Chapter 94

Sharing the futon



Mai was staring at the futon and kept wondering, how the hell was she supposed to lay down with Sesshomaru occupying the whole corner. To be truthful, the demon's territory was more than a half of the futon, as he stretched his long legs out. The girl tried curling in the ball under the bedcover on the other side, but being bent in half wasn't exactly a comfortable position to sleep. Letting out an unhappy moan, she sat up and looked at Sesshomaru, who was observing her actions with interest and growing amusement.

"Hmpf!" the girl demonstratively turned her head away from him and tried to figure out the best way to finally get some sleep. Curling into a ball on the opposite side of the futon was out of question – she had too little space. Maybe if Sesshomaru would pull his knees to the chest… She shook her head. The demonic asshole would never agree on something uncomfortable for him. She had to find a compromise. Damn, why he had to be so big? If she was stuck with Jaken, she wouldn't have this problem from the start – she would just stuff him into the closet. Mai sighed, as only one thing came to her mind. She was ready to do anything to avoid it, but it seemed, that it was no other choice. She cleared her throat, praying for her blush to disappear and her voice to sound casual.

"Sesshomaru, you have to lay down." She said, avoiding to make an eye-contact. The girl added an explanation quickly: "There's too little space for you to sit."

The dog demon glanced at her and her considerably intense blush did not escape his attention. He suspected, that he would see that expression on her face many times during this week. Without wasting more time, he put the bundle with his swords away and slid under the bedcovers, observing Mai.

The girl was horribly aware of the little fact, that Sesshomaru was staring at her and waiting for her to lay down beside him. She knew, that it was only for the sake of keeping the cover, but it was terribly embarrassing for her, though. She was maybe on one date, counting the walk with Maeda Goemon, and now she had to get into one bed with a man. Not a boy at that, but a fully grown man, who was much older than she – a few centuries, to be exact. Dear god, was she cursed? Had she wronged someone in her previous life? Why the hell all kinds of bad and humiliating things tended to happen to her? Mai bit her lower lip and slid under the bedcover, nearly gluing herself to the surface of the wall, careful not to touch Sesshomaru by accident.

The inu-youkai rolled to his side to observe Mai's attempts to keep her distance from him. As amusing her foolish actions were, she would never rest, if she planned on continuing such behavior.

"You should just assume a comfortable position." The demon offered the girl an advice.
Mai glared daggers at him.

"I can't. You're taking too much space." She hissed out, noticing with a certain dose of irritation, how casually Sesshomaru was laying. To make the matters worse, the damn bastard left some space between himself and the wall. Mai narrowed her eyes at him. "Move closer to the wall."

The inu-youkai sent her a long, doubtful look.

"I would rather not." He replied.

Mai saw, that he had the swords placed there. Crap. Still, he was unnecessarily occupying too much place. Was it revenge for earlier or what?! She glared at the demon in a hostile way.

"Come on, don't be like that! Move." She urged him to listen to her, without any positive effect. She frowned. "You don't need to sleep anyway!"
The demon glared back at her.

"You are too noisy, woman." He growled, a warning tone in his voice.

However, Mai ignored him and kept bugging the youkai to give up his space for her sake. As she carried on making demands, Sesshomaru's glares were gaining the intensity, till he finally snapped. Without any further warning, his arm moved under the covers and he took hold of Mai's waist. Before she had any chance to react, he pulled her away from the wall till she was laying next to him, flat on her back. The girl stared at him, speechless, as he brought his face closer to hers, overpowering her with his intimidating aura.

"You will remain here all night. Shall you disobey me…" the demon told her in a deadly-calm voice, leaving the rest up to her imagination.

Now, that he showed his true demonic colors, Mai lost all the will to argue with him. She only nodded and pulled the covers up till her chin. She nearly forgot, how scary Sesshomaru was, when he wanted to. Having made sure, she understood him, the dog demon flipped over and laid down with his back to the girl. She bit her lower lip, painfully aware, that her shoulder was touching his back. However, she wasn't eager to get away from the place, she was. She sighed heavily, cursing all the gods for her never-ending supply of bad luck. She freed her hand from under the cover to get rid of something, that was making her neck itchy. She grabbed it and saw, that it was a long strand of black damp hair. She noticed, that it smelled quite nice. Come to think of it, Sesshomaru smelled rather good in general. Did he take a bath? Mai sighed. At least he wasn't smelly. After their crazy run to Kanazawa, both of them smeller rather foul. Well, now her futon was safe from stench and would remain nice and fresh. In the meantime, she fell asleep from all the exhaustion, not even bothered anymore by the demon's closeness.



Sesshomaru was listening to the woman sighing and wriggling. He winced, when she pulled his hair. At least she ceased being unbearably noisy and acting foolishly. She should know, what is the best for her, so the dog demon did not understand, why she would not just position herself comfortably and have her rest. Fortunately, he was here to assist her with that – it did not escape his attention, how weary she appeared, even though she was feisty as ever. Sesshomaru heard her breaths becoming slower and deeper. She was falling asleep. The inu-youkai decided to wait some more time, not to disturb her, as his close presence was apparently troubling for her.

Instinctively, he put his hand on the swords, covered with cloth. The demon stared at the wall before his eyes. It appeared, that he would have no other occupation till the sunrise. It seemed like a pointless waste of his time, but there was nothing else he could do. Perhaps it was an opportunity to finally rest. The past two days were undoubtedly eventful and drained most of his current strength. Since the unfortunate incident at the Mount Tate he did not have much time to reflect on it. The weakness, spreading throughout his body, was terrifying him. It felt, as though he was losing the very core of himself, that defined him as who he was. The mere thought, that he could never get his youki back, was bringing him to the brink of madness. However, there was one more thing, that bothered him, aside the shame of being weak like a mere human. With so little power, depending only on his remaining strength and ability, he barely managed to defend the woman, that was laying right behind his back.

Sesshomaru clenched his teeth from the frustration. He was the one, who was supposed to protect her and yet he was mostly depending on her during the last two days. His pride was making it nearly impossible to admit, but letting her handle everything was presumably the wisest choice – as a demon, Sesshomaru did not possess much knowledge of human customs. Moreover, her idea to travel with the ship was not so foolish either, even though all the humiliations, that befell him here, had a destructive influence on his pride. The inu-youkai repeated to himself to bear it for the sake of retrieving his youki. Even if he was shamed now, it was nothing compared to the prospect of remaining pathetically weak for the rest of his lifetime.

The dog demon closed his eyes, deciding not to ponder about his situation anymore. After all, it was only a week. He listened to the sounds, that surrounded him. Without the youki, his senses were dulled, but he heard the distant commotion on the deck of the ship, footsteps and talking of the humans. He heard also deep, regular breaths, coming from behind his back. He opened his eyes. The woman must be asleep by now. Slowly, Sesshomaru turned around, careful not to wake her.

Fortunately, she was sleeping soundly and he doubted, that even a cannon would disturb her slumber.
Nevertheless, he felt the need to be sure.

"Woman." The dog demon said quietly and observed her face, waiting for a reaction. However, she did not respond, not even a single muscle on her face moved. Sesshomaru furrowed his brows.

"Mai." He called her name, this time slightly louder.

She did not wake up or reply either. She was indeed asleep.

Sesshomaru glanced at her peaceful face with slightly irritated look on his face. Part of him enjoyed the position, he was in, and the other despised it, as his shameful human-problem was far from being solved and yet she was laying here, as though she was baiting him. Deep inside, the inu-youkai was still fighting the sinful desire, but, instead of being weaker with the time, his… affection towards the woman grew stronger. He felt it with each passing day – the need to keep her safe, to be near her. A mere thought, that another male would look at her in an inappropriate way was infuriating.

Slowly, he reached out to brush off the hair from Mai's face. When he was doing it, his fingers accidentally caressed her cheek. Sesshomaru felt, how soft and warm was her flesh under his palm. He frowned. He was aware, that his actions were foolish and were only deepening his problem, but he could not refrain himself. It was undeniable, that he actually enjoyed laying next to her, touching her and was not truly opposed to putting the idiotic show for the suspicious humans. Even though he was strongly against showing affection publicly, it could be… interesting.

Sesshomaru moved himself closer to the sleeping woman, not ceasing caressing her face and neck with his hand. He brought his face near to hers, so that his nose was buried in her hair, as he inhaled her scent. If it was sinful, why did it feel so right? Her warmth, her closeness was making him feel at ease. It was a pity, that she was not a youkai like him…

The demon snaked his arm under the covers and put it around Mai's small frame, right under her breasts. Now, that she was in his arms, he felt, how petite and fragile she was, compared to him. Sesshomaru stiffened, when he felt her suddenly moving. His arm tensed, as he did not know, what he should do – pull back swiftly or rather stay still. Fortunately, she was just shifting on the futon, still asleep. Sesshomaru let out the breath, he was holding. Embracing her like this was surely enjoyable for him, but risky as well. Should she wake up and find them in such inappropriate position, she would certainly be unbearably noisy. But, if he pulled back, before she awakens, everything would be in perfect order. The inu-youkai relaxed, embracing Mai tighter.



Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open, as he heard a loud noise. Momentarily he became aware of his surroundings. He was nearly laying on Mai and the light of rising sun was creeping into the tiny room. He blinked, feeling disturbed, that he had absolutely no recollection of how he found himself in such position, not to mention the time of the day. Did he fell asleep and slept till morning? It was unlike him, for as a demon he required very little rest in opposite to humans, who spent nearly half of their short lifetimes in slumber. Apparently the loss of his youki and the exhausting events of the last three days took its toll on him.

Then, he felt the woman begin wriggling under himself and moaning something. He reacted instantly. If she woke up like this, it would be problematic. Swiftly, he rolled onto his back, away from her as possible.

The loud sound again. Now Sesshomaru, realized, that someone was knocking on the door. This time, it woke even Mai. The girl opened her eyes quickly and sat up instantly, suddenly completely awake. She looked around, rubbing her eyes. The dog demon was laying with his eyes closed, but she knew, that he wasn't sleeping. Actually, she never caught him sleeping. Someone knocked on the door again.

"What?!" Mai called with irritation, as she was woken up so brutally, just when she was beginning to have a nice dream about watching television.

"It is Sasaki. Open the door or I will do it myself." The male voice sounded from outside the closet… cabin, that is.

The girl gulped, realizing that her temporary boss came to wake her up. She must be in deep shit. She glanced at Sesshomaru, who was peacefully laying, very close to the wall – nice of him… Then, Mai's attention was caught by pointy things: pointy claws, pointy ears. And the crescent moon right in the middle of the forehead. The girl hissed out a curse. That idiot demon took off his glove and head kerchief! Without them he looked… well, like a youkai. If Sasaki sees him like this…

Mai heard the sound of the door sliding open. Her eyes widened, as the thought flashed in her mind – she mustn't let the man see Sesshomaru now! With a move besting even Kevin Costner in

"Bodyguard", she threw herself at the inu-youkai, hiding his demonic traits with her own body.

Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open, as the door began opening and exactly in the same moment Mai landed on him, taking a hold of his hand and suffocating him with her breasts. His first reaction would be scold her for such foolish behavior, but it was difficult for a male to come up with a good remark, while being straddled by a woman, with her breasts shoved in his face.

Sasaki opened the door, the angry grimace on his face. He looked down, about to reprimand Mai, when his jaw dropped, the blush making its way up to his forehead. The girl looked back at him, sending him a sheepish smile. The noble found himself speechless, when he just walked on the pair in such an obvious situation.

"Just dress and get to work." He managed to say, when he finally got back the ability to speak. Sasaki was averting his gaze.

He slammed the door shut and stalked away.

Mai let out a relieved breath and sat up, glad, that she managed to cover Sesshomaru in time. It was quite embarrassing, but still better than having the demon exposed. Anyway, she had to have a little talk with him about being more careful. She opened her mouth to begin a tirade and looked down at him, when she met Sesshomaru's gaze. The demon was staring at her with a strange expression in his eyes. Then it was, when she realized, that she was still sitting on his stomach, practically straddling him. Instantly the blush returned to her face as she nearly jumped off him, mumbling constantly, how sorry she was.

However, Sesshomaru didn't seem to be particularly worried about the situation.

Blushing constantly and avoiding to look at the demon, Mai ushered him to wait outside the room, while she changed her clothing and she stormed out of her closet, setting off to work. The girl was in hurry to leave Sesshomaru behind, for they got into an embarrassing situation. Again. Crap, this was beginning to be a regular occurrence.

Trying to calm herself down, Mai knocked and, without waiting for reply, she stormed into the young master's quarters.


Author Note:

Hello, everyone. I know, that I'm uploading very slow, but please be patient. I'm doing my best despite the sad and irritating fact, that my malfunctioning router keeps disconnecting me from Internet. I'll try to post at least one chapter daily though, so please just wait a little bit.

Thanks for reading my story. It'll be great if you reviewed it by posting a comment. I thank very much all the people, who commented already. Virtual cookies and hugs for you guys! If you haven't reviewed yet, please do. I love reading messages from my readers.

Once again sorry for the delay in uploading the story.