AN: Short tumblr prompt
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On the surface, their marriage had been a means to an end. Sesshoumaru needed a mate and Kagome...well, he never did quite understand why she'd agreed to it. After being hounded by his mother, his court, princesses and nobles alike, he'd made the offer to a humble miko without much expectation she'd say yes.
But low and behold, Kagome had given a breezy laugh that day as they'd lounged beside a river. Closer than allies but not quite able to verbalise their relationship as 'friends' they'd grown closer after she'd returned from the future. With a smile he did not understand, she'd accepted his proposal.
Sesshoumaru had puzzled over this. She had options, suitors, various means of support. Why trap herself in a loveless marriage, when she clearly valued such a feeling so highly?
Of course, she needn't know of his own regard for her. Funny that the demon now resolved to hide all evidence of his feelings from his mate of all people. But revealing such intimacies was not in his nature. She needn't feel pressured to love him, plenty of lords and ladies gave wedding vows without adoration. He would allow her to remain unburdened.
However, he'd be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed their wedding night. And Kagome....his bright, intelligent, sad-eyed miko, she'd accepted it. He'd pleasured her, certainly, but the bed had felt cold afterwards. They did not embrace, lying apart.
They'd repeated this unpleasant pattern every night, skin almost but not quite touching. He could hear her breathing within their shadowed room, soft and quiet. She lay awake long after he supposed humans should sleep, scent pricking with confusing, clashing emotion. Sometimes content, others incredibly, deeply unsatisfied and unhappy.
Deadly claws bit into the futon.
If she'd preferred to have Inuyasha lie beside her, she shouldn't have married the lord of the west.
Sesshoumaru glared at the ceiling. Foolishness. She'd done him a favour, yet he remained bitter and unsatisfied? Perhaps he had not grown beyond the immature want to possess an heirloom.
Out of his peripheral vision, the covers shuddered. Sesshoumaru turned his head to look at Kagome's trembling form, a muffled sob reaching his keen hearing.
Scenting salt in the air, sharp teeth clenched hard. His jaw ached.
Reaching out, the demon slid an arm under the woman, resting a hand on her navel and pushing. The miko's exquisite back fell into his chest, and Kagome gave a quiet gasp. Sliding another arm around her shoulders, he dragged a thumb over her chin, feeling wetness coat her skin.
She made a quiet keening noise into her hand and shuddered as though disgusted. Sesshoumaru held her tighter and pressed starving lips to her neck. And then the murderous lord said something into the hush of the night. A plea, entirely beneath him. Warlords took, they did not beg. Yet he burned for her touch.
“Please. Just let me hold you.”
Kagome gave a wobbly laugh, turning within his arms to face him. Blue eyes swam with tears, her smile confusing as ever. A hand came up to cup a striped cheek.
"Stupid, that's all I've wanted from the start."
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End