Supreme Conquest
By Danyealle
(MMF/FanFiction/Angst/Romance/)
Chapter 17
The next morning both Sesshomaru and Togaou stayed in bed much longer than they usually did or planned to. Kagome was the reason for it. She was still soundly asleep and, because she was so tired, neither had the heart to wake her. Neither had anything all that pressing to attend to so it wasn’t a big hardship to allow her to sleep as long as she wanted to.
From Sesshomaru’s end, it was more than just the magnanimous decision to allow her to sleep because she was tired. Sometime in the middle of the night, she had turned on her side. Rather than curl up to his father as she normally did, she had snuggled up him. Currently, she was lying on her side with an arm draped over his chest and her head resting on his shoulder. Normally, this was not something he would have allowed but, because of the position she held in his life, he said nothing. Secretly though, he liked how it felt to have her pressed to him in such an intimate way. It was as though a warm fire had been lit deep in his belly and the warmth spread throughout his body, making him tingle in a most pleasant way. He wasn’t wanting to end the experience by waking her before she was ready to. But, with that, came the thought that he was going to have to do something to encourage her to do this more often. Perhaps, in this case, the simplest way would be the best: telling her he liked it and that he wanted her to do it more often. But that wasn’t something he was used to doing or entirely comfortable with. It was something he was going to have to think about before he decided what course of action to take.
Lying on his side, spooned up against her back, Togaou was awake as well. Though he liked the feeling of once more being pressed so closely to her, his mind was on more pressing matters: he had to take a leak in the worst way! Not only that, but he had a case of morning wood that would have done any self-respecting teenage male proud. Now he had to decide what to do. Yes, he wanted to crawl out o bed and go take care of the pressing issue but he was afraid of waking her. But, on the other hand, he most certainly didn’t want her to wake feeling his hard-on from hell pressing against her backside. With an internal deep breath, he tried to figure out just how he should deal with the whole situation.
Finally, it was Kagome herself who made the decision for him. Squirming around a bit in her sleep, that wonderful ass of hers connected with his belly, making his overly full bladder scream. He was certain that if it happened one more time, he would experience an accident that hadn’t happened to him since he was a small pup. That was not going to happen! He knew that Sesshomaru was awake so he was going to attempt to work with the whole thing so she didn’t wake.
Saying his eldest pup’s name quietly, he waited until he looked at him then said, “Pull her a bit closer to you and try to keep her from getting jostled too much. I have to go attend to something and don’t want her to wake when I get out of bed.”
Nodding, Sesshomaru held her a bit tighter to him so she didn’t get moved around too much as his father slipped out of bed. Inwardly, he was grinning. While his sire was out of the bed, the younger inu took the opportunity to gently, so he didn’t rouse her, shift around onto his side. Once he was in the position he wanted and was comfortable, he pulled her a bit closer to his chest. As he had anticipated and wanted, she shifted around a bit to get comfortable but didn’t wake. In doing that, she had tucked her head under his chin, head resting on his upper chest, one hand curled under her chin. Quickly, her breathing deepened to what it had been before he had shifted around. Pleased, he slipped one arm around her back, holding her loosely. It was his hope that when she woke and figured out who it was that she was curled up to and being held by she wouldn’t tense up too much then it might improve his standing with her.
When Togaou came back in and saw the position his miko was in he smirked internally. As sound asleep as she was there was no way she had shifted into that position on her own, which meant that Sesshomaru had maneuvered her into it. A great sign. No, he was sure that all this possessiveness didn’t come from any feelings he had developed for her, but he was certain that it was at least a step towards developing such things. It was almost impossible to repeatedly be close and be affectionate with a being then not develop feelings for them over time. That is what he was pushing for.
Without a word about the change of positions, he gently slipped back into bed and once more spooned up to her back, taking care not to wake her. After finding a position he favored, he slipped an arm around her waist and shut his eyes.
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About an hour or so later, Kagome finally swam out of the depths to the waking world. First thing she noticed was bodies pressed to her on either side then two arms draped over her. Then she noticed that she was curled up to a chest. Immediately, she knew who it was without looking: Sesshomaru. Not only was he not as big as his father was but he smelled differently. Unlike what would have happened just a few days ago, she didn’t panic or even stiffen up a bit. To an extent, she was used to this by now. No, she didn’t really trust the younger daiyoukai that much but she was certain that he wouldn’t hurt her, especially when she was asleep.
Stirring around a bit, she opened her eyes then stretched. “Good morning,” she said to both then yawned again.
“Good morning my dear,” Togaou said then gave her shoulder a soft kiss.
“Good morning Kagome,” Sesshomaru told her softly, giving her a bit of a squeeze.
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After a leisurely breakfast, Sesshomaru headed towards his study to do some work while the other three headed down to mingle with court. Right after lunch, or so they had planned, they were going to meet up in the practice are so Togaou could work a bit with Inuyasha on how to use his sword. At that time, the younger daiyoukai planned to persuade the miko to let him assist her in improving her archery skills.
After settling down and attending to what was needed, he called in one of his most trusted generals. Settling back, he began to question him to see if he had heard of a being named Naraku. When the inu shook his head, Sesshomaru instructed him to see if he could find out if there was such a being then, if there was, what he could find out about him. Once that assignment was imparted, he moved on to the next one. What he wanted was for him to send out a few small squads of men to see if they could find out information as to the whereabouts of jewel shards and as to who may be collecting them. No, he didn’t want them hunting the gem pieces, just garnering information they could find about them so when they started traveling they would have a jumping off place as to where to start looking.
Once he dismissed him, the young inu began to get to work with a bit more speed than he usually did. It was his goal to spend time with the miko and he planned to attain it. So, he would be having the work that demanded his attention done by then. But, to accomplish it, he was going to have to work a bit faster than he normally did. What was on the desk before him weren’t things that could be ignored or put off, it required him attending to it so he would do that and not shirk his duty.
With a determined look and jaw firmly set, he began to plow through the small mountain of paperwork.
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Once both Inuyasha and Kagome were fully awake and ready to face the day, Togaou had them join him as he went to mingle with some members of court. It was his intent to talk to those few he had in mind to become a surrogate for Kagome and whittle it down to one. When that had been accomplished, he would arrange to meet them alone later that night and lay out his proposal. If it went well and they accepted, then the following day he would introduce Kagome to them in a more personal way and let her get to know them a little better. Before they left the Fortress on their quest he hoped to have an answer from her as to whether or not she would accept them as her surrogate family.
Though it was his nature to dive in head first and finish what he wanted to accomplish quickly, he kept a tight rein on it. Not only was this something delicate that needed to be handled with a great deal of care and patience, but he had made Inuyasha the promise that he would work with him that afternoon on his swordsmanship. That, to him, took precedence over a matter that could be put off. So he was content to just figure out whom he wanted and would talk to them later that night.
By the time lunch rolled around, the daiyoukai thought he had a good candidate: one of his distant cousins, Lord Uudai. They were both about the same age and knew each other well, having dealt with each other many times in the past. By this time, Uudai and his mate’s pups were all grown and had mates of their own so the couple was alone, spending much of their time at the Fortress to alleviate the boredom.
From what Togaou had observed in the past, both inus were calm, easy going beings who had been wonderful parents. That’s what he wanted for his miko.
As far as he was concerned, they were the perfect choice. Pulling the minor inu lord aside, he set up a meeting with him, alone, later that night to discuss it. Once that was accomplished, he snagged Inuyasha and Kagome then headed to find some lunch.
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Once the three were fortified with a good meal then a bit of a rest they went down to one of the open courtyards near the weapons storehouse so Togaou could work with Inuyasha a bit. Normally, females didn’t frequent this area, other than the few that were guards or in the army. It was especially rare to see any member associated with court there. But Togaou thought Kagome to be a special case. Really, because of what her quest was, she was a warrior in training of sorts. No, he didn’t expect her to learn swordplay but, by watching, she may well pick up something that she could use later on if needed.
Once she settled into a comfortable chair at the edge of the practice field, the older inu produced two wooden practice katanas for them to use before they moved up to the use of live steel. It was his intent to determine just how much his pup knew about technique before they went too far.
Quickly, he learned that his pup had a very good grasp of the basics. This was good and meant that they could move on to other things.
…kst…kst…kst…kst…
Sesshomaru was just putting the finishing touches on the last of the paperwork when he heard his father and Inuyasha starting to work on the practice field. Hurrying up, he finished what he was doing then set out to join them. Quickly, he sent one of the servants off to fetch the miko’s bow then headed off to the armory to grab the long bow he always had favored. Once he had everything he needed, he made his way to where they were. After sitting everything on the archery range, he went to grab the miko.
Walking up behind her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, gently so he didn’t startle her. When she looked up at him, he smirked, “I see father is doing a fairly good job of beating on Inuyasha.” From what he was seeing so far, his sire was using his half-brother as an object to beat on as he taught him a few things. It was a good thing they weren’t using blades because if they had been Inuyasha would be cut to ribbons by now.
Giggling, Kagome nodded. “Yeah, Inuyasha is getting his butt handed to him.”
Crouching down beside her, he watched the two for a couple minutes to formulate what he wanted to say and how to go about it. When he came to what he felt was the best way to broach the subject, he launched in. “Father tells me that you use a bow as a weapon.”
“Well, I try to anyway,” she admitted, looking at him.
“Do you have problems with it?” He asked, hoping she would give him an opening to work with.
“Yeah, I’m not real good with it yet.” She told him with a bit of a sheepish grin. “Before I was pulled through the well the first time I had never picked one up. After that, my ‘training’ consisted of Inuyasha sticking a bow in my hands and telling me Kikyo was a master archer. Since then I’ve kinda’ been doing it on my own.”
That was just what he had hoped for and gave him the perfect opportunity. “If you like, I can assist you a bit. I’m well acquainted with the bow.”
“Really?” She asked, eyes widening a bit. He was really the first being other than Kaede that had offered to help her improve.
“Of course,” he told her, standing, then offered her his hand. “Come. I took the liberty of bringing your bow with me.”
Taking his hand, she stood. “OK. Just no yelling at me if I screw up.”
“You have my word I won’t,” he assured her. Then he steered her over to the archery range.
Before working with anything, the first thing he needed to assess was what she could do. Standing behind her, he head her fire an arrow at one of the targets so he could evaluate what needed to be worked on. With a critical eye, he watched her form, how she held the bow and a few other things. Once she fired the arrow, he did notice that she seemed to have a natural talent for it. Though she did miss the bull’s eye, it wasn’t by much. Nodding his approval, he praised, “You’re very good Kagome. Very accurate for not having used it for long.”
“Thanks!” She said, flashing him a winning smile.
Stepping up close behind her, he gently began to correct a few things with her form and how she held the bow.
Though she appreciated the help and really wanted to learn how to improve her skills, she was having problems concentrating because of his close proximity to her. No, she wasn’t scared or nervous the way she had been. In fact, she was enjoying the way he touched her. OK, she was used to him touching her in some ways and sleeping with him but this felt different. To her, it seemed to be more casual and intimate than what he had done up to that point. It actually made her body tingle in a very pleasant way and brought a light blush to her cheeks.
Noticing that she seemed to be reacting oddly to his touch, he leaned down and asked quietly, “Are you alright? You aren’t still worried I may harm you, are you? I will do nothing to you Kagome. You have my word on that.”
“I know, it’s not that,” she whispered, blushing a bit harder.
A bit confused, he tried to figure out what she may well be talking about. Then it hit him out of the blue: she was reacting to the way he was touching her, not fear. Really, other than when in bed and when he was competing with his father for her attention, he didn’t lay his hands on her. This was also in a very close proximity to her in a way that he hadn’t done outside of the bed. From what he was feeling from her, it seemed, to him anyway, that she like it and that was where the reaction was coming from. Smirking because he knew she couldn’t see it, he pressed a bit tighter to her then whispered in her ear, “Do you enjoy me touching you like this?”
“Yes,” she admitted, voice so soft that it was almost imperceptible.
“I will remember that,” he told her and filed it away in the section of his mind that was now reserved for things to do with her. Nuzzling her head gently with his, he told her, keeping in mind what his father had said about compliments, “I really like the way you smell.”
Blushing, Kagome really wasn’t sure what to make of that. Over her life she had been complimented on many things but never the way she smelled. However, she remembered what she thought about the way Togaou smelled and decided that it might not be all that odd after all. One the heels of that came the admission to herself that he smelled pretty good himself. Though it was a similar smell to his father’s, it was different enough to make it uniquely his own. “Thanks. You smell pretty good yourself.”
Smirking bigger, he was about to reply when both their attentions were drawn by a loud yelp of pain from Togaou. It appeared that the older inu had been paying attention to the both of them more than what he was doing with Inuyasha. As one would expect someone to do, Inuyasha had taken advantage of the lapse and walloped his father a good one right upside the head.
Watching his sire rub his head and compliment the boy for a good shot, Sesshomaru chuckled internally. Hearing Kagome giggle a bit, he focused back on her. “I think father was just reminded why one should always pay attention to their opponent.” When he heard he giggle again, he gave her shoulder a bit of an affectionate squeeze. “Let’s get back to what we were doing, shall we?”
Within a half an hours time, she actually had improved and was a bit more accurate than she had been before she started thanks to some of the help and suggestions he had given her. From his end, he was a bit startled by how well she did, as well as the ease with which she followed his instructions. The latter he chalked up to the fact he consciously tried to work with her rather than instruct in his normal cold, demanding way. It seemed that she responded to that and it was something he would remember. As for the former, he was certain that had more to do with her natural ability than anything he had done.
“You’ve done very well Kagome. I’m pleased,” he told her with a nod.
“Thanks. You’re a really good teacher,” she told him with a smile.
“Thank you,” he said with a nod. Though he was a bit startled by that. That wasn’t something that he had ever been told before. But it felt good in a way and he liked it. But he moved on rather than dwell on it. There were other things he wanted to work on as well. Taking her bow from her, he said, “Though your bow is good and functional I’m not at all impressed with its quality. If you want to truly be good at this, we need to find you a weapon that is more suitable. I think that we can provide that for you. I’ve brought along) the one I used to train with. It’s of a far superior caliber than what you have. Though it’s a long bow, not what you’re used to, I don’t think that should make much difference once you adjust to the balance. Is that acceptable?”
“Sure,” she told him, looking at the much bigger weapon he was now holding.
Handing it to her, he imparted, “Just hold it the same way you do yours. It may feel a bit awkward because of its size, but you should adjust to it quickly.”
“OK,” she nodded then took hold of it. The second her hand closed around the grip of the weapon, she released her hold on it and let it drop with a pained cry then clutched her hand to her chest.
“Kagome!” Togaou yelled from where he was then had the wind knocked out of him by a blow to the gut from Inuyasha, who had been in mid-swing at the time and unable pull it in time to make it stop.
“Oops! Sorry dad!” Inuyasha said thenshouted over, “You OK Kagome?”
“I’m fine,” she said, rubbing her hand a bit.
“You sure?” Togaou asked, voice having a bit of a winded quality to it, rubbing his gut.
“I’m sure,” she assured him.
Taking her hand, Sesshomaru looked at it. Though it was a lot redder than normal, it appeared to be uninjured. “What happened?”
“It burnt me,” she explained. “Not bad but it was certainly hot enough to get my attention.”
Immediately, what had happened clicked and he gave himself a mental slap upside the head. “I should have known better. I apologize. I didn’t think about the fact that it was a demonic weapon and may well cause repercussions if a miko picked it up.”
“No harm done,” she told him dismissively.
“I believe we may have a couple human crafted bows in the armory. Let’s try one of those.” Then he sent one of the guards off to find one.
While he attended to that, Kagome watched Togaou and Inuyasha sparring, giggling a bit. To her, it appeared the older inu was a bit off his game after that last blow.
Standing by her, Sesshomaru smirked a bit. When she felt him by her she said, “I think Togaou needs to worry more about what Inuyasha might do to him rather than worry about me.”
“Indeed,” Sesshomaru smirked. “But he’s concerned about you. I think he’s worried I may misstep and hurt you in some way, either intentionally or not.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. So he doesn’t need to worry,” she said distractedly. “If you were going to do that you would have done so by now.”
Internally, Sesshomaru gave a bit of a smug cheer because that statement told him that he was indeed making progress with her. Now he had to build on it. “You’re right, I won’t. I’m sure, in the future, I and father both will make missteps that will cause you pain in some way, like what just happened with the bow, but it won’t be intentional, I assure you.”
Looking at him over her shoulder, she smiled. “Thanks. I kinda’ already knew that but it’s a bit reassuring to hear you tell me.” Yes, she knew by this point he wouldn’t harm her or try to again, he had too much to gain by their mating to do so, but it helped to hear him admit that to her. No, she didn’t fully trust him and he had a long ways to go before that would come to pass, but what he was doing was indeed helping that a great deal and was a step in the right direction.
What she had just said was another thing that he filed away for future use. But he was pleased to know that he was making progress in the correct direction. By that time, the head of the armory was there with an ancient looking samurais bow. Taking it, Sesshomaru nodded to him then took the bow and focused back on Kagome. “Let’s try this one. It’s not the greatest but it’s a far sight better than what you are using. If it’s to your liking then well see what we can procure for you.”
“Alright,” she nodded then took it from him. From the moment her hand wrapped around the grip, it felt odd to her. It was as though the bow came alive in her hand. Then it seemed to send tingles throughout her whole body. Though the sensation was odd it didn’t frighten her. Instead, it was comforting in some way and it felt ‘right’, for lack of a better term. It was as though it belonged with her, meant to be hers. But, she didn’t say anything to him about what she was feeling.
Taking his place behind her once more, he gently walked her though the proper stance and way to hold the weapon then waited to see what she could do with it.
Sighting the target, she concentrated then chanted what she usually did before letting an arrow fly, “Hit the mark!” This was half mantra and half a normal request from any being listening for help. But this time it really seemed to work. Right after she uttered those simple words, the bow seemed to throb in her hand and the arrow come alive under her touch. Though startled by what she felt, she didn’t stop to ponder it and let the arrow fly. Unlike times before, it flew straight to the target and landed dead center in the center of the bull’s eye.
Standing behind her, Sesshomaru watched the whole thing with his brow furrowed. Something wasn’t right about this. Because she was using a different bow thatsbalance was different from what she was used to, her aim was bound to be off a bit, not more accurate. Then there was what he saw of the arrow… The other times she had fired, the arrows had a soft pink glow around them, a manifestation of her miko powers. This time however, it resembled a bright pink bolt of lightening. Blinking, he decided he wanted to see the whole thing again before he drew any kind of conclusions as to what was going on. “Try again.” He told her quietly.
Nodding, she repeated the process once more. Again, the same thing happened and the arrow landed so close to the first one that the shafts were actually touching. Grinning, she said, “I really like this bow!”
Once more, Sesshomaru couldn’t quite fathom what he was seeing. From his point of view, this didn’t make much sense and shouldn’t be happening. Clearing his throat, he said, “Indeed, it does seem to suit you well.” Looking at her, he asked, “Is there anything odd about it that you can tell? No offense intended Kagome, a mere bow should not improve your accuracy the way this has. Nor should it boost the power of your arrows in the way it seems to have done.”
“It’s a bit odd,” she conceded with a nod. Then she told him what she was feeling from it.
When she was finished, he took the bow from her to examine it. To him, it felt like any human made bow, nothing special about it. Then he handed it back to her and had her notch an arrow into it. Standing behind her, he put his hands over hers so he could see if he could feel what she had. Immediately, he could feel a bit of what she had been telling him about.
Not sure what to make of the whole thing, he tried to think of what to do. No, he didn’t think it was anything harmful, but he wanted to know more about the bow if that was possible. But it was apparent to him that the bow had claimed her as its owner. “It seems that the bow had chosen you to wield it Kagome, much the way a sword does its rightful owner.”
“Does that mean I get to keep it?” She asked, clutching it to her chest, giving him a hopeful look.
“Indeed, it does. However, I would like to have a couple people look at it to see if they can determine it’s origin and just why it seems to do what it has with you.” Changing topics, he said, “I think that’s enough for today. We’ll work a bit on it tomorrow again. Let’s retire to my study and have something to drink. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Sure, sounds good,” she said, flashing him a smile.
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