You can read the poems if you want, I have no claim to them but they are great and will help you see what he is doing.
Chapter 30
Takeshi had scoured the countryside looking for her after he had healed and returned to the cave, seeing the message in the dirt. It wasn't until a whole week had passed and he had looked in the barrier to see her resting in the dog's lap under a willow tree. His blood heated, his mark on her had faded greatly making it hard for him to sense her. He would have to get to her somehow before that dog succeeded in purging it from her body. He could feel her body being attacked by those with spiritual powers; it made healing harder when it was blazing through the mark. He had found the scents of those monks and kept them memorized so he could bathe in their blood later. He would have had more time if it wasn't for their interference and almost succeeding in killing his mate.
Looking to the sky he knew the time was almost upon him, enough time has passed, he can now start the next phase. They won't be able to hide under that barrier for long, there is a lot more to just covering the sun and moon from them. They still didn't know how he managed to do it. He chuckled darkly, they will fall prey to his trap. They should have focused more on destroying the eclipse like their ancestors instead of saving the priestess. 'Those fools…,' he grinned.
It was a struggle, he couldn't get her to socialize with anyone and he knew it wasn't that she was upset with them. She was upset with herself, placing the weight of it all on her shoulders and he knew this only because he could read her so easily. He started slowly though, relaxing in his hot spring giving her soft caresses as he scrubbed her hair and back primarily. Peppering her with small kisses making her melt in his hold. When he knew she could sense everyone was busy he would get her outside to their favorite spot where he would read poems and different passages about events in the past. He enjoyed having her with him, he promised to himself that he would protect her but he would enjoy watching her spend time with others. The palace had her back but it was hardly any different than her being gone.
While she slept he would go into his joined room for having company and meet with the other so as not to disturb her or break her trust. This is where they did most of their planning and filled him in. His sons were feeling particularly impatient at her lack of presence. Sango had put InuYasha in his place quickly while he only shared a look with his eldest, ensuring he got the message that no one would disturb her until he could get her to open up. She had spent her first day almost in tears, upset that she was back in the palace, his temper almost got to him but he managed to rein it in for her sake and figure out what was so wrong with her being back.
He kept her mind distracted for the most part and slowly tried to coax her into things. The only reasons why he had not pushed her further being her health had slowly returned to her, minus the mark weighing her down he was glad to see it had begun to fade. Their relationship that had once been budding was now blooming. She let him tend to her needs while she was weak and she gave up feeling shy around him mostly, he had seen her naked several times now but he always remained with his pants on at least.
Kagome couldn't quite wrap her mind around the dog demon she may very well possibly be in love with. He as being quite uncharacteristic in her opinion when it came to a woman like her, one that in most cases was seen as the enemy by now. She had assumed since he had originally lived even further in the past that he would have seen her in a more traditional way than his more modern views. Even in modern times she doubted most men would pursue her if she was essentially the wife of their enemy. She wondered a lot about what she was missing, if she was looking at her situation the wrong way. Certainly she could have asked him by now but part of her was too scared, it just felt too good to be real in her mind, and though she had originally actually asked him in way, they had been interrupted by Takeshi's arrival.
Two years of building pain and mounting failures had her self-worth declining in her eyes. So much pain and destruction has come with her arrival in the feudal era and she wished that she could protect the jewel without being in the vicinity of any living beings, be in limbo or something. In just the couple months of Touga being alive and protecting the jewel with a barrier he has singlehandedly stopped the attacks, something she has never done. She admired him when he was deceased but with him living and seeing his magnificence her crush had budded and bloomed to love. She was no fool, there is others and always will be others that will see what she sees. Some of the most beautiful female demons have come to the palace for safety, each having something to offer that her mortal being could only dream of.
Though she didn't voice it she was mad that they had found her. She had no place here and they shouldn't be keeping her protected behind a barrier from that demon. So many chances but she stayed her hand, afraid she wouldn't be able to protect Rin if it came down to that. Being seduced by him and ultimately deflowered and marked as his. Living a lie and being protected when she is supposed to be the one out there protecting her loved ones. Sesshoumaru had come to the rescue of the village when she failed to protect a single jewel. Her title didn't fit one who could not complete their duties. Any other priestess would have had a barrier protecting everyone but hers were still weak, lower demons have broken them numerous times and the reality of her every failure wore down on her. This place, the people in it, the barrier protecting it, the beasts outside it and the eclipse of the sun and moon only served to remind her how useless she has remained. When she chose to remain behind and fulfill her duties as a priestess to the jewel she had aspired to be great, be the one protecting, be like Kikyo and Midoriko, yet she failed time and time again.
Sango and Miroku's precious son, their precious twin daughters had almost never taken their first breath because of her proximity. They were targeted, the village and so many others it was hard to count how many times she nearly failed or someone else had to step in. Why did she cling to life? Was it because the jewel still existed or because of her own selfish desires and the desire to not die alone. Her failure brought someone back from the dead who had died honorably and should have been granted their rest, not taking up her slack. Instead of feeling flattered that he fought for her and protected her, it was just a testament that she had not really grown as a priestess and now she was once again falling hopelessly in love with her protector and burdening them.
If he asked for something of her she would do it, she would give him her body and everything. Yet the powerful demon has hardly requested a thing, instead turning things more back to how they had been. She kept her distance from the others, she felt like the plague so she stayed away, keeping to his rooms and his company only. He tended to her needs so she never wanted for nothing except to sink into oblivion with the jewel and slowly she formulated a plan, one to bring down Takeshi, herself, and the jewel. The only other need she would have to take care of is controlling her powers and gaining the jewel back. When the timing was right this whole fiasco would be over and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief as the moon and sun are unveiled.
Touga studied Kagome under the pretense of reading scrolls but his senses were mostly focused on the priestess staring out into the darkness. Her thoughts had slowly changed, she was planning something and the feeling of her conviction felt like the night he died protecting Izayoi and InuYasha from Takemaru. He knew he would need to protect her but he didn't think it would be mostly from herself until today. If he didn't turn things around then whatever she was planning might occur and with the torrent of emotions coming off of her beforehand had him regarding her mental state more seriously. Time will reveal hints at what she is planning and he will be watching closely. For now he will step up his game, the mark is weak, her health is good physically. If he can get her to agree to become his mate then he will have the upper hand.
After he finished studying her and scrolls at the same time he stopped her train of thought purposely. Keeping her distracted would work to his advantage and be a breeze. She had yet to outright deny him anything so he would take advantage of it. As dinner was being made he laid on the charm in the garden here and there before revealing poems for them to read, ones that were beautiful with their depictions of love or passion.
Friendship
Not to trust passion of friendship
As the holiest communion
Is to distrust freewill-
Fate makes our parents,
Choice, makes our friend.
Tirelessly benevolent,
Saves self from loneliness
And pal from evil bent
So strong the faith in what's
Good in man, not in his goods
As the test of man's manhood.
Yet to share one soul in two bodies
Is to halve your rights
And double your duties
So unfriendly to doubt
As to be deceived
By what prosperity makes
But adversity tries.
He makes no friend
Who never made a foe.
White Rose
THE red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.
But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips
A Kiss
Of all raw passions, kiss alone
Seals lips but opens hearts
So short its distance
Be it of blood or two souls,
To reverence awareness,
Sweetest though unspoken
Understood by any tongue
Whose affection natural as sigh
Tastes like nothing on earth,
Links to states no man thinks,
Itself raises as a moment
In time's memory,
Love so sublime
Whose sound silent
Yet its echo lasts as truth-
A wish turned Godward.
Normally the poems they read were just beautiful works of art that they would stumble up in the library but with her lack of leaving the rooms he selected these ones specifically to plant seeds in her mind. He wanted her mind to chew over the words and had her read them to him to make sure they stuck in there. Her usual passion was still lacking but her quiet voice still brought life to the words scrolled on the page. Instead of letting her find a new distraction he pretended to be resting under the willow tree and let her mind do the rest of the work while he sat back and studied her with his eyes cracked open watching, nose smelling and aura feeling.
It wasn't until he could smell that dinner had arrived to his room that he brought her attention back to him. He rolled up the scrolls, tucking them away in his sleeve before sweeping her off her feet and taking her back to what he considered to be their rooms. Dinner was a quiet affair as they sat eating until he brought up an unfinished conversation. One she had never received an answer to. "Kagome, you had voiced a question back in the spring right before the attack. Now that we don't have any distractions I plan to answer any you have since you had been interrupted."
Shoulders stiffened, she had decided to avoid bringing that up again. "No, that is alright Touga, I really don't need an answer to it." She scrambled to think of something else for them to talk about; she really no longer wanted to know an answer to anything.
"I insist. It must be important if you voiced it when you had been too quiet to say anything else. My answer cannot be given so simply though." He dabbed his mouth his napkin, they were both done eating at this point so he guided her to his indoor hot spring. "Let us relax while I try to explain a few things." Her guard was up, he knew it but pretended to not notice or care. As usual he kept his hakama on and then helped her with her obi as she fumbled around with it. His hot breath landing on her neck as he seamlessly undid all of the ties and let down her hair from the bun it was in.
This moment he enjoyed and replicated it as often as he could. The increased thumping of her heart, the hitch in her breath, the blush that never failed and most importantly the arousal he could smell from her before they entered the hot steamy waters. The scent of her desire he cherished since once they enter the water it would be covered up and eventually fades from the moist air. He helped her in and with a new decision he stripped himself bare, forgoing the hakamas this time. She had her back turned to him, arms crossed over her chest as she slowly walked around. His hot springs were big with large boulders scattered and plants making it feel more like you are outside. To get to them you had to take a staircase from his room down to below it, there was only one other door to that staircase and it was so the servants can access it for cleaning.
He sank into the deep waters and let his body relax so his erection would stop standing tall and proud. It took a couple minutes but by then Kagome had relaxed as well, a good reason to have this topic broached here. After all, he is now stepping up his game. His arms surrounded and pulled her back flush against his chest. He placed open mouth kisses along her neck before sitting down with her on his lap. He wasn't sure if she has yet noticed that this time was different and if he was careful, it would end much differently as well.
"To answer your question now," his tone husky, he already had a baritone voice that he knew she enjoyed but this one made her wet even though she did stiffen a little. "I had been for the most part in limbo, only experiencing something when my soul would be called forth and very first time had been when you pulled Tessaiga out." Her attention caught he continued on, "I was drawn to you though I was also watching my sons, getting to see InuYasha full grown and unfortunately there lack of care for one another. I had also witnessed that incident with Naraku going after a shard of the jewel. You should remember when I personally came to praise my sons for their hard work but I had watched glimpses of the battles too. Beyond those it had also been times where you were near death or had your soul stolen. I unfortunately could not do anything but watch."
"Something I have wanted to bring to light is that you are only partially Kikyo's reincarnation. No one has ever broached the topic of the soul that was taken from you had never returned when she passed on for the final time. That is because you were born with two souls. Hers was attached to the jewel but would not be enough to protect the jewel and do everything that was needed so yours, which is an old soul, had been so pure that the jewel had fused them together until it was time for Kikyo to reclaim it. This also explains why you were able to live and go about your life. So you see, you are actually the reincarnation of two people though I do not know the other."
Her eyes were wide as she twisted her body in his hold to look at him, she was utterly speechless. "I was only called forth out of my grave to have what my soul desired. See it was always at the ready to spring me to life so I could save you from deaths grasp and protect you there on. There isn't very many ways to call a being back from the dead without doing it artificially such as Kikyo's existence or the Band of Seven. I hadn't known the answers as to why my soul was at the ready to spring into action and rescue you, until I felt the strong pulse and was resurrected by a call to the living world. I could feel the urgency and was guided by it to the shrine, when I had seen you in there I knew at that moment what I was called back to the living for. I would have left the jewel if it had not persisted that I save it too. It is very attached to you, I know not why but it is."
"You my dear are what makes me complete. I come to your rescue because it would kill me if I failed. I have lived for centuries and though I had found others that I cared about, it was not what I was searching for deep down. It may take time for you to fully realize it as well but we are soul mates, you are my other half. Your mine to protect, mine to cherish, mine to adore, and mine to love just as I am yours, so you see, no one else can turn my head now that I have found you. I will always be here for you and that demon will perish for standing in my way and trying to take what has always been mine."