Gathering the Pieces

A/N: Yes, I know! I keep saying I'll update sooner, and I keep taking forever! I'm so sorry!! Here! enjoy some yummy Miroku/Sesshi goodness!! lol ^,.,^


Sesshoumaru didn't react for a moment as he felt the human's lips against his own. His thoughts were lost for a few seconds, and he scrambled to gather them up again as quickly as he could. The monk was indeed kissing him; he didn't imagine that. What confused him was why he had yet to pull away. The skin pressed against his own was enjoyably soft, and reminded him of how long indeed it had been since he had felt the touch of another.

There really was no reason why he should not allow the kiss, was there? Well, except for the fact that it was a HUMAN kissing him. He was NOT his father; he would NOT be dragged into feeling for one of their kind, not again, and DEFINATELY not on that level of emotion. However, who ever said any emotion had to be in the kiss? Who said it had to be a demonstration of affection?

Miroku was stunned when he not only wasn't pushed away, but after a brief pause, felt the taiyoukai return the kiss. Of course, it wasn't nearly as tender as the gesture he himself had given. The kiss Sesshoumaru responded with was far more demanding, harder and hotter. It caused the monk's knees to weaken slightly at the forcefullness, and he placed his hands on the ground on each side of the broad shoulders he was now leaning over.

A soft noise came from him as he met the sudden passion with a level of desire that almost exceeded it. His eyes closed and he tilted his head slightly to comfortably deepen the kiss. Sensing movement, he paused, but relaxed when he felt nails drag through his hair, yanking it out of the tie that held it from his face.

Sesshoumaru's own eyes remained open, watching the young man before him all but melt from the ministrations given by the taiyoukai. Sitting up a bit more, pulling back from the kiss, the barest hint of a smirk formed as he heard a slight noise of disappointment from the monk. Studying the face before him, cheeks flushed, now opened eyes darkened, framed by inky, slightly messed hair, lips swollen, he had to admit the human made quite a picture.


Miroku licked his lips for a moment, his eyes watching the demon before him, his breathing a bit harder. His hands lifted to thread through the soft silver hair, pulling him closer and resuming the hard kiss. *I should have known he wouldn't want it tender...* Was one of the few coherant thoughts the houshi managed to drag up.

A growl was Miroku's only warning before a hand fisted in his hair and pulled him back out of the kiss, tilting his head back, and he shuddered as he felt the hot lips press against his throat. As the fangs brushed over his now speeding pulse, he closed his eyes again, gripping a bit more tightly at the pale hair, as if to anchor himself down.

"Sesshoumaru....."


The demon went entirely still as he heard his name breathed by the human. The sound carried far too much.... something.... it wasn't entirely clear what it was about the way the monk has said his name, but it jolted against something deep inside the demon lord, something he did NOT want touched, not by anyone, and CERTAINLY not by this human.

So, with his eyes still closed, he pulled away from the monk, not saying a word to appease the confusion that was surely in those azure eyes. Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands did not owe a lowly human an explaination towards ANYthing....


Sucking in a full breath for the first time, Miroku remained where he knelt beside the silver form, still staring at him dumbfounded, trying to work his mind past the fog of lust that had filmed over him and figure out why the delightful kiss had been ended so abruptly. "Sessho-"

"It's cold." The steady voice held no emotion whatsoever, but CLEARLY warned the monk not to speak of what had just happened. Remaining still long enough to prove to himself that the demon really was serious, he got to his feet, walking back to the fire, though he had no need to build it up, as it was generating plenty of heat.

Recognizing a brush off when he found one, he said nothing of it, heading back to his spot below the tree. Settling down once more, he closed his eyes with a soft sigh, and within moments, was the perfect picture of a sound sleeper. However, he doubted he was going to get any serious sleep for a long while...


Sesshoumaru left the clearing as gracefully and quickly as he could manage, retreating back to the water he'd cleaned off in, kneeling beside it in order to wash his face a few times, his eyes closed. The brief exchange with the human left him unsettled, not pleased in the slightest with how his body had responded so easily to the touch. What upset him even more was how his heart had quickened as the monk had sighed his name.

It wasn't love, he was entirely sure of that. However, he couldn't deny the comfort he felt with the monk nearby, the feeling of knowing he was in the presence of someone who wasn't calculating the best way to kill him. The ease that had developed between the two had gone unnoticed by the demon until a few moments ago, and such ease was strong enough that he had allowed the monk to...

A shudder ran through the silver form as his thoughts trailed back to Miroku overtop of him, trembling and sighing his name out like that. His hand clenched in the grass until it tore from the ground, and he cursed under his breath. Such freely felt lust would create nothing but trouble further down the road. It didn't matter that it had been ages since he had taken someone to his bed. It didn't matter that the monk seemed entirely willing to slake his pent up lust he'd been ignoring for decades. And it didn't matter that he couldn't get the image of Miroku breathless and willing out of his mind...

It might have been wise to stay here tonight, rather than returning to the clearing, but that would be considered running from his problem, even if just for a night, and the Lord of the West NEVER retreated. Still, it took a lot of effort to convince his body to rise from where it knelt and return to the fire once more.

The glow of the fire was just in sight when he paused, looking to the south in curiosity. Someone was coming towards them. He could tell they weren't something to be too worried about, so he didn't bother speeding up.


When the demon reached the clearing, Miroku was up already, and looking in the direction Sesshoumaru had noticed the presence. He wasn't on guard, however, proving that Sesshoumaru had been right, it had not been someone to be worried about. Confusion flickered through him when the demon lord sensed the form enter the clearing, but couldn't see anyone. At a loud crack, he looked over to see the houshi holding his neck with a look of irritation, and it clicked who had tracked them down.

"Myoga... I thought you were with InuYasha." Miroku muttered as he pulled his hand away, watching the flea flutter to the ground before popping back into shape.

"My duties lay with the entire family, not just InuYasha!" The flea insisted, which made Miroku's eyebrows raise.

"So you came here to speak to Sesshoumaru?" That caused the flea to fidgit for a few seconds before looking over at the silver demon, who was now staring rather boredly at him.

"Well? It must be important if you pried yourself away from my mutt of a brother to tell me... though I imagine you wouldn't have even bothered if Miroku wasn't here, would you?" The silver demon pointed out, causing the flea to puff out in irritation.

"I came here to tell you that you need to claim the rest of your inheritance!" Surprise filled the monk, especially when Sesshoumaru scoffed, as though he'd heard this speech before.

"So it wasn't enough when I informed Toutousai that I didn't want any of you to bother me with this nonsense? I am not going to-"

"If you don't claim ownership of your father's palace soon, you will lose all rights to it, and Sasame will take it as his own!" Myoga interrupted, which shut Sesshoumaru up rather quickly, a dark look coming into his eyes. That filthy fox... in his home? Seeing Sesshoumaru now understood his insistance, Myoga calmed down slightly, sitting on Miroku's shoulder still. "If you did not claim the palace as your own after a certain amount of time, it would go to the next demon that made a claim on it. I never worried before, because no one seemed brave enough to request the former Lord's home. However, Sasame has recently staked a claim on it, and your inheritance rights are up within a few weeks!"

Sesshoumaru stood there, a silent growl rising up in his chest, then, as though a switch were flipped, he calmed down, his eyes closing as he began moving around, albeit slowly, so as not to aggravate his barely closed wounds, gathering things up. Taking this as a cue that they were to be moving on, Miroku rose to help, and Myoga bounded off, calling out his goodbyes to Miroku and letting them know that he would be spreading the word of Sesshoumaru claiming the rest of his rightful property.

The monk was silent for a while as they finished packing up what little belongings they had, then spoke softly. "Sesshoumaru? How come you didn't want your father's home for yourself?" The only answer he got was silence, and the silver demon headed out of the clearing, already heading out. Holding in a defeated sigh, the monk ran to catch up, lugging most of their things, since he didn't want the demon lord collapsing from exhaustion.

Sesshoumaru's thoughts were in a whirlwind, several emotions fighting to break through the calm visage he had in place. There was a VERY good reason he didn't want to live in that place... every room was stained with memories he'd rather leave behind. He'd be damned if Sasame got inside, however. He may not like the place, but the last thing he wanted was for the castle to be renovated into a cheap whorehouse.

~~~~~~

Miles away, Myoga was being flattened once more, this time my InuYasha, who flicked said demon away boredly, and attempted to continue on with his nap. "Lord InuYasha! This is important!" Growling in irritation, the half demon sat up, glaring down at the jumping flea.

"What is it, now?"

"I have news regarding you and your brother's inheritance!"

~~~~~

Miroku stood there, staring in awe at the building before him. It stretched out an amazing distance, proving that royalty did indeed live here at one point. It took him a moment to realize he was alone, and jolted out of his daze, catching up with Sesshoumaru again; for a wounded demon, he was certainly getting his speed back.

Pushing the doors open slowly, Sesshoumaru held in a wince at the amount of dust that covered everything inside. Obviously, after his father had died, and he had left, the human woman was the only one to inhabit the place, seeing as there were more feminine additions here and there. It was also very apparant that no one had lived here since she died, including the cursed fox.

Entering fully, he started off down the hall, leaving footprints in the dust. Hearing a noise of awe, he paused to look over his shoulder, seeing Miroku standing in the doorway still, looking around.

"Wow.... I've been in some fancy homes before, but this wins out over all of them." He commented, flashing a smile at the demon. Sesshoumaru said nothing, merely turning back around and continuing on into the massive palace.

It took at least 5 minutes of Sesshoumaru navigating hallways and Miroku tagging along, all the while trying not to sneeze, but they eventually came to a bedroom, which Miroku worked out to be Sesshoumaru's.

"Never even touched it..." the silver demon muttered as he glanced around for a moment, then walked over to the bed, lifting the blanket to snap it out and remove the dust from it. The human just stood there for a few seconds, looking around.

"So... now what? Are you going to live here? To keep Sasame from getting in?" Sesshoumaru shook his head.

"I'm staying long enough to kill Sasame when he comes here to steal it for himself." Once the demon's bed was cleaned off, he started out again, his pace much slower than before, the constant walking obviously wearing him out. Knowing better than to suggest he take it easy, however, Miroku set their things down in his bedroom and followed after him.

This time they ended up in a rather fancy looking study. Sesshoumaru commenced searching through every drawer and shelf, even requesting that Miroku help him, having to sit down after a few moments of searching, explaining that he was looking for papers regarding anything to do with inheritances.

It took some digging, but Miroku unearthed them from a rather large pile on a shelf by the door. Bringing it over to the demon lord, he waited for a while, then blinked as Sesshoumaru cursed softly, setting the sheet down. "I thought as much..."

~~~~~

InuYasha's ears shot up in surprise.

"I what?!"

~~~~~

Miroku frowned slightly.

"Come again?" Sesshoumaru slid the paper towards the monk.

"Inuyasha gets to claim half of this castle, thanks to his mother marrying my father."


A/N: MWAHAAHAHAH!!! The brothers are going to be ROOMIES!!!