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
- 22
- 23
- 24
Hey all, I am finally back and able to write. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Answers to reviews for the last chapter and all chapters to come will now be in the forum at: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/55707-a-heat-to-overcome/
Warnings for any who still want to know or just get a kick out of it like I do: groping (which Suzu takes care of very quickly), profanity (over and over), a flirtatious Suzu (but what am I saying? Suzu's always flirtatious), deception (I think we know from who), lots of kissing and cuteness between our two favorite inu, a couple panic attacks on Inuyasha's part, more deception, secret meetings, more deception, suspense, more fluffiness and kissing, and a lovely little scare that's not so lovely.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Opening Move
Suzu smiled approvingly to himself as he watched the two inu Lords leave the dining hall. The time out hunting, doing things a normal inu pack would, would be beneficial to them and their budding relationship, not to mention Lord Inuyasha’s self-confidence.
He glanced surreptitiously around the room, taking in the largely unguarded expressions of the court nobles, his fellow generals—those present, at any rate—and Lord Inuyasha’s mostly human pack in the wake of his Lords’ departures. Several of those he observed would bear watching, he knew, as he’d seen evidence of their intolerance toward hanyou before and could see it again now in the twist of their mouths and the gleam of hatred in their eyes. There were fewer than he was expecting, though. Many more simply looked shocked, confused, unsure, or a combination of all three. General Saniiro, the old raven bastard he ever so enjoyed harassing, Suzu was ever so pleased to see, actually seemed reluctantly impressed.
Once the speculative whispers had mostly died down, all eyes turned on Lord Inuyasha’s ward, Lord Shippo. The kit seemed unsure of himself, but Lady Rin was quick to step in, whispering quiet instructions into his ear.

Suzu’s eyes flicked around the room again. There were many who would try to take advantage of the kit when they saw his uncertainty—try to get in his good graces and, through him, Lord Inuyasha and Lord Sesshomaru’s good graces, as well, or else they’d try to intimidate and manipulate him. He hoped the adolescent kitsune wasn’t too susceptible to ass-kissery or intimidation attempts; such weaknesses only caused problems in the long run. In fact, it might be wise if he took the kit aside to teach him the proper method of handling those ass-kissing, blustering fools ….
“Lord Akifumi,” Suzu said sweetly, turning to face the noble on his left with a hard gleam in his eye, “if I have to tell you one more time to remove your hands from my crotch, I will personally see to their removal. And if you force me to do that, I will make sure it is permanent.”
With a rather undignified squeal, the boar youkai quickly withdrew his hands and nearly fell out of his chair in his haste to move away from the petite peacock demon. Suzu smiled thinly. That was one drawback to having regained his manhood. It made his scent—his allure—stronger so it became much harder for youkai, particularly dominant male youkai, to resist. Especially young dominant male youkai. He’d already broken one demon’s hand; he didn’t want to have to send anyone else to the healer’s quarters if he could help it. Nor did it help matters that his new assets seemed to be making up for lost time, giving him a near un-abating erection, which only encouraged the daft idiots.
“Lords, Ladies, Ministers, and guests,” Lord Shippo’s young voice rang strongly through the room, rehearsed only moments ago with Lady Rin, "in the absence of Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Inuyasha, I bid you leave to begin the evening meal. Our Stewardess and Mistress of the Maids, Taree, has arranged this evening’s entertainment by Joushou Ryuu Gekidan.” Then he clapped his hands, signaling the theater group to begin their act and sat back to watch.
Suzu applauded him internally for his poise and Lady Rin’s instructions. Clearly, she had impressed upon him the need to act more certain of himself than he truly was. It didn’t fool most, but it did give a good number pause.
Bracing his hands on the tabletop, Suzu unobtrusively pushed his chair away from the table and stood, making his way to the kit’s side. When he was still a couple paces distant, he saw the young Lord’s tail stiffen. Quietly, face fixed in a frown, the kitsune sniffed the air, drawn the direction of the scent’s origin. Bright green eyes soon blinked in Suzu’s direction and then widened, startled.
Suzu paused, eyebrows rising. This was interesting. Only a few days ago, the adolescent fox youkai had no reaction to his scent. Lord Shippo was growing up. He was still small, and wouldn’t reach his full height for at least another year when he would enter his first heat, but no one with at least a modicum of sense would mistake him for a kit much longer. His smell was already changing, losing the protective layer of his guardian’s scent.
“Suzu-taishou,” Lady Rin greeted him with a smile. “How has your evening been?”
He returned her smile, bowing gracefully to her—as her rank demanded. “Eventful, my Lady. Your own?”
She laughed lightly. “The same. You’re acquainted with Shippo-san, Inuyasha-sama’s ward, I assume?”
Suzu turned his smile on the kit, noting the blush riding up the kitsune’s cheeks and the avid interest he seemed to have taken in something over Suzu’s shoulder to the left of his face. “I am acquainted with Lord Shippo. We met when I was assigning bodyguards to his person, though it was brief. I do hope their work is to your satisfaction, Lord Shippo.”
Coughing a little to clear his throat, a bit startled that he was being spoken to like an adult by the pretty older peacock youkai, Shippo nodded. “It is. Thank you for asking.”
“We may, perhaps, have to re-address that issue,” Suzu murmured, brown eyes shrewd. The kit was already growing, he noticed. He was at least an inch taller than what he’d been when Suzu had visited to assess him for appropriate bodyguards.
Shippo’s tail flicked in nervous confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t look so apprehensive, Lord Shippo,” he admonished the kitsune youkai gently, “your subjects are watching. Remember, I answer to your guardian and his alpha and, through them, to you. You have the authority here, and you mustn’t let them forget it.” Despite still looking lost, the fox kit straightened and schooled his face to something closer to that of Lord Sesshomaru at his most bored, and Suzu smiled, impressed. “Perfect. Now, the reason I said we may need to re-address the issue of your bodyguards is because you are maturing. I would do the same with any other adolescent. The demons I chose for your bodyguards were chosen specifically for a kit, a child who hasn’t yet come into themselves. You are rapidly changing. If I am not mistaken—and I rarely am in such matters—you are developing into a fine dominant kitsune. It is not advisable to place a submissive fox youkai with a developing dominant of the same species. Accidents have happened, and your position as Lord Inuyasha’s ward makes it imperative that we avoid such accidents. More than one young noble has been roped into mating with an undesirable submissive because they were unable to control their rising sex drive as they approached the time of their heat. You do not want that, and I am certain Lord Inuyasha and Lord Sesshomaru do not want that, either. Therefore, we will be replacing Kou-san with someone more suited to a dominant charge.”
“Oh … okay.”
“And Lord Shippo,” Suzu said, drawing the kit’s purposefully averted gaze to his face for the first time.
“Hai?”
He smiled and gently trailed the backs of his fingers along the fox’s reddened cheek, amusement glinting in his soft, doe-like eyes when the young Lord’s breathing hitched in response to his touch. “I realize your refusal to meet my eyes is out of a desire to not offend me, which is quite flattering and an admirable quality in a demon of your age, but let me assure you, with me you are more than welcome to look. It will not offend me in the least. I thrive on such attention.” Then, cradling the young kitsune’s jaw in his palm, he bent and kissed him on the cheek. “Call if you have need of me, Lord Shippo,” he murmured by way of farewell as he skirted the rest of the main table and circled around toward the table occupied by the pack of mixed ningen and youkai who were Lord Inuyasha’s traveling companions and friends.
“—magics Sasaki-san knows,” the monk, Miroku, was saying to his demon slayer companion. “The books and scrolls he has on sacred powers are extensive. There’s so much more to it than the monks ever taught me. I mean, who knew monks could also be sorcerers?”
Sango smiled at him indulgently, happy to see him so excited. It’d been a while since she’d seen him like this. Almost carefree. After all, it was hard to be carefree when one had a curse in their hand that would eventually consume the rest of their body. “You’re learning a lot, then?” she asked softly, placing her hand over his and giving it a squeeze.
He turned to her, eyes sparkling. “Yes, very much. When Inuyasha kept getting stronger and stronger, I kept feeling … left behind. Inadequate. I envied him, because I knew I could never be a match for Naraku on my own like he could. Now, with the knowledge Sasaki-san has provided, I feel like we stand an even better chance against the bastard.”
“We do,” Sango confirmed. “It’s been helpful for me just to spar with the youkai soldiers. They’re each so different, and they have such different abilities unique to them that I’m constantly having to think and strategize while I’m fighting. I was skeptical about staying here, Sesshomaru being … well, Sesshomaru, but now, I’m glad we decided to give him a chance. His palace is safe—safer than the places we’ve stayed so far—and he’s good for Inuyasha. Especially after—” she broke off with a grimace, a deep sadness lurking behind her eyes.
Miroku nodded solemnly. “I know. I just wish there was something more we could do. He still flinches when I try to touch him.”
Sango bowed her head sadly. “He does that with all of us.”
“I know, it’s just …”
“Frustrating,” she finished for him quietly.
Suzu frowned to himself, wondering how things might have been if he had had such support. Not that he would’ve had the courage to tell anyone, even if he did, but he wondered … what if Inuyasha’s reaction to the repeated violations had not been revulsion and fear, but—like Suzu—a fear of intimacy with an accompanying craving for the rougher form of sex, bordering on rape? He had no doubt Sesshomaru would have found a way to cope with it, may have even found it easier to deal with, but what of his human pack? Would they be half so understanding then?
Shaking those irrelevant thoughts away, the former assassin continued around the table, passing Prince Kouga’s packmates who were arguing over a particularly bloody piece of meat until he came upon the prince and the young miko where he paused again to listen.
“—know you don’t want to, Kagome,” the wolf was saying, a tone of forced patience in his voice, “but it would make me feel better to know yer … healthy.”
“Kouga,” the miko responded exasperatedly. “There is nothing wrong with me. I already apologized to you about the other night, why can’t you just let it go?”
“Because, yer behavior’s all over the place, Kagome. First you seem t’accept my advances, then you act like Inuyasha’s yers for the orderin’, then you say you don’t mean it and come onto me. I’m just worried about’cha.”
“My feelings are just all confused, Kouga,” the miko responded, in a small, submissive-like tone that softened the alpha wolf demon’s demeanor considerably, but left a lot to be desired in Suzu’s mind. “I need more time to sort through things. Please, just … drop it for now? I promise I’ll consider it.”
Suzu hoped the ookami would just force her to go see Tamae, but had no such luck as the prince reluctantly nodded at her.
She beamed at him brightly, a sly gleam in her eyes that told Suzu she knew exactly what it was she was doing to the youkai beside her, but didn’t care. “Thanks, Kouga,” she chirped, returning to her meal with gusto.
Shaking his head, knowing he’d have to keep an even closer eye on the miko since Prince Kouga refused to leash her, Suzu retreated from their table and continued to make his rounds. Somehow, he needed to get the miko in to see Tamae, whether the wolf prince agreed or not. She was a threat. Suzu didn’t know how big of one yet, but he could sense it all the same.
***Ӂ***
When the hanyou drew back again, Sesshomaru flicked his tongue out, gathering the taste of his little brother’s mouth from his lips. That was … unexpected. “Ototo?”
Blushing prettily, suddenly embarrassed, the younger inu turned his head away. He swallowed heavily, his lips tingling as if small sparks of electricity were dancing across his skin. “S-Sorry,” he muttered, ears laying back as he took his hand away from the back of the daiyoukai’s neck.
Before he could fully remove that hand from him, Sesshomaru snatched it out of the air, bringing it to his lips and kissing the calloused palm tenderly. “Do not apologize, little one,” he admonished in a quiet voice. “Not for something I have desired and hoped for every day since you awakened. Is this your way of giving me permission to kiss you?” He tugged on the hand he had caught, coaxing the pup closer again.
“S-Sessh, I …” Inuyasha breathed, his heart beating hard and attempting to crawl up into his throat while the muscles in his neck contracted, making it hard to draw breath.
And then the need to breathe fled as the demon lord’s hand gripped his jaw firmly, insistent lips meeting his own. His youkai blood surged through him, triumphant, ecastatic with the intimate contact initiated by his alpha. Gods, he had missed this.
A low, desperate whine escaped his chest and was answered almost immediately by a familiar reassuring rumble. He kept his eyes open, not caring if it felt awkward. He needed to see, to know that it was Sesshomaru kissing him, that this was real and not something imagined. The awkwardness was somewhat lessened by the way the daiyoukai stared right back at him, the gold of his eyes gleaming gently in the dim light from the crystals decorating the den’s walls and ceiling. The kiss was not aggressive or even passionate, rather it was more exploratory. It had been so long—felt like so long—since they’d kissed like this.
Sesshomaru nibbled at the younger inu’s bottom lip, staring intently into his eyes as his pupils dilated with blatant pleasure at the action. He bit a little harder and then swiped the tender skin with his tongue, soothing away any pain he may have caused. Inuyasha’s lips trembled against him, unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. That was fine with Sesshomaru. He preferred to be the one doing the leading. Releasing his jaw, the daiyoukai slid his hand back into the strands of soft white hair, closing his fist around a portion at the nape of his neck and pulling gently. Inuyasha’s head went back, submitting to his will beautifully. Using his teeth, Sesshomaru tugged his sibling’s bottom lip into his mouth and gently sucked, asking if it was all right that he take it a little further. He wasn’t sure if the pup understood, but he didn’t try to stop him, either, so he parted the younger man’s lips and thrust his tongue into his mouth.
Inuyasha gasped at the intrusion, his ears going back as he let the alpha male explore his mouth. That long, warm tongue was everywhere, tasting every part of his mouth—teeth, gums, tongue, everything—until he withdrew to allow them both room to breathe. Inuyasha’s eyes were wide, cheeks and neck bright pink, the insides of his ears flushed with blood. He swallowed heavily between gasping in harsh breaths, licked his lips uncertainly, and then leaned forward to continue the moment of intimacy, not wanting it to end just yet.
The daiyoukai returned the kiss freely, enjoying the boldness his sibling was displaying and the little sounds he made as Sesshomaru took control of it once more, delving in deeper and stroking the sensitive roof of the other inu’s mouth until he moaned, his entire body trembling with suppressed arousal. He wondered, absently, if Tamae’s potion would continue to work or if Inuyasha’s demon blood would consume it if he pushed much beyond kissing. It was supremely tempting to find out.
Then he broke away, panting heavily, his groin warm and lust heavy in his eyes as he gazed at his baby brother and massaged the tense neck muscles minutely trembling under his fingers. After a short time, when their breathing had calmed considerably, the hanyou raised his eyes, looking a bit lost and terribly unsure.
“Sessh?”
“May I touch you, little brother?”
The younger inu’s brows lowered, his confusion apparent. “But … you are touching me.” He felt Sesshomaru’s hand move from around the back of his neck and glanced down at the feel of fingers pressing against him through the fur, gliding down around his shoulder to rest almost innocently atop the edge of the water-dampened covering. His eyes widened when he understood, puppy-like ears slicking back into his hair in fear, heart pounding, seeming to rise up into his throat and block his airways. He gasped in a sharp, shallow breath, his pupils dilating to almost nothing, and hurried to back away lest he be trapped.
Rather than try to stop him, Sesshomaru allowed Inuyasha to retreat, making no move to intercept him when he scrambled away, putting his back to the far den wall. “Inuyasha,” he said softly, instead. Though somewhat disappointed by the fearful reaction, a gentle growl emenated from Sesshomaru’s chest, filling the den as he raised his hand and offered it patiently to his frightened sibling and submissive. “I am not going to hurt you, little one. You know I won’t. I am your alpha. Remember? An alpha doesn’t hurt his submissive. I was only asking. If you’re still not comfortable being touched that way, I will refrain.”
Eyes hooded and wary, feral and nearly overtaken by the crimson of his youkai blood, Inuyasha moved forward a step. His fangs were partially bared in aggression in direct opposition to the submissive position of his ears and backside, which was curved down toward the ground, mimicking the tail tucked position of their full demon forms.
Sesshomaru reached out with his youki, caressing the youki spreading around his younger brother. The hanyou shuddered at the familiar feel of his aniki’s demonic energy.
“Come here, pup,” the demon lord beckoned.
Whining softly in distress, Inuyasha began to shake, the tension in his limbs abandoning him so suddenly he collapsed. “Sorry … sorry … I’m sorry, Sessh,” he groaned softly, so upset by his unintentional reaction, he couldn’t stop the instinctual whine in the back of his throat.
“Come here, pup,” Sesshomaru repeated a little more firmly.
“I can’t, Sessh … I can’t be touched that way right now. I just … I can’t.”
“Come here, pup,” Sesshomaru repeated, flaring his youki in a dominant, though not aggressive, display.
Biting his trembling lower lip, every movement and sound an act of the utmost submission, Inuyasha shakily began to crawl toward the alpha daiyoukai. When he was directly in front of the other inu, he tucked the fur more securely around himself before rolling onto his back and exposing his throat.
Sesshomaru ignored the painful twinge in his chest for the action—just more proof of how long a road they had yet to travel—and twitched his fingers in a come hither motion. “Give me your hand, ototo.” Still trembling, Inuyasha did as he was told, offering his hand while maintaining his belly-up position. Sesshomaru smiled softly, slipping the gift he’d brought for this occasion onto the younger inu’s wrist.
“S-Sessh?”
“Engagement gift,” Sesshomaru responded to the unasked question. “The same one our father gave your mother the night he learned she was pregnant and brought her into the household. It’s some of his fur from his inu form, along with beads shaped from his own fangs. Of course, I added a few items of my own to it—the fangs between the beads and the braid of hair are mine. I would be most pleased and honored if you would accept it.”
Half rising, Inuyasha peered up at his elder brother with some form of panic in his eyes. “But Sessh, I … I don’t have anything for you.”
“As the submissive, you are not required to give me anything, ototo.”
Averting his eyes again and slowly laying back down, Inuyasha worried at his lower lip for a bit before responding quietly, “I’ll accept it, Sessh—o’ course I will—but I still want t’give you something, too.” He paused, looking terribly uncertain, then—again slowly—lifted his eyes to meet those of his elder brother. “Is … Is there somethin’ you want? Something I can give you?”
Sesshomaru was about to reply that no, there wasn’t anything he wanted, nor did he need anything—the pup’s acceptance of him as a mate was more than enough—when he noticed the shine of beads peeking out from under the fur covering his baby brother’s nude body. That damn, cursed necklace.
“There is something,” he said in a careful tone.
Misunderstanding the tone and the elder inu’s intentions, Inuyasha hurried to interrupt. “I-I don’t think I c-c-can let you tou-touch me, Sessh, not … not while I’m … like this. N-Not in that way.”
Chuckling softly, the demon lord placed a soothing hand against his sibling’s cheek. “That was not what I was going to ask. A petty request like that would never do for such an important occasion as this. I told you, I can wait.” Seeing the confusion in the pup’s face, the daiyoukai stroked his thumb across Inuyasha’s cheekbone, then bent and kissed him lightly on the forehead. “What I want from you,” he murmured against that warm, quivering skin, “is to see you free of the chains that bind you.”
“Chains that … bind me?” Inuyasha breathed out questioningly, still hopelessly confused.
Kissing his forehead again, Sesshomaru shifted until his mouth hovered over one pointed, puppy-dog ear, replying in a low, possessive growl, “If you are to be my mate, Inuyasha, mine for all eternity, I want to be the only one you’re bound to. Those beads around your neck from that ningen priestess must go.”
“B-But I can’t take them off, Sessh … on-only she can. Only the one who put them on has the power to take them off.”
Sesshomaru drew back to look his sibling in the eyes. “Then ask her to take it off. Your demon blood is not dangerous, ototo.”
“Not when I’m with you,” the younger inu retorted, voice rising in pitch, scent growing sour with fear. “But what if I’m not with you? What if I lose Tessaiga in a fight again and my demon blood takes over? Who’s going t’stop me then?”
“Ototo, Tessaiga was forged for you as a safeguard. Our father did not intend for it to be a definite collar on your youkai heritage.”
“H-How would you know that? How can you be sure that he didn’t give me Tessaiga so it’d keep that side of me subdued?”
“Because I knew our father. I was raised by him, trained beside him, loved by him as a son should be, loved as you were loved. Our father would not lock away your youkai blood unless he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that blood was dangerous to you, which he did not.” He softened his tone some more, touching the younger inu’s cheek with the backs of his fingers when he started to turn away, a deep hurt in his eyes for never having had the opportunity to know their father as Sesshomaru had. “Tell me something, little brother. Before those beads were placed on you, did your youkai blood ever surface when you were in danger of being killed?”
Inuyasha frowned, brows knitting together as he contemplated the question. “Well, yeah … a few times.”
“Did it seem unstable to you? Like the madness and bloodlust you said overwhelms you now when your youkai heritage surfaces?”
Inuyasha blinked and his frown deepened. “No. But Sessh … I was so weak from fatigue, blood loss, exposure, starvation, and thirst that I doubt my youkai half had enough youki left t’do more than kill whatever it was that was tryin’ to kill me. As far as I can tell, I always fainted right after.”
“And yet, I was able to coax your demon blood to the surface without the same madness that overtakes you under other circumstances.”
Inuyasha shrugged. “Cause you’re my alpha. My youkai part knows that.”
“Your youkai part knows it,” Sesshomaru repeated with a raised brow. “That does not sound like madness to me, ototo. You also often speak of your instincts—which I will remind you stem from your demon half—and the fact that you have always trusted them. I cannot imagine that you would trust yourself to madness, even subconsciously. No, it is not your youkai blood in itself that is unstable.”
“What are you saying, then?” the hanyou demanded, golden eyes flashing challengingly. “That the necklace the old woman put on me and that Kagome bound t’me to make me safe is somehow makin’ me … more dangerous?”
“That is exactly what I am saying. You never needed the power of Tessaiga to control your youkai blood before you were bound by that necklace. It was only after you had been subjugated, so to speak, that the power of our father’s sword became necessary to you. It is apparent to me that your soul is being split by the power of those sacred beads, as evidenced by the unnatural appearance of your form when your youkai blood overwhelms you.”
Feeling as if he’d just been blindsided, Inuyasha reached up to touch the beads laying around his neck, and shuddered. He had never liked them, true, but he had always thought they were necessary. Everyone had told him they were, that besides Tessaiga they were the only thing that could keep him from going on a killing spree when his demon heritage got out of control.
“I know it is difficult to believe,” Sesshomaru said with a quiet, underlying rumble meant to soothe the younger inu’s disturbed emotions.
“No,” the inu hanyou interjected, also speaking quietly, face troubled. “It’s not that hard to believe, actually. Not when you explain it like that.” Feeling vulnerable, he lifted uncertain, golden eyes to his sibling, almost pleading as he asked, “Ya don’t think … Kaede and Kagome … knew, do you? Th-They couldn’t have known what this … this thing is doin’ t’me … right?”
Sesshomaru sighed, brushing his hand back through Inuyasha’s mane of soft, white hair. “I do not believe they did. Whatever faults your ningen miko may have, I do not believe she would have deliberately endangered you in such a way had she known what the beads of subjugation would do to you back then.” The uncertainty of the now with the miko’s clearly unstable psyche, the daiyoukai left unsaid, feeling no need to burden his younger brother further. “Please, Inuyasha, ask her to remove them. If she is your friend, surely she will not deny you your freedom nor the stability it will grant you when the two halves of your soul are able to join together once more.”
“Okay …” Inuyasha whispered, then pressed his lips together and repeated a little more forcefully, “okay, I’ll ask her.”
An approving gleam to his eyes, Sesshomaru tugged affectionately at his baby brother’s hair before raising it to his lips and softly caressing it. “Thank you, ototo.” He smirked slightly and then hooked his arm beneath the younger inu’s shoulders and pulled him up against his chest. “May I kiss you again?”
“W-Why?” Inuyasha squeaked, flushing to the roots of his hair at their sudden nearness.
Sesshomaru leaned closer to the embarrassed hanyou, nuzzling his cheek. “Because I want to,” he murmured. “Because you are beautiful. Because you have finally become comfortable enough with me to allow such contact, which thrills me terribly. Because you have agreed to attempt a soul mating with me.” Ever so lightly, he touched his lips to the corner of his baby brother’s mouth, whispering, “Because I am happy.” Then he drew back again, locking eyes with Inuyasha—his Inuyasha. “Do I truly need a reason?”
Dazed by the demon lord’s sincerity, Inuyasha shook his head. “Iie, y-you don’t.”
At that concession, Sesshomaru swooped down instantly and claimed his sibling’s lips in a quick kiss. “Sonogo damare,” he growled before diving down once more, working Inuyasha’s mouth open and slipping his tongue inside.
He felt the pup’s fingers curl into the fur draped around his shoulders as he deepened the kiss. Inuyasha’s eyelids fluttered, but didn’t close. There was fear in his eyes, Sesshomaru noticed, but it wasn’t the only emotion. If it had been, he would have withdrawn immediately. However, the fear was overlaid with courage—a familiar emotion Sesshomaru had seen in the younger inu’s eyes many a time, which was comforting. Along with such an admirable trait, there was trust—trust Sesshomaru knew was directed toward him as he breached the boundary between platonic touching and a more sexual intimacy. The emotion was so deep and intense it made his breath catch in his throat and alpha pride swell in his breast.
A quiet whine vibrated against his lips as his hand traveled from the pup’s shoulder to the back of his neck where the older inu once again tangled his fingers in the spill of still damp white hair. Slowly, he coaxed out his ototo’s shy tongue, bringing it into his own mouth where he could better play with it and allow it to explore as Inuyasha might wish.
Gradually, ever so sluggishly, Inuyasha began to relax and return the kiss, the taste and smell and sight of his alpha reminding him constantly and indisputably that it was Sesshomaru touching him. He had nothing to fear. This man, this youkai was his intended mate. This was only the first of many kisses they would share in the future—merely the first step in their intimate courtship.
With those thoughts in his head, when he felt the demon lord’s teeth nip at his bottom lip, he retaliated by nipping at the tip of the tongue invading his mouth, causing it to retreat for a moment as his sibling’s golden eyes narrowed. He had only an instant to worry that he might have done something wrong before the lips crushed against his curved into a smile and the tongue was back, doing wicked things to him that made his knees weak and his head fuzzy with bliss. A bright blush lit up his face when the daiyoukai finally separated from him and gave a deep, pleased chuckle.
“You are just full of surprises tonight, ototo,” the older inu teased, producing a satisfied rumble that only seemed to embarrass Inuyasha further as he nuzzled the pup’s heated cheek—as much to mark him with his scent as to show his appreciation. He shuddered, surprised at the electric tingle that shot through the magenta demon markings on his cheek when Inuyasha unexpectedly twisted to lay a kiss against them.
“Lie with me?” Inuyasha requested softly. When the daiyoukai went to get up, youki gathering around him, he grabbed his sibling’s hand and tugged him back down, nervously brushing his lips against the marks on the demon lord’s wrist, peering up at the older youkai through his eyelashes.
“Ototo?”
“Like this. You don’t need t’change. I want to try sleepin’ with you just like this.”
Sesshomaru tilted his head, considering the younger inu’s determined, though still nervous expression. “If that is what you would like, little one, I will not deny you,” he conceded, settling back down against the cave wall. When Inuyasha relinquished the hold on his arm, he hooked it around the hanyou’s waist and pulled him over onto his lap, tucking his head under his chin and then laying them both down on the pile of furs. Feeling the slight tremor in Inuyasha’s tense body, Sesshomaru reached down to adjust the fur wrapped around him, opening it at his neck just enough to bare a portion of his chest. With the help of his parasitic youkai, he then pulled another of the larger furs over the top of them, ensuring his submissive, soon-to-be mate wouldn't get cold during the night. “Put your head here, pup,” he instructed, gesturing toward the bared flesh of his chest. “Right against me.”
His lips curved into a gratified smile when Inuyasha buried his face in his skin, inhaling his scent shakily, but deeply, breathed out just as shakily, then breathed in again, the odor of his anxiety slowly sweetening and settling into something more at ease.
“Sessh?”
“Hn?”
“Thank you … for the gift, I mean.”
“It’s my pleasure, little one. Now go to sleep. We’ll have plenty of time to talk in the morning.”
“But, um … Sessh?”
Sighing in fond exasperation for the pup’s apparent need to talk just before sleeping, Sesshomaru shifted until he could look down into his sibling’s shining golden eyes. “What is it?”
“Can we go hunting again sometime? I … I really liked it.”
“Of course we can. We are inu. The desire to hunt is in our blood. It may not be as often as you or I would like, but I will be certain to make time to allow for us to hunt on a regular basis.”
“Hai.” Inuyasha paused, then ventured tentatively, “Sessh …?” Seeing one of those eyebrows lift, he flushed, aware of the elder inu’s exasperation and amusement with his inability to stop talking. His nerve lost, he looked down. “Never mind.”
“Say what you want to say, Inuyasha.”
Biting at his lip, the hanyou raised his eyes again, attempting to gather the courage he needed to reveal what he’d been trying to say when he’d called the elder inu the two times before. “I … well, I think I might—” His throat closed up, nerves getting the better of him for a second time, and dropped his eyes again. “I think I might be gettin’ strong enough t’start into some harder training. I mean … the hunt went well.”
“Mm …” Sesshomaru mused, shutting his eyes as he wondered what his baby brother had been about to say, knowing instinctually it wasn’t what he actually said. “Perhaps tomorrow we’ll start on some strength and toning exercises, then. And, if you are still up for it, I may consent to spar with you.”
Inuyasha blinked, not expecting that so soon, and his head jerked up, eyes wide and bright with excitement. “Really?”
Sesshomaru nodded, smirking proudly at the younger inu’s response. “Yes. Of course, I will be going quite easy on you as you are still healing, but I believe you are sufficiently strong to withstand some minimal, low-level sparring.”
“Hell yeah!”
“If you are particularly good tonight,” the demon lord continued, unable to help it when the pup was getting so excited, “I may even be persuaded to allow a few duels with the lower level soldiers.” At that pronouncement, the little inu hanyou began to wriggle, positively quivering with eagerness, just like an over-enthusiastic puppy. Bending, he captured one of Inuyasha’s ears between his teeth, biting down just enough to shock him into stillness. He then lapped gently at it to soothe away any sting the reproachful nip may have left. “That means, though, that you have to go to sleep, pup,” he finished sternly.
Looking so much like the child he still should have been, Inuyasha nodded in earnest agreement, then pushed himself upwards, licking Sesshomaru just beneath his jaw line—an inu’s way of expressing gratitude. “I’m goin’ to sleep right now, aniki. You’re the best!”
Sesshomaru laughed softly, glad to see such an uninhibited side to his sibling, especially after the display of fear he’d shown before. The hanyou really was recovering by leaps and bounds, even if their time restraint made it feel as if it was going at a snail’s pace. At the rate things were progressing, the submissive inu may even be ready for the inevitable intimacy by the time he ceased taking Tamae’s potion to suppress his heat. They could only hope.
Soon enough, he felt Inuyasha’s body go lax in sleep and his breathing deepen and slow. Though he would’ve liked nothing more than to join his brother, and though Inuyasha likely wouldn’t know the difference, tonight he would remain awake. After all, it was their first night outside of the palace walls after the incident with the slave traders. In any case, he knew Inuyasha wouldn’t ask him to remain awake while he slept, even if he was nervous about it—that just wasn’t the way the hanyou was. But it would make Sesshomaru feel better and, ultimately, make Inuyasha feel better—if only subconsciously—if he did. So, wrapping them both in a cocoon of his demonic energy, he settled in for a long night of vigilance, a long night made enjoyable by his little brother’s warm body pressed tightly to his front and the knowledge of the inu’s acceptance of his proposal of a soul mating.
***Ӂ***

Suzu hummed to himself where he sat on the railing of the balcony in the northwest tower, observing the comings and goings of the palace. From his perch, he could see most of the gardens and the gate of the outer wall, which had been closed for the night some hours ago. He could also see some of the guards on the outer wall, two of whom were slacking in their duty, chatting and passing what looked to be a flask of sake back and forth. Well, he’d remedy that soon enough. A few weeks on barrack cleaning duty should be enough to set them straight. Then there was the one leaning against the watchtower wall, nearly dozing off. He’d set that soldier’s punishment to be a bit easier, considering the tiger demon’s mate had only just birthed a litter of three healthy young some days earlier. Perhaps a few extra laps during drills.
Within the wall’s boundaries, he could also see a few demons in the gardens—mostly couples out for a moonlit stroll. In fact, Shiro and Sho, the firebird youkai he had set as Lord Inuyasha’s bodyguards, were engaged in a rather heated embrace, Sho pinned to the trunk of a sakura tree by Shiro’s slightly larger body while his mate plundered his mouth and ground a muscled thigh between his legs.
Suzu grimaced when his newly recovered manhood gave a subtle throb at the sight. Having not had the organ for such a long time, he was finding it hard to adjust to having it suddenly returned to him. That wasn’t to say he hadn’t felt arousal without it. He had, but that arousal hadn’t come with an uncomfortable hardness tenting his hakama. He’d gotten into more trouble for that that day than anytime before with demons propositioning him left and right—rather than the other way around.
“Taishou.”
“Kannon,” Suzu greeted the sable youkai, his second-in-command.
“You know I don’t go by that name anymore, Taishou. Kannon died long ago.”
Turning a gentle, but sad smile on the younger former assassin, Suzu shook his head. “To me, you will always be Kannon, Kuen. The only reason I use the other name is because calling you Kannon all the time makes you uncomfortable.”
Kuen shrugged, his unease betrayed by the tension in his shoulders. “It doesn’t both me much when you use it. I just … I’m not the same boy anymore. I’m a killer.”
Sighing, the peacock youkai nodded. “We all are. That’s what we were made to be.” He shifted back to watch the gardens, glad to see Shiro and Sho had moved elsewhere. “I assume you’ve come with news?”
“Rumors, for the most part. Michio is not easily tracked, as you are well aware. From what we’ve managed to gather, though, he’s taken refuge in the forest to the northeast. The injury Lord Sesshomaru gave him seems to be causing him some trouble. There have been reports of members of his band sighted close to the capital, though. Whether under previous orders or not, they appear to be acting independently.”
“How close to the capital?”
“On the outskirts. None of them have ventured into the city yet, as far as we’ve been able to tell.”
“Mm … which slavers have been sighted?”
“Two hyenas and another they weren’t sure was a slaver, but noted anyway, which was a wolverine. There have also been rumors of a hawk youkai, but we have yet to confirm them.”
Suzu frowned when his keen eyes picked out the petite form of Lord Inuyasha’s miko friend moving through the garden. What was she doing outside at night without Prince Kouga? Granted, she was still within the boundary of the outer wall and the danger to a human alone was dramatically decreased because of that—especially given she was a guest of Lord Inuyasha—but that didn’t mean the danger wasn’t there. She truly was a most foolish individual. Not only did she brazenly challenge the Lord of the West by insulting him and his submissive within his very own territory and then actually drawing a weapon against him, now she was out on her own with no form of protection beyond her meager, untrained sacred powers, which was just asking for trouble. Even if none of the soldiers or palace staff would dare do anything to her for fear of the consequences of hurting Lord Sesshomaru’s younger brother’s guest, there were those in the palace who were not directly under the daiyoukai’s command and would not feel such restrictions—especially if they had no knowledge beforehand of her connection to said Lord.
“Taishou?” Kuen prompted when the peacock demon gave a contemptuous snort.
If the ningen wanted to court death so badly, he certainly wasn’t going to stop her. The way she treated her supposed “friend,” Lord Inuyasha, was, quite frankly, abominable. He really couldn’t bring himself to feel any kind of sympathy for her.
“A human?” the sable youkai questioned, following the direction of his general’s gaze.
“One of Lord Inuyasha’s pack,” Suzu replied shortly. Then he sighed, “The youngest of his pack. He will not be happy if something happens to her, and Lord Sesshomaru will have my head if I don’t do something to prevent her getting herself killed while his submissive yet cares for her.”
Kuen chuckled at the disgruntled look on the other demon’s face. “Don’t like her much, do you?”
“You wouldn’t like her much either, were you acquainted with her. She somehow got it into her head that Lord Inuyasha was hers by right when it is clear his older brother holds claim over him, and has since he was not but a pup. She attempts to lay her hands where they do not belong and, eventually—Lord Inuyasha’s feelings notwithstanding—she will take it too far. I fear what will happen between our Lords if Lord Sesshomaru feels compelled to end her life. He has been remarkably tolerant thus far, far more tolerant than I would have thought he could be a mere season past, but it will not last forever. Sooner or later his patience will run out.”
“If Lord Inuyasha is her pack leader, isn’t it his responsibility to discipline her? She is still a child, after all.”
The peacock’s lips tightened at that reminder. She was only a child. “Despite being a child, she seems to hold some sway in Lord Inuyasha’s pack. I do not know what it is, or why it’s allowed, but it’s there. For whatever reason, Lord Inuyasha is unable to curb her behavior, and the other humans have only recently begun to understand that it is problematic. Add to that the fact that she’s human and Lord Inuyasha now defers to Lord Sesshomaru, it complicates things, and the situation is complicated even further by the fact that Prince Kouga has begun to court her.” Swinging his legs back over the inside of the railing, Suzu hopped down from his perch and moved purposefully toward the door that led deeper into the palace.
“Taishou? Where are you going?”
“To inform Prince Kouga that his ningen is wandering the grounds unprotected.”
“And … your orders?”
“Continue to monitor the slave traders as much as you are able. Track them if you can, though infiltration would be far more useful. If they make a move toward the palace or if they seem as if they’re watching the palace, let me know.”
“Yes, sir,” Kuen responded with a smart salute. Then, biting his lip, ventured softly, “Taishou?”
At the door to the spiral staircase, Suzu paused, eyes drawn to the sable youkai at the uncertain tone he used. “What is it, Kuen?”
“There have been some rumors running around about …”
“About me?” Suzu inquired gently, eyebrows raised.
Kuen dropped his gaze. “Yes, sir.”
Sighing, the petite bird demon nodded. “If you’re referring to the ones about my death, brief as it was, those are true. Lord Sesshomaru used his father’s fang to restore my life. I did not do it, however, out of intent to commit suicide. I died to prove a point. I would do it again, if it was necessary. In any case, it restored to me something I had given up hope of ever recovering.”
The sable pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh at the sight of his leader sporting such an obvious erection while they were speaking on such a serious topic. “Yes …” he chuckled, unable to help himself, “I can see that.”
Unfazed, Suzu simply tilted his head and wetted his lower lip seductively, taking hold of the hard organ through his pants suggestively. “Are you offering to take care of it for me?”
Kuen laughed, shaking his head. “If I offered that, I’d be sharing a bed in the healer’s room with that weasel youkai whose hand you shattered.”
Suzu grinned. “Not you, Kuen. I’d still refuse, but I’d do so a lot less violently. In any case, I’ve heard you have your own lover now. A female sable, correct?”
Flushing slightly, the younger youkai ducked his head in agreement. “Yeah … Min-Jee.”
“She treats you well?”
“Hai. She’s … amazing. I’m thinking about asking her to mate with me.”
Suzu nodded and opened the door, calling back over his shoulder. “Good for you, Kuen. I’m happy for you. Let me know when you’ve set the date for the ceremony.”
“Thanks, Taishou. I’ll do that.”
Nodding farewell, the peacock demon shut the door, his smile fading as he sprinted down the stairs. Something didn’t feel right. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew something was off. He could feel it in his bones, in his youki as it rippled uneasily inside him. It was unease of the kind that made his skin crawl and the feathers in his hair ruffle in distress. It was of the kind that made him want to glance back over his shoulder every two seconds and check every dark corner and crevice for someone or something staring at him from the shadows, ready to attack. It was of the kind he used to feel when he was a slave in his previous Master’s house, alone at night, waiting for the men he knew would come to ravage his body, knowing he would let them. He knew it was no coincidence that the feeling came when Lord Sesshomaru and his sibling were gone from the palace. He had to get to Prince Kouga. Whether the miko was the problem or simply a pawn or distraction, the wolf prince would be the best equipped to deal with her.
Considering how late it was, Prince Kouga was most likely in his chambers, so Suzu steered himself that direction. Lord Sesshomaru had, quite uncharacteristically, allowed the wolf and his pack members to take one of the guest rooms near his own quarters within the royal wing of the palace. In fact, they were in the guest room situated right next to the room Miroku and Shippo were staying in and across from the room their women occupied.
Not bothering to announce himself to Prince Kouga’s two bodyguards, he slipped between them, swung the door open with the absolute silence of long years of practice, and stopped just inside, brown eyes disbelieving. Prince Kouga was seated on a large, elaborate pile of cushions, speaking animatedly to the miko sitting against his legs, his arms and hands gesturing wildly as she laughed. It was a scene of the utmost innocence, and his feathers bristled, his suppressed youki flowing outward in a single, strong pulse that had both the wolf demon and human miko springing to their feet in alarm, Kouga’s own youki pouring forth, tinting his eyes demon red as he fell into an aggressive crouch. Then, realizing who it was, he relaxed his stance and pulled his youki back.
“General Suzu?”
Suzu ignored the other demon’s concerned tone as he strode further into the room, the prince’s bodyguards rushing in behind him, but pulling up short when Kouga gestured for them to leave him be. He stopped when he was barely two paces from the Prince’s human guest, demanding shortly, “Miko, would you care to tell me why I just saw you sneaking through the gardens outside?”
“Sneakin’ through the gardens?” Kouga repeated incredulously. “What the hell are you on about, bird brain? Kagome’s been with me since dinner.”
Suzu glanced over at the two bodyguards, who nodded in confirmation of Prince Kouga’s claim. He pursed his lips, eyes narrowed as he faced the human girl again, looking for signs of deception. Her head was tilted, brows knit in obvious confusion, even her scent bore confusion. “You’ve been here since the evening meal?” he finally inquired, stretching out his youki investigatively. He didn’t know what, exactly, he was expecting, but what his demon energy met was entirely human. Not a trick or illusion. Yet that feeling of wrongness was still there, still nagging at him.
“I haven’t been out in the gardens,” Kagome protested, moving closer to the wolf prince as she spoke. “I’ve not even been outside today. Kouga’s been with me practically all day, and when I wasn’t with him, I was with Sango. If you don’t believe me, you can talk to her. She’ll tell you.”
Convenient, Suzu thought, but didn’t pursue the matter. There’d be no point since she had a solid alibi. Still ….

“Keep her here,” he ordered on his way back out of the room. “You two,” he snapped at a couple passing soldiers who seemed to have just gotten off duty, motioning for them to follow as he moved toward Sasaki’s workroom. “Come with me. Your names and ranks?”
Recognizing the tone of authority, though they were rarely commanded by the peacock general as he was more in charge of the stealthy, special missions rather than everyday soldiering, the soldiers—one a boar youkai and the other an adder youkai—fell into step beside him. The boar saluted the best he could while moving at such a fast pace. “I’m Tomeo, a Lieutenant under Captain Renzo.”
“And I’m Manzo, also under Captain Renzo, but I’m a vice-aptain,” the adder demon finished.
Suzu nodded, pleased that they at least had some rank over other common soldiers. That would make the task easier, and this way he only had to give orders once. “Lieutenant Tomeo, I want you to put together a team of a dozen soldiers and scour the gardens for someone disguised as the priestess Lord Inuyasha brought with him. If she’s found, she is to be subdued and captured, nothing more. Vice-Captain Manzo, you will put together a second team double the amount of Lieutenant Tomeo’s team and patrol outside at the base of the outer wall. I don’t want anything—beast, human, or demon—getting in or out. Again, if you find the imposter you are to subdue and capture her. Lord Inuyasha would not wish her harmed and I want to know just what in the hell a doppelganger of Lord Inuaysha’s priestess friend is doing wandering the palace grounds. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” the soldiers responded, saluting smartly before swiftly going to do as the general bade them.
“Sasaki,” he called as he strode through the door and glanced around the room. The wind demon wasn’t in. He hoped the other youkai wasn’t asleep. “Sasaki, I need you. It’s urgent.” He waited, years of training the only thing keeping him from bouncing up and down impatiently. A few moments later, a gentle breeze brushed his ear, bringing with it the voice of the male wind youkai.
“You called for me, Suzu?”
“Yes, I did. I need you to use your sorcery to sweep the palace and grounds. Look for anything out of place, anything unusual, then report back to me.”
Another, slightly stronger breeze. “An intruder?”
Suzu grimaced. “I’m not sure. Let me know what you find.”
The next breath of wind brushed his cheek reassuringly and then curled around his ear, “Understood.”
Feeling slightly better after getting things in motion—though not by much with unease prickling his skin and ruffling his feathers still—Suzu left Sasaki’s workroom, cursing the absence of his Lord and Master under his breath. He only hoped they could quickly figure out what was going on, who was behind whatever was happening, and put an end to it. Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Inuyasha had enough on their plates without this uncertainty added into the mix.
***Ӂ***

Kagome watched the flashy, petite bird demon as he left the room and blinked, suppressed youki flaring behind her eyes. A wince passed across her face, confusion giving way to ugly triumph. She hadn’t been found out. Now … to get the poor fool, Kouga, to leave her alone. But that would be easy enough, as long as her body didn’t leave the room. “Ne, Kouga?” she simpered, touching his arm to gain his attention.
Distracted still by the peacock demon’s intrusion into their evening, he barely glanced at her, answering absently, “What’cha need, Kagome?”
“I’m getting tired. Would you mind terribly if I lay down for a while?”
He glanced at her, but the thoughts behind his eyes were clearly focused elsewhere—as she’d hoped they would be. “Yeah, sure. It’s gettin’ late anyhow. Shut yer eyes for a few hours. I’ll wake ya when bird brain figures out what, exactly, is goin’ on ‘round here.”
Smiling like the excitable child she knew he saw in her, she bounced up onto her toes and pecked him on the cheek. “Thanks, Kouga. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
Making her way over to one of the long cushioned seats, the miko made a show of getting her makeshift bed just right, before laying down in it, sighing gustily, and closing her eyes. Immediately, the foreign youki cast her mind from her body to the faux body she’d created using some of the foreign youki in combination with her own tainted sacred powers. It was amazing, really, what they could do together. With this, she could quite literally be in two places at once.
“Have you made any progress, ningen?”
She frowned as she approached the hawk youkai, lips thinning in irritation. “Not yet. I told you, it’s too soon. Inuyasha’s bastard half-brother’s still so fucking paranoid about letting him out of his sight; he barely even takes his hands off him.”
“Excusssses,” Sano hissed as he stepped forth from the shadows. “Michio-sssama is getting impatient.”
“It’s only been a few days!” Kagome protested. “I need more time.”
“How much more? If what you’ve told usss iss true of the ssssuppression potion, his heat will be upon him in less than a week. Once that happenssss, Sesssshomaru will likely secret him away for daysss on end and your chances of sssecuring the hanyou’s affectionssss will be next to none.”
Bottom lip sticking out petulantly, the teen priestess crossed her arms and stamped her foot. “It’s not my fault. You guys are the ones who scared Inuyasha bad enough to make him think that that dog demon ass of a brother of his is the only one who can protect him.”
Sano’s jewel bright eyes narrowed as he drew his hand back, striking the bratty human across the cheek and throwing her to the ground. “We are the onesss who ensured your hanyou would not bed hissss brother until hisss heat is actually upon him. Unlesssss you’re prepared to lossse him, I suggest you sssstop whining and do the job we gave you in the time you have left.”
A hand holding her stinging cheek and tears in her eyes, Kagome pathetically pushed herself upright. “But … how? How am I supposed to separate them? Sesshomaru’s already suspicious of me. There’s no way he’s going to let me anywhere near Inuyasha unless he’s there! It’s impossible.”
“SSSStupid child. Think! You are not the only one in the palace with a hatred of Lord Sessssshomaru. There are bound to be othersss. Ally yoursssself with them. Ussse them to do what you cannot. Failure issss not an option.”
Kagome nodded obediently, sniffing back her tears. “I understand, Master.”
“Good. Remember, you only have five daysss to complete your tassssk. After that …”
“Don’t worry, Master, I already have the perfect ally in mind.”

***Ӂ***

The former Lady Kumiko lay in the cell she’d been thrown into by Lord Sesshomaru, denied even the comfort of having her mate in the same cell with her. The moment she’d been locked in, she’d started up an incessant string of sound—wails and cries, whines and growls, and any other sounds she could manage without her tongue until the guards, fed up with the noise, gave in and gave her a potion to kill the pain. But she hadn’t stopped and, after several hours of yelling at her to shut up, they’d finally given up and stuffed cotton in their ears. It was that oversight and some fancy use of her newly combined powers that allowed Kagome to slip into the prison to talk with the female leopard demon without being detected.
“Kon ban wa, Lady Kumiko,” Kagome greeted the pathetic looking youkai.
The leopard’s wailing ceased as she raised her head and narrowed her eyes, lips twisting into a sneer as she realized the one addressing her was human. A human brat. She would have liked to spit out a few choice words for the filthy thing, but couldn’t due to her tongue being ripped out by the half-breed bitch of a brother Lord Sesshomaru had taken in in his insanity.
Kagome wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight of the demon’s damaged tongue wriggling between her bloody lips. “Do me a favor, would you? Don’t try to talk; it’s not very becoming. In fact, for my question, I’ll only need a simple nod or headshake. I can get you out of that cell, but … I will expect your cooperation in return. Do we have a deal?”
Lip curling, the leopard demoness rolled away from the cell door—a clear dismissal.
“Did I mention I intend to ruin Lord Sesshomaru?” She smiled when the female youkai’s tail twitched, betraying the former Lady’s interest. “Yes … you see, just as he denied you what should be yours, he has stolen from me what should be mine. We’re not so different, you and I. Cooperate with me, and we will both get what we deserve, what is rightfully ours.” After some moments of silence, Kumiko rolled back over, a vicious cunning in her teal colored eyes. Kagome nodded and smirked, whispering, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Then she raised her voice, “I take it you agree?” Receiving a confirming nod, Kagome fished into one of her pockets and tossed what she found through the bars into the cell. She smiled thinly when the demoness scrambled to pick up the brass key she had taken off an unfortunate guard she’d come across—alone and quite unaware of her presence. “When you’ve gotten clear of the palace, find a place to hide out. I’ll contact you with instructions when you’re needed.” She turned to leave, then stopped and turned back as if having just remembered something. “Oh, and you’ll need to wear this,” she added, holding out a small, beaded bracelet.
Eyes narrowed with suspicion, but willing to do just about anything to get out of the dinghy little cell, Kumiko took it and snapped it onto her wrist.
“That bracelet will allow me to contact you, and vice versa, but you should only do so if there’s an emergency, otherwise you just wait for my call. It has a couple other functions …” Becoming aware of a disturbance near her actual body back in Kouga’s chambers, Kagome trailed off, then gave the demoness a cold little smile, “… but you’ll learn about those soon enough. Good night, Lady Kumiko. And be careful you don’t get caught escaping. I won’t be bailing you out again.” And with that last warning, the priestess’ body shimmered and faded, youki and her tainted sacred powers dispersing into the air.
Back in her real body, she blinked her eyes open and cracked a yawn that was only partially fake. “Kouga?” she questioned sleepily. “What’s going on? Did they find whoever’s impersonating me?”
Kouga pressed his lips together in obvious irritation and shook his head. “‘Fraid not. But mister paranoid fancy feathers says you can go back to your own room now.”
Fluttering her eyelashes playfully, a coy smile on her lips, she raised her arms. “Carry me?”
Chuckling, Kouga scooped her up and delivered a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Anything for you, my hime.” Tail wagging slowly back and forth in happiness, the wolf prince took his intended mate across the hall and deposited her in the bed next to where the slayer was already asleep in her own bed, Kirara curled up in her kitten-type form on her abdomen.
“Thanks, Kouga,” Kagome whispered sincerely. “For carrying me, and for standing up for me against that bird demon.”
“Aww, don’t worry ‘bout it. Bird was outta line, anyway.”
Kagome shrugged sweetly. “It’s his job.”
“Yeah, I know that, but that doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole about it. I mean, I think I woulda known if you’d gone somewhere.” To be honest, Kouga had had his suspicions, but it was hard to keep that suspicion when the person in question had been with him all evening and through part of the night. And, though she had sacred powers, they were untrained, nor was she a sorceress of any kind. Without outside help, there was no way she could’ve fooled his ookami senses. “Well, whatever,” he muttered, tucking her ebony hair behind her ear. “If somethin’ is goin’ on, I’m sure Lord Sesshomaru will get it sorted out. For now, you should get some sleep. You must be tired.”
She hummed in agreement, sighing softly as the youki that gripped her thoughts and feelings, heightening certain emotions while suppressing others, loosened its hold. It was too strong to fight against, the taint too deep, the source of it having wriggled and worked its way down into her spine and attached itself to her spinal cord where it could work directly on her nervous system. Some small part of her was aware that something was manipulating her thoughts and feelings, but it was such a small part when compared to the part that was jealous, bitter toward Sesshomaru, and angry and hurt by Inuyasha’s rejection of her when she knew they were meant for each other, even if her idiot hanyou didn’t.
“Kouga,” she called, voice breathy with exhaustion, reaching weakly for him when he turned to leave.
He moved back toward the bed and caught her outstretched hand in his. “What is it, Kagome?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” he repeated in bewilderment. “What d’ya mean? What are you apologizin’ for?”
She smiled dreamily up at him as her eyelids began to droop and lightly squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to hurt anyone …”
“Well, o’ course you don’t,” Kouga agreed, frowning at her odd behavior, but quickly noticed she had already fallen asleep. What in the hell? What was she going on about? She couldn’t have had anything to do with the thing the peacock general had been talking about, could she? There was just no way. Even still, he thought, perhaps I should try harder to get her to see the healer.

***Ӂ***

Inuyasha stroked the band of soft white fur, admiring its silky texture and marveling at how resilient the demon fur had proven itself to be. It was a little more than two-hundred years old, after all. Smiling at the thought of his mother wearing this same engagement gift, he touched each of the six bone beads spaced around the ring of fur, then gently, lovingly touched one of the six fangs Sesshomaru had contributed and fixed to each of the six beads so they dangled from the bottom rim, making quiet, almost musical tapping sounds when he shook his wrist. He moved on from there to the braid of gleaming white, perfectly groomed hair that hung from the bead on the outside edge of his wrist. A single, beautiful reddish-orange bead kept the intricate braid from unraveling—the significance of which he wasn’t unaware. Those were his colors—the colors of fire—and represented his connection to his sibling and soon-to-be mate and the inu daiyoukai’s acceptance of him as his equal.
He knew he must look a sight—a goofy grin on his face, peering down at a simple, inexpensive, but still priceless bracelet as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him, naked and wrapped up in the fur of a dead animal with Sesshomaru’s arms like a vice around him, keeping him clutched against the older inu’s chest. And yet … And yet, he couldn’t remember ever being happier—ever feeling more wanted.
He tilted his head up, trying to twist around enough to see his brother’s face, but the daiyoukai’s grip was too strong. It was rare that Inuyasha woke before the demon lord, but he couldn’t say he minded it at all. It gave him a chance to get more accustomed to Sesshomaru holding him and touching him when they weren’t in the bath and the demon lord wasn’t in his larger inu form. And since Sesshomaru wasn’t awake, he was better able to relax. It was nothing against his elder brother, had nothing to do with the trust Inuyasha held in him—or any lack of trust—it was simply leftover fear and reflexes born of that fear that had been created by the slave traders that set off his panic attacks. In time, he hoped, they would go away.
Resigned to the bands of hard muscle wrapped around his midsection and the increasing discomfort in his full bladder, Inuyasha lifted his wrist again to admire the gift Sesshomaru had given him. Seriously, how was it Sesshomaru had come to have it? Surely his mother would have kept it with her, such an important gift from the man she had loved enough to leave the lands of her inheritance. Unless ….
He frowned, absently rubbing the soft fur against his cheek.
“What are you thinking about so deeply, ototo?”
Inuyasha twisted slightly to face the elder inu. “Where did you get this, Sessh? You said our father gave it to Mother, but … something like this … I don’t think she would have left it behind.”
Eyes solemn, Sesshomaru shifted, finally allowing the younger inu to crawl out of his arms as he sat up. “I never did lose track of you, little brother, even if I refused to acknowledge you and your mother as a part of my pack. When I received word of the Lady Izayoi’s death, I visited the place where she was killed—partially to retrieve anything my Lord Father had given her, and partially with the intention of … rectifying the mistake I thought our father had made.” He sighed when Inuyasha flinched and reached out to cup his baby brother’s smooth cheek, locking eyes with him as he leaned forward to place a chaste, reassuring kiss on his lips. “For some reason I could not bring myself to destroy it, though it was a physical reminder of our father’s choice and his affection for your human mother.”
Inuyasha hummed and then smiled apologetically for his flinching reaction, leaning into the daiyoukai’s soothing touch. “Prob'ly 'cause even though it was a reminder of my mother an' me, it was also a reminder of our father. It’s made from his fur and fangs, after all.”
Sesshomaru inclined his head in agreement. “Indeed.”
“Uh … Sessh?”
“Yes, ototo?”
“Ya got somewhere ‘round here I can take a piss?”
“I’m afraid not. We’ll have to go outside the mountain for that.” Seeing the embarrassed look in his baby brother’s eyes and the uncomfortable twist to his mouth, Sesshomaru stood. “Let us retrieve our clothes, little one. The material should have had more than enough time to expel any blood we spilled on it. When we’ve finished getting dressed, I’ll fly us outside where you can relieve yourself.”
Inuyasha flushed at the insinuation that he couldn’t take care of himself, protesting hotly, “I can still walk, y’know!” Then he lowered his voice again, almost pouting, “I just don’t know the way.”
Chuckling, Sesshomaru dropped the fur hiding his nudity and proceeded out of the den to the pile of clothes he’d worn the other day. They were of the highest-grade demon material. Like Inuyasha’s fire rat robe and Sesshomaru’s usual attire, the material was self-cleaning and self-repairing.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Inuyasha emerge from the den area a moment later, golden eyes darkening slightly with a kind of nervous desire when he laid eyes upon Sesshomaru’s unclothed body. Then, noticing Sesshomaru watching him, the younger inu blushed and looked away. It seemed, no matter how many times the pup saw him without his clothes, he still had that wide-eyed, appreciative, but innocent reaction. Sesshomaru found it rather delightful and couldn’t resist the teasing smirk that curved his lips as he called out to his brother, “Do not be so reserved, my intended. You are more than welcome to look.”
His response was an uncouth, but still endearing flick of the hanyou’s middle finger. He laughed softly, glad that some things hadn’t changed and resumed pulling his clothes on.
“Oh crap!” Inuyasha suddenly cursed as heat curled low in his belly in response to the soft laugh.
“Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru questioned, concerned with the sudden panic in his baby brother’s tone of voice and scent. “What’s wrong?”
“The potion! Tamae’s potion!” he practically shouted as he scrambled to get his clothes on, not caring if they were on properly, only that he was covered. “I didn’t think about … shit! Sessh, we have to go back. We have to go back now! My heat—Damn it! I’m not ready for it!”
Quickly understanding what had the pup in such a frenzy, Sesshomaru swiftly finished putting on his own clothes and then strode to his submissive’s side, helping him get his clothes on in the proper order and stopping him when he tried to put his hakama on inside out.
When he was finally fully dressed, Inuyasha rushed for the tunnel that led out of the hot spring cavern, only to crash into Sesshomaru, who had moved to block his way. Panic still coursing through him in heavy waves, Inuyasha tried to duck around the older inu, but instead, found his back plastered to Sesshomaru’s solid chest, an arm like an iron band around his midsection. He struggled, the prospect of facing his heat while he still wasn’t ready clouding his mind to all but the need to get that damn potion and down it as quickly as possible. The sting in the back of his neck didn’t register until Sesshomaru growled against his skin and shook his head back and forth a few times, his fangs buried on either side of the younger inu’s spine just below his hairline dragging him along in the vigorous motion.
Inuyasha whined loudly, not quite ready to give up the struggle to get free, but another, deeper rumbling growl from his alpha vibrated through his bones and he went still, ears swiveling back and then flattening down into his hair in submission.
Continuing to growl, Sesshomaru held his sibling in that position until his heavy breathing had evened out and the panic had diminished, though it didn’t fade entirely. Then he slowly pulled his mouth away, gently extracting his fangs from Inuyasha’s neck and licking away the trickles of blood leaking from the slight lacerations on the recently abused flesh. The hanyou whimpered, tension thrumming in every muscle, but didn’t attempt to escape again.
“Please, Sessh,” Inuyasha whispered, eyes wet with tears that he refused to allow to fall, “I don’t wanna go into heat again. N-Not yet. Please. It’s too soon.”
“I know, little one,” Sesshomaru soothed him with a soft kiss to the back of his neck, over the healing bite mark. “Calm down.” Then, resting his chin on the younger inu’s shoulder, he gripped his hand and brought his wrist with the engagement gift up to his mouth, kissing just below it on the inside of Inuyasha’s forearm. “I will fly us back to the palace. Tamae’s potion will not wear off with a few minutes’, or even a few hours’ difference in the time you take it every morning.”
“But Sessh, I can … I can feel it,” the younger inu protested, whimpering miserably.
Sesshomaru raised a skeptical brow, then sniffed at the hanyou, pushing his nose into his hair and then slowly skimming the skin of his neck, inhaling deeply and carefully. He weighed the scent in his mind, comparing it with the strong, sweet heat scent from his first rutting with the pup as he gradually moved lower. Shoulder blades, down his spine, lower back …
Inuyasha squeaked when he realized the daiyoukai’s nose was practically at his ass, sniffing intently. And he couldn’t go anywhere, the band of hardened arm muscle barring his way. “S-S-Sesshomaru!” He remembered all too well the feeling of his sibling’s tongue in his asshole, and the coil of heat in his belly intensified even as the memory was overlaid with other, far less pleasant memories.
Then Sesshomaru resumed standing, his lips arched in a secretive kind of smile as his intended trembled impotently in his embrace, oblivious to his mirth. “You are not going into heat again, ototo. If you were, I would be able to smell it.”
“B-But—”
“Are you erect?”
Blinking dumbly, Inuyasha’s gaze dropped down to the front of his hakama. His very normal-looking hakama. There wasn’t even the beginnings of a bulge there. He reached down uncertainly, ignoring Sesshomaru’s badly stifled snicker as he felt at his crotch and his clearly still limp member. “Then … why?”
“Have you not yet realized it?”
Inuyasha bristled at the condescending tone, but forgot about his indignation a moment later when Sesshomaru’s lips brushed his sensitive ear. He shuddered, his breathing getting just a little bit faster, then catching when he felt the demon lord’s hot tongue against the base of it. “N-nnn … Sessh, n-no …” he groaned, voice breathy.
“You want me,” Sesshomaru murmured, lapping once more at the cute little appendage under his lips before backing off. “What you’re feeling is not your heat. It is your desire for me. Tamae’s potion cannot suppress that when you are feeling it so strongly.”
Inuyasha half opened his mouth to object—after all, besides when he was in heat he’d never felt that burning in his belly so strongly before, not without a lot more provocation—then stopped, and quietly closed it again. Whatever he might say, it rang true. After all, only last night he had acknowledged to himself that he was in love with the smug bastard. Still, he was relieved, and he finally relaxed, leaning against his sibling’s solid form at his back. Fricken stupid, powerful dog demon made a good wall—probably didn’t even feel any type of strain holding him up like that.
“Can we head back?” he finally asked. The initial panic may have gone, but there was still an urgency inside him. He didn’t want to get anywhere close to having Tamae’s potion wear off.
“Of course, ototo, but—”
“Please, Sessh … I just wanna go home.” When the daiyoukai made no answer, Inuyasha twisted around to face the elder inu, head tilted at the stunned look on his face. “What? What’s wrong?” Then slowly, the stunned expression became one of immense pleasure and pride, and Inuyasha stepped back, confused. “Sessh, are … are you all right?”
“That was the first time,” the demon lord finally said, voice barely more than a whisper.
“Nani? First time for what?”
“You called our father’s palace home.”
“Yeah … so? That’s what it is, innit?”
“Yes. Yes it is,” Sesshomaru replied, bending to peck the puzzled hanyou on the lips.
Inuyasha recoiled at the sudden movement toward his face, but not far enough to discourage the demon lord from kissing him. He flushed in embarrassment for his reaction as much as for the kiss itself and jerked his head away, grumbling out peevishly, “Warn me when you’re gonna do that.”
One corner of his lips twitching upward, Sesshomaru followed the motion and captured those petal soft lips in a second, longer-lasting kiss. He pressed his hand into the small of the younger inu’s back, pulling their bodies flush together, then suddenly hooked his arm lower—right below Inuyasha’s pert bottom—and hoisted him upward, swallowing the small yelp of surprise as Inuyasha found himself quite unexpectedly in a higher position than his sibling. Then Sesshomaru let his youki flow around them and began to float them out of the maze of caverns and out of the mountain itself, delighting in the moist tongue that touched his lips as Inuyasha took advantage of his higher position to take temporary control. Sesshomaru allowed it—relished in it, really—and parted his lips, nipping lightly at the appendage as it passed between his teeth.
By the time they came within view of the western palace, Sesshomaru had taken over once more, though he was careful to keep himself in check. As boldly as the hanyou acted in kissing him and allowing himself to be kissed in such a way, he knew there was still that residual fear inside him, could see it in the eyes that stayed open, watching him with the clear purpose of reminding himself with whom he had engaged in such intimacies.
Then Inuyasha began to squirm, no doubt remembering his still full bladder, and Sesshomaru chuckled into his mouth and stroked along the underside of the hanyou’s tongue before withdrawing to a gasp and a breathy whine.
“S-Sessh, I gotta—I really gotta pee! Let me down!”
Sesshomaru considered refusing, just to tease the frantic little half demon, but decided it was not the time for that. He didn’t want to seem cruel and, even if his intentions were anything but, he knew Inuyasha may take it that way with the insecure and vulnerable state of his emotions. Perhaps someday. When Inuyasha could accept that dominant part of him, that part that needed to dominate in nearly every aspect of his submissive’s life at least once—not because he was insecure in his place as alpha and needed proof of it, but simply because he could.
Without a word, he quickly descended, the younger inu practically leaping from his arms when they were at treetop level and landing with easy grace on the forest floor. Sesshomaru’s lips curved upward as he watched him dash into the nearby bushes. He noted how Inuyasha stopped just on the other side, just far enough away and just concealed enough that Sesshomaru wouldn’t be able to see anything, but close enough that they could still see each other’s faces, could still talk without having to really raise their voices if they were so inclined. He wondered if the younger inu was aware of it.
Inuyasha fumbled with the ties to his hakama, cursing himself for actually forgetting that he had needed to take a piss, that he had wanted to walk out of the mountain and not be carried, and all because Sesshomaru had kissed him. Twice, his inner self reminded him unhelpfully. And damn were those kisses good. He hadn’t noticed how hollow he'd felt inside until he’d finally breached that distance, how starved for touch—intimate touch—he’d been. He wanted that closeness. Kami-sama, did he want it. He knew he was still a long way from being able to accept having sex again, a long way from the acceptance he would need as the time for coming off Tamae’s potion drew nearer, but for the first time in a long while, he felt whole. He didn’t feel so raw. So out of control. He was … He was all right. He knew of no other way to think of it, because he was still damaged, still unclean, but it was definitely getting better—slowly, but surely.
Relief flooded through him when, at last, he was able to release the fluid trapped in his bladder. It splashed noisily onto the forest floor, and he glanced to the side where his older sibling was standing patiently, eyes scanning the surrounding forestry, and flushed when he realized Sesshomaru may not be able to see anything, but he was certainly close enough to hear it and, perhaps worse, smell it even if he was downwind from his elder brother. Logically, he knew it was natural and not something he should feel self-conscious about, but sometimes—more times than he would like—logic and emotion just did not want to coincide.
A moment later, all thoughts of embarrassment fled when he felt eyes on him—not the familiar golden eyes of his sibling, but a gaze alien and heavy. He whipped around in time to see something dart off into the trees, a dark shape that had his hair standing on end and a spike of fear lancing through his chest.
In an instant, Sesshomaru was beside him, his parasitic youkai whipping out and wrapping around Inuyasha as if to hide him away, pulling him back against the snarling demon lord’s chest protectively. A yelp escaped the hanyou when, with a lurch and whoosh of rushing wind, they were suddenly airborne, floating some distance above the tops of the trees. Though he couldn’t move, wrapped up as he was, he scanned what he could see of the ground, eyes frantically searching through the trees and the shadows they cast in the light of morning for the first thought that had struck him when he glimpsed that movement so close to him—the slavers. The slavers had found him. They’d come to take him back. Even now, even as he saw nothing—no movement, no demons, animals, humans, or anything—he shook and searched and expected them to appear, to snatch him away from the happiness he had only just begun to feel again.
Sesshomaru felt every tremor that passed through his baby brother’s body, felt every lance of fear resonating from the hanyou in his very own chest, but could not spare the focus it would take to calm him. He had acted on instinct. Sensing fear from his intended, he’d snatched him up and away and now he cursed, wishing he had had the presence of mind to seek out the scent of the intruder first. The dew of morning was particularly thick and, more than that, it had rained at some point during the night, leaving everything soaked with water. It was unlikely he’d be able to pick up the scent from the muddled mess of the wet and muddy forest floor now.
Frustrated, he sent his youki out in a heavy, dominating pulse of power, a warning and threat all in one. Birds took flight and forest creatures cowered in their dens and hidey holes. A wild cat yowled in alarm and a herd of deer grazing in a clearing nearby startled into a gallop. He could even feel the demons in the village below the palace recoiling from his enraged youki and the guards stationed along the outer wall shifting their attention his way, alert for oncoming danger.
He recognized the youki below him before he saw the movement and, eyes narrowed, he began to float back toward the ground. What was Suzu doing so far away from the palace? He looked terrible, as if he’d been out all night without an ounce of rest. Not that the former assassin couldn’t handle a night of no rest, Sesshomaru was just accustomed to seeing him in better spirits, not looking quite so … bedraggled. Something must have happened while he and Inuyasha were away.
“Master,” Suzu greeted wearily, not bothering to hide the worry in his eyes.
Sesshomaru’s brows shot up. Whatever had happened must be serious for Suzu to greet him like that. “Report, Suzu.”
“Lady Kumiko escaped, along with her mate. I don’t know how. When the shift change came early this morning, the soldiers sent down to take over found the two on duty dead, their throats slashed, presumably by the former Lady’s claws and another who had been making rounds … dismembered. There was also an … incident earlier in the night. I do not know if they are related, though.”
“Incident?” Sesshomaru repeated, tone demanding an explanation.
Suzu glanced meaningfully at the inu hanyou trembling in his Lord’s grasp. “It might be better to speak on that matter later.”
The demon lord glanced down and began to emit a soothing rumble from deep in his chest, consciously calming his youki and wrapping it protectively around his intended mate. Frightened golden eyes peered up at him, but he was gratified to see the panic in them wasn’t as all-consuming as it had been on previous occasions. Sesshomaru nuzzled his cheek, and then flicked out his tongue a few times, offering wordless comfort since he wasn’t sure if his sibling was as unaware during this panic attack as he’d been during others.
Inuyasha whined softly in response, returned the gentle licks with a tiny, puppy-ish lap at the corner of Sesshomaru’s mouth, then pushed his head up under the daiyoukai’s chin and turned his face into the elder inu’s neck.
“Return to the palace, Suzu. Botanmaru and his mate are likely long gone. Pass on my orders to the royal sketch artist to create several copies of the former Lord and Lady’s likenesses that are to be sent to every guardhouse throughout the kingdom along with a substantial reward for their capture.” He paused and pressed his lips together as he considered whether or not it was worth it to only put a reward on their capture and not simply offer a reward for their heads. Giving second chances really was not in his nature. He did so very rarely. And he never gave third chances. Not for the kind of blatant contempt they’d shown his submissive and their clear intentions to cause him harm if they were ever given the chance. He only worried how Inuyasha might react to his decision if he were to order them killed on sight. The young inu hanyou truly was too soft sometimes.
“They are a threat to you and your brother, Lord,” Suzu said quietly, understanding the turmoil in the demon lord’s gaze. “More to Lord Inuyasha than to yourself. And I am convinced they were released from their cells. By whom and for what reason, I know not, but given how they’ve been able to avoid me with my extensive years of training … it does not bode well.”
Breathing in deeply through his nose, Sesshomaru nodded. “Very well. The former Lord Botanmaru and the former Lady Kumiko are to be killed on sight. You may set whatever amount you deem acceptable as the reward for bringing their heads to me. I want the soldiers of the palace all on high alert. Also, apprise Sasaki and his mates of the current situation. They may have methods of tracking our escaped prisoners. If not, they can at least lend the palace extra protection and another layer of vigilance.”
“Understood, Lord.”
Shifting Inuyasha into a more comfortable position, Sesshomaru wrapped his youki around them, preparing to take off. “And Suzu,” he said, voice solemn, golden eyes hard and fierce with the need to protect what had come to mean so much to him.
“Yes, my Lord?”
“Call in those of your men who are not currently tracking the members of Michio’s band. I fear the escape of Lord Botanmaru and his mate is only the opening move in whatever game our opponent is playing. Whoever that opponent may be, let’s make certain we have the pieces in place to counter it.”
************************************************************************************************************
Definition of Terms
Joushou Ryuu Gekidan - The Rising Dragon Theater Company
Taishou - general
Sonogo Damare - then shut up
Kon Ban Wa - good evening
Hime - princess
Manzo - Ten thousand-fold-strong third son
Renzo - third link or third son
Tomeo - cautious man
Min-Jee - brightness and wisdom
Kuen - the first
Kannon - a form of the name Kuan-yin, a Chinese deity of mercy
Kou - happiness, light, peace
Akifumi - bright history
A/N: Okay, so here's the next chapter (I know, finally), and I hope to be able to put out chapters a lot more quickly than this one came. It's been ... what? Almost a whole year?? Anyway, so I'm back to writing, but I'm still sick, so the chapters, though they'll be coming faster than the last one, it likely still won't be fast. If that makes sense. I love you all and am soooo grateful for all the reviews and support I've received during this rough time. This chapter is for you guys :') cause you're the best!
Okay, I've decided to start an e-mail list for A Heat to Overcome since I decided to do one for Punish Me, my Harry Potter fic, a while back and it seems to be doing well so far. Therefore, if you would like to be added to the e-mail list to be alerted for updates to this fanfic, either let me know in a review with your e-mail address or you can message me privately at lyran1017@gmail.com. Thanks all!!
And remember, all review replies will now be in the forum at: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/55707-a-heat-to-overcome/
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A Heat to Overcome