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Had they not known him, they would have commented.

He knew that they would have. He could see it. He could also see the elders smirking behind their drinks. The wedded or mated women twittered behind the sleeves of their ornate kimonos, casting knowing looks at him, while the bolder of the unmated females sent smoldering looks his way. At least they had not noticed anything, too focused on trying to seduce the great taiyoukai of the West, the magnificent Lord Sesshomaru. He kept his features schooled into a mask of indifference though inside he writhed in disgust and a modicum of pain. Though at the moment disgust seemed to be winning. Everyone at this feast knew of his status as a mated male. Knew, that while, as a lord, he could take a few others to his bed as concubines he would never do so. In fact, he could never any longer. He had bound himself as thoroughly to his mate as she had been bound to him. He had taken an age old ritual a step further than most would. He knew that without demon senses she could never have been one-hundred percent sure that he had not taken another and, knowing her human insecurities, he had bound himself to her in such a way that he had shared a part of him, given her some of his traits, taken a few of hers as his own, and had left himself incapable of touching another female in almost anyway, as she could not touch another male.

He shifted from one foot to the other. She was wearing one of those things again. A secret promise of things to come, if they could survive this evening, but he managed to shut that uncomfortable feeling from his mind lest it bring forth yet another problem, one he could and would rectify with his mate soon enough, he almost growled at the thought. Some of the evening's problems he could not do much about. The inane babbling of the females around him resulting in the slight annoyance of his mate, which he knew was more about the dishonor those females were showing her with their actions, memorizing the conversations with the other Lords of the fate of their lands were all things he could take in his stride. However there was one thing that he could not abide by.

Pain.

More specifically his mate's pain. He shifted again as if the movement would ease the ache in his ankles and calves. During the course of the night it had migrated, heading for the knees and hips. He wondered how she managed it. She was decked from head to toe in his colors, white based kimono of her own design, red patterns of hexagonal flowers adorning her sleeves and left shoulder, shoulders wrapped in a smaller form of his mokomoko-sama, imbued with his youki, and a wide yellow and purple sash wrapped around her dainty waist, but on her feet made from materials he could not identify were the strangest objects he had ever seen. They raised her form almost a good six inches higher and enclosed her feet in the color of blood. He would have been against them for the pain that they caused her, but he had to admit they gave her something the other females lacked.

She turned to him now and he watched as she politely excused herself from the Lord and Lady of the Southern clan, their smiles just as knowing as the other older lords around the room. Her smile turned positively seductive as she caught his golden stare. He could see that what she was about to do was for her own benefit as well as his, those brazen females having irked her more than he had believed. He allowed a small smirk to pull at the corners of his lips as she took her first steps towards him. Oh yes, he hated those shoes she wore for the pain they caused, but for this he would allow her to wear them any day. Her hips swung seductively one way and then back, hypnotizing in their smooth rhythm, as the thin silk of her three layered kimono folding over her body allowed the males a good idea of her generous curves, curves which only one demon could ever feast upon. Her loose ebony hair curled over her shoulder flowing over her bust and down to just below her waist as if outlining that which they were barely allowed to look at. He raked his eyes over her form, not even bothering to hide the appreciation in his eyes, hearing some of the females around him gasp as the always stoic Lord allowed his desire to show for the tiny female. Desire he had denied them.

The single males of the room stared, some allowing their mouths to gape, the females narrowed jealous eyes as the beauty floated past them, screaming pure feminine sexuality to the world. Sesshomaru was proud and beyond aroused at the sight the female coming towards him made. He wanted to tear the eyes from the other males' heads for looking upon her tonight, he wanted to whisk her away and show them all who had tamed this ebony haired siren before them, but he would wait, allowing his ego to bathe in the knowledge that this was all his and only his.

Stopping a scant few inches before him, well within his personal sphere, where none but she had been allowed to enter, her smile grew as her eyes darkened to the color of the deep sea in her desire. She said not a word, but the fact that he could not, and nor would he, move his eyes from her spoke volumes to the other occupants of the room. Silently she handed him one of the two cups held in her dainty hands, cups he had failed to notice he realized distantly, a small blush forming on her cheeks as he allowed his fingers to wrap wound the porcelain and her fingers, his burning golden gaze branding her with his want. She lifted her own cup to her lips and he followed suit and suddenly everyone had the strange feeling that they were intruding on a private moment as their eyes remained locked and the heat rose tenfold. Seconds as long as eternity passed and with them the moment as Kagome dropped the cup from her moist lips and turned to a visiting minor dignitary standing close to them, her smile meant only for him returning to the welcoming and charming one kept for others.

He watched her leave, roving her form from the back as he smiled approvingly with the way she had reinforced her claim on him without a word and barely a touch. He wondered about what the rest of the evening would hold for him. He began plotting a number of ways he could get her to drop her kimono later and yet keep those devilish things on her feet a little while longer.

He smirked, frightening a number of young lords nearby, as he began to envisage what he had in mind. Oh yes, those things will stay and he was going to fully enjoy them.