"Kagura, it's time to 'fess up!"

Kagura was staring into a cup of tea and considering how she really preferred sake. She glanced up, silent inquiry in her thin, raised brows. Sango attacked next.

"Don't play innocent! Start talking! Since you've been back, you're part of our little group. But that means girl talk."

Kagome jumped in next.

"Which means everybody has to be up to date on everyone else's romantic interests! Sango and I are both married, so we haven't had any new romances lately! Though we've found…" Kagome giggled. "other things to talk about. Still, we need a new romance to blab about!"

"And you're going to be the one to provide us with one!"

Rin was sitting in a corner looking unsure whether she should be worried or laughing. Kagura waved in her direction.

"What about Rin? She's a pretty kid. Surely she had some prospective romances to tell you about? Some handsome village boy poised to take her heart?"

Rin blushed a charming shade of pink, and Kagome laughed.

"True, she has gotten rather popular with the boys. But winning over a flock of village boys is nothing compared to what we suspect you've done. Do tell us, Kagura, how did you manage to melt the Great Glacier of the West?"

Kagura sighed.

"I don't suppose you have any sake?"

"No, InuYasha can't stand it and I don't want to drink it while pregnant."

"I have some at my place. Miroku loves sake too much for his own good. I might be persuaded to get it if I thought it'd loosen your tongue a little, Kagura."

Kagura stared at her tea again and groaned.

"When I died, you two were such kind, sentimental girls. Now you're a couple of evil witches, I swear. Still, I hate tea…Oh alright, bring me sake, Sango, and I just might talk."

Sango laughed and headed out the door. Kagome excused herself to use the necessary, and Kagura turned to her fellow conspirator with laughter in her eyes.

"C'mon, Rin, let's escape while they're gone!"

Rin giggled and the two ran out the door together, laughing. They headed to what was lately everyone's favorite place to be; the meadow of the Bone Eater's Well. Suddenly a ball of light formed two feet in front of Kagura, and she skidded directly into Sesshoumaru's arms. Seeing that Rin was the only one with her, he wrapped his arms around her and smiled at Rin.

"Where are you two headed in such a rush?"

"Anywhere Kagome and Sango aren't! They're determined to find out what's going on between us."

Sesshoumaru sighed and brushed her lips with his.

"I think you should tell them next time they ask. We have to let everyone know eventually. May as well be sooner rather than later."

Rin spoke up, her smile huge, for she loved seeing the affection between Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagura.

"I could tell them, Sesshoumaru-sama. I could tell Kagome, and she would tell InuYasha, and threaten to make him sit if he said anything rude or made jokes about it."

"Actually, that's a rather good idea, Rin. We wouldn't want Sesshoumaru getting upset and killing InuYasha, now would we?"

Sesshoumaru glared at his mate-to-be, but the humor in her eyes overcame his pretense of annoyance, and he drew her in for a kiss.

......

"Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes?"

"Will I meet your mother?"

Sesshoumaru was lying on his back on a blanket, staring up at the stars. Kagura lay beside him, resting her head on his chest, enjoying the texture of his silk clothing; his armor tossed to one side.

"I suppose you will…I think she'll like you, actually. You're not unlike her in many ways. She'll be pleased that I chose a demon to mate. I believe she was rather afraid I might wait 'til Rin was grown and then mate her."

Kagura rolled over and shifted so that she lay half across him, and he closed his eyes as her breasts pressed against his chest.

"Sesshoumaru…you said we'll have children, right?"

Her scent clouded his mind. He loved it.

"Certainly. Quite a few, if I have anything to say about it. Our line has dwindled too much. So the more children we have, the better."

"Does it make any difference that I'm not an InuYoukai? Our children won't be pure Inu, like you are…"

"It makes little difference. It might cause problems if you were a different breed of animal youkai; a cat or a horse, for example. As it is, however, our children will likely inherit some power from both of us. Most of them will probably still have an Inu form, as I do. There will be no shame on the family name for my marrying a Kaze-Youkai."

"That's good. I want to have your children, Sesshoumaru."

He rolled them over and kissed her almost desperately, loving the feeling of her body against his; a pleasure he was normally denied by the presence of his armor. She was so soft in all the right places, so warm. She smelled so good. He could smell her desire. She sometimes seemed to be a bundle of tightly wrapped pheromones. It had a strong affect on any male animal demon within her presence; he'd even caught InuYasha staring at her with lust-glazed eyes from time to time, though the hanyou was always quick to shake the instinctual reaction off. Sesshoumaru had a harder time doing so. She was his mate. He had a right to her body. But he pulled himself away from her sweet mouth when the temptation became too strong. No matter how beautiful the stars were, no matter how sweet the scent of the grass and flowers was, he had no intention of taking her for the first time on the hard ground so near to a human village. No. Their first time would be at his mansion, in his chambers, with fine silk sheets and a soft mattress. He smiled at the thought as he sat up and pulled her into his arms. A sudden, disturbing thought occurred to him.

"Kagura, did Naraku ever touch you? Take you against you will?"

She paled at the thought, but scoffed quietly.

"Heck no, thank Kami. There were times I feared he would, but he had no interest in me. I was beneath him, or some nonsense like that. No, I was his soldier, and occasionally a maid. That's it."

"Good." He kissed her neck softly. "What would you like me to speak of tonight?"

"I don't want to talk tonight."

He ended up on his back again, her light, soft body melded to his as she kissed him. Suddenly she rolled herself into the length of his fur and cuddled against him, laughing.

"Here's something I've always wondered: is this part of your body?"

"Yes. It is a part of my true form. I can retract it completely, so that my body is completely in human form. But normally I leave it out; it is a sign of my race and my status, neither of which I have any cause to hide."

"I think I get it. It shows how big your true form is, doesn't it? I've seen other animal demons with parts of their true forms left; like Kouga's goofy little tail. Does that mean that you can measure the size of the true form by how large the remaining piece is?"

"Basically, yes. The wolf's tail would be the size of a normal wolf's, no doubt, because his truest form is just an average wolf. This fur, however, isn't at its largest. It can get larger, but to allow it to do so would hamper my movement. Someday, when we have the time and the space, I will show you my truest form."

Her nails traced lightly over the stripes on his face. Then she lifted his hands, intertwined his fingers with hers, and examined the markings on his wrists.

"Do you have these markings anywhere else?"

"One on each hip. Those are artificial, though."

"What do you mean?"

"My father had the stripes on my hips marked into my skin when I was a child; it is common practice to add to birth markings. When I shift into my Inu form, the hip markings don't show, because they're not really a part of my true form."

"Oh, I see."

He tried not to shiver as she kissed each of the markings on his face. When she ran her tongue up the stripes on his wrists, he growled lightly and flipped her over again.

"Do not tempt me, Kagura. There will be a time for such things. Not yet."

She laughed, pressing her open mouth to his, kissing him deeply and intensely. He felt his eyes going red, and growled at her, his brain fighting a losing battle against his body. She pulled away to catch her breath, and suddenly stood up. At this point he wanted nothing more than to demand she return to him. She smiled at him.

"You're right. Not yet."

He rose up, letting the cool night air calm him, and wrapped his arms around her, turning his eyes back to the stars, breathing in deeply the of the fresh air and the sweet scent of the woman in his arms.

……

Rin was cross legged on the floor, embroidering. Kagome eyed her suspiciously.

"Where's Kagura today? I haven't seen her since you two ran out on us yesterday."

Rin bit her lip. She knew what she was supposed to do, but even with permission, it still seemed like spilling a secret.

"She and Sesshoumaru-sama left this morning."

"Oh…they left? Wait, you don't mean…they went somewhere together?!"

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama wants to introduce Kagura to his mother and see if she'll give her blessing to their mating."

Kagome stared at her blankly, her mind refusing to register what she'd just been told.

"Wh-what did you say?!"

"Sesshoumaru-sama wants his mother to meet Kagura before they mate."

There was another long moment of silence, and then Kagome actually shrieked before running out the door and across the road to Sango and Miroku's house.

"Sango! Come here! I need you to listen to what Rin's saying and tell me if I've gone crazy or if she's actually saying what I think she's saying!!!"

Sango, laughing at Kagome's mild hysteria, followed her friend back to the house, where Rin was still embroidering with an indifferent expression that would have made Sesshoumaru proud.

"So, what have you done to Kagome, Rin? What did you say that made her all excited and crazed like that?"

"I just said that Sesshoumaru-sama took Kagura to meet his mother and tell her that they're going to be mated."

Sango sat down quickly, and she and Kagome stared at each other with wide eyes.