"Did he make love to you then?"

"Are you speaking in the 3rd person?"

"No. You said that Inuyasha never fucked you. Was it then he you made love with?" His brother didn't seem like the type, but he wouldn't put it passed him. Despite his gruff exterior, the hanyou was a romantic at heart. Not that he wanted to think about it.

He didn't know how far the relationship between the two of them had gone, but they had always been very close. Inuyasha's feelings for the woman currently beside him had, at one point, been a point of contention between the boy and his now mate.

And he had not been aware of any other males getting close enough to Kagome to earn her favor. He supposed it wasn't his business, so he wouldn't pry. But she had offered up the previous information unprovoked...well, not much anyhow.

"No. But he kind of had a hand in it, I suppose." It seemed like she was going to elaborate, so he remained silent, trying not to seem too eager that she continue.

"Hojo. He was kind of my boyfriend in the future. He's been in love with me since we were 6. I used to have a crush on him too, until I met Inuyasha. I wanted Inuyasha to be mine so bad, and when it was clear he had chosen Kikyo, it broke my heart."

That she had desired the hanyou was no secret. And the jealousy that panged him had nothing to do with the fact she'd had a lover. It was that she'd had one in the future; through the well, where he could not travel. Sometimes he forgot that she had a whole life out there that he could never know. It felt as much a handicap as missing a limb, but he couldn't place as to what the disadvantage would mean for him.

"I used Hojo to get over him. Hojo wanted to wait until we got married, but I made it hard for him to say no. Impossible, really."

She'd started dressing sexier to entice him, and increasing physical contact between the two. She made sure the high school student was constantly walking around with a hard on. "Our first time lasted all of 8 seconds. He spent more time picking out music and lighting candles than actually having sex with me. Poor guy, he really wanted to make it perfect."

Sesshoumaru just listened politely; allowing her to share as much as she felt comfortable.

"After that, he would...take care of himself right before, so he could 'make love' to me all night. But it never did anything for me. It seemed like he read a bunch of books on how to please a woman- with all the kissing and licking of erogenous zones and such- but he couldn't relay his passion for me in a way that brought me pleasure. He was so obsessed with making me climax, but it never happened. I started faking it just to get him to stop, and soon after that we broke up. It hurt him pretty badly." Regret adorned her features at a memory she seemed pained to recall.

"I feel awful about it. I was not a very nice person to him."

"You cannot force compatibility," he appreciated being let into her confidence, and the urge to comfort her was strong.

"That's true. I guess that's why when the sparks do fly, it can be hard to give that up."

He couldn't think of a reason why he would, and stunned himself at the realization.

"Okay, your turn." She wanted a distraction from the memories that had been conjured, so she turned the tables on him.

Previously, the demon was considered chatty when he was being reticent; but their knew 'situation' had opened up a rapport. She had always wondered about the more personal details of Sesshoumaru's life, and was feeling close enough to him now that she might get lucky with a few morsels.

"Hn?"

"Tell me about your first time."

"It has been a very long time, Miko."

"But you remember it. C'mon, it's only fair!" She used the flats of her hands to shake his torso lightly in an attempt to coax.

She was right, and he sighed inwardly. He very much doubted that his treatment of females in the past would paint him in the most flattering of light, particularly to the oft sympathetic human woman he now held in his bed. He was hardly offended by the tale she herself had shared, though he gathered she wasn't proud of herself. So, he surrendered.

"I was quite young," she snuggled closer, getting comfortable for story time as he absent-mindedly rubbed her arm with the hand that held her to his side. "Not yet a teenager by demon standards. My father held tournaments in the Western Fortress with regularity. They were mostly friendly sparring matches between the Western Soldiers for bragging rights, or lords looking to test their men or sharpen their skill. It was also a place where disputes were settled. Although I was making quite a name for myself in the more unofficial spars, my father would not allow me to participate. He thought This One not yet ready to tussle with his men."

"Are you telling me the story of your first time having sex, or your first tournament?"

"They are one in the same. No more interruptions." She made a zippy lip signal and he continued.

"This was long before he'd found Izayoi, but after he and This One's mother had parted. He'd had a long string of high-status consorts ranging from princesses to geishas. However his favorite, whom he'd bedded with some regularity, was Mioko- a sister of the Lord of the Northern Lands."

"Is this story about you, or your father?"

"Both. Now if you please..." She covered her mouth and he went on.

"While she was visiting the Fortress and waiting for my father to finish competing in a tournament, I had managed to seduce her back to my room. Once inside, I bent her over my desk and fucked her good from behind." Kagome's eyes widened, and he dared her to speak. When she didn't, he continued.

"She finished almost as quickly as your Hojo, but I then threw her onto my bed and repeated the act... That is how father had found us. I knew he would be able to scent what we had done once he had returned from sparring, and when he did, he came straight to my bed- mid coitus- and held his blade to my throat. For a moment, I thought he would kill me then and there."

"Mid-coitus?"

"Yes. Be silent." she bit her lips.

"Mioko threw herself between my father's blade and I, begging that I not be harmed, and he became even more...displeased. When I challenged him to fight me in tournament, he could not refuse. I assume he figured if This Sesshoumaru was enough grown to fuck his bitch, then he was enough grown to compete in spars." He added as an afterthought, "Or, perhaps, the act simply waned his concern for my well-being."

He was relieved to find that Kagome had seemed more interested than disgusted. It certainly hadn't been what she was expecting, but then, she didn't know what she had been expecting. In any case, she absolutely wasn't going to dissuade him from sharing more with her in the future. She couldn't help from voicing one her qualms, however.

"Isn't it kind of creepy? That a grown demon would have sex with what amounted to a 12-year-old boy?"

"This Sesshoumaru was still...This Sesshoumaru. Only smaller, and sans a stripe or two. You would not have been able to resist either, miko." Now that was what she had been expecting. Haughty and egocentric; and, she supposed, with merit.

"...So, you slept with your dad's girlfriend to get him pissed off enough to fight you? Did you keep seeing her?"

"That was her wish, however, I refused her. She had served her purpose and proved herself unworthy in the process." Was he really such hot shit even then, to lure a demoness from- at the time- the Lord of the Western Lands? He was next in line, she supposed.

"Did your father dump her?"

"He really had no choice. The incident humiliated him. She was lucky to leave with her life."

"Wow, I guess we have both been pretty shitty to people who only cared for us, huh?"

He didn't know if she was referring to his father or Mioko. In any case...

"I had not considered it. The experience simply taught This One that rutting could be used as a vessel by which to obtain things which are desired. A strategy to benefit my purposes."

"You know, a lot of guys use fighting to get sex. Leave it to you to use sex to get to fight," she mused.

It was true. He had encountered numerous males who had worked their entire lives at attaining great power, to simply have an end game which involved a female. It was ridiculous.

"Wait. So, you never had sex with someone just because you wanted them?"

"Not until very recently." She didn't doubt that he felt lust for her, but she couldn't be the only one.

"What about if you were attracted to someone? Surely you have had desires?"

"I have," he admitted, "and that was why I rejected them. I had been satisfied by the mere knowledge that no female was beyond my resistance. None will hold power over This One, no matter how desirable."

Had she really broken his perfect record? She obviously held no power over him, but had he wanted to resist her and was unable? Or was this some kind of angle? Maybe in getting her to relocate to his lands, he could more easily convince her friends. He seemed to sense her sudden suspicions.

"Miko, know that there is nothing I wish to gain by lying with you. All I have done with you, has been for its own sake." He'd rationalized sleeping with her at the celebration, but there was nothing rational in this. In every other instance, if Sesshoumaru wanted something, he took it. Why was sex the only thing he regularly denied himself?

"...So, there is no strategy here?"

"Unless you would count bringing pleasure, then no. That is all I wished to obtain. For us both."

Wasn't there anything else he had wanted from her? "What about my regard?" If he was trying to get her to like him, it was working.

"This One was under the impression he already had it. You would not have lain with me otherwise."

"That's true," the admission made her smile. How was he able to compliment her while squeezing one in for himself?

"And I have yours?" she asked, but she hadn't really wondered.

"Of course. You have had it."

He made things so easy. His confessions would seem like things that would be embarrassing to admit, until he just out and said them so matter-of-factly.

She should quit grilling him. He hadn't busted her chops during her story.

"What were the females like?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"The ones you desired, but resisted. I am curious as to where The Lord of the Western Lands' tastes lie?"

"Is it not obvious?"

"Well, I know none of them were human." She smiled as he fixed her with an unamused glare. "Other than that, what flips your cookie?" She was mocking him. Insinuating that he now had a type, and it was human. Just like father...

"What you would expect; powerful. Beautiful. Strong. You could say that my tastes have not changed in that regard." She blushed slightly at the compliment.

"They also tended to be submissive. And traditional. Perhaps entitled." He thought on it a moment and went on, "Not very exciting. Certainly not fun. Rather boring, really. Perhaps that was why I so easily dismissed them." He got that far-off look again, but aimed it right at her.

"Perhaps that is where the differences lie."

The heat in his gaze made her throat very dry, and she began to regret her question. Perhaps it was time for another.

"So... who won the spar? Did you beat your father?"

"...Eventually."

"But not that time?"

He inwardly shuddered at the memory.

"...No."