Author's Note:

I apologize for taking so long to write and post. This chapter was going to be longer but I thought it would be better to get a small portion posted and use the rest of it for the next chapter. I hope 2021 is more productive for us all. Take care and see you at Chapter 19!

Echo Hunter

Chapter 18: Synchronous

The island was the tip of a giant underwater mountain. Sesshoumaru had explained that the very top of the mountain was now a plateau since his father had shaved off the top to remove the nest of crow demons that inhabited the island centuries before Sesshoumaru had been born. Kagome sat in his lap, wrapped in fur-lined robes, in the dark of an early morning.

"My youki is providing a barrier to the elements, which I will slowly remove. Use your reiki to heal your body of the effects of the altitude and thin air. During your training, I will require full use of my faculties."

"You're not using your full strength now?" she asked. Sesshoumaru smirked and Kagome rolled her eyes.

"I have not had a need to test the extent of my powers for a very long time. Today, I will need to prepare for any eventuality."

Kagome wasn't really sure what he meant by that and shrugged at him. "If you say so." She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to help her slide into a light meditation. She could see her energy flowing through her body, their energy. There was no difference now between her reiki and his youki. It was simply them.

"Let the energy in your body seep into every cell," Sesshoumaru instructed. "You and your energy must no longer be two separate entities. You are energy."

Kagome obeyed and saturated herself in their energy. If she thought she had been alive before, she was wrong. Every one of her senses increased in strength and sensitivity until she felt brutally raw. Kagome heard strands of her hair lightly falling against each other as the faint wind blew through them, could hear two heartbeats - Sesshoumaru's, which was slow and steady, and hers, which trotted a bit faster. Her skin was sensitive and she felt the tips of her body hair vibrate lightly under the power of her male's nearness. Before, she needed to be near Sesshoumaru to catch his scent but now she could taste him on her tongue. He tasted so good to her that her heartbeat picked up along with her arousal.

She felt first and then heard the vibrations of his subsonic growl, which helped her calm. When Kagome finished assimilating her senses and made sure that her body was well-saturated with their energy, she opened her eyes.

"Dare I ask what brought on that delicious scent?" came Sesshoumaru's sexy voice.

Kagome warmed in embarrassment but brushed it aside. "My senses are sharper now. I can...instead of just smelling you, I can taste you."

"Hn. You sound almost inu." He nuzzled into her throat from behind and pressed his lips to the top of her shoulder. She gasped at the sensation of his lips against her skin. "Now that you have done that, we will synchronize our energies. This should come easier now."

Sesshoumaru knew Kagome's brows were creased in confusion. He felt her energy knot up.

"Wasn't that what I was just doing?"

"No. You were letting your powers seep into your body instead of keeping it tethered as a stream that merely traveled through your body as you have done in the past. You are finally channeling your reiki as it was meant to be channeled."

"Oh. What do I do now?"

"Our ki has slowly been merging. The more comfortable we are around each other and the more time spent together will also ease the merging of our ki. Instead of feeling your energy circulate through your body alone, it will now circulate through the both of us."

Kagome wiggled until she sat upright. It pulled another growl from Sesshoumaru's lips and she apologized, realizing too late what that would do to him.

"Sorry," she mumbled, although deep down, she knew she wasn't. It gave her heady pleasure knowing that she could inspire such passions in the great Sesshoumaru.

"Tease," he growled as he grasped her hips to still her movements. "Now, concentrate. Feel my youki. Tell me what it is doing."

Kagome took a deep breath and concentrated, finding that quiet place where her energy resided. She expanded her awareness until she came to the boundaries of her body. After taking a moment to feel what was happening within her own skin, she expanded her awareness more and searched for the core of Sesshoumaru's youki. She found it, the epicenter was his heart but the near even dispersal of his youki throughout his entire body was awe inspiring. The control it took to do such a thing was inconceivable.

"I see you. Your youki flows almost evenly throughout your whole body. It's more concentrated at the parts where we touch."

"Very good." Sesshoumaru's lips quirked. "Now, you will concentrate on my hands as a point of contact and see what happens when I remove them from you."

Kagome nodded and took another deep breath to help her relax again. "I'm ready." The pool of dark red youki that pooled where his hands made contact with hers stretched like taffy as he lifted his hands away from her but amazingly enough it did not totally fade away. Opening her inner-mind further, she was able to see her reiki traveling from her hand to Sesshoumaru's. Unlike her demon teacher, however, Kagome's reiki was wild and acted like a miniature version of Niagara Falls.

She saw Sesshoumaru's hands pool with more of his youki but the stream between them remained steady.

"You must not force your reiki out. Let it pour out of you like water from a pitcher. There you go," he gently coached and as she followed his instructions, the tension left her and letting her reiki flow became easier.

The rumbles coming from him helped to ease her even more until she was nearly limp in his hold. Kagome's reiki was so soothing that Sesshoumaru couldn't hold back the sound of pleasure.

"Do you feel that, miko?"

"Hm?" she asked, not bothering to look at him, only going as far as tilting her head to the side so she could hear him better.

"Do you feel our energy melding into one entity?"

Kagome took a deep breath and searched for what he was talking about. Even with the visual of their energy between their hands, Kagome felt a mixed wave of energy that ebbed between them and felt her body tingle as if Sesshoumaru's fingers were everywhere on her and she was being embraced from the inside. The feeling of being complete brought such awe to her that tears formed in her eyes.

"Yes," she said almost breathlessly. She was sure he could smell her arousal now but it didn't matter. Eventually, they would end up together. It was doctrine now and a matter of time.

"Let your reiki flow from your heart, down your body and down this plateau. Let it pour from you like a gentle stream down a mountainside. Stretch your senses to the edges of this island and feel for the life that grows here." His voice alone could put her in a trance and Kagome let her reiki do as Sesshoumaru instructed. She knew that he wouldn't let anything dangerous happen while they were together like this. Her trust in his ability to protect her was unshakable. She took a deep breath, relaxed against him and let her reiki seep into the ground beneath them.

This exercise was freeing and overwhelming all at once. Kagome never realized how much energy she expended just from trying to reign her powers in. With the fear of accidentally harming demons, she had subconsciously kept her energy tethered to herself but with Sesshoumaru's youki guiding her across the land, she discovered that it would not harm anyone because she simply did not wish to harm anyone.

The land responded to their energy. Plants swelled with life, flowers bloomed and their sweet fragrances wafted in the gentle ocean breeze. The freshwater on the island was cleansed and blessed to sustain life more fully. When her energies stretched out to the borders of the island and into the ocean, the vastness of it pulled at her and her reiki poured out of her, not once drawing from her reserves, her soul and powers were that vast. It was heady. Underwater songs flowed through her and became part of energy feeding the land they stood on. As it seeped into the ground, the energy cycled back up through the island, the mountain and plateau and back into herself. Being connected to ocean life and having her powers echo through water tempted her to see how far she could reach but a particularly hard pinch at her shoulder snapped her out of her trance-like state. Unbeknownst to her, Kagome's eyes glowed a soft white when she opened them. She turned her otherworldly gaze to Sesshoumaru who lapped at the nip on her shoulder.

"Come back to me, little mate. Do not reach so far that you become lost to me."

It took more concentration than she thought to pull her energy back into herself. The land and waters surrounding them radiated life. Once their combined energy had been gathered to them again, Kagome's eyes shifted back to their normal color and she gave a contented sigh.

"How do you feel, Kagome?" Sesshoumaru's voice was all growl and seduction but she was still too far in her trance to notice that his face was elongated or the fine white hairs that sprouted all over his body from the show of power.

A soft smile touched her face and she nuzzled him. "I feel full and ready for a nap."

Sesshoumaru tightened his arms around her. He craved her light more than ever now and the power that was contained in this tiny human female made his blood and instincts burn for completion. He looked down and saw she'd fallen asleep in his arms.

"It is nearly time to finish what we started, little mate."