Blood Stained: Chapter 19: The Limits of Freedom

Blood Stained

Chapter 19: The Limits of Freedom

A bright light shone on her face, causing her eyes pain when she opened them. Her head felt slightly fuzzy and she had a hard time concentrating. It took her a few seconds to remember the events of the previous night, and immediately a feeling of fury came to life inside of her. He had knocked her out without even answering her questions! She wrapped her arms around her stomach, as if it would protect her child from whatever might come to harm it. Although, from what she had been able to understand when he forced her to gulp down the tea, her infant might not be the one in danger.

Gently, she released her waist, before using her hands to lift herself up in the bed. She took a look around and to herextremesurprise, a few feet from her wasSesshomaru.He was sitting on a pile of what looked like pillows. She was so used to him acting like a ghost whenever his beast was not in control, that it made itstrangeto be able to find him so easily, not that she was looking for him.

He raised his head slightly, since he had noticed she was awake, and stared straight into her grey eyes, not speaking a word. She returned the glance unsure of what she should do or say, it's not like she could throw a casual good morning greeting in there. They weren't even close to being qualified as friends. She pinched her lips together as she pondered what the right words to say should be, but not much came to mind. She could hardly see herself making regular conversation with him, and alas they did not possess much in common. Matter of fact, they were quite the opposite. A tiny sigh escaped her lips, before she turned her head to the side, before deciding she wanted some answers.

"What is wrong with me?" she asked, her head still facing away from him.

Sesshomaru's eyes were void from any type of emotions as he answered her question.

"Nothing is wrong with you Miko."

This time she titled her head and looked into his amber eyes, which were still very strange for her to see.

"Wellobviouslysomething is or yourbeastwouldn't have knocked me out." There was a little bit of bitterness as she spoke to him as to the actions his beast had taken. Apparently he had revised theI'll raise the volume of the TV so I can't hear yousolution, and transformed it intoyou and your damn questions, this will keep you quiet you insufferable human!

"Hn."

Kagome's features changed immediately after his answer, and she closed her eyes, exasperated. Sometimes she found herself contemplating who could be more annoying; Sesshomaru, or his beast, and believe it or not, it was a very close race. With a heavy sigh, she asked her question again, her annoyance expanding.

"Why did he say I would get sick?"

Sesshomaru's eyes moved down slightly before dwelling on her stomach.

"There is something wrong with the child," he said. His voice was devoid of any type of feelings.

Her tiny hand crisped into a fist, as she processed his words. "W-wh-what do you mean?" she stammered. She thought her child was not in harms way. Or at least that was the conclusion she had drawn before he savagely put her to sleep.

"This Sesshomaru does not know. Its aura is off, it is impossible to say why, but it is a hanyou, problems are to be expected."

Even if his tone had been neutral, and he was merely voicing an answer to her question, she felt terribly offended by what he had said.

"Why is it fine to care for Rin who is a human, but not for a hanyou?"

Sesshomaru rose from his seat, barely glancing her way. "Because it is a stain on the blood lineage, itruinsits nobleness."

Kagome couldn't stop the chuckle from breaking free and it somewhat caught his attention.

"What comes around goes around." She said, somewhat amused.

Intrigued Sesshomaru walked back to his previous position, leaning against the mountain of pillows. "This Sesshomaru is unfamiliar with your saying."

She nodded. "Futuristic saying I guess." When she realized she still held his full attention captive, she explained her words further.

"You do what you want, you take what you want, and theonetrue thing you despise is a hanyou. You're all powerful, everyone is suppose to fear you,butthere you are, stuck with a beast problem, which takes your control away, you have a human mate pregnant with a hanyou child." A very minuscule smile appeared on her lips. "You had it coming."

He stared right ahead of him, as if her words were slowly being hammered inside his head, before he seemed to snap back into reality. "If you speak the truth, what have you done Miko?"

Kagome inclined her head to the side, confusion obvious in her face. "What do you mean?"

"It's very simple. You say this Sesshomaru brought this upon himself because of his actions. What have you done to be in this situation? According toyou, you are constantly raped, and are trapped into an unwanted mating, which you claim was also a raping."

She scoffed. "I refer toitby what it is.Rape. No need to glorify the word, since the action remains the same."

The young woman had grown sick of him repeatedly telling her she had been honored by the gesture of his mating after he had taken her body. In her book, if you take someone's body against their will, and force them to be with you, there is nothing honorable about it. Yes, some part deep inside of her realized people in the feudal era didn't act with the same mentality then in her time, but it was still horrifying to think these people accepted those actions without a punishment. She couldn't help but feel relieved that this wasnotthe world she belonged to.

"Perhaps where you come from Miko, but do not forget, this is not your world."

Her head was low, as the words rang in her mind; she did not need him reminding her.

"I know. Youkais are dead in my time." It could be she said these words out of revenge, but it felt great nonetheless.

It seemed to take a few seconds for her revelation to sink in, and when it did, Sesshomaru seemed quite displeased.

"Explain yourself Miko." Her nonsense had irritated him, no youkai in her time? How could that ever be, how would weak humans overthrow them?

She shrugged her shoulders since she had no answer for him. Even if she did, she probably would not tell him. "All I know is nobody believes you really existed and I'veneverfelt a youkai before in my time."

Sesshomaru decided this was where her first mistake lay, unless she had gone and traveled far, she could not say they were dead. Who was to say youkais did not move away from humans, or in their own territories?

"This time of yours, it appears to be…"

"Sane?" she provided for him.

A flash of fury passed through his eyes before he pushed aside her little comment. "Unconventional."

When she did not seem to understand his point of view, he expanded.

"You claim there are no youkais or mikos, and nothing else that comes close to it. From your old attire, this Sesshomaru can deduce how exposed your women are.And, you do not rely on the rule of the strong. You pick up weaklings, you do not leave people behind. You also seem to sayrapeis condoned."

Yet if they were back in the future, or technically present time for her, he would not be able to treat her the way he was.

"It is. We have rules to protect each other from monsters like you. In my time, if a man rapes a woman, hewillbe punished. If on top of that heforcesher into a marriage and mistreats her, it will be worst. Unlike here, it is consideredwrong." Kagome couldn't wait for the time this period would awaken, and realize some things they were doing had to be changed. Perhaps starting with burning a certain youkai alive would help.

He knew she was trying to win this little argument they were having, but he would not let her.

"You believe you are right only because you apply your times standards to here and now, which is where you make the mistake. The circumstances are completely different Miko, and so are people's values. Castle, titles, money, territories, and power it is all that will get you through. Any woman wouldtryto catch a man outside of their class, which would allow them to start climbing the ladder, hoping their children will take it up when the time comes. Granted they might not desire this, many women would see the opportunity to a mating with someone as powerful as this Sesshomaru, whom has few rivals."

Perhaps women from the feudal era had no desire for free will, but it was only because it had never been offered to them in the past. Kagome wasnotlike them, which meant he couldn't expect her to understand and accept this, when better had been shown to her. Yes, she could probably hide, and merge herself with the crowd, but her soul would always stand out.

"But you have no desire for such things," he finally added. "Not because of where you come from, simply because you are different." He did have a point. Women from her time still desired money and fame, but it never was something that had ever attracted her. She had always seen herself leading a normal life, not wanting any of thisextrastuff.

It was at that moment that it dawned on both of them that this was their firstactualnatural conversation. Kagome felt a knot forming inside of her stomach. She hadn't done this to befriendlywith him. She had done it only because she was trying to make him understand how things were for her. He seemed quite stubborn, which wasn't such a surprise.

Sesshomaru on the other hand, had only talked so much to prove he was right. Since she was now silent, he assumed he had shown his superiority. He stood up, not giving a glance her way, ready to exit the room he had spent more time than was necessary in her company. His back was facing her, as he walked in the direction of the door, ready to exit the room and leave Kagome by herself.

"I broke the spell on Inuyasha."

Her confusing words once again caught his attention, and he stopped in his track, but did not turn around. "You asked me what I did to deserve this. I'm saying I broke the spell on Inuyasha."

It wasn't the gesture itself, but everything that happened afterwards. Kagome had begun to feelbademotions she shouldn't have been feeling. Throwing herself at protecting the hanyou. Every single decisions she had made after meeting him that were for him and never for herself. She had always spared his feelings while he had crushed hers. In the end her love for him might have blinded her decision regarding the jewel.

"This is my punishment for not being able to let go of Inuyasha. Forever linked toyou."

Sesshomaru blinked a few times before resuming his steps, and sliding the door open to abandon Kagome to her thoughts. It was insane, but up until now she had never thought about Inuyasha as the biggest mistake of her life. But nowitdawned on her. She had put everything she had into him, only to be abused. Sacrificing every shred of hope she had hoping that one day he would look at her instead of the dead clay pot.

He had hurt her many times, obviously not caring about her feelings, and yet she had refused to turn her back on her love for him, destroying herself in the process. Not only had the relationship been destructive for her, it had been destructive for Inuyasha has well. Often he had been reduced to sneaking out, trying to spare her feelings. All because he couldn't completely let his feelings for her go.

Although, if her actions and Sesshomaru's actions were compared, she got hit a lot harder by thewhat goes comes around, in her point of view. Even if she actually knew little about how he felt about the whole hanyou thing. Obviously it wouldn't be as harsh of punishment since he didn't have any sort of feelings. Perhaps he remained so silent because it bothered him. Nonetheless, until he would prove her other wise, she strongly believed there was no heart beating inside of Sesshomaru, nor could there ever be one.

***

The sky was getting darker as Kagome laid in the bed, sipping her tea, a plate of food beside her, which had been left untouched. She was conscious that eating was very important at the moment, but her mind was extremely distracted from reality. Getting in that little argument with Sesshomaru had not given her any answers about her baby at all, and she couldn't help but worry.

The only chance she might have wasifthe beast didn't knock her out once he saw her. Her hand was caressing her stomach as she put down the tea, barely any liquid missing from the cup. Kagome glanced at the bowl of rice beside her before looking away, not liking the way her mood affected her appetite. There was also other things Sesshomaru,the beast, had said which troubled her.You will be sick.Not only did that have nothing to do with the child, it also was a strange statement to make considering the fact she wasfine.

On top of that, now was no time to be getting ill. Her plan seemed to be working at the moment, and she was holding on it with all she had. She was simply praying nothing would go wrong, because if it ever backfired, trouble would lay ahead. Maybe if she kept her calm tonight the beast would give her the answers she desired; it was worth a try. Plus she already had to pretend so many things around him, so one more thing wouldn't make much of a difference at this point.

She sighed heavily before resting her head on the pillow and gently closing her eyes. Her eyelids did feel heavy but she didn't think it had anything to do with sickness, just emotional exhaustion. Nonetheless she fought to keep her eyes open, and found herself staring through the window. The sun was extremely low on the horizon as it began to color the sky with violet and blue colors. For a second, she felt trapped inside this castle, andoutsidelooked like the real world.

Even though Kagome felt exhausted, she carefully wrapped her kimono around her body, before getting up from the bed determined to feel the wind caressing her face. It might sound silly, but for someone like her whose freedom had been taken away, this gesture had more than one meaning.

Slowly, she began to walk down the hall looking around, as if she were waiting for someone to come and stop her, when she knew very well they wouldn't. Either the servants were completely oblivious to what was happening between her and Sesshomaru,oronce again, it was considered the norm. They overlooked it very easily as this was a normal relationship/mating. Some maids bowed at her as they walked past and she shyly nodded back at them. Even though she had been there for quite a while she simply couldn't get used to being treated differently.

Finally, she made it outside, and as she pushed the doors open, she felt a rush oflifegoing through her body. It was somewhat chilly outside, especially considering the light kimono she was wearing, but she refused to go back inside. She began to walk further from the castle, seconds passed, the sky growing darker, but it hardly mattered. She kicked off her sandals, to be able to feel the grass in between her toes. She decided the more distance between her and this wretched place the better. Her footsteps were confident up until she reached a certain point, which was near where the forest started.

Sesshomaru hadn't said anything, but she knew if she was on her own to go no further than that, or he would come get her - well the beast would. Gently she stepped over the imaginary border, which only existed in her mind, a feeling of loneliness over taking her.

Kagome sighed before dropping to the ground, her ass taking in the damage for her. She wrapped her arms around her legs before resting her head on top of her knees. There was a whole world in front of her, and also a way to access her own world, but it was out of reach at least for now. This was why she needed the plan to work so badly, sheneededhimto believe she would not run away, so she couldleave.

Then unexpectedly she felt something touch her shoulders and she gasped. Kagome slightly turned her head only to come face to face with Sesshomaru, their noses nearly touching. Her eyes widened in surprise but no words came out of her mouth, since she was speechless. His red eyes were staring at her with a tiny look of confusion on his facial features. Never breaking the gaze he sat down on the grass behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her waist before pressing her back against his chest. Clearly uncomfortable, Kagome willingly let him do so, because it wasnecessary.

Then he closed his eyes and pressed his lips against her for a brief second, before pulling away, turning her head straight, and resting his own on top of hers. Sesshomaru could feel her shallow breathing and the movement of her stomach every time she breathed in.

"Why are you here?"

He had been looking for her in the bedroom, but had quickly spotted her through the window. Sesshomaru had watched her as she walked over to the forest, and he had nearly wondered if she was going to make a run for it. But, no, she had simply sat down staring ahead at the emptiness, and for a second, he believed she felt lonely, which had triggered his action to come and comfort her. He hadn't even been able to see her features, yet he justknew.

Now, she was safely tucked inside his arms, protected from harm, or at least any outside harm. His worry for her could not lessen, not when she was in such a condition. The previous night, he had found himself unable to explain to her what was happening because he was afraid she would stress over it, and that was the last thing she needed at the moment.

"Enjoying the view," she answered. Her body was completely stiff as she tried to pretend this did not bother her. She was aware this was as much her idea as Sesshomaru's, but the feeling of nausea refused to leave. After all this was the same monster that had taken away her life, well the part that mattered anyway.

"What's wrong with me, and the baby?"

He sighed heavily before tightening his hold on her waist. "I do not know. The pup's aura is off, as if it is in distress. Your aura is weak, meaning you will be sick once more."

Kagome closed her eyes, fearing for the life of her unborn child. "In distress? What will happen? Will my baby be okay?"

Sesshomaru was extremely pleased by the way she cared about their unborn child, and he wanted to re-assure her a little. "It should live." And that was the best answer he could give her.

She swallowed with difficultly at his words, and closed her eyes. Tears threatening to fall, this was her child's life, and nobody could tell her what's wrong. Nobody could do anything to save it to make sure it would be born. For a second, Kagome felt hatred towards the Kamis, but it quickly dissipated. After all, how could she not? She was not perfect and had been through hell and back for the past month. It seemed every day something else was added to the mix. Could she not get a break for once?

Sesshomaru could smell the salty scent of tears and pushed her away slightly, before moving her hair away from her neck. Then, he pulled down on her kimono, revealing her perfect pale shoulder, and began to lay kisses down on her skin, trying to soothe her sorrow, the only way he knew how to.

Kagome jerked away slightly, having no desires whatsoever to feel his lips on her at the moment, but he did not let her pull away. She didn't want him to get too caught up only to want more, because she could not put up with it at the moment, and she didn't want to ruin her current progress.

"Please," she said, her voice very soft. "I don't want to rush things," she said, feeding him more lies.

"I won't."

It had been quite a long time since he had tasted her body, but for the first time since this all started, she was not fighting against him. She was slowly accepting what was happening and he wished to reward her for such good behavior. She had expressed her desire to do it a morehumanway, at least from her time, and he had decided to respect her wish. Obviously it wasn't easy, but he would do it because he wanted her toenjoybeing his mate.

The reason behind his actions at the moment was to help her feel better, and perhaps help himself through this. Kagome was extremely appealing to him and he wanted tofeelhis mate, simply to help his thirst, and lessen it. He also wanted to make her forget about her sadness concerning their child, because he would make sure she would not suffer the loss of their pup.

"Only touching."

In her personal opinion even touching was too much, but she could not pull away forever, thus she remained stiff in his hold. The kisses would have probably made a normal wife or mate distracted, but in her case it only reminded her of the situation she was in. Right now though her heart was heavy with pain, she needed to sit there, andlethim touch her because it was the only way out. It made her stomach knot and twist inside of her, because this wasn't right.

Then again, ever since this had started she had been shown that sometimes you needed to do everything to survive. Even if you would never in a million years believe it to be right. It was exactly what she was doing at the moment, trying to pull through. It also did not help, that tonight was quite a hot night, without the breeze, and it was heating her skin. Perhaps being outside had been a bad idea, because she could recall feeling a lot cooler inside then out here.

One of his hands moved up slightly caressing her breast roughly through the kimono and squeezing it, while the other hand was still on her stomach, which was slowly bulging. Although the kimono was made of silk, Sesshomaru was dying to feel her soft skin under his fingertips. He calmed himself down, even though his powerful erection was giving him away by digging into her ass violently. He ceased his kissing as he decided to lick at her collarbone, before gently sucking on her skin. At the same time he was pushing on her breasts so tightly that they were popping out from the top of the kimono, since the sleeve was loosely hanging off her shoulder.

Kagome's eyes were tightly shut as she bit the inside of her cheek, telling herself it would be over soon. She could not fight him off and somehow it painfully hurt something deep inside of her to let him willinglyfeelher body, knowing she should be struggling against his touch. It felt as if she had disappointed herself and she held back her tears, knowing he would recognize the scent, if a tear was to fall. Kagome thought her vision was blurry because of the tears she was preventing from falling, but it was something totally different.

Sesshomaru realized he was getting carried away when he noticed her whole kimono had loosened, slowly falling away from her body. He lifted up her kimono and covered up her shoulders before wrapping his arms once again around her waist. She had not said a word of protest the whole time, nor had she struggled against him, and it pleased Sesshomarua lot. This was all he ever wanted to do, and it was not hard, after all she seemed a lot happier now than she was before.

Unknown to him, Kagome was suffering on the inside, and in silence this time, for the sake of her freedom. She knew he was pleased with her actions, and perhaps it made her feel slightly better, since he would begin to trust her, and then that would be his downfall.

"Kagome! Sesshomaru-sama!" A slightly blushing Rin was running towards them from behind. She had spotted them from her room, and although it was getting late, she hadn't been able to resist coming out to be with them.

As soon as she heard the little girl Kagome froze, only slightly turning her head to see Rin with a big smile on her face just a few inches away from them.

"R-Rin," she said a little panicked. After all, Sesshomaru was not in his current state right now, and he had never reallybeenaround Rin before while the beast was in control. "What are you doing here?" she asked, sounding a little nervous.

Rin's smile lessened a little, as she realized maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to come. She had been so thrilled, that she hadn't thought about it twice, and had run in their direction. She had stopped by the door and had watched as Sesshomaru fixed Kagome's kimono, then she had come their way. Sesshomaru had been quite distracted by his mate in his arms that he hadn't paid much attention, and hadn't felt her presence. Rin shyly stood beside Kagome hoping she had not upset either of them.

"Rin saw you and Sesshomaru-sama outside, and Rin thought she could come too."

Kagome's features saddened as she remember the relationship the little girl had with Sesshomaru before Kagome had been thrown into the picture. Sesshomaru deeply cared for Rin, and perhaps Rin was missing her father figure? The real one was often hiding, perhaps because of Kagome, and the beast seemed to beonlyinterested in Kagome. Maybe Rin felt lonely being by herself most of the time, except for the period Sesshomaru had left. Kagome felt sympathy towards Rin, so she offered her the best smile could.

"We're just… relaxing. But you're welcome to stay." She hadn't turn around to get Sesshomaru's reaction and only hoped he wouldn't get angry over this, although she doubted his beast would not share the same fatherly love Sesshomaru had for Rin.

Excited, Rin's smile came back and she came over to Kagome's side to sit next to her, touching Sesshomaru's leg. Immediately she began humming a song, and Kagome closed her eyes enjoying the tranquility it was bringing her. From afar the three of them perhaps looked like a very happy family enjoying the evening sunset. Twisted thou it was with a human girl adopted by a powerful Dayoukai, who was mated to an unwilling miko. But the two of them together gave Rin the family she never had, and if for just a short while, this horrible situation could prove a little bit of happiness to someone, it could heal some of the pain. Although, if Kagome did succeed in leaving, it would break Rin's heart the most.

***

They had remained a little while longer outside with Rin before the little girl had left heading off to her bed. Of course, Kagome had been the one doing the talking, nearly afraid that his different voices would provoke questions from Rin. Once he had been ready to leave, he did not give her a chance to get up, as he simply picked her up bridal style, as if she was too fragile to walk on her own.

"I can walk you know."

He did say she would get sick, but for the moment she felt absolutely fine. She would much rather move on her own than be stuck in his arms, since it was just too much contact for her. He ignored the words she had said and did not put her down until they reached their room. He gently put her on the bed making sure that she was alright, before releasing her. Because she was human she might not be able to notice the little things he could see, but he could feel the sickness. It may have been because he was on the look out for it or perhaps because of the change in her scent. But he could tell that for the past two to three days, her temperature had increased a little more each day, letting him know that the fever was coming back. Although, he was glad at the moment she felt fine and could not experience any symptoms, because he had no desire to see her in pain.

"Lay down," he ordered before he disappeared to get a wet towel to press on her forehead.

Kagome did as he asked. Not without sighing as she rested her head on the soft silky pillows. Today out of all days, she didn't mind that much since her eyelids had felt extremely heavy the whole day. Resting looked like a great idea at the moment. Kagome prayed this had nothing to do with her sickness, but with the emotional rollercoaster she was going through at the moment and the pregnancy. Surely having a baby growing inside of you would suck your energy and it was making her a little more tired than usual, but nothing else to worry about, right?

Actually she feared more for the life of her child than she did for her own. Perhaps it was her own fault the infant's aura wasoff. Her sickness might be interfering with his development and it was putting the child's life at risk. If that was the case Kagome knew she had to get better, because she didn't want her illness to take away her baby's life.

Stressing herself out and not giving into her body's needs, wasn't doing the right thing, so she decided to try and relax. As soon as she gave resting a try, it didn't take more than a few seconds for her body to give into the tiredness, and she fell into a deep slumber. It was proof that the beast was in a decent mood, because lately all she had done during his nights was to sleep, yet he did not seem to mind.

When he came back into the room it didn't take him long to notice she was sleeping, but he still came towards her, holding the wet cloth. Sesshomaru sat on the bed before moving her so that her head was resting on his lap. Then he brushed her bangs away before pressing the cloth against her heated skin, hoping to bring her some relief. As he looked down at her his red eyes were filled with worry and he hoped she would not be out for another two weeks.

Although if that was to happen again this time he would not lethimleave. Their place was beside their sick mate, and if Sesshomaru desired to leave, the beast would surface to prevent him from doing so. Some of the water was dripping down her face, but he did not bother with it since it would do her no harm. After a few minutes when her breathing changed and became sharp and shallow, he found himself more worried about her. Sesshomaru opened her kimono slightly and beads of sweat could be seen dripping from her neck down into her cleavage. He decided that perhaps the kimono was too much clothing for her at the moment and it would be better to leave her skin exposed. He gently and slowly moved Kagome so he could properly lay her down before removing her clothes.

He was taking his time for two reasons, first one being he did not want to wake her up. Second reason was perhaps to admire her body. Once the kimono was undone he opened it and carefully removed her arms from inside the sleeves before lifting her up. Her naked body tightly pressed against him as he placed her on the other side of the bed. Then removing some layers of his own clothes he laid down right beside her. When the sun would rise it would be time for him to go, but he was seriously reconsidering it. The last time she had only slept because he hadforcedher to. This time however it had only taken her a few seconds before giving in to her own tiredness. He knew Sesshomaru wouldn't take care of her properly, which had been proven by him leaving her while she was in a semi-coma.

No doubt that it would upset Sesshomaru if he broke the deal, but technically why did he care? He was the one who could control this body whenever he felt like it, so things should be played by his rules and not the other way around. Whatever would come, chances were, Sesshomaru would be lost in the process, at least therealone would be. A beast and a youkai weren't made to be in disharmony, but Sesshomaru was quite the stubborn one.

He had always refused his beast's request, burying them down with all those long lost feelings. There was a time when hope had come, when he opened a part of his heart to a little girl, but she was the only one who ever got in and the reasons behind that were even unknown to the beast. Nonetheless if Sesshomaru kept refusing his current situation, things would go very badly for him. There were only two distinct possibilities.

Either both would merge with the outcome being totally unpredictable. Their personalities would clash into one entity. Traits would merge and it could create a very angry and uncontrollable youkai, or Sesshomaru would completely disappear leaving only the beast. The beast would over power him and there would be no going back. He would be locked inside forever.

In both cases the beast did not feel as if he would lose, because it hardly mattered to him what would happen. Sesshomaru would be the one to lose dearly in both cases. Kagome was also protected from this because she was their mate and no matter the outcome,hisaffection for her would prevail, it was in their blood. Only Sesshomaru kept denying she was theirs to have and protect.

The beast turned to his side and covered her naked stomach with his large hand. No matter what would happen he would be there to love and protect her, including their pup. His mate was now happier with him and the only thing still bothering him was her illness. He promised himself he would find out what was wrong. He didn't care if he needed to search over all his lands for someone to tell him they could fix her, because for her he would do it. Possessively he brought her hot, sweaty body against his and put a soft kiss on the side of her arm as he watched her peacefully sleeping.

Mine.

***