Dinner is over and wine poured before she's ready to speak.

"I don't know how to do this." Swirling the burgundy liquid in her glass, she looks up at him. "Don't know where to start."

Sesshoumaru drains his wine, nodding, and lets the lull of steady beats calm him before speaking. "Are you afraid?"

She laughs, the sound humorless. "Terrified. You?"

He hesitates. "Fear has taken new meaning since reuniting." Moving closer, he draws her sock-covered feet into his lap. "It unsettles me."

His thumbs press into her arch.

Kagome groans. "Are you stalling?"

Smirking, he does it again. "Perhaps."