Authors note- I am so sorry I'm late! My computer has crashed and won't let me on the internet so here I am finally. I stop jawing and hope you guys like the chapter. Remember review after your done reading! I love getting the reviews!

Disclaimer- I do not own InuYasha or any of the other characters in the series I do own my made up characters.

New characters-

None this chapter, sorry!

The Curse of a Woman's Love

Chapter 9-

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity."

Gilda Radner

Time crawled away at the huntress manor; slowly summer was brought closer and the time when Lady Kagome would have to make her decision on who would be her master demon and three demon protectors approached. Who would be the demon she would love? Like her mother and father before (even though the women and demons of the land didn't know about this want of Kagome's) her that had loved each other very much and had never been found out by the queen although lately more women were being taken by the queen with death being placed on their heads.

Every day the manor was filled with talk between demons of what would happen and whom Lady Kagome would choose.

Some demons expressed happiness that she would soon be the official huntress and have the lands without any fear that they would be taken by the kingdom others didn't think so highly of her.

"Well as long as I'm not kicked out, like the demons just a month ago that were put into cages, I'll be fine. All women are exactly the same anyway, once they have their master demon and settle down all it is, is whine, whine, whine and complain, complain, complain." One near sight demon said to his posse one night in the slave quarters.

Hojo who had the bunk nearest to the near sight demon growled just like any otter demon would at the rudeness the new demon showed Lady Kagome.

"Ju..just so you know!" Hojo stuttered out to the demon as he sat up in bed. "Me and Lady Kagome have a special relationship, I've been at this manor ever since I was born and she, Lady Kagome that is, she's always giving me extra food and other such tokens of her lov..v.e for me?..."

The near sight demon turned toward the oddly short for his age Hojo and grinned showing his large, sharp teeth. "Is that true? How special! But do I believe that for one second? Hmmm guys?" He turned to his group of equally frightening demons and gestured towards Hojo. "Nah, I mean Ho…jo….jo… what I believe is just your disgusting infatuation with her and that she barely looks your way unless you scream across the fields every morning." Hojo looked ready to cry but he stubbornly shook his head.

"That's not true… I..I… know it isn't… and you just back off. I learned from my father many things that Kagome could use as a weapon if I were to be picked as her master demon. Just you wait and see."

"Hojo, Hojo, Hojo! How could you say that? Giving the talents your father gave you to a woman! And no less the woman who owns you! Despicable!"

The demon's yellow eyes grew wide as he leaned down to Hojo's level and he sneered in his face. "She won't want you or any other demon you fool! She's a woman and all women want are a one night fast fuck and for the rest of the year a body guard who barely speaks any words. Kagome's a woman and so she falls into that category."

Hojo wouldn't believe it and slept fitfully that night.

The next morning a group of house dusting demons turned to one another in hushed tones when they saw Kagome walking with the four of the five demons that had been found in the forest the day her mother died and not killed in the process.

Kern walked to the right of her and Shippou to the right of Kern, both of them were laughing animatedly with Lady Kagome as she told them a story involving the Lady Sango and her new master demon Miroku.

It seemed the lady had been going into hiding lately to try and hide from the zealous wind void demon. Try being the key word, with Miroku's demon nose there was no way she could hide for long and then Miroku was upon her.

InuYasha was to the right of Kagome and seemed to not be listening at all to the humor filled story that was enthralling the other two demon's as he was looking off into the distance in front of him with a scowl on his face as though he was in pain.

But to the house dusting demons this was nothing new, what was new was that the demon, Kouga seemed to be interested in something altogether quite different then the other three. He had taken a position behind the lady Kagome and as the demon's looked from of the four demons to the next they all stopped in surprise and humiliation. The wolf demon's eyes were centered directly on the Lady Kagome's behind and with this concentration in Kouga's eyes he wasn't cleaning up the mess his mouth was making. As with all wolf demons, they did indeed have problems with slobbering during their sleep or when they were highly comfortable. Clearly this was a highly comfortable pastime for the wolf to do, and the slobber kept coming.

With breaths exhaled into their mouths, the house dusting demons turned away and crept together.

"Did you see?" said the tall one.

"The wolf demon? Yeah I saw him, the dirty mongrel. Looking at our lady that way, what was he thinking?" said the red head.

"Obviously he wasn't thinking, at least not with his head. Well, not the upper head…ha… this is rich. The wolf demon is in lust with the Lady, you know the rumors going around that one of the new demon's has been lusting after the Lady and she was very close to him. It's right in front of our eyes. He has the mating lust for the Lady Kagome, he's the one the rumors talk about." said another off to the side.

The tall one nodded while the red head shook his head, "Ugh, he'll be the master demon the one that punishes us when the Lady is to busy. We're doomed!"

The others chuckled none of them noticed InuYasha take a look at Kagome while they went down the stairs with a look of longing and the beginnings of trust.

Rumors spread like wildfire and bets were placed. Half of the demons would not believe that Kouga was the demon that Lady Kagome wanted for her master demon and so they placed their bets on an unknown demon while the other half enjoyed the thought of the rash Kouga being the master demon.

Life continued throughout the manor as it had before the Lady Misa had passed and everything was calm, but life is always full of surprises and when you least expect it a peace can be shattered in an instance.

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Kagome was sick and tired with the rumors circulating around the manor. All of the demons thought they were being sneaky when they talked around her but that was one thing they weren't being. More like they were being loud and obnoxious.

'Who even came up with this stupid rumor? Me and Kouga together, please we barely even talk. He always has his head up in a rude display of pride. Won't even look at me most of the time."

Kagome walked down the hallway to the room which housed the demons that she was beginning to suspect were her best friends in the whole world. With Shippou's smiles, Kern's knowing looks and InuYasha… Kagome sighed. She didn't really know what she thought of InuYasha most of the time he was getting on her last nerve and scowling down at her. He had said he liked her that he didn't hate her but that could have been I lie couldn't it have?

'That would be terrible! Because he understands me the most.'

Kagome was in front of the door to their room and reached her hand out to grab it when Miroku ran past her barely stopping when he spotted her.

"Lady Kagome! How are you? Are you well?" Miroku asked her bowing quickly.

"Why yes Miroku I'm feeling wonderful except for all of the demons watching my every move as if that would tell them who my master demon will be. I don't even know that no demon has caught my eye, no one has taken my hea… I mean… no one has shown any courage to catch my eye so… don't look at me like that Miroku! What's that look supposed to mean any ways…?"

Kagome's face was red as she desperately hoped that Miroku wouldn't catch on to her blunder about wanting to find a master demon to love.

"Oh nothing Lady Kagome, nothing at all. So… have you seen Lady Sango by chance? I woke up this morning and she had already left. She just keeps getting up earlier and earlier every morning. Yesterday it was six o'clock when she got up this morning it was earlier. What have I done to deserve this treatment? Am I not a good Master demon? Do I not know my place? All that I ask of her is to bear a child, isn't that one of the first things that is supposed to take place when a woman picks a master demon. ISN'T IT?!"

Miroku placed both his hands on Kagome's shoulders and began to shake her while Kagome blushed with his talk of bearing children and all that.

"I think I saw her outside in the gardening shed, she may still be there. You just have to hurry, hurry leave me, hurry!"

Miroku brushed his hair from his forehead and looked up at the ceiling and walked away, while he had been glancing up at the ceiling Kagome caught a sight in his eyes and flinched with the emotion there. That wasn't good, that wasn't good at all. In his eyes had been unrequited love… she was sure of it, with sadness mixed with an almost worship filled stare. It had to be and that wasn't good, if the government learned of this then the whole manor could be killed.

'I've got to tell Sango about this…' As Kagome thought about this she glanced out the window to see Miroku find Sango hiding behind a rose bush she had been pruning and she saw Sango look up to the heavens with a grin on her face.

'What? Maybe Sango does want the attention Miroku gives her… maybe she loves him to! I can't tell her it might ruin everything for Miroku. I'll just have to keep a close eye on them.'

With a nod Kagome turned back to the door to open it in the hopes that she would be able to talk to InuYasha… and all the others. Even though she had promised all the demon's the day off because it was a religious holiday.

Kagome grasped the door knob and twisted it gagging slightly at the smell that permeated from the room. It smelled of sweat and unclean bodies, had it always smelled like this or was it just after the foursome got put up in the room.

Kagome entered the room and smiled in an amused fashion at the bundle in the bunk that she knew belonged to InuYasha and she hurried over to it.

"InuYasha. InuYasha? Will you wake up? We could go on a picnic, all of us together maybe even with Sango and Miroku and relieve some of the stress that Miroku must be feeling. You should have seen him in the hall way, he nearly knocked me over with shaking me so hard."

The bundle didn't speak to her, it didn't even move in the sluggish motion that usually happens when you're just barely waking up. Kagome felt the tension in her from discovering Sango's and Miroku's secret come to the fore and in the heat of the moment she tore the blanket off of the person.

Kagome gasped in shock as she found InuYasha sleeping with little on except the skin the goddess gave him.

'Kagome! Don't look, don't look! You wouldn't want him looking in on you if you were sleeping naked. Well I don't sleep naked so there wouldn't be a problem would there. Just look at his face and put the blanket back over him. Hurry! No, eyes get back up to his face… Oh wow he has a wonderful chest, no! Back up, back up… I'm in trouble.'

Sweat was pouring over Kagome as she fought with her conscious, but her body won and her eyes went past his chest down his belly and stopped at his center. Kagome had never seen a demon naked before, of course she had seen them shed shirts when they worked in the fields but never like this and her curiosity got the better of her.

She sat on the bed, breathing hard as she looked down at the organ that so many women in the village would talk about with disgust. She could remember them clearly.

"… My demon only thinks with that head of his lower to the ground if you know what I mean. It scares me sometimes to watch him in bed. He becomes an animal a pure animal when spring comes around. I would run if it wasn't my duty to the kingdom to produce an heir…"

"… It seems to be soft all of the times other than spring and then it becomes hard like a rock it quite barbarian, the goddess turned these demons into monster just with their bodies, think about their intelligent too and they really are just animals…"

'Hard like a rock, hmmm?' Kagome thought breathlessly she stared harder at the appendage with her new found curiosity.

"How am I supposed to know if it's hard or not, I've never seen one before?" Kagome whispered against her hand. "Maybe if I touch it…"

"I wouldn't suggest it, InuYasha may be dead asleep now but if you touched him he would wake up right here and now, probably yelling like a banshee." Kagome turned around to the door to see Kern, Shippou and Kouga standing there, all with a different expression on their face.

Kern was twitching around the mouth and his eyes were lit up with laughter as though he was enjoying the whole matter quite thoroughly. Shippou was confused, why would she want to touch it, he was still a little to young to know what the mating stuff entailed. And Kouga… Kouga had a look of pure fury on his face his hands clenching against his sides as though he was going to strangle something.

"Um… oh my goddess, I… you see… it's not what you're thinking… I mean… we'll I don't know what you are thinking but… well I would never touch him like that… That's just sick and wrong he should wear some clothes to bed and then when I come in here to wake you guys up I wouldn't be in this situation…"

The more Kagome babbled the more tears sprang to her eyes in embarrassment and the more she wished that her mother were her to explain things to her or at least she had a knight in shinning armor to help her out of the messes she put herself in.

Kern laughed outright at her red cheeks and the tears gathering in her eyes, he glanced behind her to see InuYasha's eyes open and look up at Kagome and at the other demons before shutting them again.

'He's pretending to be asleep… Lady Kagome looks about ready to have a cow and say something she really doesn't mean, knowing InuYasha he'll take it to heart.'

"M'Lady Kagome, I would suggest that you stop what you are about to say before something terrible happens."

"NO! I won't stop you laugh at me like you're better than me but your not, I own the land and like all the other women in the town I think your all disgusting and… and I don't find any, not even InuYasha attractive in any way your all animals! I won't be the odd goose in this town anymore." Kagome stopped with her tirade with huffing breaths and saw the three demons have looks of compassion and sorrow on their faces, but they weren't looking at her. They were looking over her shoulder at the place where InuYasha was sleeping.

'Oh no, please tell me he didn't wake up. I can't handle it! Not him too!'

Before she could turn her self around clawed hands grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her to face the angry InuYasha.

His amber eyes flashed between anger and embarrassment. "If you don't find me attractive and just find me to be an animal than please start treating me like one. I wouldn't want to be touched by you anyway. Who would want a skinny no good spoilt princess whose face more resembles a mud hole than anything else. Because if I remember correctly that's where you are most of your days in the village. THROWN IN A MUD HOLE! NO ONE WANTS YOU!"

Kagome was thrown from InuYasha and would have banged her head against a cabinet in the corner of the room if Kouga hadn't jumped over to catch her. Kagome couldn't remember crying this much before in her life and so when she felt Kouga hold onto her just to make sure she could stand she turned to him and hugged him around the neck.

"Please… take me to my room Kouga… I don't want to see him." Kouga smiled smugly over Kagome's head at the pissed off dog demon and took her out of the room with a slam of the door.

Something broke in InuYasha and he began kicking at objects in the room, he stopped and spun to the two other demons in the room who were shaking their heads at his actions.

"WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO? I'm a demon and she's my master… I have to obey her; I'm nothing better than an animal…" His voice quieted and he crouched on the floor in the middle of the room. "I just showed her that… Goddess what do I do? What's happening to me? Why do I feel this way? When I'm away from her I can't get her out of my head and I feel hopelessness settle on me. But when I'm near her I feel happy and when I fight with her I look for the spark in her eyes."

'And all the time my loins are filled to the brim with lust… for her…' He thought bitterly.

The emotion built inside of him as he sat there sulking, it built until he couldn't take it anymore and he unleashed it in a howl, it echoed around the room and ricocheted into the hallway. Kern shook his head and closed his ears off to the pain in the howl.

'It has to be this way, InuYasha and Kagome; they have to figure it out themselves. We can't do anything about it… not if we want to be saved.'

Another howl echoed around them from the distraught dog demon, a tear raced down Kerns face before he could reach up to flick it away.

'It's just too late for me and my love…' And a woman with flowing golden hair came into his mind.

'My Eloine…'

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Authors corner- I hoped you liked it, please review… seems to be another sob story coming up with Kern how sad, I love this character he just moves the story along if I come to a bumby road in my brainstorming. And poor InuYasha and Kagome but you know them they'll get through it… maybe (grin). I noticed this chapter didn't have very much landscape description, I'll try and fix that in the next chapter. And I also noticed Sesshomaru and Kagura weren't mentioned in the chapter, oh wells, they are secondary characters. So like I said before review! I love ya forever if ya do!!! .

See ya next chapter!