His eyes were shut to reality.
Nothing could touch him.
"Sesshomaru-sama..."
No one could tame him.
No one could bear him.
Not like his father's mistake.
"Sesshomaru-sama."
This is no dream.
I must answer.
Face a reality that will result in an imperfection I am unnocustomed to.
What should I answer?
Why did she ask?
She is waiting...
"Sesshomaru-sama!"
Consequences....
Dangers...
What I must tell her...
*
Molten gold stared at her back, her body tensed with worry.
"Kagome..." He said slowly, meaningfully.
She tensed even more.
"I am the Lord Demon of the Western Lands. I hold a title."
He could smell the tears that blinded her eyes, refusing to fall.
"My father fell in love with a human woman, and that was his demise." Still he pressed forward.
They almost dropped...
"It is considered unworthy for a demon to fall dormant to any emotion, love above all, and disrespect flows like rivers as a ruling figure is captured by such a feeling."
She understood.
"There are dire consequences... and many dangers that would resonate from an unwise descision."
Unwise meaning choosing her.
"But, despite all this, Kagome, I find myself... falling." His eyes swam with un-namable emotions.
She turned over so she could look at him.
"Falling?" She choked out.
"Kagome, you would forever be in danger..." He said slowly, as if she wouldn't understand.
"I- I don't care!" She exclaimed quietly.
"Don't you?" He asked her calmly.
She shook her head.
"I would protect you with my life Kagome." He said, his eyes flickering shut.
"Why?" She asked firmly. She knew what he had hoped she understood. But she wanted to hear the words. Longed to hear...
"Because I love you, also." He spoke almost innaudibly.
Silence followed.
Then a slight weight was thrown into his chest, causing his eyes to open and turn down, staring at the creature that clung to his chest now, a liquid substance burning through his clothing, wetting his skin.
"Kagome..." He murmured.
"Sesshomaru.... Sesshomaru!" She cried.
He found he did not miss the absence of the strictly formal title.
She embraced him happily, joyous tears rolling down her face, laughing a bell-like laugh into the still night air.
His clawed hands reached up to touch her back, which trembled with happiness.
"I don't care about the consequences, Sesshomaru..." She spoke, sensing his troubled thoughts swirled in with the hidden happiness.
He looked down at her, her hazel eyes shined up at him, shining in the moonlight.
He did not know how the space dissapeared.
He did not know how the walls broke the minute it happened.
He almost did not recognize the feelings that burst through his body...
As her lips softly touched his own.
He closed his eyes, feeling as if the world should not see the love that burned beneath his eyes- only her.
After what seemed an eternity, she slowly slipped into a huddled position in his lap, head aganst his chest, tips of her fingers slightly embedded in the silver strands of hair.
His eyes turned towards the shimmering sky.
Smoke blew across the lands.
What was in store now?
His selfishness could be harmful....
To this one, this one he decided to risk everything for, this one who's kiss calmed his soul, like sun's warm rays on a cold, dark Earth. He loved her... And even if she said she did not care...
They would indeed make it through the journey that obviously lay ahead of them, he was sure, he would make sure...
*
She felt the warm rays on her face, thin light shadows flickering also across her features... teasing her...
Opening her eyes, the sky was baby blue with fat white clouds swirling over it...
And silver shots of hair blew over her face peacefully, throwing slightly darker lines across her face.
Supressing a giggle she slowly and carefully pulled herself up in Sesshomaru's lap, observing his, for once, naturally emotionless face.
She reached out to touch a strand of his hair but his eyes opened on contact and his hand caught her wrist before she could run her hands thouroughly through his hair...
She smiled innocently and nervously as he stared down at her outstretched hand.
"Kagome..." He started.
"Hehe... Hai?" She asked with her closed eyes in an innocent arch.
"You... Always touch my hair." He said, his facial expression remaining blank.
"It's unresistable to me Sesshomaru! I love your hair, it's so beautiful!" She cried.
"You will wake up Jaken." He said, glancing towards Jaken, and Kagome giggled again to see a faint trace of embarassment evident in his eyes.
"I love you Sesshomaru!" She cried with cheer as she rose and bounced away from him, proceeding to make breakfast as Rin and Jaken slowly roused themselves from the between world...
"What are you so happy about human?" Jaken said disgusted during breakfast, he recieved and noticed the glare from both Sesshomaru and Kagome.
He grumbled as he shut up and looked back down in shame.
"We must go see Dyhatarr of the East today." Sesshomaru said monotone.
"Lord Dyhatarr!?" Jaken's outburst alerted Kagome.
Sesshomaru glared sharply at him.
"Who is Lord Dyhatarr?" Kagome carefully asked.
"My Lord Inutaisho's greatest rival was the Lord Kyhateriis' son- Lord Dyhatarr. Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Dyhatarr are not enemies, for they both have more important things to worry about, but they do dislike each other, for the sake of their lost fathers. They made a pact not to meet again unless---" Jaken automatically got quiet when he became the recieving side of Sesshomaru's "death glare".
"I must disguss something with him." Sesshomaru said coldly, directed towards Jaken.
"Oh." She said, though he knew she did not understand.
"We are going to leave now." Sesshomaru decided and everybody rose obediantly.
*
They all strove to keep up with his long paces, them all developing a slight pant.
"We must reach there by nightfall. The East, as you know Kagome, is not only covered in rouge demons, but also by your former friends." He said.
She nodded gravely.
"I am afraid you may not be there while we speak. It is a sacred matter." He also added.
She nodded again.
"Can I see my family again while you're there then?" she asked.
"Hai." Sesshomaru answered.
He then took both Kagome and Rin and burst into the sky, Jaken rushing to make it onto the cloud-like transport in time.
*
Kagome loved the feel of wind on her face, it was almost numbing.
Turning her face to the wind, she stepped partially out of Sesshomaru's protective embrace.
He looked at her with slightly hidden concern, but her smile eased him.
"Where is your family?" Seshomaru asked.
"Not too far from the tree that Inuyasha was pinned to fifty years ago." Kagome answered, trying to name landmarks.
"In the village?" He asked.
"Iie, there's a well." Kagome answered.
"Your familt does not live in a well." He said decidedly.
She shook her head.
"They live beyond it, in another time period." Kagome said.
He nodded his head slightly, though he hardly understood.
She was relieved he did not think her crazy.
The wind caressed her face as they continued towards the Eastern lands...
*
"This is near your home?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Hai." Kagome said softly, reaching out to touch the ancient (not-so-ancient) God Tree.
He nodded.
"Watch Rin, Jaken. It will be your life if she is hurt." Sesshomaru said evenly.
Kagome looked back at him while Jaken nodded fearfully.
Swiftly following Kagome, he was led to what he supposed was her "home".
When they reached the well, and Kagome stopped, Sesshomaru's curiousity was only slightly visible on his face to Kagome.
She walked up and touched the rim of the well thoughtfully.
"How long should I stay at my home Sesshomaru?" She asked softly.
"Come back... Tomorrow morn. I will be here to take you to lord Dyhatarr. He will want to see you." Sesshomaru nodded at his decision.
"Sesshomaru?" She asked suddenly.
"Hai?" He asked her.
"Aren't you the more powerful of the four lords?" She asked.
Surprised she had any knowledge of the feudal royal system, he nodded slightly.
"So... Whay do you need to ask lord Dyhatarr about anything?" She asked.
He looked reluctant to answer, but finally explained.
"Our fathers were rivals in their full time of living, they expected the same to be between their sons. We were both similar that each had a... troublesome younger brother, except Dyhatarr's brother shared his blood." Sesshomaru began.
"They were true siblings." Kagome nodded in understanding.
"Yes. But, after our father's died, we needn't live the pretense that we despised each other to the point of inturrupting our daily lives to fight the other." Sesshomaru continued.
She nodded wordlessly again.
"Honoring our fathers' names though, was important, whether we liked or disliked the man he was. So, though we agreed not to fight, we decided it would be too much against our fathers' titles to ignore the other, to show complete indifference. So, we decided there would be something more between us than the other lords, just for the sake of not having a void our fathers would be insulted by. Also a means of discomfort, making up for the years of silence. So, whenever one or the other found... Somebody to love, for eternity, we would confer, and I must... convince him. There was no reason behind this petty decision, except that it would ensure strength in the years coming of the East and Western lands... East and West, be us never to talk again, still have a closer bonding, a thinner border, a stronger truce, than any other land. So, it is duty to gain the others opinion on mate, to keep both sides strong..." Sesshomaru said.
"The West and East, when one falls, so does the other?" Kagome asked.
"That is correct. There must be a strong second in a time of need, for the West and East have been almost as one for so many centuries... To kill one would destroy the other." Sesshomaru said, turning away.
"I'll be here very early tomorrow morning Sesshomaru, waiting for you!" She cried out to him as he dissapeared to get Rin and Jaken.
Then she jumped into the well, knowing she would not get any sleep.
'What will the lord of the East think of Sesshomaru loving a mere human like me? I'm so weak...' She thought, fighting tears, but ready to stand by Sesshomaru forever.