She is alive


Chapter 28

Kagome woke up slowly, her body felt pleasantly heavy, she furrowed into him seeking warmth. Breathing deeply she scented the salt of their sweat and other fluids, under the grime it was all Sesshomaru, wild and strong, like a giant ginkgo in the summer, lumbering over all others in the middle of a forest, fresh and fragrant with new leaves and seasoned solid wood.

She was laying on her back, head resting on his bicep, his other arm was draped over her waist laying on his side. She opened her eyes and met his beautiful golden orbs looking at her, straight through her. The type of look that made her feel more naked than she already was. She had opened herself to him and he was reaching for her soul, scorching her. His intensity was turning her on, she started to feel the good kind of hot. She felt his hand tightened on her hip and saw him close his eyes, when he opened them back up they looked a shade lighter.

He didn't get any sleep, he doze a few times wrapped around Kagome, but images replaying in his head didn't allow him any rest. When the occupants of the house started to wake he sent a warning pulse of power to keep them away and from waking Kagome, who slept peacefully in his arms.

Last night, felt like a breakthrough, she had let go of something that was holding her back, but when he looked hard enough, he still saw fear in her stormy blue eyes and could not phantom fear of what. The air between them started to get heavy with her arousal and something clicked suddenly, he had been thinking for hours but only her scent made him realize something.

He had been around Kagome for over a month and had not scented her heat. His head spun out of control. Not here, not right now, not when it was only them right now, no past, no present, no future. He wanted to ride the wave longer, her joy and warmth, a little longer. But he couldn't. Did the fight with Kagura do more damage than kill the pup growing inside of her? Not being able to conceive again would be a hard blow for Kagome, for him...and it was his fault. Grieve thick as miasma threatened to choke him.

Kagome turned to face him and hooked a leg over his hip giving him a slurty inviting smile. Almost roughly Sesshomaru pulled the covers over her naked skin and kissed her forehead. "Whaaaat?" she said with mild outrage.

He got out of bed and put on a light robe. "Come, cover yourself. You need a bath"

She sat on the bed, blinking dumbly, holding the blanket over her chest. "What just happened?"

He saw her confusion and sat next to her, soothing her hair in a semblance of order. He needed time to process this. "Kagome, we need a bath. Is cold outside, but we have the hot spring to ourselves" he said softly, tucking shorter strands of her hair behind her ear

Her eyes lit up "the bath house" she shed the blanket, got out of bed, and donned his discarded kosode. "Ready let's go!"


The building that housed the bathhouse looked small compared to the massive main house, but it was spacious and full of stunning details like the rest of the property. The bath was located next to a dense line of trees that provided privacy to the outdoor pool, the other larger pool was covered by an overhang, half in half out and could be completely enclosed by sliding panels. The same water filled them both, steaming hot, and smelling faintly of sulfur. She didn't wait, right after stepping into the room to shed her robe and shot straight for the wash buckets.

Sesshomaru was distracted from his darker thoughts by her enthusiasm. He too disrobed without delay reaching out to Kagome, without missing a beat he took over washing her, she relaxed under his touch. He ran his hands up and down her back spreading the soap gently, next to her shoulders and arms. He picked up her hair and wrapped it in a bun at the top of her head "we'll take care of that later" he whispered in her ear and he moved on to massage her neck, she mewled with pleasure. He didn't miss her backside but kept the touch from turning sexual.

He turned her around and kissed her cheek before kneeling to wash her legs, She took the opportunity to loosely braid his hair. "I like this, this is good," she said thinking about spending time together outside of work, and sex, and responsibilities.

"I bought this house thinking of you Kagome, for this room in particular" he swiftly cleaned between her legs earning a gasp and started to work his way up her torso.

"I know, Inuyasha told me...Thank you" he was cleaning her breasts and underarms with clinical precision, she couldn't help but to laugh, he was trying so hard to keep this from going south. "But I was talking about us together, it really is good. I knew it, I felt it before, but with everything that happened some days I thought I had imagined it."

His hands fell to his sides, grieve and guilt eating at him. She took the rag from his hand and lifted his chin up "you need to forgive yourself, I already did" she said gently as she washed his body, just like he did gentle but precise, no funny business. When she finished soaping him up she wrapped her arms around his middle from the back, chest to back, resting her head between his shoulder blades. "We have to make the most out of the time we have, let's not waste it living in the past."

He covered her hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. From her place at his back, she missed the pained look on his face. Make the most out of the time they had. Her decades on this earth were grains of sand to the centuries he

They rinsed and sunk into the steaming water. He watched Kagome moan as she walked into the deeper end of the pool, as her body disappeared under the water he remembered her scars and frowned. He recalled digging his fingers into her hips as he came, yet she was unmarred, no new bruises or scrapes. Before, when he would let go and at her request refrain from holding back she would end up with bruises to show for his disinhibition. The water now reached her shoulders as she rested her head against the rocky edge, eyes closed; so vulnerable, so small, so human...or was she, he thought.

She was undeniably stronger, humans could endeavor to improve such things with strenuous training, but ten short years surely were not enough to yield the gains Kagome showed. Her speed alone made that scenario unlikely, there was more to it. She was still Kagome, the sweet scent of plum blossoms that had always been her told him so. There was a new hard to describe mature edge to her scent, but he had simply blamed it on age.

He racked his brain with possible explanations and encountered a roadblock, objectivity. It was impossible when it came to Kagome, he wasn't sure where reverence ended and reality began. He was not one to ponder unanswerable questions so he cleared his mind and made his way to Kagome. The ripples in the water alerted her on his approach, the look on his face must have betrayed his intentions, because she raised her eyebrow at him and parted her legs in invitation.