High on a Cloud by thetroll

Chapter 1

Kagome struggled against her bonds, more than a little irritated at how they tightened all the more. She hadn't had just her arms tied; no, she'd been tied sitting up, in a dainty, feminine pose that had her completely incapable of moving. Her arms had been tied to her sides, with her hands left in her lap and bound by the same rope that kept her legs together and her feet tucked behind her.

The pose, she knew from what she'd learned in school, was the same pose the wives of samurai had used when committing sepuku and the intent was clear: she was not expected to survive. 

"You're a coward, you know that?!" Kagome shouted, though she knew the villagers hadn't stuck around long enough to hear her. "You're all cowards!"

She sniffed, as irritated with herself as she was with the villagers who had lured her here and then bound her to a stake in the ground so that she couldn't escape. InuYasha had been miffed that she'd wanted to go help when the village had sent a runner to Kagome's village, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to turn them down when the runner had asked for a priestess to come break the curse on their village.

InuYasha had flatly refused to accompany her, calling her a fool and declaring that he wouldn't dare come begging after her, and Kagome had actually been glad for the reprieve. Her engagement with InuYasha had quickly begun to deteriorate, with the constant bickering. Both were too stubborn to back down and what Kagome had once found endearing she now found highly irritating. She'd hoped to take the time on her own to evaluate what she wanted, so she'd turned down Miroku's offer to accompany her. Besides, she'd thought it would be wrong to take Miroku away after Sango had just given birth—again—to another son.

Now, however, she was regretting her own desire for independence because there was no one around to help her.

It would be at least a day, if not more, before her friends realized anything was wrong and came looking for her and longer still for them to find her on top of the mountain she'd been dumped upon.

The serpent yokai the villagers intend to feed me to will have already eaten me by then, she thought to herself glumly. They left me right in front of its lair. 

Not that Kagome intended on going down without a fight, but even she could recognize that, defenseless as she was now, the odds were not in her favor.

Suddenly, Kagome saw something flying towards her—something that was definitely not the serpent. 

To her astonishment, she recognized him almost immediately as he came closer into view.

"Sesshomaru!" she shouted, wishing she could let loose an arrow to get his attention when Sesshomaru showed no indications of noticing her. "Sesshomaru! I know you can hear me, dammit!" She knew InuYasha's hearing was far sharper than a human's and it stood to reason that Sesshomaru's was even sharper than that.

He paused, a mildly annoyed look as he paused and glanced down. His expression morphed into surprise as he took in her bound form from his cloud some distance away. "Priestess," he greeted her cooly.

Well, at least he still recognizes me. That's a start, Kagome thought to herself hopefully. For all she knew, Sesshomaru had forgotten about her almost as soon as she'd destroyed the jewel and Naraku, though she wasn't entirely sure he'd paid much attention to her to start with.

"I could use some help," she told him, squirming in her bonds for effect.

"Indeed." Sesshomaru's response was cool and he glanced up again as if that was all he intended to say or do.

"Hey!" She glowered at him. "Seriously? Can't you at least cut me free before you go flying off, Sesshomaru? It's not like it would take that long. Just use your whip or something."

Sesshomaru raised a brow. "Are you so eager to die, priestess?"

She huffed. "Of course not; that's why I'd like you to free me." She rolled her eyes as he sniffed.

"There is little value for this one to do so," Sesshomaru replied coolly. "If one plows his own field, does it not stand to reason that one should likewise plant it?"

Kagome figured that was feudal era for 'you made this mess so get yourself out of it.' She felt her own ire grow and she gave up any pretense of playing nice with him. "Did you have to work to become such an ass or does it just come naturally to you?"

Sesshomaru's lips twitched and she swore she saw him grin, if only for a moment. "This one is not in the habit of helping those foolish enough to endanger themselves unless it benefited this one in some way."

"Great," Kagome groused, resigned to the fact that Sesshomaru was simply not going to help her. "Then just do me a favor and tell InuYasha I died because you didn't see any benefit in saving me, okay? At least now I won't have to worry about whether or not I should marry him," she muttered to herself.

Sesshomaru looked momentarily taken aback as he hovered before her, a little closer now. "This one was led to believe you had wed the hanyo."

"Yeah, well, we had to postpone the wedding." Kagome didn't bother to elaborate the reason because she figured that Sesshomaru wouldn't care that their wedding day had been interrupted by a yokai who had thought to terrorize the village. The resulting destruction had taken weeks to fix and it had been nearly a month after that before anyone was in mood for a wedding at all. And, of course, by that time, Kagome—who had already begun to have her doubts—had received her message to go and help the village that had led to her current predicament. "Well, postpone or cancel, though seeing as I'm about to die, I guess the question is moot."

"Then you do not intend to wed the hanyo." It was a comment, not a question, but Kagome decided to answer him anyway. Perhaps if she humored him, he might change his mind about releasing her.

"No." It was the first time she'd dared to vocalize her feelings aloud. "I don't think we're compatible. We tried, we both really did, but..." But neither one of us are really happy.

"Hnn." Sesshomaru lowered his cloud to the ground and stepped off of it before her. "This one will free you," he said, reaching out to cup her chin with a clawed hand. "But only if you agree to his demands."

She doubted anything he asked of her would be worse than the certain death she could begin to hear moving in the cave. The sun was almost at its zenith and it seemed the serpent was finally awakening and would be in search of a meal sooner than later. "Sure, whatever."

Sesshomaru raised a brow. "You do not even know what it is that this one would ask," he reminded her calmly.

Kagome heard the serpent let out an unholy shriek as it began thundering through the cave and decided that she didn't care. "It doesn't matter," she told him quickly, silently urging him to free her before the serpent reached her. She really, really did not want to die. "I'll do it."

Sesshomaru stared at her a moment longer before he pulled back his hand. "Very well."

He turned and as she blinked, his whip suddenly flew forth, slicing into the serpent that came charging out of the cave. The serpent shrieked as it reared back, glancing between the ready meal before it and the powerful yokai who had attacked it. It seemed to be evaluating its next course of action as, a moment later, it finally charged at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru, however, was ready, his claws glowing a vibrant green. His hands didn't even move towards either of the swords he carried. 

The battle lasted far longer than Kagome expected for a yokai of Sesshomaru's caliber and it took her a moment to realize why. Sesshomaru was playing with it, showing off his power as he wounded but resisted slaying the other yokai when it was all too evident that he could have done so from the very beginning.

Finally, when the yokai was bleeding heavily and nearly on the verge of collapse, Sesshomaru ended the game, neatly removing its head without the usual spray of guts Kagome had become accustomed to whenever InuYasha had battled.

"Your oath," Sesshomaru said, moving to stand before her again.

It took her a moment to recall that he'd asked a favor for her, so distracted was she by the sight of the deceased serpent and the overwhelming feeling of relief. "I swear I'll do whatever you command," she said solemnly, wondering what a being like Sesshomaru would even ask from her in the first place.

"Hnn." He quickly and efficiently cut her free of her bonds with nothing more than his claws, taking more care than she'd have expected not to injure her further. "Stand," he commanded as soon as she was free.

She staggered to her feet, rubbing the blood back into her tingling legs. 

His cloud formed beneath them and before she had time to blink, they were off. To where, she didn't know, but at the moment, she didn't care. 

She was safe.

"So what is it you want?" she asked as they began flying over the landscape at a nice, leisurely pace.

It took her a moment to get her response, but when it did, she nearly staggered in surprise. "You will wed this one."

"What?" Kagome gaped at him, certain that she'd misheard.

Sesshomaru looked down at her with a stoic look that told her that he wasn't going to repeat himself.

"But why?" she asked, dumbfounded. "Why me? Is this just to get back at InuYasha?"

Sesshomaru's gaze shifted back to the skies before them. "You have defeated the seal on this one's honorable father's sword. You conquered the jewel and destroyed Naraku. No other has the power that is contained within you."

It sounded almost like he admired her—or it would have, if it had been anyone else who'd said the words. "You're sure that's what you want?" Kagome asked him dubiously. She held up her hands when he gave her an annoyed look, likely for questioning his judgment at all. "Hey, I said I would, so I will, but I should probably warn you that I don't know if I'll die when other humans would. InuYasha and I recently learned that the jewel may have changed my physiology."

"Hnn." Sesshomaru's expression grew thoughtful. "It seems this one chose better than he'd believed," he murmured, as if he was speaking more to himself than to her.

"Right." She guessed that meant that he wasn't going to change his mind any time soon. "Well, after we marry, then what?"

Sesshomaru's expression grew desirous. "Then we consummate the marriage. This one greatly desires to welcome his own young."

Kagome swallowed and, not for the first time, she wished she hadn't left the village in the first place. "You want children," she realized, suddenly understanding why Sesshomaru would ask for a marriage in the first place.

He gave her a short nod.

"But they'd be hanyo," she blurted.

"Hnn." Sesshomaru didn't seem bothered by the idea as she'd assumed he would be. "They would be yours."

She met his gaze, astonished by the warmth she saw there and the feelings she thought were being reflected at her. She didn't expect him to say the words—she didn't think he ever would—but suddenly the idea of a marriage with Sesshomaru didn't seem so farfetched. "Mine?" she echoed, scarcely realizing that she'd spoken aloud.

Yet Sesshomaru continued to surprise her. "He desires your young, Kagome," he said quietly, so much so that she almost didn't hear him at all. "He likewise desires you."

Kagome could barely breathe. A life with InuYasha had recently seemed impossible to imagine but she had no such difficulties with Sesshomaru. She had seen him interact with Rin and it was no hardship to imagine her own child in Rin's place. She could see him teaching their children to use a sword, playing with them, and even coddling them with all the softness he was now showing her. "Yes," she whispered, wanting it all with a passion she wasn't sure until now that she'd been capable of. "Yes."

She didn't ask how long he'd desired her; in that moment she didn't care. She was wanted, she was loved, and she felt like she'd come home. She had never felt so comfortable in all her life, not even with InuYasha, and so the only thought left in her head was that she never wanted to let this feeling go. She'd do whatever it took to keep it with her, always, even if it meant that InuYasha would never forgive her for choosing his brother over him.

The smile he offered her was gentle, warm, just seconds before his hand found her hip and pulled her to him. To her surprise, he bent to kiss her there on the cloud, without losing any concentration on maintaining it. She put her arms around him, holding him just as closely, cherishing his warmth against hers.

There, on his cloud, he kissed her until she had to fight to breathe, and even then, his lips found hers again before she'd drawn in enough air to do more than gasp. There would be time later to tell her friends but for now, she simply held onto Sesshomaru and enjoyed the moment of happiness she'd found.