Kagome steeled herself and waited for Sesshomaru to return the greeting. He didn't and she was once again forced to speak. "Sesshomaru, cat got your tongue?"

His brow furrowed as he tried to deduce what was going on. She was obviously up to something; with all the clues pointing to that she wanted something from him. Sesshomaru shook his head, thinking to himself that all women were alike, different species or not.

"What is it you want, miko?" Sesshomaru asked, getting to the point.

Kagome smiled and moved to the other side of the hot spring, the side closest to him. Then she rose from the steaming water and began to walk toward him. She knew exactly the picture she made, her golden body wet and faintly steaming in the cool air, air which at that moment caused goose bumps and other such things to harden on her skin. She saw and felt Sesshomaru look at her body and sensed his arousal. She would use that against him.

"Nothing, just curious..."

"About what?" He asked, his voice slightly rougher than usual. He was trying to control the beast inside him and had been succeeding until she decided to leave the spring.

Kagome ran her hand down his chest while looking at the ground coyly. "You." She brazenly looked into his eyes as she wrapped her hand around his wrist, which had been reaching over to touch her hip. "What causes a demon to wind himself up so tight? To hate humans so? Was it your mother being killed by mere demon exterminators?" Kagome waited for a reaction and received none. "Was it your betrothed breaking your contract and marrying a mere human?" Yet again no reaction. "Was it your own father mating a human and bringing weakness to the holy Tashio bloodline?" Still no reaction.

Kagome sighed and walked away. Perhaps he was too much of a tight ass to be a good mate. After all, Kagome liked to have fun. Even as she thought this, Sesshomaru was wallowing in his memories, his fist clenched as he remembered the sense of betrayals of every event. His mother kissing him good bye the last morning he'd saw her alive. Then, his betrothed coming to him to tell him that she'd fallen in love and couldn't mate him. And last, his father bringing home that human bitch and placing her in Sesshomaru's mother's rooms, clearing all his mother's belongings and replacing them, finding his mother's hair brush, still with strands of her hair, laying in the mud as servants dragged her things away.

How dare this miko attempt to rile him! He was Lord Sesshomaru! He did not give in to taunts! Even as he thought these things he was reaching out and grabbing her arm, pulling her to him and glaring into her face. "Why do you speak of such things?"

"Like I said, curiosity," Kagome practically spit in his face, startled that he had been able to touch her without warning. Kagome's senses always warned her before a demon came near her but they hadn't done anything when he had rushed across the short distance and touched her. Neither man nor demon was to touch her without permission.

Kagome concentrated on purifying the hand on her arm and caused Sesshomaru to jerk it back. He looked down in shock at the rapidly healing burns on his hand. "You burned me," he said incredulously.

"You touched me," she replied, and both were unaware of how much energy this argument was causing. The minor demons and animals had already started fleeing that part of the forest because of it and soon, the more powerful demons and animals would come to investigate, or more specifically, one demon by the name of Jakotsu. Having escaped from Kagura, who'd been distracted by searching for a feather to travel with, the feminine demon had been in the area scouting for Naraku. Underneath that quest, he'd beenhoping to find someone to toy with, whenthe energy spike nearby had garnered his attention. Sneaking through the forest, he came close enough to hear everything that Kagome and Sesshomaru had said.

"I will touch whomever I want, and no miko will stop me," Sesshomaru declared smugly, using his one arm to run his knuckles down the side of her face.

Kagome saw red and finally felt how loose she had spread her miko-ness. Drawing it back to her, she slammed it into Sesshomaru's well spread aura and caused him to wince as a large pain spread through his abdomen.

Sesshomaru felt the pain but ignored it after that first surprise. He called his aura back to him much the same way Kagome had and forced her power out, which seemed to surprise her. At the back lash of this, Kagome felt her energy deplete for a few precious seconds. During those few seconds, Sesshomaru back handed Kagome so hard that she flew into a tree nearby.

For minutes they stayed like that; Sesshomaru focusing on eliminating the remaining pain of her attack, and Kagome shocked at having been hit. Finally, Kagome rose and smiled at Sesshomaru.

"Well, that was enlightening."

"How so?" Sesshomaru asked testily, still cranky that she had gotten to him.

"You are more powerful than I give you credit for. No one else has ever forced me out, not even Naraku."

"You care because..." Sesshomaru asked.

"I'm considering you to be my mate. I hadn't thought you were good enough, but now I reconsider. If you had had your other arm, we might already be mated, but without it you're slightly weaker. Not nearly as pretty either. If I deem you worthy maybe I'll be able to do something about it. Can't have my mate being deformed..." Kagome trailed off in thought about how she would bring his arm back, not even noticing that Sesshomaru had turned an ugly shade of burgundy.

"Mate?" He asked quietly, to which she nodded. "Worthy?"

"Oh, yes. I'll have to observe you for a while, but I think you'll be pretty good for the job," Kagome chirped.

Sesshomaru rose himself up to his full height and stared down his nose at Kagome. "What makes you think you are worthy of me?"

Kagome laughed in his face. "Oh, god! That...(breath)...hurts! Geez...(breath)...don't make me laugh like that!"

Sesshomaru was growing steadily angrier. Every couple of seconds his eyes would flash red. Then, he calmed down. Something had occurred to him.

"Mates?"

"Yeah," Kagome sighed, her mind already on the task ahead of her.

Sesshomaru's arms shot out and dragged the still naked Kagome against him. "This means we will have to mate, human. I doubt your tender body could hold up under those strenuous conditions." He ran his claws down her backside and picked her up so that the few inches between their heights became nil and he was staring into her eyes. "Human bodies are weak," he taunted.

Kagome knew he was daring her and felt herself respond before she thought it out. "I can do anything a demon can do!"

Sesshomaru fastened his mouth to her's and pushed her against a tree. It was technically a kiss but looked more like a battle. They had their hands (or hand) fisted in the other's hair and looked to be about to eat each other. Kagome had wrapped her legs around Sesshomaru to hold herself up, and Sesshomaru had taken the opportunity to rub himself against her...well...intimately. Kagome felt her body respond and grow hot under his hands. Sesshomaru had thought to use this to get her to back off, but all it did was bring them daringly close to rutting like animals in the forest. He was not an animal and he would not act like one.

When they were finally out of breath, they released one another and tried to breathe again. Kagome smiled. "I guess that means we have chemistry." Inside her heart was still quaking. She hadn't been this hot since Bankotsu had slipped her some Ecstasy at her nineteenth birthday. That had been a wild night, and this incident had passed it in hotness even without pharmaceutical aid.

"Chemistry?" He asked, confused because it being the Feudal Age he'd never heard of such a thing.

Kagome smiled and called up the last bit of her courage. "Yeah," she swayed over and wrapped her hand around his...ahem...member, "it means your little demon likes me."

Sesshomaru removed her hand and felt slightly scandalized by her behavior. "I do not need a mate."

"I do not want one but we're both screwed by Naraku. I need power to defeat him and the only way to do it is to mate with a powerful demon. That's you. Of course, I can always kill you and absorb your power but I get more of it this way." Kagome smiled, then began to clothe herself in her discarded clothes. It took a little wriggling to get into the leather pants but it was worth it to see Sesshomaru watch all her movements with a hungry eye.

Sesshomaru thought on the situation and decided that she had a point. "We will see, miko. You wish to observe me and I wish to observe you. You don't know if I am worthy, and I don't know if you are. I never thought I would mate with a human, but you are particularly powerful, so I might make an exception. You're not a particularly alluring female, but you are somewhat attractive."

Oh, so you want to trade insults? Kagome thought to herself and opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.

"If you truly are serious about this, then you can join me as I search out the hanyou."

"Inuyasha? He's..."

"Wrong hanyou, miko. I'm speaking of Naraku."

"Well, that's all fine and good but we have another situation to deal with," Kagome stated. "A test if you will."

Sesshomaru quirked his eyebrow. "Test?"

"Yes. You rescue my ally, Suikotsu and I will be your mate. No conditions, no compromises, no problems. Let be honest, I don't like you. I don't want to mate you. I'd rather kill you, however, to destroy Naraku I need power and you've got it."

Sesshomaru thought for a moment. "Where is this Suikotsu?"

Kagome smiled. "Stuck in the side of a mountain."

As Jakotsu memorized the things being said and pondered the possibilities one thought stuck out. I think Naraku might want to know what Kagome has planned.