InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Revolution of a Memory ❯ Part 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Revolution of a Memory

Part 2 of 2

Author: profiler120

Email: profiler120@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Sess/Kag

Genre: Romance

Author's Notes: I hope this clears up any confusion anyone might have had about the first part. I'm not sure I elaborated much on Kagome's feelings about her 'encounter' with Sesshoumaru. The reason for this was I hadn't decided how she felt about it.

I think, at times during this chapter Sesshoumaru steps out of character, but I figured this was a necessary allowance. People change over time and when you've had 500 years you can change a lot.

Someone asked about Kagome's age, I purposely left this out although in this part I do give general clues. I have decided not to pin her down to an age, she's in high school so somewhere between 16-18.

The insipid human had been on his mind as of late, her, and that damned hanyou, Naraku. Carelessness was not something he was typically guilty of, but in this instance it had caused him significant mortification.

He had reprimanded himself repeatedly for not realizing before hand what had happened. For not thinking and instead following his curiosity to see the battle he knew was ongoing. He had gone despite his own protests and in his distinctive bad luck; he'd walked right into it.

He had felt the stirrings of magic on the breeze but had hardly paid any attention before it was wrapping itself around him, binding him, blinding him.

He highly doubted that the spell Naraku had been trying to cast had anything to do with what had actually happened afterward. It was even further unexplainable why it had happened at all, he couldn't think, he didn't want to think about it. He'd thought about it too much already but it haunted him. She haunted him. He remembered being with her with such clarity. The shade of her eyes, the weight of her body, her creamy skin, and her soft sighs.

He growled lowly standing petulantly and stepping out onto the balcony hoping the fresh air would clear his head.

It didn't. It only reminded him of her more. The wind, he mused. She was now a part of the wind, every time it rustled he remembered her.

It was almost baffling, he thought. Almost. He had had nothing but time to think. Hours and days upon days and months that melded into years to think about one afternoon. It had been one paltry affair that had stressed and prodded at him and refused to let him go.

Since then he had spent an innumerable amount of time searching for it. Searching for the spell that had so effectively stripped his control and subjected him to his base desires, determined it should never happen again. A demon lord would be no one's slave, he'd thought time and again. His pride prevented it.

He had eventually acquired it; even now it was in his possession. The tattered paper on which it was written was now bound in a glass frame tucked away into the darkest recesses of his locked desk drawer. If he had his way no one would ever see the spell again. He hated its very existence but he could not destroy it. To destroy it would be to destroy a part of his memory, his past, and more important his attachment to her. To them.

While it was almost identical, the spell uttered by Naraku had never been penned. It had been a mistake; the spell copy in his desk was trivial to him unless you omitted the three words.

He had experimented with it many times and produced the same effect only once and even then it hadn't been a perfect reproduction of what had occurred between him and the girl.

He had cast the spell over a gentle forest youkai he'd come across that was discreetly following a young village girl. He had become possessed much like he himself had but the girl had not responded the way the miko had and the young girl had died in the resulting assault.

It was impossible to assemble a perfect scenario to the one he had been subject to and finding a miko to test the spell on with a suitable power level had been just as difficult. He had taken for granted what he had thought to be her pitiful miko powers until he began searching for one to match her. He determined to think of it no more when a brisk knock came upon his door.

"Come," he called, stepping back into the room and abandoning the balcony.

"Yo."

He eyed the deceptively young man in front of him uninterestingly.

"You called?" The man crossed his arms as though irritated at having been summoned.

"You have failed to obey the orders given to you, why is that?"

"I thought I saw someone I recognized and got distracted."

"If it has nothing to do with your orders, do not let it interfere. I care not about your personal affairs. Understood, Kouga?"

The man eyed him wearily and after a moment nodded before leaving. Sesshoumaru sighed, annoyed. There were few youkai among his employees but the remnants of that irksome wolf tribe were the most difficult to manage. It would be easier if they weren't so thick headed, he thought stepping back out onto his balcony.

He'd never seen the girl after he'd watched his brother and her jump into an old well into the forest. His brother had returned some minutes later but the girl and his child had not come with him. Even more mysterious was how the old well suddenly seemed to cave in on itself.

He had come back occasionally to see if the girl ever came back from wherever she had gone. Once, and only once he had erroneously mistaken Inuyasha's new woman with her, the mother of his human child. He had encountered the woman in the forest but realized his error at once when she had turned to him and her scent drifted in his direction.

He had watched her a moment and she seemed to realize she was not the one he was seeking when she had addressed him telling him that her reincarnation was returned to her own time. It had been then when he understood that she and the child were gone, permanently out of his reach.

Perhaps that's why he had thought of them so often. The miko that had purified his blood within her body and bound his child to a human form devoid of any youkai powers she was perhaps rightly deserving of. But the girl had been correct in that aspect however, as a child of a demon lord she deserved better than to be spat upon and if she could not be a youkai she was better as a human than a hanyou. He would not force his offspring to live a life of forced seclusion and fear.

Once, between mates, both of whom would eventually die in battle he'd found a miko in an isolated village that was just sub par to the power in the girl. He'd watched her for a long period of time, observing her daily activities until he encountered her alone one evening.

She had been less than cooperative and he'd had to force her to mate with him the first few times, after which she came to him when he beckoned, although she had never been a willing participant. He began to doubt her fertility after a month when she finally conceived and he ceased visiting the isolated village. He knew the gestation period for humans and had returned some months later and lingered about waiting for the birth of his child, and had been severely disappointed when he had found the child was a hanyou.

He'd abandoned testing the spell at that point, concluding magic had nothing to do with his 'human' daughter. He believed it was the miko's own power that made it all possible.

He'd left from there and headed toward the village his half brother lived in and spied upon his activities before winding his way back. As he stopped by the village intending for it to be the last he found a smoldering clearing. The entire community had been leveled, and only small fires remained where dwellings had once been. Among the debris he'd found his child, recognizable only by the scent of his blood, but the miko was not there and he had not gone looking for her. He'd left that afternoon, disappointed with the entire event, and concluded he would never do such a thing again.

He had not searched for her either, the miko of Inuyasha's who borne his child believing it pointless to do so. The girl and his child were now long dead no matter what had happened to them, but he'd often wondered about them. About the infant child he'd named that evening in the rain...

It was entirely a human thing to want what one couldn't have and the more unattainable the more desirable it became. The girl had had that effect on him and had plagued him ever since they'd last parted. She appeared frequently in his dreams. Images from their afternoon together as well as those he'd acquired in the following months as he observed her.

Initially his memory had been fuzzy but it had since returned completely to him and replayed often while he slept. Their encounter had been nothing like those with the miko he'd chosen from the village, but perhaps it had simply been so long that nothing could ever compare to the memory.

Of course he hadn't been in a half frenzied demon state when he'd mated with the human girl from the village as he had with the other. He'd had to use some restraint with her to keep from damaging her, when he'd used no such restraint with the other one and had bit her several times causing her blood to run while he mated with her. She'd struggled against him weakly and whether or not she was trying to escape or move with him in pleasure he knew not.

He remembered laying there over her and leaning down licking up a thin trail of her blood as it ran over her shoulder and recoiling. He remembered the sensation keenly as her blood almost sizzled on his tongue, a feeling akin to being burned.

Her clothes, much like the state of his own had been severely damaged although his had been somewhat salvageable as not to leave him bare. Hers however were beyond immediate repair and he could only imagine she'd walked or been carried from that clearing wearing nothing.

Later he'd gone back and collected the scraps of material that had once been her garments and took them along with him. He'd been happy he did so later on when he realized he would never see her again. He still had the material tucked away in another room.

Another knock disturbed his brooding.

"What is it?"

A servant peeked inside. "Everything is prepared for your departure, Masaharu-sama."

He nodded briefly and she quickly scampered away. The girl wasn't all that young for a human, college aged or so but she was remarkably timid, he put thoughts of his servant girl aside and stalked to the door. He had things to be doing, the least of which was making sure Kouga wasn't screwing off again.

Sesshoumaru glowered as he stepped out of the vehicle that had come to a dead halt in front of a … What was this a school building?

Kouga, his interim driver for that morning was muttering curses about human incompetence.

"What's wrong with the car?" He asked the irritated youkai who was seconds away from kicking the car to vent his frustration.

"It's broken!"

Sesshoumaru raised a brow ignoring the students who were staring, and whispering as they shuffled by into the courtyard behind him.

"I'm not a damn mechanic, how am I supposed to fix it?" The youkai grumbled.

"Kagome! We've been waiting for you!" a shrill female shout called out from behind him.

Sesshoumaru paid no mind to the group of chattering females and the rest of the humans behind him. In this century true miko's were a true find but ones with any power were rarities, so paying attention to any of them was pointless.

He continued to watch Kouga as he muttered and cursed, flailing slightly about and drawing a crowd of attention. So involved in his thinking process he failed to see a young woman running toward the school and stepped directly into her path before she could avoid. The girl slammed into him, losing her grip on her pack and impacting painfully with the sidewalk.

Kouga tossed her an un-amused glance.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, collecting herself off the ground.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped rashly, not looking at her.

"If you weren't jumping around like an animal she wouldn't have run into you, now would she?" A tempered female voice shot snidely from somewhere behind him.

He turned sharply about to lay into his verbal attacker when his jaw fell. He rubbed his eyes. "I'm seeing things..." he muttered. "First dog face and now Kagome."

"And just how do you know my name?" she snapped.

He blinked in shock. Sesshoumaru turned finally taking notice and leveled his gaze upon the girl, woman, whatever, and almost paled in shock. He lifted his head slightly inhaling the air, seeking her distinct fragrance on the breeze.

"Kagome?" he repeated. "Where's dog turd?"

The girl looked impatient. "I haven't the slightest idea where Inuyasha is, apologize to her!" She snapped pointing at her friend.

The wind shifted as if by will and drew her scent to him. He could dismiss her uncanny resemblance to the miko, he could even dismiss her Inuyasha remark, but her scent was irrefutable. The girl, the woman who had born him a child and had disappeared into an abandoned well was breathing 500 years in the future!

"No, Kagome it's fine, really..." the girl pleaded.

"How are you still alive?" Kouga murmured, approaching her and then circling her as her friends stared on in shock probably thinking him an idiot.

She appeared about to retaliate when she noticed something and her gaze intensified. She stared at him a moment, and then her gaze flickered over to Sesshoumaru. She stared at him several seconds before gasping perhaps in realization, and without another word, ran.

Sesshoumaru watched as her young friends followed, calling out for her to wait for them, but she kept on until she disappeared into the building.

"Wait, you there!" Sesshoumaru called and the girl who had been knocked to the ground, stopped and turned back.

"M-me?"

He nodded. "I am Masaharu Sesshoumaru, I would like to apologize to your friend for the unacceptable behavior of my employee. May I have your acquaintances name?"

He could tell by the flush across her cheeks either she had heard of him, or she, like many other a female was attracted to him and was embarrassed about him talking to her.

"Higurashi Kagome," she replied without uncertainty and then took off after her friends.

"She saw your tail." Sesshoumaru stated, not elaborating on which 'she' he was referring to.

Kouga shrugged. "I don't get it, she's seen it before..." he mused assuming he meant Kagome. "I wonder-"

"Fix the car!" He snapped suddenly at his errant worker. He was not about to stand here practically in the school courtyard discussing Kagome and how she was still alive in this century.

"I can't do that, I already said I'm not a mechanic!" Kouga protested.

Sesshoumaru tossed him a bored look. "It is your responsibility, I expect it fixed by the time I return home this afternoon."

Kouga blanched. "What?!"

He was thoroughly ignored as Sesshoumaru turned, collected a few things from the car, and began walking. He hadn't walked to a destination in what seemed like forever.

Kagome sighed, standing as her final class came to a close. She'd been home only a few weeks and getting used to having a baby around was the strangest thing, sometimes inconvenient. Her mother had been disappointed, that was obvious, and she suspected there was even some disbelief when she had explained the situation to her. Despite that she had been supportive and Kagome had been glad she'd come home.

During the period of her pregnancy spent in the feudal era her relationship with Inuyasha, had, to a point deteriorated. Inuyasha's feelings had been hurt and sometimes she suspected when he looked at her that he thought such a thing would never have happened to Kikyo.

But she was far beyond being hurt. The overwhelming emotional drain the pregnancy had put on her had shoved Inuyasha to the back burner and her resentment of Kikyo seemed to have faded. In the few weeks she'd been home she'd thought about him less than she had his brother, which was, she thought, quite reasonable. It had been Sesshoumaru, not Inuyasha that had fathered her child, the child she saw everyday when she woke and thought of every evening when she laid to rest.

She picked up her books and quietly left the room, her teacher had long left it and her friends had gone ahead without her. She was glad for the solitude.

In discussion with her family they decided it was best for her to conceal her child and attend school. She no longer invited friends over and didn't go out as much as she had with them before she'd first fallen in the well.

Her mother would care for the infant while she was at school, and Kagome was endlessly grateful for the non-judgmental support of her family. Even Souta had kept his mouth shut in regard to his new young niece beyond remarking that she was so fragile and noisy.

Walking to her locker she collected the books she required and headed to the door. She was eager to get home, despite being a tad bit overwhelmed every now and then she enjoyed coming home to her. She liked being able to hold and feed her and watch her develop day by day a little more. She smiled to herself clutching her bag her gaze drifting up to the sky. It looked like rain.

The walk home was short and by the time she had reached the shrine stairs she broke into a run toward the house but stopped short as a shiver wound up her spine. It was that feeling again, the same feeling she'd had that day in the forest before she'd gone into labor. She cautiously approached the house, but the feeling only got stronger, what was it? What was tingling her senses this way?

Work was the last thing on his mind when he ended up at his office and set about immediately tracking down this 'Higurashi Kagome'. It had been easy enough to find her. Her family owned the Higurashi Shrine only a relatively short distance from his present location.

He'd actually had to restrain himself from bolting from the place the moment he'd learned of her residence. He busied himself with work in an attempt to rid his mind of her but by early afternoon he could no longer resist and left early, snubbing four people who had appointments with him.

Kouga met him out front of the building with a functioning vehicle, but it was not his own. He ignored this in light of other, more important issues. "Take me to the Higurashi Shrine."

"Right." He paused. "Where's that?"

Despite a few minutes lost giving directions his overall mood wasn't dampened. He was eager to get there and almost felt like leaping from the car and flying there on his own. It was against his judgment but his demon instincts were calling him, begging him to track her down and-

Well he wasn't sure what he wanted her for, he simply wanted her, and that was that. For the moment he was content to oblige his instincts and hunt her down, things would progress from there.

His head snapped up when the car stopped and he gazed up a set of stone stairs, and atop them stood the torii that marked this holy place. It was fitting that she, a miko, should live at a shrine. He removed himself from the vehicle, grabbing his briefcase he had unknowingly brought with him, and Kouga moved to follow.

"You may leave."

"Huh?"

"I am no longer in need of your services today and I am certain you still have yet to complete the other task I assigned you."

Not about to question him, Kouga immediately obeyed and fled. Unaccompanied, he took his time ascending the stairs. Kagome wasn't... Kagome, he thought. All this time her name had been Kagome. How could he have such a crystal clear memory of their time together and let her name escape him?

He brushed it off passing under the torii and stared into the sweeping courtyard. It looked much like any other shrine, he thought, passing by the shrine building peering about. No one seemed to be around until his sensitive ears picked up the sound of an infant's wails. His gaze sharpened as he slipped around the shrine building that opened into a new square. Off to the left was a small building that appeared aged and to the right, a house.

He didn't falter a moment in approaching it and knocking upon the door. After a few minutes of agonizing silence the door finally slid open and a woman, holding a child in her arms stood before him.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Higurashi Kagome's mother?" he asked.

She nodded. "I am. Has something happened to her?"

"Not that I am aware of." he replied primly. "I am Masaharu Sesshoumaru, I would like to speak with your daughter."

"Kagome isn't home from school yet."

"May I wait for her?"

She hesitated and then agreed, allowing him entrance. He stepped past her, glancing occasionally at the infant who was wrapped beyond his view in a pink blanket. He was led to a seating area while she took the baby to another room before returning with a bottle.

"Are you a ... friend of Kagome's?" She asked, and he watched as the blanket fell away slightly and he could finally peer upon the face of the child.

"Something like that, we met a long time ago. I'm sure my visit will be a surprise." Surprise was an understatement, the girl would not be completely shocked however; he suspected she knew that morning exactly who he was.

He did not ask her if the child was her own, even though he suspected it was not. He could not identify the infant by its scent, perhaps it had simply been too long, but it smelled of her, the woman, and of Kagome.

"Have you named the child?" he settled on instead.

"Amaya."

She had taken his name for her after all. He was, surprisingly, pleased at the thought. She had not despised him so much that she shunned him completely even refusing to take the name he'd offered for her.

He had often wondered how she felt about him after that encounter. Before, they had been enemies, a simple straightforward relationship. He disliked her, she disliked him, and they tried to kill one another. It was easy.

But what were they now? He only knew his perception of what had happened he could not know hers. It could very well be the girl had been traumatized by the event, shackled, and broken by fear but she had not acted as such. The last time he'd seen her she'd not shied away from his touch, and had been concerned he would hurt the girl, not her. A proper attitude for a mother, he concluded.

"Mom!"

The woman across from him stood quickly apparently alarmed at her daughter's tone. She probably sensed him, he thought, as he became more aware of her powerful aura as it flared with her worry as she approached.

"Is everything okay?" he heard her ask from the vicinity of the doorway.

"Everything's fine, what's wrong?"

"Nothing I just... had a funny feeling."

"Oh, well you have a visitor. A very handsome young man, he's been here a bit, don't keep him waiting."

"But-"

"Amaya just ate sweetie, she needs her rest now. Go see your guest, okay?"

He heard the girl's concession and her footsteps as she approached where he sat. She stepped into the room and immediately halted and he heard her quick intake of breath.

"Higurashi."

She nodded weakly.

"Do you not remember?" She did, he was certain of it.

He watched as her body stiffened, her eyes darting over him. "I remember. What have you done to yourself, Sesshoumaru?"

Hearing his name spoken he plucked the enchanted talisman off his wrist, casting off the shield that gave him his human appearance and stood before her in his full youkai glory.

"It must have been that well you jumped into then, otherwise you could not still be alive. Is this correct?"

She nodded weakly. "Magic," she explained. "I fell in it a couple years back and was transported to the feudal age where I ended up releasing Inuyasha from the tree, shattering the jewel and all that. I was born and live here."

Clearly this had to be true, proof of it was before him, and he doubted nothing with magical attributes these days.

Her scent was a rush, he felt his tail twitching, and in every breath he could almost taste her. Surely he did not wish to mate with this human again, doing so would only result in a litter of human children.

Rin, he thought suddenly. He hadn't thought about Rin in a long time. He was capable of fathering a child like Rin, he thought, and in actuality he had already done so. The child was a female, Amaya. Amaya and Rin, his human children, strangely he felt sort of proud.

Her mother came back around and stopped short, staring at him in awe obviously over his changed appearance. His human clothes remained, but now his natural silver locks flowed down his back.

"Um… Mom this is Inuyasha's half brother, Sesshoumaru."

"Inuyasha's half brother? You-you don't mean that this is Amaya's father, do you?"The woman clutched her daughter's sleeve urgently.

He watched as she reluctantly nodded in assent.

"Oh, why don't I get some tea?"Without another word she walked off into another room presumably to leave them alone.

"Might… as well sit down I guess."

He did so, trying to calm his frazzled nerves.

"So, where's Jaken?"

"Jaken is incapable of taking a human form and must conceal himself."

"So I guess he's still alive too, that's quite a life span you've got." She remarked absently.

The table was in the way he mused, as was her mother in another room. In his way, and he detested obstacles.

"What about Kouga?"

So she had recognized him earlier. She could see right through the shield then, couldn't she? Hadn't she just minutes before when she spoke his name? Clearly he'd forgotten just what kind of female he was dealing with here, years of consorting with weak human women had dulled the memory of this girl's extraordinary powers.

"Servant."

"Servant? Kouga, prince of the wolf tribe is your servant?" she looked astonished. "Oh, well that's new."

He didn't want to discuss that stupid wolf.

"What about Inuyasha?"

He definitely didn't want to talk about him.

"What of him?" he replied stoically, crossing his arms.

"After I left, he was okay, wasn't he?" She sounded so worried, so concerned, it was utterly disgusting. She was actually worried over that moron and had not wondered about him made his blood crackle. Why was she not asking about him, the father of her only child?

"He lived, he died."

She paled. "He died?" She sighed heavily. "I should have expected that, all of my friends from then are… I don't like to think of them as dead but I guess they are. I wonder how Shippou is, if you're here he must still be alive."

He knew nothing of the kit that used to hang upon her. Her mother reappeared with a tray of things, smiling at them.

"I suppose you two need to have a talk. I'm going to head out, I was thinking about going to watch Souta's soccer practice today since he was so excited about it. He wanted you to come, but I'm sure he'll understand and we can go another day."

"Okay."

"Grandpa is up at the shrine probably will be for at least another hour or so, I'm going to leave Amaya here since the poor dear is sleeping, okay?"

With that, the woman turned and left them alone. Alone in the room, alone in the house, alone together and all he could think was 'finally'.

"Why'd you come here anyway?" She asked, apparently feeling quite safe in her house, with the table between them. Perhaps she hadn't been scarred by his rough treatment of her in the woods, she certainly didn't appear that way, nothing like the other miko he'd experimented with.

"You have my child." He responded tersely and watched as she suddenly became anxious, the familiar light of fear in her eyes.

"Our child - you didn't single handedly create her, I was half responsible for that too. I can hardly see you paying visits just because you happen to be her father, I can't imagine why you care in the first place. She is a human. You haven't forgotten that in the last 500 years have, you? Old age causing your memory to slip?"

"I do not suffer from your human predicaments, my memory is fine." No, he thought with more certainty, she had not been permanently injured by his treatment of her. She did not appear afraid of him in the least with the exception of what he might do to their daughter. "I didn't come to kill her." He stated, worried this might have been a concern of hers.

She looked up from pouring the tea. "Honestly, you killing her never occurred to me, I mean when we met in the village after she was born I worried then. I was actually worried you came to take her away from me being as wealthy as you are and all."

Perhaps she had heard of him, then?

"Masaharu Sesshoumaru, I've heard of you before, I just … never connected you to… you. Not until this afternoon, anyway. I didn't realize you could live this long. The name caught me, I don't know too many guys named 'Sesshoumaru'. In fact, you're the only one I've ever heard of."

Taking the child away had not been on his mind at the time, and now that it was he dismissed it. That wouldn't do, he wanted to be able to see her, the young woman in front of him. However taking her and the child was much more appealing, he thought. Only her family stood in the way of that plan too, she was only a high school girl they surely wouldn't approve. He would not approve if it had been Rin in this situation.

He could take the girl as his mate or… what was the word these humans used? Bride, that was it, he could marry the girl and then he could simply take them both and that would be that. She was old enough; he brushed this thought off for the moment standing suddenly.

"I wish to see her."

"I suppose that's a minor improvement, I'm surprised you didn't demand I bring her to you." She replied sourly as she left the room, and after a moment of contemplation, he followed.

He stood in the doorway of the dimly lit room watching as she stared down at the slumbering child. Quietly he approached raising a hand and dropping it over her shoulder where he'd marred her with his fangs. He wondered if a scar still remained there, a permanent imprint of his teeth in her flesh. It was an interesting human trait, scarring.

"Cute, isn't she?"

Cute? He was thinking about biting her so he could feel the white, hot burn her blood would create across his tongue and she was thinking about the kid? Tempted as he was to redirect her thoughts so they matched his own stirring base desires he put them aside for the moment as the child awoke and began bawling.

Although an irritating sound he was somewhat proud the noise was emanating from his child. She reached down and scooped up the girl, cradling her in her arms.

"She's a little grumpy from waking from her nap." Kagome cooed and then turned toward him. "Want to hold her?"

He did, actually. He held out his hands and she handed over the small bundle. As the child calmed, he got his first good look at her since he'd originally seen the girl so many years ago in that peasant's hut.

Her little face was scrunched up in one that almost looked like displeasure. Her tiny features were all human, small fingers, no markings upon her skin, she even had the dark colored hair of her mother. The little of it there was upon her head. The only sign that marked his parentage was the luminous gold eyes that were still peering up at him almost curiously. That was a trait that would set her apart from all other humans.

The corners of his mouth lifted in contentment. That was good enough, he thought. He could already feel the slight pulse of power from her, it was apparent then the miko power of her mother had been passed onto her, and maybe in her later years she would develop something from him? Either way, she was not a complete human weakling, she had a power that would grow and flourish unlike little Rin who had been ordinary, but no less special.

He silently laid the babe back into her bedding as she drifted back off to sleep and snatched the wrist of the miko in his hand, pulling her from the room. She was quiet and cooperative until the door was closed and she snapped at him.

"What are you doing? I refuse to be manhandled!" she attempted to pry him off her, unsuccessfully.

"Manhandled? Inappropriate use of dialogue, miko."

The claws he had been guiding so carefully were now raked down her arm as his instincts were at last unleashed upon her. The fabric of her uniform was torn from her neckline to her wrist revealing the shoulder where in fact a distinct set of marks were left in her flesh. So she had scarred there, he thought, running his fingers gently over the skin.

"You… You just ruined my school uniform!"

"Inconsequential."

She slapped his hands off her crossly. "Go the hell away!" She barked.

"I will not. Do not toy with me miko, whatever battle you're waging is already over."

"Well time has done little for your character, hasn't it?"

She spun and all but stomped away and after a moment he followed. He found her in the seating room; settled down on the floor by the table sipping the previously abandoned tea. She kept her chin up trying to look as dignified as possible with her clothes torn open on one side and he stared at her amused.

What pride, he thought.

"I don't want to fight with you," she finally spoke up. "And I certainly don't want my clothes being ripped up every time we come in contact with one another, so you think we could just settle this in a friendly, non-violent way?"

"You have my child miko, what is there to settle?"

"That! Just what you said, 'your' child, you can't proclaim her to be all yours, what about me?"

"You are mine as well, so what is the problem?"

For a moment she just sat there, gaping up at him.

"What does that mean?"

She was taking this better than expected, he mused. Good, it made everything easier from this point.

"We mated. It was my seed inside you that caused this and they are my teeth marks in your flesh. You are mine. It's only fitting you should be moved to my residence."

"What?! My mother won't allow that."

He grinned. "Of course, she would rather her daughter be unmated and shamed."

"Unmated?" She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."

"Married, whatever irrelevant term you humans prefer it's all the same in the end."

He watched her as she continued to stare in silence, but she understood. He took her silence as consent when she stood up, anger upon her features.

"Forget it! You can't just come in here and demand that I belong to you or whatever. That's now how the world works anymore. You're no longer the Lord of the Western Lands."

He scoffed. "Do not be foolish. I have the financial means to support you and the child. This Sesshoumaru does not shirk his responsibilities."

"Then let me alleviate you of such a burden, I don't want your help, and I don't need it!"

"You do not love me," he sated flatly. "That is it, is it not? More human sentiment? Perhaps our mating all that time ago damaged you after all? Tell me what it is then that causes me to be rejected so."

"It's not what I want for my life, I don't want to be your possession."

"You would rather mingle among your own pathetic species than to dally with one from a dying race then?"

She sighed heavily. "Don't put words in my mouth. It doesn't mean anything to me that you're a youkai and not a human. Practically all of my memories you deal with you trying to kill someone. Why spend the rest of my life with you because you feel responsible for something that never should have happened?"

"Whether it should have happened or not, it is done."

She opened her mouth to reply heatedly, but he cut her off.

"Do not fool yourself into thinking you have any option. I am not a weak human that will accept this. You are coming with me, want it or not because you do not have the power to stop me."

She looked up at him with a look chalked so full of defiance he wanted to growl at her. He wanted to bat her over, snarl, bear his canines, and rip into her flesh with his claws all at the same time. Why was this one so obstinate? Would he want her if she wasn't?

He could make her love him, if that's what she needed. Eventually she would bend to what he wanted, what difference did it matter how quickly it came about. He was only hastening the inevitable. Her lifespan would only be so long, he wanted as much of it to himself as he could get.

He lunged to her, a mere blur of movement that pinned her painfully against an adjacent wall. She hissed slightly from the impact. The creamy expanse of skin revealed by her ripped blouse drew his attention. He dropped his head, kissing her flesh softly and deceptively before sinking his fangs into her.

A familiar pain washed over him as her blood made contact with the interiors of his mouth, trying to purify what it touched. He brought his hands up to her shoulders, dragging her to the floor as he sunk to his knees, running his tongue along the wound once more.

He lifted his head slightly from her shoulder.

"Does your unwillingness stem from your inability to love me, or your belief that I am unable to love you?"

It had to do with love. He knew that. He'd seen enough of her to know it. She had loved his idiot brother, that's why she'd tagged along with him, risking her life every day of their quest. She had gone willingly to battle, each one that could have been her last but she would not give him a chance? He was all to willing to point that out to her but her soft voice stopped him.

"I want Amaya to be loved."

Their eyes met. "It has been 500 years, woman. What obligation did I have to even remember you?"

He leaned to her, lips pressing lightly against hers. She sighed, a hot breath against his mouth as she sat straighter, looping her arms around him drawing herself nearer. She sealed her mouth against his, no longer tense against him.

He silently congratulated himself on saying the right thing, but the thoughts quickly vanished as his demon blood was roused again to a frenzied state. Memory of her blood, her body beneath him washed over him causing a low, purring growl to emanate from him as his mouth slid from hers, hand sliding down her body to divest her of the ripped blouse. His tongue slid down her neck, lapping gently at the open teeth marks in her flesh, causing her to shudder against him.

"Sess-" she breathed.

From another room, the wailing cries of an infant reminded them of why they were together and the promise of an interesting future.

End.

Author's Notes: There we have it, the revised edition. I have no further plans for this. I don't really want to continue it, I feel the revised ending summed up everything well enough.