Wow, I got five reviews for the last chapter!!! Sooo, I think I'm going to need at least five, maybe seven, reviews for this one in order to post the next chapter (I know, I'm so mean). To those who reviewed, thanks, you will all get a shout-out at the end of the story! Okay, here we go!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

WARNING: This chapter contains adult content. Please do not read if you are sensitive to the subject matter. Please use your best judgement when deciding to continue with this chapter. This chapter does not contain information relavent to the rest of the story, nor will any dialogue or questions be answered during the duration of the story. It will not hinder your understanding of the story to simply skip this chapter. Thank You.

Chapter Twelve

Midnight Interlude

Though it pained her, though it hurt her, she nodded, and fell into step behind him as he led her closer to the hot spring. She looked down. The front of her kimono had blood on it, and she needed to clean it before returning to the village, since she knew that Inuyasha would smell it.

Dimly in her mind did it register that she was now his mate. She knew that the moment she began to believe this had happened; she would awaken from this dream. He had marked her as his, and for that, no one would harm her without bringing down his full wrath upon them.

The billowing steam from the spring soon enveloped her, and she could barely see her lord in front of her. This had been where he had kissed her, she thought. This is where everything had changed. She hadn't been able to look him in the eye, too afraid that it had only been out of kindness or pity.

Yet now, he stopped and turned to her, his face almost angry. Why?

"Rin," he said, waiting until she stood before him.

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru," she whispered, not knowing what he was going to say to her.

He tipped her chin up, so that he could see her face.

"If you do not want this," he said, touching the painful wound on her neck. "I can take it away."

She looked up at him, not knowing what to say. This was a dream to her, yet she could not tell if he truly wanted her. He had hated humans for so long; she could not tell if he could truly change.

Her eyes wandered to his hair, the stripes on his cheeks, the glory of his golden eyes. She wanted him, with all of her heart. She wanted to be his mate, his partner, and his friend.

Reaching up, she pressed her lips to his, and he pulled away only for a moment before returning her kiss. Rin lifted her hands to his thick hair, running her fingers through its mass. His hand fisted at the fabric of her kimono, just below the base of her throat, as though holding her upright.

The steam swirled around them, the gentle heat warming them in the cold night air. The autumn moon's rays fell upon them, lighting their forms so they could see each other.

Pulling away, Sesshomaru gazed down at this woman before him. She was beautiful, with a soul that any man would crave to make his own. Her heart was pure, eager to show the love that was hidden deep within. Even after these events, even with the hatred that she held, she was still untainted, pure in a way that he could never be.

Leaning down once more, he captured her mouth with his, only this time, he took it a step further. He deepened the kiss, tasting every corner of her mouth. She gasped at this new intimacy, holding him a bit tighter as she met his ardor. And then he left her lips, finding places along her jaw and neck that sent her spiraling.

She moaned, her hands clutching his hair as he eased her down to the ground. With them both on their knees, he growled loudly when he came back to the mark he had left on her. Rin moved her hands from his hair to his shoulders, and then lower to his chest. She pushed gently, bringing him back to her. She watched his eyes, the golden orbs slowly alternating back and forth to their red, demonic state.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she said, pushing the hair off of his face and back behind his ears. "Why would you mate with me?"

He did not answer, however he slowly brought the demon youki inside of him back, slowly bringing himself under control. The demon raged, wanting to take her because she was rightfully his, yet he could not, would not take her that way, not in blood and pain.

With his arm, he pulled her close against him, and his body reacted to her closeness. She reached out, her arms finding their way around his waist, holding firmly.

"I do not want you to leave me," she said, gazing up. "I never liked it, I was always afraid that you would never come back."

"I always did, though," he said, slowly undoing the obi around her waist, and he slowly parted the sides of her kimono. "I could never bring myself to be apart from you for too long."

Tears brimmed her almond eyes. "I never . . . knew how you felt. You never told me."

"I've never told anyone," he said, his voice thick. "Feelings—love, hatred, happiness—they are for the weak. Only those who do not possess power possess these feelings. I want power."

"I know," Rin whispered. "Yet there is something you don't know. Someday, you will figure it out, because I cannot tell you."

He nodded, and with a final stroke of his hand, pulled the kimono from her body. His eyes were riveted to the curves and lines, to the valleys and hills that made her so beautiful. His hand found her secrets, the places that had her throwing back her head and moaning.

He attacked the exposed line of her throat, his lips and tongue teasing her flesh. His hand cupped her breast, feeling the soft flesh mold itself to him and the hard peak press into his palm.

The sounds she was making were intoxicating. He wanted to keep her pleased, and he wanted her to cry out his name.

He hooked his arm around her shoulders and set her down on the warm ground, her arms wrapped around his neck the entire time. She was scared, he could smell it one her, yet he knew that she would not fight him, would not deny him that which he would ask of her.

Leaning back, he began to undo his obi, yet . . . .

"Rin," he said, and she knew instinctively what he needed. She reached up, helping him disrobe, and she could see it in his eyes. Having only one arm was difficult for him, and often he felt the burden of this. He ignored it, of course, never letting anyone see the weakness that lay plain for all to see.

Sesshomaru kept his gaze away as she parted the folds of his kimono, and each layer beneath, until he was as exposed as she was.

Her eyes wandered over his body, and she blushed. She had never seen a naked man before, but her lord was most definitely the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

The pale lines of his skin were highlighted in the moonlight, the graceful ridges of his chest and stomach tempted her to touch. She gazed at his powerful shoulders, his lean muscles that dusted over his neck, and his angelically pointed ears. She felt the urge to reach up and touch them, to play with the edge of his ear and scratch behind it.

His countenance was hard, unwaveringly harsh, even in the midst of this passion. He never revealed himself; never let others see what was hidden behind his mask. Rin reached out, her fingers dancing over his jaw and cheek.

Sesshomaru clenched his teeth, savoring silently the feel of her fingers over his skin. Her innocent touch intoxicated him, and he wanted nothing more than to pull her beneath him and take her as his own.

Rin moved her fingers down his throat and over his chest and shoulders. She felt the thunder of his growl deep in his chest, and she saw where her hand was—over his left arm.

She continued her exploration of his missing arm, and his eyes watched down at her furiously. She could almost see his thoughts; see the anger that swirled in his mind as he remembered the encounter with Inuyasha that had led to this handicap.

"Rin," he said only moments before she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his shoulder. He inhaled sharply, surprised. Her tender lips grazed over the arm, down to the joint where the arm had been severed, and over it. Her tears fell upon him, the droplets both healing and baptizing him, leaving him free and filling his chest with something heavy. The act that she had bestowed on him was so strong, so faithful, that he reached up and grasped a handful of her hair and pulled her back to him, his mouth taking hers in a kiss so passionate that Rin cried out against him.

His tongue invaded her, held her captive. Rin drew her arms around his neck, her fingers sinking into the hair at the nape of his neck. He then angled her down, his arm around the small of her back as he took the peak of her breast into his mouth. He pulled hard on the bud, wringing a moan from her as he switched to the other, giving it equal attention.

Never in all her life did Rin imagine that this kind of pleasure existed between a man and a woman. She bit her lip, and felt as light as a feather as he laid her back onto the ground, and he followed her, holding himself up by his arm. Rin watched his eyes as he settled himself between her legs, his lean hips fitting her as though they were meant to be together. Then he began to ease himself into her sheath.

Pain stabbed through her as her body desperately tried to adjust to his size. Tears seeped out from the corners of her eyes, catching the moonlight and shining like diamonds around her temples. She felt as though she was being torn in two, and sweat beaded on her forehead from the exertion. Her hands found his shoulder blades, and her nails raked a dull path down his back as her pain slowly lessened and turn into something more. Something that she couldn't comprehend.

She gasped as the thrust of his hips began to quicken, the feel of him inside of her was astonishing. The rhythm took over, their bodies straining together to find a common goal. She watched him, his ragged breathing, the tension of his shoulders, the way his forelocks fell around his face. His hair floated around them, the white mass like a haunting ghost and her own black locks like the gates of the afterlife as they melded, becoming one.

Soon, his breathing changed from not only being rapid, but also irregular, as though he couldn't quite catch it. She followed suit, her torso thrusting up to meet the demand of his. She was soon filled with a dark warmth, and it spread through her body only moments before she cried out, and her scream reverberated through the forest.

She screamed his name, and the bursts of ecstasy filled her, and raged on and on until she could barely breathe. Her headlong dash into the unknown was guided by him as he whispered his approval with his body, angling himself as he hit her special spot over and over, that one place that had sent her careening in the first place, and then he allowed himself the same release.

Then they collapsed to the ground, their bodies spent. He gently pulled away from her, wary of the innocence of her body and the pain that she had gone through. Laying himself down, he pulled her to his side, and when he heard her gentle, rhythmic breathing, he knew that she, his angel, had just become more of a weakness for him than he should have allowed.

I did not want to make this very explicit. I like it this way, actually, and my proofreader (aka, my mom) did not even want this chapter in here, but I felt that they deserved this after all they had been through (wink, wink). Okay, as always, please review!