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Chapter Nine: Happiness

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It was strange.

A month had passed since I'd been sacrificed to the water god, yet I still didn't know all that much about my pensive husband.

I knew he cared for me. That much was apparent. After going to such lengths to save me from my dreadful life in the village, I'd have to be out of my mind not to know he would do anything for me.

Of their own volition, my fingertips came up to trace the edges of my lips. I'd never kissed a man before, let alone a god, so my boldness with Sesshoumaru had surprised me.

But he hadn't seemed to mind.

Presently, I was sitting with him in the library, a tattered scroll in my lap. He'd been working unrelentingly for the past three days, trying to find a way to save me from death. While it was an odd thing to be looking for, I understood his impatience. After his skirmish with Kagutsuchi, the fire god had disappeared from the depths of the garden's pond, which had Sesshoumaru uneasy.

After waiting almost a year for me, he'd said, the last thing he wanted was to lose me to that psychopathic demon.

I had volunteered to help him search, so here I was, holding an ancient scroll in my lap and trying to decipher it's nearly illegible writing. It was true that I had no desire to be murdered by Sesshoumaru's brother, but I also wasn't certain I wanted to be immortal. When the only thing you know is being human, how do you learn to be anything else?

I was wrenched from my thoughts when Sesshoumaru appeared in front of me. He looked beautiful, as always. Today, however, his breathtaking hair was free from its confines and spilled around his shoulders and down his back. His topaz eyes were bright with excitement, his pale cheeks flushed. "I may have found something."

Setting my scroll aside, I patted the space next to me. "Let's see, then."

He eased down beside me and held his find out for me to examine. It was a scroll even older than mine, in a language I didn't recognize. "It tells of a way to share blood, and therefore become one."

I glanced at him quizzically. "To become one?"

"Not literally, of course." He pointed at a picture. "Here, it depicts a god sharing his blood with a mortal. Once the blood is consumed, the mortal is no longer a 'slave to the passage of time.'"

"In other words, if a man were to drink the blood of a god, he becomes a god?"

"Precisely."

I arched a brow. "That doesn't sound all that difficult."

"There is more to it. First, the mortal must be able to survive the transformation." Sesshoumaru stared at me hard. "The bond between the mortal and god must be strong. Near unbreakable."

"Well," I said, a frown marring my face. "I suppose I do need to get to know you better, but I doubt we have a weak bond, Sesshoumaru."

My words rewarded me with a smile. "True. However, there is another problem." He lifted one of his hands and perused it critically. "Unfortuantely, my skin is almost impossible to break."

Something else to add to the list of things I didn't know. "You can't be cut?"

"No. Not with anything I know of."

"A dilemma, to be sure." I cupped my chin in my hand, thinking. "There has to be a way to cut a god. Otherwise no one would have ever discovered mortals could be made into gods."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "My thoughts exactly. If we keep looking, I'm certain we'll find a way."

I smiled brightly, but my feelings were jumbled and confusing. "I'm sure if anyone could find a way, it would be you."

He grinned again, and my heart thudded loudly in response. He really was exquisite, and I asked myself, for the hundredth time, why he wanted me.

"Let's relax for a while." Taking my hand, he stood and twirled me into his arms.

I sighed contentedly. "That sounds wonderful." I breathed in the scent of him and my eyes closed of their own accord.

And I knew, in that moment, that I could stay in his embrace forever.

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A/N: Hope you guys liked it! I'd love some reviews! Thanks!