InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bitterly Yours ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: kanna37 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance / Angst | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.01.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 640 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance / Angst | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.01.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 640 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 2
Sipping tea gently with Ginkoutaishii while awaiting Sesshoumaru's arrival had Kagome in a stew, but she was able to successfully hide that fact as the young inuyoukai talked to her idly of some of the goings on in his father's palace. Some of the tales were actually amusing enough to get a laugh out of her, despite her concern, confusion, and worry.
However, the interruption that came next completely threw her for a loop, when an oddly uncertain Shippo escorted someone Kagome had never thought to see again into her presence.
She stared blankly at a part of her past she'd rarely even thought of in the last years of her life - Inuyasha, looking no different than he ever had stepped into her home with an almost proprietary air, and his first words to her completely confounded her with the way he swept aside decades and different lives as though they didn't even matter.
“Oi, wench! Don't tell me the big bastard now has little bastards! And what the hell is he doin' here, anyway?” the hanyou demanded, glaring suspiciously at the still young but very strong inu pup sitting easily across from the miko of his past. There was no way to mistake who the boy's father was, and Inuyasha had no idea why he would be sitting so comfortably in a human's habitation as though he was used to being there.
After a very long moment of staring at the red-clad hanyou Kagome hadn't seen in decades, his attitude struck her and incited the same anger it always had; noting the beads still laying around his neck, she decided to try them out just as Shippo, who'd stared at Inuyasha while he was speaking with a dropped jaw started to speak. The kit ended up choking on his own laughter, instead.
“Inuyasha, osuwari!” Kagome snapped, beginning to unfold herself from her position on her knees to loom above the now prostrate and cursing hanyou. “Who do you think you are, to enter my home after sixty years of not laying so much as an eye on you, and start acting like you have any say in anything?! You are a guest in my home, and will conduct yourself accordingly or you're going to find yourself kicked right back out!”
She turned after one last narrow glare at the cratered hanyou to look enquiringly at Shippo, highly aware of Ginkoutaishii watching the goings on with wide eyes.
“Where the heck did you find him?” she asked, ready to start hyperventilating. After over sixty years of absence, he had to show up on this of all days? When things were already strange and confusing? She drew a deep breath while waiting for Shippo to answer in an attempt to calm herself and could only be grateful that the little silver prince had great presence of mind for one so young, and even greater patience to have held his peace through the sudden strange presence hostilely demanding answers of her. When it rains, it pours, she sighed inwardly.
“Me and the guys were out hunting, and just on our way back when we stumbled into the baka there-” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the now growling Inuyasha who was struggling to stand once more, “-and he asked me if you and Sango and Miroku were still around. Apparently, he'd been heading here on purpose hoping to find some of us. What else could I do?” the kit asked rhetorically, and shrugged.
Pinching her fingers over her nose to try to calm the tension beginning to give her a headache, Kagome merely nodded. “Are you going back to help ready the catch for the cooking pits?” she asked, and he nodded back at her, at which she waved him off. “Go ahead, then. Don't keep them waiting. I'll... find some way to deal with this rather... awkward mess.”
Sighing deeply as Shippo disappeared out the door with an, “Try not to be such an ass, Inuyasha,” tossed over his shoulder, Kagome eyed the hanyou rather unfavorably before turning to the patiently sitting inuyoukai prince and shaking her head. “I am sorry, Ginkoutaishii-sama, about the uproar. I wasn't expecting any... company today... and especially not this company, that's for sure.” Once more seating herself, she watched with resignation as Inuyasha sank down to also sit rather nearer to her than she liked, and grumbled to herself.
Just what I needed... when Sesshoumaru shows back up these two are probably going to blow right up into their usual fights.
“Ah - Kagome-sama,” Ginkoutaishii started, hesitantly, obviously realizing she was rather overwhelmed and not wanting to add to that, “this is?” he nodded at the glaring male, wanting to figure out the competition – for the being's actions were advertising him to any inuyoukai as just that.
“It ain't any of your business, brat!” Inuyasha began hotly, his temper obviously no more under control than it had been when Kagome was young, but she cut him off immediately.
“Inuyasha,” she began in a warning tone he still remembered quite clearly, “you presume far too much. This is not your house, and he is not your guest. Shut up.”
He sputtered indignantly but fell silent reluctantly as her expression darkened, and Kagome closed her eyes for a moment – that headache was only growing stronger – before opening them again and smiling at the curious prince. “This is someone I knew many years ago but haven't seen in decades. Actually-” she hesitated a moment, not sure what Sesshoumaru would have wanted her to do in these circumstances, but not wanting to lie, “-he is your father's half-brother,” she finished, hoping the daiyoukai didn't get angry at her for telling his son such a thing, true or not.
“Oh, I see,” the boy said, nodding. “Father has spoken of the hanyou a few times before. But I thought he had abandoned you and disappeared years ago?” he asked, looking at very irritated male for a moment. “Why would he have returned?”
A heavy aura swept over them at that point, causing Inuyasha to leap to his feet, a low growl rumbling through him in challenge as his brother stepped into the hut as though he had every right. Sesshoumaru eyed his half-brother narrowly.
“That is a good question, my son,” he said coldly, moving into the hut to place himself proprietorially close on Kagome's other side, never taking his eyes off his half-brother. “What is it that you do here, Inuyasha?”
“Yes,” Kagome's voice piped up before Inuyasha could begin cursing, “I'd like to know that myself,” she said, then added, “And you'd better answer politely, or else,” with a tight look in his direction, her fists clenching in her lap.
“Feh,” he muttered sullenly, before turning his head away. “I came to see if any of my friends were still around, is that wrong, or something?”
Voice tart, Kagome shot back, “No, but if you'd really wanted to see any of us, you probably shouldn't have waited sixty some years. We were all human except Shippo and Kirara, after all, Inuyasha. My bet is this has something to do with Kikyou. She's dead again, isn't she? And so then you thought you'd see if any of us would still talk to you after you'd just abandoned us.”
“Keh!” The hanyou flushed, since Kagome had basically hit the nail on its proverbial head. “It wasn't like that, okay?” he huffed, folding his arms across his chest as his brother shifted position minutely, eyes narrowing. “When Kikyou first came back, she kinda dragged me into this new quest, and before I even realized it, a lot of time had passed. By then, she was getting older, and there was something wrong with her – her health was bad, and she began having a hard time moving. I couldn't... leave her like that, so... basically, I spent the last twenty years taking care of her almost totally. I didn't really move far from her, because she'd become mostly bedridden, and her reiki was also pretty much gone. She died a couple of months ago, and I think-” he shifted, “-she was glad to go. She was finally freed from a body that had become a prison.”
Kagome leaned back a bit as she thought about his words, and shook her head inwardly. With a sigh, she nodded at him, knowing that she wouldn't hold his actions against him. Much. There wasn't any point. “I think,” she said slowly, with a very direct look at him, “that whatever she did to return to life was flawed, and that was why her body deteriorated so badly. Kaede had no such troubles, and as far as I know in her family, no one else did, either. She basically trapped herself when she did whatever it was, and she probably was relieved to finally pass on, you're right about that.”
Inuyasha nodded, still not looking at anyone, and that subject was labeled closed, though Kagome did have one further question. “What was this quest she dragged you into?”
His ears flattened to his head, but he looked over at her, then, an odd look coming onto his face. “What else? She wanted to extend her life... looks like we shoulda just come and asked you, wench. How'd you do it?”
At this, Sesshoumaru turned all his attention on the miko, as well – that was a question he'd often wondered over, himself.
“I didn't do anything. Remember Kaguya? She told me that I was immune to time, and apparently-” she opened her arms and held them wide so everyone could look at her, “-she wasn't joking, because I'm just not aging. I was made this way, I guess.”
“Heh,” Inuyasha huffed, a rather bitter look on his face. “And Sango and Miroku?” he asked.
“Died a few years ago,” she said sadly, missing her friends.
Inuyasha nodded, not surprised, his eyes going far away for a moment with sadness. “Yeah... I kinda thought so. And what about you?” he asked, his voice actually subdued. “Married? Kids?”
She chuckled wryly at that, rolling her eyes at him as Sesshoumaru and his son shifted once more, obviously wishing Inuyasha gone. “Come on, Inuyasha. Not aging. What man would want to marry a woman like me?”
She didn't notice the quick flick of golden eyes her way by the daiyoukai at her side, but Inuyasha did. Almost challengingly, he growled, “And you? What the hell are you doin' here, Sesshoumaru? You know, with that, 'I hate humans' thing, and all.”
At that question, Sesshoumaru's expression hardened, and he met his brother's gaze with just as much challenge. “You have no right to question me as though you were Kagome's guardian or mate. You are nothing more than a guest in her home, and a reluctant one, at that. Mind your own, Inuyasha.”
Before the hanyou could even inhale, Kagome spoke, her words shocking Inuyasha. “He's right. Sesshoumaru and Ginkoutaishii are welcome guests, and you are a surprise, someone who hasn't been around in years.” She didn't say anything about Sesshoumaru's presence here being a little different this particular time, but as her thoughts were once more taken back to what had happened earlier in the evening, she glanced at the daiyoukai, then at the matting covering her door, noting the darkness of night coming on. It would be dinner, soon.
Kagome pinned Inuyasha with a firm gaze, letting him know she would brook no argument. “You should go visit with Shippo. Kirara is probably with him – they can fill you in on some of the past, and tell you of Sango and Miroku's lives, as well as introduce you to some of their now grown children. Sesshoumaru and I have some... business to discuss.”
Ignoring Inuyasha's disgruntled low growl, the daiyoukai turned to his son and said, “If you would also go sit with the kitsune, my son.” Ginkoutaishii simply bowed his head to his father and stood to leave, knowing what was about to be discussed in general, but also knowing that it was a private matter between his sire and Kagome. He hoped that she would prove amenable to his father's suit – he knew that his sire's feelings for her were of the deep and unending variety, as had been proven over the last sixty years of his entrapment by his mother's machinations. He wanted no other than the miko, and had taken no other – unlike many lords, he had no concubines or mistresses, and did not touch Yue at all save for the once to gain his heir, which he had been forced to do, in any case.
Ginkoutaishii felt no personal upset that this was the case; that his sire had been forced to breed his mother to gain him. It was often done, after all – a Lord would breed himself a suitable heir upon a comely female, even if he had no real desire for her himself. He did, however, regret that his father's happiness had been so long withheld by the schemes of a controlling bitch like his grandmother.
He could only be grateful that his father had never allowed the scheming witch to get her claws into him.
The comfortable hut was silent as the two males left, and that silence continued for some few minutes after as their auras grew a bit distant. Once Kagome was certain they were truly alone, she sighed, and suddenly uncertain, looked up at Sesshoumaru.
“Sesshoumaru... what... what was that, earlier, I mean?”
After a moment of watching her with an unreadable expression, he said, “It is a long story.”
Kagome shrugged a little ruefully at that with a half smile on her face that spoke volumes. “I've obviously got plenty of time, so go ahead and tell me about it,” she said gently.
He couldn't deny that, and with an inclination of his head, he began, his eyes holding hers trapped. He spoke in first person, and Kagome was spellbound. “After the fall of Naraku, I turned my mind to the matter of gaining a mate. However, before I could speak to the one I had chosen, the bitch that had borne me came to me, and made certain threats towards the one who was my choice.”
He paused for a moment, his intensity sharpening even more, his eyes like searing flames of molten gold that Kagome could not look away from, her entire body frozen as her breath caught in her throat. No... is he really... could that female have been right? she thought disjointedly, remembering what Yue had said... and what Ginkoutaishii had said about Sesshoumaru's mother threatening her life to keep him in line. And now he was saying that the one his mother had threatened was the woman he had chosen as his mate...?
“You see, the one I chose as my own was not inu, nor was she youkai, and if my mother had let it be known that I was seeking such a one as my mate, to be mother to my heir, many would doubtless have risen in violence against that very thing. With my mother backing them, my chosen would have found herself the target of too many youkai to fight them all off. In order to guarantee the safety of the one I wanted, she forced me to mate Yue, her pet bitch, and sire my heir on her, instead.”
Breath totally frozen in her chest, Kagome couldn't move her eyes from where he held them trapped, nor would she want to. He really... it really sounds as if...! Her heart thumped hard within her, hope, something she'd lived without for all these years, springing to vibrant life inside her.
He smirked, then, savagely, and Kagome shivered. “However... she did not think to constrain me any further than that... and so I agreed, so that my chosen one would be safe, but the mating would be conducted on my terms. My mother I threw from the Western Palace permanently, and Yue, despite the dreams of power and control filling her empty head with the news that she would be Lady, found herself an outcast, instead.” He stopped, and looked away finally, his expression tightening, obviously remembering something distasteful. “I waited until she was at the height of her heat, then forced myself to breed her, so that she would take on the first try and I would never have to touch her again. Fortunately, it worked, and she conceived my son. I rarely even saw her after that, I made certain of it, and once Ginkoutaishii was weaned, he made it clear he did not wish to be in her presence, either.”
Kagome blushed a bit to hear him speak so frankly of having sex with that female, even as her heart sparked with jealousy at the thought. But as he didn't speak right away again, she asked a question to try to get him to finish his story. “He disliked his own mother that much?”
Remembered hatred clear in his voice, Sesshoumaru said, “Yue was not just a bitch by way of her sex and species. She was an intolerable wench, and a whore to boot. She had no redeeming qualities at all, and was never a mother to my son.”
That basically agreed with the young male's own words in regards to Yue, and Kagome nodded, waiting for him to continue.
He did, after a moment to pull his mind back from obviously unpleasant thoughts. “My bitterness towards the bitch that birthed me, her ally Yue's father, and Yue herself knew no bounds, for I expected to watch the female I had chosen wither and die of old age while I was forced to spend centuries in their presences after her death... imagine my relief – and surprise - when decades passed and the woman did not age,” he said, his eyes once more meeting hers... only this time they were hot as the sun, and yet soft, as well – something she'd never seen from him, and suddenly, she couldn't draw enough air, because there was no longer any mistaking that he was speaking of her. “Then I knew that if I was patient, there may still be a chance for me to have her, one day.”
“S-Sesshoumaru,” she whispered, her throat tight with emotion. “Have you really waited for a chance to...” she trailed off, unable to actually speak the words for fear that she was somehow wrong, even though she knew she wasn't.
“I have bided my time looking always towards this day, Kagome – to speak my heart to you and seek your own in return. When Yue attacked you, she broke the agreement with my mother, and with Ginkoutaishii as my heir, no one will question my choice of new mate on her death – ostensibly human as you are, or not. For sixty years I have watched you from afar, wishing things could have been different, and now there is no more need for me to do so, if you will but have me,” he finished softly, watching her carefully.
Kagome was so stunned that the one thing she had wanted for so long, and never, ever thought to receive was being offered to her, that she just stared at him, her eyes lost. “I... I don't understand,” she finally said weakly, so afraid to believe it. “You... you can't be serious, Sesshoumaru – you don't like humans. I've always known this. Why would you say something like this?” she asked, her eyes bewildered.
Sesshoumaru's own eyes softened on her as he took in her state of high disbelief – and admitted that it was his fault she would be so unable to accept his words. “I am very serious, Kagome – but I understand your confusion. It is true, I do not care for most humans,” he said. “And you surely can understand why. Taken as a species, the bad outweighs the good. But... as my father tried to teach me, there are some... that are worthy. And you are more worthy than any other - demon or human.”
“I'm glad that you think so, Sesshoumaru – but even more than your dislike of humans in general, is your dislike for the two joining together, especially when a child is borne of that union,” she said, her voice low and sad. “Would you have me accept you, knowing that I could never have a child, and that if I did, you would hate it?”
Though her words hurt him, he understood why she was saying what she was saying, and he couldn't be angry at her. It was, after all, his own fault. And now, if he wanted her, as he did more and more with every passing day, he would have to convince her. He only hoped that he could.
He sighed, and let his mask drop, opening himself to her as he never had to another, even his son. Meeting her eyes with ones filled with uncertainty, he said, “I would never deny you a child, Kagome. And I could never hate a child that you had given me. My previous beliefs... I was wrong. I admit it freely. I still dislike Inuyasha – but it is not for his blood, and it has not been in a long time. How long has it been since you have heard me insult him using his half blood status?” he asked. “Think back. After I received my arm back, and Bakusaiga, I never did again. Even before that time – after he triumphed in the meidou when I tested him one last time to see if he was truly worthy of all of what should have been Tessaiga's power, I never taunted him about his blood again. He had proved that even a half blood could be truly powerful.”
She thought about it, really wanting to believe what he was saying. “No, I guess you didn't,” she said slowly, meeting his gaze and plumbing the depths of his eyes with her own hopeful yet fearful ones. “Do you really mean it?” she asked hopefully once more, needing to hear it one more time.
“One thing that I have never been is a liar. I do not say what I do not mean. You know this,” he whispered as he moved closer to her and cupped her cheek in his large swordsman's hand. His heart was beating faster every moment he was in that hut with her, for she was not denying him out of any lack of feeling for him, merely fear of his previous beliefs. It made him hope, and wonder... “What are your thoughts on this, Kagome? You do not out and out deny me...” he trailed off, still letting his uncertainty show. Already, he was comfortable with her seeing him as he truly was, his uncertainties, even his fears, because he knew that she would never use them against him, and one thing he had learned over all the lonely years he'd waited for his chance to have her, was that even he, the cold Lord, as so many had called him, needed at least one person who he could be himself with. He needed a companion, a true mate... he needed Kagome. The burdens that he carried were already beginning to feel lighter for the hope of being able to share them with her.
All his life he'd carried everything on his own shoulders with no one to stand by his side. For most of that time, he'd seen no need for such a thing, perfectly convinced that he would never be weak enough to need it. But... she had broken through his previous ignorance and taught him that he did want another person in his life – he wanted her, and that he wasn't weak for it. Her pride, determination, indomitable will and unfaltering courage in the face of any and all odds spoke to him, spoke to who he truly was, and made him want that graceful spirit of hers near him always. Only she would ever see him this way, with all his defenses open wide and the true vulnerability that all living beings had at their core laid bare before her. Even his son would not see this much of him – for this bond, this oneness of spirit was only for mates. His son would one day find the female that would do the same for him, and Sesshoumaru swore to himself never to allow anyone to do to Ginkoutaishii what his mother had done to him. His son would not have to force himself to mate a female he despised.
Unable to meet his eyes any longer, hers fell closed as tears squeezed out of them, drawing crystalline paths down pale cheeks. “I...” she hesitated, a frown creasing her brow for a moment, until he moved his hand and used his thumb to massage the expression away, causing her eyes to snap open, “... I have always loved you,” she finally confessed, her own heart laid bare before him in that moment as her fear of rejection faded in the face of his assurances. “Since well before Inuyasha disappeared with Kikyou,” addressing the doubt she saw in his eyes. “That's why I never grieved after he left. Oh, sure, I was angry that he thought so little of us that he'd just up and go without even having the, well, pardon the expression, but the balls to tell us why he was leaving, or even say goodbye, but it didn't hurt as it would have when I first came here.”
“Truly?” he searched her eyes, plumbing their depths with that oddly open gaze; it was so strange to see him acting thus that Kagome just had to ask...
“Yes, truly. But, Sesshoumaru... you aren't acting like, well, you. You don't show feelings and emotions and especially don't ever look anything more than perfectly convinced that whatever you desire will be what you receive. What's with the change?” she whispered, as though she were afraid that to speak any louder than that would once more harden him.
Dropping his hand from her face and sitting back, his eyes far away, he sighed, then looked at her again. “This is who I am, Kagome. Or, at least, a part of who I am. But it is a part of me that I can never allow anyone to see, because in my position, if I were to act as anything less than perfectly in control of every situation and ready to kill for any reason, I would be forced to constantly fight to maintain my place. But you... you I can allow to see all of me as I can no other. Make no mistake,” he said, his expression hardening, “I am perfectly willing to do anything I must to maintain my control of what is mine. And I feel no need to apologize for the fact that I will kill when I need to – just as I killed the three that kept me trapped in misery for decades just this very day. But... I am not all just a killing machine. I do have another side. And it would not do to hide myself from the one I would choose as my mate, for if you cannot look to your mate for comfort with the truth of who you are in your gaze and actions, then there is little reason to take one. I do not wish for another mating such as I had with that horrid bitch Yue.”
After a moment of considering what he had said, she nodded her understanding of most of what he was saying. Though she would never be able to fully understand his deadly side, she knew that he had one, since all youkai had that dark side. It did not deter her, nor did it change her love for him. “So... what is it you wish from me? Were I to agree, what would happen now?”
“That depends entirely on you. Do you wish for a long courtship?”
She thought about that, then shook her head. “No... not really. I already know my feelings, and I've lived with them for sixty years. I think I've waited long enough. I trust you to be certain of your own feelings, as well, so I see no need for one, unless it is what you wish.”
He nodded. “I must confess, I am relieved you feel this way, for I, also, have waited for sixty years, and with little hope of ever being in this one moment with you. If you wished such a thing, I would try to give it to you, but... I could not guarantee that I could actually hold out for much longer. My desire for you has been growing for much longer than most youkai are forced to wait to mate their chosen females, and after all, though I have more control than any other, even I have my limits.” He was looking at her much more warmly than he ever had before, and Kagome blushed, suddenly realizing just what that warm look was.
Passion.
“S-so then... where do we go from here?” she asked softly, her voice somewhat hesitant.
“Now, I make arrangements for you to move into my home,” he returned just as softly. “That won't take but a day, at which point I bring some of my servants, and they will gather anything that you wish to take with you, and then-” his eyes darkened to the color of old gold, and he reached out and pulled her to him, “-we mate.”
Kagome did not fight him; as she settled into his lap, she watched, spellbound, as his head lowered to hers. But the instant that his lips met hers, her eyes fell closed and she savored the feel of his soft, full lips against her own, not wanting to miss any of the sensations that he was evoking in her.
It was, after all, her first true kiss.
Yes, she'd kissed Inuyasha that time in Kaguya's castle, but that had been a mere press of lips in an attempt to call Inuyasha back from the female youkai's spell. And it had worked, though Kagome had always privately suspected it was because Inuyasha was simply caught up in the moment and had mistaken her lips for Kikyou's. While that had hurt at one time, now she simply didn't care – especially with Sesshoumaru asking for her to part her lips, his tongue leaving a sizzling feeling behind on her bottom lip as he trailed it slowly across.
The sensation caused her to inhale in surprise, and Sesshoumaru took full advantage as she opened to him, swallowing her gasp, her following moan, and even her breath. Sliding his tongue along hers, he tasted her slowly, his mind blown away by his first taste of the woman he'd wanted for so very long. Mint, herbs, and something that was just Kagome, she was everything he could have asked for and more, and as she followed his tongue back into his mouth and ran hers so sweetly around his fangs, he growled, once more taking over the kiss and chasing her tongue back into her mouth to curl his along her palette, before once more stroking hers. It was beautiful, it was perfect...
But it wasn't enough.
And so he pulled back, panting heavily, and attempted to regain his control once more. A kiss was not near enough, not when he'd waited for so long, but he could not take her – not yet. After all, she hadn't actually agreed to be his yet – she'd only asked what would happen if she did. On top of that, even if she said yes, which he was almost certain that she would, since she'd said she loved him, he still had to move her into his home. He would not take her here, in a little village hut like some peasant he was simply rutting for base relief. No... she was to be his Lady, the true Lady of the West in a way Yue never had been, nor would ever have been allowed to be, and he would take her in what would, from the moment she agreed, be their bed, in comfort with soft silks to cushion and caress her skin as he loved her.
With that determination, he calmed his breathing and his body, and once more met her eyes with a slight smile at the dazed look in hers – which he was certain was reciprocated in his.
“Will you honor me with an answer, Kagome? I have told you what I desire, what I have wanted for sixty years. All I need now is to hear your answer,” he said, so softly it was almost a whisper.
One last time Kagome met his eyes with a searching look of her own, but in reality, she already knew what she would find there, just as she already knew her answer.
She blushed, but smiled shyly, her eyes sparkling with soft vulnerability up at the daiyoukai. “I would be honored, Sesshoumaru, to give myself to you.”
~oOo~
A/N: No, I didn't forget Yue's father, you'll find out what happened with him in a later chapter. And no, this won't be a long story – originally, it was supposed to be a one shot, but it just got too long for that, so I decided to make it a short chapter story, instead. It's not an action adventure or anything else, so don't get your hopes up – it's just a short angst romance drama thing. There will be about five or six chapters to this story.
Also, since I will be posting it fairly quickly since I have it mostly finished, I probably won't have time to answer the individual reviews. But I do read every one and thank you all most deeply for the time you take to write them. It's just that I get so many reviews, that I wouldn't have time to write any of the story if I replied to every review.
Happy New Year!
Amber
Sipping tea gently with Ginkoutaishii while awaiting Sesshoumaru's arrival had Kagome in a stew, but she was able to successfully hide that fact as the young inuyoukai talked to her idly of some of the goings on in his father's palace. Some of the tales were actually amusing enough to get a laugh out of her, despite her concern, confusion, and worry.
However, the interruption that came next completely threw her for a loop, when an oddly uncertain Shippo escorted someone Kagome had never thought to see again into her presence.
She stared blankly at a part of her past she'd rarely even thought of in the last years of her life - Inuyasha, looking no different than he ever had stepped into her home with an almost proprietary air, and his first words to her completely confounded her with the way he swept aside decades and different lives as though they didn't even matter.
“Oi, wench! Don't tell me the big bastard now has little bastards! And what the hell is he doin' here, anyway?” the hanyou demanded, glaring suspiciously at the still young but very strong inu pup sitting easily across from the miko of his past. There was no way to mistake who the boy's father was, and Inuyasha had no idea why he would be sitting so comfortably in a human's habitation as though he was used to being there.
After a very long moment of staring at the red-clad hanyou Kagome hadn't seen in decades, his attitude struck her and incited the same anger it always had; noting the beads still laying around his neck, she decided to try them out just as Shippo, who'd stared at Inuyasha while he was speaking with a dropped jaw started to speak. The kit ended up choking on his own laughter, instead.
“Inuyasha, osuwari!” Kagome snapped, beginning to unfold herself from her position on her knees to loom above the now prostrate and cursing hanyou. “Who do you think you are, to enter my home after sixty years of not laying so much as an eye on you, and start acting like you have any say in anything?! You are a guest in my home, and will conduct yourself accordingly or you're going to find yourself kicked right back out!”
She turned after one last narrow glare at the cratered hanyou to look enquiringly at Shippo, highly aware of Ginkoutaishii watching the goings on with wide eyes.
“Where the heck did you find him?” she asked, ready to start hyperventilating. After over sixty years of absence, he had to show up on this of all days? When things were already strange and confusing? She drew a deep breath while waiting for Shippo to answer in an attempt to calm herself and could only be grateful that the little silver prince had great presence of mind for one so young, and even greater patience to have held his peace through the sudden strange presence hostilely demanding answers of her. When it rains, it pours, she sighed inwardly.
“Me and the guys were out hunting, and just on our way back when we stumbled into the baka there-” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the now growling Inuyasha who was struggling to stand once more, “-and he asked me if you and Sango and Miroku were still around. Apparently, he'd been heading here on purpose hoping to find some of us. What else could I do?” the kit asked rhetorically, and shrugged.
Pinching her fingers over her nose to try to calm the tension beginning to give her a headache, Kagome merely nodded. “Are you going back to help ready the catch for the cooking pits?” she asked, and he nodded back at her, at which she waved him off. “Go ahead, then. Don't keep them waiting. I'll... find some way to deal with this rather... awkward mess.”
Sighing deeply as Shippo disappeared out the door with an, “Try not to be such an ass, Inuyasha,” tossed over his shoulder, Kagome eyed the hanyou rather unfavorably before turning to the patiently sitting inuyoukai prince and shaking her head. “I am sorry, Ginkoutaishii-sama, about the uproar. I wasn't expecting any... company today... and especially not this company, that's for sure.” Once more seating herself, she watched with resignation as Inuyasha sank down to also sit rather nearer to her than she liked, and grumbled to herself.
Just what I needed... when Sesshoumaru shows back up these two are probably going to blow right up into their usual fights.
“Ah - Kagome-sama,” Ginkoutaishii started, hesitantly, obviously realizing she was rather overwhelmed and not wanting to add to that, “this is?” he nodded at the glaring male, wanting to figure out the competition – for the being's actions were advertising him to any inuyoukai as just that.
“It ain't any of your business, brat!” Inuyasha began hotly, his temper obviously no more under control than it had been when Kagome was young, but she cut him off immediately.
“Inuyasha,” she began in a warning tone he still remembered quite clearly, “you presume far too much. This is not your house, and he is not your guest. Shut up.”
He sputtered indignantly but fell silent reluctantly as her expression darkened, and Kagome closed her eyes for a moment – that headache was only growing stronger – before opening them again and smiling at the curious prince. “This is someone I knew many years ago but haven't seen in decades. Actually-” she hesitated a moment, not sure what Sesshoumaru would have wanted her to do in these circumstances, but not wanting to lie, “-he is your father's half-brother,” she finished, hoping the daiyoukai didn't get angry at her for telling his son such a thing, true or not.
“Oh, I see,” the boy said, nodding. “Father has spoken of the hanyou a few times before. But I thought he had abandoned you and disappeared years ago?” he asked, looking at very irritated male for a moment. “Why would he have returned?”
A heavy aura swept over them at that point, causing Inuyasha to leap to his feet, a low growl rumbling through him in challenge as his brother stepped into the hut as though he had every right. Sesshoumaru eyed his half-brother narrowly.
“That is a good question, my son,” he said coldly, moving into the hut to place himself proprietorially close on Kagome's other side, never taking his eyes off his half-brother. “What is it that you do here, Inuyasha?”
“Yes,” Kagome's voice piped up before Inuyasha could begin cursing, “I'd like to know that myself,” she said, then added, “And you'd better answer politely, or else,” with a tight look in his direction, her fists clenching in her lap.
“Feh,” he muttered sullenly, before turning his head away. “I came to see if any of my friends were still around, is that wrong, or something?”
Voice tart, Kagome shot back, “No, but if you'd really wanted to see any of us, you probably shouldn't have waited sixty some years. We were all human except Shippo and Kirara, after all, Inuyasha. My bet is this has something to do with Kikyou. She's dead again, isn't she? And so then you thought you'd see if any of us would still talk to you after you'd just abandoned us.”
“Keh!” The hanyou flushed, since Kagome had basically hit the nail on its proverbial head. “It wasn't like that, okay?” he huffed, folding his arms across his chest as his brother shifted position minutely, eyes narrowing. “When Kikyou first came back, she kinda dragged me into this new quest, and before I even realized it, a lot of time had passed. By then, she was getting older, and there was something wrong with her – her health was bad, and she began having a hard time moving. I couldn't... leave her like that, so... basically, I spent the last twenty years taking care of her almost totally. I didn't really move far from her, because she'd become mostly bedridden, and her reiki was also pretty much gone. She died a couple of months ago, and I think-” he shifted, “-she was glad to go. She was finally freed from a body that had become a prison.”
Kagome leaned back a bit as she thought about his words, and shook her head inwardly. With a sigh, she nodded at him, knowing that she wouldn't hold his actions against him. Much. There wasn't any point. “I think,” she said slowly, with a very direct look at him, “that whatever she did to return to life was flawed, and that was why her body deteriorated so badly. Kaede had no such troubles, and as far as I know in her family, no one else did, either. She basically trapped herself when she did whatever it was, and she probably was relieved to finally pass on, you're right about that.”
Inuyasha nodded, still not looking at anyone, and that subject was labeled closed, though Kagome did have one further question. “What was this quest she dragged you into?”
His ears flattened to his head, but he looked over at her, then, an odd look coming onto his face. “What else? She wanted to extend her life... looks like we shoulda just come and asked you, wench. How'd you do it?”
At this, Sesshoumaru turned all his attention on the miko, as well – that was a question he'd often wondered over, himself.
“I didn't do anything. Remember Kaguya? She told me that I was immune to time, and apparently-” she opened her arms and held them wide so everyone could look at her, “-she wasn't joking, because I'm just not aging. I was made this way, I guess.”
“Heh,” Inuyasha huffed, a rather bitter look on his face. “And Sango and Miroku?” he asked.
“Died a few years ago,” she said sadly, missing her friends.
Inuyasha nodded, not surprised, his eyes going far away for a moment with sadness. “Yeah... I kinda thought so. And what about you?” he asked, his voice actually subdued. “Married? Kids?”
She chuckled wryly at that, rolling her eyes at him as Sesshoumaru and his son shifted once more, obviously wishing Inuyasha gone. “Come on, Inuyasha. Not aging. What man would want to marry a woman like me?”
She didn't notice the quick flick of golden eyes her way by the daiyoukai at her side, but Inuyasha did. Almost challengingly, he growled, “And you? What the hell are you doin' here, Sesshoumaru? You know, with that, 'I hate humans' thing, and all.”
At that question, Sesshoumaru's expression hardened, and he met his brother's gaze with just as much challenge. “You have no right to question me as though you were Kagome's guardian or mate. You are nothing more than a guest in her home, and a reluctant one, at that. Mind your own, Inuyasha.”
Before the hanyou could even inhale, Kagome spoke, her words shocking Inuyasha. “He's right. Sesshoumaru and Ginkoutaishii are welcome guests, and you are a surprise, someone who hasn't been around in years.” She didn't say anything about Sesshoumaru's presence here being a little different this particular time, but as her thoughts were once more taken back to what had happened earlier in the evening, she glanced at the daiyoukai, then at the matting covering her door, noting the darkness of night coming on. It would be dinner, soon.
Kagome pinned Inuyasha with a firm gaze, letting him know she would brook no argument. “You should go visit with Shippo. Kirara is probably with him – they can fill you in on some of the past, and tell you of Sango and Miroku's lives, as well as introduce you to some of their now grown children. Sesshoumaru and I have some... business to discuss.”
Ignoring Inuyasha's disgruntled low growl, the daiyoukai turned to his son and said, “If you would also go sit with the kitsune, my son.” Ginkoutaishii simply bowed his head to his father and stood to leave, knowing what was about to be discussed in general, but also knowing that it was a private matter between his sire and Kagome. He hoped that she would prove amenable to his father's suit – he knew that his sire's feelings for her were of the deep and unending variety, as had been proven over the last sixty years of his entrapment by his mother's machinations. He wanted no other than the miko, and had taken no other – unlike many lords, he had no concubines or mistresses, and did not touch Yue at all save for the once to gain his heir, which he had been forced to do, in any case.
Ginkoutaishii felt no personal upset that this was the case; that his sire had been forced to breed his mother to gain him. It was often done, after all – a Lord would breed himself a suitable heir upon a comely female, even if he had no real desire for her himself. He did, however, regret that his father's happiness had been so long withheld by the schemes of a controlling bitch like his grandmother.
He could only be grateful that his father had never allowed the scheming witch to get her claws into him.
The comfortable hut was silent as the two males left, and that silence continued for some few minutes after as their auras grew a bit distant. Once Kagome was certain they were truly alone, she sighed, and suddenly uncertain, looked up at Sesshoumaru.
“Sesshoumaru... what... what was that, earlier, I mean?”
After a moment of watching her with an unreadable expression, he said, “It is a long story.”
Kagome shrugged a little ruefully at that with a half smile on her face that spoke volumes. “I've obviously got plenty of time, so go ahead and tell me about it,” she said gently.
He couldn't deny that, and with an inclination of his head, he began, his eyes holding hers trapped. He spoke in first person, and Kagome was spellbound. “After the fall of Naraku, I turned my mind to the matter of gaining a mate. However, before I could speak to the one I had chosen, the bitch that had borne me came to me, and made certain threats towards the one who was my choice.”
He paused for a moment, his intensity sharpening even more, his eyes like searing flames of molten gold that Kagome could not look away from, her entire body frozen as her breath caught in her throat. No... is he really... could that female have been right? she thought disjointedly, remembering what Yue had said... and what Ginkoutaishii had said about Sesshoumaru's mother threatening her life to keep him in line. And now he was saying that the one his mother had threatened was the woman he had chosen as his mate...?
“You see, the one I chose as my own was not inu, nor was she youkai, and if my mother had let it be known that I was seeking such a one as my mate, to be mother to my heir, many would doubtless have risen in violence against that very thing. With my mother backing them, my chosen would have found herself the target of too many youkai to fight them all off. In order to guarantee the safety of the one I wanted, she forced me to mate Yue, her pet bitch, and sire my heir on her, instead.”
Breath totally frozen in her chest, Kagome couldn't move her eyes from where he held them trapped, nor would she want to. He really... it really sounds as if...! Her heart thumped hard within her, hope, something she'd lived without for all these years, springing to vibrant life inside her.
He smirked, then, savagely, and Kagome shivered. “However... she did not think to constrain me any further than that... and so I agreed, so that my chosen one would be safe, but the mating would be conducted on my terms. My mother I threw from the Western Palace permanently, and Yue, despite the dreams of power and control filling her empty head with the news that she would be Lady, found herself an outcast, instead.” He stopped, and looked away finally, his expression tightening, obviously remembering something distasteful. “I waited until she was at the height of her heat, then forced myself to breed her, so that she would take on the first try and I would never have to touch her again. Fortunately, it worked, and she conceived my son. I rarely even saw her after that, I made certain of it, and once Ginkoutaishii was weaned, he made it clear he did not wish to be in her presence, either.”
Kagome blushed a bit to hear him speak so frankly of having sex with that female, even as her heart sparked with jealousy at the thought. But as he didn't speak right away again, she asked a question to try to get him to finish his story. “He disliked his own mother that much?”
Remembered hatred clear in his voice, Sesshoumaru said, “Yue was not just a bitch by way of her sex and species. She was an intolerable wench, and a whore to boot. She had no redeeming qualities at all, and was never a mother to my son.”
That basically agreed with the young male's own words in regards to Yue, and Kagome nodded, waiting for him to continue.
He did, after a moment to pull his mind back from obviously unpleasant thoughts. “My bitterness towards the bitch that birthed me, her ally Yue's father, and Yue herself knew no bounds, for I expected to watch the female I had chosen wither and die of old age while I was forced to spend centuries in their presences after her death... imagine my relief – and surprise - when decades passed and the woman did not age,” he said, his eyes once more meeting hers... only this time they were hot as the sun, and yet soft, as well – something she'd never seen from him, and suddenly, she couldn't draw enough air, because there was no longer any mistaking that he was speaking of her. “Then I knew that if I was patient, there may still be a chance for me to have her, one day.”
“S-Sesshoumaru,” she whispered, her throat tight with emotion. “Have you really waited for a chance to...” she trailed off, unable to actually speak the words for fear that she was somehow wrong, even though she knew she wasn't.
“I have bided my time looking always towards this day, Kagome – to speak my heart to you and seek your own in return. When Yue attacked you, she broke the agreement with my mother, and with Ginkoutaishii as my heir, no one will question my choice of new mate on her death – ostensibly human as you are, or not. For sixty years I have watched you from afar, wishing things could have been different, and now there is no more need for me to do so, if you will but have me,” he finished softly, watching her carefully.
Kagome was so stunned that the one thing she had wanted for so long, and never, ever thought to receive was being offered to her, that she just stared at him, her eyes lost. “I... I don't understand,” she finally said weakly, so afraid to believe it. “You... you can't be serious, Sesshoumaru – you don't like humans. I've always known this. Why would you say something like this?” she asked, her eyes bewildered.
Sesshoumaru's own eyes softened on her as he took in her state of high disbelief – and admitted that it was his fault she would be so unable to accept his words. “I am very serious, Kagome – but I understand your confusion. It is true, I do not care for most humans,” he said. “And you surely can understand why. Taken as a species, the bad outweighs the good. But... as my father tried to teach me, there are some... that are worthy. And you are more worthy than any other - demon or human.”
“I'm glad that you think so, Sesshoumaru – but even more than your dislike of humans in general, is your dislike for the two joining together, especially when a child is borne of that union,” she said, her voice low and sad. “Would you have me accept you, knowing that I could never have a child, and that if I did, you would hate it?”
Though her words hurt him, he understood why she was saying what she was saying, and he couldn't be angry at her. It was, after all, his own fault. And now, if he wanted her, as he did more and more with every passing day, he would have to convince her. He only hoped that he could.
He sighed, and let his mask drop, opening himself to her as he never had to another, even his son. Meeting her eyes with ones filled with uncertainty, he said, “I would never deny you a child, Kagome. And I could never hate a child that you had given me. My previous beliefs... I was wrong. I admit it freely. I still dislike Inuyasha – but it is not for his blood, and it has not been in a long time. How long has it been since you have heard me insult him using his half blood status?” he asked. “Think back. After I received my arm back, and Bakusaiga, I never did again. Even before that time – after he triumphed in the meidou when I tested him one last time to see if he was truly worthy of all of what should have been Tessaiga's power, I never taunted him about his blood again. He had proved that even a half blood could be truly powerful.”
She thought about it, really wanting to believe what he was saying. “No, I guess you didn't,” she said slowly, meeting his gaze and plumbing the depths of his eyes with her own hopeful yet fearful ones. “Do you really mean it?” she asked hopefully once more, needing to hear it one more time.
“One thing that I have never been is a liar. I do not say what I do not mean. You know this,” he whispered as he moved closer to her and cupped her cheek in his large swordsman's hand. His heart was beating faster every moment he was in that hut with her, for she was not denying him out of any lack of feeling for him, merely fear of his previous beliefs. It made him hope, and wonder... “What are your thoughts on this, Kagome? You do not out and out deny me...” he trailed off, still letting his uncertainty show. Already, he was comfortable with her seeing him as he truly was, his uncertainties, even his fears, because he knew that she would never use them against him, and one thing he had learned over all the lonely years he'd waited for his chance to have her, was that even he, the cold Lord, as so many had called him, needed at least one person who he could be himself with. He needed a companion, a true mate... he needed Kagome. The burdens that he carried were already beginning to feel lighter for the hope of being able to share them with her.
All his life he'd carried everything on his own shoulders with no one to stand by his side. For most of that time, he'd seen no need for such a thing, perfectly convinced that he would never be weak enough to need it. But... she had broken through his previous ignorance and taught him that he did want another person in his life – he wanted her, and that he wasn't weak for it. Her pride, determination, indomitable will and unfaltering courage in the face of any and all odds spoke to him, spoke to who he truly was, and made him want that graceful spirit of hers near him always. Only she would ever see him this way, with all his defenses open wide and the true vulnerability that all living beings had at their core laid bare before her. Even his son would not see this much of him – for this bond, this oneness of spirit was only for mates. His son would one day find the female that would do the same for him, and Sesshoumaru swore to himself never to allow anyone to do to Ginkoutaishii what his mother had done to him. His son would not have to force himself to mate a female he despised.
Unable to meet his eyes any longer, hers fell closed as tears squeezed out of them, drawing crystalline paths down pale cheeks. “I...” she hesitated, a frown creasing her brow for a moment, until he moved his hand and used his thumb to massage the expression away, causing her eyes to snap open, “... I have always loved you,” she finally confessed, her own heart laid bare before him in that moment as her fear of rejection faded in the face of his assurances. “Since well before Inuyasha disappeared with Kikyou,” addressing the doubt she saw in his eyes. “That's why I never grieved after he left. Oh, sure, I was angry that he thought so little of us that he'd just up and go without even having the, well, pardon the expression, but the balls to tell us why he was leaving, or even say goodbye, but it didn't hurt as it would have when I first came here.”
“Truly?” he searched her eyes, plumbing their depths with that oddly open gaze; it was so strange to see him acting thus that Kagome just had to ask...
“Yes, truly. But, Sesshoumaru... you aren't acting like, well, you. You don't show feelings and emotions and especially don't ever look anything more than perfectly convinced that whatever you desire will be what you receive. What's with the change?” she whispered, as though she were afraid that to speak any louder than that would once more harden him.
Dropping his hand from her face and sitting back, his eyes far away, he sighed, then looked at her again. “This is who I am, Kagome. Or, at least, a part of who I am. But it is a part of me that I can never allow anyone to see, because in my position, if I were to act as anything less than perfectly in control of every situation and ready to kill for any reason, I would be forced to constantly fight to maintain my place. But you... you I can allow to see all of me as I can no other. Make no mistake,” he said, his expression hardening, “I am perfectly willing to do anything I must to maintain my control of what is mine. And I feel no need to apologize for the fact that I will kill when I need to – just as I killed the three that kept me trapped in misery for decades just this very day. But... I am not all just a killing machine. I do have another side. And it would not do to hide myself from the one I would choose as my mate, for if you cannot look to your mate for comfort with the truth of who you are in your gaze and actions, then there is little reason to take one. I do not wish for another mating such as I had with that horrid bitch Yue.”
After a moment of considering what he had said, she nodded her understanding of most of what he was saying. Though she would never be able to fully understand his deadly side, she knew that he had one, since all youkai had that dark side. It did not deter her, nor did it change her love for him. “So... what is it you wish from me? Were I to agree, what would happen now?”
“That depends entirely on you. Do you wish for a long courtship?”
She thought about that, then shook her head. “No... not really. I already know my feelings, and I've lived with them for sixty years. I think I've waited long enough. I trust you to be certain of your own feelings, as well, so I see no need for one, unless it is what you wish.”
He nodded. “I must confess, I am relieved you feel this way, for I, also, have waited for sixty years, and with little hope of ever being in this one moment with you. If you wished such a thing, I would try to give it to you, but... I could not guarantee that I could actually hold out for much longer. My desire for you has been growing for much longer than most youkai are forced to wait to mate their chosen females, and after all, though I have more control than any other, even I have my limits.” He was looking at her much more warmly than he ever had before, and Kagome blushed, suddenly realizing just what that warm look was.
Passion.
“S-so then... where do we go from here?” she asked softly, her voice somewhat hesitant.
“Now, I make arrangements for you to move into my home,” he returned just as softly. “That won't take but a day, at which point I bring some of my servants, and they will gather anything that you wish to take with you, and then-” his eyes darkened to the color of old gold, and he reached out and pulled her to him, “-we mate.”
Kagome did not fight him; as she settled into his lap, she watched, spellbound, as his head lowered to hers. But the instant that his lips met hers, her eyes fell closed and she savored the feel of his soft, full lips against her own, not wanting to miss any of the sensations that he was evoking in her.
It was, after all, her first true kiss.
Yes, she'd kissed Inuyasha that time in Kaguya's castle, but that had been a mere press of lips in an attempt to call Inuyasha back from the female youkai's spell. And it had worked, though Kagome had always privately suspected it was because Inuyasha was simply caught up in the moment and had mistaken her lips for Kikyou's. While that had hurt at one time, now she simply didn't care – especially with Sesshoumaru asking for her to part her lips, his tongue leaving a sizzling feeling behind on her bottom lip as he trailed it slowly across.
The sensation caused her to inhale in surprise, and Sesshoumaru took full advantage as she opened to him, swallowing her gasp, her following moan, and even her breath. Sliding his tongue along hers, he tasted her slowly, his mind blown away by his first taste of the woman he'd wanted for so very long. Mint, herbs, and something that was just Kagome, she was everything he could have asked for and more, and as she followed his tongue back into his mouth and ran hers so sweetly around his fangs, he growled, once more taking over the kiss and chasing her tongue back into her mouth to curl his along her palette, before once more stroking hers. It was beautiful, it was perfect...
But it wasn't enough.
And so he pulled back, panting heavily, and attempted to regain his control once more. A kiss was not near enough, not when he'd waited for so long, but he could not take her – not yet. After all, she hadn't actually agreed to be his yet – she'd only asked what would happen if she did. On top of that, even if she said yes, which he was almost certain that she would, since she'd said she loved him, he still had to move her into his home. He would not take her here, in a little village hut like some peasant he was simply rutting for base relief. No... she was to be his Lady, the true Lady of the West in a way Yue never had been, nor would ever have been allowed to be, and he would take her in what would, from the moment she agreed, be their bed, in comfort with soft silks to cushion and caress her skin as he loved her.
With that determination, he calmed his breathing and his body, and once more met her eyes with a slight smile at the dazed look in hers – which he was certain was reciprocated in his.
“Will you honor me with an answer, Kagome? I have told you what I desire, what I have wanted for sixty years. All I need now is to hear your answer,” he said, so softly it was almost a whisper.
One last time Kagome met his eyes with a searching look of her own, but in reality, she already knew what she would find there, just as she already knew her answer.
She blushed, but smiled shyly, her eyes sparkling with soft vulnerability up at the daiyoukai. “I would be honored, Sesshoumaru, to give myself to you.”
~oOo~
A/N: No, I didn't forget Yue's father, you'll find out what happened with him in a later chapter. And no, this won't be a long story – originally, it was supposed to be a one shot, but it just got too long for that, so I decided to make it a short chapter story, instead. It's not an action adventure or anything else, so don't get your hopes up – it's just a short angst romance drama thing. There will be about five or six chapters to this story.
Also, since I will be posting it fairly quickly since I have it mostly finished, I probably won't have time to answer the individual reviews. But I do read every one and thank you all most deeply for the time you take to write them. It's just that I get so many reviews, that I wouldn't have time to write any of the story if I replied to every review.
Happy New Year!
Amber