Ahhh we didn't win, but that's okay. I'm still so happy about all the attention this story is getting and posting this a day early to celebrate with my lovely readers!

Okay this might actually be one of my favorite chapters. If you have noticed with the rotating POV's, we get insight into each characters inner feelings, which you may or may not agree with...which is part of the fun of writing using POV's.

This was beta'd by the awesome Laureninthsky96! I am so happy to have someone catch all my grammar errors.

AND WELCOME TO REVIEWER NEW READER! YOUR RESPONSE IS BELOW


Sesshomaru-past

At first she was furious and he was glad they were separated for so long. The talks were endless and at no point would Kensaku yield what he was after. Days turned into weeks, but then he felt Rin's emotions shift from anger, to resignation, then yearning. During the day he ignored his bond to her to deal with the crisis at hand, but his ache for her was growing.

Ending the conflict with Kensaku was not as simple as he had originally hoped. If Kensaku was after the black stone, Sesshomaru wouldn't tell him where he had found it. Hosenki had forged it, a combination of yoki and reiki that is loyal to the demon it is bound to. But as he exits the final meeting, where no progress was made, he can feel Rin again. She's frustrated about something and yearning for his presence. He hasn't been home in three weeks and hasn't slept in longer than that. Natsuki's comfort was fleeting, a bandage to a bleeding heart.

It was tempting to sleep with Natsuki the night she showed up at his door. But even the embrace of her yoki didn't bring him the refuge he was seeking. She leaves the dining area, a torment to his soul that he has been forced to be so close to so frequently. A small girl with black hair, plaited in two, hands her their son. Tsukimaru whines, reaching for Natsuki, and nuzzles into her breast and a part of him is saddened his son isn't reaching for him this time.

He turns away stroking the scar on his heart through his crimson silk haori. It stings. What is it, my heart?

He exits the castle down the stairs at the entrance, only to be ambushed. This time there are five of them. He rolls his eyes. Battle is not what they need now. For seconds he considers reminding them who is stronger until one is behind him with a grip around his neck, the others reach for his arms, another reaches for his katana. He swirls in the air, rolling the one on his back, throwing him. His back burns as it's been hacked into and blood drips down his skin.

He twists into the second one, elbowing him harshly in the stomach, and with a satisfying snap, the rib cage is broken. Bakusaiga is drawn and a load of voltaic energy that cracks the skies like lightning is released. The blast fells two of his enemies, scalding the third, the fourth is gasping for air from the broken rib and the final one hovers, keeping his distance. "Leave," he warns them, prepared to end the final three. Battle…more bloodshed, when our blood is being shed below.

"Kensaku has placed a bounty on your head," the brown haired one speaks. "A bounty that is forfeit if you return to the castle."

He smirks in disbelief. Raising his katana, he slashes it through the air, sending waves of voltaic energy over their heads in threat.

They dodge, missing the bolts as he hoped they would, then retreat.

His journey resumes.

Rin lands on her back, sliding across the dry dirt, with Hisato standing over her. Sesshomaru observes from the trees as she pulls herself off the ground. The guard comments on her form, how she should square her shoulders, widen her feet and then they begin to spar again. Hisato flies over her head, landing behind her. Rin tries to flip onto his shoulders but she isn't fast enough. Hisato catches her by the arm and tosses her, sending her flying.

"Dammit!" she fumes, panting on her back. She's dressed in short black kimono, bearing her beautifully toned legs.

He finally moves from the trees into the clearing, unsure of how she will take his presence. He left her furious three weeks before. No words had passed between them in that time. "I should have known that you would come," she says approaching him, her scent is cautious. "Hisato, you can go." She massages her shoulder, rolling it, wincing. "I think I have some new scrapes."

He circles her, licking his thumb, sliding the saliva into the wounds. Their fingers intertwine as he leads her to walk around their lake. The lake feeds their garden with irrigation, something Kagome taught them about. Surrounding the edge of the lake are apple, pear and orange trees. He picks an orange from the tree as they pass it and hands it to her. "You're frustrated."

"I can't land that move. He's too fast." She begins peeling the orange, filling the air with the sweet scent of citrus. "I guess we need to talk about what happened." The peels are tossed to the side and she breaks a plump piece off.

"We did not part on good terms." They walk quietly together. "Where are the children?"

"Taisho took them for an adventure outside the barrier with Katsumoto and Sato. They wanted to help with the hunting. He's masking them with a small reiki barrier. I don't like what you did."

He nods in agreement. "Children must learn their limits."

"By beating them?" She eats another orange slice and he turns to kiss her. He dips his tongue into her mouth, swirling it around the fruit, then across her lips. "She was already upset by what happened." Her arms wrap around his waist, then she backs up as she removes his armor to get closer to him.

"Rin..."

"It doesn't make sense, you stopped Kaede-sama from caning me, how could you do that to Yuki?"

"You and Yuki are not the same. You had no family, you were beaten by the villagers for surviving, kidnapped by Naraku. It was enough and you were an obedient child until you became a teen, but Yuki," he smiles happily. "Yuki is not like you. She has your fire, but she doesn't know her limits. She disregards the rules because she thinks she is strong enough to survive what comes to her. She nearly killed you, Hisato….has she left the barrier again?"

"No," Rin chuckles finishing the orange. "She even asks permission before leaving the house. She apologized to Hisato, to me, to Shiori. How could you do that to her?"

"Chichiue did worse to me. There was a time when I was very young that I also ran away. I was lost for weeks, far from home and kidnapped, held ransom."

"I can't imagine anyone being able to hold you hostage."

"I was a child and we were at war. I was warned not to leave the confines of our home alone. Chichiue and Haha-ue slaughtered their enemies to retrieve me and what was initially a happy reunion, I regretted for years afterwards. It wasn't enough that I was taken. I knew they would come for me. Just like you knew I would always come for you."

"You think she would have done it again after that?"

He nods quietly. "I took no pleasure in what I did to Yuki, my heart. Or how it affected you."

"How much longer? This is taking forever. What's going on up there?"

He shakes his head, sitting down on a boulder and pulling her against his chest. "Another week, maybe more. I'll be home as soon as I can."

"The borders are stable. Katashi and Taisho patrol it regularly. Sota is holding the south. We're safe here for now."

Safe, he thinks, how tentative that safety is with Kensaku's army looming over them. If he ran, he would be seen as a coward, his honor finally vanquished. If he stays, he risks losing them, but if he concedes, the final talk ended with he and Natsuki being excused and negotiations being resumed by his mother and Kensaku.

"I'm tired," he tells her, wrapping an arm around her waist, flying with her back to their home. They land in the garden and he begins removing his layers.

She starts removing the short kimono she wears and the wraps from her hands and feet. His underlayer is peeled off his back, matted with blood. "Sesshomaru?!" He feels her hands running the length of his back. He glances over his shoulder to see five gashes from the back of his neck down to his tailbone.

"What's going on that you can't tell me?" her voice echoes in disbelief.

Her eyes break him, but he refuses to tell her that she is the cause of this, that he is fighting to keep her safe. He slides into the water instead, ignoring the sting of the sulfur as it sluices into the gashes. He rests against the ledge as he feels his hair gathered behind his head. She lifts the stone bowl they keep next to the springs, dipping it into the water and pouring the liquid over his head. He exhales heavily, forgetting how whole her touch makes him feel and reminded how fleeting Natsuki's yoki was. His eyes close and she is just as quiet as he is as she scrubs the nape of his neck. He groans in comfort, leaning into her firm fingers. His eyes open to see her nude and beautiful, but exhaustion keeps him from becoming aroused.

She starts on his shoulders and back next. "Lean forward, my love," she pushes on his shoulders and his back burns as he does. "These are bad." He can feel her fingers running along them, examining them. "Sesshomaru? Who did this to you? They look like your claws." Her voice is washed in worry and again he shakes his head, remaining silent. There is strength in silence, he doesn't have to admit that he's seen Natsuki almost daily for the last three weeks, that he nearly bedded her, or that he had tasted her lips again. It's like he's being torn in two.

She rinses his back, cleaning the knows that she'll want to wrap them before he leaves. She slides into the water and stands in front of him smiling meekly, but even the water of the springs isn't hiding her arousal. The way she licks her lips is so inviting but he's so tired. She finishes his front and they climb out together. He goes to gather his clothes for the servants to wash, when she tugs his haori out of his hands. He turns to her curiously, cocking an eyebrow.

She brings it up to her nose, inhaling deeply. "It smells like you. I haven't slept well in two weeks. I'll have them wash it when you get home."

He tugs her into his arms and slowly kisses her lips, luxuriating in their warmth. He licks the inside of her mouth then hangs his crescent moon over her forehead. "I need sleep. Come to bed with me."

"What if the kids need me?"

"The servants will care for them," he takes her hand and leads her into their bedroom. "We need to move our bedding," he says quietly as he lays down.

"It will be night soon," she says laying down with him. He rolls her onto her back and then rests his head between her breasts. "The children will need dinner."

"We have servants," he reminds her again, somewhat annoyed.

She exhales, caressing his chin and his ears. "So…you aren't…"

"Rin," it comes out more tersely. "I'm tired." He resists reminding her the many nights he holds her for hours until she is deep in sleep and the mornings he returns an hour before she wakes, so she wakes in his arms. His eyes close quickly and sleep overtakes him. This is what he needed. Rin, he nuzzles deeper into her the valley of her breasts. I've missed you. "Sleep, my love," he hears her whisper near his ears.

It's dark by the time he wakes and he is in full alert. A flood of yoki is in the bedroom with him. He stands up completely naked to find his mother standing over him, staring at him. He slashes at her waist and she leaps backwards, missing the blow. "Mother," he snarls out.

"Do you know what I had to do to keep Kensaku from sieging your home? We agreed you would not leave until the matter was settled."

He stands up only slightly abashed that he is completely nude in front of his mother. "Get out."

"You need to return," she says firmly, folding her arms like two serpents beneath her breasts.

"Mother," he warns her, "I'm 922 years old. Is there a reason you are in my bedroom?"

"I was worried about you," she says, opening the door to the garden. "Hurry up."

He pulls on a pair of sky-blue hikama with a white haori and another layer on top of that. It's only then he notices that Rin is not in the room with him. He closes his eyes, attempting to stifle his frustration with her. He would have made love to her when he woke, if she were there. "I will not hide behind you."

"You are not hiding behind me, Sesshomaru. I am merely facilitating the agreement and avoiding losing another child."

"This Sesshomaru is not a child."

"This Sesshomaru is my son and I will not lose you," she embraces him and he stiffens, unable to remember the last time his mother had held him. "He will kill you, Sesshomaru. The five that ambushed you outside the castle are just the beginning."

"How many?" Uncomfortably his arms wind around her narrow, bony shoulders.

"300 in humanoid form and two hundred dogs. Your lover, your children, you….you will not survive. Come back to my home now, so you will live to see your family again."

The door to the hallway cracks open and Rin enters the room. His mother shakes her head and leaves the garden. Sesshomaru leans against the open door, deep in thought, trying to decide what to do. His heart is here in this home, but he can't fight that many and he won't run and what is even more ridiculous is that Kensaku would risk a war, now of all times. When their blood is already being shed, this isn't the time to fight amongst themselves. "Come to bed my love," Rin says seductively taking him by the hand and he allows it. "Were you going to leave?"

"You were gone."

"Harutoga stepped on a snake and it bit his ankle and he wouldn't stop crying until I came. I needed to bandage it and give him the antidote. They're sleeping now." She loops her arm over his shoulders, kissing his lips. "Come to bed," she purrs in his ears, taking him by the hand, and then the hot summer morning overtakes the morning dew and he finds himself being drawn in and follows behind her. "They knew you were here. I told them you were sleeping," she turns around giving him a full frontal show of untying her turquoise obi, a gift he brought back for her to celebrate the birthday Kagome had made up for her. She slides it off her waist, then poses on the ball of one foot.

"I must return." He releases her hand with every intention of turning around, but kami, she is beautiful.

The plain peach colored kimono falls off her shoulders and there is nothing underneath. Her nipples are brown and puckered, her skin tanned from the summer sun and the curves of her waist. He licks his lips and falls into her embrace, throwing his armor to the side and hitching her legs around his waist, tripping over tangled silver sheets and gold pillows until she is pressed against the wall. "This must be quick." He kisses around her neck, collar bone and shoulders.

"Mmmh." Her head falls back as she grinds against his clothed shaft. She pushes back on his shoulders, ending their embrace as she drops her legs to the futon and stretches out, cat-like on all fours wagging her backside at him.

He tosses off his armor, his swords, unties his outer obi, then loosens his hikama enough to expose himself, then drops between her legs cupping her at first.

"I don't have to finish, Sesshomaru," Rin smiles back at him. "It can be about you this time."

He dips inside of her gasping, forgetting how tight, how she squeezes him like a furnace, steaming his erection. He looses his haori and inner layer to feel the heat of her skin against his chest and begins slow. One arm loops around her waist, separating her petals, exposing her bud and begins rubbing it gently. "So wet already?"

"It burns so much it hurts," she rocks her hips back and forth with him. His touch alone makes her clench against his shaft, sweetening the thrusts.

"What do you do when I'm not home," he licks the line of her back making her moan and arch her back into his mouth. He begins thrusting slowly to give her time to accept his length, then his fingers dance, intimately against her bud making her shudder.

"Oh…" He can see her muscles flexing. "I try…"

"You touch yourself?" He laps at her neck, nipping at the tender flesh.

"It isn't the same, not like this. Harder," she's already out of breath as she pleads.

He nearly chuckles watching her grip adjust as she stands on her knees, wrapping her arms backwards around his neck. He can feel her hardening and begin to drip down his member. He cups one breast, while speeding his ministrations below, while capturing her lips. Their tongues lap at each other. Together they pant as they breathe in the flames of their passion. This is what I needed…how could I? He curses his instinct, for making him think comfort could be sought somewhere else. Natsuki was entirely too selfish and self-centered to know him like Rin, to bathe his body, to cry his name, to orgasm so hard against him that his semen and her wetness drip down his front. "I love you," he breathes against her neck. "My heart."

"My love," she says quietly as he removes himself from her body. "Be safe?"

He can't answer that honestly. He wipes himself with their sheet, then exits into the hallway finding Katsumoto and Hisato leaning against the wall. "Hisato," he calls the sentinel to him.

Hisato kicks off the wall and follows. Sesshomaru paces, closing his eyes. "I have your loyalty?"

"Always."

"Even if it means defying your lover?"

"I have sworn to protect Rin and the children."

"If I don't return, if an army comes, save them. Do not stay and fight. Take them West, across the ocean, into China, take Katsumoto with you."

"Katsumoto?" Hisato mutters confused under his breath.

"There is a connection between him and Yuki. You don't see it?"

"Not yet."

"She will come of age around one hundred thirty years. See that it is he who takes her virginity, who relieves her heat." His heart aches, as if he is delivering his last will, the way his father had, when he passed.

"I will."

"Make sure she loves again…Kohaku was always fond of her. He will love her and my children."

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Hisato questions.

He swallows harshly. "Their katanas are in my study. Bakusaiga will go to Taiyomaru. You will send Tenseiga to Bukoseno for Tsukimaru. They will outlive her…you will…love my children?"

"I already love your children, Sesshomaru-sama. You have my word, on my honor and the honor of my family name, your children and your lover will be protected and I will carry out all that you have asked, even if it is against the will of Gobodo-sama."

Sesshomaru says no more. He opens the door to the children's room watching them sleep. Yuki is always in the middle. Her long silver hair is splayed around her shoulders. Taiyomaru is against her back snoring, while Harutoga is curled into her chest, with an arm around her neck. He smiles kneeling down, stroking the streaked hair of his middle son and then caressing the tip of the ear of his youngest, second to youngest. He closes his eyes, swallowing the lump in his throat. He exits out of their turquoise blue door to the garden, taking one last look at the sakura tree, the hot springs. The vision of their first pairing flashes in his vision. He sat against the tree, she straddled his lap, afraid of allowing him to enter her.

I'm scared.

It won't hurt if you accept me as I enter.

Does it hurt?

It stings.

I love you, Sesshomaru.

I love you, Rin.

Tsukimaru squirms in his arms as he sits in Sesshomaru's mother's room. She holds her meido stone in her hands. In each bedroom there is a bench that overlooks the evening sky. She has been quiet as the arguments have raged on. Another hitch of being immortal, arguments don't need to be settled immediately.

She gazes into the nothingness before them, eyes distant and pensive. "You have to, Sesshomaru. If you don't he will bring a force against your home."

"I will not," he rolls his eyes, feeling his chest tighten.

"Can you stand against an army? You have what? Five sentinels, four with tainted blood, one of them my lover, a pure-blooded puppy and a twenty year old nephew who is still beginning to understand his power."

"A hanyou brother and his Miko wife. I am not helpless in allies. You forget my other nephew married a pure-blooded wolf demon," he says firmly.

"Is this honestly what you want? Your father would not make these kinds of concessions. A true leader knows his duty to his people. The monks and the mikos are already spilling enough demon blood."

He rests his chin on the top of his son's head. Tsukimaru chews on his father's fingers and blows spit bubbles. Saliva drips down his fingers onto his lap. "I made a promise."

She rests her hand on top of his like when he was a child. "It was a stupid promise."

He sees something in her eyes he never noticed before. His hand shoots out, grabbing her chin. He turns her face to his and tilts his head ever so slightly to the side. "You were in love with him." A small light that is overcast by another rests behind the pupils of her eyes.

"Nearly a thousand years and you finally see it." She laughs, taking his hand down and holding it in her own. "I loved him very much. Do you know what it feels like to bury two lovers?"

"You were unfaithful."

"I wasn't exactly. But your father wouldn't hear it. His heart broke."

"You killed Touma's father easily."

"Not before he impregnated me and gave me a deranged child, destroying my bond to Toga. I was in heat, Sesshomaru, I wasn't thinking straight. I couldn't think straight and Toga was nowhere near here to relieve me of it and too full of pride to forgive me. Takehiko violated me and because I did not resist," her voice breaks, the first time he has ever seen her cry.

"He violated you." It causes an ache in his heart. Another flaw of their kind: if the heat isn't satiated, they will go mad with need and bed whatever male is nearest to resolve their needs. Takehiko knew that his mother was with another.

"As Touma did with yours." She breathes back the tears. "I think we have the better ending, though." She forces a smile at Tsukimaru.

He stares into the expanse beyond them. Memories of an empty childhood flit into his mind. His mother left him when he was weaned in his father's lands and rarely visited, most likely only long enough to satiate the needs of their bond, then leave. "You never visited."

"You're as sentimental as your father was." She takes the child from his arms and sits him in her lap.

"When will he learn to speak?" he asks her.

"You can't remember?" She slaps his shoulder playfully. "You were always such a serious child."

"It has been a very long time since I was a child and around my own kind," he replies quietly. "I did not like children until…" He hated them. Rin was the first child he had been around in centuries and her antics gave him warmth.

"In another five years perchance. Don't be fooled, he already follows directions. He can track by scent. His yoki is bubbling within him." She tickles the baby's chin. "At least I get to spend time with this one." Her gaze shifts again. She cups Sesshomaru's chin.

He shakes his head. "I can't do this to her."

"Does she know what you have given up to be with her? Does she appreciate that you are ostracized from your kind, that you have to end life after life for her? Or that you have nearly died on many occasions to ensure her life?" Gobodo-sama inquires. "Without that barrier, what you do, allowing mixed relationships in your village, she would be dead. You are the laughing stock of our kind, Sesshomaru. Does she appreciate that?"

"I don't know," the words come out silently. There are times he feels like she doesn't, that the expectation is that he should constantly be the giver, the provider. "It is not a conversation we have had. I…have not shared those details with her. I bear the shame alone. I cannot do this to her again."

"Then don't tell her. Do you think Izayoi knew of me? It wasn't until after his death that your existence was made known because you wanted that ridiculous katana that belonged to your father." She points out the window. "Shooting star."

He smiles. "You used to tell me to make a wish. I wished for you to be near me," he holds her hand in his. There were moments after particularly difficult sparring sessions, when his body was bruised and bleeding, that he missed his mother's embrace. Or times when he felt alone despite the other children. Thoughts he would never voice, the ones he kept hidden and learned to bury with the rest of his emotions.

"She's made you soft," she hisses at him, squeezing his fingers. "But she brought us closer together. A time will come when you will regret spilling the blood of your own kind so easily Sesshomaru. Something dark is brewing. Even I can feel it from up here."

"Do you know what it is?"

"If I did, I would try to stop it. My skin has been crawling since before the rumors began. The Miko, the woman out of time, Sesshomaru, do we exist in her time?"

"Is that what this is about?" Take care of them? Please? An odd request when in the past Kagome said he did not exist. He sensed no lie when she said it, but then why would she ask?

"Make your choice, Sesshomaru," she says quietly. "Do you remember the game we played when you were a child?" She pointed at one of the stars. "The brightest."

He pointed at another. "The oldest."

She found one that was higher in the sky. "The wisest."

He searched for another that rest near a brilliantly lit star. "The son."

"The mother." She rests her head against his shoulder pointing to the brightest light.

"Did you really forget your name?"

"Taka," she nudges his shoulder. "But not even Hisato knows that."

"How old are you?"

"I did forget that. I have seen many centuries, many lifetimes. I knew your father when he was a boy and his father before him and the one before that…your sister would be over three thousand years old now. You know what it's like to lose a child during pregnancy, Sesshomaru, but not during life. The pain is worse, when you've seen them worship the ground you walk on like Yuki, or when they can't sleep unless you tell them a story like Taiyomaru, or when you share the same quiet space for hours like Harutoga. If his forces attack your home, are you ready to bury Yuki, Harutoga and Taiyomaru? They would not survive and he would hunt them to the ends of the earth."

He snarls frustrated. He knows she is right. "What does he want?"

"We settled on you showing the same respect to Natsuki as you did to Rin. You will spend a week in seclusion in your room here. No need to travel to the Villa, and if the time comes and our kind needs shelter, you will provide it freely."

"I would have provided that without this," he closes his eyes and exhales, his chest cramping. How will I resist her for a week in the same space? Another lie, more secrets. He must protect Rin. He would not survive a fight against an army and if his life was taken, Rin would forever be in peril, never finding peace. She would lose the protection he had afforded her.

"Your father raised you to pick your battles carefully, Sesshomaru." She grabs his left arm. "You lost this from arrogance and overconfidence. If you push Kensaku, you will lose more than an arm."

He purses his lips. "Send her to my room," he rests his forehead in his palm. "Rin will not know of this." He pauses deep in thought, remembering Taiyomaru's acts of taking pain from Rin and healing Yuki's back. "Mother, is it possible for a hanyou to be able to heal others?"

"You're asking about Taiyomaru," she grins proudly standing up, bouncing Tsukimaru on her hip. "A child made by the purest and the most complete love is more than a hanyou, but not quite like us. He is not using his yoki to heal, rather manipulating what is already is there."

"He said my light was inside of Rin, that I asked him to soothe her pain before I came. His intrusion felt... foreign, wrong."

"You'll get used to it, it was just new. He doesn't understand yet, that it's your yoki he can feel and use to heal his mother, and his brother and sister, maybe even you."

"He cannot heal others?"

"No. It's your yoki he can manipulate."

"Transformation?"

"It will be the same as it is for any hanyou and equally as dangerous, if not more so for him. You saw how feral Hisato was in that state, it will be worse for Taiyomaru. If he ever reaches that state, you may not be able to bring him back."

"I'd have to kill him?" He slams his hand against the door, growling.

"You'd have to kill him, until he is old enough to wield a katana." She approaches him and sets a palm on his shoulder. "You're doing the right thing, Sesshomaru. There is no land that would be safe, Kensaku would hunt your family down until they were dead. It's one week, versus giving your family the rest of their lives."

"He will abandon any further attempts to force her into our lives?"

"Yes."

His breath speeds. "I can't resist for a week, you know this."

"She is also your lover. You may love Rin, but you are honor-bound to Natsuki equally. He isn't asking you to love his daughter, simply to honor our traditions. This isn't infidelity, Sesshomaru, it's nurturing what should have been nurtured in the first place had this been done properly."

"Properly?" He claws his own forehead. "No matter what I choose I will hurt Rin. If I defy Kensaku, I risk their deaths, I end my life, leaving her a widow, if I do this…"

"She won't know. You needn't tell her."

"If I kill him?"

"His son is set to inherit his land and title. His lover is vicious and vindictive. Sesshomaru, you are making the right choice."

Why doesn't it feel right?


Please review! AHHH anyone curious what's going to happen in that week of seclusion? Poor Sesshomaru, I actually feel bad for him.

Truth? Haven't fully written what happens during the week...if you want a nice long chapter let me know and I will write it, in all it's inspiration and glory. If you have things you'd like Natsuki and Sesshomaru to discuss, answers, let me know.

Coming next Interlude VIII on February 19th...cause I have no idea what to call Taka/Nina parts. You asked, I delivered.

Story plug: Well the shit hit the fan in Kiss of Fate by Kimmigirl9 and I...so please go to her profile and review...fuck people, were allowed to talk about difficult subjects...review...now...thanks...like now...now now...

And Sesshomaru and Avalon by Nightbird755...I write Sesshomaru...so my contribution is like 15% but it's an amazing Sess/OC written well and me lurves betaing this story. Please review, it's her first Fanfic and she is making me so proud!


Kimmigirl9: Thank you! I know, what did you think of this one?

Mechinex2: Damn instinct right? Instinct and being pissed at Rin. Natsuki has had five years from Instinct to learn to control herself and her urges. I am not trying to make Rin look bad, these POV's allow emotions to be brought out from the point of view of the characters. The separation from Tsukimaru is taking its toll on Sesshomaru. Hopefully this chapter helps to assuage some of your upset. Next week will be your Taka/Nina POV...Nina's own POV's are coming...later

Morality: Now how the hell does that help? Back to the Future isn't my source material. This is my story...so yeah...

Reaper 007: Ouch...not like the humans haven't caused pain to the demons either.

Gogox2: Well in the anime, Kagura and Sara Asano are not his soulmates...so that means he has less control. There is also no explanation for what happens between 2 youkai...so I made it up myself...he does love Rin, never doubt that but is it fair his entire life has to be about her? Just curious...Corona virus actually makes me think of well...you know that part of the male anatomy that is called the corona.

Gina: I know? What a time to write a story about a Disease destroying people...demons...

Itzatakahashi: Did I tell you I love your reviews? Like seriously, they brighten my day. I love Natsuki's character too. Bitch at the core, but so good to the storyline. Your reviews literally make my beta-ees dance with joy.

Luin-fanel: Thank you! Next week your Taka/Nina Pov will happen. AHHH I know angst...angst!

Guesswho: I have a big buffer on this story...It's so far 3 acts...I have the first 2 written and I'm not sure how many chapters they comprise because of the POV's. Thank you for your balanced view. Poor guy is under tons of pressure and misses Tsukimaru and has been forced in close confines with Natsuki a lot recently. Keep reviewing you make me sooooo happy!

Inu-fan 24: I'm gonna keep this short. They are both his true mates and no Rin doesn't feel like sloppy seconds because this is Feudal Japan not Victorian England and she is bound to a dog-demon not Prince Charming. You are more cruel than I am, she should abandon her children WTF?

Harukasempai14: Natsuki and Rin are equally his soulmates but he only loves deeply one of them, if that makes sense. One is a more animalistic attachment the other one not so much. Yuki is a hard pill to swallow...that kid, let me tell you...she's a brat and a half. Rest assured that Sesshomaru does love Rin, but what he is going through and going to go through...are going to have a serious impact on him.

Ivriel: It is definitely one complex mess...they both have to accept each other's worlds...

New reader: The time jumps are intense. Henceforth I shall recap. Actually considering the times, he could have taken a second wife, and like you said forced it, but no it's not what he wanted. Have you read the prequels? AHH I'm so excited to have a new reviewer and get to know you!