Chapter 17: Inu-hime

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to the glowing, misty morning. The rays of the bright morning sun reflecting upon and rivaled by his brighter golden eyes. His mind was quick to wake up and he instantly became aware of the warm body he held in his arms. Kagome slept peacefully in his arms, sitting on his lap with her head resting on his shoulder where his boa was. It served as her pillow and her scent served as his. Sakura…she smelled faintly of sakura blossoms. This thought entered his mind only twice. And at both times he had woken up with her in his arms.

He observed her serenely slumber and felt his heart beating violently against his chest. The heart he didn't know had ever existed. He always had the notion that he never had a heart. That he was a being who didn't need a heart to breathe. But it seemed that she proved him wrong. Look at her. Even in her sleep she had tears glittering her long black lashes. He lifted his clawed hand to her face and wiped those tears from her eyes. He couldn't believe her.

And now only Kami knows where she is and what's happening to her…While I'm here…falling in love with you…

She was guilty about falling in love while their daughter was in danger. She was guilty even though she should be happy. No matter what she would always be guilty. She would always be thinking of other's happiness over her own. She would always think of others first. She would always feel that whenever she starts to be happy, she doesn't deserve it. She was a fool.

She groaned in her sleep and nuzzled the nape of his neck affectionately and unconsciously, resting a gentle hand on his armored chest. A smirk appeared upon his lips, a smirk that made him look absolutely coquettish. A beautiful fool, but a fool nonetheless.

He adjusted his arm to hold her closer, surrendering to her power over him. Yes, it was quite strange. She was in his mind constantly. Even when he was fighting that blasted wolf to protect his lands, only she was on his mind. He wanted to finish the fight quickly to come back to her as soon as possible. He wasn't ignorant, nor was he going to deny to himself the very thoughts inside his mind. It was merely…a disorienting experience.

He surrendered. If giving one's self to a human is weakness, then let him be weak. But never forget that once Sesshoumaru's made a decision, he will abide by it. And the Great Lord of the Western Lands had decided that he will have Kagome to rule by his side, as his queen for as long as she may live, when the time has come.

She was not yet ready to be a queen. She needed to learn things; tradition, custom, countries, power. She needed to know many things first before becoming his undisputed, unrivaled, unparalleled and unchallenged mate. He didn't want anyone to find any flaw in her that might give them the courage to challenge her. He had decided and he didn't want nor need anyone else but her. He would wait for her to ripen before he would take her.

He rested his hand on top of the hand she rested on his chest where his beating heart lay. What would his father have done at a time such as this? Would Rin approve of Kagome? How would Inu-yasha respond to this? They shouldn't keep this a secret. They shouldn't be ashamed of what they've discovered. And yet, though it was faint, there was a fear inside of him; a fear of the outcome of his decision. A fear of how it will undoubtedly affect the lives of everyone; him, Kagome…Haruko.

"You're really starting to piss me off, wolf!" Kagura yelled angrily, sending sharp winds Kouga's way.

Kouga easily avoided it, gliding to one side. The wind hit the tree bark where he once was and one could practically hear the abused tree's cries of pain. Kouga increased his speed and started making twisters follow him at his tail. Haruko watched with interest, observing critically. He was quick, no doubt with the help of the shikon shards. Strangely he had a grin on his face throughout the battle. Revenge. He was talking about revenge earlier. What did Naraku do to him? Kouga. His name was Kouga. Who was Kouga? She's never read of him in the history books before. His name was never mentioned in any history book in their palace library, which was an extremely extensive library.

He looked like a mess, hair was disheveled, dirt all over him. He looked uncivilized and as if he was a hermit. She mentally shook her head; some people really let themselves go in this era. Even so, he had a pretty nice built body. She admitted to herself that he was a bit handsome but he couldn't even compare to any of the more attractive (A/N: and totally hot) men she was surrounded with everyday back at her time.

Kouga jumped sideways, revealing, in mid air, four black balls in between his fingers. He threw them Kagura's way and it exploded at her feet. Kagura yelled as she fell back and felt the stinging pain from her feet crawling up to the rest of her body. Kouga grinned triumphantly, "Like them? I stole them from a few geniuses in a village nearby. It's really useful stuff!"

Kagura groaned as she used her elbows to get herself up. When she had enough energy, she glared menacingly at him with all her might. Kouga guessed she was already beaten since her fan was blown away as well, therefore she had nothing else to use as a weapon. He shook his head and said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk! I thought you'd be stronger than that, wind witch!"

He turned around to look at Haruko, who was still on the floor, staring at him. When he saw her, he thought Sesshoumaru. But then he saw the white dog ears at the top of her head and the very shapely form she possessed. Well if that's Sesshoumaru, Sesshoumaru would be really hot. Seeing him grin at her like a pervert, she glared at him. Kouga came closer to her and inspected this stranger.

Hm. Fancy clothes, fancy looking hair, dignified stance, royal markings, lightly tanned skin, icy glare of death. Yup, she was an inu royalty alright. Haruko continued to glare up at him as he continued to cock his head to both sides to inspect her. Her savior was a pervert! Why did fate give her this mangy wolf to rescue her? He was a hermit, a pervert and worst of all a wolf—an enemy of the family. What else could go wrong now?

Just when she was about to open her mouth, she noticed a movement behind him. Her eyes widened.

"So what's an inu-hime like you doing in a place like this?"

"ABUNAI!" she quickly pushed him to the side and made small ice daggers shoot from her very palm. Kagura yelled and let go of the dagger she held in her raised hand as she felt the ice daggers imbed themselves into her shoulder and stomach. One ice dagger missed but managed to cut her cheek.

Kouga looked at her incredulously then returned to his senses as Kagura started backing up. Seeing that she was headed for her fan, Kouga quickly ran and grabbed the fan before Kagura could jump to grab the weapon. Kagura felt desperate enough to attack Kouga right there, so she did. But Kouga disappeared with speed before she could lay a finger on him. He reappeared behind her and played with the fan in his hands.

"You know, I really can't stand backstabbers." He said. Haruko only then noticed the sound of water. Water? It was near…but it wasn't. She looked around, behind her. A cliff. There was a cliff behind her. How come she didn't see that? Perhaps it was because of the darkness of the night earlier. She could hear faintly, a flowing body of water. Slowly her confidence of surviving rose. Water and ice were her elements. She excelled in controlling them as Rin-sama excelled in controlling the winds.

"Hey! Inu-hime!" she heard him yell. She turned to him with an annoyed glare but he only gave her a nod in Kagura's direction. "Since she was chasing you after all, why don't you decide what I do to her?"

Haruko looked at the weakened Kagura, her shoulders and her stomach was bleeding, pain was evident in her face as she clutched her shoulder tightly. She remembered that Kagura did nothing to harm her; she remembered the remorseful look in Kagura's face while Naraku mercilessly beat her. Haruko looked indifferently to Kouga and said, "Let her go."

"What!"

Kagura clenched her fists tightly. How dare she spare her! She wanted to die! She wanted to be released from the curse of Naraku! She wanted to be free! And yet the hanyou let her live! Unacceptable! She ran to Kouga and used her shoulder to push him away. Kouga yelled out of surprise but quickly got back to his feet a few steps away from her. He turned to look angrily at her but his eyes widened when he saw that she held his whole bag of explosives.

Kagura glared angrily at the hanyou who looked completely unaffected and yelled, "YOU DON'T GET TO DECIDE WHETHER I LIVE OR NOT!"

Seeing that she was going to waste all of his explosives, Kouga yelled, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" before he could stop her, she had already thrown the bag to her feet. Kouga shielded himself, expecting the fiery torches of hell. Instead he felt something wet. He opened his eyes only to widen them and find his jaw fallen on the floor. Surrounding him was a spherical wall of water. He watched with awe as the water swished in attractive motions all around him. He turned to stare at the one who was probably the cause of it all.

There she sat, eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The water swirled around her too and it seemed to come from behind her. Yeah, she was pretty cute. For an inu-hime. The explosion served as a smoke-screen and Kagura grabbed the chance to enlarge her feather and escaped. But as she soared away, she turned back to look at Haruko, who was too busy to watch her leave. Why wouldn't that hanyou let her die? Was it out of pity? Or compassion?

The explosion subsided and Haruko let the barrier fall. She was tired, drained and absolutely numb. She needed to rest and she knew it.

"That was pretty good, what you did." Kouga said, coming closer to her and doing an Indian sit in front of her. He rested his chin on his palm and rested his elbow on his knee. "So tell me, What's an inu-hime like you doin' in a place like this? Playing around with someone like Kagura nonetheless."

As tired as she may be, and as dizzy as she might be feeling, she mustered up all her strength to glare at him. Yes he was her savior, but just by listening to him rambling about how he stole things from villagers, she already knew that he was another one of those insensitive barbarian wolves.

She quickly went to her feet, ignoring the increase of the dizziness she felt. She straightened her back and stared down at him like how the Great Lord Sesshoumaru would. "Arigatou gozaimasu for your help, Kouga-san. I'll see to it that you will get a reward as soon as I get home."

Kouga noticed the way she slightly swayed and her eyes became unfocused every now and then. He raised a suspicious brow. "That's great and all, inu-hime, but do you actually think I'm just gonna let you go like that?"

Haruko's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and distrust. What was this wolf talking about? Kouga stood up abruptly and dusted himself off. He looked at her and, without warning, put his forehead on hers! Haruko blushed furiously! How dare this-this-this—this wolf touch her so indecently! How dare he invade her personal space! Before she could react any more, he already pulled away. "Yup, just as I thought."

She put her fingers to her forehead where he indecently and vivaciously touched her person. "What?" she meekly asked.

Kouga put his fists on his hips and said, "You've got a fever."

"What!"

"Well, it's pretty normal, I guess. You are, after all, part human. Ow! Why'd you slap me!"

"You sir, are a rude—insensitive—nnnn—imbecile!" did he have no manners at all!

"Well, that's a good way of treating your savior!"

"Savior or not, that doesn't excuse you for being rude to me!" she balled her fists and started walking away, when suddenly her vision blurred. Kouga was keen to see her sway dangerously. She was just about to fall back but Kouga quickly caught her. She looked up at him through her silvery bangs and saw him grinning knowingly.

"Told ya'."

Sesshoumaru watched as Kagome busied herself with everyone's breakfast. Still, she proves to him how nurturing she was.

She noticed him looking at her and she blushed, looking away like a teenager with a crush. Well, technically she was a teenager. They haven't decided yet, though, if they should announce their new…relationship to everyone. It might be a bit too sudden. She wasn't even that sure if they had a relationship. Sure, he kissed her, but he didn't say he loved her back. Was she being deluded? Was this whole relationship just in her mind?

"Sesshoumaru." The Taiyoukai looked down at the small kitsune standing before him. He looked down, fists balled and eyes filled with an expression as hard as steel. "If I stay with you in your palace, will I learn how to fight and be stronger?" he never looked at him, simply staring down at the ground.

Sesshoumaru looked down at the kit with a raised brow. "You wish to stay in my palace?" it was more of a statement than an inquiry.

"After all of this is over and Haruko is back to her own time, yes."

"Your reason?"

It was only then that Shippou looked up to stare at Sesshoumaru with strong determination clear in those green orbs. "I won't let this happen to her ever again."

So I was correct then. She did have a power over them…

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