Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. All rights are reserved for Rumiko Takahashi.

"I can't see," I whispered to Mana who still grasped my hand.

"Then open your eyes." She said equally quiet.

I blinked when I realized my eyes were closed and then gasped, "It's light!"

"Yes. That was my first reaction too. I don't really understand it myself, but I think the shadows trap light somehow." I looked up at Mana and smiled even though my inner turmoil was threatening to make tears fall. "You know, Sesshomaru's not totally heartless. He's not going to turn you away."

"I just made a fool of his honor as the great demon lord of the west. He should turn me away," I said and turned to look back where we came from. It was like a one way screen, we could see them, but all they could see was a shadow. She pulled me further into her world of light and the next thing I knew we were back in my room. We hadn't left the shelter of the shadows before a knock sounded at my door.

"It's him." She said slowly.

"What should I do?" I asked, almost frightened about seeing him. The door opened and he let himself in before he pin pointed our position.

"Mana." He said quietly while taking a step forward.

"Yes, my lord?" Mana was now kneeling before him.

"Bring Kagome from the shadows."

"I will not." She kept her eyes on the ground. I tried to leave the shadows to save Mana from the punishment she would surely receive, but soon I found out that only Mana could cross the border.

"You would defy this Lord Sesshomaru?" He asked and I was surprised his voice was still so calm.

"For my lady, yes." She looked up at him now with a patient look.

"Mana... I know she reminds you of your sister, but you need not protect her from me." He turned in my direction before he spoke again. "I have no intention of hurting her."

"Very well." Mana stood and approached me from the other side of the screen and reached a hand through the shadows. I realized that to Sesshomaru, her arm was disappearing, but to me it was being illuminated.

She pulled me from the shadows and I stood there before him feeling the same embarrassment from earlier. I met his gaze and was surprised to see him inches from me now with a hand out stretched which came to a rest on the side of my face. His eyes burned with something more than want this time. I placed a hand on top of his and nuzzled it for a moment. I glanced over to see Mana disappear into the shadows before my attention was dragged back to Sesshomaru.

He was tracing the length of my my side with his free hand and, after a few seconds, I found myself on the bed beneath him with my dress halfway off. We were kissing now with the same intensity as all the times before. The passion was there, the want was there, and the love was there so I had no quorums with giving myself to him.

He was looking down at me now with a look that I had seen moments before. Now that I was closer it was easier to see that the emotion that was coupled with the want. It took me a moment to realize that look might have been love, but before this could fully register this pain was upon me.

The pain from him subsided after a few moments and turned into pleasure. Sesshomaru and I where completely intertwined and unconcerned with anything in our surroundings. Sesshomaru himself was like a shadow and underneath all his guarded expressions was light.

I was completely rapped up in him when I heard him growl. I was to busy experiencing the high of an orgasm to care until I felt his sharp teeth pierce the flesh on my neck. I cried out and went completely still beneath him.

"Do not be afraid. I have only marked you as my own." He whispered to me before he began to lick the wound. "You are mine now."

She followed the shadows until she found who she had been looking for. Mana had decided to do a little bit more recon on Kagome's group so she could figure out the strengths they could depend on in battle. She watched Inuyasha, who was sulking by the looks of it, pace their little monk and demon slayer had taken to the opposite side of the room where they sat on the floor trying to ignore the raging half demon.

"What the hell did she mean, "'I love him?'" He growled, ignorant to the obvious. "Who could ever love a jerk like Sesshomaru?"

"Calm down Inuyasha. You've been repeating that for the last hour," Sango said while glaring at the hanyou.

"Yes, don't you think it's time to give it a rest?" Miroku agreed with his slayer companion.

"Didn't you guys hear what she said? She said, 'I love him!'" He shouted.

I guess I could count temper as a strength along with the patients and wisdom of the two humans. How they hadn't tried to kill him after putting up with him for years or even days was hard to comprehend.

"Just calm down, Inuyasha, we have to save our strength for fighting Naraku." Miroku commented. "And fussing about Kagome is not helping our current situation. We need to come up with a battle plan. Isn't that right, demon of the shadows?"

"What are you talking about Miroku?" Sango asked as Miroku stood up.

"Mana wasn't it? The woman of the shadows?" He was looking in her direction now.

"Correct." She smiled at the monk when she appeared from the shadows. "I have come to inform you that we will be heading into battle within the next to days. Which means you all should rest up and prepare your weapons."

"My hiraikotsu has already been sharpened so I'm as ready as I'll ever be." The demon slayer jestured to her bone weapon in the corner behind her.

"And my wind tunnel is in top shape. I think we'll be ready in time."

"The only thing that needs fixing is Inuyasha's attitude." Sango quipped.

Mana smiled and having obtained the information she had come to get, she said her goodbyes and found her way back to the other side of her shadows.

To be Continued...

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this chapter which I added early thanks to a very excited reader. Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate it and hope you will continue to grace me with your thoughts on this story. So please review! Thanks again!

-Lala 3