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Chapter 5: Wounded Hearts

Kikyo pulled the blanket around her tighter as she felt the tears coming again. She had known then that Sesshomaru didn't love her, but he cared for her. That wasn't enough. She had wanted the love that his half brother could provide her with.

This was how it ended. Inuyasha had chosen someone else, she was chained to Sesshomaru's floor, and Sesshomaru enjoyed watching her suffer.

She refused to eat, bathe, and hadn't slept in a few days. All she wanted to do was die. Why wouldn't he just let her go?

He was punishing her for choosing Inuyasha over him. He had offered her protection, companionship, and monogamy, and she had rejected him because he couldn't give her what she wanted. Knowing what she knew now, she was happy that she did what she had.

What would her life be like now if she had chosen Sesshomaru the sadist over Inuyasha?

Probably the same as it was now.

That realization made the tears flow free. Despair ripped through her. Hell wasn't filled with fire.

It was the cold, cruel bedchamber of a demon lord.

**Later in Sesshomaru's Bedchamber*

Jaken stared at the sight before him in shock. He had heard the servants gossiping that the lord had his human mate chained to the floor in his bedchamber, but he hadn't believed it. After all, Sesshomaru would never claim a human as his mate. And even if he did, he wouldn't chain her to the floor. Would he?

Obviously the answer was yes. But why? What could Sesshomaru hope to accomplish by chaining this woman to the floor? Unless she didn't want to be here, but in that case, Sesshomaru should let her go and not force her to stay. Jaken thought Sesshomaru had more dignity than to chain his mate, like he would a common prisoner.

Then again there was always the possibility that the woman was just a plaything for his master. Yes. That must be it, because then it would make the treatment of her somewhat justifiable.

Small, delicate hands gripped at a blanket that was draped around her shoulders, so tightly that her knuckles were white. Her head was bowed with her chin tucked against her chest. A cascade of silky locks darker than the night itself shielded the sides of her face from his wide yellow eyes. The bangs falling over her forehead hid her farther from Jaken's confused gaze.

One thing that wasn't hidden from Jaken were the heavy scent of tears emanating from the woman. The sounds of her despaired sobbing made Jaken feel pity for the creature. He began to move closer to her.

"Go away," she whispered, between sobs.

Jaken had to find out. He needed to know if she was Sesshomaru's mate, or his whore. Sesshomaru would probably kill him for intruding, but something compelled Jaken forward.

"Jaken-sama! What are you doing in Sesshomaru-sama's room?" Rin, now fourteen, ran into the room. She froze at the sight of the other human.

The woman's head jerked up when Rin ran into the room. Tears trailed down her puffy cheeks as she looked at Rin, then at Jaken, in horror and embarrassment.

Rin shifted uncomfortably as she looked at the woman. "Jaken-sama, why is the pretty lady, that saved Rin from Suikotsu, chained in here?"

Jaken's eye moved back to woman's face. Rin was right! This was the undead priestess that had saved Rin from Suikotsu over three years ago. She was the one that had pinned Inuyasha to the Goshinboku, nearly sixty years prior.

That couldn't be right. That woman was undead, and this one was without a doubt alive.

Rin walked closer to her and brushed the bangs away from her forehead. This action revealed the blue crescent moon on her forehead. She gasped softly. "Look Jaken-sama, she has a mark just like Sesshomaru-sama."

Jaken gaped in horror. He knew that whomever the Lord of the Western Lands claimed as his mate would bare this mark. Inuyasha's mother, Izayoi hadn't, because she hadn't been claimed yet by Hiroshi-sama. This woman before him was the Lady of the Western Lands and she was chained to the floor, like a slave or a whore. Surely, Sesshomaru-sama had a good reason for something like this, but Jaken couldn't think of one. Jaken studied her face. It looked as though she had been beaten, but Jaken couldn't believe that his lord had done that. Two things that he had never known Sesshomaru to do were to beat and rape women. They watched as she bent her head and began to sob again.

Rin left the woman and shook as she bent to pick up the pieces of the red and white miko habit littering the floor. She handed Jaken a piece of the white top. It was stained with blood and burnt with Sesshomaru's poison. "Sesshomaru-sama didn't do this, did he?"

"Of course he didn't! Don't be a fool, Rin!" Jaken snapped this at her, the same way he often spoke to her. Naturally, Jaken had his doubts.

"No. Sesshomaru didn't do that to me," the woman spoke softly, knowing what they were thinking.

Rin cocked her head to the side. "But why are you…"

"Rin! Leave my room at once!" Sesshomaru's indifferent voice spoke from the doorway.

Rin hurried from the room, without a word. She was simply relieved to leave the room.

"Jaken! You have work to tend to, do you not?" Sesshomaru stepped into the room.

Jaken bowed. "Of course, Sesshomaru-sama." Jaken continued to bow to Sesshomaru as he scurried past him.

Sesshomaru frowned slightly as he closed the door behind him and walked to his mate. He stared down at her bowed head as she continued to sob. "You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry." She refused to allow his servants to feed her, nor would she feed herself.

"You need to bathe," he informed her.

"Why? Does my ningen odor offend you?" She asked softly.

"You need to sleep."

She hadn't slept since he brought her to the palace a day and a half ago. The only thing she would do was relieve herself when she was given the opportunity.

Sesshomaru had been sleeping in his library, hoping she would be calmer and more responsive if he wasn't around, but that wasn't the case.

"It's hard to sleep on a cold stone floor."

The scent of her fear permeated the room as she watched Sesshomaru remove his slippers. He didn't wear his armor when he was in his home, unless a visiting lord was in attendance. A soundless sigh parted his lips as he removed his swords, those he always carried with him.

He crossed the room and rested them against the wall, before moving back to Kikyo. He knelt next to her and flicked his hand to make the collar open and fall from her neck. "Stand up." He rose to his feet and waited for her compliance. She was slow and wobbled slightly as she fought to rise to her feet. She clenched the blanket to her tightly; fearing that Sesshomaru would ravish her if she let go.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes at her fear, but such gestures were out of character for him. With no expression upon his face, he jerked the blanket from her, and hauled her nude, cold body against his.

He tossed her on the bed and watched as she scrambled away from him. This time Sesshomaru sighed as he slipped under the covers, grasped her wrist to halt her escape, and tucked the warm blankets around them. His arm encircled her waist and he held her with her naked chest pressing against his clothed one.

Kikyo struggled in his iron grasp, but he wouldn't budge. "Let me go."

"Cease that at once, Kikyo." He shifted her, so that she was sprawled on top of him. Her chin dug, defiantly, into his chest as she stared up at him. His head was lifted slightly as he looked down his nose at her.

"Why are you doing this?" Her voice was soft, but he heard every word.

"You need to sleep, Kikyo. Then, you need to eat. I don't want you to get sick," he said. "Then if you want to bathe, you may."

"And if I don't want to?"

She felt him shrug under her. "If you can deal with the smell, then I can as well."

"I thought you wanted me to suffer." Her reply was bitter. Those were the last words she remembered hearing that night. She was floating in a sea of black when he had said them, but she had heard them nonetheless.

His eyes narrowed and his lips parted slightly in surprise. He hadn't thought she had heard him, but it didn't matter now. "I thought I did. Now, I don't know what I want you to do," he replied honestly.

After a moment, Kikyo broke the silence. "What makes you think I will be able to sleep on top of you?"

He pulled her higher up his body and extended his tongue to lap at his mark on her flesh. He heard her moan and continued. His hot tongue caressed her flesh over and over again. He felt her relaxing against him. Hell, she seemed to melt against him. What Kikyo didn't know that male dog demons could use their mouths against the mark on their mate's body to soothe and relax the female. Sesshomaru hoped that he could use this to help Kikyo sleep. And it was working, kind of.

Unfortunately, this action had another side effect. It aroused the female. And that was working too. Kikyo was groggy, but she began to grind mindlessly against Sesshomaru hoping for release. "Please Sesshomaru-sama?" Her voice was tired, but sexy as she writhed over him.

"No," he said in a rough voice. He wanted badly to please his mate, but he refrained. Her scent was driving him crazy. He should have known better than to use the mating mark technique to get her to sleep.

His eyes widened a fraction when he felt her hand slip between them. He heard her groan softly as she touched her own body.

Nothing good could come of this. He was sure of that.

It was probably an hour after he entered his room. Kikyo was sleeping fully satisfied on his chest.

He stared up at the ceiling. His cock was throbbing, with no signs of a release in sight. He sighed and closed his eyes, wishing sleep would come to him.

Eventually sleep over took the frustrated man.

Sesshomaru's Dream

"You are so beautiful, it disgusts me," she said as she looked upon her lover's face. The words she spoke were true. He was the embodiment of perfection itself. Actually, the first time she saw him, she had thought him to be a woman. It had been his hair that made him appear that way. Long white hair with streaks of silver had hung to the backs of his knees in a silky cascade.

"Am I?" A smile crossed his face as he looked down upon the woman under him. It was so genuine that it reached his usually cold golden eyes. He was propped above her with his raised elbows. A thin sheen of sweat seemed to glow on them, in the pale moonlight that intruded through the window.

His smile was so infectious that she found herself smiling up at him. "You know you are." She accused.

"Hmm.".

On the floor of the shrine, where she protected the Shikon no Tama, the demon claimed the priestess's body again.

The Shikon No Tama glittered pinkly, somewhat like a prism, in the flickering flames of the torches lining the place where she usually prayed. This night it was used in a different type of worship. It was used by a demon and a human to worship each others bodies.

Her younger sister was sleeping soundly in the other room. Sesshomaru would know if she were to awaken.

Although they both acknowledged that they were soul mates, they decided to never be together. She was a human and he was a powerful demon lord. She had told him over and over again that she had no desire to live the rest of her life with a demon. He claimed to hate the whole human species and said that he never wanted her for anything other than her body. Unfortunately, Kikyo didn't know he was lying.

Sesshomaru knew he didn't love her, but he did care for her deeply. She was powerful and beautiful, despite the fact that she was human, Sesshomaru would have claimed her and protected her, if she wanted him to.

But she didn't. She had promised herself to Inuyasha. This would be the last time Sesshomaru would take his mate. Tomorrow, she would meet Inuyasha at the Goshinboku to give him the Shikon No Tama, enabling him to become ningen.

A low growl tore from his well formed lips as he sensed the approaching intruder.

"Who is it?" Kikyo simply sounded as if someone had interrupted her praying.

"It's me, Kikyo." Inuyasha's voice rang through the shrine.

Sesshomaru froze. Something seemed off about Inuyasha, but he ignored the feeling.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

"No. I can't wait anymore. Can you make me ningen now?"

He was tempted to tell Inuyasha to go away. To tell him that after tonight, she would be his until they both died a ningen death. Tonight she belonged to him, Sesshomaru. Tomorrow, she would be Inuyasha's.

"Kikyo?"

"No Inuyasha. We can't do it now. There is too much evil at night. Wait until morning."

He waited a moment, clearly not happy with the answer. "Fine. Please hurry when the sun comes out."

"Get off me." Kikyo hissed as she shoved at Sesshomaru's shoulders.

His eyes narrowed in irritation, but he said not a word as he rolled off her, and rested his back against the floor. His chest was still rising and falling rapidly, though he controlled his breathing, so Inuyasha wouldn't be able to hear it.

Kikyo hurried to her feet and dressed quickly, before she rushed to the door. "Inuyasha?" She swept the screen aside and looking into the night. He was gone. Nothing was outside, but the wind, stars, and the moon.

"That was close," she said. Sesshomaru started to chuckle as she sat back down next to him. "What are you laughing about?"

"A demon has defiled the holy guardian of the Shikon No Tama in the shrine in which it is protected."

Neither said a word for a few moments, sitting in awkward silence.

"You know that he'll never be able to please you the way I do." Sesshomaru moved to get dressed.

Kikyo watched him begin to leave. "I know." She whispered to his back.

End Dream

Gold eyes snapped open as the dream ended. His arms instantly wrapped around his mate. Rolling them onto them onto their sides, he spooned against her. His mouth gently kissed the back of her ear.

He feared that if he let her go, she would leave again. As his eyes drifted closed and sleep came over him he snuggled against her. "Please don't leave me again, Kikyo. I need you."

He had been so tired, that he hadn't known Kikyo had woken up and heard every word.