Dreaming by SaikonoYume

Chapter One

It was a strange mist that settled over the campsite in the middle of the night, thick, heavy and not at all wet. Kagome lay still in her sleeping bag, eyes open but unseeing. I've been having the most unsettling dreams, she thought.

The final battle with Naraku drew ever nearer, so she attributed most of her strange dreaming to that. Tessaiga was complete, Sesshoumaru had found Bakusaiga and his arm had regenerated, and Kohaku was alive. Naraku had the entire jewel. Nothing remained to be done but to fight him for the jewel, to take it, destroy his soul, and purify the Jewel of Four Souls so it would no longer torment humanity. Surely, Kagome thought, her dreams were due to stress.

But she couldn't reconcile her dreams to her stress. Being killed by Naraku would be a dream born from stress. Losing her friends would be a dream born from stress. Shagging Inuyasha's hard-ass half-brother was not a dream born from stress. Then again, she reasoned as she stared up at the sky obscured by fog, perhaps it was born from stress. Maybe the intense dreams about Sesshoumaru were just her mind's way of attempting to cope.

Kagome made a face. She was lying to herself. She knew it. She just didn't care: it was a jolly good lie.

Having nothing better to do, Kagome rolled onto her side, closing her eyes. She burrowed into her sleeping bag. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Oh, she knew she was dreaming. She knew it, and she knew the dream was wrong. How could it not be? Dreaming about your crush's half-brother--dreaming that you were shagging him--was definitely wrong on many, many levels. Kagome recognized that, but her dream-self couldn't even begin to care.

Sesshoumaru called to her in these dreams. She could start off anywhere in the world, in her time, in the Sengoku Jidai, it didn't matter. No matter where she was, she could hear him, could feel him crawling through her skin like a delightful ripple of heat, and she would turn.

Kagome turned, hearing his voice, feeling his presence. She took a step forward, and hundreds of miles of grass passed beneath her feet. She took another step. Less distance passed. She could tell because the wind didn't rush by her as quickly; the trees didn't blur as much.

Standing before him, Kagome didn't lift her eyes. He was so tall that her nose only brushed his collar bone when he held her in his arms. They stood for a few minutes in her dream world until Sesshoumaru lifted his arm. "Come," he commanded.

Without hesitation, Kagome threw herself against his chest. She clung to him desperately, as if letting go would cause her to fall thousands of feet. His arms came around her, cradling her, and she let out a shuddering cry against his chest. It always started like this. For all she made light of her dreams about Sesshoumaru, but they always started the same way: she cried, and he held her. She was so afraid, and he was the only one who knew, her dream Sesshoumaru. Kagome didn't dare tell anyone else of her own fears. She didn't want anyone in the waking world to know how uncertain she was. But Sesshoumaru was a product of dreams, and a product of dreams was safe to tell.

"I'm so scared," she whispered into his chest.

He leaned down, tilting her chin up and her head back. His lips fell on her cheeks, wiping away her tears.

Her mind was a strange place in which to exist, Sesshoumaru thought as she raced toward him across the hills and valleys. They never started in the same place and, though he knew he could feel her in the same way she felt him, he always called to her. Once he did, something inside her would resonate, almost like Tensaiga had resonated with Tessaiga, a strange duet that made no sense to him while it felt so right.

Perhaps it was fate. Kagome was the keeper of the Jewel of Four Souls. Created with the best intentions of friendship, courage, wisdom and love, it was the center of an eternal battle between a miko and a mashed together demon like Naraku. It seemed logical to him, then, that the keeper of the Jewel would reflect the battle inside the Jewel and be drawn to a powerful youkai. Kagome was to Midoriko as he was to the youkai in the Jewel, a finer piece than Naraku would ever be, to be certain.

Shifting his attention from his thoughts to her face, Sesshoumaru watched her. She was so tiny, the miko who was charged with such a gargantuan task.

Even though he was in a dream, he could scent the tears threatening to flow. He lifted his arm in invitation. "Come," he commanded. Obedient in a disobedient way, Kagome flung herself against him, clinging to him. He closed his arms around her, pleased despite her inadequate execution of the command. Sesshoumaru had said "come," not "throw yourself at me." But it was well enough, and he held her.

His sensitive ears twitched. Faintly, he heard the sound of things resonating, and heat rippled across his skin, vanishing when it reached a place Kagome touched. He knew that it traveled into her skin when it left him, sweeping through her before returning to him.

"I'm so scared."

Sesshoumaru knew. She admitted to him what she would never admit to her friends, and he didn't mind. It was strange, because he should mind. But the fact that she was human, and a miko, his natural enemy, didn't bother him when he was with her inside their minds.

Keeping his motions gentle and controlled, he tilted her head back so he could brush away her tears with his lips. The water was pleasantly salty, staining his lips with her scent. He didn't mind that, either. It didn't bother Sesshoumaru, in the dreams they shared through some strange magic, that his scent was all over her body, marking her as his. Nor did he mind that her scent was all over his body, marking him as hers. It seemed natural in the dreams, and he knew she needed the reassurance that brought them so close. His idiot half-brother couldn't help her.

Sliding her fingers through his hair, Kagome shifted her face and kissed his lips. A rumble started in his chest, and she murmured her approval with wordless sounds, continuing the kiss.

She knew better than this. Sesshoumaru was a killer. He was cold-hearted and vicious. The only indication to the contrary was Rin. It was as if Sesshoumaru wore Rin as a mask, and the cold was a shield against his own heart.

In her dreams, Sesshoumaru was so much more of some things, and so much less of others. The difference made her toes curl in the grass. Kagome pulled back from Sesshoumaru's lips, breathless and full of giggles.

He rolled his eyes at her without actually rolling them, and suddenly she found herself on her back beneath him, naked. That was the best part of the dreams she shared with him: time could pass abruptly with nothing happening but the loss of useless clothing.

With his warm body pressed against hers, still fully clothed, she noted absently, Kagome sighed with happiness. Her fingers caressed his cheeks, tracing the fine maroon lines across his cheekbones. She liked to feel his skin beneath her fingertips, hot and soft. The only feeling like it was that of his silken clothes, made warm by his body, beneath her fingers.

"Ease my fears?" she asked him softly.

A rumble passed from his body to hers, something she had learned was approval, and then his clothes were off as well.

Inuyasha was awake when the mist settled.

He was awake when Kagome fell asleep.

And he was awake when she whispered his brother's name.

Unable to summon tears of sorrow, he sat in his tree, watching the fog obscured the moon and the stars. It was his own fault. His attachment to Kikyou always hurt Kagome. She would send him off with a smile, even though he knew her heart broke every time he had left her to look after Kikyou. It was no wonder, then, that she sought solace elsewhere.

Pain, awful and unimaginable, buoyed up in his heart, rending it a second time. But this was all part of Naraku's plan, Inuyasha knew. He wanted them to suffer. If they suffered, their hearts would become dark, stark, and perfect additions to the corrupted Jewel.

Inuyasha only wished Kagome would come to him, instead of dreaming about Sesshoumaru.

Crying out softly, Kagome buried her fingers in Sesshoumaru's hair. He growled as he ran his tongue between her legs, licking away the moisture he found there. She was delicious, even in dreams, where taste ought not to exist. Perhaps he only imagined the taste, but he didn't care. She was a small taste of heaven, a fruit cocktail with spice and musk.

He circled her clit with his tongue, growling softly against her flesh. Above him, she mewled. Her fingers drove deeper into his hair, massaging his scalp as she clawed at him, her pleasure intense, like fire coursing through her veins.

Sesshoumaru ran his finger along her opening, teasing the very edges, collecting saliva and her own moisture. He drew back long enough to sample the liquid on his finger, listening to Kagome's groan of pleasure with hidden delight. He loved to do things to deliberately goad a reaction from her. What pleased him more was that he didn't have to try too hard. The little innocent that she was, Kagome reacted to every touch, every look, and every move. Sesshoumaru had never preferred virgins--they were unnecessarily shy and silly--but while Kagome was shy and sometimes silly, she went about it in an endearing way.

"Stop that," she gasped.

Sesshoumaru arched one brow and looked at her. "Stop what?"

"Taking your God damn time," Kagome snapped, her back arching, a silent plea for his attentions.

Growling softly, the streaks on his face becoming just a bit more jagged, Sesshoumaru fell on Kagome. His lips closed around her clit as his finger slid into her tight opening. The most wonderful thing about dreams was that the body never changed: she was always as tight as a virgin, and she was always hot and slick.

Stroking her, suckling her, Sesshoumaru listened to her gasp and groan. Her body stretched taught beneath him, and he could smell her arousal heightening to that critical point. He slid another finger inside her, twisting his wrist to press against that sweet spot that made her scream, and she rewarded him with exactly what he sought.

As his name was torn from her lips by an intense orgasm, Kagome clenched around him. Her muscles clamping down around his fingers made his cock twitch, and he was hard pressed to rip off his clothes and dive into her body.

Rocking her hips against the tip of Sesshoumaru's hardness, Kagome grappled with the ground. He was teasing her. She loved this teasing, when he just brushed that velvet covered still erection against her opening, but she wanted more. She wanted to be filled with him, so much that she thought she might burst, and he obliged her, sliding into her wet heat.

Groaning, Kagome wrapped one of her legs around his hips, drawing him closer to her body. Their mouths clashed, tongues tangling as he thrust into her, and she lifted her body to meet his. At this point, neither ever cared how gentle their kisses were. All either wanted was an outlet for passion. Grace wasn't necessary, neither was kindness. The only thing that mattered was pleasure, and it was a vicious dance into which Sesshoumaru drew Kagome.

"Sesshoumaru," she moaned, arching beneath him, offering him her neck.

Sesshoumaru closed his teeth around the muscle at the junction of neck and shoulder. A shot of pain mixed delightfully with pleasure shot along her nerves, and Kagome keened with pleasure, twisting beneath him. His body slid deeper into hers and she cried out his name.

Coasting his hands over her body as he moved against her, his fingers found caramel tipped breasts. He tweaked her nipples, rubbing them between his thumb and forefinger until she gasped and could little more than writhe as pleasure began to overcome her. Every stroke into her body sent sparks of pleasure from his throbbing length inside her to her nipples and back. Liquid fire pooled where they were joined, and Kagome was having a hard time remembering to breathe. Sesshoumaru had that effect on her. When he was standing beside her, when he was kissing her, touching her, stroking inside her she forgot that things like breathing were necessary to life.

She begged breathlessly with him not to stop, not quite believing that he had any intention to finish with her. He was too amazing--too good--and Kagome knew that he was a product of her deranged imagination, but all that mattered was the pleasure crashing around her as her back arched and she shouted his name as her orgasm overcame her.

Sesshoumaru didn't stop. He kept thrusting into her, one hand cradling her head, his lips against her neck as his teeth nibbled and his tongue licked. Kagome's imagination immediately supplied one of her favorite images: him, between her legs, his lips and fingers and tongue working her into an orgasm. That mental picture, coupled with the tongue still on her neck and the erection still pressing into her, sent her over the edge again. This time, Sesshoumaru followed her, roaring his pleasure and she murmured his name.

He collapsed, but he was careful not to collapse on her. Instead, Sesshoumaru fell to the side, laying his head on the arm that cradled her head. A languid expression came over his face as he slid from her, and Kagome imagined he was smiling. A smile quirked her own lips when she realized she didn't have to imagine too hard.

"Before I met you, I never had multiple orgasms, you know," she said to him, as if this was an every day conversation. He emboldened her, her dreams, too. She said things to him, in her dreams, that she would never say in real life.

Sesshoumaru made a soft noise that akin to a chuckle. Kagome accepted it as one. "Sometimes, all you need, is someone else's hand," he murmured, a rough edge to his voice.

Immediately, arousal flared in Kagome's belly, heat throbbing and pulsing in her core. Sesshoumaru noticed, but he was too much a gentleman to act on it. She loved that in him. When he was with her, no matter how much she wanted, he would only take her after she indicated she wanted it.

Turning her head, Kagome brushed her lips over his cheek. His hand drifted idly over her breasts and stomach, settling between her legs possessively. Mewling softly, Kagome pressed against his hand, but he didn't press back. Instead, Sesshoumaru watched her intently.

"Cease," he commanded. "I want to remember your expression."

"Why?" Kagome asked, eyes fluttering closed as his fingers brushed over her ever so softly, just enough to make her want more from him.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, and she didn't need him to do so. Instead, he shifted over her again, kissing her softly, sweetly, his tongue caressing hers. It was a sweetness they lost in their coupling, though neither missed it. Ferocity had its place, and so did gentleness. Sesshoumaru pressed his finger into her opening, caressing and stroking until she was hot and panting beneath him once more. He took her again, and again, searing her face as she came into his memory, wanting to hold on to it.

Turning his head to the tree line to the north, Inuyasha grunted. "You're upwind," he said to his brother.

Sesshoumaru stepped from the shadows, but neither moved to attack the other.

Following Sesshoumaru's gaze, Inuyasha looked at Kagome. "She settled down about five minutes ago. Did it take you that long to get here?" he asked, actually trying not to sound too abrasive. Inuyasha was many things, and many times he was stupid, but he understood this. If you keep pushing and shoving, eventually, something has to give. He kept pushing, and Kagome gave.

A slight inclination of Sesshoumaru's head was the only response Inuyasha received.

The hanyou sighed, closing his eyes briefly. "Is she okay?" he asked.

"She is still scared," Sesshoumaru replied.

"We're all scared. Except, maybe, for you."

"Magatsuhi took Rin," Sesshoumaru said. He tilted his head just enough to meet Inuyasha's eyes.

Inuyasha nodded, more to himself than to indicate Sesshoumaru's meaning. "What about when this over? What will you do?"

Sesshoumaru was silent for a long time. Inuyasha almost thought his brother hadn't heard until, finally, he said, "I will wait for her."

"You're going to be waiting a mighty long time," Inuyasha said brusquely.

"Some things in life are worth waiting for, idiot," Sesshoumaru replied. For a moment, Inuyasha thought Sesshoumaru might have smiled, but he dismissed that crazy idea when his half-brother turned and vanished into the night.

"I can't believe we're going to graduate tomorrow!" Ayumi leaned back in her chair, sipping her drink.

Yuka hit her fist on the table. "We have to remain best friends, no matter where we go to college, right?" she asked, looking between the other three.

Eri dropped her hand over Yuka's, clasping it dramatically. "Friends forever, no matter what!" she agreed exuberantly.

Ayumi rolled her eyes and put her hand over Eri's. "As long as you don't make a fool out of me when I bring my college boyfriend home for break," she agreed.

"And what makes you think you're going to get a boy?" Kagome asked, almost leering. The four laughed good-naturedly, and Kagome dropped her hand on top of the others. "Best friends," she agreed, "no matter what."

They laughed, all drawing back and chattering idly while they ate their fries. Kagome's gaze turned to the window, and she tuned out her friends' idle chatter about older men. The well had closed after the battle with Naraku, locking her in the modern era. It hurt, because she had come to see all the people in the Sengoku Jidai as closer friends than the ones she had in the modern era. But she had learned many things during her adventure: she had learned to overcome. She fought her way through high school, applying the same dedication to her studies that she had to the search for the Jewel of Four Souls, and she had, to her surprise, managed to graduate in the top five percent. With college looming on the horizon, Kagome had decided she would major in history. She figured it made sense--she had lived part of history, after all.

"Oh. My. God. Who is that? He's gorgeous." Eri's murmured exclamation drew Kagome from her aimless daydreams.

"Who?" she inquired, sipping her drink.

Yuka, suddenly latching on to Kagome's arm, pointed. "Him," she said, her voice unable to hide her delight.

Kagome followed Yuka's pointing finger, and her heart nearly stopped. Sesshoumaru stood at the counter of the fast food joint, presumably ordering. He looked different. Older. His silvery hair was cropped short, wind-combed and just as sexy as when it had been long. His eyes looked to be a richer amber, more hazel than before, and Kagome was certain he was wearing makeup to cover his markings, but he was still Sesshoumaru.

"Do you know who that is?" Ayumi suddenly asked. "Can you... God, that's Mahito Shuusaishi. I can't... Why would he be here?"

Yuka rolled her eyes. "Ayumi, spare us. Not everyone is obsessed with economics and business."

The look on Ayumi's face was priceless. "But everyone know who Mahito Shuusaishi is," she said.

"We don't," Eri muttered.

Kagome choked down the urge to say she knew him, wanting to hear from Ayumi what Sesshoumaru had made himself into.

"He's only the richest and most eligible bachelor in Japan. And probably the world. People say he's got more money than Oprah and Bill Gates and those sheiks in Saudi Arabia," Ayumi explained. "He owns a number of weapon's manufacturing companies, as well as parts of the Starbucks chain. He owns a number of his own companies, too. He does a lot of contracted work for the government."

"Fancy that," Kagome said softly. "Excuse me." She extricated herself from Yuka's death grip. She walked with more poise and grace than she felt. Inside, she was a wreck, but outside, she was nothing but smiles. As Sesshoumaru took his tray, the eyes of everyone in the fast food joint staring at him in shock, Kagome stopped. He turned to her.

His eyes widened slightly.

Kagome just stared at him stupidly. Suddenly, she realized she should have thought about what she was going to say to him before she pranced up to him. "Uh, hi" just seemed stupid and "Remember me? We fought Naraku together" was too... something else.

"Nice suit," she finally said, giving herself a mental beating.

"Nice uniform," he replied instantly. "Just as bad as your first."

Kagome felt her face heat and knew her face was scarlet. "Well. You know. Japanese schools."

They were silent a moment longer, and Kagome was conscious of all the eyes on them. Sesshoumaru didn't seem to be fazed.

"You aren't dead," she murmured.

A small smile turned up the corners of his lips. Clearly, he was more expressive now than he had been six hundred years before. "Obviously," he agreed. Abruptly, Sesshoumaru seemed to become aware of all the people watching him. "This is not the best of places to reminisce. We should meet elsewhere."

"Speaking of which, why are you eating at a McDonald's of all places?" Kagome asked, surprising herself.

A rueful chuckle--Sesshoumaru actually laughed!--issued from him. "I was hungry. Such a travesty, is it not?" He set his food down and pulled out a business card and a pen. On the back, he wrote two numbers. "My cell phone and home phone number. Call me whenever you wish. We will arrange a meeting."

Kagome accepted the card, her fingers lingering a bit longer than necessary on his, her blue eyes locked on his. She had so many questions for him, but only one seemed to matter to her.

"Did you dream about me?" she asked. Her face was hot again, and she knew she had embarrassed herself when he stiffened. Of course Sesshoumaru hadn't dreamed about her. She had dreamed about him because of stress. What a stupid question.

Fingers on her chin drew Kagome from her thoughts. Sesshoumaru peered down at her before he leaned closer, brushing his lips over each cheek as if kissing away tears. "There's no reason to be scared," he told her. Sesshoumaru picked up his food and stepped away, a smile on his face. "Call me," he commanded, and then he took his food and left.

Kagome stared after him, wondering at the irony that he had come into the building instead of going through drive-thru. On a bizarre high that allowed her to ignore the whispers about her, Kagome made her way back to her friends. She sat, Sesshoumaru's business card in hand.

"What is that?" Yuka demanded.

Kagome showed her.

"His business card!" Ayumi gasped. "How did you... Do you know him?" she demanded.

I did before, Kagome thought. Six hundred years ago. But youkai, who were made to live forever, weren't easily changed. Nothing made to be immortal could be anything but steadfast. Perhaps he hadn't changed so much. "I... met his brother a while back," Kagome finally said, and it wasn't a lie.

It was Eri, with all her common sense, that suggested they leave. Eyes were on them, and people were making calls on their cell phones. Granted, they would have made those calls anyway, but now they were telling others about how some nobody high school girl talked to Mahito Shuusaishi and got his business card.

When Kagome got home, she ignored her family, locking herself in her room and just staring at the business card for an hour. It took her another hour to actually let one of the calls go through. At first, she'd stop dialing and hang up. Then she would complete the dialing, but she'd hang up at the first ring on her end.

Sitting in her room, staring at the phone, Kagome wondered what her problem was. Sure, she hadn't gotten to know Sesshoumaru intimately outside of her dreams and, clearly, he was incredibly influential in the modern world, too, but even so. This shouldn't be so damn difficult. It wasn't like she was calling some boy she wanted to date or anything.

Kagome groaned.

That was the problem, though, wasn't it, because that was exactly what she was doing. And he had dreamed, too!

Gritting her teeth. Kagome dialed, and put the phone to her ear. On the second ring, it picked up.

"Do you enjoy prank calling, Miss Higurashi?"

Sesshoumaru's voice was that familiar rich baritone, and it settled, warm and heavy, in her belly.

"N-no, I'm sorry if I was--"

"Joking, Miss Higurashi," he said, and there was laughter in his voice.

Kagome was silent for half a second before saying, "I didn't think you knew my last name."

"I looked it up. It wasn't too hard. I knew your first name was Kagome, that you missed a lot of school in your early teens, and that you lived in the Tokyo area," Sesshoumaru replied.

"That's... really creepy."

"It is, isn't it?"

They both fell silent. Kagome chewed her lip and wondered what Sesshoumaru was doing on the other end of the line. "So," she finally managed. "Lunch sometime?"

"As long as you promise to speak in complete sentences," Sesshoumaru replied, and Kagome was rendered silent because he had made a joke. "Don't worry, Kagome, I haven't changed so much. There is a pleasant restaurant you might enjoy. It's traditional, but is fairly dressy. Do you have evening wear?"

"I... have a black cocktail dress from a high school dance," she said, thinking about the strapless, gauzy affair. "I don't think it would be appropriate, though."

"Tomorrow is Sunday. You will accompany me to the department store. We shall find a suitable dress, and then dine out. Is that accommodating for you?"

"Er, yes."

There was a pause. She wasn't sure whether or not she ought to hang up.

"And Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"Have pleasant dreams tonight."

Sesshoumaru hung up, and so did she. For a moment, Kagome watched her phone. Then she crawled into her bed, it being late, and had very, very pleasant dreams.

A one shot, intended to be a song fic, that got away from me. Like... very far away from me. As in... I'm the sun, and this fic is Pluto. So, yeah, there you are.