The Merry and the Miffed by Stella Mira

But What!

December 2013 Challenge: Sweaters

Word Count: 600

"You got that right!" Inuyasha hollered with a smug expression after the miko's made up explanation. Sesshōmaru regarded the fidgeting woman in contemplation, golden gaze alight with suspicion, yet the hanyō's gruff voice demanded his attention.

"Bring it on, asshole! I'll wipe the floor with you!" Inuyasha challenged him, grinning in feral anticipation.

"Go wipe the snow for now, baka! I fell on my butt like ten times on my way here. Where were you?" Kagome interrupted their heated exchange, her earlier blunder all but forgotten at the reminder.

"I was keeping watch… who knows what this bastard might do if I'm not here?" the hanyō bit back with a sullen glare towards the daiyōkai, losing his bravado at the miko's irritation.

"That's your excuse, seriously?" Kagome uttered with disbelief, suppressing the growing urge to sit him till Christmas came.

"But he –" Inuyasha made to defend himself.

"I don't wanna hear it! Go sweep the snow and don't come back till I call for you," she exploded, azure eyes blazing in warning.

"But what if –" he tried again, only to be cowed by the menacing gleam that entered her gaze at his protest.

"Go."

"This isn't over, asshole!" Inuyasha yelled as he turned his back to leave, taking the message.

"Your bark is louder than your bite, hanyō. Silenced by a female – I pity you," Sesshōmaru provoked him, contempt coloring his frigid tone.

"What did ya say!?" Inuyasha reeled back, fired up for a fight again.

"Inuyasha," Kagome called, eyeing the beads around his neck meaningfully.

"But –" the hanyō cried in despair, but obliged after an intense stare down with the miko, exiting the hut.

"He is whipped," Miroku remarked, barely containing his amusement at the pitiful sight.

"And he knows it," Sango added, shaking with repressed laughter.

Kagome stared at the hut's exit in case the hanyō decided to return, but when she saw no sign of him, she turned to address the daiyōkai with a wary expression.

"My mother wanted me to give you this, Sesshōmaru," she confessed, reaching in her pocket for the letter her mother had written.

"This Sesshōmaru has no intentions of mating – much less a ningen miko," the daiyōkai commented with disdain in his low rumble once he took note of the white envelope she offered him.

"What!? Who said I wanna mate you?" Kagome reeled back, voice sharp and eyes wide in shocked indignation.

"It is the custom for the parent to make a mating offer in writing. What other reason might your mother have for sending a missive to this one?" Sesshōmaru explained in his usual apathetic manner, having calmed after he realized she was unaware of the custom and her mother's indiscretion.

"You – I give up. It's not a mating offer, I assure you. Just read the damn letter while I show Rin-chan what I brought her," the dark haired miko supplied, exhaling a long suffered sigh. Sesshōmaru perused her mutely for a few seconds, inclining his head in a slow motion after he detected no lie in her claim.

Just don't kill me when you're done, Kagome prayed, her stomach tied in knots and her nerves on edge.

Kagome had been helping Rin try on her favorite sweater, which her mother had miraculously managed to preserve, having almost forgotten her previous anxiety, when Sesshōmaru's deep baritone called for her attention.

"Miko," the daiyōkai addressed her coolly, displeasure morphing his voice to an icy torrent.

"Yes, Sesshōmaru?" Kagome replied, gulping audibly, and mentally preparing herself.

"I could have understood a mating offer, yet what are these strange instructions?"