Disclaimer *WARNING* MUST READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE DOWN THE PAGE!!!
Chapter Two
Promises Kept
Disclaimer *WARNING* MUST READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE DOWN THE PAGE!!!
Chapter Three
Promises Kept
Disclaimer *WARNING* MUST READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE DOWN THE PAGE!!!
Chapter Two
Promises Kept
Disclaimer *WARNING* MUST READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE DOWN THE PAGE!!!
Chapter Eight
When Catriona finally returned to her bedroom, she found Inu Yasha & Miroku sitting on her bed, facing the door while they waited for her. She had already redressed in the dress since she had only worn it enough to go to the bathing room. She glanced at Miroku with a slightly wary eye before she looked at Inu Yasha & motioned for him to her. "Why is he here?" She asked, speaking quietly once he was by her.
"He insisted on seeing you," he replied just as quiet, making sure the monk couldn't hear. "He said he wanted to say something to you, but he wouldn't tell me what it was."
"Oh, she said with a soft sigh. "Where is Isamu?"
"He's with Rin. They ran off to the library to draw & color," he answered. "Why?"
"Can you go sit with them until I'm done with Miroku? I wish to speak with him first since he's here. If that's alright with you, that is."
"It's fine," Inu Yasha smiled before leaving the bed chamber, shutting the door behind himself.
Catriona turned to watch him leave & when she turned back around, Miroku stood before her, only a few spare inches staying between them. "What did you wish to speak with me about?" she asked as she sat down on the ledge of the window that she had been by nearly all day. She kept her attention on the monk though.
"I wanted to know if you came here because of the kiss I forced upon you," he answered, his eyes staring into hers as he moved closer to her until he was standing across from her once more.
"Miroku, the kiss had nothing to do with it," she answered with full honesty. "I came here to stay during my time because I thought it would be best for Isamu to spend his time with his father since that is what he wanted for u to do when we came here. I thought it would be good for Sesshomaru & I to be together again, but today..." She looked down to avoid his eyes, not wanting him to see the emotions that were filling her eyes. "Today he confused me a little bit, but it's nothing to worry about." With those words she pushed back her emotions & forced a smile on as she looked up at him. "Is there anything else you wished to see me about?"
"I wanted to make sure you were being treated right by Sesshomaru. I would hate to see him hurt you after you've come all this way after all these years with such a precious bundle, just to see him," he answered. "He is treating you right, correct?"
"Yes Miroku," she said, feeling as if it were a lie when she knew it wasn't. "He's treating me fine. Is there anything else?"
"I want to know if you plan on joining with him as his bride?"
"I don't know Miroku, he's said nothing so far, but why? Is this important?"
Miroku looked down, his hold on his staff tight enough to make his knuckles white. "Catriona, I want to wish you the best of luck," he finally said, looking up at her to meet the worry in her gaze. "I hope he ends up being what you need." He leaned forward & kissed her softly before pulling away. "If he ever hurts you, come to me." With that, he left, leaving her to herself until a few moments later when Inu Yasha came to her room.
"Miroku said he'd go on & meet up with me at the village," he said when he noticed her questioning glance. "He said he wanted to walk alone so he could think some things over. Do you know what he could be talking about?"
"I think part of it is because I'm here with Sesshomaru, but I'm not sure... Inu Yasha, I need you here for a little while... I could really use someone to talk to."
"Isn't that what Sesshomaru, as your mate, is there for? To listen to you when you need someone to talk to? To give you a shoulder when you need to cry, or a chest to lay on when you need to hear his heart beat with love for you & you only?" he smiled slightly.
"Inu Yasha..." she said softly, her eyes filling with tears. She felt his arms wrap around her & his head rest on top of hers as he rubbed her back. "Yasha, your brother is so damned confusing... First he's happy to see me, then when we share a kiss, he..." she stopped to whimper softly, "he pulled away & looked at me as if he wasn't pleased with me & just...left. Without saying a word to me. Why would he act like this?"
"Catriona, from what I saw when I was young, my brother was raised by father to be a strong youkai & not to show any emotion. And if any were to be shown, he had to make sure no one could read it. This in turn, confuses people & other youkai so they can never tell what he's feeling or thinking." Inu Yasha thought about, & sorted out, his words in his mind before he continued, bringing his head off hers to look at her face when she looked up at him. "With the way pop raised him all those years before I was brought into this world, & a little after, I've noticed that he's found it a weakness in youkai, or hanyous, to show any emotion. But to him, humans are already weak, giving them what he considers, an excuse. So really Cat, it's not his fault he was raised this way... But it is his fault he chooses to let himself feel this way when he's around you. I don't think he realizes just how much it upsets you; though he should be able to."
"What do you mean?"
"Your feelings are constantly radiating off of you, so strong that I can sense them from quite a few feet away. I sensed them as soon as I stepped foot in that doorway & here you are all the way by the window," he said, his small smile growing bigger. "You're such a great person Catriona, & as his mate, you deserve to know everything about him. Would you like me to talk to him about this? Or would you rather yourself?"
"I'd rather I talk to him Inu Yasha, but thank you for offering that you do," she said with a short sigh. "Do you think you could spend the night here tonight? In a guest's room?" she asked, looking up at him with hopeful eyes. "I'd like for you to be here, should anything start to go wrong..."
"I'll see if he'll let me stay. Would you like me to go get him for you?" When Catriona nodded, Inu Yasha let go of her & left the room, leaving her alone once again.
Gods this is getting old, she thought to herself as she looked out the window, not knowing how long it would take Inu Yasha to get Sesshomaru up to her room since she knew he had been stubborn lately to anyone's requests. She was now beginning to regret even coming here since he was now acting so strange; even if it had been this one time so far. She looked down at the ground below to see Inu Yasha running from the castle at a top speed, appearing to be determined in his pace. Sesshomaru must have told him no... She thought. She closed her eyes, feeling her heart sink. She'd wanted him to stay because she knew she'd need someone to cuddle with that night since she figured Sesshomaru wouldn't stay with her.
He was right, Sesshomaru thought to himself as he stood in her doorway, watching her. She does radiate her feelings... Why hadn't I noticed before? How could I be so blind? She hadn't noticed him only because he'd masked his movements & his noise from her; though he made hardly enough noise to be considered someone moving about. He slowly came up behind her & snaked his arms around her waist, making her jump in his arms, startled from the sudden action. The jump turned noticeably tense & he frowned, pushing her hair away from her neck with nose, rubbing his cheek against her now exposed neck. "You can relax Catriona," he whispered against her skin. "It's only me." When she remained tense, he raised a curious brow & pulled away from her. He sniffed at the air & found the scent of salt. Salt? Is she...? He slowly turned her so she was facing him & saw that she did indeed have tears in her eyes. "Catriona, why are you about to cry?" he asked, concern showing in his eyes, making more tears gather in her own. "Catriona?"
"You want to know why I'm about to cry?" she asked, a tinge of anger to her voice as a tear slid down her cheek & she wiped it away. "You want to know the truth? I'll tell you the fucking truth. You're confusing me!" she said while raising her voice. "You're confusing me with these emotions of yours! One minute, you're okay, next you're leaving me after a kiss, & now here you are, with concern in your damned eyes because I'm about to cry?! If you were a human Sesshomaru, wouldn't this fucking confuse you?!" By now, tears heated by her anger, were slowly cascading down her cheeks, leaving behind wet trails on her cool skin. "You claim I'm yours & you're mine, that we're mates. But you have yet to show me any bond such as the one between mates! All you've shown me, are these mixed emotions, not once letting me know what's really going on!"
Sesshomaru found himself slightly annoyed by her bossy attitude & loud voice, but concerned more by the actual flow of tears. "Catriona, it's a weakness among youkai or hanyous to show emotion! You are my mate, therefore-"
"Shut. Up! Dammit Sesshomaru, I wouldn't find you weak if you showed you emotions around me! I find only a strong person or demon can do that! You're weak in my eyes for not showing me what's inside you! I'd be happy if you only showed your emotions when we're in private, but you won't even do that! Why?! And what did I do to have you just walk away from me like that earlier?"
Sesshomaru was taken back by what she had just said. No one had ever stood up to him like this before without a death wish so he didn't know what to say, or do. She wants me to explain myself? He thought to himself in shock as he took in her eyes that were blended with anger, sadness, yet somehow, love & the tears that streaked down her face. "Catriona, I'm in love you to a point that I can no longer begin to describe how you fill my soul with this feeling of joy. I only hide these feelings for you, because of the threat that's always there of another demon sensing or finding out how I feel for you. If that should happen, they would surely come & try to destroy you to destroy me so that they may take my Western Lands that I inherited from my father. But during the kiss, the reason I pulled away from you, was because I came to the realization that you're human & all humans must die sooner or later. When you go, Isamu will be crushed worse than Inu Yasha was when his mother died because the two of you share a stronger bond than Inu Yasha & his mother... I know it was a wrong reason to pull away, but I pulled away mainly because I was saddened by this thought & needed to be to myself to think." When he was done, he looked at her to see that she was no longer looking at him, but the ground. "Do you want me to leave you to yourself at this moment?" he asked, his voice soft & oddly timid.
Catriona looked up at him & shook her head. What seemed to be the last tear for now, rolled down her cheek as she sniffled. "Sesshomaru, I want you to stay here with me & show me just how much you love me," she answered, bringing her hand up to his cheek. "I love you, with all my heart & soul... And I love you with my body as well. You make me feel so full & complete Sess; you have no idea how much it tore me to be away from you for three years, especially when I had a son from you not long after we parted. I wanted & needed you there so bad, that it was so hard just to raise him, always fearing that he would hate you for not being there... I wanted to hate myself for not coming back before I gave birth to him, but-" Catriona's words were cut off as Sesshomaru pressed his lips to hers, making her melt against him as they embraced each other, both craving for one another.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Catriona slowly opened her eyes & quickly closed them again after seeing Rin was in front of her, the sun too bright to keep her eyes open longer. She made sure the sheet was still covering her naked body before she cleared her throat "Rin, is something wrong?" she asked, slowly forcing her eyes to open & adjust to the bright sun. When her eyes adjusted & she'd received no answer from the little girl, she looked at her to see that she had tears in her eyes & was biting her lip. "Rin... What's wrong?" she asked, starting to worry now.
Rin took a few shaky breaths & sniffled, wiping her eyes of the tears that threatened to fall down her young cheeks. " Rin was sent up by Papa Sesshomaru to-to-to t-tell y-you that," she held back a small sob & instead, hiccupped, "that Isamu can't be found... He's not anywhere near the castle."