a/n: Hey yall! I'm back with your next chappy with less than a month between updates! Yay! Well I got a suggestion from one of my anonymous reviewers that I should do a prequel to this story to tell all my awesome readers the details of Sango's past and her great-great-grandma. I'm not really sure how to make a poll on my profile so I'll ask yall here: do you think I should write a prequel about Sango's past to give you more details than just what I told you from Sango's encounter with Sonya? Neways, yall just leave me some reviews and let me know what you think!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inu, Sesshy, Sango, or anyone else but I DO own Sonya! Muahaha!!!

Chapter 6- Reflection

As the sun set slowly over the grassy hill to her west the strong wind that preceded the storm approaching from the southeast blew her now loose brown hair around her hunched form. The thick seam that she'd sewn to repair her kimono from the ogre attack a few days ago was scratching her thigh annoyingly but she ignored it as she stared blankly into the coming storm. Her new demonic senses were filled with the scent of rain and her sharp blue eyes could see that the oncoming clouds promised hail but she did not move from her spot on the edge of a grassy cliff. The steep drop off might have bothered her at one time but at the moment she was in a state of subdued numbness.

When she'd awoken after her transformation she hadn't paused for a moment to listen to Sesshomaru or even her own common sense but instead rose in one fluid motion and bolted for the door with speed that almost threw her off balance. Were it not for her slayer training she would have never made it out of the cave but by pulling from every one of her father's teachings she was able to regain control of her own body and make her way to the nearest stream at breakneck speed. Falling heavily to her knees she had to wait a moment for the ripples her hair had made when she flung herself down on the ground to recede and for the water to become calm so she could see her own reflection.

Eyes that were once a soft brown now shone the same fierce icy blue that she had seen on her great-great-grandmother. Her hair was now a shade darker but still brown and not the same inky black as Kagome's. On her once bare forehead there now sat a beautiful cobalt six-pointed star that seemed to glow with the power within her. The stripes on her cheeks looked very similar to Sesshomaru's own but were the same cobalt blue as the star on her forehead. She drew her hand to her cheek and rubbed her fingers roughly across them to make sure someone hadn't painted them on as some kind of horrible practical joke. Her new eyes were suddenly drawn to the long sharp claws that had suddenly sprouted from the end of her fingers. Drawing her hand in front of her face her eyes settled on it as if it were something alien.

"It will take a while for you to become accustomed to your body's changes Sango," Sesshomaru's voice said softly from behind her.

She jumped slightly but did not turn around to face him. Even with her new heightened senses she did not hear him coming. She wished so badly that Kagome were here so that she could throw herself into her arms and weep at what she'd lost but she knew that her power had transformed her to save her life and there was no use crying over something she could never get back; a lesson she'd learned the hard way time and time again.

"I know Sesshomaru it's just…a lot to take in."

She felt his clawed hand on her shoulder as he stood behind her and she could see his regal form reflected in the stream in front of her. The small gesture of comfort from him went several large bounds towards making her feel better without him having to say a word.

"Sango I need you to explain to me all that you know about why you are a dog demoness and what happened to cause this transformation."

His statement was not harsh or prodding but she still blanched slightly. She knew that he needed to know so he could help protect her from whatever psycho demon was after her power but she still couldn't help but be afraid what he might think of her afterwards. With a heavy sigh she reached up and grabbed the hand that was still resting lightly on her shoulder and tugged it gently to indicate that he sit down beside her. Her eyes clenched shut as she allowed her nose and ears tell her when he was settled beside her. Opening her eyes and turning towards him she sighed once more before beginning to relay what Sonya had told her just a few minutes before.

When she had finished she waited a moment for him to comment about her past and sudden transformation but when she received no response she turned her eyes from the slow moving stream to Sesshomaru's still from. His eyes were upon hers with a look so intense she was momentarily stunned. It was as if those piercing golden eyes were peering deep into her very soul. Unbidden, a large blush came to her face at the look in his eyes and the new animal instincts that had accompanied her transformation were telling her to flee.

"W-well I'm going to go think by myself for a little while."

Afraid to say more, lest she risk stuttering stupidly again, she stood quickly and fled into the forest at a dead run. She had run until she could no longer catch his scent in the wind and as she slowed she came upon a grassy cliff that overlooked a small valley with a river running down its center. Sitting down in the grass and wrapping her arms around her knees she gazed out over the beautiful valley and let the events of the past few days wash over her. She sat that way for a long while, letting everything fully settle upon her mind as the sun set and the storm started to roll in.

Sesshomaru had respected her need for privacy and although he had moved close enough that she could catch his scent on the wind, and so he could smell hers, he was still far enough away that she was still alone to think. It had taken her the entire day to sort through everything that had happened with the demon, her history that Sonya relayed to her, and the changes her body had undergone. As the sun started to set she blinked out of her meditative state and truly gazed out at the beauty before her. Her blue eyes flicked to the approaching storm and she inhaled the scent of rain deeply. Now that her initial crisis over her identity was over and she had accepted the "new and improved Sango" she was very much enjoying the things that the transformation gave to her that she now found her old body oh so lacking in.

"Do you plan to sit out here until the hail knocks you unconscious or were you thinking about coming back any time soon?"

An amused smile spread across her face as she recognized his attempt at their normal training banter. For a second she allowed her new senses to fully intake his scent and catalog it deep into her memory, as she would do to all her friends when she returned, so that she would never mistake her pathetic human memory of their scent for the robust clarity of smell that she had now. Sesshomaru smelled of earth, forest, and a touch of steel and blood.

'He smells really good,' she thought offhandedly before turning towards him to address his comment.

"Well I thought I'd just test out my new body and see how much abuse it can take from mother nature before trying it out on the next group of demons that are stupid enough to attack us."

Annoyance crossed his face but she did not miss the small smile on his lips before a large splash of water hit her in the face. Bringing her now clawed fingers up to her face, and careful not to cut herself, she wiped the first raindrop of the storm off of her sensitive skin before looking up at the sky once again. Even the rain on her face felt so much different now that she was a demon.

Forgetting the man in front of her she gazed in wonder as the sky began its assault. Each drop that touched her skin felt like a gentle caress from a flower petal. So enthralled by the sensation she wasn't even aware that she was now soaked and that Sesshomaru was watching her intently until he spoke.

"Sango?"

At hearing her name from his lips she took her eyes off the sky and directed her wonder toward him. Her large blue eyes settled on his golden ones and despite both of their bangs hanging limply over them each could see the other's orbs.

"Sesshomaru have you always been able to feel the rain so intimately? I mean being a demon since birth of course you have but isn't it such an amazing feeling?"

His eyes widened with an emotion he could not quite name; surprise, awe, wonder, none of these seemed right but maybe a mixture of them all. Never before had he thought about the sensation of the rain on his skin being anything more than an act of nature and a natural part of life. Seeing the slayer he'd come to think of as his equal in battle finding something so simple extraordinary made him stop and take note of the feeling of the rain on his skin, as he never had before.

"Yes Sango it truly is."

As he watched the beautiful woman before him laugh as she danced in the rain he could feel a part deep within him that was long hardened, due to a rough life and the massive responsibility that had been dumped upon him at such a young age, at watching Sango becoming so happy after all she'd been through over something as simple as rain he felt that part shatter and begin to rebuild itself into something new, something softer and better. He stood in the rain merely watching as his battle partner frolicked around enjoying her newfound senses, senses that he'd had since birth and was beginning to see that he was taking for granted.

The pair could have stayed in the rain all night were it not for the flash of lighting and boom of thunder that momentarily blinded and deafened them. The tree closest to the cliff on the edge of the forest had been struck by the lightning bolt and was now tumbling towards them as flames billowed from its leafy boughs. Sango, who was not yet used to such blinding light hitting her sensitive eyes, had both fists rubbing her closed eyes furiously in an attempt to regain her lost vision. A strange emotion shot through his body as he saw the burning tree falling towards the person that he was only moments ago enjoying the sight of. A snarl ripped from his throat as he threw himself forwards just as she removed her hands from her eyes in time to look up at the burning mass that was about to crash into her.

The impact she was expecting did not come from above her but instead from in front of her as something strong and warm plowed into her and forcefully tackled her out of the way. Her sense of smell immediately told her that it was Sesshomaru and as her back settled into the mud she allowed herself a sigh of relief before opening her eyes and looking up at him. She was about to thank him for saving her but the sight before her froze her instantly.

Surrounding her was a curtain of dripping silver locks and from every direction it was all she could see from her peripherals. The man above her was not the stoic demon lord who she'd fought countless battles with. Nor was he smirking at her and prodding her about how she'd nearly lost her pathetic life to a stupid tree. The man above was almost unrecognizable as his smoldering golden eyes blazed into her. There was something in his gaze that sent a wave of heat throughout her entire shivering body and calmed her tattered nerves. A feeling of peace and safety overcame her with just one glance into those eyes and suddenly the fact that she'd nearly been crushed by a burning tree didn't matter anymore. She was now intensely aware of his position above her and the fact that his hips were straddling hers rather intimately. In that moment, however, she could feel none of her earlier embarrassment, only the warmth and safety she felt from his touch.

They stared into each other's eyes intently for a few moments and it was as if words were not needed to convey each other's thoughts and would only get in the way. His eyes darted down to her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes and staying there. Blue eyes softened as she caught his gaze and that was his indication that she did not object. Leaning down but continuing to brace himself above her with his strong arms he stopped just a breath away from her lips and paused, allowing her the final decision whether or not she wanted to meet his lips with hers. In less than a heartbeat she pushed herself up the final bit with her elbows and crashed their lips together in a searing kiss.

A feeling she'd never felt welled within her as she enjoyed every moment of her first kiss until both of them ran out of air, something that took quite a few moments longer since both were demons now, and had to break apart.

"Ses-shomaru," she breathed out as she fell back into the mud that was beginning to accumulate underneath her.

Sesshomaru himself seemed quite out of breath but recovered quickly. His eyes caught hers once more before moving to the muddy water beneath her and another crash of thunder caught both of their attention.

"Come Sango we have much to discuss but first we must get out of this weather before the hail hits and you need to get into some dry clothes."

She was confused for a moment, now that she was a demon the cold of the rain did not affect her nearly as much as when she was human, what could he possibly be……. A single glance down at her now completely translucent white and pink kimono told her exactly what he'd meant. The embarrassment she couldn't find earlier found it's way back with twice as much force and the blush that spread across her face was sure to alert every watching eye within ten miles of their presence.

Before she could bring her arms up to cover her practically exposed chest, and were it not for the bandages she used for support of her well endowed chest she would be completely exposed, he pulled her to his chest and held her to him with her feet a few inches off of the ground. A confused look crossed her face but he merely grinned at her and muttered, "hold on" before taking off towards Totosai's cave as a strange ball of light and demonic energy. Wrapping her arms tightly around his broad chest and pushing her face tightly into the soaking wet material of his shirt she tried not to scream as the strange feeling surrounded her for only a moment before it disappeared and she could feel the heat of the fire at her back. Slowly opening her eyes in case she was still somehow trapped in the ball of light she found that she was now clinging to Sesshomaru's chest in the middle of Totosai's cave with the old sword smith giving her a very strangely knowing smile.

"Totosai I believe father left a few extra robes in one of the side caverns he used as his room while he stayed here could you bring two of them out for Sango and I?"

The low rumbling in his chest that accompanied his voice entranced her and it was not until Totosai left to retrieve his father's garments and he spoke again that she could drag her attention away from the strong, warm muscle beneath her grip.

"Father's robes will be much to big for you but that is all I have here until your own kimono dries by the fire."

His voice drew her attention to his face and she was surprised to see the warmth in his eyes still very much there despite the fact that Totosai was entering the room behind them with the clothes in his arms. She had half expected him to toss her away from him or scoff at her for the ridiculous way she was clinging to him in front of his father's old friend but he did neither. Instead he held her to his chest with one arm and took the clothes from Totosai with the other. She watched as he nodded to the old demon that merely smiled a strange smile in return and turned to leave the room. When he was gone Sesshomaru dropped his arm from her lower back and stepped away from her slightly. Handing her the smaller of the two very large robes he turned his back to allow her privacy. Despite the large blush on her face she had no doubt that he would not try to peek at her as Miroku used to when she and Kagome were bathing. She trusted him and knew that he would not stoop so low.

Turning her back as well, to allow him privacy of his own to change out of his dripping clothes, she quickly stripped herself of her own soaked and muddied kimono before tossing it aside and drying herself with the lower edge of the large garment before slipping into it. Then again, falling into it may have described it better as she tried vainly to wrap herself in the oversized robes in a way that she could still walk without tripping and cover her body properly. Unknowingly she was uttering low growls of frustration and the low chuckles of Sesshomaru startled her for a moment as she directed her attention away from her fight with the clothing.

"What? What's so funny?"

Having heard that she was no longer changing Sesshomaru, after donning his father's old battle robes, turned to see her battling the mass of material in an attempt to make it fit her slight form. When she'd unwittingly started growling softly at the unyielding robes he could not help but chuckle at how adorable she looked and at how quickly she was starting to act like a dog demoness.

Instead of answering her question he walked over to her and grabbed a hold of the bottom of the robes and ripped a strait line across the bottom just above her ancles so that she could still move but maintain the warmth that the thick material provided. She merely watched him with wide, wondering eyes as he tossed the extra material aside and stood to his full height in front of her before staring down into her eyes yet again. He had much to tell her but he didn't know exactly where to start.

For the day that she'd been unconscious Totosai had told him much about her village's past and how his family linked to it. It was preordained long ago that Naraku would destroy the slayer village and the lone survivor would become the possessor of the village's great and thought to be lost Power. The prophecy said that an evil greater than Naraku would come and try to take the power by force but only the combined strength of the Lord of the Western lands and the Possessor of the Power as well as both of InuTaisho's fangs could stop this evil from devouring the earth.

As he sat and listened to Totosai speak of the prophecy and the horrible fate that would befall Sango if she were to fall into the hands of this evil force a horrible rage built within him and it had taken much of his willpower to force his inner demon back down and calmly listen to what the old sword smith had to say. He had to send Kirara back to Inuyasha to tell him what had happened in order to get the frightened neko away from his fluctuating demonic aura. It had taken some convincing but he'd finally managed to convince the kitten that he would not harm her mistress in his enraged state and she had finally flown off towards Inuyasha's village a few hours before Sango awoke.

When she'd awoken and immediately run to the stream to look at her reflection he had thought that she would not take her transformation into a dog demoness very well and that he would have to explain what had happened to her. However, when he asked her to tell him what she knew he found that she knew a lot of things that Totosai had not known or had not told him yet and by the time she stopped talking his mind was so busy working over everything that had occurred within the last twenty-four hours that when she'd told him she was going off to think by herself for a little while all he could do was watch her flee.

It was not until he watched her dancing in the rain and truly enjoying the gift of her new demonic senses that he realized his feelings for her. He was not so stupid as to think they had developed suddenly, he had felt them for quite some time but had always smashed them into the darkest corner of his mind by labeling them as stupid pinning after a human woman. Now that excuse was gone and watching her as she enjoyed a moment of completely pure happiness, something he'd only seen in Rin before he'd left her in the care of the old priestess Kaede, he could not deny what he felt towards the beautiful brunette that he'd come to respect so greatly as a human and now even more as a demoness without having to see her fight at all. When he'd seen the flaming tree falling towards her and her helplessly rubbing her eyes trying to regain her vision the demon within him thrust him forwards with a snarl and he knew that even his demon accepted her as his love and future mate.

The kiss they'd shared would be burned into his memory for the rest of his long life and the love he felt towards her flooded through him and exited through his golden eyes. He knew that his realizations were enormous and that he was probably getting ahead of himself but something within him told him that this was right. A warm hand on his chest brought him back from his reverie and his eyes focused on the tiny woman before him that was wrapped clumsily in his father's robes. Her face looked worried and slightly confused but he merely smiled and grabbed the small hand that was on his chest and wrapped it completely in one of his large ones.

"I have a lot that I need to tell you Sango."

a/n: Well that's it yall. I know that Sesshy's realization of his love for Sango seems kinda fast but you have to realize that they've both been slowly developing feelings for each other since they became battle partners(an undefined amount of time ago) and this is not really sudden at all. Maybe in my prequel(if yall think I should write one) I'll write about their developing relationship of being battle partners into how they are now? You'll have to review and let me know!!!

PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!