Under the God Tree by hikari hime

Unattainable Feelings (Fall)

Oops... I'm sorry I'm late for this! Ah well, here is the third chapter of 'Under the God Tree'.

3 – Unattainable Feelings (Fall)

Their relationship was difficult to define.

He was still a cold, emotionless being. Humans were still beneath him even though he admitted to some exceptions, namely Rin and Kagome, and sometimes their friends. Others' lives were still meaningless and foolish, as fickle and temporary as a butterfly.

He was quite the monolithic being, unchanging and ageless, but under all that pure white, a red blooded heart still beat.

You really couldn't notice it, unless you were called Rin, or Kagome.

For all intents and purposes, Rin was his daughter, the gap-toothed little girl who always smiled and picked flowers to put on Jaken's hat.

Kagome took care of him.

He had always been a very private being, he only touched other living things with his hands to end their existences. But with Rin, he touched her to save her...

And Kagome, she touched him. A lot.

It wasn't intimate, there was nothing sexual, as far as he was concerned he didn't desire her, she was another species entirely, although she wasn't quite human in his eyes.

She was Kagome, and it was enough.

Her hands roamed the firm expanse of his chest and back, lathering him with soap, and after he had ducked underwater to rinse, she rubbed him with soft scented oils, brushing his hair while humming under her breath.

She never told him anything when he came back covered in the blood of the hunt, or when he came back from war, armour broken and silk torn, but body still as perfect as ever. He always waited till he was healed before coming back, not wanting to appear weak in front of her.

And every time he came back home, she bathed him, her hands never doing anything inappropriate, clothed him in a silk yukata, and went to bed with him. Once in his futon, she put her arms around him for a silent, intense, moment, and then drew back, looking at him with that special smile only for him, the one softening the colour of her eyes until they shone like the deep blue of the night sky.

He had never asked about that ritual of hers, why she had started doing that, or even why he had let her. It just became a habit, and as years passed, he always looked forward to those pure moments of calm, when Kagome would soothe his hardened warrior heart.

He had never touched her though, refusing to soil her with his blood covered hands. They were not for love, those claws of his, but for death and poison and ripping skin until bones showed through.

One day he came back from a long, long war; and she wasn't there waiting for him. He searched for her all around his home, smearing the old blood and gore of his defeated enemies on delicate shoji screens, and she wasn't there, and he was furious, seething like the animal he was, until Rin told him where she was.

He prowled the countryside, traversing golden and copper forests and nearly-frozen brooks, mouth drooling acid and clothes torn and filthy, but it didn't matter, she was the only one who could cleanse him of the grime of battle, and he needed her, needed the absolution her hands gave him, the forgiveness he could read in her deep, blue eyes like the sky at night, the love she reserved only for him, even though he was a beast, a murderer.

The warlord he was was addicted to the peace of mind this simple ritual could bring him, but not only that, he was addicted to the feeling of her hands on him, addicted to the being that was Kagome, as unrepentantly human as she was.

There she was, under the Goshinboku, kneeling as if in prayer, clad in a simple brown and grey kimono.

Her hair was floating in the wind, and for the first time in years he looked at it, noticing the strands of fine silver mingling with the ebony of her youth.

Deep wrinkles marked the corner of her closed lids and her lips looked pale and thin, her veins were now visible on the back of her still elegant hands.

She was in good health still, a strong woman who had been through thick and thin, and her wisdom was now much more apparent in the way she carried herself.

She was ageing, too.

A deep wrenching ache tore through Sesshomaru's rib cage, erupting from him in a horrified keen.

He was going to lose her to time in only a few years, and she would never know, he would never have told her how much he needed her in his life, how much she counted for him...

He approached her like the predator he was, knowing she was aware of his presence...

He touched her hands and she jumped, surprised by his warmth...

He growled deeply and embraced her, Kagome squealing like the schoolgirl she wasn't any more...

They finished on the cold ground, in a flurry of limbs and heat and hair and oh...

He kissed her, savagely, drunk on her scent and on her acceptance of what made him who he was...

And then he slowed down, letting her tenderness show through, and a little of his, too...

He made love to her that night, under the twinkle of the stars who seemed merry for some reason, surrounded by the deep blue of the night sky.

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I hope you enjoyed. Please, review.

Next, and last chapter, next friday...