Hey, guys! Sorry I put up the new chap late. My mind has been elsewhere the past couple of days. Where? The only thing I'll say is that he's a gorgeous babe! I think I've said too much, I must kill you now. Well, I'm still at the cleaning job. The temp agency wanted me to stay, ugh. Oh, well, working there is better than not working at all. The only good thing? I get to see my gorgeous babe some more. At least until he goes back to the army. I'm gonna miss him so much. tear Reader warning: I might not put up a new chapter the week after he leaves. Anywhoz! Review time!

Simma, INUYASHA-BABE345433, Ninjahidinginthedark66 - It's makes me warm and fuzzy inside to hear how much everyone enjoys my story. tears&hugs

Kitana18 - Hey look! The chap is longer than the last one!

musicallady1 - Thanks for reviewing faithfully! I appreciate it! I can drink a six pack of Dew and go to sleep, but I'd probably fall asleep before I finished all of them! lol

Callie-yue Lost dreams - Thanks! I wish my acctual job was writing, I really enjoy it. I've been thinking of another story. I'll start working on it, though I haven't gotten everything figured out yet. So when I get writers block on this one (or if I finish it!), I'll put up the new one. I won't give any hints, all I'll tell is that it will be an AU fic...SesshxKag, of course. They're my fav pairing!

flirtymiyu - lol I haven't decided on how much Hojo will be infatuated with Kags. But I know Sessho will have issues with him.

Flamed Rose - Thanks for R&R-ing! About the chapter 518 thing. I was referring to the 518th chapter of the Inuyasha manga. Just cuz they had to be dumb and quit with the anime, doesn't mean Rumiko-sama didn't stop with the manga. And in chapter 518, Sesshomaru got his arm back! Yay!

Disclaimer: I don't own this…wah! And just in case you didn't know, I don't own Mountain Dew either.

I'm Sick and Tired of This and I Don't Care

Chapter 14

Kagome woke up, wrapped in warmth. She opened her eyes, adjusting to the morning light. There was the source of the warmth, Sesshomaru was enveloping her in his arms. She rolled over to face him. As he slept, the miko brushed his bangs away to reveal his deep blue cresent. Kagome felt this strange sensation as she ran her thumb over his mark. It felt as though her own cresent was warming up. Sesshomaru opened his eyes at the sensation he too, was experiencing. He thought, "It feels like liquid fire right beneath my mark."

The Taiyoukai removed his hand from the miko's side to place his slender fingers over her mark. He found the fimiliar feeling beneath his fingers. Both youkai vampires moved their hand from each others' foreheads to the back of their necks pulling them in closer to one another. As their lips touched, they seemed stricken by something unknown that caused them to savagely kiss. The entire kiss was tongues and teeth and bitten lips. Kagome had her lip caught in Sesshomaru's teeth when - ding dong.

Kagome groaned and parted from the Taiyoukai. "Let him think we're not here." Sesshomaru got off the bed, "This Sesshomaru will not hide from the likes of this Homo." The miko burst out laughing, she managed between laughs, "His - haha - his name is - haha - Ho - haha - Hojo! - hahahahaha!!" He 'hmph'ed and walked out the door. Kagome was still holding her sides when he left. Sesshomaru walked casually to the door and opened it to reveal the young man.

Hojo met a cold golden glare, "Uh...Hi, um, is - is Kago- Kagome here?" The owner of the golden orbs raised his eyebrow. "What business do you have with her?" The younger man held out his trembling hand with a gift wrapped box. "Thi - this is for - Ka - Kagome. It has - some medicinal herbs and her birthday present in it. Pleas - please tell her I said happy birthday." Sesshomaru took the box and closed the door on Hojo's face. Sesshomaru went back up to the bedroom to find Kagome at her desk reading one of the Dracula books.

He put the box on the desk, "This is from Hojo, he says happy birthday." Kagome's eyes widened a bit with realization, "Oh wow! I completely forgot it was by birthday today! I've been so busy with everything else, I didn't remember." She rested her head in her hand, "Oh man, Alzhiemer's is already setting in. What's next, I forget why I travel in time?" Sesshomaru interrupted her from his seat on the bed, "What is Alzheimer's?" "What," she went back to the book, "It's a disease that makes people lose their memory. Some people even forget their own family."

On her binge of remembering - but forgetting the gift - Kagome said, "Hey, I need to go to the store. Do you want to come with? I have to get a few things for when we go back." He nodded in agreement, then spoke, "I want bathe first." She stood, "Okay. Follow me." They walked out of the room and straight down the hall. "This is my mom's room. She still keeps dad's old clothes." Kagome opened the closet door and began to rumage, "Here," she handed him pants and a shirt, "I think these might fit you."

Sesshomaru fingered the material of the pants, "What manner of fabric is this?" Kagome smirked as they walked from the master bedroom to the bathroom, "They're called jeans. Now, this is the nozzle you turn for hot water, and this one is for cold, okay?" He set the clothes on the counter as Kagome fetched some things from the cabinet. "Here's a towel. This bottle has hair cleanser in it, and this bottle has body wash. I'll be downstairs, if you need me." She smiled as she left, closing the bathroom door.

Half an hour later, Kagome was found sitting at the table with her fourth Mountain Dew, sighing as the canned drink ran smoothly down her throat to splash in her belly. (That's what I love about Dew in the can, that smoothness.) She jumped at the sound of his voice, "You drink far too many of those." She took another drink, while glaring at him playfully. "You just don't have any taste when it comes to drinks. I'd drink a Dew before I'd drink tea." The miko chugged the last bit, crushed the can with youkai strength and tossed it behind her to land in the trash can.

She finally focused on the youkai standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She gasped at him, thinking, "I so have to buy him some clothes. I didn't think that modern clothes could make him look so hot." Her eyes ran up and down his body, noticing his tail was not present, landing on his feet. "Bare feet," she continued to think, "At least he doesn't have creepy toes." (I have an issue with weird feet, especially when it comes to toes.) She was snapped out of her stuppor, "Do you like looking at my feet?" He smirked at her as she said, "No - ye - um, it's just that I have problems with people with weird feet."

She paused as her eyes met with his, "You look good." He was wearing the jeans that fit him perfectly and a black button-up shirt that only had two of the five buttons buttoned. The miko walked over to him and enclosed one of the buttons. Leaving the very bottom and very top unbuttoned, which still showed some of the Taiyoukai's chest. Kagome's hand remained over the button second from the top. She breathed in slowly as she felt the steady beat of his heart.

Sesshomaru put his hand on hers and lead it up to his mouth where he nibbled and licked at the inside of her wrist. Kagome's eyes rolled in the back of her head. (Trust me, I know the feeling...thanks to my babe!) The Taiyoukai trailed kissed from her wrist to one of her fingers and plunged it into his mouth, sucking and biting on the digit. To the young woman's suprised, she moaned softly. She entangled her free hand in his hair as she began to nip at Sesshomaru's neck with her fangs, he producing a similar response to her own. He mangaged to get out, "Happy birthday."

As Kagome was nipping at the crook of Sesshomaru's neck, she released him suddenly and fell back against the counter holding her head. "What's wrong, Kagome?" "It feels like something hit me in the head." She squeezed her eyes shut painfully as memories flooded her mind. "I - I see - all of Akimi's - ahh - victims. Eve - every last one. She was - ahhhh - more bloodthirsty than Vlad!" Kagome collapsed to her knees breathing heavily. Sesshomaru held her close in his arms. All of a sudden the pain stopped.

"What? The pain, it's gone." The miko was so confused. She looked down when something shining caught her eye. Sesshomaru followed her gaze to his right pants' pocket. He withdrew the Crest piece. Experimentally, he reached out the piece away from Kagome, she tightened and fell over on the floor in pain. This pain, however, stopped when the Taiyoukai brought it closer to her. "It would seem that the Crest piece subdues Akimi in her control of your body. You must keep it with you." Remembering a previous confersation, "I know you are strong enough to protect the piece. It will be safe with you, my Taiyoukai Lady."

Kagome took it as he stood up, turning around to better position himself to help the fallen miko. "Sessho, wait," she said as he helped her up. She began to unbutton his shirt, "There's something on your back, let me see." Removing the shirt revealed a small mark on the Taiyoukai's back. "It's really similar to our youkai markings, but I feel that this one is different." This symbol was an eight-pointed star. Kagome put her hand over it and it glowed brightly. She gasped as Sesshomaru took a sudden deep breathe like he was out of air.

He turned around, meeting her golden eyes with his cloudy sapphire orbs. Kagome freaked when Sesshomaru spoke with an accent. "Ah, my Lyubov! It is so goode t'see you. I have been longing for dis day." He embraced her in a tight hug. "But, I'm not who you think I am! I'm not Akimi." He let go and cupped her cheeks, "Don'te be silly. You may not be 'er on de oute side, but I can sense 'er wit'in you. Com'on, let 'er come oute and pla'." Kagome was too scared of Sesshomaru to say anythig.

As if a lightbulb went off in her head, Kagome put the Crest piece over the symbol on his back. A gasp escaped Sesshomaru, he leaned on the counter breathing ragedly. "Is this how you feel when you would change?" "I don't think I've ever experienced it like you just did." She was looking at the mark, "Wait, I think I've seen this before." Kagome ran upstairs, grabbed one of the Dracula books and rushed back down to the kitchen.

Opening the book she flipped through the pages, "Here!" She showed Sesshomaru the picture. "The mark on your back is the same as the symbol on Vlad's crown. But what does this all mean?" The Taiyoukai ran his hand over his back, inspecting for the mark. It was twenty degrees hotter than the rest of his body. It felt as though it would burn him if his hand stayed on it too long. He stood up straight, slipping his shirt back on, "I am unsure, but the Crest keeps Vlad and Akimi under control. Therefore, we must find the other pieces, so that we may each carry a piece."

"Yeah. We should go shopping before we go looking for the other pieces, so I don't forget." They headed upstairs to get ready. Kagome got gothed up and tied the white portion of her hair in a ponytail, leaving the black strips of hair down. She did Sesshomaru's hair in the same fashion. As she ran her fingers through his silky hair, "Oh, I should get you some shoes." She rumaged through her dad's old dresser for unused socks and returned tossing them at the Taiyoukai. "Put those on," she saw him look at the socks quizically, "On your feet. Like this, see?"

After managing the socks, Kagome produced from her closet a pair of oversized combat boots. "I got these so I could slip them on real easy, when I don't feel like tying my shoes." Amazingly enough, Sesshoumaru put them on with ease, all that was left was to tie them. The miko grabbed on foot and placed it on her knee, tying his shoe for him. "These are quite different from you metal-plated shoes of death." He raised his eyebrow amused, "'Shoes of death?'" She giggled, "Yeah, if I were wearing those on my feet, they would be dead."

Kagome and Sesshomaru walked out of the house into the morning's gentle breeze. The Taiyoukai took the miko's hand in his as she led them down the steps of the Higurashi shrine. "It's a good thing there is going to be a festival tonight. Everybody dresses up, so we won't stand out." She sighed happily enjoying the walk to the store, knowing it took an hour to get there. She was happy to be able to spend this time with the one whose hand was enclosing hers. Sesshomaru squeezed her hand endearingly as they turned the first of many corners towards their destination.

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Hey! Good? Yes? Great! The homo/Hojo thing was actually a typo. I typed in an 'm' instead of a 'j,' but I decided to keep it. Well, see ya next week! Ja!