Vying For Dominance

"Are you aware of whom you speak to?" Sesshomaru was standing mere inches away from her, his claws itching for her neck. "I could kill you where you stand."

Kagome rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, "This threat again?"

That was the last straw. He wrapped her hand around her neck, his claws aligned perfectly with the pink marks on her neck that had just began to fade, and slammed her against a tree. "You will learn respect, woman, or I will make you learn." He snarled, flashing his elongated fangs.

She did not flinch even as he broke skin. "I am not afraid of you Sesshomaru." She emphasized her defiance by maintaining eye contact even as they went from anger to rage, and began to tinge red. He let go of her sharply and shut his eyes as he fought to regain control. One day he was going to kill her; there was not a day when her insolence did not drive him to lose control and it was getting harder and harder to justify her continued existence.

"Lord Sesshomaru. You will address me in the correct manner."

"Right, even though you call me 'woman' instead of my name which I have told you a thousand times, is Kagome." She snapped.

"Woman, you are testing my patience. You will behave. You will submit." He snarled. Any being with half a survival instinct would have scurried away, but Kagome was intent on standing her ground.

"You can't make me do anything. In all the five hundred years you have been alive someone must have mentioned to you that you are not a god, right?" She looked at his claws balled into a fist at his side, then touched the slow trail of blood on her neck, her resentment growing. "No? Well, let me be the first on record to say that you, Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands, are not a god. Live with it." With those words she turned her back to him and walked away.

What had just happened? He stood rooted to the spot and watched her dark hair sway with every step as she stormed away from him, back turned as though he could not kill her where she stood.

Sesshomaru sat on the ground and shut his eyes in meditation. Since she arrived Sesshomaru found himself forced to meditate with increasing frequency just to reign in his anger. No other being, human or demon – not even his worthless half-brother – had so consistently tested his self-control. He tried to block out the incessant pulsing of her reiki, but it kept flaring at the edge of his senses, goading his youkai to react. "Stupid, arrogant, useless dogs. One day I will just purify him." He could hear her seething in the distance, calling him names that would get anyone else killed without so much as a second thought. He took another deep breath and tried to mentally distance himself from the miko and her hate-filled words. He could not break out of this prison he had found himself in, but perhaps a priestess could. As he did not have his choice of holy humans, he simply had no choice but to try to put off her inevitable death.

"If he thinks that a few threats are going to make me cower, then that idiot has a few lessons to learn." She seethed as she wiped the blood off her neck. It was almost a ritual at this point; he would say something, she would question him, and he would fly off the handle and threaten to kill her. As perfect as the inuyoukai seem, he had a crippling inability to answer the simply questions 'why' or 'are you sure'.

"Woman, control yourself." The daiyoukai came stalking through the trees and towards her, his amber eyes flaring with irritation.

"What?" Kagome threw up her hands in frustration, "What did I do this time? I was just standing here. Are you going to tell me that my standing offends you now?"

"Woman," His words were slow and controlled, it was taking all his self-control not to lunge at her. If he touched her right now, he would kill her. "Your reiki is grating on my senses. Control yourself."

"My reiki?" Kagome asked, pointing at herself.

"No. Mine." The daiyoukai said dryly, "of course yours." He flared. Kagome narrowed her eyes at him, and never in his entire life had he wanted to rip someone apart so badly. The more insolent she acted, the harder it was for him to control his murderous urges.

"I don't know how to control my reiki, I did not even know it was bothering you." She shrugged, and made no attempt to pull in her holy aura.

"I said," He was walking towards her again. Perhaps this would be her last day alive after all. "control yourself." His claws were itching for her neck again, his inner beast was howling for her blood, and this time he was not sure whether he would be able to stop himself.

"I said don't know how to. I am sorry it bothers you, but there is nothing I can do."

He looked at her, "You call yourself a miko, yet can't do something as simple as rein in your power? Were you trained by a child?"

"I wasn't trained." Now she was the one closing the gap, unknowingly walking to her death, "I showed up one day, they told me I was the shikon miko, and sent me off to defeat Naraku. I am sorry we can't all – "

A piercing scream cut Kagome off mid-sentence. They both looked towards the forest, where the sound had come from. A little boy, no older than seven, came running out of the trees. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion; he had just been in that part of the forest and had not so much as caught a hint of another occupant.

Kagome ran towards the child without as much as a second thought, and Sesshomaru found himself wondering just how deep her stupidity ran. She did not take moment to reflect, or assess the situation. No, like someone who was begging to be killed, she just ran straight towards the child.

Kagome had barely reached the boy when a large bear demon burst through the trees. She did not have enough time to get to safety, so she did the only thing she could; she pushed the boy behind her and put up a shield. The bear claws fell heavily against the shield, but failed to break it. Although its arms burned from the purifying power of Kagome's reiki, it lifted them to attack her again. "Run." Kagome said to the boy. She desperately needed to find a way out of this. She had a bow, but no arrows. The bear clawed at the shield again, ignoring its burning flesh.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion; there was too much about the situation that made no sense. He pushed the thoughts aside and placed his hand on Bakusaiga's hilt; if he waited too long the demon would kill itself against Kagome's shield, and then where would Sesshomaru find his entertainment? As he neared Kagome and the bear he took his hand off the sword's hilt, deciding that using his whip would better help him vent his frustrations. He could not kill the miko, but he could certainly kill take his frustrations out of the youkai that had so kindly offered itself.

Through her shield Kagome saw a bright yellow flash. The bear howled in pain but did not turn its attention away from Kagome. Two more flashes of light and the bear finally fell to the ground, dead. Sesshomaru examined his claws with the same intensity and curiosity one would examine a new appendage. Killing the bear was harder than it should have been; one strike should have been more than enough to subdue the beast.

"Thank you. I just realized I have no arrows left."

"Tell me woman, do you seek to die? A being with half sense at least knows that you need weapons to fight." He said coolly, his eyes still fixed on his claws as he tried to determine just what was wrong with him.

"The boy was in danger. I acted on instinct." Kagome said defensively. She looked the daiyoukai up and down. "And that habit of talking to me without even looking at me is rude, so stop it."

He lifted his eyes to her face. Had he just commanded him? "I am a being of instinct, you are a being of foolishness. Did you possess an inkling of sense you would show me more respect. If you do not learn soon, I will have to teach you respect."

Stubborn as ever, she refused to flinch. She kept staring him straight in the eyes, challenging his very authority. "You don't instill respect, Sesshomaru, you earn it." She made sure to stress his name and emphasise the lack of formal address. Before he could respond to her challenge, she added in a much less hostile tone, "This is not the time for us to argue. After we find out more about the boy, you can try to lord it over me all you want. Although I will tell you right now, that you will be wasting your time."

A low growl rumbled in his chest as he watched her walk away from him. He had protected her, and instead of showing gratitude she had challenged him. He needed to establish that she was his charge and he was the leader. But the miko was simply too stubborn to let him. Things would have been much easier if she had the common sense to fear him.

"Aren't you coming? We need to talk to the boy." Kagome said to him over her shoulder.

Reluctantly, almost painfully, Sesshomaru followed her. At that point, he vowed to make her submit, even if it killed him. Over his dead body would a human stand equal to him.

He stood over her as she knelt beside the boy who was trying his best to thank her as he wiped his eyes. "I wandered too far from my village. My mum always told me not to walk off, but I did. And I saw the bear so I ran." The child hiccupped, his voice still shaky from his crying.

"Hey, it's ok. We will find a way to get you home." She spoke so softly and gently that it surprised Sesshomaru; the Kagome he knew was defiant and sharp. Who was this woman gently comforting the crying child?

"Woman, Come with me."

Her eyes snapped up to meet Sesshomaru's. "I can't just leave him while he is crying." As though by magic, the old, stubborn Kagome returned.

"Woman," He sounded serious. Not belittling, not condescending, but genuinely serious. Kagome sighed and stood up.

This time Sesshomaru led the way but he was still not satisfied with how they interacted; she was lagging behind not because it was her place, but as a display of yet more defiance. "That boy did not come here the way we did. You can feel when others are drawn into this place. I could not tell when the boy arrived."

Kagome looked at the boy, who was sitting at the other side of the clearance, and then back at Sesshomaru. "Where do you think he is from?"

"I do not know, but I suggest we attempt to find his village. It's unlikely that it exists as we have both walked this whole area, but that boy is strange." It pained him to ask her consent on a decision, but if he did not, she would dig her heels in and refuse to move until they reached a compromise.

"Ok, I trust your judgement. What do we have to lose?"

Her words caught the daiyoukai off guard. The easy concession to his leadership was so uncharacteristic that for a moment Sesshomaru was actually lost for words.

Kagome looked at the boy once more. He was quiet now and staring blankly into the distance. The distant, hazy look in his eyes made Sesshomaru's estimation that something was not right with the child all the more plausible.

"I would warn you to be careful. That bear demon was possessed." His words caught her attention again. Sesshomaru read the confusion on her face and replied before she could ask, "It was charging directly for you. When the boy ran, it did not pursue him but remained focused on you, and even when I struck it, it never diverted its attention from you."

Kagome's eyes widened and for a brief second he saw fear flash in her eyes. So she was capable of fear. It seemed he would just have to try harder. "Me? Why me?"

Sesshomaru stared at the woman who had made him consult her on a decision for their group. The woman whom he was fighting himself not to kill. "Because you cause trouble."