Stripes by AbbyDarkStar

Stripes

This is my first Sess/Kags fic. It was borne out of many a lovely night spent reading on Dokuga. This story is sort of like a home, I took the structure and reorganized, readjusted and reshaped. I added, subtracted and edited. I stared at it, read and reread until I would smile without a correction, though I do not doubt it is still laden with errors. I offer it to you, the voracious reader and the fic writers.  

At this time, this is a one shot, but if I get inspired I might write more. I apologize for the multiple upload, each time I have uploaded, the format is just a wall of text, despite following instructions.

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There always seemed to be an inordinate amount of walking in feudal Japan. A repetition of scenery and step, step, step. It left a lot of time for thinking. For Kagome, the effort of silence out of respect for her traveling companion often led to a build up, and she often burst with questions. This day was no different than the day before.  

“So how does that work?” She asked, her gaze on the ground as she held a shrub out of her path.   If she had been staring at him she’d have seen his slightest pause, an off guard hesitation.

“Priestess?”  

Flush with embarrassment she raised her gaze from the earth to his.   “You said your stripes were sensitive, right?” She questioned. It had come up in a discussion days before about her observations of demon kind, the physical markers of a noble demon and their properties.  

“Hn.” He was unaware if she was seeking a weakness from her line of questioning or some other weird human curiosity.  

“If they are sensitive, how does that work with clothes? Like, are you sensitive everywhere or is it just certain spots like,“ she hadn’t even noticed he had completely stopped as she continued in thoughts and forward momentum, “your hips ,” after a few moments of silence, she realized he wasn't following and turned to face him.   

She was unaware that with the sun behind her, her lithe body was outlined in all its glory, leaving little to the imagination in regards to her shape. What she did know is that she cast a shadow on his face from her position on the higher sloped ground. She squinted to see his expression.  

“No, Kagome,” he breathed, coming out as a low growl. He was startled by his own reaction and her thinking so at odds to the sensual visual feast that her silhouette offered.  

They  had gotten separated from the main group for almost a moon, and he had discovered a lot about the priestess in that time. She was most grumpy in the mornings. She preferred to have a breeze while she slept. And she would never skip a bath if it presented itself.  

Yet despite the time, he was still surprised by this human. She could still catch him off guard and it was fascinating. It was becoming the type of fascinating that could prove dangerous. His amusement had lengthened their journey- on purpose. He could have led them to the main group if he had chosen to do so within the first day. Instead, what he decided to do was investigate the alarming creature that was Kagome. It  was unthinkable that there was a creature in his world that he didn’t completely understand and could anticipate their actions. It defied reasoning.  

Kagome, as the silence lengthened, mistook his response for lack of knowledge when it came to human anatomical terms. Her hands slid from her sides to her hips, rubbing the flesh, almost patting to her inner thighs.   “You know, right here, your hips, thighs.”  

The sight of her rubbing her flesh, silhouetted by the sun, his fascination turned immediately fatal. He was upon her in a breath, both his hands on hers, stilling their movements. Her fingers curled over her palms, and his much larger digits brushed between her legs.  She sighed as they gently swept the crest of her nethers , and when repeated, her sigh grew to the barest of moans.  

Sesshomaru’s  thoughts were furious. This was shameful. This was degradation. This was unworthy of his blood. And...he did not care, he brought one hand to the back of her neck, bringing his mouth to hers.   His kiss caught her off guard, though not unwelcome, just abrupt, like a sudden rain shower. He mistook her surprise for reticence and began to withdraw.  

“NO!” Her free hand came up to grasp his sleeve. She blushed, staring at his remaining hand from where it rested at her outer thigh, covering hers. He was warm. She didn’t expect him to be warm, to be soft, to be gentle. His actions were so sudden, but like a rain shower, refreshing.She raised her eyes to his, the crimson color suffusing color across her cheek capillaries . She gulped, tenaciously sticking to her train of thought.

“I mean, if your stripes are sensitive, how do you stand it on your body if there’s a place where clothing touches all the time? Doesn’t it grate at you?”   Her mouth snapped shut as it occurred to her the suddenly very personal line of thinking  her questioning had taken, especially in light of their kiss. Her heart ratcheted through the roof as her anxiety spiked harder.  

He tilted his head. Absolutely fascinating. “No, priestess. Think of it thus,” his hands began to move. They stroked almost imperceptibly over her rib cage and down her arms, “some areas on your body are used to contact,” his hands paused on her elbows, tapping softly, bring her attention to their slightly tougher texture, “whereas other places,” swiftly his hands moved to her upper rib cage, barely caressing the underswell of her breast, “are much more sensitive.”  

Her scent blossomed from shyness to carnal understanding. “So a kiss on your cheek compared to a kiss on your neck?” She couldn’t help herself.  She squirmed slightly, feeling her body grow damp in response to his words and touch.

He stilled her with a growl. “Would be welcome if given,” He replied, his breath hovering over her neck, his tone almost warm.  

She pulled herself away slightly, to stare him in the eye. It would do her no good to fall prey to her inexperienced hormones. She had known too many canine demons to know that if she didn’t display her dominance now, she would lose a chance to be respected as an equal rather than an obsession.  She could see by a slight nod that Sesshomaru offered her that he ascertained her behavior and begrudgingly offered his respect, by staring back without any show of challenge.  

“Even by me?” She asked.  

They had been traveling together alone for awhile now. After the end of third week she guessed why it was taking the daiyoukai so long to find the whole group. He said a lot in his silence, when he merely continued walking. When he did speak, his questions were always provoking, and she found herself learning about herself in many ways she had never known. What she had learned about him in return was astounding. She didn’t doubt he had zero inclination of why he was fascinated by her, or even how he hadn’t bothered to hide his curiosity. Or what might be between them. Thanks to the dog demons she did know, she also knew that until he fully matured by taking a mate, his baser beast would lead his decisions emotionally.  As Inuyasha proved daily-if a immature half dog demon was stunted in the feelings department, then a full demon was undoubtedly even more emotionally constipated.  

His confusion over his feelings for this human were complicated. Unlike Rin, his protection was not born out of honor. This was deeper, darker, bestial. It was a fascination that was going to ruin him. Then again, he took a quick appraisal of the priestess. It could also permanently cement his house’s everlasting ascendancy in demon society. His hands tightened slightly on her body, and he knew she was waiting on him to respond. So he said the only thing reasonable.  

“Only by you.”