Fucking with Inuyasha was the only thing that really got him going. It had always been a pathetic way of finding entertainment, cheap, like booting Jaken, but things had recently taken a more interesting turn.
“Sesshoumaru!” The young woman didn’t bother with honorifics, a lack of respect that should have meant her death, but he turned to her, careful not to look too interested. Inuyasha was limp in his grasp, bleeding just enough to make a show of things. He wanted to piss off the wench.
An arrow flew past his ear, singing with sharp power that stirred the air beside him. He dropped his quarry, aware of the way his brother struggled to sit up after a particularly forceful blow to the gut. He allowed her to draw another arrow, watched her power pool at its tip, then quickly crowded her. She didn’t let it fly; the bitch was more bark than bite, and a little nip would hardly wound him anyhow. Once he was too close to fall victim to her ranged weapon, he leaned in, watching panic flutter across her face before she stomped it down and let indignation replace it.
Hnn, good.
He leaned in just enough to bathe himself in her scent – human, sweat, blood from scraped knees, but also a perplexing chemical mix with sweet currents that reminded him of his own poison. He waited for her to react, heard the harsh intake of breath that meant she was about to start yelling in his ear, then vanished.
He watched from above when she gasped, twirled, craned her neck trying to look behind her, and then dropped her weapon all at once – he’d show her what a mistake that was next time – and fell to his brother’s side, fussing over him.
Annoying.
But still good entertainment.
*
Riling up Inuyasha was a good way to rile up the woman, but with the addition of more mortals to their little group, he found her ire harder to focus on. She took more of a backseat role, allowing them to do the work while she lobbied arrows from a safe distance. She grit her teeth while she did it, barely saying anything at all.
Surely he could get more out of her than that.
He brushed off the desire to simply grab her and run. Being saddled with Inuyasha’s woman was not in his plans. He wanted a quick brush with tingling power and a little sass to rile him up, and then he’d be gone.
The group seemed to protect her the most, and he retreated after a measly punch to Inuyasha’s face, anger making him put a little more force than was necessary.
“Inuyasha!” He didn’t need to turn to know she’d run towards the half breed. Irritation mounted. He left before he could do something he’d regret.
It was time for a change in tactics.
*
The group moved slowly with a lot of noise, and Sesshoumaru followed at a sedate pace. Every so often, he’d let tendrils of his youki escape, trailing them over her specifically, and suppressing a chuckle when she’d whip back to glare down the path. The harder he pressed, the more her power bucked, trying to throw him off.
Finally, she spun towards him. Her friends took a moment to notice that she’d frozen, their chatter dying off as they reached for their weapons.
“Is it a shard?”
Inuyasha bounded in front of her, inhaling deeply through his open mouth and impeding Sesshoumaru’s view of her. Taking care to be silent now that they were all on high alert, he skirted the edges of the woods around them and took up position once again behind her.
She spun and Inuyasha herded her back again, ears swiveling as he tried to pick out what was setting her off.
“Is it a shard?” The monk asked.
“I just have this weird feeling,” she shuddered. “It’s not… unpleasant, but it’s strange. It feels like something is messing with me.”
His good mood soured. Messing with a human was beneath him. It wasn’t until he was halfway back to his ward that it sank in. That was exactly what he’d been doing.
Still, it pleased him that she didn’t find his aura unpleasant.
*
It was weeks until he saw them again, despite moving parallel to their group. If he truly focused, he could understand what they were saying.
“I just can’t believe he kissed me!” Kagome was crying to the demon slayer. She sounded mortified.
“Was it at least a nice kiss?”
“I don’t know! It was Hojo! He’s a nice guy but he’s so boring. And then I slapped him!”
“I always slap men when they get too handsy.”
“But Miroku is a lot tougher than Hojo, and now everyone is mad at me, or they’re calling me crazy. It was so embarrassing! And it made me so mad!”
Sesshoumaru tucked away that bit of information like a crow with a treasure. It hadn’t occurred to him that embarrassment could cause such a reaction. He did not wish to manhandle the miko as the monk did the demon slayer and discarded the notion, but the thought of an open palm and soft lips haunted his dreams, so that when the sun began to peek out over the grassy hill his group was hiding in, he felt himself forced to take action.
They slept in a loose circle. His eyes remained trained on the miko when he stepped into the threshold of their temporary domain. She was curled up beneath a shiny yellow blanket, her loose hair spilling like ink across her pillow.
“What do you want?” Inuyasha’s loud voice roused the group.
The object of his obsession yawned, and he caught how pink her lips were, flushed, like she’d been biting them in her sleep. She didn’t seem to notice what was going on around her, groaning deeply as she raised her arms and stretched back, her unbound chest jutting out provocatively beneath a thin layer of strange fabric.
She rubbed her eyes then whined. “Inuyasha? Is everything OK?”
“Just stay back Kagome!”
That made her alert. She moved to her knees, reaching for her bow, but he was already there, looming over her while his brother scrambled and shouted behind him. He had an impressive view down the subtle V of her neckline, but of course he wasn’t interested in looking there.
“Sesshoumaru?” She squeaked, suddenly alert. He let his youki run over her once more, watching when her eyes widened in sudden understanding. If he went to all this trouble and she reacted like anyone else would, he’d be horribly disappointed, so he leaned down and huffed into the curved shell of her ear.
“Pay attention, miko.”
“Wh-?”
Her exclamation was cut off by the forceful surge of his lips on hers. His tongue slid past her open lips, tracing the hard ridge of teeth while she let out a muffled noise. The heat was not unpleasant. He hummed and leaned forward, recognizing a sudden rush of interest in her scent, the fleeting smell of attraction, desire-
A stinging slap broke the spell. Purity rushed forth in her sudden fury. It was everything he’d wanted.
Tears gathered along her waterline.
“What is wrong with you men?” She snapped, springing towards the demon slayer and burying her face in the other woman’s shoulder. Everyone was gaping at him. He righted himself stiffly and wandered back the way he had come, contemplating kisses and why the fact that they worked didn’t make them the right choice.
*
He couldn’t wait even a week before he returned to her.
There was a shift in the way Inuyasha’s group reacted to him. Inuyasha still shouted, but instead of springing forward, he stayed close to the miko. Likewise, they’d stopped leaving her to the rear and now formed a tight circle around her. She eyed him warily, but her weapon was slack in her hands.
Two options presented themselves.
He could say what he needed to say here, in front of her companions, or….
He’d whisked her away in the breadth of a few seconds, taking her skyward so quickly that all he heard was a gasp and Inuyasha’s oath trailing behind them. The wind stole her shrieks, and he tried not to enjoy how her power surged against him in rebuttal to the manhandling washing him in a satisfying tingle, even as she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her nose against the skin beneath his ear.
He slowly came to a stop and waited for her trembling to cease, letting his arm fall so she would know he had no intention of restraining her. She gasped and pushed off him, not realizing that her fingers were tangled in his hair and pulling his face with her.
She was red. Stuttering. Her eyes narrowed and he waited with bated breath for the inevitable flood of power that would accompany her rage.
“Seriously? What’s wrong with you?” She screeched. Inwardly, he preened. Power flared around him. He wasn’t one to feel fear, and he definitely wouldn’t let her know that it made his heartbeat rush.
“Most would not assume to be so forward with this Sesshoumaru.”
“The Sesshoumaru I know wouldn’t behave like this!”
“You do not know me.”
“I know enough.”
He caught the hand that was waving about, and pressed his thumb soothingly into her palm, rumbling when her cheeks heated and he caught her eyes darting to his lips. If he was any weaker, he would run at the blush that brought forth a new wave of power. She was dangerous to him. Adrenaline pumped. He felt like a pup at the site of his first skirmish.
He inhaled deeply, noting her scent. She had liked the kiss, even if his method of stealing it had been wrong. Good.
“Hn, I would like you to know more.” His breath brushed across her forehead, fluttering her bangs. Slowly, so that she could knock his hand away if she wished to, he raised his hand to her face and cupped her cheek. She licked her lips. It was a small, subconscious gesture, but he approved.
“Oh?”
“If you have no complaints.”
“I have several.” She said it with a small frown, but still tugged on his hair and tipped her head, angling it for a kiss.
“Hn, good.” He complied.
***
Thanks to the Anonymous user on Tumblr who requested Kagome yelling at sesshomaru and he gets lowkey scared/horny. This was a lot of fun to write!