A/N: I am easily persuaded so here you are! A final chapter to this! Enjoy.

Over the next week, Kagome found herself accepting all sorts of deliveries from her admirer, for the simple fact that she was unable to refuse them.

Whoever Ito Sesshomaru was, he was rich enough that no one seemed to want to risk returning the gifts if she refused them.

So, she found herself accepting a bouquet of flowers each day as well as other small gifts. Nothing was so large or grandiose that she would feel uncomfortable accepting them—under normal circumstances. Since they came from a client, however, and one whose relationship she'd indirectly caused the ruin of, she wasn't entirely comfortable accepting.

Yet she had to admit that the gifts were thoughtful. He'd ordered lunch sent to her each day as though he was somehow aware of the fact that she often skipped the meal due to work. She had no assistance with the shop unless her friends were free to help, so she didn't have the opportunity to go buy lunch and she didn't have a fridge or microwave in the small shop to bring her lunch to work.

More often than not, she scarfed down crackers or a rice ball whenever she had an empty shop to try and stave off the stomach cravings.

Ito, however, not only made sure that she had food but had evidently insisted that the delivery man not leave until she'd stopped to eat it.

Each of the bouquets he'd sent also seemed to center around one of the scents she'd made for her ship. She hadn't realized he'd been in the shop long enough to study them, but it seemed Ito was far more observant than she'd realized.

She left the flowers in her shop, feeling it was far safer to keep them there and explain she'd gotten them to brighten up the shop than risk taking them home. Not only was she afraid that Ito might misinterpret her intent if she did so, but she also felt that it would be far too tempting to let herself be romanced by the idea if she did take them home.

She sighed. A week had nearly gone by and now that it was the weekend, she worried over how Ito might choose to step up his actions. If he truly worked in an office environment, he might work Saturdays, but she had the feeling that if he'd already rescheduled a meeting to see her, she could expect him to make himself known to her at some point during the day today.

"You've really brightened up the place, Kagome," Sango observed as she walked into the shop, closely followed by her husband, Miroku, who eyed the flowers with a thoughtful expression.

Kagome blanched. She could put off Sango with a few comments about her desire to brighten up the small shop, but Miroku wasn't as easily duped.

"Hmm." Miroku observed the six bouquets of flowers and their charming glass vases that had been sent with them, now carefully arranged around the shop. "I didn't realize the shop was doing well enough for you to purchase arranged flowers, Kagome."

Kagome tried to think quickly, but it was late in the morning and the caffeine she'd had that morning had already begun to wear off—along with the sugared fuel of her breakfast. "I didn't buy them," she blurted and then wanted to kick herself at the knowing look in Miroku's eye. "They're gifts to brighten up the shop."

Sango smiled at that. "I didn't realize you had an arrangement with a floral shop, Kagome. That's great news!" She clasped her hands together as she wandered around, eying each of the bouquets. "They're really well-arranged, too. It says a lot about your brand that you'd be able to get a professional to do this for you, Kagome!"

Miroku kept his gaze firmly trained on Kagome. "Indeed." He nodded sagely. "I did not realize you had an admirer, Kagome. All of these bouquets are quite poignant in their meaning in the language of love."

Kagome flushed and that gave her away as both Sango and Miroku rounded on her.

"No!" Sango immediately rushed forward to shake Kagome. "You kept that from me? I want to see the notes right now, Kagome. All of them."

As Sango began rummaging through the drawers behind the counter—and as Kagome cursed herself for her own lack of ingenuity in hiding the cards that had accompanied the flowers; cards that she hadn't been able to convince herself to toss out just yet—Miroku studied her.

"You have received more than the cards and flowers." Miroku raised a brow as if daring her to argue.

Kagome swallowed but couldn't force the lie to leave her lips. "Yes," she admitted quietly, just as Sango shouted, "Ah ha!"

Sango rounded the counter, her hand full of the cards. "I found them!" She waved the cards for Kagome and Miroku to see and then opened one to read it. "'I want to know everything about you, Kagome.'" She put that card on the counter and read another as Kagome blushed harder. "'I wish to share my world with you.'" She put a second card on the counter. "'The moment I felt your power, I knew you were special, Kagome.' Just who is Ito Sesshomaru, Kagome?"

As Sango put a third card on the counter, the man in question walked into the shop, a quiet chime announcing his arrival as the door swung open.

"Hello, Kagome," he said, his voice a low purr that rumbled through her, and Kagome pretended that she didn't see the lily bouquet in his hands.

She swallowed as both Miroku and Sango jumped to the same conclusion. "You're Ito Sesshomaru!" Sango accused, pointing her finger at him.

"Hnn," the daiyokai confirmed with a small, regal nod of his head.

"Ito Sesshomaru?" Miroku said the name and then paused. "The hotel magnate?"

The daiyokai nodded again, wordlessly confirming his identity.

Sango and Miroku exchanged a look then, likely due to their own occupations. While Kagome's whole world generally revolved around her little shop, both Miroku and Sango were fairly well connected. Miroku was a well-known psychiatrist that catered to the rich and powerful and Sango was one of the few women in an upper management position at her hotel...

Kagome's eyes widened. Sango worked for a hotel owned by a hotel magnate—could that be Ito himself?

"I thought you were dating a fashion model," Sango blurted as her husband nudged her with his elbow.

Miroku held out his hands in a peacekeeping gesture as though he suspected that Ito wouldn't enjoy the prying into his personal life—especially from one of his own employees. "We apologize, Ito," he said calmly, with a silencing look at his wife, who had opened her mouth again. "We were just caught by surprise. We care deeply for our friend and merely wished to ensure that she would not be drawn into a difficult situation."

Ito seemed to consider that and then nodded again, slowly. "You work for this one," he observed, his eyes shifting to Sango as he confirmed Kagome's suspicions.

"I do." Sango licked her lips and opened her mouth to say something else and then seemed to think better of it. After a moment, she added, "Kagome was actually the one who referred me."

Kagome tried not to fidget as Ito's intense gaze shifted back to her. "I worked for one of your hotels in college," she admitted, sensing the question he'd been about to ask. "During the summers, I mean. I worked part-time in housekeeping and then spent the rest of the time helping out at my family's shrine. When Sango graduated with her degree in hospitality, I suggested that she applied and she did."

The job had paid well—well enough that she'd been able to save some money to help open the very shop Kagome stood in while also managing her college expenses, and the schedule had been extremely flexible.

"Hnn." Ito seemed satisfied with her answer because he didn't press her further. "This one is pleased to see his flowers decorate your shop, Kagome." The words were spoken with such possessive intent that Kagome flushed and then felt heat rush through her.

She licked her dry lips, determined to resolve the misunderstanding between them about his intent before her friends became too invested in what would never be. "I appreciate the flowers, Ito," she said, striving for a gentle tone as his golden gaze met hers. Now that she knew who he was and what truly he looked like, it seemed that her reiki would allow her to see beneath his glamor without conscious effort on her part. "But as I said before, I can't accept this—"

"You will," he assured her, the promise leaden in his tone.

She sighed heavily. "Ito—"

"Kagome, Sango and I just remembered that we're meeting her parents for lunch," Miroku said, giving her a little wave from the doorway. "We'll stop by later to help."

She blinked; she hadn't even realized her friends had moved. The traitors.

Miroku winked and then ushered his wife out of the store, leaving Kagome alone with Ito.

"You accepted the flowers," Ito reminded her.

She turned back to the daiyokai before her. "I didn't have a choice—"

"You accepted the lunches as well."

"Ito—"

"And you accepted the other gifts sent to you."

She thought of the stepladder he'd sent so she could stock her shelves more easily and the new purse to replace her own that had been falling apart and sighed again, wondering when she'd become so dependent on sighs to express herself. "Ito," she tried again, relieved when he didn't interrupt her this time. "I'm flattered. I really am. You are obviously quite the catch. But I can't date a client, especially one who came with his girlfriend before—"

"She is pleased with how things turned out." Ito's tone dropped lower as he added, "As are you. You did not believe Kagura and I were suited."

Kagome opened her mouth and then closed it, unable to deny that.

"And you saw a vision," he pressed as she stared at him in astonishment.

How had he known?

"This one saw it, too." He stepped closer, moving just out of reach. If she took a single step forward, she could touch him and the thought tempted her more than it ever should have. "Do you have any idea what it is like to have your every desire, your every need, shown to you, presented to you, offered up to you, and then have someone try and pull it from you?"

She opened her mouth again but nothing came out. His every desire?

He closed the gap between them, moving to place two fingers under her chin so he could tilt her head back to more fully look into his eyes. "It is cruel," he rasped. "It is the worst form of torture, Kagome. Every time you deny what could exist between us, it carries a sharper bite than the sharpest sword I own. Do you understand? I desire you, Kagome. I desire you because of who you are, because of what we could have, and because I know with every fiber of my being—as youdo—that what we could have together would bring the greatest joy."

"Ito—" She was momentarily surprised at the huskiness of her own voice. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Ito, I can't—it's not ethical—"

"Kagura has found her own happiness," he reminded her, making no other move to touch her though her body longed to feel the warm of him against her. "Why are you so determined to ignore your own? Tell me what you desire, Kagome. I will find a way to give it to you."

Never had a man offered her so much and yet she readied herself to deny him once again. As she opened her mouth to form the denial, he let the last of his walls down, showing her the stark desire that burned within him.

She gasped and suddenly, as his free hand moved to run through her hair, she found the shop and daiyokai before her faded away.

"Mom!"

Kagome turned and smiled as she saw her son approach her, his silvery hair escaping the tie at the back of his neck. Here in their home, he didn't need to hide who he was anymore than his father.

"Dad's almost done with dinner, right? I'm starving!" He put his hands on his stomach for dramatic effect before turning to groan as his sister caught up. "You're so slow, Yuri!"

Yuri playfully smacked her younger brother. "And you're so loud, Daichi. The neighbors can hear you down the street. You're going to wake the baby." She rolled her eyes with the dramatic flair only a preteen could pull off and Kagome once again reflected on the conversation she'd had with Sesshomaru several weeks back about which of their twins would be the bigger headache as a teen. Yuri had her father's cunning but Daisuke was far more vocal.

And both were as beloved as the baby in her arms, their newborn Haruto.

Kagome chuckled. "Your father needs help setting the table."

Daisuke immediately grinned as he challenged his sister, "Last one there is a rotten mushroom!"

And just like that, the twins were off, followed by their quieter brother, Kenji, who unlike the twins, was six and far more observant than his older siblings. Like his father, Kenji preferred to take everything in before deciding his course of action but once his mind was made up, he rarely could be deterred.

As the children raced in the house, Sesshomaru looked out the bay kitchen windows and met her gaze, offering up a quiet, loving smile.

This, she knew, was love.

"Kagome?"

Kagome blinked as Ito appeared before her once more, a stunned expression on his face. "You saw it, too," she breathed as she noted he wore the same smile as her vision for just a moment before he looked at her in astonishment.

He didn't say a word as he pulled her into a fierce hug. "Do not say no," he pleaded, his voice low and urgent. "Do not take this from me, Kagome. Please. Say you will be amendable to my suit."

Her heart broke at the plea and the desperation she heard behind it and she heard herself give her agreement without stopping to think about why she had been so adamant on her refusal just moments before. "Yes, Sesshomaru."

She didn't know if it was her acceptance or the fact that it was the first time that she'd uttered his first name, but Ito suddenly crushed her to him, holding her in a fierce hug for several moments before he allowed her just enough freedom to kiss her.

It wasn't love, not yet, but she knew in her heart that it would be.