Spring Fever by Shastuhh
Chapter 1
A sliver of the morning’s sun shined through the curtains, coating everything in a lazy glow. Stretching with a big yawn, Kagome rolled out of her futon. Picking up the basin and pitcher near the foot of the bed, she first poured herself a cup of water and took a hardy drink to soothe her parched throat. She then poured some water into the basin reaching over to get a cloth she dipped it in the water then whipping her face and the sleep from her eyes.
“I wonder if it is going to shower again today,” she muttered to herself, as she peeked outside for any concerning clouds. Changing out of her yukata and into her Miko garb, she readied herself to go out and work in her herb garden. She could only hope that the April showers would stay away for now.
When she decided to stay in the feudal era and become a fully trained Miko, the one thing she refused to do was wear the same red and white that all the other mikos wore. No. She refused to give anyone any more reason to lessen her achievements and liken her to Kikyo’s reincarnation. She had enough of that. To distance herself her Miko garb was white and green just like her school uniform used to be.
She stepped outside into the early dawn looking at the sky and taking a deep breath. It was a beautiful day and she didn’t see a cloud in sight so far. It was the middle of spring, and it seems that the April showers were slowing and making way for May flowers. She could see the blooms of her little flower garden to the side of her hut and on the other side was her herb garden, tying her sleeves back and beginning her work.
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In the early dawn, the town started to show the first signs of life. Sesshomaru looked out from the balcony of his study, watching as demons, hanyou, and human merchants alike all ran about like little ants. This was the first completely mixed town within his territory, and he greeted every morning by watching its progress. He was the first of the cardinal demon lords to have such a diverse town. It was quite the controversy in the courts when Sesshomaru opened his lands to hanyou and humans at the palace town.
After years of fighting between humans and demons, the bloodshed had finally begun to come to a halt. It helped that years ago he, with the help of Inuyasha’s group, slew the vile hanyou Naraku. It was during this time while traveling Japan that his eyes had been opened to the better side of humanity. A side that he never thought to acknowledge before. The blinders had been ripped off by several humans, which lead to him now looking down over such a diverse community so close to his Shiro. Never in hundreds of years did he think that he would be enacting one of his father’s ideas. This little community was a test, so far he had been surprised at the results.
Today he would be going on a walk through the town while checking on his subjects. Interestingly one year ago the Miko Kagome had moved into a home at the far edge of town within the village. She was one of four Mikos in the town however she was the only one that he kept tabs on. She had interested him ever since the destruction of the jewel that brought her here. She was also one of the first humans that had started to peel off his blinders showing him that there was more to humanity. More than just the negatives he saw.
Kagome was an enigma. He wanted to know more about her but he was unsure of how to broach that particular topic. Ever since she had moved to his lands and settled in his little town he had kept his distance. He was not weak enough to let his curiosity rule him. Turning his back to the town below he headed inside as he had some paperwork to finish up after which he would be visiting the town to ensure all was continuing to go well, it was a new start for everyone after all. This village had been three years in the making since the destruction of Naraku and the Shikon jewel.
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Kagome had just finished up her chores as a group of local children came running up to her home singing her name as they did so. Kagome rose from her knees, turning to smile at them. Her hands were grabbed by much smaller ones which led her to town in the clearing where the children played often.
Spending time with the children was one of her most beloved parts of her day. When Kagome decided to stay here in the feudal area she had believed she would be building a family with Inuyasha and Shippo. What she got instead was completely different. Shippo was her son no matter what and he was one of the people that she loved most in the world.
Inside of her though there was a need, a need for her to start a family, to move on. Inuyasha had certainly moved on already, Moving away from Edo with one of the village girls. She wondered what it was exactly that was holding her back. She felt more than ready to move on but at the same time, she felt stuck.
She was just like a rock on the bank of the river she was sitting near, the water was just flowing past her. That was the metaphor for her life nowadays. The children took her mind off of those things. It was almost impossible for the memories of her past to haunt her while in their presence.
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Sesshomaru was walking through his town. Something he secretly adored about this town was the abundance of children. As he walked down one of the main roads his eyes straying to the assortment of children playing. Seeing so many innocents being about flourishing here made him proud. The town had its occasional bigotry, old habits did die hard after all.
Taking a moment he stood watching as they kicked a ball and chased each other around. As he watched the children run around, his eyes fell to a small group in the distance playing some sort of game with their hands interlocked circling around one child that sat in the middle singing a little diddy as they did so.
His eyes landed on the figure off to the side sitting with a couple of toddlers and playing clapping games. Even from this distance, he could see the joy radiating off of her. Her tinkling laugh made it to his ears closing his eyes for a moment and just listening. She had been on his mind more frequently since moving into this town three years ago.
From his balcony he would often spy her as she played with the children of the town; it was one of the bright spots in his days. Her ebony hair would flutter behind her in the wind as she would chase after the children playing whatever games she could think of.
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Kagome’s eyes strayed to the pristine white-clad figure that slowly gliding towards her. Grace and elegance oozed off of him. She still couldn't believe that he was actually of this world. Sesshomaru had always had an ethereal beauty about him. His beauty surpassing that of the regular demons in the town she currently lived in; all of the demons she had ever met had always been beautiful no matter their species or gender; it was something she was slightly envious of. As he came closer his molten eyes met hers and she gave a slight smile, dipping her head in greeting to him.
Sesshomaru eyed her as he approached, seeing her with all the children around her stirred something inside of him, he could feel his instincts stirring. His instincts had been clamoring for some time now, nagging that he should settle down and start a family. He did have a duty to his land to give the west an heir, A duty he had been pushing off. Seeing the Miko in front of him, seeing her so often with the children, seeing her maternal instincts kick in so casually whether she was protecting the kit she claimed as her son when she had been traveling or simply playing with the children of the town stirred his instincts to no end.
She was also part of the reason that this town existed, had it not been for her acceptance of every person and youkai alike she met. He would have never considered following through on his father’s idea, making it a reality. In a way, this town was created by him for her. To see her flourishing so beautifully within it, able to be herself gave him a feeling of satisfaction. Focusing on her as he approached the small group surrounding her he took a deep and discreet breath inhaling the joy and happiness emanating from her.
“Miko, it is good to see you, are you well?” He asked, taking in her bright blue eyes and the gentle smile on her face. ‘She is just as breathtaking as when she had first arrived in the west.’ he thought to himself. Over the years the Miko had grown into herself and had matured beautifully. Feeling his instincts stir again as the children looked at him wearily and circled close to Kagome she gave them each a reassuring smile wrapping her arms around the ones closest to her.
“Good day, Lord Sesshomaru, all is well here. It is nice to see you in the village again.” She tilted her head slightly to him. Seeing her slightly bow and hearing her address him so formally gave him an uneasy feeling it was wrong and not something that he wanted from her. She had more than enough earned her right to address him by name alone shifting slightly he nodded back to her turning and walking away.
‘Huh, she thought.’ Watching as he walked away Kagome shrugged it off he was always a being of few words.
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Throughout the day Kagome had run into Sesshomaru multiple times after the first encounter with the children. She had seen him in the village market, at one of the town's elders' homes, as she was going to another resident's home to help deliver a child. Kagome didn’t think she had ever seen him so much in the whole 6 years she had known him and three of those years she had been living here in the town just below his Shiro.
At the end of her very productive day, Kagome had just got home she slid out of her Miko garb and into a light yakata grabbing her favorite products. Her only thoughts were to make it to her favorite hot spring not far from where she resided.
Walking through the clearing filled with wildflowers her destination wasn’t far off it hid under two large trees that provided the perfect shade from the sun and helped keep the water at just the right temperature for relaxing. As she walked she picked some of the wildflowers and plucked the petals from them so that she could sprinkle them in the water for her soak. As she plucked she was reminded of a game she use to play when she was young and carefree. Thinking about all the times she ran into Sesshomaru today and how she had always found him so alluring as she plucks the flowers she fantasizes about the outcome. ‘He likes me, he likes me not.’ She recites in her head each time as she pulled a petal from its home. Losing herself to her internal game she continued on her path to the spring.
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Sesshomaru tilted his head to the sky letting the stray ray of the sun shining between the trees dance over his face. Putting his armor to the side and releasing the ties on his hakama. After folding his clothes neatly and putting them to the side he slowly walks into the hot spring feeling the warm water release the tension being held in his body.
His instincts had kept him close to the Miko all day, still annoyed with himself on becoming tongue-tied when he had tried to talk to her earlier that day he was a lord for kami’s sake! Words should not be lost to him when he decides to speak, he felt foolish earlier it didn't seem to matter how much he pushed against his instincts or the need to be close to her. His scent pulled at him, her laugh reminded him of happier times, seeing her with the children made him think of the future. It didn't matter what it was, something and everything about her called to him.
His eyes landed on a small plot of lavender that was planted just within arms reach of the spring. He could smell her all around it her scent lingering here marking it as a place that she had visited frequently. Closing his eyes he leans back and soaks it in thinking about the Miko and ultimately giving in to the fight. He is tired of pushing off his wants and his need for a family, a pack for him, not just those that he leads he wants a home and with the Miko.. Kagome he corrects in his internal thought he could have that after all this whole town was built with her in mind and her love for all beings no matter what breed or species they were.
Closing his eyes and basking in the sun he loses himself to his thoughts. It seems almost as if his thoughts are conjuring her, he can smell her more prominently and feel her aura dancing against his. He stands to get out of the spring when suddenly he is assaulted by an assortment of flower petals and a muffled squeak.
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As lost in her thoughts as she is, Kagome doesn’t see the fallen branch in her path as she makes it to the hot spring and trips tossing her petals in the air as she stumbles over it. The next thing she knows is her face is pressed against a wet, hard, and warm plane she closed her eyes to brace for the impact her arms she can feel are also pressed against the plain that her face is currently. Slowly opening her eyes she sees stark magenta stripes angling down against a porcelain background and silver catches her eyes as it dances in the water.
With a gulp Kagome presses against the wall of muscle, she is against looking up slowly to see molten amber eyes looking down on her. It's at that moment that she realizes her position and her eyes widen as she feels embarrassment creeping into her face like a wave crashing on the shore.
“Oh, my Kami!” She shouts. “Sesshomaru!” Pushing herself off of him and righting herself she can't help taking in the pink and purple petals that are in his silver hair; they make a beautiful contrast to his already godly features. Her eyes travel southwards again to those alluring stripes on his hips and the line of silver hair from his navel down disappearing into the water's surface.
Mentally she smacks herself gathering her thoughts she turns and runs away. “I am so sorry! I didn’t know you were here.” She calls as she runs away leaving all of her bathing supply scattered on the ground.
Sesshomaru smirks in amusement as he watches her retreating figure. He looks up to the sky raking a clawed hand through his hair brushing the petals out of his hair. The Miko herself has given him the perfect reason to see her again. He thinks back to the way the Mikos eyed him and the scent of her arousal still lingering in the air after her departure. Picking up her forgotten items in the heat of her embarrassment deciding that he will be visiting the Miko of his heart's desires tomorrow.
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Pulling herself out of bed the next day Kagome felt tired yet restless. It wasn't the best night's sleep she had had in a long time. She dreamed of Sesshomaru, his hands gently skirting over her body. It was tantalizing in her dream that she could see the molten passion in his eyes burning her up from the outside as he looked at her slightly sweaty body.
Kagome had woken multiple times through the night frustrated, slightly feverish, and slick between her legs. She huffed in exasperation deciding to start her day early and get all of her chores for the day out of the way.
It was noon by the time she finished with everything she whipped the sweat from her brow and looked up at the blazing sun in the sky. Deciding to take a break she went in to make some tea and dress down to the thinnest yakata she owned.
She couldn't get ivory skin and stark magenta stripes off her mind when she closed her eyes she could see them. Whenever she was idle for too long her mind wandered to them picturing them perfectly with a silver backdrop with pink and purple flower petals sprinkled on it. Kagome was at a loss as to what to do about her situation; her hormones were all over the place, it was driving her crazy. She had always admired Sesshomaru.
Admiration from afar was safe, her heart couldn't get her heart broken again by a dog demon. She had been there, done that, and was not looking for a repeat performance. His appeal came from being unobtainable. He stayed up in his Shiro and only came down to check on the little people when needed. That how she protected her heart he was on this large pedestal something to look at but not touch and it helped that he still seemed to hold some of his prejudices toward humans and those of mixed blood that further instilled that he was unavailable.
A little voice in her mind chose to speak at that time. ‘ The lord may be on a pedestal but that doesn’t stop you from wanting to drag him off of it and strip him down like he was yesterday in that hot spring.’ Kagome felt her cheeks flush at the thought. ‘Oh my god.’ she thought exasperated. ‘Maybe I need to visit a cool stream and get my thoughts back on track. I can’t be working with the children today when all I can think of is how many more stripes Sesshomaru had hidden under that water.’ shaking her head with her mind set she decided to go to the river to take a dip.
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“I should have known that being celibate for 3 years while being here and so close would bit me in the ass eventually,” Kagome grumbled to herself. “No, my mistake was thinking that one day maybe I could ride on that godly dog demon.” She amended. “All of these years here living in this town and of course he is the only one that catches my attention. What is it with me crushing on the unavailable and unobtainable?”
Pulling her clothes off hastily, paying no mind to where they fall, Kagome walked to the edge of the riverbank that she came to when she wanted some alone time for various reasons. Today would be no different. “It's supposed to be the beginning of spring yet it feels more like the scorching summer sun within my body.”
Arriving at the spot that she knew was deep enough to dive into she took a deep breath of air and jumped in. It was best to submerge quickly and get it done instead of going in slowly in her opinion maybe the coolness of the water would help ease the flames burning in her loins while clearing the images of toned muscles, with stripes adorning them that she just wanted to run her tongue along.
Popping out of the water pulling her hands down her face Kagome groaned. “Gahhhh! This isn't even working!” She slapped the water in frustration. She was afflicted, her ailment lust, hormones, and loneliness. She did it to herself though it wasn’t as if there were not townspeople that had tried to court her. Instead, she had denied each and every one of them none of them really interested her or were shrouded in enough mystery for her.
All the townspeople were the same; they wanted her to settle down with them and for her to become some docile housewife. That was not the life that Kagome wanted there was no way in hell that she would be happy just being a homemaker, giving up all the traveling, the thrill of being an independent being. She was raised 500 years in the future from now she was not like the women here. She would not try to confine herself to the box that they wanted her to fit in.
Cupping the water she lifted it up and poured it down her shoulder and watching the water glide down her skin to meet back up in the river below Kagome relaxed against a rock that was her perch for now as she continued to cup the water and dump it down her body she lamented not having her bath products.
She closed her eyes, relaxing her body into the water pulling up the image of Sesshomaru in the hot spring giving into her wayward thoughts and her lusty appetite. Her petite hands slid from her neck and touching feather light down her body finding the spots that she knew so well that would hopefully ease her tension and give her a break from all of her lust-filled thoughts.
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Sesshomaru was on his way to the Miko’s home to return her forgotten items. Her scent had been teasing him all day and the way her riki would reach out to meet his shot little bolts of electricity through his body he was coiled tight his instincts urging him to go find her as quickly as possible and maybe tease her like she had been doing to him. At this point, he wants even sure if she was doing it on purpose or not but it didn’t matter anymore.
He had passed by several of the village elders in his hurry to find Kagome; she was the only thing on his mind at this moment and everything else could wait. Today he would bring himself to ask if he could court her. Today was the day and he refused to have the words leave him high and dry when he looked into those endless blue eyes of hers.
Following her scent through the town to her abode that was empty much to his dismay pivoting on his heel he followed it to its next place through the woods east of her home and away from the hot spring so she wasn’t bathing he assumed. The pull of her riki on him grew stronger as he neared a river he was at a loss when he started finding random garments belonging to the one he was searching out.
Picking up the random clothes on his way to the bank while making an internal joke on always having to pick up the woman’s forgotten items a small smirk came to his handsome face. His ears started to pick up on some soft moans and grunts causing him to stop dead in his tracks before he breached the tree line. Tilting his head to the side he could hear no other noises, could pick out no other scents that would confirm that there was anyone else with her.
Sesshomaru looked at the clothing in his hands and the small bag containing the bathing products he made the decision to march onward. He was not prepared for the sight that he would behold when he breached the tree line.
His eyes tinged pink, as he took in the sight of Kagome’s hand roving over her body her back arching occasionally pushing pert breast into the air, one hand pulling on a pebbled nipple as the other hand disappearing into the water as the Miko softly moaned. Her eyes close her face tilted to the heavens above it was one of the single most erotic things that Sesshomaru had ever seen.
“Sesshomaru,” She quietly moaned as her body stiffened and a silent scream came from her opened mouth. It took everything in his body to keep rooted in that one spot hearing her say his name as she had finished pleasuring herself.
In his surprise he had dropped all the items to the ground that he wanted to return to her, forgetting all about them the moment her name tumbled out of her mouth. His mind quickly replaying it over and over again in his head. For a moment he was jealous of her hands. He wished that he was the one touching her and feathering his hands down that lithe body.
Kagome froze as she heard a soft thud not far from her. ‘No one is supposed to be out here!’ in her head she was having a meltdown quickly she brought an arm to cover her chest and hopped off of the rock she had been resting against. She spun around to face the bank only to see the object of her most fantasies looking at her eyes looking like an inferno as he watched her.
“See- Sessh - Sesshomaru?” she stuttered out. “What are you doing here?!” She tried to keep what little modest she could but the water was clear and her arm could only cover so much of herself.
It took him a moment to realize that she had asked a question he had a few of his own that he wanted to ask but mentally shook himself to get his bearings back.
“The more important question is, what ARE YOU doing?” He drawled out. He watched her face reddened deeper. “It seems Ka-go-me that we are destined to always meet while one of us in nude.” Letting a small smile creep to his face as righteous anger built on hers.
“This is not the time for jokes!” Kagome hissed out. “If this was under different circumstances I would be surprised that you can joke.” She used a free hand to splash water out to the surface threatening to wet his pristine silks.
“I can do a lot more than make jokes, Kagome you would be surprised.” Each time he said her name she could feel the shiver crawling down her back. “I have collected your clothing, I was also coming to return your forgotten supplies from the hot spring incident.” Sesshomaru teased.
“Great so we are even, I interrupted your bath and now you have mine. Turn around so I can get dressed or leave.” Kagome grumbled.
“If this was your bath then clearly I have been doing something wrong. I don’t find my baths nearly as pleasurable as yours are” He smiled as turning around. “I do believe that you were able to see a lot more of me than I saw of you Miko we are far from even.” He heard the shuffling of clothing behind him stop completely.
Kagome was at a loss for words, It seemed that the unobtainable, untouchable, unavailable Lord Sesshomaru might not be so off-limits. She could swear that he was flirting with her, his little jokes, the teasing nature.
“I saw nothing.” She muttered to his back.
“You saw enough.” Was his reply as he turned back around with a smug smirk. Facing her once again his eyes rolled over her now covered body.
Sesshomaru took a couple of steps closer to her reaching a clawed handout and catching one of her damp locks gently tugging it making her step closer. His other hand coming to cup her cheek he leaned in close.
“It seems that spring fever has gotten the best of both of us. It seems to me that we both know the cure to our problems Kagome.” He whispered a hairsbreadth away from her lips.
Kagome's mouth went dry and she could feel that familiar lust building back up in her body
“What do you say we stop fighting it and we let the fever take us?” He posed to her, searching her eyes.
“I am not the type of woman that is looking for a temporary position, Sesshomaru.” She whispered around the lump in her throat. She could feel her body being eaten away by the fires of lust.
“No need to worry Kagome, I am not looking for a temporary fix.” He gave her a fanged smile as her eyes widened.
“Yes.” Was her last word before he sealed his lips over hers in a kiss that fanned the flames of lust consuming them.
It was the first of many spring days to come where they attempted to cool their fevered bodies together. Spring was a time for new beginnings and that was exactly what they would do. They were starting new together and the future was looking promising with neither of them fighting their desires and giving in to the fever that could only be eased when they were together.