Lurking in Shadows by Aimee Blue

Chapter 1

When harbouring an obsession that slept within your gut, plagued your every thought and occupied your every dream, it became important that you found some way to keep yourself in check.

Mostly that turned in to spying on the object of your obsession. In which case there were several things that needed to be taken into account.

Vantage points were important. Too close and you could be caught with your trousers down – hopefully not literally – and possibly arrested. Too far and you risked being unable to see anything of any interest, or having something irksome, like a passing bus, block your view at a crucial moment.

Having been fixated on a single woman for a very long time, he’d managed to find the perfect vantage point. There had been many different hiding places he had sampled in his years of watching and this was the best. It was located on a little road that wound around the hill that backed the object of his obsession’s shrine. The road was slightly higher than the level on which the shrine rested and so, he could see straight into the archery range she practised on every day from four in the afternoon until seven.  

Being certain that you were invisible was also important. Though spying on the object of your affections could often lead to them placing a restraining order on you or calling the police or setting their dog on you or, in a bizarre case of cosmically bad luck, all of the above, it was also imperative that no random passersby noticed that you were gazing through binoculars into someone else’s garden. But Sesshoumaru had countered that by finding a little nook propped between two boulders that shielded him from any casual person who happened to walk by.

Binoculars also needed to be considered. Walking around with a pair or subsequently being rumbled with a pair was not something that anyone wanted to happen. Pleading innocence whilst toting around a pair of binoculars would really not go down well. Luckily for him, he happened to be in the possession of a pair of eyes that were far superior to binoculars in every aspect. And no one could accuse you of acting suspicious because you had eyes...

Smirking deviously at his own Machiavellian machinations, Sesshoumaru calmly sat in wait at his chosen spot, knowing that in the next few moments the object of his desires would walk out of her house and begin her archery practise.

Though her outfit was designed to be easy to move in it was also supposedly modest. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t admire the gentle swell of her breasts and hips. Hands balled into fists as he desperately clamped down on the urge to tweak the coil of hair that coiled at the nape of her neck. Her cheeks were flushed with the cold and her nose glowed a light pink that made his heart swell. Her brows furrowed as she engaged intently in her task, creating a little crease on her forehead as she concentrated. He wanted to smooth it away with his thumb. She made archery into seduction.

When she shivered, he scowled; she should know better than to go outside in the cold like this! Though her dedication was appealing he didn’t want her dying of some kind of human ailment... like the plague or whatever it was that humans became ill with nowadays.

However, he was hitherto snapped from his concerned thoughts by the sound of approaching footsteps, three people, male by their scents. In fact he could pin them as Kagome’s kohai who also attended the school’s archery club. He knew who they would be instantly. There was a group of besotted men who followed his Kagome around like they had a right reminding him immensely of ducklings with their mother. They were also not welcome here. It was his vantage point and his Miko, he didn’t share. Ever. Just ask his half brother.

“I told you there was a good vantage point from this street,” one enthused proudly, “I noticed when I was on my paper run.”

“You’re right,” another whispered, “but keep it down; we’re close enough that if we’re loud she’ll find us!”

“I never thought that anyone could make a Miko garb look that good,” another uttered, reverence saturating his tone.

That was the final straw for Sesshoumaru. This called for some rapid decapitation.

Standing and revealing himself from his hiding place, he allowed menace to shroud his form and murder to flash in his eyes as he prowled towards the quivering teenagers.

“Sesshoumaru-senpai!” one snivelled, knees knocking.

“That’s one mean guard dog!” one of the boys whimpered before they turned tail and sprinted for their lives.

Tossing his braid arrogantly, Sesshoumaru smirked revealing fangs that he really, really wanted to gently trace along the seductive curve of a certain Miko’s elegant back.

The twang of another arrow being released made him turn, and he casually caught the arrow that she had apparently fired at his head before removing the tiny slip of paper attached.

Seriously, Sesshoumaru-senpai, we’re going out... you really don’t have to keep stalking me.

Sesshoumaru huffed in amusement at the words written in her causal scrawl that loped ever so slightly to the right; he knew he didn’t have to but it was just his favourite pastime.

P.S. Are you staying for dinner? I’m making Udon. And I want that arrow back... so... fetch boy.

Sesshoumaru’s smirk turned mischievous; fetch? Oh, she was in for a spanking now...

A/N: This oneshot was written for dokuga_contest and placed first for their 'seduction' prompt. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.