I don't own these characters.

Warning: this fic earns that M rating right now. If that's not your thing, come back for the second chapter.

Second warning: this fic is going to have some yuri/femmeslash in it later on, so if that's not your thing, you might want to turn back now.

Out in the Open

1: Breakfast

Sesshomaru groaned as he felt movement against his body. He knew what it was and discovered that such action was better than having an alarm clock, or worse depending on the circumstances. His body noticed the smallest motion and woke up almost instantly because of it, which was fine when he had work, but it was not fine on the weekend, which it happened to be.

He opened his golden eyes and caught the usual culprit that stole his sleep from him, Kikyo. What a lovely thief, his mind commented, causing him to smirk despite the fact that he was awake and he was all too aware that it was early in the morning. She was trying to get out of bed without waking him, as usual. Such a silly doctor.

"Beloved, where do you think you're going?" Sesshomaru inquired while pulling the pale female to back him.

Kikyo yelped in surprise because she had nearly made her escape, thinking that she would accomplish her goal of leaving the bed without rousing him for once. She had yet to manage such a trick, believing it to be close to impossible, but she continued to try. She braced herself as she gently collided with his bare chest. He held her securely to him and settled back into his pillow, planning to go back to sleep.

"Sessho, release me," she commanded in a soft tone, so it sounded somewhat like a request.

"I think not, woman. It is your day off as it is mine. We're going to lie here and enjoy the day," he declared as if his word was law.

"By sleeping it away?" she inquired in a skeptical tone. She did not see what was so enjoyable about that.

"By sleeping in," he corrected her.

"Lazy dog," she teased him with a smile.

Sesshomaru only made a noise, not bothering to sink to her level for the moment. He just made sure that the arm pressing her to him continued to do so. She made a rather pathetic attempt to resist him, knowing that the only way for her to really get away was for him to voluntarily release her or for her to blow his arm off with her spiritual energy. The latter was not really an option though considered that she liked having her love whole. He glanced down at her, entertained with her actions.

"You make it seem as if you're unhappy lying next to me," he commented in a cool tone.

"I was going to get up and make us breakfast if you must know," she informed him, thinking that might make him reconsider holding her captive.

"If I wished to eat something this morning, I wouldn't have to travel to the kitchen for it," he remarked and that got her to cease pushing away from him.

"Filthy dog," she muttered with a coy smile.

"Do not dare to act so modest now," he playfully admonished her and then his hand wandered, making her yelp as it came into rest lower in her body. She jumped a bit, against him, which caused him to smirk. "You see, you're not so reserved. Don't pretend," he taunted her.

"Stop playing around, Sessho," she reprimanded him now. She even lightly struck him in the chest. The blow did not have enough power to count as anything more than a caress.

"Then why don't you just allow me to sleep? You're acting selfishly."

"I'm being selfish? I was trying to make breakfast for the both of us."

"I told you, if I wanted to eat something this morning, I wouldn't have to travel to the kitchen for it. Now, settle down and let me enjoy the fact that we actually have the same day off," he stated.

Kikyo did not argue that point because it was a good argument. They often did not have a day to themselves because she went to work quite often on the weekends because she wanted to assist in the little clinic where she was employed. Sometimes he got stuck with work because he could not come up with ideas for logos, or mascots, or whatever he was working on, so they did not spend as much time together that they would have liked.

They did make it a point to have lunch together at least twice a week; she had the same setup with her older sister and that was why she could not meet with him more often. They went out to museums and shows every now and then. What they did not do was just lounge around the house as they were doing at the moment.

Sesshomaru was in favor of lying there and doing nothing because that was part of his ritual when he did not have work. He liked sleeping as late as he wanted if he was not required to be somewhere the next day. He wished that she would get into such a habit, but Kikyo was actually creature of movement, much to his annoyance when weekend mornings came around.

He had never assumed that when Kikyo moved into his condo that there would be such irksome side-effects, but there were far more benefits than anything else, so he was pleased that she had moved in a few months ago. It showed that she had faith in their bonds and their relationship only grew closer when she did move in, although they did have to make some adjustments and they were still doing such.

Kikyo decided to settle in next to Sesshomaru, if only to experience what it was like to sleep in. She was not accustomed to just lying in bed and doing nothing, let alone lying in bed, curled up next to the man that she loved deeply. Even when she was in school when she was younger, she did not sleep in on weekends. She found things to do, ways to keep busy. When she was married, she never wanted to be in the same room as her husband whether they were asleep or awake, so she usually attempted to leave his presence as soon as possible. Now, she found herself with a reason to stay in bed.

She rested her head on the noble demon's bare chest and laid her arm across his torso. He breathed a sigh of relief, as if he was only now able to relax because she was not moving. He waited a moment to make sure that she was not going to act up and when he saw that she was done, he closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

Kikyo glanced up at Sesshomaru when she noticed how even his breathing was. She was stunned that he had so easily drifted back to sleep. She would have tried to do the same, but she felt awake, like she did every morning that she woke up. She supposed that she was still in the habit of waking up and being ready to run out of the apartment to avoid having to see her husband, who had been dead for over a year.

She wished that she would work her way out of such a custom because she never desired to run out of the apartment on Sesshomaru. She should be glad to have the chance to just lie next to him, she realized. It was something out of a dream and the fact that she was accustomed to being out of bed the moment that she woke up was ruining it, she believed now that she had the chance to think about it.

She began to lightly trace the demon's body that was underneath her slender fingers. Her hand was near his collar bone, so she ran two fingers over that. She waited to see if he reacted because she did not want to disturb his sleep again, but he did not move. So, she pressed on.

She went to the edge of his collar bone and then moved lower rather than continuing across. She circled the curve of his right pec and noted how smooth his skin was. He had a softness to him that she would never tell him about because he would take offense to it and though it would be quite cute to watch him huff about it, she would rather be kind to him…for the moment anyway.

Her hand traveled further south and made it to his abdomen. She traced the cuts of his abs, first with her fingertips, but then she eventually had her whole palm on his stomach. He twitched a bit in his sleep, but he did not wake up. When she got to his bellybutton, she returned to touching him with her fingertips. She circled his navel with her index and middle fingers as if it was the most fascinating thing that she ever laid eyes on.

She contemplated continuing on her journey downward, but decided against it. She was a bit shyer than Sesshomaru would give her credit for most of the time when it came to nudity and sex; well, nudity in regards to sex anyway. She was not looking to molest him in his sleep and even if he was awake, she would hesitate to touch him any lower than his bellybutton. She was not sure what it would take for her to get over such prudishness, but she knew that she was not over it yet. Sesshomaru thought that he had worked her out of all of her apprehension toward physical intimacy, especially considering some of the things that she did with him, but he would not mind knowing that she was still a bit of a prude.

The dog demon had enjoyed being able to work Kikyo into a mindset where she did not think too much about being nude before him or doing certain things with him. Knowing that she was not totally comfortable yet, merely meant more work for him and he would love every second of it. He was pretty sure that she would enjoy it just as much as he would.

Kikyo now figured that she could try to go back to sleep. She released a long exhale as she closed her eyes. She did drift back to sleep, but when she woke up, Sesshomaru was still sleeping. She expected as much. He would probably sleep his life away if given the chance, she thought.

His little sister claimed that both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha would sleep forever if they could. Kikyo would back that claim from what she knew about both brothers. It was probably the only thing that they had in common aside for similar appearances, but no one would dare say such a thing to the brothers because no one wanted to hear the outraged rant that would surely follow.

The raven-haired doctor was not sure what she should do now that she was awake again. She doubted that she would be able to go to sleep again. She felt completely awake and now she wanted to do something. Maybe she could get some sketches done while Sesshomaru slept. She would like to do some work in her sketchpad because she had not done any drawing for a while, being busy at the clinic. Even when she was home, she usually did not pick up her drawing book. She had forsaken drawing to spend time with her love.

Well, while her love slept, Kikyo thought that it might be a good time to get some sketching in. She started to slowly move away from Sesshomaru, but she did not make it very far. He flexed and pulled her to him. She had look up at him to see if he was still asleep and it appeared that he was. So, she attempted to escape once again, but he held her close and made an irked noise.

"Sessho…" she whispered, checking to see if he was awake.

"Why must you torment me, angel?" he inquired in a low voice of his own.

"I have not done anything to you, beloved," she replied.

"You have awakened me twice now. That is something. Just be still."

"I see, you wish me to lie here all day while you sleep. How selfish," she commented as if she was offended by his behavior.

"It is selfish that you continue to take sleep from me by moving around. Must you be so active on a day where you have nothing to do?" he inquired as if he was insulted by her behavior.

"I would find something to do if you would only release me. I have no problem with you spending your day in bed, but I don't want to be a part of that," she informed him in a civil tone.

"Oh, no?" he asked as if he could not believe it.

"No."

Sesshomaru smirked a bit. "I think I'm going to have to make you change your tone, angel. You should always want to stay in bed with me all day, as I wish to spend all day in bed with you and that's why I'm not going to release you," he explained.

"Sessho," she admonished him and she started moving, as if she was going to get out of the bed, but his grip just tightened on her.

"Don't resist. We can compromise. I want to stay in bed and you want something do, correct?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"Okay then."

Kikyo did not consider what he meant until he shifted her on top of him. She made a little surprised noise as he moved her to where she was on his waist. He put his hands on her hips and now she had a rather clear idea as to what he meant about staying in bed, but having something to do. She was not going to object to the plan.

"Why did you have to go to sleep in that?" he asked, referring to the "pajamas" that she was wearing. She had on one of his plain white dress shirts of all things.

"Don't you always swear that you like to unwrap your presents?" she countered with a small smile.

Sesshomaru smiled a bit. She had such a bad habit of throwing his words back at him. He did not mind peeling her out of clothing, mostly because he liked the way she looked while he did it. She seemed as interested in watching him take her out of her clothes as he seemed in getting her nude. He was not sure why that was, but he enjoyed watching her watch him.

"I suppose I can take the time to slowly unwrap this gift," he decided.

"Oh, please do take your time. We do have all day," she reminded him.

"I wouldn't forget that and I will take my time," he vowed, slowly and gently caressing her arm just to give her an idea of the pace that he planned to go out for the rest of the day.

Sesshomaru sat up enough to place a tender kiss to Kikyo's mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the embrace. He then moved his hands to the buttons on the shirt that she was wearing. He broke the kiss and she looked down to see what his hands were doing. He focused his golden eyes on her face while she was watching what his hands were doing.

He took his time unfastening the top button, although his mind was screaming at him to hurry things up. He would not do that, though, not when Kikyo looked so absolutely curious with what he was doing, even though she knew. The look in her mahogany eyes made it seem like he was planning something that she had never seen before and that she thought it was impossible to do. And the expression did not leave her face until he undid all four buttons that she had closed.

Kikyo then turned her gaze back up to her lover's face and he leaned down for a new loving, kiss. He brushed the shirt off of her shoulders and then flung the useless cloth away from them. While the shirt fluttered to the floor, littering the clean room, Sesshomaru's hands began to wander her bare torso. Kikyo's arms went back around his neck.

She caressed his shoulders as he moved to massage her breasts. She hissed into his mouth slightly as he made contact with her flesh. He knew that she would make more noise than that when he began his mission as he started to stroke the underside of her left mound. She cried out a bit more and he decided to add more pressure to get more of a reaction.

"Sesshomaru…" she said his name in an inhaled hiss, breaking their kiss.

He only smirked while moving in to start another kiss and continuing his assault on her body. He remembered when he first found out that Kikyo had a sensitive, little sweet spot underneath both of her breasts. The way she had fallen back that day gave him the idea that she was finding out about the points for the first time too. He had made the remark that he might have broken her from the way she behaved, which she had not found terribly amusing. Those spots were now pretty much permanently marked red.

"You know you're the only one for me, right?" Sesshomaru asked as he pulled away from her slightly.

Kikyo only nodded in affirmation, which was good enough for him as he moved his mouth from hers to travel down her neck and beyond. He meant the words that he spoke. She had to be the only one for him the way that he thought about her every hour of every day. Sometimes, he could not even work because she was on his mind and he had to call her to find out what she was doing with herself. She did not mind the attention.

Kikyo was like him in that regard anyway. She thought about him constantly. On occasion, she would zone out in certain places, just thinking about him, including when she was having lunch with her sister. If she had a break between appointments, she would spend all of her time on the phone with him, even if he had been working when she called.

Their families claimed that they were acting like they were each other's first loves, as if they were teenagers. They would disagree with the latter part, but they did think that the first love argument might hold ground. They had never felt the way they did about each other with any other person on the planet. They hoped that the feeling never waned and that their love would outlast the universe itself.

Sesshomaru made his way down past Kikyo's neck and began to place cotton-soft kisses to her chest. He never spent too much time at her neck because he did not want to leave a mark on her pale flesh that might be seen. She was a respected doctor, after all, and he did not want anyone to develop a negative image of his beloved just because of a few affectionate bites from him. Skin that no one would ever see was fair game, though.

Kikyo hissed again as his hands and mouth felt like they were everywhere at once, like he had more than one set. His mouth traveled to her right breast while his hand continued to keep the other company. He teased her a bit by tracing the natural pink bull's-eye on her flesh, trying to get her to make a move. He knew that if he taunted her enough, she would do just what he wanted her to do and she did. She moved her hand from his shoulders to the back of his head and pressed him closer to her, which caused him to smirk before obliging her silent command of more.

In the past, she would have requested or even begged him to not tease her. He did not want her words. He wanted her actions. He desired to know that she was not scared or nervous to do things around him that might seem a bit improper. If she wanted more, she had a right to demand it or move him to where she wanted, as he would do with her if necessary.

He applied pressure with his mouth around the special gem in its care and then added to things by gently rubbing her sweet spot. Kikyo cried out again a little louder than before and held him tighter, so he went further with more suction from his mouth and more fervent caressing with both of his hands. Kikyo fell backwards as if she was diving into a pool, breaking their delicious, precious contact. He looked down at her as she realized what happened.

"Now, how are we supposed to be active if you're going to lie down on the job?" he taunted her.

Kikyo did not respond as she was too busy trying to catch her breath. She knew that those touches were coming, yet they always managed to send her into a pleasure overload when they arrived. She did not have much time to contemplate that matter because Sesshomaru was not looking to give her time to recover. He lifted her back up to where she was sitting on top of him and then he settled back against his pillows.

"Maybe it would be safer for you if you were the one doing everything," he suggested.

"Really?" she asked skeptically. It was a rare day indeed when he was not looking to touch her in every lewd and licentious way that came to mind.

"You're the one that wants something to do. I was just looking to sleep in, remember?" he pointed out.

Kikyo nodded. So, she was expected to touch him? She was not even sure where to begin. She leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his mouth, which he accepted. Her small hands lightly roamed his chest like feathers at their own leisure. They ended up stopping at his stomach, which she knew he enjoyed having caressed, even though he tried to pretend otherwise. He thought that liking to have his stomach rubbed seemed too close to being a canine than he liked. Still, she stroked his abdomen and got a soft whimper out of him that let her know he was pleased with what she was doing.

Her hand went lower without permission from her brain and came into contact with the waistband of his boxers. She wondered if he noticed and looked into his eyes. His gaze told her that he had noticed and urged her to continue on. She gave him a puzzled look in response.

"Go ahead if you want to," he told her in a gentle tone that was reserved just for her.

She nodded and proceeded onward because she was curious. As much as he touched her below the waist, she had always been timid about doing the same to him. It seemed inappropriate for one thing and for another thing, she considered that she might actually hurt him because it was such unfamiliar territory. She kept eye contact with him as she reached somewhat unknown land.

He exhaled a bit as she touched him so lightly that it might as well been a small breeze caressing him. He gave her a hard look, letting her know that she could and should do more than that. She obeyed, still curious as to what she was doing. She ran her fingertips up and down the length of him, earning a frustrated growl and a pleading look. She countered with a confused look; what more did he want from her?

"Don't be frightened," he informed her. "You know there's nothing wrong with what you're doing," he added in case her modesty was getting the better of her passion.

He was right, she reminded herself. She moved more confidently now, remembering that he touched her down there all of the time. She continued to stare at him, still appearing nervous, but he was paying less and less attention as time pressed on. She eventually wrapped her hand around him and he started moving with her. And then, he suddenly stopped her.

"Sessho, what are you doing?" she asked as he grabbed her hand. She wondered if she had done something wrong. She knew that she should not have bothered with trying, she scolded herself. She had no business there.

"This is driving me mad. I've got to have you right now," he answered with a slight pant.

"What?" she inquired as if she did not understand. She had expected him to tell that he just wanted her to stop what she was doing because it was irksome or something to that effect.

"Right now," he repeated in a serious tone.

Kikyo did not say anything to that and he took care of the two cloth barriers between them. He impatiently just cut her panties from her with his claws because he did not want her to move from where she was; it was not the first time that he had done such a thing and they both doubted that it would be the last. He gripped her hips and gritted his teeth as she repositioned herself on him.

They both had to release an exhale before anything else, expressing the sheer delicious feeling coursing through both of them. They looked at each other, seeing and touching the other's soul because of their union. She moved first, rolling her hips, and he joined in, moving in time with her. Before long, they were both making noises, mewing sounds and moans from her while he grunted and growled. Hands urgently wandered pale, sweat-covered bodies while names occasionally escaped from mouths that hardly realized that they were speaking.

As they drew closer to the finish, Kikyo bit her lip so badly that she drew blood. Sesshomaru had to remove his hands from her person or he would have clawed her back deeply. She fell onto his chest and placed an affectionate kiss to his torso. He wrapped his arms around her, as if saying that he would never let her go, which she appreciated. They both silently promised to always be there for each other.

"Was that enough activity for this morning or are you still looking for something to do?" he inquired once he caught his breath. He doubted that anyone would ever believe him if he told them that petite, little Kikyo could wear him out if given enough encouragement.

"I don't know. Are you still planning to sleep the day away?" she countered, caressing his sides since that was where her hands had taken up residency for the moment. She licked the small crimson stream that was coming from her injured lip.

"How can I sleep with you behaving the way that you are?" he teased.

"Oh, yes, blame me," she commented dryly.

He only smiled; she was the only person that he smiled for. How could he even think of sleep if she was lying before him bare and ready to allow him to touch her soul again and again? Being with her in any way was the very definition of paradise; she would say the same of him. The more time that they spend with each other, they were starting to believe that love did not even cover what they felt when they were together.

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Next time: well, there was the romance. Let's get into some drama when Sesshomaru is asked to chaperon around a demon princess visiting from overseas.