Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, I DO own Gin-Hitomi. Seron and Katsueki are owned by another writer, as is Mikato.

Demeter Hera: Yes, I plan to do very well this semester, I hope lmao.

darkestlightangel: -shrinks back- I'm sorry! I have a lot of things to do right now! This time you won't have to wait as long, I swear! See?

Tensaiga: Then I shall not update...just to see you go insane -evil laughter- Joking, see I updated!

LynGreenTea: I AM GOING TO HURT YOU. You read my stories on my other account as well! Does the name Veata ring a bell? If you want me to write more, explain why instead of just say 'write more'! It gets very annoying very fast!

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Recap:

"Don't." he moved away, his head down and his mask back in place. "Its my own damn fault. I drive them away, but why?" he looked up at Gin, his expression sad again.

"Why do they all run?"

Friendship, Betrayal, Love and Lust

Chapter 10-Respect and Realization

"SHE WHAT?" Katsueki yelled at Gin, who cringed.

"She ran." Gin replied softly.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! THAT IDIOT! AND I DON'T MEAN SESSHOUMARU! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO GRAB HER AND DRAG HER BACK HERE!"

"My my, someone's a little touchy this morning." an arrogant voice proclaimed from the doorway of the dojo where Gin and Katsueki now stood, nose to nose.

"Fuck off Seron. I do not have the patience or the time to deal with you right now." Katsueki snapped.

"Ooohhh, we are touchy today."

"I said back off." Katsueki warned.

"Awww, come on sweetie! What's wrong? Did the little girl's friend not want to talk to you?" he said, making little girly eyes as he did so.

In a flash, Katsueki had him pinned to the ground, her knife as his throat and looking as though her very blood was about to explode. Seron got the hint and didn't say anything.

"If you ever, EVER, call me sweetie again without my permitting it, I will skin your scaly hide alive. Do you understand me?" she asked dangerously. Seron nodded.

"Good." Katsueki stood up, and took two steps in Gin's direction before she froze.

The look on Katsueki's face made Gin's blood run cold. It was surprise, mixed with unsurpassable anger. Gin was completely confused. What happened?

.:.With Seron.:.

As soon as Katsueki stood up, he drew a dagger from his boot, stood up, and ran the tip down her back, slicing open the male kimono she had on and drawing blood. Seron smirked.

"It looks like I've drawn some respect." he said calmly. Katsueki turned, and Gin backed away from the couple.

"He's dead." commented a lifeless voice behind her. Gin turned to see Sesshoumaru watching the couple, who were currently staring each other down.

Gin nodded. "You sound like what he's about to become." she commented, looking at him with concerned eyes. Sesshoumaru sighed.

"I Am." he responded.

"Go look for her then."

"She doesn't want me too."

"If I know Kagome, she's realizing how she's truly feeling in 3...2...1..."

'SHIT!'

Kagome yanked on Botond's reins, turning him sharply and not moving an inch. She had just realized that she did indeed want Sesshoumaru to be her mate, and that she was running from what she wanted.

"Botond!" she screamed at the horse and he flew back towards the castle.

.:.With Sesshoumaru and Gin.:.

Sesshoumaru suddenly felt a jolt from somewhere within his body the moment Gin finished her countdown. It was a jolt of emotions that were not his at all. Realizing that they were Kagome's, he immediately tried to sort them out, but they were so jumbled he was having a hard time. He managed to clarify the biggest on though; realization.

His eyes widened and he stared at Gin as she smirked and he took off running for the castle gates. Demanding the new guards to open the door, he flew out of them the moment there was room and headed straight for the forest.

Transforming into his giant dog form, Sesshoumaru took off, heading for the forest.

.:.With Kagome.:.

Kagome was pushing Botond to his limits, heading straight back for the castle, when she suddenly found herself thrown from Botond, and she could hear Botond rearing and neighing frantically.

She whistled low, to calm him, and drew her swords as she stood up, facing the enemy. Eighteen Eastern Army soldiers surrounded her, murder in there eyes.

"You killed King Higurashi!" one of them hissed.

'So that's how she got them to fight against me.' Kagome thought. 'No matter.'

"I did not. You should take a look at your current queen for that ghastly deed."

"Liar!"

"Whatever. Either leave me alone, as your princess, or leave me alone, as your better."

"Never!"

'Suit yourself...'

One of the guards charged at her. Kagome, being in the middle of the forest and not a clearing, merely jumped into the tree, confusing the soldier, then jumped down behind him, plunging her blade into his back vertically. At first, when she withdrew the blade from his body, she felt sorry. When she realized that it was merely Cosuki-chan, she smiled. That man disrespected her with every fiber of his being.

A sharp pain in her lower back told Kagome she had not been paying enough attention to the battle. She spun, growling the whole way. A soldier stood before her, smirking, his sword bloodied. Upon further inspection, Kagome found he had cut her widthwise along her lower back. Her eyes narrowed.

Twisting her left hand, she pivoted on her heel, and jammed her left katana into the mans chest, while at the same time throwing out her right hand to catch the idiot sneaking up behind her in the throat with her other blade.

A horrendous pain in her stomach told her she had been stabbed in that area. Doing a quick spin with her arms outstretched, Kagome slit the throats of those nearest hers, until metal clashed on metal.

Kagome swiped at the soldier's side with her other sword, but he caught it with another one of his. 'Great.' she thought. 'It had to be one of the ones I trained specifically with two swords. The one's I made sure were impossible to kill in hand-to-hand combat. One's who know all my tricks.'

Kagome glared, and the man just smirked. She brought her foot up and kicked out at his stomach, only to be met with plate armor. 'Shit. Forgot about that.'

Trying to remember any weak spots, Kagome remembered she had made them nearly invincible. Then she remembered the armored skirts.

She had designed armored skirts to cover the part between the plate armor on the torso, and the chain mail on the legs. Almost every guy in her ranks had refused to wear the skirts, saying they were two feminine. Kagome looked down briefly and smirked. Her and her opponent clashed swords once again.

"Something funny?" he growled, pouring sweat from an intense workout with his former training master. The only difference between now and then, however, was that if one of them were to lose, they would pay with their life, instead of more exercises.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Kagome said, as she put pressure on their swords and nimbly leapt back a few feet.

"What?" he asked, aggravated.

"You guys are so stubborn." she said simply, before lunging and stabbing him in the lower abdomen. He looked down as she jerked her sword out and gasped.

"T-the sk-kirt!" he exclaimed. Kagome nodded grimly.

"I always told you idiots to wear them. But you all think your immortal. Well, I have news for you all." Kagome said, looking at the remaining thirteen soldiers.

"Your not."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a huge, gigantic dog came running into the area of the forest they were in, grabbing two soldiers with his teeth and stepping on another three.

Kagome smiled. He came just in time. Her wounds were throbbing painfully, and the stomach she could tell was going to be hard to heal. She ignored the pain for now like she was taught and raced towards the last eight soldiers, now standing in a circle, their backs pressed against one another's.

'The formation I told them NEVER to form for the next reason and the next reason alone.'

Kagome ran, hard and fast, then jumped, leaping in-between the nearest two soldiers, landing dead centre in the middle of the circle. Extending her swords slightly, she held them a little higher than shoulder height, gripped them as hard as she could, closed her eyes, and spun. The sound of either heads being chopped off echoed in the clearing.

When Kagome was alone in the clearing except for Sesshoumaru, she smiled weakly at him and attempted to whistle for Botond. She didn't have the strength, however, and would have completely collapsed if it wasn't for Sesshoumaru's front right leg. He looked down at her, letting out a small whine.

She looked up at his worried expression, and gave a small reassuring smile. "Are you ok? Are you injured?"

Sesshoumaru growled at her, and she realized that he was more worried about her than anything else. "I'm fine. Just make sure Botond gets back safely, alright?"

"Your not fine." a stern voice told her. Surprised, Kagome looked behind her slightly to see Sesshoumaru's white haori. Two strong arms encircled her waist, pulling her against his chest.

"Your going to get blood on you." Kagome murmured. Sesshoumaru growled again.

"You think I care if I get blood on my clothes? Your bleeding profusely! We have to get you back to the castle. I'm going to transform back into my dog form, stay still."

Kagome waited a moment, before she found herself being lifted ever so gently by a set of massive jaws. She started, at first, but relaxed after a small whine from Sesshoumaru, who paced her on his back. She gripped the silky material that was his fur, and was asleep as soon as he started running.

.:.With Kat, Gin and soon-to-be-dead Seron.:.

Kat was still seething. She absolutely refused to even sit in the same room as Seron. He had drawn his respect, yes, but at a price. Kat refused to be anywhere nears him to give that respect.

It had only been a few hours, but Seron decided it was enough time for Kat to cool off, and came looking for her. Boy, was he ever wrong.

.:.With Kagome and Sesshoumaru.:.

"Get the most powerful healer in this vicinity to my chambers, and get them there now." Sesshoumaru barked to one of his guards. The guards immediately rushed off, not bothering to bow because of the tone in his master's voice.

"Son, what is wrong?" asked a worried-looking Inutaisho. He was wondering why his son's future mate was being carried bridal style in his arms, covered in blood, and appearing unconscious. She was ghostly white with blood-loss.

"She's lost a lot of blood." Sesshoumaru said flatly, all the while hurry toward his room, his father close by, but not too close that his son would get protective of his mate-to-be.

Sesshoumaru arrived at his room, where his father bid him to get her healed, which received a severe look from his son. Inutaisho chuckled as he walked back to his own chambers. His son knew more than Inutaisho gave him credit for sometimes.

Sesshoumaru heard the old man chuckle and growled, the vibration waking his mate. "Mmm?" she questioned tiredly.

"Shush...the healer will be here soon."

"Healer!" Kagome was now wide awake. "I don't need...ooooohh...why is my stomach covered in blood?" Kagome suddenly asked, staring with wide eyes at the gash in her lower abdomen.

Sesshoumaru chose not to answer as Kagome remained in thought. A few moments later and a harassed looking middle-aged lady was shoved through the door by the guard Sesshoumaru had sent off. The lady bowed quickly and bid him to lay Kagome on the bed.

"Hmmmmm..." she said as she inspected Kagome's wounds. Sesshoumaru tensed every time she said "Not good.".

"Well, I have good news and bad news milord. The good news, I can heal all of her wounds. The bad news, I cannot restore all of the blood she has lost. I can restore only about half."

"That is fine. I will supply the other half." the healer gasped.

"B-but milord...surely, you don't...?"

"She is my mate-to-be. Ask me one more time what I will NOT do for my mate, and I will kill you."

"Y-yes sir. J-just fill up this bowl with y-your blood while I heal her please..." She handed Sesshoumaru a bowl and placed her hands on Kagome's stomach, a purple fire pooling around them and flowing into Kagome's wounds.

Sesshoumaru thought about it for a moment, then took a claw, and drew it across his right wrist, holding his wrist over the bowl. He had to re-cut the area six times before he managed to get the bowl three-quarters full; his demon powers kept healing the wound.

"Here." he handed the bowl to the startled healer, who merely put one hand in the blood, and the other on her wound. Sesshoumaru watched in fascination as the bowl drained and the color returned to Kagome's pale face.

"There. That's...all...I...can...do." the healer panted. Sesshoumaru nodded to her; she could leave. He inspected his future mate's wounds.

There was no scaring on the stomach, the healer had done that wound perfectly. As for the gash on her lower back, however, a thin white line about three inches long ran across the area. Sesshoumaru frowned, but at least Kagome wouldn't be able to see it.

He removed Kagome's training clothing, then slipped her under the covers of his large bed. He then removed his own clothing, slipped into the bed, and snuggled his mate to his chest. Resting his chin atop Kagome's head, he soon fell asleep.

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-Whew- Good sized chapter, for me at least!