Amoris Seal by Suchiko

Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you everyone for the kind reviews. They mean a lot and are very inspiring to keep pushing on.

Enjoy ~

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Kagome’s back collided with the wood, her heel bumping against it. Sesshoumaru took the same distance forward. For Kagome, the room had suddenly become incredibly, incredibly small.

“I… I’m not sure I understand…”

“You do not need to.”

He shackled her wrist in his grip, and her eyes followed the appendage up above her head. Instinct shot the other hand forward, which he captured just as quickly before joining them both in his iron grasp. She cursed herself. Sesshoumaru glared down at her not unlike the innumerable times before, only now there was a glimmer of intent there she had assumed was only reserved for the hunting grounds. It was predatory. She found she couldn’t hold the gaze.

“There… are others, my lord. Ones more… willing.”

Kagome inwardly winced at herself, but it was the truth. It wasn’t like she was selling anyone out if they’d talked about how much they longed for the opportunity, right? Besides…

“I am not suitable… and I have a son to consider—”

“You really insult my intelligent, wench,” he interrupted, making her eyes flit back to him. “I am aware of which bitches walk around here as though they are in heat, and I am aware of you and your kit. You are not suitable in any fashion, and you never will be. So do not flatter yourself, human. But I am in a unique situation and, like it or not, you are of use to me. Out of all the others here you have at least been shown to behave and keep your mouth shut.”

Without another word, Sesshoumaru ripped the front of her dress away, letting the front of her apron fall limply to her waist with a sharp intake of breath in response from her. The woman tried her hands again and again, trying to wedge them against each other and leverage even the smallest of openings. His clawed hand never budged. Against his rational demeanor, he found himself taking some perverse entertainment out of having wiped that calm mask off her face for a few seconds. Sesshoumaru’s free hand slid under the frayed fabric and against her warm, smooth skin, caressing her breast with his rough hand. Kagome’s entire body froze up on contact. He rested his forehead against the wooden door with his lips hovering just above the crook of her neck, sighing deeply. The man closed his eyes.

“I will not mate that woman. I will die before I do, and I do not plan on dying soon.”

“Please, Lord Sesshoumaru—”

Her breath hitched in her throat at the sharp pain. Oh so delicately, he nipped at her neck with those sharp fangs of his. It was quick, and he released her skin shortly after, lifting his head a few inches until his lips were level with her ear once more.

“Are you aware of how this works, Kagome? Once mated, officially mated, a demon cannot mark another until that seal is broken.” His eyes slid open, that deep voice falling ever lower, softer. “I am going to give you my mating mark until this threat has passed, Kagome. Then I am going to kill you and free myself of this temporary bond.”

That single declaration of death struck her like a lead weight. All at once images of Shippo passed. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was silence. This wasn’t a joke. He was not the youkai for it. And it wasn’t as though running was an option. Even if, by some miracle, she could make it out of those doors, she would never reach the end of the hall alive. Even so, the only word her lips could form was…

“Why…? Why me…?”

“Because I require more than just a body. I need cooperation or my plans will harbor too much uncertainty to be of any use. I need control. I will not harm him if you cooperate, but you have a child, and that means I have leverage. You will behave well until your usefulness has run out.”

Kagome stiffened her jaw. I am… going to die…? Sesshoumaru cut into her thoughts before they could go any further.

“Do not beg to be spared; it is unbecoming and I will not change my stance. And although I do not have to offer you this, I have a proposition to make that I feel will benefit us both greatly. Your acceptance is of no consequence, however.”

Proposition…? Her mind was still reeling, but she latched onto that one word. To her, it sounded like ‘opportunity.’ But the warm breath ghosting over her skin was starting to unnerve her, prickling her skin with goosebumps here and there. Kagome exhaled a calming breath, staring straight ahead to the opposite wall of his opulent bedroom.

“What is your proposition, …my lord?” she said, her throat feeling tight and dry, but her voice still coming out in even tone.

Sesshoumaru’s half-lidded eyes slid over to her at the sudden and unexpected composure. Still, cooperation was better than panic. He finally stood straight once more, using his body to press hers firmly against the door. She went from boring a hole into the wall over his shoulder to observing the floor instead, but a steely resolve still remained. He let her keep it.

“Play your part well, do as I say, and I will see that your kit is sent off to live wherever you or he may wish after your death. I will even go as far as to provide his new caretakers with enough coin to cover his upkeep for one year afterward.”

He studied her face in profile for a long moment, trying to read any thoughts that were betrayed on the surface. But he didn’t have to for long, as she was soon staring directly at him.

“…He does not have anywhere else to go. Neither of us do. We have no family anywhere that are still of this earth at least.”

“Then you forfeit my offer.”

Sesshoumaru leaned forward, about to dig his fangs into her neck again, squeezing her breast in the palm of his hand.

“No,” Kagome stopped him.

He froze mid-bite. Her steely blue gaze, even from her currently helpless vantage point, seemed to bolt him in place. He didn’t even recoil at the brazen command.

“No. Shippo is going to stay here.”

He leaned into her more, his lips nearing hers, nearly brushing against them as the dangerous taiyoukai stared her down and she matched him eye to eye even as her arms were staring to go numb.

“Then what is it you want from me?”

“I want…”

Kagome faltered slightly under that amber stare. She was standing there… about to make what amounted to her last request.

“I want him, for the rest of his life, to think it was an accident. I never want him to know why I really died… And I want him to be looked after, cared for.”

“I do not lie.”

Kagome’s heart threatened to sink, but she clenched her fists above her head.

“Then find someone who will.”

Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed at this. And then, against all odds, he… laughed. If it even lasted long enough to count as one. But the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

“Very well, then. On this, you have my word.”

With their deal set in stone, he sealed her lips with his own and finally released her wrists from his grip, allowing his hands to roam. Kagome didn’t move to kiss him in any way. She only held her hands to his chest instinctively, her palms itching to bear against him, legs burning to run out. Both remained still. Sesshoumaru was under no delusions either. There was no scent of arousal mingling in with her admittedly sweet aroma. If anything she just seemed… sad. Not afraid, or even angry. Just sad. It was frustrating, but even he knew he had no right to expect her to feel otherwise. It was business for the both of them. He pushed his tongue into her mouth and hiked her leg up, grinding the bulge in his pants against her.

~*~*~*~*~

It was hot, so hot. It was the only sensation she wanted to allow herself to register. Not the sound of his husky breaths against her ear or the piercing pain of that thick hardness invading her again and again… or the brief flashes of her own body betraying her with jolts of unwanted pleasure. Kagome’s blunt nails bit into the fabric of his shirt and she grit her teeth despite tiny mewls escaping after every few thrusts his larger body made against hers. Her clothes, what remained of them, were starting to stick to her with sweat, and where before he had largely tried to ignore her and focus solely on the deed at hand, now he was… looking at her. Hungrily.

Sesshoumaru’s eyes kept hovering over every visible part of her body… the strands of long, midnight hair glued to her face and neck, the bouncing of her chest as he plunged into her, even the indecipherable mixture of emotions playing out over her face. What had begun as a chore had become strangely mesmerizing. Something about this small, human woman was eating away at him, damaging his self-control. His blood had started to heat, intensifying the pleasure he was taking in her. Maybe it was the intention of marking her, but a simple, emotionless rut had evolved somehow… without his permission.

“Ngh… h-hah…” she barely whispered. It made him grit his teeth even harder.

He was overcome with the urge to kiss her, to hear her cry out, even though the latter should have meant nothing but an empty stroke to his pride. But, gods be damned, he wanted to hear it. He wasn’t going to allow her to drive him mad while she sat there and kept her cool. Each restrained moan only served to anger him further. The claws at the side of her head sawed into the door with every twitch of his fingers as he fought for control. Sesshoumaru kissed her again, much less harshly this time, and slowed his pace until his hips were grinding into her with an even, slow rhythm, determined to have his way.

He broke the kiss and started on her neck, kissing and biting up and down the soft skin, the torturously slow, hard rhythm tormenting himself as much as her. But he finally heard it, a soft whimper at first that grew into a breathless moan. Her hands were twitching against his chest as she bit down on the noise, but it was far too late by then. He could smell what she was trying to keep concealed. Sesshoumaru pushed on, his hardened member digging deeper into her. His eyes were flashing red.

“Kagome…” he growled, an animalistic tint to the dips in his tone.

She only answered in more tiny moans and whimpers, but the site of their joining was becoming more and more drenched as he plunged into her without fail. She was getting close to her end. He could feel her body starting to tense, and he was primed to follow suit. Now or never.

Out of nowhere he ratcheted up the pace, earning a shocked cry as he drove her into the door repeatedly, gritting his teeth as his vision made the final transition to demonic red. Anything Kagome had been holding back he forced out of her as he fucked her, managing to restrain himself just enough to not actually damage her in the process.

“Lord Sesshoumaru—!” she cried a final time before the world disappeared in a flash of white, and she heard him let out a grunt of his own just as the hot liquid gushed into her.

Before the heat could die down, searing pain ripped through her shoulder. There, just at the crook of her neck, he sank his fangs fully into her flesh and refused to let go, a few tendrils of blood flowing from the wounds. Sesshoumaru poured his aura into it, the energy actually taking on a faint, luminous glow in the dim candle light until it drew into itself and coalesced into the desired image that would adorn her pale flesh until their newly minted bond was one day severed: a pale blue crescent moon. Sesshoumaru’s mating mark.