Sesshomaru had tried to get back to Jaken and Rin before the rain started but the demons that had tried to fight him had slowed him down a great deal. As the rain began to pour down he ducked into a space between two cliffs and waited until the rain let up then he took off once more. He had gone out looking for something to get his mind off of the heat that was slowly taking over him again but the only thing he found was a few fights from a bunch of weak, pathetic demons. As he headed back his mind began to wander and he couldn't help but muse over the day's events.

That morning when they were traveling the wind had carried Rin's scent to him and even though it was pleasing it didn't entice him as much as it had before for some reason. He had glanced back at her several times during the journey but he didn't have the urge to ravish her as he once had and that surprised him. He had always wanted Rin so why would his mind and heart change so suddenly? Then it hit him he knew why he was suddenly acting this way, it was because of that girl Kagome.

Ever since the other night he couldn't stop thinking about the dark haired human and how she had felt against him. He could still feel her slight form pressed firmly into his chest, he could still smell her and taste her on his lips, he could still hear her soft coos and whimpers as she whispered his name in pleasure. Sesshomaru felt his stomach tighten with excitement as he remembered every little detail about her but his thoughts were cut short as the rain began to pour down on him again, "Darn, I'm not going to make it back without getting soaked, I need to find shelter until this rain lets up."

Sesshomaru spotted a cave a few feet away from him and he jumped inside, shaking the water from his clothing. As he was ringing out his long hair a familiar scent reached his nose but he couldn't be entirely sure of who it was. Water was one of the only things that drastically affected his keen sense of smell and since he'd been in the rain his nose couldn't pin point who was in the cave with him. He heard someone coming towards him and he ducked behind one of the boulders near the entrance, his eyes going wide slightly when he caught a glimpse of his visitor.

It was Inuyasha, he could tell because the bright flash of lightening illuminated his form and there was no mistaking that hair or those ears, "So he's hiding out from the rain as well, is he? I wonder if I can…"

Before Sesshomaru could do anything to torment his brother he headed to the back of the cave and Sesshomaru followed silently, hearing another voice on the other side of the cloth wall, "who was it?"

"Don't know they left." He heard Inuyasha say

"Oh… did you recognize the scent?"

"It seemed familiar but the rain messes with my sense of smell so I can't be sure."

Sesshomaru's eyes widened slightly as the second voice registered in his mind, "I know that voice."

He pulled a corner of the cloth back and saw Kagome standing near the bed as she watched Inuyasha poke at the fire. He looked closely and saw that her shirt was unbuttoned and he began to see red as he realized what must have been going on between the two of them, "Inuyasha's touched her! Wait… why do I care? I shouldn't feel anything for this human… I only took her because she was available why does it suddenly matter to me that she and Inuyasha were together?"

Kagome began to re-button her shirt and Sesshomaru unconsciously took a step towards her, knocking over her bow and arrow that sat near the entrance. He quickly ducked back behind the cloth and heard Kagome's soft footsteps as she came to pick up her weapon. He pulled the cloth back and glanced at her, she was only a few inches away from him and at this distance her scent was very strong and inviting even to his wet nose. The fire in his stomach spread to his loins as she turned around to stretch, revealing her cloth covered breasts to him.

Sesshomaru couldn't take it anymore, he had to be near her and with that thought in mind he stepped into the room and stood behind her. She arched backwards to stretch further and he intended to put his arms around her but when her fingers brushed against his chest she gasped and sat up, turning around to face him. When she met his eyes she let out a scream and jumped back away from him and he couldn't help but flinch at the shrill sound. He hated it when women cried or screamed like that, it hurt his sensitive ears.

Inuyasha heard Kagome scream and looked up, letting out a snarl when he saw his older brother standing a few feet from her, "What the hell are you doing here, Sesshomaru!"

"I didn't mean to frighten the girl this Sesshomaru simply came in here to hide out from the rain."

"Well go find somewhere else to hide out, Kagome and I were here first!"

"This Sesshomaru does not take orders from anyone, especially not a half-breed like you."

Inuyasha growled, "Shut up! Just get out of here and leave us alone!"

Sesshomaru smirked slightly at his anger, "why? I have every right to be here as much as you do, Inuyasha. I mean it isn't as though you two are doing something inappropriate, are you?"

Sesshomaru looked over at Kagome and let his eyes travel over her front, pausing at her breasts briefly before meeting her eyes. Kagome flushed brightly and turned away from him to close her shirt and Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile even as Inuyasha gripped his sword, "I saw that! Don't get any ideas Sesshomaru, touch Kagome and I'll kill you!"

Sesshomaru turned his molten gaze to the hot headed hanyu and went up to him, grabbing his wrist and pulling it away from the Tetseiga, "This Sesshomaru has no intention of harming the girl, and besides, if that was my original objective then why would I do it with you in plain sight?"

"I don't know, because you're sick!"

Sesshomaru smirked and raised a clawed hand to Inuyasha's throat, "be careful half-breed, this Sesshomaru does not have the patience to deal with your ignorance today. I simply wanted a place to hide from the rain and once it lets up this Sesshomaru will leave, until then I will not harm Kagome."

"You'd better not!" Inuyasha snarled as he jerked his hand away.

He headed over to the fire and sat next to it and Kagome soon followed and sat next to him. Sesshomaru took a seat a few feet away from Kagome and he made it a point to inch closer to her every so often. Kagome noticed this and leaned against Inuyasha's shoulder, missing the fire that sprung into Sesshomaru's normally emotionless eyes as she did so. Soon after that Kagome started to doze off and snuggled closer to Inuyasha. Sesshomaru noticed the change in her breathing and spoke softly so as to not awaken her, "It appears that Kagome is asleep."

Inuyasha glanced down at her and put his arm around her, pulling her closer when he noticed Sesshomaru glancing her way, "so it seems."

Sesshomaru held back the growl he felt creeping into his throat and dug his claws into his palm, concentrating on the pain instead of the rage that was beginning to overtake him. A few minutes later he looked at Inuyasha once more and saw that he had fallen asleep, resting his head on top of Kagome's as he snored softly. Sesshomaru snorted at the sight, disgusted by their closeness and he leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes to get some rest as well while he could.

About an hour or so later a scream outside woke the two demons and Inuyasha asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know."

"Go check it out, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru closed his eyes and smiled slightly, "I'm not going anywhere, this Sesshomaru does not care if a human gets killed or not, or a demon for that matter."

Inuyasha growled and rolled his eyes, looking at Kagome for a moment before Sesshomaru's voice caught his attention, "you can leave her here, I will not harm her I promise you."

"You'd better not."

Inuyasha gently moved Kagome off of him, being careful not to wake her as he rested her against the wall. He got up and headed to the entrance, giving a sideways glare to Sesshomaru as he did so, "if I find one hair moved on her head I will slit your throat."

Inuyasha left and Sesshomaru couldn't help but chuckle at his younger brother's arrogance, "You are more than welcome to try, Inuyasha."

He turned his gaze to the sleeping form a few feet from him and he got up, softly padding over to her to watch her sleep. Even in the dim lighting of the dwindling fire she was beautiful and it was then he realized that he did in fact have some feelings for this human. He remembered the other night when she had called out his name and he couldn't help but feel some pride as he recalled the look of ecstasy on her face as she reached her climax at his hands.

His sweet memory was cut short when Kagome started to fall to the floor but he was next to her in a second and caught her before she hurt herself. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bed, laying her across it before he sat on the edge to gaze down at her sleeping face. Sesshomaru reached out ran his knuckle over her cheek, smiling to himself when she unconsciously leaned into the touch. She turned her head to the side and something on her neck caught his attention. He pushed her hair away from her shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw the marking there. It was very faint, almost invisible but he leaned down close to her and was able to see it, "Has Inuyasha marked her? No wait… this is my mark… but when did…"

Flashback

His mouth ventured down to her collar bone where he place light kisses to her heated skin but this time he didn't hear anything from the small human beneath him.

He looked up at her and saw that she was biting her lip to keep silent, apparently figuring out that he enjoyed her reactions to his touch. He tried suckling on her nape again but only received a shiver from her as she managed to keep herself from whimpering or moaning. Sesshomaru felt a slight tinge of anger at her defiance but amusement at the same time, she had a strong will that he had to give her but he wasn't going to stand for silence from his lover. Once more his mouth found the junction of her neck and shoulder and bit down hard with his fangs, earning himself a cry of pain from Kagome as she started struggling against him once more, "Ow! Stop Sesshomaru… you're hurting me!"

"I wouldn't have to hurt you if you would simply cooperate with me…"

End Flashback

"Of course… I marked her accidentally when I bit her to get her to react to me… that means that… she's my mate."

All of the sudden he understood why he had been acting so strangely especially towards Rin. The urge to mate was strong but his bond with Kagome through his marking wouldn't allow his body to betray their joining together. Sesshomaru looked down at the sleeping girl's face and he realized that he had genuine feelings for her even before he had marked her he just wouldn't admit it to himself or to anyone else. The first time he laid eyes on Kagome he felt something deep inside of him but he didn't understand what that feeling was and at the time he didn't want to know what it was. But now he understood and there was no denying that the woman he was sitting beside was his mate and always had been.

Sesshomaru moved some stray hair away from her face and she stirred, opening her eyes to look up at him. She rubbed her eyes to clear her vision and cried out softly when she saw Sesshomaru above her. She sat up and scooted away from him, "S… Sesshomaru…"

"It's nice to see you too."

"W… what're you doing? I thought I was over there!"

"You were but you were about to fall on the floor so I brought you to the bed so you would not hurt yourself."

"W… where is Inuyasha?"

Sesshomaru jerked his thumb to the entrance and Kagome's eyes went wide with shock, "He left!"

"Yes, there was a scream outside and he went to see what it was."

Kagome nodded and dared to look into his eyes but quickly turned away when she met that intense gaze. She pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to calm her breathing, "I'm alone with Sesshomaru! Calm down Kagome there's nothing to get worked up about... it was just a dream… Sesshomaru would never touch you in real life. Just get a grip…"

Kagome felt a slight breath on her face and she looked up to see Sesshomaru only an inch away from her face as he whispered, "boo."

She gasped and scooted further away from him, hearing the soft chuckle that escaped his throat as he watched her retreat, "why are you so jumpy, Kagome?"

"I… I'm not… jumpy…"

"You're not?"

Sesshomaru reached over and carefully ran one of his claws down her arm, enjoying the shiver that simple gesture evoked from her, "then what do you call it?"

Kagome flushed, "I… I don't know… I just feel uncomfortable with you being this close."

"Why is that, human?" he asked softly as his hand moved from her arm to trace the outline of her soft leg.

"I… I've never been this close to you and… it makes me nervous…"

"But you have been this close to me before, don't you remember?"

Surprised by his words she looked up into his eyes and felt her blush deepen. Could he read her mind, did he know about the dream she had? If he did know about the dream was he going to make it a reality? Kagome let out a gasp when Sesshomaru's hand came up to run along the length of her neck, getting a whimper from her as she scooted away even more, running into the wall of the cave and giving her nowhere else to go. Sesshomaru followed her and moved to kneel next to her, his hand reaching out to touch her face. She closed her eyes against that touch and tried to move away but she had backed herself into a corner and was now trapped between the cold stone wall of the cave and the warm body of the demon lord. His hand stilled in its ministrations for a moment as he asked, "why do you flinch when this Sesshomaru touches you?"

"Because… I just… don't like it when you touch me."

Sesshomaru smiled and leaned closer to her, inhaling her scent, "your scent tells me otherwise, I can smell your desire, Kagome."

Kagome whimpered as he came closer to her, brushing his lips against hers briefly before he pulled away and snarled, "Damn… Inuyasha has returned. We will continue this discussion later."

He quickly placed a kiss to her chin and got up from the bed just as Inuyasha came in explaining the earlier disturbance, "it was an old lady getting attacked by a couple of demons… why is Kagome over there?"

Inuyasha looked from Kagome to Sesshomaru and saw the fear in her eyes as well as smell it in the air. He glared at the older demon, "what did you do to her you bastard!"

"Nothing, she was about to fall over onto the floor so this Sesshomaru moved her to the bed so she wouldn't harm herself."

"Why do you care if she's hurt or not, she's a human remember!"

"You have no right to judge this Sesshomaru's actions and I do not have to explain them to you, either. I did not harm her if that is what you're implicating."

"You'd better not have because if you did I'll…"

Inuyasha was cut off as Sesshomaru lunged forward and grabbed him by the throat, digging his claws into the hanyu's flesh as he spoke, "you'll what half-breed, kill me? That is unlikely, I kept my promise and brought no harm to the girl and since the rain has let up this Sesshomaru is leaving. You should learn to control that temper of yours little brother, it will get you killed one day."

"Ha! You're the one who should learn to control yourself! At least I can resist the urge to rape an innocent girl when no one's around to protect her!"

Sesshomaru's eyes burned into Inuyasha's as he raised his free hand to kill the hanyu in his grasp, "wrong thing to say half-breed."

"Sesshomaru stop!"

Kagome's shout made Sesshomaru pause in mid-swing and he looked over at her with questioning eyes as she pleaded with him, "Sesshomaru… please don't hurt Inuyasha. We're all tired from the storm last night, let's just forget about this and go our separate ways, please?"

Sesshomaru felt his compassion for his mate overtaking his urge to rip the brash young man in his hands to shreds and he unceremoniously dropped him to the ground, leaving the cave without another word. Kagome helped Inuyasha up and asked, "Are you ok, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah… did he hurt you!"

"No… he just… startled me is all, I woke up and he was… laying me down on the bed… he didn't touch me."

Inuyasha leaned down and sniffed her briefly, raising an eyebrow at her, "then why do you reek of him?"

"He carried me to the bed silly, that's why."

"That better be the only thing he did..."

"Please don't Inuyasha, I'm tired and I just want to go home."

"Alright, it's morning now and the rain has stopped so lets get you home."

"Thanks."

Kagome jumped onto his back and he took off into the forest and it didn't take long for him to reach the well that led back to her time. She jumped off his back and smiled up at him, "thanks for everything Inuyasha."

"Sure."

She started to step into the well but Inuyasha took her wrist and pulled her back, "wait Kagome."

"What?"

Without warning Inuyasha pulled her to him and placed a firm kiss to her mouth, pulling away a moment later to grin at her, "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, after I take a bath and a long nap."

Inuyasha grinned and his ears perked up at the thought, "can I come and watch?"

Kagome flushed before shouting, "No you perv!"

"Are you sure?"

Kagome groaned, "Sit boy!"

Inuyasha flopped to the ground and Kagome jumped down the well, missing the grumbling Inuyasha was giving her as he got up and dusted himself off.

Unaware to the two of them was that they were being watched by two red eyes from a nearby tree. Sesshomaru had left the cave and went to the creek for a drink and happened to spot Inuyasha and Kagome heading into the forest. He followed them and watched as they said something to one another before Kagome started to jump into the well. Then his rage erupted inside of him when he saw Inuyasha grab Kagome and pull her against him for a kiss before he released her. Sesshomaru managed to somehow keep his temper in check and smirked when he heard Kagome shout, "Sit boy!"

A chuckle escaped him as he watched his younger brother fall ungracefully onto his face as Kagome jumped into the well and disappeared.

Inuyasha left a moment later and Sesshomaru finally let out the feral growl he'd been holding, "This is not over Kagome. I will not let you chose that half-breed over me. You are my mate and I'm going to make certain that you know it."