Disclaimer -

DracOnyx - Dang it, Inu . . . I think they've got the hint that I don't own you by now . . . they aren't as dense as you are, you know.

InuYasha - Oi, wench, are you calling me dense? *cracks his knuckles*

DracOnyx - *unfazed* Yes, I am. If you weren't dense, you go and admit to Kagome that you love her instead of pining after that undead lump of clay.

InuYasha - Damn it, I'm not 'pining' after her . . . I just owe her, alright!

DracOnyx - yeah, yeah . . . whatever. Anyway, you all know that I don't own InuYasha or any of the others, so let's consider that a done deal, okay? Now . . . as for you *turns back to InuYasha* go sit in a corner or something so I can concentrate.

InuYasha - Geesh, wench . . . I'm not a dog.

DracOnyx - *raises an eyebrow at him* and I'm not a wench . . . get the picture?



Author's Notes - Hehe . . . poor Inu : ) Anyway, here's the next chapter . . . Inu meets Hojo. I know a lot of you are rubbing your hands in glee . . . so I'll let you just get on with the story and I'll add more notes at the bottom : )



Chapter 11 - My Mate (Part 2)



InuYasha lounged against the wall near the front entrance to Kagome's school, clad in a pair of baggy jeans and a skin tight black t-shirt, a baseball cap covering his ears and a pair of sunglasses hiding his eyes. It was lunch break, so he was trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible while the school yard was crowded with students. At the moment, he was attempting to ignore a nearby cluster of girls, who's giggling and constant looks his way were making him nervous. What the hell was their problem, anyway?

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to him, he caught Kagome's scent emanating from the doors, and heaved a sigh of relief. Now they could get the hell out of here.

Kagome emerged into the sunlight, and was immediately surrounded by her friends. She tried to get a look at where InuYasha was, but couldn't catch a glimpse of him. She could sense him nearby, however, so wasn't too concerned as her friends dragged her off across the schoolyard, bombarding her with questions.

InuYasha growled low in his throat as Kagome was herded away from him, to the other side of the school yard. Removing himself from leaning against the wall, he took a step in her direction . . . and suddenly found himself surrounded by a hoard of giggling schoolgirls, all asking him who he was and whether or not he was a new student in the school. He sighed, and wished longingly that he hadn't promised Kagome that he would control any urges to act as he normally did.

"Kagome . . . Hojo's been looking all over for you! Where were you?" Amy asked. "Where have you been all morning? We saw you in home room . . . but then you went down to the office and we haven't seen you since!" One of her other friends piped up suddenly.

"Oh, there's Hojo now! Hey Hojo . . . we found Kagome for you!" she called. Kagome glared at her in annoyance. "You better grab him up fast if you're going to Kagome . . . he won't wait for you forever, you know."

"But I don't want . . ." Kagome sputtered indignantly.

"Kagome!" Inwardly, she groaned. This was SO not going to go well . . . she sincerely hoped InuYasha was not anywhere nearby. The last thing she needed was an overly dense Hojo running into an overly possessive InuYasha. She turned to greet Hojo, pasting a welcoming smile on her face . . . and suddenly found herself caught up in a hug. 'Oh no . . . when is he gonna take the hint . . . oh, gods, I hope InuYasha doesn't see this . . .'

"Kagome. It's so good to see that you are feeling well again. I was worried when you didn't show up to our last date. Your grandfather told me you had to go out of town for care . . . I know you would never purposefully leave me waiting for you . . . it must have been rather sudden," Hojo murmured, oblivious as always to Kagome's attempts to squirm out of his arms. He had been getting more and more demonstrative of his feelings for her over the last year . . . she'd begun to wonder if maybe he thought she was playing hard to get - or was he really just that dense?

"Hojo . . ." she began, intending to tell him that she wasn't interested in him like that AT ALL, only to break off at a low growl from behind her. She knew that growl . . . too well. 'Oh no . . . InuYasha is going to go berserk . . . why did Hojo have to pick NOW to hug me . . . especially when I'm no longer available, and mated to a VERY possessive dog demon . . .'

If she could have actually seen InuYasha's face, she would have realized that berserk didn't even begin to cover his reaction. He'd spent the last several minutes attempting to remove himself from his 'groupies' politely, as Kagome had requested, but when he'd seen Hojo envelope HIS mate in a hug, every instinct in his body had screamed in rage and taken over.

Tensing suddenly, he'd had sprung up and over his crowd of admirerer's, drawing many sounds of awe and amazement as he twisted in mid-air to land gracefully on his feet and walk quickly over to the embracing figures of Hojo and Kagome, his knuckles cracking ominously. He'd been able to clearly see that Kagome was wriggling around in an attempt to free herself from the boy's embrace, and his rage had grown by leaps and bounds when the boy refused to relinquish his hold on his mate.

Reaching out, he spun Kagome forcefully out of the boy's arms, and against his side, one arm holding her securely against him as his other hand wrapped in a vise-like grip around Hojo's neck and lifted. The boy dangled several inches off the ground, staring wide-eyed down at the still-growling hanyou. Rivulet's of blood began to trickle slowly out from beneath his claws as fear darkened Hojo's eyes.

Kagome glanced up at InuYasha, ready to scold him for reacting as he had, and gasped as she saw his face. Deep, jagged red stripes were slowly appearing along his cheekbones . . . he was losing control of his demon blood. 'Think, Kagome, think . . . shit, I have to get him home quickly . . . back to the Tetsusiaga. And somehow manage to get him to release Hojo without killing him . . .' She desperately searched her mind for some idea . . . any idea . . . as InuYasha spoke.

"Stay . . . away . . . from MY mate," he growled, his voice deadly cold with rage as he lifted Hojo higher off the ground and shook him slightly.

"Ka . . . Ka . . . gome . . ." Hojo gasped out, struggling for air. He was starting to see stars from the lack of oxygen, and he kicked his feet futilely in an attempt to free himself. InuYasha's grip began to tighten slowly as he struggled. Kagome's friends looked on in terror as Hojo's lips began to turn blue, frozen into inaction by the volatile figure before them.

Spurred into action by what she was seeing, Kagome reached a free arm down to InuYasha arm that held her pressed against him, and drew her forearm sharply against his claws. Blood welled from the striped wounds, and she saw InuYasha's nose twitch once in response. She raised her arm up before his face, blood dripping slowly to the ground below, drawing his attention from Hojo to her sharply.

"InuYasha, let him go . . ." she whispered. She stared up into his face, his eyes unreadable behind his sunglasses, the stripes on his cheeks standing out vividly in the afternoon light. "Just let him go, InuYasha . . . he didn't mean anything by it . . . please, just let him go." She watched his face carefully, and nearly sighed in relief as the markings on his face slowly faded from view.

The red fog began to fade from his mind as the scent of Kagome's blood impacted upon his senses like a hammer, breaking his rage. He blinked, looking from her face, to her arm, up to the boy slowly passing out in his grip. Growling softly once more, he released Hojo, who fell boneless with terror to the ground. Realizing what he had nearly just done, he looked once more at Kagome's face . . . and took off in a blur of motion.

Kagome staggered back at his abrupt release of her and sudden departure. Murmuring a quick excuse to her friends, and an apology to the terrified Hojo, she took off in a dead sprint after him, her bloody arm cradled tightly against her chest, ignoring the pain. He was long out of sight, his demonic speed giving him all the advantage. Kagome discarded trying to catch sight of him and reached out with her Miko powers, feeling for his youkai aura and following it as best she could through the winding streets. She was surprised to find that he was leading her straight back to the shrine, and quickly started using her normal shortcuts to cut down the distance between them.

She arrived home quickly and rushed up the steps, concentrating on his youki. She could still feel him, so she knew he hadn't gone back through the well . . . not yet at any rate. But where on the grounds was he? "The Goshinboku," she murmured. It made sense. She headed quickly for the area of the shrine where the tree stood, and stopped at the sight that met her eyes. InuYasha sat huddled at the base of the tree, the baseball hat and sunglasses thrown to one side . . . and he was crying. A whimper drifted to her ears, breaking her immobility. She approached him slowly, and her heart nearly broke as he cringed away from her.

"Oh, InuYasha . . ." she murmured. Kneeling down beside him, she reached out for him, and was hurt when he avoided her touch. "InuYasha . . . it's okay. Nothing happened."

"I could have killed him," he whispered harshly. "How can you say nothing happened?" He shuddered, and continued. "And I hurt you . . . I hurt YOU! Gods, Kagome . . . how can you love me? I'm a monster . . . I can't even keep myself from hurting the one I love . . . my mate." He shook his head abruptly, his ears flipping back and forth rapidly in agitation.

"You didn't hurt me, InuYasha. I did this to myself . . ."

"To keep me from killing him," he broke in. "Either way, it's my fault. I'm so sorry Kagome . . ." He stood suddenly. "I love you . . . I'm so sorry . . . for everything." One minute he was there, staring down at her, a wealth of emotion in his eyes - love, sorrow, fear, anger, pain, confusion, regret - and the next, he was gone, as if he had never been.

Kagome stared at the place he had stood, tears welling up to spill silently down her face. That was how her mother found her, half an hour later, in the same position, her slender form shaking with sobs. She got her daughter to her feet, and into the house, where she slowly bandaged the still bleeding arm as Kagome relayed what had happened. And afterward's, as she cradled her sobbing daughter in her arms, she could only hope that her two wayward children could somehow surmount this new obstacle in their relationship.



To Be Continued (of course)



AN -

InuYasha - What do you mean, of course? Geesh, aren't you done torturing me yet!?

DracOnyx - Nope. But don't talk to me about it, go talk to my muse. *watches InuYasha stalk out the door in search of her muse* Boy . . . that should be one hell of a meeting. Anyway . . . hello all my wonderful reviewers and, dare I call you, fans! Yep, it's me, crazy Drac at it still. I read just about the BIGGEST compliment of my life today . . . and nearly died of a heart failure.

Merith . . . that great writer who I admire a WHOLE lot . . . actually put my story (this one) up on her latest update to "A Heart Divided" as one she would recommend. I was SO speechless. There is nothing greater than the praise of your peers, and that was one WHOPPER of praise. But, I can't take all the credit. So, to all you reviewers, I wanted to give my deepest thanks for giving me the support and praise to continue. Without all of you, this story wouldn't be NEARLY as long as it is. So, once again, my deepest thanks.

And now, for a short plug : ) I just wrote a REALLY dark fic (which I am amazed at, myself . . . I never really write long stuff like that) and I request that you guys go check it out . . . just to see if I did alright with it. It's called "Standing in Shadows" and it's between Kagome and InuYasha . . . But that's all I'm gonna say, cause I don't wanna spoil it. So, go read that, and don't forget to review : ) You make me very very happy when you review : ) Makes my day to read them.