Chapter 12: Fields of Gold

A seventeen-year-old Ai sat in her bedroom finishing her painting of the praying grounds that she had started earlier that day. Today was her birthday and ever since she had met Sesshoumauru, Ai made it perfectly clear that she did not want him to make anything of it. As usual Rin was sitting down on the floor watching her, within the last year the two had formed a very close relationship, where Ai acted more like Rin's mother and sister each day. Just as Ai finished her last stroke Sesshoumaru walked over to her door, and almost on impulse Rin jumped up and ran over to the great inu youkai. "Sesshoumaru-sama look what Inoru-san made. Rin wishes that she could paint like that." Sesshoumaru looked in front of him and set his eyes on the artwork the small child had been raving about so cheerfully. It was indeed one of the most beautiful paintings he had ever seen.

He told Rin to go back to her room, and the small girl did what was asked of her, gently closing the door behind her. Sesshoumaru looked over at the artist of the painting, which at the moment happened to be a slightly red faced Ai, who was embarrassed by all the attention her artwork was receiving. He walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, causing Ai to look up at him w/ a slight blush. Not knowing what to do she smiled and tried hard not to fumble over her words. "It's a picture of a praying ground from where I come from." Although Sesshoumaru didn't know much about humans he did know that they had the tendency to become quite attached to their families and homes. "Do you miss it?" "Sometimes, I haven't seen any places like that around here." "Hm". With that Sesshoumaru left with the perfect idea already in place.

Later on that day when Ai was sitting in her room, she received a message from one of the servants to meet Sesshoumaru outside the gates of the palace. Since the date of her birthday was February 29th, Ai put on her favorite haori and checked her hair and makeup before she exited her chambers and went out the main doors of the palace.

Once Sesshoumaru saw her he immediately started walking, making Ai run a little bit in order for her to catch up to him. It was rare that they would walk together like this, unless they were patrolling his lands, other than that if he wanted to talk to Ai he usually had one of the servants send her to meet him on one of the many balconies around the palace. Ai noticed this and decided she would ask him about it without pushing the subject "Sesshoumaru-sama?" For some reason unbeknownst to anyone but him Sesshoumaru already knew her next question "I wanted to show you something".

Ai nodded and in about fifteen minutes they had reached their destination, a field of roses just like the ones in Ai's painting, the beauty of the sight making the young woman gasp out of sheer awe. She was almost becoming entranced by it, but then Sesshoumaru spoke, "I know you told me not to do anything for your birthday, but I thought it might remind you of your home". Ai smiled and turned around to face him, barely finding the words "No, it's beautiful Sesshoumaru-sama". "It was my mother's favorite place also, but you must be homesick here."

Ai looked down, her family was a sensitive topic since both her parents were married to other people when her mother got pregnant, and she was given to her father. Her father died when she was seven and Ai was sent to live with her mother, as a result of her father dyeing she didn't talk for two years. "Ai?" "I don't have much family where I come from, please let's not ruin this by talking about our pasts." Before he could answer back Ai walked over to Sesshoumaru and placed her head on his chest, almost instinctively causing Sesshoumaru to put his arms around her waist, just as she lifted up her head to look at him.

Ai leaned in a little to him, and then is if they were both thinking the same thing Ai and Sesshoumaru kissed. As the kiss became more heated, Sesshoumaru undid Ai's delicate bun, letting her hair fall gently to the ground while he ran his fingers through it. When they finally broke free they walked back to the palace in complete silence, Sesshoumaru greatly regretting the fact that he had let that happen not once but twice. Little did he know that the feelings that caused him to kiss her would lead to a life or death decision.

A/N: By the way a Haori is a jacket you wear over a kimono when it's cold out, in case you were wondering.