Chapter 23 The Gravity of Love

Kagome couldn't look away from Sesshoumaru, his motionless form almost seeming like a mirage except for the soft fluttering of his clothes and hair in the breeze.

His face was still and his eyes blank, but only at the surface. Beneath that they were dark and wild, and shadows flashed darkly and whirled by in the bronzed depths. It left her feeling as if she was staring into the heart of a storm and she shivered, not sure what it all meant.

That slight movement seemed to break the spell; Sesshoumaru started and his gaze became even more intent and focused on her.

"Why?"

She blinked rapidly a few times with surprise and then shook her head. "What?" she asked carefully. He didn't seem angry, and she didn't want to send him there by making him wait for the answers he seemed to want.

He gestured impatiently in the direction of the well, his eyes still intent and grim on hers. "Why?" he asked again, this time with a low growl that she didn't miss.

Her shoulders slumped. She was wrong - he was angry, and she sighed as she tried to figure out how to answer him. After staring at the ground for a few moments she just started speaking, hoping to somehow find a way to soothe his upset.

"I... it was the only way to do what had to be done, Sesshoumaru," she said miserably. "You know as well as I do the jewel had to go. I didn't want to, you know. But I had no choice!"

He regarded her stonily, searching her eyes for answers. "What did you do to get rid of it?" he asked, his voice almost bored as though he didn't even care about the answer to that, but Kagome knew better. She could feel it - that odd connection they'd shared before she'd been forced to leave was beginning to reawaken, and she could feel his tension though she wasn't a hundred percent positive what it was in regards to - a desire for her to leave again, or a desire for her to stay?

Her fingers toyed with the hanging sleeve of her robes, a nervous habit she'd acquired in the almost-year she'd been gone.

"I made it take me to my time so that the absence of any real magic in my world would drain its power, as well. Then I purified it, and when it was as dead as possible Midoriko's soul was able to escape it and go to her rest," she reported obediently, anxiety sharpening the usually soft tones of her voice and making her break off and cough uncomfortably.

That occasioned a reaction from Sesshoumaru. He tilted his head to the side and frowned, puzzled. "What do you mean that in your time there is no magic?" he asked, taken aback. Such a thing wasn't possible, was it?

"Just what I said. In the time I came from things are very different. I didn't even know I had any kind of power until I came here." She looked away uncomfortably. "Just take my word for it - in that time the magic is pretty much gone from the world. And it worked anyway, so now the jewel is gone and can't be used or corrupted by anyone ever again."

"Hn." He pondered on what she'd said for a few moments, watching her, his eyes still remote. "You could have simply allowed me to defeat that foolish jewel. Do you lack faith in me, that you would leave me behind in such a manner with not even any explanation?"

She glared fiercely at him. "No, I don't 'lack faith' in you! But you can't defeat everything, Sesshoumaru! Even if you'd destroyed the jewel's little puppet it wouldn't have finished off the stupid thing - this was something that only I could do. You can't exactly purify things, you know!" she said, her tiny hands clenched angrily.

He bridled a bit at that fact, knowing it was true but not liking to even tacitly admit that there were things out there that he couldn't defeat himself. He sniffed haughtily, his nose lifting just slightly in the air. "You would do well not to underestimate me, woman," he warned a little snidely before dropping the subject.

"Oh for kami's sake, Sesshoumaru," she stormed, her temper and over-stretched nerves getting the better of her, "is that all you have to say to me after almost an entire year?!"

Suddenly she was stumbling back as Sesshoumaru was no longer across the clearing but right in front of her, the only thing giving away the fact that he'd even moved the silver locks floating around him in the breeze generated by his passage.

"No, woman, that is not all I have to say to you. But I find that words can wait for later," he added, his voice going low and husky and almost making Kagome's knees go out from under her. They would have if he hadn't taken hold of both arms and practically yanked her into his arms. "Unlike myself."

Kagome was almost positive she hadn't even blinked before they were no longer on the ground, Inuyasha's forest and the Goshinboku disappearing beneath them as the daiyoukai crushed her to his chest and took to the skies in a burst of effervescent youki.

"Where are we going?" she asked tentatively after a few moments, and shivered again as his arms tightened on her and he pulled her unresisting form closer to his chest, mindful of the sharp spikes of his armor so as not to hurt her.

"Home," he answered distractedly, trying to keep from ripping her out of those ridiculously voluminous miko's robes right then and there.

"Oh," she whispered before falling silent, to his intense gratification. He was no longer interested in conversation - now it was time for something else... something he'd been waiting for well over a year now to have, and he was done with that.

No, now it was time for action and she was more than ready for that as well, as he could tell very easily from the suddenly heated scent she was giving off. Were he a weaker being he would have groaned at the pain from his highly aroused body, but he was not and so he merely inhaled deeply of the exciting scent of her and sped up, suddenly impatient to reach the western palace and claim what was his - what had been his since that very first meeting so many months before.

Kagome squeaked in shock when she was all of a sudden tossed into the air only to land on the futon taking up the center of the room Sesshoumaru had entered, the shoji that opened to the outside sliding closed behind them as she looked around in curiosity. She momentarily misplaced the daiyoukai in the order of her thoughts as she looked around the room warily.

Wow... this place is a bit on the dark side, she thought, the highly polished dark wood of the floors echoing the restrained color scheme of the room. The bedding was all black silk with silver accents, and she had to say it suited its obvious owner very well, because she could just imagine how luscious the daiyoukai would look spread out over his bedding.

She almost swallowed her stomach at the accompanying visual and her heart flip-flopped inside her. Oh, my lord...

"Wh-what are you doing?" she croaked, her mouth suddenly dry as she noticed him again and sat up on the futon slowly.

"What I've planned on doing since the very beginning, miko," Sesshoumaru rumbled as he began methodically stripping out of his armor and weaponry and setting it all aside before crawling up onto the futon after her, pausing as she shrank away from him a little. "Stop, Kagome," he barked sternly. "I have been as patient with you and this whole situation as I am capable of being and I will tolerate no further delays. You are mine, and now it's finally time to prove that to you and everyone else in a manner that can never be refuted by anyone again."

He covered her in a rush, molding their mouths together before she could say a word return. Kagome blinked, startled to feel his tongue invading her parted lips so quickly. What... oh... she trailed off wonderingly as his skilled assault on her senses banished all rational thought and her mind went hazy.

This is so good... "This is what it feels like to have an adult male pleasuring you, Kagome," a rumbling voice spelled out as though her mind had all of a sudden found its own set of vocal chords, and it took her a minute to realize that Sesshoumaru had merely echoed the beginning of her own thought. For a minute there I thought he was reading my mind...

She shuddered at that thought even as it faded into the mist in her mind and disappeared as Sesshoumaru slipped his tongue back into her mouth for a few seconds, then slipped back out with a last, sliding caress of the roof of it, causing every last bit of her self-awareness to fade away. She was his willing slave now, instinct taking over as her mind shut down and allowed her to respond to the already nearly feral daiyoukai's touches with an innocent sensuality that completely destroyed Sesshoumaru's higher reasoning right along with hers. He ripped the rest of their clothing away with eager hands and molded their bodies together from head to toe, pleasure rushing through his system with an effervescent flash as their flesh pressed tightly to each other for the first time.

He purred seductively as their legs tangled together, inviting her virginal though not chaste or uncertain touches. He was marked, after all, with stripes that led the way to all the places that were most sensitive on him - his arms and shoulders, his ankles and knees, and most of all his lower abdomen, hips, and buttocks were painted with guides for her to follow.

She did so quite happily, and he allowed it because it would lead her away from any timidity and she would lose herself in her desire and his own, forgetting to be nervous or worried. Such emotions had no place in this arena, but unfortunately most virgins were nervous, and he knew that it was to be expected.

Kagome's lack of such fear - so far, at least - was most fortuitous for him because it meant that she had completely surrendered to him and had no inhibitions, no concerns that what she was doing was not what she ultimately wanted.

She was completely his already, even before he'd claimed her body in the way of males and females.

Sesshoumaru was a painted god. To Kagome's awed eyes, what hid behind his clothing was a body that even a kami would envy. Crimson and the same flawless blue of his crescent, his stripes were slightly different in texture than the rest of his skin, and also felt a little warmer. Tracing eager fingers over his bicep and shoulder stripes she leaned up with a murmur as he lay quiescent over her nude form and ran her lips along those same paths, smiling just a little with satisfaction when he shivered.

He growled low in his chest at that little bit of provocation but didn't stop her fingers or lips from their devastating path down his shoulders and upper chest.

With a small blush she looked up and met his eyes as her finger came to the end of the stripe over his shoulder and slid along his collarbone, sending a responsive shudder down his spine.

"What do they mean?" she asked huskily.

He tilted his head. "They mark me as a poison wielder. Is it not the way of nature to warn others away from attempting to attack with bright colors in mortal animals, as well?"

Kagome blinked, some of the haze fading from her eyes for a moment as she thought about that. "Some, I suppose. But more often than not bright colors and glorious plumage tend to mark the males so that they may attract a female," she replied.

A shrug was her answer. "Then do they not fulfill two functions?" he asked. "For they are serving that very purpose right now in attracting my chosen female to me and my body. Either way, it appears that nature knows what it is doing, ne?"

"I suppose," Kagome returned carelessly as she went back to what she'd been doing. Unable to reach his abdomen since he was still pressed against her Kagome reached around to his hips and buttocks and began running her fingertips along the stripes located there - she'd already memorized their path and her touch was dead on.

Another shudder and she looked up at him as she drifted her nails over his colored flesh again just to see him shiver at her touch. Heavy-lidded, sensual eyes met hers and she shook in an instinctive reaction of her own.

"They're more sensitive than your unmarked skin," she stated, though there was just enough of a question in her voice for him to hear it.

"Yes," he murmured as his desirous eyes ran over her flushed features. "They are erogenous zones."

"Hm," was all she said, until a sudden mischievous gleam entered her eyes and she leaned up, nipping just sharply enough to be felt without marking his skin at the end of the stripe on his collarbone.

The reaction was instantaneous. Sesshoumaru tensed and then practically slammed his mouth down on her teasing smirk, forcing his way inside and dominating her with one stroke of his tongue along hers.

Kagome moaned as the daiyoukai kissed her deeply, imprinting his taste and the texture of his tongue on her own. Until the day she passed into the netherworld she would know the taste of the Lord of the West - and be owned by it.

She was so taken with that kiss that she didn't even notice at first when he lifted his body away from her just enough for his hand to go searching. She noticed quite well when those wonderfully elegant digits began tugging at a dusky nipple, however, and she went entirely limp as they repeated those tugs in time with the motions of his tongue in her mouth.

Washed away by the eroticism of the moment and how good it felt for him to finally be touching her as he'd promised he would one day, Kagome simply followed along with him, no words being needed. He tore his mouth away from hers finally, slipping down over her chin and wreaking havoc on her neck.

He blazed a path from one side to the other, making sure to leave a visible mark in the hollow of her throat. From there he moved down, his body following suit and slinking sensually over her inflamed flesh as he lowered purposefully towards his goal.

When his plushly male lips surrounded her other nipple as his newly returned hand cupped it fervently up into his fanged jaws, Kagome keened mindlessly, savoring the feel of his tongue with a pleasure and passion that was almost pure in its licit abandon.

Sesshoumaru rolled the tight bud in his mouth, savoring the flavor of her until now male-chaste flesh. She tasted so clean, so sweet that it was almost wicked and as his taste buds exploded with the taste of her breasts he growled.

The daiyoukai was in no way prepared for what that growl wrought.

Keening even louder she twisted and bucked against him, and the scent of her arousal almost seemed to explode from her tender mound, clouding Sesshoumaru's mind with lust as it swirled in the air around them.

It seems she enjoys such sounds - and though I don't know why, I don't really care. It works to arouse her, and I will be keeping this fact in mind for future use.

Sliding down further he nipped the tender flesh just below her navel with slightly rough fangs, leaving a red mark behind that he soothed with a slow lick, and then he was burying his nose in her folds.

She smelled so good to him, here at the heart of her that he nipped her again, this time on her nether lips, and he smiled in anticipation as he slid his tongue slowly out of his mouth and took a long, lush lick from the entrance to her weeping sheath to the sensitive knot above it.

Kagome's lungs collapsed as his long and slightly rough tongue slid over her most private of places and the most she could do was plead silently with her lover for mercy, because the pleasure was so intense that hot chills ran down her spine and throttled her vocal chords. She wasn't sure if she'd ever regain her breath or be able to speak again.

But Sesshoumaru seemed to understand; after that first long, decadent lick he lifted his face and looked up at her unfocused, pleading eyes and smirked with dark promise.

"Oh, do not worry, my sweet - this is all merely the very beginnings of what is to come. You will not sleep much this night - if at all, for I've been forced to wait far too long to have you. Prepare to become intimately acquainted with the concept of ultimate pleasure, my wife."

Surprised into silence by what had just come from his mouth, Kagome blinked hazy, unfocused eyes and cleared her throat.

"Wife?" she managed to get out.

"In either language, wife or mate, you are mine. What is to quibble with in such a fact?" he asked rhetorically as he lowered his head again.

Kagome convulsed as his talented tongue slipped inside her and promptly forgot what they'd been talking about.

~oOo~

The things that Sesshoumaru did to her during that long, impossibly pleasurable night were nothing like anything she'd ever heard of.

He wasn't happy until he'd tasted every inch of her heated depths, and it seemed as though he spent hours just devouring her, spinning her through orgasm after orgasm until she'd lost count entirely of how many times he made her body submit to him - and that was before he'd even taken her.

She'd had no idea he could put his mark on her in so many ways before true intercourse, but she learned very quickly that when he fell upon her in such a manner all she could do was lay back and let him do as he pleased.

And do as he pleased he did, mapping all of her body from her tiny toes to her dainty fingers and everything in between. He delighted in discovering her erogenous zones, a pleased rumble coming from him whenever she responded particularly well to something he was doing to her.

But as he discovered when he ran just the tips of his deadly claws over the skin at the base of her spine, some areas should be left for last, because she went absolutely wild when he turned her over and the first thing he touched was that one, tiny area. She pressed back against him and then rolled back over, wriggling frantically with little pleading noises escaping her until she was positioned more or less where she needed to be for him to take her, and pushed up into his welcoming hardness.

Stunned, Sesshoumaru came out of his pleasure-seeking haze just long enough to realize that he'd just been taken when his breath was forced out of him as he slid between sleekly muscled walls, bottoming out within her as she grasped his backside and pressed into him. He felt her barrier break as he slid in to the hilt, but even as his eyes widened with concern that she would be hurt her muscles gripped him tightly and then squeezed.

Shocked, he jerked at the feel and looked down at Kagome to ask if she was alright, only to find no sign of pain in her expression, only a nameless, formless hunger that she could not articulate, but that he understood anyway. Purring again as he pulled back and thrust forward carefully when she showed no sign of pain or fear, merely ever-growing desire, he started slowly building a simmering heat between them.

Time fell away as both lost themselves in the soft and equally hard rhythms of lovemaking, nothing existing but the pleasure and passion between them. Sesshoumaru drove her up one peak and then the next, spinning fire through her blood and sparks across every nerve in her body. The entire time he kept his gaze locked with hers as his eyes blazed down with an intense expression in them that Kagome was bewitched by.

A haunting cry was ripped from his throat as she tightened her muscles around him, neither a growl nor a snarl but something filled with indescribable pleasure and emotion, and she gasped - she wanted to hear such a sound again.

Hot and slick, silken clenching muscles...

Finally losing all control to the inferno burning his blood in his veins Sesshoumaru began the final push to ultimate pleasure as he lost the patient quality of his thrusts, now pounding helplessly into her plaint and welcoming body as she tightened unbearably yet again around him, only goading him on even more.

The sight of him like that, no longer the controlled, icy aristocrat but a male helplessly but willingly ensorcelled by her body caused Kagome to lose it as well, and a broken scream was ripped from her throat as pleasure surged up like a tsunami inside her and washed her away, exploding in her mind and leaving her floating unconscious in warm darkness as Sesshoumaru spilled inside her.

He was in little better shape, slumped over her form as his weakened in a release he'd been waiting over a year for. Barely conscious himself, he just managed to roll them over so that he would not suffocate her before blacking out as well. He felt the intense pleasure in every cell of his body and even his great strength was not proof against such, and he welcomed his bout with the petite morte with open arms, knowing that he was perfectly safe to let go completely with Kagome.

There was no more reason to hide himself away from a female in his bed, because she would be the only one in it from now on, and if she couldn't be trusted with everything he was then no one could.

Kagome woke on her back and still panting, and as she lifted her head sluggishly and looked at her lover she knew she'd been right all the way back in the beginning when she'd realized that by the time he took her she'd be his willingly - because here she was, his and more than willing to be so.

Funny how time could make such a difference in opinion - back then she'd been afraid of the idea of being his and wanted to get as far away as possible from Sesshoumaru. But now the fact of belonging to him was welcomed and wanted - fervently, even. She shook her head after a moment and then let it drop back to rest on the pillowy futon beneath her. Feh.. I'm too tired out after that to care about all of that damned angst I went through in the beginning. He wore me out, the dog. She rolled her eyes at herself. No pun intended...

She tried to hold back the laugh that thought induced, but wasn't entirely able to stop it; instead it almost sounded as though she'd tried to stifle a sneeze that then turned into a cough and was only partially successful. The momentary hope that her new lover was still too caught up in his euphoria to notice was gone when he stirred next to her and looked over, one brow already in his bangs.

"What was that sound, little mate?" he questioned with narrowing eyes as she refused to meet his gaze.

Damn it! "Oh, it was just a chuckle. I was thinking about something that happened after we first met," she responded quickly, not really willing to verbalize what she'd been thinking about - it would only make his head swell even bigger than it already was, and it was big enough to begin with.

But Sesshoumaru wasn't about to let her get away with such an evasive answer, and he rolled atop her again, pinning her to the futon with both his body and his eyes.

"I do not think so, Kagome. You are not getting away with it that easily. You will tell this one exactly what made you sound like that, and you will do it now... or you will pay," he finished, a terrible smirk crossing his face at the last few words to come out of his mouth, and she knew then that he was actually hoping she would refuse to tell him.

Since she'd planned to anyway, she was in a bind of her own making - not that it was an unpleasant bind, by any means. Her first moans were met with a widening of that predatory smirk and overly self-satisfied air on the part of her lover as he began wakening her body once more.

Damn it all! He really is a dog!

... oh, that feels so good... but I guess I am, too.

"Oh, do that again," she moaned aloud, and with a terrible smile full of pride he did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

~oOo~

It wasn't until two days later that Sesshoumaru got around to asking about the jewel and her time at home in her birth era.

"When you returned through the well you had the slightest scent of this one on you," was his conversational gambit, and Kagome, lifting a small porcelain pot filled with water over her head to wet her hair paused, a little surprised at the topic - especially now, while they were bathing.

She turned around to face him in the soothingly hot water after pouring the water into her hair, that surprise clear for Sesshoumaru to see.

"Ano..." she trailed off, uncertain whether she should say anything, but then she shrugged mentally. What did it matter if she told him - he already knew, obviously. "Yes. We're still alive in my birth era. You came around a few times to see me and keep me from losing all hope of the well reopening." She paused, going over to the side of the sweet outdoor onsen he had in the middle of his garden and picking up her shampoo. She continued after beginning to lather it in. "I never saw anything of our circumstances there, and I didn't ask. But you were always expensively dressed, so I can only assume that we are at the least well off and comfortable in our lives."

Sesshoumaru cast her an almost offended look. "This one was not even questioning such a thing - as if this one would lose his wealth and become little more than a beggar."

Wrinkling her nose in slight irritation she looked away from him. "I was not implying anything, you know. Just stating a fact. So... was there a point to your question, then?"

"Hn." He kept his eyes on her, glowering just a little at her snarky tone. "You stated that there is little to no magic left in your world. And yet I am there, and I would never give up my power. So you are wrong - there is still power in your era."

She blinked, taking that in. And then she frowned. "Well, that's true enough,I guess. I could never see you giving up your power and basically becoming like a human. But yet my plan worked. I guess-" she broke off for a moment as she thought about it, "-that youki might still exist, but since no one believes in such things anymore, sorcery and the use of magic has pretty much disappeared. And so magical artifacts really don't have anything to draw from and are unable to function there because of that."

"Interesting," Sesshoumaru hummed in response, looking thoughtful. "It seems to lead to the conclusion that magic cannot exist without belief. I had always thought such things were simply indigenous to the world... but possibly I was wrong."

Ducking her head under the water to wash the soap away, Kagome thought about what he'd said. It did seem to lead to the conclusion that it wasn't the magic that was gone, merely the belief in it, and that belief was the basis for such things to begin with.

"I guess. It worked, and that's all I cared about in the end, anyway," was all she said when she came back up, flinging her wet locks over her shoulder.

"When did you realize what you had to do to be rid of that foolish bauble?" he asked, his tone almost carefully indifferent now.

But Kagome knew better - he was very interested in her answer. This was probably the real question he'd wanted an answer to and had just started with an innocuous question so she wouldn't realize it.

"About halfway through your battle with its puppet," she answered tightly, not liking to remember that painful time nor the subsequent year she'd been parted from him. "Why?"

"Hn." He eyed her carefully for a moment and then let that question go, though he seemed pleased about something in what she'd said, since a tension she hadn't even noticed released and he finally relaxed fully for the first time since she'd come back.

"I told you I didn't want to leave you and I meant it," she said quietly. "But sometimes what we want can't be for whatever reasons, and I had no choice. I did what I had to do. It's over and now the last of those things keeping us apart are gone. So can we not talk about it anymore? I don't like remembering all of that..." she trailed off with a shiver.

He said nothing more and Kagome took that as his assent, going back to happier thoughts as she continued her bathing.

A content silence fell and the two completed their grooming in a quiet companionship that felt wonderful to Kagome and suited Sesshoumaru just as much.

They'd been through a lot since that first meeting so long ago, when an angry, jealous, and fierce inuyoukai lord came after his younger brother for a sword that in the end wouldn't have done him any good even if he'd gained it. He'd grown and changed a great deal since then, she had to admit. So had she, for that matter.

She looked up when a hand appeared in her vision and met his gaze for a moment before smiling a little and taking it.

"Come. It is nearly time for the morning meal, and you will definitely need the energy you will gain from your consumption of it."

A beautiful flush spread over her skin at his words and the fact that his eyes were glued to her wet body. She sighed.

"You really are a dog."

His eyes flashed red and a toothy smirk crossed his face for just a moment.

"You state the obvious, little mate. Yes, I am most definitely all inu... and yes, you should be prepared for everything that means, because it will be your reality until the day kami force us from life."

Kagome giggled all the way back to their room, though a part of her was contemplating the activities of the last few days and groaning.

By the time that happens I'll probably be thanking kami for the reprieve!

Tapping a finger against her lip as Sesshoumaru began gathering his clothing, Kagome smiled innocently. "Yes... I'm really going to need some energy - I've got to go back to the village and let everyone know I'm still alive and whatnot. I'm sure they're worried by now."

Sesshoumaru scoffed. "That will not require much energy from you, mate, since I am the one that will have to take you. No, all your energy will be spent in... other, more pleasing ways," he rumbled deeply, a hint of arousal coloring his tone of voice.

Underneath the pale skin that housed her soul the energy that she was made of pulsed and then pushed up towards the surface in preparation.

Sesshoumaru felt it and smiled inwardly - a dangerous smile of anticipation and approval.

The energy housed inside her would definitely be useful in their lives together...

In more ways than one.

Owari

~oOo~

A/N: And it's DONEEEEEEE! Yay! I'm so thrilled to have finished off one of my stories! Of course, all that means is that I'll get to start posting on something else. No lazy days for me, lol.

On a serious note, you've probably all noticed that some things weren't answered. I decided to take a page out of reality's book and leave things that way. No one ever gets all their questions answered - that's life. So I left some few things up in the air - I do hope that no one is offended by this.

Amber