Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters. They are the sole property of Takahashi Rumiko

-To Sip of Black Velvet-

Chapter 22: The Blame lies with Fate

AN: Another long chapter =). Remember anything in "… " is said. Anything in '… ' is thought (italicized or not, doesn't matter... italics are basically used for aesthetic appeal.) Warning: Do not read if you are uncomfortable with sexually explicit content. Lemon.

Thanks so much for betaing, giving me advice, and everything else White Luna!

I eyed the black haired man being pinned to the wall. His face was towards me, but the figure holding him there was faced away. My overexerted mind momentarily decided to overlook the snarling figure drawing the man up higher against the wall and focus on my assailant. 'No red eyes, not even a demon...' He wasn't Naraku. I sighed heavily, somewhat in relief but mostly upset that my inevitable wait was not over. This man was just some creep outside of a bar. He still could have hurt me, robbed me, or anything else but I was already too tired, too strained to care… he didn't matter.

"Just let him go." I whispered out brokenly.

A few moments passed but the figure before me reluctantly did as I asked, easing his relentless grip, his pale strong clawed hand unlatched from around the man's neck. The man fell and stumbled off. I listened to my assailant's hurried steps fade with distance as he faded into the night leaving me and the figure alone.

He had still not turned towards me, only continued to face the wall that he'd held the other man against, who he saved me from. And I stared at the sight offered to me, taking in his stature, his lean build… the soaked silver tresses flowing down his back. The first conclusion I came to was that this was not Inuyasha and I sucked in a cautious breath, savoring with the air the rain water from my lips. It tasted of impossibilities and so I did not believe that he was actually who he seemed to be, who I wanted him to be. I could not believe that.

The patter of the downpour hitting the concrete filled the silence as we both stood there unmoving.

There was a flash of lightning, a crash of thunder, coming together to break the solemnity, to create a storm. He used the moment to break our solemnity as well.

"My word… I did not break it." His deep velvety voice started, crawling up my spine and fastening around my heart. "I did not mean to come to you… I come here… often."

It was him. He was here. And I could not let my mind speak his name yet but a few things quickly made sense.

Her knowing smiles, gentle advice, words spoken of a regular…his drink. He was coming to the bar for the same reason as I, had been coming here often. 'How often?' I wondered. 'Did he need it too?' 'Was he lost too?' 'Had he realized that the drinks only relieved the grief, always masking but never fixing it, like smoothing makeup over jagged scars?'

Still I continued to say nothing.

He shifted slightly, slowly, turning to look at me. So he wasn't just the strong one physically. I could have never faced myself facing him, had the tables been turned. His golden eyes shimmered in the light of a nearby street lamp, his pale flawless skin standing out in the dark, and his magenta stripes still slashing elegantly over his cheekbones. My hand sought to push back wet bangs from an alabaster forehead to reassure my terrified psyche that the crescent moon there was still as perfect as I remembered it to be, as it is in my dreams. But instead I was caught in confusion. There, it was something different. His face was not so stoic, so cold. No, it was still cold, relentless even but the depths brought forth in his eyes were anything but. I could see the emotions, the longing ragging clearly in the amber voids that were now voidless, filled, warm. He was transparent, open, unlocked for me. 'Had I somehow gotten better at reading him, his expressions, since it was his face that ruled my thoughts?' 'Was he simply showing me or was he as broken down as I was that he no longer had the energy to hide them?'

"Kagome…"

"No… stop." The words came out rushed before I even had any control over my own mouth. I loved his voice. I loved the warm tenor that heated me from the inside out, the voice that was seldom ever used in excess. It was wrong to silence him, a sin, but I knew that if we spoke right now we'd ruin it. I had not come here for him and he had not come here for me and that meant that it would not be our faults… whatever happened next. It would be fate's, and I couldn't let us talk and somehow catch the blame for something we never meant to throw. Fate had been cruel to me, to us, but maybe still… it was not always so bad after all.

I dropped my gaze from his and finished unlocking my car. When I got in and unlocked the passenger side door, I did not even have to say anything for him to get in. We didn't talk. I listened to the windshield wipers as they screeched across the glass, blurring it, smearing it like I wished to smear my lipstick over his jaw. My heart felt impossibly light, and since my weighed down bangs partially obscured my vision, I drove us to where my heart told me to go. My mind was too cloudy to listen to at the moment.

The Neru. I pulled to a stop just outside and stared at the building. We had not returned to this hotel after the night that I first gave myself to him. It looked just as spectacular as it did that night so long ago with the rain coming down in a mimicking repeat of times past. I was just not pondering Sesshoumaru's reasons for bringing me here this time. I'd brought us here. Fate had brought us here. We needed to be here, together.

And so we would be, at least… just this once.

…O…

Sesshoumaru let her lead him though he was a being that could not be led.

They had barely spoken, as she wanted, and their eyes had not met once from the time she'd driven from Anraku to The Neru.

As the elevator rose, each floor giving way to the next, each blink of light flashing over ascending numbers, his keys grew heavier. When the familiar penthouse suite finally opened up for them, he could all but watch as she slowly brushed by him. It was tantalizing just watching her move. She was more beautiful than he could have even remembered, her sweet scent overwhelming his senses as she sauntered inside. It dawned on him that perhaps she was more powerful than he. Just her scent could almost bring him to his knees and he arched a brow at the thought but ultimately couldn't find it in himself to care if she was or not. Stepping inside, he locked the door behind them and noticed that it had been far too easy to do so, to shut them in for whatever would transpire, as if it were not just them orchestrating the events. When she shrugged off her light jacket, he took off his also.

Had he not just been reminiscing on the time that they'd had here? Reminiscing on the frantic overwhelming passion that had all but consumed him, becoming his existence since he'd first given into the lure of her soul calling out to his? It was here that their ardor had begun and she was right there, standing there again. Kagome, who was all that he'd been craving, all that he'd been able to think about since she'd begged him to stay out of her life.

She was standing just within his reach and he was aching to touch her, his beast snarling at him to do much more, urging him. Every muscle in his body tensed, shaking in an effort to keep from laying a hand upon her skin before he knew how he'd be received.

Lightning flashed outside of the large encompassing windows of the suite, illuminating her and he realized at once that dark was still permeating the room. It didn't really bother him, he was a demon and could see perfectly well. But she was human and although her eyes had probably adjusted, he still sought to lessen one of the limitations of her humanity since he could not yet take her as his to rid her of the one he truly wanted to, her short life. He slowly coaxed his tense arm to reach for the light switch.

A touch, a slightly damp delicate human hand rose to fall lightly atop his strong deadly one, and it halted his action.

"No lights." Kagome's voice echoed softly up to him, her sparkling azure eyes meeting his fiery gold ones and after a few seconds he dropped his hand in silent resignation.

Moments passed and she didn't say anything, didn't clarify, only kept gazing at him and when her soft voice finally sounded, she spoke words that he'd been expecting to hear… though he hoped he wouldn't.

"Nothing has changed..."

She whispered, and that was true and it wasn't, was right and was wrong. Just being where they were meant something had.

"We still can't be together."

She added quietly though with unfaltering conviction and it was too broad of a statement, left too open, the words not clear enough. Did she mean now, or later, or never? Sesshoumaru wondered, but instead of saying that he said…

"I know."

And he did know. He knew that he was still married and that she would never give herself fully to him as she had before because of it, would not allow herself to get too attached, too close. He knew that if he had not happened upon her this night none of this would be happening.

But still that did not stop her from taking his clawed hand in hers, did not stop her from tugging on him to follow, did not stop him from gazing at her covetously as she led him into the bedroom. She could have led him into oblivion as long as she continued to touch him, heated skin on heated skin. Her cerulean orbs kept flickering back to his, burning into him, speaking the words that her mouth had not said.

Did she know he could hear them?

'Nothing has changed… but that doesn't matter.'

'We still can't be together… but I need you.'

'Be mine again… just this once… just now… it's enough…'

He closed his eyes briefly, thinking, understanding and then he answered her with his own silence.

'No, it will never be enough…'

But still he followed.

…O…

Our clothes were soaked, sticking to our skin, and heavy with the weight of water as we stood at the foot of the bed.

I leaned in for our second touch, hesitantly, hands aching for something more than hands. It became too much, the desire to push his bangs back and so I ran my shaky fingers through them, leaving my hand rested within his strands to grasp onto something real. His molten eyes closed at the touch and I eased away some of my anxiety because even in the dark, the azure moon on his forehead still looked faultless.

"Sesshoumaru…"

It was just one word, said so gently that my lips barely moved as I pronounced it but he shuddered… or perhaps I did, I could not be sure… it was too hard to think clearly through the haze. I was touching him, the demon who could make everything better. Could make things not just feel perfect…but be perfect.

His amber eyes opened with a devouring slowness and set themselves on mine. Holding my gaze, he removed my hand and a claw traced the bracelet I still wore, the one he gave me. There was a low growl, a pleased sound that ushered its way from his body and into mine as he began planting burning kisses from my wrist up to my fingertips.

A tingly sensation startled me and I took a few steps towards safety… towards him, clutching on to his shoulders in an attempt to keep myself upright.

His hands glided up my neck, hot… searing my skin as they secured themselves around my jaw. Cradling my face, his smoldering golden gaze trailed as it lowered to my mouth and I felt the curl of his strong fingers just behind my ears, the lethal claw tips, the even pressure there as he brought me closer… closer still. So slow that I'd have had every opportunity to turn away, to deny him if I so chose to… I didn't. His warm breath hitting my skin could not have prepared me for his burning lips as they melded into mine.

All of my sadness, weariness, hopelessness, my fears were set ablaze. Eyes wide, I gasped at the sudden relief and he angled, pressing harder, long velvety tongue sweeping over my soft one. Flicking inside so gently, so intently, he pulled me in to him and my eyelids grew heavy. Fluttering shut with finality, I slowly tangled my tongue with his. I relished in the feel, the calm, the love that had been stifled too long, the flames that had never wanted to be smothered.

I could have this love tonight…not feel so empty. I could burn for him. 'Just tonight… just this once.'

I made a shallow longing sound in my throat and he answered with a deep rumble that spread throughout his chest. His hands fell from my neck and made a hastened trip down my body and around my waist. Heavy hands glided up my still-clothed back, and his arms drew me to him, fingers clutching. My back arched as he led me deeper into the kiss.

The air. Around us it was too hot, heat pouring off of us in waves and filling the room but still it was essential and we'd forgotten all about it. I couldn't breathe… wanted to suffocate in his embrace that had wetness pooling between my legs, never wanted to separate but soon the need grew too strong and we broke apart. I gasped, drew in long deep breaths as I threw my head back.

Clawed fingers seized the wet lengths of black hair, keeping my head tilted back, keeping me open to him. Over my jaw, down my neck, against my collar bone I felt them. The kisses, the nips, the licks, as he growled lowly… they were all desperate and wanting. Templates for how I knew I'd soon be kissing his body, nipping him, licking him as if I too was dying of thirst.

We moved slow, savoring each other. Taking turns. A kiss met with another kiss. His heavy caress exchanged for one of my own. We both sought to make everything last. Every moment of this accident, this fateful encounter would matter more than anything else had before.

Piece by piece. Bit by bit. An undone button here… an unzipped zipper there. Clasps became unclasps. Loosening but not yet removing the barriers between us. Our shallow breaths, the soft brush of clothing, and the clacking sounds of metal belt buckles filled our ears. For some reason they echoed in my head too loud… too overpowering.

"…Is this real?"

"Yes."

Heavy fingertips and light claws –teased- grazing skin just at the edges of our opened clothing. We felt of still damp skin but with it, increasing heat. Deft hands made their way underneath a collar, searching, resting on powerful burning shoulders before clearing the fabric away. A silken blouse tugged, pulled up over delicate shoulders by strong tactful hands and tossed carelessly to the floor.

"…Are you sure?"

"…No."

If it wasn't real, we didn't care because then there were layers, layers upon layers. Layers of wet and thin material peeled off our forms as the layers of grief and time spent in pain peeled off with them.

I knew we'd have to put them back on… have to become like that again… have to hurt… but not right now. No, never right now.

Uncovered, we began the process of relearning each other. Tracing over the mounds and ridges and valleys… relearning the subtle changes that had occurred over the months. His hands trailed fire over my curves, ghosted down my sternum, down each one of my ribs and in this moment I realized I'd grown smaller… lost weight, grown more frail. 'Why hadn't I seen that before?' I wondered. 'What was I becoming without him?'

His body was unchanging, so perfect, so eternal, hot silken skin wrapped over unyielding steel but I traced my fingers over him anyway. Traced over pectorals, the hardened ridges of his abdomen, over and around powerful arms, and slowly encircled an unforgotten bellybutton twice. And that was my favorite part because I guess it was the little things I'd missed the most.

While my outward appearance belayed how I'd struggled, what lay inside him spoke of how he had. I could feel his power just underneath the surface of his skin but I noticed that the longer I touched him the stronger he seemed to get. His strength, it was feeding off of me with every whispered graze of my fingers. 'I still feel weak!' I wanted to scream… 'I'm still not strong enough yet… I need… I need…'

I guess he needed too… since he pulled the curve of my hips to his urgently, his hardened length pressed between us. I felt fangs run from my shoulder to the crest of my neck and I shivered, didn't want to stand anymore, couldn't stand anymore. I told him.

And then I was falling, for a second longer than it should have taken. Falling in love with him all over again, falling into the moment, into the fire in his eyes, on to the bed. And he was over me, shielding me… keeping me safe, protecting me from my nightmares and by the time I felt the mattress give way beneath me, I felt strong again.

His body beared down on mine powerfully and he caught my lips with his, pressing so hard, yearning. I felt something spike in me and I groaned hoarsely, pushing on the scorching heat of his chest and he let me tip us over.

Rolling, our bodies rolled as my mind spun. His slightly damp silver strands and the onyx of my own mixing and spinning with us and then I was on top of him working my way feverishly down his body, my black strands dragging behind me over the hard plains of his chest as I feasted on his perfection hungrily; down further as he lay back on the bed with amber eyes watching me; down further as I took him into my palm, grasping the hot iron waiting for me. A slow stroke and his satiny skin slid through my fingers smoothly. Above me, Sesshoumaru's fanged mouth panted.

Was I taking from him… or giving to him, the line blurred in my eyes as I licked off the slick moisture from his tip, spreading it gently over the damp head. The sensation caused his hips to jerk so suddenly, a sharp breath released from his throat, that I needed to make him do it again, loved that I could make him do it at all.

Why hadn't I done this before? He tasted like nothing I'd ever had… though his body was scalding, his taste was like ice and thunder and power and my mouth watered as I continued to memorize it. He was thrusting minutely, convulsing in need as I sucked and licked and swirled my tongue over and around him. The strangled noises he was making between panted breaths caused a slippery slickness to stream down my inner thighs, and I groaned deep in the back of my throat as I took more of him. At my muffled sounds of need he growled low… dangerous… untamed… wove his hands in to my hair in bliss and tugged, his eyes clenched shut. When I looked up and I saw that his usually expressionless face was not impassive, not concealing his pleasure, it was a vision so forbidden that I unintentionally swallowed.

And then the world tumbled and I was dizzy… dizzy, so dizzy and on my back again. Needy clawed fingers were grasping my thighs urgently, pulling me open, and strong sculpted arms were dragging me, sliding my body down the sheets, bringing me to meet him until I could feel his breath curling over my wet warmth. I shut my eyes in anticipation.

He was breathing me in so deeply, longingly. His eyelids lowered, the golden depths growing fogged. One hand released a thigh and a clawed thumb dazedly traced circles against the soft skin there. Open mouthed languid kisses trailed down the other thigh slowly, getting closer, finding me, and then a long velvety tongue lazily swept its way through my moistened folds.

I cried out, hips rocking. My head inclined, looking back at the head board as he continued slow and tortuous, lapping away at me, clouding over my mind. It was so good, too good. My body was trembling, my breathing growing labored as he reacquainted himself with my core. I could no longer keep my eyes open and I sobbed aloud my pleasure as he began suckling on a certain bundle of nerves, electrifying me from my fingertips to my curling toes. My thighs shivered.

The rhythmic movements of his rough and agile tongue were left to all but drive all my cares from my mind. And then I felt the fire begin to rage. He was bringing me close, close to the precipice, close to the abyss, just at the edge.

"Ah…" I moaned out breathlessly as my eyes snapped open. "Ohhh.." I could feel it. "So close- so—so close."

And then he reached up and grabbed my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine, clenching on tight, holding on to me with unyielding passion and I leaped and let myself plummet into the fire. My body shuddered and I moaned loudly as I reached my peak. I stayed there, stuck in limbo, eyes glazed over with pleasure, my purity tingling… surging, wrapping around our forms in an erratic caress. 'My powers only accept him' I thought distantly.

Dazedly, I felt Sesshoumaru's hand letting go, his weight settling over me again. One hand burrowed its way underneath my shoulder, grasping me as the other one made its way under my head. Trapped beneath the silky silver curtain of now dried tresses cascading over his shoulders, he brought my lips to his, pressing, just as I was coming down off my high.

It was a firm, searing, burning kiss that tasted of my own nectar and in the haze I felt one hard muscled thigh place itself between my legs. And though I'd just come down, I couldn't wait to reach my peak again. Abruptly, he snatched my bottom lip between his teeth, his fangs, grazing over it… pulling with the sharp points… not hard enough to break skin but still hard enough to make me gasp against his mouth and scrap my nails down his quivering chest.

His fangs unlatched, head rolling back with a deep throaty growl as he instinctively rocked his hips forward. His burning erection pressed into my thigh and I remembered at once that we were not done… could not be done. He was so hard and I never thought I could have wanted anything more than I wanted him at that moment.

Pressure mounted and in the space between my thighs a scorching hot ache began to grow. I was so empty. I felt my breath hitch in my throat. 'I don't have to be empty, not anymore… not tonight.'

"Please… More."

I begged the godly figure looming over me, the man…the demon I loved, the one that I could love right now… the one that I would love right now with no limitations.

…O…

Sesshoumaru slowly looked back down at her as she lay sprawled out underneath him. She looked incredible, her long midnight tresses spread out over the cool bedding, the flushed look to her lightly sun-kissed skin, the slightly parted pouty lips that trembled with her shallow breathing. If she wanted more, he would give her more. He wanted to give her everything.

It didn't matter to him that she was only allowing this the one night. He would value it in the many hard days to come as if it was his life line. She was his life line and he wouldn't stop until she was his forever. Even thinking of waiting ten years, well eight and a half more, to take her as his was impossible. He would find a way, sooner rather than later for both their sakes.

Unable to stop himself, he disentangled his hand from her ebony locks and lowered it between them, trailing whispering claws down her lavish flesh. His hand converged with the heat radiating off of her core and he lethargically took the back of one finger and rubbed it against her soft dampness. She bit her lip and moaned and he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, basking in the sounds of her need for him. She sounded too sweet, too intoxicating.

He needed to hear more of it, hadn't heard it in so long. He shifted his body, digging one elbow firmly in the mattress at her side while his lowered hand glided up the back of her thigh, pressing outward, parting her for him. He was so hard that it hurt and so close to being drawn in, so close to being buried in her heat. He growled lowly, wanting.

She shuddered and he met her radiant sapphire gaze as familiar words slipped.

"Is this what you want Kagome?"

His voice was rough at the edges, ragged, coming apart at the seams, and so coated in his need that the question dripped from his lips but he couldn't help but ask what he had that first time. He wasn't just reliving it, craving it. He would have her again, his Kagome.

All she had to do was say yes.

…O…

'Is this what you want Kagome?' I heard him ask through the fog, over the blood rushing in my ears, over the pounding inside my ribs and I desired so badly to say yes, that it was exactly what I wanted, that he was all I'd ever wanted but as I moved to speak the words snagged and caught in my throat.

My mind reeled, spinning and tipping over as I lost myself in the burning embers of his molten orbs gazing down at me. They were half-lidded, needy and soft, so otherworldly that they were distant and yet so familiar, so coveted that they couldn't have been held any closer to my heart.

Suddenly I remembered that this would really only be one night. I would have to lose him again, would have to tear myself from the safety of those burning depths, out of the fire to return to a bitter chill of loneliness and my heart ached of the future, ached of tomorrow, a heaviness settling deep within my chest.

Perhaps he read my mind, knew that only he could bring me back into the flames, into the moment and out of the future, out of my fear because he lowered his head, letting his rough tongue swirl, his fangs trace white-hot trails up my throat, a hungry mouth pressed burning lips over the flutter of my pulse.

And then he was pulling back from me, leaving me and it hurt so much worse that in protest my mind rotated, turned, and set back upright again.

"No." I moaned desperately, greedy hands reaching up to grip his powerful shoulders, to bring him back to me, as my free leg hooked around his waist. "I-I… Yes, I want this."

He clenched his eyes closed, groaned in pleasure, the hand on my thigh urging me wider, claws pricking my skin. I felt the head of his erection nudge between my folds.

And then he was pushing forward, narrow hips descending, pouring in agonizingly slow and filling up the space, the months we'd spent apart, with the scorching satin stretch of himself.

He pressed and I opened wide, tilting, and let him in. His face buried itself in the crook of my neck, tattered breaths heating my skin, and I could feel him trembling, myself trembling, the moment trembling until finally after one long luxurious thrust he was inside, resting within me.

The overwhelming pressure of his thick hard weight made my insides quiver in contentment and my outsides clench more firmly to him.

We remained unmoving, tangled into each other, to the feel of each other, as we tried to grow accustomed to the delight of our delicious spread. Our shallow ragged draws of breath sucked heated air into our lungs and knowledge into our minds of the inevitably desired bliss waiting just around the corner.

Eagerly, I squirmed just a tad beneath him, backing away and pressing in. Sharp sparks licked me up, consuming, from the place where we joined. I moaned softly and then he was moving.

With a strangled noise, he pulled out, mouth falling open in pleasure, my walls still gripping, before pushing forward again with a gasp.

And then there was a rhythm, a slow rhythm, an overwhelming rhythm as he endlessly rolled out and rocked back in.

I became enthralled by the shifting of muscles that rode down the waves of his hips rocking. The back and forth, in and out, the urgent, deep roll of his slow hips reached through my body to grab my mind and hypnotize me. I grew obsessed, engrossed in watching the soft sway of his silver bangs shift in tandem with his movements, slow and graceful, the whispering strands of silk on his forehead caressing the crescent there.

And then there were things his movements were doing to me…

Sending shivers up my spine and a tingling heat down through my bones.

A sinuous shock that burned in my clenching fingers, and lingered in my curling toes.

I rode the gentle waves of rapture, meeting his every thrust of ecstasy with one of mine.

And as he filled me with a passion that only he and I could ever know, I could no longer hold my tongue, could not deny my heart the chance to speak of its own accord.

I found myself letting go of his shoulders, twining an arm around his neck, running my fingers through the cool silken hair at his nape. Lifting and burying my face into the heat of his throat, leaning closer, closer still to his ear, my lips barely brushed over a lobe. And I whispered softly, my voice filled with all that I felt for him.

"I love you."

And for a moment he faltered and stopped, still pressed firmly inside me and I eased my grip and lowered my head back down to the bed.

Looking up, a needy expression flitted across his face and the depths in his amber eyes changed, grew, and opened to me. I could see everything.

Everything swam in his golden pools, my future, his past, our never and our always, what was true and what never would be so and then he caught my lips with his, pressing gently, melding them together. I felt my soul latch to his with the love he poured into our kiss and then with a deep groan against my mouth he drew back – so slow- coiling around my life – our lives- and took them with him.

My lips parted in panic against his but then he pushed forward again, parting me, filling me up so fast that I saw the world blink in and out, watched it flutter and then explode.

I arched slowly in pleasure, my head drawing back as I gasped, my eyes growing wide in revelation. He rolled his hips, thrusting into me just as fast a few more times and then he drew me up, clawed hands finding the arch of my back, arms lifting, raising me and tugging my legs around his waist as he rocked back on his knees.

He surged upwards. Every thrust shattered and put my pieces back together, every rock of his hips was one of renewal. My back was still arched, I gazed up at the ceiling, through the ceiling, and found myself in a place that only he could bring me to, a place that I wanted to hide away in and crawl into forever.

His large hands climbed further up my back, drawing me in, and I frantically folded my body into his as he curled his into mine.

My hands desperately clutched onto his back, fingers tangled into his hair, legs clenched around his waist and I could feel the hard muscles rippling underneath the satin skin of his rising thighs as his hips thrust up into mine relentlessly.

He was panting and I was panting and I moaned into his ear, telling him I loved him over and over again, leaving open mouthed kisses over the piece of stripe running into his hair.

Heavy breaths, low growls, and the sound of my hungry heart pounded loudly in my head and I bit down on his shoulder with blunt teeth, seeking relief. I could feel the clenching of his jaw, the claws lengthening on my back, his growls rumbling from deeper in his chest as he groaned out my name.

"Kagome."

It came out throatier, ragged - feral and I pulled back some as something in my lower abdomen tightened pleasantly at hearing my name rumbled so lowly from within him. The magenta stripes on his cheeks were thickening, running jagged lines over his skin; his bared fangs grew sharper, deadlier; his eyes bleeding over in a cloud of red, no longer a smoldering gold but a blazing crimson.

And the look of him sent a cold pleasurable shiver through me, made my toes curl even tighter. I loved him like this, the unleashed raw power. I could feel myself clenching around him more fiercely as he drove into me harder, deeper, recklessly.

My bones shuddered behind the intensity of his thrusts and it was blissful torture. And I could see it coming again. The precipice, my end, my completion was nearing and I couldn't breathe, couldn't draw in enough air into my needy lungs. The room was tipping, my mind was spinning, the world was snapping around us, shifting and closing us into this moment together and I felt his arms grip me tighter just before the pressure grew too much and I screamed.

Bursting at the seams as I came, a bright light exploded in my head, and I grew beautifully blind as my powers flooded in and drowned me. His aura surged up in reaction to mine, pushing his own bone shattering release and they mingled, and fought, his aura dominating me as I could feel his essence, his hot liquid coating my insides. A snarl was torn from his lips and my eyesight came back just in time to see a vision of crimson orbs focusing a feral gaze onto the juncture between my neck and shoulder.

His mouth was open wide, lengthened fangs glistening, and even as my mind was still clouded over in rapture I knew what he was going to do.

"Sesshoumaru... no..."

I whispered out between pleasure heightened breaths and his orbs flickered back to my blue ones, holding my gaze, focusing, and then he bowed his head, forehead falling into my shoulder helplessly, and howled. It was deep and unearthly and though it still held the lasting pleasure of his release it also held a sickening heartwrenching pain that shattered my heart and brought stinging tears to my eyes.

We came down slowly off our highs and stayed there, melded together, limbs wrapped, holding each other.

And the night and the world and fate still bore down and closed around us.

Word Count: 6037

A.N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter because I put a lot into it. I'd been waiting/anticipating writing it since I broke them up. :)

Oh and you guys know how I feel about getting reviews for long chapters ;). The more the merrier!

-E.C.