The sun had been nearly non-existant for several days now, and Kagome was beginning to wonder if she'd ever see sunlight again. She sat quietly with a large cup of her favorite blended coffee, looking out the window of her shop as people readied themselves for the impending hurricane. Shaking her head, she took a large sip of her coffee, truly savoring the flavor in case she didn't get any for awhile. Then, as she placed the styrofoam cup onto the counter again, the phone rang in the back room.

"I really gotta move that out front again." So with a sigh, she got up from her chair and walked briskly to the backroom door and leaned around the corner to pick up the phone. As she answered though, she didn't hear the front door open and shut.

"Higurashi Tattoo Parlor, Kagome speaking." He looked quite out of place amongst all the artwork and the mess of sticky notes with numbers on the walls. He wore black slacks with a blue undershirt, and his suit jacket was hung lazily over his shoulder. The only things about him that seemed to fit in were his shocking golden eyes, his long silver hair that hung in a low ponytail, a single earring, and the strange markings on his face.

"Alright, just bring the drawing in tommorow and I'll have it readied...yeah...no problem...okay, tommorow then." Hanging up the phone with an overly dramatic sigh, she turned away from the backroom and squealed when she saw the man standing in the doorway.

'Woah, they don't make them like that anymore...' Seeing him raise an eyebrow as he finally looked at her, she cleared her throat and thrust her mind from the gutter.

"Sorry, I guess I didn't hear you come in. Is there anything in particular you wanted?" The man nodded before laying his jacket gently over a nearby stool.

"Yes, a friend of mine said you do custom tattoos." She nodded as she reached under the counter and pulled up a large binder.

"I sure do! These are samples of pervious custom jobs I've done." He walked over the counter with what looked like a portfolio in his hand and he began to glance over her pcitures she'd taken of the finished works.

"You have a fascinating technique. Did you attend an arts college of some sort?" Kagome had a gut feeling this man wasn't one to give compliments so she decided to let his strange tone slide.

"Nope. My family is on the poor side so I never attended any college at all. Sure, a few classes I needed to open the shop, but nothing big. Besides, I'm sort of a legacy. My father was a famous artist." The man glanced up at her through his silver bangs, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat as she finally got to see his stunning eyes up close. But her moment disappeared when he spoke.

"You wouldn't have needed college. Trust me, I'm a college professor at a local arts college and some of my students are just plain and ordinary. Sure, some of them may have talent, but most are a waist of time due to the fac they're more worried about partying and other things. An artist should be focused on their art alone." Kagome nodded with a thoughtful look as she walked over and grabbed her coffee again.

"True, an artist should focus on their work. But they shouldn't get too wrapped up in it. Take me for example, I haven't talked to most of my friends in months and I'm starting to regret it since I work here alone most of the time." The man looked over his shoulder at her as she took a sip with a strange glimmer in his cold, golden eyes.

"Most artists are lonely in some form or another. I am no exception." Not understanding why he was telling her this, he turned and began to observe the pictures again.

Her skill truly amazed him. In every picture there was the finished tattoo and the rough sketch held up next to it. On several, she had fixed several things to make the tattoo better or to simply add onto something that was too plain. One particular one that caught his attention was a dragon that was on a man's back. The rough sketch had been crinkled almost beyond repair and the detail had been poorly done. But she'd taken that rough sketch and turned into a masterpiece that had taken several visits to finish form that caption below it.

"You truly are dedicated." He didn't see her shrug as she took another sip from her coffee and walked over to the counter once more and pulled her long raven black hair into a high ponytail.

"Well, do you have a sketch ready?" He nodded before playing his portfolio onto the counter and opening it up and removing a single paper. "Woah..."

He actually drawn out the whole area of the body he wanted the tattoo to be in. It was a strange, maroon tribal marking that went from the front of his right hip and arched beautifully to his right shoulder blade. Usually, Kagome fought the urge to roll her eyes at tribal tattoos, but this man before had taken something trival and overdone, and had brought it back to life in a blaze of glory.

"Some of the details can be left out if this will take too long. I can understand if..."

"No! I would not butcher this in a million years! Usually I hate doing tribal tattoos, but you've created a masterpiece here! I think you missed your calling as a tattoo artist Mr...umm..."

"Taisho. Sesshoumaru Taisho."

"Woah, even your name is hella cool. Lucky." He chuckled at her faked pout, finding this girl's prescence to be a pleasant one he could get used to.

"Yes, but many think it too...abnormal. Not many people want an employee with a name like mine."

"What?! How could someone not want a guy with a name that means 'The Killing Perfection' working for them?!" He chuckled again at her sarcasm, and he realized he hadn't felt like this in some years. Contented was one word for it.

"Yes well, I just got lucky not many people know Japanese at the college. At least, none of the staff do." She smiled it him with a giggle, glad that she could awaken a slighlty playful side in the professor.

To her, he didn't seem the type to converse much. She could tell he usually remained calm and collected with a mask of ice firmly set on his face. But as he chuckled and grin with her, she felt a strange sensation in her stomach at being able to make him act like this.

"Come on, let's get you situated before this 'monster' hurricane decides to plow through the city." He chuckled again as she led him over to a large chair.

"Yes, what a joke it would be if I came to class with a half finished tattoo." She laughed as she motioned for him to remove his shirt. She turned as he began to remove his dress shirt and white tank top beneath, collecting several bottles and clean rags.

"I think quite a few of your students would get a kick out of that. Now lay on your stomach so I can start with the more intricate part." She turned just as he turned towards the chair, and felt a large "gulp" form in her throat when she caught a slight glimpse of his front.

'Crap, this guy's gonna make me drool as I work!' Cursing her line of thought, Kagome shook her head and wheeled her stool over to his side before depositing her untencils on a metal tray.

"Alright, this is gonna be pretty cold so try not to jump." She heard something akin to a snort come from him as she uncapped her cleaning solution and began to swab over the area on his back that was specified.

Every once in awhile her fingertips would graze his skin lightly, and Kagome bit back a groan. His skin was flawless and smooth, with taught muscles just beneath the surface. Normally, she was completely focused on her job, but this man was doing something to her that made her wary of him.

'This girl is going to make me die. Simple as that.' It was true. With every light scape of her small nails. He felt a strange tingle in his skin and spine, and he had to fight the urge to shudder.

He'd never been one to melt under the touch of a female, but this girl, whether she meant to or not, was igniting a strange fire within him he'd never felt before. He'd been with many woman, physically and emotionally, and none had made him feel like this. What threw him the most was that they had just met.

'Rin has made me soft...'

"So...since this is gonna take awhile, tell me about yourself." He could hear a nervous crack in her voice and he fought the urge to smirk. At least he wasn't alone in this predicament.

"I have an adopted daughter, for starters."

"Really? What's her name and how old is she?"

"Her name is Rin, and she'll be seven in a month." As he finished, he felt her fingers graze a particularily sensitive spot on his back and he hissed.

"Told you it was cold! But, she's probably adorable! I wonder what she'll think of your body art." She giggled at the thought and she heard a light chuckled come from him as she leaned back and dipped some more of the solution onto a swab.

"She'll probably ask if she can draw on me too. She's quite the young artist."

"She probably wants to be like her daddy. I know I did. My father was my idol when I was growing up, and when he died I vowed I'd never give up on my art. After that, I went through a huge artist's block for around two years. Then one day I met my best friend, and he opened my mind again. He became my muse."

"A male muse?"

"What's wrong with that?! Besides, he wasn't very ordinary in...hey, wait a minute! He looks kinda like you!" She heard him chuckled at her astonised tone.

"If his name is Inuyasha, then he is my half brother." Kagome nearly fell out of her chair.

"Holy crap! Yash has mentioned you once or twice, but I never thought I'd meet you! This is weird..." He chuckled again as she capped the cleaning solution half way and leaned back. "Okay, now I'm gonna start on the marker. If you're ticklish, tough. You're just gonna have to deal with it."

"Oh no, not the tickling. Save me." His dry, sarcastic tone made her laugh as she grabbed her black marker and undcapped it.

"One time I had this big, macho dude in here. He was a total biker guy. But when I started using the marker on his neck, he giggled like a little girl." Sesshoumaru chuckled as she laughed. But when he felt her hands on his back, he froze and the tingle erupted in his skin once more. "Hold still."

He felt the marker tip come in contact with his skin, and he realized she did all her art by sight. Most tattoo artists had to trace the art onto the appropriate place, but she was simply looking at his sketch and drawing it out. But that strange thing about it was that he trusted her to not make any mistakes.

The marker raced across his skin in tantilizing strokes and her fingers grazed right along side it sometimes. The tingles in his skin had suddenly turned to a slight warming sensation and he fought back the urge to groan. Never in all his years had he felt this way with a simple touch. How beautiful art could be. This process went on for some time, and Sesshoumaru felt as though time had stop. But apparently that was not so because she suddenly slapped him playfully on the shoulder with a laugh.

"Don't fall asleep on me! Now come on and turn over." Doing as he was told, Sesshoumaru flipped onto his back, the tingles in his skin having a good ol' time as he fought back another groan.

"I was not asleep and..."

"Now this will probably..." They spoke at the same time, and stopped at the same time. For both of them were in quite a predicament.

'This doesn't bode well...' Sesshoumaru had eyeful, that much was for sure. He hadn't even noticed she'd removed her long-sleeved, black shirt and she was only wearing a small white cami that gave him a full view of the gifts God have given her. But that was not the only thing that made him falter.

'Oh God...Oh God...Oh God!' Kagome, who's face was beyond mortified, had been attempting to step over his legs to reach a newer bottle of her cleaning solution and as he had turned over she'd become stuck due to his knees and height. In other words, Miss Kagome Higurashi was currently straddling a very surprised Sesshoumaru with her cleavage in plain sight.

And they both knew it.

"Um..." The sound was not even marginally intelligent to her ears, and Kagome cursed herself mentally

'Nice going Kagome! Now he thinks you're a horny teenager! He'll probably...EEP!' She stiffened when his golden orbs locked with her blue ones, slightly hazed and lacking the ice she'd seen earlier. The gaze was fierce nevertheless, and she swore she could feel heat coming directly from his gaze. The golden orbs swirled with so much in those few moments. Confusion, surprise, need, loneliness, and above all else, lust.

"Um Sesshou..." But Kagome's sentence, whatever it was supposed to be, disappeared as she felt a pair of velvety lips smash into her own. Her breath, which she now realized had been ragged, hitched in her chest and her eyes flew wide. Her mind was screaming in rebellion, and yet the sinful little tingles in her skin were saying otherwise. Then, as Sesshoumaru began to nibble on her lower lip, Kagome felt all reserves of sanity or modesty flee to the back of her brain as her eyes closed and she sighed into the kiss caused by an accident.

In all his years, not even during college, Sesshoumaru had never felt lips like hers. Soft and tender to his own, and so delicious he fuzzily thought that she was a strange, exotic drink he'd surely get drunk consuming. Now Sesshoumaru had been with many women, none really lasting longer than the single night he'd spent with them. Whether they bore him to insanity or were simply so disgusting he couldn't handle them, he'd never really felt anything for any of them. But the fiery passion, the all consuming burn that he was feeling at the moment as this young woman straddled him made him want to hold onto her and never let go.

She was an artist, just like himself, and she knew of the loneliness, of the overbearing oneness, that one should expect to feel when one chose this profession. But now, as he sucked on her lip and brought a small sigh from her once more, he realized that he didn't feel lonely around this girl and that for some reason the ice around his heart caused by many years of a hard start in life was melting faster than butter left out on a porch in the middle of a Mississippi summer.

Kagome felt like she was in heaven. The tingles were slowly growing into a warming sensation and vaguely she could hear her subconscious nagging at her as she began to let her hands wander across his chest, make circles and another random shapes. His skin was smooth and almost scalding to the touch, quite a nice texture in Kagome's mind. Slowly, almost painfully slowly for the male beneath her, Kagome settled herself into a full straddle and decided that for once her clumsiness had paid off. But just as she felt a moan coming from within her, it turned into a groan as Sesshoumaru suddenly pulled away.

"Wouldn't it be best to turn over the sign?" Kagome, feeling something close to fuzziness in her mind, nodded and quickly stumbled over to the door and turned over the "open" sign to the "closed" side. But as she turned around she squealed and came in contact with a rather hard and bare chest.

"Jeeze, I didn't hear you get up. Did you honestly have to...Ack!" The warmth over and arm under her butt made her start slightly as he lifted her into another lip lock. Instantly, and with little thought, Kagome instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist as they let their lips battle each other and he began to step backward slowly.

"Bed...in loft...to the left...and up..." She spoke breathlessly between kisses and she felt him nod as he turned left and up the stairs to the loft she currently lived in. As they reached halfway, Kagome felt him nibble on her lip again and this time it was filled with such need and desire that she simply sighed and opened her mouth against his.

Sesshoumaru tasted every inch of her, reveling in the exotic delicacy that was Kagome. She was a feather as he held her with one arm, using the other to guide him up the stairs. He was slowly falling in love with every detail of her body. The way her back curved, the way her legs fit around his waist, and especially the way her perfectly sized breasts brushed against his bare chest through her thin cami and lacy bra. Suddenly he felt the door handle for the left and he thrust open the door without a thought, grazing his tongue along the side of hers as he did so.

He found the bed faster than he thought he would, and he nearly chuckled when he discovered it to be a queen sized one. Apparently she loved to sleep comfortably. Oh, there would be none of that, and he would make sure of it. He heard her sigh as he sat on the bed and leaned back until he lay flat on his back with the small wonder known as Kagome straddling him once more. Once more her dainty hands began their torturous paths up his stomach and to his chest, smoothly gliding over every rippling muscle as his breath began to become ragged and harsh.

"Kagome...you are murdering me..." She laughed quietly against his lips, her breath warm against his skin.

"Am I?" She suddenly sat up, making his eyes open half lidded as she continued to trace her hands across his stomach. A mischievous grin was set on her face and her cheeks were tinged with pink that was a result of not her modesty, but her lust that was clear in her smoky blue eyes. "Well then, I'll just have to prolong this torture now won't I?"

Sesshoumaru couldn't make anything but a deep groan escape him as her right hand lowered past his stomach and clasped his hearty erection through his slacks and captured his lips once more. His hands, which he had thought were immobile for some time, moved of their own accord and began to slowly remove the satin cami from Kagome's body, forcing her to release her warm hold on him.

Once the flimsy piece of material was off, it was sent flying against the room to land on the wood floor. But before Kagome could resume her torture of Sesshoumaru's body, she squealed slightly as he turned the tables with a grin that spoke of hell in her case and allowed himself to get comfortable as he straddled the young woman under him, being careful not to crush her tiny, yet very pleasing, body.

"My, my! The little vixen has had the tables turned on her, and punishment shall not be merciful." Kagome sucked in a breath as Sesshoumaru lowered his head and began to leave open-mouthed kisses along her collarbone, growing steadily lower with each caress of his velvet-like lips.

She felt an ache deep within her, one of such need and overpowering desire that her hands began to impatiently clench Sesshoumaru's upper arms, making him chuckled as he continued on his journey to her right breast. His hot breath sent tingles through her skin and down her spine, making her shiver as she numbly registered that he had somehow removed her lacy, flimsy excuse for a bra.

He heard her make something akin to a hiss as he took her right mound into his mouth, teasing the other with his left hand while he kept himself stable with the right. She arched up to his mouth, her need overriding her sanity, and he smirked into her flesh at how he could affect this little female. Feeling that she'd received enough torture on one breast, Sesshoumaru smoothly settled over the other and switched his hands.

It was torture. It was murder. And she was certain she'd murder him soon if he didn't get on with it. But there was also part of her mind, still not the reasonable side of course, that wanted him to continue the torture so she could bask in the warmth of feelings and sensations she hadn't felt in quite some time. Kagome was by no means a virgin, having lost her innocence on her twenty-first birthday, but she'd been through a dry spell that would have driven any male mad. She'd been so consumed by her art, so lost in her own little world, and she was sick of being alone and without someone there to make her feel special.

But as she arched once more against Sesshoumaru's tender ministrations, she realized that she felt more than just physical attraction with the man above her, and that maybe, if she was right, he felt the same for her.

Two artists who'd been abandoned by their friends and families, even if they had in fact pushed them all away, were suddenly lost in a fantastic world all their own. They shared everything with each other in those moments. Their loneliness, their frustration, and their creativity that Kagome noticed as Sesshoumaru trailed strange and mysterious strokes, like that of a paintbrush, across her left breast and slowly down onto her stomach as his hands began to explore her body once more.

"Sesshoumaru..." He heard her whisper his name breathlessly and it did things to him he never thought possible. Her skin was so smooth and creamy to his touch, and he found himself aching to feel more.

'Damn it all...' Slowly he sat up, bringing her with him with one hand on the small of her back and the other cradling the back of her head as he once again began a war between their tongues. Once he was sure she'd stay upright, Sesshoumaru let his hands wander down to the waist of her baggy jeans. Slowly, almost agonizingly slowly for Kagome, he placed his hands in between the dark denim and her creamy skin, slowly pushing down as she managed to sit up higher, continue to explore his mouth, and allow him to remove one of the last pieces of clothing keeping her hidden from his exploration. When he heard the denim hit the floor, Sesshoumaru allowed himself to break him from her lips and drink in her appearance.

So lost in her was he that he didn't even notice her removed her black sandals and reach for the belt of his slacks.

"You gonna drool or are you gonna help me baka?" Sesshoumaru frowned at her in a playful way as he accommodated to her will and allowed her to remove his slacks, thanking whatever Gods or entities that were watching that he had somehow removed his shoes in the stairwell.

Then, with a single thrust of her arm, his slacks and boxers were gone and across the room on her desk chair.

Their lips met in a clash of passion, neither side overpowering the other as they leaned back down onto the bed. There was so much emotion in that kiss. These two artists, whom the world seemed to have forsaken, were suddenly overwhelmed with a deep understanding of each other, and a deep need to never let go. Neither wanted to separate from the other, and neither wanted to go back to the real world where the artist never won. They'd lost friends, opportunities, and jobs for their art. Both were tired of being alone, and yet both knew they'd never give up on the one thing they loved the most.

Their art.

Kagome moaned as she felt Sesshoumaru's hand cup her center, and she once more grasped onto his upper arms in desperation. Slowly, causing the deep ache within her to grow, he began to tease the bundle of nerves below his hands. She arched up to him as he continued to tease her, moaning and gasping her approval.

"Sesshoumaru..."

She let out a loud, long groan that slowly faded into a hiss as he slipped two of his long, artistic fingers within her easily. He quickly set a pace of slow pumps, making her squirm beneath him with her eyes closed in complete ecstacy. As she gasped out his name once more, he leaned down and captured her lips tenderly. His pace continued as he explored both caverns of her lovely little body, her sounds of approval muffed by his lips. But Sesshoumaru felt whatever patience he'd had left in him disappear as one of Kagome's traitorous hands made it's way to his ready and waiting member, her dainty nails scraping scorching trails along its length as he released her lips and let a slow groan of his own.

Kagome's mind was complete haze as she guided his staff to her entrance, his hand long gone and gripping the bed sheets since she'd begun her own torture upon him. Then, as though some kind of thought had ran through his mind, Sesshoumaru opened his clenched eyes and stared down at her through half lidded, golden eyes.

"Kagome..." He pressed into her with a single, harsh thrust and she let out a scream of complete ecstasy.

She'd never felt anything like it. Sure, she'd had her share of partners and all, but the way he fit inside her sent her over the edge and beyond. Her whole body seemed to spiral into oblivion and all there was left was this all-consuming pleasure.

"Kagome, open your eyes." Kagome, barely hearing his raspy voice in her mind, slowly opened her eyes as she felt Sesshoumaru lift her hips up closer to his, fully sheathing himself within her.

There were no more words needed as he slowly began to pull out of her, only to thrust himself back in, making her moan as she continued to stare into his heated eyes. Their eyes remained locked, so much emotion and cloudy lust for the other hidden there. His pace quickened and she soon had to fight to keep her eyes open as wave after wave of erotic sensations rocked every inch of her body. Soon enough she was simply forced to hold on and enjoy the ride as his pace went faster than any she had ever experienced.

"Sess...shou...maru..." He thrust into several more times with a grunt of acknowledgment before suddenly sitting up and bringing her with him until they were sitting straight up, face to face, and eye to eye.

"Sesshoumaru?"

"Hmm?"

"Harder..." He simply smirked as he began his thrusts once more, noticing for the first time the thin, slick layer of sweat slowly coating them. He studied her face as he kept going, putting of his peak as he watched her eyes fight to stay open. Her face was flushed and her struggling eyes were dark and cloudy. He watched as she let out a small scream of pleasure, her face contorted into such a vision of beautiful erotica that he groaned himself.

"Kagome..." She didn't seem to hear him, and he realized why as he felt her walls begin to clench tightly around him. Oh, how he had missed this.

"Sesshoumaru!" He thrust harder and faster as she screamed out his name, still trying to put of his own peak as hers came in a wave that shook her whole petite body. Her tiny nails were clearly leaving their mark upon his back and shoulders as she gripped him in her ecstacy. Her eyes were closed and she moaned loudly as she continued to bask in the sensations she hadn't felt in almost two years, her body still shaking in its reaction.

But as she opened her eyes and felt him pull out of her, she let out a slight squeal as she was flipped onto her hands and knees.

"You gotta be shitting me..."

"Hmph..." He pressed into her once more, making her bite her lip in an effort not to scream again. For Kagome had never seen herself as one to scream. But as he began to set yet another machine-like pace, she nearly laughed when she realized that this man was somehow changing that. So, after basically say "Who gives a flying fuck?!" in her foggy mind, Kagome let out a scream of pleasure as Sesshoumaru let out his loudest moan yet.

'She's so tight...' Finally, after holding it off for far too long in his opinion, Sesshoumaru thrust as hard as he could, making her scream his name once more, and let his climax take him over the edge. He threw his head back, his long silver hair pooled behind him on the bed for the hair tie was long gone, and simply remained still as their bodies shook and their breaths echoed harshly within the loft.

Finally, after several minutes of complete silence, Kagome let out a nearly inaudible laugh.

"Woah, I gotta remember to do tattoos for hot college professors more often." Sesshoumaru chuckled as he pulled himself from her and laid down on his side, Kagome following in more of a flopping fashion as she face him with a goofy grin planted on her flushed, slick with sweat face.

"Hn, you are a strange one Kagome." She laughed quietly and cuddled closer to him, closing her eyes as her breathing began to slow. Sesshoumaru had to fight back a chuckled as he felt her body go limp with sleep, but the chuckled as all but forgotten as he simply brought her closer to him and closed his eyes and joined her in the wonderful world of sleep.

Haze. That's all there was of her mind as she felt her limbs come back to life.

'I swear, I'm never going drinking with Sango and Miroku again.' Slowly, not really wanting to wake up, Kagome opened her heavy eyes and let her vision focus as she tried to remember anything.

'Ok, I remember being bored at the shop cause there were no customers. Then this guy came in and...oh...' She blinked as her memory finally came back to her, as well as a nicely rosy blush, and she sat up in a flash with her arm holding her black and red comforter to her nude body.

"Where is he?" He wasn't beside her anymore, and that's when she suddenly noticed that all the candles in her room were light and casting deep shadows throughout the room. Which in itself was saying a lot because she must've had an army of candles and each time she lit her room like this it took quite some time to light them all.

"Ah, my Mona Lisa is finally awake." She turned her head to quickly towards his voice she was sure she might've pulled something, and she saw him sitting in her favorite recliner with his large sketch book propped up on his knee that was crossed over his other leg. He wore only his slacks and his silver hair was cascading in shimmering waterfalls all around and over him.

"Me? Mona Lisa? How so?" Her tone was playful for all its tiredness, and he chuckled lightly at just how much of an endearing creature she was.

"You see, all I've been able to draw or paint for some time are simple things like the tattoo I came here to get. Although, I can't really judge that drawing since it did get me quite a reward." Kagome's blush darkened considerably. "But suddenly as I watched you sleep there, I was inspired."

He motioned towards the sketchbook in his lap, and out of curiosity, Kagome rose and brought the comforter wrapped around her like a toga as she walked over and kneeled at his side to see his work. What she saw made her gasp.

"It's...me..." And it was.

It was the exact view of her bed from where he sat, every little detail of the room brought to life on paper. The shadowing was flawless, even with the flickering candlelight she was sure was spread over her and the bed. Apparently he was quite the Da Vinci when he had charcoal in his hands. But the whole picture wasn't just of that view. He'd also added in a close up of her sleeping face in the upper corner like a small collage. Every detail of her face, even the small scar from her childhood just under her left eye, was portrayed in a way she never thought possible. The candlelight from the night stand near her head had given her a strange glow about her face, and he'd made her look like some heavenly being that she surely wasn't. All in all, Kagome was in awe.

"Sesshoumaru, I..."

"I want you to have it. You have given me a gift and therefore I feel indebted." Kagome turned to him with wide confused eyes like a young doe and Sesshoumaru chuckled as he set the sketchbook and his utensils on the table and cupped her cheeks in his hands with a strange, bright light in his eyes.

"You understood me like no other before you, let me confide in you and in return confide in me. You showed me that I was not the only person in this world who felt the way I did, so utterly alone and forsaken. You brought me back to life in less than a day, and for that Kagome, I am eternally grateful." His voice held a tone so heart wrenching as he spoke of his pains and grievances that Kagome knew she was crying even without feeling the crystalline droplets run down her cheeks in the flickering candlelight.

Her tattoo parlor, her home, may have been named after her family, but her family had next to nothing to do with it. Her grandfather, who was still deeply rooted in the old beliefs of Japan, had disowned her from the family as soon as she had graduated from high school and told them all that she was opening the parlor. She had tried many times to come back home, but each time he turned her away. But what hurt more was her mother's face as she watched her only daughter be turned away from her family. She hadn't spoken to her mother or grandfather since.

But her younger brother was in constant contact with her, sometimes stopping in after school since he was now sixteen. Just a few days ago he'd actually stayed with her for three days, the cause being that he too was slowly becoming a black sheep of the Higurashi family. It seemed as though she'd be having a roommate very soon.

Kagome sat still as Sesshoumaru's thumb caressed her cheek in a loving way, and as she looked into his golden eyes, she was at a total loss for words.

"Sesshoumaru..."

"Stay with me." Kagome's eyes widened as she gasped and looked into his eyes for any false interpretations, but she found none and she felt her heart begin to beat wildly as he began to speak again.

"Live with me Kagome. Be the one person there for me, the only person who understands me, and the only person who can keep up with me. I've never asked anything to this extent of anyone, and if you would be with me, I'd never ask for anything again. Will you? Will you be with me?" Kagome felt a quiet sob fight its way to the surface, and as she let it out, it was simply covered up by the tremendous sound of cracking wood and breaking glass.

"What was that?!" The noise suddenly filling the loft forced her to yell as she jumped up and ran over to her dresser, pulling out new undergarments, a black mini skirt with studs around the waist, a black tank top, and a long sleeved fishnet undershirt.

"I don't know! I think it came from downstairs!" Sesshoumaru spared her a glance before rushing down the stairs to assess the situation.

As she pulled on her clothes and searched frantically for her black boots, Kagome suddenly realized that it was raining so hard it reminded her of hail back in her California home. Finally she pulled on her second boot after finding them under her desk, and she felt a deep dread build in her chest.

'Please, let my art be safe!' She sprinted from the room and down the stairs, squealing loudly when her toes became wet just five steps from the bottom. She looked around the room and felt her dread grow as her eyes widened and began to tear.

"My work..." The room was steadily flooding, the water rushing in through the front window and a large hole in the side of the shop. Sesshoumaru suddenly came into her vision, his arms laden with binders and folders of drawings and paintings.

"I grabbed what I could! The water already has a strong current! If I stay in here any longer...Kagome!" Fear clenched his insides into little balls as she suddenly dove from the steps just as he reached her.

Sesshoumaru watched for her tiny frame to surface, his eyes the widest they'd ever been. He felt as though his chest would burst and let his pounding heart bust free from its cage, but he kept searching. Then, just as he was about to go after her, he saw her come up for air over by the front door, her arms obviously full of more artwork.

"Kagome! Get over here! You'll get yourself killed!" But she shook her head as she simply threw the art to him in their boxes and binders with an arm many profession female softball players would kill for.

"I'm not leaving without my work! It's my life Sesshoumaru! It's all I have left!" He caught the items thrown at him, but grew worried when he was finally able to look foward again because she had once more disappeared beneath the murky, muddy water rushing into the building. Suddenly she came back up again, thrusting more binders and such at him.

"Kagome quit this madness!" But she simply ignored him and dove again.

The water kept rising and some of the pictures on the walls began to come off and float into the water as well as her equipment. That's when Sesshoumaru understood her line of thought at the moment. Copies and equipment could be replaced, but art that came from the artist's very soul could not. Each piece of art was unique and he could suddenly see why she was so desperate to save her work.

"Come on Kagome..." His heart lightened once more as she surfaced again, a bright smile on her face despite the mud and water. But before either of them could move, the sound of cracking wood echoed in the room again and their eyes became glued on the only wall left undamaged in the parlor. It was splitting down the middle, water rapidly beginning to flow through the growing crack.

Sesshoumaru's heart plunged into the depths of his stomach as Kagome's terrified scream rang out over the rush of water and cracking wood.

"Kagome!" She was struggling to stay afloat in the current, but at the same time she was refusing to give up her binder. She worked so hard, he could see it in her face, and yet she only moved closer to the opening in the wall.

"Sesshoumaru!" He felt so helpless as he watched her drift further away, for he knew he could do nothing. He was doomed to watch the woman who'd captivated him disappear beneath the muddy waters caused by a hurricane's wrath.

"Kagome! Stay up as long as you can!" He her scream out in pain as a wooden chair collided with her and drove her even closer to the gap.

That's when his heart stopped in his chest and her raven head disappeared beneath the murky waters just as she reached the gap in the once art covered wall. But then his heart thudded to life, as did his vocal chords.

"Kagome!!"

"Excuse me Sir? I need to get your name." He looked up at the young man, finding him to be in his late teens, and felt nothing but a deep numb as he answered in the simplest fashion.

"Taisho. Sesshoumaru Taisho." The boy nodded and left Sesshoumaru alone once more where he'd been for several days now.

After she had disappeared, he knew he could do nothing but take her art to the loft and barricade himself in there. His heart had clenched painfully as he lay there in her bed, listening to the rush of the murky water that had taken her as it rose higher and higher. He stayed that way for what the rescuers later said was two days, and on the morning of the third day, the rushing water suddenly quieted to barely a trickle.

The flooding had stopped. As well as the rain.

He was rescued a few hours later. He'd given them some trouble, that much he knew, when he'd refused to leave without the art. But in the end they'd given in and loaded it into the truck with him and a few other people. After several more hours, Sesshoumaru found himself in a sort of refugee camp off the side of a highway. They gave him food and water, warmth and shelter as well. But he couldn't acknowledge or think of anything else than the woman he'd watched disappear beneath the water.

After that camp had been two more before he and thousands of others were transported to a sports dome nearby. But apparently Fate was against them there as well because the dome's roof collapsed and they were quickly moved to Houston, Texas. At first he had considered putting up a fight and stay in New Orleans to search for her, but he shook the thought away when something told him he should go foward.

And he did.

So here he was, in the Astro Dome in Texas, tucked away from everyone else in a dark corner with several blankets and all of her artwork. He felt so numb, so cold, and for several days now he'd been having this sinking feeling within his very soul.

Sesshoumaru had begun to loose hope.

"Excuse me? Mr. Taisho? I'm sorry to disturb you but..." The main trailed off quietly into mumbles. But in an instant he straightened his act as he received a death glare from the man leaning against the wall before him. "The authorities said they found someone who knows you!"

With that, the young man scurried off, leaving behind a confused and slightly hopeful Sesshoumaru.

'It can't possibly be...' Feeling the strange bubbling sensation of hope build within him, Sesshoumaru sprung to his feet and sprinted to the front hall where the authorities headquarters was. When he finally reached the front hall, he found a large group of police officials and paramedics staring in awe and disbelief out the windows.

Sesshoumaru naturally pushed himself to the front and out the door so that he was looking down into the parking lot turned campground. That's when he saw the figure standing there.

She was covered from head to toe in caked mud and, in some places, blood. Her clothes were ripped and dripping wet. Her black, matted hair was clumped with mud, sticks, and every other thing he could imagine. But what gave her identity away was the pair of bright smoky blue eyes staring up him with tears shining at their brims. That's when Sesshoumaru felt his life come back to him.

"Kagome!" She laughed hoarsely as he ran to her, not wanting to move in fear of falling over. But what she did do was grip the black binder in her arms tighter with her bloody, pale hands and call out the name that had kept her alive when she journeyed to hell and back.

"Sesshoumaru!!"

"Momma!" Kagome turned and smiled at her son as he came barreling through the crowded gallery and slammed into her legs, his fiery red hair standing out so brightly against her white dress.

"Shippo, you know you aren't supposed to run in these places." Shippo pouted up at her, ruining her resolve to punish him as she leaned over and lifted him into her arms.

Shippo had been with her for two years now. After she'd finally come back to Sesshoumaru, walking for days without stopping and then finally getting picked up by a bus, she'd promised she'd stay with him. He made the promise permanent several days later when he'd asked her to marry him. She'd discovered Shippo one day while walking with some of the other children at the Astro Dome, finding him curled up in a ragged old blanket in a dark corner with his face blotchy and eyes red from crying.

He was an orphan from the hurricane.

So, being the person she was, Kagome had begged Sesshoumaru for three whole days to let her adopt him and he finally let in.

"I know, but I'm bored!" Kagome sighed, knowing exactly how he felt. She hadn't given up on art at all, and in fact had decided to stop the tattoo business and instead become the kind of artist she'd always wanted to be. But never in all the years she had wished for this had she imagined it to be so boring.

"I am too Shippo, but we have to...Ah!" Shippo's eyes widened in fright as his mother bent over and placed her hand over her swollen belly, her face contorted in pain.

"Momma!"

"Somebody call a doctor!" Kagome kneeled on the floor, Shippo holding onto her hand as the pain in her belly began to make her body shake.

"Kagome!" Kagome looked up to see her husband's worried, golden eyes as he kneeled before her.

"Sesshoumaru...the baby...it hurts..." His eyes widened as she struggled to speak around the pain, and his voice was shaking heavily when he spoke next.

"Do you think you're in labor?!" Kagome blinked through her pain, not really having any idea. But when she remembered the incident in the bathroom not even an hour before, it all suddenly made sense.

"Oh my God...Call a mother ing doctor!!"

Sesshoumaru learned why women were to be feared on that day. The day his daughter, Akoya Taisho, was born from the woman who had built his life again with help of a simple tattoo.