Sin Times Seven by tenchi no mai

Envy

This was written in response to Priestess Skye’s challenge: Seven Deadly Sins 

Theme:  Envy

Due:  Week 2

Required Word Count:  minimum 700

Actual Word Count:  986 (Story Only)

Universe: Canon – Feudal Era

Rating: MA

Warnings:  Innuendoes, Language 

Disclaimer: The characters of InuYasha are not mine, they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz Media.   Only the plot to this story is my intellectual property.  I do not make any money from the writing of this story. 

‘Italics’ = thoughts  

Envy [en-vee] a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.

Envy

Was everything in the future really as easy as Kagome made it sound? 

You didn’t have to gather wood for fires, just turn a knob and you had a way to cook.  You didn’t have to hunt and butcher food for your meals, there were markets that sold everything you could possibly want and more, with foodstuffs from foreign places as well. 

Everyone, even the girls, went to school, usually until they were in their early twenties, if Kagome was correct.  If you needed help with the subjects being taught, that was available too. 

There were conveyances that transported people great distances very quickly.  You didn’t have to walk from village to village. 

Even the issue of clothing was easier to deal with.  People went to a market and purchased what they required, complete and ready to wear.  No need to buy or barter for fabric, then find a seamstress, unless you were lucky enough to know how to sew a fine seam. 

She was jealous of the free time that the women of the future apparently had. 

Kagome knew now to play sports.  Kagome could read and write, and would read for pleasure.  Kagome didn’t have to do manual labor in the fields from dawn to dusk, like many of the women they passed on their travels. 

Sometimes Kagome talked about the jobs the people in the future worked at, but they didn’t seem backbreaking, possibly just boring.  And they didn’t work the entire day, only eight or nine hours, with breaks plus lunchtime.  Some people only worked part time while they went to school. 

She couldn’t understand why Kagome seemed to enjoy spending so much time here when she could be at home, where it seemed that life was easier, a lot easier. 

But the thing that she was most jealous of was when Kagome explained that in the future women and men were on fairly equal footing, that neither one had greater status than the other, and were free to pick who they would marry.  She had a hard time believing that there were women in politics and government.  Here women, with very few exceptions, were considered possessions, never allowed an opinion of their own.  And to not have a marriage arranged for you by your parents seemed like a very odd thing indeed. 

Sango supposed that she was lucky.  She had grown up in a village where women were expected to be strong and, if capable of doing so, taking up the demon slaying profession.  It gave her the opportunity to travel, and do important work protecting the innocent population from demons. 

But she was still envious of the freedoms and opportunities that Kagome grew up with and took for granted. 

~*~

Inuyasha watched the humans of his tachi through narrowed eyes.  Well, it was actually only one human he was trying to keep an eye on.  His miko and shard detector.  He knew that something was wrong, and had been for a while now.  He had his suspicions, but no hard facts to back them up with. 

Kagome smelled different, her scent had changed.  But she kept switching the shampoos and soaps that she used, that could be it. 

She had been acting different lately, too.  She spent more time with Shippo and Rin.  But she could just be trying to keep them out of trouble, and it did help to keep that annoying kappa from screaming all the time. 

Kagome now often rode on either Kilala or Ah-Un.  She still rode on his back occasionally, but the times she did were becoming fewer and farther in between. 

The worst thing of all was that his half-brother had saved her several times during fights with demons for the shards. This was his job, he was Kagome’s protector, not that pompous ass. 

The thought that his full youkai, human hating, half-brother had taken an interest of any kind in his Kagome tied the knot in his stomach a little tighter.  The bastard already had the fortress, an army, Tensaiga, and his fathers title.  He didn’t need anything else, especially not his miko. 

That was the reason he was concealed in a tree, stealthily watching his pack.  He was going to follow Kagome tonight when she went to the hot spring for her bath.  There was no reason for the girl to take this many baths.  Something else was going on, and he was going to find out what it was. 

She was gathering her towels and bathing stuff.  Inuyasha noiselessly dropped down from the tree, silently following behind her. 

He couldn’t sense anything unusual yet, but as they got closer to the onsen, he could faintly pick up the scent of his half-brother.  Inuyasha watched as Kagome quickened her steps when she drew closer to the hot spring.  She didn’t even stop at the barrier surrounding the clearing, but walked right through it. 

Inuyasha’s eyes narrowed.  Sesshoumaru was already there, and he watched, in a jealous rage, as Kagome melted into his half-brother’s embrace.  The passionate kiss that followed didn’t help matters any.  He was now seething. 

His sensitive ears began to pick up their whispered words in between the loud hammering sound of his heart beating.  “…the half-breed followed…”   “…he was bound to figure it out sooner or later…” 

Inuyasha was begining to turn away when the sounds of rustling silk reached his ears.  Taking another glance in their direction, he wished he hadn’t looked.  They were naked, and Kagome had wrapped both of her hands around Sesshoumaru’s extremely impressive erection, while placing kisses on his chest and abdomen. 

Unable to tear his eyes away, he reached down to grab a handful of firerat and his own throbbing cock, which suddenly seemed inadequate.  ‘Just great.  Another thing that Sesshoumaru has that I don’t.’ 

As the green haze of envy clouded his vision, he turned around and decided a good run through the treetops was in order.

~*~

Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Fin.

~*~