Loyalty

Circa 2006 - 2008

This was meant to be added into my 'Past Time' archive, but was never finished

Summary: His chosen female has been kidnapped and he's going to get her back no matter what her mutt protector thinks. He is Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox, and no shinobi is going to outwit him. [ Kyuubi x Kagome]

Genre: General ?

Rating: T ?

Note: This was written before the Kyuubi's name had been revealed as Kurama.

She blushed, pulling her hands out of his, as she asked, "W-what did you just say?"

The others stiffened a bit, looking at the slack jawed hanyou standing at their side. They knew the old tales of the bijuu, so they doubted the hanyou would be able to defeat the demon in front of them, but he'd been rather blunt. Especially since he'd only known them for a year, having met them not long after the defeat of their greatest enemy. And they hadn't ever been told much about him, only part of his name and that he wasn't a threat to them.

A sly smirk pulled onto his lips, as he grabbed her hands again. His clawed fingers stroked the back of her hands, trying to use his charm in order to make her see what he wanted her to. "I asked if you would allow me to court you?"

She gulped, "I thought you said that." Once more she pulled her hands away from him, and blinked. No one had ever asked her that question; it was strange that he would be the one to actually ask. However, she turned her attention away from him when her shoulder became occupied by the kit that she traveled with, his eyes shining as he gazed at the older demon.

"Wow!" Shippo yelled. "Are you really Kyuubi no Youko? The master of chakra!"

The male smirked, bringing his hand up to brush his orange hair from his shoulder in a very appealing way. A fang slipped over his lip, while he continued to try and bring the female's eye back to his own. "Yes," he said. "I am glad that someone has remembered who I am."

"Kagome-chan…"

Kagome turned her head, watching as her friend came toward her slowly. Blinking, wondering why she was so cautious at the moment, she asked, "Yes, Sango-chan?"

"May I speak with you?" Sango asked, keeping her eye on the demon in front of them. She knew old stories of his temper, she knew how cruel he could become if she seemed threatening toward his courting. However, her friend needed to be aware of the danger that demon could bring if she refused him, as well as the danger he could bring if she didn't.

"Of course," Kagome smiled. "Um, Shippo…?" she blinked, watching as the small kit jumped into the elder demons arms, shouting questions at him. A bit bigger smile formed onto her lips, happy for her little friend, since he hadn't seemed this happy since she'd told him he could travel with her and Inuyasha.

However, before they could leave, Inuyasha sobered up, and allowed his anger to fly. They had to turn back as Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath and pointed the large blade at the demon in front of him. "Oh hell no! There's no fucking way I'm going to allow you to court Kagome!"

Kagome frowned. She didn't think he was that bad. She'd known Kyuubi for a year, though she doubted that was the name he'd originally been given, and she didn't think he was that bad. Sure, she'd seen him mock a few people, mainly Inuyasha, kick Kouga's butt into next week, and stood up to Sesshoumaru with a dark look in his eye, but she didn't think he was that bad. Heck, he'd even admitted that Sesshoumaru most likely would have beaten him, but the dog had noted who he was, what he represented, and decided not to challenge him—she'd doubted he'd meant that, though. So, she allowed her frown to turn into a scowl, and said, "Inuyasha."

The hanyou turned his head toward her, his ears flat from her tone of voice. "Don't start with me, wench! This guy can't be trusted as far as I can spit him, much less hang around all day in order to court your fucking ass!"

Kyuubi began to growl darkly.

Kagome's temper flared. "Inuyasha," she hissed. "Sit."

His growl dying, Kyuubi's eyes began to twinkle as the hanyou slammed against the ground, his ears laid flat against his head. The undignified position he'd landed in, along with the fact that his mighty weapon had transformed back into a useless blade, was quite humorous to the fox. A small sadistic smirk pulled onto his lips, and he cast his eyes over the miko once more, silently praising her discipline on the mutt. He'd seen it many times before and it never got old, so he could only hope that she continued to use that form of discipline on him more in the future—their future.

"Inuyasha," Kagome began, "you acted this way when you first met him, too. I remember how you were yelling about him being no good, about how he's always killing humans, but I've never seen any evidence of your claims." She raised her pointer finger, continuing in her speech, "In fact, Kyuubi has been very nice and done a lot of things that I didn't think he would. You should give him more credit, instead of instantly believing everything that you hear. He may have been that way in the past, but as you can clearly see now—though, in truth, I'm not quite sure if you actually can—he is not doing the things you accused him of. So, stop whining like a child who is… is losing their toy and start acting like an adult!"

She turned a soft hue of red, and then shouted, "And, for once in your life, use my name! It's Kagome! Ka. Go. Me! It's not that hard to say! How many times do we have to go over this? My name is not wench!" She huffed afterward, turning away from Inuyasha's hole, which he was finally beginning to pull himself out of, and stomped back over to her female friend.

Inuyasha growled. "I'm not going to allow that bloody fox to hang around every fucking day! If you've forgotten, we still have to find out the reason why the well won't work!"

Kagome whirled around, her eyes full of fire. "Are you that desperate? Do you really want to find a way for me to go home so soon, Inuyasha? Do you simply want to throw me down the well with my belongings and say 'bye-bye, Kagome' because of… of this?"

"Hell yeah!" Inuyasha shouted, his anger getting the best of him. However, he quickly allowed his ears to flatten against his skull and said, "I didn't… I didn't mean that, Kagome."

Kagome sighed. Turning her attention to the fox glaring holes into Inuyasha's head, she said, "Just let me think about this for a while, alright?" She didn't know why she didn't just tell him 'no', or let him down gently as she'd tried so many times with Kouga. Kyuubi had been so kind to her that she felt she needed to return the favor, to actually consider his offer, since she was positive that she could be happy with him. If she couldn't return to her time through the well, she was positive that she could be happy with the nine-tailed fox, no matter how many times he tried to pull Inuyasha into an argument.

"Of course," Kyuubi said. A part of him growled at the idea of allowing her to choose if she wished to be with him or not. She should be grateful that out of all the females he could have had he wanted her; he chose her above beautiful females and gorgeous princesses. He chose her to be the one to receive his attentions, and yet she wanted to think about becoming his mate, instead of simply falling willingly into his arms? The part of him that simply wanted to sweep her off her feet and mate her without waiting for her to think, just simply could not understand why she would need to think at all. However, for the moment he ignored that part of him, allowing her the time she needed, since she was a human woman, and not a demoness looking for the strongest male.