A/N: Woohoo…another chapter up

A/N: Woohoo…another chapter up.

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Previously:

"I know you're awake."

Naoko opened an eye and sighed, Crap. Caught like a kodomo.

Now:

"I didn't want to interrupt." She had no intention of moving away from him, and he didn't remove himself from her presence. Despite the earlier battle, he felt at peace. To say she felt the same way was something she would never admit aloud. So with great reluctance, she left him to walk out onto the balcony. Her inu claws tapped on the railing as she tilted her head so her eyes could meet with his.

"The Gatsuuga is yours as much as it is mine. I would give it to you, but it's all I have left of my father." Sesshomaru moved to stand beside her, and stared down at the gardens.

"How is it that you've maintained your father's land?" He never was one for small talk, but he owed her.

She rubbed at her temple. "I know that this land is a small portion of your own, so one would think it to be easy to maintain." She paused and bit her lip before continuing, "The fact that I'm a woman has the other lords under the impression that my father's land is free for the taking."

He nodded in understanding and kept his face neutral. "I wasn't aware of your situation," this of course, in his language, translated to an apology of sorts.

A commotion from down in the gardens caught their attention. Inu Yasha and Kagome were in a heated argument; that alone held Naoko and Sesshomaru enthralled with rapt attention.

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"Why would you want that bastard's help? What, you don't think I'm strong enough?" Inu Yasha was shouting down at an equally furious Kagome.

"Of course not! I just thought some extra help wouldn't hurt." Beneath her anger, she was hurt that Inu Yasha thought she didn't believe in him.

"Keh. Whatever. You probably just want to see him again, don't you?" His tone burned with jealousy. And, blinded by anger, he didn't have time to dodge as Kagome slapped him.

"How dare you!" Her voice was thick with hurt and she blinked away her tears. "I stood by your side when you chose Kikyo over me! I almost died to save you from Kaguya! I love you! What more do you want?!"

She glared up at him and choked back a sob. "You know what? Since you obviously don't care how I feel, then it wouldn't hurt to set you free." Grabbing the beads of subjugation, she yanked it off him and threw it on the ground. "Happy now?" Her voice broke and she cried into her hands.

Eyes filled with guilt, Inu Yasha retrieved the beads and pocketed them. He gently took her hands in his and embraced her, whispering over and over how sorry he was.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The stress of Naraku escaping was getting to me and I took it out on you. I'm so sorry. I trust you more than anyone else. I trust you more than I trusted Kikyo." She took a step back to gaze up at him.

She was beautiful.

Even with her puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks, she was beautiful to him.

"Do…Do you mean that?" Her lips were quivering in a pout and she only cried harder when he took her by the chin and tilted her face up to his.

"Kagome…I love you." He traced her lips with his thumb and watched her eyes flutter closed. He did love her. And as he sealed her lips with his, he knew that it was true.

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Naoko let a pained whimper escape her lips and turned away from the sight of such honest emotions. Her own heart suffered from the envy of love.

"Excuse me, I have to…" she fled from the room and ran for the North Wing of the castle to her father's room. Her eyes burned with tears as she threw herself down on the bedspread that smelled faintly of her father's scent.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" One of Naoko's servants bowed politely. "The room beside this one has been prepared for you."

He barely acknowledged the servant. "Where did she go?"

The servant's gaze filled with sadness. "She went to her father's room in the North Wing. What the two of you saw down in the gardens is a sore subject for Lady Naoko. One of the lords from the South abused her love to kill her father and try to steal his land."

"Then she was foolish to feel that kind of emotion." He was disappointed; he thought she was stronger than that.

The servant nodded. "Perhaps she was. But tell me this, milord. What is it that you fear the most?"

"I fear nothing."

"Ah, that is because you feel nothing. And this is milady's greatest fear: to exist and feel nothing, or to feel even the slightest bit of something and wither away in sorrow."

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A/N: Eh, I could've made it longer but I don't feel like it tonight.

Review please.

Oh, and again: I. Don't. Own. Inu Yasha.