Sesshomaru was losing his patience.

He had been told his associates arrived an hour ago, and that Kagome was informed of his wish to meet with her. But she had yet to come anywhere near his office. She was trying his nerves, and he would not have it. Sesshomaru prepared himself to stand and command the nearest servant to find her.

The door opened before he could move, and he detected the familiar scent of a certain miko, no longer in heat.

Kagome poked her head in, smiling sheepishly. "I apologize, Sesshomaru, for taking this long. I got caught up in something, and forgot that I was told to meet with you." She closed the door, sitting politely across from him at the desk. It was covered in land treaties, crop yield information, and letters from other lords about the recent lack of animals for hunting. Everything he had missed while he was gone.

Sesshomaru might have liked to be here more often to deal with these things, but his initial hunting of the hanyou, and the current hunting of the spider youkai, kept him away. It was only during intermissions of several days at a time that he could go over any papers.

But for now, he had to deal with the miko. She looked around his office, at the piles of papers and the traditionally painted artwork left on the walls by his father. Sesshomaru would have disposed of them if the Lord of the North hadn't insisted on keeping them there. Apparently his father had put them up specifically for the northern ruler to look at, and so Sesshomaru left them alone. Kagome peered at the paintings for a few moments, before turning to face him.

"What is it you wanted to speak about?" she asked, brushing her hair back. Her bangs moved, showing the mark of his family emblazoned on her forehead. Sesshomaru hated to see the reminder of his bind with the girl.

Sesshomaru shuffled some papers. "I am telling you now, before you bother me, which I am sure you would at some point, that my stays at the castle are brief and busy. Therefore, you must stay away from me, and any questions can be directed to Jaken or one of my other advisers. Understood?" He looked up, expecting her to be ruffled with anger about his assumption that he could shove her aside. The angrier she got with his attitude, the sooner she would leave and he could live in peace.

She wasn't angry. Or rather, she was, but she controlled it. Her eyebrows raised with surprise, knitted together with annoyance, but returned to normal as she calmed herself. "You know," Kagome said, "when I first came to the castle, I was going to tell you that I didn't want to stay around you anymore, because you don't have the right to take me away from my friends just because you want to protect your family honor." She straightened herself. "But someone else made me realize that I've been selfish about the situation."

For a few seconds, Sesshomaru thought he might be getting what he hoped, and that Kagome would leave because she missed her friends and disliked being around him. His family honor would recover if she left, and, in his mind, having her around could only become more tiresome. However, her last words foiled that hope.

"Because," she continued, "we were stuck together by the Hana, I thought I had a right to be mad. I had to stay with you so you could watch me, because abandoning a Mating Dance would smudge your reputation. And I felt obligated to obey. The Hana was obviously something I shouldn't doubt, as a force of the gods and fate itself. But the fact that I hadn't chosen any of this annoyed me, especially because you were the last person I expected to end up with. No offense," she added hastily.

Sesshomaru was hardly fazed. He nodded slightly for her to continue.

"And," she said, "an old friend of mine, someone I happened upon on the way here, told me that I should stick up for myself, even if fate has given me an unpleasant situation. He told me that if I wanted to stay with my friends, I should tell you that."

The inu youkai was growing impatient. Her words seemed to have no point.

"But after I arrived, ready to tell you what my friend said I should, I met someone, and she helped open my eyes." Kagome took a deep breath. "You may hate me. You might even kill me if I do something to offend you. But this, this thing," she said, gesturing to her mark, "is something that was given to us. Not only would our mating be good for the world, but we're supposed to be compatible. We're supposed to make each other happy. It's a blessing. I never saw that before." Her eyes clouded with guilt. "I was being selfish about this. I apologize."

His anger at this moment could not be rivaled.

Sesshomaru wanted to smash his desk in half. She wasn't fed up with him, she didn't want to leave and reunite with her friends, she wanted to stay. Because she felt this mating was a gift.

And her attitude about this is much better than yours! The inner youkai growled at him. She even tried to leave for her friends, but stopped herself when she realized how special your situation is. Get that? She is more willing to stay with the king of all jerks than go back to those she cares about because she wants to give this unique opportunity a chance.

And I'm supposed to sympathize with that? I would rather she leave and stop harassing me.

Then tell her that. Right now. I dare you.

He would have done just that. On all the power stored within his ten claws, he would have ordered her that moment to take her kit, leave, and never come back, because obviously his mating to a former human wasn't important, no matter what the Hana no Shukumei said.

But he couldn't. Sesshomaru opened his mouth, but the words froze on his tongue. Damn it, he thought, are you doing this to me?

His inner youkai was unamused. Me? Please. I don't have any power over your physical body, and you know it.

Sesshomaru tried to say the words again, but nothing came out. Kagome wondered why he was being silent for so long, and why his lips kept parting when he wasn't talking to her.

The inu might have looked like a goldfish flapping its mouth, were he not elegant and handsome. It didn't matter how hard he focused on rejecting Kagome and sending her packing, the words continued to stick in his throat. Sesshomaru had never experienced anything like it, and was quickly growing frustrated.

"Are you all right?" Kagome leaned closer. "You're not sick, are you?"

"Inu youkai do not get sick," he growled. "Stay away from me. I think it would be better for everyone if you would-"

Once again, the words would not come. Sesshomaru wanted to pound the table, but that would be incredibly childish and ungentlemanly. He would not resort to random acts of anger simply because, for some reason, he could not tell the miko to leave.

"Huh?" Kagome's brow knit together. "Sesshomaru, what's the matter? Are you mad at me?" It bothered her that his only response to her apology was to either sit silently or stop himself mid sentence. "You don't like the idea of this being a good thing," she said, sighing. "I should leave." She stood, heading for the door. Sesshomaru didn't stop her, glad not to have to talk anymore.

Kagome turned, frowning. "I thought we could try, Sesshomaru. Neither of us like each other, but this is supposed to make us happy, and I wondered if maybe this could work. I wanted to try. But I guess that's asking too much." More tired than anything else, Kagome opened the door, gave Sesshomaru one last look, and left.

He should have been glad that she was out of his hair. But instead of that, Sesshomaru had a strange feeling that he hadn't experienced since he first met Rin, when the child had left him sitting in the clearing, only to come back later with food. The feeling that she might never return.

()

Perhaps she should have told him off. She could have told him that he was a tyrant to make her stay away from her friends, and that she was going back to them, no matter what he said.

And she didn't. It wasn't just what Koneko had said, though she was grateful for her opinion. She had wanted to apologize and let Sesshomaru know that this wasn't something to be ignored or looked down upon. But the words about trying, trying to make it work and trying to not despise each other, were not something she had planned to say. They came out of nowhere, and yet, Kagome felt they were the truth. She didn't want to hate Sesshomaru, if she could help it.

He doesn't respect you.

Kagome halted. It was that voice again. What was it called? Right, her inner youkai. The idea of a voice in her head disturbed her.

Be nice, the voice said, clearly insulted. I'm here to help you gain some perspective.

Thanks, but right now I'm a little peeved that Sesshomaru is making no effort whatsoever towards this. I'm still not thrilled about the mating, but at least I want to try and make it work.

He wants to try too, it said. You haven't noticed the signs. He listens to you much more than he listens to anyone else he interacts with.

Kagome scoffed at that. He listens to me more than Jaken, which is hardly anything. He wouldn't even answer me when I apologized back there. And he didn't want the apology to begin with.

Stop being so cynical. Did it ever occur to you that he couldn't think of a rebuttal, he was so surprised that you apologized?

It hadn't. Kagome continued walking to her room while she thought about it. It wasn't like Sesshomaru to be surprised by anything, let alone show it. But there wasn't much else to explain why he kept looking like he would say something yet continued to be silent. She opened the door to her room, thumping onto the bed.

Even if Sesshomaru was too surprised by my apology to say anything, that doesn't mean he wants to try for this, too, she thought. I know Koneko was right about not letting a unique chance like this go to waste, but I wouldn't even know where to start with appealing to him. I don't know what he likes, and he certainly won't want to talk about it and tell me.

He likes power.

Kagome sat up. Power?

The voice sounded pleased. Yes, power. He respects those that are strong, and understands those that want to gain power. Maybe you can ask him to show you how to handle your new youkai abilities. You need help learning about them anyway.

She thought about it for a moment. That would probably be the only situation where Sesshomaru would talk to her, and she would be able to control her youkai powers better. If she was lucky, maybe she could get to know Sesshomaru and find something about him that she liked. If she was luckier, he might see something in her that he respected, if not liked.

"Lady Kagome?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts, looking to the door. That was Koneko's voice.

"Yes?" she answered, glad for a distraction.

"There is someone here to see you," Koneko said from behind the door. "He said he came a few days ago and was told to come back later because you weren't here." A pause. "His name is Hatori, and he is anxious about seeing you."

Kagome stood, opening the door. Koneko jumped, but smoothed out a moment later. Kagome smiled at her before looking for the guest. "Is he here?"

"I'm afraid I am shorter than you expected, Lady Kagome."

She looked down, and saw someone almost as adorable as Shippo. He was a little shorter than the fox kit, with green hair tied into a low ponytail, and red eyes that would have been scary if his smile were not so charming. The feline ears on his head twitched.

"Another neko youkai," Kagome said, kneeling to meet his eye. "It's nice to meet you, Hatori."

Hatori thrust his hand out, and Kagome shook it gingerly. "I am glad to meet you as well," he said, "but I must say, I am not a neko youkai. I am a neko hanyou."

She paused, and took in his scent. He was right, it smelled a little like Koneko, but also a bit like Rin. Human and youkai mixed together. "Well," she said, standing, "is there something I can help you with?"

At this, he hesitated. "I . . . well, my mother told me to come to you. That she had seen you traveling and that you did good deeds. She said that just before she . . . before she died." Hatori choked on the last word, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Maternal instinct kicked in, and Kagome knelt to hold him against her. "You poor child," she cooed. "I'm so sorry."

"Mother said you would help me find a new place to live," Hatori muttered, clutching her shirt. "I was so happy when the guards let me in to see you. They said Lord Sesshomaru told them to allow me inside."

Kagome stopped hugging him tightly, pulling away to look at his face. "Sesshomaru?" She frowned. "He allowed you in?"

Hatori wiped his eyes on his sleeves. "Yes. I came here a few days ago, when you were absent. He told me not to come back until you were here because he didn't want to be bothered. So I watched the castle and waited. When I saw you come in with the dragon and those kids, I was really happy. And it made me even happier when the guards let me inside. When I asked, they said Sesshomaru ordered them to, so they wouldn't have to call him if I arrived here again."

Oh. Kagome had hoped Sesshomaru wasn't being selfish for a change. Rather, he'd given the order because he didn't want to be pestered with it again. It made sense that he had a selfish reason for almost anything.

Hey, the inner youkai said, starling her, you have to think better of him, or you'll end up hating him for the rest of your life.

Ignoring the voice, she faced Hatori again. "Okay," she said, "come in here, and tell me all about your problem." She picked the small boy up and set him on the bed, smiling gently. "I'd be more than happy to help."

Hatori nodded, wiping the watering eyes again. "Thank you, Lady Kagome."

()

Hi, everyone. This chapter is a little late, because I was busy this weekend. But I hope you guys liked it, and thanks for reading! No time to chat right now, so please review and tell me what you think, and I hope to see you next time. Ja ne!