Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

A Heat to Overcome	By : Sparrowhawk Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 31291 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the associated characters, nor do I make any profit from this fanfic. All other characters not associated with the original manga or anime, however, are mine.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Wow, it's been a long time since I've been able to post a chapter. But, the second job I had is over now, so hopefully I'll be able to update faster (: Hope all my readers are still with me. If you are, please feel free to leave a note, comment, review, whatever. Now, reviews!!
Vyperbites: Ha ha, Sessh? Getting over himself? Lol, I think he still has a ways to go before that happens. But yeah, he is working on it. I totally get what you're saying, though. That is definitely what they should do. Is it going to happen that quickly or that simply? Well, probably not. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
Moonlight Vampiress: Thank you!! I'm so glad you've taken such a liking to Suzu. I'm actually posting two chapters this time, and not this chapter, but in the next chapter there'll be a little more of Suzu (: He is fun, though, isn't he? Makes me laugh a lot. Oh, and don't worry, he is going to be in there more as the story progresses.
midnightsweet: Their bond won't break, but it may bend and bruise just a bit (: Thanks for reviewing!
Monogurui: Lol, thanks. Glad you think it's cute (: Here's more for you, sorry it's been such a long time coming.
Pumpkinpi: It was fun doing that part. I don't think he's ever had Rin talk back like that before. Bit of a shocker for him, huh? Here's more for you, hope it doesn't disappoint (:
All right, on to the chapter!!
Warnings: language (does this even need to be mentioned anymore?), M/F ... uh, stuff (lol) and all the warnings that go with that (there's just a little touching and fingering, nothing major), and a bunch of Kagome's different split personalities and bitchiness (:

Chapter Thirteen
Deceitful Snake
Two Days Previous
“Kagome?” Kouga said, cautiously approaching her. She had been unpredictably sad, then frustrated, then angry all night. He knew why. The night of the new moon. The night, he now knew, when Inuyasha was human and, for the most part, completely defenseless. How the mutt had survived so long with that night of weakness every month he would never know. He wouldn’t be able to do it.
She turned. “Oh … hi Kouga.”
He frowned, concerned. Her tone now that dawn had come and gone was of resignation, perhaps even despair. Had she given up on ever seeing her hanyou friend again?
A small part of him—a part he immediately crushed—was happy the mutt was out of the way. His alpha instincts made it so. He didn’t like another alpha canine around the woman that was to be his future mate.
Shaking off that instinctual satisfaction that his rival wouldn’t be there to interfere, Kouga sauntered over to sit down beside her at the entrance to his pack’s den. “You all right?”
“Yeah … just tired.”
“Didn’t sleep?”
She nodded, staring off toward the distant forest where Inuyasha had been taken. “Couldn’t. Not when—” She paused, looked at him, and then continued, “Well … I just couldn’t.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Kouga agreed, leaning back on his hands.
“Inuyasha never slept on the new moon either,” Kagome remarked, smiling sadly for those lost days. “You know … I was really angry when I heard he slept with his brother. I always thought that we’d be together. I thought he was just waiting for me to grow up more. He was nice that way. He didn’t always show it, it embarrassed him, but he was.”
“Yeah?”
Kagome sighed, her gaze meandering upward, watching the clouds roll by. “Yeah. I haven’t wanted to admit it, but … I saw the way they looked at each other—he and Sesshomaru. It was only recently for Sesshomaru. After he lost his memory and Inuyasha brought him back he was just like a brother should be, and yet … I could tell there was something more going on between them. Inuyasha always blushed when Sesshomaru looked at him or sat by him or touched him. His eyes got a little brighter, too. He looked so happy, even though he was sad, too. He knew it had to end. I just wish it didn’t have to end the way it did. Maybe … maybe after a time I would have been able to, if not accept it, at least I might’ve been able to cope with it. After all, it seems to make Inuyasha happy. I’ve always wanted him to be happy.”
“Even though it means he’s not with you?” Kouga inquired, knowing he’d never be able to be so selfless. He loved the miko too damned much to give her up. Even if it made her unhappy, he’d want to always be with her. “You could just let him go like that?”
She shrugged, but he could see the frustration that brought tears to her eyes. “What choice do I have? No matter how I might wish for it, Inuyasha doesn’t want me. He doesn’t need me, either, if he has Sesshomaru. He’s always wanted to be a full demon. Ever since Kikyo betrayed him he won’t even consider becoming a human for me.”
Troubled, Kouga turned to face her. “You wanted him to become a human?”
Her brows drew together as she stared back at him. “Well … yeah. Then he could come live with me in my time. We could buy a house and start a family. Full human babies. There wouldn’t be any need to hide what he is.”
“You would ask him to do that, to give up who he is so he could live with you?”
She looked hurt. “Of course not! I just thought it’d be a lot easier for him if he was fully human. In my world he’d be able to go to school and make friends and live a normal life where he wouldn’t be required to fight demons at every turn or be hunted just because he’s hanyou. It’d be better for everyone.”
“Better for everyone?” Kouga repeated in a low rumble. “Do you really believe that? What’s wrong with Inuyasha being half demon? What about me? Is there something wrong with me being a wolf demon?”
“Of course there isn’t—”
“But it’d be better if Inuyasha wasn’t a half demon?” He couldn’t believe he was defending his rival. But, considering what had happened to the mutt, maybe it wasn’t such an incredible occurrence. “Why do you want so much to change him?”
“I-I don’t! He’d still be the same person—”
“No, he wouldn’t! You don’t understand at all. Demons are not like humans. Hanyou are not like humans. Inuyasha may have some human characteristics, but he is still half demon. You take that away and you’re taking away half of what makes him who he is. There are instincts that come with being a demon that humans can never comprehend. Maybe he’d be willing to do it, maybe, but it would change him. You have to realize Kagome. We. Are. Different. We’re nowhere near close to the same species even if we can mate and have children together. Hanyou are a mix of the two. You can’t separate them into human and demon. It just doesn’t work that way!”
“No one’s ever tried it, though,” Kagome protested. Why was he suddenly getting mad at her? She was only trying to help. “How do you know he wouldn’t be the same?”
“What about when he turns full demon? He’s different then, isn’t he? Why do you think it’d be any different if you were to take away that part of his heritage?”
“I-It just would be!”
What would it take to make her understand? She was so oblivious! Red began to bleed into his eyes and he grabbed her by the arm, hauling her to her feet.
“Hey, Kouga … Kouga, let go! This isn’t funny! You’re hurting my arm!”
He glared back at her, blue eyes reduced to demonic slits. “Shut up. You are not alpha here.”
Shocked, Kagome shut her mouth, staring at the wolf youkai and finally seeing him for what he truly was. He wasn’t a human pretending to be demon. He was a demon acting human for her sake, so he wouldn’t scare her, and now that façade was gone. This was him in his most natural state.
All the members of his wolf pack currently lounging in the cave looked up when their alpha entered dragging behind him a teary eyed ningen woman and looking royally pissed. The ones closest to him backed away, tucking their tails between their legs and shrinking closer to the floor when his furious youki battered at them, forcing them into submission. No one wanted to challenge the wolf prince in this state anyhow, nor did they want to be mistaken as a challenger. It would be suicide. However, once he passed, entering one of the more private dens in the back of their cave, the wolves started grinning. So he was finally going to do it. It was about time. Their leader could use a good lay. His mood had been so volatile and unpredictable lately, anything could set him off. Maybe fucking that miko would at last calm him down so he wasn’t biting the heads off almost anyone that dared approach him. Even Ginta and Hakaku hadn’t wanted to get close to him.
Kagome’s back hit the cave wall and she let out a shout of pain that was immediately stifled by the wolf prince’s mouth. He swallowed her cries and screams of protest and fear, devoured her indignant demands for him to let her go, reveled in his dominance over the helpless ningen woman. His hand found its way under her ridiculously short skirt, rubbing harshly against the thin cloth that separated his fingers from her skin and her virginity. Her hands began to scrabble at his arms and sides. It didn’t really hurt, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head anyway. The resistance would cease now. He was alpha and she would learn that fact.
His mouth finally left hers, and she gasped in desperate breaths of air, her head spinning for the lack of oxygen. He was pressed up against her so tightly she couldn’t move. She began to cry. Tears coursed down her cheeks. Sobs ripped from her chest. But he didn’t stop. There was something dark in his eyes when he looked at her. Something primal. Something she couldn’t understand. It frightened her. Was this what a youkai really was? This beast? This … monster?
“Kouga …” she begged, unashamed of the way her voice cracked. His fingers were doing weird things to her, creating feelings and sensations in her she had never felt before and didn’t understand. She was pinned underneath him. Trapped. At his mercy for him to do with her as he wished. The fingers that had been stroking only along that one area began to move farther forward, massaging a small nub that made her gasp out in pleasure and dread. “Ahngh … please stop this, Kouga. Please … please don’t—”
He didn’t stop. Instead, he spun her around so her back was to him. From behind, she felt his hand squeeze her bottom and then slither down between her legs, returning to that sensitive nub that made her gasp and writhe against her will. “This is only the beginning,” he purred into her ear, his tone overlaid with a growl similar to when Inuyasha was in his demon state. “Soon I will thrust my fingers into you. First one. Then two. Then three until you can take my girth.” For emphasis, he pressed his hips and the hard bump of his arousal under his fur pelt against the cheeks of her ass. She squeezed her eyes shut. “After that, when you’re wet and begging for it, I’ll penetrate you and push in until I can’t go in any farther. You’ll cry. It always hurts the first time. You’ll bleed. But I won’t stop. At first, you’ll hate it. Then, after a while when I begin to push in and out of you while I lick and suck your nipples and massage your clit, you’ll begin to feel good. Your body will burn with lust. Then, I will take you hard. You’ll orgasm over and over again, squeezing me so tightly and begging me to finish …”
“No …” Kagome denied breathlessly. She was getting wet down there, where he was touching her. She could feel it soaking through her panties. “No … Kouga!” Her first real orgasm hit then, and she screamed, her insides clenching, muscles going rigid as the unfamiliar sensation coursed through her entire body in wave after wave of ecstasy. When it was over she slumped against the wall, feeling strangely lethargic as she stared into the now cerulean eyes of her demon molester.
And then he was stepping back and her hands were released and she could move again and she was bawling like a child and he was holding her in his arms and whispering words of comfort to her.
Soothingly petting Kagome’s sweet smelling hair, Kouga sank to the floor, bringing her down to sit between his legs with her back leaning against his chest. “Are you all right, Kagome?” Sniffing back her tears, she nodded, though she was still shaking all over. “I’m sorry I was so rough with you.”
“I-Is that what you … want to do to me?”
He shrugged and then answered matter-of-factly, “Yes. That’s exactly what I want to do. It’s not enough to see and smell and never touch. Inuyasha’s youkai instincts are much the same in that respect, except he’s taken on the role of submissive to Sesshomaru. His instincts tell him to submit to the stronger demon, so he does. He lives mostly by demon instinct, though you can thank his human half for his tendency to show weakness to you and mercy to others. The reason he protects you and your friends is because you’re his pack, and he’s the strongest and the alpha. He protects you, especially, because you’re female, second youngest in your group, untrained in real combat, and ignorant when it comes to the ways of our time.” He tilted her chin back so he could look into her eyes. “Did you dislike what I did?”
Jerking her chin from his grasp and lowering her head back down to look at her wringing hands, she thought about it. Did she hate what he did to her? It had frightened her, the passion he showed, how strong he was, how easily he could overpower her, and the pleasure he could induce in her, but … no, she decided, she didn’t dislike it. Biting her lip, she shook her head. “It was a little scary, but … that’s how you are, right? You’re a demon.”
He smiled, approving of her acceptance. “Yes, I am a demon. A demon in love with a human, God help us all.”
“So … you are in love with me then, and not just after my ability to sense jewel shards.”
“Well, of course!” he exclaimed, mortified she would think otherwise. “Isn’t that what I told you on our way here?”
“Yes, but … I thought you were just saying that to, you know, make me feel better about you wanting to take me as a mate.”
Snorting, he tilted her head to the side, bringing his lips to hers once more. She closed her eyes, a small tremor going through her body as he kissed her. This time, however, there was no aggression. It wasn’t demanding, but loving. They parted with near identical smiles.
“Ahem,” a voice called from the entrance. “I hope I’m not interrupting?”
“Sango!” Kagome exclaimed as she was helped to her feet by Kouga. “When did you get back?”
“Just now. I have news. They’ve found Inuyasha.”
“What?! Where? Is he safe?” Kagome blurted out all in one breath.
“Why didn’t my wolves tell me?” Kouga demanded, looking murderously toward the front of the cave.
“I think,” Sango giggled, looking between them and making Kagome blush, “you were a little too busy to hear. They found him, or rather, Sesshomaru found him a few hours before dawn about two day’s walking distance to the south and west. He’s … hurt, but he’s alive.”
“Oh … I’m so relieved,” Kagome sighed, pressing her hand to her heart.
“I suppose I’d better get Ginta and Hakaku together and assign someone leader while I’m gone,” Kouga said to himself as he took his leave, sensing Sango had something to talk about with the miko.
“I’d better get my bag together!”
“Kagome.”
She stopped, turning back to face her slayer friend. “What?”
“He’s hurt bad, and he’s really sick. He managed to escape while he was human, but Michio almost caught him again. He’s lost a lot of blood and his fever isn’t coming down. When Sesshomaru found him he was unconscious, and from what I’ve heard, he still is even though the sun has risen and he’s transformed back into a half demon. Sesshomaru’s healers are doing everything they can. He’s stable for now, but it’s not certain he’s going to make it.”
“He might not make it?” Kagome whispered in disbelief. “He might … die? We have to go! We have to go to him Sango! I’ll … I’ll bring my bag and the medical supplies from my time. Maybe we can still save him!”
“Kagome. Kagome!” Sango shouted, grabbing her arm when the girl didn’t listen. She lowered her voice, face grim. “If he is dying, we won’t make it there in time to do anything about it. He’s in Sesshomaru’s hands now.”

***۞***

In Sesshomaru’s hands, Sango had said. Kagome frowned to herself as they made their way southward and westward to the palace of Inu no Taisho on the back of Kirara, Kouga and his two faithful buddies, Ginta and Hakaku, following below. Why did it have to be Sesshomaru that found him? Why not one of Kouga’s wolves? Then Inuyasha would’ve been here with her, safe, and not in the hands of the demon who was the cause of the situation in the first place. After all, the slavers were after him, not Inuyasha. If he had just stayed away none of this would’ve happened in the first place. She still didn’t trust him either. Maybe there was some hidden design behind what had happened to her hanyou friend.
It wasn’t fair! She was the one who found Inuyasha pinned to the sacred tree. She was the one whose power unbound him. Wasn’t she the reincarnation of Kikyo? So why didn’t he love her like he had loved Kikyo? Even with Kouga’s explanations, she still didn’t understand why he had chosen Sesshomaru over her. Or … maybe, he didn’t. Maybe he coerced Inuyasha into being intimate with him. Had that been his goal all along? To make it so Inuyasha thought he had no one else to turn to and then rape him? It wouldn’t feel like rape to Inuyasha then. It would feel as if his big brother saved him. That had to be it! She had thought she had seen something inappropriate in the demon lord’s eyes when she met him the first time and he kept staring at Inuyasha. He was sick, that’s what he was. No proper, sane older brother would want to have sex with their younger brother, demon or not. Inuyasha just didn’t know any better since he practically raised himself.
“Kagome? Are you okay?” Sango wondered, noting the storm cloud that had figuratively gathered above the miko’s head.
“Fine. Just anxious to see if Inuyasha’s all right.”
“I’m sure he is. Sesshomaru will take care of him.”
“How can you trust him like that?” Kagome demanded incredulously. “He’s the one who abandoned Inuyasha! He’s the one who was constantly trying to kill him and take the Tessaiga! You and Miroku both, how can you just let him do whatever he wants without being the least bit suspicious?!”
“It’s not that, Kagome,” Sango responded gently, glancing back at her distraught friend. “It’s not that we trust him unconditionally. That’s part of the reason Miroku went with him, to keep an eye on him. We don’t trust him anymore than you do. But he was our best chance of finding Inuyasha the fastest. Besides, the reason he’s been after Inuyasha before is because he had the Tessaiga. Why would he go after his brother if Inuyasha didn’t have it with him when the slavers took him? It’s not like you to be so pessimistic. Perhaps he really has changed for the better.”
Petulantly sticking out her bottom lip, Kagome muttered under her breath outside of the slayer’s hearing, “I doubt it.”
Kirara heard it, though, and she growled. Why were humans so blind sometimes? Couldn’t she see the two brothers were meant to be together? This obsession for Inuyasha in the miko was dangerous. It made her uneasy.
Her hackles began to stand on end, but not because of the miko. There was an aura in the vicinity. A hostile one. Coming to a stop in mid-air, the rumble alerted Sango to the presence of a demon. She snorted the demon’s scent out of her nose. She had smelled him before. When Inuyasha was taken. Not the alpha demon. One of his pack members. She growled again, turning to look back at Sango, trying to convey with her eyes that this was no ordinary demon. Sango patted her neck, mistaking the look for a look of anxiety. Of course she didn’t understand, and Kirara had no way to tell her. Every time it was like this, but she never ceased trying.
“What’s wrong?” Kagome asked, nervously glancing around below them.
“Kirara senses something,” Sango responded, also scanning the air around them as she unhitched her Hiraikotsu from the strap across her back. “It’s probably a demon.”
Always a little slow on the uptake, Kagome also retrieved her weapon and nocked a spiritual arrow to the bowstring. She pulled it back to half draw and then waited, scanning the horizon and the forest beneath them.
“Over there,” Sango muttered, jerking her chin to their left toward a speck that drifted and careened from side to side.
“Wait!” Kagome cried, grabbing her friend’s arm. “I think it’s hurt.”
Cautious as ever, Sango lowered the Hiraikotsu but didn’t put it away as she peered beneath her hand toward the figure. It did appear to be injured, whatever it was. Kirara lifted her lips in a full blown snarl. The demon slayer patted her cat demon companion to calm her down. The creature didn’t appear to be armed.
Then, seemingly out of no where, without provocation of any kind, Kirara tore after the demon, nearly unseating Sango and Kagome from her back. The demon—a hawk demon she now saw—cried out in terror and started flapping his wings frantically, making very little progress with his damaged wing, slanting heavily to one side.
“Kirara!” Sango shouted, alarmed as the cat demon’s claws came within mere centimeters of ripping the injured creature to shreds. “Kirara, stop! What’s wrong with you?!” Yowling, Kirara dove for the hawk again, but Sango jerked hard on her ruff. “Stop that! What are you trying to do, Kirara? He’s hurt!”
Ignoring the slayer’s continued protests, Kirara tried again. He was one of the ones who took Inuyasha. She remembered his scent from that time! Why couldn’t Sango understand? Why couldn’t she see that the hawk demon was in league with Michio?
“Oi! What’s goin’ on up there?” Kouga called, watching in concern as the cat demon rolled and bucked in the sky as it went after the demon that had—to his mind—only been trying to find a place to rest and heal.
“Kirara’s gone crazy!” Kagome screamed as she clung half on, half off the neko’s back.
Kicking off the ground, with the help of the sacred jewel shards in his legs, he was able to come level with the enraged cat demon. His eyes narrowed, taking in the situation in an instant. He knew Kirara was trying to tell the slayer something, but unfortunately this cat demon’s language was too close to that of a normal animal and too far removed from his own wolves for him to understand. Regardless, he pulled Kagome from its back and, with her shrieking like he was letting her free fall through the air, brought her safely to the ground where he set her on her feet and kicked off again, grinning when she immediately collapsed to her knees.
“Leave it!” Sango shouted when Kouga came level with her again, leg cocked to deliver a blow that would knock the crazed neko to the ground. “I’ll deal with her!”
Shrugging, Kouga grabbed the hawk youkai instead and sank back to the earth, landing in a cloud of dust. Kirara yowled, furious her prey had been taken from her and dove after him. Timing the moment to just before the cat demon reached the ground and the terrified hawk, Sango reached into a pouch inside her slayer outfit and withdrew a stunning powder. She had never thought she’d have to use it on her own companion, but she didn’t know what was wrong and until she did she couldn’t just let Kirara attack demons left and right as she pleased. Whispering an apology, she threw the powder into the cat demon’s snarling face. Immediately, Kirara’s body stiffened. She mewled, staring back at Sango with an accusing eye before falling unconscious and transforming back to her smaller form. Ginta caught the smaller demon in his arms as Sango landed lightly on the ground.
“What happened to her?” he wondered, wrinkling his nose slightly at the bitter smell that still surrounded the neko.
“Stunning powder,” Sango replied softly. “It renders cat demons unconscious. She’ll be asleep for at least a day.”
“What was wrong with her?” Kouga asked, staring curiously at the little demon. “She seemed like she was tryin’ to tell ya somethin.”
Sango shook her head. “I don’t know. I really don’t. She’s never done that before.”
“Hn,” Kouga grunted, glancing suspiciously back at the hawk demon he had rescued. “Maybe this guy knows somethin. Hm? Whad’ya say birdie? Any reason Kirara would be chasin’ ya?”
“N-N-Not that I know of. I’ve n-never seen her in my life.”
“You wouldn’t by lyin’ t’me wouldja?”
The hawk demon frantically shook his head back and forth. “Of-Of course not, wolf-san.”
“That’s Kouga-sama, to you, bird. Ya see … me and my wolves here,” he gestured at his two companions who had put on their most evil, most insane grins, “don’t much like birds like you. Now me, I’m willing to go ahead and let ya stay with us till ya heal. Them? Well, they lost a lot of friends to the Birds o’ Paradise. Heard of them?” He raised his voice when the hawk didn’t answer. “I asked you a question, birdie. Have you heard of the Birds o’ Paradise?”
“H-Hai … Kouga-s-sama.”
“Ya see why they don’t like birds? So then … tell me, what’s the reason Kirara was after you like a devil straight from hell?”
“Kouga,” Kagome reprimanded him, elbowing him aside and putting herself between him and the injured hawk demon. “He’s hurt. Can’t you see that? Stop threatening him!”
Ginta and Hakaku looked at each other. She just challenged their alpha. They were grateful to her for stopping Inuyasha from killing them all when Kouga was injured by the Birds of Paradise, but sometimes—and this was undoubtedly one of those times—she just couldn’t be that naïve. Demons were devious creatures, and they knew it wasn’t just coincidence that Kirara had tried to kill him.
“Humph,” Kouga grunted, stalking away. “He’ll heal fast enough on his own. You don’t have to feel sorry for ‘im.”
“Perhaps … we should see what he has to say first,” Sango suggested, “before we decide to do any threatening.”
Human sympathy! Kouga thought with a frustrated huff. Maybe that was why Inuyasha always looked as if he had a stick up his ass. Demon ways were much easier. If the other, weaker demon didn’t cooperate, all the stronger demon would have to do would be to beat him—or torture him—until he did. Demons were not generally known for their kind and merciful natures. Humans like Kagome and Sango always thought there was inherent good in everyone—even demons—but Kouga knew better. “Fine,” he growled, throwing up his hands. “Do what’cha want.”
“Come on,” Kagome coaxed the clearly panicky demon. “Come sit down. I’ll take a look at your wing.”
Eyeing the wolf demon fearfully, the hawk slowly shuffled over to Kagome and sat down where she indicated atop a small rock. He lifted his wing for her inspection, wincing when she took it between her hands.
“What’s your name?” she asked kindly as she felt along the wing bone for any breaks.
“Taka.”
“How original,” Kouga muttered scathingly.
Kagome glared. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, the least you could do is fetch some water and start a fire to heat it. After that you can go hunting. It’s close enough to sunset we may as well set up camp for the night.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kouga grumbled, shooting her a feral look that made her blush. “Keep yer panties on.”
The exchange wasn’t lost on the slayer. “Soooo,” Sango said, nudging her friend once Kouga was out of earshot. “What happened between you two? You’re talking like an old married couple. Did he finally do something?
Flushing an even deeper red, Kagome sniffed as she pulled her bag from her shoulder and rummaged around inside it for her first aid kit. “Not really.” Ignoring the disbelieving look Sango directed at her, she laid out the materials she would need as Kouga, Ginta, and Hakaku returned with pieces of dry wood and started to build up a suitable pile of it to start a campfire.
Taking the bird demon’s wing in her hand once more, she carefully applied anti-bacterial ointment around his wing feathers where she could see a long, ugly gash in the skin. Then she took out a splint and her bandages and began to wrap the wing, holding it straight so it wouldn’t set wrong.
“You’re welcome to stay with us until you heal,” she invited, knowing the era the youkai lived in would be near fatal for one who went around alone reeking of blood. Inuyasha hadn’t told her much about his past, it hadn’t even crossed her mind how dangerous it must have been for him before he mentioned it in passing—a child, alone, he was bound to get hurt and when he did … he had never really told her about what happened to him at that point, but she knew it wasn’t good. He probably spent the rest of that day, or night, running and hiding and praying he didn’t get caught. It must have been lonely. It must have been painful. It was amazing he survived all that time on his own.
After she had finished bandaging the hawk youkai’s arm, Kagome managed to coax him into laying down and resting. He thanked her and was soon fast asleep.
The embers in the fire were dying down, Sango, Kirara, Ginta, and Hakaku had gone to sleep for the night, when Kouga approached her. “What do you see in demons like that?” he demanded irritably.
“What do you mean ‘demons like that’? You’re a demon.”
“Yes, but I’m strong. He’s a weakling. Sniveling coward. Smells like a deceitful snake to me.”
“Oh, come on, Kouga. Just because he’s weak doesn’t mean he’s bad. He seems like a decent enough demon.”
“Like I’m a decent enough demon?” Kouga wondered with a raised eyebrow, a provocative rumble underlying his playful tone. A mischievous light glinted in his eyes as he took a step toward her and she took a step back to match him.
“Y-You’re … more than decent,” she breathed, one trembling hand going behind her back to stop her from running into anything and the other rising in front of her to fend him off.
Ironically, it was her heel that collided with something. She tipped over backward, Kouga leaping forward to catch her before she hit the ground and ending up with his hand beneath her head, their faces inches apart, and their bodies melded to each other.
Growling, Kouga nipped her lips demandingly. Her eyes widened, mouth parting unintentionally in surprise when he began to grind against her pelvis and she felt, once again, a man’s desire for her. Kouga didn’t waste the opportunity and plunged his tongue into her mouth, swallowing her shocked and outraged protest. With one last nip to her bottom lip, he pulled away, grinning roguishly. “I don’t know why, but I love you so damn much, Kagome.”
“Hey,” she muttered, pushing him off her, unable to look him in the eye. “Watch your mouth.”
“I’d rather watch yours,” he shot back, winking. “Or, better yet, devour it.”
“Baka,” she muttered, sitting up and straightening her clothes and hair, aware that her face was aflame with embarrassment. “Why don’t you go scout around or something? Make yourself useful for a change.”
“Hai, hai,” Kouga responded, tail flicking in mock irritation as he turned his back on her and sauntered into the darkness of the forest.
Sighing, Kagome crouched by the campfire, rearranging the coals and adding new wood to keep it burning through the night. Long after it was burning brightly again, she still sat, contemplating Inuyasha and his elder brother, Kouga and his feelings for her and what it all meant.
She jumped when she felt someone come up behind her. “Taka!” she exclaimed, pressing her hand to her chest and her furiously beating heart. “You scared me. What is it? Does your wing hurt?”
“Iie. It’s just … I’m feeling a bit dizzy and I need to … go.”
“Go?” Kagome asked awkwardly. “You mean …?”
The hawk youkai nodded, looking embarrassed.
“W-Well … if you just wait a little longer I’m sure Kouga … o-or Ginta or Hakaku could—”
“But … they don’t like me very much. I don’t think going with them would be a good idea.”
Recalling their actions earlier, Kagome was forced to come to the same conclusion. Knowing Kouga and his idiot friends, they’d frighten the poor hawk into having a heart attack. “Okay. I guess I can take you out there, but don’t expect me to stay.”
“Of course not,” Taka answered with a laugh as the girl wound his arm up over her shoulders. “Thank you, ningen.”
“Kagome.”
“Yes. Thank you, Kagome. You really are a good girl.”
She blushed at the compliment, wondering what Kouga had been talking about saying Taka smelled like a snake. He was one of the nicest demons she’d ever met. Harmless as a butterfly. Kouga was just being overprotective.
“Ssssso … you are Kagome. Not a bad looking girl. A bit too old for my tassste, though.”
Startled out of her thoughts by the foreign voice, Kagome looked up. She squinted into the dark, unable to see more than the glinting of yellow eyes and the outline of a body. “T-Taka?” she called uncertainly, glancing over at the hawk demon.
“Finally,” Taka sighed, pushing the girl away from him. “Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have to keep pretending to be injured when the injury healed hours ago? You’re late, Kano!”
“You desssserved it for letting the half breed essscape. Michio-sssama sshhhould have let me sssstrip all the flesh from your body.”
“M-M-Michio?!” Kagome yelped, eyes wide with disbelief and fear. “Y-You’re the ones who … who took Inuyasha!!”
“Yessss,” the voice hissed as the figure stepped out of the shadows and she could see him more clearly. His skin was pale, sickly looking and covered in scales. His eyes were thin, yellow slits possessed of a frightening amount of cruelty and cunning. Long fangs peeked from between his lips. Demonic crests adorned his cheeks in patterns like that of a poisonous snake, jewel-like and hypnotic. Maybe Kouga had meant Taka smelled, literally, like a snake. “We are the onesss who took your beloved Inuyassssha. We took him from SSSSSessshomaru’s den. We trained him to be afraid of the touch of a man. Now … we are prepared to give him back to you.”
“W-What do you mean? Sesshomaru already has him.” Shocked by what had just come out of her mouth, Kagome gasped. That’s not what she meant to say! Why did she say that?
Kano chuckled. This was too easy. It was amazing what jealousy could do. “True. Inuyassssha is back with hissss brother. But. Michio-sssama can make ssure SSSSessshomaru doesss not get in your way. You sssee, he, too, lost hissss lover to sssssomeone elssse. He knowsss what you’re going through. That’sss why he’ss willing to help you out.”
“Help me …?” Kagome repeated warily. She couldn’t really be considering cooperating with these guys, could she? She shook her head. No. She’d hear what they had to say and think of a way to contact Sango, Kouga, or the other ookami youkai, but that was it. These were the guys who raped Inuyasha. She couldn’t betray him like that. “How can you help me?”
“There is someone who wants Sesshomaru,” Taka responded, shrugging his shoulders.
“As a slave,” she finished for him, disgusted.
Again, Taka shrugged. “We are slave traders, after all.”
“Think about it, Kagome,” Kano purred, moving closer to her, holding her gaze with his own, head bobbing from side to side hypnotically. “What hassss SSSSSessshomaru done to deserve Inuyasssha’sss love? Can he give Inuyassha happinessssss? We’ve done you a favor. You know SSSSSesssshomaru only wantssss Inuyasssha for hissssss body. He’ssss hurt Inuyassssha in the passst hasssn’t he? Why sssshhouldn’t SSSSessssshomaru be hurt in turn? He’sss a daiyoukai. He can withssstand sssssuch treatment better than your hanyou friend.”
“But it’s … wrong.”
“Wrong? Dear child, SSSSesssshomaru took what belonged to you. He dirtied Inuyasssha. He made him ssstrange. He wassss in the wrong firssst. Only you can ssset Inuyassha ssstraight again.”
Kagome blinked. Her head felt fuzzy. She couldn’t focus. The only thing she could see clearly were those two yellow eyes. “Only … me?”
“That’ssss right. Only you. He loved you firsssst. Do you know what he kept sssaying? ‘Kagome. Kagome, why aren’t you here? I wissssh you were with me.’ Over and over again, he’d ssssay that. Forget SSSSessshomaru. He’ssss your enemy. Why ssshhould you care what happensss to him?”
“That’s right,” Kagome muttered, almost to herself. “I … shouldn’t care. He’s … wrong. It’s wrong for them to be together. It’s … unnatural. Sick.”
“Yesssss,” Kano hissed, eyes narrowing in pleasure as she fell under his hypnosis. “Now, here’ssss what you need to do, child. All you need to do is get Inuyasssha away from SSSessshomaru. Do you understand? That’sss all. We’ll take care of the ressssst. Do that and Inuyasshha will be yourssss.”
“Get him … away from Sesshomaru.”
“Yessss, get him away from SSSSesshomaru. When you can do that, you will contact me through Taka. He will be closssse by. Do you underssstand?”
“I understand. When I can get Inuyasha away from Sesshomaru I’ll tell Taka-san.”
“One more thing,” Kano said, beckoning her closer. She came, slowly, but there was not even an ounce of resistance. “Bare your neck. I have ssssomething to give you.” Obedient as a doll, she moved her hair away from her neck and leaned further toward the hebi youkai. “Thissss might hurt jussst a little,” he warned, smiling. Then, quick as lightning, he struck, sinking his fangs deep into her spinal cord. She gasped, eyes wide as something wriggled down under her skin from the cavity of his fangs. Then he released her with a lick to the wound. It disappeared as if it never was. “Good girl. Now go back to the campssssite. Kouga-sssan will be missssing you. Think of an explanation for Taka-san’ssss disappearance.”
“Hai,” Kagome answered. She turned around and went back the way she’d come, noticing in some part of her mind that Taka-san’s tracks that had been alongside hers on the way to where she’d met Kano had disappeared.
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A/N: I don't think there are any terms that need defined this time. If there were and I missed them, let me know. Hope you all enjoyed (: (:
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A Heat to Overcome