I Fell for Myself by Stella Mira

Shall We Begin?

The earthly smell of oaks, the honeyed fragrance of spring, saturated the night wind, pulsed, apace with the river's hums. Only the moon's strokes reached the secluded bank downhill where the river split the ancient forests, far away from the villages of humans. Morning rain had softened the earth, moistened the nature with the touch of petrichor. Potent. Arousing. Kagome breathed in the temptation, the telluric aromas, heard the siren song, the water's snares; she allowed herself to be seduced, induced to need – then her eyes sought Sesshōmaru, made her cravings known.

"Shall we begin?" It was rhetorical, spoken for the mere sake of elucidation. Kagome was diverging herself from the restriction of fabric even as she still spoke.

Ripples of air, licks of zephyrs, slid over her skin, made her nakedness, the nearness of reality more tangible. She held his eyes, saw the dusk of recoil, wisps of inhibition – at the imminence of the ritual, at the bared want. A sough of aggression prowled beneath her skin, the sound soft, deceptive. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

Sesshōmaru's neck tipped, his lips thinned, but he spoke his thoughts, shed light to his reactions. "Not quite."

Cognition speared through her, placated her impatience, and she nodded. No – it was not quite the same, being taken by your own body. "Don't tell me you're having…second thoughts?"

He neither denied nor affirmed it, but he didn't have to. There was no escape, no alternative, they both knew what had to be done.

"Just relax. I know female pleasure – and I know my body better than anyone, if nothing else."

Her words didn't have the desired result, quite the opposite. Sesshōmaru's features tensed; his eyes flashed with something distasteful, gave her pause. Kagome frowned, reassessed her words, tried to think what would cause him unrest – and then she found it. A sibilant sound fell from her lips, close to a chuckle but different.

"I didn't mean it like that. I've known male pleasure as well – but I was not the man in those cases. Satisfied now?"