A/N: I do not own the Inuyasha characters. Any others are mine though.

Chapter 21: Insult

The morning came quietly leaking sunlight into a cave in the wood that held two exhausted demons. He woke easily though having never really been able to sleep during daylight hours. He quietly looked towards the female laying next to him. She was still sleeping peacefully even with the bright sunlight playing on her face. He wasn't surprised though. He had been quite persistent with her last night. He gently caressed the side of her face gently pushing stray strands of her dark hair back behind her ear. It seemed to him that he was only staring for a few minutes when she began to wake. She stretched very similar to a cat and let loose a mouth stretching yawn.

"So you do have feline qualities," Sesshomaru stated in greeting for the morning. She gave him a confused look. For a few moments she lay there with her features changing to show startled, confused, angry, confused again before finally settling on a mix between them all when she realized what he had said.

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked with a slight tinge of anger and confusion. He carefully made sure not to laugh as he did not know what she remembered since starting her fight with Anubus the day before.

"You normally act more like a dog. I was beginning to wonder if you had any of your mothers' qualities," he said quietly with a gentle smile. She gave an incredulous look for a moment before speaking again.

"Why do I have memories that don't seem like they're mine?" she asked in a timid voice. A part of him was glad at her question because it meant she remembered. He did let a small frown grace features, though it was unintentional, when he answered her question.

"When you were battling Anubus you and your beast both lost control allowing the madness to take you," he answered. He hoped she would not ask him more. His hopes were dashed though when she spoke again after a short moment of silence.

"What happened?" she asked quietly looking up at him. "I remember being pinned by Anubus but I can't remember what he said and afterward it felt like everything was a movie I was watching."

Sesshomaru said nothing for a long moment. He had hoped that he would not have to recount yesterday's debacle. It was not a very pleasant memory.

"What did Anubus say, Sesshomaru?" she asked quietly almost as if she was afraid to ask.

"I will not repeat what that slime said," he said with a bit more force than he had intended. When he felt her cringe away from him he mentally kicked himself as he made a move to gently bring her into an embrace. "I'm sorry, Kagome. The events of yesterday were not something I would have chosen to witness let alone take part in."

"Was I that bad?" she asked meekly bowing her head. He immediately lifted her eyes to his.

"It had nothing to do with you, Kagome. That Egyptian dog said things that would anger any female. I was somewhat surprised when I managed to gain your submission," he said gently.

"Tell me," she whispered quietly. With a small sigh he told her the events starting with the end of her battle with the Egyptian. He watched her face carefully looking for any indication that he should stop. He noted how her eyes widened when he mentioned her throwing her mother across the arena but she made no comments. She only gave the one reaction and merely nodded at the rest. She stayed there silently as he held her. After a while though she sat up and turned to face him. "Where is the heart?"

At that question his expression went straight back to his ice façade. It did not seem to affect her at all. In a moment they were both standing silently. He knew she was watching him. He quietly tossed her clothes to her telling her to get dressed as he did so. Once they finished he silently led her from the spring heading for the castle. He avoided the arena wanting no reminder of the previous day's events. She followed silently, her expression closed. She knew he was not happy with her question but the heart was important. Nothing would change her mind about this.

Bastet stood waiting for them in the entry. She said nothing but gestured for them to follow and turned down a side hall. They followed quietly as she led them to his fathers study. Their parents were there waiting for them. Bastet moved to stand next to her mate and gestured for everyone to take a seat. They all conceded except for Kagome.

"Where is the heart?" Kagome asked standing directly in front of her mother. She stood calmly with her hands folded behind her back. Cerberus glanced down to his mate but saw no reaction. It was silent for a long while. No one moved though Kagome continued to stand waiting before her mother.

"Why?" Bastet asked directing a questioning gaze at the young woman before her. Everyone looked to her waiting for her to answer.

"The power will be needed soon," she answered simply. No one spoke for a while assuming she would continue. When she did not Cerberus stepped forward to speak.

"For what reason will the power be needed?" he asked calmly. It was almost as if they went through this sort of thing every day. Kagome turned to face him quietly.

"The reason has not yet revealed itself to me. The opportunity for the power has presented itself and the ritual must be performed. You should not have interrupted me," she answered with a pointed look to her mother. Bastet narrowed her gaze before speaking again.

"I cannot allow you to perform a forbidden ritual when I do not know the reasoning behind it. Especially since you should know that the ritual cannot be performed by an unmated female. In order for you not to become the evil itself you must have a mate with whom to share the power," her mother answered sternly.

"Why do you think I was trying to find mate, mother?" Kagome questioned letting her impatience and anger get the better of her. "I was hoping to find a mate before the opportunity presented itself. You all had to make it more difficult though by putting me against those weaklings. I had thought that after the first battle you might have realized to move ahead to some of the more powerful of the demons. But no, you had to have the line up exactly as it was wasting my hard earned time. You have no idea how difficult it is to control this curse. You are extremely lucky that most of your females are mated well before the 250th year. I have been fighting the demon for four years now and with all the power I have gained over the years. You are quite lucky that Sesshomaru was able to defeat me. If I had been in control most likely we would not be having this conversation and nor would I be mated," she continued vehemently stating a defense against the western lord. Taishou turned to watch his son. She had just challenged the fairness of her fight against his son. Sesshomaru merely sat there. The only sign given that he heard being a barely noticeable twitch of his ears.

"Very well," Bastet began, "You may have the heart." Kagome nodded calmly at her words and would have prepared to leave if her mother had not continued. "However…it will be at the discretion of your mate."

Kagome turned to the western heir silently with a frozen gaze. Taishou calmly stepped in to speak. "You must fight her two remaining suitors Sesshomaru. They will not leave unless they are given a chance. It is at your discretion when you give your mate the heart."

Sesshomaru looked up to find his father and new mate both standing in front of him. His mate looked about ready to kill something. Thinking of what she had said before he calmly gave his answer. "I see no reason to fight them. I obviously would not be her mate if this had not happened. And I see no real reason for her to have the heart."

With that said he stood and left the study leaving his enraged mate behind. He knew she would not be far behind him and quietly made his way to a secluded area in the castle.

She had left directly after him without a word to any of them. His scent was fresh and direct. There would be no difficultly in following him. In her eyes this was an offence. They had no right to deny her that heart. She had given her reasoning and it was entirely valid. And those final two suitors should be glad that they would not have to submit to her.

Kagome finally caught up with her new mate in a neglected corner of the castle. He stood with his back turned to the door gazing out of a dusty window. For a moment she stood merely glaring at him.

"Do you plan on standing there wasting time or are you going to speak?" he asked harshly. At these words she was ready to snap.

"The one wasting time here is you!" she answered fiercely. She was beyond holding her emotions in. "I need that heart to perform the ritual. The power it gives will be needed before long."

"You still have not given a solid reason for its need," he answered. He was barely holding his anger. He knew she would push him eventually. She had already started with her comment in front of their fathers.

"Don't tell me you're claiming to be one of those men who value honor?" she asked incredulously. "I already know this to not be true. You did not even try to allow the other males a chance before defeating me yourself when the demon took over. I knew that honor died a long time ago. I should never have allowed myself to believe that you were honorable. It was obvious you were merely taking advantage of the situation."

He gave no inclination of moving but had her held against the wall within mere seconds. He held her by her neck well above the floor so that her feet were dangling at least a foot in the air. He glimpsed a hint of fear in her eyes for less than a second before a stork determination filled her gaze. "You are sadly mistaken, bitch. The other contestants were nowhere near the battle when you lost your wits. There was not time to retrieve them. And if you believe that this Sesshomaru could not have defeated you when you were not possessed it means you are merely a cocky mutt that has gotten lucky. You are very lucky you are already this Sesshomarus' mate or I would have you thrown to the humans stripped of your powers."

She gave a low growl before responding. "You merely do not want to admit that you have a more powerful mate than yourself or that you took advantage of her situation."

He growled harshly tightening his grip before responding. "Fine, this Sesshomaru apparently needs to show his female her place in front of a crowd before she admits defeat. Arrangements will be made for a week from now. In the meantime do not come running to me for any…relief." With that said he ran his tongue tantalizingly along the tip of her ear before leaving the room.

She stood gazing furiously out the window of the room he had left her in. She had not moved for hours. Her blood was still boiling over what he had intimated. She had gone almost 250 years without any male attention and now he acts as if she would be unable to resist him; males and their damn egos. They always figured a woman couldn't live without them. Besides, if her mother could go a few hundred years away from her mate then so could she. It couldn't be that difficult.