A/N: Wow. I cannot believe that I've made it to 21 chapters… it's amazing. And it's all thanks to you guys, the readers! That, and my unwillingness to end the damn story… hm… I guess it's a bit of a mixture of both, huh? Oh well! Hope you enjoy this chapter. It may be your last for a little while, unless my brain miraculously starts working hella quick.

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After Sesshomaru had pulled Naraku off of Kagome, he proceeded to pummel him with well-aimed, angry fists. As much as it may have looked like it, this beating was nothing like the ones he tended to give Inuyasha when he'd managed to do something to piss him off.

No, this was different.

This was the first time in years- possibly in Sesshomaru's entire lifetime, the first time that he'd ever had the intention of actually killing someone.

Sesshomaru took a quick break from punching Naraku and grabbed the man by the collar, shoving him hard into a wall. "Just what the hell did you think you were doing?" Sesshomaru hissed.

"What are you doing, man?" Naraku asked, thoroughly confused. "I thought we were friends."

Sesshomaru growled and punched Naraku hard across the jaw. "Answer my question."

"What?"

"What were you going to do?"

In a normal situation, Naraku would have shoved Sesshomaru away and told him to 'fuck off'. But in this case, Naraku actually feared for his life. He'd only once seen Sesshomaru marginally irritated with his brother, but he'd never actually seen him angry. In fact, Naraku briefly wondered whether he could have moved even if he had the courage to. Naraku waived his hands in front of him in desperation. "It was nothing like that! Really. I was just… messing around, you see?"

"Yeah? Well you chose the wrong person to mess with," Sesshomaru said as he raised his fist to strike Naraku again, but someone caught his arm from behind and started pulling him back. "Hey!" he shouted.

"Sesshomaru! What are you doing? Cut it out!" came Inuyasha's voice from behind.

"Let me go!"

"No! What is your problem…" Inuyasha trailed off as he finally saw the man Sesshomaru was, apparently, planning on hurting very badly. "Naraku…" he hissed.

Just then, Miroku walked up with Sango next to him. "Hey guys… what's going on?" he asked, sensing the tense atmosphere. Then, looking in the same direction as the two brothers, he saw what the problem was.

"Never mind. Go ahead and kill him, Sesshomaru," Inuyasha growled, releasing his firm grip on his brother.

Sesshomaru pushed his sleeves back. "My pleasure."

Miroku, who was apparently the only one with his brain still intact, decided to step in. "Whoa there… how about we all just… calm down for a sec, okay?" he said, stepping in between Sesshomaru and Naraku.

"Mind your own business, Houshi," Sesshomaru barked.

"Sesshomaru. I know what's going on, and I understand that you seriously want a piece out of this guy. But now is not the time," Miroku hissed, gesturing to the small crowd sending curious glances in their group's direction.

Sesshomaru looked around and debated on whether to still go after Naraku or not, but thought better of it, and stepped back.

Inuyasha, always the irrational one, was having none of it. "Sesshomaru, what are you doing? We can't just let him…"

"Shut up," Sesshomaru said firmly. "Now is not the time."

"Whatever," Inuyasha said angrily.

Sesshomaru looked around a bit. "Where's Kagome?" he asked, suddenly a bit alarmed.

Inuyasha shrugged. "I have no idea."

Nobody else knew where she'd gone, so Sesshomaru decided to leave and search for Kagome, but not before slugging Naraku in the gut on his way out. "Stay away from her," Sesshomaru hissed.

After what happened with Naraku only minutes before, Sesshomaru thought it would be unlikely that Kagome would hang around inside any longer, so he decided to leave the party and search for her in the hotel.

When Sesshomaru finally exited the room, he didn't have to look too far for Kagome. He found her sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, holding them tight to her chest as she leaned against the wall and trembled.

As Sesshomaru approached her, he began to feel even guiltier than he had before. If he had bothered to pay any attention, then he would have known that Kagome would be here, and he would have had the opportunity to protect her before that bastard Naraku had gotten to her. He shook his head and took a quick breath.

"Kagome…?" he called gently, and Kagome jerked out of the trance he hadn't even realized she'd been in, and looked at him with large, nervous eyes that instantly relaxed when she realized who had called her name.

"Hey…" she said softly, her voice hoarse from crying.

"Hey…" he said, then knelt down next to her. "You feeling okay?"

Kagome was a bit surprised at Sesshomaru's manner, but decided not to say anything. She opened her mouth to speak, then paused, thought a bit, and finally responded. "I'm uh… I'm not sure," she said, embarrassed when her voice became raw again and tears started welling up in her eyes.

Sesshomaru sat down next to her, leaning against the wall as he stared hard at the one opposite the two. "Oh…" was all he said. Sesshomaru obviously wasn't very experienced in comforting other people.

The two sat there in relative silence for a few more minutes, Sesshomaru just sitting there and listening to Kagome's soft cries. "Thanks."

"Yeah."

"I was really scared… I mean, I didn't know what I would do if he…" Kagome started, and then broke off into sobs again, leaning on Sesshomaru's shoulder for support.

Sesshomaru sat there and listened to Kagome crying for the next five minutes, allowing her to cry into his sleeve until he finally spoke again. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, feeling her tears starting to soak through his shirt onto his skin.

When Kagome didn't respond, he considered asking her again in case she hadn't heard him the first time, until he finally felt her shake her head weekly and the volume in her cries started to increase. Finally, he stood up, and Kagome opened her red eyes to look at him, obviously a bit confused.

Sesshomaru offered his hand to Kagome to help her stand, and somehow, this simple action caused more tears to flow as she graciously accepted his gesture and stood with him, wiping her tears on her arm as the two walked, hand in hand down the hall.

Kagome didn't bother to ask where they were going, and Sesshomaru didn't bother to explain either when they arrived at his room. He simply unlocked the door, stepped aside, and allowed Kagome in first. "Just make yourself comfortable," Sesshomaru said, and sat down at the desk in his room while Kagome gratefully took the bed.

"Thanks," Kagome said, still wiping tears from her eyes as she sat on the bed, taking the box of Kleenex and bottle of alcohol Sesshomaru offered her.

Sesshomaru wasn't really sure what to do at this point, so he just opened his laptop and attempted to work on a paper that was due when he returned from break. At first, he wasn't really getting much progress done, but as Kagome started to visibly relax, he was able to do so as well.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being Sesshomaru's steady typing on his keyboard. Kagome pulled a book from his bedside table and started to read until she dozed off and fell asleep in Sesshomaru's bed.

Noticing that Kagome had been uncharacteristically quiet for about twenty minutes, Sesshomaru finally looked away from his work to see what was occupying her. He smirked when he saw she was lying down, face first into his copy of The Grapes of Wrath. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered him, had he not noticed the bit of drool dripping from her lips and onto the soft pages. He sighed and walked over to the bed, then knelt on the ground next to her, gently turning her over on her side, and attempting to wrench the book from her grasp. "Kagome… Kagome let go of it…" he whispered, trying to coax her into letting go of his prized book. "Kagome…"

Finally, she released the book. But Sesshomaru made the mistake of patting her hand comfortingly when her face scrunched up strangely, looking as if she were about to cry again. She grabbed onto his right hand with her left, clutching it to her chest as she turned over to face away from him, dragging the upper half of his torso across the bed with her. Slight color appeared on his face as she laced her fingers through his. Now, he had his arm draped awkwardly across her frame. He climbed up onto the bed, sitting on his knees, and attempted to pull his hand from hers without waking her. However, the harder he pulled, the more she gripped onto his hand.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome said sleepily. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to… uh… don't worry about it," he said, looking away to hide his face.

"You're holding my hand."

"So I am."

"Sesshomaru, have you ever killed a man?" Kagome asked, now fully awake.

Sesshomaru blinked. That was random. "You're awake," he said, turning to look at her.

"So I am," Kagome answered, and, with her free hand, tucked a stray hair behind Sesshomaru's ear. When she leaned in close, he noticed how glazed her eyes seemed to be from crying.

"Have you been awake the whole time?"

"No, I just woke up when I realized you were holding my hand."

"You were holding mine."

"Then why haven't you let go?"

"Because you haven't let go of mine," he answered. Both of them looked down at their hands, but made no move to let the other go. Sesshomaru sat down next to her, and leaned against the headboard, still holding Kagome's hand. She sat up as well, releasing his hand momentarily and taking the hand closest to her.

They sat in silence for a moment, just holding hands before Kagome broke the silence. "You never answered my question."

"And which one would that be?"

Kagome turned to face him, resting her free hand on his thigh. "Have you ever killed a man, Sesshomaru?" she asked him again.

"Why would you ask me something like that?"

Kagome turned away, removing her hand from its previous resting place. "It's just… you're so cold sometimes. You seem… almost capable."

"Is that what you think of me?"

"Yes, it is."

"Well. You're wrong. I have not."

Kagome sat for a moment, before asking her next question. "Well, have you ever wanted to kill a man?"

"Have you?" Sesshomaru asked.

Kagome leaned on Sesshomaru, and he hesitated before putting his arm around her. She shivered for a moment, and he pulled her onto his lap, securely wrapping both of his arms around her as he rested his chin lightly on her shoulder. "Have you?" he repeated.

Kagome nodded lightly. "I have. Every day of my life, you know? I imagine all sorts of horrible ways to kill him, every day. Every single day of my life. And I realize, that I shouldn't feel this way, and it makes me a horrible person, Sesshomaru. It's tearing me up, I…"

"It doesn't make you a bad person, Kagome. You've done nothing wrong."

"But that night. If I would have stayed with Koga, I'd have been okay, I would have been happy, and Dad…"

"It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was."

"Were you looking for that to happen to you that night?"

"I didn't want it to happen… I…" Kagome choked back a sob.

"Would you ever cheat?"

Kagome turned her head to face Sesshomaru, and he loosened his grip on her. "No. I wouldn't."

"Then you are not to blame," he said, as he put his hand on her cheek to pull her face toward his.

"But my Dad said that I…" Kagome began, but she was silenced with Sesshomaru's chaste kiss. But this time, she didn't pull away. She was startled at first, but when he started to deepen the kiss, she went along with it, turning in his lap to face him completely.

Sesshomaru felt himself getting lost in Kagome's kisses, the way her hands felt running through his hair, the way her body seemed to mold against his… Sesshomaru put his hands on Kagome's hips and flipped her so he was on top, taking control of the kiss as he put his tongue in her mouth. He pulled away and started trailing kisses down her neck and sucking lightly on her collarbone, before he realized that he had tasted something strange when he kissed her.

Alcohol.

He sighed and lifted himself off of Kagome a bit, looking into her eyes. She was drunk. He wanted to kiss her again when she lazily opened her eyes and gave him a small, seductive smile, but he found that he couldn't. Not when she was drunk. He sighed and rolled off of her, lying down next to her on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Kagome?"

"Yea?" she said, somewhat huskily.

That tone of voice was going to make Sesshomaru regret what he was going to say, but he knew he had to say it anyway. "I think you should go."

"What? Why?" Kagome asked, sounding confused, and a bit hurt.

"We shouldn't be doing this…"

"Why not? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, but you're…"

"I'm dirty, right? You act like you're my friend, but in reality, you can't stand me because I'm dirty. Because I've been soiled by Naraku!" Kagome said, her volume steadily rising.

"You know that's not true at all."

"Isn't it, though? Would we even be having this discussion right now if it wasn't for what happened three years ago?"

"No, we wouldn't. Because if that hadn't happened, you obviously wouldn't be lying in my bed right now, drunk out of your mind," Sesshomaru responded.

"I'm not drunk!" Kagome shouted angrily.

"Yes, you are."

Kagome was silent for a moment and her voice softened. "You're lying to me."

"I can't lie to you about your being drunk."

He saw Kagome shake her head from the corner of his eye. "That's not what I meant. You just don't think I'm attractive, and even if you did, I'm still…"

Sesshomaru closed his eyes in silent exasperation as he cut her off. "As a matter of fact, I happen to find you very attractive, and I don't consider you dirty," he responded. And when he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find Kagome on top of him again, straddling his hips as she leaned down and kissed him. He could still taste the alcohol on her lips, and vaguely wondered if it was possible to get drunk like this as he kissed her back, unconsciously rubbing his hands over her back as she started putting her hands under his shirt.

Kagome stopped kissing him for a moment and brought her lips to his ears, and whispering softly, "then prove it…"

Sesshomaru found himself flipping her over on her back again and looking heatedly into her eyes, marveling at the way her hair was spread over his pillow, in some places blending beautifully with his as it draped over both of their faces. "Are you sure you want this?" he asked seriously.

Kagome looked him in the eye before she put her hand behind his neck, pulling him down for another passionate kiss.

"More than anything," she said.

And that was all Sesshomaru needed.

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A/N: Ahhh… oh my gosh… can't believe I wrote that… please tell me if you enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to try really hard to get the next chapter out before I leave, but that might be impossible, unless my brain decides to just work overtime… I actually got this chapter out way sooner than I thought I would, but don't depend on my doing it again. If the next chapter isn't finished by like… Wednesday, I think, then I probably won't update until the end of the month, because I don't think I'll have access to a computer again until then.

Anyhow, please wish me luck… I'm going to need it, seeing as how my ankle isn't completely healed yet… I hurt it a week ago and I'm still limping around like an idiot! Argghh…

Oh yeah! Uhhmm… 355 reviews would make me one of the happiest people in the world!

You do want a happy author…ess… type… person… don't you?