Hunter and Prey

"LORD SESSHOMARU!"

The frantic call from the distance caused us both to turn to see the approaching figure. The little toad burst through the long grass with a horrified look spread across his green, beakly face. When he reached his master, he allowed himself to collapse to the ground in relief while he struggled to pull in heavy breaths to calm himself. His clothes were torn from his flight, and he was covered in a slick, sticky, brown substance.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru addressed the toad, "Where is Rin?"

"They're monsters I tell you!" The little toad squawked. "Little demons with no respect for anything! Oh Lord Sesshomaru, why do you allow your faithful servant to be tortured in such a way? All I want is to be in service to your greatness, but how can I do such a thing with those beasts set to destroy me?"

"Jaken," Sesshomaru's voice had become very hard. If the little toad didn't start giving some straight answers, I was afraid of what would become of him. "Where is Rin?" Now I know from experience that Sesshomaru is not one to repeat himself. The toad was treading in dangerous waters. If he didn't reveal the location of the girl soon, he would not make it to see the battle against Naraku.

"Rin?" The toad questioned, "Why she's…"

"JAKEN BALL!"

The little voice ringing out from the distance immediately caused the toad to stiffen and sweep his buggy eyes around apprehensively. Then, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a giant ball of brown goop splattered against the toad's chest, causing him to loose his footing and be sprawled out on the ground.

I tracked the path of where the projectile had come from, my eyes finally coming to rest on an ecstatic Shippo, who, like the toad, was covered head to toe in the sticky brown substance.

"Ah ha!" He proclaimed. "Did you see Kagome? Did you see? Right in the chest! That's 5 points for me!"

"Five points?" I asked.

"Yup," He replied enthusiastically. "Two points for an arm or a leg, five points for the body, ten for the head; that's Jaken Ball!"

I tried so hard to surpass my laughter at the poor toad's luck that I involuntarily snorted. I covered the lapse with a slight cough as I raised my hand to cover my mouth to conceal my smile. Now there was a game that I think I should enjoy partaking in. Jaken Ball, leave it to a kid to come up with such a concept. Imagine a game in which the only purpose is to torment a little green toad by tracking him down like a hunted creature, only to douse him with balls of mud once he is found, and then award points for the accuracy of your shot. Now that is just pure brilliance.

"You dreadful demon child!" The little toad admonished as he pulled himself from the ground and tried, unsuccessfully, to brush the mud from his clothes. "When I get my hands on you, you'll be sorry you ever…GAH!"

Well that's one way to get a toad to close his gaping mouth; stuffing a giant ball of muck right in there.

"JAKEN BALL!"

The darling voice of Rin lifted from the distance, followed by a torrent of mirthful giggles. I turned to face yet another body that was heavily doused in sticky mud.

"10 points!" She squealed with glee. "I win Shippo! I win!"

Shippo was too busy rolling on the ground with laughter to answer her. I too was finding it difficult to contain my joy at the children's game.

"Rin." The girl immediately stopped her laughter at the sound of Sesshomaru's voice. She made her way over to stand in front of him, lifting her mud-streaked face and jubilant eyes to look upon her lord.

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru?" she questioned.

Sesshomaru took a moment to survey the girl. His eyes swept over her mud-covered form, then glance momentarily upon the hopeful face of the toad that had been the object of the children's fun. When he looked back to the child, his amusement was so great that it rivaled my own. He, of course, wouldn't show it externally, but I could tell. Even if it weren't for the bond allowing me to feel it, I could see the mirth shinning in his eyes as he looked upon his ward.

"You have impressive aim." The little girl's face lit up with ecstatic glee; matched equally and oppositely by the dejected dismay that fell over the face of the toad who had wished his master would reprimand the girl for her treatment of him.

"Well," I started when I thought that my voice would actually sound like a voice and not just a gush of involuntary laughter, "I think I know two kids who are in some need of a bath."

"Awww, do we have to?" Shippo whined as he made his way over to me.

I giggled at his lacking enthusiasm and kneeled down to wipe away some of the mud so that I could actually see his face again. "Yes," I replied, "But bath time can be fun too. You can show Rin some of the toys I brought for you from my time."

"I guess," he sighed as he proceeded toeing the ground at his feet.

Oh poor Shippo. I'm sorry that I had to ruin all of your fun; really, because I think I would be up for another round of Jaken Ball too. But unfortunately, the game must come to and end for now. I looked over to Rin, but she seemed even less keen on the idea of bath time than Shippo.

"Come on Rin," I smiled at her as I beckoned her over to me. "We'll have a good time. Just like one big happy family."

"A family?" She still seemed hesitant, but then she looked up at Sesshomaru and asked, "Does that mean you will come too?"

My face was immediately as red and hot as a burning furnace. I had already had my time with Sesshomaru in a hot spring, and I don't think I was ready to repeat the experience any time soon. I know that he felt my incredible embarrassment, because the feeling was so strong that there was just no way he wasn't feeling it when we were this close to each other. I adamantly refused to look at him because I just knew that he would be even more amused by my bashfulness than of Rin's treatment of Jaken. Eventually though, he alleviated some of my embarrassment by giving his answer to the girl.

"Go with Kagome, Rin."

She hesitated for a moment, but then she obeyed her lord and made her way over to me. I took the two children's hands and began leading them towards the village where I could gather the supplies to rid them of the mess their game had crated.

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Bath time, was, for the most part, uneventful. Though I must say that the game of Marko-Polo the children engaged themselves with was highly amusing; especially when that little fox of mine decided that he would avoid being captured by Rin by turning himself into a stone statue. Apparently he forgot the fact that stone doesn't float very well. He ended up sinking to the bottom of the spring, only to reemerge several seconds later sputtering for breath, and falling victim the splash attacks of his pursuer.

When the game had ended, and the children once again looked like children and not giant balls of mud, I called them out of the hot spring. I had barely managed to dry the two off and get them back into their clothes before they were bounding away from me; off to start another game. I called after them to go straight back to the village, and heard Shippo's fading voice call back to me with his promise to do so. I shook my head at their antics, and went about cleaning up the scattered soaps and toys that had been left in the wake of the children's adventure in the water.

I had just finished picking up, and was about to head back to the village myself; when I felt the fast approach of two Shikon shards. I paused and turned back towards where Kouga was coming from. I was a little taken back when he emerged from the trees surrounding the spring without the twisting, churning winds of his usual form of travel. I wasn't sure why he would abandon such a relied upon method and settle on a normal form of travel, but I figured that it was a moot point; so I shrugged of the unusualness of his arrival and gave him my greeting.

"What brings you here Kouga?" I asked pleasantly.

"I wanted a moment to speak to you alone without that dog around," He was speaking very seriously, and I couldn't help but to be slightly anxious as to what he wanted to speak to me about.

"Ummm, ok," I replied nervously. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Kagome," He began in a softer tone as he took my hand between his own. "I'm worried for you. That dog is dangerous, and I'm afraid that you are blinding yourself to that."

What did he think I was; stupid? I know very well just how dangerous Sesshomaru can be, but I had been with him for the past six days and not once had I been harmed while in his presence (well if you leave out the few bruises on my backside, one seriously bad hangover, a couple of annoyingly placed teeth marks on my shoulder, and some very injured pride).

"Sesshomaru may be dangerous, but he is also one of the only beings that Naraku fears aside from Kikyo. We need him, Kouga. I don't think we will be able to defeat Naraku if he is not there to participate in the battle."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" He was becoming very edgy, and his grip on my hand had tightened to the point where he was beginning to cut off some of the circulation. "It is one thing for him to be going into battle with us; it is a completely different matter for you to be spending so much time with him. I can smell his scent all over you Kagome. Did you know that he has been marking you? Did you know that every minute you spend alone with him, every time you allow him to touch you, every time you don't turn away his advances; that you are letting him claim you?"

"Claim me? As what?"

"His pack, his bitch, his mate; it doesn't matter as what Kagome, if you let him do it you will belong to him. He will never allow anyone else near to you. You will be his, and you won't be allowed a say in the matter!"

But that just wasn't right. He had given me that choice; hadn't he? He had told me that it would be my choice as to what I would be to him. The bond between us was beyond his control and mine, but still he had given me the choice. He had never told me what it was that he wanted for me to be to him, but he had not forced me into anything. He had respected by body in the spring even though he had to fight against the draw of the pheromone's scent, he had cared for me when I was all but inebriated by the oracle's poison, he had left me to make my own decision as to what I would have Hojo be to me, he had supported me when I was fearful of the upcoming battle, listened to my silent pleas to spare the attempted mugger and to not engage Inuyasha but to allow me to talk to him.

In fact, the only time he had truly allowed me to make my own decisions was when it came to Kouga. He had allowed me to embrace Inuyasha when I sought to sooth the hanyou's nerves about me spending time alone with him, but he had not allowed me to have any prolonged contact with the wolf. Why, I could not be certain, but the reason for the heavy air between Sesshomaru and Kouga was beginning to make sense. They were not posturing for positions within a pack for they were from separate packs, but they were both displaying some interest in me.

"Kouga, I think that you don't know as much about what is going on as you think you do."

"No Kagome." He released my hand only to grab ahold of my shoulders and draw me closer to him. "You don't understand. That dog is trying to take you away from me. Inuyasha is one thing, I can handle mutt-face's stubborn protection of you because he thinks of you as a sister; but I am not about to let that dog take my woman away from me!"

"Kouga…" how many times would I have to tell that thick-headed wolf that I am not his woman! Here he was telling me that Sesshomaru was not giving me any choice in whether or not I would be tied to him, while he was being the far worse of the two by never listening to me when I try to tell him that I am not, and never was, his woman.

"Kagome," His pleading voice made me pause. "I will give you everything that you desire. I will treat you like a queen, protect you; love you. All I ask is that you love me as well; that you accept me as the one who shall stand by your side."

I tried once again to tell him that I could not be what he wanted me to be; that I could not love him as he wanted me to. But he abruptly put a stop to any words I might have spoken to him when he pressed his lips to mine.

We were immediately repelled from each other when our opposite energies collided due to the intimate contact. I groaned as I proceeded to pry myself from the ground where I landed. That had been the third guy that had kissed me in just as many days, and the second one that had found out the hard way that I am not able to have intimate contact with true youkai without having explosive consequences.

When I finally made it to my feet, I shook my head a bit to clear away the fogginess. When I opened my eyes, Koga was standing right in front of me with a terrifying scowl darkening his features.

"Kouga I'm…"

But he interrupted my apology with a cheek-splitting, back-handed blow across my face. I was thrown back by the force of his strike against me, landing hard on the ground once again.

"Bitch," he spat as he positioned himself above me and pinned me to the ground. "You would use your miko powers against me, but let that lowly dog have his way with you?"

"No Kouga, I…"

"Shut up!" He roared as he lashed out at me with another terrifyingly painful blow. I bit away the fearful whimpers that wanted to escape me and forced myself to look at him again. His eyes were burning a malicious red, and he was looking upon me with unsuppressed anger and hatred. "You will be mine. Once I'm through with you that dog will never again even so much as look at your deceitful, wretched, human face!"

He leaned in towards me, his mouth parting to reveal the dangerous glint of his fangs. I knew there was no more room for words. I had to put a stop to what he was doing. I reached up and pressed my hands firmly against his chest; calling upon my miko powers to repel him away. My powers had barely managed to rise to my call, had barely managed to produce any effect aside from a slight searing of the skin under my hands; when he ripped my hands away from himself and pinned them together on the ground above my head.

"Not again you treacherous miko," he reprimanded in a raspy growl of a voice. "No, you will not use your powers against your mate. But it seems," he mused in a dangerous tone, "that I shall have to teach you that lesson the hard way."

He lifted his free hand in front of my face so that I could see the terrifying length of his claws, and then, so quickly that I couldn't even see the movement, he ripped the deadly razors across my chest; tearing through my shirt and my skin, drawing blood to flow freely from the wounds. When I finally felt the searing pain, I tried to scream; but again he was too quick, and he had covered my mouth to keep me quiet.

"I won't have you calling out to that dog," he hissed in my ear. "So long as the mist from the spring confuses the scents of this place, he will never come for you. Not until it is too late, and you finally belong to me."

'No!' I cried out in my mind. 'No I won't allow this to happen!' But he had me pinned to the ground, my hands held firm above my head, and my body screaming in pain from where his claws had marked me. How could I get away from him if he was so fast? I could feel the burning of my miko powers just beneath the barrier which keeps them at bay, but I knew that if I allowed them to consume my body, if I tore down the barrier holding them in check; that it would surely kill the wolf that I had once believed to be my friend and ally and that I may never recover my hold on the wild power of it.

Kouga had come to me by the spring because he knew that Sesshomaru would not be able to readily pick up his scent through all of the mist penetrating the area. He had even suppressed his youki, not summoned his twisting tornado of travel, so that he could approach in stealth. We were hidden, and secluded, and with him preventing me from calling out; I had no way to call for help.

No way that he knew of anyways. There was still one option left to me. I knew that the bond between Sesshomaru and I was much stronger when we were closer together, and being that he hadn't come when the pain from Kouga's attacks ripped through me; I assumed that he was too far away to be feeling it. However, the bond was the only thing left for me aside from releasing all control I had over my powerful, but poorly developed miko powers.

I reached down inside of myself, searching for that link, for that place which would pull at me and let me feel Sesshomaru's movements even when I could not see him. I found it with little difficulty, and when I did I wrapped my invisible hands around the tie and pulled on it with all my might. The link strained against my pull, I could feel the resistance as my soul tried to pull the other entwined with it to me. Then, the resistance was gone; the tie in the hands of my conscious mind fell slack, and I knew it had worked.

In seconds Sesshomaru was close enough to me for me to feel his resonating power and the strong pull of his anger against my assailant. Only a few seconds more, and the wolf that had attacked me had been thrown away from where he had positioned himself above me and was crashing through the trees of the surrounding forest.

Free of the hold that had kept me on the ground, I immediately sat up. Kouga was crouched down low between the devastated trees he had been thrown through; poised to attack. And Sesshomaru was standing in front of me protectively, his sword drawn and crackling with its evil energy as he prepared for an attack of his own.

"She is mine dog!" Kouga growled out. "I will never allow you to have her!"

"The miko belongs to no one." Though his voice was cool and measured, I could feel his burning hatred for the wolf coursing through me. "You disgrace yourself and your pack by taking the rightful choice of a female away from her. You will die for such a transgression against a member of my pack."

"Sesshomaru," I called out to him before he could launch his attack which would be sure to kill the wolf.

He turned slightly towards me, but not so much that Kouga would be out of his line of sight. I struggled to raise myself from the ground, clutching my tattered shirt tightly against the throbbing wounds across my chest to try and slow the flow of blood. Once I was on my feet, I made my way over to him. I stepped in front of him and rested my hand on the tensed muscles of his arm which held Tokijin as I looked deeply into his hardened golden eyes.

"Please," I said to him, "Just make him leave."

No matter what Kouga had just done to me, no matter what he had planned to do to me; I could not so easily forget how many times he had been there to save me from Naraku or his evil minions, nor could I so easily forget that I had considered him my friend. I still did not want to see him die.

Kouga's fiendish laugh from behind me made me tense with fear and move closer to Sesshomaru. I buried my face in the soft silk of his shirt so that I would not have to face the hideous visage of the one that had turned on me in such a brutal and repulsive way, and so that the tears elicited by his betrayal would not be so prominent to the keen noses of the demons around me.

"Maybe I was wrong," I heard Kouga's wicked laughing voice, "It seems the miko is not the bitch in this relationship."

I could feel the growl rumbling in Sesshomaru's chest which he just barely managed to prevent from escaping his lips before he responded to the wolf's insult.

"She gives you mercy that you do not deserve wolf. Be grateful that your life will still be yours come morning. But be warned, should you ever come near Kagome again; pain, suffering and anguish will be all you know, and all that you will wish for shall be the sweet, merciful hand of death to claim you. But I assure you that it will never come, that you shall never again escape my wrath."

Kouga growled a deep, vicious sounding growl at Sesshomaru, but he did not advance upon the one that had threatened him. Instead, he began walking backwards away from the intimidating demon lord, eventually being swallowed up within the shadows of the forest's trees. When I could no longer feel the pull of his shards near to us, I finally allowed myself to relax.

I pulled away from Sesshomaru, but the searing pain of the wounds across my chest had me clutching the meager fabric holding my flowing blood at bay and releasing small whimpers that I could not suppress. I looked up at him, and even through my tear-blurred vision, I could see the concern reflected in his eyes over my condition. He lifted his hand and brushed it against the ugly swells forming on my face, making me flinch even though the touch was soft and gentile. He pulled his hand away, clutching it into a fist at his side to try and alleviate some of his anger.

"I should have known."

His words were laced with deep resentment, but I knew that resentment was not for the wolf that had done this to me. He was angry, but his anger was being directed at himself for not being there for me when it would have mattered, for not stopping the wolf before he could do any damage. He may not have been able to say it, but I knew that in his own way he was offering me his apology.

I wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault, that there was no way for him to know what the wolf would do; but the loss of blood had begun to affect me, making me sway on my feet and fight to keep myself upright. He reached out and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to steady me, then led me to sit at the base of a large tree. He took hold of my trembling hand which was still gripping tightly to the tattered fabric of my shirt, and gently pulled it away so that he could inspect the wound.

I didn't want to see how bad it was. I knew that the path of Kouga's claws had done me some serious damage because I could feel the painful sting left in their wake and the sticky wetness of my own blood that had spilled forth from the wounds. I closed my eyes, trusting that Sesshomaru would know what to do, and that I was safe now with him.

"The wounds are deep." Even though I knew what he was saying should have been taken as bad news from my perspective, still, so long as I was with him, I did not fear the repercussions of such a wound. "I can seal them and stop the flow of blood…" He paused and I opened my eyes to look at him. He met my gaze unwaveringly. "It will hurt."

Cauterize: the word flashed through my head, bringing with it a sickening wave of unease. He planned on using the corrosive properties of his poison to cauterize the wounds, sealing them against the flow of blood from within and the threat of infection from without. Not entirely a welcome prospect; however, the only real option given the circumstance. If the wounds were as deep as he had eluded, that would suggest that I needed stitches; and even if the wounds were to be stitched I would be left at a distinct disadvantage as far as mobility lest I reopen the tears in my chest. It seemed his idea was my best bet, regardless of how not looking forward to it I was.

I sighed and took hold of his hand. I traced the sharp points of his claws with a critically detached eye, before I placed his hand against my chest to signal him that I was ready. He studied me for a moment then leaned in to me to whisper in my ear.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

He pulled back again and I braced myself for the coming pain. But I never could have prepared myself enough.

As he raked his claws across the damage left by the wolf, his poison burned me with excruciating pain. It ripped through me like a thousand white hot blades digging into my flesh all at once, each one enough to cut through my resolve, each one enough to steal away my sanity. A sickening scram lifted from me without any way to stop it. It tore through the air, echoing shrilly in my ears; but not stopping the horrible pain.

It was too much; my senses had been overrun by the pain and my body and my mind shut me away from it; dropping me into the welcome blackness of my unconsciousness.

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Another extra long chapter because I have been away for two whole days! You may ask how I can go from being funny at the beginning of a chapter to being all limey at the end. The answer: this could have been two different chapters, but since I didn't like the fact that I had broken with my updating routine, I gave them both to you in one shot.

So cheers, I think I deserve a drink!

Later

ShadowsWevaer1

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I am about to weave into my web of chaos. Any and all definitions have been taken directly from Wikipedia the online encyclopedia because I am far too lazy to do any further research to support my Inuyasha obsession.