Chapter 3

With Sesshomaru: Same Day in the Study

Sesshomaru knew that he should be working on some of the paperwork that always seemed to multiply when he wasn't looking, but he was unable to concentrate. He kept replaying the few seconds the Yoake had her tail wrapped around him in the garden and the wonderful fragrance of lavender and snow still lingered on his haori made his inner beast struggle to get out.

'Why are we here in the study, Sesshomaru, when we should be looking for Yoake? I have dearly missed our little wolf's fragrance. It has been too long since we have seen our little wolf. Leave the boring, useless paperwork and let's go find our little Yoake,' the beast said, interfering with Sesshomaru's attempt to concentrate.

'I have too much work that has to get done before Inuyasha gets here. We will just have to wait and see Yoake at dinner. I have missed her too, but we do not have the time to run off and play like we used to. There are times that I wish that we were not the Lord of the Western Lands. If father had not died so early in life we would have had more time to enjoy our youth. At least I now know why father decided to marry that hime Izayoi. Some ningens are worthy of respect. A few are even more worthy of respect than some of the youkai that we have met,' Sesshomaru replied.

'Fine, but make sure that you let our Yoake know about this change in your attitude. That belief of yours about ningens and youkai relationships being disgraceful is why Yoake left us in the first place. We would have already mated her and had pups if it had not been for your elitist attitude,' the beast said with a resigned tone of voice.

'Wait, since when did you decide that Yoake was our mate? You never said anything about that before,' Sesshomaru inquired.

'I was waiting for you to figure it out for yourself. I know that I want her as our mate, but you have to decide if you love her like I do. Our mate deserves to be loved by both of us,' the beast answered.

'You know, I really wish you had said something a couple of centuries ago. I've known that I love Yoake since she matured. Had you said anything about wanting to mate her I would have done so in an instant. You baka, the only reason I didn't mate her was because you never told me that you wanted her and I wasn't going to mate someone that you didn't love,' Sesshomaru informed his beast.

'Great, now that we both know that we love Yoake we can start courting her and then mate her and have lots of pups. So hurry up and finish this annoying paperwork so we can find Yoake and start courting our little wolf hime,' the beast demanded.

'I would if you would stop interrupting me while I am trying to concentrate,' Sesshomaru replied as he once again started reading the scrolls that were piled up on his desk. After three hours of diligent work Sesshomaru finally had all the paperwork finished and had just enough time to take a refreshing bath before heading down to dinner.

After gathering a change of clothes he headed down the hall to the enclosed hot spring at the end of the family wing to bathe. When his ancestors had built the palace they had decided to enclose the natural hot spring for family use, they had also created a hot spring at the end of each wing for guests to use when visiting. He lit the lantern that sat on the table by the door before heading into the changing area. He reminded himself as he undressed to tell Inuyasha and his pack to light the privacy lantern by the door when using the hot spring so that no one would walk in on them while they bathed.

This last thought was somewhat ironic, because once he finished undressing and slide the door to the hot spring open he came face to face with Yoake as she as stepping out of the water. She looked up as the door opened and froze in place for a few seconds. During those few seconds she covertly checked him out. She noticed right away that Sesshomaru had changed a great deal since she had last seen him nude. He was more muscular than he had been when they were both younger, not bulging with muscles, but you could definitely tell that he was strong. His face was even more sensual than she had remembered; his shoulders were broader. His tail, which was draped over his right shoulder, was longer than it had been the last time she had seen him. Yoake also noticed a few scars that hadn't been there before, the most notable one being on his right arm, close to his shoulder. As her eyes drifted downward she noticed that his muscles weren't the only things that had gotten bigger. Her eyes got slightly wider as she took in all the changes in Sesshomaru. Her best friend had definitely grown up since the last time they had gone skinny dipping together.

Sesshomaru didn't notice Yoake ogling him since he was too busy ogling her. He couldn't help but notice that her breasts had gotten larger; they looked like they were a perfect size for his hands. He also noticed her small waist and her flared out hips gave her a perfect hourglass frame. Her long legs were toned and the sun hitting the beads of water made her glisten as the water ran down her ivory skin. As his gaze slide down her figure he felt his beast struggling to come out and knew that his eyes were starting to turn red. He quickly wrapped his tail around his hips to hide his growing erection and turned to face the door.

"This Sesshomaru was unaware that the hot spring was being used. Forgive the interruption," Sesshomaru said as he silently struggled to keep his beast from taking control. Yoake took a few more seconds to let he gaze wander the new view Sesshomaru had given her, after all when given the opportunity to stare at the world's finest ass you would have to be a baka not to. Sesshomaru could smell Yoake starting to get aroused and he smirk, pleased to know that the female he wanted to mate found him as attractive as he found her.

"That's quite alright, Sessho. It's not like you haven't seen me naked before. Though I must say, you have filled out some since the last time I saw you," Yoake replied as she walked over to the bench and picked up her towel to dry off.

"Still, it would be best if you remember to light the privacy lantern when you go to bathe. My otōto and his pack will be staying in this wing starting tomorrow and one of his pack members is a hentai monk. As it is I have had to warn all the females in the palace about his so called cursed hand. It would not do for the monk to die while staying in this Sesshomaru's palace," he told her.

'If that monk touches our mate he will be missing his cursed hand,' his beast told Sesshomaru.

'Calm down, we do not want to start a fight with the monk, we will simply warn him when he gets here to keep his hands to himself. If he doesn't listen we will have him escorted out of the palace,' Sesshomaru said.

"Well, that is a surprise. I didn't realize you got along with your otōto since he is a hanyou," Yoake commented in a pleased tone.

"We do not get along very well, but this Sesshomaru has decided to fix change that. This Sesshomaru's imōto wants to know our otōto and this Sesshomaru would be displeased if she were hurt due to our fighting," he replied.

"I didn't know you had a sister. I had heard about Inuyasha, but there has been no talk of a sister. Tell me about her," Yoake requested as she finished drying off and started getting dressed.

Yoake and her beast were both inwardly laughing. They remembered that the only time Sesshomaru talked in third person was when he was uncomfortable or nervous. As far as Yoake knew, no one else had ever realized this little tell of his so most beings thought he was as emotionless as he pretended to be. But Yoake knew better, they had been best friends since they were pups and she knew that his façade hid very deep emotions. The only clue as to what he was really feeling when he wore his mask was his eyes. But since most beings were too afraid to look him in the eye they didn't know what he was feeling.

"Her name is Jovan and she is Inuyasha's older twin sister. Mother has raised her since she was a few moons old, though I didn't know about her until she was two. Inuyasha does not know of her yet, that is one of the reasons I have invited him to the palace. You will have a chance to meet Jovan at dinner tonight. I would be honored to escort you to dinner," Sesshomaru said.

"I'd like that," Yoake replied. She had just finished dressing and was amused to see that Sesshomaru was still standing right in front of the door. So as she went to leave the room she slipped through the small space between Sesshomaru and the door. Not only did her breasts graze his arm as she passed, she also gently ran her fingers through the fur of his tail. Her tail brushed against the back of his calf as she squeezed through the doorway. The combination of sensations sent a shockwave of pleasure through him and he knew that she could smell how aroused she was making him. As she walked toward the door to the hall she looked over her should and winked.

"By the way, Sessho, you still have a nice ass. I'll see you later, enjoy your bath," she said ask she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

After she left the room Sesshomaru rushed through his bath and changed into clean clothes, he was eager to get done so that he could spend more time with Yoake before dinner. As it turned out, even though he had rushed, he arrived at her door just in time to escort her to the dining hall for dinner. He was intercepted by Jaken on the way who tried to insist that Rin be punished for setting him on fire earlier. Of course Sesshomaru just ended up telling him to be quiet, but Jaken took up a good ten minutes of his time. Then Rin's personal servant stopped him to ask him which kimono he wanted Rin to wear for the banquet at the end of the first day of the festival and that took up the last twenty minutes that he could have spent courting his Yoake. Fortunately Sesshomaru had learned patience while having to travel with Inuyasha, so no one was killed for interrupting him.

When Sesshomaru he knocked on the door of Yoake's room, he was surprised that he didn't have to wait very long. She answered the door right away and Sesshomaru was stunned by her outfit, though the only way you could tell was the slight widening of his eyes and the scent of desire. She was wearing a short royal blue skin tight inner kimono that stopped at mid-thigh with silver embroidered snowflake designs on the skirt, a short sleeved royal blue outer kimono with gold embroidered wolves running along the hem and silver embroidered snowflakes at the ends of the sleeves that came down to the back of her knees and only came together around the waist then flared out leaving the short skirt of her inner kimono and her legs showing, and thigh high black lacy boots. This left a tantalizing three inches of skin showing between the top of her boots and the bottom of her skirt. She had uses a bit of kohl to accent her eyes and that made her swirls of iridescent silver marking around her icy silver eyes stand out even more. She wore her long silver hair loose and it cascaded down her back to her knees. It reminded Sesshomaru of a waterfall shimmering in the light of a full moon. Sesshomaru had to fight the urge to pounce on her and mate her right then and there.

"You look stunning, Yoake," Sesshomaru said as he fought to stay in control and offered her his arm.

"Thank you, Sessho. You look as handsome as always. Shall we head to the dining hall," Yoake replied as she stepped out of her room and took his arm.

During the short walk to the dining hall they chatted about their families. Once they entered the dining hall and took their seats, Sesshomaru sat at the head of the table with Jovan sitting at his left and Yoake at his right, the servants brought in the food and after Sesshomaru started eating everyone else did too. Kouga, of course, sat next to Jovan and they spent most of the meal talking to each other about their lives and flirting with each other. Both Sesshomaru and Yoake could tell that it wouldn't be long until the two became mates and both of them approved the match. Sesshomaru knew that Kouga was an honorable wolf who would take care of his imōto and protect her, though he was aware that Inuyasha might not like the match. Fortunately since Sesshomaru was the head of the family Inuyasha had no say in whom Jovan was to mate. Yoake was surprised when she found herself sitting by a young ningen girl, and was even more surprised when she was informed that the girl was Sesshomaru's ward, Rin, and that he had actually brought her back from the dead with the Tensaiga.

Sesshomaru and Yoake spent a lot of the meal talking about old times and the various beings both of them knew. Sesshomaru also managed to admit that he had been mistaken when he so venomously disparaged ningen and youkai mating and marriages as well as hanyous. He also told her that since he had meet Rin and the ningens his otōto traveled with he had to reconsider his attitude about ningens. He was willing to admit that some ningens were worth the time to get to know. Sesshomaru told Yoake about his quest to find his father's fang which led to his getting involved with the whole ordeal with Naraku. Yoake had to laugh when she heard about the Miko Kagome threatening to cut him with the Tessaiga and when she had shattered his armor with her arrow then threatened to take his arm. She could see why Sesshomaru now considered the Miko a friend; he had a very curious nature and the challenge of figuring the girl out was like a neko with catnip. After talking for a while Yoake asked Sesshomaru to be her escort to the festival and he agreed to the idea. The night passed quickly and before anyone realized it dinner was over and everyone headed back to their rooms. Kouga walked Jovan to her door and before they separated he gave he a light kiss and nipped her on the left shoulder to leave his courting mark, which looked like a love bite. Now no other males could try to claim his woman unless she rejected his proposal.

Sesshomaru walked Yoake to her room that night and though he wanted to ask to court her he was nervous about it and ended up just wishing her goodnight and returned to his room for the night. Sesshomaru was completely out of his depth. He had never had to pursuit a woman before; as a matter of fact he was constantly dodging females that wanted to mate him for his title and wealth. As a consequence of that, though he would never admit it to anyone other than his future mate, he had never even been with a female. It is no wonder my beast is so eager to claim our mate, Sesshomaru thought as he drifted off to sleep that night.