[He’s asking of my opinion???] Kagome fought to keep her jaw from dropping as she replied, "Of course, just tell me about it."

Sesshoumaru nodded, his eyes fixated on the sleeping child beside of Kagome. He tried, though found himself unable to look at Kagome as he spoke. "Her name was Aki. She was a yokai, having many of the same qualities as myself. My father introduced me to her. She was to be my betrothed."

Kagome’s eyes widened as she heard Sesshoumaru speak so freely to her. [This explains a lot…]

"I didn’t find it to be logically possible at first, but it wasn’t too long before I found myself caring for her more than anything. I was happiest when she was smiling, I was furious when she was in pain, I was willing to do anything she asked. I knew that she was the person that I could spend the rest of my life with. I was so happy then, I even managed to overlook that my father was then sleeping with a human woman…"

Sesshoumaru’s stern expression softened and his lips curved upward in what seemed to be a smile. "She had the most beautiful eyes… they were an indefinable color of amber and would sparkle when the sunlight hit them. Her hair flowed below her waist and would lift in the slightest wind. Everything about her was beautiful. I felt as though I was undeserving of a creature so perfect as she—I was but a coarse young man and she was god-like in her every detail.

"We had decided that we would wait until my father officially passed onto me the title of ‘Taiyokai of the Western Lands’ before we would begin our family… that isn’t to say that it stopped us from being passionate."

[He’s so open all of the sudden…] Kagome blushed as she heard Sesshoumaru’s last statement, thinking to her own lack of such an experience. She knew that she and Inu Yasha had come close several times, but something had always managed to interrupt.

"All went perfectly well for a few years… and then it happened. Our lands faced invasion, so father and I had to leave. As much as I didn’t want to leave her side, I made her stay. I couldn’t stand the possibility of risking her life in battle. I hated it the whole time… all four years of it. I couldn’t manage to get out of battle long enough to go home—ever. The only thing that kept me going was the possibility of seeing her the next day. So, when it was over, I was more than ready to go home. I had decided that I wouldn’t ever let her go, no matter what.

"But… when I finally got home… I found her, in my home… in the arms of another man… a human man. I was so furious. I stormed in, yelling and telling her about how she had betrayed me, and what a low, dirty, shameless bitch she was… Right in the middle of my argument with her, a little girl entered the room. She was a toddler, but, the very sight of her angered me enough… I nearly killed the child on the spot. The little girl was Aki’s daughter… and she was a hanyou.

"Needless to say, Aki, her human man, and her hanyou child were then no longer welcome in my home. I couldn’t believe that she had betrayed me—I, who had stayed loyal to her, I who was to be her husband… yet she chose a human man. For weeks, I couldn’t sleep, I could barely eat, and I never spoke to anyone. Then, one day she came to me in the middle of the night. I, of course, was angry at the very sight of her, but I maintained my calm outward appearance. She came crying to me… she dared to cry. She told me that she had overheard that an assassin was being sent for me and that she feared for me. I had barely had the chance to reassure her that I’d be fine when an arrow, meant for me, flew straight into her heart. I wasted no time making the assassin pay for his crime, but when I finished, I went back to her. I held her in my arms then, both of us were crying… She apologized for wronging me and I forgave her…

"She barely was able to smile one of her beautiful smiles before she passing on… I couldn’t help but feel that if I hadn’t argued with her as I had, she wouldn’t have been the one to die. I know that for a split second, in anger, I thought that she had deserved her fate… but I still cared for her. I did not wish death upon her… I could wish death upon no woman… But… I could not help but to think that I was the reason that she died."

Kagome drew in a deep breath before flashing a comforting smile to Sesshoumaru. "Sesshoumaru… In a situation such as that, you couldn’t have known what would have happened… It wasn’t your fault…"

"Earlier you wanted to know why I pushed people away, why I don’t care… I was so betrayed that I refused to allow anyone to do that ever again. That’s why I am the way I am. Aki was the maker of my mask, even though she did not do so intentionally."

Kagome’s eyes softened as she watched Sesshoumaru fidget in attempt to push the harsh memories away again. "What became of her daughter?"

"I don’t know… I looked for the girl, but never found her. I assume that the humans that supposedly loved Aki took the child’s life."

Kagome nodded slowly as she stood and moved so that she sat next to Sesshoumaru. She placed her hand on his shoulder and her fiery amber eyes met his distant golden ones. "It sounds like you did everything you possibly could, Sesshoumaru. Not all relationships end in such pain…"

"But many do. I’ve seen many times where a person, whether yokai, human, hanyou—it doesn’t matter, more often than not, a person experiences pain when they love another."