Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko et al., not me. I just borrow them to have some fun.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter...

Thank you reviewers! Love you!

And thank you Raijin, my ultra-strict beta

And finally – you may find that Sesshoumaru is a bit of a jerk in this chapter. Sorry about that...

Chapter IV – Strength

I should have known that he would change his mind in the morning. When Inuyasha came back from Kagome's, her yellow bag upon his back, he was strongly against Kagome coming with me. To his dismay, Kagome had heard him last night when he had said that he wanted her gone by morning and she insisted that she must go. Her friends, especially the former monk, now husband to the demon exterminator, were upset about it, but she gathered the fox child up, asked if he wanted to go with her (he wanted) and kissed her friends goodbye.

Just before we left the village, she turned around once again and went to Kikyo purposefully. She took her aside and talked to her for a short while, before she hugged the clay form to her and let her head rest on the other's shoulder for a moment. Kikyo weakly returned Kagome's touch. Kagome never feared Kikyo's appendages may fall off and crumble to dust while she was touching her.

So I brought Kagome to my home. She did not resist me. I was pleased. She took her child to Rin and her tutor. Then we were alone, and Kagome turned her full attention to me.

I know that I am strong. I am the strongest demon in all of Japan. I understand that in Kagome's time there may be machines and weapons that could bring down even me – she told me about nuclear heads once. But I am the Lord of Western Lands and have nothing to fear. Unless I encounter a woman who can, as far as I know, purify demons quite effectively by shooting an arrow at them or even just by touching them. In situations like this one, I like to be cautious.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," she said politely. "Now that we are alone and I have co-operated with you..." She turned her head away as if to look at the wall furnishings "I don't know why I did it in the first place... anyway, would you mind telling me what this... thing is supposed to mean?" She tugged at the necklace somewhat impatiently.

I chose my words carefully.

"You know that I have been interested in you for a while"

"You have graced me with your attention, yes," she said.

"That is correct. I have decided that you are a person worthy of my company."

She rolled her eyes; I could see it although her bangs hid them from my view.

"I have decided to honour you." She turned her eyes to me.

"To honour me, my lord?"

"With this necklace..." I slipped one long nail under the warm metal and pulled Kagome closer to me. "You will suffer pain." Her breath caught.

"You will suffer terribly. In fact..." I stopped for the sake of drama. "You could die."

"What does it do?" she whispered. Her chest went up and down rapidly now.

"If you survive. If you are strong enough..."

"Yes?"

"It will give you long life. Power. Strength. Whatever you wish."

"What does it do, this necklace?"

"It was crafted to suit my wishes. I wished for something to bind the one who carries it to me and turn them into one of my kind."

I could see fear in her eyes. She was terrified. She did not feel pain – yet – but she was terrified.

"You never asked me if I wanted this, Sesshoumaru!"

Gone were the politeness and the nice little 'my lords' she had given me earlier.

"I thought we were friends – or something of sorts!"

I caught her arm when she moved to hit me.

"I also thought that we were friends," I said. "I thought that we were perhaps more than friends."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Her voice was weak, her face close to my chest.

"I think you are worthy. You just need time to develop fully. Time to get the sort of training you need in order to... I decided to give you the time."

"What? What do you need me for?"

I hoped she would not purify me the very instant I said it.

"I need your assistance, Kagome"

"You want me to assist you in what?"

"I need your assistance in a project I was attempting to pursue for a while now."

"What?"

"Breeding, my dear Kagome. A task only to be accomplished with someone who will give strength and power to the bloodline."

She did not purify me, because when she tried, I removed myself from her reach, and the necklace pulled her ever so softly in my direction. She lost her balance and fell to her knees, where she remained.

"I don't want to be a demon," she said calmly. "If I'd wanted to be a demon, I would have asked for it."

"I need you to be a demon. I will not risk my line being tainted by human blood," I replied calmly. She did not take well to it.

"I don't want it!" Kagome tugged at the necklace with force. A thin red line appeared on her skin. "I don't want it!"

"You will need to rest." I tried to calm her, but to no avail. I should have known that Kagome would not be happy about my decision.

"I don't care for your little 'racial purity'-plan at all!" Now she looked at me and I noticed that her eyes were red around the edges. "I think it's disgusting! Go find someone else! Leave me be!"

"Are you saying that you are refusing the chance to gain an almost eternal life, the power and wealth I could give you in exchange for your strength in my children, just because you wish to remain human? How pathetic!"

"Aah! I have thought I was attracted to you, but now I realise I am not! I despise you! Let me go!"

Suddenly she fell face-forward to the floor, fists clenched in pain. The transformation had begun and it hurt her. I regretted this, but in order to gain higher power, she had to suffer. If she survived, she would be thankful, I was sure. I had faith in her to go through this unharmed. Only one in a generation of humans held enough strength to survive a change.

My own half brother, who was half way to being a demon, had tried it once, although with another device, not a necklace, and it had turned out that he was too weak to bear the pain of transformation. I thought that her pain was probably even bigger, since she was human, but I was sure that she could take it.

"It will take a month to change you. It will hurt, so prepare yourself. Try to keep your blood from purifying itself while it is changing. It would prove fatal."

"Stop lecturing me! Take off this… thing!"

"I will not. Everything will happen as I have planned."

"I refuse to even think of having children with you!"

"You are wearing my chain, pet," I said. "You will do as your master commands."

Kagome screamed. I picked her up from the floor with my one arm and laid her over my shoulder to take her to the room that was to be hers. Once there, I let her fall to the floor in front of a large mirror. She kneeled on the carpet, and I went on my knees next to her. My nails lifted up her chin to make her look at the mirror. Her skin was punctured when she refused to look at the mirror and I refused to let go. The blood tainted my fingers in thin streaks of red.

"Look," I said. "There are shadows on your skin. Your teeth are getting a little bit longer. Soon they will look like mine."

She reached up to her hair to touch it. The terrified look in her eyes remained when she turned to me.

"What do I have to do to make you realise that I don't want to be a demon? I want to live – with humans – go to college, marry, have children, get old and die a human? Nothing you could offer me can replace that, don't you see?"

For a moment, I faltered. She had a right to decide on her future herself. She was a friend of mine – or so. Should friends not be helpful? But I needed her for myself. Does a Lord of Western Lands show weakness in the face of anyone? No, he does not.

"It has been decided. The necklace will remain." I got on my feet. "Rest. I will send someone to show you the way to the dining room." Her hand was still in her hair. "And stop fiddling with your hair – it will remain as it is."

She gave me a stubborn look. She reached for a small vase that stood on a low table next to her and hurled it into the still surface of the mirror behind her. The mirror shattered into thousands of pieces that spread out all over the floor and showered her with silver. I left the room without a look back. Behind me, I think, Kagome cried.