Chapter Rating : T

[Content is not suitable for children and may not be suitable for young teens. Some language and sexual themes present. I'm not your mother, read at your own discretion.]

CHAPTER ONE

Her Scent

'A fine mate' Inuyasha scowled outwardly, a low growl escaping him. The voice in his head, his inner demon, however, did not care and continued to fill Inuyasha's head with intrusive thoughts. 'Why do you deny it? Claim her, she is yours. Mark her.' Inuyasha's scowl deepened further, etching his face with anger. He jumped from the branch he had been lounging on above his traveling party, startling them.

"Is something the matter Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. She stood and reached out for his arm, offering comfort but recoiled when he jerked away from her touch. Inuyasha had been in an increasingly foul mood over the past few days. Kagome was used to his hot temper and sulking after traveling with him for nearly two years; they had been through so much together but for him to be in this bad of a mood for so long, she thought something must be seriously wrong. He hadn't even so much as glanced her way since they had decided to stop for camp.

"I'm going for a walk." He told them and took off at a breakneck pace, disappearing into the trees in a blur of red and white before anyone could say another word to him.

"What the hell has gotten into him lately?" Kagome cursed him under her breath. Shippo voiced what they all suspected matteroffactly. Inuyasha must be seeking out Kikyo, again. The words hung in the air like a curse, darkening Kagome's mood. 'Kikyo. Kikyo. It would be too soon if I never heard her stupid name again.' She huffed in annoyance "I'm going to sleep." She grabbed the edge of her sleeping bag and yanked it over herself. 'Why the hell couldn't he just stay away from her? She didn't even love him, just the idea of him. Here I am, the idiot that keeps coming back. Fine. Whatever. Let him be that way. Not like he's the only man on earth. As soon as we find the rest of these stupid shards I can be back in my own time. I'll get to know Hojo better, or anyone else for that matter. Stupid Inuyasha!' Kagome fumed until all of her energy was spent on anger at the half demon and she fell asleep.

Inuyasha slammed his fist into the nearest tree with enough force to crack its trunk and leave it forever leaning in a new direction. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" With each swear his fist made contact with the tree, splintering the wood further. He growled through clenched teeth. Anger, rage, and frustration saturated every nerve and fiber of his being.

The demon blood boiled in his veins thrashing against his restraint. 'Fool! Stupid halfbreed! Return to Kagome at once! She belongs to you. Your mate waits for you. Claim her!' It was taking every ounce of willpower he had to resist the deep powerful urges he felt and to not give into the demands of his demon blood. His instinct. It was easier to ignore when he had something to kill, something to rip his claws into but they had traveled nearly a week and encountered nothing more than weak minor demons even Shippo could dispose of. Even his bloodlust went unsatisfied. If he were smart he would have sent her home until she was safe from him. It would have made her happy to return to her family and exams that she was always talking about for a few weeks but selfishly he kept her; not wanting her to be so far away from him for so long. Now being anywhere near her was a form of torture that tested his restraint beyond measure.

Every part of his being ached for her. Thoughts of her perfect little body pressed against his, how her bare skin would feel under his hands, her thighs wrapped around his hips as he plunged deep inside her, how sweet the sound of her calling his name in the throes of pleasure would be. Inuyasha slammed the heels of his hands into his temples as if to knock the images out of his own head. His inner demon,however, purred in pleasure. 'Her screams of pleasure will be sweet music when she is claimed.'

He didn't remember it being this hard to keep his hands off her in the previous season. He had known then that he desired her as his mate. Her already pleasant scent had become sweeter, drawing him to her, begging him to claim her. His protective and possessive nature had increased tenfold that even the fox kit's closeness to her irritated him more than it should. Yet he'd only really been in a shittier mood than usual for those two short weeks. He always was that time of year; it was to be expected if he would continue to remain alone in the mating season.

Kagome should be his mate but he couldn't allow himself to act on it. She was a human woman after all; he thought she had the right to live as one. Her world didn't follow the same rules as his. Though it was not always an option for them, he knew human females valued choice in their partners. Demons had no choice, and had she been a demon, she would have submitted to him already. No matter how much the thought of her eventually choosing someone else enraged him and his demon blood demanded he claim her as his, he would not choose this for her. He knew he hurt her too much, too often. 'Weak halfbreed! She is yours to claim. There is no choice, she will not need one. Kagome belongs to you.'

'The least I can do is protect her from myself.' His heart ached in pain and longing at the thought.The demon inside him snarled and howled in rage at his foolish resistance. It fought against him hard, tearing at his resolve. If not for Tetsusaiga at his hip quieting some of his demon energy he would have lost the fight before it began. He would just have to suffer. The season would soon be over; his lust would soon die down to something more tolerable.

Still he couldn't fathom why now did her sweet scent make him suddenly so deliriously intoxicated and fill him with an unshakable lust. It had hit him all at once like a landslide, impossible to ignore, just hours before stopping for camp. The last season with her around hadn't been easy, he wanted her badly, but losing control to the demon inside and potentially raping the woman he loved in blind lust fueled instinct to bind her to him for eternity hadn't been a fear of his until today.

Inuyasha stalked through the forests taking much of his frustration out on anything in the area. Some lesser demons had made the mistake of confronting him over the destruction he had been causing to their home. He didn't kill them, he wanted to, but he was still mostly in control. He left them badly injured but nothing a demon couldn't live through. His anger wasn't their fault. It was late into the night when his ears led him to a large waterfall. He stood under the cool torrent letting it wash away the blood and sweat and chill some of that heated desire. Inuyasha looked to the silver sliver of light that hung in the sky, for once grateful that the new moon would soon arrive. For one night he would be freed from the demon instinct, he could explain some of it then, not everything, but enough.

A/N : Thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying it so far. This was a rough idea that came to me on a sleepless night, but please let me know what you think.