Snowdrop by PhoenixBlade

Lupercalia Festival

Yo minna! I bring you another chapter! This one is longer and lime-y, though not very much.  Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Snowdrop

By: PhoenixBlade

Prompt: Lupercalia Festival

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The girl was…depressed.

A week had passed since the girl had been taken to go see his mother.  When he had caught word of it, he had rushed to save her from his mother’s clutches.  The girl was much too meek to withstand against his mother’s oppressive demeanor.  Yet when he had reached his mother’s sitting room, he had found only Kagome sitting there.  His mother was nowhere to be found.  The girl’s aura was full of sorrow and pain.  Though he tried to make the girl tell him what his mother had said to her, she only shook her head and told him not to worry about it.

Worry?  He was not worried about her.  She was under his care.  It would be dishonorable of him to not properly care for her, of which also included her personal well-being.  The girl remained mute for the next some days, dragging her lithe body after him lifelessly.  She ate little and spoke only when he had questions for her.  Though he enjoyed the silence, he actually missed the sound of her voice as she chatted the day away.  Where was the little spitfire he had enjoyed teasing?

The girl had taken to hiding in his study with a book in her hands, but she never read her book.  Often, he would walk in and the sliding door to the veranda opened.  She would be out there, wrapped in the heavy blanket of his fur that he given her recently and many layers of her heavy kimono, just staring at the sky.  He’d chastise the girl for staying out in the cold too long, for when he dragged her away from there, she would be cold, almost as cold as him, and tired.  She was a weak creature, and had gotten ill from it. 

Now, she was laying in his futon, beside him, under many layers, trying to recover from her illness.  The cook had been ordered to give her warm broth, who was once again annoyed at having to use fire, to give her some strength back to fight her illness.  She still ate little and Sesshoumaru threatened her that he would do mouth-to-mouth feeding if she continued to refuse.  From them on, she ate whenever her food came around.  Though it made him relieved to see her eat again, he was a bit disappointed as he had been looking forward to mouth-feeding her.  Some other time perhaps.

Though her strength was returning, the sorrow was still there, growing larger around her.  He had to do something about it, and he was going to. Right. Now.

Rising from his side, he quickly grabbed the blankets off of her, earning a yelp from the girl who curled up more.  She threw him an angry glare and he narrowed his eyes at her.  He had no wish to fight with her today.

“Rise, miko.  We have places to be today,” he told her as he threw the blankets aside.

She scoffed and turned back to curl up even more.

He frowned.  The girl was being…difficult.

‘Miko,” he growled.

Still, she made no move to get up, or even acknowledge him.

“If you do not get up, this Sesshoumaru will take matters into his own hands,” he warned her.

She remained still.

Growling, he reached down and picked up the girl.  Kagome shrieked at suddenly being lifted up before she was deposited over his shoulder none too gently.

“Let me go this instant, Sesshoumaru! I want to go back to sleep!” she yelled at him as she tried kicking and punching him.

The girl’s attempts at attacking him felt like nudges.  He grunted at it.

“This one warned you,” he told her as he walked over to the sliding doors and opened them to the hallway. 

Servants walked by and gave them odd looks as Kagome struggled and yelled at him.  He paid her no mind nor was he embarrassed at how the situation looked.  He was lord of the shiro, even if his mother was the lady and in charge.  If anyone dared to speak a foul word about him, they would hear about it from the prince themselves!

“W-where are we going!?” she screeched.

He merely grunted as he opened another door outside to where the gardens were.  He had taken Kagome here on her first day awake.  Although he gave her little time to meander the gardens, he had hoped that he could bring her back soon.  Apparently Kagome didn’t feel the same way as she sequestered herself in his room or his study.  Well, luckily for her today, she would get to experience the garden, firsthand, or more precisely, the large pond in the middle of the garden.

“Let me down!” she screamed at him as she threw down some punches on his back.

Getting annoyed at her screaming (though he was a bit aroused at her snarling and soft growls), he moved quickly to the middle of the pond and dumped her wriggling form into the ice cold water.  He heard her shriek very loudly and try as she might; the heavy kimonos weighed her down, making it almost impossible for her to get out.

Kagome finally stopped struggling and sat in the ice cold water, shivering and trembling as she glared up at her youkai tormentor.

“Awake now, miko?” he grinned.

Kagome growled as she slapped some cold water towards him.  He moved gracefully out of the way.  Although he was already knee-deep in the chilly water, he didn’t want to get anymore wet than he already was.

 “Y-you b-b-bastard!” she screamed at him, shivering as she tried to warm herself by rubbing her wet hands over her arms.

“You were warned,” he smirked, “now, would you like to get changed?”

She looked away, too angry to speak with him.  He watched her, amused at her antics.  Puffs of warm air escaped her flaring nostrils before she looked back at him and growled angrily at him as she rose herself, as best as she could, out of the water.

Just like a bitch, he thought, she growls like this one’s people. How alluring…

He felt his length start to harden as she divested herself of the drenched kimono, baring herself to him.  She shivered as she brought her hands to cover her chest once she noticed his reddening eyes on her.  The fabric had been too soaked and too heavy for her to move in so she had taken it off so she could finally get out of the freezing water.  However, she forgot for a second that the youkai was still there.

Suddenly, she felt herself pulled roughly against him as cold lips came crashing down on hers.  She whimpered as he grabbed behind her thighs to pull her out of the water so he could grind himself against her now-wet core.  Kagome moaned against his lips as he pressed her down against his clothed shaft.  Though virginal she was, she had heard enough and read enough to know about what men and women sometimes did together.  She knew what he wanted to do with her and secretly, she wanted it too.

He moved them over to a wall and began thrusting himself up against her, rubbing her clit against his robe, now soaked in her juices.  The wall was cold against her back, but she ignored it as she was on a Sesshoumaru high at the moment.  His tongue found its way into her mouth, thrusting back and forth, mimicking what he wanted to do to her.  She found that if she sucked on his tongue a little, he would whine and thrust harder against her.  One of his hands moved up to wrap itself into her hair and push her head forward as he leaned in more to kissed her more passionately.  Kagome couldn’t fight it, she didn’t want to.  She wanted to be closer, to feel his warm body against her as he… wait… he was warm?

Sesshoumaru seemed to have noticed it too, for he suddenly pulled back and looked at her with surprise on his face.  The pounding feeling was back again, stronger.  He heard it clear as day, and felt it that strange…warmth taking over again.  Strangely enough, he began to feel… cold.

“Sesshoumaru?”

Kagome’s voice snapped him out of whatever it was he felt and suddenly the cold went away as did the warmth and the pounding in his chest.

“What was that?  You were…warm!”

He said nothing as he wasn’t sure how to explain it. 

Blink. Blink.

“Hn.”

She gave him a look, “Hn?  That’s all you have to say?  Seriously, what was-”

Sesshoumaru cut her off with a deep kiss, one with lots of tonguing.  She struggled for a bit before she gave in, but just as soon as she had started to kiss him back, he broke away and let her down to stand on her two feet.  He took off his robe and wrapped it around her.

“You must get dressed, then we depart.”

With that, he was gone.  She stood there, feet cold from the floor, but she paid it no mind as her concern for the inuyoukai weighed more heavily on her mind.

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Once she was dressed in layers of kimono, he appeared and grabbed her and before she knew it, they were flying quickly in the sky, on a dust cloud.  She had been amazed and told him so.  Though his face remained stoic and passive, his ego was practically through the roof.  He was glad that Kagome liked it.  He wanted her happiness and as small as it was, he delivered and did it well.  She had little endurance to pay attention to the surroundings as it was speeding by with a blur.  Content to just rest, Kagome snuggled into the cold youkai’s mokomoko, something that was a part of him he had told her before, as well as a sign of his status.  The Mokomoko kept her warm as they soared through the chilly air. 

Yet in time at all, they landed at what appeared to be a festival in a large clearing.  Booths were set up in rows as youkai, large and small perused each booth, selling and buying.  Childlike wonder filled Kagome as she looked to Sesshoumaru, as if asking for permission to browse.  With a slight inclination of his head, she grabbed Sesshoumaru’s sleeve and dragged him from booth to booth to booth.  The inuyoukai was dumbfounded by her actions but nevertheless, was satisfied with her enjoyment. 

Just as they were looking at a booth with games, a kitsune youkai’s magic of illusions caught Kagome’s eyes.  The kitsune youkai was brown-furred and looked exactly like a kitsune, only that he stood on two feet and had hands that were ningen-like.  He spat out fire, which to Kagome was amazing.  However, the crowd, being all youkai, didn’t seem too pleased with it.  Just then, the fire exploded and transformed into the animal kitsune, only large in size.  It snarled and snapped its fangs at a youkai nearby who had been sneering at the magic-user.  It then chased the youkai around and around the crowd, making everyone laugh at the youkai’s embarrassment.  The fiery kitsune soon became a huge flaming head of itself before rushing forward and devouring the youkai who screamed.  Kagome feared for the worst, but in the next moment, the youkai, who had been running, was on the ground crouching and covered with flowers. 

The crowd went wild and clapped for the performance.  The crouching youkai looked up and, realizing that he was still alive, merely coughed and ran out of there as soon as he could.  Suddenly, one of the flowers moved and flung itself up in the air before turning into a small ningen-like kitsune youkai with a bushy tail.  He ran up to his father and hugged him before turning to the crowd and bowing.  There were cheers and laughter, with Kagome joining in, throughout the crowd as the little kitsune youkai ran around the crowd with a bag for money.  The crowd threw in money and when the little kitsune boy ran up to Kagome, he stare at her as if she were the entertainment. She gave Sesshoumaru a look, not sure what the boy was doing.

A smirk graced the handsome youkai’s face, “Youkai differentiate one another by scent.”

Kagome nodded, now understanding as she turned back to the little kitsune boy.

“What are you?” he asked her, after giving her a big sniff.

He was so cute! She was tempted to pet his bushy tail.

“Shippou!” came the small youkai’s father’s voice.

He turned to look at his father than back at Kagome.

A big smile spread across his face, “Bye!”

He bounced back to his father and waved to Kagome, who smiled back and waved.

The short exchange stunned Sesshoumaru, who had watched it all with a strange feeling in his chest.  He suddenly imagined a little boy with little ears on his crown of black hair, being chased by Kagome, laughing and having fun.  Just the thought of it made Sesshoumaru slightly envious of the kitsune.

Suddenly a loud booming sound was heard, grabbing their attention.  Kagome looked at him questionably.  He merely grinned and led her on to where a huge cave dwelled and the large crowd was pushing in.  Grabbing her hand, he pulled her in.   They faced a huge stage, with several important dressed up people on there. 

“What’s going on?” Kagome whispered to Sesshoumaru as they began chanting.

“This is the Lupercalia Festival. The Ookami priests are praying to their mother goddess, Lupa, and asking for her blessing,” he answered for her, watching her face light up with curiosity, instead of what was in front of them.  She hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t even paying attention to the ceremony as she was so focused on what was happening before her.  She hadn’t even noticed that the youkai prince had left her side. 

Two goats were brought one stage and after a long chorus of chanting, they sacrificed the goats on stage over a huge bowl.  Though she felt saddened that the goats’ lives were cut short, she was curious as to what they’d do next. 

Turning to her companion, she opened her mouth only to realize that some female youkai had taken his spot.  She looked around, only to begin to panic as she didn’t see Sesshoumaru anywhere.  Suddenly, a loud booming voice, deep and baritone, touched her ears.  His voice caught the attention of all who were in attendance.  To her, it was sensual and monopolizing.  There up on stage, was Sesshoumaru, chanting something, along with the priests, and took up a knife before he slashed his hand with it.  Kagome almost shrieked with concern, but stopped when she saw that he held his bleeding hand out to the bowl of goat’s blood, letting it to mix in.  Was he a part of all of this?

The crowd watched in utter fascination and Kagome held back a groan of desire.  For some reason, it was kind of arousing to see him spill blood.  She blushed at herself.

Sesshoumaru chanted something before stepping back and letting the priests continue the ceremony.  Suddenly, the crowd started to move forward, bringing Kagome along with them.  Why was everyone moving towards the stage?  She tried to stand her ground, but the oncoming wave of people was too many.  Someone bumped into her and she fell. Someone stepped on her dress and another stepped on her hand. 

“Ouch!”

She pulled her hand up to see that it was just red and throbbing with pain.  She sighed as she was pushed to the ground again before she could stand up.  Suddenly an arm grabbed her own arm and pulled her to her feet.  She was suddenly pulled towards the back until she managed to leave the crowd of onlookers.  Now that she was out of the crowd, she saw that it had been Sesshoumaru who had pulled her out. 

“All females are moving towards the stage to receive a blessing from the priests,” he explained to her.

“Blessings?” she asked, curious.

An eyebrow rose before a smirk set in, “For fertility of course.”

She eep’ed and turned away from him as her face began to heat up.  However she was turned away long when his hands grasped her hand that had been stepped on earlier.

“You are harmed?” he asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

She shook her head, “Just minor.  Don’t worry about it.”

He frowned at her, “Your safety and health are this Sesshoumaru’s concern.  Not taking care of you is dishonorable on this one’s part.”

Dishonorable?  Was it because he found her that he put her under his care?  Was that all?  She thought that perhaps, just perhaps, all his actions towards her had been something more, but if it was just because he felt indebted to take care of her then…

Sesshoumaru gently massaged her hand, taking the pain away with his hand, which were not bleeding… not bleeding?  Hadn’t he just cut his hand up there?

She quickly grabbed his hand and looked at it all over, not seeing single sign of a cut or blood anywhere.

“You healed.”

He merely nodded.

“You’re ok.”

He nodded again.

She sighed in relief and held his hand to her mouth, lightly kissing his fingers… his warm fingers.

“S-sesshoumaru?” she stammered.

“Hn?” he merely said as he was caught up in the softness of her lips on his fingers.

“Y-your hands… they’re warm!”

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Once again Sesshoumaru was struck dumb.  He had no idea why this was happening to him. Why was he feeling these strange poundings inside of him? Why was he becoming warm?  After the miko's little outburst, he took her immediately home and afterwards, he went off in search of help, help that came in the form of an ancient tree youkai named Bokuseno.  He was so old, he knew things that even Sesshoumaru's mother didn't even know or never told him.  He even knew his father, whom Sesshoumaru remembered very little of.  Yet sometimes Bokuseno would withhold information from him, of which he had told Sesshoumaru that sometimes not knowing everything was better for him, of which he had respected the old youkai for.  Perhaps this time, the tree youkai would indulge him in telling him why he was being struck with bouts of warmth.

"Ah, Lord Sesshoumaru. Good to see you again, young one," the old youkai greeted him.

Sesshoumaru nodded to him and the youkai continued.

"You seem to be here with purpose today, my lord.  What can I help you with?"

He liked the old youkai, no beating around the bush.

"This Sesshoumaru has a... dilemma,” he was uncomfortable saying that.

The old youkai raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

He was being playful, though Sesshoumaru had no time for play, especially when he, himself was the concern.

He hesitated, “This Sesshoumaru is…was becoming warm...”                

The tree youkai paused for a bit, as if collecting his thoughts, “Go on.”

“It began when this one brought the miko to the shiro.  When this Sesshoumaru is around the miko, there is a strange pounding in this one’s chest and this one becomes warm to the point where the cold becomes a...discomfort.”                     

There was another long pause, causing Sesshoumaru to worry a bit. 

“This Sesshoumaru has thought of some of the possibilities on why this one is becoming this way.  Though this one does not wish it to be, tell me, has the miko… placed a curse upon this Sesshoumaru?”

He was met with silence….which only meant bad news.

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The prompt for this one was a bit difficult this time around so I decided to actually have a festival similar to it in this world.  Hopefully it worked...?  Oh well. Have a good one!