Night had fallen by the time Kagome made her way outside with the alpha couple. Newly raised, the replacement gates stood wide open in welcome, a huge bonfire blazing merrily just beyond them on the glittering plateau.

With one last cheery wink, Ayame steered Kouga away, leaving Kagome to fend for herself. Breath misting before her in the frigid air, the miko hurried straight for the warmth of the crackling flames—missing her fire-rat clothing now more than ever as the thin clingy silk of her kimono did absolutely nothing to ward off the chill.

Holding her hands out to thaw, Kagome looked around her with a contented smile. Already the victory celebrations were enthusiastically underway, boisterous wolves passing around sake bottles and chunks of meat in various stages of rawness between them. Politely declining a dripping string of entrails and a brimming cup of rice wine in turn, Kagome started as she turned—coming face-to-face with Sesshoumaru.

The daiyoukai took in her appearance with a measured glance, her shivers intensifying as his golden eyes rose from her plunging neckline. “Your choice of clothing was unwise.”

Kagome’s trembling shoulders sank. Operation Seduce Sesshoumaru was certainly getting off to a rocky start.

“Just wanted to dress for the occasion,” she replied with a lukewarm grin.

“The occasion,” Sesshoumaru repeated dryly.

Stepping forward, he unwound his tail and settled it across her shoulders. The warm length of fur curled around her, her gooseflesh not dispelling in the slightest as he slid a claw beneath the Jewel pendant at her chest. “You have secured the wolf’s last shard.”

“Kouga-kun gave it to me,” she said softly. “He’s just married Ayame-san, and won’t be joining up with us to fight Naraku anymore.”

Golden eyes met hers as the flat of his nail trailed from her prickled skin. “Good.”

Kagome blushed at the intensity in his expression. As her nervous fingers clung to the dense fur wrapped around her, a young wolf youkai named Akito approached them and bowed.

“Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagome-sama,” he greeted deferentially, “Elder-sama wishes for you to join him for the feast.”

At the daiyoukai’s frosty silence, the wolf boy shrank, Kagome flashing him a reassuring smile as she stepped toward him. “We’d be honored, Akito-kun.”

Dismissing Sesshoumaru’s cool displeasure, she followed after the jumpy wolf, the daiyoukai accompanying her nonetheless. As Akito led them over to a platform draped with rich hides and flanked with brilliant gold candleabras, Kagome stared in confusion at the white-haired, white-clothed man seated seiza at the center, next to Kouga and Ayame.

“Er, sorry…who are you?” she asked, Akito flinching as Kouga let out a bark of laughter.

The stranger’s heavy white brow sagged further. “It is I.”

Kagome went beet red at the sound of that familiar rumble. “Ah, Elder-san! Sorry…I didn’t recognize you.”

Still chortling, Kouga wiped at his eyes, Ayame elbowing him in the ribs even as she struggled to suppress her own grin. With a particularly grave sigh, the Elder stood, gesturing with a clawed hand to the empty spot beside him.

“Please, sit.”

As Kagome and Sesshoumaru sat down on the platform, the rest of the wolves assembled before them, Jakken, Ah-Un and Entei seated off to the side. Somehow, the imp’s bulbous yellow eyes managed to protrude even further as he stared at the tail still coiled snugly around Kagome.

“Brothers, sisters, and honored guests,” the Elder began, taking up a cup of sake as he looked first to the wolves and then to the others, “let us toast–to victory and to home.”

“Here, here!” the wolves cheered, raising their cups as well.

“And to our noble friends,” the white wolf finished, looking to Sesshoumaru and Kagome again, “the Inu no Taishou and the Shikon Miko.” As an afterthought, his gaze fell to Jakken. “And to the imp. May they live long and well!”

As the wolves drank happily to this, Kagome took a sip and grinned as well, Jakken’s internal struggle between indignation and gratification playing out to great effect on his impish little face. The dignified toast complete, the wolves’ bawdy celebrations resumed, food and sake flowing around freely once more. As Ayame practically tackled Kouga in a kiss, Akito presented the Elder with a large, pure silver hare, whose throat he deftly broke before offering the still-beating heart to Sesshoumaru. Slightly green, Kagome watched as the daiyoukai accepted it mannerly, devouring the bloody organ in one elegant bite.

Faced with a roasted version of what she could only assume was the poor rabbit’s next of kin, the nauseated miko took a single bite herself, sweat breaking out across her forehead as her lips twitched up in the most strained of smiles. Still licking the steamy blood from his claws, Sesshoumaru glanced toward her. Paling, Kagome stood.

“I think I’ll just…get some air,” she muttered, despite the rather obvious fact that she was already outside.

Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she walked off in the direction of the summit stream, Ayame springing into action behind her. “Ah–Kagome-san wishes to be alone!” she announced over-loudly.

Pausing mid-step, Kagome cringed.

“Right,” Ayame’s mate growled, as if on cue. “You ingrates better leave Kagome-chan alone.”

She cringed again. Don’t tell me Kouga’s in on this craziness as well…

“All wolves should respect Kagome-sama’s privacy,” Ayame’s grandfather followed up theatrically.

Elder-san too?! the miko wailed inwardly, struggling not to double-over out of sheer mortification. Kami, help me…

Stiffly, she continued her upward trek, now needing the space more than ever–if for no other reason than to be as far away from Ayame and her schemes as possible. With an angry huff, she stomped right through the icy stream and up to the edge of the overlook, a little of her annoyance bleeding away as she raised her eyes to the sky. It was a clear, starry winter night–the full moon glowing ghostly pale and lovely overhead.

She couldn’t help but think of him when she looked at it, her own sappy musings making her feel even more pathetic. It was safe to conclude, at this point, that the “seduction” plan was dead in the water. She couldn’t imagine anything more off-putting than all of that bad acting and awkward tension. Dismally, Kagome sighed.

Lowering her eyes to the silvered landscape once more, her heart nearly leapt from her chest.

“Sesshoumaru!” she gasped, reeling. “…You know, I really wish you’d stop sneaking up on me like that.”

The daiyoukai’s impassive gaze slanted to her. “My youki is not even concealed. You should be more vigilant.”

Kagome scowled. Trust Sesshoumaru to turn things back on her…

As he continued to regard her, the gravity of the situation finally sank in. “Wait,” she realized belatedly. “You followed me here…”

Turning, he moved closer to her, his gaze intent. Staring at him, Kagome swallowed, her poor frazzled heart putting itself through the paces yet again.

“You have my tail,” he stated.

“Oh,” she said, deflating. “Right.” Flushing with embarrassment, she shifted, hyper-aware of how the end of said tail was currently molded to her thigh. “I guess you can’t be that far away from it, then?”

Faintly reflective, his eyes lifted to the heavens above. “Too great a distance of separation, and it would simply return to me.”

“…I see,” Kagome managed, studying him shyly in profile.

She didn’t think she could ever get used to the sight of him. She’d compared him to the moon, and that was fair–as far as outward appearances were concerned. But viewed through the lens of her love for him, he was so much more like the sun–so blindingly brilliant in her eyes that to do more than steal the occasional glimpse of him was too much for her aching heart to bear.

Kagome realized then that to confess her love to him was out of the question. He was a proud demon lord, through and through–as hopelessly out of reach to her as the sun itself. To bask in the occasional warmth of his presence would have to be enough. To reach for anything more would just be asking to get burned.

Unwinding his tail from her, Kagome handed it to him with a fragile smile. “Thanks for that,” she said, “but it’s getting late now, and I think I’ll head back inside.”

Wordlessly, he returned the tail to its place on his shoulder. Kagome started to step around him, before it occurred to her that she did have something she wanted to tell him, after all. Turning to the side, she reached out, touching her hand lightly to his own.

“If I had been in your place,” she confessed, smiling still, “I would have chosen to protect you, too.”

There was the faintest twitch of his fingers against hers as her hand fell away. Averting her eyes, Kagome continued on with her gaze to the ground.

Almost in a daze, she wandered back to her room, scarcely even remembering how she got there. Bracing her palms on the cool stone ledge across from her bed, she shook, a few helpless tears falling straight down to dampen the granite. As she straightened and began to loosen her dress, the tears trickled down her cheeks instead.

She had just banished them with the hem of her sleeve when the soft light of the candles abruptly dimmed. Kagome turned toward the door in surprise.

This time, it hadn’t been for lack of attention–she’d failed to sense him because his youki had been concealed. But now it was anything but, his demonic energy washing over her in dark, radiant waves as Sesshoumaru closed the distance between them.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Series Navigation

<< SessKag Series: Daily Transgressions, Part 77SessKag Series: Daily Transgressions, Part 79 (Explicit) >>