"Toga-sama?"

He looked to the screen door of his study, finding the miko; the miko and his son, for Sesshomaru rested quietly on her hip.

"Yes, Kagome?"

She slipped quietly into the room, sliding the screen closed behind her. He noted her deep breath, a small tugging at the corners of his mouth at the fact that he was probably not supposed to hear that. Once she considered herself collected, she approached his desk.She stopped in front of it, running her hands over the polished wood, and he waited patiently for her to speak. Well…almost patiently.

"Kagome-"

"I heard that Junichi had fined you…had fined me…for assaulting him."

She bit her lip as she locked eyes with him, and, being so much of what she called an "open book"- a phrase that he had been unfamiliar with and required further explanation-, he could clearly see the fear that swam in his gaze.

"He did."

He did not miss her sigh of defeat.

Kagome mentally kicked herself over her stupidity. At the time, the time being hearing that that…no good bully of a man had harmed her son, she had been seeing red. Confronting him was the only option! But she certainly hadn't been thinking about any repercussions. She sighed, looking to the silver-haired baby who rested his head on her shoulder, her thoughts immediately shifting to his father.

She and Toga had developed somewhat of a friendly relationship, if one could even go that far. He was the Lord of the Western Lands. She was only a nanny. But the conversations they had…Kagome hid her small smile in Sesshomaru's hair at the thought. She supposed he only talked to her because she was the only other being in the shiro with any formal education. Kagome shook off that thought; his advisor was certainly educated, so, correcting herself, that just made her the only person in the shiro with an education that rivaled his.

Heat rose to her cheeks as she remembered the first time they had actually spoken:

Sesshomaru's sleeping pattern had been exceptionally erratic that day, and whatever time he spent awake he was in an extremely fussy mood. Mai had said he was just being clingy; getting upset because Kagome wasn't with him all of the time. In other words, Sesshomaru was experiencing separation anxiety- which had ended up being the truth. Kagome knew that in human children, this didn't start until around month six, and she articulated this to Mai in so many words. Mai was quick to reassure her again, though, telling her that this was perfectly normal; inu youkai pups develop twice as fast as human babies.

As he slept, she snuck away to the library hoping for at least an hour of peace. There she encountered the western lord, in all his insanely preoccupied glory. But, being empathetic by nature, she found herself asking him what had him in such a state of worry and frustration. Originally, he had blown off her question, but by some change of heart he ended up revealing his unrest with the proposals for trade from other territories, specifically those of the north.

She didn't contribute much; she expressed her agreement on his apprehension, and told him to proceed in whatever way he though would benefit his own kingdom first. He seemed surprised that she could even keep up at all, but yet she remained an open ear for an educated opinion. Sesshomaru's nap had them talking for nearly two hours without notice, Maoshi having to come and retrieve Kagome because the young prince had awakened for his evening meal.
And that was two weeks ago! Since then, they had talked several times, becoming more comfortable with the other with every conversation.

'Gah!'

Kagome broke her own train of thought swiftly.

'What's the use of reminiscing!'

She spied the fine itself written neatly on a piece of parchment near the corner of his desk.

'I'm not getting paid here, so I'll never pay that off…'

She spied the western lord, who had also cut his eyes to the document.

'…He'll just go back to hating me and-'

"Junichi was contacted this morning. I sent a man to tell him he would be receiving no such payment."

Kagome knew her mouth was gaping by the smirk that appeared on his face.
"I sent another man to tell him he would be arrested for soliciting the shiro again."
He continued, pulling a laugh from her.

"Was that truly necessary?"

She questioned, finding no real truth in her own words, the thought of all the embarrassment Junichi must have felt as the messengers barged into whatever town he had taken refuge in, successfully earning him the attention of everyone, only to tell him less than good news absolutely making her day! She laughed this time.

Toga felt his breath catch in his throat at the sound, an almost overwhelming warmth spreading through him suddenly. He shook off the unknown and unwelcome feeling for now.

"Why did you do it", Kagome asked finally; she had been browsing the shelves of his study for more reading material- he smirked, remembering how quickly she was tearing through his library.

"What Junichi did was…unforgivable. Unfortunately, he is much too narrow-minded to even have the sense beat into him,"

He noticed her blush at that one, before she buried her face in the top of Sesshomaru's head once more to hide her pink-tinted cheeks.

"I…"

Toga stopped, his speech faltering at the sight of her. Dammit, what was wrong with him?

"You saved my son…it was the least I could do. I will forever remain in debt to you."

Kagome almost snorted for his point was obviously debatable; he had given her and her son a home with three meals a day and was providing her son with an education in his youkai gifts that he otherwise would not have gotten. She chose to keep quiet about it though, savoring the closest thing she had ever gotten, and was probably going to get, of a 'thank you'.

"You are a very sweet man, Toga."

She was gone before he could reply.

XXXXX

Kagome lay awake, the untamable thoughts of the day swarming around in her head. The sun had set long ago, and she hadn't had dinner either; she simply returned to her room after settling Sesshomaru and checking on Shippo one last time. She regretted not going to tuck him in after he came back for dinner, but Shippo- like all other inus it seemed- was very curious about everything. And almost as if not all of his fox-like nature had disappeared, Shippo was a very persuasive child. And she was just horrible at keeping secrets! Kagome knew that he would have somehow come to the root of her ever busy thoughts, finding none other than his current idol.
She groaned, pulling a pillow over her head, trying to get her thoughts off of the inu lord. She squeezed the pillow down harder around her ears, for she could hear his voice in her head…the same, silky baritone she had been hearing for weeks now reverberating on the walls of her skull, whispering words she was certain she had never heard from him, or any other man, until-
Kagome sat up quickly, throwing the pillow away from her person as if it had burned her; what a coincidence that her skin felt red hot. She sighed, running her hand through her thick tresses.

'Well, there's no denying the sexual attraction…'

She thought, and right she was. Of course, Toga did have a lot going for him; he was tall and muscular, but not with the type of muscles you saw on bulky men,

'Men that are usually over-compensating for lacking quality elsewhere.'

Kagome noted, he was lean. Every muscle and joint and nerve came together perfectly, creating a form that could not be described in any other way but his name alone. And then, there was still his face, and he was certainly not lacking in that field either; his eyes were endless, melting pools of gold, perfectly symmetrical, and rimmed with the long eyelashes she found on most boys and men. His nose sat just as perfectly between his eyes, not one flaw to it either, and the lips that lay below were perhaps the most-

"Ugh!"

She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
She would stay for Sesshomaru's sake, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Fate was screwing with her again, tempting her with something she couldn't have.

XXXXX

He admitted to himself that he was probably at fault for this; he hardly spent time with his son as it were.

"Sesshomaru."

He whispered to his young son, who had been squirming relentlessly since being put into his father's arms. Granted he had calmed significantly since having been in the arms of the old maid, Mai, but he was still obviously unhappy.

He had even called for his mother.

."Mother".

His son whimpered again in the inu tongue, more tears rolling down his chubby, striped cheeks. Toga ran his fingers through his son's downy soft hair, not able to do much else for the boy's discomfort while he was in such a state of shock. He wasn't completely sure of Sesshomaru and Hatsu's relationship, because- ever regrettably- he was not as involved in his child's life as he should be, but of what few moments of interaction between the two, he couldn't imagine how his son could have ever bonded with her. She had hated the pup since before he was born because of the burden he was on her social schedule, and afterwards he was born, all she had done was complain. Feeding him was the most taxing of chores, holding him if he cried was a bore and a bother, getting her to hold or watch him at all had been a chore! Toga simply couldn't wrap his head around his son still-

"I'll go retrieve Lady Kagome."

How the quiet old woman's voice had even made it into his mind was a wonder, but once it was there, it stopped all his rushing thughts cold.

Kagome…? His son had been referring to the miko.

This little thought alone must have processed very slowly, for when he came back to himself once more, his son was being lifted from his arms. His arms dropped to his sides.

XXXXX

Was he sad?

Definitely not.

He didn't understand the attachment either. He had grown almost always apat from his parents though, the faces of his mother's maids popping up in his mind where his mother's should be. His father was the only figure in his life that had remained constant, and Toga supposed that was the reason he had bonded with his father so. But Sesshomaru was much different than he…
He sighed, continuing to work at the documents that sat in front of him, only half reading the same paragraph of script over and over. He couldn't stop thinking of the way Sesshomaru had calmed almost instantly after she took him into her arms, cooing sweet nothings that both he and she knew the boy couldn't understand, but the sound of her soft voice soothed him all the same. She had come in with a purpose, noting his presence, and actually telling him what the issue was. Sesshomaru was cutting his first teeth…apparently he had been all day.

After that, she moved to another part of the vast nursery, a part more under the cover of shadows, before everything went quiet. Almost everything, for you could still hear the raindrops on the roof, but he had tuned those out long ago; it had been raining all day anyway. Kagome had found a chair as he still stood stock still, his gaze still pointed in her direction. And then a rustle of fabric was followed by a new sound: the constant swallows of his son. The realization of what was occurring had him averting his eyes, even though his vantage point revealed nothing. Toga sighed, trying to find his place again in the proposal that sat before him, but again his mind had other plans for him. It instead chose to rely his emotions in that moment. Sure, he had been embarrassed when it happened, a little caught off guard, but what stood out the most to him from the memory, was the fact that he almost felt as if he didn't…belong there. He had picked up on the "event" rather inadvertently…literally completely by accident, something inside of him had been urging in him to leave. He felt as if he had been intruding on something private. The miko had obviously had it all under control by this point, he noticed, as his son's fluctuating aura calmed steadily, this thought contributing more to his original about being anywhere but there in that moment.

But, something else nagged at the back of his mind:

He hadn't belonged there at the time,

But he wanted to…

If only Hatsu was more like her, he found himself thinking; a warm loving woman to their child like Kagome is to his son. His attachment to her was understandable at this point, as is her own son's. They loved her for loving them, and her affection had never been a question.

His lips twitched at the thought of a miko loving yokai children. So beautiful, the thoughts of how easily she handled his son, and the smile of approval and pride she would send her own when he accomplished something or another...his hand froze.

More things rushed to the forefront of his mind: Toga remembered how Hatsu was pregnant with Sesshomaru, and the memories changed without him noticing to having Hatsu's sour face and complaining to another woman's. Her expressions were soft and loving as a silver-haired boy bounced around her pressing his face to her baby bump. A smile decorated her soft face rightfully, her tan, sun-freckle dusted cheeks glowing- along with the rest of her- with her progressive pregnancy. She laughed lightly as the little boy pressed his face into her growing tummy, and he was also a giggling mess every time he felt his face and hands being nudged.
The woman's face turned fully to him and her sapphire eyes closed and her smile widened raising a hand to beckon him closer to the warmth of the picture she and the boy created. As he raised his hand to accept her's, his mind jostled and his hand that was previously writing the infernal paperwork was reaching out in front of him to nothing . His shock was almost his undoing as he realized that the woman's face in his dreams was Kagome and her son Shippo. He dropped his pen ran his hand over his face in frustration.

He had been daydreaming of the little miko Kagome filled with Sesshomaru instead of Hatsu, something that had never crossed his mind before. He appreciated what she had done for he and his son, and he enjoyed having conversation with her, but for his subconscious to form such a ludicrous suggestion...it baffled him. And he knew from being educated on the matter and through direct experience; getting a female pregnant would require-

Toga slammed away from his desk and stood quickly, the train of his thoughts giving rise to his inner beast's arousal.

"Toga-sama?"

His head snapped up at the sound of her voice.

How could he have forgotten she was here?

"Toga,"

She whispered, walking over to him, dropping the honorific. Whether she had meant to do it, or she had just forgotten, the personal implications of his name without the added honorific had his beast‒ who was creeping farther toward the surface‒ purring, his vision going red.

"Are you alright?"

Kagome hadn't really talked to him in two days. Granted, he hadn't been avoiding her, they just hadn't been talking…since that night in the nursery.

"Toga, if I upset you a few nights ago when I-"

Whatever thoughts she had in her head dissolved immediately at the feel of his lips on hers. She hadn't even seen him cross the distance between them.

A/N: And that's it. Not a real cliffhanger (cause I didn't want to die today). I'm sorry this has taken so long though. As I'm sure you've noticed, I'm really bad at deadlines. I'm a student first, so the next chapter will get here when it gets here. Really super special thanks to Wicken25 and ThePandaHat. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! I really appreciate what you did to help me, and for other people that contributed, (Ken, kate, Mizuki, etc.) I haven't forgotten about your suggestions and they will probably be used in the future. Please keep reviewing and giving me your suggestions though! I really love them!