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

-To Sip of Black Velvet-

Chapter 23: Until Morning Comes

AN: Warning: Do not read if you are uncomfortable with sexually explicit content. Lemon.

Once again, thank you to my beta White Luna!

He looked eerily stunning as he slept, almost so striking that you forgot that you were not breathing as you looked up on him. His ethereal form sunken into the bed, otherworldly eyes shut to the universe, peace effectively wrapped around his regal features. The scene was a contradiction, an enigma, too sacred for words. It was almost wrong for someone as dangerously powerful as he was to be so calm and asleep. It was a scene that I could watch forever… if we had more than just this night.

It was still dark outside, still our night, and the rain had not yet ceased to fall though it had grown weaker in intensity. I could hear it lightly pattering against the balcony of the suite and for some reason I was feeling the need to distance myself from him. Well, it was not so much feelings that wanted me to but my mind that knew I should. My feelings would have had me smother myself in the peace that he could give me, the comfort that his embrace even in sleep would allow. My feelings would have allowed me to let him mate me.

But that couldn't happen yet and for just a moment I knew I needed to go out in the rain. Maybe the drops could cleanse away my current quandary, my confusion, because even though I knew we shouldn't have I was very much regretting saying no.

We had gotten so close to turning this night into a lifetime and though I desperately wanted that, wanted to have my life tied to his forever, wanted to become his mate, I knew that this was not the time. This was just a reprieve from our pain, one night, one fateful night where we could give into our whims, one night where we could share in our forbidden love with no regrets and no blame for we had never meant it to happen in the first place. It was a night that would be pardoned by fate and I really needed to remind myself of that because my heart and the dry salty trails on my cheeks so badly desired that I see things differently.

My heart, still shattered from having to deny him, deny us, what it was we had both wanted in that bright moment of revelation, was aching in my chest, urging me to patch the emptiness in myself with the bond I knew I craved with the being laying before me.

His insistent crimson gaze coupled with the glint of his fangs, that instant, it had been so intense how bad he needed me, how bad I needed him as our auras, our souls, merged resolutely, awaiting what was supposed to happen next. It took all the power I'd had in me to speak such a simple word as no, to tell him not to, to urge him not to make me his and he mine for all eternity.

I could still remember his chilling primal howl, so haunting and beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes, and how urgently we continued to cling to each other after the instant was over, after we had both come down from our highs. His eyes had remained red, stripes still jagged, as his sharply clawed hands gripped onto me possessively. He may have drawn blood, but it had been okay then. I'd needed to know he was still there. The slight pain kept me lucid, only soothed me.

I'm not sure what it had been like for him, but for me it'd felt like without having made the bond we would be relinquishing each other to darkness, ourselves into darkness were we to let go. It was an ominous feeling that terrified me beyond reason, so full of trepidation, that even when we finally managed to untangle ourselves within reason from around one another, I could not bear to remain more than a second's grasp away. It was how we fell asleep, still holding on as if in assurance that the other would not ebb from this world and vanish when we closed our eyes.

Now, that feeling had died down some. I'd awakened content in knowing that he could not just disappear and by the peaceful look on his face, his magenta stripes straightly slashing his cheeks again, I assumed he had somehow come to that same conclusion while in the midst of sleep as well. His sculpted arm though, was still looped around my waist and my hand was still resting reassuringly on his chest… just in case.

Tentatively, I removed my hand. The warm silken feel beneath my palm of taut alabaster skin wrapped over hard muscle was replaced by the cool silken bedding. And gingerly, I slowly unlooped his arm from around me, his claws grazed over my skin, and placed it gently just in front of his body. I gave his beautiful face one more glance to check if he was still sleeping. His thin eyebrows had drawn inward, furrowed in consternation, so I kissed him softly over the crescent adorning his brow, gently pushing back the wisps of silver bangs. It amazed me that the peaceful expression once again washed over his face and so I kissed him once more there before getting up as quietly as I could.

I took one of the forgotten sheets from off the wooden floor and began to wrap it around my body. We'd had no need for sheets in our slumber, the heat we gave off for each other was far more than enough to keep us warm. The soft pads of my feet against the cool wood of the floor led me to the balcony door and I glanced back at the bed again momentarily, making sure I'd not been wrong in deducing he could not simply vanish. I sighed a gentle breath at the sight of him still laying there. His sculpted back was towards me, the light silk of his silver mane fanned around his form, splayed over his strong shoulder. His legs were tucked somewhat underneath him and there was a gentle rise and fall to his body that I could make out as his breathing.

I opened the glass door and took a step out, one foot meeting the cold wet balcony ground before the other joined it. I didn't bother to shut the door since this would only take a second. I just needed to remember my resolve. This was to be only one night but that was near impossible to heed while being so close to him.

I let the light raindrops sooth over my skin to roll down quietly and much to my chagrin a few tears slipped from my eyes again mixing with them. For a short time I cried silently for the both of us as I gazed over the railing of the balcony. The streets, the buildings, the view I had of the city lights before me were as breathtaking as our night had been. I would never take this night back, never regret it. It had been wonderful, had been everything that it was supposed to be but I couldn't help but want more.

"Couldn't we have more than just one night?" I questioned softly to everything and nothing all at once. The raindrops, the darkness, the city, and anything else that cared to listen to the pained words brought on by the twisting ache in my chest. I didn't expect a reply, had prepared to welcome the unforgiving silence that I knew was sure to come but then a velvety voice reached my ears, twining around me just as the sheets had.

…O…

"Couldn't we have more than just one night?"

Sesshoumaru heard her voice whisper.

He'd awoken the moment she'd stepped out of the room and though his first instinct was to immediately gather her up and bring her back to him, he refrained upon detecting the faint scent of her salty tears despite the rain's attempts to wash them away.

He could surmise why it was she was crying.

It had been far harder to control his beast than he'd originally presumed it would be. All it had taken was for her to whisper in his ear those three simple words and he'd nearly lost himself. All his plans of taking her slow and gently had promptly flown out the window. He didn't know why hearing her moan that she loved him had him fighting off his feral side but it did. And when she bit him… when her blunt human teeth latched on to him where his beast could not wait to sink his fangs into her, his eyes had bled red as the last stitch of his control slipped away.

And then he'd started it, pressing her, drawing out her aura as he forced her into release. He felt her powers surge around them in her ecstasy and his body jerked fiercely as he spilled into her, his domineering youki, his own powerful aura, rising up to claim hers. Had it taken any shorter time to subjugate her aura into submission, she'd have not had the time to stop him. She would have been his and he, hers.

Her soft voice was the only thing that could have stopped him at that moment. Even taken over by his primal side he could still not ignore her plea.

Drawing back from mating her had been the hardest thing he'd ever done and not only because he was denying himself what he wanted, but because the pain of doing so had been excruciating. It was dangerous to discontinue mating her, having made it so far, to the brink. They were already half-connected, their auras joined as one.

Physically, as he drew back his veins were on fire, his insides burning as his body shook and tensed trying to acclimate itself back to normal.

Mentally, as the beginning of the bond they'd begun to make ebbed away, he'd felt like he'd lost her. Like they'd mated and she'd died and suddenly it was like he'd clawed a gaping hole in his own chest and then he'd sank before her and howled.

He knew he'd had to have left scars on her back, from the way that he'd been clutching onto her, challenging fate or the gods or anyone else to try and take her from him but he hadn't been able to help it at the time and with the way she'd grasped onto him, he assumed she had felt it also.

Even though the taxing feeling had died down in slumber, it had still not faded completely yet. Her tears proved she was feeling the lingering ache as well.

Could they have more than just one night? Sesshoumaru repeated her softly spoken question to himself as he strolled across the cool wooden floor towards the balcony. Yes, of course they could. She would not ache much longer he decided resolutely and he would have what he desired. The next time his beast rose to claim her, which he was vaguely positive would not be again this night… the events had left him more drained than he'd admit, she would have no reason to stop him.

But right here and now… for the rest of this night, he would not let his chosen mate feel any sadness or grieve any of the days apart that had yet to come and so he answered her question.

"If we were to have only one night, we would make the best of it."

…O…

'We'd make the best of it?'

I replayed his words in my head. I was sure that they were meant to be comforting but they were spoken so effortlessly, the statement too simple, so straightforward that it could have only been said by someone who was too sure of himself, too sure of everything. The statement was so Sesshoumaru that I let a small smile ease its way onto my lips. I suppose he was right in the end, we had made the best of it after all.

I continued to look out over the city as his overwhelming presence drew closer to me. I felt his powerful arms wrap securely around my waist before pulling me back against him. The heat of his bare chest seeped through the sheet draped across my back even as cool raindrops continued running down my front. The opposing sensations made me shiver and he leisurely buried his face into the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply.

"You should not be out here in the rain Kagome." He reprimanded me, no edge to his tone, his smooth voice carried with it a hint of uncharacteristic softness and I let my head loll back gently on his chest.

"I know…" I answered simply, my eyes drawn from the city to one of the striped arms holding me. I marveled at how delicately the wet drops crashed into his flawless skin, "I thought you were sleeping." I added breathlessly.

He nuzzled deeper into my hair.

"You were gone. I awoke." He said evenly as his arms tightened further around me.

"Sesshoumaru…" I started as my body grew tense, my voice weak and hesitant. I wanted to tell him that I would be gone for real in the morning, that he should start getting use to the idea of me not being there again as I would have to get use to him not being there also. But he cut me off as though he knew what I was going to say.

"Let us not bother with trivialities Kagome." His dark velvety smooth voice danced across the skin of my neck, "The night is not over yet." He added and his hot breath teased me, goose bumps raised in the wake of his words.

"No…" I replied back anxiously, letting my full weight rest against him. "I guess not."

And then he picked me up, cradling me against his chest, in his arms, the sheet falling from my body, and I shut my eyes as he brought me back into the suite. I assumed that I'd feel the soft cool silken sheets of the bed but he was taking too many steps, we'd been just outside of the bedroom. I was curiously baffled when he laid me down on something too soft and too plush so I opened my eyes and was surprised to find myself easing back against the plush rug on the floor of the living room.

We were exactly where we'd taken each other the first time, in our frantic passion, where the heat of our flames had first engulfed us. I ran my fingers through the white furry rug lovingly and then I looked up at him as he settled down beside me.

We both lay there, heads turned looking into each other's eyes silently, nostalgically for a while and for old times sake I began trying to match the rhythm of my breathing to his as I'd often done in the past. He blinked once slowly, drawing me out of remembrance, and then he spoke.

"Just as our first night here was not our last, I would no sooner allow this to be." He said evenly, slowly, letting the words sink in. "You will be mine forever… soon."

I listened and my heart fluttered at the declaration but my lips parted to interject that he could not make such a promise to me. There was so much I'd not told him, our one night left little time to speak of other matters. He did not know about Naraku, that he was looking for me again, that he could hurt me in our time apart. To Sesshoumaru, Naraku was still pain from my past, a memory that he could shield me against. He didn't understand that though he was virtually immortal, I could die so easily, so soon if certain things were to come to pass, maybe sooner than it would take him to keep his promise. I opened my mouth to protest his words but then he stopped me, a clawed finger resting gently on my lips.

"I give you my word Kagome." His deep baritone assured.

And that's all it took. It was the resolution, the resolve in his gaze, the determination in what was no longer just words or a promise but a spoken truth and I let my protests die on my lips as I captured his with mine. No matter what it took, his words assured me that even if he had to shift heaven and hell only to shift them back again, I would be his… and soon. I felt overwhelmed with happiness, with contentment, and as always when around him, with desire as well.

We continued our passionate kiss as I moved, our hands gliding over one another's skin in reverence. I drew my body up, straddling his hips, breaking our kiss only as I eased back and lowered, taking his already hard length into my already moist cavern because it seemed our bodies did not know how to be unready for each other.

His hands played across my thighs as I slid slowly down his shaft, every inch sending sparks through my nerves to shoot into his. When I finally came to a stop, reaching the hilt, him hitting something buried deeply within me that already made me shudder, I looked down at him. He was beautiful underneath me, powerful and vulnerable, tamed and wild, untouchable but oh-so-touchable for my fingertips only and I splayed my hands across his burning chest. Our gazes remained locked.

And then I felt his hands grip my thighs and pull my legs wider. I inhaled a sharp breath as he somehow drove deeper, at the feeling of being completely full, at the feeling of having him and a low growl vibrated underneath my palms from within his chest.

"Move." With one word his deep voice urged me and I had no qualms, I had to.

I pressed down on his heated torso, raising my lower body, easing myself up his hard satin length, inner walls gripping him up to his tip before descending to fill me up again.

I bit my lip and he groaned, hands moving to place themselves firmly on my hips, and then I couldn't stop moving, kept raising myself only to slide down again. The deep slow up and down rhythm, soon had me panting, had his mouth falling open, his fangs peaking from behind parted lips, and still we both refused to break our gaze.

He was tugging at me, eyes tugging at my soul and I returned the favor as his burning fiery gold remained locked on my boiling blues. His strong hands began urging me faster, claws pricking the sensitive skin of my hips as his powerful arms pushed me down on him harder.

A groan, a gasp, a strangled moan and I couldn't tell which ones came from who's lips but his legs were moving behind me, knees bending, feet planting themselves firmly down and his back was arching underneath me in want. His thrusts moved upwards even as gravity pulled me down and I was burning, out of breath, could hardly think. The only thought left to run through my head was that he was mine,mine, only mine tonight and soon mine forever.

The whispered possessive thought somehow found its way leaving my lips and he clenched his eyes closed, breaking our gaze for the first time as he moaned and flipped us over.

I could feel the soft plush rug against my back and hot friction from where the hard plains of his chest rubbed against mine as he thrust in and out of me. Each of my delicate hands was laced with one of his powerful ones, trapped above my head as his open mouth grazed up and down my throat.

His hot breath against my skin, the fangs nipping my jaw, the deep growls vibrating through me, it was all so much, too much. The heat was burning me raw and then he was moving slower, endless and long, angling himself in me, sending a spiraling pleasure through my limbs with every deep overpowering thrust and someone was moaning. I was moaning I realized.

We both succumbed to our passion, and he rocked his hips, groaning greedily, growling deeply, until I came in a daze, surging and bursting around him. And then I rocked my hips for him, heart pounding, mouth moaning, until he did the same, hot and thick, pouring into me.

And then we shifted and did it again, me on my hands and knees with him kneeling behind me. It was rough and frantic, full of unbridled need. He met release as I hungrily sucked the length of a clawed fingertip.

And then we shifted once more for good measure, laying down, him still behind me, inside me and moving slowly even as he pulled my body back into his softly. When I met release that time it was as he gently kissed up the groove of my spine.

And over and over again we shifted and continued, taking from each other, giving to each other until the first hint of the sun peaked over the city and through the encompassing windows of our penthouse suite.

And then… even then… as our night turned over into someone else's morning we made love one more time… just in case.

…O…

"Kagome!" Sango screamed lunging at me as I walked through the threshold of our apartment, locking the door behind me. "Where were you? The police said I had to wait 24 hours before I could report you as a missing person! I was so worried!"

I'd almost forgotten that someone would have been worried about me, gone all night like I was. It was the only thing that I could bring myself to feel bad for or be sad about.

I'd kissed Sesshoumaru goodbye after we'd shared a hot shower, washing each other, memorizing our forms, and then dried off to get back into our clothes. When I left The Neru wearing the wrinkled garments I realized that I'd been wrong the night before, wearing them, dressing and parting from him, didn't leave me feeling any less light than I was. I wasn't hurting, as amazing as that was. I actually felt happy. I knew everything was going to turn out fine, even though I didn't know exactly when or how, but I had faith that it would and that was something I hadn't felt in months… maybe even years, faith in what the fates had in store for me.

"Sango, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to worry you." I said biting my lip as I wrapped my arms around her. "I was just… out. I should have let you know."

She pulled back from me. "I thought that—that maybe that demon had…"

I shook my head at her before she could finish. "Nope." I said smiling at her genuinely, "As you can see I'm perfectly fine. No Naraku scars, no harm done."

Her eyebrow shot up incredulously as she eyed me with a suspicious glare. "Have you been out drinking all night?"

And I laughed, somewhat because that very well could have happened.

"No, I'm sober." I replied back.

Her eyebrow inched a little higher at that. I suppose I hadn't been completely sober in quite a while.

"Really, I am!" I promised and she finally seemed to believe me, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Well whatever happened last night—and I'm expecting you to fill me in at some point by the way—you should do it more often."

"Sure thing Sango." I answered, smiling anew at the thought of being able to spend every night in Sesshoumaru's arms.

She started to walk away then, back to her bedroom before she called over her shoulder at me.

"But let me know next time, so I don't go thinking you've been miko-knapped! We're going to have to do something about training you up."

And I laughed again at her antics, my heart never having felt so light.

Word Count: 4011

A.N: And I think this is one of the only chapters that ends with Kagome being happy. It's almost strange isn't it? lol.

btw, the lemon scene was originally way shorter and far less explicit. I didn't go all out like the last chapter but I hope you guys liked it anyway.

Don't forget to leave me a review! Reviews= A Happy E.C. =D

-E.C.