"Gladly, Kagome."
Immediately after he spoke these words, Sesshomaru leaned in, so close that Kagome could feel his hot breath on her ear. The hand that was touching his smooth cheek fell to his silk-clad shoulder, while another rose to his chest on its own.
"There is nothing to be afraid of," Sesshomaru whispered. His lips slightly brushed her earlobe as he spoke, making her shiver pleasantly.
His hand fell from her cheek, trailing across her skin and landing on her shoulder. Another one rested on Kagome's hip, stroking it gently through her yukata. She stood still under those slow ministrations, not knowing what to do, or feel. Everything was new. No gossiping session with other women could prepare her for this.
Sesshomaru, thankfully, didn't wait for her reaction. His lips moved from Kagome's ear and down, trailing soft kisses on their way. When he reached a collar of her yukata, Sesshomaru pulled it down together with all layers beneath, exposing Kagome's collarbones. She inhaled sharply when he started to lick, suck and nibble on them and her neck with more fervor, as his hands continued to fondle and caress other parts of her body.
Kagome felt hotter and hotter under his actions, her mind clouding. Before noticing it, she started to pant slightly, as if out of air. She felt as if she was running, except she stood still, assaulted by strange novel sensations. Her fingers clenched on Sesshomaru's clothes and she closed her eyes instinctively. What was he doing to her? Whatever it was, it felt great.
Suddenly, with one last kiss at her neck, Sesshomaru made a step away from her, and then another one, despite her own clinging hands. Without his touch on her, Kagome felt cold and exposed. She wanted more of his caresses, more of him. 'Why did he stop?'
"Undress," he said, starting to untie his own sash. Embarrassed by her stupidity, Kagome hurried to fumble with her own clothes.
"Will we do it right there?" she asked, looking around. They were right where they sat to study – how will Kagome be able to look at this place with the same eyes later? Not that there were other options, or better places – it was a main room of Sesshomaru's den, where every place was as good as any to lie down, naked or not. Even Ah-Un was conveniently asleep in his small corral in the corner with unfinished stack of hay, not in position to interrupt anything.
"Where else?" Sesshomaru's laconic response was as he shed his garb and threw away his pelt. There was nothing now to shield his from Kagome's eyes, and she fought with herself over raising them or continuing to look at his feet. Finally, her gaze went up just as the last of her layers went down.
The rest of Sesshomaru's body was just as much a piece of sculpted perfection as his face. Chiseled, perfectly formed muscle laid down under moon-white skin. Red stripes that trailed on his cheeks and wrists were on the other parts of his body as well, instantly attracting attention with their bright color. Three were on each of Sesshomaru's ankles, and four more were drawn symmetrically on his hipbones, their sharp ends pointing (completely on purpose, she was sure) right to his manhood. The perverted design made Kagome blush harder than before. There were no stripes on such places in his real form!
And, oh gods, his manhood. Kagome was not familiar with sizes enough to tell if it was big or small. It wasn't even important at that moment. It was just there, standing upright like a strange toadstool. It was, though, surprisingly not gross – just really strange, and maybe even a bit funny (when Kagome was not thinking about where it was going to go eventually). Perhaps that was only because it seemed to be as well-designed as every other part of Sesshomaru, Kagome didn't know.
Her staring was cut short by Sesshomaru's approach. It made Kagome remember that she was also naked now, even though that didn't embarrassed her anymore, and that they both were in a middle of something. What was going to be a next step? Was it going to be as good as the previous one? When Sesshomaru's clawed palms sat on her naked skin, Kagome felt assured that it will. She was not disappointed.
At first, he continued in the same way as before, but even those small actions felt twice as intense with a heat of Sesshomaru's skin on Kagome's own, his hands and lips doing amazing things with her body and his manhood… Well, she tried to keep her thoughts on something else.
It became very easy to do when Sesshomaru's hands travelled from her sides and hips to her breasts. A thumb brushed over her nipple, and Kagome couldn't help but moan slightly over the sensation that shot through her. When Sesshomaru repeated it again and again, with one nipple and another, Kagome trembled and writhed in his hands, clenching her fingers on his shoulders and biting hard on her lip. Even Sesshomaru's smirk didn't diminish her ecstasy.
Then, one of his hands travelled lower down her stomach, leaving a trail of goosebumps on Kagome's skin, and nestled itself on curls of her pubic hair. At this point, instead of pulling away, Kagome instead pushed her hips towards it. She didn't knew why or what, but there was something inside of her now, some itch that needed to be scratched, badly, and her body seemed to think that this action would help Kagome in doing it.
Then Sesshomaru moved his fingers between folds of her flesh, sending a tingling spark to her brain that was strong enough to wipe all of Kagome's thoughts again. He didn't stop on that, no – his fingers moved again and again rhythmically with quiet wet sounds, and each movement multiplied the sensations. What felt like a very short time later, Kagome was sure that she would just burst from them all. She felt almost like as if she was going to sneeze violently… but not with her nose.
When that finally happened, Kagome's knees refused to keep her weight, instead giving in on her. If not for Sesshomaru's strong hands that kept her upright, she'd just crumbled right there and then. It would've been a happy crumble, though. Kagome knew that this surely wasn't the whole process, but if the rest was at least a bit as good as that, then there indeed there was nothing to be afraid of. She felt astonishingly good. Even her constant pain seemed to ebb away for a moment.
"This was just a prelude," Sesshomaru said, as he lowered Kagome down on soft furs and sat between her spread legs. The open position was embarrassing enough to make her avert her eyes. "Now, this Sesshomaru needs you to do something."
With those words he put his big palm, with fingers still wet from her juices (and, oh gods, there were so much of them), on Kagome's right hand. He pulled on it, guiding it until it reached the same place that gave her so much pleasure before, making her blush violently.
"This Sesshomaru claws are too sharp to do this safely," the youkai explained as his fingers continued to move Kagome's, "Another time, they could be filled down. For now, just use your own fingers."
He showed her how exactly. Following his command, Kagome pushed two of her fingers right inside of the opening that he directed her to, raising her hips up instinctively at the same time. Her digits slipped in easily with the help of all the slimy liquid that was around, and Kagome could feel her own muscle walls clench on them on reflex. It felt… a bit nice. Without a next hint, she pushed her fingers out, then in again. Yes, nice. Not as nice as what Sesshomaru was doing before, but nice. She continued to do it with increasing enthusiasm, her other hand moving to pinch at nipple because why not? At this point, Kagome felt like indulging herself. It was a feast of sensations, gifted to her freely, and after trying out a couple of dishes only to be blown away with their magnificence, Kagome wanted to engorge herself on everything. She wanted… more.
Sesshomaru's hand moved away from hers. Following after it with her eyes, Kagome saw it landing on his manhood, gripping it in tight grasp. That image made Kagome's hands still in their movements for a moment. She suddenly felt that she was acting unfair towards Sesshomaru. She didn't do anything to him like he done to her… Not that she knew what to do. But before Sesshomaru's next words wiped out those thoughts from Kagome's head, she swore to herself to make it up for him later in some way.
"The next step is usually painful for virgins," Sesshomaru said, as his hand moved up and down his shaft. Even though his face was cool and his voice was even, Kagome could see that he was also affected by his slight pants and a bright gleam in his eyes, "but this one doubts that this will be a problem for you."
With those words he loomed over her, planting his free hand to the side of Kagome's head and positioning his manhood with another. Looking into his eyes, she slowly moved her fingers away from the place where it should go, feeling her heart beat wildly in her chest. This was going to be it. No more purity for her and no more fears. She reached her hands to Sesshomaru's shoulders, suddenly anxious for his support. He was solid and unshaking like a rock, and gripping on him, Kagome felt much calmer.
Then, Sesshomaru moved, pushing inside her. Only a little bit at first, then back and further in and again and again until Kagome felt him hitting a wall deep within her with each thrust. She cried out. Each movement was painful, yes, stretching her much more than her two thin fingers ever could, but that slight soreness was nothing in comparison to her past experiences. Other sensations, though, were overwhelming. It was completely different, but just as intense, set of feelings than before, and it spread through her, sending tingles through her chest and making her legs weak.
And Sesshomaru seemed to fare just as good. His face wasn't a blank slate now. His brows were furrowed as if in strain, there were actual drops of sweat sliding down his skin, and he grunted quietly with each slow, but forceful movement inside of Kagome. It was enthralling to see him like that, so unrestrained in comparison to his usual cold mask. His silver hair fell down his face, long strands creating a curtain around his and Kagome's head. It felt so intimate, that before she could even think about what she was doing, she had reached with her hands and pulled Sesshomaru down into a kiss.
It was a short one, almost a peck, broken short by unending movements of their bodies. But then Sesshomaru went down himself for a repeat, and the next one was much longer and wetter. When Kagome's lips opened down in moan, his long tongue, to her surprise, moved inside of her mouth. It was such a strange thing to do, and yet, it was a pleasant one too, and she soon got an idea on how to respond in equal measure. The flexibility and reach of her tongue that were necessary to reach the tip of her nose with it turned out to be surprisingly useful here.
Their tongue-kisses didn't last for long, though. Soon, Kagome felt tension in her body rise too high to do anything but writhe, moan, pant, and plead wordlessly for something to come and end this sweet torture. In response, Sesshomaru moved faster, angled his hips a bit differently, and just short time later Kagome had felt herself exploding again, second time for today. As her body convulsed haphazardly, she looked up to Sesshomaru to see his eyes bleeding red and fangs elongating in his half-open mouth. His movements were frantic now, and if he had felt like Kagome herself was, she was not surprised that he was losing his control over his human form.
It was only few hard, rushed thrusts after Kagome's shaking stopped that Sesshomaru had spilled his seed inside of her and pulled out, before lying down on his back near her.
"Thank you," Kagome said a bit breathlessly, staring at the dark roof of the den. She felt spent, but at the same time sated. And a bit hungry – it was supposed to be her lunch now. "It really was great."
Sesshomaru snorted, but without usual malice or disdain. When Kagome turned her head to look at him, he seemed to be more relaxed than ever.
"Did you doubt this Sesshomaru's word?" he asked. Kagome hummed negatively.
"No, I just… I don't know," Kagome admitted. "I heard many bad things about, uh, this before. Does… does it feel as good when you do it in your true form?"
She had wanted to say 'sex'! Sadly, it seemed that even if the act itself was clear and not at all scary now that there was a light shed on it, talking about it without embarrassment was another thing completely. Any other doubts that might have lingered inside of her were now blown out, leaving just small traces, and Kagome felt even a bit proud for herself for her ability to reach the decision that she had.
"Most of the humans waste capabilities of their bodies in that regard with their narrow-mindedness. In comparison, mating in my true form not unpleasant, but doesn't bring even a half of the same pleasure."
He rose up with a barely-audible sigh, before picking up his clothes and his pelt. It gave Kagome an opportunity to again have a look at the great view that his sculpted body provided as she lied comfortably on the floor. Did she also need to get up? She didn't want to. She felt better than she ever did since the tournament.
"If you will lie there much longer, your food time will end," Sesshomaru barked at her, returning Kagome back to the grim reality of her routine, which today consisted of language lessons.
"Yes, One Who Does Not Leave a Chance to his Prey!" Kagome yapped back with a smile and a slight giggle, before rising up. The name, ridiculously long even to bark, not to mention say in Japanese, always gave her this reaction, especially when Kagome could just see Tsume's paws all over it.
Sesshomaru's full name was just another curious and fun fact that Kagome had learned during the course of her dog youkai studies. Almost every youkai, as it turned out, first had a name on the language of their species, and only then a Japanese second name, one that usually was a rough and shortened translation of their original one.
Toga and Tsume, whose full names Kagome had also learned during her lessons, had much shorter names: 'One Who Fights With his Fangs' and 'One With the Sharpest Claws' respectively. Those, in turn, were usually shortened to just a 'Fang' and a 'Claw', which then were translated to make their Japanese names. But Sesshomaru didn't share a shortened version of his full name, and reacted to any of Kagome's attempts to make up one with angry snarls. To Kagome herself he referred as just 'the priestess', at least until The Talk – after that he avoided to reference her in dog speak completely, which was easy to do with only two of them and Ah-Un present.
All of that, though, wasn't in Kagome's thoughts at that moment, as she was cleaning herself up in a hurry to have her lunch. No, far from it.
Despite the very, very notable fact that Kagome had sex with Sesshomaru (sometimes she could barely believe it looking at his completely unaffected stature), life went on, with its good and bad times. The event may have changed her perspective on intimacy greatly, but Kagome accepted that whether or not it was a one-time occurrence, she was not in position to indulge herself in something so laborious without a real need. It was not like she was in the mood for it anyway, with her health declining steadily.
Kagome's condition only worsened from that day on. She could have tried to make her transformation before mating season, if not for the fact that her studies weren't yet completed – anything to just get better. She had finally finished with her anatomical lessons, but there was still a lot of language ones to cram in. Sore throat after all her barks and growls became almost constant.
It was only few days before the beginning of dog mating season, when Kagome woke up and, after a feeble attempt to sit up, realized that she was too weak to do even that. Her body was sore all over – so much that she couldn't tell what exactly was wrong with her this time - her head was dizzy, and her mouth was filled with the foul taste of her blood.
Kagome wasn't surprised when she noticed Sesshomaru watching her from his sitting place few steps away. He slept much less lately, looking over her at nights, waking her up to staunch her bleeding when he could and clean up the blood when it spilled outside. If not for him, Kagome would've probably chocked on it a week ago, when her nose had started to bleed when she had been sleeping on her back. That night Kagome was once again reminded of how little was necessary for a person to die, and that every day could be her last one.
As she remembered the occurrence, putting herself even deeper into melancholy, Sesshomaru rose from his place and went away into some of the inner caves, only to return a short while later with a cup that he then brought to Kagome's lips. It was full of water, and she drank it gratefully, washing down blood from her mouth.
"Rest for today," Sesshomaru said. When he pulled back again, his eyebrows were furrowed a little.
"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome tried to pull a smile on her lips, but it was weak attempt at best. She closed her eyes, hoping to regain some of her strength with more sleep, as she felt Sesshomaru's presence moving away silently.
She couldn't sleep, though – stabs of tugging pain in her innards pulled her out of her doze each time it went too deep – and it wasn't too long before she started to just stare into the cave ceiling, thinking about everything and nothing. Most of it was depressing, but happy thoughts seemed like impossibility at that moment.
Kagome was pulled from her musings when Sesshomaru returned, with a tray in his hands full of food and Ah-Un trailing behind with a hopeful expression on his muzzles, whining softly from time to time. She tried to prop herself up on her elbows at least, but they failed under her, making her plop down with a groan. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at this attempt.
"Don't move," she was told in a stern voice as the dog youkai deposited the tray on a small dining table and moved it near her. Sighing, Kagome resigned herself to his care, knowing that he will do whatever he deems necessary to keep her alive.
It was embarrassing when Sesshomaru propped her up on pillows to feed her piece by piece of dried apples, nuts, cheese, rice porridge and fresh youkai meat while Ah-Un crunched on contents of the sack of grain that was brought to him. It was even more embarrassing, though, when he needed to help her to use the bucked that served as her chamber pot, and then empty it out himself.
"We will continue with your lessons later today," Sesshomaru stated when he deemed Kagome sufficiently nourished. She felt very full, almost engorged, and just as touched by his care, no matter how impassive his face was, or how cold his voice. Actions were the thing that spoke loudest, after all, especially with him.
"Wait, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome called out as he turned to walk away with the empty tray. "Can you please bring me a grey pouch that lies near the spice box? "
He nodded, and soon later it, together with more grain to keep Ah-Un happy, was deposited near Kagome. As he walked away from her again, she thanked him one more time, before turning her attention to the pouch that was lying near her.
Cuteness of Ah-Un was a welcomed reprieve from Kagome's grim thoughts as she looked through mementos there were lying within. There wasn't much, but they were precious to her, just like the memories that were chained to those items.
There was a protective charm from her grandfather, old and weathered, that was supposed to keep her safe. Any reiki that was in there had went away long time ago but Kagome still kept it as a reminder of her old man. After that Kagome produced another memento from the pouch – a rag doll with a bunch of dark string imitating hair on its head, dressed into what could be a monk's robe. Sota, her younger brother, made it for her before she left with Shikon no Tama, declaring that's this is how he will look after finishing his own training.
Another precious bauble was a small wooden comb with half of its teeth missing. It was a gift from her father when she was only a little girl – a last one Kagome had ever got from him before he died in a bandit attack. A pair of carved chopsticks from her mother that Kagome could never bring herself to actually use – they were way too pretty in her opinion for that. Gods, how she had missed her family now. She hadn't seen any of them for years.
There was no memento from Haruko, but that didn't stopped Kagome from remembering her former apprentice too. It was ironic, in her opinion, that the outspoken girl that could always, at most, perform holy rites without any actual power behind them, was now more a priestess than Kagome herself. If only she could actually go and visit her younger friend…
Ah-Un finally decided that he was, for a change, full, and crawled on Kagome's knees to sleep in warmth. The hatchling was now a finger phalanx taller at the withers that when he was gifted to Sesshomaru – Kagome had actually kept measures. She petted him tenderly, feeling aches of her heart lessening a little from this small action. But quiet sadness was still feeling her chest to the brim.
"Sesshomaru-sama," she suddenly spoke. The youkai in question stopped what he was doing (cleaning and oiling one of his many weapons) to look at her questioningly. "If I die here, will you, please, tell Haruko-chan and my family what had happened to me? They live in Higurashi shine."
"You will tell them yourself," Sesshomaru's cryptic answer was. It left Kagome confused – how could she tell them if she was dead? Or did he mean that she was not going to die? It wasn't that reassuring today. Then, he looked at her with disapproval. "If you have energy for such notions, then you had rested enough. Your lessons shall resume now."
Well, while Kagome was not so sure that her cloudy head was up to that, even if she didn't need to actually stand up and do anything active, but she admitted that Sesshomaru was right in that it was better than just be sad and mope around.
When the day finally came, Kagome wouldn't even have noticed that it did if not for Sesshomaru's announcement one morning. There was nothing in his poise or actions to indicate that he was in heat. If it was all a mask, then it was perfect. Kagome wished she could control herself just as well – she was trembling all over from her nerves and anticipation after hearing those words. She really wished to be just done with it all already, but fear of failure was keeping her from staying calm.
"Am I ready?" she asked in response. Sesshomaru accessed her with his sharp eyes.
"Acceptably so," he concluded, inclining his head a little. "Prepare yourself, stop shaking, and you might try."
Kagome did as he said. It took some time, two cups of tea and lot of pats on Ah-Un's heads for her to calm down her nerves, but eventually the anxiety was replaced with a steady determination. Then, it was time.
She and Sesshomaru had moved outside of the den for the task to have more space. Lately, Kagome rarely ventured there, and when rays of the spring sun fell on her face she was realized how much she had missed that with her being such a recluse lately. Maybe at least some of her weakness was just because of lack of fresh air, though soreness and aches in her body reminded her that most of it was surely not.
"You know what to do," Sesshomaru stated, from his position a several steps away.
Kagome nodded in response. It was all talked about more than once, after all. So she sat, clad in a simple white gown made from youkai silk, on a patch of growing grass, closed her physical eyes and opened her mind one to turn in deep within herself. There, two opposing forces fought between each other as usual, with Kagome's body being a battlefield which they demolished over and over again with their clashes. If she wanted, she could've temporarily reigned in her reiki, but a slightest lapse in concentration would make it retaliate, lashing out to her youki – and it was better not to. That always resulted in only more hemorrhages when her holy powers tried to actually burn her blood, not that it didn't do that anyway.
It was time for that to stop.
Kagome reached for her youki. It responded readily. Her previous 'meditations' already conditioned her and her energies for the current task, and when she concentrated on the image and feeling of what she wanted her youki to become, it had eagerly shifted, always keen for changes. The key was to make those changes specific and erase even an idea of any other ones.
It went smoothly at first. With her reiki temporarily put aside and under Kagome's tight leash, her youki moved and stretched in her body, transforming it to her will despite the protests her flesh send to her with impulses of burning pain. Waves of fur run over her skin, with spider silk of her clothes melding with it seamlessly. Her body expanded in size and altered in shape. At the same time, a rush of sensations and desires hit Kagome's brain. All of her sensory faculties were sharper than ever, and all of her new instincts hit her head at the same time. It was overwhelming, and for a moment she faltered under that storm.
She would've probably held on, if not for the most prominent of those desires. An instinct to continue her bloodline, together with the lust that began to burn in her lower stomach and the memory of how pleasurable laying with Sesshomaru was, and how it gave her that precious reprieve from her pain, made Kagome stumble further.
Here she was, still suffering, trying to assume some shape and only feeling more pain from it. And here was he, a virile male, able to bring her the reprieve from it in the best possible way. And suddenly, her previous goals – whatever they were – seemed much less important than changing her form back into something better in size for jumping him and making him bring her that reprieve again, one way or another.
A pressing wave of youki passing over Kagome's form, clearing her mind from thoughts like this. She stumbled and sat back on her rock – when she had even risen up? Her body was on fire, and she could feel blood trailing down her face.
"A failure," Sesshomaru concluded coming up to her as Kagome tried to clean her face with tufts of grass. "Why?"
Kagome made an attempt to gather her jumbled thoughts together. She still had opportunity to try again – a failure wasn't the end of the world, but every attempt hurt her greatly, and she couldn't just waste them. She needed to fix her mistakes, so she thought hard about the answer. It was easy to reach - an embarrassing, but unexpected mistake. Twice embarrassing: first time - because of how stupid it was, second – because of what exactly it was.
"It went well at first," she spoke with a slight blush, "but then heat hit my head and I was, uh, a bit distracted by you, Sesshomaru-sama. And then I decided that I can't do… anything… with you, if am as gigantic as I was, so I started to shift back."
Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows with an amused grunt.
"Then," he rumbled as his silhouette shifted, melding into a great figure of his true form. For a moment, it looked as if he was grinning wide and feral, before his face was completely replaced with a muzzle, "try again now."
Kagome did. Not immediately, though – first, she spend some time resting and cleaning herself up. The lakeshore near the den was a great place to just sit and enjoy rays of sunshine, while Sesshomaru was lying with his muzzle on his paws, either relaxing too, or just waiting patiently. It would've been such an idyllic moment if not for how bad Kagome felt.
When she had finally tried again, it was harder, her battered innards protesting violently. Still, she persevered through her torment, channeling her youki. At first, it went just like in her previous attempt, but, in accordance with Kagome's hopes, when youkai lust hit her she continued to keep her original goal in mind, even if reasons for reaching it became different.
And then, suddenly, with one last excruciatingly sharp influx of pain, it just clicked, like a finally solved puzzle lock. Every element of her body had finally felt on its rightful place, not conflicting with others, perfectly content to be whatever it was. Her youki finally had what it wanted – a complete definition, a form – and stopped tearing Kagome apart with its need for self-determination. It was the best feeling in the world, or maybe it felt like that because she finally was completely free of her pains.
There was no end for Kagome's joy. Everything was right in the world in that moment. All the smells, colors and sounds of it greeted her in what felt to her like a cheerful song of sensations. Energy was rushing in her veins – perfectly fine veins, that weren't popping like overripe plums or burning like hot iron! – in a need of release. And so, Kagome ran, barely even noticing how Sesshomaru rose from his place and gave chase.
Her four paws left deep imprints in a damp from thawing snow ground, but Kagome still felt like she had no weight and was flying, and even all the trees around didn't slowed her down much – those of them that she didn't tore down without even reducing her speed. Sesshomaru run circles around her, corralling her and playing with her like a cat with mouse. Kagome eagerly participated in this game of tag, zigzagging chaotically through forest and trying to not let him touch her.
At the same time, she took the opportunity to look over the already familiar forest with her new eyes – and nose. Everything was bright and clear, and even in her rushed passing Kagome could tell so much about what transpired in there! She could smell wild animals, even if she couldn't tell which exactly with her lack of experience, and trails of small youkai, and besides it, everything was filled with the smell of Sesshomaru through his territorial marks. It was hiding the smell of the dog youkai himself when he decided to hide in ambush for her, making their game all the more exiting.
Sun was hanging high in the sky when Kagome had finally felt herself tiring. The chase lasted for what felt like hours, and while her exhilaration might have weathered out during it, her joy was still filing her heart to the brim, and her stubbornness was not letting her to just give up and let Sesshomaru catch her.
It was at that exact moment that he pounced on her, as if he, like a true predator, was only waiting for Kagome to weaken. Sesshomaru's jump had taken her unawares, allowing him to pin her down with his weight. Kagome yapped in surprise, but managed to gather enough strength in her paws to roll over on her back, making Sesshomaru jump off her. But a short moment later he was pouncing again, taking an opportunity, which her open belly gave him, to strike.
Kagome caught him with her paws to try and shake him off again, but in the end managed to only roll over so that she was on top of him. They continued to play-fight like that for a short while longer, tossing and exchanging bloodless nips and shoves; but finally, Sesshomaru trapped Kagome under him with his teeth on the scruff of her neck, and she relaxed in that position, accepting her loss. It was a great fun anyway. Looking at Sesshomaru in his human form one would never be able to tell that it was in him to play like this, but Kagome knew from experience how he liked to hunt and chase.
With a pleased grumble, Sesshomaru stepped away, giving Kagome an opportunity to rise up and finally take notice of the place where they stopped their game of tag. It was just another forest clearing, now greatly enlarged and completely ploughed by their rough play. The only interesting thing in there besides Kagome herself was Sesshomaru.
Now that she had calmed down a little after the initial rush of her success, Kagome had a better time with rational thoughts. There was a notion of changing back to her original form, but she didn't want to. Besides wishing to enjoy great senses of the dog one, Kagome was afraid that the sorry state of her body will return when she transforms back, and she would've liked to push that away from herself, if only for now.
Furthermore, there were some other things she wanted to do first, desires that came from some more primal parts of her brain, new and inhuman. There was an intense need in her body, one that could be only diminished by a male… And one such stood just nearby, looking at her with hungry eyes. Kagome shivered under the look, understanding that even if the game of chase was over, she was still a prey for Sesshomaru. But it was fine, great even. It was exactly what she wanted, and there was nothing to stop Kagome now. Her body and mind both called for him, and when he approached with a clear intent, she turned his back and tail on him readily just as her instincts and knowledge were telling her to do.
They also readied her for the moment when Sesshomaru entered her, covering Kagome from behind. It was, just as he had said earlier, not as pleasurable as when she was in human form, but there still was a strong desire for more, and when Sesshomaru thrust in her, she had pushed back against him. Just a few movements later his member enlarged inside of her, increasing the pleasure and starting to create sweet tingles in Kagome's body with each next thrust.
It didn't took much time for Sesshomaru to spill his seed in her, and while Kagome didn't felt those mind-blowing sensations from before, her needs still felt sated, if temporarily, and the experience was, generally, not bad. But now he had knotted inside of her, and Kagome knew that there might pass a whole quarter of an hour before they will be able to finally separate – and that was just awkward.
She stretched out her neck to throw a look at Sesshomaru. He seemed to be unaffected by this, and just waited calmly. Trying to accommodate him a little, Kagome lied down in more comfortable for their wait pose.
"This part is awkward," Kagome complained. Her pronunciation was now much better than ever before. "Maybe I should have just shifted back."
"Relax, Bird," Sesshomaru rumbled unhurriedly in response.
She snorted. It was easy to him to say – he could just shrug off what seemed like literally everything. And what was with the 'bird'? It looked like Sesshomaru had finally decided on what to call her in dog speak. Kagome guessed that it was from the meaning of her name, 'caged bird'. It just sounded unfamiliar to her ear.
"But! I had succeeded!" Kagome reminded herself aloud. It was a real cause to rejoice, despite where that eventually led her. "I feel so great, and nothing hurts at all! Can you imagine? I had finally done it, and all thanks to you!"
She could feel it clearly without even trying, the two opposite forces that lied within her. Now, contrary to how it was before, youki was an outer layer, while her reiki hid behind it. But this detail, while curious, was not as important as the fact that both were completely subservient to Kagome's will. Even being things of opposite nature, they didn't fight between each other now, because she had willed for them not to without even thinking about it; and just like a reiki barrier could stop a youkai without harming it, two energies didn't clashed with each other anymore.
Having nothing better to do in the moment, Kagome even tried to summon a spark of reiki on her nose. It shined bright pink, and she yapped happily in a dog version of laughter when it didn't bring any ruin on her body as an aftereffect, even though it would've probably burned any other youkai if it was so close to their skin. Her joy overruled her previous awkwardness, and when she had stopped laughing, she just let her head rest on her front paws and waited in comfortable silence, breathing in smells, sounds and sights around her.
Finally, Kagome felt a knot inside of her deflating, and, in hurry to finally be able to roam around freely again, she quickly slipped away from Sesshomaru's hold. He rose on his paws too and looked at her with a certain gleam in his red eyes that Kagome was starting to recognize. It reawakened the need that was temporarily sated by their mating just now, but being more in control of herself at this moment, Kagome stomped down on it, hard.
"No way!" she barked at Sesshomaru, bristling. "I am not going to be stuck here again!"
He snorted, turning his back on her with a wave of his tale.
"Then we should return to the den and change back," he growled.
Kagome wasn't really keen on that, but there seemed to be little of other options. She knew that if she stays like she was, eventually her lust will grow again until she will yield to it. Kagome didn't know if shifting to a human form again will diminish it, but at least sex will be better if it doesn't. And she wasn't going to stay in the dog form for her whole life anyway, at least if she could help it. She hoped there will be no complications with that.
The process of transforming back was simple in comparison to the opposite process, and understanding of it was almost intuitive even without Sesshomaru's earlier explanations. Kagome just needed to release her youki back to its original state… Problem laid the fact that its original state was a god damned mess.
But having no other options, Kagome tried to do it anyway. Like a snap of a string, her youki returned to its malleable state, only for her reiki to envelop it in a blink of an eye – and just like that, two energies returned to the balance of their original positions, and Kagome's body – to its original size and shape. It all went, thankfully, without a hitch. She still was free of pain and aches, as if her transformation healed even them somehow, and even thought after having youkai senses for half of a day the world around her seemed to be so very dull, Kagome was grinning happily.
"Your scent had changed again," Sesshomaru noted from his watching spot across the lake. "It's completely different now."
"How, Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome asked, making her way up closer. She wished she was able to tell the answer without outside help. She also wished for a moment, that Sesshomaru wasn't so attractive, because all the time they were returning to the den, she kept having random dirty thoughts about taking revenge for her earlier loss in their game of chase by pouncing on him from behind when he doesn't expect it, and then…
And influence of the mating season didn't seem to end with return to the human form, because she just had one of those thoughts again. It would've been so nice to ruin Sesshomaru's white clothes in mud. Then, he'd need to take them off.
"Every trace of your humanity is gone from it. There are only smells of your youkai form and of your holy powers," the dog youkai explained, looking at her contemplatively. "You are not ailed anymore."
"It seems so," Kagome grinned even wider. "I hurt really badly when I was transforming into the dog form, but it was completely painless in reverse, and I feel completely healthy now! Thank you so much for all you did for me, Sesshomaru-sama!"
She bowed low in a show of her appreciation, but that didn't seem to be enough. She was in a life debt to him, after all. On Kagome's current opinion, that required a grateful hug – though a more logical part of her brain was telling her that she just wanted to feel Sesshomaru up.
When she raised her head again, Sesshomaru was grinning back at her. There was an edge of violence in that baring of his teeth, but while predatory, it wasn't malicious. And there was true joy in it, too.
"It was not without its rewards," he said as his grin dimmed to a smirk, and Kagome made another couple of steps towards him, still thinking about a giving him a good, grateful, friendly hug.
"What are you going to do now, Kagome? You are free from your oath to this Sesshomaru," Sesshomaru suddenly asked, his face a calm mask again.
Oh, Kagome knew what he was going to do! First, she was going to visit Haruko-chan; then, she will finally go to see her family for the first time in years. And after that, she was going to drop by to Tsunohiyoru and Touran too!
"And after you visit all of your friends?" Sesshomaru asked with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
That dimmed Kagome's enthusiasm considerably. She… she didn't really know. She could still return to the Ryokami mountain and be a shrine maiden (or a shrine woman, at least), but she had only travelled there in the first place because of the threat that Shikon no Tama was; and that was gone now. Kagome could be a priestess in her family's shrine too, but there, in a more populated place, any other wielder of holy powers that was worth his purifying salt (including her grandfather and her brother) will probably be able to tell that she wasn't a normal priestess. She will be probably mistaken for a witch, or a dark priestess – it were them who usually wielded both reiki and youki.
And Kagome didn't really have any other ideas of what she could do for life. Just build a hut somewhere and tend for the ground? That sounded extremely boring. Not that being a priestess was most interesting thing in the world – it was just something Kagome was because of her upbringing, not her choice. She sighed dejectedly. A whole life ahead of her, and no ideas on how to spend it.
"I don't know, really," Kagome finally admitted. Being honest with herself, she could add that for starters, she didn't want to leave Sesshomaru's side. Would he permit her to stay with him to repay her life debt if she asked? It wouldn't be a bad way to spend the rest of her life. "I never even thought of that with the curse and all that…"
"There are still many things that you'd better to learn. If you wish to do so, this Sesshomaru is willing to teach you, Kagome," the dog youkai proposed.
Kagome looked at him with surprise that soon shifted into suspicion. Last time they made a deal like this, she essentially became his slave… Though, now she had realized that the scary deal was mostly for the sake of Sesshomaru's sensitive ears – she'd protested some of his commands much louder if not for his authority to just throw her out anytime if she'd really rebelled. It was not like he didn't had other means to make her do stuff if he'd wanted to, but Kagome had felt much more inclined to comply when she had promised to do so in the first place. And it was a long time now since Kagome last time had made anything that really annoyed the hell out of the youkai.
So no, Sesshomaru's free offer wasn't suspicious – his motives were, but again, in a good way. Feeling bold from all the positive emotions roaming within, Kagome called him on them. Pulling out his teeth together with answers became a routine for her long time ago, after all.
"Why? Did you liked to be a teacher? Or will you actually miss me, Sesshomaru-sama? That's so touching!" Kagome smiled with false innocence as she inched closer to him. She knew it wasn't the former – he told her himself that he cared, and he wasn't a type to lie like that. She just didn't expect him to care enough to let her stay, and even suggest it first.
In response, Sesshomaru just looked at her coldly, obviously not very happy with being teased.
"Do you agree or not?" he asked with a sharp turn of his head. A proud poise, a haughty face and delectable line of his neck opened by a dismissing gesture – an urge to pounce on him was almost irresistible.
"Well, I must think about it first," Kagome drawled out, tapping on her chin as if in thought and crawling a bit closer. There was a rationale in her head that was saying that what she was going to do wasn't an appropriate conduct for an unmarried woman at all, but it was a dying voice behind a chorus of much louder ones. And those all sung to Kagome that it was going to be so much fun and pleasure, and that Sesshomaru will completely agree with that too. Unless she succeeds in ruining his clothes, of course, then he might hesitate a bit, "Maybe I should just return to my shrine and…"
Her words were interrupted by her own pounce. Despite all the speed with which she was moving (which was not much, admittedly), Sesshomaru reacted in time. Quick as lightning, he caught Kagome midair to turn their positions around – and it was her who ended up with her clothes ruined in mud while Sesshomaru sat on her legs, pinning her arms to her back with one of his hands.
"A foolish attempt," Sesshomaru snorted and leaned in, speaking quietly right in Kagome's ear, "Was it your intention to lose?"
"Maybe," Kagome whined, wriggling under him in attempt to put her face as far from all the dirt as possible. The sound didn't hurt her throat like it did before, but she still continued to talk on Japanese after that, blushing all the time, "I am not sure anymore. I am just so… so…"
"Understandable," Sesshomaru said with some amusement. He had shifted his posture, and Kagome could feel his erection poking at her backside through the layers of silks – a clear show that he also wasn't unaffected, "Mating season had only just begun. This Sesshomaru believes that your decision can be postponed until its end."
That it did. If Kagome was going to act like that all the time, whether she was in Sesshomaru's presence or someone else's, then she'd better be in Sesshomaru's presence. This year or the next, or the one after that. Not that she wanted to refuse his proposal in the first place. She would've loved to learn more about youkai culture and actually finish her neglected fencing training. And Sesshomaru had promised her that she will be able to learn how to fly with the help of her youki.
With that thought, Kagome wriggled again purposefully, making special care to rub herself over Sesshomaru's manhood, and grinned when he responded with a sharp thrust of his own hips. She had promised herself to make up to Sesshomaru, after all…