"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy.  I were but a little happy if I could say how much…"

                                                            -Much Ado About Nothing

Sunday was an awkward awakening.  Sesshomaru woke first, happy to just stroke her hair while she slept.  But when her eyes fluttered, he became afraid that she would want to leave him again. 

He couldn't bear the thought.

He gently kissed her but she broke away and ran into the bathroom.

"Well, that's the answer to my question," he thought sadly.  What did I do wrong…

But then Kagome jumped back into bed and captured his lips into a deep, drugging kiss.

"What?" he murmured, breathless.

"I had bad breath…so I just went and brushed my teeth."  Laughing at not only himself but her cuteness as well he pulled her into his embrace, delicately kissing her face the same way she did to him last night.

"No regrets?" he asked through kisses.

"No regrets," she answered.  Leaning back to rest in his arms she began gently tracing her fingers along his chest.  While she did this he rolled her over under him and kissed her passionately.  Kagome's declaration was still ringing in his ears and his heart sang with contentment.

During a break of his lips exacting his tortuous movement she slid her hand to rest right on his stomach, above a now very familiar part of his anatomy. 

"Do you think about sex all the time?" she muttered, somewhat interested in his reaction.

"No, correction, I always think about making love to you."  She laughed and gave him a quick kiss.

"Not right now, you dork.  We have to get everything ready for my father's arrival party tomorrow."

And with another peck on his lips she left his room, leaving him alone.

"Cold shower," Sesshomaru thought, "Cold shower."

Kagome closed the door behind her and immediately started fiddling with her necklace.  In truth, she didn't really have to do much for her father's arrival.  But that was just it. 

Her father.

She wasn't quite sure how he would react to her being involved with the hired help. 

True, Sesshomaru wasn't just anyone, but still, her father wasn't exactly as open as she'd like.  And since the whole Inuyasha incident, Kagome could understand why.

And Inuyasha was another story.  His abrasive behavior rubbed her father the wrong way.  In fact, everything about Inuyasha rubbed her father the wrong way.  He was arrogant, rude, and had a total disregard for authority figures.  Perhaps that was needed in his profession though.

So Kagome needed to think of a plan to keep her father unaware of their activities behind closed doors.

"If only he knew…his only daughter in the week he was gone, killed the man she thought she loved, lost her virginity to her bodyguard, discovered his past and then found out he was the one she loved the whole time…" Kagome paused.

"Sheesh!  My life is a soap opera!  And with the whole "being in danger" part and you have got yourself a first class ticket to the Oprah Winfrey Show!"

Kagome sighed and lay down on her bed facing the ceiling.  How could she explain this to Sesshomaru?  They had just hit a bridge in their relationship, an overpass, a place where Kagome was comfortable being in his arms and sleeping in his bed.

She almost giggled at the fact that she seemed to please him greatly.  Last night she had woken up to him cuddling her tightly and nuzzling her neck.  All the while he murmured her name under his breath as if it was a prayer he couldn't stop chanting. 

Kagome almost cried then, hell, she wanted to laugh, dance and sing all at the same time.  Sesshomaru, a man whose past was more sorted than her own was still a boy at heart.  And that boy, she hoped, loved her deeply. 

After Kagome got over her insane happiness she had cuddled closer to him, holding him as tightly as he held her.  She was giving him what he was giving her.

Equally.

Something she never shared with Inuyasha.

It was getting harder and harder to think back on the good times with Inu. All Kagome could remember or thought of was the bad.  And it was getting harder and harder to believe that she had actually been in love with him. 

Thinking back on it, Kagome realized that she was probably more in love with the idea of having a boyfriend and being in love then actually feeling the emotion herself.

For certainly she never felt this incessant need to be with Inuyasha; this need that overrode all amorous thoughts and ideas and went to the heart of the matter, in her heart of hearts where only one man would reside for all time. 

Sesshomaru.

Kagome rushed out of her room, practically slamming the door off its hinges.  She bounded into Sesshomaru's room and caught him in the middle of zipping up his pants.  As if in slow motion he turned, facing her in all his glory.  His silver-white hair glowed in the sun piercing through his open window.  His unclothed chest rippled at his movements and the skin not unlike porcelain gleamed in its ethereal beauty. 

And then time began again as she launched herself into his arms, tumbling them both to the ground.  There she proceeded to kiss him—hard and full of passion.  She kissed his arms and chest and shoulders and back while he laughed when she tickled him with her tongue.

"Kagome, what brought this on?"  Sesshomaru asked, still laughing as she kissed and licked his elbow.

"I figured it out," she answered kissing up his arm to his neck.

"Figured what out?"  At the juncture between his neck and shoulder Kagome playfully bit him.

"That I love you…" Time stood still again, but now it was for Sesshomaru.  Kagome's eyes, deep and innocent, danced before his view.  He wanted to do so many things to account for his joy.  But silence reigned.

And then doubt.

"What?" Sesshomaru bit out—she couldn't have just…

"I love you…IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou.  I love you more than the air I breathe to keep me alive or the sun that dances in the horizon.  I don't love you more than life itself.  Loving you is life itself."

At that moment, all the memories came rushing back: happy and sad, humorous and painful.

The first day he met her and she gave him the spiel about the history of her home that he later found out was a total lie…

The time she didn't get asked to Senior Prom and he pretended he was under instructions from her father to give her a good time and distract her from the dance…

The time she graduated from high school and that night she snuck into his room to eat snacks and watch movies together…

Or the time he found her crying on the couch and he comforted her, not knowing what was wrong…

And the time she threw him a surprise birthday party and made him wear a funny hat she made out of a paper bag…

And finally the time she almost kissed him in the gardens, before Inuyasha was even in the picture, and he pushed her away—even though he wanted so much to feel the soft texture of her luscious lips…

I guess I loved her even then…but it took Inuyasha for me to realize that…Sesshomaru thought delicately. 

"I love you too!" he blurted out, unable to contain the feeling any longer.

"I love you so much."  For once, words failed him and he kissed her, showing Kagome how he felt with actions instead of words.

His hands trailed all over her body as he laid her back down on the crumpled bed.  Soft and sweet kisses upon her lips were all he could manage as her words danced in his head and his hands removed her clothing. 

It was like the first time over again as he saw her beautiful body spread beneath him, her eyes alive with both desire and love.  Something he knew he needed from her most desperately. 

She removed his pants, kissing his skin when it appeared beneath his pants.  As Kagome pulled off his boxers she kissed and licked her way up to his quivering erection.  And with delicate precision she kissed his tip, for once wanting to give him all the pleasure he could experience. 

Gently she licked everywhere she could, believing for once that this was the most decadent treat she could ever receive.  And then she brought his head into her mouth, sucking and nipping.  Kagome almost smiled when Sesshomaru released an almost guttural moan.

Sess was having trouble remembering to breathe.  Her dark head between his thighs was one of the most arousing things he could think of.  Witch wasn't much help since he seemed to have lost his ability to think as well.  And as she began gliding her mouth over his penis he couldn't stop his hips from rising in anticipation. 

Kagome kept on sucking as if she was in a dream, not fully aware of her actions—or the consequences.  But Sesshomaru stopped her before she could finish her pleasure.

Her mouth was delicious…but Sess wanted another bliss from her sweet body.

Again Sesshomaru found himself between her exquisite thighs, teasing her entrance with the tip of his erection.

"Please, I want you inside me." Kagome choked out. 

Sesshomaru didn't argue as he plunged into her listless depths.

And as they joined once more in a dance known throughout times of old, Kagome could only think one thing:

But mustn't all good things come to an end?