Aftermath

Kurama frowned as he read over one of the numerous parchments before him. The silvery white fox ears atop his head tilted toward me as I walked toward him. He looked up and smiled as his eyes met mine. "Still hard at work I see," I murmured. "Where is Sata?" I asked, noting that the vixen was not with him. "She went to get cleaned up before dinner," Kurama answered. "Shouldn't you be doing the same?" I responded. "It is nearly time to go into the dining hall," Kurama's eyes widened slightly as his gaze flicked to the window. "I hadn't realized it was so late already," he murmured. "You work too hard," I responded as I climbed into his lap. "Not as hard as I used to, thanks to Sata's help," he replied. I made a murmur of agreement. Sata had been a great help to Kurama since her arrival, attending to things that Kurama did not really need to bother with, leaving him with only the most important of duties.

As I leaned in to give my mate a kiss, Kenji and Kenshin barreled into the room with Ryou close on their heels. Ryou glanced at us curiously as Kenji somehow managed to grab hold of one of the parchments, Kurama had been dutifully reading. Kenshin and Ryou quickly turned their attention to the object in their brother's hand and each reached to take it for themselves and see if they could figure out what it was. I acted quickly, leaving the comfortable spot of my mate's lap to rescue the parchment he had been working on so hard. He gave me a soft smile of thanks as he rose from his chair and gathered the closest two kits in his arms. "Time to get washed up for dinner," He announced. I took Kenji by the hand and followed my mate out of the room to help him in getting the kits cleaned up.

A few hours after dinner, it was time to bathe the kits and put them to bed. Kurama drew the water while I undressed our sons. Fortunately, we had yet to have trouble getting the kits to take a bath. They loved playing in the water as much as any toddler. The challenge was getting them out of the water.

We smiled at each other as we bathed our sons, glad that all three of them were safe, sound and alive. Ryou had recovered completely from his energy exhaustion. However, he still had nightmares about his kidnapping. If that wasn't bad enough his hearing had been damaged by Leiko detonating her deadly bombs so close to him. Now, his hearing would never be as sharp as that of his father or siblings. It would forever be only as sharp as that of a human's, quite a bit of loss for a yoko. Despite that fact, we were overjoyed to have our silver haired son back.

Once we had finished bathing the kits, we dried them quickly and tucked them into bed. It took us quite a while to settle them down for the night, but before long they were fast asleep. Kurama and I both gave them a kiss on the forehead, bidding them goodnight. We lingered for a few minutes, just watching them sleep before heading toward our bedchamber.

Deciding it was time we both had a break to have some time alone to ourselves, I had made the necessary arrangements to ensure that the boys would be taken care of while we were gone. Knowing it had been quite sometime since he had been outside of the palace grounds, I decided it was high time we did a little traveling. There was a beach only a few miles away, and I knew of a secluded spot no one ever went to. That was where I wanted to take my mate. The only thing left to do was convince my mate to leave the palace for the night. I doubted it would be too difficult, after all I had learned quite a few ways of persuading my mate over the years.

Kurama reached to turn down the bed but I stopped him. "Let's go," whispered to him. "Go?" he asked, "Where?" I smiled mischievously at him. "You'll see," I replied as I took his hand. I opened the secret stair we had once used in a fervor of passion to enter our room. We descended the stairs as the door slid shut behind us. I smiled at him and continued to the bottom of the stair. We listened for a moment, until we were sure that no one was in the ballroom, then emerged through the door.

We slipped out of the palace itself and quickly left the grounds. "Now what?" he asked once we stopped to rest for a moment under a tall oak tree. "You'll have to switch to your animal form," I said. He gave me a quizzical look, but complied. I reached down and gently took the silver, multi tailed fox that was my mate into my arms. I held him close as I dashed into the night, using my speed to it's fullest.

It felt wonderful to race through the forest and fields like this. I missed the feel of the wind in my face and hair. At this pace I always felt as though I was flying. I relished the feeling for as long as I could, knowing that it would be short-lived. Soon we had reached our destination. I set Kurama down upon the soft sand and turned to marvel at the view. The beach was absolutely beautiful in the light of the full moon. In fact it seemed rather magical.

I sat down upon the soft sand and a moment later I felt Kurama's arms around me. I turned my head to face him and captured his lips in a gentle kiss. Kurama returned it. "Why did you spirit me away my love?" he asked. "Because itoshii, I needed a break from the palace, and so do you," I answered. I kissed him again, this time it was filled with longing and desire. I reached for the knot holding his tunic closed and undid it. I explored his well chiseled chest with my hands. He moaned into the kiss and leaned into my touch. We exchanged kisses wildly until it was necessary for us to break away for air.

The moment we broke away he reached for my top and pulled it over my head. The next thing I knew I was lying on my back and he removed my boots and socks. He undid my belts next, and I lifted my hips to allow him to remove my pants. Suddenly, his mouth was upon me, teasing me with its warmth. I moaned as he teased me with his mouth, teeth, lips, and tongue. He took one of my nipples in his mouth teasing the sensitive flesh with a searing kiss and teasing caresses of his warm rough tongue until it was a hard nub under his sweet torture. He whispered my name over the wet flesh, making me shudder from the lack of warmth. He smiled wickedly at me and turned his attention to the other one, giving it the same treatment. He moved on from them soon and continued downward until he reached his prize.

I knew that if I didn't do something soon he would use his wicked lips and talented tongue to bring me to the peak of my pleasure and lovingly send me hurtling over, screaming his name in ecstasy as I went.

I sat up some and reached for his tail, gently caressing the sensitive base. He moaned wantonly. The vibrations traveled up my own sensitive flesh adding to my pleasure. I was sure I had moaned myself, for his eyes twinkled with amusement and desire as he pleasured me. His warm mouth felt good on my already heated body, and my eyes began to slide closed. I caressed a little harder until I had finally distracted him enough re free myself from his teasing lips and wicked tongue. I struck then, pouncing on him, knocking him to the ground. I removed his shoes quickly and then set to work on removing his tunic and pants.

I didn't waste time in removing the white tunic from his body and caressing his broad chest with nips and kisses. Kurama leaned back and allowed me to dominate him, probably knowing that at the moment I wanted to pleasure him. I explored his upper body lovingly and without abandon, making my way down to the waistband of his pants. I undid the belt slowly, then gently caressed the heated flesh trapped within with one hand as I undid the buttons one by one with the other. When at last the last button was undone, he quickly lifted his hips so that I could remove the offensive clothing.

Finally he was revealed in all his glory. I let my eyes roam over his god like body and he was grinning like a madman. I smirked and crawled over him on all fours, brushing my body against his as much as possible. I attacked his chest with searing kisses and teasing caresses with my tongue. He moaned and writhed beneath me as I continued my sweet torture, moving downward toward my ultimate goal. I fished the small bottle of oil from my pants pocket as I kissed, caressed, and nipped my way down his body. Finally I had it in my grasp, and pulled it from my pocket. I kissed his length as I opened the bottle.

Slowly, teasingly I prepared him for our joining, enjoying the sounds of his moans and whispered pleas. When I finished, I pressed the small bottle into his hands and turned on all fours so that my backside was to him. He stared at me uncomprehendingly for a moment. A heartbeat later, he understood what I wanted and began preparing me for our joining. After what seemed an eternity, he finally entered me and the eternal dance of love and lust began. The only sounds that followed were that of the waves crashing upon the shore and our pleasured moans as we made love in the moonlight on the beach.

All too soon it was over and we lay beside each other, spent and exhausted. Kurama kissed me tenderly. "I've always wanted to do that," he confessed. "I know," I murmured then kissed him back. "I saw it in your dream one night," His eyes widened in shock. I nearly laughed at his shocked expression. I caressed his cheek and smirked. "or rather I should say you showed me one of your dreams one night," I said. I could feel his cheek heat up and I knew he was blushing. "Thank you Darkfire," he murmured. I smiled "You're welcome Fox," I replied.

We drifted off to sleep there on the beach in one another's arms, not waking until the first rays of light brightened the sky. We dressed quickly and returned to the palace the way we entered. We undressed again and slipped into bed, falling asleep once more until Sachi awakened us.

AN: the epilouge is next, wrapping up the story completely. I'm still working on another story to post. Hopefully I will be done in another week or two. Wish me luck!