(Inuyasha and Co do not belong to me. I just like to write about them. Ho! Fluffy/Kag folks this is the chapter for you! No, it's not a lemon - yet. This is a relatively quiet chapter.)


Kanashimi no Hate ni - End To Sorrow - Seventeen

Dangers of the Full Moon

Kagome sat upon the bench that faced the tranquil gardens that was part of Sesshoumaru's castle. She had not been here long but the things that she had seen within had surprised her. There was a silent tranquility here as if the entire palace was a haven of sorts. It was hard for her to believe that this was the home of Sesshoumaru. She had expected to see - oh, maybe the heads of every enemy that he had decapitated with his poison claw or something.

Yes it was quiet and tranquil and yet Kagome felt a sense of sadness or perhaps lonliness here.

Sesshoumaru lonely? Hah! Kagome smiled a little as she got up, careful not to trip herself up in the kimono that he insisted she wear. Everyday there was a new one, in different colors and patterns, all in silk. Kagome didn't know why he bothered since he'd probably kill her for the Tetsusaiga anyway. Then again, Kagome knew she was lying to herself about that.

She walked about the garden in the pale moonlight, the stars above her twinkling. It made her think of Inuyasha and how he enjoyed perching in the highest tree to watch her. Kagome smiled sadly as she paused to look at her reflection in the small pond that was surrounded by orderly plants. She sat down on the lip of the pond wall and sighed.

~I look like a proper sixteenth century hime.(princess)~ Kagome put a hand to her pinned up hair.

~But I'm not..~ She sighed softly as she unbound her hair and let the wind whip through it. She took a deep breath, amazed that she could somehow take in everything just by it's scent alone. No wonder Inuyasha went crazy at some scents.

She heard a step and she turned away from her reflection. She saw Sesshoumaru, tall and pale in the moonlight, his expression as always unreadable. It was hard to believe that he and Inuyasha were half-brothers, they were so different in personality.

"What are you doing out here? The waxing of the full moon is dangerous - even here."

"I'm enjoying your garden, Sesshoumaru." Kagome said. "It's - peaceful."

"Peace can be decieving. Come inside."

"I'm not going inside because you're ordering me to." Kagome crossed her arms.

"You are under my roof, therefore - "

"Fine!" Kagome's temper flared as she rose. "You know, I might as well look for the shards anyway!"

"You're leaving - in the dead of night?" Sesshoumaru's brow rose. "I forbid it."

"Oh ho.Mr. High and Mighty Sesshoumaru-sama!" Kagome made a beeline towards him. "You forbid it, huh? Well I'm not one of these ladies that say, "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama", every time you say jump! I'm leaving!"

"You are not!" Kagome could tell he was becoming angry even though his expression remained bland.

"Watch me, Fluff-boy!" Kagome walked right past him, but Sesshoumaru grabbed her arm in a vise like grip.

"You are rude.." Sesshoumaru growled. "You are impossibly immodest..you are impossibly human!" He abruptly let her go.

"And you are impossibly youkai! Cold, uncaring! You don't have a soul!" Kagome spat as she backed away.

"I have a soul.." Sesshoumaru felt his temper spill as he extended his claws.

"Oh yeah, right..just kill me. I almost forgot that's what you were aiming to do anyway." Kagome said, warming to his anger with her own. Yes, she felt like being angry. Why not?

Sesshoumaru advanced on her but Kagome did not move. It was as if she wanted him to do something. Closer and closer he came, until he had his hand around her throat. He looked into her eyes and saw the sadness in them once again. Inwardly he cursed his hanyou brother for his idiocy. He had not cared what the fool did, but somehow in this case, it did.

He felt the pulse of her neck and knew if he wanted to, he could slash it in an instant, bloodying the silk kimono that she wore, hearing her lifeless body fall to the floor with a thump. But he didn't want that.

He wasn't sure what he wanted.

Kagome simply stood, the waves of hurt and anger coming over her once more. Why did he have to have eyes like Inuyasha's? Why did he have this scent of forlorness that was hidden behind his stoic mask?

It was then that Kagome felt Sesshoumaru's fingertips against her cheek, the claws lightly grazing her skin. She gasped and looked up at the demon-lord confused, and without a word, he leaned down and kissed her lips. Kagome was shocked but she did not pull away, only leaned against him slightly. She could feel her pulse racing and she didn't want it to stop - this feeling, this alien feeling that she had only felt once before.

~Inu - yasha..~

A aura of shared lonliness surrounded them as Sesshoumaru's kiss grew deeper still. Both felt the longing within them and although they were supposed to be enemies, in that moment, they were simply two people who had mutual sorrow and pain that had been kept locked within them both. A lone tear fell from Kagome's eye as he kissed her and she locked her arms around his neck, uncaring for the moment that he could kill her. Her hair started to show strands of white and her fingernails lengthened, but she didn't notice that at all. Her emotions intensified and she felt as if every nerve were on fire. Suddenly frightened, she broke the kiss, her electric blue eyes wide and startled. Sesshoumaru could see now that her hair was a stark white - the sign of a hanyou.

"The moon.." Sesshoumaru said softly. "A dangerous time for youkai and hanyou such as yourself. You cannot be out here alone."

"Nani? What's - happening to me?" Kagome shivered.

"You are becoming.." Sesshoumaru paused. "Kagome.."

"You said my name." Kagome felt overcome by something intangible.

"Hai.." Sesshoumaru nodded and then looked up at the night sky, pretending not to notice that his hands had found her waist and was holding her close. Yes, the full moon was dangerous indeed. He could smell her familar scent, heightened now by the hanyou that was becoming stronger in her though she pretended it wasn't.

Damn him. If he could but close the door upon the feelings that he had thought he had conquered so long ago.

Kagome too, felt her emotions swirl about her. How could she be feeling these things for Sesshoumaru? What was happening to her that she could feel - truly feel? Ever since she had returned to her world, she had been safe in her coccoon of numbness, pretending to everyone that she was still the same Kagome she had always been. She swore that no man would ever steal her heart again, although she never would have admitted it to anyone, or even to herself.

Kagome trembled a little, as her fingertips felt the soft silkiness of his flowing hair and her nose inhailed the scent of him once more. She felt this deep yearning to be with him - be with him in that way that lovers only knew. Oh, she was scared at what she was feeling right now for this demon-lord, and she just didn't know what to do.

Neither did Sesshoumaru.

****

The youkai was blind - it's eyes were shut tightly - but it could see after a fashion. Darkness was it's ally and fear was it's food. It wandered about the countryside, careful to strike at isolated villages. It was careful, for it felt it had a purpose for something but not what.

It sensed the village before it at some distance away, sensing the souls ripe for the taking within it. The Shikon shard shone darkly within the palm of it's pale white hand. The shard was precious to the youkai, for it held a sliver of more than just evil within it. It could not define just what, but it was something grand - something that merely waited to be born anew.

Celebration. The humans were celebrating something - it did not know what. The souls this night would be delicious, tainted with terror and fear as their lives slipped from high joy to death in only moments, their souls within it's eyes.

But what was this? It sensed something.

A shard! Shikon shard!

A picture formed in it's mind. A staff held by a human priest with the curse of the Void.

The youkai did not smile - it was not in it's nature. But it was pleased. Called, it was being called to summon the souls of the others, but he would retrieve this shard from the human. Retrieve the sliver that was part of it's heart, part of it's dark soul that twisted in it's torment of incompleteness.

The blind youkai headed towards the village, the pale moon outlining the stark white pelt of his fur.

****

It was the Sesshoumaru's fluffy tail that made Kagome sneeze and break the spell between them. Sesshoumaru scowled.

"Gomen!" Kagome looked horrified. "I didn't mean to!"

"Hm.." Sesshoumaru assessed the damage. Well she didn't sneeze on it, at any rate.

"Sesshoumaru-chan! Kagome-chan!" Kagome smelled Rin before she even heard her voice. She was rather glad for the distraction from Sesshoumaru.

"Rin, you should not be out here." Sesshoumaru said.

"But you and Kagome-chan are out here!" Rin sunnily smiled. "Are you making babies now?"

"NO." Kagome and Sesshoumaru both said the same thing at the same time.

Rin looked rather disappointed. Then she saw Kagome's hair.

"Pretty! It's like Sess-chan's!" Rin exclaimed.

Kagome picked up a lock of her hair and stared at it in her fingers. It was white - just like Inuyasha's was. Quickly she put her hand up and felt the top of her head.

"No, you don't have dog ears.." Kagome swore she heard amusement in Sesshoumaru's tone.

"I - wasn't checking for dog ears!" Kagome looked embarrassed.

Rin looked at the two adults puzzled. One minute they were holding each other and the next they acted so strange.

It was Sesshoumaru who finally thought enough was enough. He disengaged himself from Kagome and said. "I am going inside." His tone suggesting that they could stay out here and be eaten by youkai if they wanted.

But Rin knew better. She grasped Sesshoumaru's hand. "Okay, Sess-chan!" She grabbed Kagome's hand and said, "You too, Kagome-chan!"

Kagome sighed. Anything to distract her from those weird feelings that Sesshoumaru had dredged up. That kiss! Why did he kiss her if he hated her? Hated humans and hanyou? She glanced at her hand - the claws were still there. How long would she stay this way? Biting her lip, she looked at Sesshoumaru out of the corner of her eyes and felt her insides melt just a little.

~What does he look like under all that?~ Kagome thought.

~Aiiii! Kagome! Get your mind out of the gutter!~ Kagome made herself NOT look at Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru kept quiet, grateful for the distraction that was Rin. If he had held her any longer, he would have been tempted - too tempted to carry her away and throw to the winds the hedges and walls he had taken care to build for so long. A picture of her smiling at him as she lay within his chambers shocked him to the core. Inviting, loving..

~No, oh no...~ Sesshoumaru's mouth formed in a straight line.

But he had willingly kissed her and had opened the door himself. It was too late.