Chapter Five
"Kagome, please, you must listen to me. I didn't mean it that way. The tea is used by healers to slow down blood flow, by slowing down the heart. It slows the spread of poison until an antidote can be given or the poison removed. I'm sorry. I should have said that to begin with. He wasn't trying to kill you, he was trying to give himself more time to work on trying to draw the poison out. Okay?"
Feeling Kagome nod her head against his shoulder, Kouga sighed in relief. Settling himself more comfortably against the tree, he pulled Kagome tighter against him and tucked her head under his chin.
"In order to remove the poison, he probably had to draw out most of your own blood. Which in this case, meant letting you almost bleed to death."
Feeling Kagome pull away again, he looked down, afraid that she would try to attack him, to get at Sesshoumaru.
"Sesshoumaru said that I was immune to his poison now."
Frowning, Kouga thought about that for a minute. "Hm, he most have used his own poison for the antidote then."
"Is that possible?" Kagome asked him.
"It is if he used his blood also, to give you some kind of immunity to the poison. Since his is stronger then the scorpions, it would cancel out the affect of it." Frowning again, he asked the girl, "would it be possible for me to smell and taste your blood? I'll only need a drop but it would tell me for sure if that is what he did."
Nodding her head, Kagome used one of Kouga's claws to make a very small pinprick in her finger. Then held out her finger to him. He brushed his own finger against hers and then sniffed the blood. Nodding his head, he cleaned the blood off his finger.
He paused as the shock of her miko blood combined with the very faint trace of demon blood hit his senses.
"I must say that your blood is the strongest human blood I have ever known. If just that faint amount that Sesshoumaru gave you of his blood did this, I would hate to see what will happen when you take some of Inuyasha's and Sesshoumaru's blood when you mark them."
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked puzzled.
"At the moment, you probably could train your senses to be able to smell, hear, and see as well if not better then most demons. That is just with a little of Sesshoumaru's blood. Combining the two would give you most of the abilities of a demon but you would remain human. Including the life span of a demon."
"My hearing and sight are already better. I can smell things farther away and I can tell what they are, usually. I just didn't realize it was because of that." Kagome said softly.
"The reason Sesshoumaru gave you the tea was to put you in a deep sleep. Even with the help of his blood, allowing the poison to follow it's own course would have been painful."
"I think I understand that part now. What about the promises they made." Kagome asked him.
"I think that Inuyasha showed up and saw what Sesshoumaru was doing. Instead of fighting, they started to talk. After all Sesshoumaru was trying to save your life."
Looking at Kagome, he said, "Remember, this is what I think may of happened. You'll have to ask those two if it's true."
When Kagome just nodded her head again, he continued. "I think that while they waited for you to wake up, they found out that they both feel the same way about you and agreed to let you make you feelings clear. By choosing between them or choosing both of them. Enabling them to share you and your love."
"Share me? Is that possible? They can do that?"
"Yeah, they can. The love they share has to be really strong. They must also have a lot of respect and love for one another. If they don't, the binding won't be strong and they will always fight for your attention."
Kagome sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally she looked up at Kouga, "And the promises?"
"There are three different kinds of promises. A promise of protection to a child that is not your own but you think of as your own. This kind is usually made to a child who is alone. Either because their parents are dead, or are far away."
"Like Rin and Shippo?" Kagome asked.
"That's right."
"Ok. I'm guessing that the next one would be made to a friend."
"Correct. More specifically, to a friend that is unable for whatever reason to protect themselves." Kouga told her. "It could also be made to someone you consider to be family. Like a brother and sister. Which is what you have with Miroku and Sango."
"And like the one that Inuyasha made to me just after we first met. It's because of that promise that Inuyasha was able to use Tetsusaiga and cut off Sesshoumaru's arm." Kagome informed Kouga.
"Really?" He asked.
She giggled at the look of disbelief that crossed Kouga's face, as she nodded her head.
"I did not know that. Okay then. The next one is actually called a Sacred Blood Oath. That is what they did for you. It also almost got me killed when I told those two that I knew it. Before you get mad at them, let me explain. They would have been in their right to do so. This oath is made to one they love with all their heart. With the small amount of blood that is taken, it allows a bond to be formed. Allowing them to be able to sense and find the one the oath is made to. To make the bond complete, the oath is usually returned at the same time."
"I never made a promise like that."
I know. I asked them about that. Believe it or not, they let me live for it. Instead, they told me why they didn't tell you. It seems that they where not sure of your feelings for them. They didn't want you to feel pressured into making a decision. I hope you don't mind, but I did tell them they were being idiots for not seeing that you loved them in return."
"I don't mind. It kinda saves me the trouble. What I want to know is why they would have killed you."
"That's simple. As long as the blood oath is not returned, another with demon blood can cancel the bond that has started between you three. Which means that someone else could claim you."
"Oh!"
"Since I also wanted you, when I found out about the oath, I could have forced my claim on you by making you mate with me. It wouldn't matter what you wanted. I could have forced you to make that oath with me. Stealing you away from both of them."