Well, this is awfully familiar, she thought.
"Well?" Kakushin's eyes gleamed with hope, "What do you say, Kagome? Be my bride?" Her hands were still wrapped in his much larger, tanner hands. Hands that could be Kouga's. When she looked back into his eyes, it was Kouga's eyes that she saw. Even his toothy grin reminded her of him. Her heart sank in her chest.
Both demons picked up on the change in her demeanor. Sesshou acted first, turning his head to look at her. Kakushin was less perceptive. He held her hands to his soft lips and kissed her knuckles. Kagome couldn't even bring herself to pull away. How many times had Kouga done the same? When was the last time he had scooped her up into his arms and proclaimed her his? She couldn't remember.
"My father would have blessed this union, Kagome." Kakushin pleaded with her. This is where she felt the romantic heart of Ayame shine through. He wasn't demanding she be his, but asking to love and be loved in return. Her heart ached.
"Kagome would have been your mother if it were up to your father, cub." Sesshou's deep voice brought sense back into Kagome's depression addled mind.
"My mother would never have allowed that," Kakushin muttered, releasing Kagome's hands and rising to his feet. "I want you to think it over, Kagome. Be my betrothed, and when the time comes for you to attend college, come to America, and we shall marry. When you graduate from University, be my mate. I could make you a very happy woman."
Kagome stood with Sesshou following her lead. He knew as her alpha, he had a say in this, but he also knew he could lose his freshly added pack mate to another pack if he pushed too far. Kagome missed Kouga. Perhaps she would have loved him if she hadn't seen Inuyasha first. Perhaps she might come to love the young man before her, if she gave it a chance. He could not stop her, but that didn't mean he couldn't persuade her to reject the proposal.
"You're so much like your father," Kagome blushed, knowing that all their similarities came from the brute masculinity and attraction that oozed from their every pore. "But you have your mother's heart."
"So I've been told," Kakushin's eager grin reduced itself down to a timid smile. "Does this mean you'll consider it?" He peered up through his lashes to inspect her emotions, and doing his best to confine his own.
"For Kouga and Ayame," Kagome smiled with tears glistening in her eyes, " Yes."
Sesshou could feel the stab of jealousy in his chest. His pack mate, his human ward, this tiny woman who he had come to care for, might leave him for a wolf cub. One that hadn't known real danger, faced war, or the greatest evils to walk the land. How could this welp of a wolf ever protect her?
"Under one condition," Sesshou had kept quiet long enough. "If she agrees to be yours, then you must fight me for her."