No, the sake wasn't that strong. No, she wasn't very shocked that Inuyasha had run off to see Kikyou again. No, it wasn't that disturbing that Sesshoumaru had brought Rin to intrude on the abandoned hut they had decided to camp in for the meanwhile.
The combination of the three however was apparently more than enough to snap her self-control cleanly in two.
Therefore between the three bottles of only half-decent sake, the anger she felt at Inuyasha merrily skipping off for a date when they were technically together, and a dripping wet, sexy as hell Sesshoumaru, Kagome soon found herself in the taiyoukai's lap kissing him with every ounce of feeling she had. All the anger and hormones had mixed with the alcohol and become a fire in her gut that needed somewhere to go. Maybe she wanted to make Inuyasha jealous.
Maybe she just had enough of him running off to someone else and was looking for something better.
The stubborn thought of 'Serves him right, dammit. I deserve a good man,' wiggled delightfully in the back of her mind. Her lips against the fanged ones beneath had a surprisingly good chemistry, and together with her frazzled mind and nerves it set goosebumps dancing merrily up her shoulders. His silky hair sifted through her fingers, his burning hot and slightly damp skin slick beneath her palm as it smoothed over the crest of his shoulder, his kimono slipping out of the way without much resistance. His clawed hand was gripping her thigh in shock, nails pressing against flesh and yet not drawing even the slightest amount of blood as she grew even bolder, nipping enticingly at his lips, inviting him to engage her more fully.
Everyone else was sleeping. While the cat is away, right?
The day she was under the Goshinboku and decided she would stay by Inuyasha's side without expecting anything she had given up on anger. She'd given it up, locked it away, and told herself that anger at something she couldn't change wouldn't do her any good. It still stood, but that didn't mean that outrage hadn't festered inside her like cancer. Without bothering to warn her, it had gone out of control; like the man being told "You have two months to live," her rage was going to eat her alive so suddenly and so soon, that if she didn't do something drastic like this she would surely do something even worse.
More than the idea of Inuyasha leaving her for Kikyou, Kagome loathed the idea that she would become another dirty, jealous, unfair woman because of it. She wouldn't sacrifice her self-respect for him. She wouldn't.
Instead, she was being sly; she wanted a bit of affection, and if the stoic Sesshoumaru was open to her wordless and yet overly apparent proposal, that was exactly what she would get.
Sesshoumaru’s mind was still blank, shocked out of his words if he’d ever had any. This woman was his brother’s female, was she not? She was his intended, his protected, the one he had chosen. Yet here and now, Inuyasha was nowhere within miles of the cabin and the miko had come to him. Was she completely faithless? It sparked a momentary outrage that caused his grip to tighten, but just as quickly as it came, it went; this was the miko… no, this was Kagome. Little as he knew of her, faithlessness was not one of her traits. She was faithful… loyal to a fault even, and therefore her behavior could not be so easily explained. The nibbles that tugged at his lips were enticement, plain and simple; she wanted him to respond, and at first, he resisted. This woman, while not formally claimed, supposedly had promised herself to another.
Now, however, she came to him.
It was a split second decision that he wasn't yet sure if he would regret, but before she could notice they were buoyed up by his youki cloud and carried out the door, rain lashing harshly against their skin as he forced them away from the temporary hideaway. To her credit, Kagome was only mildly surprised by the change of scenery, his decision to move. It didn't seem to deter her in the least though; the kiss that was broken with a gasp resumed, hot and smoldering, more patient and alluring. Soft touches that weren't sweet at all, meant only to coax and goad. Cold as the rain was, her intentions might have been colder, a sharp juxtaposition to her body's rising temperature.
When they lighted, it was in a copse of trees weighted with and abundance of purple flowers; the ground beneath was covered in a soft, spongy moss, and all around the air was heady with the scent of blooming things and the bracing humidity of hot springs. Wet as the ground was, Kagome found she didn't mind when he settled her among the roots of one of those old trees; the water on her back was frigid, but the unnatural heat emanating from the demon above her was more than enough to counteract it. Slitted golden eyes observed her critically, but not coldly, from scant inches away. He was going to ask a question, and she just knew that whatever it was, it would probably make her rethink herself... and Kagome knew she would have to listen.
She couldn't stop him, after all.
"Miko, why are you inviting me?"
Oh, she could hear the, "When you have Inuyasha as your intended," on there loud and clear, completely unmistakable. Why was she coming on to him indeed. She found herself answering as honestly as possible, the truth as cold as the rain that pattered overhead.
"I'm tired of being pathetic. I don't want to be that girl everyone feels sorry for 'cause the guy she chose didn't completely choose her. I don't want to be the woman who lives her life either hopeless or full of jealousy," came the reply, dark, quiet, but strong with conviction. That's right; she didn't have to be another sad love story, a poor girl who fell in love with a bastard of a man that couldn't make his mind up to have only one. She wasn't so desperate to be loved that she would lower herself to that.
The expression on his face...very few would have ever realized there was an expression there, but to Kagome it was plain as day. Sesshoumaru respected her. His eyes were heated, and not just from a spark of lust...but in approval. What a heady thing that was. Her hands, still perched on his shoulders, inched toward his neck along alabaster skin, calluses scraping and sending sensitive tingles through her fingers, gooseflesh creeping across his back as she threaded delicate fingers through his hair. When he allowed her to guide his lips to hers, it was a thrill not unlike the one that came with victory; and the slow, chaste way his lips moved against hers promised that there was more to come. So much more.
When his lips parted from hers, Sesshoumaru leaned in even closer, mouth hovering right next to her ear. In a voice like a fog or an illusion, he posed a question she never once, not in five hundred years, would have expected to hear.
"Kagome, this is a dangerous game you're starting; do you intend to play for keeps?"
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Thanks to a reviewer for pointing out that the paragraphs were screwing up! It took several, several tries and manual editing to get it to work, but everything should be fixed now. >w< Hope y'all enjoy!!