Sesshomaru was never far away after that encounter. Over the next few weeks, Kagome would occasional pick up on traces of his yoki, reminding her that he was never far away.

Curiously, every time she felt his yoki, the mokomoko she carried would warm, soothing her as she snuggled deeper into the soft fur. That action, in turn, seemed to further provoke the yoki into stirring against her, feeling, oddly, like a sort of hug.

But though she knew he must be curious, he did not seek her out again, almost as if he somehow knew how overprotective InuYasha had become.

Sesshomaru might be patient but she doubted he was ever the time to give up. She privately believed it was only a mater of time before he confronted her again about mokomoko.

True to her suspicions, that moment came when, after a battle with Naraku's newest incarnation, Kagome had become separated from the rest of her friends. She'd wandered in the direction she'd hoped to find them, but given the attempted kidnapping for her power, she wasn't entirely sure she was heading the right way in the first place. She'd been too busy trying to repel her would-be kidnapper to pay attention.

I should probably wait for InuYasha to find me, she reflected, but that could take awhile and she didn't want to just sit around and wait, either.

She was unsurprised when Sesshomaru suddenly appeared before her in a great ball of golden light, idly running a hand through his hair. "Priestess," he greeted her.

"Hello, Sesshomaru." Wrapped around her, the mokomoko pulsed as if it recognized Sesshomaru.

"You will explain how you came to possess Mokomoko." His tone was firm as he stared at her.

She wished she had more than a bow and a few arrows to defend herself, knowing it wouldn't be much of a defense. And yet, despite his demanding attitude, she was oddly convinced that he had no intentions of hurting her. "Well, wherever I got it, it's not yours," she said, though she was no longer certain of that. "You're wearing your own."

She didn't care how much he complained; the fur was hers now and she wasn't going to give it back just because he didn't think a human should be wearing one.

"Is it not?" He quirked a brow. "What this one cannot determine is how you came to possess something of his when, as you have said, he still possesses his own."

She laughed nervously. "W-well..."

"Do you understand what it is that you possess?" His lips twitched as if he was amused and she wasn't certain she wanted to know what he found so funny. "What it represents now that it is in your possession?"

She blinked. "What do you mean? It's just a furry boa."

If he didn't understand the foreign word, he didn't show any hint of that. "How is it that you, a human priestess, could be so ignorant? How is it that you lack the necessary knowledge to understand what you have done?"

"Done?" She felt her temper rise at the insinuation that she'd done something wrong. "All I did was buy something I liked, Sesshomaru."

"So the hanyo did not explain the circumstances to you." His lips thinned. "Very well. By carrying Mokomoko as you have, Kagome, you are announcing possession and intent—my possession and intent."

She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of such a thing until she realized how odd InuYasha had acted when he saw the fur around her shoulders. "So...this is yours?" she asked faintly, feeling a little off-kilter.

He lifted his chin in silent agreement. "You have been witnessed wearing it. By refusing to relinquish it as you have, you have given your consent to the match."

"So why had it been sold to a vintage store?" she grumbled to herself, not even realizing that she'd spoken aloud. Had Sesshomaru already long since died before her time and the fur had somehow come into someone else's possession and then it had later been sold to the shop? Or had Sesshomaru himself sold it?

She'd never sensed yoki in her time, not of a yokai of his caliber, at any rate, but—

She caught her breath as he lifted her chin up to meet his golden gaze. She hadn't even seen him move.

"Perhaps," he murmured, "you wished to be taken by this one."

She licked her dry lips, trying to ignore how he watched the movement. "S-so this really is a sign of betrothal?"

"It is." His expression was as nonchalant as his tone. "This one's mother still wears the one she received from this one's father during their courtship. In doing so, the male is able to remain aware of his female's state of being. It also allows for...additional intimacy."

He stared pointedly at her hand that had been absently stroking the fur in a gesture of comfort.

She froze as he chuckled. "Ahh..." She hesitated. She didn't even want to know what he meant by that. She was just too afraid to ask as the look in his eyes heated.

He was interested, she realized, swallowing. And that interest staring back at her did things to her body that he had no right to be doing.

His hand suddenly shifted from her jaw to her throat and, with a quick movement, he jerked her head to the side and tugged the fur back to expose her skin. Before she could do more than squeak in surprise, he bent his head and sunk his sharp teeth into the basis of her neck.

It hurt for a moment, so much so that she hadn't been able to contain her shriek. And then, just as suddenly, the pain faded into a dull ache that ran straight to her core as she flushed.

He pulled back with a satisfied smirk, rearranging the fur so that it proudly encircled his bite mark, as though showing it off. "You are mine now, Kagome," he rumbled, his voice a deep purr. "All that remains now is to consummate the bond. It is most fortunate for us both that I have proven to be talented in such a manner."

He pulled her to him and summoned his cloud, taking her off to do exactly that, swallowing any protest she might have offered in a soul-wrenching, heated kiss.

.

.

Five hundred years in the future, Sesshomaru closed his eyes as he felt the mating bond click into place. He had been foolish once, not acting on his desires because of his own prejudice. It was only later, after she'd ended up married to the hanyo in a bond that neither had been entirely happy with, that he'd realized what he'd lost, though he'd been unable to do anything about it.

Later, he'd learned the truth of her origins from Rin and he'd begun to plan, realizing that he might yet remedy his error. By giving her his Mokomoko laden heavily with his scent, he'd ensured that the past version of himself would not be able to ignore her.

And the Mokomoko would do the rest. The more she interacted with it, the more she would drive his past self deeper into the desires he'd sought to repress ever since he'd first become aware of her existence. Her refusal to return the fur would only fuel his passions until anger bled over into lust, finally breaking through the walls around his heart.

He sighed, contented, as the two timelines merged, flooding him with memories of all that had transpired following his interference.

Turning on his heel, he headed home as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself, all too aware now of whowould be waiting for him now.

When he flung open the door, he found her sitting on the couch, idly reading a book. She looked up in surprise just as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the pent up emotion he'd withheld from her for five hundred years.

Breathless when she pulled free, she breathed, "What's gotten into you, Sesshomaru? You're supposed to be working on the—"

"Work isn't necessary," he told her, pulling her to him and cradling her head with his hand. "Loving you is."

He felt her melt against him as he sank down into the couch, bringing her with him, and he was grateful the children he hadn't truly known, though the memories washed over him, weren't at home. There would be plenty of time for him to acquaint himself with them later.

For now, he pulled her closer to him and dedicated himself to showering her with everything he had to give, all too grateful that this was one mistake he had finally been able to correct.