InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demon's Night ❯ In the Company of Devils: The Bloody Centenary, Part IV ( Chapter 6 )

Demon's Night

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A/N: Hey, just a word of warning - this IS the chapter with LEMON CONTENT, so please, if you're not into that, or under-age, or just happen to hate Kag/Sess pairings (which, again, why are you reading this far in the first place?) DON'T READ IT!

 

For those of you who choose to read on, fair warning - I've been told in the past (by Lee, ::cough::) that my Lemons usually tend to read like bad romance novels, but I did my best, so try not to be too dissapointed if it's not everything you hoped for. I did try to keep the cheese toned down, LOL, but I am already well-aware that this fic has a lot of cliches, and over-used plot devices I just couldn't get around, so bear with me. Oh, one last thing - I DO know that in the first chapter, where I mentioned the lady from the 'The Woman Who Loved Sesshomaru' episode, her name is pronounced 'Sara'. I saw her referred to as 'Lady Soluo' at some point, and I just thought that was prettier than 'Sara'. (No offense to anyone named Sara, LOL). So there's the why. Just thought I'd take a moment to explain that. Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed, e-mailed, left feedback - I really appreciate you. Okay, so this is it. Remember - PLEASE don't read on if you are under-aged. I will post a 'clean' version at FF.Net soon. Thanks for reading!

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Chapter Six - In the Company of Devils: The Bloody Centenary, Part IV

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This part of the forest was far too dark and far too quiet.

While Kagome was happy to be on the ground again, she suddenly found herself wishing they were still on the move. At least then she wouldn't have to be faced with an - apparently - lustful Sesshomaru! Could this night get any weider?!

'Ugh, why did I ask..?'

She stared at the demon in utter disbelief. Being this close to him was so unnerving - !

“Remove your clothing. Do not make me repeat myself.” He lifted a sharply clawed hand to the front of her - InuYasha's - yukata and slit the ties with no effort at all.

Kagome grabbed at the suddenly gaping edges. “Hey! Don't touch me!” she yelped.

He growled low in his throat as his eyes flashed, and he gripped the yukata in a fist at the base of her throat, and drew her dangerously close. Her naked toe-tips barely touched the ground. “You forget your place.”

Sesshomaru crowded her against a tree, his body touching her.

“This,” he gave the fistful of yukata a fierce tug, nearly ripping the seams, “it belongs to InuYasha. You will remove it. I command you to.”

“I won't! Get over yourself!”

He almost glowered at her. He moved his face close to hers.

“You are being most difficult.”

Kagome shook her head furiously, wishing she had her bow and arrows. He thought she was being difficult? No kidding!

“Why are you doing this?!”

Sesshomaru didn't answer, but the look in his eyes made her squirm. It was almost as if he was willing her to do something.

The scary thing was, she felt oddly compelled to do that something!

“S-stop looking at me like that and say something!” she demanded, nervously reaching up with one hand to push her hair behind her ears. It seemed like a stupid thing to do in such a moment, but the simple gesture helped distract her and keep her sane. The way he was staring at her, with that faint air of - what? - expectation..? It was driving her out of her skin!

“If you don't stop it, I'm going to start thinking you're i-in love with me!”

Sesshomaru didn't move - he didn't blink. His entire body went even more still at her words, if that was possible. His eyes were still locked on hers, but she couldn't detect even a flicker of response in the ageless golden depths.

“What? Are you in...love with me?” Her cheeks almost incinerated themselves when she blurted that bit of nonsense. It was like ripping off a bandage, and it made her wince. It was a question that had to be asked, had practically begged to be asked. Her heartbeat came hard and heavy as she waited for his response. Knowing Sesshomaru, she'd probably just insulted him in the worst kind of way. He'd probably kill her for even suggesting that he loved a human.

Again, he said nothing.

Kagome gasped at the impossible insinuation. “I-I can't...believe that!”

“Can you not?”

Kagome whirled away from him, slipping away from between his hard, warm body and the cold, rough tree trunk.

Sesshomaru, in love with her?! She was dreaming again, she had to be!

“Do not turn from me.”

“No. No, no, no! This - this is NOT happening. You don't love me! You're - you're Sesshomaru! You're cold, a-and distant, and...and you can't love me! Y-you just can't!” she cried.

“Hn. You seem to think you know me so well, miko,” he murmured softly, with no trace of emotion. “Presumptuous of you, when you have spent mere minutes in my company.”

Torn between curiosity and running until her lungs exploded, Kagome peeked at him. He

was...beautiful - a perfect mix of nobility and cruelty.

And...

He wanted her.

Kagome's breath caught in her throat.

Sesshomaru really did want her!

“Oh, Kami-sama...” she moaned weakly. It should be illegal for a man to look like he did. He was so...so...just 'so' something or other that it made her hurt! And that, in turn, made her feel guilty about InuYasha. Was he alright? What about the others?

'Oh, I so need to be rescued! Just one more time! Miroku, Kouga? Sango? This would be a great time to make a heroic entrance!' she frantically sing-songed inside her head.

Geez! Where was InuYasha when you needed him?!

“Breathe.”

Kagome looked over at him at the command, and automatically took a huge gulp of air - which she promptly let out again in panic as he stepped towards her again. She choked and ended up having a coughing fit.

'Great, cough all over him and maybe he'll get so disgusted he'll go away!' she thought frantically.

“What ails you, miko?

Instead of being disgusted, the great demon simply reached out to take her hand away from her mouth and trapped her fingers within the delicate-but-steely strength of his. She found herself numbly stumbling along behind him for a few minutes, staring at her hand clasped in his, still clutching the yukata closed until he stopped again and bade her to kneel alongside a small, trickling brook.

To her eternal shock, he proceeded to dip one hand in the clear, sparkling water, and lifted a cupped, dripping palm to her lips, claws carefully extended away from her skin.

“Drink,” he murmured.

Kagome was too entranced to turn away. It felt like such an intimate, impossible thing, sipping water from his hand. It was also really embarrassing, trying to drink it without touching him - her tongue innocently slipped out to capture the drops escaping her lips, and she accidentally tasted his skin, warm through the cool water. She drew back, raising the sleeve of the yukata to press trembling lips against it on the pretense of drying them. Her tongue tingled where it had touched his hand.

Unable to meet his eyes, she watched as his hand slowly clenched into a fist, the remaining water squeezing from between his fingers to catch the red moonlight as it trickled to the ground. The droplets looked like little searing flashes of fire just before they dissapeared into the grass.

For a long moment, the only sound was the faint chirping of crickets, the soft murmur of the breeze, and the bubbling trickle of the small brook at their feet.

Kagome tried to concentrate on calming her heartbeat; on how the soft, mossy ground felt beneath her feet. She hadn't missed the way his tall, lean body had tensed when she'd brushed her tongue against his hand. She was rooted to the ground - she couldn't move, or speak. She could feel his gaze on her, slowly trailing over her body, and her physical reaction to it was terrifying. Goosebumps rose up all over her skin, and her hands and the soles of her feet went hot and cold at the same time.

Unable to stop herself, she dared a peek up at him through her lashes, only to see him staring right back at her.

Sesshomaru caught her glance and took a silent step forward, gently shaking his mane of hair back over one shoulder. He slowly lifted a hand to touch her face, and she thought she might flinch away - but his fingers stopped short of touching her skin.

Kagome looked at him, surprised, and saw one eyebrow raise mockingly. She began to frown, and that was when he did it. Skimmed his fingertips across her cheekbone, just the barest contact of his skin against hers, and she closed her eyes and shuddered at the devastating effect it had on her.

She jerked away.

“L-listen, Sesshomaru-sama. I don't really know how, um, demons do this, uh, sort of...thing, but with humans, it's...well, guys who love girls don't 'normally' , uh, kidnap them and then, you know...you know?” She made an awkward motion with her hands. “Besides...a girl needs to matter to the man she 's...she's... with, and I - I don't matter to you. You claim to love me, but you don't even know me.”

“Once again, you presume much.” Sesshomaru looked angry for a moment.

“B-but you don't! You can't, not really! Like you said, we've barely been within twenty meters of each other the whole time I've been here! Um...I mean...that is to say....”

Kagome trailed off uncomfortably.

Sesshomaru merely stared at her.

“Y-you were wrong to steal me away from my friends like that!” she quickly sputtered, pointing a finger at him, clenching the yukata closed with the other.

“You've got some nerve, mister...!”

Sesshomaru barely lifted one eyebrow in response, and Kagome's shoulders slumped in defeat.

Oh, who was she trying to kid? Sesshomaru would never admit to doing anything wrong, let alone apologize.

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru's already perfect pose went rigid as he sensed a lower-level youkai coming into the area.

He did not like the scent of this one. It was moving fast, coming too close...and...ah, there it was. It was bringing along a 'companion' as well.

“Miko,” he said with quiet authority, interrupting Kagome's quiet rant.

“Listen, for the last time - I AM NOT TAKING MY CLOTHES OFF!” she shouted defiantly.

“Duck.”

Kagome's eyes widened as she saw him draw a sword from one of the sheathe's at his hip. She was totally confused.

“Huh? Duck?”

Then she screamed as he swung the sword at her in a mighty arc, and she hit the ground in self-preservation, shaking in reaction as she heard the sword make contact with something above and just slightly behind her. She heard a sickening crunch, and an unintelligible scream from a non-human throat. She cringed on the forest floor, trying to hide in the cool darkness of the waist-tall grass as she waited for the inevitable nasty warm goo to splash down over her - but after a moment, she realized the demon Sesshomaru killed must have simply disintegrated...and wasn't she thankful for that!

Kagome's relief came too soon, for she was just beginning to relax and pick herself up off the ground when something else arrived with a gnashing of prominent teeth and tusks behind her and snatched her up around the waist, holding her against it as a shield so that Sesshomaru couldn't attack it.

Kagome's nose wrinkled and she nearly gagged in disgust as she caught the rotten scent of the thing gripping her. If she hadn't been able to tell what was holding her hostage by sight, she could tell just by it's rancid scent - a man-eating boar youkai held her! And what she was smelling was undoubtedly the decaying remains of it's last victim clinging in gore-like shreds to it's sharp, thick, disease-blackened teeth!

Ewwwww!

“Worthless, stinking dog!” The boar spat roughly, giving Kagome a harsh tug. “You killed my mate while I was still in rut - so I will take yours!”

Kagome blinked through the streams of stinging tears flowing from her eyes - the stench of the boar was distracting and overwhelming, but she could still hear what it was saying.

“Mate? Huh? I'm not his - “

“I'll make certain she bears my clan a new litter before I let them eat her alive for their first meal! The ass and loin especially, of female humans, are a great delicacy!” the boar snarled in a saliva-dripping garble.

Kagome winced as it's spittle landed in a disgusting glob on her throat. Shivering in revulsion, she turned her head and tried very hard to ignore it - oh, but it was slowly sliding down inside the collar of the yukata, the night air chilling it as it went - ! It was incredibly foul! Gross!

“It is to be a violation, then?” the tai-youkai interrupted smoothly. “I see.” Sesshomaru looked at Kagome, his eyebrow arched mockingly.

“Shall it be me, or this low demon? What outcome do you favor, miko?”

“T-that's not any kind of a choice!” Kagome turned bright red and squirmed in the boar-demon's crushing, cloven-hoofed grip.

“Hn. You are correct - but at least I will not devour you after. Perhaps during,” he amended coolly, “but you will be too mindless with pleasure to care.”

Kagome choked on her amazement. Was Sesshomaru trying to make a joke?!

“Y-you - !”

His molten eyes narrowed. “You may begin screaming now, if you wish.”

Tired of waiting, the demon roared and attacked. His grip tightened on Kagome, and she gave a breathless little cry of pain.

He didn't speak, but the golden sunbursts in Sesshomaru's eyes flared at the tiny sound.

The next thing Kagome knew, her hot cheek was pressed against the cold, hard plate of his armor, her wide eyes staring at one of the wicked spikes protruding from his chest a mere inch from her.

Sesshomaru held her for a moment, then, before she could regain her bearings, he let loose and stepped away. He still had his Toukijin in hand, and he slashed the blade through the air once, with incredible speed, flinging the corrupted blood from it's gleaming surface, before neatly re-sheathing it at his side. Then he calmly turned and began walking away from her, further into the forest, his long hair caressing the backs of his knees, his graceful, lean body marking a trail through the tall, gently swaying grass as the blood moon cast leafy silhouettes across his form.

Kagome's heart jumped. She was shaking so hard she could barely stand. What, was he just going to leave her here? In this dark, youkai-infested forest? Alone?

Scrambling up, she ran after him.

“Hey!”

-

Sesshomaru was furious. He had not sensed the two boar-youkai in time to prepare for Kagome's safety. He was not a being who allowed himself to be taken off-guard very often.

“Hey! Wait!”

“We must keep moving for now. It is too dangerous here.”

“Why? You killed those boar youkai - !”

“They are not dead.”

“Wha- “

“They will return.” His words carried the typical bite of an iceberg.

“Huh - ? Those - things are gonna' come back?! But how - “

“They will not harm you. I will slay any creature that tries to claim what is mine.”

Kagome finally stopped wondering how the heck those boar demons could possibly return when she noticed the tall, silent dog demon staring at her with strange intent.

“Eh? Eeek! Don't touch me!” Kagome threw her hands up and started backing away, babbling wildly.

“Really, stop it, now, I'm serious! You don't really want to kiss me, you know, y-you're just one of those guys I read about who are...are...who want to do 'it', because you just killed those demons and death makes you, uh...uh...” oh, she didn't want to say it, but she couldn't think of another, more genteel word, and her face turned blood red as she finished in a tiny, very weak whisper, “'horny'?”

Kagome flinched and pressed her fingers to her lips. She almost died! Had she really said that word out-loud?

“Inu-youkai do not have horns,” Sesshomaru told her coolly, looking both faintly insulted and a little puzzled as he grabbed her hands and pulled her to him with one effortless tug.

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tight and held her breath as he lowered his perfect visage towards her.

Ew, ew, it was Sesshomaru, it was Sesshomaru kissing her! She couldn't stand it, it was wrong, so wrong, could anything be more wrong than...

Sesshomaru...kissing...

Oh, wow.

It was...she'd never felt anything like it, before. It was soft, warm, and wet...and he tasted like...like nothing she'd ever experienced before.

He still held her hands clamped in one of his own, and she made a sound in her throat that she'd never made before in her entire life when she instinctively tried to reach up and touch his hair, and couldn't.

He responded by turning his head just so, and deepening the mesmerizing, knee-weakening stroke of his tongue even further. As with his skill in battle, not one movement was a wasted action.

She was so focused on his sweet-slightly-metallic taste that she barely noticed his hand moving...she gasped, and he sucked on her tongue as her world narrowed down to a pin-point of pleasure focused on her chest. He was lazily flicking the point of her bare left breast with a smooth, clawed finger, and the ache she hadn't even been aware of expanded massively in her lower abdomen. It made her feel...hungry.

Another helplessly frustratated sound escaped her throat, and then she was kissing him back, opening her lips wider, the tip of her tongue sliding against the silky sides of his, finding that spot of sweetness at the base of his tongue.

He growled lowly as she surged against him, and the sound jolted her back to her senses. Her eyes flew wide open.

She - Kagome Higurashi - was kissing SESSHOMARU! With...with tongue!

And he...he had his hand inside the open yukata, was touching her...touching her breast, and she...she LIKED it!

Liked it, heck, she wanted to devour him!

“Oh!” Gasping for air, Kagome flung herself back, and whirled away, hiding her hot face ashamedly behind the fall of her hair.

Mmmm, it actually hurt to stop touching him! It hurt!

What was wrong with her?!

“What did you do to me?!”

When she finally managed to dare a peek back at him, she could tell he hadn't moved - he was still standing in the same position, perfectly still, watching her, though she couldn't see his eyes in the dark shadow cast across them by his hair. His lips were slightly open, and she could see just a hint of the tips of his fangs, but other than that, she couldn't tell that he'd been affected by the kiss at all. He wasn't even breathing hard!

“Just what was that?” she suddenly demanded in a loud shout. She was too frustrated, too innocent, too shocked to know how to act anything but angry.

“What did you think you were doing?! Is that truly what you took me away for? Did you really think I would just...just go along with it? Did you really think I would just...just do that, with you, because you wanted me to? Oh, yeah, I forgot, you're the freaking Lord of the Western Lands, aren't you? You're not satisfied with that, though, are you, no, you hafta' be lord and master of everyone, and everything you survey - “

“Not everyone, miko.” Sesshomaru cut her off, grabbing her chin in his hand and tilting her head backwards until she had no choice but to look into his his flashing eyes now.

“Only. You.”

With that spoken, Sesshomaru turned around again, and continued walking onward.

Kagome was so stunned she almost got left behind. Her heart was beating so hard and fast that it hurt. With a gasp, she started after him, tugging the yukata tightly closed.

“H-hey! Y-you don't just go around - groping people like that!” she stuttered.

This, surprisingly, actually provoked a response from the almighty ice-prince.

“Hn. This Sesshomaru does not 'grope',” drifted back to her.

Kagome was about to wildly debate that point when suddenly a very familiar voice sounded from overhead.

“Oh, Lord Sesshomaru. Kidnapping the miko, I see. You're such a bad man. Oh, yes, you are bad,” Kagura purred. “I always recognize my own kind, you see. But why would you ever want to spend this night with the likes of her?”

-

Frowning angrily, Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and glared upward at what had to be the absolute worst of Naraku's detachments.

“Heh! Why would he want to spend it with the likes of 'you'?” she blurted, flustered by the sudden jealousy rushing through her. It wasn't like her to be so unforgiveably catty.

“What, you think everyone can't tell you've got the hots for him? Geez, you are so obvious!”

Kagura didn't look at all offended by her uncharacteristically catty words. In fact, she only smiled, a bittersweet emotion in the sparkling ruby depths of her eyes...

-

“Being so close to such a fine specimen of demon has already addled your wits, I see,” the wind demoness drawled to the little miko, her eyes turning to look at Sesshomaru with undisguised desire.

He did not return the favor.

Kagura smiled bitterly. “Never fear, my lord. I have not survived so long only to die in a futile struggle for your attentions. I will have my freedom no matter the cost. Your human is safe from me...this night.”

Sesshomaru didn't bother with a response, which was telling in-and-of itself, but Kagura was feeling bravely confident. To her, death was as commonplace as life, and being so near the fine and strong demon lord was well worth any risk.

At any rate, if she didn't have hope, she would lose her senses completely, living with a creature such as Naraku.

“I could almost envy you, girl.” Kagura sighed lustfully as she regarded Sesshomaru's moon-bright countenance, and then turned her suddenly spiteful gaze back on Kagome.

“This pretty mess isn't real, you know. None of it.” Her noble voice reeked with the tones of vengeance as she narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin.

“Do not set your silly heart on him. Don't expect him to do right by you by the light of day. He can be cruel well beyond anything you can imagine. It seems that tenderness does not come as easy to him as his beauty.” Kagura pursed her lips as she sent the great demon a slightly mocking glance.

“Kagura.” Sesshomaru spoke her name lowly, and without inflection, but it seemed to work better than a blow in catching the detachment's attention.

“I know, my unforgiving lord. Be gone if I wish to tarry longer in the land of the living.” Kagura regarded the tai-youkai with a longing, almost fond glance, before a gust of wind lifted her feather higher into the dark crimson sky.

“I would say to not bother giving your best to the un-appreciative wretch, but we both know you bear the curse of perfection, don't we...Sesshomaru-sama?” she purred with an hollow laugh before she vanished into the night.

-

“Just what was that supposed to mean? That witch! Oh, Kami-sama...have you...did you - ?”

Sesshomaru's golden eyes flamed beneath the dark slashes of his lashes. Now, he seemed offended.

“Right, sorry, none of my business.” Kagome laughed nervously, waving her hand.

Sesshomaru arched a brow.

Kagome's laughter dwindled off to nothing.

Watching Kagome as a strong night breeze blew up, Sesshomaru lifted a hand to push the delicate fur of his pelt from where it brushed against his jaw line.

Something...was pinioning his chest. He filled his lungs and expelled the swollen ache in his chest into the air.

Love. He still did not understand it, this fierce emotion, and he did not want to understand. It made him feel exposed, vulnerable - something he, Sesshomaru, should never feel.

She was turning him inside out, completely detroying him, and everything he had made himself, thought himself to be - but he did not care, because now, she was his.

Yet the knowledge that he did not care seemed impossible.

For the first time in his life, he felt real fear. A fear of the unknown.

Sesshomaru had tried for the longest time to convince himself that it was not a mating in the usual sense that he wanted. He was simply curious about her. It was desire, and yet, not even that. He could take her body, pleasure her her in return for his use of it, and then forget her. He wouldn't allow their involvement to deepen. As if it could. She was human, and therefore, otherwise beneath his notice. He refused to allow himself to fall into the same trap as his father.

His turbulent glance was drawn to the pale, slender curve of her neck. He caught the sweet, damp scent of her hair and felt his body tighten. A fierce pulse began beating at his temple and at his throat.

It was far too late for that nonsense, and he knew it.

“You think of him.”

-

Kagome hid her eyes behind her lashes. “W-who?”

“InuYasha.”

“Yes.” She didn't bother to deny it.

Sesshomaru looked at her in carefully controlled censure.

“Is it truly so abhorrent, the thought of submitting to me? I...care for you. InuYasha did not, or he would have taken you by now. Do you think that I would treat you so badly?”

“I-I'm not! I won't. I mean - I don't want you!”

“Do you think that InuYasha wants you?

Kagome stopped panicking long enough to look at him. He was like stone, immobile, tense. If he ever let go of his perfect self-control, she'd be caught up in the absolute fury of his release.

It was a frightening thought.

Something in the tone of his voice had drawn her notice. His tone hadn't changed, but something told her that he was dangerously on edge at the moment.

She was right. His beautiful face was blank, but he had an expression in his eyes that could have frozen a volcano.

“That's a horrible, hurtful thing to say for someone who claims to care about me. You're just doing this to hurt him. You're jealous of him!”

Despite her words, which she knew he would take as an insult, his coolly composed face showed no hint of anything - no annoyance, dislike, no sign of offense.

“Jealous? Perhaps. In some small way,” Sesshomaru shocked her by admitting. “I do not care enough about InuYasha to wonder if my taking you hurts him or not. It is my...curiosity about you which brought us to this.”

“Why are you suddenly so curious about me? You've only tried to kill me about a hundred times!”

Sesshomaru tilted his head as he looked at her with a bland, yet slightly rebuking expression. “A large exaggeration on your part, miko,” he responded tonelessly.

“So...why?”

“You wish to know why? I have dreamed of you. Your taste, your scent.”

“Y-you've dreamed of me?” Kagome said, panicked. She switched tactics, and didn't allow him to respond.

“I don't care what you say! He won't be happy about this! I won't let him feel guilty about this, I'll go to Kaede, and get a spell of forgetting, something - !”

At that his predator's eyes twitched, and then narrowed in speculation. “Hm. Then perhaps I will not allow you to leave in the morning after all.”

Kagome swallowed hard, suppressing a nervous urge to laugh. She was completely alone. InuYasha was hurt, how badly she didn't know, and everyone else was stuck in a barrier! Would there be anything left of her in the morning, anyway?

“He'll come for me! It doesn't matter!”

“Will he.” Sesshomaru's voice didn't show any curiosity as to the answer at all.

“O-of course he will!” she snapped, but her voice lacked any real conviction.

Sesshomaru's already narrowed eyes thinned to gleaming slits. “InuYasha does not know how fortunate he is to have you. Creatures such as he have no honor. He is no better than an animal, putting you in danger, abandoning you to search out his dead priestess. If you were my mate, you would see none of these hardships. I would keep you in our private chmbers at all times.”

His mate?! Shaken by the idea, Kagome stared at him. 'In 'our' private chambers? Did he really just say that?'

“I couldn't allow another male in your presence without risking his life,” Sesshomaru elaborated, not taking his eyes from her for an instant. “It truly is a pity you were not youkai-born.”

Becoming more and more outraged by his archaic ideals, Kagome nearly bit her tongue in two suppressing her response to that. She'd noticed that far from being annoyed by her little tirades, he'd actually seemed amused by them! So, she wasn't going to give the big jerk the satisfaction..!

“Go on, miko,” the tai-youkai murmured. “Say what you wish before you choke upon it.”

“Oh, thanks for your permission, Sesshomaru-sama! Fine! I will, then! I like being human, thanks very much!” Kagome exploded tartly.

“Truly? You have no wish to be immortal? A superior being?”

“I guess I don't need to bother asking what your definition of 'superior' is. No way,” she huffed. “Besides, if being immortal makes you all arrogant, and demanding, and act like you're better than everyone else on the planet, I'll definitely pass, thanks!”

Red fires suddenly blazed in the molten gold pools of his eyes, their flames licking over her startled face.

Kagome still couldn't get over how someone who looked so cold and placid all the time could promote such explosive chemistry.

“Come.” He held out his hand.

Drawing back slightly, she gave him a mistrustful pout. “W-why?”

His eyes narrowed dangerously once more, their glowing glare reaching into her abdomen and capturing her in a tight grip from within. “You will come to me. Tonight you have no choice. You must do as you are bidden...human.”

“H-hey! I'm not your slave! Don't talk to me like that!”

“Your impertinence is staggering.” Sesshomaru was becoming angry, but his soft, seductive tone showed no sign of it.

“You have no idea of who is truly the slave, here.”

Kagome was too panicked to hear the dark, cryptic words he spoke like a curse, or see the hint of vulnerability in his eyes.

“Just let me go! Please, I need to get back to InuYasha! He - he could really be hurt!”

“You expect too much of him. Nonetheless, if he opens his eyes to the present, InuYasha may have you for the rest of his existence - only he can determine that. He can let me have you for this one night. I will have you.”

“No! I don't want this!”

“You will.”

He flipped her easily onto her back, and pressing a muscled thigh between hers, he subdued her struggles.

His body was lean and warm. She felt the hilts of his swords bite into her hip.

“I want you, Kagome. Just as you want me. It is in your eyes.”

Kagome's face caught fire. This was worse than any dream - !

“Tend me.”

“T-tend you?” Her face twisted in confusion. “You want me to...cook for you?”

Sesshomaru simply stared at her. “Hn. You truly are an innocent, aren't you?” He pulled back a little, one eyebrow arched mockingly.

“I want you to touch me.”

Kagome was shocked, but she really did find herself wanting to touch him, suddenly. The tug in her midriff was insistent, becoming more and more strong with each passing moment. Hands shaking, disbelieving, she did as he asked, reaching up and running hesitant fingertips over his perfect facial features the colorful markings, down his warm throat - which made him growl warningly, the sound reverberating deliciously against her touch - across his silk-clad chest, and back up, over the delicate points of his ears.

When she touched his hair, she could have sworn she felt a shiver run through him, but before she could think about it, he'd pushed her hands away.

“Enough.” His head was bent, his hair a concealing wall between them.

Kagome sucked in a shuddering breath, more affected by the loss of contact than she wished to admit.

What was wrong with her?

She knew she was in real trouble when he quietly shifted the swords in his sash to lay on the soft grass beside him...

Kagome got up again and began backing away from him.

He unerringly followed.

“W-what are you doing?” Her voice sounded high and shrill even to her own ears.

“Sesshomaru...y-you can't do this! You can't just f-force me - !”

He narrowed his eyes at her, and the little knot in her stomach tightened.

“This Sesshomaru has no need of force,” he told her softly.

He began taking off his armour, letting it thud carelessly to the ground as he started slowly toward her, his graceful hands working the intricate knot of the sash at his waist next.

The closer he got, the more clothing he lost, until he was right in front of her, holding his haori in one hand and clad only in his hakama and soft black boots.

“S-sesshomaru-sama,” she tried to protest, her voice shaking because he looked just as he had in her dream. She stopped when he held out the huge-looking haori to her.

“Take off that half-breed's rag and don this.”

Wear his shirt?!

“Uh...I'm really not - “

“InuYasha is the dog that begs - I warn you, this Sesshomaru does not,” he stated in a black tone..

Frightened, but brave, Kagome clutched the yukata tighter and shook her head.

“As you wish, miko.” He inclined his head slightly, dropped the piece of clothing to the ground as he stared at her from beneath his hair. The look in his eyes made her gasp and retreat another step.

“If you choose not to wear my clothing....you will spend the night wearing me in its stead.”

The air whooshed out of Kagome's lungs as Sesshomaru suddenly reached out and drew her against him, moving so fast that his long hair swung around and whipped against her bare legs. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she became trapped, enthralled by his intense gaze.

When she finally realized he had her underneath him on the ground, she panicked and let out a sharp squeal of distress.

Sesshomaru stretched out above her, his fingers linked through her hair, his weight holding her down. As usual, his face and deep golden eyes were emotionless, his expression unflawed, untainted by any kind of 'human' feeling.

His touch, she noticed, although full of intent and carefully controlled, was anything but impersonal.

Kagome stiffened when one knee nudged between hers and gently, but firmly pushed her legs apart. She tried to force them back together in embarrassment, but her weaker feminine muscles were no match for the absolute strength of his. She bit her lip hard, and looked away as he settled himself upon her, his lean, lithe body covering hers with quiet strength and determination.

“Do not turn your eyes away from me.”

Kagome didn't want to obey, but she was oddly helpless to resist the lure of his even, lyrical voice.

Her eyes wide and fearful, turned back to his, her body involuntarily arching into his in a vain attempt to push him off.

Sesshomaru flicked a dangerous, clawed finger down the sensitive skin of her inner elbow.

“My brother's touch has never graced this fair flesh,” he commented coolly.

“He's touched me! Lot's of times!” Kagome shot back heatedly.

“Perhaps. But not...here.”

Glowing amber-gold eyes held her captive as his hand found her most private place.

“S-sesshomaru! What are you doing?” she gasped, frightened that he might inadvertently cut into her, or poison her. She'd seen firsthand what those hands, those claws, were capable of - !

“Your heat...pleases me,” the demon lord purred.

Kagome gulped the clean, cold night air.

Heat? Oh, Kami-sama - !

“Inu...Yasha,” Kagome sniffled, feeling an unbearable sense of hopelessness wash over her.

If InuYasha hadn't been truly hurt, he would have been here to rescue her by now. InuYasha was always just in time.

Something was horribly wrong with him, she just knew it...

Sesshomaru snarled as he tightened his grip on the wrists he held above her head. “You would prefer it was the half-breed taking you? I cannot be InuYasha for you. I am no half-breed. I was born tai-youkai, and it is tai-youkai I will always be.”

Kagome frowned. He...Sesshomaru sounded...odd. Almost as if he was trying to somehow justify himself to her.

“I...InuYasha - he cares for me. He...maybe he might even love me, someday. Please, I don't want to do this with you.”

“Would it mean anything if I said the words to you?”

Kagome blinked up at the demon lord.

Was he offering to tell her...he loved her?

“I...you don't understand.” Kagome turned her head to the side, hot tears sliding down her cheeks and into her hair. “Just saying the words doesn't prove anything. Anyone can say them and not really mean them.”

“No? How then, can I prove it? How can I explain it to you? How can I tell you? I do not know how it came to happen, or why. All I know, miko, is that you walk upon my lands, that you love them, and I too, love them as much as a great demon can love anything that lives. How could I not come to love you as well?”

Looking up at him again, Kagome felt her body practically go into shock.

He looked so cold, but his body hummed with repressed energy. His eyes burned like banked-fires.

She didn't have the slightest clue as to what to say. They were the most beautiful and sincere words she'd ever heard spoken to her, but...

Was he expecting her to melt into his arms, and say, 'yes, yes, take me!' or something? Because there was no way she could ever believe Sesshomaru - the Sesshomaru - was genuinely in love with her! The Sesshomaru who'd tried to kill her, the same who'd looked at her with freezing disdain for so long, those golden eyes burning with a subtle brilliance that saw her as nothing more than the dust beneath his feet. He'd never lost a chance to point out just how much she, as a human, repelled him. If she was dumb enough to fall for it, and give into this trick, he'd end up putting her down even more-so, for forever - and probably in front of InuYasha, too!

He was still watching her intently, his whole body taut and hard against hers, and Kagome finally snapped a little. There was real emotion in those eyes, and it looked so genuine...her miko powers were sensing danger, yes, but not necessarily just from him.

Kagome sighed raggedly. The confusion was giving her a headache. She flinched and closed her eyes.

He was still watching her, she knew. She could feel it.

“What do you want me to say?!” she sharply cried out.

Sesshomaru's voice was cold and hard. “Nothing.” His hand moved against her again, and Kagome shivered as her body responded, and she opened her eyes to stare up at him again. He'd obviously done this many times before!

She didn't realize she spoken out loud until Sesshomaru answered her.

“This Sesshomaru has allowed females to soothe him,” he granted, inclining his head in acknowledgment.

Soothe him? Kagome thought wildly. He calls this 'soothing'?!

“However...no 'human' female has experienced me before,” he continued almost reluctantly.

“What?” Kagome blinked again.

“You will take me,” he stated with an arrogant toss of his head that made her heart miss a beat. “You will, because I wish it.”

What is he saying?!

Kagome tried to wriggle back again, but he held her.

“Do not move,” he commanded, and she winced as she felt his finger give the slightest twitch, felt something give inside of her.

“Oh, oh....ow, that hurts! No!” she breathed, tears pricking her eyes. “No, Sesshomaru, please - please don't - “

“It is already done,” Sesshomaru murmured as he lowered his lips to her throat, his amber-gold eyes flashing with satisfaction.

Slowly, so slowly, Kagome felt him push into her. He felt large, heavy and hot, and she didn't know how he thought he was going to fit all of that....that, inside her - !

Sesshomaru must have felt her tighten considerably, because his powerful grip closed harder over her hands, pressing her into the soft, scented grass as he demanded her complete surrender.

“It is not this Sesshomaru's intention to cause you injury,” he told her gravely, still gazing at her, unblinking, as he waited for her body to relax and accept him.

It was impossible for her to relax, though. She knew it was going to hurt, but knowing her first time was going to be with someone who placed no emotional worth on her hurt worse. Beings like Sesshomaru thought of love as a poison, but she needed it, lived her life in hope for it.

“Please don't do this, Sesshomaru,” she said quietly, surprised at how his confession had stolen away much of her fear. “I know you don't really love me. If you do, somehow, then you know that this is wrong - “

Sesshomaru was completely unmoved by her protests. Instead of answering her, he interrupted her by flexing his lean hips, pushing effortlessly past the remaining silken threads of her innocence.

“Ah...!” Kagome's eyes widened even further, and her fingernails dug bloody crescents in the knuckles of his hand as she sucked in a breath to scream -

Sesshomaru's mouth suddenly covered hers, his lips forcing hers to open as his swift, nimble tongue swept in to capture hers in the most devastating kiss she'd ever experienced. She melted around him, her heart jumping hard against her breast.

The kiss was short, though. He lifted his head and she looked up at him through half-closed eyes, feeling completely shattered. The arousal he'd stirred in her earlier in the forest came back full force.

“Open for me,” he commanded softly.

Kagome stared at him in a daze.

Open? Wasn't she already - ?

“Your heart, your soul, your body and mind. Open for me...Kagome. For this one night, be mine. Belong to me. Belong...with me.”

“Belong...with you,” she repeatedly softly, falling under his spell for an instant. “I belong with - no! I belong with Inu - “

“You will not speak his name!” Sesshomaru snarled, evincing more emotion in those four words than she'd ever heard from him. “You will not speak of him now. He is not her - I am.”

The shock of what he'd just done, what he'd just taken, hit her suddenly.

“N-no! Oh! Oh, I - it hurts! Sesshomaru!” She tried to push him off, but he was immovable.

“Get. Off!” she growled.

The demon remained where he was, looking down at her through dark lashes. “We have come thus far,” he said calmly. “Let it be finished.”

“No!”

“Relax, miko.”

“I c-can't! It's too much!”

His hands tightened on hers, the points of his lethal claws threatening to pierce her skin.

“Do as I say.”

“Sesshomaru,” she moaned. “Please - “

“It is...too late. I cannot withdraw...until you release me,” he ground out suddenly, showing a hint of emotion.

“What?”

“I cannot leave you until you have found your pleasure...and I mine. It is a physical impossibility.”

“Oh! Oh, no! You mean...y-you're...stuck?!”

Kagome was horrified.

One corner of the demon lord's firm lips twitched just the slightest bit, almost as if he was fighting a smile.

“In a...sense,” he agreed with a whole body shudder and a low, growling moan.

The sound he made almost took her over the edge of something all by itself. It was so foreign to everything she knew about him that it seemed unbearably..

“Mm!” She arched her hips against him despite herself, whimpering in her throat, and gasped as he took her invitation as fully seated himself within her.

He wasn't thrusting - the fit was far too tight for that. Her wetness eased the way , but the sheer size of him made it impossible for him to just slide back and forth. Instead he ground his hips against hers, the slow, heavy tug of him caressing every inch of her sensitive inner walls. It was like nothing she ever could have imagined.

Kagome felt so full of him, it seemed as if she couldn't breathe. Her breath came in shortened little gasps as he lunged against her in very short, very hard movements. The silver down framing his maleness brushed against her with every move, stroking her, making her ache, making her burn.

Kagome tried to bite her lip, tried to keep from crying out, but the pleasure became too much - to her utter shame, she called out his name, but then suddenly didn't care anymore. She heard herself whimpering, making helpless little passionate noises in the back of her throat with each rthymic grind of his hips against hers.

“Sesshomaru!”

He released her hands to touch one breast, and her fingers same up to curl around his forearms, stroking the slashing stripes of his markings there. She was making little gasping noises still, and she abruptly tightened around him, letting go with a loud, surprised cry as the hungry ache in her exploded - and Sesshomaru followed her. His whole body tensed and shuddered for several long, vulnerable minutes, his sunburst eyes half-lidded in ecstasy above the vibrant daggers on his cheeks as he looked down at her, his impossibly adoring gaze never once straying...

-

Kagome's throat hurt. She couldn't remember why.

Maybe she was getting a cold.

Or maybe it was from all that screaming Sesshomaru had made her do.

“Oh, right.”

Kagome opened her eyes, almost afraid of what she might see.

He was still looking at her.

He was still inside her.

Sesshomaru's gaze was intent, unyielding as he stared down at her, his breath still coming fast and rough in his chest as he recovered.

Kagome blushed - and then looked down between them, suddenly curious. The purity of the silver surrounding his sex was now stained scarlet with the blood of her innocence. It was the only imperfection on him.

“Again,” he stunned her by saying.

Kagome, aching and exhausted, widened her eyes as she felt him swell to an almost painful capacity within her again. The shock of it was almost like being hit by an aura of raw, demonic energy.

“Y-you're joking!” she exclaimed on a gasp. “Sesshomaru!”

The tai-youkai looked at her with satire. “Jokes are beneath me.”

Sesshomaru slid his hands beneath her bottom, and she couldn't help the moan that escaped her as she felt the threatening prick of his claws against her sensitive skin. He ground against her rhythmically.

“Oh, noooo - I can't do that again! Are you crazy?! You can't do that again! I-I have been educated, you know. I've read books, you can't - “

“This Sesshomaru can,” he growled, eyes flaming beneath the soft fringe of his hair hiding the half-moon on his forehead. The rest of his hair fell long and lustrous over his shoulders. “Your first time should not have been so unforgivably brief. It will be rectified.” His eyes fell to leisurely peruse her bare breasts.

Kagome nervously glanced away. “But - “

His long fingers caught her cheek, trailed down to her jawline and made her look back up at him.

“Silence, woman. I have far better uses for that reckless tongue of yours,” Sesshomaru snarled, his mouth swooping down to capture her own.

-

He let loose a lengthy, loud, rumbling sound of utter satisfaction as he burst within her, flooding her entire lower body with an incredible warmth.

“Kagome,” he whispered deeply, slowly into her ear, leisurely grinding his hips against her to prolong her climax even further. “My Kagome.”

Just hearing Sesshomaru say her name against her in that loving tone so alien to him made Kagome arch against him, made her reach her pleasure again, and again, and she moved against him helplessly. She was practically delirious, shaking and breathless, and whimpering parts of his name when she finally came back to her senses minutes - or maybe it was hours - later.

Her face was buried against something very soft, and she shuddered as he slowly shifted his hips away, ever-so-carefully withdrawing from her. A moment later she realized his reason for being so gentle - the soreness set in with a vengeance, and she winced against the softness cradling her cheek.

She couldn't even draw her thighs together!

Kagome hissed in discomfort, and then suddenly, warm, sharp claws trailed delicately on her outer thighs as strong hands gently lifted her stiff legs and stretched them out for her.

“Hn. Human females are so weak.”

“Mmm.” She scrunched her nose at his quiet taunt, and then sighed in contentment as she was enfolded in warmth. She was just relaxing into sleep when a hot, wet mouth tenderly encircled the still-tingling point of her breast.

Kagome fought to open her eyes - common-sense was slow in returning to her, but it was there. She knew she shouldn't be enjoying this, especially since she'd practically been taken against her will, but it was nearly impossible to even think of pushing Sesshomaru away and demanding that he take her home. She couldn't believe that she somehow wasn't even having any true regrets about what had happened.

It was while she was pondering her inability to protest that finally noticed the dog demon had somehow arousing her heat again.

Sesshomaru had been suckling her nipple, but was now moving slowly down her body, his breath a warm mist against her navel, his long hair simultaneously sweeping along the bare sides of her body.

Kagome sighed until he made as if to move lower - then her face fired with embarrassment. She moved her hands down to awkwardly block the most intimate part of her from his gaze, and accidentally bumped his princely nose in the process.

Wincing, she watched as he lifted himself up off his elbows and eyed her with a royal disdain.

“Sorry!” she yelped, offering a brief, nervous smile of apology. And she was, but she was all hot and sticky, and - and wet down there! Why would he - ?

Sesshomaru sniffed lightly, and tossed his hair back over his shoulders with a swift shake of his head.

“What, uh - are you doing?” she asked quickly as he began lowering his head again.

“You are hurting,” he breathed simply.

Kagome gasped loudly and sharply as he carefully shifted her painfully tense thighs apart and lowered his lips to - there.

“Sess-Sesshomaru!”

Kagome's mind - at first - went blank with horror as he opened his mouth against her - but then his deceivingly long, slightly rough tongue slipped out to lave and press against her soft, sore opening, and every thought went flying out of her head again.

Only once she had cried out and pushed against him in complete ecstasy did the mighty demon lord raise his head.

Breathless, Kagome looked at him helplessly as he lay between her shamelessly spread thighs. His beauty was incredible. His breath was coming in harsh pants, his tongue peeking out from between his sharp, exposed fangs.

The knowledge that she had brought him to this uncontrolled, disheveled state, awed her.

Mindlessly, she lifted her hands and pushed them into his hair, her thumbs brushing the pointed tips of his ears.

Something pulsed between them in that instant, something warm, and vibrant, and alive, and Kagome knew then that things had changed between them.

Sesshomaru froze, and then closed his eyes as if in pain. He turned his head against her touch, at first hesitant, and then he caught one of her inner wrists in-between his teeth, nipping the soft flesh there with a heated growl.

Kagome whimpered, and then he was on her, rolling her over and dominating her. He grasped her hips with hard fingers and thrust into her - Kagome tensed, expecting pain, but he slid in without difficulty this time, and she moaned and lowered her forehead to her folded arms as she gave into him, just letting him take her...

-

A long time later, Kagome was trying her best not to look the tai-youkai in the eyes as she plucked at the oversized silk haori covering her. After she'd recovered from this latest 'ravishing', she'd murmured something indistinct about the night becoming cold, and now she sat completely surrounded by the fluffy warmth of his long, curious pelt and shirt.

Sitting across from her, still clad only in his flowing hakama, Kagome watched from beneath her lashes as he methodically adjusted his soft, black leather boots, re-tying them firmly at his ankles.

He'd never taken his boots or pants off, she remembered with a cringe. She was - absurdly enough - almost offended, until she remembered how dangerous the forests were at night. Sesshomaru really couldn't afford to be 'caught with his pants down'.

The thought made her giggle, and Sesshomaru looked up from his work with a haughtily raised brow at the faint sound.

Kagome stopped giggling abruptly. The movements of his lean-but-powerful muscles were hypnotizing. It was hard to look away when Sesshomaru was bare-chested.

Sesshomaru re-focused his attention on his boots, finishing with them - and then he looked at her again, eyes searching.

“What?” Kagome squirmed uncomfortably.

“Perhaps this Sesshomaru should come to you again, take you away, and make you my concubine. You suit me well enough.”

The suggestion made her nerves jump. “Ha! You only like the thought of me bowing down to you, and serving you! No way! In addition, I never wanna' do 'that' again! I don't understand how people can enjoy it so much!” she heatedly complained, lying through her teeth as she struggled to wrap his voluminous haori around herself.

Sesshomaru stiffened. Every muscle and ridge in his bared chest and arms went taut as wire as he lifted his chin in affront.

Uh-oh...

“You would turn away from this so easily? You did not...'enjoy it'?” His golden eyes narrowed suspiciously.

He bridged the distance between them in a dizzying heartbeat.

“I cannot accept this.”

Kagome stood up quickly, but not without effort. She was physically exhausted, and her legs felt rubbery and soggy, like ramen noodles cooked too long.

“Why can't you accept it?! Your unbelievable ego won't let you think that I didn't like having you f-force yourself on me?!”

“Force? In the beginning, perhaps. After...” he trailed one finger down her cheek, and moved in close to murmur against her lips, “None have screamed louder than you while I pleasured them...my Kagome.”

Kagome was aghast at the thrill that went through her at his unexpected words. She scrambled backwards, almost falling in her haste to get away from him. She was shocked to feel an aching, hungry heat explode at the juncture of her tightly clenched thighs once again.

“H-how dare you say something like that?!” she finally half-panted, half-yelled when she recovered from what she suspected might have actually been some kind of mini-orgasm.

“I was not 'screaming in pleasure'!”

Suddenly he stood close by again, gazing down at her with eyes that flashed with lightning and flame.

“Hn. Allow me to persuade you.”

Tilting her face upwards, Sesshomaru brushed his mouth across her own, not quickly, or harshly, as she'd expected, but gently lingering, as though he already knew she had hardly ever been kissed before him - before that night.

Their breaths mingled. Kagome could taste him on her tongue as her lips parted to his.

Their bodies didn't touch, except for his hand that lingered at the back of her neck, his thumb against her cheek, just under her fragile ear.

Then he moved away.

There was something amazingly profound in Sesshomaru's expression. His love for her was there to see, shining in his eyes - but she could also see her own agonizing confusion over the chemistry between them mirrored there, too.

Kagome felt a great rush of pity for them both as she looked back at him, her lips curling in tiny, tremulous, bitter-sweet smile.

“A word of warning, miko,” he murmured quietly, gazing down at her with gleaming eyes. “Keep your soft gazes to yourself.”

'Or I may never be able to allow you to go', were the unspoken words.

Kagome forced herself to look away.

-

The unnatural breeze stirring the trees of InuYasha's forest was an unwelcome herald of the dawn. Demon's Night - the Bloody Centenary - was drawing near it's end.

Sesshomaru used his voice to break the long silence. The miko looked so distraught and unhappy that he took pity on her.

“Do not worry yourself so. InuYasha will not remember your abduction with the coming of dawn.”

“He...won't?” Kagome almost fainted from relief. She didn't even think to wonder how that could be possible, at first.

Sesshomaru being Sesshomaru, he didn't bother to repeat himself.

“Nor will you.”

Kagome's eyes turned wary.

“The events of this night will be forgotten by all save this Sesshomaru,” he said in a cool monotone. “It was my wish, alone.”

“You - your wish?” Kagome asked weakly.

“Yes.” Sesshomaru speared her with a quelling glare.

He was definitely cooling down, now - at this rate, he'd be his usual icy self in not time at all.

Kagome blinked. Maybe she didn't want to know all the details. And did it matter? Weird stuff like this happened all the time in this period. He'd claimed no one would recall anything. Right?
Silently she bit her lip as she tried to decide if this was a good thing, or not.

Well, of course it was a good thing! Sesshomaru might've made her want him, but he couldn't make her love him. He hadn't...had he?

No. No...she still loved InuYasha, and the memory of this night would only hurt him if he knew exactly what had transpired between her and his half-brother.

But...

She kind of did wish she could remember. It had been frightening, but...fascinating. She'd be a liar if she said she hadn't enjoyed it...enjoyed him. He was hard, and strong....everything about him was in such contrast to her own body.

Another thought suddenly occurred to her.

“Sesshomaru-sama?” she asked in a tiny voice, tilting her head back to stare up at the waning red moon and it's background blanket of stars.

There was an uncomfortably long beat before he bothered to acknowledge her.

“Kagome.”

She bit her lip again, uncertain. The fewer words he said, the more frightening he seemed. His icy demeanor made it extremely hard to ask what she wanted to. She was afraid of being made to look foolish by him, of being put down...but then, no one had ever accused her of being timid, so she'd didn't bother hesitating anymore.

“Will...will you be alright?”

The demon lord slid a frosty gaze her way. His voice was cold and stern. “Of course. My... curiosity has been laid to rest with no worries of consequence.”

“C-curiosity?”

“It was I who wronged you, miko. Do you pretend concern for my well-being?”

Kagome blushed wildly as he stared somberly at her. She could recall a time not so very long ago when those amber-gold eyes had melted under the heat of his passion...

“We...I mean, we - uh....shared an - an intimacy, Sesshomaru-sama,” she stammered, averting her face so that it was in shadow. “I - we both know that I...I was far from fighting it, at the end. Wouldn't it be wrong for me not to be concerned about how you'll ...feel, after I'm gone?”

'Didn't you tell me you loved me...?'

“It is an unnecessary sentiment on your part,” Sesshomaru said coolly.

Kagome felt like she'd been slapped.

“As for you not fighting me, it is called 'seduction'. You would do better to stop worrying over me, and protect your tender human heart. Save your worry for InuYasha, and if he will ever choose you at least over his dead priestess.”

Kagome couldn't help it. She gasped. It had been a cruel thing for even Sesshomaru to say - but it succeeded in what he had no doubt meant it to. It killed nearly every ounce of feeling she might have been developing for the Lord of the West.

Heart-sore and now worse-than-confused, Kagome lay back down on the ground, tucking a silken fold of Sesshomaru's haori haphazardly under her arms and over her breasts, which still ached from his numerous attentions.

She felt him hovering nearby, still, and rolled onto her side away from him to stare into the darkness.

Only the shadows weren't pitch anymore. The dawn was coming. Soon she would be back with InuYasha.

'InuYasha.'

Closing her eyes tiredly, Kagome drew in a deep breath and hugged a downy pillow to her face, remembering too late that there were no pillows; it was Sesshomaru's mysterious white pelt that she cuddled to so fiercely for comfort.

She had to smile - the invincible tai-youkai looked a little naked without his fluff. Hee. Like Bouyo after a bath - only Sesshomaru would look a lot better wet...

The soft fur stirred in the wind, tickling her face - it was odd, yet comforting. The delicate pile of the fur almost seemed like a sentient thing, providing a strong sense of reassurance and well-being.

Stroking a shaky hand down the pelt, Kagome inhaled deeply. It smelled like him, noble, yet wild. Darkly exotic.

She felt again fire in her cheeks as she remembered his laying her back on the silk of his clothing, his claws running gently up the insides of her thighs to coax them open. She felt the stunning sensation of the silvery fur as he drew it across her skin, allowed it to drift over her, stroking and petting her...

She shivered despite herself, feeling her breasts swell against the cool, slippery fabric she held against her.

Sesshomaru had told her that she would remember nothing, but how could she forget it, the...things he'd told her, made her feel? What if some part of her did remember? It would be awkward if Sesshomaru came around again and she started feeling...amorous, or something when she saw him.

Kagome had no idea that Sesshomaru stared at her still as she lay there, facing away from him. His far-from-cold eyes traced the soft white curve of her arm and shoulder in the waning moonlight. The long, flawless, slender curve of her arm and shoulder blades, the slim softness of her hips where the pure white silk of his clothing slipped dangerously low, revealing the slight indention of her tailbone...

He could smell her renewed arousal; he knew she wanted him even now, when he'd made her hate him.

He also knew he would never be able to look upon his clothing - or his pelt - the same ever again.

“You...you'll lose your arm again, won't you?” she enquired softly.

He glanced at the back of her lowered head. He fought the need to pounce on her again.

“Yes.”

“Won't it bother you?”

Sesshomaru looked down at his hand, the one that had, in reality, been gone for a few years. He experimentally cracked his knuckles, staring at the sharpness of his claws, and took a moment to savor the hands' strength.

Truth be told, he had not paid much notice to the return of the limb earlier in the night. He had gone about his business as usual, relying once again on the arm unthinkingly. In the unforgiving light of a new day, it would be gone again.

“No,” he finally answered. “I have no regrets. They are a weakness, and as such, a waste of this Sesshomaru's time. I will not bother coveting a better end to such things.”

He was turning away when he felt a soft, butterfly touch land upon his doomed arm.

“I'm sorry.”

Pity.

Sesshomaru's rage grew instantaneously, his eyes widening and bleeding blood red, his fangs lengthening to lethal points that bit into his chin.

How dare she show him pity?!

He was barely able to control the entrance of his full demon form. He wanted to turn on her, to bite and tear her to pieces until nothing was left, until even that cursed InuYasha could not scent her...

Instead he looked over his shoulder at her, his face once again stoic, his eyes unreadable.

“A woman should not touch a man without invitation,” he told her emotionlessly, though he knew she would take the words as contempt for her.

As predicted, she immediately withdrew, the gentle emotion in her deep brown eyes quickly giving way to anger.

“You should consider taking your own advice, 'my lord'!” she snapped with brittle sarcasm.

“Hn. I care not what you think of me.”

She shook her head at him in pure amazement. “The nerve! You are so cold!”

Sesshomaru tilted his head to the side as he looked back at her, considering.

“You truly find me so cold, miko?”

He reached out a single hand and held it palm up as he slowly lowered himself to rest back on the ground against a tree.

“Come then,” he stated in a near purr, his lashes flickering down to hood his golden eyes.

“Come...and warm me.”

The girl looked at him hopelessly, from the lazily curled, clawed fingers of his hand, to his carefully shielded eyes.

“Sesshomaru...”

“Come to me...Kagome.”

She went.

-

Kagome shivered, naked as Sesshomaru pulled on the rest of his clothes, and armor just as the sun reached the horizon.

Kagome knew they would be parted, soon. Her feelings were still in a wild turmoil about that.

“Kagome.”

He loomed over her, his silvery mane gilded by the coming sun, an indefinable expression on his face. The hand reaching out to touch her jawline suddenly began to disappear, fading with the dawn's light as it rapidly began to fall across the land.

She watched as the full sleeve of his haori drooped with the dematerialization of his flesh, dropped once again, fluttering in the warm, cleansing breeze to rest flat and empty as his side again.

It was a heartbreaking sight, and Kagome's chest ached unbearably as she tried to reach out to him.

She didn't want him to be left all alone...

“Wait, Sesshomaru - !”

The night was over.

Kagome saw her own hand fade into nothingness as the warmth of the sun rushed across it. She fell into oblivion, her only company the soft, regretful echo of his last words to her.

“Farewell...my Kagome.”

-

Sesshomaru watched the sun come up over the horizon behind the young priestess as she vanished, feeling the magic that had ruled the night slowly dissipate, much as the morning fog evaporated with the light of day.

It had never been just curiosity with her, he now knew. Never anything so simple as that.

Here was his proof, his...love.

Yes. He had known he loved her, but he had not thought to think so warmly of her.

He truly...liked her.

Before Kagome, under no circumstances had he ever wanted to fall under the spell of a female - and then he had wished to feel what his brother had felt for the girl, wished to try and understand what it was about her that evoked such violent responses from InuYasha.

Most of all, he had wanted to experience what it felt like to have the miko's admiration, fascination, and love directed solely at him.

Sesshomaru knew now why his brother would fight for her, kill for her, why he would die for her - had died for her.

Once again alone, in the harsh light of morning, Sesshomaru sincerely wished he had never found out.

'Fool. For now you would do well to heed your mind, not your heart!' he snarled at himself.

He suddenly straightened, fully clothed in pristine white, as fresh as he'd been the evening before, and pushed the troubling thoughts from his head. Though he felt oddly weary, he could not rest until he was assured of the girl's safety. The night was over, but Naraku's wretched plot was still waiting to be fulfilled.

“Naraku.”

It would doubtless be a long and protracted battle, and though he would kill for her, the mere thought of Kagome was a dangerous distraction he must do without.

Sesshomaru clenched his lone fist.

There was hunting to be done this day.

-

To be Continued in Chapter Seven: When Darkness Turns to Light

(Preview)

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There was little pain.

The wound did not hurt much, at the beginning, even with the miasma invading the torn flesh.

His blood would not stop flowing, however - he could feel more of it leaving him with every throbbing beat of his heart, sliding hot and sticky down his side, and hip, soaking through the fine white silk covering his leg, and gathering in an discomforting pool in the soft leather of his boot.

The blood of his body was spilling as if he had more than one wound, due to the infectious miasma - his body was powerful, still, the poison quality of his own blood trying to destroy it, but the miasma would not allow it to heal itself.

“Hn.”

It was peculiar, the knowledge that he would be dead soon, and from something as inane as blood-loss. His body had always healed all wounds almost instantaneously...but perhaps it was not so inane, after all. His father had been dying from a similar wound, had he not?

Sesshomaru found himself smiling...

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(End Preview)

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A/N:This finally got finished at about 2 a.m - if there are mistakes I missed, I'll fix them soon. I really hope this chapter was worth checking back for. Thanks for reading! - D.V.

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Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha, or any related characters!

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