Pain by sesshomarusama33

The Macerated Love

Thank you to Stella for kicking my butt into gear! Best beta ever

This chapter was done for MissKatt's Weekly Challenge on Monthly Theme's!

Theme: March Madness

Prompt: Macerate

Word Count: 1,744

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She wasn't sure just how to approach the situation.

Sitting across from her was her soon-to-be ex-husband, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her since leaving her house just an hour ago. Golden eyes fixed on her nervous cerulean orbs, and she felt a trickle of sweat glide down her neck. She tried to hold a cold expression, but felt her reserve falter the longer he stared.

"Kagome..."

'Oh God,' she thought, cursing herself for agreeing to hear him out. She wasn't sure she could handle this just yet, but she wouldn't really know until it happened. So, despite her extreme discomfort, she sat and listened to his explanation.

"...I never meant to hurt you. I was planning on breaking it off with Kikyo before you would find out..." Kagome felt her brow twitch at this. Did he really plan on leaving her in the dark for the rest of their lives?

"Why did you do it? Why her?" Kagome found herself clenching her fists in her lap as she spoke, anger written clearly on her face.

Inuyasha opened his mouth, but clamped it once his eyes took on her angered expression. What was he supposed to say?

"I... I don't know."

Kagome wanted to smack him for being so stupid. He wanted to talk things out, and he wasn't even sure why he did it? What a jerk!

"So, you just wanted to cheat on me. It didn't matter who it was, did it? Oh, I get it." Kagome laughed, putting a hand to her face as she leaned on the table. "I must have done something terribly wrong, so instead of yelling at me, you went after my sister, because you knew how much it would hurt me. Way to go, Inuyasha. You've definitely succeeded in that." Kagome stood up to leave, only to have her arm grabbed by Inuyasha.

"Kagome, wait! That's not what I wanted!" Inuyasha defended, gently leading her back to him.

"Oh, so this is all about you? You, you, you! Did you ever think about what this would do to me, Inuyasha? How could you be so selfish?!" Kagome yelled, yanking her arm from the half-demon. Other people in the diner instantly quieted, their focus on the obnoxious couple.

"You said you would hear me out, Kagome. Please, let me explain myself!" Inuyasha pleaded, urging her to sit back down. Kagome looked around to the other people staring at her, blushing slightly for being so loud and obtrusive, and slid back in the diner booth.

"You're right... I'm sorry." Kagome sighed, laying her head on the diner table as she closed her eyes.

Inuyasha stared at her ebony hair, admiring how the light danced on her dark tresses, giving it a blue sheen. He smiled softly, truly grateful that she was sitting here with him, and was going to finally listen to him.

He thought of his brother, who he knew had growing feelings for Kagome, and smirked. The bastard wouldn't have a chance to win her over, because he would have things worked out by then.

Kagome would once again be his.

--

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The young boy asked, standing in the doorway with crossed arms.

"Where is Kagome?" He demanded, noting that her scent was here, but seemed distant, as if she had left a short while ago.

"Kagome? Why? What do you want?" The male asked again, raising a brow to the older man.

"You must be her brother," Sesshomaru remarked, glancing towards his face. He resembled Kagome, and had the same facial structure she had. He even smelt of her, indicating that they were close. Not romantically close, though, much to his liking.

"I am. I'm assuming you're Inuyasha's older brother." He replied, holding a hand out to the youkai. "I'm Souta."

Sesshomaru stared at the hand for a moment, before extending his own.

"Sesshomaru."

"If you want to see Kagome, she went to the diner on Fifth Street. Know where it's at?"

Sesshomaru nodded, withdrawing his hand from the younger male and turning on his heel, walking away from the shrine.

Souta smirked as he watched the man walk away, looking to the watch on his wrist.

"Go get 'em, big guy."

--

"Kikyo was just... She came up to me one night. I had a really hard day at work, and she invited me out for a cup of coffee. I agreed, and we really hit it off. To be honest, she reminded me a lot of you." Inuyasha had started, and Kagome could feel the tears begin to fall from her eyes. She wasn't sure she would be able to hear all of this.

"Pretty soon we decided that coffee wasn't really helping, so we ordered some drinks. She had one too many, and I wasn't much better off myself. After a while, I thought she WAS you. You are so similar, appearance and personality."

That had really stung. Kagome was nothing like her sister. In fact, the only thing they had in common was that they looked alike. Everything was completely different.

"We went back to her place, and well, one thing led to another, and we slept together. When we woke up the next morning, I felt horrible for sleeping with her. She wasn't upset, and knew exactly what had happened. After that, she brought the idea up that maybe we should learn more about each other. I was so addicted after that first night that I couldn't say no. I was being horribly selfish. I realized that this wasn't fair to you, and that what I was doing was horrible."

No matter what he said, Kagome blocked it all out. She felt a little guilty for doing it, since she had agreed to this, but to be honest, she didn't want to hear his excuses. There really weren't any. What he had done was horrible and unforgivable.

"I thought about my mother, and how I was the bastard child. Then I thought about it longer, and realized I was doing the same thing to you that my old man did to my brother's mom. Then I thought about family."

Kagome had stopped listening entirely and had switched her thoughts to the past. She had been thinking about Sesshomaru, and what he might be doing. Was he missing her like she was missing him? Did he really mean all of the things he said to her?

"...You are the woman I want to have children with, Kagome. I want you to be the mother of my children."

Kagome's eyes widened at this, and she turned her gaze to stare back at Inuyasha's golden eyes.

"What did you say?" She asked, feeling a bit confused. Had he just said what she thought he said...?

"I realized that with Kikyo, I couldn't have a family. I didn't want a family with her. She was just a phase, and you are the real thing. You would be a great mother, and I'd be honored to be your husband again."

Kagome had no idea what to say to that. Had he said that to her before all of this, she would have swooned and fell into his arms. Now, she wasn't sure if he was being honest, or if he was just playing her and trying to get back in her good graces. Whatever the reason, she wouldn't be so dumb to fall back into his arms.

"How can you ever suggest that to me, Inuyasha? I agreed to hear you out and to let you explain yourself, but we are over. At the end of this month, we'll be divorced. You'll go back to her, and I'll go back to..." Where would she go? Sesshomaru cast her off, too. She would probably go back home, back at her mother and her brother.

"...Sesshomaru? You'll go back to my brother, right?" Inuyasha growled, clenching his palms tightly so that his claws dug in to his skin.

"No! Why woud you-"

"Look, I've seen the way you gawk over him! You used to look at me like that!" Inuyasha seemed desperate at this point, but he still wore an angered expression. "How can you say I've done you wrong, when you're doing the same thing with my brother!? You're such a hypocrite!"

"You don't know anything about him!" Kagome yelled, standing up and pounding her fist onto the diner table. "Sesshomaru is a much better man than you!"

"Ya? Prove it!" Inuyasha growled back, meeting her stance as he also lifted himself from the diner seat.

"Well he 'for one' took better care of me than you did! He actually cared about my feelings, and even defended me against my sister, instead of running into her arms!"

Inuyasha growled, unable to say anything in response.

"He doesn't say much, but even if his expression is cold, he's been nothing but kind to me... He can be cruel at times, but..."

"You sound like you love the bastard!" Inuyasha snarled, his claws puncturing the flesh of his palm as blood droplets fell to the floor in small pools.

Kagome gasped softly, bringing a hand to her rapidly beating chest. Her cheeks felt hot and she felt like she was losing her breath. Love? She had growing affections, but... love?

"Kagome... please don't tell me... I'm too late..." Inuyasha's ears flattened on his head as his face sunk, looking out of the diner window. His eyes widened as he caught the silhouette of a familiar figure, growling towards it.

Kagome heard his growl and looked up, staring at the silhouette. She gasped once more, her heart pumping twice as fast as softened honey eyes stared back into her own.

Sesshomaru saw her sitting in the diner with his brother, and had caught the last part of their conversation. Did she really feel that way? Did she actually love him?

He felt the ice in his heart macerate from the steam heat that Kagome's love... her affection radiated towards him and engulfed him in a warm caress.What an idiot he had been for banishing her from his life. How stupid he had been for deceiving her the way he did.

As she removed herself from the diner booth and ran out of the door, towards his direction, he could only hope that it had not been too late for him, as it had been for his brother.

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