Higher Education by SunsetMiko

Chapter 27

Each prompt is labeled with what challenge it goes with.

Prompt: Narcissus (Prosperity) (The Language of Flowers Challenge)

Kagome smiled at the sound of someone knocking on her door. She was only expecting one person and she was thrilled to see him waiting in the hall. "So, how did it go? Everything go back okay?"

"Everything that could be returned has been returned, except for this," he said, raising a bag he held in his hand. "I was intrigued by it."

"Oh, yeah? What is it?"

The miko watched as Sesshoumaru pulled a hooded sweatshirt out of the bag. "It will be growing colder soon and I will not be able to wear only t-shirts," he explained. "I wanted to see if this was comfortable." Kagome grinned as she watched the taiyoukai struggle with the hoodie, trying to get his head through the proper hole while finding the arm holes as well. She giggled when he let out a sigh of defeat, the sweatshirt half on, half off. "I am completely inept. I cannot even dress myself."

The miko helped Sesshoumaru the rest of the way into the hoodie, loosening the ties of the hood that were holding the opening mostly closed. She tugged his hair out from where it was trapped inside, and stepped back to study how he looked. It wasn't as good as the t-shirts that clung to his muscles, but it was better than his wearing suits all the time was.

"Comfy?" she asked.

"Now that I have it on, yes."

Kagome giggled again. "You'll get the hang of it. It's all that hair of yours that's the problem. I don't know how you manage to sleep with it that long. I'd strangle myself."

Sesshoumaru smirked. "Would you prefer that I cut my hair?"

"No!" Kagome exclaimed quickly, blushing as he chuckled at her eagerness. "No, you can't cut your hair. You just have to get used to pulling it out of everything you pull over your head. I don't know how you'd use the actual hood. It'd be so full of hair it wouldn't fit over your head!"

She watched as Sesshoumaru swept all of his hair over his right shoulder before tugging the hood over his head.

"Well, I stand corrected," she said with a grin. "Where is he anyway? Did you let him into your room?"

"I texted him to tell him if he wanted in he needed to get there quickly and he responded that he found other accommodations."

"Those poor frat boys," Kagome murmured solemnly.

"My thoughts exactly. Though, better them than us."

"You can say that again! He doesn't want to see you right now. He's afraid you're angry about what he did to you today. I told him about your beast. You should have seen the look on his face. He was paler than you are."

"I do not understand," Sesshoumaru started. "If my beast rose to the surface and spoke with you, why does he not speak to me? Why can I not feel him?"

Kagome looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe he's in there talking but you're so used to it that you assume it's just you thinking. If you concentrate really hard, I think you'll find him."

Sesshoumaru drew the miko into his arms, running his nose along her cheek before kissing her forehead gently. "I feel as if I haven't seen you in weeks," he murmured.

"Well, you saw me for a few minutes this morning and then a few on the roof, but besides that, we haven't seen each other all day. I know exactly how you feel."

"I am sorry I allowed him to wear me down again," he said softly.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Sesshoumaru. Just don't let it happen again. Now that you know what he's doing and why he's doing it, you should be able to ignore him. Just don't let him get to you."

"He truly had me believing that it would be better to leave you, so that you could be with someone more deserving."

Kagome swallowed hard, just the thought of losing Sesshoumaru making her heart ache, and she forced a smile. "No one is more deserving than you." The taiyoukai held her close, running his hand up and down her back. He wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort, her or himself, but having her in his arms seemed to be helping them both.

Regretfully, the miko had to pull away. "I still have some work to do for my math class in the morning."

Sesshoumaru pressed a soft kiss to her lips before releasing her from his hold. "There is work that I should be doing as well."

The couple separated slowly, each wanting the embrace to last longer, and set about completing their coursework. Kagome hoped to get her math done as quickly as possible because tomorrow was her early class and she needed as much sleep as she could get before dragging herself out of bed in the morning. She laid her books out on her bed and lay on her stomach, kicking her legs idly as she solved equation after equation.

Sesshoumaru took over her desk, clicking away at the keyboard of his laptop. Every now and then he would glance in her direction. How he wished he could bury his face between her thighs and follow his instincts, to get a good taste of her, but he knew it wasn't going to happen, not tonight.

Prompt: Bivouac: an encampment for the night; especially under little or no shelter. (Obscure Word Challenge)

Inuyasha muttered to himself in frustration as he tried to make himself comfortable on the couch in the basement of the frat house. They hadn't seemed happy to see him again, but then he wasn't thrilled to be there either. The hanyou wished his nose wasn't quite so powerful, because he was learning that his brothers from this chapter weren't entirely pathetic. More people had had sex on the couch he was trying to sleep on than he could count and the combination of scents was anything but pleasant.

He flipped his pillow over again, shifting positions so that his nose was as far from the material as possible. Laying on his back, the hanyou was too long for the couch and he found himself with his feet hanging over the arm, dangling uncomfortably.

Maybe he should have gone back to Sesshoumaru's dorm room. It was clean, the bed was comfortable, and he knew he wasn't getting other people's bodily fluids all over his clothing and skin. Still, he wasn't sure he was ready to face the taiyoukai, not if Kagome could draw his beast fully to the surface. He didn't want to get his ass kicked.

Since he couldn't sleep, Inuyasha simply laid there trying to come up with a new plan. He hadn't realized before just how strong Kagome's influence over his brother was, but he should have. He knew how powerful the promise of sex was, what a man would do for it. He should have assumed that Sesshoumaru would do anything for the first woman to ever look on him with desire.

It wasn't fair. He'd been able to control and torment his brother for years and years, and now this bitch just waltzed in and changed everything in a matter of weeks? He'd broken Sesshoumaru down to nothing, to the lowest he'd ever seen the taiyoukai, and yet she'd built him back up in a matter of moments. It shouldn't have been possible, but it was.

After a while, the hanyou began to wonder if there was any way for him to keep things the way they'd always been. The only way any plan could possibly work would be to get Kagome out of his life entirely, but to do that, he would have to convince Sesshoumaru that she had betrayed him. That was going to be a tall order to fill. He was obviously head over heels in love with the girl and he appeared to trust her deeply. He'd allowed her to change how he dressed, what he did with his time, how he behaved with other people, always believing that she wanted nothing but the best for him. It was obvious how strong that bond of trust was.

Perhaps he needed to attack the bond from the other side. If he could get Kagome to think Sesshoumaru had done something wrong, perhaps she would dump him. If that were to happen, the taiyoukai would quickly devolve into the pathetic creature he knew him as. But how could he do that? She seemed confident that he only had eyes for her, even though she'd admitted that other women were interested in the taiyoukai as well. Maybe if Kagome thought he'd taken an opportunity that presented itself, that he'd been with another woman, she would be angry enough to leave him.

To fulfill that plan, he would have to be able to get Kagome on her own, away from Sesshoumaru so he could fill her head with lies. The taiyoukai protected her like gold. He wouldn't even give up the location of her dorm room, so how could he possibly get her alone? Perhaps at a party this weekend. He knew that there had to be a party somewhere, and he'd learned that Kagome had been taking Sesshoumaru to parties to get him to loosen up. Maybe in a crowd, he could separate the two.

If he could get them apart, maybe he could tell her that he'd witnessed Sesshoumaru with another female at the party doing something inappropriate. She wouldn't be able to prove him wrong and hopefully doubt would grow in her mind, the seed he planted flowering into suspicion and anger. Then it would be easy to tear them apart.

Plan decided on, Inuyasha closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the house settling down for the night before drifting off to sleep. He was pleased with himself and confident in his plan, so much so that he dreamt of the miko, of her leaving Sesshoumaru and coming to him where she belonged. He whispered her name in his sleep as his hips bucked and he woke covered in sweat with an erection that wouldn't quit. Cursing his luck, the hanyou tried to ignore the throbbing in his lower body, wanting to slip back into the pleasurable dream.

Prompt: Sojourn: to dwell for a time; also, a temporary stay. (Obscure Word Challenge)

Work finally finished, Kagome turned her attention to Sesshoumaru. "Your bed's empty. You still wanna sleep with me?"

The taiyoukai hit save and closed his laptop, turning in the desk chair to see the miko. "I do. I wish we could sleep together every night."

Kagome sighed heavily. "Someone's going to notice eventually and we'll be told it can't happen again. My bed is going to feel so empty without you, so cold."

"Well, until someone catches us, I suggest we make the most of it." He watched as the miko packed away her book and notebook, sliding them into her backpack, which she set near the door. When she unbuttoned her jeans, his eyes widened. "I can turn around if you wish to change, or leave the room."

The miko giggled and shimmied out of her pants right before his eyes. "It's nothing you haven't seen, and licked, before." She slipped out of her shirt and Sesshoumaru's eyes locked on her bra. It was lacy and see-through and it matched her panties, a beautiful shade of blue that complimented her eyes. When she went to unhook her bra, the taiyoukai stopped her.

"I wish to try," he said hesitantly.

"Try unhooking my bra?" she asked. "Okay, but it can be tricky."

Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around the barely dressed miko, his hands finding where the two ends of her bra met in the middle. He shifted, twisted and tugged, all to no avail and his shoulders fell in embarrassment once more.

Kagome pulled away just enough to turn around. "Look at how it clasps," she told him. "Then try."

The taiyoukai did as she commanded, studying the tiny hooks going through tiny loops, and he smirked. He could handle that. Like a pro, he unhooked her bra, watching it go slack. Kagome turned in his arms, a bright smile on her face. "You'll be able to do it without looking in no time. It's just a matter of knowing how it works." He watched, enraptured, as she slid the bra down her arms, tossing it to the floor. Her breasts looked slightly different when she was standing than they had when she was lying down, and he took the time to study the differences. "Didn't you get enough of those last night?" Kagome asked with humor in her tone.

"I will never get enough of them," he purred before leaning down to flick his tongue over one perfect pink nipple. He watched as it tightened and he caught it between his lips, sucking firmly. Kagome's hands wrapped themselves in his hair and she moaned softly. When he released her nipple, fully intending to move on to the other, the miko stopped him with a gentle tug of his hair.

"As much as I'm enjoying this," she said softly, "I really need to go to sleep. Wednesday night simply is not a sexy night, not unless we start a whole lot earlier than now."

"I will keep that in mind," he replied, heat in his tone. He pressed his lips to hers softly before releasing her from his hold. He watched as she climbed into the small bed.

She waited several long moments before laughing. "Are you going to join me or what?" She watched in amusement as he wrestled with the hoodie, finally tugging it over his head, his t-shirt stuck inside of it. He dropped his jeans to reveal boxers beneath. He'd taken to wearing them lately so that he would have them on to sleep with the miko.

"Are you really going to sleep like this?" he asked, admiring her mostly nude body.

"I did last night and I liked it, the skin to skin feeling. It's so..."

"I know," he agreed. Sesshoumaru eagerly climbed into bed with the miko and held her close, both of them moaning as her back pressed against his chest. One hand found her breast, cupping it possessively, and Kagome smiled.

"Good night, Sesshoumaru," she whispered.

"Sleep well, Kagome," he murmured back, his face already buried in her hair. Sleep found them quickly, both exhausted after a long day, hoping to gain the strength to deal with Inuyasha again come morning.