AN: Hello.

What Now?

kagomes-wanna-be

Chapter Nine:
Together Again

Three days. It had been three days since she stormed away from him at the springs, and Sesshomaru was more frustrated with every passing minute. Kagome had been all but ignoring him. She greeted him in the morning, kissed him goodnight, walked with him at her side as they slowly travelled west. They were never alone, however. She never left the group, or when she did, it was with that pesky Sango.

He had even gone so far as to ask her to go on a walk with him the previous night, and she had rejected his offer. She flat out refused to go with him. His demon had roared, but he calmed enough to not throw her over his shoulder and drag her out to talk about this whether she wanted to or not.

Not that it would have helped. Then he merely would have had to deal with InuYasha running in and screaming his head off about hurting Kagome and forcing her to do things she didn't want to do. His half-brother had been getting more restless each day. He even received many comments and looks from his companions, who also noticed he was more agitated than normal. If it escalated, Sesshomaru knew he would have to step in. He'd have to converse in private with his brother, which alone would have taken a miracle. Sesshomaru couldn't stand being ignored by his mate and his brother.

So, for now, he bathed. He sank his body into the cool water up to his eyes, holding his breath and staring out at the surrounding woods. Never, in all his life, had he felt so conflicted. Normally when he had a dilemma that proved to be this troublesome, he killed it.

Seeing as how the problems were his mate and his half-brother, who also happened to be his mate's friend, that wasn't an option. So, he continued to bathe.

Kagome sighed and stared up at the billowing stacks of steam above her head. She leaned back against the rocks once more, letting the soft ripples of water lap against her.

"Kagome, just tell me what's wrong," Sango said, swimming closer to her.

Looking at her friend, the miko sighed once more. Sango had been pestering her the last three days straight, practically ever since she'd returned from that fateful bath. "I… It's just…"

Sango watched expectantly as her friend stumbled over her words. Kagome was glad they were in a hot spring, or her face would have grown bright red. How could she ever talk about something like this? Then, as she looked into the wide, supportive eyes of her best friend, she knew this is exactly what she needed.

However, that didn't make the statement of her troubles any easier, and she ended up muttering it to the water beneath her chin.

"I can't hear you."

"I said-" She cut herself off, clearing her throat to return her voice to a normal level as she had managed to go from whispering to nearly screaming. "I said… Sesshomaru doesn't want to have sex with me."

Sango's eyebrows shot up so fast, Kagome was surprised they had stayed on her face at all.

"Oh, I…" The demon slayer cleared her throat, floating back a bit in the water. "I never would have expected that. You've only been mated a week, haven't you? Miroku and I have been engaged for months, and I can hardly keep him off of me."

Kagome fixed her with a flat glare and she swallowed. "I'm sorry, that wasn't supposed to come out that way. Why do you think he doesn't want to?"

"I don't know," the younger girl announced. "It was great! At least, I thought it was great. Maybe it wasn't? Maybe I'm not that good." She sighed again, running a hand down her face. "No, now I'm getting ahead of myself. He said it had something to do with… mating season? He said that there wasn't any reason for us to be… doing it, at the moment. Does that even make sense? What the hell does it matter that it isn't mating season? We're already mates! Shouldn't it always be mating season for us!"

Sango watched her friend patiently, attempting not to laugh at her friend's statement. This was not a situation to find humorous. It really was bothering her friend, and needed to be discussed at length. "Kagome, he didn't speak to you about any of this before you two mated?"

The miko shook her head, sliding further into the water so it was covered her mouth.

"Well, he certainly should have spoken to you about it, but I'm sure he just didn't realize that you didn't know. I'm afraid you may come into a lot of situations like this since neither of you is sure what the other doesn't know they don't know." They stared at each other for a moment before Sango shook her head, waving a hand. "I'm sorry, that didn't make much sense. You just have a lot to learn from each other yet. You have to be patient. You have to talk to him about these things, and… hope that he learns from it."

Kagome stared at Sango for a long time. The other girl wasn't sure if the miko wanted to scream at her, hit her, or what. But, eventually, the tensed look on her face lessened and she let out a sigh for the umpteenth time that night. Tilting her head back, she muttered, "Yeah, you're right."

"I'm sorry it has to be so difficult."

"Me too," Kagome agreed. "But… it is what it is, I suppose. I love him, and I'm going to be with him forever now, and this is just something we have to get through. All couples have rough patches; this is just one of ours. I should go talk to him."

She tried to scramble out of the water so fast, Sango felt she sustained whiplash. "A-Are you sure? You don't think you need to sit on it a little longer?"

Kagome looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wrapping a towel around her body. "No. Why?"

"Just curious." Sango shrugged. "I don't want you rushing into anything."

The younger girl laughed heartily, grabbing her things and slipping off to change. "I think it's a little too late for that!"

Sesshomaru dried himself off and tied his hakama about his waist. He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders, stretching his muscles in the warm, late afternoon sun. His ears twitched and he turned his head as he heard rustling in the bushes away from the bank. Whispered voices followed, and piqued his interest.

The smell was distinctly human. Not feeling threatened, he abandoned his things at the edge of the river bank and stalked silently into the forest.

The more time that passed, the quieter the voices became. As he got closer, he noticed new noises. Heavy breathing, whispers, and… grunting?

Sesshomaru jumped into the canopy and moved through the trees. He paused as the trees opened up to a small clearing, buried by bushes. A man and a woman were in the clearing, and they were rutting.

Sure, he had seen and heard humans having sex before, but he had never paid it much attention. He had no reason to care what type of carnal activities they participated in. However, now that he was participating in those carnal activities with a human himself, he found the scene a little more interesting.

He didn't care to watch them, so he turned his head to give them as much privacy as possible. He sniffed the air and his brow creased with the little amount of confusion he'd let himself display. The female wasn't in heat, and she certainly wasn't being forced based off of the noises of pleasure she was making. He glanced at the pile of clothing they had created. It was made up of everyday clothing, no special robes that signified a marriage ritual or anything of the sort. It wasn't mating season yet, though he wasn't sure if humans had a separate mating season. Thinking back on what Kagome had said to him, it seemed that they didn't have a mating season at all. So…

Humans had sex whenever they wanted.

It was an interesting concept. Why hadn't he realized this sooner? He'd stumbled upon rutting couples plenty of times during his years travelling, but he'd never paid attention to the fact that it was outside of mating season.

Leaving the couple to their business, he turned and jumped back to the forest floor, deciding to stroll back to the riverbank so he would have time to think. His face was stoic as ever, but his eyes swirled with his thoughts.

He had honestly never thought about mating very often. It had been great – No, it had been better than great. It had been… enthralling. Amazing. Fantastic. He was starting to walk faster without even realizing it.

He liked mating, he decided. He hadn't given it much thought since it wasn't mating season, but now that he could think about it…

Looking down, he realized he was at the riverbank now. His clothing, armor and swords lay on the log in front of him. He stared down at them, and for the first time recognized the red haze surrounding the edge of his vision. His heart beat faster in his chest. His demon was itching to come out, and he knew exactly why.

His bitch wanted him, and how could he deny her?

Kagome walked through the forest with her pack slung over her one shoulder. She hoped that Sesshomaru had returned from his bath at the river so she could pull him aside to apologize. Part of her knew there was going to be more damage control needed than that, but told herself that it could wait for when they were in the privacy of their home.

Her chest swelled with warmth as she thought about her new home. She was so busy being angry, she had forgotten to be excited. She didn't want to imagine it too much, but she knew it would be beautiful. It would probably be large, to suit a Lord, and that had her the most excited. Plus, on top of all of that, she got to finally meet Rin in a proper manner.

A bush rustled to her left, and Kagome had been so lost in thought it made her jump a literal foot away from it. She reached back and grabbed her bow and an arrow from the quiver on her back. For a long time she just stared at the spot the sound had come from, but nothing appeared. Keeping her bow in hand, she continued along her way, paying more attention to the forest surrounding her.

A bush rustled behind her and she spun, aiming her arrow at the offending foliage, but again nothing was there. Now feeling paranoid and frightened, Kagome turned on her heel and headed towards camp as quickly as she could manage. The rustling followed her, no matter how fast she ran.

A shadow passed over her suddenly and she skidded to a halt as a figure appeared in front of her. Notching her arrow, she raised it and opened her mouth to issue a word of warning, before freezing.

"Sesshomaru?"

And it was. Her mate stood in front of her in the middle of the forest. He had been following her this entire time, scaring her to death.

"What are you-" and then thought went away.

Not only was he in front of her, but he was in front of her and he was half-naked. He only had his hakama on, leaving the upper half of his body exposed to her view. Her eyes ran from the tip of his head to the top of his pants. She traced every line of the muscles in his torso, the pale color of his skin, the way his arm muscles bulged and flexed beneath his skin. As her eyes traveled back up, she landed on his eyes, and noticed the red that was seeping into them.

Stepping forward, she tried to start talking, but was cut off by a growl deep in his chest. She stepped back suddenly, only for him to close the distance between them. He stared down at her in a way that made the hair on the back of her neck tingle. Heat pooled in her stomach. He was looking at her like she was meat, and she liked it.

She attempted to speak again, but he stopped her by crashing his lips onto hers. This kiss was almost painful, yet she couldn't find the urge to complain. Sesshomaru pushed the bow and arrow out of her hand and she dropped the bag from her shoulders. His tongue pressed between her lips and she accommodated it happily, arms wrapped tight around his neck.

Sesshomaru nearly lost it when his mate moaned into his mouth. His claws were at her shirt, tearing it open from the buttons in the front. She gasped, and he took the moment of her surprise to reach down and grab her around the waist, lifting her up and moving her towards the nearest tree.

When she was set down again, Kagome wasted no time in getting his hakama untied and let it fall from his legs before pushing her skirt and panties off in one swoop. She wasn't thinking, it hardly occurred to her that it was the middle of the day, but she didn't care. Her mate wanted her, and she wanted him, and they wanted it right now.

Sesshomaru watched hungrily as she derobed both of their lower halves, his chest heaving with shallow breaths. He reached behind her thighs and lifted her. With a cry, her legs wrapped around him and he thrust into her.

AN: Happy New Year :)

Go, be merry, and review.

kagomes-wanna-be