"I wish to confess something to you," Sesshomaru began, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Though, you may think me foolish for it."
Kagome followed Sesshomaru closely as he led her through his home by the hand. He walked at a leisurely pace, for which she was grateful, as there was much to admire.
His words brought her blue gaze to his face, brows pulling.
"I doubt that," she said honestly, a smile playing upon carmine lips. "But, I'm listening."
He pulled her into a room, through a set of open doors and onto a veranda leading to a vibrant garden. Lovely as it was, Kagome found that Sesshomaru was lovelier.
He seemed almost vulnerable as he stepped from the porch to the ground, making them near eye-level with one another.
His graceful hands settled at her waist, and he looked at her, seeming at a loss for words.
Or at a loss for where to begin.
Finally, he sighed softly, the ghost of a smile curling his lips as he shook his head.
"More than a confession, I would share a story with you. Will you indulge me?"
Bemused, yet endeared to his unguarded expression, she smiled.
"Always, Sesshomaru."
His smile grew. He took her hands in his, his eyes never straying from her own.
"When I was small, I happened upon a field of flowers. Baby blue eyes, my mother called them. They were like any other bunch I had come across, nothing special about them… with the exception of one single bloom."
Sesshomaru paused in thought before his smooth, deep voice continued. "Sometime later our estate gardener planted a Wisteria. I was never more excited than when she first bloomed. You see, I believed my Wisteria would remain bare forever. When she finally, stubbornly flowered, it was an arresting sight, indeed."
With a gentle tug, he pulled her from the veranda, leading her through a stone moon gate and deeper into the garden. His youki buffeted against her, misting the ground around her ankles, and sliding silkily over her calves in an arousing demonstration.
Kagome was riveted by his words, drunk on his heady essence. She followed him willingly as he led her by the hand. She may not have understood what he was trying to tell her, but she could sense the importance of it, absorbing it as though her life may depend upon it.
"Where is this tree you seem so fond of?"
Her voice was soft, unwilling to disturb the magic he'd begun to spin with his tale.
For several moments he remained quiet, contemplative, trailing through the garden slowly. Up ahead, a cerulean pagoda shimmered through the foliage, but Kagome only spared it half a glance before her eyes strayed to Sesshomaru's strong shoulders once more. He glanced back at her, the weight in his eyes disarming.
"Trees have a significant lifespan, and that one certainly outlived many others. Nevertheless, my Wisteria left this plane long ago."
Kagome's heart clenched. She knew he could be sentimental now and then, but in that moment when he was so open, so…vulnerable…it made her sad in a way that yearned to soothe him.