InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Enigma of Power ❯ 1:07 ( Chapter 12 )

For some of you, this might be considered major OOC on Sesshomaru's part. I for one believe that even under the coldest exterior beats a truly human…and therefore pained heart. No flames please for this chapter. I know and to be quite honest, I don't give a flying fuck if you don't like it.

Kagome awoke to find herself staring at her clock. It read 1:07. Since it was dark outside the window she decided it must be very late, or very early, depending on your opinion. She sighed softly and decided to try to fall back to sleep. She was warm and comfortable and in her own bed. She must have moved without realizing it, because she felt arms tighten ever so slightly around her torso. Kagome froze in shock. There was a pair of arms wrapped around her torso. Warm breath stirred her hair, and something very furry and soft was draped over her legs. She reached down and touched it, running her fingers through his fur. Sesshomaru gasped in his sleep and pulled her closer, a soft moan escaping his lips.

Kagome could feel something hard and hot pressing against her back. His hands began to slip over her body. Silently they explored her chest, eliciting a small gasp of surprise from Kagome. Intrigued she reached for his tail once more, running her fingers through his fur, digging them in. She felt his hips press against her insistently and smiled slightly. Suddenly his roving hands stopped.

"You need to stop doing that."

Kagome bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "Why? You seem to like it."

"You need to stop before you are raped."

She blinked in surprise. She didn't actually think Sesshomaru would do such a thing, yet if he was losing control enough to warn her, she should heed that warning. She rolled over in his embrace, her blue eyes searching his golden ones. She saw many things reflected there. Lust was the most prominent, as was desire, but also there was fear. She leaned her head forward, resting it on his chest.

"It's not rape if I want it to happen."

His head rested on top of hers. "Be that as it may, if you continue to…entice me, it will be neither gentle nor satisfying. I have no desire to hurt you."

"And yet you enjoy having power over me."

She felt his smile. "My male ego at work, I fear."

"Sesshomaru, how were you injured, you never told me."

"A young boy named Kohaku. He was protecting Kikyou. She fired a purifying arrow that neutralized the Tenseiga and the boy managed to wound me." Kagome waited in silence, sensing that he was not yet finished. "I slew them both."

"They were not alive to begin with."

"I did not realize that until after." She waited. "Despite what you might think of me, I am not a murderer. True I have taken more than my share of life, but mercenaries and bandits can hardly be considered innocent. Rin…Rin was innocent and I could not let her die. Inuyasha…I had thought him as bad as the mercenaries. He had everything, a proper sword, a mother, knowledge of my father's grave, even you. I had thought that if I was doing my best by my people and living as I should, those things would come to me, but instead they were given to him, and he was too ignorant to even know their worth. So I guess I gave up. I stopped caring about the Western Lands. I let Naraku do as he pleased, and did not address the youkai who infringed on my lands."

"But?"

"But then I met Rin. Mute and too scared of humans to even play with other children, she offered her help to me. She was…is pure. When she started talking it was like something melted inside. She called me father and I didn't mind. I love her."

"She is lucky to have you."

"I am lucky she will have me."

She heard something in his voice, something that made her think he really believed that. True he was not the most affectionate person, but she'd seen him with the girl. He was protective and fatherly in even the smallest words and actions. Even on that night in the clearing, Kagome had sensed the bond between the two was as profound as her bond to Shippou for whom she acted as a surrogate mother. She looked up at Sesshomaru, gripping his chin and forcing him to look at her.

"She loves you, Sesshomaru. Why and how are unimportant, just as I love you. Gods know I didn't plan on this, but you…you look at me and I know you care. I know I annoy you sometimes and that sometimes all I am is a reminder of how weak and frail humans are, but that will never change the fact that I love you. I would die for you."

Her soft words seemed to open a floodgate. Tears slipped silently down his face. Shocked, Kagome gathered him to her. His head rested on her shoulder as he sobbed softly. She held him, rocking him gently.

"It's alright. I'll never leave you. I'll always love you."

Her soft whispers fell like sunbeams upon his heart, melting the ice he had formed there to keep all emotion out, to prevent it from ever hurting him again. It was long minutes before his tears finally stopped though he was loath to move from her arms. At last he lifted his head and looked at her. Gently she wiped the moisture from his tear-stained face.

"It's been centuries since I cried."

"Then I'd say you were long over due." Her smile was neither condescending nor mocking. "Everyone must cry, else our hearts will burst from the pain and the joy. We were never meant to hold so much inside, it must come out."

He curled up on her arms, his legs tangling with hers, his face less than an inch from her own.

"Stay with me…for tonight?"

She leaned forward and kissed his lips. "I already told you," her breath caressed the skin of his face sending ripples of pleasure down his spine, "I will never leave you, Sesshomaru. I meant that."

Sesshomaru looked at her. He loved her. He wanted her more than he could ever have imagined wanting a woman, but there was still so much to do. Naraku had to be taken care of, and his wounds on his body and in his heart needed to heal.

"When are you coming back?"

"It will be a week before I can return. I have to look after the house."

"Alone?"

"So it would seem."

"Do you want to be alone?"

"No."

"Then I will stay with you."

"Are you sure?"

He smiled. "Then I will not have to miss you."

She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Nor I you."

He pulled her closer and closed his own eyes. Sleep came far more swiftly than usual, and for the first time in over a hundred years, his dreams were peaceful and filled with hope.