Seven Days : Day 2

Kagome sighed, having the best night sleep ever. She figured she was back home, and the whole thing of going down the well and being kidnapped by three perverted old youkai and bounded to SesshoMaru because they wanted a baby between her and the lord of iceberg was a horrible dream.

Sitting up, she stretched and rubbed her eyes, her bed was the most comfortable, soft and silky, and her pajama was silky as well. Blinking her eyes open, she took in the room, expecting to be back in her bedroom, but she was wrong. She glanced around the grand room; it was large, but not overly done. There were few beautiful scrolls hanging on the wall along with some painting. There was dresser with mirror on the far end of the room with a large wardrobe next to it. The bed was in the center, almost a king sized, to her surprise, it was western styled, not like typical Japanese futon.

Searching her mind how she had gotten there, she realized her nightmare was true and the last thing she remembered was falling asleep at the desk in SesshoMaru's office. She gasped and turned to find him lying in bed beside her, looking up at her. Shrieking, she toppled out of the bed and fell smack onto the floor.

Amused, he moved to her side and looked at her on the floor, "Comfortable on the floor, ne?" His silver hair fell liquidly over his shoulder, brushing the floor beside her feet.

She gaped at him. Realizing he had made a joke and saw amusement dance in his eyes. She was speechless and saw few white and green shreds on the floor and picked it up, she inspected the piece of cloth and recognized it was once her school uniform.

It all pieced in her mind and she went red, "How… how dare you!" She yelled at him, "You, you shredded my last piece of clothes! You pervert!"

SesshoMaru inwardly sighed, glaring at her, "The indecent kimono you wore was dirty, shorn, and I wouldn't have my mate wear it or sleep in it. She is to wear proper attire, even to bed." He gestured to the haori she was wearing, "Today, you will be fitted for proper kimono and other clothing."
Kagome gaped as she watched him slip out of bed and walk over to the wardrobe and pulled out some articles of clothes. His words churned in her mind and suddenly, red flag went up once again, forgetting the shredded school uniform, she stood up and gaped at him, "Mate? Whoa, where did this come from? I thought I was supposed to be here to give you a baby… now, what is this?"

SesshoMaru turned back to her, tossing her one of his haori, which was long enough to become a makeshift kimono. "Hai, mate. You weren't my first choice but unfortunately for me, you're my only choice. The three cardinal lords had demanded me to find a mate before the end of this week as well. You have a lot to learn this week before we become official."

Kagome was now steaming, "This is not fair! I'm being forced into marriage, with you!" She shouted, stomping her feet, "There's no love between us, you hate me, you tried to kill me, I'm sure after this week and after once you have your baby, you're going to kill me!"

SesshoMaru glared at her, tired of her tirade, he grabbed her by the arm and brought her flush to his hard body, glaring down, he softly told her, "I will not have that. Love or no love, you will be my mate, the Lady of the Western Land; you will give me heir and perhaps, more." He threw her to the bed and disappeared behind folding wall to change his clothes.

Kagome gasped as she stared after him, unsure what she had saw in his eyes, there were fleeting hint of frustration, anger, irritation, but she was sure she saw hurt as well. It was all new to her, having SesshoMaru showing emotions, even if it were only through his eyes.

She could grasp the concept that he was frustrated with the whole situation as well. Why would a human-hating youkai Lord want a human for a mate? Everything she had knew before yesterday was pretty much thrown out of the window. The elders, obviously from SesshoMaru's inu youkai clan wanted SesshoMaru to have an heir pretty soon. How bad was it is for him to have a child? So many questions to find answer for and she figured, she will get the answer sooner or later.

Making a resolve, glancing over her shoulder to the stoic lord across the room who had his back to her, she decided to take one day at a time and see how it goes, after all, her mother had told her countless time over, worse situations were merely a illusion of the best situation. She knew it to be true, after all, how would she come to befriend a inu-hanyou, a perverted monk, a taijiya and a kitsune?

Fate must had a weird sense of humor, throwing her five hundreds of years in the past with a bauble that's bound to attract attention, now throwing her at the feet of the most stoic, but rather very handsome, Lord and binding them together, perhaps, forever. She cursed the fate silently and went on to getting dressed. After all, she has nothing to lose but the shards that hung around her neck and her life.

She picked up the haori she had threw down in frustration and decided to don it, it fell decently to her ankle, just shy shorter than the necessary length. She searched the wardrobes for obi and found none, she realized, he was right, she had to be fitted for new kimono and such. She found sash that SesshoMaru always wore around his hip, it was yellow and blue. At least it complimented the makeshift kimono which was blue with black curves across the shoulder and the hem of the sleeves.

While tying the belt around her waist, decently making a simple obi, she thought about what had happened and recalled that the elders had told SesshoMaru that he had until the morning after the full moon to impregnate her. She gasped and realized it was five days away after today. Blushing horribly, she figured the only way to do that was to do the act. Despite her being seventeen, she had never had time to think about it, her life always been busy with time hopping, school and the search for Shikon no Tama. Sex, usually on the mind of teenage from her time wasn't on her mind until now and the mere thought made her go red easily.

SesshoMaru returned, fully attired in his black hakama and dark green haori. He stared at Kagome, finding she looked quiet good in his haori, it fell a bit past her knees and the sleeves were rather long, she had to fold it up, yet the way she had dressed herself was far decent and flattered her body. The blue had brought out her eyes more. Nodding in approval, he turned to the doors.

"Come, we will get you some breakfast, I have a lot to work in the office. You will be fitted for your kimono there then." He announced his voice held indifference tone.

Kagome glared at him, "And?" As she felt there was something else he wanted to tell her.

He turned, "You will have lessons as well in obedience and manners."

She huffed, "I'm not the dog here…" She muttered under her breath, following the distant lord. He had heard her and nearly snorted but refrained, chuckling inwardly.

After getting breakfast for Kagome, they both returned to his office and he had sat himself down at the desk once again, reading and writing on the scrolls. Kagome went to the wall of library and started to search for something to read, she figured she'd pick up on about Inu, read up about their history so she'd get to know SesshoMaru and InuYasha better.

After a quiet while, Kagome looked up from her reading, watching SesshoMaru write in several scrolls, back and forth. He also had small abacus as well. Surprised to see him use ancient mean of calculator, she asked, "What are you working on?"

Without breaking away from his work, he replied, "Inventory."

Curious, Kagome moved to his desk and sat, watching him work, "For what?"

He looked up at her, "You're curious than a neko."

Kagome huffed, "Well, excuse me, if I'm going to be around, I'm bound to be curious to know what's going on."

He gave a nod, approving of her desire to learn, "Inventory for the land, I am given annual reports from villages in my kingdom. It is my duty to see it through."

"Oh." Kagome simply said and watched him count on the abacus and write on different scrolls.

He felt strange, not annoyed that Kagome was watching him but comforted. He decided to fill her in a bit more, after all, perhaps, someday; she would do this work for him. "The way I do it in my land, everything comes together and is divided, by the amount of people." He explained as he kept on working. "I patrol most of the year, to keep my kingdom at peace, and over see what the villages needed. I almost rarely come home but once a year for a month or two to do this." He stopped and looks up.

Kagome frowned, "Why can't you send out others to do this for you? So you'd be home more often."

He rested his chin on his interlaced hands, "I prefer to be out there, it is rather dull here."

She gave a shy smile, "Oh. Is that all you do?"
He looked back down at his paperwork, "No. That is not all I do, being a Lord is a hard work, heavy burden as well." He suddenly realized, his father was right at the moment, remembering his father told him that he had wished for a mate, a Lady to help him to rule the land. Ruling alone was hard but with a companion, a mate who has enough head on her shoulders ease the burdens. He glanced up at her, studying her profile as she took one of his scrolls to read. She was a rarity among many women, she knew how to read, write and from what he could understand, she knew math and history as well. She was educated while many women in this time weren't. He supposed, he got the best of all Miko. The only thing about her that he disliked was her rash attitude, which had to change.

Despite his reputation of 'human-hater', he had respect for humans who were worthy in his eyes and sadly, only a very few he had respected. It's not like he would admit to anyone, but he did deeply respected Kagome for who she is and her sense of duty and honor.

Two women came in; they had odds and ends in their arms, bolts of silks, box of sewing supplies and tapes. Kagome blinked as SesshoMaru gestured for her to go to the women. She stood up and walked over to the library side of the office. Soon, she was ambushed by the two women, cloths of silk draped over her, swaddled, poked by the pins, snipped and nearly gagged as the material wrapped around her.

An hour later, Kagome had enough; she batted away the woman with the pins, "Ouch, stop poking me! That's just enough!"

SesshoMaru looked up and noticed Kagome in ridiculous state, she was covered with silk that he had no idea where one begin and another end. "That will not do." He stood up and walked over to her, inspecting the silk, "This is a cheap silk."

Kagome gasped, she took one end and glanced at it, "Cheap? This is like the finest I've ever seen… I like the color!"

SesshoMaru hid his smirk, "No, no. It clashes with your complexion." He picked up the book with samples and leafed through it, "This, this, and that. Oh, never mind. Make kimono out of all colors in this book… Nothing seems right."

Kagome gaped at him. "But, but, I don't need that many…" She stilled as she saw the gleam in his eyes and she wondered if she should fear him. "What are you thinking?"
The two women giggled as SesshoMaru returned to his desk. The first one rose, "My Lady," She whispered into Kagome's ear, "Many kimono are required to be made for the Lady… after all, you will only might wear them once… you may get lucky to wear them twice."

Kagome's eyes widened and she went beet red. She glanced at SesshoMaru and saw amusement dancing in his eyes and growled softly, "Oh, no… no way." She stomped her foot, "I'm not even going there." She turned her back and held her arms out, singling for the women to resume fitting her. She became ten shades redder as she heard his low chuckle and shivered at the sound. She wondered if she kept blushing, the color would become permanent on her skin.

As soon Kagome was finished fitted, she was told by the women that she would have her first batch of kimonos ready by morning. Rin had come bounding in begging to play with Kagome. SesshoMaru gave a nod, telling her that she could play with Kagome as long she was in close range. The instructor happened to be away from the palace and the lessons were postponed until the next day. Then, Kagome and Rin stepped out into the private garden outside the office and played there.

SesshoMaru felt the tug of the bond between him and her, he assumed that she had tripped close to out of range but came back. It happened every once in a while. It became unbearable to ignore, he stopped his work and went to the porch, sitting there, watching Kagome and Rin play.

Watching the two human girls play, he felt content seeing their face lit up in smile and laughers. His mind wandered far back to when his father had asked him if there was something he wanted to protect. Suddenly, like an answer beamed from above, Kagome and Rin shone for a brief moment in the sunshine. He realized they were the two he wished to protect with his life; to protect such innocent, keeping them safe from the world's malice and pain. Every smile upon their face was worth more ryu he had ever owned, and that was saying a lot.

"Hai, father… I do want to protect those two… and more…" He rose from his sitting and returned to his desk, glancing over his paper work, the villages, the land and many others in his kingdom of the Western Land. It was a burden but he knew he was the only one able to maintain it. His patrol of his land for years had seen to prosper of his land. His land was the wealthiest of all four kingdoms, thanks to him and the wealth wasn't only in money but in vegetation and prosperity.

He took a scroll he had not touched yet and unrolled it. It was list of criminals that his guards had caught, their crimes and where they are being held, or when they had been killed for their crimes. The list started out with minor crimes, all of them had been properly handled by either the village headmen or the guards. He read on and soon, the crimes got worse and horrible, many were put in the village's jail. Some of the crimes were worse and brought to his palace's dungeon, awaiting justice from him.

Sighing, he decided to deal with the criminals his dungeon had been gathering in past year later, when the time is right. His priority of now is Kagome. Rubbing his face to ward off the oncoming headache, he knew he had to get her to trust him and see that he wasn't the person that his reputation had earned him. Her trust mattered the most to him, he didn't want a mate who didn't trust him nor had any bad thought about him.

The day had passed by in mild peace, they had supper together, Kagome's attention was focused on the little girl while SesshoMaru's attention was focused on her. Little they knew their feelings were changing for one another. Kagome had joined him to bed without complaint, having a new yakuta to sleep in, she fell asleep promptly on her side of the bed, not knowing SesshoMaru had stayed up longer besides her, studying her in her sleep and soon slept after, soundly, content with his decision about the Miko.

AN: Glad you all liked the story so far. This chapter and the next chapter focus on the both's feeling and thoughts about one another, their struggles to accept the fact without fighting so much against it. I've seen so many fics where Kagome and SesshoMaru fight each other so much, which is a bit immature. SesshoMaru is well several centuries old, I am pretty sure he is wise enough to not rise to bantering and Kagome, becoming a young woman, dealing with the reality of Sengoku Jidai on near daily basis, it's bound to make her perspective a bit more mature. Every one struggles with changes that are smacked in their face and it is not an overnight change. Trust me, I know this myself, being a married woman to a very stubborn, most childish and hardheaded man ever, changes doesn't happen overnight and it is very hard to endure, especially when you are a stubborn person as well. Kagome and SesshoMaru, the way I view them, they are not overall stubborn but rather very accepting with changes, yet they struggles with it as well. I better stop ranting and let you review. Thanks! The more reviews, the faster the next chapter will come up.