Across the Ages

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Chapter Thirty Seven

The Taisho watched the events in his palace unfold with an amused but watchful eye. His nose told him that his son was imprinting on the woman, she apparently enjoyed the process for her own sweet scent clung to his son's flesh. How many times had his own dear Buhira played with him like that? Ryu seemed more disgruntled than ever and Ayeka was determined to spend time with him.

The wolf, valuing her frienship allowed her proximity often enough. He still felt bad for snapping at her and made every effort to redeem himself to her. Kurama had yet to arrive and she began to wonder if he would. Sesshoumaru was more than pleased with his absense. He had also found ways to enterain himself with the wolf as well.

Too many times he'd fallen in the path of Ayeka's eyes, the sweet scent of her arousal would spike mere seconds later, making the poor wolf groan. He'd arched a silver brow at the other's discomfort before turning and returning to his duties.

His plan to overwhelm and conquer was moving along at a much slower pace than he'd anticipated. For while Ayeka welcomed him to her arms and bed each night, with the dawn the game began again. He was seriously considering pupping her and having done with it.

Just when he was convinced that Kurama would not come, he did. The fox arrived in the first week of spring. The snows were steadily melting and already the air grew warmer and more fragrant. Ayeka didn't know he'd arrived until that evening as the Taisho had kept him closeted away in the study.

When she saw him, she did as she always had. She ran to him, only to be caught against his chest in a great hug. "I thought you wouldn't come" she whispered to him. Behind her she hear the low warning growl. She chose to ignore Sesshoumaru. Kurama set her down and looked over her head at the tense dog.

Pale golden eyes dropped back to her and he smiled, "I will always come to my friends when they need me" he reminded her. Looking back at the icy prince he inclined his head. "Sesshoumaru-sama" he said pointedly. The other sniffed and then said in a tone that was far from welcoming, "Fox".

He'd wanted to lunge and tear the unwanted guest to tiny bits for touching his mate so intimately. Ayeka was still unwilling to accept that inu's were far more territorial and such behavior was not to be done. She merely clasped the fox's hand in her own and pulled him over to the table.

Sesshoumaru stiffened as she took her place beside him. The fox settled on the other side of her. Sesshoumaru growled softly again and Ayeka, though she didn't look at him, reached over to pat his hand. He jerked his hand away from the indulgent touch. He hated the amusement in Kurama's eyes.

Ayeka finally turned to look at him, he let his eyes wander to her. The look in his eyes, took her breath away. Slowly, she reached up and brushed his bangs from his eyes. "Let me see him" she whispered so softly that even the Taisho who was so close had trouble hearing. "I will not be able to see him this way when you have me".

Sesshoumaru gave a stiff nod. At least she was aware of what was to be. He noticed that she leaned closer to him, and this small action pleased him as well. Sesshoumaru had never thought himself to be a jealous person, but now he wondered about that.

"Kurama", the Taisho asked then, "Have you found anything else?". Ayeka blinked in confusion, what was he talking about? Kurama nodded, "There are many plotting against the west" he said. Sesshoumaru blinked, "It has always been so" he stated. Ayeka nodded, it was the way of the world. The Taisho was far famed and his domain was vast. His mettle unmatched by any save his own son. So he had many enemies.

"Who is it this time?" Sesshoumaru asked. It was always tied back to one instigating tribe of lord. The Taisho usually went after the head of the snake. Kuram shrugged, "I am not sure, you see this time it seems that great lengths have been gone to to conceal the troublemaker. The pawns are easy enough to see. The bat is merely that, she does what she is asked to do, nothing more".

Ayeka looked over at the tall silver fox, "I see that you are more than a clever thief and fighter" she quipped. He nodded his head, "I have been many things to many people" he admitted. The Taisho waved his hand, "It is no matter, they shall fall". His words were a death sentence to the unknown enemy.

Ayeka shivered at the cold tone, it would have been more natural coming from the one beside her. Sesshoumaru covered her hand beneath the table. Ayeka knew a great deal about his father but there were still many things she didn't. She had never truly seen how bloodthirsty his father could be.

At the end of the evening as Ayeka rose, the Taisho stopped her with his words. She hoped he'd not ask the question in front of Kurama. She had evey intention of giving her usual answer but his presence had Sesshoumaru on edge. "My lord" she said softly, "I shall give you my answer in the morning. I swear it". He nodded and let her go.

Ayeka was awake and waiting for Sesshoumaru. She heard him moving around in his room, she'd left the adjoining door slightly ajar for that purpose. Damn demon moved too quietly for her peace of mind. She stood before the tall windows.

In his rooms, Sesshoumaru shed his armor and his weapons. He would take a long bath and then go to her. That was his plan anyway. But her sweet scent crept across the room like a creeping tendril of vine. He followed it to the cracked door and pushed it open wider.

Her room was completely dark, no lamps burning. She'd not even stoked the fire and the embers gave no light. The full moon washed into the room, basking everything in the creamy pearlesence of it's light. That was how he found her. Standing before the tall window, her back to him, her chin tilted upwards to look at the shining orb in the sky.

Her sleeping gown was sheer and the outline of her curves was visible to him. Her hair was still piled atop her head, and the column of her throat drew his eyes like pollen drew bees. She closed her eyes and he heard her intake of breath. She was scenting him?

"Will you stand in the doorway all night?" she asked softly. He didn't move. "You swore to answer my father in the morning" he reminded her. She smiled softly at the moon, "I wonder, what you would do if I denied you?" she asked. He moved too fast for her to counter and she found herself spun and pinned against the chilled glass.

She looked up at eyes bleeding red. "You will do no such thing!" he snapped at her. She didn't intend to of course, she'd only wanted to hear his answer. Here it was, snarling over her. His beast was infuriated at the implied insult. Ayeka should have been terrified and while she was a bit scared, she'd stay the course.

She lifted her hand to cup his cheek, fingertips dancing over magenta stripes. "Sesshoumaru?" she whispered with a small smile. The beast growled and she pressed her face beneath his chin. "Sesshoumaru?". Red eyes snapped back to gold and he grunted.

"There can be no more games Ayeka" he told her firmly, "You will tell me now. Either you willingly come to me or you don't". She studied his eyes, "And if I say no?" her tone told him she was teasing. "I might just pup you on principle" he muttered. Green eyes went wide and he smirked, two could play such games.

She shrugged away from him and moved closer to the bed, "That is not even funny" she snapped at him. He lunged and pinned her beneath him to the softness of the bed. His weight against her back, her face pressed to the linens. She 'oofed' and tried to roll but he held her down.

He ceased her struggles against him, when he jerked her hips up and pressed his erection against her. Even through the light clothing she gulped. "Pupping is all too easy to see to Ayeka. I want your word" he growled. She hung her head, "You ruin all my fun" she told him in a pouting voice.

He rubbed against her, making her moan softly, "I AM all your fun woman" he reminded her. She felt him press harder against her. His clawed hand moving between the folds of her robe to rub against her core. She bucked against him. He rumbled his pleasure at her actions. "Your word woman or I'll not grace your bed any longer" he told her.

So he would set terms of his own. She let his wrap his arm around her waist and draw her up against him. Her head fell back against his chest and she looked up at him. Lost momentarily in the lusty gold swirling before her. "Ayeka" he reminded her and she snapped back to herself. She smiled softly and nodded.

Sesshoumaru flipped her onto her back and pressed his hard body against hers. He locked eyes with her, "Say it, I would hear you say that you belong to this Sesshoumaru" he said gruffly. His claws stroking softly along her sides. "Yes, I belong to you Sesshoumaru" she whispered. He grunted and before he fused their lips together he heard her whisper, "Don't make me regret it".

He ravaged her mouth like the born conqueror. A kiss more fierce and primal than his others. A blatant show of ownership. His tongue touching every bit of her mouth, touching every tooth, sliding against the texture of her tongue in slow deliberate laps. Mapping her cavern as his own.

Ayeka clung to him, moaning against his lips. He was burning her world to cinders around her. Finally he pulled away, a smug smirk on his handsome face. "I am most pleased," he told her, then he rose and was off of her, striding across the room, "Come Ayeka, I want a bath and I want you with me". She rose and slowly followed after him, not entirely certain her legs would hold her.

He wanted her to bathe him and she did. Never one to complain when touching perfection she drew out her task. While she worked he spoke of the many things to do. She was touched that he would agree to a human ceremony. She thought about that and decided that she wouldn't have really asked for one.

She of course wanted his permission to return to the village and tell her cousin. He was less than enthusiastic about the trip but he was swayed by her pleading eyes. He knew that she hoped her only remaining kin would share her happiness but he knew better. Though the villagers depended on demons for protection, they despised their inhuman masters.

He knew better than to tell her what would happen and what would be said. Better she learn the painful lesson on her own. He'd comfort her later. She understood that since the answer would be given in the morning that messengers would be sent that afternoon. The invitations to those deemed worthy guests would follow shortly afterwards. She'd been expected to take on a demon tutor to help her understand the binding rituals they would undergo.

Unlike a human marriage which could be completed in a single day, a demon marriage took three. "Three?" she'd balked. He'd gone onto explain, that the first day they would be cleansed and blessed in the demon fashion. On the second day, they would be taken to the holy circle where they would be recognized as mates and the spells read to bind them for eternity. The third day would be the feast and then the marking and mating.

He'd not see her on the first day, and only shortly on the second day. They would not be allowed entrance to one another's rooms after the announcement. That meant that tonight was the last night they would have together for at least a month.

That bothered Ayeka greatly. She had grown far too comfortable with the great Taiyoukai sleeping beside her. She wondered if she could sleep without him now. She grumbled about that. He smiled and kissed her brow. She'd not understood how important or complicated these things were to his people. A human marriage was nothing compared to it. A human marriage was temporary, it held until death.

Demons were immortal beings so death was not something they considered. They could be killed of course but that was vastly different. Mates remained together for all eternity, so the choosing of one was no small matter. If a male died in battle it was likely that the female followed after him. There to reunite in the afterlife. If the female ahd pups she might linger to see them grown and then move on.

As a human Ayeka would not age as others did, but she would age. That meant that Sesshoumaru could face a long life without her. He had spoke to his father regarding that, but the Taisho had told him of Kurama's previous mission. A spell to grant eternal life to a human. The spell was very difficult and the parameters for it to work were rare indeed. A human must be bound to a strong youkai. A demi-god.

While Ayeka and Sesshoumaru fit the requirements, the magic was fickle and there was a chance that it would not work. Leaving an eternally young Sesshoumaru with a graying Ayeka. He'd scoffed at that, it was no matter, he told his father. He would have her. For all of her life, no matter how long or short that might be. If the spell didn't work they'd think of something.

His beast was soothed with the woman's acceptance and while it balked about being denied her for so many nights it conceded to make the most of this last night. So decided, Sesshoumaru took the soap from her little hands and moved behind her.

Ayeka felt his large soapy hands sweep slowly across her shoulders and down her back. Fingers following muscle. It felt heavenly and she relaxed under his hands. He bathed her arms and when she lifted them as he ordered, his soap slicked hands slid from her wrists down her sides, claws brushing against her breasts.

She sucked in her breath at the contact. He smirked against her hair. His hands made short work of her upper body and commanded her up on the side so that he could wash her slim legs. She sat and he lifted her thigh over his shoulder, soaping the smooth flesh of her leg. Time and again he drew so close to her core that his claws whispered against the folds. Yet he always retreated.

By the time he finished and lifted her back into the water, she wanted to scream. He knew exactly what he was doing to her, he did after all have a nose. When she rinsed in the hot water, he pressed his chest agaisnt her back. Her breath was choppy with want.

She cried out as his hand flattened itself to her stomach and pushed beneath the water to stroke against her. His fingers unerringly found the bead of her pleasure and stroked it. She clung to his arms for support and heaved in huge breaths. Her broken cries of need filling the bathing chamber.

He lifted her back out of the water and set her on the higher platform. Her flushed cheeks had little to do with the water steaming around them. He locked eyes with her and he pressed on the nub of flesh. Her head fell back and she moaned. Her slickness seeped from her body and his fingers found it. Gathering it on his fingertips he drew it upwards and rolled the pad of his thumb around the pear, giving only shimmering hints of the a more direct touch.

"Lie back Ayeka" he said soflty and she flopped backwards on the smooth wood. He toyed with her body for long minutes bringing her to the brink and denying her. She sobbed his name, her need so great he could taste it on the air now. Her legs were bent that the knee and spread to reveal her secrets to him.

He stared in fascination at the brilliant pink satin of her body. Female youkai did not look this way. They were never so bright, or so sweet. The gentlest touch made her arch from the floor. A female youkai might have done serious damage to him for his teasing by now. Youkai bitches were like that, animalistic, they liked it hard and fast usually. When heat came on them they were brutal lovers, all teeth and claws. Not like the blossoming flower before him.

When she was certain she could bear it no longer, he lowered his head and lapped against her wetness. She clutched at his head, her body trying to come off the floor. He merely splayed his hand across her hips to hold her down. Her sweet scent heavy in his nose, drove him to seek it's source.

His tongue curled within her, making her whimper and tug at his hair. He smirked and raked a fang over her pearl. Her climax hit at that moment and he opened his mouth wider to suck and lick every drop of it. Her trembling thighs very nearly vibrated beside his head.

He climbed out of the tub to lay beside her. She moved to take him into her mouth and he grasped her hips turning her. The feel of twisting in her sweet mouth made him groan with pleasure. She looked over her shoulder at him. Her core hovered over his face and his erection was standing upright below her face.

"Pleasure me Ayeka" he commanded in a rasp as he pulled her core to his mouth and began to feast on her once more. Ayeka sucked him greedily into her mouth, his actions causing her to moan against his sensitive flesh. Soon, she was rocking against his face even as his hips rose and fell slowly against her lips.

When he flicked her bud and nipped it, she had to lift her head and shriek her release to the heavens. Her hand gripped him as she did so stroking him hard and fast and then her mouth returned to the coax the seed from him. He felt as though she sucked it from the sacs of his body up through his shaft and from the slit that she teased mercilessly with her tongue.

When she felt his telltale tensing, she did something she'd not done before. She forced her throat to relax and exhaled letting his slip down her throat, she swallowed instinctively her body wanting to clear the object. Sesshoumaru's head fell back and he roared loudly as her throat muscles constricted around him so delicously. He erupted with enough force to nearly choke her. She felt the hot thickness slide down her throat.

Sesshoumaru's claws were digging lightly into her cheeks and without warning his long tongue flashed out and licked from her pearl over the puckered entrance. She moaned because she couldn't scream and the feeling made the last of his seed shoot forth, even as her own sweet honey dribbled against his chin.

He was very still, lodged as he was in her throat. Ayeka slowly lifted her head, and his softening legth slipped from her lips. She panted for much needed air. She hadn't known if that would work but despite her mild discomfort she would do it again. He'd liked it far too much not to.

Sesshoumaru was amazed at the woman who collapsed beside him. He was panting as hard as she was and so he reached out and gently rubbed her hip with affection. Her honey still seeping from her great shaking orgasm. They lay still for several minutes before she finally moved to slide back into the water.

He followed after her, gently washing away the slick of passion and the sweat of exertion. Ayeka imagined that eternity with him might very well kill her, but oh what a way to go. She smiled over that thought as she dried herself. He of course wanted to know the reason for her mirth, she merely kissed his lips and led him by the hand back to the large bed.

Together they curled against each other beneath the now cool sheets. He muttered about her cold feet again and she purposely pressed them to his much warmer thighs. Lacing her fingers with his she lifted their hands to the moonlight admiring his greater size. So different, so very different.

Eternity loomed before them, and suddenly it seemed to overwhelm her. "What is it that you truly want?" she asked softly. He nuzzled in her hair, "I want you forever" he told her simply, the declaration making her melt against him. "Sesshoumaru love is no crime" she reminded him. He kissed her hair, "No, it is not" he agreed.

She sighed happily, closed her eyes under his watchful gaze. "Tell me the names of our children?" she asked softly. He smiled softly into the night and spoke. A tender litany of sons and daughter that only an eternity together could give them. She fell asleep that way, with his breath caressing her ear softly as the names tumbled lovingly from his lips.