The Pleasure Principle by OnyxIvyStone
The Pleasure Principle
(I wanted to thank Langus, my goddess of a beta, for all her hard and wonderful work. All of your ideas were insightful and helpful in refining this story. Thank you so much.)
The Pleasure Principle
Sensory Deprivation- A technique used in both meditation and torture where a subject is deprived of one or more of their senses for a duration of time. In 1954, a device called the "Isolation Tank" was created to experiment with sensory deprivation and its effects on individuals. The results ranged from deep meditation, heightened creativity and other such positive effects to vivid hallucinations, extreme anxiety, bizarre thoughts and behaviors and depression. Other theoretical and hypothesized results include an altered state of extended consciousness or falling into a state where the unconscious mind or the id becomes predominant over the conscious mind or the individual's ego and super ego.
The Id - Responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex and aggressive impulses. It is amoral, egocentric and ruled by the pleasure principle. It has no sense of time, is completely illogical, primarily sexual, has an infantile level of emotional development and, above all else, does not take "no" for an answer.
The Pleasure Principle- A psychoanalytic concept, which states that the unconscious mind, or the id, is continuously driven to seek pleasure and to avoid pain.
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Her name was Higurashi Kagome. Her name was Higurashi Kagome. Her name was Higurashi Kagome. Kagome. Kagome. Kagome...
It was getting so hard to focus on her, on who she was. It was dark and she was floating in some vacant space. She could not see. She could not feel. She could barely remember what light and touch felt like. Her mind was a swirl of visionless memories, barely recognized facts that came before, some time before, long before where she was and what she was currently - a mind floating in nothingness.
There were things she remembered, like battling Naraku. At one point he'd had her in his clutches. She remembered the way he tore the jewel from Kohaku's back. Inuyasha hesitated. He hesitated and then he was dead. Somewhere in the distance, others she loved were fighting along side the inuhanyou's brother, Sesshomaru... The inutaiyoukai who had regenerated his own arm and brought with it the extension of his own power, the sword named Bakusaiga.
She didn't know what had happened to them. Once Inuyasha and Kohaku had been slain, she'd been drawn into this negative space and had been left to hang, to wallow in her loss and pain for eternity. Yet, the longer she remained, the further she was from it. She had no idea what time was. She could not fathom it. Was she dead? She did not know. All she knew was that slowly, and yet so very quickly in this place beyond and within her, the sharp images of beloveds slain had become stark facts and she could no longer see his face. The face of love. Inuyasha.
Even the name was slipping away. All of their names were slipping away from her. Further and further and further until...
She tried to focus on her own name and it wasn't there. It was gone. She was gone. She had no name. She was nobody. No one...
She began to panic. She tried to thrash but there was no room in this space she lived in - no, existed in. No one would call what she was doing living. Living meant light and sensation and hope. She knew none of these. She couldn't even remember what they were anymore. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. Her mind swelled and broke upon the jagged reality of her existence. Something within her began to break. Some precious part of self shattered and fell away. All she ached for was touch. To be touched. To be held and known and kept safe. But there was nothing. Nothing at all but blackness and void around her...
All she wanted was to be touched.
------
He had fallen prey to his own weakness. A weakness he had acknowledged once as strength. Rin. The girl. The child he'd saved. Magatushi had taken possession of her mind and soul and had used her against him. Rin. The child he had claimed to raise and love.
Love...
He loved her as though she'd always been his own. It was this love that made him hesitate now. He could not harm her despite knowing that the wretched darkness of Magatushi had invaded her body. He'd brought her back to life twice, carried her through Hell, protected her from everything and, in the end, had failed. After reclaiming his arm and forging his own blade through his own strength, and not that of his father or one of Naraku's minions, he had still failed her.
Darkness enshrouded him. All of his bastard brother's compatriots had fallen and the possessed Rin approached him, overtaken him and engulfed him in a black void where there was no feeling or light. There was only his mind and his failure.
Had Inuyasha and the miko succeeded in defeating Naraku? He could not know and his ignorance vexed him. If they lived, could they defeat Magatushi and free him from his imprisonment? Would they? He wanted to laugh at the thought, but he could not muster strength to do so. This space sapped his strength. It stripped him of the ability to even feel his own body. He was left only with the cruelty of his own mind and the predator that lived beneath.
The beast. The beast that demanded freedom so that it could rend their pain away at the loss of their Rin. It scratched at the back of his conscious mind, always since he'd been damned to his prison. He was fighting against the creature mostly for his own sanity. As long as he was aware of the beast within, he was aware of himself. Himself...
His name... He felt a rush of panic as he realized he could not recall his name. Who was he? The beast began to rage against him, but who was he? How could he defend against the monster within when he did not even know who he was?
He knew once, but even the understanding that he had once had that knowledge was fading. He grasped for it, clawed at it, but soon realized that it was all in vain. If he could have wept he would have. She was gone too. Whoever it was he'd loved... Held so dearly... Desired to protect. She was gone... Her name was gone too.
The beast within him howled in mourning. It had forgotten as well. It ached as he ached for someone to take such a pain away. The rage was dying slowly, replaced by a new desire – one shared by both he and the beast – the desire to be held and touched; comforted.
He could feel himself begin to fade away and the beast within panicked. It feared being alone, with no one to fight or keep company with.
The other... The other that was part of it was gone.
The other... There was another? When?
It wanted another. Another to be close to. Another to be near and to touch. Another to touch it and hold it in return...
But there was no one. Only the void.
------
Nearly a month had passed since the Shikon no Tama was completed and taken as their own. It had been a combined effort between Naraku and Magatushi to destroy the small band of warriors who had attempted to retake the Shikon no Tama from them. They had been victorious for the most part. All had been slain but the two who hung naked in the void that'd once had been the monk's Kazana.
Naraku had made use of the blank space he'd created as a curse and had kept it after the battle as a prison for the inutaiyoukai, Sesshomaru, and the miko, Kagome, until he could decide what to do with them, or whether to eliminate them utterly. They were too powerful to be defeated, even individually. Her inner light and his inner strength were far more dangerous than any sword could hope to be.
They had taken up residence in the Palace of the West until they could decide both how to dispose of their last two opponents and also how to divide the power of the Shikon no Tama. They both had come from the same lineage. They were both once human men who had made pacts with lesser youkai in order to become hanyou. Both wanted to become exalted in the status of a full youkai, however, there was only one wish to be made. Once they'd dealt with the inutaiyoukai and miko, they would decide what the wish would be. The only question was whether it would be settled diplomatically or if they would betray each their tentative trust. Perhaps it was really only a question of when one of them made the fatal error of turning their back on the other.
Naraku sat across the table from Magatushi where the jewel sat glowing with dark light. Near them, placed on a three-tiered rack were the two swords of Inu no Taisho and the one sword of Sesshomaru resting until they could also be dealt with. Across the room was the entryway to the void. It was no larger than a fully ripened peach, however the space within was boundless.
"Can you sense them within, Naraku?"
He looked up from the jewel and met Magatushi's gaze before nodding. "They have lost themselves in the void. A strange development. There is only the frightened mind of a girl-child and the beast within..."
Naraku smiled sadistically. "I wonder if they even know their own names."
"I wonder if we pulled them out now whether they might not do our jobs for us. His beast is still at full strength and her miko powers burn me even from here. If we were to release them into the bowels of this palace's dungeon together... Perhaps they will simply kill each other."
"Yes... Their instincts will control them, no doubt, once they recognize each other as dangerous. Her powers will purify him and, if we are lucky, he will rend her pretty mortal body into the next world before she destroys him."
Their gazes touched and they shared a dark smile before they stood and, together directed the void down through the floors of the palace into the dungeon where it hovered and began to open before dispersing entirely as if it had never existed at all.
------
It was cold and sharp suddenly on her skin. She had fallen somewhere and could feel the world around her once more, though it was all new to her senses. She'd forgotten cold and sharp. Even the dampness in the air was foreign. She opened her eyes and whimpered, then cried out at the sound of her own voice.
There was light, a faint pale light glimmering from the base of a door across the room. Everything was foreign. Everything. It was too much. She began to weep and scream, shaking in absolute terror. Across the room there came a sound - growling. She opened here eyes and saw the shadowed outline of pale skin and silvery hair draping around a face to obscure it. Another. Another aside from her. She whimpered and reached out to the other and it growled at her, causing her to cry again.
His senses were overwhelmed. He was in a dark space, but not so dark as before. Everything was cold and hard and the air was musty and wet, with the faintest scent of old blood still hanging on the walls. And then there was her, near him but out of reach. She was making such horrid noises and it aggravated him. Still, her presence was comforting. He was not alone.
He focused scarlet eyes on her naked form and took in her shapely curves while breathing her in more deeply to fix her scent. She was not a child. Instinctually he knew she was not a child. He also knew that while they shared faintly similar forms, they were not the same breed. Her life force was different. She was fading and he was not. For some strange reason this distressed him. He had been alone and now was not, but he might be again, and soon. If he allowed her to fade completely he would be alone again. He did not want to be alone.
He growled low, but in a more comforting manner before he reached out to her. His skin touched hers and she jumped slightly into his touch. Her distressing sounds began to fade away, removing some of his upset and concern. He could sense the power churning beneath her skin. So much light. Warmth too. Just her presence was comforting.
She looked up and met his ruby eyes with her deep cerulean orbs before slipping up closer to him. There was power moving through him. She could sense his energies but did not recoil from them. Rather, she felt safe surrounded by them and his strength. She could not explain it, it simply was.
She reached up and touched his skin, tracing the strange dark markings on his body, with the lightest of strokes. The ones that cut across his cheek resembled jagged slashes of claws and the strange almost circle resting in the middle of his brow reminded her of a crescent moon. A smile crept onto her lips when he leaned into every touch.
Her fingers were so light on him, so very delicate. He drew her into his embrace and pulled her with him into the far corner of the room, settling her against his chest. Her limbs wrapped around his torso and she clung to him. Their warmth mingled and their powers surged softly in harmony as one. He caressed her back and breathed in her scent and hair. She was so soft and delicate and still so very much afraid. It was clear that this female knew no more than he of where they were or what was happening. One thing remained clear, and that was the fact that she needed to be protected and so he would protect her.
He looked down onto her very pretty face and rumbled a low comforting growl through his chest as he leaned in to lick away the salty tears he could smell there.
She gasped as he began to lick her face and was startled by her own sound. He smirked and his ruby eyes shimmered in what she knew instinctively was delight before he began to lick at her even more along her jaw and throat. She made a soft mewing sound at the strange sensation and felt the sudden desire to lick him as well. She leaned and licked his cheeks softly, noting the rumbling growl of appreciation that resonated throughout his chest, before grazing the tip of her tongue along his jaw and then his lips.
He gently touched their tongues together and shuddered softly as she opened her mouth partially to allow him to taste her. She made such sweet, soft sounds as he did. He wanted to taste her more deeply and so gently slipped his hand into her hair and drew her lips down to his so they could taste one another. A soft moaning purr slipped from her and he rumbled in response, feeling no desire to ever pull away from her again. A surge rushed through his lower abdomen and with each kiss his skin grew ever more heated against hers.
She trembled and pressed closer to his form, gasping as she felt something harden beneath her. Some part of him was very hard and pressing against her lower regions in a way that startled her and sent warmth through the whole of her form to match the heat emanating from his. Some part of her understood the change between them, but it was an instinctual, lower and baser part of her. She did not know what it meant, but she understood that she wanted it. She wanted what was forming between them.
She moved her little body against his and he felt heated wet touch his lower self that had hardened unabated from being so near her. His baser instincts understood what was to come next, and he wanted, ached so greatly to simply burry himself in that warmth he felt at the base of her. It was his warmth; the warmth he'd created by the simple act of touching her.
Everything else around them was hard and cold, so very hard and cold. He wanted warm and soft to lay her on. He noticed a pile of straw across the room in another corner and so carried her there before laying her back gently onto the softer warmer space rather than on the cold, hard stone. She looked up at him with hooded eyes and he dipped his head to taste her mouth again. There was need there, in her lips - he could taste it as readily as he could smell it emanating from between her thighs, the place he wanted to be inside.
Gently pushing them apart, he settled himself between her legs and moved his hardened lower self to the origin of that heated wet, the source of that intoxicating scent. She moaned as they tasted each other and gently rocked her hips against the hardness he sought to bury within her. Their arms slipped and twined around each other gently, touching and caressing in a comforting, tender manner. He snapped his hips forward and broke into her, tearing past something he hadn't expected, causing blood to pour, causing her to scream and cry. He'd caused her tears and pain, but she was so very warm and tight around him. This was right. He knew it somehow, despite the fact that she was hurting, crying and writhing beneath him. He licked her throat and rumbled softly against her skin. Spurned on by her quiet whimpers he caressed her gently, comforting her with wordless gestures.
She leaned into his every touch, sobbing softly. She had not anticipated such pain. It had felt so right and even with the screaming pain within her; she knew he was where he belonged. It was new. He was new there and that was what caused the pain inside, but it was a correct pain.
She licked at his cheeks to reassure him and he, in turn, licked away her tears apologetically. She wasn't supposed to hurt. He knew she was not supposed to hurt and so he was confused why there was blood and why she was crying and in pain.
Her insides throbbed around him, as if embracing him. Again. Again. Again. Again. He looked down into her eyes and began to move within her to the rhythm of the pleasure filled pulses. Her eyes widened and little surprised sounds slipped from her throat. Her hands slid up to grasp his shoulders and her legs wrapped round his sides so they could link behind his hips.
With each surge of him within her, the pain ebbed and was replaced by pleasure. He was moving so slowly it seemed that with each thrust he placed himself further within her; pushing deeper until he came to a place that sent a bolt through her, causing her body to arch and moan.
He watched her, panting softly as he slowly buried his full length within her. Slow. He was moving so slow he was beginning to ache with a strange kind of need. He moved deeper and she arched and blushed even more deeply. Her lips were an impossible red and her eyes were hooded as she gazed up at him, silently urging him onward. Her sounds were like music. He wanted more of them. He wanted to make her make them. He began to move faster, ensuring he found that place within her that had caused such a beautiful sound. Soon she was panting and crying out, her hair a mass of ebony behind her pale face. Her deep blue eyes were glazed and she stared at him wantonly, urging him on.
Something was building within them. Something sweet and tantalizing. Something pure and unspeakably sacred. Every thrust and clench, every cry and pant moved them toward some unknown release, set for them since the beginning of time. They belonged to each other. This dance was theirs and theirs alone. He leaned in and licked softly at her throat before tasting her mouth again. He ached to keep her with him forever. He needed her because she was safe and pure and perfect and his.
Even as their pleasure built higher and higher, threatening to crumble and fall onto them in a crash that had the power to overwhelm them entirely, he knew with full certainty that he could not let the mortality he sensed within her remain. Her light was fading. The power he could feel beneath her skin was dying away and it frightened him. He did not know if it meant that she would leave him, but he could not bear the thought if that were true. In a panic he buried his face into the crook of her neck and instinctually bit down, surging his life into her.
She screamed in agony, then gasped and moaned as the mounting heat and pleasure within her exploded through the whole of her body, down to the tips of her fingers and toes. He growled against her chest as her insides clamped around him, stilling him deep inside her. He poured himself into her, filling her with his essence, and a knot formed at the base of his lower self, locking them together as their essences mingled and their life forces linked eternally.
He licked the blood from the already healed scar at the juncture of her neck and shoulder in apology. He rumbled an almost purr against her chest, then dipped his mouth to hers again to taste her deeply. She whimpered and moaned, as he rocked himself into their locked union, stirring their lower selves to ensure the continuation of soft bolts of pleasure through their bodies.
It began as a few pure drops of light in their minds then, in a torrential return, their conscious minds reawakened. The memory of their coupling and mating remained and they clung to each other, not daring to pull away from their union or their kiss as the agony of their losses was once again revealed.
He kissed her more surely and wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him as she clung to his form as tightly as she was able. They wept together and kissed away each other's tears; touching and holding and soothing away the ache of what had been lost. They could both sense the absence of her miko energies. Her virginity had been torn away and with it the divine power that had swirled beneath her skin.
He kissed her in apology and pressed their brows together gently while they caught their breath. They'd be locked together for several more hours. He could already smell that she was fertile, a fact his beast might have only known on a deeply instinctual level as he mated her. She was his mate and she would carry his pup and be by his side until his last day, whenever that might be.
He leaned and kissed the mark he'd left on her shoulder, a symbol of their union. "Do you understand what we have done miko? Kagome – do you understand what I've done to you?"
She sobbed and kissed the lobe of his ear before speaking. Her voice cracked with emotion, "Yes. I know what we've done and what has happened... I understand."
"I know this place. We are in the dungeon of my palace in a cell kept for prisoners who will be executed. I recall being pulled into a spiraling vortex and then the world was silent and entirely still with no light or sensation. I... Forgot myself."
"I remember that too... " Her voice quaked when she spoke. "It reminded me of Miroku's Kazana when it opened in front of me after Inuyasha..."
"Naraku and Magatushi must have brought us here and kept us in a void," he replied, silencing her from saying any more. He could still see the vortex opening where Rin had fallen at his feet.
"They put us together because they thought we'd try to kill each other...," she realized in a halting voice. "I am – no – I was a miko. I'm supposed to kill youkai... Why didn't I...? Why did we...?" With her mind wracked by confusion she began to sob again.
He could not express how much her tears hurt him and yet he could not stop her. He held her tightly against him, searching his mind for any way to soothe her, but none would come. He settled on resting his lips on her temple and keeping his arms securely encircling her smaller form. They were his tears as well, he realized. Tears he could never shed. He knew that as surely as the fact that he would die before allowing the dark hanyous to harm her or the child that was most surely being conceived within her belly.
He smoothed her hair and face and met her shimmering blue eyes with his calm yet remorseful golden gaze. "My beast only reacts to violence with violence. You were frightened and seeking comfort. You were no threat. You did not hurt him and so he would not hurt you." He dipped his head and kissed her deeply, savoring her taste once more. "I won't let anything hurt you, Kagome. You carry my pup. You are my mate forever."
She nodded softly and clung to him possessively. She did not love the inutaiyoukai, but she trusted him. She knew he only wanted her to be safe and cared for. She knew, in time, if they could defeat Naraku and Magatushi, that she would come to love him. Once she'd mourned those lost, once they both had, they would find peace together. They were already so entwined as it was.
"I trust you."
He nodded and slowly, carefully, sat them up together so he could cradle her against him even closer than they already were. He drew up his knees and held her as if she were the most precious object he'd ever possessed. He realized suddenly, that next to Rin she was, in fact, just that. She was his world. What was being sired within her was his world.
Bitter irony touched him as he realized what would be made between them would be hanyou. Just as quickly though, the bitterness fell away. He ran a hand through her hair and caressed her back as she rested fluidly against him and around him. His member within her slowly became flaccid, the knot receding after several hours of holding his seed within her fertile womb.
She whimpered softly as she felt him leave her and clung to him all the more surely as a cold and empty feeling replaced what had once been firm and warm and filling inside of her. "Maru..." She breathed against his neck.
He trembled and cradled her closer, aching already for her heat again but knowing that it would have to wait until they had escaped their prison. Her scent was already laden with the life of their pup growing within her. He snarled faintly, disturbed by the thought that the life between them had been sired in such a place of hardness and death. Despite this he calmed her as she whimpered. "I'm here."
"I ache."
"I know." His voice shook slightly, but he fought his sorrow and instead focused on his rage. The world was on fire for him and all he had... All that was his in the world lay in his arms, trembling and afraid of what would happen next. "I do as well."
------
After burning through the dungeon door with his acid and quieting the spells placed throughout the lower parts of the palace, he carried her to a secret room behind his own through one of many passageways his father had built into the palace in case of siege. The room was stocked with armor, basic weapons and clothing.
He laid her on a small futon and covered her exhausted form with a sheet before dressing and donning his armor. As he slipped into his haori, he felt her small hand encompass his. He looked down and saw her small nude form standing timidly close to him, her head tilted downward so her face was hidden. He gently embraced her and pulled her into his arms so she was off her feet before sitting on the futon with her.
"What is it, Koi?" He breathed as he smoothed her hair from her worried face. "I have to go and kill them for what they did."
"I don't want to be left alone. I don't want to wait here worrying if you'll come back to me." She breathed and he pulled her ever closer to him. "Please don't leave me alone."
She was on the verge of tears. He knew if she cried, he would not be able to leave her. He leaned and kissed her tenderly, caressing her form almost as though he were worshipping it. "You said you trust me," he affirmed, holding her close. He took a moment to breathe her in, already feeling the ache of wanting to be within her again, even if it were only for a short while. She soothed him, made him feel sure and certain of himself again. She was his only comfort.
"Yes. I trust you," she whispered in response. Her fingers slipped absently through the silken silver strands that fell down around his face. She looked up to meet his gaze and trembled. "I trust you."
"I cannot defeat them and protect you and our pup, Kagome." He murmured, noting her fear and confusion. "Safe here, hidden from them, you are my greatest strength. I will battle hell to return to you. But, in the fray, Koi, you are my greatest weakness."
Pulling her against his chest, he rested his chin atop her head simply for the sake of enjoying the feel of her in his arms. "I would die so you could live and I know they would not allow you or our pup to live if I fail. My father was correct, Kagome. True strength comes from defending another. You are all I have left. You and the promise of life you carry within you. Promise you will stay here. Promise you will wait for me, Koi, and I will promise to return to you."
She nodded and fought back her tears. "I promise, Maru."
He smiled a faint, sad smile and she felt her breath catch as he descended his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly and chastely. He put her back onto the futon and covered her again before he finished dressing. Once in his armor and ready to battle the two dark hanyou, he turned back to look on her peaceful countenance. She'd fallen asleep. He knelt beside her and caressed her brow, then rested his hand over her abdomen gently. So small. They were both so small and fragile.
He leaned down and kissed her before exiting through the secret door that led to the main hall. Magatushi and Naraku were in there being careless, a fault he would take full advantage of.
------
It had only been a hand full of hours since they'd sent their two little problems to the dungeon and released the void entirely. The sun was setting and soon they would have to go and check on what became of the miko and inutaiyoukai. Currently they were staring at each other with the Shikon no Tama between them. They were so focused, in fact, on each other that they neglected to notice the tall inutaiyoukai slip through a hidden doorway across the room.
Sesshomaru watched them and scowled faintly at the darkened jewel. Without Magatushi's essence locked within the jewel or Naraku's energy pouring into it, it was simply the imprisoned souls of Midoriko and the fracture of Kagome's soul that was Kikyo. The evil energy was tainting the pure soul energy of both mikos and it sickened him. He lashed out with his acid whip at both dark hanyous, severing an arm from Magatushi and Naraku's head. Sesshomaru knew better, though. He knew that it would take more than acid to kill them. He needed his sword, Bakusaiga, and his father's sword, Tenseiga, in order to kill them both. One sword for one and one sword for the other.
Magatushi reached for his severed arm as Naraku slithered back together. Sesshomaru moved faster than either could follow and pulled both swords from the rack where they had been placed, ignoring his brother's sword entirely. He drew Tenseiga and slashed with full fury through Magatushi. The evil hanyou screamed and writhed. There was no one near he could possess, no one pure enough he could slip into and overtake. Sesshomaru smiled darkly and met Magatushi's gaze. Without a word, he swung his father's sword once more and focused entirely on defending his mate and newly sired pup hidden in the secret room far from sight. Searing light poured from the blade and instantly purified and destroyed Magatushi until nothing of him remained.
Sesshomaru then turned to Naraku who was still occupied with reconstructing himself. He sheathed the Tenseiga before drawing Bakusaiga. The dark hanyou hissed and tried to draw away. Fear overtook his features as the inutaiyoukai advanced and slashed through his flesh unmercifully. As his flesh began to melt away and his regenerative powers failed him entirely, Naraku tried to flee.
Sesshomaru snarled and slashed the air, releasing a wave of energy that instantly cut the dark hanyou down. A strangled scream escaped him as he fell. Sesshomaru advanced and watched with slightly reddened eyes as the last bits of what was Naraku liquefied and were no more. He sheathed his sword and walked to the Shikon no Tama that was beginning to purify its own energy. He picked it up and looked at its faint pink glow before returning through the secret passageway to where Kagome slept. He found her curled onto herself atop the futon, whimpering while lost in the grips of a nightmare.
He knelt at her side and gathered her into his arms, caressing and soothing her into wakefulness. Their eyes met and she began to weep when he kissed her. So deep. So loving. She knew that it was finished.
She looked down as he slipped the glowing Shikon no Tama into her hands. Her power was gone, but she still could make one wish. A wish that would finally set the world free of the sacred jewel's spell. "Midoriko, Kikyo... I wish that you find peace."
The jewel flashed and faded, then turned to shimmering sand in her palms. She let it fall to the ground in a sparkling river and reached up to caress her mate's jaw.
"It is finished," he whispered.
"No," she breathed as he drew her closer for a kiss. "It is only just beginning."
------
Pain is transitory. Any pain can be endured if there is a promise of peace to come after it. And the divine never gives us more than we can bear. The sweat of her brow shimmered and she cried out once more in agony. One midwife whispered to her gently as another washed away her sweat with cool water. It had begun that morning and it was well into the night. The swell of her belly tightened and contracted, helping her push the child from her body and into the world.
The months had been long and arduous, but he had always been so patient and calm. Outside, she knew he paced and worried with each and every cry that issued from the birthing chamber. She knew he ached for her, wished to be beside her, but it was not allowed and she wasn't entirely certain he could handle the sight of her in such pain. He couldn't even stand her tears without breaking down. They'd endured, they'd survived and they were strong again, but there were times... Times when memory slipped up on them and all they had were each other and the closeness they'd found together.
With one last great push the first child was free. The midwife cleared its tiny throat and it howled. Her mind was too foggy with pain to register what sex she had said it was. The other was still coming, hot on the heels of its sibling. She sobbed and called out his name, suddenly overwhelmed with weariness. She heard his growl at the door and the curses that slipped off his tongue she'd only ever heard from his long dead brother. It made her smile sadly to know that he was being held back by several guards that'd been placed at the door to keep him out.
She had to be strong for them both. This was her own battle and she could not share it with him. She began to push again with the pains, following the urges of her midwives and maids who so diligently saw to her every need. The household was a mix of staff: human, youkai and hanyou. Much had changed in the short time since the taiyoukai had returned to the West and there was still much that would change as the years progressed.
With a grimace and a pained cry she pushed again and the second child was pulled from her into the world just as exhaustion overtook her. Again she could not hear over the din of her heart pounding in her ears whether the second was a boy or girl. She whimpered and again called for her mate. This time he was with her. This time he'd been allowed to come to her side. He held her as the maids washed her and cleaned their two pups. He nuzzled her neck at the spot where his mark glared back at him and breathed softly into her ear.
"They are alright, Koi. A daughter and son... We have a daughter and son."
"Names..." She whispered as her body trembled and fought to stay awake. "Name them, Maru..."
"Rin... and Inuyasha." His voice sounded strange. She looked up wearily and saw the glisten of tears in his eyes and smiled faintly before reaching up to brush them away. "They are who we protect."
She smiled a bit brighter and then her hand trembled against his cheek. "So tired..."
"Rest, Koi." He murmured into her hair as he gathered her into his arms. He would take her back to their room now that she was clean so their pups could be settled in the cradles that had been made ready for them there. "Rest. I will not leave your side."
"I know you won't." Her voice was far away and almost taken by dreams. "I love you."
He tensed only slightly. He'd seen the words in her eyes a thousand times since their pups had been sired, but she'd never said them. Somehow it made them seem more real that she said them now. He met her sleepy gaze and bent his head to kiss her brow. "I love you as well, Kagome."
She smiled and sighed as she fell into a deep slumber. When he'd said the words her heart had stilled and warmed. Everything would be alright. It would always be alright now... Because the words were real.