Victory

Sesshomaru was nervous again. For all the battlefields he'd conquered, the destruction he'd caused, the lives he'd ended with his sword or his bare hands and the blood he'd spilled, he had never been nervous – not for a single moment. But when Kagome stepped from the steaming water of the hot spring, taking his proffered hand, he felt the first twinges of anxiety in his gut.

She was bathed in starlight, water droplets rolling down her body in glittering rivulets, wet hair clinging to her skin. Her blue eyes blazed like the hottest flame. And in that moment, when her eyes met his, a small, teasing smile playing on her lips, his heart dropped.

"You are…" he breathed, his mouth suddenly dry.

Moments of his life flashed before his eyes, reminding him of who he was and where he came from. All the profound moments, big and small, that shaped him. His father's choices and his mother's disregard. His brother's ferocity and his own violations against one he should have regarded family – pack. His shame and his pride. His misdeeds against the very female he would soon claim.

"You are beautiful," he whispered, striving to keep the tremor from his hands and his voice. "I do not deserve you."

"We have both done or said the wrong thing in our lives, Sesshomaru," she said simply, her palm coming to rest against the side of his neck. "No one is perfect, and that's okay. We'll learn together. Grow together." Raising herself upward to make herself taller, she pressed her wet body into him and whispered in his ear. "We'll be better together."

Lifting her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and their lips met. He moved slowly through the manor, from the outdoor spring, through the hall and into the room they'd share. Taking his time with her, he endeavored to make her feel like a goddess as she so effortlessly made him feel like a god.

And within the cocoon of their shared pleasures, wrapped up in one another so thoroughly they failed to notice dawn breaking, he placed his mark upon her, forever claiming her as his.

Later, as she rested soundly against him, he recalled how all of this began: with the words of a sorceress. And for a moment, he found himself on a fence. Did he kill her for daring to feed from his mate or thank her for delivering the goddess to him to begin with?

She'll die, he decided resolutely.

You can't kill her. She didn't do anything to us, he heard Kagome's voice, the voice of reason ringing through his thoughts and sighed.

Figures, he thought.

He'd break her eventually.

Glancing at his mate, he brushed his claws over her bared shoulder, listening to the steady beat of her heart.

Or, she'll break me, he thought with a smirk.

Either way, Sesshomaru was the victor.