A/N: well, even though I only got one review I decided to continue on anyway cause im hopen that people jus aren't reviewen. I would like to thank my sole reviewer, Srin-chan. Im glad you liked the cliffhanger. Here's the rest of it.

EDIT AN/ This is the original chapter still. When I finish rewriting it this will disappear and be replaced with much goodness.

Warning: OOCness on Kagome's part and also attempted rape, violence and blood.

Disclaimer: DUH!

Lesson's in Trust; Miko and the Taiyoukai

Author: Gundamgurl84

Chapter 2: The Choice/Lord Sesshoumaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands.

The silence stretched as Kagome took in all that had happened. Here she was in a clearing in the woods, dangling by her wrists from a tree limb, tied and gagged with Kikyou on her left just the same except unconscious. And in between them stood a fox youkai, a blade in each hand held at each of their throats. Inuyasha stood dumbstruck on the other side of the fire staring at them as the fox youkai repeated his instructions.

"You have no choice but to choose. Who will live? Who will die? Kagome or Kikyou?"

The dog hanyou in his red haori merely looked between the two girls. Kagome's mind began to race as she felt her panic rise. 'Okay, calm down. Think about this sensibly. Who will he choose? Well, sensibly I'm the right choice because Kikyou is already dead. The worst this youkai could do is destroy her body so that she has to manifest a new one, right? Well, when has Inuyasha ever been known to do the sensible thing? But, these are our lives we're talking about. Well, my life. Although, Inuyasha may choose Kikyou anyway. I left the Shikon no Tama at camp so it's not like he has any reason to pick me with Kikyou right here. Why wouldn't he pick her? He was and is in love with her. Oh gods I'm scared! What if he doesn't pick me? Will he just let me die? And how is this stupid demon planning on killing me? I don't want to die! I never even got a chance to tell momma and Souta that I love them! And when I die who will go down the well to tell them? I'm so scared!'

She couldn't help the tears that slipped down her face as the last bit of feeling was drained from her hands. Inuyasha smelt the salt and looked at Kagome. The sight of her tears wrenched at his heart. He knew what he had to do if he was going to follow his heart. But it would be far from easy. He looked at Kagome again and gave her a heartening look.

She immediately calmed down as she momentarily got lost in his fiery suns. 'Stop worrying yourself, Kagome,' she chided herself. 'Inuyasha won't let anything happen to me.' She felt so calm now that she wondered how she could have worried about it.

"Hurry, hurry before I make the decision for you." The demon teased.

"I've decided." Inuyasha said hurriedly.

The youkai smirked. "Then who do you choose to live?"

Inuyasha gulped visibly. Kagome held her breathe. She suddenly didn't know what to think. "I–I pick Kikyou." He called in a shaky voice.

It took a moment for Kagome to realize that Inuyasha had spoken and it wasn't just her imagination. It took another moment for her to realize that he hadn't spoken her name.

'Wha–what's that mean for me?'

The youkai gave Kagome a lusty glance then smiled cruelly at Inuyasha. "You have made your decision and you cannot change your mind." He said. He swung his left sword up, severing Kikyou's rope in one swift motion. She fell for the ground but just before she hit it Inuyasha was beneath her and caught her. He cradled the pale miko to his chest. With one, deft claw, he sliced through her ropes so she could relax. He gently rocked her back and forth, calling her name softly. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to Kagome's and winced at the look of betrayal that shined in her sapphire depths. He knew what he had just doomed her to but he just couldn't lose Kikyou again.

There was a whistling sound by her ear and suddenly she fell. Pain radiated through her body as she crumbled to the ground. Gruff hands surrounded her and the next thing she knew she was draped over the youkai's shoulder. She hardly felt his shoulder dig into her stomach for the numbness inside her. Inuyasha, who had promised to protect her, had just condemned her to death so he could save a corpse. Why?

The youkai turned to dash into the woods and for a brief moment she caught the sight of Inuyasha standing and staring at her. Her eyes filled with tears and her heart ached as she took one last look of her beloved. The firelight reflected upon his face and glowed in his golden eyes. His hair was like spun silver as it drifted in the wind with the sleeves of his red haori. 'Inuyasha, how could you betray me like this?' her eyes begged. Next moment the youkai was running and Inuyasha was lost in the dark foliage as the last echoes of him calling her name faded in her ears.

Tears were on her face as her head bumped uncomfortably on the youkai's back. Blood was dripping from her wrists where the rope had cut her. She still couldn't feel her hands. With every beat of her heart, pain coursed through her veins. She felt pain in her very soul. Inuyasha didn't care. He never did care. He only wanted her first because she was Kikyou's incarnation. Then it had been for the shards. That was all she was good for. And no matter how she tried she was never good enough for him. She could sense him comparing her to Kikyou and she always came up short of the dead miko. What should she care? If he was so determined to spend eternity in hell with that bitch then more power to him. Especially after this. But, what if there was no after this? She wanted to be safe at home again. She wished with all her heart that she had never met that damn hanyou. She wished that she could have stayed an ordinary school girl in her own time and never have come back to this be–damned era! But that wasn't true. She was so glad for the friends she had made, the people and youkai she had met. Most of all for Kaede, Sango, Kirara and even Miroku. But mostly for Shippo. Her little kit. Her adopted son. What would he do without her? Will he think she had abandoned him? But she'd never do that! Oh Shippo! How she wished she could hold her kitsune now! And how she prayed for the impossible chance of seeing Souta and Momma again! At least she wouldn't have much longer to wait to see Grandpa again. She sobbed against the gag. Oh death could not come soon enough!

She suddenly became aware of the youkai's hand on her legs. It was slowly sliding farther and farther up her thigh toward the hem of her mini skirt. She began kicking and squirming then, hitting his back with her fists and screaming against the gag.

He chuckled. "Oh never fear, my dear. You'll soon have much more to scream about then that!" He broke into laughter as she froze. So that was what he was planning on doing to her. Oh gods! What sort of hell had Inuyasha damned her to? 'Please oh please let me be sleeping! Let me wake up!'

But she never woke up. Far into the night the youkai ran. Never once did she stop crying as the forest flew past her.

He came to such a sudden stop that she banged her chin against his back. Next second he had tossed her to the ground and she banged her head on a tree that was supposed to be supporting her. When her sight came back to normal she saw that they had come to the outskirts of the forest. The night sky was velvety black and shone with stars. The moon was a perfect crescent and shone down on them with silver light in an almost romantic fashion, though romance was the furthest thing from her mind at that moment.

The demon took a deep breath and thoroughly enjoyed the scent of her fear and tears intermingled with her normal scent and the scents of the night. He smiled cruelly down at her, showing off his sparkling fangs. He knelt down and reached towards her. She immediately recoiled and he chuckled again. He grabbed her head and tore her gag with one claw. Then he bent further forward and whispered almost sensually in her ear, "I want to hear you scream." then licked the side of her face.

When he leaned back she spit in his face and said, "Go to hell, bastard! There's no way I'll scream for you!" Her voice was hoarse but forceful enough to relay her point.

He smirked at her. Suddenly a stinging feeling erupted on the side of her face as he backhanded her. He looked at her a moment, curled as tight as she could get on the ground. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and picked her up from the ground. "We'll see about that, human." he growled.

He tossed her to the ground, holding her tied hands above her head, and sat on top of her, straddling her hips. She started squirming the moment she felt something hard poking at her below the waist.

He bent over toward her ear and said, "I love it when they squirm!"

She froze and stared at him, mouth slightly agape as she panted for air. The sight of her with such fire in her sapphire eyes made him feel like a raging animal was inside him, ripping and tearing to get out. He closed his mouth over hers and thrust his tongue in so far she thought she would gag against it. His other hand reached down and touched her legs just below her skirt. Slowly, his hand trailed up to the inside of her thigh and started to push her legs apart. At a loss for anything else to do, she bit his tongue and immediately tasted blood fill her mouth. He yelped and sat up on top of her. He began spitting out blood. He looked at her, the fire doubled in his eyes, his mouth curled in a snarl.

But before anything could be said or done, a growl suddenly emitted from somewhere not so far off. The sound of it chilled Kagome to the bone, even more then anything this youkai could have threatened her with. The youkai paled suddenly, the snarl dieing on his lips, and Kagome no longer felt anything poking at her below the waist. The youkai looked up and twisted his head from side to side. He paled further in the light of the moon as his eyes fell upon something.

He stood and started backing away, his jaw working like a fish.

"M–Milord!" he stuttered, his voice slightly high pitched and nervous. What could have put such fear in this cocky braggart, Kagome wondered. As the growl came again and shivers erupted down her spine, she was suddenly afraid to know.

The youkai went down on a knee and bent his head. "S–such deepest apologies! I–I didn't…" He gulped visibly as he glanced up. "Di–didn't… didn't re...didn't realize..." Kagome could hear him breathing hard. "I…" He seemed totally lost for words.

He sprung away suddenly and began to run. Kagome hardly saw the shadow spring over her but she saw a menacing figure suddenly standing in the youkai's way. She gasped as she struggled to sit up. There, standing in the moonlight like a vision, stood the most beautiful and terrifying creature ever to live. His silver hair streamed in a light breeze, glistening like diamond liquid. His molten gold eyes glistened in a blood thirsty manner. The blue crescent on his forehead and purple stripes on his cheeks stood out on his perfect, pale skin. His claws where extended and dripping with poison. His white haori had red on his shoulders and at the bottom of his sleeves. A yellow and blue sash was tied around the waist of his black armor and the spikes on the shoulder glistened menacingly. His silver tail draped casually over his shoulder. For a moment, Kagome actually pitied the fox youkai as he stood face to face with Sesshoumaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands.

The youkai turned and ran from the fearsome lord only to find Sesshoumaru there in front of him. Sesshoumaru backhanded him and he ran again. Kagome watched, frozen to the spot as Sesshoumaru played cat–and–mouse with her captor, apparently completely unaware of the fact she was there. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying chasing him around and beating him.

How long Sesshoumaru played with the terrified youkai, Kagome had no idea. But Sesshoumaru stopped the demon at one point and shoved him to the ground.

"I have had enough of this. It ends now." He snarled in his icy voice

Sesshoumaru's eyes went red and he quickly transformed to his true demon form. Standing in front of her, bathed in silver light, was a huge, silver dog. He was as tall as, if not taller then, the trees of the nearby forest. His pink tongue lolled out as his red eyes stared down his prey. His crescent moon still shone on his forehead, a terrifying sign of his house. His tail stretched over his back and was draped over his right shoulder. His left shoulder had no arm attached to it.

The fox youkai stared at the dog demon a moment before running again. Sesshoumaru took a single pounce and landed his one front paw on the youkai's legs. Kagome begged herself to look away but found herself unable to as Sesshoumaru lowered his head toward the whimpering demon. The scene was a bloody one as the great lord sank his gigantic teeth into the demon and began to tear. The youkai shrieked in such a pitch that Kagome had not thought possible in any mortal being. Blood pooled on the ground and Sesshoumaru ripped and tore the flesh, eating greedily. The blood glistened like so many rubies and Kagome found herself sickly fascinated by the sight of it.

Sesshoumaru finally finished and turned around. His glowing red eyes shone as the blood on the ground as he examined her. She could only imagine with dread the sight she posed. His growl shook the ground beneath her as he decided what to make of her. After a moment he transformed himself back down to his humanoid form.

She stayed on the ground where she was and felt terror grip her as the great taiyoukai stalked towards her. She started edging back on the grass as he got nearer. Tears flowed unchecked down her face and her raven hair blew wild in the wind. She backed against a tree and he stopped in front of her, looking down at her. He bent over, his hair cascading over his left shoulder, and she put her tied arms up in defense. He extended a single claw and sliced through her ropes as though they weren't there. It took her a moment to realize that she had been freed of her bonds. She looked up slowly and her breath caught in her throat. Sesshoumaru stood with his back to the moon so he was completely in the shadows. She had never seen such a menacing figure before in her life.

He reached down and grabbed her throat in a long fingered, vice–like grip. Her eyes widened in fear as he lifted her up with such ease so that they were face to face.

"You," he whispered. His voice alone sent chills down her back. But she didn't lose face and look away. "You are Inuyasha's miko?" His voice was icy.

She merely stared dumbly at him. Inuyasha's miko? Her? Far from it. Kikyou was his miko. The thought of him enraged her and caused her to wince in pain. He had abandoned her. She didn't know if Sesshoumaru would bring her back to Inuyasha or not but she knew one thing. She'd rather die.

He gave her a shake and squeezed harder, making it harder to breathe. She clawed at his hand to no avail. "Answer me, wench."

Her lip curled in disgust. He sounded like Inuyasha. He smelled her sudden intense hatred and her eyes suddenly shone with twice as much fire even as two more tears cascaded down her cheeks.

Sesshoumaru didn't fully throttle her because he knew her to be unpredictable and couldn't help but wonder what she had to say. She made a face then suddenly spit in his face. Immediately he started seeing red as he threw her to the ground. When his vision cleared again he was on top of her with his claws mere centimeters away from her face. Her eyes were all blue fire with a tint of fear while her smell was consumed with terror and…desperation? What was she so desperate for?

Getting a grip of himself, Sesshoumaru grabbed her collar and dragged her up to face him. He bared his fangs in her face and snarled, "Don't do that again or else."

She bared her own teeth. "'Or else'? You sound like Inuyasha!"

His face was blank as ever after the statement and she wondered if he had even heard her. Very slowly, he set her down on her feet. Suddenly, he backhanded her and she found herself on the ground again, her cheek stinging. He grabbed her by the throat again and snarled in her face.

"Never say that again, human, if you fear your life!" he snarled.

Next she knew she was flying through the air before smacking into a tree. Her head snapped back with a hard impact and a moment later she felt something warm trickle down the back of her neck. She looked up groggily to see him looming over her. Again she felt the vice–like grip and was lifted off the ground.

"What are you doing here? And why is the hanyou not with you?"

She grabbed onto his wrist and opened her mouth as if to speak but all that came out was a strangled gasp. Getting the point, he set her down and loosened his grip, though he still didn't let her go.

She gasped for air then whispered hoarsely, "Go to hell!"

He snarled and smacked her across the face, this time drawing blood with his claws. As she whimpered on the ground he said, "I am giving you a rare chance to explain yourself before I kill you so I suggest you take advantage of that, human."

She sat up, an odd smile on her lips and said, "Then you might as well kill me 'cause I'm not telling you anything." Inside she cried out, 'Please, please, PLEASE just kill me already! I can't take it! I can't take the haunting memory of him choosing her, of him cradling her in his lap as he never would have done with me! Please just end it all! I don't care anymore! I just can't take this pain a second longer!'

He sneered his perfect lips and smacked her again. She felt her lip bust against her teeth and tasted blood. He gripped her arm and pulled her up. She felt his claws dig into her flesh and the skin bruise beneath the touch but would not give him the pleasure of crying out. She stared bravely, or foolishly, into his fiery eyes and he was surprised to see his own fire matched in her eyes.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you wanted me to kill you." His voice held none of the surprise he felt. "If you don't answer me then your death will not be nearly as pleasant as the youkai's was. Now, what are you doing here?"

"Go to hell!" she yelled loud as she could, making sure the sound of it hurt his sensitive ears. She felt his flinch more then she saw and then she saw the anger in his eyes.

He twisted his hand on her arm making a bloody trail with his claws. She bit her tongue to keep down her shriek of pain and felt more blood enter her mouth. He released her arm suddenly. She opened her eyes to look at him again. As she did so his clawed hand came around at her head so fast and hard that she flew ten feet across the ground before rolling five more and coming to a stop. She grimaced as she struggled to lift herself up. She raised her head a fraction to see him standing in front of her. His fist seemed to come out of nowhere and, catching her jaw, sent her flying back and rolling into a tree. She could barely think for the pain inside and out and was no longer aware of the fact that tears still fell down her face. She was seeing double when she felt him grip her throat and throw her again. Pain erupted in every centimeter of her body as her back impacted with a tree with a sickening crunch.

She fell on her stomach but didn't try to get up again. She could not force her screaming body to do anything more then lay there and sob, waiting for death. A kick in her side that almost broke her rib rolled her onto her side. She opened her eyes to stare into the golden eyes of death himself. Tears slipped from her eyes but she ceased to care.

Sesshoumaru couldn't understand this. He had always known this human to be strong and resilient, never giving up no matter the odds. Yet here she was, lying on the ground, crying and not even attempting to fight back. He looked into her eyes and saw her begging for death. And why was Inuyasha not coming to his miko's rescue? He couldn't smell the hanyou anywhere but on the human.

He bent over her and looked into defeated eyes. "How did you get here? Why isn't Inuyasha here?"

She closed her eyes at his name and when she opened them again they were filled with pain. "He abandoned me." Her voice was barely whisper. But after her first statement she seemed to grow in strength and fire. "He left me to that youkai to be raped and then killed by you all so that his precious Kikyou wouldn't be hurt. I hate that bastard!" She screamed so loud it hurt his ears again. Then she broke into hysterics and he could get no more from her. Her sobs were so loud that they grated on his sensitive ears and he grimaced.

He growled and, grabbing her throat again, pulled her up to his face and snarled, "Shut up with your weakness, human. I'm sick of listening to you cry."

Her eyes showed with fire again and her pain was forgotten a moment as she stared him back. Suddenly, his head snapped to the side as she slapped him. He looked at her and saw red again she glared back without any fear in her gaze, though she thoroughly stank of it.

He smacked her and she rolled several feet away. He pounced at her and stopped his claws centimeters from her face. He looked at her face, examining it. For a human she was rather beautiful. Her sapphire eye's glowing with fiery anger in a face of ivory skin. Her raven hair with blue highlights was wild and everywhere at once and gave her a ravishing look. He smiled cruelly suddenly and her eyes widened as the terror in her scent doubled. He knew how to properly punish this human.

"Perhaps I shall finish what the fox started." He retracted his claws slightly and gripped her neck, standing her on her feet. She stood perfectly still as he looked at her. "As seen as my brother has apparently given up claim on you I think I shall take you. My bed was beginning to feel rather empty and I could use something to play with."

I hav no idea how tall he really is in his demonoid form so this is just a guess.

A/N: Well, that's chptr 2. hope you enjoyed. Hope the length didn't scare ya or anything, hee! don't 4get to R&R! this is Gundamgurl84, over and out!