New chapter! And you all have successfully survived the last few days since new material was last posted for your reading enjoyment! Good for you.

Such things happen in this chapter! Heeheee!

okay so none of the really amusing and titilating things most of us could have imagined happening actually do happen. It turns out that Sesshouamru is not very good at "misbehaving" in company as he might fancy himself able to. Poor poor inu youkai! YOu'll catch my meaning rather quickly I'm sure. teehee.

I'm slowly adjusting to Texas and already appear to be wearing out my welcome. My Uncle commented yesterday about food and my aunt has already alluded to oweing things that haven't even happened. I have resolved to stay back from their little trips and things. Their grandsons are here and they like to take them to all the touristy things in the area (of which there are many) and I've already been dragged on the church thing yesterday. Or rather a made a point of not having to be dragged despite my dislike of organized religion. I did not want to set a bad example for how they wish to spend their time with their grandsons who are much younger than me. I think they got the wrong idea about it. I keep being introduced to the church goers. Not that there's anything wrong with people who attend church, but I rather dislike being preached at and as all these people are older and I am younger and staying with my Aunt and Uncle, they feel they must impart their wisdom to me. I try to help out with chores and the like, but I am as yet mostly unfamiliar with the house. I would do the grocery shopping, but I don't have the money. So I will simply stay home so that when they eat out they don't have to pay for me. When they go to places like Sea World or the zoo (which we have done and though I got in on their family pass they still insisted on eating lunch there) I will stay home so I won't here about oweing money about park entrance and what not. Last week they went to the theatre and I was going to pay for the snacks on my credit card but my uncle insisted on doing it himself. That was the first day I was here. Rather a quick turn around...or I could just be over-sensitive about oweing anything to anyone. I rather like being a bit more independent than I seem to be perceived. who knows?

Anyways, you don't care about that. Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Rin, Shippou, Jaken, Kouga and Ayame are not of my creation. I think that takes care of the important disclaimers. read on!

Dancing With Mischief

Sesshoumaru had never bothered to learn the European dances when first he encountered them. His being part of the older generation of youkai had colored the ballroom dances with the true dangers such close contact could embody for any youkai with great power and many enemies, a view that was like instinct to him. Any stranger could be the assassin who needed only to get close enough to deliver the death that would end it all.

It was not a good death. In Sesshoumaru's eyes, it was a fool's death for not seeing the dangers of the situation, for stepping willingly into it. His was a generation that suffered through the betrayals and intrigues spawned by the fertile minds of fellow youkai as well as the lesser species of man.

Through the years that he had been forced to attend political event after mandatory gala, Sesshoumaru had never seen anything that could entice him to partake of something so against his better judgment despite how this form of recreation grew in popularity and the increasing frequency of opportunity, much to the disappointment of his admirers. He had scoffed at the nonsensical romanticized reason given by his fellows as fewer and fewer of them stood with him to line the walls around the fools who succumbed to the supposed allure of touching in public.

That is, there was nothing until he was forced to watch Silver dancing in the arms of half a dozen would-be suitors as the evening progressed. He watched her pass from one male unto the next with her easy grace and constant smile. She talked pleasantly and laughed occasionally. At least that was what he gathered from the wall he stood against, far from the center of the opulent ballroom floor.

He growled every time some unknowing dancing couple blocked his view. To watch her was torture; to lose sight of her was worse. Despite the cloud of people hovering over Silver at all times, much could happen in a crowded ballroom. Much of that many of those hovering people wouldn't necessarily object to. He snarled every time the music climbed to a climax and her partner dipped her, moving in for something much too like a kiss.

What happened to his plan? He was supposed to be away from this room even now indulging in the pleasures of her pretty pink skin, not suffering the torment of watching others tempt his mate away from him. He'd intended to lure her away from it all five minutes after she made her official appearance, fifteen minutes tops, but the sad truth was, because he had held her up, they had arrived late and the music had already started. The moment Silver entered the room she had been assailed by a landslide of instant invitations to dance. And because she was trying to perpetuate the illusion that she was looking for a mate she had to accept.

Thus Sesshoumaru wound up unhappily watching his mate flit around the floor at the whims of the music and whichever male had chosen to step forward. He was unable to collect her and pull her from the room when she was held up so far from the walls the non-dancing patrons were relegated to lining in their stationary existence. And he couldn't lunge into the crowd and seize her like a piece of meat. She would not take well such disrespect of her person.

Silver had to be seen as an individual to successfully continue leading her people. If the throng perceived her as weak it left the Americas open for violent encroachment by the greedy. Sure there were others in her group responsible for protecting and governing the continents, but of them all she was obviously the leader and the strongest. Inuyasha was Hanyou. The wolves required numbers for their strength. Trank had demonstrated no strengths so far and Steve, despite his equine fierceness, was not a predator, not a major threat in and of himself. Silver stood out in her mysteriousness due to her human appearance and unknown powers.

If he were to capture her and pull her from the floor and she failed to fight, then she was weak of mind, needful of someone else to tell her what to do. If she put up a fight and he over powered her, she was weak of physical strength, easily over come in war and strategy. If she won, then he was weak. A double-edged sword it was and there was too much at stake on both sides to risk it.

It was one thing to plan to leave an event earlier than civility might dictate. It was fine to do that in pursuit of supporting a claim on a mate. Such behavior would be construed as a result of instinct reinforced by the habits of ruling. Pursuit of a mate was healthy and right. That Sesshoumaru had not already done so (according to public knowledge) would grant him some leniency in the eyes of his peers as the instinct to mate builds up over time. He could misbehave and have few repercussions besides general teasing later.

But there were only certain behaviors that could be excused. As the room in general was unaware that Silver had been marked, either now or in the past, his pouncing between a dancing couple to snatch her away from the room could not be explained nor excused. He could only do it discreetly, as lovers sneaking around or a male seducing a female. And he couldn't be discreet if he couldn't get near her.

Dancing, or attempting to dance, was out of the question. Sesshoumaru had been very stolid in his opposition to the activity for a very long time, even by youkai standards. To suddenly go against his very public opinion, well…

Rin and Manitoya came to rest beside the moody inu glaring out at the dance floor. His first little girl glanced from her silver haired father to the couple he seemed to focus most his attention on and sighed as she saw Silver dipped in answer to the continuing lilt of the music. Had she not been looking for it, she might not have noticed the fine shaking that signified his sub-vocal growl of displeasure rumbling through his body. She rolled her eyes at his self-inflicted impotency in the face of this situation.

"Why don't you go and ask her to dance before the next clown does?" she asked with a snort. A waltz wasn't that hard and surely with as much time as Sesshoumaru had spent doing nothing but watching he had picked up the gist of it.

"You know this Sesshoumaru does not dance," he growled shortly. A different couple caught his attention briefly as Raoull swept Rissy across his view. It upset him on many levels to see it. There was of course the fact that they briefly blocked his view of Silver, an infraction he was willing to overlook because it was his daughter waltzing by. What really irritated him, though, was the sudden feeling that had accompanied the sight of his daughter with a male that would likely be her mate very soon. It made him ponder how big a bubbling puddle Raoull would create under his claws. He wouldn't do it of course, despite having rendered many of Rin's first suitors to such a state. There was a difference here that had not been present before.

Sesshoumaru had raised Rin, watched her grow up. And while she may not have been of his blood she was in everyway his little girl. Rissy was his daughter by blood, anything beyond that was a result of her generosity and curious nature. He had no say in whom she mated or how she allowed the courtship to go. If this came years down the road and he had been around enough, perhaps he might, but not yet, not now. It was a bitter realization that did in no way help his mood as yet another fool dipped his mate to attempt the theft of a kiss.

"I know you've never participated before, but I bet you could do it anyway," Rin protested.

"Hush, my love," Manitoya kissed her cheek gently. "He must tread carefully here else things turn out badly. Silver dances because she must. Sesshoumaru does not because he has long said he would not. Until he has an obvious reason for such a drastic change in opinion he must not."

"That is really stupid," she declared with a snort. "Silver is reason enough."

"If he had the excuse of youth and inexperience, it would be," Manitoya chuckled quietly at her willful refusal to see the reasons. Rin knew it couldn't happen too, her experience in the world of powerful youkai had taught her as much over the centuries, but the romantic in her wouldn't let it go. "But your dear adoptive father has long since proven himself beyond that. It would look like insanity, weakness and senility to act that way now. If she were his publicly acknowledged mate and they had been together sometime beyond two days it could be different."

"But she-"

"Rin," Sesshoumaru cut her off firmly. It pained him to hear her argue for the things he wanted but could not do. "What is past is to remain unknown outside those deserving of trust and confidence." It was a warning. She had been about to bring up that year so long ago to argue her side of the argument and he couldn't allow it.

Too many prying ears, too many spying eyes, all full of curiosity and possibly malicious intent. The youkai throng did not like being made fools of. Silver had appeared unmated and unknown. If it were to be revealed that any part of that was a lie…he shuddered to think what sort of violence would result. The fledgling government would topple, the continents would erupt in chaos and that wasn't even considering what would happen to her.

Even if Sesshoumaru managed to pull Silver and her daughter from the danger he doubted Silver would ever be the same again. Best case scenario, she would mourn and guilt herself into bad health for the rest of her life. He didn't even want to ponder a worst-case scenario.

Rin sighed as she stood next to her unhappy father and cautious mate whilst all three watched on as Silver passed from one partner to the next with the changing of the music. Truly she knew too much was at risk for Sesshoumaru to behave rashly. On Silver's end of things there were two continents full of people, which was a constantly obvious fact. ON his side there was the people of his own territories, no less important for their smaller numbers. But there was also his influence and affiliation with the UYC to consider. Sesshoumaru had helped to found it and many had spoken against it through the years but never bothered to do more than talk because of the Inu youkai's reputation and fierce strength. If it was decided Sesshoumaru had suddenly gone crazy or that he had long been crazy, more than just his territories would be affected.

Still she couldn't stand to see him this unhappy when all it would take was a little careful planning or scheming. It was obvious to her that, though Silver never lost her smile, she was growing terribly weary of her company. And it didn't take a rocket scientist to know Sesshoumaru would rather be driving Silver to exhaustion with a certain other activity.

Rin began to search the swirling dancers for Rissy figuring the two of them together could come up with something. Unfortunately Rissy had seemingly disappeared from Rin's side of the crowded room and could not be looped into conspiracy of the most mischievous kind. She rolled her eyes and huffed quietly. "Fine, I'll do it myself!"

Manitoya raised an eyebrow at her unexplained outburst before she dragged him off in erroneous pursuit of satiating her fictitious thirst.

Sesshoumaru barely spared their sudden departure a fleeting glance and hardly any real thought. At this moment, he found Rin's pushy presence a bit much and could only sigh in relief that they'd left him to his lonely misery of watching precious Silver catering to the irksome attentions of her would-be matches. He truly felt as though he might never again take her out amongst any of these people ever again. He'd prefer to keep her treasures to himself in a quiet place with no distractions, at least for the next century or so.

Actually, if he could talk her into leaving her territories in the hands of the rest of the circle, he could leave his own holdings under Jaken's care and hideaway for a while. But actually finding somewhere they'd never be found would be difficult and they'd both have to have at least some way of being contacted in case of emergency. (It would have to be one hell of an emergency though!) And they'd need to be within semi-easy distance of both territories as well.

He would have to look into it more deeply later. Right now, Rin was definitely up doing some careful orchestrating of her own. Sesshoumaru blinked as Manitoya and Rin broke purposely through the ring of couples surrounding Silver and her current erstwhile partner.

Obviously in charge of the plot, Rin shoved her reluctant mate forward to cut in on the startled pair. Before Silver's escort knew what was going on he found his lovely partner whisked away and replaced by the little minx grinning evilly as she stepped repeatedly on his toes every chance she got.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help but smirk as Manitoya gracefully guided Silver through the crowd in his direction. The ice god was clearly displeased that his own mate was in the arms of another.

With a dark look, Manitoya gently spun Silver out and pressed her against Sesshoumaru's front. "Now you've got your mate, I'm going to go get mine!" the grumbling growl was punctuated by an extra push against Silver before the ice god turned and made his thunderous return to the dance floor to retrieve his female.

Sesshoumaru glanced into Silver's face to see her staring dazedly back at him. She moved to watch Manitoya only to find the motion prevented by his arm locked behind her. She sent him a questioning look only to be dragged with him through the door he'd been standing beside all night long. With a stealthy move he clicked the door shut silently behind them.

"Sess-" she began only to quiet when he placed a single finger from his free hand to his lips.

When he was satisfied she got the message he tossed her over his shoulder before turning down what appeared to be a service corridor similar to the one down stairs.

"Sesshoumaru!" she hissed quietly in protest as he headed off in the most likely direction of an elevator. His response was to slide a wickedly clawed hand under the hem of her dress to massage the muscle he found there. Her efforts to prop herself against his back nearly collapsed at the sensation. She breathed a resigned sigh as he left the service corridor and stepped into the plush, nearly deserted lobby.

"Hold the elevator," Sesshoumaru called, his voice rumbling against Silver's fingers where they proper her up and away from flopping on his back.

"Ah!" Silver heard a startled gasp as they came closer to the elevators. "Um, Silver? Are you in need of assistance?"

Silver pushed herself up until she could glance over her shoulder despite the protest in her lower back. She glanced at the speaker then down at Sesshoumaru speculatively before allowing her body to resume the slightly more comfortable position of before. "That's okay Youta, I've got it."

The wolf youkai glanced from Silver to the smirking youkai then back again. "Are you sure?" his brother would skin him alive if anything untoward happened to her.

"Thanks for your concern, but Maruhama was going to put me down in the elevator," Silver shrugged even as Sesshoumaru squeezed her thigh in silent protest. He never said he was going to put her down.

"I don't think-" Youta began slowly. Maruhama was Toji's biggest competition for Silver's heart. That the very same male was apparently making off with the woman before his eyes did not bode well for his future.

"Do not think," Sesshoumaru growled, annoyed by the delay. The wolves' son was blocking him from the elevator and impeding his journey towards either his suite or hers post haste. "Just move."

"I think I'd better call Toji," Youta shook his head at the taiyoukai. "He'll skin me alive if I let you carry Silver off behind his back."

Sesshoumaru couldn't prevent his snarling reaction. Silver was marked and had marked him in return. There was no going behind anyone's back. He opened his mouth to spit the words into the whelp's face only to yelp in surprise when Silver viciously pinched the vulnerable flesh on the back of his arm.

She kicked her uncomfortable shoe off and into the elevator before whipping her pointed foot under Youta's chin and leveling a threatening glare at him. "You will not turn this into a scene that draws the attention of the whole ballroom from down the hall! If I wind up sucked back into that boring throng and trapped dancing in these damned uncomfortable shoes because of you the beating I give you will only pale in comparison to the one your mother will give you for being monumentally disruptive at the worst possible time." The wolf immediately blanched at the threat. "And keep in mind what Ayame is like this late into her pregnancy. You must remember how hormonally imbalanced she tends to get." The boy almost fainted on the spot. "Now move!"

Youta scrambled out of the way as Silver kicked off her other shoe and Sesshoumaru stepped on the car. The doors slid shut the moment the boy was clear.

"Put me down so I can use my key," Silver sighed wearily. The inu youkai leaned over slowly until her bare feet settled gently on the colorful carpet. She stumbled back into the wall as the blood rushed from her head and the elevator started its ascent. Sesshoumaru instantly reached out to steady her even as she caught herself on the sidewall. She shook her head before digging the special key out of the little pocket hidden amongst the frog clasps and using it on the control pad.

Sesshouamru glanced down at the so-called "uncomfortable" shoes sprawled across the floor at their feet. "You didn't appear uncomfortable when you danced in them," he murmured pensively.

Silver snorted, "It's an art. The prerequisite for any woman forced to dress up is the ability to force a smile in the face of any discomfort: mind-numbing boredom, uncomfortable shoes and throbbing blisters and all." She lifted her foot to rub at the strained arch and bruised ball before trailing a finger around the pulsing blister on her heal.

"I was not aware youkai could blister."

"I'm a god, apparently we can do all sorts of things," she muttered absently as she switched feet to inspect the other one before standing. "Certain metals wear easily despite their strength."

Sesshoumaru backed her up against the wall, forcing her body to give way to his. "Some metals are extremely malleable," he breathed of her air before capturing her lips with his own. He let her come up for air momentarily. "All it requires is the proper heat and pressure," he murmured in her ear before resuming the kiss with a bit more pressure in all the right places. He was determined to get under her skin as soon as could be arranged or as soon as they were locked away from prying youkai and nosy family. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite there yet.

Something that was made quite clear the moment the elevator came to a stop on the top floor.

"Well, lookey here," a female called from outside the opened doors. Sesshoumaru turned to stare at a face identical to that of Mira from the night before stripped of the dark make up. "It seems you've lost your shoes."

Silver rolled her eyes, "My quest for the perfect shoe continues, Kira."

"Ah," Kira nodded in understanding. "I think I will miss your shoe burning parties if you ever find it."

"I doubt they will end for long," Silver shrugged. "Shoes don't last forever."

"Too true," Kira sighed. "So who is your partner in crime?"

Sesshoumaru growled, how many of the Ookami's brats were running around? He'd like a head count so he knew just how many damn interrogations he would have to sit through before getting Silver to her room.

"Maruhama," Silver answered simply.

"My sister told me about him!" Kira's eyes lit with recognition.

Sesshoumaru waited for the questioning, the stalling, the 'let me get my older brother' bit he had gotten from the last wolf he'd encountered. When it was slow in coming his impatience sought to speed it along. "And?"

"And nothing," Kira shrugged dismissively. "Don't forget you have to watch security in an hour Silver," she stepped past them on to the elevator, kicking the shoes out of her way as she moved. "Have fun."

Sesshouamru turned to glare at Silver as the metal doors closed and took the wolf away.

"What?" Silver demanded when she noticed his glare.

"You will not be going to watch security," he declared shortly. When was she planning to sleep? Or better yet, when was he supposed to have his fun? No way was she locking herself in that security closet downstairs again!

"The hell I won't!" Silver yelled. "There must be two people watching security at all times and I have to relieve Mira in an hour. I will not neglect this-"

A Door opening down the hall interrupted the argument as Silver cut herself off not wanting to disturb the few inhabitants attempting to sleep all ready. Inuyasha came walking down the hall, his hair loose and tussled from attempts at sleep.

"I thought you'd be asleep, Inuyasha," Silver greeted him softly. "How is Beni?"

Inuyasha's half smile was tired but genuine. "He's fine. I just can't sleep. Kagome has to sleep with Beni to get him to sleep through the night after his special dreams and there's not room in our bed for him, Kagome, Yumi, and me."

"Aw, poor you," Silver chuckled.

"I thought I'd take your shift on security since I'm not going to be able to sleep anyway," the hanyou shrugged.

"She would love for you-" Sesshoumaru attempted to answer for Silver who cut him off with another vicious pinch to the previously abused part of his arm.

"Are you sure Inuyasha?" Silver asked him as if she hadn't just drawn a yelp from the typically stoic youkai. "The shift will run right through your family breakfast time."

"It's all right," Inuyasha shrugged off her concern. "Beni won't settle enough to eat anything until he's talked to you once he wakes up tomorrow." It was implied that a conversation between Silver and his son would take the place of the family meal.

"I'm sorry," Silver sighed wearily. Beni's visions had only started up in the last year and she knew it had to bother his parents that the boy preferred to talk to her over them about what he saw. "If not for me he wouldn't have this problem."

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed at her. "If not for you there would be no Beni. We're not so stupid as to forget that. We'd rather share him than not have him at all."

"Nice of you to say so," Silver chuckled.

"Not nice, I'm not nice!" Inuyasha grumbled. "Now are you going to let me take your shift on security or am I going to have to take it from you when you don't show up!" he growled. "Because either way you're not going to take it."

"Don't be ridiculous," Silver snorted.

"I'm not being ridiculous," Inuyasha grinned. "I'm being realistic." He may have been against Sesshoumaru finding Silver in the beginning, but once it had happened even he knew the inevitable conclusion. "Once you go in there you won't be coming back out again before dawn, if then." Considering dawn was only six hours away. "And that's only if he's had a busy day," Inuyasha winked in the way an old friend used to.

"HAH!" Silver scoffed at him.

In all honesty, she wouldn't have been surprised if Sesshoumaru did manage to prolong certain activities for that long…that is, if she wasn't already fifteen years overdue for a good night's sleep. Relieving her of the duty of watching security, the soothing presence of a long absent mate and the previous exertions of the evening left her more likely to use him as a heater to soothe her aching muscles rather than exercising some greatly underused ones.

Sesshoumaru didn't much care for the length of this conversation and the blatant hints at what he would be doing only made it glaringly obvious that he wasn't already. And Silver's response was a possible insult to his stamina. That or a denial of the activities ever taking place, which was unacceptable.

"Wha-! Put me down!" Silver growled the moment she found herself flung back over an exceedingly familiar shoulder. "I said put me down!" she smacked him solidly on the back. The blow was hard enough to knock him forward a step but obviously not enough for him to put her down.

"Give it up Silver!" Inuyasha laughed at her expense as Sesshoumaru stalked past him. "See you tomorrow, if you can still walk then."

"Shut up!" Silver yelled in frustration.

Inuyasha laughed before seeming to pause in thought. With a semi-sadistic smirk he yawned hugely in full view of Silver. She was always tired so she would naturally yawn involuntarily in response and then be incapable of stopping on her own. He loved doing that to her and it always got him in trouble with Kagome, which could be a big plus.

"You are such a butthead!" Silver grumbled after she was assailed by the first yawn. The last she saw of the mischievous hanyou was his mildly gleeful smile and madly twitching ears. "Jerk," she muttered dismissively before renewing her efforts to be placed back on her feet. "Put me down already!" She demanded with a twisting pinch to the very tender skin of his arm.

Sesshoumaru growled with displeasure and Silver found herself swung off the uncomfortable shoulder and pinned against an unyielding wall. "Now what are you doing?" she asked in curiosity. She was attempting to fight off a yawn and completely losing the battle once again.

Had the inu youkai been aware that Silver was merely yawning when she opened her mouth, he might have been seriously insulted. After all, what male would stand for such an obvious gesture oftentimes associated with boredom displayed amidst such amorous endeavors? Sesshoumaru mistook the opening of her mouth as preceding a continued stream of words and so; he took advantage of the opportunity.

He plied her with a firm kiss designed to heat her blood and turn her brain to mush, bringing primal abandon to the fore.

"Looks like we're back to the malleable metals," Silver muttered breathlessly as he pressed her more firmly against the wall so as to better rock her with each pleased growl that vibrated in his chest.

"All it takes is the proper tempering," Sesshoumaru murmured against her mouth before reclaiming it. His claws explored whatever he could reach, slicing through the silky cloth of the blue dress, completely foregoing the frog clasps at her shoulder. He could have bare skin in hardly any time at all by undoing them, but he'd have to step away to let the cloth fall to the floor around her ankles. Besides it was more…"fun" unwrapping her slowly and discovering the smoothness of her flesh as it was slowly revealed.

That night long and long ago had not revealed to him her naked skin. Initially it had been enough to shove clothing out of the way in his desire to punish her. Oh, he had gotten to see some of it, but through most of the night he'd been too close to see all of it and her hands, once latched to his arm and shoulder after the initial stab of pain never quite let go. And it wasn't to the last effort that he lost himself enough to forget neither had replacement clothing on hand, by then Sesshoumaru was too exhausted to focus on anything other than the connection with her.

Now was different. This time around he intended to do things right, even if he had to rush before his hunger drove him mad.

Rather quickly, Silver's silky blue dress was reduced to so many scraps littering the floor below her. Sesshoumaru had adjusted her boneless posture until her ankles crossed behind him and the pressure only stoked the fire further.

"Some metals are rigid," Silver panted breathlessly as Sesshoumaru pushed her from him minutely to stimulate a certain set of nerves a little more.

"A good quality in a weapon," he growled before stepping away from the wall of the master bedroom of her suite. With a relatively gentle kiss he placed her on top of the bedclothes before drawing back to see all the flushed skin he had liberated from the blue material.

Silver lay before him in her simple but attractive undergarments, Curious as to why he was staring at her from over there. Then Sesshoumaru smirked before removing most of his clothing in lightning fast clawing motions without care for the morning. She suspected if she were to bring it up he would smirk some more and tell her he had no intention of needing clothing again for a long time.

Just as Sesshoumaru began to prowl over her the phone on the nightstand rang shrilly.

Silver groaned before sitting up in preparation to answer the call. Sesshoumaru growled and pressed her back down to the mattress, keeping her there with the weight of his body. "Sess, I have to answer that!"

"Ignore it!" He growled again.

"Only the circle members have the number," she insisted as she pushed against him. "It could be an emergency."

"They will not interrupt this," he declared thoroughly impatient to finish the first round already. "They could just be trying to stop us."

"Sesshoumaru!" Silver yelled as the phone continued to ring. "Let me answer the damn phone. It's probably important."

With a growl of frustration he pushed her more firmly to the blankets. It was apparent this interruption would not be avoided. "Fine," he grumbled, relenting unhappily. "But I will answer it." He cut off her automatic protest with a firm kiss. "You would take too long being polite," he insisted before picking up the offending telephone.

"Silver?" a voice asked from the other end of the line.

"Is occupied," he declared shortly, at least she would be the minute this call ended. "State your business."

"Who is this?"

"That information has no bearing in this instance," Sesshoumaru growled irritably as he ran a fingertip across Silver's eyebrows. "What is the purpose of this call?"

"I want to know who the hell you are and where's Silver, asshole! How did you get into her suite and what do you think you're doing there?"

"Silver is busy, I was invited and what we were doing is none of your business," Sesshoumaru growled turning all his attention into the phone. "State your business and end this call."

"Look here you bastard! If you so much as-" the words cut off as the sound of yelling and a minor scuffle echoed down the line.

"Hello?" a new voice rang in his ear. "Silver?"

"Is occupied," Sesshoumaru was beginning to feel like a broken record.

"This must be Maruhama then. Sorry about Toji," an amused sigh traveled into Sesshoumaru's ear. "I told you the boy has a crush on her. Trank is giving him what for right now. He should have known better than to interfere with Silver when he's been so enjoying all the sudden attention," Steve Chuckled.

Sesshoumaru growled, impatient to hang up the phone.

"Right, well have fun, there shouldn't be any more interruptions," then the amicable horse hung up the phone, finally.

Sesshoumaru unplugged the phone for good measure before turning back to his mate…only to find Silver rolling over in her sleep.

"No," he whined. He reached out to shake her hoping to wake her easily and continue from the beginning if not where they'd left off only to find her dead to the world. Without her eyes open, without the intensity of her gaze and energy, she looked truly exhausted. He shook her again anyway, accidentally pricking her skin in the process, still she didn't wake.

With a frustrated sigh he raked a hand through his shortened hair as he pondered her sleeping face. He had two options at this point. It was either a cold shower or…he cursed under his breath. The problem with plan B was the insomnia and discomfort that accompanied it, but Sesshoumaru would rather lay beside Silver in the hope that she would awaken on her own in time to still thoroughly enjoy themselves than suffer the icy needles of a cold shower that would make it impossible for him to lay beside her the rest of the night. Silver wasn't likely to curl into something cold while she was awake let alone unconscious.

With another sigh he curled against her back, flinging an arm over her waist and holding her close, it was going to be a long night.