Please read and Enjoy!
The warm breeze that flowed in through the open window was a constant reminder that this was not her usual sleeping hours, because even in sleep she felt hot and sticky. The dampness at the back of her head had formed a thin line of perspiration that trickled slowly down her spinal column. The discomfort was preventing her from sleeping peacefully, and her eyelids fluttered with unease.
Her usual sleeping hours were cooler and at times she would have to wrap herself closely in a blanket to stave off the chill. The presence of chirping birds in the front yard, and the absence of nocturnal bugs that noisily and naively croaked giving away their positions were also proof of that.
Consciousness was slowly eroding the sleep from her body as her eyes flickered back and forth behind her lids. The Daiyoukai watched with interest as she steadily returned to wakefulness. She yawned and stretched, then shook the tiredness from her body with another yawn.
She sat up on the futon with her eyes still closed and stretched some more, totally unaware that her company from yesterday was still present.
When all the sleep had left her body and her mind fully alert, to her utter surprise her eyes focused on the Daiyoukai who sat at the far corner of the room and stared at her. Their eyes locked and she gave him an odd look as if she was trying to figure out what he was still doing here, and she was.
The silence held and she became inhibited and could not find the nerve to get out of bed as Sesshomaru continued to watch her without moving. Why was he looking at her like that? She frowned. She thought that he would have left when she fell asleep out of principle. However, he was still here gazing at her with those mesmerizing eyes, she felt giddy like a school girl with her first crush.
This was stupid, she thought. She was a grown woman and what did she have to fear? But maybe if he wasn't looking at her like that…like he wanted to eat her for the morning meal, then maybe she wouldn't feel so self conscious. Her internal dialogue continued and she stayed in bed though it felt as if her bladder would soon burst from being so full.
Her belly decided to growl at that particular moment and she cringed in embarrassment and nibbled on her finger nails. The Daiyoukai sensed the predicament and the obvious distress she displayed at waking up to find a male in her bedroom. He found the situation quite amusing and tried not to react to it. In another moment he decided to put her mind at ease.
"Good morning Kagome."
"Ahm," she mumbled, "good morning Sesshomaru sama."
Somehow the good morning pleasantries worked in helping to ease the cagey atmosphere, because after that she became less nervous going about her usual business. Notwithstanding, it was very late in the afternoon, but regardless of that she had to take care of her hygiene because she hadn't done it earlier because of the late hour that she'd gone to bed. She left for the bathroom and when she returned she was bathed, dressed and her hair scooped up in a bun. Her belly rumbled again, letting her know that she needed to eat.
Sesshomaru was sitting at the table upon her return and she tried to pretend that he wasn't there and to act as normal as possible, a feat that was not so easy to accomplish. She set the kettle on the fire to boil to make tea; she peeled and cut up some fruits to eat while she waited on the water.
When it was done she made the tea and poured it for two. Handing him a cup she asked. "Would you like some?"
He didn't respond immediately. Instead he looked at her, studying her with those honey golden eyes that seemed never to miss any detail. How curious he thought, shouldn't she have asked whether or not he wanted the tea before she made and poured it?
Then he smiled with only one side of his supple mouth and accepted the offer. "Thank you."
He took the cup from her hand and their fingers touched in the process, she blushed and hurriedly went to sit away from him. She watched him sip the tea, she smiled, pleased to know that he liked it.
When she had eaten and felt full she got up and gestured to him to follow her outdoors where it was windy and much cooler than the inside. Inuyasha had made her a swing chair all those years ago when she had just returned, and it was her favorite pass time to sit in it rock and relax. And besides, she had a feeling that he would want to continue with their discussion from earlier, because while she had spoken then, he had only listened.
Rocking back and forth in the swing, she enjoyed the wind and the quiet. Sesshomaru watched her for awhile and wondered why he'd never realized how beautiful and special she was, and why his brother had not claimed and married her long agao? But all that could wait, he needed all the information that he could get to save his people. He thought on the most pertinent piece of information that was required at the moment to make a start and asked her.
"When will the killings start?"
The rocking stopped immediately, she turned, faced him and studied him intently. "Something tells me that you would have wanted to know that right away, but I will not furnish you with any information that will see you destroy humanity."
He moved closer to her at that point and quite unexpectedly sat beside her, she was surprised and gulped by the contact; the closeness unnerved her.
The wind picked up suddenly and blew his moonbeam hair in her face, tickling her skin with its silkiness. She closed her eyes at the unique sensation, wishing that she had the nerve to reach out and touch it. She wondered in curiousness if his hair would feel just as silky on her hands as it felt on her face.
For a moment Sesshomaru kept on staring at her through narrowed eyes, watching her peculiar reactions as his hair met her face, and also as if by staring he could read her thoughts, but then quietly he began to speak.
"I can promise you that I will never try and destroy your race…I just want to save mine."
She studied him more closely and saw the genuine desire in him to safeguard his species; he looked reserved and quite unhappy. She sighed and thought. How can she fault him for wanting to save his kind? Perhaps she was the hypocrite he said she was. But how can she help him on this quest without destroying her own race, her own future…How?
She thought about it some more and found that in reaching a decision one way or another would be very troubling, nonetheless, she genuinely wanted to assist him. "I will help you," she said after awhile, "but if you deceive me I swear to you that you will never succeed, for you would have to kill me and even then I would not give you one more piece of information or help you any further."
She paused and took a deep breath after the long sentence and meant every word. Sesshomaru watched the deeply pious emotions that ran across her face and understood clearly where her loyalties lie; and it was with her race, her own kind. He nodded his head in thought, and then responded…
"That is acceptable, if those are your terms then I Sesshomaru Lord of the Western domain agrees."
She nodded also agreeing. He took her hand in his own shortly after that and looked at it as if he was inspecting her palm, she watched fascinated not quite sure as to why he had done that. It was quick, only a sting when he sliced her hand open. She flinched and tried to pull away but he held her arm firmly until the pain receded.
She watched mesmerized as blood flowed from her palm and dropped to the dirt below quickly, and then gently he laid her hand on his thigh staining the whites of his hakamas crimson. His eyes never left her face as he closed his hand into a tight fist spearing through the tissues with razor sharp claws while she looked on silently.
"Raise your hand Kagome," he said and she obeyed. With their hands raised he pressed them together firmly, then his much larger one enveloped hers locking them jointly in the time's old ritual of a blood oath.
Jolts of electricity shot up both their arms and she winced in discomfort, but he never reacted to the pain. When it was over and their hands separated both cuts were healed, and Kagome was very surprised, not for him but for herself; because this would be the first time that she had ever healed so quickly.
Kagome and Sesshomaru had just taken an oath sealed in blood; she would help him as long as he stayed within the boundaries of their agreement. And in the quiet afternoon she told him all the pertinent facts. He had nothing to worry about for the next sixty years or so.
He would leave her alone until then, but there were things that she told him that he needed to do as well as his people, and one of those things were to reproduce; the singular most important reason why they were so easily annihilated was because they were already dwindling in numbers. His species needed to breed, multiplying their numbers; and they had at least seventy years in which to do so if they were to have a fighting chance.
He stood to leave and Kagome got up as well, giving Sesshomaru a tremulous smile she whirled around to walk away, but firm and gentle hands stopped her progress pulling her to him. He kissed her forehead where he pressed his lips for several moments, before straightening up and peering down into her eyes where he saw confusion and decided to do something about it.
"I would like to see you again very soon if that is acceptable to you,"
Kagome breathed a sigh of relief then answered. "I'd like that; I would like to see more of you."
"It's done then for I would welcome it," he replied.
Still Sesshomaru had a hold of her arm. Still he was looking down into her ocean blue eyes and she at him caught up in the moment equally fascinated. Then he leaned forward and pulled her toward him at the same time, only not merely to kiss her forehead this time.
Instead his mouth met hers in a simple chaste kiss, but where it started was not where it went. His lips parted and so did hers, tongues tangled and she moaned in delight before wrapping her arms around his neck. He crushed her body to his, she felt his hands hard against her back while he held her even closer in his embrace and suckled on her lips. She couldn't breathe, she felt suffocated, she never knew passion could feel like this.
When he released her from the kiss she swooned and he held her, he smiled against her neck and muttered softly against her skin.
"There is someone that I would like you to meet, I will be back tomorrow afternoon," he informed her and then walked away, leaving her stunned staring after his back.