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AN: Warning! spousal abuse in the chapter, nothing too heavy. I just want to state my opinion on the subject. I do not condone that kind of behavior neither am I glorifying it. All it is there for in the chapter is for dramatic purposes only!

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Six weeks later...

Sunlight streaming through the tops of the thick brown curtains an undesired occurrence, after spending the entire night resting uncomfortably on a sofa in his study. He did not get enough sleep, and the sun's rays irritated him even further.

The cause of the discomfort and the pain in his head was his wife. He could not bear to be in her presence last night, much less to sleep in the same bed with her, and even after being away from her for so many hours, his sentiments on the matter had not lessened, not even for a little.

Just the thought of the whole fucked up affair with his wife who had declared her undying love for him too many times than he cares to remember, infuriated him. Teeth clenched, he clamped down hard on the rage seething inside him.

He held himself steady for many moments as he felt the bite of hatred boiling within. He did not want or could afford to let his emotions overwhelm him, not now, not when he had so much to lose. Incensed even further by the helplessness, he took a long cleansing breath to calm himself. He could not act on impulse, because if he did, he would break and kill her.

Not even Kagome had ever pushed him so hard and far, and she he loved. His wife, he felt indifferently towards up until last night. How dare she try and use his tolerance for her to deceive him?

He wouldn't let it happen, gone were the days of being nice, he was never nice, tolerant to a point maybe. Perhaps the change others saw in him now was the lingering qualities he'd acquired from wanting to please his mate, doing things peaceable because she had asked it of him while they had been exiled.

Ruthlessness and arrogance were natural personality traits of his; while others saw them as imperfections, they represented confidence and power to him, and for a time he'd suppressed them for the greater good.

There was his mate and children to think about, also his friends and his people. Wanting to spare them the horror of annihilation from the destined holy wars, had worked together to stem his pride but a fragment.

A spiritual yearning had mitigated it and had lightened the darkness in his heart then to accept a fate that was already decided in his mate's future, He knew also that it could become undone and a new future written if they followed certain pre-emptive codes, was a humbling experience.

But now his life was his again, and he would not let fate decide its ending. Even if said destiny was written in the stars, cemented in concrete he would fight it.

Luck, it was a good thing when it happened, but for him the chances of it occurring were slim. Going to see Totosai that day was a stroke of genius, not only did it give him the means to save both his and Kagome's lives, it also provided a way for them to hold onto their bond, even if securing their ties was a speck of what it used to be, it was still enough.

He removed the hands at the back of his head and sat up. He inhaled deeply again, then let it out in quiet exhalation, slowly the rage lessened, so did the weight from his mind.

He sighed as he remembered the last moments with his wife yesterday. It was just a notion at the time, but he'd sensed Kagome's spiritual energies embedded deep down inside his consciousness. How had he not known that it was there before? He asked himself. Maybe guilt and the constant heartache that he'd felt over losing his mate was the cause.

He smiled as he recalled how relieved he had felt over the narrow escape. He did not care if eternal damnation awaited him on the other side. At the time, he simply reached for the power, he'd pushed at it with his mind, and it had answered his call.

He could not say that in the moment he was surprised when reiki flared and danced around his fingertips. He had been too pre-occupied with the chance of redemption to notice. The purging was anticlimatic, and he'd poured every last drop of the borrowed energies into his wife abdomen, and had nullified the seeds that he had emptied inside her womb.

He got up to go; his old spirit returned and a crude smirk lifted the corners of his mouth. He was hopeful as he turned the door handle that his wife would be long gone from his bedchambers on his return. As a precautionary method he would buy himself some more time by taking a long bath in his private bathroom.

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Princess Maemi turned and sat up; a pained expression flickered in her hazel orbs. She moaned, her head hurt, throbbing painfully at the temples. Her fingers reached for the site of the discomfort and rubbed purposefully.

She looked down a short time later and saw that she was completely naked; her husband's fluids had dried and flaked on her thighs. She smoothed her hand over the area, scarcely believing that he had complied and had filled her womb with it. The memories of their activities last night rumbled through a red haze as it slowly returned.

It was a bit strange she thought, aside from the headache and the slowed memory she felt fine. Usually after a night of rough sex she would be aching, and the throbbing and twinges in her womanly parts would be uncomfortable, but uncharacteristically there were none of those sensations.

In fact all she felt was a soothing numbness. Where was the pain? She asked herself, her brows crinkled in thought. As she redressed her mind wandered to her wayward husband; normally she would wake up to find him sitting up in bed, and it was very early in the morning for him to be off somewhere. She hissed in annoyance at his lack of consideration for her.

Even upset, she had the presence of mind to realize the irreversible impact that last night could have, her hands intuitively reached for her abdomen. Smiling deeply, she thought about the little seed that must have taken root inside her womb by now.

With as much dignity as possible she took a few steps after hearing a knock at the door. She stumbled and nearly fell flat on her stomach as she tripped on a towel that she'd tossed carelessly to the floor, after she had used it to scrub away last night's evidences. She bent and picked it up, and then straightened up and took the thick cloth with her.

At the door she heard multiple voices and hesitated, it was chatter from the little brat that had attacked her and that of the brother who followed her everywhere.

She took multiple breaths of air trying to calm the wavering anxieties and then opened the door. Golden eyes leveled with hers, derision and anger apparent on both sides. She tried to shuffle pass them but they wouldn't let her, as they used their bodies to block the doorway.

"What are you doing here and where is father?" The male child asked, lowering his voice as he'd spoken.

She gave a low laugh of self-deprecation. "What do you think we do when we are alone, and besides, I don't answer to you?" She said and pushed passed them.

They laughed; she turned around and glared at them. Tsk! She hissed infuriated by the lack of respect to her person and status. "Soon none of you will be in his favor when our child is born," she spat out viciously, and tilted her chin in the air with haughtiness.

Their eyes narrowed in disbelief and suspicion, tension so thick that you could cut it with a knife permeated the air. Taizo stared at her a moment longer then approached. She stood still as he towered above her, his eyes piercing, cutting through and challenging her claim. Her boastfulness and undisguised contempt for them finally hastened his anger; his sister never left his side.

"You little liar, father would never give you anything of his especially a child, not when our mother will soon deliver." His breath harsh, and his eyes alight with the ferocity of his argument.

With a fierce shake of the head she denied the truth of the boy's announcement. She propped her hands on her hips, back bent slightly at the waist she took several deep breaths, when she straightened up she said.

"I don't believe you, and I can assure you that I don't lie, my husband and I have made love throughout the night with that specific purpose in mind." In irritation she struck him hard with the back of her hand and threw the towel into his face, as his eyes danced mockingly at her. "I hope this is proof enough," she mocked.

He tore and flung the cloth away from his face and stepped to her in anger, his posture tight and his chest heavy with fury as the potent mix of his father's scent and hers mingled on the cloth.

"Stop brother she is not worth it!" Aiko cried, penetrating his anger.

He dropped the combative stance, his anger abated; now he was merely frustrated, but backed away and stood beside his sister just as his father entered the passage; that had heard the argument and had seen the moment when she'd struck his son.

Aiko clung to her brother's hand but couldn't tear her gaze away from the bloody scratches running along his cheek, caused from the rings on the woman's fingers when she had backhanded him.

Sesshomaru came to a halt and took up the towel without looking at his wife, who was red in the face, seething with disdain and still trying to calm down by taking deep breaths, panting hard in the process as she did so.

Palming his son's chin he turned his head to the side and looked at the cut, there was a deep depression in the middle of the wound where the edges of the rings must have snagged the skin, before it broke free and tore the flesh wide open.

It was with great restraint that he didn't reach out and grab the woman and beat some sense into her. His shoulders stiff, his jaws clenched severely so that the muscles in his face bulged at the sides with the force of the chains that he used to grasp the riotous fury. He held it in as he gazed at his son's face, and saw the purplish gash of a cut under his eye.

She saw how tense he became as he stared at his son's injury, though his eyes were indecipherable, she heard him tell his children to go and see Hotaru. The silence was uncomfortable after that and she grew wary of him. He stood so close, just an arm's length away, running away was a bad idea. She knew that before she did it. But she did it anyway.

She made it only as far as the next door before he caught her by the shoulder and spun her around crudely. He nodded to his children who left the vicinity in a hurry.

With no thought for her feelings his hand dropped from her upper arm to her hand and grasped it tightly. He dragged her behind him to his room, she kept silent, dangerously aware that he had lost his patience with her. The door opening jarred her thoughts to the firm hand holding hers rigidly.

She tried to pry his hand off hers but he wouldn't let her. He pushed her and she fell onto the bed which was his intent. She glared at him and pouted like a child, her arms folded across her bosom. He smiled; to shut it out she closed her eyes.

Whispering through the dreadful creeping heartache she asked. "Is the woman in the picture carrying your child?"

"Yes," was the straightforward answer.

He didn't even try to hide it, the truth burned the back of her eyes with unshed tears. She shook her head from side to side to will away the hurt with denial.

"How could you do this to me, isn't it enough that because of her you will not love me or let me love you in return?" She sobbed, holding her face into her palms as she cried.

"It happened before I met you," the cool answer cutting across the accusation and humiliation.

Her head came up. "I don't care for that; she left you when she could have stayed, they are no laws preventing a man from having more than one wife, and I forbid you from going to her again. She has made her decision and is out of your life but I am here," she finished off loudly and with wild hand motions.

As she watched his reactions, strange as it might be she could see his smile which was pleasant, though it dripped with contempt.

He came closer and pulled her to her feet by holding onto the front of her kimono.

"You cannot forbid it," he said, tilting her chin up so that their eyes met to emphasize his point. "I am lord here and master of my home, and I will never abandon her or my child. She is a gem among your kind."

He let her go and she sat back down dejectedly, his fingers still curled under her chin. He knew his answer would aggravate the issues and her but he did not care. He would not allow this woman, this stranger to slight Kagome who has sacrificed her entire life doing nothing but good and was deserving of respect.

The insult wasn't lost on her; she shivered with unspoken regret as goose bumps formed on her skin in the temperate morning. He had just said that she was nothing and the woman in the picture he praised. How could he, she who was a high born female he put down over a commoner, she would not stand for it?

Jerking her head away from his hand suddenly, he arched a brow mildly irritated. Still pumped from earlier, besieged with indignation she drew her hand back and fired it at his face. He grasped the hand in mid strike and yanked it down to her side painfully without letting go.

She screamed, her heart caught in her throat as he tugged on her hand and pulled her roughly from the bed towards the closet; in terror she dropped to her bottom, the pressure on her arm increased as he lugged her forcibly across the floor on it regardless.

"Let me go!" She yelled. His eyes narrowed upon her, he would not obey her command.

He looked down on her and gave her a baleful stare and reached inside the closet. A broad brown leather belt dangled from his hand when he pulled it out.

"What…You can't be serious?" She cried out, her eyes darting nervously for the door.

He didn't respond, he hauled her to her feet and quickly flung his arm around her waist. She gasped loudly by the savagery as he carried her lithe form to the bed with ease.

She swung viciously at him as he sat down; he skillfully dodged the blow and yanked her hands behind her back firmly. He threw her across his lap, and with a claw ripped the kimono from her back, her slim rump exposed to his eyes.

WHACK!

The pain to her bottom was instant as the belt impacted with soft flesh. Whack! Another followed after the first, this time the echoes of screams combined with the lashes of the whip made a terrifying beat.

Sesshomaru swallowed hard, never easing up on the pressure that he applied to the lashes to her backside, she struggled, screamed and begged him to stop. But he wouldn't, not until she learned her place.

With another hard strike, a strangled rasp tore pass her teeth and through her lips, sounding like a whistle as the sting from the belt broke the skin of her ass.

"Stop, please!" She pleaded as she was sure she wouldn't be able to sit properly for days.

Tears never stopped flowing as her husband struck her in what felt like an eternity. When he was done he rolled her trembling body off his lap carelessly, and she was barely able to break her fall with her elbows before she hit the floor.

As she lay on her side on the carpet and cried, he stood and gazed down on her, his eyes burned savagely with utter disregard for her suffering. He snorted in exasperation.

"You think to order me around, how foolish? I will treat you like a child if you continue to act like one; and make no mistake, if you ever strike any of my children again, I will punish you far worse than this."

She was too stunned to speak, and the ache in her bottom felt like a slow burning fire that was just waiting on an ill wind to set it ablaze again. Eventually she turned away from him with red weary eyes; grabbing unto the bed she pulled herself to her feet.

Rounding on him she released a long breath and frowned. "You would mistreat me, your own wife over her?" Her voice quaked with the effort that it took for her to speak.

Reluctantly he nodded, although he was just so tired of her, but for a little while longer today he would exercise a bit more patience. He smirked and smoothed his hand down his pants which had grown damp from holding the belt so tight for so long.

"So why then, is it because of your son, for surely you must know that they started it?"

She pulled back and looked at him with comprehension, but she saw nothing of the sort, only that he wasn't buying any of it.

Sesshomaru released a rather annoyed sigh. "You are my wife and nothing more," he said as calmly as he could, summoning the composure from somewhere deep down into his soul. "I will not tolerate an unruly spouse; you will subject yourself to my rules or face the consequences that will come if you challenge me."

Her eyes cleared instantly, as though someone had thrown cold water on her face. She no longer looked on innocently bewildered. In fact she had never been more aware.

"I mean nothing to you," she said and shook her head. "I am just one of your possessions…Aren't I?" She shouted.

He made a sound of disgust. "Woman are you that naïve, if you are my possession as you say, then you have your brother to thank…or to blame. He was the one that made it so?"

She stood for several more moments before she sat on the edge of the bed as she'd thought about what he had said, at the end of her internal ponderings she finally gave up. She would do things her family's way. She would safeguard the empire's interest by staying close. But for all the misery he had laid down on her she would pay him back tenfold.

"Okay, have it your way, I will be the accommodating wife you want and stay out of your path, but until I become with child I will share your bed…Or are you going to deny me the one thing that I truly want?"

He scoffed at the low remark. "It makes me wonder if you truly desire a child as you say, considering the many nights that we've been together and yet you have never shared that desire with me…And now it is most important. Remember this; if I find proof that you are less than straight with me, as my possession, you will regret it."

She heard the sarcasm lacing the last stanza of his remark and got up, but she wasn't as foolish to believe that he was being humorous, far from it, truth be told that was what she really was to him.

He walked right pass her and headed to the cupboards in the room and fetched a bottle of wine and a glass, and poured himself a drink.

Afterwards he sat in a chair and observed her calmly, quietly assessing her mood. He had turned the tables, this outcome was not what he'd planned, but he'd tried to be understanding, none of this was her fault. The truth was he was simply fed up with it all, if only she had accepted what fate had designed for them she could have been contented.

It was obvious that she was nervous; her eyes darted around the room and stared at everything else except him. He was more than inclined to believe that she was hiding something. Even now if she would open up and tell him the truth, he would listen, and if the issues could be resolved he would try for all their sakes.

But as she stood there without speaking the moment pass. If ever there was a time where he would have shown some measure of leniency it would have been now. It was decided silently between them, if she struck out against him he would use his own hands and the law to punish her, lock her away until the time comes for her to pass the kingdom to him.

With a dismissive air he addressed her. "If that is all please leave."

She merely looked at him, offered no comment before whirling away and left. He sipped his wine, then got up and turned the key into the lock. He would have his rest then go see Jaken and Hotaru.

He was approached by the former earlier when he was on his way to bathe. Jaken had requested an audience with him and had informed him that the nurse would be present.

Later that day after waking he went to see his vassal and Hotaru, they informed him of the conversation Hotaru had with his wife in his absence. He wasn't angry by it, there was no ill intent on her part, and he had already spoken to his wife about his mate and how he felt. The only disturbing thing to consider is what she would do now if anything at all?

He had the bases covered, but from now on he would be more alert. One false move on her part and it would be over.

He had barely rested his head down on the pillow when knocking had him removing himself from bed in a hurry; Jaken's anxiety bothered him.

He opened the door and his servant was out of breath and panicky. "Sire a bird youkai is here to see you; he says that his mother sent him and that lady Kagome has gone into labor, and you must come quickly."

The breeze rushing pass him was all that the little imp felt as his master left the palace in haste.