Chapter Three

:NO:

:OUR MATE: Came from Inuyasha.

:YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER: Came from Sesshoumaru.

Kouga noticing the color change of the two before him, realized that for once, he had over stepped his bounds. Signaling to his tribe, he bared his neck to them to show his agreement that Kagome belonged to them. Extremely thankful, that the rest of his tribe did the same. All of them knew, that to do otherwise would mean death.

As red eyes turned golden once more, two young female wolves slunk forward and requested that they be allowed to stay with Kagome as her companions. And her bodyguards. Nodding their heads in agreement, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha watched as the females trotted over to Kagome and started to nuzzle her hands.

Reaching down to scratch them behind the ears, Kagome looked between Kouga and the two brothers. "Would one of you be kind enough to explain to me, what just happened?"

"NO"

Looking at the brother's in puzzlement Kouga just shrugged his shoulders in agreement with the other two. "Nothing of importance." He said with a smile. "These two bitches just asked that they be allowed to stay with you when I leave."

"Oh. How come I don't believe you?"

"We will explain it to you later." Sesshoumaru said.

"If I may. I would like to talk to Kagome in private please?"

"Of course Kouga." Kagome said.

She started to walk towards the other side of the clearing. Only to find herself being held gently but firmly against a white clad chest. While a red clad back was placed firmly in front of her.

"I thought we had already decided that she was not going anywhere with you, wolf."

"Inuyasha, he just wants to talk to me. You know that I can stop him if he tries to take me some place I do not want to go." Kagome pleaded in a soft voice. She watched his back as the tension left him before nodding his agreement.

Sesshoumaru on the other hand, refused to be swayed that easily. Growling softly, his hold on Kagome tightened a little bit more. "You are not going with him!" he stated in a firm voice.

Twisting around so that she could look him in the eye, Kagome reached up with her hand to caress his cheek gently. "If I promise to stay within sight and within your hearing range, will you allow me to go?"

Barely stopping himself from purring at her touch, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, and whispered with a soft growl, "NO"

Opening her eyes wider, and pouting slightly, she allowed a few tears to gather in the corner of her eyes. Knowing that the smell of salt would open his eyes. "Please Maru-Chan?"

His eyes snapping open, he got the full affect of her look. Whimpering softly, he let her go. "I want to be able to see you and hear you at all times."

Nodding her head, Kagome stood on her tiptoes as she placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Turning to Inuyasha, she did the same thing before whispering to him, "Thank you for understanding."

Blushing softly, Inuyasha nodded his head. Growling as he looked at Kouga, he said "If you try anything stupid wolf. Nothing will protect you. And I do mean nothing."

Turning slightly pale at the image that came to mind, he just nodded his head.

As Kagome and Kouga walked away, Inuyasha leapt unto his favorite branch in Goshinboku. Smirking down at his brother he said, "I never thought you would be the kind to fall for her puppy dog face. I always thought you where stronger. But the moment she turned it on you, you gave into her."

"At least I did not give into her words." Came the reply as Sesshoumaru settled himself amongst the roots of the same tree.

"When I first saw Kagome, I was still pinned to this tree. She was trying to escape from a centipede monster. I had called her Kikyou and she got up on that root right above your head and started giving me shit. The Centipede showed up and grabbed her. With the power of her voice alone, she had focused her energy into her hands and took the centipedes arms off."

"Is there a point to this story half breed?"

"So I'm a half breed. Get over it already. And yes, there is a point. She did that without knowing what she is and without any help. No arrows, no nothing. Can you imagine what she could do if you pissed her off now. With four years experience and some training.?"

Staring up in shock at his brother, Sesshoumaru made a mental note not to piss of the woman who hopefully would become his mate.

"Quiet half breed. I am trying to hear what our mate is saying to that wolf."

"Keh!"

"Kagome. Are you happy with those two dogs?"

"I have always been happy with Inuyasha. You just never listened to what I was saying to you!"

"And Sesshoumaru?"

"I love Sesshoumaru as much as I love Inuyasha. I realized that after he saved my life two months ago. I honestly do not think I could live if something happened to either of them."

"I've never stood a chance, did I?"

"No Kouga. I'm sorry. I do care for you. But only as my big brother. Someone I could go to if I ever needed help."

Leaning over, Kouga gave Kagome a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Earning him both a blush from the girl and double growls from the brothers. Laughing at Kagome, he said "I believe that I finally understand. As long as you understand that I'm still going to tease the hell out of those two over you being my woman."

"I can live with that."

"Good."

Glancing over her shoulder at her puppies, Kagome grinned, "Tell me Kouga, are all Inuyoukai as possessive as those two?" She asked loud enough for them to hear.

Kouga laughed before answering. "Actually, they're worse. I believe that the only reason they are not trying to kill me right now is because they know you'll purify their asses if they tried."

"Ahhh"

"Keh" was all that they heard from the other side of the clearing before they started laughing.

Dropping her voice once again so that only Kouga could hear her, she asked, "Kouga, what does it mean, when a Youkai promises always to protect you?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"If I did would I be asking?"

"I guess not." Rubbing his forehead as he thought about his answer, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place as he saw the half moon scars on both of her hands. "When they made you those promises, did they leave those scars on your hands?

"yes"

"Tell me exactly what they did. I don't need to know the promises. Just the actions."

"Two months ago, I was captured during a battle with some scorpion demons. One of the demons stung me so i could not use my powers on him. The others tried to get to me but there were too many of them. Inuyasha was hurt. I remembered seeing Sesshoumaru strike down the one holding Inuyasha before drawing his sword to help take out the rest of the nest. He left Rin and the rest of his pack with Inuyasha and promised to get me back."

Taking a deep breath, Kagome continued "I was barely alive when he found me. His eyes had started to turn red before killed the scorpion that took me. I knew that I should have been terrified but I knew that he was not going to hurt me."

"I remember him saying that he could help me but that it was going to hurt me a lot more. When I asked him how, he told me he could safely inject his own poison into me. Thus allowing me to become immune to most poisons. I agreed knowing that I would die if he didn't try. If my body did reject his poison, I would die anyway. He gave me a tea that put me to sleep. What he did, I'll never know. Just like he won't tell me what was in the tea.

When I woke up a week later, I was wrapped up in his mokomoko-sama, feeling better then I have ever felt in my life. I must have made some kind of noise because the next thing i knew, both him and Inuyasha were beside me. They helped me to a close by pond to bathe. When I was done, I went back to camp and found the two of them in deep conversation."

"When they spotted me, they growled at one another before Sesshoumaru came to me. Using his claws to slice open my hand, he made his promise. After accepting his promise, he lapped up the blood healing the cut but leaving this scar. When he was done, Inuyasha did the same thing, just on the other hand."

When she fell silent once more, Kouga asked her, "Did you make them any promises."

"No. At the time my voice was still slightly affected by the combined poisons. Later, they told me not to worry about it. Can you tell me what is going on?"

"With pleasure. But first, I need to talk to those two."

"Why?"

"I'll explain later."

Kouga walked back to Goshinboku wondering if he was about to get himself killed for what this amazing girl had just told him.

"How much do you want me to tell her" he asked the brothers.

"That depends on what she asked" came the bored response.

"She asked about the promise of protection and what it means coming from the two of you."

"What did you tell her" came a snarl from above.

"Nothing. I asked her what happened when the promise was made."

Before he could continue, two angry growls sounded through out the clearing. Backing up with his hands out in front of him, he tried to make them understand before they ended up killing him.

"I noticed the scars right away. I only asked because I thought it was really recent and that not that much time had passed. I thought it was just a simple oath, made to keep her from harm. It wasn't until she started talking that I realized, you both had made a sacred blood oath. I had to ask you. I needed to know what I was allowed to tell her, if anything at all." Praying to the Kama's that the brother's would think about his answer before acting, he once again bared his neck in submission.

He looked up through his lashes at the brothers, finding them staring at each other as they talked silently. Finally, nodding their heads in agreement, they turned back to the wolf.

"You may tell her the truth."

"I don't have to worry about ending up dead by the end of the day?"

"Not this time wolf. But that is only because we are thinking about what she would feel."

"I understand. If I may ask. Why don't you tell her yourselves?"

"Because we are still unsure of what she wants" came the surprising answer.

"Well that's easy enough to answer. All you had to do was ask."

"What do you mean?"

"I asked her if she was happy with the two of you. She told me that she could not imagine her life without the both of you." He answered truthfully, extremely glad to see the looks of pure joy that came across the both of their faces.

"How much of the truth do you want me to tell her?"

"All of it." came one response.

"As much as she'll listen too." came the other response.

"Shall do. Just promise to save me if she doesn't like the answer."

"We'll think about it." came the double growl.

'Why doesn't that reassure me' he asked himself.

Kouga started walking away but then turned back to the two brothers. "Oh one more thing. She's not afraid of you when you go into a blood rage. She understands why you do it and believes that your blood beast recognizes her enough not to kill her. That goes for both of you."

Smirking at the looks he received, Kouga once more walked away to rejoin Kagome.