"Where are you taking me?" Kagome asked as they continued to walk down the halls.

"To the barracks. I still have an army to run even though I am your guard."

"So, my punishment is to train with you?"

"Of course not. We're going to spar"

That sounded like a strange punishment to her.

"So, you want me to kick your arse as my punishment? So, you're a masochist?"

She yelped as he swatted her behind. The unexpected sharp sting had her cutting off her scent. She enjoyed the action a little too much and she didn't want him to know that.

"H-hey!"

"Would you rather I tell Toga you ran off or Natsu you got caught?"

She froze. Both options we're not to her liking. Toga-sama would worry and shorten her leash. Eiji would also get in trouble, and she didn't want that. If Natsu found out he would find some creative way to punish her for her slip. It will then turn into a lecture that could last who knew how long.

"Good. I was still planning on going somewhat easy on you but now... I think I want you to surrender under me."

She thanked the Kami for giving her the foresight when he spanked her to conceal her scent. If the sting of his palm was nice, then his words were almost heavenly. Her mind ran wild with thoughts of her being pinned under him in various positions. Her mind tried to supply the image of Sesshomaru doing it, but she pushed it away. They would never be together.

She faulted her current state of mind to Natsu. He pushed for her to studiously learn about the carnal arts, that by the time she forfeited her virginity, it was with eager anticipation. The act had done little to satisfy her newly awakened voraciousness. Miroku had warned her in the past that this was a side effect of having strong spiritual powers and losing your chastity; she just thought it was a weak explanation for his wandering hand.

To make matters worse, her appetite worsened by night due to the moon's influence.

"Are you okay, Ka-go-me, your skin has just started to heat up." His voice had a playful lilt to it as he gave a soft squeeze to her thigh. He was careful not to actually touch skin. She could still feel the warmth of his hand that seeped through the thin layer of her thigh high socks.

"I was just embarrassed about entering the barracks thrown over your shoulder like some conquest. Can't I just walk with you?"

"Nope. I like you on my shoulder."

"Is this why they call you the Artful Torturer?" she said plainly; knowing full well that it wasn't.

She felt his laugh reverberate through him and up to his shoulders. Then she felt her body flip on his shoulder and if it weren't for her quick reflexes and his iron grip on her thighs, the momentum would have thrown her over.

"Eiji~" escaped her mouth breathily due to being winded and his hand drifting higher up to being partially hidden under her skirt, touching skin. He pushed the door open to the grounds at exactly the same moment she moaned out his name. The sounds of sparring and conversations quieted abruptly, and all eyes turned to them. Amongst them were Natsu, Fubuki, Kouga, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru and their collective eyes were trained on her...

Eiji seemed to catch on at the same time that she did. He quickly removed his hand from her thigh and then her from his shoulder, handing her back her bow in the process.

"Good morning?" She couldn't help the way her voice lifted at the end to sound like a question. She tried to give her best smile as she stood next to the dog.

"What were you doing with my innocent Kagome?" Kouga questioned.

"I'm pretty sure she hasn't accepted your claim, fuckface. So, she isn't your anything" Inuyasha countered.

"Shut the fuck up, dog turd!"

"Make me!" Inuyasha said charging.

The two began fighting in the arena and it reminded Kagome of old times. So much so, the command sat readily at the tip of her tongue to be used if necessary.

Her eyes travelled amongst the troops before her.

'Why were you on his shoulder?' The voice intoned in her mind.

Of course, Natsu would have questions. She drifted towards where the nobility stood. She began a light conversation with her sensei and Fubuki commenting on the fight.

'He likes me there. Who am I to not indulge him?'

'If you say so.'

'How is your father doing?'

'He's well. The poison wasn't any to kill, more to incapacitate. ... Thanks, for healing him, by the way. Kami knows I can't use my powers here.'

She agreed. A handful of people had any knowledge of Natsu's holy powers, and he liked to keep it that way. Too many questions would be asked that he wouldn't have an answer to.

'No problem. He may not like me, but he is your father and he needed help.

'I spoke to Sesshomaru yesterday'

'Am I correct in assuming that you have free reign to deal with the son of a bitch who's responsible?'

'Essentially'

Her eyes caught on who she was searching for. A black-haired dog demon. He was tall and quite handsome with his sharp features. He had a single cyan stripe cutting his cheeks. Silver eyes locked on hers and she quickly looked away.

Slowly she unblocked her scent. Then she chanced another look at him. She found him already staring at her. His gaze meandered along her body before returning to her eyes. His gaze was hungry, and he licked his lips sensuously. Her cheeks heated and she bit her lip.

"This is getting intense," Fubuki said.

She tore her gaze from the dog back to the fight. It sure was. They were both heavily bleeding yet showed no sign of stopping. Both were equally matched. She knew eventually that she would have to stop it if she wanted to spar with Eiji.

She waited until Inuyasha jumped high in the air, directly over Kouga to say it.

"Osuwari"

And with one word she had them both in a nicely sized crater. With a strut in her step, she sauntered towards them. She looked over the hole and smiled.

The word 'why' floated up with the dust and she wasn't too sure who said it.

"You were taking too long," she said simply, "Do you need me to heal you, or are you fine?"

Inuyasha was the first to crawl out of the hole muttering that the command hurt a lot more than he remembered. He didn't even try to say he didn't deserve it. Koga followed with an apology and the sense to look thoroughly chastised. The message was clear: don't go claiming her.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I request permission to spar against Higurashi Kagome."

She turned her eyes to Sesshomaru who in turn glared at his brother. He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. It didn't escape her notice that not once after she arrived had his gaze passed on her.

"I accept, " she fingered the string on her bow, "What are your terms?"

"It's simple. First blood. If I draw first, you lose; if we draw at the same time, you lose-"

"Wouldn't it be a deadlock, if we both draw blood at the same time?"

"Semantics. You said you'll kick my arse. An impasse is not you doing that."

She readied her now and dropped into a fighting stance.

"Bring it, I'm not the idiot with the short sword challenging an accomplished archer."

She loosed a single arrow. It was stopped midway by a blow and a crack. Eiji hadn't moved from his spot, with a wicked grin on his face.

"It could be a whip?!" She said incredulously. She shifted her hold on the bow and her stance. She would have to move to get a chance of hitting him. Whips while deadly were notoriously slow and she was going to use that to her advantage.

"I'm not the idiot who was overestimating their skill." He grinned. If he had a tail, Kagome imagined it would be wagging.

She fired a shot and took off, circling him. It was a hail of arrows showering upon him yet every single one was deflected. It seemed his whip channelled his demon powers and moved as quickly as Sesshomaru's. She had to keep him on the defensive and hope for an opening. Or...

"HIT THE MARK" she cried releasing an arrow. She had aimed it exactly at the top of his shoulder, and with the magic of her bow enacted there was no way she could miss.

It shattered his armour at the exact moment he struck her. His whip wrapped around the bow and with a tug, he disarmed her.

"Impressive. One more shot and you would have won. Can't have that." He said as he moved slowly around on his spot following how she circled him. "Let's see how you dodge" he teased before increasing the speed of the cracks of his whip.

Dodging his strikes were a feat of gymnastics and flexibility. He had her bending and confronting in different poses as he kept her away. She let him. She was studying his pattern of attack so she could get closer. And the moment she saw it she would exploit and force him to retract his whip and she could wield the weapon hidden in her obi.

Her chance came a moment later when he cracked the whip head-on. He forced her into a backbend touching her heels. The whip continued in its momentum and she used that small opening to carry her legs over her still bent upper body then use that momentum to carry herself forward up close to him. She drew her two daggers and spun on her totes with a slashing movement to his neck. He barely had a moment to react. With a flick of his wrist, his short sword returned, and he parried her next slash.

"You never said you were taught to use daggers."

"I didn't lie. I taught myself"

There next few moments were them doing the deadly dance of blades. Back and forth they traded blows and barbs. Kagome would admit that Eiji was quite clever and quick-minded, he had an answer to most of her taunts and gave as good as she got. She was accustomed to it with Natsu, but there was nothing compared to what was happening now. She never had any spar this fun or rather exciting. There were several moments where she found herself in various positions under him and she continued to struggle in her mind to stay focused.

All good things had to end and with his promise of her being his conquest, she faltered. Her turn on her up-slash was slightly wobbly, and she nicked him right on his cheek. She might have celebrated drawing first blood, but at the same time she felt the metal pass along his cheek, there was the bite of metal and stinging pain on her neck.

They stood there frozen in the stance of their last attack. She panted heavily and stared directly into his mismatched silver and gold eyes. She could feel the heat radiate from his body. He flared his nose to take a deep breath.

"It's a draw" she heard Natsu say. She momentarily forgot they had an audience.

She stiffly disentangled herself from the dog demon and took a few steps back to bow to him.

Her heart was erratic, and she heard this distinct roaring in her ears. She felt herself soaked with sweat and something else, what she wanted was either a nice bath or to see the children and calm the blood rushing through her veins. Wait, it wasn't the sound of her racing blood, it was the sound of several growls surrounding her.

"Fubuki! Get her out of here! We'll deal with the soldiers." was all she heard before she was picked up bridal style and was rushed out of the training grounds.

...888...

Here's the thing about Kagome. Yes, she was a shinobi, a damn good one if Natsu's praise was anything to go by. Yes, she was a powerful miko with a tremendous amount of power and control over it. However, it did little to dissuade trouble from following her. In all actuality, it made her more prone to certain problems.

So, it was only when she found herself pulled into the sturdy from of the snow wolf, one arm a steel grip around her midsection, the other holding her head in place and his long warm tongue running across its length to feast in the flowing blood from her wound, did she realise what happened.

Whilst she was fighting, she had her scent flow freely from her. Previously, that wouldn't mean anything to her, nonetheless, she was in a room full of demons with extremely acute senses of smell: canines. A scent, according to Fubuki and Eiji, that was intoxicating. Mix that with the fact she was ridiculously turned on, and that arousal from any female made their scent heady, made matters terrible. Amplify this with the effects of the mating games, her show of power the previous day and then this morning...

It was a recipe for disaster. Thank kami Natsu picked up on it and was able to get her out of there before anything happened. Yet she found herself in one of those absent-minded moments he had. As one of the few youkai's unaffected by her scent, he should have carried her out. Not his womanizing friend who promised to show her a thing or two.

So there she stood under a sakura tree receiving the most amount of intimacy she had in months, making the smallest whimpering noises. She was putty under his wicked tongue, and it was just on her neck. Imagine if she got it on other parts of her.

"I smell her. She's over there"

Shippo? He's here looking for her? He could not see her like this.

With that thought in mind, she grabbed ahold of the hand holding her head to use as leverage and flipped the soldier over with a nice little zap of her powers. She then hid her sent as she took off to where she sensed them. She wiped furiously at her neck along the way. She found them both by the koi pond not too far away from where she left a stunned Fubuki.

"Shippo? Rin?"

"Mama!" "Lady Kagome!"

They rushed into her awaiting arms. They held on to her with a crushing grip. When they released her she took a good look at them. They had both aged since she last saw them. They had both gotten taller. Rin was 13 and was growing into her teen look. She now reached her chest and her hair was longer, still styled the same way. Her son now reached her waist and slightly looked his age of 12.

As her eyes passed along them she noticed that Rin already was wearing a flower crown. It was delicately and artfully made with care. She asked her if she made it already.

"No, a nice lady with red hair gave it to me"

Kagome puzzled over who she could be speaking about.

"Follow me, " Kagome said leading them back to the Sakura tree. "You guys remember Fubuki?" She motioned to his unconscious form before bringing his body to sit against the tree next to her.

"What's wrong with him?" Shippo asked cocking his head to the side.

"I- Uhm... Never mind that. He'll wake up soon. Now, I have a year of your lives to catch up on, don't I?"

Hi guys.

Life update: Next 3/4 weeks I will have some exams taking place. This means that you may not get any chapters during that time.

I've put a lot of lore related stuff when it comes to holy people in this chapter and the last. I'm not doing it for style, it plays an importance in the story later. Next chapter is the next day, just a heads up.