AN: Sorry for the delay. -whoops- I shouldn't write 6 stories at the same time... -sigh- Anyways, more fluff coming. Some might get closer to M rating, really, but I think I was able to keep it within T rating. This chapter is mainly Naraku/Aurora alone, with a bit of Kagura in it.

The part in italics is a flashback.

DISCLAIMER: Bleach, Inuyasha, Byakuya Kuchiki, Kagura or Naraku aren't mine, Aurora and Gabriel Sakura are.

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

As soon as the four reach Naraku's castle, he tells Aurora to change her clothes and to return to him afterwards, for he needs to speak to her. She inclines her head as her version of a bow, before she rushes towards her room.

The moment the shinigami is far enough Kagura approaches Naraku. "Why did you take her back? She left once, and she will leave again."

Naraku doesn't respond to her.

Kagura tries again. "How can you trust her that easily? She left you already, remember?"

He glances at her. "She can still be useful. Also, I'm planning to make sure she is loyal to me."

Kagura is quiet for a moment, before asking the question she already knows the answer to. "How?"

He lifts a shard of the Shikon in front of his eyes, holding it between forefinger and thumb. "With this, if I have to. I already intended to use it once, but it wasn't necessary, then."

Kagura's eyes widen a bit and she opens her mouth to say something, but Naraku cuts in before she can. "You will see."

Before Kagura has any time to respond, Aurora returns, and Naraku's attention gets to her. He waves at the shinigami. "Come with me."

Aurora inclines her head. "Hai."

Naraku doesn't miss that she didn't call him 'my lord' anymore. For now, he'll let it slide. Instead of asking her about this, he begins to walk. He doesn't have to look behind him to check if she follows. He knows she will.


Walking in comfortable silence the two reach the garden, and the smell stream that goes through it. Naraku stops by the stream, and Aurora comes to his side, stopping as well. For a moment they stand in silence, staring at the stream, until Naraku turns to face her. Noticing his movement, she turns to face him, so that they are now standing face to face.

Aurora's eyes are at the grass beneath their feet, and as he studies her down turned face, he can not stop wondering what she's thinking at the moment. After a while he decides not to ask, his plan was already working perfectly, and too much curiosity at this point might endanger the whole plan.

So, he speaks in a soft voice, making sure to keep his voice free of any annoyance he feels. "Why did you leave?"

Her gaze gets a bit higher, but only as far as his chin. He frowns at this, but allows her to respond. "I did not plan it. When looking for shards, I encountered the hanyou and his group. I assisted them, and began to travel with them."

When her gaze stays at his chin, Naraku decides to act. He reaches out with his right hand, and gently, but firmly, grabs her chin with two fingers, and lifts her face so that their eyes finally meet.

He's momentarily taken aback by the unreadable look in her eyes, but then he pushes the question he now wants to ask aside, and says the words he knows he has to, to make sure she won't start feeling uncomfortable near him. That would cause her to leave again, this time for good.

"Aurora, I'm not angry or disappointed. You did wrong when you left, but returned when I asked you to. I didn't have to force you to come with me." He pauses for a moment, allowing her to absorb his words.

When her eyes widen a fraction, he thinks he can continue. "Tell me, would you have returned in time if we wouldn't have encountered today?"

She doesn't hesitate. "Iie, I would not have returned until I would have found shards for you." Close enough to the truth.

Naraku notices that she chose her words carefully, and that those words could be interpreted in many ways, and not all these ways were profitable for him. Still, he's sure she didn't say anything that would be false, so he'll let it slide, for now. "Did you bring any with you?"

She shakes her head 'no'. "The shards in their possession were gained fairly. It would be dishonourable from me, as well as for me, to take the shards from them."

His right hand moves to gently stroke her cheek. "You don't have to explain. You're back, and that is what matters."

She leans to his hand. "You will accept me back?"

His other hand raises to her other cheek, and he locks her gaze with his. "Yes, I will. From now on, I will keep you beside me."

She blinks, seemingly confused.

He moves his hands from her face, and then wraps his arms around her, pulling her against him. "It wasn't a mistake to let you away from my side. Your return told me everything I needed to know."

Her bit muffled reply comes after a moment. "What do you mean?"

He presses a quick kiss at the top of her head. "You came to me, even though your friend asked not to. Now, are you going to leave me again, if you meet them?"

He can hear her sigh quietly before she gives him an answer. "I do not know. I am not planning anything such. However, I cannot promise to return should I meet them again."

Naraku can feel a bit of anger rising in him, and he fails to try to hide all of it from his voice. "You will return."

He feels her tensing in his arms, and he forces the anger down. She had apparently taken his words as a threat. Not good. She even tries to retreat from his arms, but he only tightens his hold, pulling her closer, and leaning a bit forwards so that he can soothe her. "It's okay, calm down, Aurora. I promised to protect you. No harm will come to you when I'm near. I'm not planning to hurt you, either."

Slowly he can feel her to relax in his hold, and her head moves to rest against his shoulder. When she seems calm enough he decides to ask what made her react like that. "What scared you?"

She rubs her cheek at his shoulder a moment before she stills and responds. "I was worried that you might use a shard of the Shikon to control me, as you are controlling the boy, Kohaku."

He rests his chin on the top of her head. "I agree that I was thinking about doing just that. You did prove though, that it wouldn't be needed."

The two stay like that until the Sun begins to set. Even then, Naraku doesn't let her go, he just moves his hold so that now he's carrying her in 'bridal style', as she has fallen asleep in his hold, and he doesn't want to wake her up.

He carries her to her room, and before he lowers her to her futon he kisses the hair on the top of her head, and realises, that something has changed. From the beginning he had only planned to use her, by faking that he had feelings for her, to get her to fall in love with him, and that would've meant that she would be under his control easily.

But now, as he looked at her sleeping face, he realised that his plan wasn't going the way it should. She was in love with him, there was no question of that. He just had never meant to fall in love with her.


The next morning finds Aurora in the yard, clad in her shihakusho, practising with her Zanpakto's shikai form, naginata.

In the middle of one of the katas she can sense the wind sorceress' presence, and halts. "Kagura, I am aware of your presence. There is no need for you to hide, you are free to observe openly."

Kagura emerges from behind a small building. "I don't know what's going on between you and Naraku, but why does he give you special treatment?"

Aurora sighs. "He is the one who can respond to that." Without expecting a response, she resumes her training.

Kagura fists her hands and puts them to her hips. She glares at Aurora. "I was expecting that he would put a Jewel shard in you."

Aurora's naginata halts its latest swing, and she turns to look at Kagura. She returns the weapon to its sealed form, and sheathes it, before she responses. "For a moment, I though he would do it, as well. Why he did not, I do not know."

Kagura narrows her eyes. "Do you love him?"

Aurora startles. She hadn't expected that question. "Why do you wish to know?"

Now it's Kagura's turn to sigh. She also lowers her hands to rest to her sides. "So, that's why you returned. You love him."

Aurora blushes, but then can sense Naraku nearby. He has probably heard the question.

She startles as Kagura speaks again. "Why you're not denying it?"

Aurora shrugs. "I do not have the answers you seek."

Kagura is quiet for a while. Just when Aurora considers leaving, the youkai speaks. "Could you defeat him?"

Aurora blinks. "That is quite weird question."

Kagura narrows her eyes. "I was just thinking that you might be a traitor. Who's to say that that Inuyasha didn't send you to defeat Naraku for him? Am I right?"

Aurora sighs. She would never understand what the youkai was thinking. "First of all, if those were my intentions, I would not reveal them, or what I can do. Second of all, Inuyasha wishes to defeat Naraku himself. Third of all, I could easily do what you ask. However, I do not want to do so."

Kagura sounds taken aback. "Why not?"

Another sigh. How could she explain this so that the youkai would understand? She decides not to try. "Why would I wish to harm him?"

Before Kagura can respond, Naraku emerges from the castle, and approaches the two. "Aurora, please change in to something more fitting for a lady, and then join me for a walk."

She inclines her head and leaves the yard, noticing as she leaves, that Naraku approaches Kagura, speaking to her something in a harsh tone. She can't make out the words though, so she enters the castle to put some of her kimonos on.


Aurora finds Naraku standing in the middle of the front yard, and she walks to him, wondering what he wanted. She can't see Kagura anywhere.

As soon as he sees her coming, he speaks. "Come, Aurora."

She doesn't have time to respond, as he turns around and starts walking. She holds in a sigh as she rushes to follow him, eventually walking nearly side by side with him.

The two walk to the stream, and follow it until they reach a bridge crossing it. They walk to the bridge, stopping in the middle of it.

Naraku turns to lead on the wooden railing of the bridge, and watches the water moving. Aurora follows his example, and decides that it would be better not to ask what he wanted. She would allow him to speak first.

After a few minutes of silence, he finally speaks. "I heard the conversation between you and Kagura."

Aurora startles. "I-"

She's silenced by Naraku, who raises his hand. "I heard everything from the moment you told Kagura that you knew she was there."

Aurora swallows hard. "I see."

She turns to look at him when he grabs her hand, realising that he's looking at her intently. "Why did you return to me, when I asked, even though you were asked to stay, and after you know who I am and what I've done?"

She doesn't respond, for she's not sure what to say. She's not sure if she could confess her feelings to him, because it means that she would have to confess the feelings to herself as well. Naraku is right. Someone like her shouldn't be with someone like him. He's done bad things. But still…

She startles as he speaks again. "You also failed to answer Kagura's question about you loving me."

She blushes and has to calm herself down before she can rely on her voice enough to respond. "When you are near me, I feel warm and safe." She remembers what Sesshoumaru had said to her about those being signs of love, but she decides to ignore that for now. "I do not know what it is called, but that is how I feel."

She starts as he tugs at her hand, pulling her closer to him, and finally embracing her tightly. For a tiniest moment she wants to retreat, but then she notices how strong and steady his heart beat sounds like, and soon she relaxes, and wraps her own arms around him. His presence feels so nice. She's not sure if she ever would want to be away from him.

She can barely hear his next words. "And those feelings were the reason why all I had to do was to ask, and you came."

She rests her head at his shoulder sighing contently. "What would have happened is I had chosen not to come?"

He rubs his nose against her hair. "If I'm not mistaken, you would've stayed only if they would've held you down."

She nods against him. She prefers to be quiet right now. It was way too comfortable for her now to spoil the moment with words.

He wasn't apparently finished yet, though. "I want to know something. Tell me, what are you afraid of?"

She is quiet for a long time, trying to figure out what to say. She doesn't want to lie to him, she just isn't sure what she would be afraid of. Death? No. She was born in the world of souls. No, death doesn't frighten her.

Then, a memory comes to her mind.


She is kneeling in front of her father, and Byakuya is next to her, also kneeling. She can basically feel her father's contained fury. She doesn't dare to look at him right now. Not after…

Her father's voice interrupts her thoughts, and she is amazed how controlled it is. "Aurora. Never do that again, do you understand?"

She swallows hard, wanting to explain, still not daring to speak. Too bad her mouth won't keep the words in. "I could not let them to get hurt, I had to stop the Menos Grande. I had to take the seal away."

She wants to say more, but decides to stay quiet as she can feel her father releasing some of his Reiatsu as a warning. "Aurora, listen to me. Removing the seal itself was a foolish act this soon. You are not ready to control that much power. You could have killed the very people you were trying to protect if you would have lost control fully.


She swallows as she returns to the present. Now she has the response to Naraku. "I am only afraid that I lose control and kill the ones I am trying to protect."

She can feel Naraku pushing her a bit away from himself, and can feel that he moves his right hand off of her. Then she can hear the rustling of clothes. When the rustling ends, she can feel something pressing against the skin between her collarbones.

Suddenly she knows what he's doing, as she recognises the feeling of a Shikon shard against her skin. She tries to retreat, but his hold is too tight. Startled, she glances at him.

His voice is quiet, but determined and gentle, as he speaks. "Do you want me to help you so that you would never lose control of your powers?"

She winces, while thinking about having that shard in her. "Does it help?"

He nods. "Yes. Now relax, this won't hurt."

She closes her eyes, and then she feels how the shard goes through her skin, and is purified by her reiatsu. She has no idea how that could be, reiatsu in neutral energy, not pure or holy, at least not to her knowledge.

Then all other thoughts are forgotten as she feels his lips touching hers. She doesn't take much time to respond to his kiss, instead she moves her lips against his own quite soon after their lips touched.

She pulls away from the kiss, and from him, for a moment to move her hands to cup his face. She's not sure what she can see in his eyes, but all too soon her eyes go at his lips, and she closes the space between them again, to connect their lips once more.