Kagome sighed as they walked to the north, searching for jewel shards. Sango kept throwing her suspicious glances as they walked. Sango could tell something had happened to her and she was determined to find out what. Kagome kept rubbing her neck and her hip as she walked. As miroku walked beside her, he tried to be good, he really did, but kagomes curves just looked so inviting. His hand twitched in anticipation as he reached over and rubbed her ass. Instead of the scream of aggravation and the slap he was expecting, kagome grabbed her hip and neck simultaneously as she screamed in pain. Inuyasha snarled at miroku in warning as he pulled kagome into his arms. "Kagome! Are you okay?!" Inuyasha snarled as he shot a death glare at miroku. Sango got hirakotsu out and hit miroku over the head to relieve her irritation with him. Kagome panted as the pain finally faded. She felt like a hot knife had cut into her hip the moment miroku touched her. The mark on her neck was still throbbing as if angry. Miroku stood up, rubbing his head and looking at kagome in apology and concern. "Im so sorry kagome i didn't mean to hurt you. Are you okay?" He asked her as he started to approach her. "Stay away from her!" Inuyasha snarled at him. As inuyasha spoke, kagome fell hard to the ground as if her legs had given out. "Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled out in concern as he picked her up off the ground. Kagome was in shock. She couldn't feel her legs suddenly, and she just fell. But it had only happened when...no it couldn't be. It was impossible. She shook her head in denial as she got out of inuyashas arms. "Inuyasha...can i go to the hotsprings please? I need to make sure im alright." Inuyasha nodded reluctantly. "Fine. We'll stay here for the-" he paused as kagomes legs gave out once again. He sighed and helped her back up. Kagome muttered a thank you and took off for the hotsprings before inuyasha could stop her.
Kagome looked down at her hip in horror. Where the shikon jewel had been ripped from her hip, now there was a blood red pulsing tattoo that spelled out inuyashas name. She prodded it carefully, expecting the pain from before, but it remained calm. She was definitely worried now. Was this part of being inuyashas mate? She realized in horror why she had been losing feeling in her legs. Apparently the tattoo had bonded her to inuyasha and she now had her own subjugation word since the bond apparently made them equal as mates. Her eyes twitched in irritation. Why did it have to be "stay"? She sighed as she looked at her mating mark. It was just as red as her hip. She supposed that inuyashas demon mark did not want another male touching what belonged to him. Apparently his demon side had claimed her even more than she thought. How the hell could she tell inuyasha?