AN: I took part in the SessRin is Canon Discord's Secret Santa Fic Exchange, where writers provided three prompts from which the Secret Santas could choose to write a tailor-made gift fic. So, Merry Christmas, vamphigherqueen! This is actually a concept I thought of a few weeks before the fic exchange was announced, and though it was originally set in the feudal era in my head, I've adapted it to the modern one for the purpose of the prompt.

Speaking of, here was the prompt I chose from the three vamphigherqueen provided: SessRin stuck in an elevator (smut)

vamphigherqueen, you asked for smut, so I made sure to deliver. 😉 I hope you (and any other readers) enjoy it!

Also, thanks to Tinuviel_Undomiel for beta-reading this monster…and giving it the alternate title "The Perverted Scroll." 😆

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha/Yashahime.

Erotic Exhibition

By LuvinAniManga

Rin's mouse hovered over the send button, last minute hesitation keeping her from committing to the email she had spent the last half hour wording perfectly for her boss:

Hi Mr. Tsukiinu,

I have a few matters I need to discuss with you concerning the grant application due on Dec. 31st. I was hoping we could discuss them in person. Would you perhaps have time for a meeting tomorrow, perhaps over tea or lunch?

Have a great day!

Rin Takahashi

The email in and of itself was nothing special, and yet…it was oh so tricky. It was her most underhanded way to ask her boss, Sesshoumaru Tsukiinu, out on a Christmas date…without it being an actual date.

She lacked the courage to not use work as a cover.

It wouldn't be a romantic dinner, like every other couple had on Christmas in Japan, but if she could at least eat out with him on Christmas day, well…she would consider it her best holiday yet.

She closed her eyes and clicked the send button. A second later, her computer trilled, letting her know the email was sent. She sighed, leaning back into her office chair.

I don't know why I'm so worried. Chances are, his schedule's already booked.

His reply came only a moment later, and she sat up and opened the email as fast as she could.

Are you not taking tomorrow off?

Rin smiled wryly and replied, Someone has to keep the museum open. Most of the employees had put in for time off tomorrow. Christmas was not a sanctioned holiday—nor did Mr. Tsukiinu like to close the museum that day, hoping to bring in tourists or those on dates before they headed out to Christmas dinner—but many families and couples liked to spend the whole day together regardless.

Her eyes drifted to the garland hung around her office window, but it only reminded her that she was the lonesome loser on this most romantic of nights in Japan. Rin had neither a boyfriend nor a family, so she always chose to work on Christmas, to the everlasting delight and gratitude of her colleagues.

She glanced at the clock, noting that it was 16:00. There was still one more hour before she got off work.

What can I piddle around with for an hour? she wondered, looking around her office. They had an exhibition opening after the New Year's holidays, so as the new curator, there was still so much to see to.

She had just received the promotion only a few months ago after the previous curator, Kaede, retired. At twenty-five years old, Rin was stunned when Kaede offered her name up as her replacement. Yes, Rin had been working at the museum in some capacity—from intern to assistant curator—for the last five years, but she still couldn't believe someone of her age and relative inexperience would be the curator for the whole Dog Demon History Museum.

Not that it was a huge museum, by any means, but it was still a well-respected establishment in Tokyo and one of the top attractions for tourists. It was, as Rin liked to brag (having written some of the promotional copy herself), the largest collection of historical demon artifacts in the country—and nearly all of it was from Mr. Tsukiinu's personal and family collection. Centuries of demon artifacts, carefully preserved and warded when needed, set in beautiful, informative, and sometimes interactive displays.

Even with the added responsibilities, Rin loved her job. She had had a fascination with demons and demonic culture ever since she was a child, so to be able to work for such a renowned museum and for someone as well-known as Mr. Tsukiinu was a dream come true. She knew not many people her age could boast that fact.

But then, she liked to think the dream was earned, since her fascination with demons had been born out of the most hellish of nightmares.

When she was just eight years old, a demon had saved her from the burning car wreck that took the lives of the rest of her family. She remembered screaming for help until she inhaled too much smoke and began coughing nonstop. A moment later, the entire rear driver's side door was ripped off its hinges and tossed aside. She tried to catch a glimpse of her savior, but her eyes burned and watered, and she couldn't keep them open. Even if she had been able to, the billowing black smoke obscured the hero's figure, and the flames blinded her. The demon tore through the seatbelt holding her brother next to her, and the last thing she saw was her brother's frighteningly lifeless body being lifted out.

When she came too, she was lying in a hospital bed, where she was dutifully informed that the rest of her family had perished in the accident, that it was a miracle she was alive, that her medical bills had all been paid, and that she would be moving into an orphanage.

The suddenness of it all shocked her into silence—and she didn't speak for an entire year.

As a result, it was even more difficult for her to adjust to the orphanage than it would already have been had she spoken. The other children didn't like to play with her because she didn't talk. She had never felt more lonely in her life, and instead of time healing her wounds, they only worsened as she missed her family more and more. She never expected to be happy again.

But that first Christmas at the orphanage, a large package arrived for her and only her. It was wrapped in paper showing a snowy, moonlit night, and it contained beautiful clothes—both pretty ones for outings and also trendy ones for play—as well as toys and accessories. But there was no note as to whom had sent it.

The only clue she had was when one of the girls tried to snatch a dress out of Rin's hands because she wanted to see it. She grabbed the sleeve, tearing it off at the shoulder. Rin gasped in devastation.

But then right before her eyes, the sleeve mended itself back together. The kids and caretakers stared at the garment in shock. These clothes—and the toys as well, as Rin found out, when some stupid boys had proceeded to try to break them to see if they put themselves back together (they did)—were demon-crafted. It wasn't that humans couldn't purchase demon wares, but even a young Rin knew that they were pricey and difficult to procure without the proper connections.

She was convinced that the demon who had saved her had sent her the package. He hasn't forgotten me.

She wanted to repay him and even wrote a thank you note, as her mother had taught her, but since there was no return address on the package, neither she nor the orphanage director knew where to send it.

Child that she was, she knew demons had acute hearing, so she went outside and called out, "Mr. Demon, thank you for the Christmas presents! If you can hear me, I'm leaving you a note here." And she tucked the note into the fence surrounding the orphanage.

The next day, the note was gone. In its place was a bellflower. She pressed the bellflower and made it into a bookmark that she still had to this day.

More anonymous gifts came every Christmas wrapped in the same paper as the first one. She started studying demons and demonic culture however she could as a child, to the point where she always knew she wanted to study it in college, if she could afford to go. She studied hard to try to get a scholarship, but there were just some classes that were too boring for her to concentrate on well. So, while her grades were above average, they were not the type, she knew, that would get her the money she needed to attend school.

She had already resigned herself to a monotonous life working low-income jobs when a scholarship letter came for her. She had thought it a scam, at first; however, it proved to be real and allowed her to follow her passions. She took courses in Demonology, and during her sophomore year, at her professor's recommendation, she applied for an internship at the Dog Demon History Museum and was accepted.

It was during that internship when she was twenty years old that she first met Sesshoumaru Tsukiinu. With his glimmering silver hair, piercing topaz eyes, and stunning markings upon the noble planes of his face, it was impossible not to develop a crush on him.

But of course, she was a lowly intern, and he was the museum owner who only came by once a week to check in with the curator and other executive team leaders. She had thought the most interaction she would have with him would be handing him his drink at the team meetings. But he surprised her every week by asking after her. He asked if she enjoyed her job, what her favorite exhibits or artifacts were, how her classes were going, and more. And every week, he recalled their previous conversation.

"Whatever you're doing, keep it up," Kaede told her once. The old curator had never seen Mr. Tsukiinu act so friendly with someone.

Having grown close enough to her supervisor already, Rin dared to joke, "Even if what I'm doing is sleeping with the boss?"

Kaede just laughed, since they both knew that was impossible.

"Rin, if you play your cards right, I can almost guarantee you'll have a job after graduation," Kaede added.

And so it had come to pass. She moved up to assistant curator, and when Kaede retired, she told Rin that Mr. Tsukiinu hadn't even batted an eye when she suggested Rin take her place.

"'She will do well.' That's what he told me," Kaede relayed. "That's about the highest praise you can earn from a demon like Mr. Tsukiinu."

Now he was her direct boss, and she was the one who got to spend time with him every week, keeping him appraised of the museum's doings. When the executive team meetings concluded, Mr. Tsukiinu often stayed behind to answer Rin's questions—or to just let her chat. He didn't always answer, but he didn't cut her off and leave either. The kindness he showed her only deepened her love for him.

Rin couldn't believe how lucky she was.

Well, I'd be luckier if I actually got the courage to ask him out without pretense and he accepted. But that will probably never happen.

Even if she asked, he was likely to reject her. She knew it wouldn't be an age issue—most demons were centuries older than humans, yet more and more mixed couples were appearing. No, it was a far simpler truth: how could someone as plain as she was even get on such a magnificent demon's radar?

She pushed those thoughts aside and stood up, looking around her office for something to occupy herself for the next…fifty minutes. She spotted a box of donations sitting in the corner and figured she might as well start cataloguing.

Mrs. Higurashi from the nearby Higurashi shrine—who happened to be the mother of Mr. Tsukiinu's sister-in-law—was the sweetest woman in the world, so Rin didn't have the heart to say "no" when the widow came almost every month with another box of "antiques."

That wasn't to say Rin hadn't found a few diamonds in the rough, but even Mrs. Higurashi said it was "Grandpa's junk collecting dust and taking up precious room in our shed."

Rin started sorting through the box, meticulously cataloguing each find, even if it wasn't anything special. She fell into a rhythm, quite forgetting the time.

After a while, she pulled out a scroll box with a title carved on top of it: "Spring Comes for Secret Love." She opened the box to find a silk scroll with unusually sharp, bamboo handles. She unwound the silk tie and opened it. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively looked away, a blush rising to her cheeks.

It was a shunga scroll: erotic art illustrated in very exacting detail.

Well, so much for another diamond in the rough. I don't think we can display this in the museum.

Shunga scrolls were not pornography, per se, nor were they a source of shame for Japanese historians and museums. Any other museum would have loved to get their hands on what seemed to be an authentic Tokugawa-era shunga scroll.

But Mr. Tsukiinu had a very refined sense of taste, and she did not think he would want his name associated with a shunga scroll.

Still…it was her job to catalogue every piece that came through their doors.

She opened the scroll further, her inner archivist salivating over the fact that the drawings were still amazingly vibrant. Like a magnet, the lewd images yanked her eyes to them. Captions accompanied the illustrations, appeared to be part storytelling and part instruction manual. Her blouse and cardigan grew tight across her breasts as she studied the images, and she pressed her hose-clad thighs together and shifted to fight off the building ache in her sex, unable to reach down and itch it properly while sitting in her pencil skirt.

The beginning of the scroll began with the title and what appeared to be a haiku. She peered closely at the script and started reading aloud as was her habit to do when she had to decipher messy, ancient calligraphy and was alone:

"Unrequited love

The sea beckons but

Cannot quench the thirst."

It continued in a preface of sorts before opening to the first drawing. Rin read, "'Lonely soul, thou who hast turned to spring pictures for pleasure, rejoice, for now thou canst drink from the bountiful rivers of love and lust and turn thy back upon the open and forlorn sea whose waters display promise but bring only death from within.'" A pang went through Rin's heart, and Mr. Tsukiinu's face flashed through her mind. Geez, even hundreds of years later, this scroll can resonate with a reader.

She continued, "'Speak thy love's true name and offer but a drop of blood. When next ye meet with scroll in hand, thy love shall grant thee the pleasures long sought.'

Rin frowned. Offer a drop of blood? But that sounds like a blood sacrifice, which would mean….

She quickly looked around the scroll for a binding sutra but didn't see one. Then she picked up the scroll box and turned it over.

There, dangling from the side that had been facing away from her, was an ancient sutra—a binding charm.

"Shit," Rin hissed, dropping both the scroll and box before shoving her chair away from her desk. "It is a demon scroll." She tensed, prepared to run if a demon or some other cursed spirit emerged.

But nothing happened.

And now that she thought about it, she had been handling the scroll for the last several minutes without anything manifesting.

It must only activate with the blood sacrifice. Still, I need to handle it with care. The sutra must have come undone after being jostled around in the box of junk. Had Mrs. Higurashi realized this was in here? Artifacts believing to be possessed or cursed needed to be exorcized first.

Surely she would have told me if she knew. It has to be an honest mistake.

She cautiously rolled back towards her desk and reached for her phone, calling to see if anyone in the containment department was still at work. She tried a few lines, but no one answered. A look at the clock told her why: it was a quarter to 18:00. Had she really got that engrossed in a shunga scroll to accidentally work that much overtime?

She sighed. It really didn't matter how much overtime she worked, because it wasn't like there was anyone waiting for her at home. At least Mr. Tsukiinu would appreciate it. The museum owner was a stickler for punctuality and hard work. Though she usually tried to only keep to the eight-hour workday (plus lunch), she still felt like she was usually one of the first-in-last-out employees. However could everyone else live with themselves, coming in late to work or skipping out early?

Well, that hardly mattered now. She would go drop the scroll off in their warded storage in the basement and then make an appointment tomorrow with one of their usual exorcists to come and exorcize the scroll before she examined it further.

She jotted down its new catalogue number on a sticky note, then carefully replaced the scroll in its box before grabbing her purse and heading to the elevator. She hit the button and waited for it to crawl its way up to the third floor. As she did, she kept her gaze on the scroll box, watching for any signs of demonic activity.

The elevator doors slid open, and without bothering to look up, she walked in. But then a something filled the edges of her vision, and she looked up and yelped in shock, fumbling the scroll box. It clattered against the marble floor in such a way that Rin's heart leapt with the instinctive fear she had damaged it. The silk scroll rolled out.

"M-Mr. Tsukiinu! I'm so sorry—I didn't realize you were here," she said, bowing, her purse slipping off her shoulder and to the floor, and her butt hitting the doors as they closed. Before her eyes closed, she caught a flash of something small and shiny disappearing into his pants pocket. Probably just his watch.

"Rin, you know I have told you to call me Sesshoumaru when it is just us."

"Oh, yes, I'm so sorry, Mr.—er, Sesshoumaru," Rin said, his name escaping her lips barely above a whisper. Would that she could whisper that precious name into his pointed ear as she kissed it….

Stop! What are you doing, spacing out in front of your boss?

She opened her eyes and discovered, to her horror, that the scroll had rolled partly open at their feet, just starting to show off the first illustration. As if her boss wouldn't be disappointed enough in her for dropping an artifact, but an erotic one at that? She couldn't let him know.

"Are you working late?" he asked, bending down to pick up the demon scroll.

"No!" Rin cried out, getting down on her knees to grab the box with one hand and one of the sharp scroll handles with the other. "I mean, ah…no. I simply lost track of time. I just need to go drop this off, and then I'll be out of here. Which floor are you going to?"

"This one."

Rin blushed in mortification. "Oh, course! Silly me. I'm so sorry—I'm blocking your way, aren't I?" She scrambled to stand, but between squatting in heels and having her hands full of artifact, she struggled to get up.

"Hand me the scroll," he said, reaching for it.

She yanked it out of his reach. "No, no, it's okay—ow!" Her thumb sliced against the sharp handle as she moved it.

Sesshoumaru sniffed. "Rin, you're bleeding."

"I…what?" She looked down. Dark, red blood had smeared all over the bamboo end of the scroll. And…was that a spot on the silk itself?

"Oh no!" she shrieked, and Sesshoumaru winced ever so slightly.

"Is it deep?" he asked, kneeling down and pulling out a handkerchief. Of course only someone of his age and status would still carry around one of those.

"That's not it! Oh, Mr.—er, Sesshoumaru, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me! I've sullied one of our donations with my carelessness." She took the handkerchief from him, and instead of using it on her finger, tried to mop up the blood from the wooded end. Where's that spot on the paper? Did I imagine it? Please tell me I imagined it. I can clean blood off bamboo, but silk is so much more difficult….

"The scroll does not concern me, Rin. Show me your hand," Sesshoumaru said, reaching for it.

As soon as his warm fingers touched her clammy, bloody hand, the scroll began to glow a vicious purple. Rin gasped.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in alarm. "Rin, toss it!"

She obeyed without hesitation, throwing it towards the other side of the elevator, and with green-tipped claws, Sesshoumaru slashed through it. The two, rolled halves of the scroll clattered down to the floor.

Then a mocking, male laugh filled the elevator, and the scroll glowed once more, floating into the air and repairing itself.

Rin squeaked and smashed the "open" button on the elevator doors, but nothing happened. She looked up at the floor indicator and saw the digital numbers changing at random, like they were glitching.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Rin, get behind me," Sesshoumaru commanded, yanking her up and putting himself between her and the floating scroll.

"Fear not, madam," the haughty voice said again, and the repaired scroll rolled open to reveal an inked, male face that moved as it spoke. "I would never harm my contractor."

"Contractor?" Rin echoed.

"Yes. Thou hast fulfilled the requirements of the contract, and therefore, I am bound to uphold my end."

"What contract?" Sesshoumaru demanded even as Rin's mind spun.

Requirements? What requirements? She tried to think back to what she had read. Something about unrequited love and…offering blood while…saying your beloved's name.

Her eyes widened in alarm.

Oh no.

"Sesshoumaru, wait—" she tried to say, but the scroll interrupted her.

"The lady has offered me her blood, and in return, I shall offer her her heart's desire."

"What heart's desire?" Sesshoumaru asked, looking more curious than upset.

"No, please," Rin interjected. "I free you of the contract! I didn't mean to—"

The scroll leered at him. "Why thee, good sir."

Confusion marred Sesshoumaru's noble brow. "What?"

"My contractor desires thy love, sir, and she shall have it."

"No!" Rin protested, and Sesshoumaru looked down at her in confusion.

"No?"

"It's not what you think," she said. Yes, she loved him, but she knew that wasn't what the scroll was talking about. Nothing good could come from a demon shunga scroll. "I…I don't want this."

Something painful flickered in his golden eyes, but he quickly turned back to the scroll. "You heard her. She nullifies the contract."

"I'm afraid it cannot be nullified. Once the blood offering has been made, I must see through the contract," the scroll replied.

"Then I will nullify it," Sesshoumaru growled. He slashed the scroll in two.

It only laughed and laced itself back together. "That did not work before. Didst thou really think it would this time? As long as thou art in my space, I cannot be killed. At least…not unless thou kill'st my contractor. Canst thou accomplish that?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Sesshoumaru snapped. "Your space? We need only escape it." He then turned to the elevator doors, and placed his delicate fingers at the seams. With demonic strength, he tried to pry them open, but they would not budge. Then he stepped back and pounded the metal. It crumpled under his fist. But as soon as he drew away for another punch, the dent smoothed itself out with a ripple. Rin gasped.

"Seest thou? If thou art incapable of killing my contractor, there is only one other way to escape this space."

"And what is that?" Sesshoumaru spat.

The inked man stroked his beard with a lewd smile. Then his face faded and the scroll started rolling, showing off one erotic woodprint after another. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened.

"Ye must complete every act I show ye. Only then will the contract be complete and ye free to leave."

Rin cried out in despair. Sesshoumaru glared at the scroll. "No."

The scroll chuckled. "I'm afraid ye have no choice."

"I said no," Sesshoumaru growled. He clenched his fists then, and his hair stood on end. Red crept into his eyes, and his teeth elongated into fangs. He lashed out at the elevator doors, tearing into them, leaving gouges in the metal and landing punches that would decimate whole buildings. Rin just watched his tantrum, hot, silent tears running down her cheeks.

What have I done? I've put him in this horrible predicament. What must he think of me? He must hate me.

"Sesshoumaru, I'm so sorry," she squeaked out, hiding her face in her hands. "I…I didn't mean to do this."

"Do…not…fret," he hissed between strikes. "I…will…free us."

But the scroll only rippled in amusement as Sesshoumaru's work repaired itself with every blow. Finally, even the great demon grew winded, and his demonic side faded. He heaved, staring in frustration at the doors.

Rin couldn't bear to see the desperation on his face anymore. She braced herself and walked over to him, placing a hand on his tense arm. "Sesshoumaru, that's enough. We…we have to do what it says."

"I will not subject you to that, Rin."

Rin half-laughed, half-hiccupped. "Subject me to it? You act as if this was not my fault anyway! I'm an adult, Sesshoumaru. I can suffer the consequences for my actions. I…I'm only sorry that you must also bear the brunt of my mistake." She closed her eyes so she didn't have to watch his expression as she said the next words that tore at her heart. "I understand that the idea of having…of…being intimate with me is repugnant to you, but…perhaps closing your eyes and…imagining I am someone else will help you get through it."

"Don't say such silly things."

Rin dared to peek up at him. He stared at her, frustration etched in every tensed muscle of his face. "My selfish feelings caused this. It's only fair that I should respect your feelings however I can…."

"Your feelings?" Sesshoumaru echoed.

The scroll coiled around them like a snake. "I told you, good sir. Thou art my contractor's beloved. The man she wishes to have and to hold."

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Impossible."

Rin gasped in protest. "Why would you say that? You…you think I don't know my own feelings?"

Sesshoumaru tore the scroll away from them and pounded a fist once more against the door. After a few seconds, he let his head sag against it. "You do not understand what you ask for."

"I do understand!" Rin countered. "How could I not understand an impossible love? I…I was never going to say anything, sir, I promise! I…I will take this secret to my grave. No one need ever know what transpired here. I will not get any strange ideas that you owe me anything or, Buddha forbid, return my affections. I won't sue for sexual harassment, though I suppose…you have every right to sue me." Her heart thudded with grim finality as she said the next words. Here ends the dream. "And of course…I'll turn in my resignation first thing in the morning."

"There is no need to go so far, Rin," Sesshoumaru answered, still not facing her.

"Of course there is. I've put you in the worst type of situation. I'm…I'm no better than a rapist, taking from you without your consent!"

"It is I that will be taking you without your consent!" Sesshoumaru snapped, turning tortured eyes upon her.

Rin sucked in a breath. "W-What?"

Sesshoumaru's hand clenched and he gritted his teeth. "You have a degree in demonology, do you not?"

"Y-Yes." Her heart soared that he remembered. He didn't have to. But that was part of the reason she loved him.

"So did you not learn about demonic mating rituals?"

"Of course we did," Rin answered.

"Then you know that for many species—including dog demons—sex is not the casual affair it has become for humans. It is meant to form an eternal bond." He turned to level her with a molten stare.

Rin shook her head in denial. "But…that only applies during situations of consent." Demonic mating was very animalistic at its core. Like animals, a male had to woo and female, and she had to accept him before the mating—and marking—occurred.

"Yes."

Rin's brows furrowed. "I don't understand."

"Have I not spelled it out for you?" he asked quietly.

It can't be. "You're not saying…you return my feelings?"

It was a long moment before he answered.

"It would seem I do. And that is the problem."

Rin needed a defibrillator, because she was certain her heart had stopped from the one-two punch his words delivered. How could joy and disappointment become so intertwined? "What do you mean? Why is that a problem?"

"Because I am a selfish creature, Rin, and whether you truly want it or not, I do not think I will be able to resist marking you as mine forever. Should you change your mind in the future…I would not let you go."

Rin frowned. "Do you think my feelings could be so easily swayed? What if I want to be bound to you forever?"

He looked down at her from the corner of his eyes, wariness lurking there. "Do you even know me enough to say that?"

Rin blushed. "Are you asking what it is I like about you?" He did not answer, so Rin took that as her cue to continue. "Well, for one thing…you've always been so kind to me." His eyes twitched wider when she said that, but they resumed their placid expression at her next words. "You've always taken the time to ask how I am, and you remember what goes on in my life. I mean, even now, you knew what my major was. You greet me every year on my birthday and send me a cupcake."

"That is a company practice. It is done for every employee."

"Yes, but every other employee gets a cupcake from the same bakery. Mine comes from a different one—the one I was told you was my favorite. You remembered that. As if that weren't enough, you always told me to take breaks when it came time for finals and I was so exhausted at work, even though everyone knows how much you prize efficiency. And now over these past few months as I've gotten to work more closely with you…I've gotten to know you even better. You're quick-witted and refined and…gosh, I could go on and on. So how could I not like you, Sesshoumaru?" She swallowed thickly and added, "If anything, it should be me questioning your feelings…because I can't understand what you see in this sad, plain girl."

He reached out then and placed a hand against her cheek, turning up her gaze to meet his. The left side of her face tingled from his touch yet also burned from her anxiety.

"The first week you interned here, you brought me tea. No one ever cared for my tastes before."

Rin's brows scrunched up in confused. She knew the instance he was talking about. As the new intern, it was her duty to fetch the coffee for the executive leadership team's weekly meeting. She had taken everyone's orders, but when she asked what she should get for Mr. Tsukiinu, Kaede told her, "Do not worry about him. He told us long ago not to bother bringing him coffee."

Well that makes sense, Rin thought. Dogs hate the smell of coffee. Don't they realize that?

As she waited in line at the coffee shop to place the order, she agonized over what to do. It felt wrong for everyone but the boss to have a beverage, but she couldn't in good conscience order him something that would offend his nose. He probably had a hard enough time concentrating on the meeting with the smell of everyone else's coffee accosting him.

Then she spotted something on the menu that gave her hope: ginger tea. Dogs loved the smell of ginger. So she took a chance and ordered it for him.

When she entered the room, his head immediately perked up, and she went straight to him to hand him the cup. "I hope this suits your tastes, sir," she said.

He gave her a slight nod. "Thank you, Rin." Then he accepted the cup and immediately brought it to his lips. The rest of the team watched the interaction, stunned. Rin took the time to unobtrusively leave everyone's coffees as they gaped and then slipped out of the room.

When Kaede asked her about it later, Rin explained her thoughts process. Kaede just laughed in astonishment.

"Let it never be said that the young have nothing to offer. The intern just taught a group of old fogeys a most basic fact about dog demons."

From that day on, the executive team only ordered tea out of respect for their boss's delicate nose. It was a secret point of pride for Rin that her small act had changed something for the better at the museum.

And apparently, it had meant just as much to Sesshoumaru.

"As touching as all this may be," the scroll interrupted from behind them, "the fact remains that ye have some acts to complete before ye can go out and enjoy the world once more."

Sesshoumaru cut a glare in the scroll's direction. "And just what would you have us do?"

The scroll rolled its face away, revealing a print of a fully clothed couple locked in an embrace and kissing with passion, if the expressions on their faces were any indication. "Let's begin with the basics, shall we?"

Sesshoumaru turned his gaze to Rin, and she pressed her lips together in anticipation. She wasn't exactly versed in kissing. Her dating life had comprised of being dragged into a few blind group dates in high school and college to even out the numbers. By the time boys had started noticing her, she had already fallen for Sesshoumaru, and try as she might to give other men a chance, none had compared. She had dreaded dates more often than not because her heart hadn't been in it.

But the dread she felt now was pure anxiety. He was so tall. Was she supposed to stand on her tip-toes? Would he come down to meet her? Would he even like kissing her? Where was she supposed to put her hands?

"There is one thing we must see to first," Sesshoumaru said, reaching for her hand. She watched in a daze as he took her wounded hand that still sported the bloody handkerchief and unwrapped it. It still oozed. Strangely though, it did not hurt.

Before she could protest, he brought her thumb to his mouth and licked it. Goosebumps zoomed up her spine, putting her hair on end as his warm tongue lifted all the blood away.

And to think…that tongue could be in my mouth soon….

She shook her head to clear it of her lusty thoughts. "Sesshoumaru, what are you—?"

"Sealing the wound," he said, showing her her finger. Indeed, it had clotted.

She blinked in astonishment. "That's…amazing." She looked up at him with stars in her eyes. "You're amazing."

She felt ready now to kiss him. But just as she decided to boost herself up, he reached out to cup her cheek and bent his head towards her. They bumped noses, and Rin recoiled, blushing. "Sorry. I don't know how…I've never…." As her tongue tied itself in knots, she wanted nothing more than to go dig a hole and stick her head in it.

He tipped her face back up to his, his eyes a warm fire she could relax into. "Do not apologize for such a thing, Rin." As he moved closer to her, Rin stayed still this time and closed her eyes. The sensation of his lips pressing against hers was strange at first, but they were so soft that she tentatively kissed him back, trying to discover just how much of that softness she could take in.

But all too soon, her pulled away, and Rin opened his eyes to find him glaring at the scroll. "There. Now what?"

The scroll tutted. "Show me some passion, and I'll show you the next picture." The scroll rippled itself suggestively to drive home the point.

"Hn," Sesshoumaru answered, turning back to Rin.

She looked down at the ground and fiddled with her fingers. "I'm sorry." It was obvious he had disliked it if he didn't want to kiss her again. But we're going to have to do much more than kissing to please this perverted scroll.

"Why do you keep apologizing?"

"Because I've made you uncomfortable."

He tilted her chin up again. "You misunderstand, Rin."

"What am I misunderstanding?"

In reply, he leaned down again to kiss her. She was prepared for it this time.

What she wasn't prepared for was when his tongue slipped into the seam of her lips. She gasped in surprise, and he took advantage of the situation to fully invade her mouth. She froze as he coaxed her tongue with his, inviting it to play, and tentatively, she responded. The feelings of that warm, wiggling flesh in her mouth evolved from odd to thrilling as she started sucking on it and his lips. Even though his mouth was already pressed against hers, he still felt too far away, so she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

As if she had unleashed something, he pushed her back to the wall and ground his body against hers. Rin moaned as the flat planes of his chest met her breasts and his groin rolled over her belly.

"My, my, anxious, are we?" the scroll remarked with a laugh, rolling to a new picture. Sesshoumaru pulled away so they both could see the new print. Rin's eyes widened. It displayed a woman with her kimono torn open across her breasts, the man kissing them. "However, we're still warming up."

Sesshoumaru looked back at her, the conflict back in his eyes. Sharing a kiss was one thing, but baring herself to him….

You know this is only the tip of the iceberg, Rin. Just…get it over with.

Rin swallowed thickly and started undoing her cardigan. His hands wrapped around hers as she got down to the third button.

"Rin, are you sure?"

We don't have a choice. But she knew he would not want to be reminded of that. So instead she said, "Yes."

"Then will you let me?" he asked.

She froze, and her hands would have trembled if he hadn't been holding them. Unable to speak past the nervous lump in her throat, she just nodded and lowered her hands to her sides.

Sesshoumaru made quick work of her cardigan, but after she had shrugged it off, his hands hesitated on the top button of her blouse. When they finally descended, goosebumps rose on her skin beneath the cotton fabric where his fingers drifted. Three buttons down, the cleft of her cleavage appeared. He knelt then and pressed a soft kiss to her breastbone. Rin held her breath as she watched him. Surely he must have felt her heart hammering beneath his lips.

He pulled back and looked at the scroll, but it still had not changed. He frowned. "I did what was illustrated."

The scroll chuckled. "My good sir, thou didst not. This is clearly an illustration of suckling."

Rin took another look at it and saw that what she had mistaken for a kiss against the breast indeed showed a hint of nipple beneath his mouth. A wave of goosebumps crawled down her back.

"Hn," Sesshoumaru answered, but when he turned back to Rin and resumed opening her blouse, he pressed a kiss to her skin beneath each button he popped. He trailed those kisses down until he met the hemline of her skirt, where the last button was. Then he peeled the blouse away from her shoulders, baring her bra to him.

Rin suddenly felt so self-conscious. Bras were expensive enough, and six months into her new position, she was still spending as frugally as if she were still a poor student or lower-wage, entry-level employee. She bought her undergarments for practicality, not to look good. There was no lace or pop of color. It wasn't a push-up. It was a simple, nude bra with the barest of decorative edging.

But Sesshoumaru didn't seem to care, because he stared at her chest as if mesmerized. She almost wanted to laugh. To think that the noble Sesshoumaru could be reduced to the level of any other man by a pair of breasts. Feeling a little emboldened, Rin reached behind her to unclasp her bra. As it sprang free, she let the straps slide down her shoulders, though she kept the cups over her breasts. He finally looked up at met her gaze. Less conscious now that he was looking at her eyes instead of her body, she finally lowered her bra and let it fall to the floor.

And then she promptly lost her nerve, so she leaned forward and kissed him again, preventing him from seeing her chest.

But Sesshoumaru was not to be deterred. He took control, breaking from her lips to drop kisses along her jaw line. He continued down her neck, nipping at her pulse and making her jump. He gave a lick to her collarbone and then kissed his way down to the swell of her left breast. He pulled back then and brushed his thumb over the already peaked nipple, then swirled it and pushed it in. Rin held her breath as he finally leaned forward and latched his lips over the bud, then let it out in a loud gasp as his sharp teeth nibbled on it. But her right breast felt so abandoned, she placed her hand over it and started teasing her other nipple.

Sesshoumaru noticed. Her batted her hand away and took her other breast in his hand, kneading it. Rin moaned and pressed back against the cold wall of the elevator as Sesshoumaru attacked her chest. His talons pricked at her skin, heightening her body's awareness. It was as if the danger they presented both alarmed and excited her.

The rasp of rolling paper pulled her out of her lust-filled haze just enough to catch the next illustration. "Oh!" she cried out, half in pleasure and half in trepidation. Sesshoumaru pulled away, leaving her saliva-coated nipple cold without his mouth around it.

This time, the scroll showed the woman lying on the floor with her legs bent while the man licked her pussy.

Although Rin's vagina tingled at the thought of Sesshoumaru's tongue being on it, wariness set in. Logically, she just didn't understand the appeal of oral sex. All those bodily fluids in one's mouth—wasn't that disgusting?

"Isn't there something else we could do?" she asked the scroll. Sesshoumaru's gaze whipped towards her in question.

"Thou dost not want to?" the scroll asked.

That was interesting. Was this based on her wants then? Unfortunately, she never had been able to lie. "It's not that. It's just…I'd hate for Sesshoumaru to have to dirty himself more than necessary." Sex with her was probably going to be enough for him.

"The scenes I show are tailored to my contractor," the scroll answered. "All scenes are meant for the contractor's pleasure. And as my contractor is female, she needs to be prepared—even if I am preventing the pain of losing her virginity."

Sesshoumaru stiffened then, and Rin's hands flew to cover her face in mortification. "You're what?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"As I said, my scenes are meant to pleasure my contractor. In order to best heighten my virgin contactor's experience, I am nullifying her feelings of pain while ye are in my space. Thou mayst be as rough as thou likest without fearing the repercussions."

But when Rin peeked out from between her fingers, she saw Sesshoumaru staring at her—not the scroll—his brows twitching as if unable to decide between horror and…delight?

"You're a virgin," he repeated. Rin just nodded mutely. He sighed, resting his head against her bare stomach. He sighed, his warm breath ghosting over her navel and only igniting the fire he had sparked earlier in there. "All the more reason we should not do this. You have been saving yourself for a reason." It was not a question.

"Sesshoumaru, look at me," she said, taking his head and turning it up to face her again. "I told you before that if it's you…I don't mind." She swallowed thickly. "But, um…because I'm, well…you know…I'm not exactly on the pill. You don't happen to, uh…have a condom in your wallet, do you?" She was almost afraid to hear the answer, because if he did, that would mean he expected to use it at any given time. Yet to not have one would put her in a predicament….

His jaw tightened. "It is not my habit to carry such things." She felt simultaneous relief and anxiety. His grip on her waist tightened as his gaze lowered to her belly. "But I will take you to a pharmacy afterwards and purchase whatever you need."

"No, you don't have to do that," Rin protested. "This whole situation is my fault, after all. I can pay—literally—for the consequences of my own actions."

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Whether I mate you or not, I will take care of you, Rin. You need never worry about that."

"Okay." She took a deep breath, then unzipped her skirt and shoved it down. It fell to her ankles, leaving her in her black tights and pumps. She kicked the skirt away, and Sesshoumaru's eyes widened as he took in her clad legs. He ran his hands over the thin material, tracing her curves. Red slowly bled into his eyes.

Rin bit her lip in amazement. I thought he liked breasts, but it seems he's actually a leg man, if tights and heels turn him on this much. Now she wished she owned a pair of stockings so she could keep them on while he made love to her. She could just picture her black-laced legs hiked up over his shoulders, her high heels peeking up from behind as he thrust into her. Her core quivered at the thought, wetting her panties, and Sesshoumaru's nostrils flared. His irises went blue.

Before she could think, he reached for the waistband of her tights and panties and yanked them down her legs, baring her sex to him. He slipped her shoes off as well as the lingerie, flinging them to the other side of the elevator, before shouldering his way between her thighs, propping them apart, and latching his mouth to her nether lips, kissing them as he had her mouth.

She gasped as he took her vulva between his teeth, gently gnawing the wet, swollen flesh. Then he swiped his tongue through her seam, and her knees buckled; she had to grab onto the elevator railing to keep herself steady.

"S-Sesshoumaru," she whimpered as he thrust his tongue fully inside and swirled it around, lapping up her juices. Every time he plunged, his nose bumped against her bud, sending sparks skittering across her core, which grew tighter and tighter. Her arms trembled, trying to hold up her weight. She would probably collapse if she orgasmed, but she had to know how it felt. "Suck on it. Please," she gasped.

He turned that gaze of molten lava up towards her. "Suck on what?" he asked, his lips still pressed against hers, their movements only heightening her pleasure.

Did he truly not know, or was he teasing her? Her cheeks burned, but she didn't care as she said, "My clit."

That sinful muscle in his mouth slid up her slit until it reached the nub in question. He tongued it at first, the deliberate passes bringing her to the edge of pain from so much stimulation.

Then he suckled the bud, and her entire body jerked, her limbs out of control, as if they were attached to puppet strings and Sesshoumaru's mouth was their master. She cried out wordlessly, overwhelmed by the new sensation. She sank down the wall of the elevator, and Sesshoumaru caught her, gently lowering her to the floor. His mouth and nose gleamed just like his red eyes.

Paper rustled, and as Rin leaned her head back against the wall, she spotted the new illustration.

"And now she is ready," the scroll said, displaying a woman sitting on a man as they both sat up, their legs wrapped around each other.

But Sesshoumaru kept still between her legs, staring at her like a predator stalking his prey and decided when the time was right to pounce—or not.

As her orgasmic haze cleared, Rin suddenly grew self conscious. Here she was, unwrapped and naked for Sesshoumaru to feast on, and yet aside from his messy mouth, he still looked impeccable in his three-piece, charcoal suit and the large, fluffy fur thrown over his shoulder. The contrast of his light features against the dark attire was too much for her poor eyes to bear. She turned away, and that finally prompted him to speak. "What is it, Rin?"

"I just…." What was wrong with her? He had just shoved his face in her most intimate of places, and she still had trouble asking him to undress.

"You regret it."

Her head snapped back to him. "What?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if trying to get himself under control—or perhaps getting one last whiff of her arousal. "We can still stop this, Rin."

"No! I just…wondered if you were going to make love to me with your clothes on or not."

He looked up at that, his eyes still bloody red. "Only if you do not remove them," he answered.

Rin swallowed and sat forward on her knees. First, she carefully pulled off his fur, laying it on the ground. Then with trembling hands, she reached for Sesshoumaru's tie and loosened it. She couldn't help stroking his Adam's apple as she did, and he swallowed as soon as her fingers ghosted his throat. Once she set aside the tie, she started on his buttons. The more of his smooth chest she exposed, the more her heart raced.

So many muscles…. Look at all those definitions.

She traced the valley of his pecs as she popped those buttons. When she got down to his abs, she wanted to weep at their sheer beauty. She pushed his shirt and suit jacket over his shoulders, and he shucked them off. He straightened then, as if to give her better access to the snap on his pants, but Rin was still entranced with his chest. She pushed against his shoulder.

"Lay down," she said. Then, realizing how pushy that sounded, she added, "Please."

Sesshoumaru caught her chin and forced her gaze back up to his eyes. "You may command me as you wish, Rin. There is no need to be polite."

Rin nodded. "Lay back," she repeated, and he complied. She crawled between his clothed legs until she was holding up her body over his naked chest. Her breasts hung lewdly over him, and he watched her nipples rise and fall with her breasts, like a cat eyeing a toy feather.

She ran a finger down his breastbone, curving away along the top edge of his abs until the groove met the defined hip muscle that descended into his pants. She skimmed his waistline, unclipping the snap as she went. His groin was already starting to bulge. She pulled down the zipper but didn't pull him out just yet. She still needed to work herself up to that level of familiarity.

Wanting to return some of the attention he had given her earlier, she lowered her mouth to his navel, then stuck out her dainty tongue and dipped it inside before drawing it up the center cleft of his abs. A metallic screech made her jump up in fright, and that's when she noticed his claws digging into the marble floor, leaving furrows in the stone that promptly healed.

She couldn't help but grin upon realizing she had this sort of power over him. She lowered her head and traced all the canyons of his abs with her tongue before crawling up his body and following the contour of his pecs. She gave a little nibble on a nipple as she passed, not sure if it would have the same effect on him as it had on her, but when he hissed the first time, she took that as permission to give the other similar treatment. When she finally made it back to the center of his chest, she continued upwards until she met the well of his collarbones.

Then her licks turned to kisses that she dragged up his throat and over his jaw until she found his mouth again. When their lips locked once more, his hands came up to her head, as if to keep her there.

Her sex tingled, and as she moved against him, she felt that bulge press against her—so close and yet so far with that barrier of fabric between them. The thrill it sent through her entire body, jarring her heart, made her realize it was time.

She pulled away from the kiss and moved back. By now, his groin was no longer a bulge but a tent. She carefully peeled back his pants and boxers from his erection, her eyes widening as she revealed it, but then she yanked the clothes right off his legs, as he had done to her.

Done with that task, she took in his tower of manhood. So tall. So proud. Just like him.

Nerves made her hesitate, but she told herself, Don't be scared. It's not going to hurt. The scroll promised.

She could only imagine how it would feel to be stretched by that if she weren't under the influence of a perverted curse.

She sat down on his lap, his erection jutting up right in front of her sex. What did she do now? Just…go for it?

"Rin."

Her name drew her to Sesshoumaru's face again. He sat up on his elbows, reaching out to lace her hand with his. "I will take care of you, no matter what happens."

She nodded. Then she pushed up and positioned herself over his member. She started to lower herself, thinking he would simply go in, but when his tip touched her folds, it simply slid up her slit. Sesshoumaru sucked in a breath, but Rin just frowned in frustration.

Is this not how it's done?

"Rin." Again she looked up at him. "Why do you hesitate?"

"I'm not hesitating," she protested. Did it look like that? What part of her trying to impale herself upon him looked like hesitation?

"Then take me in hand and guide me."

Rin's eyes widened. Oh. She sat back on his lap, staring again at his cock. Could she really just…grab it?

You literally just licked your way up his chest. Why are you hesitating now?

Sesshoumaru sat up fully and cradled her jaw. "You are afraid."

"No, I just…." Tears suddenly dripped out of her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying. I just…I don't know. I never thought it would happen like this."

Sesshoumaru's eyes lost their redness, and he brought her head to his shoulder, stroking her hair. "Do not apologize. Contrary to what some believe," he said, glaring at the scroll, "you are not ready."

Rin kept her face buried in his shoulder, inhaling the scent that was uniquely Sesshoumaru: the balsam of deep forests and an inhuman musk. She curled her hands over his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath them. Not fair. How come my heart is the only one beating like crazy?

Even so, she felt so secure in his arms. So…cherished.

"Why me?" she murmured.

"It is useless to question fate," Sesshoumaru responded.

She chuckled and shook her head, tracing his pale, smooth skin with her nose and them resting her cheek against it to revel in its softness. "Why do you seem to care so much for me? Just serving you tea can't have been enough to earn those feelings."

His hand stilled against her back. After a moment of silence, he finally said, "Earlier you asked why I came today." He reached over to his suit jacket then and dug into one of the pockets. Rin sat up, confused when he pulled a small box wrapped in paper she instantly recognized: the snowy, moonlit scene.

"I thought you would be gone for the day…and came to place this on your desk," he said.

She took the box in shaking hands. "It can't be." But the paper that had adorned the secret Christmas gifts left for her since she became an orphan stared back at her. She looked up at him in shock. "Are you the demon that saved my life?"

Sesshoumaru nodded once, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You think me kind, but I cannot explain why I helped you that day. I have ignored the cries of a thousand humans that begged for help…and yet when your cry shattered the stillness of that night, I found myself drawn to answer it." He closed his eyes. "Still, my hesitation cost you the lives of your parents and brothers."

Rin's heart jerked, but she shook her head and set down the present, taking hold of those precious hands that had ripped off the door of a burning car and pulled her out. She placed a kiss against his talons, the tears now flowing freely. "You don't know that. Even so, I remember…I remember what the authorities said. The bodies of my parents and brothers had also been taken from the car and laid out a ways from it. You tried to save them. It's not your fault that they didn't survive. So please, do not feel guilty about that anymore."

Sesshoumaru squeezed her hand. "Guilt. I suppose that is what drove me to leave that first gift for you at the orphanage…and those that followed. Though as of late, such bitter feelings do not drive me."

Rin bit her lip, trying to contain her laughter as she realized something. "So, are you telling me the renowned Sesshoumaru Tsukiinu stalked me?" At his puzzled look, the laugh broke out of her. "I always wondered how my savior knew where to find me when I moved to college, and every time I moved dorms or apartments. To be honest, I would have been so confused when I saw this tomorrow, wondering how you figured out where I worked and where my office was," she said, picking up the present again.

"As your scholarship donor turned employer, it was only right that I know."

Rin's eyes widened. "Even my…scholarship?" Her joyous spirits deflated a little. "And here I thought I had earned that."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "You did. I would not have paid for your education if I did not think you worthy."

"But…how did you know I would study demonology? I mean, even coming to work at the museum here…did you plan all of this?"

He shook his head. "You were always free to choose which path you took—whether you attended college or not and what you studied. Had you decided to study computer science, I would have found a way to offer you work regardless. My family has many business interests. But you were always free to refuse."

Rin chuckled wryly. "I would have been stupid to refuse an opportunity that just seemed to fall right into my lap. Still…I don't feel like I earned any of it."

Sesshoumaru sighed and brushed her cheek. "If it reassures you, I asked your professor for the names and recommendations of the top five students in your major, and yours was among them. I would have chosen you regardless."

Rin pursed her lips. "Well, I guess I do feel a little better about that." She huffed a laugh. "I guess it's true what they say: it's not what you know but who you know."

Sesshoumaru's gaze fell to their laps, where his hardened cock still rested against her belly. "It was never my intention that you should develop feelings for me. I did not plan to tell you any of this."

"So you're saying you were just going to be my secret Santa forever and let me die without solving the greatest mystery of my life?" His face darkened at the word "die." She tilted his head back up. "You may have influenced many of my life decisions, but you're right—I always had a choice to refuse them. And quite frankly, I wouldn't even have my life if it weren't for you, so I'm not mad about any of it. But let me make it clear: there's one thing you had no control over, and that was my heart. They say we can't choose who we love, and maybe that's true. Or maybe when you saved my life that day, you tied our hearts together, and I finally found my way back to you. Either way, I don't regret having these feelings for you."

She pulled his head forward and kissed him softly. But that wasn't enough, so she wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. When she shifted on his lap, she felt his cock slide against her stomach.

When she thought about taking it inside her now, instead of apprehension, she felt…calm.

She felt right.

She peeled her mouth from his and lifted herself up. While keeping her gaze trained on Sesshoumaru's eyes, she reached down and grabbed his manhood, keeping it steady as she lowered herself. When his head nudged against her sex, she quivered, but then she maneuvered it and herself until she was perfectly aligned. She slid the tip just past her lips…and then she let herself fall upon it.

She cried out as he filled her, and inside her tore, but there was no pain—just as the scroll had promised. She shifted her legs, making sure she covered every part of him that she could, and as she moved, a low rumble echoed in Sesshoumaru's chest, and his eyes flooded red once more. He grabbed her head and pulled her in for another punishing kiss, thrusting up beneath her. She yelped into his mouth as the foreign organ made itself well-known to her womb. He dragged his fangs down her lip and nipped her chin as she bounced on him.

"Am I…doing this…right?" she gasped out to him.

Unfortunately, it was not Sesshoumaru who answered.

"I suggest leaning back a touch if thou willst him to hit the right spot," the scroll mused, curling into her view behind Sesshoumaru. The dog demon stiffened at the voice, a reminder that they were not alone. Rin was annoyed, to be sure, but at least it was only a scroll and not an actual person. Besides…it seemed to know what it was talking about.

She held Sesshoumaru by the shoulders as she tilted back at something like a thirty-degree angle. His arms came up to support her back. She slid against him and gasped as his cock rubbed over a point deep within her that had her muscles spasming.

It was a drug she couldn't get enough of. She rolled her hips over his, punctuating the air with her breathy moans as he hit that spot over and over again.

"So…close…" she said in time to her thrusts as her womb tightened. All of the sudden, she exploded like a box of dynamite, the sparks from her belly flaring in her vision as she screamed. She heaved and fell limp into Sesshoumaru's arms, her walls still contracting around him intermittently.

After a moment though, she noticed Sesshoumaru hadn't moved. She sat up and looked at him. His features were drawn tight. Her mind was still hazy from her orgasm, but she reached out to trace the jagged stripes on his right cheek. "Sesshoumaru, it's okay. You can finish…inside me."

"Ah, actually…he cannot," the scroll piped up, slipping back into view. Sesshoumaru's grip on her hips tightened, his talons pricking her skin but not breaking the surface.

"What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"This contract is for thy pleasure, my dear," the scroll answered. "Just as in my space I am able to control parts of thy body—thy sense of pain, for instance—so too can I control parts of his. Men are so varied when it comes to stamina that I prefer not to take a chance. He will not be able to achieve release until the final act." Rin gasped in horror on Sesshoumaru's behalf, but the scroll ignored her, rolling again. "Speaking of…let us continue, shall we? Thou hast worked hard, so recline now upon the floor."

This time, the illustration was that of a man over a woman with her legs propped up around him.

"I see," Sesshoumaru said, and Rin turned back to face him. Save for the tightness in his jaw, he seemed remarkably unperturbed about being forcibly blue-balled. "You will only change the illustration once Rin has found pleasure. Is that correct?"

The scroll chuckled. "You catch on quickly, sir."

"And how many times must I bring her to orgasm?" A thrill went down Rin's spine as those words touched her ears.

The inky leer on the scroll was positively lascivious. "How long can she last?"

Rin's heart stuttered. "You mean…it's up to me?"

Just then, Sesshoumaru lifted her off his member and laid her down on his fur before crawling over her. His cock jutted out towards her, glistening with her fluids and a smear of blood upon it. Her eyes widened. So she had bled. Even now though, all she felt were the aftershocks of pleasure and satiation.

"Rin, forgive me if I am quick and rough, but I would rather we take our time when we do not have an audience." He shot another glare at the scroll, which just lazily coiled in the air like a flying snake.

Rin nodded, her heart tingling with anticipation. Take our time without an audience? Does that mean…he'll want me after this too? "I understand."

"Now I will wring you dry."

He did not hesitate as she had. No sooner had he positioned the crown of his manhood at her entrance than he dove in, his hips moving like pistons against hers. Rin's legs kicked up involuntarily, and she wrapped them around his thighs, hugging him closer to her. He plowed into her body until his balls slapped against her cheeks and his pubic bone crushed against her clit, drawing out that tightness once again.

It was only a matter of time before she snapped.

No sooner had she released than the scroll rolled to a new drawing: one of the man standing while the woman had her legs wrapped around him.

Sesshoumaru did not even wait for Rin to come down from her high. Keeping himself sheathed within her, he grabbed her body, and she reflexively tightened her legs around him. With strength only a demon could muster, he stood up with her, though he invariably slid out of her as he did. Rin straightened out along his body as she clung to him like a monkey, realizing just how close she was to his whole body in this position. As he supported her thighs, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned over to nip his earlobe.

He hissed, and one of his hands left her thigh as he repositioned himself beneath her. She wiggled in invitation when she felt his bulbous head poking at her entrance but then shifted higher as she reached for his ear again. His lobe had been super soft, but she really wanted that pointy top of his ear….

Sesshoumaru grumbled when she moved her pussy away, but as soon as she took the tip of his ear between her teeth, he groaned and thrust up into her anew. She gasped at the intrusion, his ear popping out of her mouth. She didn't know what she was so shocked by the feeling of him pushing into her—shouldn't she be used to it by now? Still, every time he entered her from a new angle, it felt like a different experience.

Her abs got the workout of their life as she slid herself up and down him, leaving a trail of slick across his lower belly. Something about having her legs spread out this way opened her core up in new ways to new sensations of him sliding within her, and it wasn't long before she lost herself to bliss once more.

Of course, given how fast Sesshoumaru was pushing her from one orgasm to the other, it wasn't that hard to keep the pleasure going, though her whole lower body felt tense and hyper-sensitive from the constant stimulation.

Next, the scroll had him take her against the wall, one leg thrown around his hip while she stood on the other. He did most of the thrusting this time, letting her soak in the waves of pleasure that crashed through her.

Her energy was starting to flag, but the scroll must have known she still had something in her, because then it showed her the most preposterous position she had ever seen.

"You can't expect us to do that!" she cried out, staring at the drawing. The woman was standing on her hands while the man held her by the thighs and entered her from behind.

"Trust me—thou shallt enjoy this one," the scroll answered with a wink.

Holding onto Sesshoumaru's biceps, Rin unwrapped her leg from him and grounded herself, though her legs felt like jelly. Yep, definitely won't be long now. Sesshoumaru pulled away, his angry, red cock reappearing. She looked at it sadly. She wanted to weep for it, since it could not shed its own milky tears.

Soon. It can't be much longer now. I can barely stand.

Sesshoumaru must have seen the pity in her face, because he said, "Do not let it trouble you, Rin."

"But it's not right that you shouldn't feel pleasure either."

"Who says I do not feel pleasure?" When she looked at him in question, he merely sighed and kissed her forehead. "I have found over the years that bringing you pleasure gives me pleasure. I do not need to release to enjoy my time with you, Rin."

Tears filled Rin's eyes as she heard those words. Then she took a deep breath and got down on her hands and feet. Despite everything they had done over the last hour or so (there was no track of time in this space), squatting in this position in front of him still embarrassed her. She extended a leg, blushing, wondering how it looked to him to see her presenting her pussy from behind.

Sesshoumaru stared at her outstretched leg—or more precisely, the hint of her sex—and took a deep breath. He turned to the scroll. "I will end this by rutting her in true fashion."

"What a dog thou art," the scroll chuckled. "Very well—I can accept thy request. Complete this pose, and the rut is thine…as is thy release."

Rin's heart leapt for her love.

Sesshoumaru grabbed her leg, stretching his long fingers over her thigh and stroking it. She shivered at his touch and then leaned onto that side, kicking up her other leg.

Sesshoumaru deftly grabbed it and stepped forward, closing the gap. The head of his cock brushed against her folds, and she shivered again. But even without feeling pain, her newly deflowered vagina needed a break. It had been stretched to its limits. And if he was going to rut her during their final time….

"Wait." He stopped before her could enter her. "Can you…stimulate me from the outside instead?"

"As you wish." As he slid his cock along the folds of her lips, Rin adjusted the angle of her hips until her brushed against her bud. "There," she sighed.

Sesshoumaru took it slowly this time, running himself over that nub. Rin's thighs squeezed his waist, her legs curling back and her toes tracing against his biceps as he rubbed her. Her blood was confused, rushing to her head from being upside down and yet filling her loins as he stimulated her.

The first shudder that made her arms shake alerted her to her impending orgasm. When it finally rolled through like a thunderstorm over flatland plains, her arms gave out, and it was only Sesshoumaru's steely grip on her thighs that kept her from falling face-first onto the unforgiving floor.

"Not quite what I had in mind, but thou hast fulfilled what was needed," the scroll mused, rolling up to the final illustration: the woman on her hands and knees as the man entered her from behind.

Sesshoumaru lowered Rin's legs until she was crouched on all fours. He brought his fur over to her.

"You will need this," he said. She heaved as she nodded, crawling onto the fur with the last of her strength. Sesshoumaru knelt behind her, pushing her upper back down so that she rested on her elbows instead of her hands. He leaned down and kissed the base of her spine as her sex opened up to him.

"Keep your strength for a little while yet," he said, straightening and lining himself up. At her nod, he pushed into her.

Rin moaned as he did. So far, every position had hit something different in her body, but this one…this felt the deepest. Was this what it would have felt like if she had let him in during their previous pose?

As he thrust into her, she swore she felt him pushing all the way to her navel, rearranging the entire makeup of her abdominal organs.

"Oh, Sesshoumaru…Sesshoumaru!" she panted as he pumped and her pressure built.

He froze, and she whimpered from the loss of friction. He growled and lowered his head to her spine, stroking it with his talons, leaving a sensitized trail in his wake. "Rin, if you call my name like that…I will not be able to hold back. I will mate you." Having made his point, he thrust again, and Rin groaned.

"Yes, mate me," she breathed.

His grip on her hips tightened, but he did not stop. "Rin…do you understand—?"

"Yes, it's forever, I understand," she said in a rush, wishing he would stop talking and use his mouth for other things—like biting her and marking her as his forever.

"Rin—"

"I told you—ah!—our hearts are—oh!—tied, didn't I?" she panted, chancing a look over her shoulder. "It was…mm…always you. It will…always be you." The fuse to her orgasm had been lit, the fire racing towards its explosive end. "I…I love you, Sesshoumaru!"

Her words ended in a cry as her core contracted and released, blowing like a supernova.

The scroll chuckled and rolled itself up. "My work here is done."

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru jerked to a stop and a rush of warmth flooded her. Oh, he finally came! The sensation was so new, she barely had time to appreciate it before Sesshoumaru covered her back and sank his teeth into her shoulder. She cried out in reflex but not pain—it seemed the scroll's magic had not quite undone itself from her just yet.

As the last spurts of his seed emptied into her, Rin squeezed herself around him, trying to prolong his pleasure, for he had earned it and more.

When Sesshoumaru released her shoulder, she collapsed face-forward onto his pelt. He lay down behind her, spooning her and licking at the wound, though she still could not feel it. Sweat dappled her body, and her heart pounded as if she had just finished a marathon.

And it was a marathon…of sorts.

The scroll dropped to the floor with a clatter. The doors to the elevator opened, and Rin was so tired, she didn't even care if there was someone on the other side, because she just couldn't move. But thank the gods there was no one else in the museum; otherwise, they would surely have called the cops on them for public indecency. After a moment, the doors closed again.

She jerked in Sesshoumaru's hold as a sharp sting from her shoulder suddenly lanced her nerves. Her loins ached with a heaviness she often felt during the onset of her period, though with an extra soreness like that of pulled muscles. Her hands and knees throbbed from all the pressure she had put upon them.

She groaned. Was it possible to feel so blissful and yet so utterly exhausted at the same time?

They lay there for a couple moments, Rin catching her breath and Sesshoumaru lapping her wound. But Rin knew they had to get up sooner rather than later. The parts of her body that were touching the cold, unforgiving marble and not Sesshoumaru's soft fur were starting to protest, and they were also in danger of sticking to the floor because of her sweat. She groaned, trying to push herself up, but she just flopped back down, too exhausted to even try.

"Rin, are you alright?" Sesshoumaru asked, pulling her hair away from her sweaty neck and peering down at her.

She rolled her head back—about the only movement she could manage, even though she winced as it twinged her neck—and smiled at him reassuringly. "I'll be fine. I'm just tired…and the pain the scroll had been holding back hit me all at once."

He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. She had never seen his face so relaxed before or his mood so content and mellow. Was this what Sesshoumaru looked like in a post-coital glow? "You will not come in to work tomorrow—or for the rest of the week."

Rin chuckled. "Sesshoumaru, it's not that bad. I'll be fine after I get some sleep."

His chest rumbled again, and a spark lit his now-golden eyes as he pressed a deliberate kiss to the side of her breast. "And you will need it. Because I do not intend to let you sleep much after your nap."

Rin's face screwed up in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"

Sesshoumaru dragged his nose along her arm, raising the delicate hairs in his tracks. "Do you not recall your studies on demon mating habits? It does not end with simply placing a mark."

Rin's mind was still too fuzzy to think beyond what her body was feeling. "Mmm…isn't there something of a…honeymoon period?"

"Something like that," he answered, coming back to kiss the side of her throat.

Rin's brows furrowed as she tried to concentrate, though it was difficult with his kissing her everywhere. "It's called the rut, right? Something about…mingling scents?"

"I will cover you in mine," he affirmed, nipping her ear.

She also remembered something that gave her pause. "Wasn't the point of the rut, um…procreation?"

"Originally," he answered, burying his nose in her hair. "The notion is somewhat outdated now. More like a honeymoon, as you said, to deepen the bond between partners."

She was a little relieved to hear that. She wasn't quite sure she was ready to jump right into having children, though she supposed they would have to discuss that at some point. "Still…it wouldn't be right for me to take off so suddenly. The new exhibition opens after the New Year, and we already have the holidays next week, so if I took off all this week, I'd be gone for a while, and—"

"Why do you hesitate? Your boss has approved your time off," he grumbled into her hair.

She bit her lip, fighting a smile. This new, petulant Sesshoumaru was so cute. She wanted to see more of it.

I guess that means more sex, she thought, laughing silently. Who knew even the stoic Sesshoumaru would become a cuddler after sex?

"I suppose we should get dressed then, so we can start our…honeymoon," Rin said, finally finding the strength to sit up. The clench of her abdominal muscles sent semen squirting out of her, and she winced. She was going to have to grab the mop from the janitor's closet and clean this floor of their filth before she felt right about leaving.

Sesshoumaru sat up with her and grabbed the abandoned present, setting it in her lap. "You did not open your gift."

"Now?" she asked.

"Now."

She tore off the paper to reveal a velvet jewelry box. When she opened it, a simple necklace with a blue opal crescent moon glimmered back at her. She gasped, turning to look up at the moon on his brow. "I thought you said you weren't going to tell me who you were."

"I was not." Sesshoumaru took the necklace from the box and hung it around her neck. "But when I saw it, I knew it was for you. And so it is." His fingers brushed against the charm, pressing it against her breastbone like a brand. "You belong to this Sesshoumaru now."

Rin placed her hand over the necklace and her heart. "I do," she answered with a smile. She turned around and kissed him in thanks. "I love it."

They gathered their tossed clothes and redressed. As much as she tried to put herself to rights, Rin still felt exposed—like anyone they passed would know what they had done. And the demons probably would. Oh well.

Finally, she reached down and carefully picked up the scroll from the middle, making sure her fingers were nowhere near the sharp edges.

Sesshoumaru saw it in her hands and frowned. He hit the button for the basement, and the elevator hummed to life, starting its slow descent. "We will put that in storage now so that we may leave. We will send word to have it exorcised first thing tomorrow."

But Rin turned it over in her hands, considering it. "Must we?"

Sesshoumaru froze. "What?"

"I know it's against policy to remove artifacts from the museum except for restoration and transport, but considering you're the owner of the museum and technically own all the artifacts…do you think we could make an exception just this once?"

He peered at her in question. "Why?"

She turned around and held out the scroll to him. "I thought you might like some payback…where this time, I pleasure you."

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened, but he did not reach for the cursed scroll. "I do not want payback, Rin. I do not intend to keep a scorecard."

"Consider it a Christmas present then. Something we can use to start off our honeymoon. I think this scroll has far more illustrations than it showed us."

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened to the basement.

Sesshoumaru's eyes flared as he met Rin's gaze. Then he turned and hit the elevator button for the lobby.

And when he turned back to her, he took the scroll.

AN: LOL, I know that totally set the stage for a part two, and there's a distinct possibility it will happen in the future (thank you Tinuviel_Undomiel for helping to create a back story for how Grandpa got the perverted scroll in the first place), but for now this shall stop here. Also, props to anyone who can name all the positions used in this story—I had a lot to choose from. 😆 I hope you all (and vamphigherqueen in particular) enjoyed the story, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!