The Snow Angel by SunsetMiko

The Regret

Chapter 228 - The Regret

*Bottled Angel* (Stella's Soundtrack Challenge 2)

Finally, the children were in bed for the night, and Kagome and Sesshoumaru were alone in their chambers.

"You have no idea how much I have missed this," the taiyoukai murmured as he watched Kagome disrobe for bed.

"Sleep or seeing me naked?" she asked with a grin as she climbed into bed.

Sesshoumaru pulled her close to him and sighed happily. "The feel of your body next to mine, skin to skin," he purred in her ear, making the miko moan softly.

"You know, you're going to be missing it again soon," Kagome said, not looking forward to what she had to do. "Now that I believe we have all of the shards of the jewel, I have to go home and talk to Mama. I have to explain to her that I'm never coming home again. I don't know how I'm going to do it. It's going to break her heart. I haven't even told her about you yet. It's going to be such a shock."

"If your mother is anything like you, she will survive. You are a strong woman who can get through anything, and I am certain your mother will do the same."

"But it's terrible of me, abandoning my family, leaving her to come up with some excuse for where I disappeared to. That's not going to be easy. Teenagers usually don't suddenly up and leave home before they've even finished school. I don't know what she's going to tell people. It'll be such an embarrassment for her that her daughter didn't bother to finish her schooling. I'm being so selfish, choosing love over my family and my responsibilities, but I just can't risk getting stuck in the future away from you. I couldn't survive it."

Sesshoumaru tightened his hold on his mate. He didn't like the idea of her getting stuck in the future any more than she did. To be honest, just the idea of her traveling through the well this one last time terrified him. He couldn't lose her. She was his air and without her he would suffocate.

"I would wait five hundred years to see you again," he murmured in her ear softly. "To you, it would be like nothing. I would find you on the very day you left me so you would not suffer the loss."

Kagome smiled brightly, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I love you," she whispered. "I would wait for you, too, no matter how long it took."

"Just give me one more night of this," he replied quietly.

"Tonight or tonight and tomorrow?" she asked

"Tonight and tomorrow night, and then I will take you to the well myself."

*Walk on Diagonal* (Stella's Soundtrack Challenge 2)

Kagome nodded. "And in the meantime I can try to figure out how to say what I have to say. Are you and Inuyasha going to be all right? I mean, you guys seem to be getting along now, but without me, you might get on each other's nerves."

"Inuyasha will not even be here. He is leaving tomorrow with Aika to go to her people and lead them to where they will build their village."

"Is he?" Kagome asked with a small smile.

"He volunteered. He believes that they might take the news that I have changed my stance on hanyou better from him, so that they will feel safe. Aika and Aiko worried that their people would be too afraid that they were being led into a trap to accept what I am offering."

"He's probably right. He can convince them that everything is on the up and up, that they'll be perfectly safe. I'm proud of him, taking on new responsibilities. You know, he's going to mate that girl."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at his grinning mate in question and she laughed.

"He's been making eyes at her since she showed up. He's never shown an interest in someone before. He likes her, and I think she's perfect for him. She's a little gruff, just like him, and she seems like the tough one out of the two of them. Aiko's quieter and calmer. Aika is a perfect fit for Inuyasha."

The taiyoukai hadn't noticed it before, but now that Kagome mentioned it, he realized that she was right. Inuyasha had been eager to volunteer to go along, but only after it had been decided that Aika would be the one to go. The boy had seemed rather focused on that particular girl. Sesshoumaru smiled a small smile. It would be good for his brother to find a mate. It might just calm him down a little.