Kagome staggered into her home only to leave a minute later with her bath supplies in hand. Making her way to a secluded bend in one of the nearby creeks, she stripped down, scouring her clothes and body clean. Her skin was shiny and pink—faintly bleeding in some places—by the time she collapsed in the shallows. Her injured shoulder ached at the violent spasms of her sobs.

Curving her nails into her stinging scalp, she bent her raw, feverish face to her knees. Only earlier that day, she’d been on the verge of ending this whole sordid business. But how could she now? Regardless of the circumstances, she’d made her choice when she’d submitted to Sesshoumaru’s advances. Now she would have to accept the consequences of it.

Now she would have to accept him again.

There was nothing for it but to continue on with the plan. If she didn’t, if she bowed out now after what she’d done today, where would that leave her? Sesshoumaru must have known this would happen when he’d led her to that stream. In fact, Kagome was certain of it. He was nothing if not calculated in his course of action. Her avoidance the past few weeks must have alerted him of her intentions to end things between them. So he’d taken it upon himself to secure her compliance. She had signed on to this with him, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to let her back out so easily.

Truly, she had made a deal with the devil.

He was probably watching her even now—waiting to see if she would waver again. The fact that she couldn’t sense him meant nothing. She shivered, her grief giving way to paranoia as she imagined his preternatural eyes upon her still. Jerking on a dry set of clothes, she snatched up her belongings and walked as fast as she could back to the dubious safety of her hut.

Once inside, she ripped the curtain shut behind her with shaking fingers. Finding a few spare nails, she tacked the edges to the doorframe until not a sliver of light from outside peeked through. Still wracked with adrenaline, she began to pace, biting her nails for the first time since she was ten years old.

The idea that he could still hear her gave her another burst of panic. Curling up on the futon, she brought her knees to her chest and tried not to make a sound. Even the pounding of her heart in her ears seeming far too loud for comfort. Eyes wide, she stared at the cold, lifeless hearth until sheer physical exhaustion struck her out at last.

“—The hell?”

Kagome winced as light flooded her haggard face. The insides of her shuttered eyelids flared red. With her hand before her as a shield, she sat up slowly, blinking hard to adjust to the sight of Inuyasha standing in the doorway, his form backlit by the afternoon sun. He’d torn open the nailed-down curtain. Small tatters of it hung from the doorframe in listing shreds.

Plucking one of the tatters off, he fixed her with a heavy frown. “…What’s going on?”

Kagome frowned back. Her whole body hurt. What wasn’t cramped and stiff was swollen and sore. The little energy she’d recovered from her restless night’s sleep was already ebbing away with each dull throb of her shoulder, back and breasts.

“There was too much light shining in,” she said, ducking her head. “I couldn’t sleep.”

It was a low tactic, but she could feel him relax at her display of submission. Still frowning, he let the curtain fragment flutter to the floor as he approached her and crouched down.

“What happened to your shoulder?” he asked gruffly. Kagome grimaced as he gripped it lightly in his claws. “It’s all swollen-up.”

“I—I fell,” she stammered out, still not meeting his gaze.

“Don’t lie to me, Kagome.”

Her eyes shot to him in alarm as he took up one of her wrists, still lightly banded with bruises where his brother’s fingers had clutched her the day before. Inuyasha’s expression darkened thunderously.

“Sesshoumaru.”

For a moment, Kagome’s heart stopped.

He knew.

“Please, Inuyasha,” she whispered, her voice deathly faint, “I can explain—”

Inuyasha’s features twisted savagely as he caged her wrists in his claws. “The one who needs to explain,” he growled, “is him.”

“W-wait!” Kagome choked out through her fear and her guilt. “That’s not true! It was my fault. I—”

“I trusted him,” her husband snarled on, “like a fucking idiot. I should have known…”

“Inuyasha…” she whimpered, her eyes beginning to burn.

Her heart clenched as tears trickled down her cheeks. Releasing her, he stood, fangs bared as he turned toward the door. Desperately, she grabbed at his sleeve.

“Please, Inuyasha!—please don’t do this…”

“Let go of me, Kagome. That asshole’s gonna pay for letting you get hurt like this.”

Numbly, her fingers fell away. “What?”

Inuyasha glanced back at her sharply. “It’s obvious you’ve been attacked. That makes him responsible.”

“You…” she breathed out in realization. “You asked Sesshoumaru to look after me while you were gone.” Her head swam as her whole body sagged with relief. “That’s why…”

Inuyasha’s brow creased in concern. “Kagome?”

As her hold on his sleeve gave way, he caught her in his arms. Kagome leaned her head against his chest.

“He did protect me, Inuyasha,” she murmured, digging her hands into his haori. “I was a long way from the village when those bandits attacked me. If he hadn’t shown up when he did, I…” She swallowed in revulsion. “T-they—they were going to—”

“Okay,” her husband said shortly, drawing her closer. “It’s okay, Kagome. You don’t need to say anything else.”

A shiver ran through her as she nodded. “Then, you aren’t angry…?”

“Oh, I’m angry,” Inuyasha muttered. “But not with you. Not with Sesshoumaru, either,” he added grudgingly. “I guess I should thank him.”

Kagome’s stomach sank as she clung to him tighter. The last remnants of her tears bled away into the rough fabric of his shirt.

That night as Inuyasha made love to her, she thought back over what had transpired between her and Sesshoumaru the previous day. He had rescued her because he’d given Inuyasha his word. He had coupled with her afterwards because he’d given her his word.

Sesshoumaru had only ever been following through with his commitments. Kagome felt ashamed now, for how wary and irrational she had been acting toward him—distancing herself, obsessively scrutinizing their every encounter from the past six years. Like a madwoman, she’d been searching for ulterior motives where there were none.

He was her ally, her brother-in-law. Once upon a time, he may even have been her friend. He was the same as he had always been. It was Kagome who needed to pull herself together—to stop acting like a frightened child and see this arrangement through with the same sort of maturity that he was.

She owed it to him. And maybe—just maybe—when all was said and done, she could be close with him like she had been before. She wanted that. She wanted to be close with him again.

Her fingers clutched against the hard body moving over hers. The idea of getting off tonight had seemed far-fetched, but now she could feel that familiar heat seeping through her, gathering steadily between her legs. Her eyes squeezed shut in bliss as Inuyasha crushed her to his chest, his voice sounding almost as deep as his brother’s as he said her name.

And when Kagome crossed paths with Sesshoumaru the next day in the village, steadily she met his gaze.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 7/22/22

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