Chapter 10:

Inuyasha did the worst thing he possibly could after defeating Sesshomaru - he stuck around until he woke up to check to see if he was okay.

Sesshomaru despised him all the more for it.

"Something is going on with you," Inuyasha said, ignoring the hateful glare and how tightly Sesshomaru was clutching his sword handle. "You are going to tell me or you are going to stop taking it out on me," the half demon demanded.

"Tch," Sesshomaru responded, already starting to walk away.

He felt a prick to his neck that he slapped with his hand. A flattened flea demon came off.

"Ohhh! That stings," Myoga groaned, falling to the ground before recovering. "And just what I thought!"

"What?" Inuyasha asked.

"Sesshomaru is sick," Myoga declared. "Otherwise, I would have never been able to get close enough to bite him. He is slowing down, weakening," the flea demon observed.

"What can possibly make a demon sick?" Sesshomaru dismissed the observation.

"Fading," Myoga responded easily.

"Like, from losing a mate?" Inuyasha asked. "That's crazy - this one mating? Ugh, I don't want to imagine it but now I can't help but see it. Yuck!" Inuyasha fake-shivered in disgust.

"Quiet Inuyasha! What would cause one to fade? A mate's death?"

"Not necessarily death. It could just be rejection. If you rejected your mate or the other way around. You'd have to have been intimate before though for fading to affect you," Myoga explained.

"Haha! This ice prince? Intimate!?" Inuyasha laughed. "Tell me another good one, Myoga! You must have drank something awful in his blood!"

Inuyasha quickly found out that Sesshomaru still had a great amount of strength and speed. He was knocked soundly in the head and fell to the ground in pain.

"Are you sure?" Sesshomaru verified. "It could not be anything else?"

"No, I'm sure. I've seen it before when your father tried to deny that Inuyasha's mother was his mate. All it takes is some time in the sack and everything will be back to normal," the flea assured. "You must have been apart for a while. Fading takes years to affect a demon this badly."

"Who'd want to get with that?" Inuyasha said to Myoga, Sesshomaru already long gone.

"If I had to guess, someone equally as hard-headed and powerful. This could go either really badly or be the best thing to happen to the Inu no Taisho family in years!"

"Hey! What about my marriage to Kagome and the birth of our son!?" Inuyasha argued loudly.

Sesshomaru knew the path to Harry's, even after all this time apart. He didn't understand it, but knew it must be true. He had not slept with anyone other than the wizard recently. It had to be him.

How could he be mated to the wizard? He was human. Or better yet, how could he have touched Harry as a child? That would have been centuries ago! But there was something strange about Harry, in his agelessness, his ability to come back from the dead. There was always a sense that Harry was hiding what he truly was.

His knock went unheeded for the longest time, but finally Harry answered. Sesshomaru could only imagine what he must look like, standing there outside the gate. It was late afternoon, but it was very dark out. A storm had sprung up and it was raining. Lightning pierced the sky every few moments and thunder roared. Sesshomaru could barely hear it over the thumping of his heart as he was admitted to the dragon reserve.

Harry looked awful, just like Sesshomaru imagined himself. He was dripping wet, hair lank, and it seemed as if the life had been sucked out of him.

"What do you want?" Harry asked finally, not angrily but as if he was shouldering some great burden for too long a time. He had waited until they were safely back in his cabin and out of the weather before asking.

"You fool," Sesshomaru whispered before grabbing Harry and kissing him soundly.

"I can't do this," Harry protested half-heartedly, in between kisses.

Sesshomaru's hands wandered the planes of Harry's body. One of them grabbed the talisman Harry always wore and yanked it free (finely!).

"No, don't!" Harry warned.

His scent filled Sesshomaru's nostrils for the first time. He could smell the storm on Harry, yes, but it was nothing compared to the power he could smell and an ageless scent Sesshomaru normally attributed to demons, and amongst it all, home...mate!

Sesshomaru couldn't have prevented the groan from escaping his lips even if he wanted to. He inhaled Harry deeply some more before biting his neck in a claiming mark. "Mine," he whispered against the love bite.

"Sesshomaru," Harry whispered breathlessly back. He could feel something snap into place that he couldn't explain. A rightness of sorts.

"Why did you make me wait so long?" Sesshomaru asked before claiming Harry's lips again. He grabbed Harry's hands and forced him to touch his mating stripes. An electric shock jolted through both of them.

"I didn't know," was Harry's response.

Sesshomaru pulled Harry even closer and grabbed him by the ass, easily picking him up and carrying him to the bed in the corner of the room. Sesshomaru made quick work of their clothing. He couldn't get enough of his wizard as he sucked on his lips, and then his nipples, and then finally licked at his weeping cock. Harry was overcome by his ministrations and had an arm thrown over his eyes. Sesshomaru growled and pulled the arm away.

"Watch," he commanded before swallowing his cock whole and teasing at his entrance with a finger tip.

"Ugh!" Harry screamed in pleasure. Sesshomaru lowered his head an licked at his balls before continuing to his opening. He turned Harry onto his stomach and pried apart the pert butt cheeks. His tongue fluttered over the hole and he basked in Harry's sounds of excitement. Pushing his tongue forward, he drew more wanton noises from those lips. To think, his mate had been right in front of him all this time! He drove his tongue forward as deep as he could, trying to get every taste of his mate that he could. When it seemed inadequate, his finger joined his tongue in opening Harry up for him. Harry whole body screamed in pleasure as he jolted his sweet spot with a finger.

"Lube," Sesshomaru requested, holding out a hand. A wandless charm later and Sesshomaru was coating his thick manhood, ready to complete the bonding.

"Harry," he said, making the wizard look him in the eyes. Sesshomaru had him on his back with his knees over Sesshomaru's shoulders. The dog demon forced Harry to keep contact with the mating stripes and roughly pulled his hands back anytime they started to wander and explore. As soon as Harry made eye contact, Sesshomaru surge forward, entering his mate in one swift move. Harry's eyes rolled back in his head at the sensation before focusing again on Sesshomaru.

"What is this feeling?" Harry asked, out of breath and rocking with Sesshomaru's thrusts.

"Mate!" Sesshomaru claimed, biting at Harry's neck again and pulling at Harry's cock with his hand.

"Ah!" Harry gasped before spilling himself over Sesshomaru's stomach. The dog demon only thrust a few more times before spending himself deep within the wizard.

"Is it true?" Harry asked, some time later after both had regained their composure. His fingers danced across the stripes on Sesshomaru's hips as he enjoyed the afterglow.

"I'm not sure how it came to be but I am absolutely certain," Sesshomaru said, pulling the wizard in to spoon with his naked body.

Harry reached back and patted Sesshomaru's still damp hair.

"We'll talk about it in the morning and figure it all out," he yawned.

A/N: Happy ending, inc.