A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Also, if you're interested, please check out my new story Beyond Darkness. I'm very excited about it, and I hope you will too!

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Chapter Forty-Nine: Warmth

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I knew I was in trouble.

Sesshoumaru stood before me, his incredible face aghast with disbelief. Moon-kissed hair hung freely across his shoulders, framing his cheekbones and drawing my attention to his full lips, which were parted in horror.

But, I digress.

I was in trouble.

"You have done what?" he asked incredulously, though I had only just told him the answer. Fiddling with the sleeves of my robes, I avoided his eyes and attempted to shrink into myself. I hadn't thought he'd react quite so badly . . .

"I invited Kagutsuchi . . . to tea." I cringed at his intake of breath. "Your mother said I should, and that she would like to become acquainted with him."

Cowardly, yes, to try and push half the blame onto Izanami, but, truth be told, I wouldn't have been in this predicament if it weren't for her.

And I wasn't about to let her get off scot-free.

He grasped my wrist suddenly and began to pull me along. "We're going to have a word with Mother," he murmured darkly and, despite his anger, I noticed the gentle way he held me, the heat from his hand making my skin erupt with gooseflesh, and I couldn't suppress my smile.

In the end, if I could give Rin what I had with Sesshoumaru, then all this trouble would be worth it.

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