This chapter is dedicated to my friend Emily, who unknowingly gave me the idea for the pun Sesshomaru uses later in this chapter. Trust me, you'll enjoy it. ;)


Chapter 17

Megumi had thought that she had witnessed how fast someone could possibly dress - she had, of course, had the privilege of being stuck on a boat for centuries with demons who sometimes felt the need to buy into their urges with fellows of the crew, only later to be caught red-handed in the store rooms by none other than the Captain herself. Some of the more sensible pirates who could restrain their baser desires until the next visit to port often made jokes and bets about which youkai was likely to break the record for speed-dressing; some even laughed and said with the fear that the Captain instills in that singular moment, they're surprised crew mates don't get dressed so quickly that she wonders if she ever caught two of her crew buck naked and intertwined at all.

Megumi decided in a flush of irrelevant thought that the reason no one ever had ever witnessed someone dress that fast was because no one ever caught her.

How had this happened, again?

She had just been finishing her ritual to the moon by which she was spiritually tied before all of this started. Megumi had relished in pure, undiluted relief when she felt more than half of her potential restored to her. The way her power rushed against her skin, seeping through her pores and wedging in places beyond even the marrow of her bones just to nestle against her very being itself filled her with such a euphoric rush that for a moment Megumi let her head fall back and nearly drowned herself in forgetting she was still completely nude in a saltwater pool. This was the part she had anticipated, and it was this that backed her reasoning for making Sesshomaru stay far, far away from the cavern's entrance.

Of course, she wouldn't come to regret the decision until a few moments later.

With great effort, Megumi sat up so at least she wasn't submerging her head while she rode out the high. It was this particular drawback that made her dislike conducting the ritual in years passed, especially since she could replenish her reserves simply by waiting and the only drawback to that method was time. This one, however, had a tendency to make her hormones awaken like fireflies in the night simply because the sudden flush of power was so heady and familiar on her skin. In years prior it had been a risk because she would have been completely alone as she rode off one of the greater moments of vulnerability she was capable of, but this time she had both a protector and no other choice.

Even if he couldn't do a whole lot of protecting from where she'd made him stand practically on the other side of Japan.

Okay, so it wasn't that far, but Megumi's choice was warranted - hormones plus complete nudity plus a man whose voice rumbled like the thing in every straight-laced woman's wet dreams and a scent that had her knees weak was exactly what she imagined the ultimate recipe for disaster looked like.

He was going to stay far, far away until Megumi felt completely in control of her faculties again.

No sooner had she had the thought, though, had she felt the faintest of tremors from the earth.

It was the first tremor that put her on alert in much the same way a bucket of ice cold water on a half-asleep person does. Megumi rose to attention in the pool and ignored her shivers at having left the water to be hit full on by the midnight chill in the air in favor of trying to work out what exactly the tremor meant. It could have been a passing quake; it could be the start of a large one; or, Megumi realized as the sudden, faintly familiar pulse of youki reached her, it could be something meant only for her.

It had been around here when Megumi had the completely useless flashbacks to those members of the crew with the audacity to think that the Captain couldn't sniff out the sex on her ships like blood in the water. She was beyond relieved when adrenaline started to course through her and lift the drunken fog she'd been pulling herself through. Wasting no time, but careful to move in a way that shouldn't alert the oncoming elemental youkai to her awareness of him, Megumi began to wade slowly towards the edge of the pool, in the direction of the clothes she had taken off before starting all this business.

Almost like being struck by lighting, Megumi could practically feel the moment when they each knew their stealth ruses had been compromised. Megumi bolted the rest of the way out of the pool and the water splashed loudly in her wake, as the tremors started to increase in force and weight. Megumi's feet struck dry land and a moment later, her balance fumbling as the ground seemed to shift beneath her, she found her stash of clothes. It was around here that Megumi became irrelevantly grateful for the fact that she'd left all of their supplies well out of the cave. It was also around here that Megumi really started to loathe her earlier decision to send Sesshomaru away.

Megumi grabbed the first piece of clothing her fingers touched and threw herself into it with a speed that would have astounded even The Great Pirate Catcher of Fornicators herself. Megumi only bothered with one layer; just enough to suffice for a fight without the cost of her modesty, before she honed back in on that pulse of youki from beneath her.

She wasn't the only one fueled by bursts of speed today.

And if the earlier part of this whole thing had felt like she was the epitome of haste, what happened next felt like it was in slow motion. In the time it had taken her to run through water and dress, the earthen youkai had managed to shoot up past her into the wall of the cliff itself. The stranger's youki surrounded her as she realized, all too late, that it wasn't here to fight her. It was here to bury her alive.

And then it did.

The youkai vanished in a puff back into the depths of the earth as the rumbling cliff started to collapse over the exit. Megumi sprinted blindly towards it, praying some miracle of fate would let her get there fast enough to make it out, but fate did not play to her agenda on this day. The first blow struck her leg, and sent the Dragon of Timidity sprawling. She was glad at least that she'd had the foresight to throw on some clothes when she didn't wind up with scraped knees and elbows, but when she went to get up again, pain flared through her left calf and made her stumble. The roar of the earth was deafening in her ears but she cried out nonetheless, both for the help she'd foolishly sent away and for the growing agony in her leg.

She had a horrible thought then.

Sesshomaru should have been able to sense that first pulse of youki from where he'd been; so why hadn't he come yet?

Perhaps, she thought bleakly as another blow glanced her collarbone hard enough to make her see stars, he didn't plan on coming at all.


The Western Lord was so focused on ripping apart the fallen rocks in his way that he nearly missed the person he was ripping them apart for. He found her just on the edge of the unnaturally made wall, her body arranged against the ground in a way that reminded him of how she'd looked sprawled between their futons. Sesshomaru froze, panting with the exertion of what he'd just done, trying to get his breathing under control and withdraw the poison from the pores of his fingertips. After the boisterous sounds of the earth clashing against itself, everything felt uncomfortably quiet to Sesshomaru's sensitive ears. She felt unnaturally quiet.

He knelt beside her and was exceedingly careful as he picked her up in his arms. He studied the bruises already forming on the area over her collarbone and the bits of dust and debris in her hair. Sesshomaru cared not for evaluating the rest of the area; not even for finding the rest of her outfit. The kimono layer she wore now was damp, and her hair weighed in vast difference to what it normally did since it was completely wet. She had not had time to dry herself, even for a moment. His mind went calmly blank as he rose and exited through the path he had so forcefully made.

The minute he was back outside, though, it was like someone had abruptly dropped him in the middle of a hurricane: all of his thoughts and adrenaline returned, and suddenly the sound of his own blood pumping through him was so loud he could not even hear if hers still was. The daiyoukai was quick to problem solve, leaning over her on the non-bruised side of her to find that major pulse point on her neck, pressing his nose there and waiting to feel the sensation of her blood rushing through her veins.

When he did, he nearly collapsed.

Her scent completely drowned his senses a moment later, and for a blessed moment the inu let himself breathe it in deeply, savor it and release it in order to calm his wreck of a body down. He had not grown this worked up over someone that was not himself since he had taken Rin along with him to the Underworld and had found her incapable of returning to the lands of the living. The realization of what this meant hit him a moment later; Megumi was, though distinctly not in the same way, as dear to him as Rin was.

She was pack.

She was family.

She was . . . still not awake.

Sesshomaru, with a surprising amount of reluctance, pulled away from her skin in order to move an ear closer to her face, in order to hear her breathing. A belated moment later he realized his face did not have to be inches away from hers to carry out this task - there were plenty of other ways to go about it - but he found he couldn't care when it did the job and he could hear her breathing, faintly though evenly.

Relief, he decided, was a rather delightful thing.

But just because she happened to be alive didn't necessarily mean she was well. Without knowing if the ritual had worked or not, he would have to assume that at the very least that seal of hers was still in place and that it would be highly inclined to repeat the way it had intensified the damage of the head wound one of those passing merchants had given her.

Wounds result in excessive bleeding because of no clotting, and my system seems to care little about recovering until it receives an outside push. Like Gina.

That had been one of the first things she'd warned him about, hadn't it?

The inu daiyoukai rose abruptly, scanning the ground around him. He found their pack a second later and strode over to it. He gently laid Megumi on the ground and opened it up, withdrawing dry layers of the red and white kimono that complimented his own - re-cleaned since their stay at the village - and turned back to Megumi. It would do her no good to remain in soaked clothes, especially with the travel he had in mind. And by the way she was dressed, it was apparent to him that she'd likely just thrown the nearest thing on and hadn't had proper time to prepare.

Which, he soon observed, meant that she had nothing on underneath. Sesshomaru kept his eyes firmly at collarbone level as he stripped the wet fabric off her and replaced it with clean, dry ones, but he made the mistake of shifting her just enough to allow the full moon's light to catch against something on her skin and make it look almost silvery in the night. His hunter's eyes were trained through centuries to hone in on sudden movement, and so they moved before he was aware of it consciously. Lucky for him, anything that would compromise her modesty was still covered, but he realized what it was that he had seen when he glanced down at the exposed parts of her chest. Because kimonos were so formal he'd yet to see frankly much of anything below that hollow part at the base of her throat, but now with it slipped down far enough for him to see a healthy swath of cleavage and pale skin, other blemishes of the flesh were exposed as well.

But these were far from natural.

They had scarred in a way that made whatever the symbols once spelled out illegible, but Sesshomaru knew kanji when he saw them. He realized with horror that someone - perhaps more than one by the subtle differences in script from here and there - had literally carved words into her skin. The Western Lord felt rage bubble up inside of him as he took in the sight, and with it the implication of all that had been done to her.

She had not told him, but should she ever, he would have the necks of all that wronged her. Should they be alive he would banish them from the world of the living, but should they have passed before he had the chance to punish them, Sesshomaru would march into the Underworld himself to drag them out and kill them all over again.

Death would not be the reprieve they hoped for as long as he had something to say about it.

But for all that rage he felt, it calmed again when he told himself rather firmly that he would never have a chance to find out who did this to her if she did not survive to tell him. He finished dressing her and quickly wrung out her hair before picking both her and the pack up into his arms. He re-positioned his pelt so that it cradled her against his chest, protecting the side that faced away from him, and he worked to form his cloud and take them both into the sky.

Right now, Megumi needed a healer, and the next destination on their list conveniently had one.


Kaede was nearing the end of her life.

She found herself to be taking the news rather well - after all, she had lived a long, full life, and had seen many things and had learned more than she ever thought she would. Kaede had had the privilege of living far beyond the average lifespan of the typical human, and when she had been younger Kaede had figured it was the kami's way of making up to her after taking her sister Kikyo away from her so early. Now, she knew that it had always been intended for her to live this long, so that she would be the one to guide Kikyo's reincarnation.

Kaede liked to think that she had seen practically everything there was to see in this world; she had watched humans and youkai team up together through Inuyasha and Kagome's friends; she had seen even the most powerful daiyoukai learn compassion for humans (even if it was just one human girl); and she had seen for herself those curious devices from Kagome's home. So, the elder miko had long since found her peace and felt more than ready should she find herself dying in the near future.

Then again, she thought as she watched the daiyoukai descend from the sky with a woman in his arms, perhaps there was more for her to see yet. Inuyasha had mentioned to her in days prior that his half-brother had made mention of needing Kaede and her knowledge for a personal matter, and that he had told Sesshomaru to get it himself (which was a frankly predictable response from the testy hanyou) so that should the Lord of the Western lands appear at her door, she would at least know the reason why. But never in a million years had Kaede even once thought that a personal matter for that demon would entitle someone besides both himself and Rin.

Kaede studied the woman with unveiled curiosity as she approached the now occupied space where the daiyoukai had touched down. She had long, fine hair, with soft features and a kimono to compliment his own. She was beautiful indeed, but Kaede was surprised to see that Sesshomaru would carry a human with such familiarity and tenderness that wasn't Rin. What had the man been busying himself with since his last visit?

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kaede greeted formally as she went into a bow that made her back ache. "Inuyasha has told me you have need of my services."

The daiyoukai gave a curt nod. "She requires healing first." At a glance she couldn't see what he was referring to, but it wasn't like Kaede was going to question him. If he said she needed healing, that's exactly what she was going to give.

With help, of course. Old ladies aren't exactly the best at doing things without a tiny bit of assistance. "I shall send for Kagome to help me, then, if you could go ahead and take her inside." Sesshomaru seemed uncharacteristically urgent as he strode past her and into the hut to set his charge down. Meanwhile, Kaede hobbled her way over to the hut of the hanyou she once hated and the miko she once only saw as a reminder of the sister she lost. She was relieved to say the least when she didn't hear any signs of a squabble going on within its walls; Kagome would be no help if she was fuming over her lover's behavior the entire time. Inuyasha came out before Kaede even had the chance to call out. Apparently, he was already well aware of their new guest's arrival.

"Sesshomaru," he stated, looking to her for confirmation.

Kaede nodded at about the same time Kagome followed Inuyasha out. "He has arrived with a woman who requires my attention." That made their eyes go wide, and Kaede realized she would not have to go through the trouble of asking for Kagome's help, seeing as the couple was already headed over to elder miko's hut with purpose blatantly obvious in their steps. Kaede sighed and hobbled after them.

Young people these days; so eager to see the latest developments and gossip about them later, Kaede grumbled silently to herself, even as her steps grew decidedly quicker the nearer to the hut she got. She was at the end of the day just as excited as the rest of them: this was the icy Sesshomaru, after all.

Whatever it was, it would certainly be good.


When Megumi awoke, she found herself in a place completely alien to her. The floor felt distinctly unlike something natural in the forest. Man-made. The smells that rose to her nose were of some distinctly feminine scent of jasmine, a more masculine variation of something that reminded her of a few spices she'd encountered as a pirate, and something that just smelled like an old, well-worn but loved book. She relaxed more when she smelled those gentle notes of Sesshomaru that she'd grown accustomed to, though.

"Sesshomaru?" Megumi's voice didn't exactly sound as modulated as she could normally get it, but she wrote that off due to her temporary confusion.

It was the daiyoukai's reply that told her they must have company; his simple, "Hn," wasn't something she figured he would have said first to her, and so either he was actually detached or simply acting so due to unwelcome eyes and ears.

Megumi remembered those last few thoughts she'd had before she'd lost consciousness and shivered. "The cave collapsed," Megumi said, trying to turn her head to where she'd heard the daiyoukai's voice. "Did you . . . "

"Yes."

It was all the confirmation she needed. With a sigh she relaxed and allowed herself to lie back against the floor again. So he had come for her then. That was all that mattered. But Megumi found herself growing uneasy with the three silent strangers that were no doubt in the room with her. Megumi kept her sightless eyes closed as she opened her mouth, noting the way her voice lost the familiarity with which she spoke to Sesshomaru in favor of that airy, detached way she preferred when talking to people she had no desire to allow inside of her head. "I hope the Lord hasn't alarmed you so much you cannot find words in his presence," she teased lightly, and was hardly surprised when her words did the trick.

"Feh! Like that'll ever happen."

"Be nice, Inuyasha," a distinctly feminine voice chided.

Megumi exhaled lightly as she realized both where she was and who she was with. "Inuyasha," she breathed softly, but she knew that at least those with the keen ears of demons had heard her.

"And just who the fuck are you, lady?" That same masculine voice barked, the one she now knew belonged to Toga's son. Megumi found herself laughing lightly; he certainly had not been raised in the courts like she and Sesshomaru had, that was for certain.

"Inuyasha!" The young female hissed again. Megumi had a fair guess who this voice belonged to, but she wasn't exactly itching to confirm her suspicions. She'd have to indulge Inuyasha's question, then.

"My name is Megumi Madarame." She made an effort to sit up casually, letting years of practiced grace let the moment come off as elegant and unhurried. Megumi was careful to add in a few gestures here and there that would appear as if she was making them naturally, while in reality she was subtly ensuring she had proper levels of clothing on. She did, actually, and they were plenty dry. She recognized the textures of the silk as those belonging to one of the first kimonos she'd set out in, one that Sesshomaru had described as mostly red. "I'm an . . . associate of Lord Sesshomaru's." She had no doubt that Sesshomaru at least noted the way she'd fumbled to exactly explain what she was to him, but was she going to say? Somehow presenting herself as someone who was practically a daughter to your father and his first wife as well as a childhood friend and current something-or-other with your older half-brother just didn't strike her as the best way to go about things. Besides, Megumi was an old pro at biding time with vague responses long enough to get a decent read on people; Inuyasha would certainly be no different.

Would he take after Toga in some ways, like Sesshomaru, or did he carry no trace of his father at all?

Megumi's entire plan of laying low was completely thrown out the window though when Sesshomaru spoke up somewhere to her right. "You will treat Lady Madarame as you would This One." She wasn't sure what surprised her the most - the formal tones he used, the way he'd called her Lady freaking Madarame, or even the fact that he saw her, even for a moment, as his equal. She certainly couldn't have helped the way she turned in his direction with her lips slightly parted. Unfortunately she didn't get a chance to ask him why he'd done that, because the third person who'd yet to speak up apparently decided to take Sesshomaru's words seriously.

"It has been an honor to assist you, Madarame-sama." The voice was weathered, textured blatantly with age, but Megumi could feel that her words were of genuine respect. Megumi mulled over the old woman's words; she had said assisted in the past-tense, and Megumi had yet to reclaim her sight, so the conclusion was rather obvious.

"You healed me." The minute she said it, Megumi knew she'd made the right inference. Her calf felt soothed, and her collarbone didn't ache when she moved the affiliated arm. "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure," the old lady insisted, and Megumi found the ghost of a smile forming on her lips. She had a soft spot for sweet old ladies. "With the help of dear Kagome, of course."

The smile vanished.

Those rumors had come with a few names, with Inuyasha and Kagome being practically the only two she'd remembered. If that wasn't enough to prove her suspicions, the younger female's introduction a moment later certainly was. "I was more than happy to help," Kagome chirped in a way that told Megumi instantly she would be absurdly awkward and uncomfortable in formal court settings, "after all, any friend of my mate's brother is a friend of mine." Megumi felt distinctly perturbed by the woman's open friendliness.

"Half brother," Inuyasha and Sesshomaru corrected at the same time, and it was enough to allow Megumi the privilege of changing subjects and pretending that the woman hadn't introduced herself as a friend.

"Your kindness is commendable," Megumi told the two women, but she kept her position as a stranger clearly defined in her tones. Friend, my ass. Weird human. "I am reluctant to ask further of your graces."

"The personal matter you mentioned in the message," Kagome concluded, and the way her voice brushed by Megumi allowed her to reason that she was talking to the daiyoukai. "It's about her, isn't it?"

"Hn."

Megumi sighed. Apparently, she was going to have to explain this one on her own. Sesshomaru clearly was on decent terms with the people in this room, but he was nowhere near as open with them as he was with Rin.

And her, she guessed.

"The Western Lord and I have an ongoing deal, and one of the terms in it asks him for assistance in breaking the seal imposed on me. I have been told that you have experience with seals, ne, Kaede-san?"

The old woman made some sort of thoughtful noise. "Depending on the seal, yes."

"Can you describe it?" The question came from the eerily pleasant voice of the young miko, but Megumi remained with her head in the general direction of Kaede's voice.

"Yes," she said plainly. "My seal blinds me, and greatly restricts my body's ability to replenish my powers and to heal itself without external assistance."

Kaede made a thoughtful hum. "Spiritual powers?" Megumi knew she was thinking of reiki, practically a human's only method of magical fighting and healing. That knowing smile slipped delicately onto her face.

"You could say that."

She drew her power from Timidity's spirit, didn't she?

From her right, she heard the faint exhale Sesshomaru made at her comment, and she recognized it to be one of his more subtle ways of conveying amusement. That only made her secretive smile grow wider; for once, Sesshomaru was on her side of the wall as she played these tricks with strangers, and it made her want to laugh at how he enjoyed finally being the one in the know.

Inuyasha, however, certainly didn't like it. "Feh!" She heard him stomp away towards the door. "Just get what you came here for, woman." Megumi heard Kagome sigh in a half exasperated, half tired way. Megumi figured Inuyasha acted like this quite frequently.

"Forgive him," Kagome then said to her, in a way that made Megumi suspicious that she had really meant to say ignore him. "He's not exactly very patient."

That seemed to be the understatement of the day, in Megumi's opinion.

Kaede cleared her throat. "I think I may be able to break this seal; I've seen something similar in the past. But I cannot do it alone."

"You cannot?" Megumi asked politely, even though she already knew where Kaede's thoughts were going. Kagome beat Kaede to the punch, though.

"You've spent the past few years training my powers as a miko, Kaede. Do you think it could work if I helped?"

Kaede laughed. "Thank you, Kagome. With you I think we just might be able to pull this off." Inwardly Megumi sighed lightly. She was going to have to owe Kagome one.

"I must thank you again," Megumi told the pair with a note of humility in her tone. To that, Kaede chuckled.

"Don't thank us 'till it works, Madarame-sama."


Sesshomaru found the situation altogether rather amusing. He had actually for a while now. It had started when he found that he was no longer the one on the receiving end of those word games Megumi was so fond of; somehow he'd joined the ranks of those in the know, and had found a place to stand amongs people like Kimi, Toga, and Shimuzi. Suddenly he understood why his mother had taken such pleasure in keeping the answers he'd craved to herself.

After all, he wanted to do the exact same.

Inuyasha certainly hadn't appreciated the way it felt to be one of the only people in the room who didn't get the joke - or in this case, the secret - and he had certainly made a point of showing it when he exited the hut altogether. That had only served to further the daiyoukai's amusement with the whole situation. And now that he'd come to learn what she'd done in the years since returning from sea, he found he enjoyed the slight frown that'd taken to Megumi's face upon hearing that she would need Kagome's help if she wanted the seal off.

Perhaps he could point out to her later that she could consider things between them settled with the seal removal evening out the years of picking up Inuyasha's mess, but for now he decided he'd let her simmer.

He took his leave from the hut when they started the actual process once he learned that it could take awhile. He was a patient man, sure, but Megumi had to remain quiet throughout the whole ordeal and without her entertaining commentary he wasn't sure he'd enjoy spending that much quality time with the two mikos.

So instead when he noticed his half brother looking quite frankly like he was sulking high up in the tree, the daiyoukai decided he'd wander over to him instead. Inuyasha looked almost surprised that Sesshomaru had chosen to seek his company, but recovered quickly and pretended like he'd never noticed the inu that now stood at the base of his pouting tree.

The Lord of the Western lands decided to wait until Inuyasha took the bait and cracked; and he did not have to wait long. "Who's the wench, anyways?"

Sesshomaru's perfect control prevented the smile from slipping out and onto his face. "Megumi Madarame," he told Inuyasha, and his stubborn brother huffed with frustration.

"I know that."

Sesshomaru couldn't help himself; goading his brother was such an easy but entertaining thing. "She happens to be an old acquaintance of mine."

At that, Inuyasha's open growl of disbelief sounded from the branches above the daiyoukai's head. Sesshomaru pretended he had not heard, and continued to study the village sprawled out before him. "There's no way in hell someone like you has acquaintances." The first son of the Inu no Taisho hummed his agreement; Inuyasha was right of course, but he wasn't about to tell the whelp that. Without a verbal response from Sesshomaru, Inuyasha plowed on. "And just what the fuck is your 'personal business' with the chick anyways? Unless it's something to do with Rin you're more inclined to chop a human's head off than get personal with one."

Sesshomaru shrugged faintly. "You are the one who assumed this was unrelated to Rin."

"Feh!" He could practically feel the hanyou fuming above him.

Like he said; it was all too easy to goad his half brother. Kimi would die of boredom in a battle of wits against the unruly hanyou. Sesshomaru added one last jab just for good measure. "And you are also the one who assumed this woman to be human."

He sensed his brother's surprise first, but it was quickly replaced by that open frustration of his. Inuyasha's woman had been right to call her mate impatient; after all, conversations that beat around the bush could only work for so long. "Keep your fucking secrets then!" Sesshomaru heard his brother stand abruptly, causing leaves to whisper as they swayed against each other, before the hanyou went scampering further away. Sesshomaru allowed a fraction of his amusement to show on his face as he listened to both the retreating sounds of his half brother and the intelligible murmur rising from Kaede's hut as the two women worked.

By the time three figures emerged from the hut, the sun was already starting to sink and those golden hues of the sunset were turning the scenery a gentle, rosy color, and that included the trio of women approaching him. He noticed first with concern that Megumi walked with the guiding help of the elder miko, and she did not once open her eyes. Sesshomaru frowned when they grew near and she continued to be led blindly. Had the seal not been broken?

"It worked!" Kagome gushed, rather loudly, the minute they came to a stop. Sesshomaru's eyes flitted to the elder miko for confirmation, which she gave to him via a motion somewhere between a nod and a respectful bow.

"It took much time, but I am confident Kagome's power was able to destroy the seal completely."

Sesshomaru moved so that his body was fully facing the line of women, and more specifically the woman in the middle. "You have not opened your eyes."

A cautious smile grew on Megumi's face. "I wanted you to be the first person I saw," she explained, and he understood. And as she continued to stand before him with her eyes firmly shut, he understood more than just what she had said to him.

"Come," he told her, as he took up Kaede's position and slipped his hand to that place he knew so well at her back. She smiled appreciatively and allowed herself to be led away to somewhere where they could have this moment in private. "There is a well beyond the village. The flowers there will make for a decent first sight."

He wasn't sure they were even in bloom at the moment, but he figured she hardly cared. He was grateful for her silent request too; privacy was something that allowed him to act as he had with her for weeks, and he preferred that familiarity to whatever veiled exchange they would have should she first see him in the company of strangers.

"I'm so relieved I could cry," Megumi laughed once they had been walking alone for some time, and Sesshomaru savored the way her joy and relief sounded to his ears. "I don't think I'll ever take my sight for granted again."

"That would be wise," he agreed.

She chuckled again. "And neither should you, you know. I don't think it would be very good for your reputation if you needed someone to guide you around all the time." Sesshomaru's brows rose fractionally as he studied the smirk on her face. Apparently, the removal of the sealing's effects had put her in a good mood. He wondered if that was all there was.

"The ritual at the pool," he interjected, and watched as she glanced his way. "I am curious to know how it fared."

"Oh." Megumi laughed again. "It slipped my mind, but it did work."

He supposed that didn't really matter much now that the seal was broken, but both events seemed to put her in high spirits so he certainly wouldn't be the one to point this out to her. Megumi's steps slowed for a second. "Thank you. I . . . was worried that you might not return for me. Thank you." He was quick to notice the faint flush of embarrassment that creeped over her cheeks when he did not say anything immediately after. It was that small reaction that prompted him to, in a rare moment of confidence, be open with her.

"I worried," he admitted, because looking back that's exactly what he had done. Her eyebrows rose with surprise before her face settled into an appreciative smile.

"Well you won't have to anymore," she reassured him, "because I'll be able to handle myself now."

The daiyoukai thought back to that fight of hers in the woods and wondered just what she was capable of when she was at her best. The fighter inside of him gleamed with anticipation at the thought of perhaps testing her prowess against his.

Megumi, though, seemed to be on a completely different tangent of thought. "I want to thank you for more than just rescuing me, though. My sight wouldn't have been returned to me so soon without you, Sesshomaru." She grinned, but still wouldn't open her eyes as she tilted her head up towards his. "I'll make sure to fulfill my end of the deal, too."

"To that," he told her sincerely, "I have no doubts." When the daiyoukai's eyes flitted away from Megumi again, he was pleased to spot the well only about fifteen feet away. He shifted his hand from her back to her shoulder, and the practiced gesture made Megumi stop. "We are here."

"So soon?" she joked, but Sesshomaru could see that she was starting to grow faintly excited with anticipation. She was eager, he realized, to see what he looked like. Sesshomaru bit back a smirk.

If the countless women before her were the standard, she would certainly be far from displeased.

But rather than face him, Megumi turned her back towards the daiyoukai. "I'll need a minute or so to adjust," she explained keeping her head down. Sesshomaru followed her eyes. Her first sight would be of the white and blue flowers that had bloomed at her feet.

He knew the moment she opened her eyes when she gasped, then laughed, then proceeded to rub her eyes and laugh again. "I missed this," she admitted, in a voice soft and sincere. He heard her draw in a deep breath and release it before turning around to face him, eyes closed once more.

Sesshomaru, for once in his life, willingly allowed his senses to dull fractionally so that his eyes would miss no part of the current subject of his gaze. The edges of Megumi's figure glowed from the setting sun behind her, and her hair shifted gently in the breeze. Those feathery lashes of hers fluttered and parted, and for the first time since he had found Megumi the unprecedented sensation of her eyes on him - actually processing and seeing - was settling over him. Sesshomaru stilled as she watched him, seemingly soaking up all that she took in. Her mouth parted, but the frozen silence continued, and Sesshomaru suppressed his urge to smirk at the woman.

"Inuyasha's woman once claimed to have known a peculiar phenomenon," he murmured, careful not to let his tone break whatever tangible spell had fallen between the two of them. "She declared her discovery of Inuyasha spelled to sleep on the tree to be love at first sight." Sesshomaru's head leaned closer to hers, but still Megumi said nothing. He wasn't sure she had released the breath she had drawn in quickly when she first laid eyes on him quite yet. "I am curious if your current silence is a symptom of that affliction."

And then Megumi was on her toes, her hand slipping to place itself against the back of his neck and she was kissing him.

But just as suddenly she was pulling back, eyes downcast and a hot flush of embarrassment suddenly thick over her cheeks. "I apologize," she confessed, her voice low and thick. "I couldn't help myself."

Though before she could withdraw completely, his hand had slid behind her and secured its place against her lower back. "Then you'll forgive me," he told her in husky tones, eyes drinking in the way her head raised to look at him with confusion evident on her face, "because neither can I."

It was Sesshomaru who initiated the second kiss, letting his lips crash against hers first with an urgent tinge of possessiveness, and then with the calmer tones of someone waiting for something more than passion. And when she responded, gasping her realization against his lips, Sesshomaru's awareness of the world beyond their bodies vanished completely.

Desire surged through him and it was only his tightly laced control that held him back from having her then and there, and he worked to bring her towards the same level as his as he tilted his head for a better angle, deepening the exchange as he brought his other hand against her jaw to trace its path from her ear to her chin. Her hands returned to that place at the nape of his neck and threaded their fingers in the silvery-white hairs there, pulling him closer towards her, begging without words for more.

Sesshomaru did not stop to consider things as he let his sharp canines graze over her full bottom lip, relishing in the tiny sounds of pleasure she made at the action. And when he was granted entrance into her mouth he could suddenly taste the whole of that grapefruit and ginger that was her, and by then he was long gone. He broke their kiss and she gasped for air, fighting to regain her breathing even as he moved to graze his teeth over her jaw and down her neck. Her skin was soft and flushed, the sounds of her light pants heady to him, and it wasn't until her voice finally spoke his name that his thoughts returned to him and he realized what they had been doing.

"Sesshomaru," she whispered, and he waited, nose pressed to her neck like it had been several days before when he'd carried her out of the cave. "I promised myself I would tell you the moment I regained my sight," she gasped, and he understood the message she left between the spaces of those words.

If I don't say it this now, I'll abandon it completely.

It dawned on him that if he didn't take a step back too, he might lose himself just as quickly.

Since when had that happened?

With greater reluctance than he expected, Sesshomaru pried himself away from her skin and returned his hands to his own person. She did the same and he felt the loss immediately. He took in the sight of her swollen lips, the way her chest rose and sunk like someone in at the end of battle's would, and the way her eyes were laced with worry. Whatever thing she'd promised herself to tell him had weight enough to make her think clear despite their actions, and he realized by the way she glanced at him doggedly that he probably wasn't going to like it.

"Tell me," he told her, his voice a stark change from its earlier moments of vulnerability.

And she did.


Author's Note: I'm back!

For those of you that didn't catch it, the pun mentioned in the dedication was "love at first sight."

I hope their first kiss scene was at least sort of okay - the main book I've been priming for publication has a main character who's asexual/aromantic and so I quite literally have not had to write a kiss scene in Over. Five. Years.

Let me know what you think - please!

And speaking of my other book, I don't think I'll be able to update every day consistently for a little while as I work to finish my final round of revisions on that puppy (as well as do other things important like work, lol), so bear with me. We are SO close to the good stuff now! All secrets shall be revealed soon . . .

Once again, I thank you for those who've made it this far as well as those who take the minute to leave me reviews. I read and re-read them and I cherish each one.

Thank you!