A Mutual Benefit by MoonBeamMistress

A Mutual Benefit

This was an attempt to rid myself of writers block lol I hope you enjoy! And I do not own either of the songs I used small snippets of in this goofy one-shot^_^ Smile belongs to Avril Lavigne and If you want it to be good girl belongs to Backstreet Boys.

“Give it to me,” She howled. “I’m so fucking wet, give it to me now!”

The little wench could caterwaul all evening if she pleased; he was keeping the umbrella.

Sesshomaru could practically hear Kagome’s blood pressure skyrocket at his silent refusal to hand over his only protection from the torrential downpour that had descended over Tokyo.

“Woman, you are already thoroughly soaked. I am not. What benefit could allowing myself to fall into the same state possibly have?”

Her cerulean gaze narrowed dangerously as she stepped forward and attempted to remove the umbrella from his large hand by force.

 “Sesshomaru, I’m freezing and my apartment is a thirty minute walk from here. Can’t you just be a fucking man and at least share the damn thing?”

Resisting the urge to point out that her language only encouraged him to insist that she cease from having any further ‘play dates’ with his vulgar half-brother, he reached down to pry her slippery fingers from his wrist and turned to leave.

“H…hey! Where are you going?”

“To my home; if you do not wish to make the trek to your residence, then be the adult that you are and call a cab.”

“Wait!”

Bypassing the need to pull his arm away when she latched onto it, he sighed and turned to face her once more.

“What can I do for you woman?”

“I can’t call a cab. I left my wallet at work by accident.”

He was silent for a moment as he calculated the distance from where they were to where she worked.

“Your place of work is only a block away. Can you not just go back and get it?”

Kagome scuffed her toe against the wet sidewalk bashfully. “I already tried. The office is locked up for the night.”

“There should be a security guard on duty to let you in if you show the proper identification.”

Kagome began shifting from foot to foot.

“It’s his day off, so there’s no one there.”

Day…..off? Her company allows it’s assets to go unguarded for extended periods of time? That seemed a bit careless in his opinion.

Feeling his irritation increase at the lack of progress he was making toward home, he looked down at the drenched human woman shivering in front of him and reached into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet.

“I will pay for your cab.”

Kagome reddened. “Uh, I appreciate the offer, Sesshomaru, but I left my keys there as well. I don’t have any way to get into my apartment even if I did manage to get there.”

The thought crossed his mind to ask her how exactly it was she managed to function in society, but pushed it aside; the last thing he wanted to do was provoke this particular woman’s famous temper and send her into another bout of senseless shrieking.

“Can you not stay with a friend for the night?”

“Sango is out of town and Inuyasha is at a business conference in America.”

Sesshomaru let his eyes wander over her soaked form with mild irritation. She looked terribly pitiful.

“You have nowhere to go?”

He watched her shoulders slump. “No, I guess not.”

He made a noise of disgust in the back of his throat as he turned his back on her.

“Come, I will not allow you to stand on the street all night.”

Jogging to catch up, she smiled up at him.

“I would not wish for you to harm any unsuspecting passerby’s in an attempt to obtain their umbrella.

Sesshomaru smiled inwardly when his words caused the young woman to stumble.

~_~_~_~

“Inuyasha is going to hit the ceiling when he finds out about this.”

Rinsing the shampoo from her raven locks, Kagome turned off the glorious spray of hot water and stepped from the shower.

She hadn’t even managed to enter his top-floor apartment before Sesshomaru had given strict orders to go straight to the bathroom and ‘cleanse herself.’

She might be mistaken, but she swore she heard him mumble something along the lines of her being a silly human woman dripping all over his expensive carpet. She ignored it, though, in favor of warming up her stiff and frozen limbs.

 “I take that back; when Inuyasha finds out I took a shower, borrowed clothes and spent the night at his brother’s place, he’s going to go straight through the ceiling and fly to the damn moon.”

Wrapping the buttery soft towel hanging on the rack around her torso, she found her eyes drawn curiously to the medicine cabinet above the sink.

Sesshomaru had always been the uptight, anti-social jerk she knew him to be now. Even when they had been in high school and college together he had strutted around with an air of aloofness that had even the most determined of women fluttering off for an easier target.

Her friendship with Inuyasha had done little more than throw her into his inimical path on a few occasions and force him into a couple of awkward, mostly one-sided, conversations with her, but ,never one to be deterred by a little unfriendly behavior, Kagome had persevered and, after years of failed attempts, managed to become uncomfortable acquaintances with him.

Her curiosity had always managed to eventually get her the answers she wanted, but, without fail, Sesshomaru had managed to remain the complete and utter mystery he’d always been to her.

Slinking up to the porcelain sink with silent steps, she hesitated.

Sesshomaru was a very private person. Would he kick her out on her ass if he caught her snooping through his stuff? Probably, but she found it almost criminal that, after nine years, she still knew so little about the beautiful demon who’s home she’d been invited into.

Straining her ears to try and pinpoint the stoic demon’s location, she almost cheered when she heard the soft drone of the TV.

‘God, I hope his hearing isn’t as ridiculously sensitive as I think it is.’

Muttering a small prayer, she gave her hand a quick shake to steady it and reached forward.

~_~_~_~

Sesshomaru stood stiffly in front of his open refrigerator; his hand gripping the handle with enough force to dent the steel surface.

He had no food.

Eyeing the bare shelves with an intense look of agitation; as if by sheer willpower alone he could force them to fill up with food stuffs, he tried to recall when he had last made a trip to the grocery store.

 A week? A month, maybe?

 He was rarely present at home to eat; most of his meals being consumed at work or at an occasional restaurant.  The food he purchased for his home was usually for his niece, Rin, when she came to visit.

This would not do. If she were anyone else he would have merely told her to be thankful he had let her in out of the rain, but this was Kagome Higurashi; the one and only female to catch and hold his attention.

Their first meeting had occurred during his senior year of high school.  His worthless younger brother had brought her home with him under the pretense that they were going to work on a history project together. Judging from the angry handprint he was sporting when she left, she had believed him.

That was the moment he had made his fatal mistake. In an uncharacteristic show of kindness, he offered to drive her home and Kagome, bless her innocent little heart, made it her mission from then on to become his friend.

He, of course, sidestepped her attempts at companionship with the grandeur and grace of someone highly experienced in the art of antisocialism, but she persevered and with that unwavering persistence, she earned something from him that no other being ever had.

His interest.

The issue only worsened when he discovered her attendance at the prestigious college he had gained admittance to. She would wave at him in the halls, which only served to make her friends worry for her safety when he would return her friendly gesture with a hard glare, and disturb his study time in the library by assuming he was in need of a study partner. She would invite him to parties, present him with gifts on his birthday and bring him dinner at random intervals with the excuse that she wanted to make sure he was eating properly.

Needless to say, she had forced her friendship upon him and made sure to stay a permanent fixture in his everyday life.

“I will have to order something.”

His hand immediately went to his pocket in search of his cell phone, but stopped short at the last second.

He had absolutely no clue as to what she enjoyed eating. Italian? Chinese? Traditional Japanese food? Sure he could just order whatever he deemed best, but, with his luck, it would be the one thing she detested.

Realizing he probably looked like an absentminded idiot, standing in front of an empty fridge with his hand hovering near his crotch, he let the heavy door swing shut and headed for the living room.

If she was hungry, she could tell him herself and he could go from there. He refused to let some tiny human woman work him into a frenzy over her eating preferences.

Settling down on the couch, the expensive leather creaking under his weight, he grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to flip blindly through the channels; his attention and keen hearing tuned into the sounds emanating from the bathroom down the hall.

It was difficult to describe his interest in the young woman. If he was perfectly honest, he wasn’t even sure when the odd fascination he had with her had begun to take root, but one thing he could say for certain was that, now, she had his full and complete attention.

Coming out of his contemplation of the raven-haired woman, he was startled to hear the sound of glass breaking, shortly followed by the hushed cursing of afore mentioned woman.

“What could she have possibly done?”

Standing from the couch, he quietly strode down the hall to the now silent bathroom.

“Woman, what are you doing in there?”

~_~_~_~

 “Shit, shit, shit!”

Staring at the shattered bottle of cologne in the sink, she felt the distinct sensation of impending doom settle over her frozen form.

‘He’s going to kill me. He’s going to murder me and throw my naked body back out on the street!’

Pulling her towel a little closer to her form, she stiffened in fear when Sesshomaru’s sinful baritone floated through the door.

“Woman, what are you doing in there?”

Clearing her throat, she prayed her voice wouldn’t shake when she responded.

“Ah, nothing! I just, uh…..I’ll be out in a second!”

Frantically searching for something to try and clean up the, more than likely, ridiculously expensive liquid before its pungent odor reached the hyper-sensitive nose of the dog demon hovering outside; she decided to go for a temporary fix and turned the hot water knob on full blast.

“Woman, I head something break. Are you clothed? I’m coming in.”

“No! Don’t come in! I’m naked,” she shouted over the faucet. “I’ll be out in a second!”

Picking the bigger shards of glass out of the sink, she tossed them in the trash and then turned back to push the smaller ones into the spray of water to be washed down the drain.

The doorknob jiggled.

“Woman…”

“I have a name, you know,” she called out in an attempt to stall him.

“Kagome, what did you break?”

She gulped. “Uh….nothing. I didn’t break anything!”

Dropping her towel, she grabbed the clothes Sesshomaru had given her and slipped the large shirt and silky pajama pants on in record time.

When she’d finished, she shut the water off and fanned the air in a poor attempt to dispel any lingering traces of the golden liquid in the air before opening the door.

“Oh, Sesshomaru…what are you doing here?” 

She watched his golden eyes narrow at her; his mouth turning down at the corners to form a small frown.

“This is my home. That is why I am here. What did you break?”

She smiled nervously, a strangled laugh escaping her as she watched him give the air a delicate sniff.

‘Shit…he knows.’

“I didn’t break anything! You’re hearing things, silly!”

Striding past him, she made it about half way down the hall before her vision took a spin and she felt her body flush from head to toe.

~_~_~_~

Sesshomaru pinpointed the exact moment when the pheromones from his cologne took effect in the young woman’s system; a distinct sense of dread settling in his gut.

Damn his mother and her desire for him to sire some grandchildren for her.

Watching Kagome totter toward the living room like an inebriated butterfly, he wondered if the level of demon-intended pheromones floating around in her system now would be fatal to her delicate human body.

He hoped not. It would be terribly awkward to have to tell her mother and brother that she had died, in his home, from an extreme case of being horny.

Resisting the urge to sigh at the turn his peaceful evening had taken, he quietly walked out into the living room to keep an eye on the woman who was currently rubbing her face all over his couch.

“Sesshomaru, I feel…..funny.”

‘Yes, I would assume so,’ he thought sarcastically. ‘I would be stunned speechless if you said you were feeling anything short of mind-blown after inhaling that much sexual stimulant.’

“The fragrance you have inhaled was laced with a heavy dose of pheromones meant to entice female demons. I am unaware how it will affect you or how long said effects will last in your system.”

Purring with immense satisfaction as she rubbed her cheek along the couch’s armrest, Kagome opened her eyes and quickly spotted the plush, white rug on the floor; her over-sensitized form rolling over the edge to land on it and wiggle around.

“Kagome, do you understand what I am telling you?”

Nodding her head, she reached for the drawstring on her pants.

“Yes. I need to be naked.”

Sesshomaru felt his brain cease to function as he watched her glazed eyes narrow on her fumbling hands.

“Why can’t I….Help me, Sesshomaru.”

Her voice was growing husky as the concoction of chemicals in her system took a firmer hold.

Sesshomaru was starting to think his evening with Kagome was going to be far more interesting than he had anticipated.

“Woman, you will cease your attempts to disrobe on my rug this instant.”

Her hands stilled as she looked up at him with glassy cerulean eyes.

“No.”

“Woman…”

“My name is Kagome,” she muttered angrily, her fingers pulling fruitlessly at the tiny knot keeping her from her goal.

He was just happy she hadn’t figured out she could just pull the pants off yet.

“Kagome, you do not need to be naked. You need to stay right there while I go and call my mother.”

A sound of frustration left her lips. “I do need to be naked.”

“Do not disrobe. I will return shortly.”

Firmly believing that she would not be able to remove her clothing for some time, he turned and headed for his bedroom; cellphone in hand and his mothers number on the screen.

~_~_~_~

“Hello, my dear child. What can I do for you?”

“Mother, I need to know what ridiculous concoction of stimulants you put in that cologne.”

His mother’s bell-like laughter echoed in his ear.

“Why? Have you ensnared a lovely lady with it?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “No. My house guest was clumsy and shattered it. She is human and I wish to know the duration with which she will be molesting my furniture and attempting to disrobe on my floor.”

The line was silent for a moment before great peels of laughter made him pull the phone away from his ear.

“Oh dear, you have gotten yourself into quite a mess. How much was she exposed to? A quarter or maybe half of it?”

“All of it.”

“And where was she when she broke the bottle.”

“In my bathroom.”

The silence that met his ears made him nervous.

“Should I transport her to the hospital?”

“No, no…it isn’t that serious, but you should find something with a lot of texture for her to rub on.”

He was afraid to inquire about the reason.

A few moments later he was aware of everything Kagome had just inhaled and couldn’t decide if his mother was a genius or insane.

He was also wondering how the woman trying to ‘be naked’ in his living room was even staying conscious with so many different drugs in her system.

“You put copious amounts of molly-based ecstasy into that bottle, mother? Are you attempting to attract a mate to me or get me raped?”

She laughed. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. A woman couldn’t rape you even if you were the one that was drugged. Do you know how hard it was to alter that stuff to be effective as a scent?”

“No, mother and I do not care to know. How long will it take for the effects to wear off?”

“Mmm, judging by her weight and the fact that she’s human, I’d say……eighteen to twenty-four hours.”

His evening could not possibly get any worse.

“Mother, you…..”

~You know that I’m a crazy bitch! I do what I want when I feel like it!

                        All I wanna do is lose control! Oh! Oh!~

‘What, in Gods name,…..is that?’

“Uh oh, sounds like your house guest found a way to entertain herself.”

“I will reprimand you for your actions later, mother. Goodbye.”

Hanging up on his mother’s laughter, at his expense, he pocketed his phone and headed for the living room.

~But you don’t really give a shit! You go with it, go with it, GO. WITH. IT!

                          Cause you’re fuckin’ crazy rock n roll!~

Stopping just short of the three stairs that lead down into his living room; Sesshomaru found himself at a loss for words as he watched Kagome topple, face-first, over the back of his $2000 couch while attempting to dance on it.

He may have even found it slightly humorous if she’d still been wearing her clothes.

“Ooo, Sesshomaru, you’re back! Come dance with me!”

Remote in hand, she turned back to the TV and switched to another song.

~If you want it to be good girl….get yourself a BAD BOY!~ 

Turning back to face him, she held the remote up to her mouth like a microphone and pointed her finger at the speechless dog demon.

~If you want it to be wild! Gotta know just who to dial, baby!~

                                                ~That’s me!~

  ~ If you really like it hot! Someone who hits the spot, honey!~

                                             ~ Oh, yeah!~

God in heaven, what had he done to deserve this?

“Woman, where are your clothes?”

“What clothes? I don’t need clothes. I’m dancing!”

If he were prone to such actions, he would have rolled his eyes at her reasoning.

“You are in my home and I do not allow individuals to run about my household without being properly clothed.”

She could have just agreed to put some clothes on. She could have just agreed to cover up. Hell, she could have locked herself in his spare bedroom and ran around bare as the day she was born, but instead she stuck her tongue out at him and stomped toward the door.

“Fine, I’ll just leave then.”

Darting forward to put himself between her and the door; he looked down his nose at her and crossed his arms. “Woman, you will be going absolutely nowhere in your current state of undress. If you want to leave, you must put your clothes back on.”

He wasn’t going to let her leave regardless of what she did or didn’t do, but she didn’t need to know that.

Watching her eyes dance with childish anger, he made a shooing motion at her with one of his hands and reached in his pocket to retrieve his phone.

“Would you like something to eat, Kagome?”

“Yes, please!”

After ten minutes of debate and her changing her mind, they settled on Chinese food and he made the call.

A few minutes after, he found her discarded clothing in his kitchen sink and forced her back into them.

This would be the first of the three stages his mother said she would go through over the next 24 hours. The first being an immature, emotional, over-sensitized energy ball. The second being an oral fixation phase where she would stick anything and everything she could get her hands on in her mouth, not unlike a toddler, and the third would be the dreaded ‘horny phase’  where she would most likely try and molest him until she passed out.

She also said there was a possibility they would rotate in and out over the time span; repeating or switching in and out without any given notice.

Great.

Pushing sharp claws through his silver mane, he watched her roll happily around on the floor with his moko moko; her tiny fingers rubbing the soft fur on her face and any other skin she could expose without ‘getting in trouble.’

It was the only thing he owned that qualified for Kagome’s current needs and, at this point, he was just pleased to keep her busy doing something other than taking her clothes off and stashing them somewhere, so he gave it to her to play with until this ordeal was finished.

*Ding dong*

“Do not move. I am going to retrieve the food.”

Stuffing the luxurious fur under her shirt with a giggle, she didn’t even acknowledge that he’d spoken.

Satisfied with her current distraction, he walked to the door with little worry that she would move.

Now, Sesshomaru was rarely prone to error and if, by some miracle, he did in fact slip-up; he did not make the same mistake twice. At least, that was case before he let Kagome drug herself beyond reason and trusted her not to divest herself of her clothing every time he turned his back on her.

Handing the money over to the delivery boy, he shut the door and turned around just in time to see a bare-bottomed Kagome streak past him and dart down the hall; his moko moko trailing behind her like a furry banner.

‘Son of a…’

Listening to her giggles as he put the paper bag down in the kitchen, he calmly walked to the only open door in the hall.

His bedroom.

As he entered, his sharp vision zeroed in on mass of quivering blankets on his bed; the moko moko trailing out from underneath them to pool on the floor.

“Kagome; put your clothes back on.”

The lump giggled.

“My patience is wearing thin, Kagome. Clothe yourself so that we may eat.”

This time it undulated as the young woman underneath shifted around to peek out; cerulean orbs peering at him gleefully.

“Bring it in here! We can eat under the covers!”

“We will eat at the table like civilized adults, not in my $9000 bed.”

The price he voiced seemed to catch her attention.

“You paid that much money for this bed?”

“Yes.”

She sat up, the action making the covers slip down to pool around her waist; moko moko wrapped around her form like a furry dress.

“And all you do is sleep in it?”

He nodded.

Watching her shake her head in disbelief, he resisted the urge to sigh when she attempted to launch herself from the bed and ended up taking a graceless nose-dive into the carpet; his blankets tumbling with her to create a tangled jumble of cloth, fur and flailing limbs.

When she finally managed to right herself, she stood and wobbled toward him; her hands extended outward.

“That’s practically a sin. Come climb in this bed with me and let’s break it in!”

Sidestepping her attempt to grab him, he moved out into the hall in hopes that she would follow.

She didn’t disappoint.

Tottering after him like a child just learning to walk, she dropped her makeshift furry clothing and made a lunge for his arm.

“Come on, Sesshomaru. Come show me you’re not the homo everyone says you are!”

That stopped him dead in his tracks. Homo? People were claiming that his preferences were for men over women? That would not do.

“Woman, who is making these outlandish claims?”

Kagome’s expression went from playful determination to guilty timidity in the blink of an eye.

“Ah…ha ha…oops. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

His eyes narrowed. “Who has made these heinous accusations?”

She tucked her hands behind her back and scuffed her toe against the floor shyly. “I’m not supposed to say.”

Noticing her wad of discarded clothing peeking out from under his forgotten moko moko, he stepped forward to retrieve them; his hand freezing half way there when Kagome flinched away from him.

“It was Inuyasha! I’m sorry!”

Confusion wrinkled his brow as he watched her step back farther and eye him warily.

“A moment ago you were attempting to lure me into bed with you and now you are backing away in fear. What has caused such a severe shift in your actions?”

“You were gonna hit me!”

Her words startled him. Hit her? Why would he hit her?

“Rest assured, I do not abuse women. Why would you assume I would hit you if you did not tell me?”

Bending down to retrieve moko moko, she rubbed it against her face in a comforting motion and looked up at him with big, blue doe eyes.

“Inuyasha smacks me when I don’t tell him stuff. He’s mean. You’re his brother so I just thought that maybe you were alike.”

Inuyasha? Oh, he would have some words for his worthless half-breed brother when he returned from America about the proper etiquette when dealing with women.

“I assure you, Kagome. I would never hit you; for any reason.”

Whether it was the multitude of drugs in her system or just Kagome’s innate habit of putting way too much trust in the things people said, she nodded her head and smiled. “Ok, Sesshy, I believe you.”

He groaned inwardly at her new nickname for him. “Please do not call me that.”

She grinned. “I’ll stop calling you that when you start using my name more often, Sesshy.”

“Deal.”

~+~+~+~+~+~

“Kagome, remove the remote from your mouth this instant.”

“Ok….”

Twelve hours down and between six and twelve more to go. He’d taken the liberty of calling her office and informing them that she would be absent from work that day due to a personal emergency and then called his own office to let them know he would be taking the day off.

It almost brightened his mood when the secretary at her workplace sputtered and ceased to be able to make a coherent sentence at the mere mention of his name and assured him that Kagome would receive absolutely no repercussions for missing a day of work.

Blindly staring at the TV screen, he resisted the urge to risk a trip to the store for a pacifier when he felt her lift his hand to suck on his index finger.

“Kagome, you have ten fingers of your own. Can you not put one of them in your mouth?”

“Mine dun tate as goo as yers,” she said around the digit she happily sucked on.

He didn’t know if he should take that as a compliment or not.

When he felt her try and slip the rest of his fingers in beside the one already being drooled on, he felt himself give in and decided to try his luck with a trip to the store.

“Kagome, would you like to go shopping?”

She nodded happily; her lips stretching awkwardly to smile around the partial hand trapped between them.

“Then you must release my hand.”

She looked conflicted for a moment, her muddled mind trying to decide if letting his hand go would be worth a trip to the store.

“I shall buy you some chocolate while we are there. The brand and flavor of your choosing, but you must release my hand.”

He watched her eyes light with excitement at the prospect of getting chocolate and felt slightly victorious when she spit his hand out like a foul-tasting food product.

“Can I get a cookies n cream bar?”

“If that is what you wish.”

“And a Hershey’s with almonds?”

“Yes.”

“And a…”

“Yes, Kagome, I will buy you whatever you wish. Go put your shoes on and we shall go.”

Lunging from the couch, she raced for the door and sat down to put the heels she’d worn to work the previous day on.

Sesshomaru was no expert on fads or styles, but he was fairly sure that you did not wear high-heels with pajamas. Thankfully, she would be saved the embarrassment of being caught out in public dressed like a fashion disaster by the length of her borrowed pants. That wasn’t saying much for her lack of balance on them in her current state though.

“Sesshomaru, I dunno if I can walk in these…..”

Stopping to slip his shoes on, he gripped her by the forearm and led her out the door.

“I shall stop and get you a replacement pair on the way.”

After a quick stop at a dollar store to pick her up a pair of pink flip flops, they pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot and got out.

“Now Kagome, you must not wander off or disrobe while we are here. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Sesshomaru.”

Nodding, he placed a hand on the small of her back to nudge her forward and headed for the doors.

“Welcome to Wal-Mart,” the elderly male standing just inside the doors said cheerfully as they entered.

“Where are your infant products kept?”

The elderly male smiled at them knowingly, his eyes taking note of the gentle hand Sesshomaru had on Kagome’s back before shifting to Kagome’s midsection.

“Stocking up early, eh? Go straight back till you get to the electronics section and then head right. You’ll see the children’s section shortly after that. Congratulations on your pregnancy.”

Realizing the old man had assumed he was making early purchases for an upcoming birth and that Kagome would most likely have a very confusing reaction to this, he offered the man a quick nod and pushed Kagome forward.

They were half way down the main aisle before she registered what the man had said.

“Who’s having a baby?”

“No one is having a baby, Kagome.”

“Are we having a baby?”

“No.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

They made it around the corner before Kagome began to sniffle.

“Woman, what is your problem?”

Whimpering softly, she rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes and reached out to hold his hand.

“I’m sad.”

“Yes, I gathered as much. Why are you distressed?”

Pulling her through the racks of baby clothes, he searched desperately for the shelves containing what he’d come for.

“You don’t want our baby,” she said through a strangled sob.

Her accusation gained them the attention of a few nearby women; one of them giving him a disgusted look as she left the baby section with her arms wrapped around a bulging belly.

Gripping the delusional girl’s shoulders, he leaned down to look her in the eye.

“Kagome, you are not pregnant. We are not having a pup together. There are a few key factors that make that particular situation impossible. “

Shoving him in the chest, she set a teary-eyed glare on him. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

Reaching a clawed hand forward to grip her hip and pull her toward him, he leaned down and pressed his lips to her ear. “We have never been intimate with each other, Kagome. Or have you forgotten how pups are created?”

He felt a violent shiver run through her form as she leaned into him, her arms rising to wrap around his neck. “Why not?” Scraping her nails along the base of his skull, she nuzzled the sensitive area below his ear. “Do you not find me attractive enough to take to your bed, Sesshomaru?”

Great, she’d just shifted into her first round of the ‘horny phase’ in the middle of Wal-Mart’s infant section and he had triggered it like an idiot.

Backing away as she attempted to lock lips with him, he gripped her wrist tightly and dragged her into one of the short aisles nearby.

“Not here, Kagome. We are here to purchase a pacifier for you. Please try to control yourself.”

“Ok,” she said; her tone breathy.

He turned his back on her to search the rack for a pacifier that would suit her needs, his hunt coming to a violent halt and his form jerking slightly when he felt a tiny hand grip his backside.

“Ooo, sooo tight and firm. I knew you’d have a great ass!”

One hand extended forward to grab a pink pacifier off the rack as the other reached around to take hold of Kagome’s wandering hand. His eyes narrowed dangerously on her smirking face.

“Kagome….”

“Sorry, I’ll behave.”

Not bothering to say anything else, he strode quickly from the aisle with the amorous woman in tow and headed for the checkouts.

‘This day cannot possibly become worse.’

“Kagome!”

He almost continued to drag the woman away; almost, but the insistent tugs on his hand made him slow down and turn to glare at the woman approaching them.

“Sango,” Kagome squealed happily as she released his hand in favor of throwing herself at the taller woman.

“Hello, Sesshomaru,” she said as she hugged her friend. “What are you two doing here?”

He could hear the underlying ‘together’ at the end of that sentence.

“We are here to purchase chocolate.”

The young woman’s eyes dropped to the pacifier clutched in his hand before locking with his in suspicion. “Is that so? Are you alright, Kagome?”

The raven-haired girl nodded vigorously as she stepped away from her friend and took Sesshomaru’s hand back into her own. “Oh, I’m fine! Sesshomaru has been wonderful company.”

“Did you just return from your trip, Ms. Taijiya?”

She tilted her head in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”

“Kagome spoke of you being out of town yesterday. Were you not?”

Her eyes shifted between her young friend and the male she was clutching at tightly before realization dawned on her. Sneaky Kagome, she was going to have some explaining to do later.

“Ah, yeah, I just got back from Osaka a few hours ago. Sorry, I didn’t know you knew I was gone.”

Sango watched the tall demon stiffen as Kagome began giggling. ‘What the….’  She observed their little interaction for a moment before realizing where Kagome’s hand had been. ‘She didn’t…..’ When the younger girl’s hand disappeared back behind the stoic demon once more, she had to force her jaw not to hit the floor. ‘She’s grabbing his ass!’

“I apologize, Ms. Taijiya, but we are in a bit of a rush, so we must be going.”

She looked at Kagome one more time in disbelief before nodding. “Ok, nice seeing you, Sesshomaru. Call me later, Kagome.”

“I will, bye!”

Trying his best not to look suspicious and dart away from the woman, he pulled Kagome to the nearest checkout and pushed her toward the candy rack. “Choose your chocolate so we may leave.”

Kagome didn’t choose; she grabbed one of everything.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

“You lied to me, woman.”

Stuffing another piece of chocolate into her mouth, she tilted her head in confusion.

“Abou wha,” she asked around her mouthful of sweets.

“Your friend’s whereabouts. She was in town last night, was she not?”

“Who, Sango? Yeah, why?”

His eyes narrowed. “You told me that you had nowhere to stay last night. Why did you lie?”

Realizing that she’d just busted herself, her face flushed and she quickly stuffed more candy into her mouth.

“Woman….”

“My name is Kagome,” she said once she’d swallowed.

“Do not try and change the subject. How could lying to me benefit you in any way?”

Picking absent-mindedly at his plush rug, she avoided his hard gaze.

“I suppose next you are going to tell me you’ve had your keys and wallet the entire time as well?”

Her blush deepened. “Ah…here’s the thing….I…”

“You were dishonest about everything? I fail to see how doing that has any benefit for you. Did you perhaps believe we could ‘better our friendship’ by invading my home under such flimsy pretenses?”

“I didn’t….”

“I allowed you into my home because I believed you had nowhere to go. I did not wish for you to freeze on the street and you were more than capable of going to your own home the entire time. This whole ignominious situation could have been avoided if you had merely been truthful.”

Slamming her hands down on the floor, tears sprang to her eyes as she glared up at him.

“I wanted to spend the night with you!”

Shock stiffened his body as he watched the raven-haired girl rise and walk over to his seated form; her knees bumping his out of the way so she could stand between them.

“You make it so hard to get close to you! You’ve been letting me trip and stumble after you for years, trying to get through that damn wall you’ve put up! I want to know you!”

Gripping his wrists, she pinned them to the back of the couch with no resistance and straddled his lap.

“Kagome, remove yourself from my person.”

“Shut up and let me talk! You never let me talk to you seriously! I lied because I didn’t know any other way to get close to you. You never let me stick around for long.”

“You could have merely requested that we have lunch together on some occasion. I would have agreed to meet you somewhere if you had simply asked.  It was not necessary for you to deceive me to gain my attention. “

Her eyes glittered with frustration, the muddled sheen they’d had clearing slightly as she continued to argue with him.

“It was necessary! I’ve been trying to make you like me for years. Hell, I would have just been happy if you’d approached me first to start a conversation, just once, instead of me chasing you down like a desperate hussy and throwing myself in front of the door so you can’t take off before I can get a few words in!”

His eyes narrowed on her flushed face. “I was unaware that you were so desperate for my friendship. In the future, I will be more aware of the length of our conversations. Perhaps we could….”

“Damn it! Stop being an idiot and get the hint! Sesshomaru Taisho, I’m in love with you!”

Sesshomaru felt an odd tug in his chest at her words, but disregarded them and their validity immediately as a side effect of the drugs in her system.

“Kagome, you are unaware of what you are saying. Please control yourself and release me.”

They both knew he could remove her if he wanted to, but for some reason he let her continue to keep his wrists pinned next to his head.

“No! I am perfectly aware of what I’m saying! I love you, I do!”

They stayed that way for a few moments; Kagome’s chest heaving as she glared down at him with tears clinging to her eyelashes and Sesshomaru looking back up at her passively.

“Woman….”

“My name is Kagome, goddamn it!”

Dipping her head quickly, she pressed her lips roughly to his.

“Say my name, Sesshomaru. I love the way you say my name. Please say it.”

Her voice had grown husky again, the rough tone of it stirring up his lower regions against his will.

“Kagome, release me.”

She groaned, her mouth trailing along his jaw as confessions continued to spill from her lips unchecked.

“I’ve wanted you for so long, but you’re so beautiful….so perfect and I’m just….me. I understand why you wouldn’t want to be around someone like me. I’m human and….not nearly attractive enough to be with someone like you.”

With slow motions, Sesshomaru forced her hands from his wrists and brought them to rest against his chest; her tiny fingers tangling in the silver strands of hair that lay there.

“It’s stupid, but I’ve wanted to get my hands on your hair for so long. I’ve had horribly perverted fantasies about this hair.”

Lifting the strands from his chest, she trailed the ends along her neck and over her lips.

Sesshomaru watched her through narrowed eyes. Had his mother also slipped some kind of truth serum into that ridiculous cologne?

“Kagome, I believe it would be best if you went back to sitting on the rug.”

Taking hold of his hands once more, she lifted them to rest over her breasts.

 “Will you touch me?”

“I will not,” he said, pulling his hands back to rest beside his hips on the couch. .

“Please, I just want to be with you once. I was saving myself for you…”

“Kagome, I believe now would be a good time for you to attempt to rest. You are not going to feel well when the stimulants begin to wear off.”

Her eyes sparkled. “On one condition; you have to kiss me.”

“I will not.”

“And I mean, really kiss me or I’m going to stay up and continue to try and get you naked! No man can resist a horny and willing woman forever.”

Lifting her from his lap by her waist, he placed her on the couch next to him and stood.

“You fail to realize that I am no man. I am a demon of a very powerful caliber and I pride myself in my level of self control.”

She folded her hands in her lap and dropped her gaze to them; a tiny sniffle reaching his sensitive ears.

“Am I really that unattractive? I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you want. No one has to know you lowered your standards for a moment. I just want to know what it’s like to kiss you…..”

He watched her attempt to guilt trip him into getting what she wanted with mild fascination. Was she really that distressed over not being able to have any intimate contact with him? It irked him that she believed herself unworthy of his attentions; that she was not physically attractive enough for his tastes and he wondered if it would really be that immoral to give into this one small request from her.

Besides, he deserved some kind of reward for the amount of patience he’d had with her through this debacle and what better prize could he receive than a small taste of the woman who had achieved the unachievable.

And it had been so long since he had indulged in any act of intimacy with a woman.

“You wish for a kiss before you retire?”

She lifted her gaze to him, her eyes sparkling with hope as she nodded.

“And after you receive this one kiss, you will go to bed without any argument or attempts to molest my person?”

She nodded.

Stepping forward, he extended a hand to her; his long fingers engulfing her petite ones as he pulled her into a standing position.

“Then I shall grace you with what you wish for, but I must inform you beforehand that it causes me great distress that you believe yourself to be unworthy of my affections. I refuse your advances now because you are under the influence of highly potent, behavioral altering substances. If your feelings are unchanged when you are sober, then we shall see about spending more time in each others company.”

Her breath shuttered as she inhaled, her eyes searching his as wonder turned them a deep shade of blue. “Are you saying you want to…..date me?”

He smirked when her hands came up to clutch the front of his shirt. “I am saying that we can come to some sort of agreement; a mutual benefit of sorts.”

She grinned. “That’s your way of saying you wanna date me!”

Cupping her face, he leaned down until the hot stir of her breath danced over his lips, her eyelids fluttering downward to caress her flushed cheeks.

“Prepare yourself, woman. You are about to experience perfection.”

Opening her eyes enough to glare at him; she put the tip of her nose against his and growled playfully.

“Oh, just shut up, you egotistical ass and give me that kiss!”

He smirked.  “As you wish.”

~Epilogue~

After the initial embarrassment of discovering what she had done during her temporary blackout had worn off, she bashfully confirmed that she did, indeed, have feelings for her stoic youkai friend and after multiple reassurances from him that he was not offended by her drug-induced behavior, she agreed to meet him for lunch on their next day off.

That was two years ago today.

“Oi, are you sure you wanna marry my asshole brother?

Glaring at her hanyou friend’s reflection in the mirror, she wiped at stray spot of makeup under her eye with a tissue before turning to look at him.

“Yes, Inuyasha, I’m sure.”

“I mean, cause if ya ain’t then…now would be the time to say so…..ya know, so I can throw you over my shoulder and take off before he realizes yer gone.”

She laughed. “No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Thanks for the offer, though.”

The grumpy hanyou tucked his ears against his skull as he looked away from her; a light blush dusting his cheeks. “I’m just sayin…”

“Plus I don’t think you’d survive if he caught you. You would be kidnapping his mate-to-be and his unborn pup.”

Inuyasha’s eyes narrowed as they came to rest on her midsection, his nostrils flaring as he took in a deep whiff of her scent.

“You’re….”

“Yep.”

“And he…”

“Uh huh.”

He sputtered for a moment, his hands alternating between combing through his hair and waving around madly.

“I’m gonna be an uncle?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“That seems a little unfair. Uncle Inuyasha gets to find out before auntie Sango?”

Swiveling to look at her best female friend, she gave her a guilty smile and stood to smooth out her dress.

“I was going to tell you today. I swear.”

Waving her hand in dismissal, Sango strode over to help Kagome smooth the back of her dress into place.

“We will discuss your punishment later, for now let’s get your perfect day started. It’s time.”

A steady hand landed on her shoulder, the warm contact quelling her rising nervousness.

“Ya look beautiful, Kagome. I’m happy fer ya….even if you did sneak off to the dark side and start screwing my brother.”

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Thank you for putting that so eloquently, Inuyasha. I feel so much better now.”

He keh’d and tucked her arm through his. “Come on, I gotta go drag ya down the aisle to that asshole, so let’s get it over with before I change my mind.”

Patting his arm, she straightened her back and strutted forward.

Today, she would become the mate of the male she’d chased after for nine years and seven months from now she would be blessed with her first child. Today, Sesshomaru would gain a family to call his own and a partner that would love him unconditionally for the rest of his long life.

Now that was a mutual benefit that no one could argue with.