Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha in any of its versions, nor Sailor Moon in any of its versions. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and her associates, while Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and her associates, etc.

A/N: This chapter's dedicated to Sesshy's Mistress, and to all the readers, new and old and those who have stuck with me through the years. Love you all, thanks for your support!

Chapter Seventy Eight.

Summary of the previous chapter:

"I thought the show would have made them rush to act, but either they've seen through the ruse, or they care less about you than they pretend."

"You were trying to provoke them?" Usagi asked then, confused.

"I was intending to get those monks distracted enough that they'd let Jaken escape with the children," Sesshoumaru explained. "Look over there."

She did as he said and made out the silhouette of the two-headed dragon, Ah Un, hiding in the bushes behind Jaken as if ready to barge in and spirit the toad and the children away from their human captors, any second.

"Kya?! You could have just told me, you know?!" she whispered furiously back to the Demon Lord, "I didn't know this was part of some plan! I started to think you were serious about all that human hating!"

"I was. I do find humans utterly despicable. Rin and the taijiya boy might be the only exceptions. But, for now, if you cooperate, this Sesshoumaru may consider you putting you as well among that group, once we're freed of this detainment"

"...What exactly do you want me to do?" Usagi asked him, anxious to free their friends from the grasp of Lord Ungai and his men.

–

Hours later.

Lord Ungai and his merry-band of clerics had been left behind hours ago, defeated by Sesshoumaru's group, and utterly outwitted.

"Fearsome girl, come out with me for a while," Usagi heard the inoyoukai request of her. "There are some things that you and I need to talk about without delay.

–

"How did you know about my brother? I want to know how you know the fact that he's a hanyou. I thought you said you'd never met Inuyasha."

"I've never met him. It's just that, when Lord Ungai mentioned that girl, Kagome, and the half-demon that travels with her, Inuyasha... I realized that was him, that he was your brother," she explained. "But this person is a hanyou, while you're not... Is he then, your half-brother, from just one of your parents' side?"

"As you've already ascertained, Inuyasha's mother was human. Do not repeat questions for which you already know the answers," he told her in irritation, turning to walk away.

"...Do you really hate your brother?"

"I do not see how that is of your concern."

"I don't know what happened between the two of you but, I do know that if you really believe humans are below youkai, you're no better than that prejudiced human monk, Ungai..." she told him sadly. "I don't think you should keep away from a family member just because he's not full youkai. Family is too precious, too important to dismiss just like that."

"Really? Can someone as gullible as you know what true loss would really feel like?"

"I've been called childish many times," she gave him a wry smile, "But, I don't think being mature is just being able to fight for what you want. I also think it's important to know when what you want isn't right."

"And you, what is it that you want?" he asked then, getting so close that the question startled her.

"Ah?" she blinked.

"What is it... that you really want?"

This time, the feeling of his lips on hers was exactly what she was expecting.

–

For a few minutes, she was once again just like putty in his hands, letting herself be swept away by the myriad of sensations. When she felt his arm tighten around her, bringing her close to him, she gasped, which he took as the perfect opportunity for his tongue to plunge in, taking her breath away and making her lose all of her senses.

"You better not show that face to anyone else, fearsome, conniving girl, or there'll be consequences," the Taiyoukai growled warningly, narrowing his eyes as he rested his forehead against hers, the arousal in his gut becoming almost painful.

"Sess..." she tried to say when she regained her breath, but he didn't let her finish, tilting her head to the side with his hand on the back of her head and claiming her mouth once again with such swiftness it seemed he wanted to suck the life out of her body. Least be said, the blond-haired girl grew weak in the knees, her face so flushed and warm she couldn't have concealed her reaction to him if she had wanted.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" All of a sudden, the unexpected sound of Rin's childlike voice cut sharply through their awareness as they both heard her calling the Demon Lord's name from somewhere not that far away. Still immersed in Sesshoumaru's touch, Usagi felt her eyes immediately go wide as an urgent feeling of alarm rose inside her mind.

Would it be advisable for a fragile child like her to find the two of them in that position?!

Still surrounded by the Inu-Lord's arm, she instantly broke from the kiss. Before she could properly dread the consequences of Rin seeing them, though, they both heard Jaken's squeaky voice as he distinctly appeared to prevent the little girl from running off in search of the place where she and the Dog Demon currently were.

"Rin, you better stay right were you are, you hear me? Don't go bothering Sesshoumaru-sama!"

"But...!"

Usagi and Sesshoumaru stared into each other's eyes while they heard the toad-demon start to reprimand her.

"Whatever it is that you need from milord right now, it will have to wait until he comes back! If he's decided he needs to talk with the shape-sifting girl in private, then you will do well to respect his wishes!"

If Usagi hadn't been so distracted by the current situation, she would have found the epithet of "shape-shifting" girl utterly funny. Once you took into account how frequently she'd been going back and forth between her 20th century schoolgirl appearance and her sailor soldier, "queen" and"moon princess" forms as of late; a "shape-shifting girl" she kind of was, indeed.

"Oh... alright. If Jaken-sama says so..." they heard the little girl's deflated response.

"I do so! Now get moving."

The echoes of the two voices growing more and more distant told them that the Taiyokai's two companions were now going back on their tracks. Once Usagi was sure they had left, and she and the Inu-youkai were once again completely alone, she let out a sigh and gently managed to pull away from his hold.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this."

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to comprehend. "What do you mean?"

"This-" she said with ragged breath, her gaze fixed stubbornly on the ground between them as she pushed against him, keeping him at arms length while she realized she was blushing madly. "You... doing this kind of thing even though we're not lovers, and I...-!" her voice caught.

"...I, what? What about you?"

Standing upright, she took a deep breath before she elaborated.

"This is the second time you've kissed me like this, Sesshoumaru, but not long ago-! Was it not you who told me there wasn't any love lost between you and humans?" Squaring her jaw, she lifted her chin while she tilted her head to one side, looking away. "How am I suppose to take this, now? I can't catch up with you at all," Not meeting his eyes, she murmured, "Exception or no, how can I be sure that sometime tomorrow you're not going to change your mind?"

"Is that so-"

"-It's because every time I think the distance between us has become shorter, you immediately rush to do something that will prove me wrong!" She quickly interrupted him, her profile cast in shadows. "And just when I begin to accept it, you do something that completely turns things over the other way around!"

With her back fully to him now, she hugged herself when the only reply she got from behind her was a deafening silence.

Swallowing hard, she steeled herself in order to say the words that she knew needed to be said.

"I'm sorry. I really can't..."

"I thought this was what both of us wanted now, woman." The sound of Sesshoumaru's voice made her realize she had actually managed to speak those words out-loud. "Is it not you, hence, the one who fails to make up her mind?"

The implication made the blond-haired girl blink in surprise, her heart beating wildly.

"I- no... This won't do. This is so irresponsible..." she held her now mildly sweaty forehead with one hand, frustrated with herself. "It's a bad idea. I'm just fooling myself... I can't afford to let my feelings for you make me forget exactly who I am."

"Even if you say that, you have not been very forward with that piece of information. Unless you wish for me to continue making baseless guesses, you should at least state what it is exactly that has kept you from revealing the truth thus far."

The change in his tone told her he was beginning to get frustrated as well.

After she too failed to give him an answer, he continued. "That I've chosen, for the moment, not to force you to abide by our agreement from before, when we resurrected those dead villagers, doesn't mean I've forgotten all about it. Or do you mean to break another promise?"

'Another...?' Usagi thought, startled.

'Ah... That's right. When he agreed to resurrect the people of Kaede's village, I promised him I would tell him who I am...'

Biting her lip, she looked down in dismay.

'...If I don't fulfill my part of the deal now, it will be the same as that time when I ran away while he was busy with Totosai, even after I'd already promised him I wouldn't.'

The Demon Lord's next words drew her back from her musings as he got closer.

"Isn't it strange? That even after you've been troublesome and by all means I shouldn't put up with it... I still don't seem to mind."

"Huh?"

Sesshoumaru looked deeply into her eyes.

"From now on, I won't care for whatever secrets you're keeping, so... you should not entertain any unnecessary ideas about leaving, anymore."

"Sesshoumaru..." she whispered breathlessly. A part of her thought she couldn't have heard him right. She recognized the well-meant concession for what it was, and a part of her was immensely grateful. However, another part of her was stupidly getting carried away, going places where it didn't belong.

But this was not her main concern this time.

"You seem to be mistaken." she shook her head. "This is no longer just about me not wanting to reveal my identity or any details about my past to you."

"Then, what is it about." For the time being, it seemed she was in the role of answering questions while he was the one making them. Be as it may, Usagi's foolish heart refused to stay still. It was beating wildly.

"It's about my duties as a sailor-" the words had started to come out on their own before she knew she had spoken them.

Mentally berating herself, she immediately took the chance that the inuyoukai was unknowingly giving her by waiting for her to finish the statement, and rushed to change the topic... By turning to something that was just as much, or even more important.

"It's about Rin."

"...Rin?" The allusion seemed to take Sesshoumaru by surprise. "What of her?" he asked rather hesitantly.

She looked at him, pointedly.

"Rin and Kohaku... they both look up to you so much, they seem to have only you and Jaken to depend on... But I-" She continued, crestfallen, "At the end of the day, I'm really just an outsider. If something were to go wrong... or if I was forced to leave, I- They might think I just used you." Filled with a bottomless emotion she couldn't even begin to understand, she turned a pained gaze away as she mused in almost inaudible whisper, "...I don't want Rin-chan to think I betrayed her, or to hate me."

"Rin and the taijiya-boy are nothing but mere infants," Sesshoumaru dismissed the subject a bit vehemently. "It would be unwise, woman, to think that they'd involve themselves in matters such as those between you and I."

"But, can't you see that it would affect them as well, even in spite of that?" the upset girl insisted.

As if somehow attributing the success of his scheme to his continual invasion of her personal space, he stepped into it once more. This effectively silenced her.

"That is beside the point," he said in such a definite tone that Usagi wondered if there was any use in arguing. "Whatever you are hoping to achieve, does it not depend on how long you prolong your staying?"

A tiny voice in the back of her head warned her that, to some extent, they were not really talking about the same issues. The thought made her irritated. She shook her head frantically as she began to turn away to put more space between them.

"Don't go deciding other people's course of action so easily," she complained, rubbing her forehead with one hand.

What he said next, though, sounded with a greater ring of truth.

"It is evident that if I don't keep a close watch over you, you'll get entangled in useless considerations and end up running away."

The blonde froze, her hand going motionless against her temple, for the Inu-Lord had just unwittingly repeated the exact same words that the ghost of Neherenia had told her... She had to give it to him, he'd become pretty adept at reading her mind.

Was he even aware of what he was doing? Usagi's mind ran through a million possibilities anxiously. She feared she was, in a way, letting herself be manipulated, for Sesshoumaru might as well have been ignorant of the emotional stuff she was hinting at and arguing merely, and most of all, for the sake of not losing an ally or even an asset in his search for that infamous hanyou, Naraku.

"I -"

Reaching out with his arm, he brought her close. "Stop deciding things on your own. Stop saying 'I can't' and worrying over such trivial matters. You just need to be obedient and stay by my side like you have done so far."

"S-Sesshou..."

No matter what he said, she didn't really think him capable of blatant manipulation. Not on a conscious level, and let alone of a romantic kind. Still, it was possible that this could, unwittingly, also be part of his reasons...Or perhaps, it was just her own fears raising their ugly heads.

In the end, however, she found that she didn't care much for what it was, in spite of all these contradictory doubts. For all of her wary defensiveness, she really just couldn't win against Sesshoumaru. Apparently, she liked him way too much.

Far too much for her own good.

Like her old friend Sailor Venus would have said: 'Girl, you've got it hella bad...!'

She tried to disengage herself from his grasp, to no avail. "Can it really be as simple as you're suggesting?" With a hand against his armor, she wondered while turning to one side. "Waiting for the pieces of the puzzle to fall wherever they may, while we focus on the moment, and on the present, without worry about what the future might bring?"

Sensing the change, he smiled oddly at her.

"That is because you seem used to be over-thinking and dwelling on useless things all the time."

"This can be no good," she murmured, wary of his rather smug look. "Ever since arriving in this era, I seem to have lost both my way and my good sense... I've really been acting spoiled, neglecting my obligations as a sailor soldier."

"Sailor... soldier?"

Conceding defeat for the time being, and feeling strangely content in spite of it, she drew a long, helpless sigh that, in her opinion, was long-overdue. "You just said you wouldn't ask me."

"Hn."

She allowed herself the luxury of a mutinous pout, "I should be more troubled than this." Unconsciously, she leaned closer to him as she voiced what was the real crux of the matter, with slight mortification, "I become a pushover when I'm with you, I might end up obeying your every whim..."

"I can hardly think of anything more seductive than that."

The unexpected words in Sesshoumaru's ever-laconic tone made her turn to him incredulously, and the contrast between his expression and the potentially opposite undertones of what he'd said actually made her laugh.

Dispelled by this impending sense of irony, some her gloomiest reservations had vanished. Oh yes. She still had no idea what exactly she was agreeing to get herself into, let alone what that said about her own sanity, but she knew at least, she'd come to terms with her own feelings.

Smiling affectionately up at him, she opted to just tease him right back.

"...You rude youkai dummy," she murmured playfully.

She was sure a great deal of patience, coupled with an enduring sense of humor, would continue to be a key-factor in pulling her through all her future dealings with this stubborn youkai.

Getting up on her tiptoes, she suddenly gave him a kiss, squarely on the mouth.

'Not expecting it, huh?' Let it be said that, this time, it was the turn for a certain blond-haired girl to grin whereas a certain Demon Lord's eyes became uncharacteristically wide.

'Take that, Sesshoumaru. ...And serves you right'

–

"...And since Naraku's taking so long to make an attempt at my jewel shard, I thought maybe this is something we could do to have him come, if you would agree," Kohaku paused when he realized the Youkai Lord was not paying attention to him, but to a distant Rin and Usagi-sama. "Er...Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Glancing at him from the corner of his eye, the pensive dog demon apologized.

"I wasn't listening. You'll have to excuse me. We will have to discuss this at another time."

Bewildered by the odd dismissal, as he watched him walk away, the boy thought something was definitely up with the great youkai. The last three days, he'd seemed nothing but distracted. Not that it wasn't typical of him to be immersed in his thoughts more often than not. But, absent-minded? That was an adjective that Kohaku would never have thought to apply to him before.

Now, though, it was another story.

If he recalled right, the strange behavior appeared to have started three days before, after he and Usagi-sama had returned from a private conversation. Whatever had been discussed or what had transpired between them back then was anyone's guess, but the truth was that Usagi-sama seemed to be a lot more at ease these days, as if she'd somehow made peace with herself, while Lord Sesshoumaru appeared to be preoccupied, so absorbed with something it'd even resulted in him somehow growing inattentive.

Jaken-sama, of course, had also noticed. And he seemed the least happy about it. Often glancing back and forth between the two of them, he'd begun to regard his lord and the golden-haired girl with a dubious silence. So much so that the young taijiya boy even started to miss the toad's sarcastic remarks.

Something had changed, and for the life of him young Kohaku couldn't put his finger on it. While he wasn't sure it necessarily meant something bad, ever since Naraku had come into his young life the boy had been used to grow wary of unexplained changes. Particularly when they pertained to his appointed protectors: the belated Kikyo miko-sama, and now Sesshoumaru-sama the stoic Taiyoukai. Kohaku did not like to think about it but, the days before she died, the undead priestess had also been behaving strangely.

He really hoped the same would not take place with the Demon Lord. To be honest, he didn't think Naraku would be able to get the best out of him very easily. But then again, he'd thought the same thing about Lady Kikyo...

"Boy, what's on your mind?" he suddenly heard the toad-demon ask. "What kind of plan were you proposing to our master?" The look on the green face told him he was being deadly serious.

"Er, I... well," squaring his shoulders, the young demon slayer took a breath and steeled his nerves.

–

The blond-haired girl had gone to sit under a distant tree away from the others' gaze, and when he followed her, the Demon Lord confirmed his conjecture that she had separated herself in order not to let Rin see while she tended to her old back shoulder injury from priestess Hitomiko's arrow.

"Is your wound still hurting?"

"Oh! It's you, Sesshoumaru..." jumping slightly, the young woman mumbled as she was interrupted in the middle of her ministrations.

"I thought you said you had managed to heal it before."

"I did, mostly..." she shrugged lightly. "But the damage made by the toxic energy of that arrow takes a lot longer to heal than the physical aspect. It's been prickling me for the last several days, and I don't want to take any chances," she explained. She's already taken off the top of her uniform and was using it to cover her chest firmly, while she tried to reach around for the hook of her bra.

She raised her eyes at him pointedly, resolved to meet his gaze unflinchingly even though her cheeks were reddening a bit,"Eh, would you mind giving me some privacy? I know you've already seen me a lot worse than this, but I'd like to keep some of my dignity."

Now it was the Demon Lord himself who conspicuously bit back a huff.

Going to stand behind her, he ignored the way her questioning eyes trailed his every move and sat down to help her unhook the fastening of the bra.

"Why do you wear such an uncomfortable piece of garment?" he asked, annoyed at the way the infuriating clasp was proving itself difficult to figure out, and tempted to just tear the obtrusive thing off with his claws. "Especially when those straps seem to keep chafing right over where you're hurt."

Rather disgruntled, she fumed. She'd discreetly made her way to this removed area for a reason, darn it! Yet this meddling inu-youkai seemed completely unable to take a hint. Why did he have to go and follow her? She'd already promised him she wasn't going to run away.

"Call it the pains of the modern woman."

"I... don't understand the meaning of what you just said."

"Never mind."

Lending him a hand by keeping her long hair out of the way, she turned her back to him to allow him access to work better at it. She resisted the urge to laugh at his obvious impatience with the difficult menial task and twiddled her thumbs, waiting.

When she felt him cease to move, she teased. "Gave up, already?"

"No," the response was backed by the sudden release of the hook, yet the girl gasped at the feeling of the Taiyoukai's breath now directly over her back shoulder.

"Sesshoumaru... what are you doing."

"It's not so much due to toxic energy as it to the remains of some type of canine venom. If it came from those underworld hounds, the anti-venom of my own spittle will counteract it."

Without further ado, he began licking her skin.

Usagi could hardly believe it was happening.

"Wha-what...?" she flinched.

"Stay still."

"Wait - Ah!" at the next feel of his tongue, her voice thinned into a short, broken peep. "Sesshoumaru, you idiot! Don't do something like this so suddenly!"

"Why? Are you embarrassed by it?" She felt the annoying demon smirk against her skin.

"Hee... hyaaaa!" At another swipe of his tongue against her sensitive skin, she shivered. "Are you doing this on purpose, you- you, perverted youkai...?!"

"If you had told me you'd been poisoned..." He thought that, coming from one such as her, the epithet of 'pervert' sounded unadulteratedly cute.

"Ag, how long is this gonna take?"

The Inu-Lord actually chuckled. He couldn't have been more amused if he had tried.

'So easy to ruffle.'

"As long as it has to. Bear with it and wait for the anti-venom to take effect," he told her, before a particularly meticulous swipe of his tongue.

"I don't believe this," she grumbled mutinously, crossing her arms. "Licking someone's body without warning. Well," she sighed. "I guess, this means you really are a dog."

He made a pause. "Did you not believe it so?"

"No, it's just... when you're in your human form, it's difficult to tell what kind of demon you actually are. It's almost, like my sailor uniform. It's like the perfect disguise."

"This sailor uniform you say, its that related to your so called 'sailor-soldier' duties?"

"Yes."

"So it's supposed to be some kind of disguise?"

"You could say that."

"What a strange name for a soldier. Does that mean you do battle at sea?"

The thought made her giggle. "No, it's really just related to the uniform's design."

"Hn."

The blonde felt relieved when he seemed to let the matter go.

It was short-lived.

"I want to do what we discussed."

"...Ha?"

"Perhaps, it's best not to put it off any more than we have."

"What, what's with this sudden chase of subject?! Besides, now you're suddenly asking for my permission?"

"Hn. Does that entail I can do so without it?"

"No!"

He smirked at her. "If you come to dislike it, fearsome girl, this Sesshoumaru can kiss it better afterwards."

"Are you possessed?" she turned to him, frowning. "Who are you and what have you done to Sesshoumaru?"

The Taikyoukai raised an eyebrow.

"I do not consider this a simple matter," he cut in. "You have yet to give me a clear answer. I have been waiting for your reply."

At his no-nonsense tone, she deflated. She got what he was going about.

"It's just, ever since you mentioned it the other day, we haven't spoken more about it," troubled, she tried to justify herself. "And I'd thought..."

"Have you been avoiding me?" he successfully backed her into the proverbial corner. The air between them got heavy with expectation.

Dazed by his new proximity, she blinked. "Eh?"

"Yesterday, the day before, and even today, all you've seemed to do is spend time with Rin." 'Without paying attention to me,' he thought dimly. 'Are you trying to make me jealous of the time you spend with my own ward?'

Usagi swallowed hard.

These last three days, the shift in him had been so unfathomable. She thought she might never get used to this new side of him.

"No, I haven't been...I didn't mean to avoid you," she flushed as he kept sniffing the back of her neck and shoulders, as if her scent would tell him her current state of mind. "I just... didn't think there was any appropriate time."

"Then we can make some time, right now."

"But-"

"It will only take a minute, it will not hurt very much. And with this, it'll also be a guarantee that you become a more permanent member of my pack."

"I know but..."

"This act will also involve an exchange of our bodily scent, making it easier for me to track you down wherever you are." He titled his head to one side, questioning, "Why is it that you're still indecisive? Would you prefer not to do it?"

"It's not that," she mutely whispered, shaking her head. Raising her eyes to him, she inquired uncertainly, "I do want to, but... will this not be a burden to you? In so many ways, it will tie you to me... Will that not become burdensome for you?"

He smiled. "You could not become any more burdensome to me than you already are."

She smiled. "...Dummy youkai..." she took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do it."

Rearranging herself more comfortable in front of him, she offered her neck to him.

"Have at it."

The bite was quick, and just as he'd said, painless.

And looking at the lasting mark left by it, which wouldn't have been possible if she'd been tricking him, or lying to him about her emotions, the Taiyoukai thought it was worth this deceit, for it had secretly given him the confirmation to something he'd been wanting to test out for some time.

'So it's true, then. ...You really hold such feelings of love for me.'

He had his confirmation, now.

The question was, what he was going to do about it.

To Be Continued.

A/N: Short chapter, I know. Especially after all this time. But finally, I have an idea to solve the plot twists that need to be solved in order to advance the story to the end of the Final Arc.

On another thought, can you believe this fic is around ten-yeard-old?! Yep, this year it'll be ten years since I posted the first chapter. This little thing has been growing old with me! And hopefully, just as good (insert author preening herself). Anyway, typical of Sesshoumaru, right? He just had to do something to confirm it, didn't he? Even if he had to resort to deceit...

Anyway, what do you think the significance of the 'bite' will be in this fic? You think it'll be the classic 'mating bite' you've seen in millions of other fics, or do you want it here this time to be somewhat different?

As always, I'll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts!