A Trick of Fate by PristineUngift

Sick

In the end, Sesshoumaru did not have to seek out Kagome. She came to him.

Her youki announced her presence long before he looked up to find her standing in his bedroom doorway. A fiery churning of anger and resentment stretched out before her.

“Vixen,” he stood to greet her.

She marched straight up to him and slapped him across the face. His eyes widened in shock, and then narrowed. A thin line of blood appeared above one of his facial stripes.

“A year, Sesshoumaru. A year.”

“Ten moons,” he corrected. He would not offer her excuses of entrapment like a whinging pup. He had more honor than that. He had chosen to leave, and in his arrogance allowed himself to be tricked. He deserved her ire.

She slapped him again.

“Did you know that Shippou thought you were angry with him? Because you promised to teach him and Rin the sword, and then you vanished without saying goodbye?” A wave of red moved through her hair, the long mass reverting to its natural color.

“Inuyasha –”

“Inuyasha is a horrible teacher. He has no patience, and he yells.”

Sesshoumaru blinked. This conversation was not going in any way how he had expected. Pride pricked at him. Was she not happy to see him returned? “Ten moons is not so long. Cease counting time as a human does.”

Kagome raised her hand to slap him for a third time. Sesshoumaru seized her wrists. His left hand, wounded in his skirmish with Takeshi, began to bleed anew.

“You will desist.”

Kagome snarled, her eyes flashing green.

Sesshoumaru roared, the sound shaking the walls, an anguished release of frustration and a demand that his vixen submit rolled into one.

He was tired. So tired, in body, mind, and spirit.

Kagome went limp, letting herself dangle from Sesshoumaru’s grasp. He pulled her more securely into his arms, eager to leave his scent on her skin, little shocks of heat going through him at every point where their bodies touched.

“Ten moons is long enough for your kits to miss you. Ten moons is long enough for the pack to feel the loss of its alpha. Ten moons is far too long for the West to be without its lord,” she said against his throat, her voice just as hard as it had been before she submitted.

“It was… unplanned. And all was provided for.”

“Damn it, Sesshoumaru!” she pushed away from his chest as far as he would allow. The way she dropped the honorific on his name made his heart skip a beat every time she did it. “We need more than food and shelter and instructions on running the West from you. We need you. I think you know that.”

And just like that, the madness Sesshoumaru had been running from, wrestling with and locking away in the back of his head sprang forth, stronger than ever before. It was a disease that he didn’t know how to cure, a delirium that could only be calmed by the beautiful creature in his arms.

The beautiful creature who was even now growling at him.

It hurt. It hurt in a way he had never thought to be hurt.

“Forgive me.”

He said it like an order, but they both knew it was a plea.

She cupped his face in her hands, searching his eyes with her own. After what felt like an eternity, she leaned up and ran her tongue along the blood on his cheek.

He trembled.

“Yes,” she said. “But you will never do this again. If something’s wrong, you’ll talk to me. If you have to leave and it’s not some world ending emergency, you will tell the kits goodbye. And don’t think I don’t know about Takeshi. I know, and I don’t approve. You severed the big tendon in his leg. It was very petty of you. He’ll be at least two weeks healing, and you know he wasn’t disputing your claim as alpha. And it wasn’t like you were here for him to ask permission to court me. Permission that you will give, by the way.”

When he examined his motivations, Sesshoumaru found he had never considered his place at the head of the pack to be in jeopardy. He’d harmed Takeshi purely because the black-haired inu had known the pleasure of Kagome’s love.

He wisely elected not to tell her this.

“Now put me down.”

He did so, and watched as Kagome imperiously made her way to the door.

“Where will you sleep?” he heard himself ask, then ground his jaw shut before he could curse.

She faced him. “Tonight? With you. But Sesshoumaru… I’m not going to keep myself on a shelf. If I want to date, I’m going to date. But I remember my vow.”

He locked eyes with her. Her phrasing was strange – more of her future language – but he understood what it was that she said.

No matter how many other males she allowed to court her, she was still his.

He cleared his throat. “The pups?”

“They’re with Yukiko. I didn’t want them here for,” she made a gesture that encompassed the room, “this. They’ve been upset enough.”

He nodded.

“I’ll go get them now.”

As soon as the door closed behind her, Sesshoumaru sank down onto the bed and squeezed his eyes shut, all the strength he had left draining away.

He didn’t know why it had never occurred to him that Kagome would find another male if he didn’t claim her. Or that he would ache inside at the thought of it.

He still wanted her. Wanted her as he wanted no other. And she?

She no longer wanted him.

Truly, he was love sick.