exasperated sigh, "I simply meant that I keep forgetting you are human and therefore expect more from a relationship than I am able to give at the moment."

"What do you mean?" Kagome's anger ebbed back as confusion replaced it.

"What I mean is that I can not take a mate until Naraku is destroyed. And I can not have relations with you for you might become pregnant and I can not properly protect the child unless you are my mate."

"Well why can you not take a mate until Naraku is destroyed."

"Because I will not have a weakness for him to find." Sly was suddenly very serious, his normal mischievous smile gone. He sighed and took her arm again, leading her to the baths. And so, things have just gotten a bit more complicated.

'How the hell do you forget you can’t take a mate?' Kagome’s angry thought echoed through her head as she frowned at the back of his head. 'I mean you don’t go and kiss a girl like that and then just leave them hanging! The nerve of him! And ignoring me like that! I ought to-' Her thoughts were silenced with a kiss. Her eyes widened as she realized Sly had been listening again. She really needed to find a spell to keep him out.

"I do fully intend to continue this later, darling." He smirked. "I just have to find that bastard first. But if you are so eager I'm sure there are other ways we can have fun together." He licked his lips as his eyes trailed over her body.

Kagome blushed a pretty pink. "I can't. I don't want to start anything when I don’t know where it will go. Don't demons mate for life? I'm just a human anyway, I will grow old and die soon enough. Compared to your life span anyway." She sighed as her depression washed over her.

"When a demon mates, they share a life. The weaker of the two will not grow old or die unless their mate dies. And because they share a life, they will inevitably share a death. That is why I will not take a mate just yet. But once I come out of this I will come back to you."

"Why? You don't even know me! And we don't know what is going to happen to me after the jewel is complete. I might be taken back to my own time."

"Then we will just have to wait and see. Take things as they come." Sly shrugged.

"But I don't love you. I couldn't possibly love you so soon. I don’t even know you."

Sly smiled brightly at her. Kagome was a bit surprised to say the least. "It seems I'll have to give you a lesson in demon mating rituals, darling. Lets get to that bath and I will tell you then." They walked on down the hall. Kagome was more than a little confused and frustrated.

After a few more turns they reached a set of large oak doors. A scene of a river in a forest with a woman bathing in the river was carved into the doors. It was very beautiful and Kagome ran her fingers over the pattern. The doors opened under her touch and she gasped. Inside there was one large hot spring with many bathing supplies, towels, and changing screens around the circular room. Sly walked over to a shelf and took down two bottles and two towels. He then walked over to a bench and sat down. Kagome walked over to him.

"What are you doing?" He looked up at her from his task of removing his shoes.

"Well I can't bathe with my clothes on, now can I?" He went back to removing his shoes and then pulled his shirt over his head. He stood up with only his pants left on and began to untie the sash. "Are you going to undress or would you like me to do that for you?" He smirked when she blushed and began to remove her clothes as well. She set them in a pile on the floor and strode over to the hot spring. She dipped her foot in before lowering her whole body in and sighing to herself.

"This is wonderful." Her eyes closed as she enjoyed the feel of the hot water soothing her muscles. She heard Sly enter the water beside her and cracked an eye open, watching him.

He picked up a bottle and emptied some of its contents into his hand. He turned to her and told her to turn around. She did so and he began to put the soaps in her hair, massaging her scalp as he worked up a good lather. "Ok, rinse." Kagome almost pouted as he stopped but leaned her head back and rinsed out the soaps. Of course from this position Sly had a nice view of her breasts bobbing in the water. When she had finished she rose back up and he applied a different formula to her hair. With the processed repeated and another nice view Sly moved to grab the body soaps.

"As nice as all this attention is," Kagome began, "Weren't you going to give me a lesson in demon mating rituals?" She smiled.

Caught off guard Sly dropped the soap and stared at her with wide eyes before he came back to himself and grinned. "Yes. Yes I was. Well, where should I begin?" He made a show of tapping his chin in thought before grinning again. "Not all demons are the same. Foxes in particular are very sensual creatures." He licked his lips as he let his eyes wander while he spoke, " They have almost a sixth since when it comes to females. They will know automatically if one is compatible enough physically, emotionally, and mentally the moment they meet them. Usually it is very hard to find someone who is completely compatible with you and so when one does find someone they make it a point to claim the female as soon as possible. When the couple actually mates they gain the others memories and learn everything there is to know about one another. But this doesn't work unless both give the other their mark." Sly shrugged trying to explain it and piece it all together where she would understand. "Any questions?"

Kagome blinked. "Nope. I think I got it."

"Good." His eyes turned a shade darker as he came closer to her, grabbing up the soap on the way. He grinned at her as he began a lather in his hands. Kagome blushed and turned her back to him. She didn't expect what he did next and let out a soft gasp at the feel of his hands roaming her body. He had come up behind her, pressing her back to his chest, as he let his hands wander up and down her body, rubbing and massaging certain spots with extra care.

Kagome let out a soft moan as he tweaked a nipple and nipped at her neck. Her head was resting back against his shoulder and she noticed he had propped up a leg between hers. She took in a shaky breath and turned to face him. She looked into his dark forest green eyes and asked the one question that she had been almost afraid to ask earlier. "Does this mean you find me compatible?"

His lip twitched once, twice, and he let loose a pearl of laughter. Kagome crossed her arms in a huff, not seeing what was so funny.

When Sly caught his breath again he was clutching his stomach and flicking a tear from his eye. "Darling, if I didn't find you 'compatible' I would not be here."

Kagome sighed, "What’s with all the 'Darling's? Before you were calling me 'little one'. And I thought you said that when a demon finds a compatible mate they try to claim them as soon as possible. It's been three days since I met you." At that Kagome stopped short. 'It's been only three days since I've met him and- and we're........OH MY GOD!' Kagome blushed deeply and looked down muttering to herself.

Sly chuckled again, "I was calling you little one before because I didn't think you would take too kindly to being called darling at the time. And would you have rather I had tried something like this when we had first met?" He raised an eyebrow and watched her blush grow. He sighed, "I know this is moving fast for you-"

His sentence was cut off by Kagome. She was looking him in the eyes, "But it's not fast for you. This is normal if not a little bit slow. I don't have that kind of sixth sense thingy. All I know is that I'm attracted to you and you have yet to try and kill me." She smiled, remembering how every person she had ever met in this time period had tried to kill her when they had first met her. Even Sango and Miroku had at first. But Sly had comforted her. She knew that she shouldn't trust him so soon and she definitely shouldn't be having any relations with him....But there was something pulling at her, telling her that he was everything she had ever wanted in a man. It had been easy to ignore at first because there was still Inuyasha in the back of her mind. But now, she wanted this with him so badly. She couldn't put it in to words how she felt so she trusted her thoughts to tell him for her. He smiled at her then.

It was slow and sweet, so different from their previous kisses. Those had been passionate, lustful even. But this kiss shinned of love and devotion; promises echoed through it that she knew he would keep. And she tried her hardest to give everything back ten fold. Kagome sighed as he pulled her closer to him, his arms wrapped about her waist. She moved her arms to his neck and held on to him.

It was over all too soon and Kagome found herself missing it greatly. "You’re wonderful." Sly breathed out shakily. "Perfect" He was nuzzling her neck, purring as he did so. Kagome just held him, stoking his ears with one hand, the other wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

A flash of white light went through her mind like lightning, causing her to jerk her head up from where it had been resting against his shoulder. She gasped as images ran through her mind like a movie. It was going so quickly! She could barely keep up! Then suddenly it stopped and she felt it tingle at the back of her mind. It was there, waiting. She closed her eyes and like hitting the play button on a remote it started. She saw a little boy playing in a garden. He was about nine or ten. The boy had cropped chestnut hair and forest green eyes. He looked up when he heard a shout and she suddenly realized who it was. He had a yellow starburst on his forehead. 'The symbol of the rising sun!' He was Dainichi, better known as Sly.

A woman shouted for him to come inside and he jumped up, running over to her. When he reached her he grinned and grabbed her hand and she led him inside. 'Wait. Is this his memory?' The picture suddenly froze as if paused and she opened her eyes to see Sly grinning at her. She looked up at him confused and he explained.

"Come to think of it a demon and a miko have never been compatible before therefore have never mated before. I had no idea your miko powers would 'speed up the process' of things. It seems we have gained the others memory without mating. I only know of one couple this had happened to before. They were the most powerful demons to rule these lands. It is said that when they first mated they gained the others powers."

"Wow," was the only thing Kagome could think to say. However her stomach had other ideas and rumbled loudly its protest at not being fed yet. Kagome blushed and averted her eyes.

Sly laughed a bit and picked her up, setting her on the edge of the bathing pool as he got out and got them some towels. "Come on, out with you." Kagome stood up and he wrapped the towel about her. He took her about the waist and before Kagome could react they were in her room.

Sly walked away from her to a door off to the side of her room. He was about to open it when she called out to him, "Where are you going?"

"To my rooms to get dressed," Sly grinned devilishly, "Unless you would rather I stay here with you undressed. I'm sure we could find quite a few things to do." Kagome blushed and waved him away as she went to her closet to find something to where. With a smirk Sly left the room, a gleam in his eyes, for he had personally picked out her attire for the evening.

"Well, at least I have a variety." Kagome remarked in sarcasm as she noticed the one dress hanging up in the closet. With closer inspection she noticed it to have quite a low neckline. "No doubt the work of that fox." She muttered to herself as she slipped it off the hanger. She set it down and grabbed up her towel, trying to dry her hair as best she could so it would not make her dress damp. When she was satisfied she set the towel back down and picked the dress back up.

It was made of a deep green silk that fitted to her chest and billowed out at the waist. The top layer of the dress was a dark chestnut color and sheer. There were two straps of this material that went over her shoulders and held the dress up. It bunched around the top and was pinned around the waist so it hung in strips down the dress, letting just the right amount of green peek through at intervals. A shawl was attached to the back that she could let hang and fall behind her in a train, or wrap about herself if it got cold. All in all the dress was quite beautiful and surprisingly modern. It hugged her figure in just the right places and yet flowed about her like water to give her a sense of grace. It was sexy with the skin it offered but left enough to the imagination to still be acceptable. Kagome loved it. She looked in the mirror and noticed how the colors brought out her deep brown eyes and added a bronze glow to her skin.

"Stunning. The color is perfect on you." Kagome looked up to see Sly in an outfit similar to the one he normally wore. He wore his black hikamas and forest green haori with a chestnut sash tied around his waist. The pattern was the same he always wore, leaves winding about his form, however they were embroider in the same chestnut color as his sash instead of the black and green he normally had. The outfit brought out his natural tan and the color of his eyes and went well with his hair. He would blend into the forest perfectly.

When Kagome was finished staring she realized what he had said and blushed. "Shall we?" Sly held out his hand for her to take and Kagome nodded, a smile on her lips as they headed down to the dinning room. The others were, no doubt, waiting for them.