Kagome didn't think there could be anything more surreal than being told she was tied to Sesshomaru in such an infinite way.
She was wrong.
The moment his knees came to rest on the bamboo floor of the pagoda, her eyes widened. When he gazed up at her with pure devotion in his sunlit eyes, her head spun. His hands came together on the floor before him, and he bowed as low as he could.
Shock replaced the tears on her face and her hands trembled at her sides.
"You did leave," he said, and though his head remained bowed, his words were clear. "This time, I would have you stay. You have always been mine, yet until now, I've been unable to keep you. Honor me, Kagome, by becoming my mate." His hands, once flat, fisted beneath him, and his voice became rough. "Become my mate and stay."
Kagome's knees gave out on her, hitting the bamboo sharply, though she felt not a hint of discomfort.
Later she might.
But in that moment, her heart beating wildly in her chest, her wide eyes blurring the vision of her love into indiscernible silver and white, all she felt was an unimaginable cresting of certainty in her heart, in her soul, that she could stay.
He wanted her to stay.
Forever his. As it's always been. As it would always be.
And he, forever hers.
At her prolonged silence, Sesshomaru dared to raise his head, only a fraction.
As it always was with them, he could read her answer in her eyes, even before she began to nod.
She didn't know who moved first, only that they moved as though drawn together by magnetic force.
Like two galaxies careening toward collision.
And collide, they did.
With body and lips, teeth and tongue, they fell upon one another with all the intensity of a supernova, outshining the sun, the stars, all the heavens with the brilliance of their love.
Nothing could have stopped him from taking Kagome then, save Kagome herself.
And she was proving to be an enthusiastic participant.
Flushed cheeks and fevered, pleasure-misted eyes.
Warm curves that pressed into him enticingly.
Carmine lips that breathed his name in rapture.
Her perfection consumed him.
And he worshiped her.
As he had since she was but a bloom upon his palm.
As he would forevermore.
He knew then that he would never release her from her bond with him.
Never.
An eternity within her orbit would not be long enough for him.
They would be bound until their souls faded from existence altogether.
Such was the desire the daiyoukai held for the sweet priestess who'd always belonged to him anyway.