I do not own Inuyasha. Not mine. Never will be.

Into A World Unknown

(From "Weariness")

… … … … …

O little hearts! that throb and beat

With such impatient, feverish heat,

Such limitless and strong desires;

Mine that so long has glowed and burned,

With passions into ashes turned

Now covers and conceals its fires.

O little souls! as pure and white

And crystalline as rays of light

Direct from heaven, their source divine;

Refracted through the mist of years,

How red my setting sun appears,

How lurid looks this soul of mine!

Longfellow

She woke slowly with the kiss of warm light across her throat. First she was conscious of the softness she was nestled in and how it formed to the subtle contours of her body and the weight of soft silkiness laid over her. Next she felt the solid, heated form she was so tightly pressed against and the arm that was wrapped around her. She felt herself smile faintly as she became aware of the kisses that were being laid gently upon her eyes and cheeks and lips as he sensed her waking. She had almost spoken when he captured her lips in an almost reverent kiss. She sighed in pleasure, opening and savoring the sweetness and warmth of their mutual depth and how their lips felt opened, yet colliding with urging, sensual heat. His kisses often overtook her senses completely so that there was only the overwhelming, overlapping sensation that came with the merging of their contact.

He pulled away slowly, placing tender, light kisses against her lips as she gasped softly for breath. "You are so beautiful…" He breathed, pressing to her gently, savoring how their forms simply fit together as they curled against each other. He pushed a few locks of hair from her face and met her still sleepy eyes. "Kaede was here at dawn to begin your training. I asked her for a few more hours for you to sleep, so she will be back here fairly soon."

She grumbled and pressed her face into his chest. "No."

"No?" He mocked gently, caressing the small of her back. "But that is why we are here. For you to train."

"I want to stay in bed." She said, pouting faintly as she looked up to meet his eyes. "With you."

"That is very tempting. Too tempting. You are playing me with things you know I have difficulty saying no to."

She smiled faintly, fighting to hold her pout. "Don't you want to stay in bed with me?"

His chest rumbled with amusement and his eyes danced with mirth. He rolled atop of her, gently gripping the nape of her neck as he settled himself gently between her thighs, trembling almost imperceptibly when her legs gently drew up against his hips. "This is fire you are playing with, Love."

She sighed and smiled sadly. "I know… I'm sorry."

"You aren't sorry that you teased me, you are sorry that you cannot get your own way."

"That too." She murmured with her eyes glittering with mischief. She reached up and ran her fingers through his bangs and then back, through his hair, feeling him tremble again where he rested against her. "I want to pretend that there is no Naraku… Only for a day."

Her words were heavy with desire and need. But the object of that desire and need was only partially him. The other part was for normalcy and a few brief moments when the world wasn't balanced on her slender shoulders. He wanted to oblige her, needed to oblige her. Only duty held him back. He leaned and kissed her tenderly, then slowly began to pull away.

She whimpered and wrapped her arms around his neck so he drew her up with him as he sat up. She slipped into his lap, straddling his hips. "You are making this very difficult." He murmured, wrapping his arm around her hips as she pressed against him. He was certain she felt his readiness. There was no way she could not, she was pressed completely against it, causing him a kind of agony he was certain even his enemies shouldn't have to endure.

He swore he caught her smile in a way that almost made him shiver for the maliciousness in it. She, most definitely, had too many of his memories and person swimming in her mind for such a pure face to take on such a devious look. "What is so difficult?" She asked with nothing but honey and innocence lacing every note of her words.

She shifted again and he growled, suddenly and sharply pinning her back against the pillows, causing her to yelp in surprise. He looked down into her eyes and then pressed his crescent moon to her naked brow, closing his eyes as her lids hooded the azure of her gaze. "I would bond to you, claim you completely as my mate and take you here if I could ensure no child would come from the action, but I can not. It is cruel what you are doing to me, Kagome. It is cruel because you know what you are doing and you refuse to abate. This is not a game…"

He scented his tears and opened his eyes to find her expression pained and overwrought. He pressed his lips to each clear, salty stream and drank it away with a kiss. "Don't cry, Love. Please… I did not mean to hurt you."

His voice touched her ears gently and she opened her eyes slowly to meet his amber gaze. She traced the lines on his cheeks, his arms, and his sides with infinite tenderness, as if memorizing him. "I'm not trying to torture you. Or hurt you. Or be cruel. There's a chance one of us or both of us will die when we face Naraku. Most likely me when I try to take the jewel. You don't understand… I've seen into your history and soul. I know everything about you, but you know next to nothing about me. I'm just so tired, Sesshou… I'm tired of waiting for my dreams to come true." Her lips touched his with the faintest pressure, but he felt as if he were being overtaken by the tides. "My heart's been broken into pieces so many times I've lost count. And now I have you and you have me and I want, so desperately… So completely to know what it would be like to surrender to you… Because there's a chance if we wait for the end of all of this, I won't make it to that point and I don't want to miss out."

He felt like kicking himself. Like facing the brunt of his own sword for his own lack of perception. Yes, she had been manipulating him, but she wasn't him. She wouldn't do so just to be cruel. She was Kagome and Kagome was incapable of causing someone pain simply to laugh and enjoy their agony. Even in his years before he had been taken captive by Ryukotsusei, he had been cruel and sadistic to everyone but his sister. He'd almost forgotten how similar in spirit Miyoko, Rin and Kagome were. They were the gentle lapping of the tide against the shore. It was not in their power to be intentionally harmful.

"I won't let you die, Kagome. We are both going to survive. We are going to make a life together."

"You can't promise that." She breathed, trying desperately not to break down even more. "The only thing you can promise me is this moment and it isn't going to last."

He frowned faintly and nipped at her lips. "What has brought this on, Love?"

She trembled and clung to him, pressing her face into his shoulder. "I died, Sesshou. You brought me back, but I did die. I saw them pulling at me, trying to take me away and I fought so hard to stay… But I thought I wasn't going to make it for a moment. And in that moment I realized I'd missed out on so many things. So many things I wanted for my life… But most of all, I missed knowing what it would be like belonging to you. I told you I've never felt so at home and safe as I am when I'm with you. I was willing to wait at first, and I will. It is just so much harder because I feel like my time is slipping away now."

"But Kagome, it isn't…"

"Knowing that and believing that are two separate things, Love." She breathed, lying back against the pillows, again meeting his eyes. "I'm afraid of dying with regret."

He felt himself shudder somewhere deep in his soul. When had he ever fought so hard not to surrender to his desires? When was the last time he denied his nature so fully? He met her gaze and realized that his internal war was futile. It was over a hypothetical scenario that the tactician within him could not disregard. So I will not disregard it. It is there. I stand looking at a risk that I either take or do not take. In battles, such risks have brought me great success as well as great failure. What I do know is the time we have until the final confrontation with Naraku is finite. Everything that occurs after that is unknown and indefinite. She is powerful, but she is mortal. I risk losing her more than my own life and it terrifies me, but it also brings me strength. Not desperation… Strength. She is my reason for fighting.

He leaned down and captured her lips, allowing his hunger and need to slip into their contact. He heard her gasp softly, opening her mouth so he could deepen their kiss unabated. A shiver passed down his spine as she ran her fingers through his hair, gripping gently at his shoulders as he pressed himself more surely between her thighs, signaling his intent. She reached down and gently pulled the thin material of her gown up until it was to her waist. He broke the kiss long enough to remove the beautiful, but momentarily offending article of clothing, then, with Kagome's assistant, loosened his hakama until he could kick them aside. Their kiss was more passionate and fiery as their skin touched completely than he or she could have imagined possible.

He cursed himself once again for his carelessness, which cost him his arm as he was forced to break their kiss. He met her gaze and smiled the soft smile he reserved for only her as he began to kiss his way down her body. With every movement lower, toward his goal, he would pause and look at her again, admiring how beautiful she was bathed in the pink hue of her arousal with crimson staining her lips as her blood heated through. He ached as he had so many times before to taste her, and so he bent and did so, his chest rumbling in pleasure as he heard her cry out breathlessly from his kiss.

She was, indeed, pure. Untouched and sweet as upon her birth, but now fully blossomed. He remained at her heated core, determined to savor that innocence for the short duration it would remain intact. It was her gift to him and he intended to attribute the reverence such a treasure deserved.

It was the frantic, aching sound of her panting that stilled his attentions and drew him back to kiss her lips heatedly. She clung to him as he settled again between her thighs. Her heart was racing; her body still limp from pure bliss. "Sesshou…" She gasped into his ear, then whimpered as she felt his teeth and mouth made their way to her throat.

"Don't be afraid…" He breathed against her heated skin, causing her to shiver. "Submit to me and there will be no pain in our bonding."

"Yes, Love…" She whispered, and then cried out as her throat was taken into his mouth. He bit down sharply, but not enough to break the skin. She felt mokomokosama, who had been curled up at the end of the bed, snake up and wrap around her abdomen protectively as their bonding began.

At first her aura fought the invading energy of the Taiyoukai as he claimed her utterly. She could not fight off the resistance of her spirit, no matter how she tried, and the pain it caused overwhelmed her. Every part of her ached. For a moment she could swear her hair hurt.

Calm, Love. Let it happen.

Sesshou? How is this possible?

It is the bond being formed. We will share a rapport between us, though it is only this strong during the bonding… Beloved, you must relax and let me claim you.

I'm trying, Sesshou… I can't calm my aura. I think… I think it's trying to purify me.

Don't be afraid, Kagome. Just accept me. It will end the pain of the bonding.

I… I don't know how… She began to weep, clinging to him and clutching at his hair as he continued to bond with her. "Kami, please… I want him. I need him." She gasped and then bit back a scream as a surge of his aura fought to overwhelm hers.

She began to pant softly as she felt her aura weakening. She knew it was not supposed to be like this. Her aura was her life force. Theirs were to be bonded, not extinguished and replaced only by his. Then understanding flashed through her mind. She began to open herself to him even more, but instead of allowing his aura to overwhelm her, she began to assimilate it into her own, letting their energies flow together and merge into a singular energy that would become the bond. Had she been youkai, she would have only needed to relax, but with her miko powers, she had to claim him as completely as he claimed her.

He groaned and shuddered as he felt the bond form between them. It was more energy than he could have imagined surging and spiraling between them. He released her throat and kissed her heatedly, gripping the nape of her neck gently but with authority. He pressed to her, hearing her sharp gasp as he began to enter her. "Shh…" He nipped her ear and jaw, kissing her again tenderly. "The pain will pass quickly."

She clung to him, forcing herself to breathe as he thrust quickly into her. A bolt of agony, only a whisper in comparison to the beginnings of their bonding, passed through her form. She wrapped around him, panting as she adjusted to the feel of his welcomed invasion.

He watched her expressions with fixed curiosity and wonder. He leaned down to her and nipped her lips lightly. "I love you." He whispered as he began to take her in a slow yet forceful rhythm, savoring every aspect of her through their merging.

"I love you… Sesshou…" She gasped as the blinding moment where pain gives way to pleasure overwhelmed her senses. The agony of only moments before melted away like it was nothing more than an unpleasant dream and was replaced with a floating, misty realm of pleasure and need between them.

He groaned as he felt her nails cut into his back slightly and quickened the rhythm between them. He pressed their brows together, panting softly, breathing her in as they mated. She smelled, sounded, looked, tasted and felt nothing but beauty to him and as their auras merged and danced along their bond, even his sixth sense was found to be utterly in awe of her. Her cries filled his ears to the extent that he did not even have to ignore the knocking at their door nor the voice of the old woman, Kaede, as she called out that she would leave the beginning of Kagome's training until the next morning.

Climax blended with climax as the pair spun together in heady bliss. Time did not matter, nor did responsibility or quests or vendettas. There was only their coupling and connection forged and re-forged with vague, unknown intent except with in the recesses of their souls. From the moment Sesshomaru had begun to form their bond, mokomokosama had been wrapped protectively around the miko's lower hips, much to the chagrin of his master. The tactician wished complete closeness with his mate and the furry barrier between their skin annoyed him while at the same time, his beast was a part of him and so he could not give in to too much of his ire considering he was touching her even if it was mokomokosama wrapped around her.

What his beast, still partially separated from Sesshomaru, sensed would have halted the Taiyoukai in his tracks and so mokomokosama had veiled the truth in a soft musk and his presence. The miko could not have known. Not even with her spiritual powers, human's knowledge of their bodies was limited. Most had abandoned their instincts centuries before and Kagome had been born even further in the future, which, in the beast's opinion, had weakened her ability to sense the rhythms of her body even more. Neither knew. Neither would know as the beast traversed the bond between the mates and coaxed the miko's energies to form an almost invisible spiritual barrier deep within her for protection.

Her aura responded in almost sentient agreement with the Taiyoukai's beast and set aside just enough power to ensure the barrier did not fall or waver and so was frozen unconsciously within the girl until she would become aware of what had occurred.

He felt his strength waning, finally. He had not realized it would take so much to exhaust him self completely. He fought his weariness until they came to their final climax, then pulled from her and wrapped around her protectively. Mokomokosama did the same and she felt herself smiling through the haze of intense afterglow and exhaustion. He kissed the nape of her neck and the juncture where her neck and shoulder met, caressing her form tenderly.

"I love you." She breathed and trembled as his arm wrapped around her abdomen and pulled her flush with his form. "So incredibly much."

His eyes fell onto the waning light through the Eastern windows of their rooms. It was not yet night, but mid-day had well passed and it was now in the afternoon. He heard as her breathing began to slow. Sleep was taking her. He gently kissed the lobe of her ear and smiled softly at the faint sigh that escaped her. "I love you too. Rest, beloved. I will protect you forever."

As she drifted off into sleep, her hand moved to cover his where they both rest atop of mokomokosama where he protectively wrapped across her womb. The beast felt himself relax. Time would tell what would happen, but for the moment, they were safe and together and nothing in the world could separate them.

Somewhere, far to the North and East, a shadowy figure sat watching as the waves crashed harshly on the rocks, cutting up in threatening white walls of foam. He felt the wind whip and churn before another presence came to be by his side.

"You sought me out."

"I have a proposition."

"No doubt you do. We shall see if it is worth my time or if you have simply come here to die."

"I'll help you complete the jewel on one condition."

"What is that?" The figured turned and fixed an oily smile onto the face of his visitor.

"That when you win, you will not harm the miko, Kagome. And that you'll make sure to kill that Taiyoukai, Sesshomaru."

"I could kill you now and only be missing the last two shards."

"We both know that without someone close to them, you'll never get those last shards. You need me."

The shadowy man smiled sadistically. "Yes. I do. I'll do what you ask with one addendum."

He frowned and studied the sinister man before him. He felt like he was bargaining with the devil. "Which is?"

"If, when I give her to you, she is carrying his child, you will allow me to have the child to raise as my own."

The other man paused, then slowly nodded. "I won't want some mutt's baby. It's a deal. Kagome's safety and Sesshomaru's death."

"What of Inuyasha?"

The visitor smirked. "What of him? He's your vendetta, not mine."

"Yes." He replied to his visitor. "That, indeed, he is.