A/N: First of all, thank you so much for the wonderful reviews, the faves, and the follows. It is humbling and awe-inspiring to think that so many people think my story to be worth reading. Secondly, there is some minor sexual content in the chapter – it's short, not incredibly descriptive, and pretty easily skipped over.


Kagome ran towards her temporary sparring partner – tumbling forward, landing on her free hand, pushing herself up into the air, flipping over his head, landing behind him, and slamming her palm into his back. She smirked to herself as the force of her strike made him stumble lightly. Then she rapidly whirled around his side towards his front and forced her kodachi up towards him, wrinkling her nose when he managed to bring his own katana down and block her move. Damn.

The black haired miko was already bored with this, she much preferred sparring with her mate. She had to hold back and restrain her enhanced abilities now whenever she was up against anyone else. Ever since the monks in Sesshōmaru's employ (they didn't reside in the actual shiro, but had temporarily lived in a village outside of his home) taught her how to permanently tie a portion of her reiki into enhancing her senses and physical abilities, she had far outclassed even most yōkai – quite on purpose, since she wanted to be able to keep up with her beloved. Now she didn't have to focus or concentrate to hold her ki in her physical form in order to change her strength, speed, and senses; it was permanently changed to be more than ningen.

Once she found that out, she had been beyond pleased, even though it meant re-learning her whole body – so that she could hold back when necessary, so that she could regulate her new form, so that she could control her skills in order to pass herself off as a regular ningen when she needed to. Of course, even before the seal had been broken, Kagome had been far from being a regular ningen. Even if only by her outlook and the people she preferred to keep company with – normal ningen did not prefer yōkai to their own kind. Kagome, however... Well, she'd always been fascinated and entranced by the fantastic.

Which made living at the shiro a wonderful experience. She and Rin were the only ningen permanently in residence; although there were some hanyō living here as well, and many of the ningen nobles came to have Sesshōmaru address large problems. It turned out that not all hanyō had the same instabilities that Inuyasha did – their parents were far more matched in power than Toga-san and Izayoi-san had been. If Izayoi had been powerful – say, a strong miko, simply having a large amount of reiki, or having an exceptionally strong will, etc. – Inuyasha would not have the problems he did with his yōkai blood attempting to take over. They would probably be waiting to have children until their pup and kit were older, but Sesshōmaru had reassured her that their pups would not suffer in the way that Inuyasha did – and that he intended for her to give him many children. That had flustered her for an entire day, especially with him subtly teasing her and flirting with her over it.

Most of the yōkai tended to stay away from them ever since word of the attack on Rin had spread – and how it had ended (apparently, Sess had intentionally let two of the attackers leave, for this purpose) – although there had been a few attacks... All of which were taken care of by Kagome either purifying the dumb-ass assassins or pounding the fools with the temerity to personally confront her into submission. She strongly preferred the latter because after three such incidents... Well, suddenly the yōkai in the court decided that they'd rather not go up against a ningen onna that could beat their asses even without tapping into her miko abilities. Learning hand-to-hand from Sesshōmaru gave her the advantage that nobody else had a chance of beating her. Of course, finding out how strong of a miko Kagome was had dissuaded the lingering fools that continued to believe her unworthy from attacking her.

Although; Sesshōmaru had even stronger support from a lot of yōkai when he had proved to be completely immune to her powers, before they had mated. When four yōkai in the same room had turned to dust, and he had come out unscathed... It left an impression on people. Of course, she hadn't been using her full powers, and, unbeknownst to most people, yōkai tended to develop an immunity to those with spiritual powers who they spent a large amount of time with – he might not have naturally been immune to her stronger abilities, but the time they spent together due to their alliance meant he was now; luckily no monk or miko existed now who was anywhere close to as strong as she had been even when she was sealed, so he was safe from any miko or monk trying to purify him. Unfortunately, however, since her miko-ki was not reiryoku she didn't know if it granted him immunity to any purification or not now they were mated. If it had been reiryoku he would have been immune to any spiritual ki. But considering that even the purifying barrier at Mt. Hakurei had hardly affected him once he got used to it, he was probably damn safe from anyone attempting to purify him, even in big groups.

There were still a large amount of yōkai in the shiro that despised her and Rin, but it hadn't even taken persuasion from Sesshōmaru to stop the assassination attempts. Of course, Sess had still threatened disturbing things if anyone harmed them, but that was guaranteed – and, as he promised after the first attempt on her life, it hadn't happened until she proved she could take care of herself. Her mate really was wonderful for allowing her to do that, because it went against every single one of his inu instincts to allow her to defend herself with absolutely no interference at all from him. Not that he was crazy overprotective, not at all. He acknowledged her strength and ability to protect herself. But he needed to be able to protect her in some ways, at least.

Especially since she had a tendency to get kidnapped by people she couldn't just purify to death.

Kagome was brought out of her thoughts by sparks sliding between the two blades, and she smirked, deciding to end this session. Sesshōmaru was only pairing her against Takeo-kun to view her unique form and technique from an outside perspective rather than from experiencing it first-hand anyway, and since Kagome had somehow ended up being a complete natural with the kodachi (she was still struggling to learn how to use her daggers fluidly, as well as learning the traditional samurai kata for katana, but she refused to give up just because it was difficult compared to her wonderful kodachi) she knew that there would be very little correction needed. So, without any warning, Kagome pulled her blade back, the sudden removal of resistance causing Takeo-kun to stumble forward.

Then Kagome spun around to give her movement more force without tapping into strength more than Takeo-kun's, and forced her kodachi against his again. The unexpected force made him trip backwards, causing the magenta eyed yōkai to fall flat on his back. She flipped over top of him and slid her kodachi between his arms, pressing the tip against the underside of his chin with a ruthless glint in her eyes. "Surrender."

Golden blonde hair spread out against the floor of the dojo as he tilted his head back in submission, an approving look in his eyes, and he dropped his katana. "I surrender, Kagome-sama."

She pulled away and stepped away from him, picking up his blade and twirling it around as he hefted himself up; she handed it to him once he was standing, nodding towards him. "Good match, Takeo-kun. Thank you for your patience. I will see you around later."

The guardsman smiled at her and nodded his head, "It was my pleasure, Kagome-sama. Thank you for allowing me to spar with your mate, Sesshōmaru-sama."

Then he bowed and left the dojo, and Kagome sheathed her sword, walking over to her mate. "Your friends will be surprised when they see us sparring tomorrow, little one. Your technique is astonishing for one with so little practical experience."

"Pft, first off, I have an amazing instructor, and secondly, I have been taught hand-to-hand combat – which got me very used to form and technique – over the past year. In addition to that, you changed how you taught me and what you taught me so it fit me better, just because you could. My form and technique is all there because you taught me differently – although, thank you for that, because I love it."

Her mate smirked down at her and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her scent, a pleased growl rumbling through his chest. "This is true. It pleases this Sesshōmaru that his training paid off so well; and that his mate is so talented."

She blushed and hid her face in his haori, smiling softly at the compliment – she still wasn't used to thinking of herself positively despite his continued faith in her competence ever since the initial alliance against Naraku began, although it was slowly becoming more common, due to the sheer amount of compliments she took in on a daily basis. It turned out that once she was officially pack, Sesshōmaru became incredibly and astonishingly free with his affections and attentions towards her, when they were alone or just with their small pack. "I still suck with daggers and katana."

"You do not "suck", your level is completely average for someone just learning; you are simply naturally adept with your kodachi, and thus it feels like you are making less headway with learning how to use your daggers and a katana than you actually are."

"Hn."

She sighed and inhaled deeply, taking in her mate's scent as he was doing to her. Sesshōmaru smelled like a summer storm overlaid by an acid-tinged scent of sheer power, and it was absolutely addicting – Kagome might not have been born inu, but she was certainly picking up the traits frighteningly fast. She no longer knew what she would do without the gestures, habits, body language, and noises that were now a regular, integral part of her life, had been even before coming to the shiro. Especially when it became clear that kitsune gestures were extremely similar to inu gestures – Kagome was an even better mother to her kit than she had been in the two and a half years she had had him before now. Yes, she'd been using the gestures for a while now, but never so constantly before.

Needless to say, Sesshōmaru was incredibly smug about how yōkai she had become in the past month, and about how easy it had been for her to pick things up. She could growl with the best of them now. She knew where to nip and flick her pup and kit to punish them – in more places than just the ears. She could sleep in a pack pile with the best of them. She instinctively understood how to change her posture when apologising to Sesshōmaru so that she was being submissive, but not completely so – as alpha bitch of the pack, she didn't need to be as submissive as she would have if she weren't Sesshōmaru's mate; or, as in the beginning, his intended.

It had really changed Kagome's view on some of the ways Inuyasha acted once she began learning this new "language" over the past year. Definitely not all of them, but some of the things he did and ways he acted became a lot clearer, especially the things that were incomplete or twisted gestures; he hadn't had anyone to teach him properly, after all. Kagome very strongly suspected that due to being raised by Izayoi, he ignored any yōkai instincts except the ones that kept him out of physical danger... Which was beyond unhealthy.

Hopefully he would learn the right way to act by observing their pack when they joined back up with him and "his" group – assuming he didn't decide he never wanted to see her again once he found out Kagome had mated Sesshōmaru last fortnight.

That thought brought Kagome's mind to a screeching halt and she shivered, clinging to her mate tightly. Fuck, she had forgotten about Inuyasha coming to visit tomorrow; now she was worried again. Sesshōmaru, sensing her worry (and knowing what it was about, the near-psychic jerk) changed his growl to one more aimed towards comfort, and picked her up, licking her cheek and nuzzling into her shoulder lightly before striding out of the empty private dojo. "Everything will be fine, koishi. I promise, little one, he will survive and so will you. You are strong enough to handle this. Both of you are; even if he reacts negatively."

Kagome simply buried her face into his kimono, arms wrapped around his neck tightly and fingers threading through his silken hair. Kagome had pretty much expected to never hear a comforting thing from Sesshōmaru, but it turned out that even one in such a position as he was in acted completely different around his pack than he did in public if they were social creatures like inu. He never lied, and never said comforting things that he didn't believe, but if he did believe something that would comfort her, he would tell her. It had really changed the dynamic – in a great way. Kagome had never wanted to change Sess, but the ways in which he changed himself – at least in private, they had a façade to keep up in public, after all, to an extent anyhow – made their relationship even more special, wonderful, loving, and precious to her.

Sesshōmaru kept up the soft, comforting growling, and soon, despite the way her mind was going a thousand miles a minute with worst case scenarios ending with her losing her friends forever, she found herself relaxing. Her body melted against his, her mind slowed down, her eyes kept drifting closed for long moments before she remembered to open them again. It didn't take long for them to arrive in the private family gardens, and soon she was settled in her love's lap, being held tightly as he scented her thoroughly, his growling never ceasing.

It was strange, how she felt more comforted by a wordless noise that would frighten someone "normal" than she did by pretty (but unfailingly honest) words. And soon the comfort mixed with the stress and she was falling, falling, falling, her eyes closing, her breath evening out, and her body steadying as she dozed off into a gentle sleep. Sesshōmaru simply smiled down at his mate, claws tracing patterns on her sakura blossom patterned kimono, and soon he closed his own eyes – not to sleep, but to simply enjoy the late morning air, cool shade, and soft breeze, taking in the scent of flowers and plants throughout their private paradise. It wasn't that long before two new scents filtered in – foxfire and oak sap intermixed with the particular scent that naturally shapeshifting yōkai all held, and a fresh, clean scent that had no name he could think of that was overlaid with the scent of flowers – and soon his children were crouched beside him.

"Shh, Rin-ne, we don't wanna wake Mama up; she must be really worried about tomorrow if she got tired enough to sleep before nap time. Papa is so nice to help her calm down and protect her."

"Shippō-kun, why is Mama worried? Aren't they her friends that are visiting?"

A clawed hand rested on Kagome's hakama as the little kitsune settled by his adopted father and mother, his adopted sister settling in beside him. Despite the fact that none of them were related by blood from birth, he felt that his family was more real than a lot of other families in the court; they were certainly happier, loved each other more, and, most importantly, had chosen each other. They were family because they wanted to be, not because they had to be. He still loved his birth mother and father distantly, but he was so happy that he was able to have a new Mama and Papa after they died; he just knew that his first Mama and Papa had sent him to Kagome and Sesshōmaru-sama.

Just like he had just known that Sesshōmaru-sama was interested in his mama when she made the alliance, and that he had to let Sesshōmaru-sama see that his mama was available. Hence why he had spoken up even though things would have gone perfectly smoothly without his involvement – they just wouldn't've happened as fast as Shippō wanted them to happen.

"They are friends, Rin-ne, but one of them wants to be together with Mama like Papa is, only Mama doesn't love him that way any more. Mama is afraid to hurt him – she does still love him, after all, only like a brother now, which is fitting because he's Papa's half-brother."

The little girl tilted her head, soft brown eyes wide and understanding. "So Mama is worried that Uncle Inuyasha will be mad at her for mating with Papa, and not want to be her friend any more? Even though nobody could love and cherish Mama as good as Papa can?"

"Exactly! I think Mama's been worrying more than she lets us know, because Mama doesn't want us worrying over her. But nothing slips past Papa, does it, Papa?"

Sesshōmaru cracked one eye open with a trace of a smile – whenever he was sitting against a tree with his eyes closed, it was an unobtrusive signal to his family that he was willing to listen to them having conversations about things they didn't want to directly tell or ask him about, but felt he needed to know. It was a good way to step around his naturally intimidating nature – they knew he wasn't asleep, and he knew they were essentially talking to him. Some conversations, like this one, were more for the benefit of the children than for himself, though; Rin and Shippō often explained things to each other in his presence so that if he felt the one getting the explanation didn't understand well enough, he could attempt to clarify things.

Rin had this well in hand, however, so Sesshōmaru simply nodded to Shippō's question with a soft, "Hn. She will be awake before lunch, and hopefully less worried. Also, young ones, your mama is not just worried about Inuyasha – she fears the others in her previous pack will be upset with her for hurting him. She fails to truly understand that she was their alpha, and thus, they will side with her over Inuyasha."

The young kitsune nodded and rested his head against Kagome's legs, while Rin rested her own against Sesshōmaru's, laying out on the grass comfortably so they could nap with their Mama, despite it being several hours before their usual nap time. As soon as they were settled in he began growling again, a soft, gentle growl that was meant to be a lullaby, and worked as one perfectly, even for his ningen pack-mates. Rin and Kagome were, at least mentally, incredibly yōkai – and incredibly inu as well. He had never met ningen as loyal and devoted as they were.

Although her friends did come relatively close – he strongly suspected that their loyalty would be tested tomorrow – and as he had informed his children, he knew that if his fool half-brother made them choose, Kagome would be the one that her ningen pack stayed with; not the hanyō. Especially the monk – Sesshōmaru suspected strongly that there was no loyalty whatsoever towards Inuyasha on Miroku's part, what with how condescending he was to the hanyō.

The daiyōkai looked down at his small, but very loved, pack; his family, and was content, sliding his mokomoko-sama out from behind him to curl around Kagome's back, before manoeuvring the rest of it to cuddle under his children's heads, giving them a soft pillow to rest against.

All was right in the world, for now.


Kagome's eyes opened blearily and she yawned, blinking slowly as her surroundings came into focus around her. The room was a contrast of light and dark; cream-coloured walls with stunning crimson calligraphy haiku decorating them, cherry wood furniture, floors, and trim. Swathes of crimson silk decorated the bed she and her pack were on. Black and white pillows offered contrast to the rest of the bed. Warm brown rugs covered the polished wooden floor to keep the chill away from sensitive ningen feet.

Her room was gorgeous. Despite personally having a preference for travelling across the land and sleeping under the stars, Kagome wondered how Sesshōmaru ever had the willpower to leave his beautiful home.

Then again, being at the shiro meant dealing with the court and the nobles, dealing with paperwork, and having servants constantly underfoot; although, admittedly she adored the servants here, and unbeknownst to her, they adored her just as much, the same with Rin. Still, there was almost no genuine privacy whatsoever.

Okay, so maybe Kagome could see perfectly clearly exactly why Sesshōmaru spent most of his time on patrols rather than here.

Sighing, the petite (at least compared to Sesshōmaru and yōkai females – she was taller than most ningen females in this era, now, which was convenient, as it made her seem more authoritative) woman curled back into her love's chest, growling happily when his arms tightened around her and his mokomoko-sama moved to her front and slid along her body, the soft fur tickling her skin wherever her yukata was parted. She wiggled back further, trying to get as little distance as possible in between them, until she heard a soft squeal and laughed; Shippō was up, and as per usual, tickling his big sister to wake her up as well. Everyone knew that Rin was an early bird for a child, but Shippō was much more of an early riser than she naturally was, being yōkai and needing less sleep than any ningen did, despite his sleeping habits—and Rin loved having her little brother wake her up this way; they really were too adorable with each other.

It had taken a little while to get used to sleeping like pack most of the time, but now Kagome usually felt detached and somewhat empty when she didn't have her children sleeping with her throughout the night. When she talked to her mate about it he confessed that he felt similarly; if they wanted some alone time with each other, they simply had a servant bring the children in as they were heading to sleep. Kagome didn't know how they were going to manage alone time when they were on patrol, but her beloved was incredibly resourceful; he would think of something. Maybe they would find an area away from the main camp and leave the children with Ah-Un, who were fiercely protective of them.

Suddenly, Rin was climbing over the two of them and grabbing onto mokomoko-sama, grinning up at Kagome so sweetly that she had no choice but to cuddle the little girl for being so adorable, squealing gently (both Kagome and Rin had learned to be very quiet most of the time; Kagome especially once her reiki had permanently enhanced her senses. Her own hearing was incredibly sensitive now, and she felt a little bad about yelling at Inuyasha so much) and kissing her hair, taking in the wild-flower scent that lingered on her daughter. Rin smelled clean and fresh, like… Ah! Like a fall breeze, and the scent of flowers stuck on her constantly, because there wasn't a single day that passed that Rin didn't go outside to play with her beloved flowers.

Shippō came barrelling into them and Kagome growled playfully at him, raking her fingers through his tail fur before grabbing him and rolling onto her back; completely uncaring that her yukata was half open. This was pack, after all – and yōkai had no problems with modesty and body image, unlike ningen did. It had been really awkward to Kagome at first, but in the end, all it had taken was a group bath to change her mind. They still slept in yukata but nobody cared if they slid open or were loose.

Now bathing and sleeping together was the most natural thing in the world. "Good morning, sweetlings. Did you sleep well? Was mokomoko-sama soft and snuggly last night? It must have been since I didn't wake up with my kit and my pup clinging to me like usual."

Rin and Shippō giggled at that, crawling up her body to nuzzle her neck and jaw, before placing kisses on her cheeks, and answering simultaneously. "Good morning, Mama!"

Then Rin responded; Shippō was a sweetheart and always let his big sister speak first when they both needed or wanted to say something, unless what he had to say was genuinely more important. "Mokomoko-sama was very warm and cuddly last night, Mama, but not as cuddly as you."

"Rin and I wanted to sleep next to Papa last night as thanks for making Mama feel better yesterday."

Kagome smiled softly and kissed both of their foreheads before nuzzling their cheeks and down their necks, scenting them comfortably. "You two are way too adorable and sweet. Go say good morning to Papa now."

They giggled and did just that, climbing over her to crawl onto their father, and Kagome rolled onto the opposite side from what she had woken up on, propping her head up in her palm as she watched the scene in front of her with a feeling of utter happiness and contentment. When mokomoko-sama slid up her body to curl around her chin, she buried her face into it for a moment, humming noiselessly and stroking her hand along its length, before lifting her face back up to watch her children love on their father, to see his soft, gentle smile that was only ever displayed during this time of privacy with his pack, his family.

Sesshōmaru had confided in her that when his father left him and his mother for Izayoi, he had sorely missed the pack, and part of the reason he had been so bitter towards Inuyasha was because he represented the loss of something integral and precious to inu yōkai. How deeply it had affected him had become even more clear once Kagome had a few dreams after they mated. Needless to say, Kagome was beyond glad that she could give her mate something that he needed in his life, something that made him feel more complete and content. She was glad that she was different enough that somehow, acting abnormally for ningen felt more natural to her than keeping up with her ningen habits did.

Soon, his arms wrapped around her and pulled her up against her children, sandwiching the smaller bodies between the two of them, and Kagome laughed softly at the picture they made; Kagome and Sesshōmaru surrounding Rin, Shippō, and mokomoko-sama. The strip of incredible fluff was completely tangled up in their bodies, wrapping around all of them contently. Kagome adored mokomoko-sama, especially once she found out that it reacted to Sesshōmaru's mood; mokomoko-sama could display affection when Sesshōmaru wasn't able to.

Her mate's content growl changed to one of annoyance the moment a servant knocked on the door of their room, sliding it open after he gave off a frustrated, "What. Is. It?"

They were not supposed to be disturbed before breakfast – full stop; not unless it was a genuine emergency, but there were none of the emotions clinging to her that would signify an emergency.

She was bowing to them as she spoke, her pretty green-black hair falling into her face and hiding it from view – that was generally their way of apologising for having to give unpleasant news or messages; which was much nicer than actually having the yōkai falling all over themselves to apologise like Jaken tended to do. "Sesshōmaru-sama, your brother and his pack have arrived at the shiro gates; what do you wish for us to do with them until the time you expected to see them?"

Kagome growled with frustration and irritation – stupid Inuyasha ruining things; on purpose, too, it was far too early for it to be accidental timing – before Sesshōmaru ran a clawed hand through her hair, quieting her growls so he could answer. "Show them to their rooms in the western guest wing and give them a meal in the private dining room of that wing. Kagome and I will begin practise in the dojo after breakfast as usual; simply send them in once we have begun."

The servant nodded, her long hair falling away from her face and showing Kagome that it was Chō who had been forced to give them unpleasant news (she would have Rin give her a bouquet later as an apology for her ire, Chō was incredibly sweet and big-hearted, they really ought to have had one of the older servants give them the news, but this was probably a test of her mettle and so, it had happened this way) as she straightened up and closed the door, padding down the hallway of their wing. Kagome was incredibly grateful that her friends were to be sequestered on the other side of the shiro; both guest wings were very far away from the family wing. They strongly appreciated their privacy. The nobles were in the eastern wing on this side of the shiro, private family wing was the west wing, and on the opposite side of the shiro lay the eastern and western guest wings.

"Come, precious; come, Rin, Shippō. Young ones will go get dressed, your mother and I will fetch you for grooming, and then breakfast, once we are ready as well."

The children kissed each of them on the cheek before sliding off the large bed and running across the hallway to their bedrooms; the servants would help them dress appropriately. They all had yōkai-made travel outfits now – self-repairing, self-cleaning (or rather, foreign substance-repelling, was more like it), incredibly sturdy and strong, and completely fireproof. But at the shiro they dressed with rank and appearance in mind, as frustrating as it was. Sure, the kimono were beautiful, stunning, and rich; but Kagome preferred simplicity to all that.

At least she was able to wear self-repairing short kimono (they were closer to the short yukata but were far too fancy to be considered yukata in this day and age, not to mention they had sleeves that went fully to the wrist and, because her travel outfit did, trailed downwards) that were cut off above her knees until after her daily morning sparring practise and fighting lessons with Sesshōmaru were complete – sure, she had to change into regular kimono after practise (or before lunch, depending on where and how they spent the time after practise) most of the time, but for a short amount of time each day, she was able to wear something free and non-restrictive in order to move and fight well.

Kagome knew that she could easily have been forced to continue her practise in regular kimono and hakama instead of the ones Sesshōmaru had specially made for her, so she was eternally grateful to her lover.

A mouth was on her ear, tongue tracing the edge as fangs grazed over her skin, and Kagome shivered, gasping softly with pleasure from the intimate gesture. "Nh, Maru..."

"Come, kitten, relax. Allow this Sesshōmaru to pleasure you before you dress, hmm?"

Kagome was not going to deny that, and she pressed her body against her lover's as he deftly slid her yukata fully open and stroked over her body. She was whimpering with delight as he touched her, drove her to distraction, used his claws and fingers and mokomoko-sama to pleasure her in ways she had once thought inconceivable. It wasn't long before she reached her peak, panting and whining in contentment, and he laid her on the bed, kissing randomly over her body as she came down. "Mmm good girl my kitten is. Do not worry about reciprocation – it has been enough time that we can have the children brought to us after we spend time alone tonight."

She really did not care about what he was saying, and she knew that continued arousal and desire was flowing into him from the bond – but Sesshōmaru had spent an entire three days after they mated secluded away from everyone, excepting when they had slept so badly that first night without their children that he made the decision to have the children brought to them when they were ready to sleep. He knew her body in and out – although he was continually learning even more – and the first thing he had learned, because she was so very yōkai even before the bonding, was how to reduce and lower her arousal and desire. So he went about doing that now, kissing the right places, nuzzling the right places, stroking the right places, and soon Kagome was calmer and more relaxed – like she would have been directly after her release had it not been several days since their last session.

And her aggravation had been gone ever since he began pleasuring her, which was really the basic point.

Sesshōmaru wrapped his arms around her and chastely kissed her, then kissed all over her cheeks, the bridge and tip of her nose, and her chin. "Good girl. Tonight, I promise – I'll even tease you all day, if you wish, and you may tease me as well, now that we finally have those hakama, tights, nagajuban, and hanjuban that suppress stronger scents of arousal and fertility, since neither of us actually wear so many layers as the rest of the court does."

Oooh. Kagome liked that idea. "Mmm yes please. Especially with mokomoko-sama."

He knew what she meant by that – mokomoko-sama was very extendible, and very discreet, being able to flatten itself a surprising amount; it could tease her in her most private places in ways she adored, and since he felt what it did, it ended up truly pleasuring the three of them.

He was digging around in her wardrobe to find whatever outfit he wanted to dress her up in; Kagome rather enjoyed being her mate's dress-up doll. They had shared this room from the start, because they slept as pack the entire trip to the shiro and he asked if she thought there was any point to her own room when they'd sleep as pack anyway.

Considering she'd already decided she would most definitely mate him before Inuyasha came by (it had taken only one serious make out session for her to realise that even if she hadn't already been incredibly good friends with him and wholly in love with him, she just plain couldn't hold out very long) the answer had been a definite no. She'd initiated their first sexual encounter only a week into coming into the shiro, and when he asked if she would mate him a week later she'd been utterly ecstatic.

"This Sesshōmaru promises to tease you sufficiently, kitten. It is a good thing that over our alliance you have learned composure and how to keep a good mask up when necessary, ne?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes, "That mask is meant to hide other things, but somehow this Kagome thinks you insisted on it being as complete as it is in hopes for such an outcome, hmm?"

"Oh, undoubtedly. The moment our son let this one know that you could return his interest – quite cleverly, might I add – at the alliance creation, he set about seducing you. Ah! There it is. Wear this kimono; koi for my koishi."

Kagome giggled and moved in front of her mate, looking up at him and swiftly licking the corner of his jaw, "People would die of shock if they knew how utterly sweet you really are, Maru. And really? You loved me that far back?"

Then she grabbed the kimono from him, admiring it silently as she undressed. The base of the fabric was a soft, dark blue, with lily pads and water lilies scattered around the fabric that would cover her breasts and shoulders, and the fabric beginning several centimetres below her waist was decorated with a dozen beautiful, shimmering koi, their scales gorgeous patterns of orange, black, and white. There was an iridescent shimmer to the scales as the light hit them – silvery on the orange scales, but blueish on the black and white scales. It really was a stunning piece of work; and Kagome had a strong suspicion that Sesshōmaru had had it made specifically for today, because she had never been allowed to wear it – or even see it, more tellingly – before.

"They would certainly die, although it would be by this Sesshōmaru's hand rather than shock. Pests and intruders are to be taken care of and those are the only ones worth consideration who would find out. Hmm. Not quite that deep; considering I was busy patrolling my lands, dealing with the court, and fathering my daughter. There was physical, emotional, and mental attraction – as well as deep lust – but not quite love for a couple moons into our alliance. It had most definitely been close before, though."

The first comment made her giggle – frankly, she agreed with his opinion on that. This Sess was for her alone. At his second comment, she smiled with happiness, but didn't respond – he knew she hadn't loved him back that far, so there wasn't much to say – and pulled on the black open hakama (unlike their travel-clothes, these hakama didn't tie closed around the ankle, they weren't sashinuki hakama) that were reserved specifically for sparring. Then she pulled on her cream-coloured hanjuban (a half-length version of the nagajuban that were the length of a regular kimono – basically a juban, or under-kimono, this was a hadajuban to protect the silk of her kimono from sweat stains, and the only juban she wore in the morning hours), and tied on her kimono after that; an intricately patterned peridot green obi, multicoloured patches of scales peppering the fine silk, being the finishing touch. Her obi for travelling and fighting were all thin obi, rather than the much wider formal obi she had to wear during the rest of the day. Then she slid into her boots and tied her mate's obi for him, stepping back and allowing him to view her outfit.

Sesshōmaru nodded firmly as he looked her over, pulling her against him and scenting her before sliding her kimono aside so he could scrape his fangs against her mating mark, making her whimper gently. "Mine. You look stunning, precious. Let us go now, Kagome; we have a show to put on, after all."

Kagome nodded, ever so slightly dazed, and walked out the door with him, barely noticing that their hands were firmly linked together, his fingers separating hers and rubbing against them as he held her smaller hand in his larger one. They let go once they reached their children's rooms, all four of them sitting on the floor of Rin's room after fetching Shippō, and going through their daily ritual of grooming each other thoroughly, taking their time to build trust and love between them. Once they were all finished they stood up and Sesshōmaru grabbed her hand again, squeezing it gently.

Their children grabbed their free hands – Rin holding onto Sesshōmaru and Shippō holding onto Kagome until he climbed up to perch on her shoulder – and the little ones chattered gaily as they made their way to the public dining room; far earlier than the rest of the court was generally about, those of whom tended to take a very light, and late, breakfast in their rooms. Their breakfast might be held in the formal dining area, but it was quiet and intimate, only two of the noble families being up and about this early in the morning; and both of those being accepting of Kagome and Rin by now.

They hadn't been initially, but they were now.

Breakfast was a relaxing affair, and Kagome enjoyed the calm before the storm, but all too soon it was over, and they were standing up to head to their private dojo. Before Shippō and Rin could dash off to their lessons as usual, however, Kagome grabbed their hands, crouching down as she smiled at them. "Sweet pup, darling kit, how would you two like to watch Mama and Papa spar today, and meet with our friends when we're finished?"

Rin was the first one to speak up, "Oh please, Mama! Rin likes learning to fight, but Rin likes watching Mama and Papa fight more. One day Rin hopes to be as good as you are."

Her son was nodding fervently in agreement at that, "Yeah, Mama, watching you and Papa fight is so awesome!"

She smiled at them and picked them up, one child on her right hip and one in her left arm as she kissed their foreheads and walked over to their father. "Well, let's get this started, love."

He gave her a slight smirk and kissed her crescent marking, leading the way to the dojo and trusting her to follow him.

Today was going to be incredibly interesting.


Koi – Japanese carp

Koishi – beloved, love