VIII.

Some Rise By Sin, And Some By Virtue Fall

Kagome knew almost immediately that her relief had been premature. All too soon there was a shadow behind her, looming over her. This aura, this heavy presence, was quickly becoming familiar.

"Kinawai-sama."

She stood slowly from where she had been kneeling, hiding behind the trees, and looked up at him, daring him to question her presence. He took her challenge, but not quite in the manner she thought.

"You were listening, Kagome-sama. Or may I call you Kagome?"

He was disarming her again with his smile, his charming tone and generous words.

"Yes, and...and yes. But I didn't mean to overhear, I didn't come out her to - spy, or anything. I was - led out here. It was...very strange, and then I couldn't get back inside. I heard voices -"

Her eyes were suddenly defiant as she went over the conversation she had heard a second time, remembering, sorting through impressions.

"He does not own me!"

Kinawai's rich laugh surprised her, stinging her pride with a flaying as fine as that of a needle-tipped whip.

"He has claimed you, Kagome, claimed you with his own blood and the price of your life. You cannot tell me truly you do not want him; females always want him."

She flushed.

"I - I don't know what I want."

"Oh?"

He stepped closer, and suddenly her back was pressed against a tree.

"I think you are lying to me, Kagome. I can smell your deception, you know, under the scent of that beautiful blood. I think that if Sesshomaru knew how to Chase a human, you would already be his...and happy about it."

Her flush darkened to a deep red blush, but she had focused on a strangeness in his phrasing.

"Chase-?"

"Yes. The day is coming when he will come to you, and reach for you, and you will see both death and love in him. That is how it is written, for us. Will you Run for him?"

She almost smiled; he thought it brave of her.

"Me, run from him? What would be the point?"

He smiled, a thin expression of secret amusement.

"Indeed."

He moved just the smallest bit closer to her, and stared down at her through the fall of his hair, flat and black. For some reason her eyes focused on the shining beads that had been tied into his hair just in front of his ears.

"I will tell you a thing, miko, a thing I see you do not understand. There is gold woven through you; with the Sight I was given, I can see it - and it is youkai power. You are a caged thing, and someday you will know it and writhe in your cage, when the time for the unbarring of the lock and the opening of the door is past. Now, Sesshomaru is standing in front of you, with the key that fits best and …willing hands."

A smirk touched his eyes again, restless with Tiger.

"Ah, but maybe you do not like him? I would be good to you too, Kagome…and I have been wondering, is the taste of you as sweet, as strong as he says?"

Suddenly, she could not remember the taste of Sesshomaru's kiss; Kinawai's lips were soft against her mouth, overwriting the memory, and then, so carefully, a fang, piercing her lip -

There was a white blur, and Kinawai was - gone. She saw blood, heard laughter, a roar -

Sesshomaru.

"She is mine!"

Suddenly Kagome could think again; her eyes darted rapidly around the garden, took in sudden destruction on a massive scale. She did not understand - it had happened so fast! She focused on Sesshomaru; he had Kinawai by the throat; there were flowers were broken and scattered as if by a typhoon, the trees shattered - there was a straining in his features, something she could not quite see. What was it? She had the feeling she had seen it somewhere before -

She closed her eyes, and into her thoughts flashed the image of the Inu, enormous, fangs reaching, dripping with a poison fume, white fur, red eyes - red eyes -

Abruptly Kagome saw the reflection of her own red eyed face on the inside of her eyelids.

She shivered, felt a now-familiar heat uncoiling rapidly in her belly. Her breathing was shallow, her thoughts continuous, repetitive - her eyes snapped open, and she focused on Sesshomaru, saw him consumed with fury.

For me - for me -

Kagome had never known why she was so attractive to the youkai that followed her - she had been told, over and over, that she was the miko, the dangerous one, so attackers should avoid her. They flocked to her instead, and more than that - Inuyasha, Kouga, many who had kidnapped her - Sesshomaru…and now, Kinawai? What did he want? What was he doing?

She did not know that it was the female essence of her that called out to them, not just the rapture of her blood; she woke the maleness in them, their most possessive, desirous nature. Until this moment she had not realized that it was that nature which she found so attractive about them; something inside her screamed with pride to hear those words, Sesshomaru's claim of her, in denial of her words to Kinawai not even five minutes before. Kagome brushed the back of her hand over her lips, and then again, harder. What was it Kinawai had said? A key…and a cage. But it was more than that, really - he had saved her life in a deliberate and profound way, more so than she had known.

His own blood.

What did that mean - really? Why would he do such a thing?

"Sesshomaru - "

It was only a whisper; she couldn't help it.

Sesshomaru turned to look back at her and saw color in her cheeks, her lips red, bitten - bitten, her lips! The scent of her was the thickest thing in the air, and riding thin in it was the scent of her blood. Kagome saw his hand tighten, flexing, and then he was turning towards her, approaching her - she watched him fling Kinawai away, saw, heard an impact that left stone dust raining from the wall, far on the other side of the garden, and then suddenly he was in front of her.

"You belong to me, to me, Kagome. You are mine."

She had never heard his voice like this, harsh, deep - commanding. She could not answer him, couldn't say anything, but her scent answered for her; her body, always leaning in his direction, her eyes, smoky, glowing.

He bent over her and it was not really a kiss - it was too hot, too liquid; there was too much of him in it and she could not keep track of his hands. He held her back against the wall and let his tongue trace the line of her jugular; she couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

How could she have forgotten, even an for an instant? The taste of his kiss was fire and honey; she wanted…nothing else.

Everything else -

His mouth was on her throat, and she felt his teeth dragging over her skin, the tingling, stinging sensation that accompanied them; a whine escaped her, a begging, pleading exhalation. He was growling for her, lapping at her throat, the smooth skin above her breasts that still bore the marks of his teeth.

She was responding exactly the way he wanted her to, but very quickly, Sesshomaru was growing angry at something else.

"Kagome. Kagome!"

She was shaken from the haze his touch had put her in ungently; his hand grasped her left arm, and she watched with a sort of suspended horror as he cut her wrist open with his claws. She could feel the pain, but it was at a distance; he was obviously not killing her, but -

"Bleed for me, Kagome. Bleed for me, and give me back what was taken from me."

He knelt in front of her and opened his haori; the red flow from her wrist began to coat the severed flesh where his arm had been.

"Sesshomaru - sama - "

She swayed, slowly. What was he doing? All her blood, all her blood was leaving, she could feel it, flowing out...a terrible feeling. It was so terrible that she did not notice the light beginning to grow between them, the purple power that slept in her blood. Threads of energy were rising from her blood on his skin, the drops still falling, even from where it had stained the ground; paler threads that went unnoticed were rising from the shikon no tama, responding to the presence of strong youkai energy.

Without warning, a golden radiance burst outwards, spreading through the light of her miko power. Suddenly, Kagome didn't feel dizzy any more. She could see, literally see, the flesh reforming, restoring itself, to Sesshomaru's arm. Little by little, and then more and more rapidly, bone, muscles, skin - all of it, perfectly formed, down to the dark, reddish stripes across his wrists.

"Sesshomaru - Sesshomaru, how - "

The light began to fade, and then disappeared. With an expression of supreme satisfaction, visible only in his eyes, Sesshomaru looked down at his arms, his hands - both hands. He flexed the fingers he had missed for so long, and then carefully cut his palm. The thick blood spilled for only a moment, long enough for him to paint the wound he had opened in Kagome's wrist, and she saw, wide-eyed, her own flesh beginning to do what she had seen so many times, the skin visibly reaching for itself, sealing.

Sesshomaru's eyes widened only a little.

"My blood is still hot in you, Kagome."

Her eyes remained focused on her skin; he saw her fixation and allowed himself to pleased by it. If she wanted that - he was the one who would give it to her. The strength...the power.

"Kagome."

She looked up at him and allowed herself a little smile; even if she didn't know what she had done, or how, she had still helped him, kept her side of their bargain.

"In five hundred years, my own body would have repaired this damage; sooner, maybe, if I were to grow in power. But the wait is no longer necessary, and for that I must thank you."

She tried her question again.

"How - "

"A miko's blood is not only death to us, Kagome. Miko were meant to be keepers of the peace, not murderers; judge, but not always executioner. Many things have been lost to time...but not all. You sped the regeneration of my flesh a thousand, a hundred thousand times. Now - now - "

Just when she had begun to think herself safe, he reached for her, and now there was really no chance for her to escape. He held her against his bare chest and leaned down so they were standing nose to nose.

"I heard you - what you said. Not mine, you said. But if you want to be what you are - if you want the demon in you to be free...then you will be mine. I will take you."

"Sesshomaru - "

"Not now. You will say nothing now. Tonight, you will come down to eat the evening meal with me; tonight, you will tell me what it is you are thinking. Kagome, my Kagome, maybe you do know what you are asking me. Or maybe you are playing games, and you do not know it – but either way, you cannot avoid it now. I will come for you, and then you will belong to me. Already, my blood is in your veins. The time is close, close, and the sleeping beast in your flesh Awakens, never again to be silent."

The words had the sound of ritual; his mouth hovered over her lips for a moment, and she waited for the crashing of his passion, the incredible rush of heat.

He pulled away, and she saw that he was smiling - that he knew exactly what her thoughts had been.

While Kagome was dressing for dinner, there was a knock on her door, and then a small head peeked in around through a crack.

"Kagome-sama, I was sent to bring you down to eat. Are you ready?"

"I think so, Rin."

From the open door behind them came a sharp tone, almost a note, closer to a chime. Rin took two steps forward, and then turned back to look at Kagome.

"We should go now, then, Kagome-sama. Follow me!"

Sesshomaru was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at them. His gaze was intense, his features still, but Kagome sensed great movements just beneath the surface, just beyond her reach.

Breaking the stillness without warning, Kinawai's voice came suddenly from the open door across the hall from the stairs and they turned to him, both together, both with the same expression. Sesshomaru nearly let the snarl in his throat fall past his lips, but he looked instead at Kagome and a sudden wild, barely leashed feeling of tenderness left him teetering at the edge of madness.

"Come, come, you must have heard the chime, Sesshomaru. Kagome, will you also sit with us tonight?"

The more he spoke, the more the hungry tension faded out of the air, until Kagome could reach down and take Sesshomaru's hand, pulling him away from the stairs, across to the door, over the threshold, avoiding his stare.

"Yes. That was why I came down, Sesshomaru. Are - are you coming?"

She had begun to refer to him with a level of familiarity that had once infuriated him; now it was warmth. Suddenly pliant, he followed her, his eyes on her hand, in his hand, and Kinawai stepped into line behind them, hovering at the edge of a smile, bright-eyed with pent laughter. They sat, and ate together, and Kinawai watched the red lining of Kagome's cheeks when Sesshomaru looked at her, the wicked corners of smile that Sesshomaru could not keep off his face, the tightness of his hands on knife and glass.

Sesshomaru felt only two things moving inside him – the desire for Kagome, the burning sensation of her eyes on him and the scent of her blood - and rage, touching on Kinawai. He wanted blood, to stretch his claws and feel them deep in red flesh. He had not forgiven his friend for the earlier transgression, that stolen kiss.

"Kinawai. Enough of this. Come now."

Kinawai looked up – he saw what Sesshomaru wanted in the more-than-tenseness of him, the fierce, quick movements.

"Now, Sesshomaru? You know it is not good to fight on a full stomach."

There was humor in his tone that Sesshomaru did not return; the last days every word out of Kinawai's mouth had been mocking. He allowed a dangerous smile to move his lips, his fingers moving sharply, beckoning, stubborn.

"No excuses, Cat. I will be waiting for you."

He darted around the doorway, down the hall, and Kagome exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Rin. Kinawai sighed very quietly, and tossed back the last of his wine, and stood.

"If you will excuse me, girl, Kagome. Sesshomaru….needs me."

He moved as quickly as Sesshomaru had, down the long hallway towards the many practice rooms, the halls of weapons. Left behind, Kagome followed with her eyes, fighting a strange urge to follow; strange, because bloody combat was indicated, and that was not something she would usually...enjoy. Beside her, Rin smiled with private pleasure.

"It is not often that someone comes who will agree to fight with Sesshomaru-sama – he must be very happy."

"Happy?"

Kagome was startled for only a moment, and then gave in to her compulsion.

"I am going to watch."

She had no doubt of Sesshomaru's strength, had seen the fluidity of his skill in combat test Inuyasha beyond his ability to defend; he had once been her only real fear, the thought that milked her tension and spiced the ends of her nerves. In his violence, in his carnivore cruelty, was his essence, the essence he said she shared, the essence he would awaken…when it was time.

She wanted to see this thing with her own eyes, breathe it, taste it. Then, maybe she could embrace it, release it – she had to stop, and steady herself against the wall, and breathe deeply. She looked up, and the wide, dark window across the hall from her reflected her own red eyes, and she laughed. Her feet gathered quickness; she ran the rest of the way, following the path sound told her they had taken.

Kagome had not noticed Rin come out behind her, watching with a strange, sad expression this unruly confirmation of the things she had overheard.

"So, it is true? Kagome-sama is youkai? I think...that is not fair."

There was sympathy for her, from the emptiness of the stirring air, and she sighed a very tiny sigh, and trotted down the hall in the other direction, looking back over her shoulder.

"Something is going to happen. Something…"

A/N: As promised, chapter 8! Next chapter: lemon! If there are reviews, sorry, I haven't seen them and it's quarter of 7 so I should sleep...but Please do Review! See how much faster it makes the chapters come? :D Oh, and the title of this chapter is from random Shakespeare!

Yay! Final Revisions, also complete! I'm on a roll today...R&R, pleasy please!