Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own its characters. I do own the ideas of this story and the characters I have created for this story (i.e. Saphira). I also do not own the Druid vows.Please respect patent laws. Comments and reviews are appreciated.

Chapter 12: Saphira and Sesshoumaru

Kagome hugged Saphira tightly, never wanting to let her go again.

"Mom, I can't believe you're here!" Saphira cried with happiness. "I met Dad!"

"I know sweetheart," Kagome said.

"How?"

"There's something I have to tell you, Saphira, about your father and me," Kagome began. "We were never mated, Saphira. You're father found me when I was in America and asked me to have a child with him. At first I refused, I had no idea who he was or what he wanted from me. But then, he told me about this wonderful person that he had known in the Feudal Era. I remembered that I had meant him there once, before I had left for the future. He told me about you, Saphira, about what a wonderful person you were. Eventually, he convinced me to have you, but we never mated. You were conceived in a tube and then you put back inside my uterus. And that's how you came into the world."

Saphira raised her eyebrows at this. "I was a test tube baby?"

"Yes."

Saphira shrugged. "I guess there are worse ways to come into the world. So, wait a minute! You and Dad were never married! I'm an illegitimate child!"

"No, you're not," came Doragon's voice. "With dragons its different, Saphira."

"Doragon," Kagome nodded at him.

"So, how did I talk you into it?" Doragon asked smiling.

"You mentioned something about her right to exist," Kagome smiled.

"I'll have to remember that," Doragon said.

"Mom, are you going to mate with Inuyasha?" Saphira asked surprising Kagome into a blush.

"Yes, she is," Inuyasha said coming up behind Kagome.

"So, have you decided on your vows?" Asked Kagome.

"Well, yes, I have," Saphira said. "Remember when Dad took me to see the lands of our ancestors?"

"Yes, I remember," Kagome said.

"While I was there I remember studying about a group of women called Druids," Saphira said. "I read some of their wedding vows, and I think I know one that would be very appropriate."

"I remember the Druids," Doragon said. "They're alive now, you know?"

"I think they are alive then too, Dad," Saphira laughed.

"Okay everybody, we need to start preparing for the ceremony," Sesshoumaru said coming into the room.

"Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha said. "Kagome has come."

"Good, she can help get Saphira ready," Sesshoumaru said. "Doragon, Inuyasha, you will have to come with me to get dressed."

Kagome had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.

The sun was just beginning to set when the ceremony began. The light from the sun made Saphira's hair look more golden than red.

Doragon patted Saphira's hand lovingly while they slowly walked down the aisle. Most of the seats were taken up by Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's servants. Sesshoumaru had decided to have the ceremony outside by a beautifully decorated fountain. Pink, purple and white orchids surrounded the fountain.

Doragon squeezed Saphira's hand before handing it to Sesshoumaru. Saphira smiled at him through her veil.

Oddly enough a toad youkai was conducting the ceremony.

"Love is long suffering and kind. Love does not get jealous, does not brag or get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Now, however, there remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of all these is love. For all these reasons a man will leave his father and his mother and he will stick to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Not knowing what is before you, you take each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death. You now, voluntarily and completely surrender your individual lives in the interest of the wider and deeper life, which you are to share. Henceforth, you will belong to each other; you will be one in mind, one in heart, and one in affection," Jaken said shrilly.

"With this ring, I thee wed. For better or worse. For richer or poorer. In sickness and in health. To have thee. Hold thee. Love thee. And honor thee. I do take thee until death do us part," Sesshoumaru said slipping a golden band on her finger.

Saphira took a deep breath and began her own vows. "You cannot posses me for I belong to myself. But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give. You can not command me for I am a free person. But I shall serve you in those ways you require and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.

"I pledge to you that yours will be the name that I cry aloud in the night, and the eyes into which I smile in the morning. I pledge to you the first bite from my meat and the first drink from my cup. I pledge to you my living and my dying, each equally in your care, I shall be a shield for your back and you for mine. I shall not slander you, nor you me. I shall honour you above all others, and when we quarrel, we shall do so in private and tell no strangers our grievances.

"This is my wedding vow to you. This is a marriage of equals.

"These promises I make by the sun and moon, by fire and water, by day and night, by land and sea. With these vows I swear, by the gods that my people swear by, to be full partners, each to the other."

With that Saphira slipped a ring onto Sesshoumaru's finger ignoring his surprised look.

Jaken continued, ignoring the couple, "These rings are golden circlets, and from time indefinite, have been symbols of wedded love. Made from the purest of gold to symbolize pure love; they are unbroken circles symbolizing unending love. May they ever be to you tokens of endless love. Forasmuch then as you have consented together in holy wedlock and have pledged your undying devotion and loyalty to each other, I now pronounce you mates for life."

But before Sesshoumaru lifted Saphira's veil to kiss her, her father stepped up pushing Jaken out of the way. He handed Sesshoumaru a small blue blade that Saphira did not recognize. With the blade Sesshoumaru quickly cut his own and then Saphira's hand.

She hissed in pain. Doragon quickly bound their bleeding hands together with a silk shaw.

"Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone. I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One. I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done," Sesshoumaru said fiercely.

"Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone. I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One. I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done," Saphira repeated with the same intensity.

"Da mi basia mille, diende centum, dein mille altera, dein secunda centum," Doragon said.

Sesshoumaru lifted Saphira's veil and kissed her.

"What did he say?" Inuyasha whispered to a tearful Kagome.

"Then let amorous kisses dwell, on our lips, begin and tell, a thousand and a Hundred score, a Hundred, and a Thousand more," Kagome said tearfully.

The rest of the evening was spent eating, laughing and dancing. No one noticed the newlyweds sneaking up the stairs.

"Your vows were...appropriate," Sesshoumaru said as he closed the door.

"Yours were short and sweet," Saphira said smiling, then stopped when she saw he was staring at her. "Sesshoumaru?"

He sighed and turned away. "I would not have forced you into this marriage tonight if your life did not depend on it."

Saphira blinked blankly. "Who said that you forced me?"

"I thought that you did not desire me as a mate," Sesshoumaru said simply.

"I never said that," Saphira said softly. "I said that I don't love you. Marrying someone for anything other than love bothers me. But, I hope that with time we will love each other."

"Then, I will only ask one thing of you," Sesshoumaru said turning to look at her.

"Yes?"

"I want you to always be honest with me," he said pulling her into his lap. "I know this mating may not have love, but we do have honesty. And...I want to keep that integrity in our mating...always."

She smiled at him, sadly, "My mother and Inuyasha are going to mate."

Sesshoumaru furrowed his brows. "I thought your mother mated Doragon."

Saphira felt her throat start to dry up and she knew the tears were coming. "No, they never mated...in the future there are ways to have children without ever mating. That's how I came to be. My mom and dad...they never really loved each other."

Sesshoumaru saw the tears slid down her cheeks, heleaned closer to wipe them away.

"But, they both love you," he said quietly. "Isn't that what's important?"

"I guess so," she murmured.

"Inuyasha loves your mother," Sesshoumaru said holding her. "Don't they deserve happiness?"

Then something clicked in Saphira's brain. "She wasn't afraid of you."

"What?"

"Whenever my mother used to talk about you," Saphira began. "I could always smell the fear on her. It-it made me angry because I knew she had nothing to fear...especially from you. But, now that I know that she knew I would come back, I realize that her fear was for me. She was afraid of what would happen to me, and what you would do to me."

Sesshoumaru smiled. "Yes, what fear would she have for a monster from her past."

"You're not a monster!" Saphira cried angrily.

"I was when your mother was here," Sesshoumaru admitted. "When Inuyasha came to live with me, things changed for the better. Even though he was fully transformed, he retained his human qualities, and they rubbed off."

Saphira smiled and cuddled into his chest. "Are you upset about having to mate me?"

"Why would I be upset?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Well," Saphira said, shyly burying her head into his chest. "Didn't you have someone in mind to mate before I came along?"

"No."

"Really?" Saphira asked happily.

"What did I say earlier about honesty?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

"Do you think she'll be happy?" Kagome asked.

She and Inuyasha were sitting under the cherry blossom tree in the castle's garden.

"Sesshoumaru has changed over the years," Inuyasha said.

Kagome sighed quietly beside him. "Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked down at her. She hadn't really changed all that much over the years. She had proved to be one of those people that just got more beautiful with time. That was something Saphira would never have to worry about.

"Do you still love me, Inuyasha?" She asked.

He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I will never stop loving you, Kagome."

Sesshoumaru shifted Saphira's weight from one leg to the other. She had fallen asleep in his lap looking at the night sky. He gently shook her to wake her up.

"Saphira."

"Hmmm?"

"It's time."

"Okay," she sighed happily. She knew that they would have to consummate their mating. "Sesshoumaru?"

"Hmmm?"

"Uh, I've...ne-never," she stuttered.

"It's okay."

She sighed in relief, but was surprised when suddenly Sesshoumaru grabbed her and held her tightly.

Sesshoumaru was surprised when she pressed her lips against his. This was a human gesture that he had never experienced before. It was strangely intimate and innocent at the same time. He closed his eyes as she deepened the kiss.

As Sesshoumaru lay in the bed, he thought about his mate, sleeping soundly next to him. He touched his lips, still feeling her hungry mouth on them.

She had given herself completely up to him. Her wedding vows echoed back to him in his mind.

"...the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand..." she had said. He looked down at her soft red lips that did indeed taste like honey. He had never known that under her hard, outer shell was a soft, caring person. He had lucked out indeed.

Saphira sighed in her sleep turning toward Sesshoumaru. He studied her face imprinting on his memory.

"Mom..." Saphira murmured in her sleep, but Sesshoumaru did not understand the strange language she was speaking in.

'Japanese must not be her native tongue,' he thought as she continued to murmur in her sleep. He got out of the bed, restless. He dressed in a bath robe and left the room quietly. He wandered down the hallway and into the library to find it already occupied.

"Kagome," he murmured softly to let her know he was there.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," she said nodding her head with respect.

"You need not call me Lord, Lady Kagome," Sesshoumaru said quietly. "Your station as Saphira's mother is much higher than my own."

"That is very kind of you, my Lord," Kagome said. "But, I am an old woman that is trapped in her own bad habits."

"You only look half your age," Sesshoumaru commented. "Inuyasha is fortunate to have you."

Kagome looked back down at the book she had been reading. Sesshoumaru recognized it as the one containing the history of Saphira's family.

Kagome, catching his eye, smiled. "I never knew that my daughter had such a rich history. She came from a line of great warriors."

"Japanese is not her native tongue, is it?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Kagome smiled again. "Has she been talking in her sleep?"

Sesshoumaru nodded.

"English is her native tongue," Kagome said. "I was in another country as an exchange student when I had her."

"Doragon was banished from his family for loving a human," Sesshoumaru began. "Was that human you?"

Kagome blushed slightly. "No, I'm afraid not. I've only had eyes for Inuyasha."

"Yet, you have another man's child..."

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Lord Sesshoumaru. It is true that I agreed have to Saphira, but she had the right, the right, Sesshoumaru, to live. No child's existence should be destroyed like that. My heart has always belonged to Inuyasha, but he betrayed me many years ago, but I have forgiven him. Saphira was not a love child, that's true, but she was planned on. I don't know what human Doragon fell in love with, he didn't tell me many things. He didn't even tell me what would happen to her after she went back through the well. He didn't even tell me that I would come back through the well, or that she would marry you. All I can tell is that I raised her the best I could. My whole family and I love Saphira with all our hearts and wouldn't give her up for anything. So, if you're asking me if I would have done things differently, the answer is no."

Sesshoumaru only smiled at her. "Do not be offended Lady Kagome. My brother has mourned for you for a very long time."

"Mama?" Came a sleepy voice from the door.

They both turned to Saphira standing there in a thin night shirt.

"Come here, baby," Kagome said, she was sitting on a couch. Saphira walked over to where Kagome and sat down snuggling up next to her.

"I missed you, Mom," Saphira said. "Sorry if I worried you."

"It's okay, Saphy," Kagome said patting her daughter's head. "Souta and Grandma said that they love you."

"Oh? I love them too," Saphira said sleepily leaning on Kagome's shoulder.

"Go back to bed, baby, we can talk in the morning," Kagome said kissing her daughter's forehead.

"Mama?"

"Yes, baby?"

"When are you and Inuyasha getting married?" Saphira asked.

"I don't know, baby."