Valadium
Chapter XIV
Miroku was glad to leave the luxurious inn the following day. He was almost sad to admit it, if only to himself, but it was the truth. He wasn't glad simply because the inn was located in a demon village; that didn't bother him at all, how could it when he was one of three human members in an inu pack? How could it bother him when he was bonded directly to his former-human alpha?
The monk frowned, shaking his head to rid himself of his last train of thoughts.
Where he belonged and who he belonged to where of no importance because it wasn't the point. The point was he absolutely hated the rich keep they had spent the rest of yesterday's and this morning's storm at. That was saying something about the houshi named Miroku. He loved luxury and everything that came with it, including the servant girls.
But Miroku did not like the servant girl who had tended them.
Desukia was her name, and a name he wouldn't forget. He didn't know why, maybe it was the way she looked at Kagome with smug surety and acted as if she had something over the older demoness, but he wouldn't forget how ugly it made the beautiful young female look. She had flirted openly with all three mature males in the group, even after Sango and Kikyou had gently laid claim in the demon way to their respective males by placing their hands on their waists and knees. Ryoto had been able to laugh it off, saying that he was too old to dally with a young thing that wasn't many years his daughter's junior.
Even still, when Lord Sesshomaru had come to the pack's rooms to let Kagome and Ryoto know that he was leaving for the Western fortress, the servant girl had dared to flirt with the powerful dog. 'Not that he really seemed to notice,' Miroku thought with a smile, remembering the way Sesshomaru had only briefly glanced at her before giving his full attention to Kagome and his former sire. Even after the Dog General had shone more favor towards the warrior demoness, Desukia had still acted like she was above Kagome for some reason that Miroku could not discern. Even when his alpha asked her to do something, she used a thin veil of respect to cover her haughty attitude and done as told.
All in all, Miroku was not a happy monk, especially when he had noticed that
Kagome had not corrected the girl's behavior. 'Then again, she might not have done it considering how Kagome-sama believes something must be hers before she punishes it. Even so, Desukia was only a servant girl. Kagome is an Alpha.' However, it wasn't taking long for Miroku to understand that the former priestess was an oddity in the youkai world, and that although she was an Alpha of her own pack, she relatively had no title to carry her through her new realm; especially as a woman. Which was why, he speculated, she had a hard time getting them a room despite all the money she had; not mentioning the money the rest of the pack held individually.
The Youkai world was one of titles, then riches. And Kagome had no title except apparently now as a travel companion to the War Lord Sesshomaru.
Miroku sighed, knowing that Kagome didn't want a title, either. She was fine with being in the wilderness now, only going far to make sure the humans of the group were pampered once in a while. 'What she doesn't know is how much her humans are taking to her preferences. I have found that I would rather be out in the forest, sleeping in the cradle of tree roots with my family around me than to be in a village that doesn't want us…all of us.'
The houshi continued to walk, realizing that he had unconsciously been stepping in the prints that Inuyasha had made, knowing that Inuyasha had inadvertently been stepping in the prints that Kagome had made before him. The thought made him smile slightly. Suddenly he felt the demonic pieces that his aura held begin to shift, letting him know that Kikyou was dropping from her position to walk with him. "I don't suppose you are walking with me to talk about theology once more, are you?"
The miko smiled gently, "While they are always among the best conversations, houshi, I was merely letting you know that Lord Sesshomaru was bringing the lady Rin to us this evening." At his confused expression, she giggled. "It seemed I was right, and you were off in your own little world when Kagome had announced it to the pack. I must say, I'm surprised Miroku. Shippo had made quite the racket."
"I see." The navy robed monk smiled cheekily. "Why is Sesshomaru-sama bringing his ward into our care, if I may be so bold as to ask?"
"Perhaps the boy is weary of being in two places at once."
Miroku looked up into the familiar face of Ryoto, not as startled as he used to be when the inu would butt into a conversation. He still found it strange whenever the older youkai would call Sesshomaru a 'boy', however. Especially when he knew for a fact that there were documents, even in temples, that placed the great Daiyoukai as a warrior at least six hundred years ago. Briefly, he wondered how old Sesshomaru exactly was. Then the question of how old Ryoto was came to mind.
Warm gold eyes turned down to gaze laughingly at the monk. "Or perhaps it is something else." And like that the youkai ended his piece to the talk and turned to Shippo and starting up a new game with the kit.
Kikyou turned back to Miroku, "I don't think I'll ever get over him doing that."
The violet eyed houshi sighed in exasperation. "It is just Ryoto-sama being… Ryoto-sama." He mumbled under his breath, "Damn mysterious youkai."
"I heard that houshi!" the deep jovial voice commented from ahead.
"Damn inu youkai."
"I thought you had learnt your lesson, Miroku?" the soft melodious voice of their leader rang in the air.
"And what would that particular lesson be, Kagome-sama?" he asked, a mix of being curious and being falsely peeved.
"There ain't no privacy with a bunch a dogs, bonzo!" Inuyasha gave a boisterous laugh that made everyone smile.
"Psh, Inuyasha, you are the personification of 'no privacy'." Shippo grumbled, a smile on his face. "When Kagome was human, she couldn't take a piss without you breathing down her neck!"
The group laughed as their alpha's face turned red enough to match the hanyou's fire rat hakama. Inuyasha turned to the Kitsune, "So what? If it weren't for me you'd all be road kill by now."
"That might be true but you must admit, puppy boy, you like not being in the lead any more." Sango teased as she adjusted the straps that cradled the three pieces of her broken boomerang.
The half-inu's eyebrows rose as if he were going to be honest before he crossed his arms and rearranged his face, "I ain't admittin' to nothin', wench."
"What you don't understand, Sango-san," Miroku began, his lips curled ever so slightly, "is that he doesn't want to own up to how much of a leader he wasn't."
Kikyou laughed, "Yes, even in the beginning, he had to struggle with a human Kagome and her 'Sit' command."
"Hey!" the hanyou shouted, becoming slightly annoyed as they ganged up on him, "Kagome's scary when she's angry! Even as a human!"
"That's it boy, let it out now that you don't have to worry about it!" Ryoto roared with laughter and heavily patted the half-breed's back. "All you got is your sword, your woman and loyalty to your pack. There's no need for pride."
Miroku laughed at the expression on his friend's face.
"Pride's got nothin' to do with it…none of you have had to be at her mercy when she wanted to do something her way."
"Then you should have just given in, Inu-baka." Kagome called from the front of the pack, enjoying their friendly bickering, even if some of it were at her expense.
"Keh, not without a fight, bitch." The silver-white hanyou replied with a warm smile on his face as he accepted Kikyou's arm slinging around his waist. "I've gotta save some of my dignity."
Shippo looked at Ryoto, his lower lip quivering as he struggled not to laugh, but seeing the almost same exact expression on his grandfather figure, the Kitsune managed to retort with a rhetorical question before letting out peels of laughter, "What dignity?"
"Hahaha. Yeah, laugh it up you two." Inuyasha said blandly before mumbling under his breath, "Always picking on me."
"That's because you're so easy to pick on, honey bunny." Kikyou answered before watching her intended's face screw up.
"What the fuck?! Don't call me that!"
Kagome shook her head at the couple's antics before continuing on the path, keeping her senses open. Not feeling the whispers of power the Shikon sent to her if there were any in the area, the demoness began looking for a good place to camp and wait for her demon lord sensei and his adorable ward; hopefully one with a hot spring near. Only the Kami knew how much she wanted to bath from being in that pig's haystack last night. She didn't care how luxurious it was, it belonged to a pig. Kagome shook her head as if in disbelief before the slight sulfurous scent of an onsen announced itself to her nose. Feeling the slight heaviness to the air that wasn't due to the rain season, the small inu paced in a wide circle a few times before stopping to watch her pack catch up.
"Are we camping here?" Sango asked as she took in the area Kagome had paced. Their camp was in a space cradled under beautiful trees with low, drooping branches draped in soft green moss and high open roots. The slayer could smell a hot spring not too far from their position and she turned to her alpha with a pleased smile, "Looks great to me. We're going to have to remember this place in the future."
Kagome smiled back to her second in command, "Great. I was figuring we'd stay here for a few days while Rin's with us. It would give us some time to really relax and for her to spend time with her favorite people."
Sango laughed. It had been a surprise to see how well the little girl had gotten along with Miroku, Inuyasha and Shippo. But everyone knew that while she loved spending time with the three males, she adored her girl time with the women. "I'm sure you're proud of her."
"Are you kidding?" Kagome asked playfully, her eyes widening and smile blinding, "The way she bosses Inuyasha around is perfect!"
The mahogany exterminator set her broken weapon against a few roots she was claiming for herself, "Okay then, I take that back. You and Sesshomaru must be proud of her."
Just as Kagome was getting ready to reply there was a commotion just outside the claimed camp site.
"RIN-CHAN!"
"Shippo-kun! Miroku-kun!"
"Hello, Rin-chan. It is great to have you with us again."
"Keh. Yeah right, this runt's worse than the first one we had! And what the fuck is that?"
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH IT INUYASHA!"
Kagome and Sango stared at each other with wide eyes. "My god, Kagome, she sounded just like you."
"Well, if she's anything like me, then she's not finished yet!"
There was a pause before a yelp and high pitched squeal accented the air with a loud thump following. It was silent for a while, before both women noticed the demure figure of a ten year old girl walking in their direction, her posture astute and elegant for a young human girl being raised by a youkai War Lord. Proudly she carried a rather large parcel held together by strings of twine. "Ohayou, Kagome-san, Sango-san!"
"Hey, Rin-chan!" Both women greeted just as a loud uproar of laughter sounded from the area just outside camp.
"What do you have there, Rin?" Kagome asked as she dug the fire pit, glancing at the package out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh! It is a present for Kagome-san from Rin and Sesshomaru-sama!" The young girl held it out to the demoness.
Kagome looked down at the dirt under her claws and, feeling the youkai Lord's presence close and possibly watching, blushed. "Ah…right, well, could you do the honor of opening it for me, Rin-chan? I would rather not get my new present dirtied already."
The child beamed and tucked the package under her arm again, "It is okay, Kagome-san. It can wait for later, when you are cleaned up from your travels. Besides, Lord Sesshomaru said that Rin can stay for three days. We have plenty of time!"
The Amazonian woman grinned back, "Yes, we do have plenty of time, Rin. Please, get comfortable and tell us what you've been up to since that last time we talked."
It didn't take long to get the young girl chatting about anything she could think of and getting the older women's opinion on it. Kagome could hear her father teaching the boys something new, and talking about manly things. While she couldn't hear Sesshomaru, she could feel his aura not too far away. Nearly an hour had passed when Shippo poked his head in to crow at them. "C'mon Rin-chan, give Kagome-alpha and Sango a rest. Kagome needs to go hunting, the whole pack's hungry!"
The adolescent girl swung her big eyes towards her companions, "Rin has been keeping you, Kagome-san? Rin doesn't mean to take you from your duties."
"Don't worry about it," Kagome replied, "It won't take me long. Go and play with Shippo and the others. We'll be back before you know it." She watched the child think over it for a moment before she ran outside, the package tucked under her arm again.
"You need me to go with you?" Sango asked, surprise etched on her face.
Kagome stood and felt her tails connect again behind her head. "Yeah. Sesshomaru had specifically said that he and Rin were going to be staying with us. That means that I'm responsible, not only for my pack, but for Sesshomaru and his own entourage."
"Is it because he's a lord?" the slayer felt her eyebrows pinch above her nose. Things like this were unknown to her because she was not taught much about higher youkai society.
"No actually its not. He's a more experienced dog with a smaller pack staying with a lesser experienced alpha with a bigger pack. Because I've got the bigger, I must feed him. If he had the bigger pack visiting a smaller one, he'd have to feed us as a 'thanks for letting us take up your valuable space' type deal."
"Um…I understand what you're saying, but I don't get it. Why does he have to do this? And more importantly, why is he doing it? He's a Daiyoukai. He doesn't have to do anything." Sango stepped into her boots and laced them as she watched Kagome respectfully.
The demoness smiled, "Let's just say it's the dog way of having manners. And you're right: Sesshomaru doesn't have to do it. But he's showing respect to our group by letting me feed not just him but his ward, and his most favored pack beast, and he's showing us trust."
"So, when he hadn't been staying with us when he was training you, he didn't trust us?"
"Pretty much; and it wasn't just that, he didn't know how honorable I was. There were many things he didn't know. But he knows them now, so this is why he is displaying these 'manners'. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Thank-you for enlightening me, Kagome."
Crystal blue eyes touched on the white pristinely clothed body of the demon Lord as she walked from the cover of the tree and saw the package sitting delicately next to his hip. Smiling, Kagome hummed a noncommittal sound to her beta before letting the rest of the pack know that she and Sango were going hunting.
* * * *
Sesshomaru watched the retreating form of the Amazon from the corner of his eye, and felt her aura leave the area. He resisted the urge to touch a hand to his chest and try to sooth the tiny ache that had formed there when he had felt her eyes on his person. He had quickly gotten over berating himself at the tiny things—they happened so often!—and had opted to take this like the mighty demon he was. So he had taken the first step to see if she would ever be receptive to him. The first test was to offer something of value. Even though she was a pup, her instincts would guide her far more subtly than anything else. If her beast didn't want anything to do with him, she would refuse the gift. If she was neutral—the only thing she could be at this point—she would accept it.
He ignored the way his heart beat slightly faster at the prospect of having his answer within the next three days. But just because he found out if she would be receptive or not wouldn't tell how she would be one hundred and seventy-nine years from now. The only thing that would help him would be to cultivate her over the years—years that would fly by for any youkai—and keep in her good graces. And when her two-hundredth summer was upon them, he would have to make himself known to her sexually. Let her see that he was a male and she a female.
But until then, he had acquiesced himself to a life of a little chest ache every time she looked at him or talked about him.
"She still hasn't said anything, has she?"
Inuyasha looked up from his position next to Ryoto watching Rin and Shippo pull tricks on and decorating Miroku, only to lock eyes with his beloved. He smiled softly at her as her words filtered into his head. "Don't worry, Kikyou. Just because she hasn't given an answer doesn't mean anything, except that she's really thinking on it. It shows that she cares, is all."
"Not meaning to be nosey," the elder Daiyoukai's voice rumbled softly.
Inuyasha's face turned sour as he mumbled, "Keh. You're always nosy, old man."
Ryoto ignored the well known jab and continued, "You have asked Kagome something?"
The hanyou turned his nose up and was getting ready to bash the old dog, when Kikyou spoke up, "Yes, we've asked if she would give us her blessing to mate."
"Ah." The handsome dog demon smiled softly at the little miko, "Well then, know Kikyou that the longer it takes Kagome to give you an answer that she's really thinking of the best for everyone, and for once Inuyasha is right, it shows how much she really cares. Be grateful that it is taking this long, it means that you are under the care of a fair and honorable alpha."
"I understand, Ryoto-sama, but I am a human. I do not have all the time in the world."
The big male burst with deep laughter, "Have you not really figured it out without Kagome explaining it, dear miko? You are a pack member of Selva-cão Higurashi Kagome, an Amazon Inuyoukai! You are bonded to her, child! You have until the end of this green planet and beyond. A few months will not hurt you. No, you and every other human attached to you have many thousands of years ahead of you. Do not fret."
"You see Kikyou?" Inuyasha started before he was interrupted by a voice he hadn't heard for a long while.
"MUTT FACE!"
The amber eyed hanyou was barely able to pull his head up enough to let the incoming fist catch him in the chest instead of the jaw. The only thing he knew was air and then a solid tree. Opening his eyes, Inuyasha saw a booted foot surrounded by white silk. Looking up he glowered at the amused expression of cool gold eyes. Sitting up, he winced as his chest creaked. Ignoring his half brother in favor of locating the one responsible, Inuyasha scowled deeply, "What the fuck Kouga?!"
Miroku quickly gathered the children to him and stayed a safe distance from the commotion. He knew that once it was possible, he would take them to the safest place: either with Ryoto or Sesshomaru. Keeping his eyes on the wolf demon, the monk noticed the extreme rage that was flowing from him. Normally bright blue eyes were darkened to a near black and jaki fluctuated wildly around his tanned, fur covered form. He glanced across the clearing and felt anxiety fill him as he saw Kikyou standing, with a transformed Kirara in front of her, too close to the volatile demon.
"Where is she?"
"What are you talking about you stinkin' wolf?"
"What have you done to her? I can't find her scent and she's always with you."
Inuyasha was feeling some major confusion. Had the wolf prince finally went insane? "I'm not followin' ya, wolf. What are you talkin' about?"
"Don't you dare act like you don't know! I can't find her scent and the place where it left off smelt of you and her blood! Tell me what you've done to my woman!"
Something clicked in the hanyou's head. "She's not your woman."
Kouga charged, his anger lending him power and blinding him to the fact that his hanyou opponent was much more graceful than he used to be and definitely looked different. "Is that all you've got to say half-breed?! What? Did Kagome finally admit that she liked my attentions and you killed her for it?!"
Inuyasha dodged the attack, "I admit that I hurt Kagome, but it wasn't for any reason you could understand, wolf turd. And she's not dead!"
"LIAR!" The wolf demon screamed and caught the hanyou on the back of the neck before throwing him into a cluster of thick trees.
Ryoto was barely able to catch his former son before serious damage was done by a formidable oak. Quietly he whispered to the boy, "Call to Kagome. I believe this is something she is going to have to finish." Standing to his full height, the elder demon stood in front of the half-breed slave. 'Damn if it wasn't a terrible time for Kagome to take Sango hunting with her. An Omega would have had enough power to stall this better than even me.' He thought, feeling his brows furrow in concentration. "I don't know what kind of problem you have with Inuyasha, but you will not take your frustrations out on him until you have the permission of his pack and alpha, boy."
"I need permission from no one! I'm prince of my clan and a Lord under the Phoenix Taiyoukai. Inuyasha killed the one I claimed as my mate! It is my right to have his life!"
Of course he had known of this little problem through the memories received from Kagome, but from what he understood she had rejected the wolf's claim on many accounts. Yet the fool still laid claim on an unwilling female? Ryoto looked at his former eldest son from the corner of his eye curiously.
"You should know, Lord Kouga, your rankings matter not to me in this situation." Ryoto responded tersely. 'Will Sesshomaru not interfere?'
"Fuck you!"
Everyone was stunned as the ookami attacked the elder demon.
Sesshomaru felt his lips part, and could not help wondering if perhaps his sire could be too rusty to fight such an upstart, but he could not force his body to move and help.
As soon the demonic part of his aura sensed Kouga's movement, Miroku called out for help with his power and voice, "ALPHA-SAMA!"
Dust and dirt littered the air in the area, reminding the pack of their past fight with a worm youkai. Light blue jaki crackled in the area in the form of arching lightening.
Silence reigned stiffly.
"You dare to attack my sire."
If Sesshomaru were the grinning type, he would have had one stretching from ear to ear. The only time he had heard her voice as a threatening Alpha was when he had commented on Inuyasha's bond to her. Oh, the wolf was in trouble!
'Thank the Kami-sama.' Miroku thought as he scrambled to pull Kikyou and the children behind Ryoto and Kagome with Inuyasha and Sesshomaru nearby. Surely Kagome would put an end to this easily and efficiently.
Kouga snorted air out of his nose to remove the dust and resisted the urge to rub his arms as an unknown jaki prickled against him. As soon as the dirt settled, the wolf prince felt his eyes widen as he took in the tiny figure that was standing guard in front of the massive dog he had been going to cut down. He was transfixed on the waist length glossy black hair and the tanned right side of her face. "Ka-Kagome…"
Long lashes fluttered open to show near colorless blue eyes, and the woman turned her head to face him completely. That's when he saw everything else his mind had ignored: the thick, pointed, black dog ears; the black protective mane curled around her shoulders; the deadly ebony claws; the double fanged sword; and the disgusting scars and marks that nearly covered the entire left side of her face.
Kouga felt like ice cold water had been poured on him and last week's old bone was choking him. This wasn't Kagome; not his Kagome. This demon had stolen her body and made it repulsive. He could smell Inuyasha from the silver scars and now he understood why.
The hanyou had tried to kill the demon as it was taking possession over Kagome's body. Obviously it didn't work. She now had the entire group in her control. A fate worse than death, he was sure, and from what he could smell, it was too late for Kagome. He could no longer smell her sweet lavender mixed with gentle vanilla. Now it was just a spicy vanilla of the body's under laying scent.
"You bitch!" He rubbed his eyes from the tingling feeling. "I'll free them from your control!"
There was one thing that Inuyasha was beginning to feel was repetitive with Kouga was the emotion of confusion. How had the wolf gone from wondering where Kagome was to now wanting to destroy her? The hanyou scratched at his head and leaned over to Miroku who had his jaw open slightly, "Are you gettin' any of this?"
The houshi shook his head, "Nope."
"I don't know how you managed to possess someone like Kagome, and force her kit, Inuyasha, a Hentai monk, a slayer, an old dog and a resurrected miko to become your pack, but I'll do whatever I can to save them from the likes of you!"
Kikyou's brows furrowed and she whispered to the monk beside her, "Where is he getting this from?"
"No idea." Miroku answered, feeling his brows drift closer to his hair line the longer Kouga spoke.
Kagome couldn't help but glance at Sesshomaru from the corner of her eye. Seeing the almost unnoticeable tremors in the War Lord's shoulders, she drew in a deep breath and let it out in a huge puff that shook her bangs. Turning to the side, she glanced at each of her pack only to see them in various stages of confusion and dumbfounded disbelief. "Um…Kouga, let's get something straight, shall we? I am Kagome."
"You're not fooling me, whore! Kagome was a human, you're a demon."
"How very astute of you."
Kagome glared at the current Inutaisho who had somehow gone unnoticed by the wolf prince. "If you're not gonna help, then stay your ass out of it, Sesshomaru."
"Stop talking, and start fighting!" The wolf yelled, spittle flying as he raced forward.
Kagome rushed to meet him before he got any closer to her pack and their visitors. Pushing out the possible motives for Kouga to be attacking them, she settled into battle mode: nothing mattered but neutralizing the threat and, if possible, not hurting the prince of wolves too much.
She faster than him, but where he lacked in speed, he made up for in anger and shear brute strength. However, the petite woman's calm head was what made her the top dog, especially when he decided to start their fight with swords. 'This isn't working.' Kouga thought as he noticed the ease in which she swung her unpractical sword with grace and skill that spoke of power and surety. He sized her up again. 'I should have stayed with hand to hand.' The prince thought smugly as he stared her down. She was diminutive compared to him; surely a demoness would not have bothered to learn hand-to-hand battle. Tossing his katana, sheath and all, to the sidelines, Kouga put all of his power into surprising her with a fast physical attack.
His fist connected with the center of her body, and her tiny form went flying into the trees.
Sesshomaru felt his spine straighten painfully. How dare that wolf pull such an unsuspecting move on his opponent? Cold gold eyes searched the dust and shadowed area the Amazon had disappeared into. Where was she? Surely she would re-emerge to show this punk just how much better she was at throwing fists than she was at sword play. Physical fighting was her element.
He could feel the distress practically radiating from her whole pack, and the worst was his sire. A quick glance to the older Daiyoukai's face told the Western Lord just how much his former sire felt about the girl named Kagome, and he could understand…
A streak of black and tan struck like lightning from the shadows and the raven haired prince fell quicker than any youkai eye could see. Standing above the crater of the wolf was a growling petite inu in nothing but her top and low hakama that were ripped and dirtied. Crystalline eyes were nearly white, and her plush lips hardened into a straight line while her body was tense with unreleased anger. She leapt into the hole and not a few seconds later, the fur clad form of Kouga was tossed out and the Amazon following.
Kagome watched her friend cough up blood, and while a small part of her was worried, the majority of her knew that he would be okay as long as he didn't push her any farther. "You believe that I am not Kagome simply because I am now demon."
"Kagome was a human miko, whore." He pushed himself to his feet and faced her. "And I plan to set her free of you!"
A fist struck, and Kagome dodged, her back level with the ground, before she twisted her spine, dropped her hand to the ground and wrapped her legs around the wolf's waist. Using the momentum she had from the twist she threw the demon from her before coming to her feet again and sinking into a well defensible crouch. "What you should plan to do is listen to me, you thick headed, arrogant imbecile!"
She was beginning to get mentally tired from this. Kagome could understand why Kouga would think that a demon had possessed her, there weren't many accounts of human miko suddenly turning up as demons, but why couldn't the lad calm down for a second and listen to her side of the thing? An idea clicked in her head. "Of course…" She smiled to herself for her brilliancy.
"I'll listen to you when the world comes to an end, bitch." Kouga grumbled as he struggled to pull himself from the branches of a tree. Damn, but if this bitch wasn't kicking his ass! Who knew the broad was as good at physical war as with a sword? But he would try his best to free her slaves for Kagome. He ran towards her once more before dropping to his arms and swinging his legs to pull her feet from underneath her, a move that not many demons knew, and one that was his signature attack.
Lightning quick, she plucked one of his ankles then the world went spinning. Before he knew it, slender arms were wrapped under each of his thicker ones, her hands coming to lock together and rest behind his head and then he was being stretched back while propped on his knees. He struggled and growled, only to find that he had absolutely no leverage in this position. He was on his knees and being bent to the will of the bitch beneath him. Kouga strained to pull away, and only heard the small dog growl before the distinct feel of fangs in the back of his neck made his spine go rigid.
He hadn't felt that since he was a pup.
"Will you listen to me now?" She growled. Not waiting for his answer, Kagome gathered up her jaki, creating a link to her memories of the months past that turned her from miko to demon, before forcing it into the connection she had at the back of his neck.
Kouga felt his jaw drop in a soundless scream as the coldness raced down his spine and through his arms and legs as visions passed through his mind: a human Kagome standing up to a raging Inuyasha who disfigured her with his claws; the fight with a strange inu and his death; the sleeping transformation; Kagome rousing her youkai to save her friends and taking them as pack for safety; Kagome in her new body struggling to be a good and fair alpha. There were good times and there were low times that he saw, but most of all he saw that this demoness was the same Kagome he had known. Except now he saw just was lurking inside of her.
When his mind was his own, Kouga tried to wet his lips with a dry tongue. "Let me go." He commanded; his voice hoarse. When he felt her hold loosen, he scrambled away from her, his head down, thick bangs covering his eyes.
Kagome couldn't tell what he was thinking. Did her plan work? Did he know that she was the same Kagome? The good news was that he wasn't attacking her. His aura, however, still looked dark, and though it wasn't wild anymore, it felt nearly depressing to her. She took a few steps forward, reaching her hand out only to have the wolf prince smack it away. The Amazon didn't say anything; she let her appendage fall back to her side. "Kouga? Do you understand, I—"
"What I understand," he interrupted, "Is that you are a female and the alpha of this pack. I also understand that you took that control and leadership from Inuyasha, the rightful alpha."
Kagome felt her spine straighten, "What? That's not—"
"I also understand that females are submissives to males. They have always been, and will always continue to be." He pulled his head back, scorn in his eyes. "And you dared to immobilize a male alpha who is a lord under the Phoenix Taiyoukai of the East. You deserve those hideous scars, Kagome. If I had been Inuyasha then, I wouldn't have let you get away."
Kagome felt anger bubble up in her. He thought her ruin was justified? He was her friend. He had fought beside her, argued with Inuyasha for her, and loved her. "Kouga I—"
"I don't want to hear your excuses, bitch." He turned on his heel, shoulders held proud and square, "By the way, I revoke my claim on you. I don't want a hideous, power hungry whore to be thought of as my intended."
Kagome watched the wolf prince's back slowly disappear.
The forest was silent. The birds did not sing, the crickets did not chirp their merry tune, and the forest creatures did not want to move from their safe burrows. The grey skies opened their arms, releasing a few drops of rain before slowly working up into a full shower. Kikyou looked back at her alpha as she and Miroku ushered Ah-un, Rin and Shippo into the covered den. Kagome's figure was tiny as she stood where Kouga had left her, Ryoto and Sesshomaru standing a good ways away from her and each other. If the miko hadn't been sure, she would have said the scene was too surreal. Both males wanted to touch her, but the Amazon was too far out of reach, untouchable, unmovable. So they stood, two sentries standing depressingly over a wounded, sorrowful goddess.
She stared down the path the wolf had taken, grateful for the rain that mixed with the drops of salt water that were streaming down only her unmarred cheek, one by one like a march of dutiful soldiers. 'I thought he had loved me.' Kagome clenched the hand he had knocked away into a fist and fought the urge to keen, 'I'm such a fool.'
~*~
Author's Note: I'm so sorry it's been so long! I remember reading some reviews (on AdultfanfictionDOTnet)about the time it'll take for the smut to happen, but guess what? You aren't exactly reading this for the smut, but for the plot that gets them together. That's what this is supposed to be about. If all you want is smut, then read my other story Feudal Love on the other site.
Anyway, there was a line in here that I believe Sesshomaru said. Something like 'years fly by for youkai'(Oooh, that rhymes!). Well, obviously I'm not doing year by year here people. So that means something drastic is going to happen where there won't be detailed accounts of Kagome's and Sesshomaru's lives until her 200th birthday. Duh, dum dums.
Anyway, hit me up with a review. Just to let you know, this story is still going to be a while. Trust me.
~Draco