Through The Mirror by Sidhe

When Answers Bring More Confusion

The only thing Kagome wished for in those first few chilling seconds was for her body to melt into a puddle, find the nearest crack in the cave floor, and sink in far enough that even he wouldn't bother to dig her out.

Said he being the male whose lap she was presently occupying.

Her clenched eyelids and pursed lips spoke of determination, but the male could only guess about what. He felt no flare of power, so apparently she wasn't attempting to purify him.

'C'mon!', Kagome silently begged. 'Melt, already! Or at the very least, if you're going to kill me, get it over with!'

When the expected blow never landed, one eye slowly cracked open to look at the youkai.

Her fear was quite obvious, the scent of it sharp in the cold air.

"I'm still not going to kill you," he said with a touch of amusement.

The other blue eye opened, and she seemed to study him carefully.

"But that's what you do. Always with the 'Die, Inuyasha', and then the attempted melting of me." She watched him suspiciously.

"Do you still trust my word?"

Once, over a year ago, when she'd still been hunting the shards, she'd gotten in over her head while trying to slay a particularly nasty cockroach demon. It didn't help that Kagome was terrified of bugs and so it had soon cornered her with the intent of eating her.

But just as she'd shut her eyes and sent up what she thought was her last prayer, there was a high-pitched shriek, just before her legs had been splattered in goop.

And there he was, in all his pristine glory, calmly shaking his sword free of blood and ichor before sheathing it in one economical movement.

She'd stood there in stunned silence, waiting for him to remember her so he could kill her.

But he'd simply pinned her with his unreadable golden eyes. "I gave my word," he'd said calmly.

Huh???

He cocked his head a bit. "When you asked to hunt your little jewel shards on my land."

OOOOH! THAT'S what he'd meant.

When they'd first arrived at his border, they'd stayed the night just at the edge, Inuyasha not wanting to have to watch for his brother while the humans were asleep. Kagome hadn't felt right about just invading like the hanyou had planned. She didn't wish to have to fight the Taiyoukai and whatever nasty they might encounter.

She knew he could be reasoned with. One only had to be polite.

So, with the story that she was off for a bath...which was true, by the way...Kagome had very quietly walked into the very outermost border, then sat quietly to wait. She knew how sensitive Koga's nose was, and she was fairly certain that the Taiyoukai's was at least as keen.

She wasn't wrong.

She hadn't waited more than five minutes, before the tall, graceful form of the youkai moved from the trees and stopped before her.

"What do you do here, human?" She was very thankful he hadn't simply killed her before asking, but she felt this had to be done.

Kagome had gotten hastily to her feet, and gave the lord a respectful bow. "I wish to ask permission to hunt on your grounds, tomorrow, for the Shikon shards."

He was intrigued that she would have asked. "And will you not do so, regardless? Even without my permission?"

"I would not wish to do it."

"But you would do so."

She took a deep breath. "Very regrettably. I do not wish to have yet another fight on our hands. And if there was even a shred of proof that the shards had moved on, I would insist we circle your lands and continue on."

He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. She was telling the truth.

She was standing here, before him, shaking like a leaf in fear, but determined.

He was impressed. And...faintly amused.

"Agreed."

She blinked at him in confusion.

"If you can keep your...companion...from damaging my property and attempting to draw me out, I will agree to this."

She smiled at him in gratitude, and he was struck by just how warm that smile was.

"Oh, thank you!" she said with a small, excited hop, her voice lowered so a to not offend his ears. "We will leave just as soon as we find the shard."

He gave her a faint nod, then had turned on his way.

"And you shall be safe on my lands," had been his parting comment.

~"And you shall be safe on my lands." ~

This was their last day here, and they would cross back over his border in the morning. But he had appeared.

And he had kept his word.

Kagome had since come to understand that Sesshomaru was one of very few beings that always kept his given word.

Even to those he did not think worthy.

And now, sitting in his lap and wrapped in his clothing, completely vulnerable should he attack, she felt a bit comforted by that fact.

"-remember that I haven't hurt you.", he'd said.

And he hadn't. He'd simply saved her life.

Sesshomaru felt the small body in his arms begin to relax by slow degrees, her breathing slowing to a more normal pattern, while her heart beat stopped thudding quite so badly.

Small, white teeth gently gnawed at her soft lower lip as she contemplated.

Fear was still there, but she managed to set it aside for the moment.

"Why did you need to...to-" She wanted to continue her questioning from before, but got stuck on the rather embarrassing one.

He could tell she was having trouble spitting out the question, so he hazarded a guess:

"Get inside of you?"

Bingo.

She blushed furiously at the bluntly stated query, but nodded.

"Demons are able to connect...life forces I guess you would call it. There are two ways. One is for a temporary mating, which some youkai will later sever when it becomes inconvenient. My kind do not believe in this practice."

"The other is to connect, physically, in such a way that the aura overlaps is the best way I can think to explain it."

"Among my people, we believe a mating should be permanent. Like your human weddings. The temporary mating is distasteful, little better than taking a concubine."

Not all of the answer sat well with her. Oh, not the part about his people's taking of permanent mates. But the implication that he was unwilling. She'd known, of coarse, about his dislike of humans, and his distaste for his brother...hanyous...Well, a lot of things really. But, this one hurt. She was not worth-

A Long finger suddenly tipped her chin up and forced her to look at him. "I know what you're thinking," he said. "You are wrong. To have taken you as my mate with out your consent is almost worse than rape, because you could never be free of me...not in all the millennia we would live. You would never be able to touch another male, never bear their children...never leave me. You don't now me as a mate should, nor did you choose me. You should have that choice."

"You aren't Sesshomaru."

His sudden smile was just a bit wicked, faintly curved fangs glinting teasingly and Kagome's brain short-circuited just before her lungs shut down, preventing the whimper from escaping.

She'd always wondered what it would feel like to be 'struck dumb', and now she knew.

Oh, Dear God, he had dimples.

The male watched, intrigued, as the little human went dewy-eyed as she looked up at him. Delicate fingers gently skimmed over the indentations, and he restrained himself from laughing, not wanting to startle her.

'Imply that you'd not be apposed to her because of her species...something that should have shocked her, and she ignores it in favor of dimples.'

He'd have to remember that about her....

Kagome suddenly snapped back to herself and hastily withdrew her hands.

She was stroking the demon lord! Notgoodnotgoodnotgood...Bad hands!

He was still smiling.

Nothing good ever came from him smiling, even she knew that.

But he seemed amused, and not currently inclined to kill her, so she forced herself to calm.

"Sorry."

Those damned dimples winked at her briefly as he chuckled.

"Does it seem as if I mind?" he purred.

This Sesshomaru was a pod person, she finally decided. That, or he'd been put under some strange spell. Because this Sesshomaru was acting strangely...pleasant.

'I am so confused...'

"Sorry...still stuck on 'How fitting, that you should be dallying with humans,' 'You seek your own level at last.' "

He winced. Those were some of the first words he'd ever spoken in her presence. "Fair enough. Though, admittedly, not my finest hour."

That was damned close to an apology, Kagome thought as she gaped at him. Something she'd never thought to hear from the likes of him. And never to her, human and female as she was.

"It was...klækja-fullr. Unnecessary. I have nothing against you, personally." He gave a sigh. His grandfather would have whipped him for some of the things he'd said, despite how much it was deserved.

However, no matter how loud-mouthed or disrespectful she had been, she had still only been a young girl, and he should have been more lenient. It was unbecoming of his station.

Father would have been so proud, he thought in disgust. Bastarðr.

"Did you...just apologize...to me? Bu-but I'm human!" She was so startled, that she didn't catch his slip.

"I don't hate all humans, per se. Admittedly, I dislike most. But not all."

"Bu-bu-but-" Kagome was frustrated that her mouth seemed to have stopped working, no longer taking dictation from her spinning brain.

"And no...I never hated you. I was frustrated by you, irritated by you, and occasionally amused by you. I'll even admit to being confused by you a time or two. I don't know you well enough to hate you."

"And I wouldn't hate you just for being human. But in all honesty, our first few encounters aside, I haven't thought about killing you in quite some time. Not since you begged me for the halfling's life after he'd turned for what I understand was the third time?"

She managed what she thought was a valiant effort to not faint from shock.

And she was still sitting in his lap...

She was relieved to find that the conversation was having a relaxing effect on certain...parts... of the Taiyoukai's body, where it was pressed against her own.

Well, he had said to ignore it.

Though, honestly, a tiny part of her was just a bit disappointed. GRRRR...

She just hoped he didn't notice.

Sesshomaru's eyes hooded as they veiled the sudden gleam. Oh, he'd noticed it alright. His beast was absolutely purring with pleasure at the delicately spiced scent, but fortunately his control held out.

At least for now. His claws sank slowly into the rock, unconsciously kneading as his other arm encircled her waist. Every good hunter knows when to pounce...and when to wait.

She was studying him, again.

She could not figure out how he looked so different.

Taller and more powerfully built than any feudal era male she'd ever seen in Japan, there was no way he was a native.

So what was going on?

"Is it in the rules to ask why you don't look as you used to," she finally asked.

"Another day."

She nodded, accepting, though not happy with it as she absently stretched her legs to relieve the stiffness from sitting so long with them pulled tightly against her.

An involuntary cry was wrenched from between her clenched teeth as the ache forgotten from before suddenly made itself known.

Sesshomaru's eyes widened in surprise, just before he carefully set her down and moved to the mouth of the cave to gather some snow from the ground. As he walked back to her, he found her slowly parting her legs to see the dark, rust colored streaks at the tops of her thighs.

Her virginity. He still felt guilty, though that would change nothing.

Kagome watched him approach, fighting to keep from covering herself from his gaze. He may have taken her virginity, but she didn't remember any of it.

The snow melted almost instantly in his hands, and he used it to carefully cleanse her faintly bruised flesh.

He must have been a bit rougher than he'd thought...

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, his voice low and velvety. "I did not intend to injure you."

A small hand hesitantly touched his arm, and he looked up.

"I kinda like being alive," she said shyly.

A rueful smile faintly curved his mouth, before he shook his head. "I had no idea you would be hurt so easily."

A dark brow lifted in disbelief.

"How many other virgins have you encountered that don't feel pain when their maidenhead is torn?"

"I wouldn't know."

Huh? How would you miss such a-

"I gave my first time to save your life."