Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Inuyasha or any of the other characters that may be used throughout the duration of the fan-fiction. Be advised this is a world created for the sole purpose of entertainment and would expect you to respect my work of fantasy as you would have me respect yours. This is rated mature for further chapters that may be controversial in subject matter. Please do not report me as you have been warned.

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Your Lady Fractured Moonlight

Summary: Sesshomaru has lived centuries without the one thing he desires the most only to have her return with no memory of him or the life they had known. Can he accept her as he had once or will everything be lost to time once more? Will she love the beast within the man as she once had in a time lost to her? Will they learn to love or will their love vanish as though it had never been? Read and discover the untold story between Sesshomaru and Kagome and you might discover a love that can span the centuries!

-oOo-

Moonlight's Embrace

Chapter 19

Sesshomaru didn't remember when he had fallen asleep, but the morning sun was more than enough to rouse him from its charm. Taking a quick glance around his surroundings he found that Kagome had wrapped her small body around his in a complicated manner. So much so that he doubted he could move an inch much less a centimetre without waking her and that he was afraid wouldn't do. Sighing deeply his eyes slid closed just as the memories that had assaulted him in the night found him again in the dawn.

"Kagome I love you, I always have." He had told her the night before he had kissed her. He meant it, he always did when things concerned her but somehow he couldn't help but second guess her love for him. Constantly finding himself questioning if he was worthy of a love such as hers. He doubted it severely when he took into account all the times he had failed her in the past. Even so, as he sat here, mute and in utter amusement Kagome's love found him within his private thoughts.

He found himself, behind his closed eyelids, travelling backward in time to the day when he had first set his eyes on her. Mind you he had been three hundred years younger or so, much younger than he was now, but time he found could not dull the sharpness of such memories….not for him.

He remembered meeting her once or twice on his fathers estate, the second of which had resulted in the slight drowning Kage had been pleased to present him with. The first though was by chance. His father, unbeknownst to him, had invited a demoness and her daughter to stay with them. It wasn't anything unusual, his father often extended such kindnesses to his friend but this time it was different. This time as he rounded a corner, a corner that he had rounded a thousand times before, he ended up crashing into the very person who would become the epicentre of his world.

She wasn't that much younger than he was in chronological age but in demonic age they appeared to be light years apart. Or so he liked to think and yet he couldn't help but stare at the girl who lay sprawled against the floor staring at him with much curiosity.

"I'm sorry," she muttered in embarrassment. "I should've watched where I w-was," she stopped her eyes moving towards the hand he now offered her. He himself didn't know what had compelled him to do so, just that it was something about her, something that he couldn't explain. She looked human, even smelled it, if only slightly, but here he was offering to help her stand when the fault had been hers.

He couldn't explain the feeling that shot threw him the moment she reached out to accept his offer. It was like electricity shot threw him in that moment and he wondered briefly, very briefly, if she felt the same. Too soon however the contact was broken leaving him to watch her cheeks turn a shade of red he hadn't seen before watching her open her mouth several times trying to say something when by the grace of the gods she was interrupted.

"Kagome, there you are." A feminine voice spoke as she soon followed the strange raven haired girl. Her hair was a slightly lighter shade than the girls resembling the darkest shade of grey one could have without it being considered black. Her eyes on the other hand were something that held his attention for a moment longer than her overall beauty. They were silver, purest silver. Was she the demoness his father had permitted to stay?

"Now you know better than to leave my sight in unfamiliar places." She admonished with a voice as fluid as the silk she wore while kneeling before the girl with such grace that left little doubt as to the woman's regal heritage. Her beautiful kimono bending around her delicate frame, wrinkling in all the right places with the same regal air as the rest of her.

"I'm sorry mother, but it's so pretty here in the west."

"Ah, but if you wish to go exploring please tell me so that I will not have to worry."

"I will," she smiled brilliantly realising she had been forgiven when suddenly she turned her attention from the woman who now ran long feminine fingers through her hair back towards himself with such delight that left him utterly confused. "Mama this is my new friend."

He couldn't help but stare back at her, blinking several times. She didn't know him, and the word kind of made him uncomfortable. It was unsettling how just a single word uttered from her could make him feel that way.

"Really, and does your friend have a name?" her mother asked as he watched embarrassment creep across her face realising her mistake, she had forgot to ask.

"Sesshomaru." He had stated feeling compelled to spare the girl further humiliation.

"Yes Sesshomaru." She giggled openly leaving him to wonder what could be so amusing about his name, but as they turned down the corridor again Sesshomaru was left to wonder what had compelled him to first offer aid, and then the rescue.

That day had begun the first of many encounters they would share.

The third time he had seen her, their interaction had been kind of rushed, on his part at least. He had found a beautiful comb in a demon village not far from the western palace that he had felt belonged to her. It was an odd feeling to say the least. He had been to that village many times before but never before had he felt the need to stop at any of the venders selling more unessential delicate items. And yet here he was compelled to purchase a comb just at the thought of his dearest friend wearing it.

The purchase, he deemed later had been a good one and well worth the playful jabs his father had thrown his way far too many times to count. But if it made her happy then it was far worth the trouble the old dog was giving him on a daily basis.

This time he found himself counting down the days before she was suppose to arrive for a formal visit. He found himself glancing at the comb with increasing frequency that was often accompanied the weird fluttering feeling fluttered in his stomach. A feeling that he found only occurred when thinking of her. It was frustrating but exhilarating at the same time forcing him to wonder if she felt the same.

The day of her arrival came faster than he thought it would. Even with him counting down the days. He remembered racing up behind her, telling her to open her hands all the while placing the comb within her slender fingers. She blushed thickly, glancing at the golden comb within her grip, watching the sun swim within the beautiful gems that adorned the golden object.

He remembered that when he told her to open her eyes she protested about not being worthy of receiving such token. It had hurt him that she would think such a thing but at least he knew it wasn't a refusal of him but rather that she couldn't see the beauty within herself that he saw. Maybe she never would see it for herself but he was more than willing to see it for her.

At his mention of them being mates and that it was his right to do so, she blushed as thickly as the day he had met her, maybe even a shade or two redder. It had been an admission that he hadn't been prepared to make at the time but her reaction warmed his heart in a way that only she could. She knew the real him, who he real was on the inside and not who he would let the world believe. All too soon he had remembered his training session and thus he was forced to leave her there completely baffled still staring at the comb but he would greatly regret the next time they would meet.

He regretted it for the worry that he had created within her, and for the worry that had tainted her aura, that had polluted her comforting, distinctive scent.

He was no fool. He knew the reasons behind Mikazuki's presence in the palace all those years prior. Katsurou had resented the fact that his daughter had been born the way she was, just as he had plotted her death to many times to count. Mikazuki had grown fearful of him over the passage of time and thus escaped towards the west bringing her daughter in toe. However as he approached Miwako's gates he found himself ambushed by his assassins.

He had been foolish to think that Katsurou's army wouldn't be foolish enough to encroach on the west let alone Lady Mikazuki's land but he had grossly underestimated his boldness.

He hadn't left that battle unscathed, his training at that time had been far from completion but at least he had outlasted the seven assassins that had come to claim his life and in doing so claim hers. He had found her easily enough, within the garden she held dear. The very same where he had kissed her for the first time but now could find no pleasure in it. He could see the alarm that crossed her once smiling face, just as he could see the pain that swam so freely within her dark eyes. There was no hiding the blood that poured from many serious wounds, nor the clouding of his vision from blood loss. He saw her tears fall down her cheeks as she ran to him then, abandoning the flowers and herbs she had been gathering.

"Hana," she ordered taking charge of the situation at hand near instantaneously upon his arrival. "Prepare the room next to mine."

"But my lady?" Hana had protested and rightfully so, a male so close to her ward, even while injured was a threat to her charges innocence. Why he himself had a hard time keeping himself in line while in the presence of others never mind being alone with her.

"There's no time to argue." Kagome had snapped angrily.

"Yes." She said disappearing into the palace behind them, leaving him with Kagome. He was so close to collapsing, so close to her that he felt the peace that he only knew around her encompass him.

"Kagome I'm,"

"Shhhhh we have time for that but right now you must come with me." She whispered softly whipping some blood from his face all the while tucking some stray strands of bloodied silver behind his finely pointed ears before placing a small chaste kiss upon his lips.

He remembered it because it was the first time he had been the one to place fear within her heart. It was the first time that he had learned of her father's ill intentions towards his then intended. But despite this he could not recall a time where he felt as much peace as he did when he was with her. Even now that his memories of the past that could not be changed had begun to recede her scent was affecting him. Calming him in a way that no other could, well maybe that wasn't all true. Rin's had a similar effect but nowhere close to the degree that Kagome's had. Maybe that was why he found himself so easily drawn to her. At first as a child and then later as a young man and now even centuries later he was still drawn to her.

He remembered shortly after their mating that Kagome had exhibited signs that she had conceived which left him to ponder his readiness for such responsibility. By that time he had fought for so long all in the name of defending Kagome that now just the thought of a family made him feel a kind of happiness that was unknown to him, but even happy, though a nervous happiness, was an understatement compared to the pride that filled every fibre of his being.

It wasn't long after his suspicions that the slight change in her scent became detectable. Confirming what he already knew somewhere deep down. Kagome was with pup or as she referred to as with child. He was going to be a father but then the joy gave way to nerves. Yes he was actually nervous about the reality of it. Would he be a good father? He asked himself a hundred times always with the same result of Kagome being more confident in that side of him than he was.

He watched as the months passed, and the child within her grew with each passing day. She got bigger, her moods changed more frequently, and yet there was an added glow to her features. An added meaning to everything she did, an added joy not that he blamed her.

That day at the hot spring she had turned to see him, blushing slightly as she realised she was only partially clothed but she ushered him over to her. He obliged if only out of curiosity when she took his hand and placed it firmly on her abdomen watching him intently as he felt the life within her for the first time. It was something one couldn't explain, something that one could only feel, but he felt him. He felt his son and for a moment couldn't contain his own joy.

But all that changed a few years down the road. His son had been born healthy and strong, looking more like his mother than like him, though she would say it was the other way around. Later on as he grew he noticed that he carried himself with a slight ego boost which Kagome had blamed on him, which in all honesty it probably was. and he chuckled softly at before it quickly turned sour.

Nothing could have prepared him for that day, for nothing can prepare you for loosing a child.

He had trusted in someone to protect what was most precious to him. Telling his son that it was his job to protect to his mother while he was away, and watching him beam with pride while she giggled softly from her position behind him.

"Be safe." Kagome warned knowing the dangers that awaited him every time the council summoned him. She hated being apart from him. He knew it, almost as much as he hated being a part from her. So much so that the pain was almost a physical one.

"I assure you I will do the utmost to return home safe and sound."

"Good." She whispered leaning over the boy that came no higher than her waist to place a kiss upon his lips. Both smirking when the boy made a disgruntled sound, leaving him to remember his own opinions in seeing his parents kiss before taking pity on him and ruffling his silver hair.

That image was of a time where he openly showed what he felt towards those he loved and it would be the image upon which he returned that would forever alter him.

As he approached the palace upon his return he couldn't help but think about spending time with what mattered most……little did he expect to come upon a home in nearly complete shambles defending against a strange yokai of immense aura attacking his family.

He realised far too late what the yokai's intentions were with his mate as an attack was hurled her way. An attack in which Sesshomaru could not intercede in time but realised to late that his son had taken his words to heart as the boy ran in front of her at a speed in which she couldn't stop him and by the time he knew what had happened the yokai lay in a heap of ash in front of him while Kane lay bloodied and lifeless in Kagome's arms.

Her scent began to change as it alerted him to the possibilities that she would wake. He felt a momentary shard of guilt as she began to shift at his side mumbling incoherently as she did so. He almost mourned the loss of her body pressed against him as she moved to stretch before causing his breath to hitch as she blessed him with a world ending smile even despite the sadness that tainted it.

"Good morning." She said moving to stretch her arms while being unsuccessful in the leg department.

"That it is." He agreed in a monotone voice that forced Kagome to look at him. She knew that tone.

"You were thinking about the past weren't you?" she asked him meeting his eyes head on. He wasn't about to lie to her especially not after last night.

"Yes."

"Have I changed much?" she asked inquiring as to who she had been.

"No."

"Well that's good to know." He knew the cheer in her voice had been false but when compared to the harsh unyielding night he was thankful for it. No matter how falsified such joy's might have been.

He watched her move to stand, further stretching the kinks out of her muscles when he realised something startling. She was wearing the same two-piece yukata that she had been wearing when she had been poisoned by Ayumu. Leaving him to wonder if she had worn something else since they had begun their journey but he soon realized that he couldn't be certain of it and that unsettled him.

"What?" she asked her tone clipped with annoyance.

"Do you not have other clothes?" he asked watching her as she took in her own clothing silently before her shoulders shrugged slightly. "I shall purchase some in the next village we come across."

"You don't have to do that." She bushed thickly, forcing him to remember the first purchase he ever made on her behalf, her favourite comb. He realised then that he would have to find it again for her upon their return to the west. "I still have some clothes in my bag from the modern era you know."

"Yes but nothing suitable for this time." He agreed while reinforcing his point.

"Fine!" she relented. 'Pompous dog!' she growled underneath her breath thankful for the fact that hadn't heard it.

Authour's Note: Okay after so much suffering I had to have Kagome go back to some old habits at the end of trying to shrug it off or rather trying to supress the pain of Kage's passing and now we know more about how Kagome and Sesshomaru met. I realised that the other day that I haven't really done any memories from Sesshomaru's point of veiw and so here we go with this chapter which led to most of it being from his point of view and the burdens of his memories and so it's a new way to take this story.

Anyway I wanted to let you know that on April 14th 2010 I'm going in for surgery, it's nothing serious so don't worry about it, it's just something I need to do for me so I'm not sure how long it will be until a new chapter for this story is posted so I'm trying to post as much of Moonlight's Embrace as I can before my sugery date. Okay so here's to more chapter's up soon I hope and a quick and easy recover for more updates later on.

As always tell me what ya think,

Your Lady Fractured Moonlight

I love you guys, your my inspiration to keep this going!