Kagome was stirred from her slumber by a slight twitching of her blanket.

Twitching?

Her eyes snapped open. The first thing that entered her sleep-fogged vision was two massive, glowing, red eyes staring at her.

She shrieked and scooted backwards. But, slowly, as her mind began to clear of the haze of sleep, she remembered why she was looking at the blazing crimson of those eyes. Taking in a deep breath, she raised a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

"Don't do that," she breathed out in annoyance. "You could give a girl a heat attack."

The Inu sniffed slightly at her before lifting his head from his resting position against his paw. His eyes were focused on her intently in a burning glare for a moment, and then he growled.

"What?" She really had no idea.

His jaw opened slightly and clamped back together again, and Kagome could have sworn that she saw him roll his eyes. He woofed slightly, the sound massive even though he had muffled it with the tight clenching of his jaw; but Kagome still hadn't a clue what he wanted from her. Finally, after huffing his annoyance at her, he shifted, dropping his nose down to nudge her off of himself.

Blushing in embarrassment once she finally realized what he wanted; Kagome quickly scrambled her way down from his foreleg. She shivered heavily the instant she was robbed of his warmth, her embarrassed blush heating even further as she was reminded again of her lacking apparel. With a nervous laugh at the Inu that was looking at her curiously, Kagome spun away from him to find her clothes.

While she was dressing, she felt the massive swell of energy from behind her that signaled Sesshomaru's transformation, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She was…confused, a little, and she was still uncertain about what would happen next between them. Not to mention the fact that he would still have been naked…naked and oh so sexy…and probably just as ready to do naughty, naughty things to her as he had been only hours before.

Her body shivered lightly again, only this time, she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with being cold.

"Pleasant thoughts, priestess?"

The sound of his voice made her body pulse with heat, and Kagome scowled. Damn dogs and their damn noses! With a blush still staining her cheeks, she turned slowly to face him. She startled a little when she saw that he was right behind her, already dressed, and looking at her expectantly.

"I…umm…" Laughing nervously again, Kagome smoothed a hand through her tussled hair to try and bring herself back into order.

Sesshomaru watched her curiously for a moment, not understanding her nervousness now. Though, truth be told, he really didn't know what he was going to do with her. It wasn't like he could just take her with him, no matter how tempting it may have been to have her at his leisure. To do such would only cause problems, not the least of which being his halfling brother.

He had thought about it a great deal while the girl had been sleeping, trying to find an answer. But every time he almost had himself convinced that the hassles she would cause for him were more than she was worth, he would find himself looking down at her little mortal body placed so trustfully in his care, sleeping so peacefully, her beauty just as complete in her serenity as it was when her body was flushed with passion. Her scent would fill his senses, a small reminder of her purity and of the electric burn of her powers; and he would loose all arguments to keep her away.

That he wanted her, he could not deny. But how far could it ever go? Would he truly commit the same sins of his father and make this mortal heavy with his pups? No. He wouldn't, and he knew it. But she wasn't the simple mortal that had birthed Inuyasha. She was a power all her own, and he knew he would never be able to let her go.

But, for now, there was no avoiding it. "Come, miko," he interrupted her nervous fidgeting. "I will escort you back your companions."

"O…okay," she replied hesitantly.

Is this it, she wondered? Would this really be the end? But no, she knew it wouldn't be. Or…at least…she thought she did.

She knew she should say something, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what. It wasn't like she could just hand him her number and say 'Call me.' And the idea of getting a doggie whistle to call him with was promptly thrown out of the window in favor of living rather than being gutted for attempting to turn Sesshomaru into her own personal lap dog. Even asking for a second date seemed pretty obscure since they had basically skipped all of the dating procedure, unless, of course, you count engaging in battle on opposite sides of the field as acceptable first date behavior.

Yeah, she decided, she was screwed.

For a time, they walked together in silence through the trees and the bright streamers of the afternoon sun. But Kagome couldn't keep her thoughts from spinning; and her inner struggles had manifested in such outward anxiety that she had basically rung her little handbag into a useless, tattered mess of its once glory.

Finally, deciding that she simply couldn't keep a lid on it anymore, Kagome just had to speak. "Sesshomaru?" she asked quietly.

"Hn."

Kagome gulped when his eyes shifted to meet hers, the golden surfaces glinting sharply in the sunlight. But she fought through her hesitations to finally find some words. "What does an Inu Lord do with their time?"

She had thought she had a good enough question. It was vague enough to be considered small talk, but also relative enough to what she actually wanted to ask that she might be able to sway the conversation in her favor without making too much of an ass of herself.

Sesshomaru, however, didn't seem to take it like that. After lifting an eyebrow curiously at her, he blinked, reset his stoic mask, and turned his gaze back to the path ahead. "The affairs of this Sesshomaru are of no consequence to you, mortal," he replied coolly.

Kagome instantly bristled at his words and his icy demeanor. Her hands clenched tightly at her sides and her whole frame stiffened with righteous fury. But, after forcing herself to take a few long, cleansing breaths, she managed to calm herself to a more bearable level and offer her retort. "Too bad," she said, her voice light and mocking. "I guess the next time I'm feeling frisky, I'll just have to get Inuyasha to fulfill my desires."

His reaction was exactly what she had expected, though, she amended, she could have probably gone without him grabbing her arm with such ferocity that his claws pressed painfully into her exposed flesh.

"That worthless half-breed will never touch you." His words were so hard and so fierce, that they seemed an order and a threat at once. "I will not have any other laying their hands on what is mine."

"You would claim me like some possession!" Kagome screamed shrilly. She was absolutely livid. How dare he! Not caring about the dangerous position of his claws, she ripped herself from his hold. "It doesn't work that way, Sesshomaru!"

Leveling a cold glare on the steaming miko, Sesshomaru scoffed. "It is too late, miko. Your body already belongs to me. No other will ever be able to quench your thirst. No other will ever be able to tame the fire in your veins. You will burn for my touch, ache with need to be filled by only me. You are mine, and you will come back crawling on your knees, begging for me to take you in any way I wish."

"My…body," she chocked out. "That's all…that's all you want from me is my body?"

"What did you expect, miko? Did you think that this Sesshomaru would ever lower himself to cater to your human emotions?"

Kagome drew in a shaky, startled breath. It caught in her throat, her lungs refusing to draw in air. But she hardened herself against it, fought against the stinging in her eyes that threatened to spill her tears. She wouldn't let him see her cry. Not now. He wouldn't see her pain.

She narrowed her eyes sharply on him. "I guess I should know better than to expect anything from you," she hissed out venomously. "You truly do have no heart, and I was a fool to think you would ever be worthy of me."

With that, she spun away from him and started walking.

His reaction was immediate. He snarled viciously and closed the distance between them in a flash, snagging her arm roughly and spinning her back to face him. "You would dare turn your back on this Sesshomaru?" he bit out in a low growl.

How dare she! After everything he had done, how much more would she have him shame himself just to be with her? He had given her back her life, saved a mortal from their fate, only to have her open her eyes and look at him again. He had let her touch his body, let her find pleasure in his flesh, given her pleasure in return, allowed her to direct his movements and his responses simply to hear her voice calling out in rapture. He had submitted himself to the full burn of her powers, let them wash over him in a fury hotter than hell-fire even knowing what it would do to him, just so he could have her with him one more time. He had let her see his weakness as he lost all control over the form that he had been trained to use while walking upon the land of the mortals, revealed to her all of himself simply because he wanted her and she had asked for his measure of faith. He had fought off the nearly overwhelming need to rest and restore his energy just to be alert enough to watch over her, to keep her safe.

And still she would give nothing to him. She would deny him still, deny his claim over her, deny his presence and his position. She would not submit to him, would not allow his to be the word of command. She would turn away from him and everything he offered her.

But Kagome couldn't see it that way. She was tired of being threatened, tired of being pushed around, tired of being claimed by people who thought they had the right to order her or control her, who didn't respect her enough to let her make her own choices and live her own life. She was tired of being used.

Setting her jaw in determination, Kagome pulled back with her free hand and slapped him hard across the face. She ignored the fierce snapping of his jaw and the way his eyes bled crimson in fury, and bit out her response brutally.

"I didn't want you, but you were the one that pushed me until I couldn't not. I didn't care about you, but you treated me with such care and such tenderness that you made me feel things I thought could only be a dream. I could have walked away, but you force me to stay. If you don't want me, all of me, then you never should have said that you do. If what happened between us means so little to you that you would treat me this way, then let me go. Let me go back to the people that actually care about me, that want me to be happy not abused and mistreated by someone who can't get over themselves for long enough to realize that he's being a fool."

Sesshomaru snarled angrily at the bitch that dared talk to him in such a way, his grip on her arm tightening so fiercely that he could feel the slick, sticky moisture of her blood pooling under his hand. He wanted to punish her, wanted to make her scream in agony and beg for his forgiveness for being so insolent, wanted to kill her for her audacity and her complete and utter disrespect.

But he couldn't. He couldn't because the very thought of harming her caused his blood to run cold, the thought of her being in pain made his heart clench in agony, and the thought of never seeing her again caused a heavy weight to settle in his very soul

He closed his eyes tightly and turned his head away from her. "I do not…" but he couldn't finish.

He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to loose her. He didn't want to want her, but he couldn't help himself. She had captured him completely, and he didn't know how to tell her. She would never understand how much it had meant for him expose himself to her powers knowing that he wouldn't be able to contain his transformation, to break out of his humanoid form and reveal to her everything of himself. She would never be able to hear the words spoken from him that had no form. She would never know unless he told her, but he didn't have the words.

"You don't what?" Kagome snapped back at him heatedly. "You don't want me? Well, you've made that abundantly clear! Now let me go before I make you!"

"No!"

He had raised his voice so forcibly that Kagome startled. She had never heard him sound that way before. Even when his voice was tarnished by the beast, there was always a softness to it, a steady undertone that always spoke of control. But in this there was none. It was almost…frantic.

His arms came up around her and pulled her against his chest, but Kagome was still too shocked to remember that she was angry at him to fight back against his hold. She could feel the rumbling vibrations shaking through his chest as he held her to him, so low and soft that they made her want to cry.

"Why are you doing this?" she chocked out with a muffled sob.

Her hands lifted to press against his shoulders, but he only tightened his hold on her. "I do not have words in your mortal language to tell you," he answered her quietly. "I do not understand you. Your reactions to me, they are not what I know. It is…difficult, because you do not understand me either."

Finally breaking down, Kagome released a heavy sob. She buried her face into the soft silk of his garment and brought her arms up around his back. "How can I understand if you won't tell me," she whispered against him in a trembling voice.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Sesshomaru pulled her closer still, dipping his head to nudge lightly into the curve of her neck. "But I am telling you," he told her slowly. "Listen, Kagome. What do you hear?"

The soft, low rumbles began vibrating in his chest again. She could feel the sound carrying through him and into her. It washed over her, soothing and tranquil. In the softness there was content and pleasure, and in the low rumble there was power and presence. It made her feel warm, safe, and protected.

Her tears fell anew when she realized that she would never truly hear what he was saying to her. They weren't alike. She was human, and he was an immortal. She would never truly understand him, and he would never truly understand her.

But she wanted to. She wanted to know him.

She had felt such incredible awe when she had seen his true form. To know that he wasn't hiding himself from her, to know that he had pushed himself so far that he couldn't hold back the true might of his being; it had exhilarated her, made her desire for him grow even more. That he had taken such care with her, held back so much from what he could have done to her and yet still pushed her past every limit she though she had for herself; made her feel things she never thought could be possible, had never even known enough of to hope for.

She wanted him, wanted to know every part of him, wanted to be able to understand him, wanted to be able to love him. But she feared this too, because he was right, because they were so different, because she could never know if he returned her feelings, even if she knew what those feelings were.

That he would protect her, she knew. That he would care for her and support her, she believed he would. But what could she ever be to him? She was mortal, her time was definite. But not him. He would live forever; walk the planes of this existence until his final battle. And she would be to him nothing more than a glimmer of memory.

But then, what was there to say that he would not be so to her? What guarantees did she have that she would not be ripped from this time when her mission had finally been completed?

Her breath catching suddenly, Kagome stiffened against him. Her eyes had grown wide as looked up at him, and she took a nervous step out of his embrace. "You…you don't even know where I come from, do you?"

Sesshomaru tilted his head slightly in puzzlement. It was strange that she would think of such a thing now. "The future," he stated as though it were common knowledge.

Blinking a couple of times to let that shocker blow her by, Kagome shook her head. "That's not it. Well, I am from the future…but…it's just that I'm not entirely sure it's the same future as this land." He face scrunched up slightly as she tried to find a better way to put that. "You see, where I come from, youkai are nothing but myths and fairy tales. No offense or anything, but I don't think that powerful youkai like you would so willingly allow their presence to fade into the backdrop without having recognition. And it doesn't make sense that their presence could be wiped out so completely from records and histories and such, especially considering the youkai Lords would likely have some sort of documentation of their own, right?"

She waited until Sesshomaru nodded slightly in the affirmative to her question before continuing. "There are very few, if any real mystical presences in my era; and the ones that are there have some sort of connection with the same sacred artifacts of this time. Like the sacred trees or the Shikon. I mean, I didn't even know I had any sort of miko powers before being pulled through that well; and if I had them all my life, don't you think I would have picked up on some sort of presence in that time? Even Inuyasha can't detect the scent of anything but humans when he crosses over to my world. Besides, if there really was youkai around in my time, I don't think that they would let us muddy up the skies and the waters that made them with pollution."

She saw the question in his eyes even before he could ask it, and Kagome quickly shook her head. "You don't want to know." She sighed a little. "So, anyways, knowing all of this, I'm not all that sure that it is only a temporal shift that I cross to come here. I think there is a dimensional shift as well."

"Am I to understand, miko, that you are not of this world?"

"Err…basically, yeah."

"This could prove problematic."

Kagome couldn't have agreed more. With a long sigh, she flopped herself down on the ground to brood. Why did she have to pick now to tell him these things? Would it have killed her if she had just kept her big yap shut? He was just starting to like her in his own way, which was weird enough as it was. He didn't need to be burdened with her problems.

So caught up in her tumbling thoughts, Kagome missed it when Sesshomaru lowered himself down next to her. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and gave a gentle pull. She sighed, but gave into him and leaned herself against his side to be wrapped in the warmth of his embrace.

"Perhaps," he mused softly, his voice a velvet blanket to wrap around her troubles and sooth her fears, "It is not you that is not part of this world, but your world that you are not a part of."

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly as she lifted her face to look at him.

"You are the guardian of the Shikon no Tama," he replied as his gaze shifted to settle on her. "The jewel was made in this world, but it disappeared from the land for fifty years. It is possible, that the jewel was taken from this world and brought to another for safe-keeping."

"I guess," she ventured hesitantly. "But that would mean that someone took the jewel fifty years ago and carried it through the well. No one in my time even knows about it. Hell, the only person that even seems to know anything at all about real youkai is my…"

She gasped. "Grandpa!"

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HA! Would you look at that! A whole chapter with no smut! I think I might be recovering from my gutter dive. Though, one never knows how long it will be before a relapse ;P

And for those of you reading on FFN, there is a couple of chapters missing….well, three chapters missing ;P due to sexual content. But you can find the link to the ASS site in my profile.

Cheers

Shadow