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Disclaimer: No own InuYasha. Please forgive all crappy references to Episode 7.

WARNING: Lemon, removed due to FFnet's policies. It is up on Media Miner and was once on "A Single Spark," though I don't know if that site still exists.

His Past, Her Present, Their Future

Chapter 36 - Completion

"You… you…" Kagome stuttered, her head moving back and forth of its own accord. She couldn't understand, she couldn't had hated her for protecting InuYasha? "I didn't do it to betray you, Sesshoumaru, I did it because… damnit, I explained all this to you this morning!"

"I know this."

"Then why? Why did you try to kill me? Why did you hold such animosity?"

"Because I was a fool," he stated, taking Kagome's breath away. The Great and Terrible Sesshoumaru had just called himself a fool. 'Write it down, take a picture, put it in the history books, people!' Kagome's thought in awe.

"Please, make me understand," she said softly, meeting his eyes as they sped through the night. She hardly felt the wind whipping around her, lashing her hair about.

"I do not think it is possible for me to explain it in such a way that you could."

Kagome glared harshly. "No, I suppose not. I mean, the reasons behind the man I love trying several times to kill me before I ever even knew him must just be too much for my poor human brain to handle," she bit out dryly, her narrowed eyes clashing with the swirling gold ones that glowed so luminously in the night.

"Kagome, please stop that," he sighed, his voice colored with resignation.

"Stop what?"

"Stop making this more difficult than it must be. Being petty and childish will get us nowhere."

Her aura snapped around her in her rage. "I am so sorry, mighty Lord Sesshoumaru."

He shook his head and broke their staring contest, looking out at the horizon. "Yes, I believed you betrayed me… at first," he accentuated, making whatever comebacks that were in the woman's mind halt temporarily. "I let my anger fuel me, ignoring all logical arguments. I became obsessed with power, with revenge. I wanted nothing more than to run from the pain I didn't even know I felt."

Kagome blanched and shook her head once more. "But Sesshou, I was not protecting your father. As much as I loved Mattaki, I was protecting InuYasha. Not because he was a half-breed, not because of the circumstances of how he came to be… I was protecting him selfishly. He was my best friend."

"Yes, I know this now. I was even coming to terms with it while he was pinned to his tree. Slowly, I began remembering all you said to me that day… today for you… and understanding exactly why you would. I had met him many times over the years, always in battle but never to my fullest potential. Even in my angriest of moments I kept my promise," his deep voice said softly, his eyes still trained away from her.

"Then please tell me why, Sesshoumaru, I need to know."

"I began to accept that you were not betraying me after all, though my quest for power never lessened. I spent so many years searching out the fang's hiding place, and no manner of epiphany was going to stop that pursuit. I could never be content with my own power, even though it surpassed all others' already, because I knew in my mind that I was still beneath the power of my father. I was only satisfied when I knew that I would one day I would surpass him. I would show him that I was the better one, that I was superior."

"But why did you need Tessaiga for that? Like you said, even without it, there were none who could compare to you."

"Except the dead inuyoukai whose shadow constantly loomed over me, no. Even with the understandings I was gaining towards you, I refused to have any acceptance for what my father did. It was unforgivable. And so I wished to exceed his power with my own. And so, I needed Tessaiga."

She simply nodded, unenthusiastically putting aside that argument and asking him silently to continue.

"Then came the news that InuYasha had been unsealed, and so I went to find out what he knew of its location. I was still so blinded by the prospect of power, I honestly did not recognize you at first."

She scowled. "Why thank you, love."

"No offense is meant. You were several years younger, in strange clothing, and it had been several centuries. Not to mention my attention was almost purely on InuYasha, giving you hardly a passing glance."

"Oh, you mean when you first arrived with the Un-Mother. I don't care if it was Jaken's idea, that was pretty low."

"Hn," he said, a small smile curling his lips. "Regardless, it was not until we were within my father's tomb that I started to pay attention to you. Your scent had been pulling at memories, and I ignored them until I finally took the time to look your way. It was shocking when I realized it. The darker part of me, the one who still believed your betrayal, seethed that you would be there defying me with him. My rational mind was fading quickly… and then you stood against me."

"Sesshoumaru couldn't get it, so you try, InuYasha! Hit him where it hurts, in his pride!" Kagome screamed from her perch.

"My pride was hit, but not as intended. My rationality and any shreds of my heart that remained fled then, leaving only my disdain and hatred behind. You were no longer Kagome, you were another piece of human filth, just like all the others I had struck down."

"Neither I nor you were able to retrieve the Tessaiga, but this girl was has easily gotten past the barrier. You want me to ignore this?" Sesshoumaru said slowly, his eyes finally leaving the face of the girl in front of him to glance over his shoulder at his brother.

"She's just a human girl, I don't know how she did it! Kagome, just give the sword to Sesshoumaru!" InuYasha screeched, his body tensed.

Kagome huffed and shook her head indignantly. "No way! He couldn't pull it out, so that means it's not his! I won't give it to him!"

"During that battle, for the first time, I did not care if he died. I forgot my promise, I forgot myself. My soul demanded retribution, my heart was ignored. My hate is all I let guide me, and I decided to start by getting rid of the one thing that had kept me from abandoning my feelings for all those years: you."

"As you can see, this Sesshoumaru has no such weakness towards humans," he sneered, poison secreting in clouds from his hand and enveloping both Kagome and the treasured sword.

"Obviously that didn't work. Do you really think it was the barrier that saved me? Or perhaps it was your father?" she pondered, looking down at her sneakered feet.

"I do not know, but my intent was to kill. I remember little else from that day, though I do remember the severance of my arm," he said in a tight voice. "Such a foolish mistake. With my bestial nature in control instead of my hatred, it heard you and turned to look. It recognized your voice and scent. That is the only reason the blow InuYasha dealt only severed my arm instead of going through my chest."

Kagome's breath hitched. "Do you hate me still?" she asked fearfully, her grip unconsciously tightening where she was latched around his waist.

"Don't be stupid," he nearly whispered. "I would not have helped you as I did if I hated you."

She looked up to his profile. "When did you finally stop hating me?"

"Not until you stayed with me, but even that is only a product of being drawn from the cage I enclosed myself in. It was actually Rin's presence, her ability to make me feel again, that brought me to any kind of sanity."

Kagome let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and leaned her head against his pelt, her eyes burning with tears. "Thank goodness," she breathed.

Sesshoumaru stiffened noticeably, "You… are taking all this well…" he ventured.

"I can't pretend to understand, but I do forgive you. It is in the past now, right? Besides, I think back to all the times you saved me… six I can think of right off the top of my head. Who knows what you did when I didn't know it was you? I think you've more than made up for it all." She felt his sigh and his arm tightened around her, her heartbeat and breathing finally slowing to a normal unstressed state. "Where are we going?"

"My sanctuary… I wish for you to see how it has flourished."

"Ah," she whispered. "How much longer?"

"An hour or more; rest if you wish."

"Thank you, love," she whispered again before drifting off to sleep.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes to the darkness and pulled in a deep breath, his heart pounding. He had expected much worse from the temperamental woman, and was thankful she had not exploded. Gods knew he couldn't go another five centuries without a taste of his mate. He wasn't sure his sanity could take it.

Hate was honestly not the word to describe how he had ever felt for her… he had merely been blinded by hatred towards everything else. Betrayed, yes… furious, definitely… but not hatred. He hated many things, but she was never one of them. They say there is a very fine line between affection and hatred, but though he had walked that line, he never crossed it.

He could see the waterfall sparkling in the distance, and unconsciously picked up the pace. The night was getting darker, and he decided to just allow his charge to sleep. She needed it after all, the day had been taxing for her. And so once he reached the small, blooming clearing he settled her on the ground and quietly removed his armor and swords. Nothing could get through the barrier, anyway. Quickly stripping from his layers, he took the plain under haori and laid it across her small sleeping form before walking to the ponds edge to sit on a outcropped boulder and gaze reminiscently at the silvery moon.

Kagome awoke slowly, her vision foggy. It was still night, but hazy dreams had filled her and finally forced her to stir. Sharp pains attacked her side and she groaned lethargically before rolling away, the rocks that had been biting into her skin disengaging her without much effort. Her eyes still unfocused, Kagome looked around for Sesshoumaru.

As her heart rate increased, her vision became clear quickly. Whereas the clearing in the past had been pleasant and relaxing, it was downright breathtaking now. The pond which caught the water from the small waterfall had expanded quite a bit, the rocks along half its circumference smoothed. She could not tell whether either of those differences were from time alone or if Sesshoumaru had helped nature along, but that didn't matter.

All across the outcropping and snaking their way up the rocky, sheer cliff face were some kind of moonflower, and at this point of the night all of them were opened majestically, seeming luminous in the glow of the moon. And in all of the glory of the beautiful scene stood a veritable god. Her god.

Sesshoumaru's back was to her as he stood waist deep in the water, his silver-white hair glistening with droplets. He seemed captivated by the water itself, his clawed hand outstretched to let the falls' water run over his hand and down his arm, but he didn't move. He just kept his eyes trained down on the path the water formed as it wound its way across his skin.

Finally realizing the need to breathe, Kagome inhaled rather loudly and caught the object of her admiration's attention, a small smile quirked on his lips. "Do you like what you see?" Downturned eyes and a fierce blush were his response, and he chuckled. "I meant the clearing. It has changed since you were here last, has it not?"

She nodded slowly. "It's beautiful. I hope you are able to preserve it through time; there are so few beautiful spaces like this in my time."

"This barrier will last so long as I do, there is nothing to worry about there."

Kagome smiled faintly, before becoming acutely aware that the source of the other end of her conversation was still very much naked, bringing on another blush.

"You have seen me this way before, why do you turn so many different shades of crimson now?" he said casually, but she could see the twinkle in his eyes even from where she was.

She huffed. "You… you!" she said intelligently, glaring before spinning on her rump to turn her back.

"So articulate, my Kagome," he purred teasingly, swiping a towel from a boulder and wrapping it around his hips, approaching his betrothed. He crouched behind her and twirled a strand of her hair on his finger. He was rewarded with an acceleration of her heart merely through his proximity. Sesshoumaru grinned inwardly.

"Well, so?" she stuttered. Damn if she couldn't find a way to speak right at the moment. She turned her head slightly and looked into his eyes.

Her breath hitched and she was captivated. She didn't notice herself moving forward, her body swiveling to his, until she caught his lips with her own and had already tangled her fingers in the wet, flowing river that was his hair.

Lemon removed. Go to MediaMiner or A Single Spark.

"Is it always like that?" Kagome crooned dreamily, her eyes heavy and her smile almost delirious.

"Hn, no…" Sesshoumaru breathed, still unable to catch his breath. "I think it must be a byproduct of marking, because I have never felt that way."

"How do you know it wasn't just me?" Kagome replied with a grin, pushing him over onto his back. She curled against him, her heart pounding in time with his.

"Hilarious, my love," he said, burying his nose in her slightly damp raven locks.

"So, if you re-mark me every time, do we get that again and again?"

"I don't really know," he said with a frown. "I never thought to inquire."

"Well, we can find out together."

"Yes," he said softly, smiling into her hair and letting his eyes drift closed.

"Can I see the kids tomorrow?" she asked sleepily, tossing a leg over his bare ones.

"Yes."

"Can you say anything other than yes?"

"Yes."

"That's good," she whispered, grinning as she succumbed to the call of sleep.

A/N: Yes, I did a 'nothing went wrong' lemon, even though I snicker every time I read them. We can't have Sesshoumaru looking like anything but suave and who cares that Kagome would likely not feel much pleasure her first time? Damnit, I want mutual pleasure, and so it shall be. Sorry for the stereotypical-ness, but that is just how I operate. I also used the youkai-biting-'marking' Fanon piece, because I think it's hot. What of it? XD It is an ancient, revered (hah) thing in Fanon culture, one of the first and most widely known ones! Comes from DBZ fics of old, if my memory serves.