Chapter Twenty-five

"Inuyasha, you are to report to the Northern Lord's manor tomorrow," Sesshoumaru commanded. The hanyou had woken mere minutes ago. Shocked by his behavior as well as the fact that he now appeared more human than hanyou, he had been oddly silent.

Not wanting to interfere, Kagome held her tongue as Inuyasha bent his head. Black hair hiding his eyes, he nodded before walking to the door. Unable to remain quiet, Kagome called out, "Inuyasha, if you truly feel that your Kikyo is innocent, then ask her. Give her a chance to defend herself, or if she is guilty, to make reparations." Were she in the faceless woman's shoes, that was what she'd hope Sesshoumaru would do for her.

He didn't answer, and a moment later, he was gone. Sesshoumaru pulled her back to his side. "She has fooled him this long. On what premise do you believe he could discern the truth now?"

Sighing, Kagome pulled away from Sesshoumaru to look him in the eye. "If someone told me that you had betrayed me, I would never believe it. That he feels the same for her, I can only respect. If she did do what you and Kouga claim, then she has a lot to answer for. But it is to him that she owes an apology, if anyone."

Accepting her logic, Sesshoumaru nodded before changing the subject. "Where is the satchel?"

Eyes brightening, Kagome fetched it from beside the bed. Instinctively knowing what he wanted, she withdrew the small box from the depths of her bag. The bed dipped under his weight, and Kagome handed the box to him from his side.

Unwilling to wait any longer, he crushed the small lock that held the box shut. Wrenching it open, his ears picked up the small, shocked gasp that escaped his companion once the contents were revealed.

"Is that-" Kagome's fingers unconsciously reached for the small glowing bauble that laid atop a folded piece of parchment. The Shikon jewel, here in this box!!

Before she could touch it, Sesshoumaru snagged her wrist in an unbreakable grip. "No."

Trusting him, Kagome withdrew her hand. He carefully reached into the box and withdrew the jewel. Up close, Kagome could feel the faint trace of youki upon the Shikon.

"Mother's poison is bespelled upon this jewel. It is caustic enough to eat through your skin at contact." Sesshoumaru calmly broke the thin spell protecting the jewel and dissolved the poison. Once it was safe, he dropped the jewel into her hand. He watched with interest as the grey crystal-like Shikon sparked to life at the contact and the smoky interior pulsed pink.

Dropping her hand into her lap, Kagome stared in awe at the jewel. All the legends she had read about, and she was holding it in her hand! It was incredible! Yet, with the revelation that the Shikon Jewel was, indeed, a reality, Kagome's spirits grew troubled.

Sensing it, Sesshoumaru withdrew the parchment from the box. He discarded the empty container. "What is it that troubles you?" he asked, concerned at the small frown lines marring her brow. She had known that he had plans for the jewel. Surely she did not fear what he would use it for.

Kagome fingered the pink bauble. "Are you really going to do it?" She felt awful for the burning desire in her heart that he wouldn't do it, that he would stay as he was. Everyone deserved to live without ridicule. Just because she loved him the way he was, didn't mean he did.

Loved.

Kagome felt tears gather in her eyes. She did love him.

When she began to blink back tears, Sesshoumaru grew disturbed. He placed the parchment beside him on the bed and drew her into his lap. "Kagome?" Tracing her cheek with a clawed finger, he drew her gaze to his. "Tell me."

Her heart in her eyes, Kagome cupped his beautiful face with shaking hands. "I love you, Sesshoumaru. And, even if I love you the way you are, I will give you your wish."

Startled by her pronouncement, he didn't know how to react. She simply remained peacefully within his grasp, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs while looking at him with such burning devotion that it made his heart ache.

Gently claiming the jewel, he dropped it into the box. The dull clattering of stone upon metal echoed in the room. "I would wish for nothing but to please my mate," he finally murmured into her ear.

Kagome shivered in reaction to the whisper of air across her sensitive neck and the heat that burned through her clothing. "Can't you be careful?" she asked wistfully. "Do we really have to wait to be together?" Now that she knew just how much he held of hers, she needed… Needed to feel complete. He possessed her heart, body, and soul. She needed to hold him; to have that same bond with him.

Almost undone by her questions and the honest desire behind them, Sesshoumaru weighed his options. Could he? Did they? Having never been intimate with a female, he truly did not know if he would be capable of restraint during the final moments. He didn't want to risk hurting her still healing body. But, looking into her adoring eyes, Sesshoumaru realized that there was another pain he needed to guard her against. He held within his grasp the ability to harm her with rejection, no matter how innocently it was handed out.

He tightened his arms about her body. "I am unsure if my control will hold, Kagome. I would not wish to hurt you."

Snuggling into his hold, Kagome sighed resignedly. "I know you wouldn't," she said softly. Therefore, she was surprised when he set her aside to pull the top of his gi off. His undershirt followed swiftly and was carelessly dropped onto the floor. He hesitated slightly, scrutinizing her reactions as he untied the thin ribbon holding the waist of his pants closed.

Kagome felt a flush overtake her cheeks, spreading down to her breasts and even lower. Unable and unwilling to look away, however, she watched, enthralled, as he stood in front of her. Their changed positions placed her eye-level to his waist, while he looked down upon her.

He waited, and Kagome finally understood that he was waiting for her to take the next step. A fine tremor wracking her fingers, Kagome tentatively brushed them through the soft fur of his stomach. She questioned him with her deep blue eyes, and he answered by covering her hands with his larger ones.

Moving slowly but surely, Sesshoumaru slid their joined hands into the waistband of his pants. Inch by inch, they were inexorably lowered until caught on his stirring arousal. Kagome inhaled sharply, and her eyes abandoned his to stare at the bulge delineated beneath the thin fabric.

Fascinated by the blatant maleness, so alien to her sight and knowledge, Kagome needed no prompting to tug his pants free. Liberated from the obstacle, the material whooshed to the floor and piled about his ankles. He kicked himself free of the pants and waited for her to make the next move. Unable to help his body from reacting to her rapt attention, his arousal was further engorged with heated blood.

Tentative, unsure, Kagome had no idea of what he wanted from her. "Sesshoumaru, I don't know what to do," she admitted shyly.

Wryly smirking, Sesshoumaru huskily replied, "There is nothing that you could do that I would not appreciate. Learn my body, Kagome, as I will surely map yours."

Biting her lip, Kagome lowered her head indecisively. This was the male she loved. They would be mates. But, despite his reassurances, she worried over pleasing him. Yet she loved him. And while he had not returned the words, she knew she was special to him. There was no room for doubts in love. He had, essentially, given her carte blanche over his body. Why not use it to assuage her want, if in turn, he would be pleased by it?

Toward that end, Kagome patted the bed behind her. "Will you lay down on your stomach for me?"

Holding in a groan of discomfort as he readjusted his jutting erection, Sesshoumaru complied readily enough. Anything that would ease her mind was, ultimately, his goal. He only hoped he would survive this encounter without being driven mad by the lust she inspired within him.

Giving him no chance to guess her intentions, Kagome pulled her shirt off and hastily shimmied out of her capris and underwear lest she loose her nerve. The bunching of the muscles beneath her thighs as she straddled his back told her quite clearly that he wasn't as sanguine about the whole affair as he had acted. Good. She didn't want him at ease. She wanted him as hot and as lost as she felt.

Muffling his snarl in the bedding, Sesshoumaru cursed his own stupidity in allowing her such liberties without knowing where she intended to take them. The brief glimpse of strong, sleek thighs and the thatch of dark, curly hair had him hard as a brick. And Kami above, her scent; her heady, earthly, womanly aroma enticed and clouded his mind beyond all reason.

He wanted to turn over, to unseat her from his back and press her into the mattress while he thrust his aching member into her welcoming body. And then she moved, leaned forward and slid her fingers through the thick fur of his back and shoulders. His muscles locked into place, and all rational thought ceased.

Digging her knees into his sides to maintain her balance, Kagome let out a breathy moan as her furled nipples came into contact with the silky fur beneath her. Sensually rubbing against him, undulating in an instinctive gesture of desire, Kagome slid her hands across his shoulders and down his arms. A faint tugging of the stitches, accompanied by a sharp pain in her shoulder, had her pulling back slightly. She sighed regretfully, but heeded her body's demands that she respect her current limitations.

There was so much that she could do that she would not waste her time bemoaning that which she couldn't.

Pulling back, Kagome slid down his buttocks and thighs. Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth at the loss of her sweetly curved body against his back. When her fingers dug into his backside, ruffling the fur and caressing the taut muscles there, his answering snarling growl escaped. Understanding that it was a good sign, Kagome repeated her actions, luxuriating in the anomaly of soft silky tendrils over oh-so-hard muscle and bone.

Kagome softly voiced her pleasure, "I love your fur, Sesshoumaru. It is so soft, so smooth." Accompanying her words with actions, Kagome nuzzled into his lower back while her fingers sought out the tense muscles of his thighs, reaching until they dipped into the backs of his knees. "But you are so hard beneath, so strong…" moaning lightly, she daringly traced a path up his inner thigh. A patch of thicker fur met her questing touch.

He pressed his hips into the bed beneath him, scalded by her loving caresses and further maddened by her lusty utterances. Her next words escaped him, and she had to repeat her request.

"Will you turn over now?"

Reddened eyes met glazed blue ones and Sesshoumaru couldn't think, couldn't breath as he obeyed the plea and shifted onto his back. Still straddling him, having moved up his body to aid in the movement, Kagome's womanly center now cradled his arousal. His hands shot to her hips, and he jack-knifed up to claim a turgid nipple between pulling lips before she could take the next breath.

"Sesshoumaru!" she cried out, breath hitching as his mouth created wondrous suction upon her flesh. Kneading the skin at her hips, calloused palms traveled along silky smooth skin to cup her backside. Sesshoumaru ground his erection into her warmth.

Panting now, crying for something she didn't quite understand, Kagome's legs trembled with the force of her arousal. Sensing her confusion, Sesshoumaru wrapped her legs tightly about his waist and abandoned her luscious breasts to claim her lips. Kneading her hip with one hand while the other slipped up to claim a breast in a possessive grasp, Sesshoumaru's tongue invaded Kagome willing mouth. Tongues dueled for dominance, sliding against one another in shared passionate want.

Breaking away from his firm lips, Kagome mewled helplessly, "Please, Sesshoumaru, please!" Unsure what she was begging for, but unable to dismiss the call of her pulsing center, Kagome buried her face in his neck and rubbed against his hardness shamelessly. Igniting her body to an inferno of lust and need, her womanly folds wet and growing wetter from the stimulation that his arousal provided against her clitoris with every rolling movement of her hips, she panted into Sesshoumaru's neck.

He could feel it building up within him, the need to release, to claim and conquer the body offered so freely to him by the passionate woman in his arms.

Unable to yet claim her fully, Sesshoumaru had to make do with pressing himself harder against her. Grinding into her heat with restrained strength when all he wanted was to bury himself to the root of his arousal and roar his release, Sesshoumaru reached between their bodies to lightly touch her.

The faintest brush of his knuckle against the nubbin wantonly jutting out from beneath its protective hood set her off. "Sess-" she hissed out, convulsing within his arms. Spots danced before her eyes, and Kagome squeezed them shut as little aftershocks shook her frame deliciously.

Snarling in reply, teeth gnashing while his head was thrown back in release, Sesshoumaru fell after her into bliss. Pulse after pulse of seed left his body to splash upon them both as he locked his arms about her body to forcefully slide his maleness against the slick folds of her heat.

Only after both had calmed, did he manage to nudge her face up to meet his gaze. The satiated languor that shone within her eyes twisted his lips into a masculine gesture of smug authority.

Catching it, Kagome didn't take offense. That had been-Well, there weren't enough words in the world to properly describe how she had felt. Would the true act of mating, of having him slid into her body as commandingly as he had against it, bring her to a higher level of euphoria?

Whatever the case, this had been special; would always remain in her heart as a reminder of just how quickly he could make her body sing for him. And that she could bring him to release just as easily.

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One shower later, one that had been shared with soft touches and lazy kisses, and the pair sat down on the couch. Eased in a way that he had never experienced before, Sesshoumaru relaxed completely into the soft cushions while Kagome curled up to his side.

It hadn't escaped him that control hadn't been an issue. He had, in a sense, lost control, but not the extent that he had hurt her. He didn't think, now, that he could ever hurt her, even accidentally. Rather than rise up howling, his youki had only flowed between them, her essence mingled within his soul had managed what centuries of training had not. He could hold his humanoid form, no matter how strained his thoughts became.

He told her as much, and Kagome winked at him. "I always knew I was good for you."

Dropping a small kiss on her lips, Sesshoumaru rose from the couch to retrieve the parchment that had been crushed beneath the weight of their bodies. When he was again ensconced on the couch, the warm weight of his matepressed against his side once more. Despite the dire tones of his mother's letter to Kagome, Sesshoumaru had a gut feeling that, no matter what was revealed, he could handle it. He had his mate and their future. The past was nothing to him.

To the Priest in charge:

I write this in the most dire need. Used by a youkai not my mate, my mate has abandoned me to the cruelty of fate. The strange youkai didn't even know my name, he cared not as I was nothing but a vessel for his terrible lust, but I am must admit my own guilt. He was such a charmer that I was seduced beyond honor, but I was a willing victim. I truly am a shame to my mate.

For years proven barren, I had assumed I was unable to conceive. Yet, after he left, I bore the son of the youkai I had lain with. I searched for him, but when I found him, he denied me. The hanyou bratling of a whore cannot be lord, he had explained. Negotiating a mating with a powerful youkai female, he threatened my life and that of my son if I did not fade away into the world, never to approach him again.

Now, lost to poverty and dishonor, I beseech you to hear my plea. Please, for the sake of my son, do not turn your back on him. Give him an education and see to it that he knows that he is better than what fate has planned for him. The great general of this land will never see justice for his cruelty, for I will not be here to press the issue. I cannot bear the shame a moment longer.

For my weakness, I beg that you ask my son's forgiveness.

Kana Onigumo

'Lord?' 'Great' general?' Gasping, Kagome looked to the date. Exactly two hundred and fifty years ago. As old as Naraku. "Sesshoumaru??"

"It isn't possible," he snarled in disbelief, his relaxed attitude gone in the blink of an eye. "There is no familial scent to recognize him by."

Swallowing her shock, Kagome asked, "Yes, but aren't there potions now? And, look-" she pointed to the header, "It was addressed to a priest. I know some who can block scents. And, I hate to mention it," she added while her mind whirled with this new information, "but with the problems involving Naraku and holy priests… It all fits. The motive, you see… I just couldn't understand why Naraku would want to join with priests, or miko, for that matter, when most decry the practice of birthing hanyou."

Sesshoumaru's knuckles turned white and his poison flowed unheeded down his wrists to hiss upon the floor as he destroyed the parchment. "He cares not about the Realm, but seeks in some way to destroy Father." Naraku was playing both sides. Working with his father to abolish the Realm while steadily pulling the oblivious Tashio into his web of deceit.

Pale-faced, Kagome nodded in agreement. "What are we going to do, Sesshoumaru?"

What indeed? he asked himself. It seemed as if the old sins of his father had come back to haunt him. How ironic that, all this time, he had forced himself into a mold that had never truly belonged to him, but to the foul beast Naraku. A short bark of bitter laughter rumbled up his chest and out to crash into the room.

How damnably fitting.