Soooo, yeah, just in case you have not figured it out yet – it's Kagura, and she is a human. Please enjoy, this chapter and the next were really fun to write, yes, I have two done and ready! I must be a sadist because it was nice to write and I hope it is enjoyable to read. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW, THEY MAKE ME SQUEAL – I MEAN THEY MAKE MY DAY.

The mistress from hell.

Kagome woke to someone kicking her side. She rolled over on the futon she had been placed on the night before and opened her eyes. The kappa that Sesshoumaru had saved the night before, Jaken she remembered his name was happened to be standing there glaring at her. For someone who had been a slave not twenty four hours ago, he sure had a superior look in his eye. But then again if you are the retainer to the Lord of the West, for he already considered his title as good as regained, and part of his pack then you are going to consider yourself somewhat regal too. The look just did not seem to suit the toad for some reason.

Kagome rubbed the offended ribs and glowered back at him with venom, "good morning to you too," she sulked to him sarcastically. Kagome had never been a morning person and being kicked awake by a two foot tall toad was not going to set her in a good mood. She was considering different ways to kill him (and Sesshoumaru of course) while running over ideas in her head of how to escape while she glared daggers at him. Suddenly her murderous thoughts were interrupted by said glare-stabbed toad making a reply.

"I would not speak in such a tone to the mighty Western Lord's loyal retainer human!" He spat with an annoying squawking voice, it was clear they were destined to be enemies. She clocked that she did not call Sesshoumaru by his name but referred to him by his title, 'mighty' Western Lord as well. He was extremely 'loyal' as he put it, 'hopeless' however was the first word that came to her mind. Just his voice and his ugly appearance was enough to make her want to boil him alive, his attitude was intolerable, he better be pretty useful, otherwise she could not imagine why Sesshoumaru would keep him around, or alive.

"And I would not speak to your Lord's friend in such a way unless you want to end up like toad stew!" That was an idle threat, there was no way she would kill him or prepare him for eating, and he was far too disgusting. She doubted she was his friend anymore anyway, but otherwise the threat would have been, 'do not maltreat you Lord's things'. That just did not have the same ring to it at all and she doubted the kappa would have been impacted at all. "So watch your mouth kappa unless you want to end up like the world's most annoying broth. Oh and another thing, if you value your life at all, do not ever wake me up in the mornings again if this is the way you are going to do it. Now go away and give me some privacy so I can get dressed!"

"Like I would find your human body anything more than repulsive!" Sesshoumaru was sitting by a small fire eating his meal of rare meat when he saw the green blur fly out of the tent. He had never known that the toad had that particular ability, but then again, he had given him a temporary ability to fly before as well. Jaken made a very nice arch through the air before landing not a centimetre from the from the fire, resulting in him getting burnt and having another short flight as he jumped away before landing several feet away, patting out the small flames on his clothing.

Five minutes later a very red faced, furious Kagome emerged from the tent; he had cut her binds once she went to sleep the night before. She was looking very cross, and rightly so, and ready to fry the next Kappa she saw. He was incapable of feeling any real form of worry, but he felt something very close to sorry for the imp, he was the only toad there after all. It seemed though Kagome was redirecting her anger to dogs, and he was the only dog around. Unlike Jaken however, he was more than capable of taking the child on.

Once she reached him Sesshoumaru grabbed her waist and pulled her into his lap. She let out a surprised cry as she landed on his thighs. One arm came instantly around her to secure her in place while the other hand held the meat that was barely cooked. "Let me go right now Sesshoumaru or I'll fry you with my miko powers!" The Daiyoukai allowed himself a small smirk at that, it was the only threat she had and it was not even good. He had heard you should fight fire with fire but in this case it would most likely anger her more and get better results if he fought her fire with his calm and cool serenity, she would be left with no comebacks and therefore silent.

"You will do no such thing," he corrected, saying it so surely and confidently she almost believed him immediately. "If you so much as attempt such a thing then I shall have to bind you again, Hiten is still recovering from your last outburst."

"He deserved it, as did you!"

"That as it may be, you will be doing nothing of the sort again."

"You cannot stop me!"

"Yes, I can, and I will."

"Oh yeah? How?"

"... You don't want me to answer that question." In actuality, he just had no idea how to answer her, while there were ways of ensuring it he did not want to initiate any of them, because the whole objective was to keep her safe and not harm her. It seemed to do the trick though and she sank into silence, refusing to look him in the eye.

"Then I shall kill you," she said eventually, but she did not sound as though she believed it herself and he certainly did not believe it for a moment.

"I seriously doubt that, besides if you tried I would be inclined to retaliate as youkai and humans are prone to do, and I would not be able to guarantee your safety. On the off chance you managed, there would be no one to protect you from the youkai. There are thirty five maltreated demons here that are thirsty for ningen blood, the only reason they are not trying to slaughter you is the fact that they recognize you are under my protection. With me dead there is nothing stopping them from tearing you apart, now, still want to kill me?"

She hung he head in defeat.

"Very good, now, how about something to eat?" He offered some fruit like he had given her yesterday. He'd offer her some meat, but he would have to wait around forever for it to burn to a crisp seeming as ningens have that habit of doing that to meat before they eat it.

She shook her head, "I'm not hungry for the food of the dead."

"You did not have the same reaction before."

"I was starving before, it was one chance, I shall find my own nourishment."

"Did I not say yesterday that I am responsible for you now?" He growled quietly, a hint of irritation entering his voice, the girl had to learn quickly or things were going to be very unpleasant for her. "I shall not allow you to starve yourself," he said, "so stop this childishness and just eat; I shall not have you falling ill because of your wounded pride."

She crossed her arms and turned away from him, well the best she could manage from being trapped on his lap in the cage of his arms anyway.

"If I have to chew the food myself and force it down your throat to nourish you I will do so," he mentioned casually, continuing to eat his own meat. "I am not above doing what I must to ensure you survive," he would do it as well, he seldom told lies, he felt her stiffen against him. "But I'm sure it won't come to that," he assured her.

He smiled as she angrily turned towards him once more and snatched the peach, biting into it.

"That's what I thought," he smiled smugly.

"We are going to visit a friend of mine today," but he said it with a malice that made Kagome start to worry for said friend. Demons were wandering around camp, and none of them seemed to think that the miko sitting on his lap was a weird sight at all, but that may be because he was their Lord and Alpha, you tend not to question the things he says and does.

"Why do I suddenly feel worry for this 'friend'? Then again if you treat all of your friends in the same way you treated me it should not really come as much of a surprise."

He made no reply.

"Because of your humanity slowing you down so much you shall be travelling with me." She knew exactly what that meant, he would be carrying her.

"I'll just hinder you, go on without me."

"That is not going to work. And you shall hinder me, but my superior skill makes up for it."

"You are too arrogant and egotistical for your own good, you know that Sesshoumaru? You can be a real bastard too. It is all going to come back to haunt you one day, you can count on it, this sort of thing always does."

Sesshoumaru did not make reply, and Kagome never really expected him to. What she had not expected was to be thrown over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and for him to start marching off. The other demons, seeing this, dismantled the tents, packed supplies and took off after him, following behind him obediently; it would seem breakfast was over and they were now moving out. She had said to him the previous day that she did not belong to him and was not obedient, but she could walk by herself – though the temptation to try and escape, even though it was practically impossible to be successful, may prove too much.

"Umm, is this really necessary Sesshoumaru?" She growled from her position on his shoulder, knowing that if she even got an answer it would not be helpful.

"Yes," came his informative reply, it was worth a shot.

"Please let me walk by myself, your shoulder is uncomfortable." It was not actually that bad, what with the soft mokomoko to lean against and all, but she would much prefer to walk by herself. She may be a human and a miko on top of that, so therefore she was looked down upon by practically every demon present. Hiten didn't she knew, and Kouga would probably be protesting that he should be the one to carry her instead, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was probably among the throng of demons behind her somewhere.

"Would you prefer the other side?" His question was innocent, but one glance at the armoured shoulder covered in spikes had her submitting once more. She decided to just be quiet until they reached their destination. By the look in his eyes when he talked about his 'friend', Kagome guessed that he or she would be willing to help her.

Sesshoumaru took her sudden silence and compliance as a bad omen but decided to enjoy the rare, small moment of peace and quiet as long as it lasted seeming as it presented itself quiet willingly and naturally. Kagome had never really, truly annoyed him with her constant chatter, she was not a constant chatterer, though she did prefer talking to silence. Yet when she was angry she could be particularly persistent, and he got detailed theses about subjects that had never existed before in between shouting, raving and insult, oh, and she was loud. He had also learnt that a good way of shutting her up was scaring her.

After 2000 hours of uncomfortable, err, ness, watching the world pass her by from being slung on someone's shoulder, Kagome was dropped, gently mind you to the floor where she collapsed to the ground. Sesshoumaru looked at her with one arched eyebrow, "I'm sure being carried for an hour and a half has not taken away your ability to use your legs," he stated. This was true, but her stomach hurt and she was busy clutching it. In fact her whole body was sore and stiff from the ordeal; she did not want to move.

"I suppose I could carry you again?"

Kagome broke the world record for recovery and got to her feet, wincing, but managing all the same. Sesshoumaru seemed slightly put out, obviously he wanted to carry her again and torture her once more for his own sadistic amusement. She would act as if she was perfectly fine if it would grate on his nerves; thank the world for small mercies. She forced a cheerful smile on her face, "no, that will not be necessary, I am just fine." It was then she noticed that while she was sure they had set off with an army of demons, standing in this small clearing now she could only see the two of them. "Hey Sesshoumaru, where is everybody, did they all go home?"

"They are all in position," he answered.

"What do you mean by that?"

He pointed to the roof of the building they were standing next to. It was a house but it was about half a mile away from the rest of the village, perfect for what Sesshoumaru was planning, not so good news for the 'friend' inside. She looked up to see it was where three demons from the army that had been following them resided. They were perfectly still, like statues, she could never have managed it, they kneeling on one knee, eyes and ears alert, muscles tensed and ready, like poised to jump. They seemed to be... waiting for something, whether for further orders or just to, Kagome had no idea, but they were waiting for something.

He pointed to the bushes that surrounded the house on all four sides. If she peered closely she saw about a dozen pair of eyes glow from within the leaves, it was an eerie and frightening sight. Without Sesshoumaru gesturing to them she looked up into the three trees that resided there. There were about four demons in each one; they were large trees after all. Demons in trees were like leopards, they became pretty much invisible.

She suddenly remembered the day she learnt how apt big cats were at hiding within the leaves and branches of a tree. She had said that you would spot them easily with their colours and patterns, but when she was shown books with pictures of big cats in trees, she was forced to reconsider her previous hypothesis. She learnt that camouflage colours was not as important as many people claimed, what was important was to keep still. It took many minutes of solid staring before she saw the stationary forms of the hiding youkai. She noticed that they were all alert and tensed like the ones on the roof and in the bushes.

Well that accounted for 27 demons where were the other 8? Not including the one standing right in front of her of course. She was about to ask when out of the corner of her eye she saw a flick of a tail and she looked. The 'missing' demons were surrounding the house, but not in the way the other demons were, they were crouched down by the base, hidden in the long grass, blending into the orange bricks the house was made of. She had not noticed, but somehow it was late afternoon and already the day's light was beginning to fade.

"Dusk is the perfect time to do this," Sesshoumaru mentioned casually, his voice was calm but the malicious glint in his eye could not be described as anything other than evil. Kagome grew suddenly very frightened, it was never good when an extremely powerful, very deadly, very free (because of her she had not forgotten, or forgiven herself) Daiyoukai smiled. When Sesshoumaru smiled it meant death and misery and blood, and Sesshoumaru was grinning. She wanted to know what he was planning, and how to stop him killing who was inside that house.

"Darkness has always been my favourite time to kill, it increases the fear," he drawled as if discussing how to make his favourite meal. He even licked his lips as he spoke, Kagome wondered whether this was just because he loved the killing so much or whether he wanted to eat or drink that blood of who he slaughtered. "That scent of fear is intoxicating Kagome, it is a shame indeed you are not a demon and cannot appreciate it. The smell of terror on your prey as you close in on them is nothing short of arousing."

"Well I'm not a demon," Kagome replied coldly, fixing him with a cold stare, "I am a miko. And if you kill again today I am never going to forgive you, it is not the answer, there is another way. You say this is war and death in necessary, but by killing humans you are just proving to them that you deserve to be trodden underfoot." He looked at her while she spoke, but was not really listening to her; his attention was solely on the house in front of him.

"Your thoughts on the matter are inconsequential," he shrugged with an air of 'this matter is closed', which if Kagome had anything to say about it, it most certainly was not, but she did not have a say. He handed her, quite literally handed her to a demon she did not recognize and there they stood, it seemed neither of them would be taking part in the 'excitement' to follow. "You will stand here and watch, little miko, you will soon learn that I live up to my namesake, and why Lord Sesshoumaru is feared, respected and awed throughout the demonic populations."

"You cannot make me watch something so horrific."

"I protected you last time, you were not ready, but this is just one person, you can handle it. And yes, I can make you if I so desired, but I do not need to do anything physical to make you watch, you will do so of your own accord. I promise you that you will not be able to resist, as disgusted and horrified as it may make you, there is something strangely beautiful and intoxicating about the Killing Perfection assassinating foe. You will be captivated, you won't be able to look away," nobody is quite that pure to resist this death.

"Haruko," due to superior demonic hearing his voice did not need to rise to more that the intimidating and frightening whisper he was using. "Do it now," he nodded at the small wind demon crouched by the house and he closed his eyes, when he opened them again they were light blue, with no pupils to be seen. When doing that Kagome safely came to the conclusion he was just as scary as Sesshoumaru, or at least, he had the potential to be when he wanted to, behind the scariness, it was pretty awesome, not all demons had such a cool power.

A stormy wind ripped through the house, blowing out every single light inside, Kagome saw the windows blacken, as the light illuminating the room behind it was snuffed out. Haruko's face snapped up and his blank eyes flashed, Kagome felt his youki increase, he was using more power. The wind blew stronger, and she ended up sinking further into the embrace of the demon holding her to escape the chill and avoid being blown away. The windows were blown out completely, shards of glass showering them all; it was surprising no one got hurt.

"Increase to full power Haruko," Sesshoumaru demanded quietly, his voice was somehow heard over the racket Haruko's power was making, "she has yet to emerge." The wind demon complied, his wind causing the roof to start to tear, and eventually a human woman exited the house, eyes wide with fear and confusion as she watched her house tear apart in front of her eyes from the garden. Once she closed the door, Sesshoumaru, still unseen, signalled for Haruko to stop, and the storm ended as abruptly as it had begun.

Sesshoumaru used his super speed and within a moment he was a breath away from the woman. Kagome got a good look at her; she was beautiful, green earrings, red eyes, which were strange for a human, slim waist, long legs, and an intricately designed kimono. She looked to be about forty years of age, but the years had served her well, the lines were not deep, and she was obviously still capable, and still very good looking. In Sesshoumaru's eyes however was no lust, not for her, there was nothing but the most deep set hatred, red lines started to invade the amber swirls from the corners, he only did that when he was handing himself over to his beast. She had always detested red, the colour of life blood, blood Daiyoukai liked to spill, Kagome looked into the crimson pools of the woman, and she saw nothing but terror.

Recognition was clear in the eyes of that woman.

"Indeed it has been a long time, Kagura."