Pup

It was a week later that Sesshomaru returned, his duties for the month attended, his mood was foul before he even stepped foot in the forest surrounding the hut he had built for his pack. His mother had decided to return to the stronghold and grace the court with her presence.

Already tongues were wagging and rumors spreading.

How he hoped his half brother was once again in the village so he could take out some of his frustrations on the whelp.

Word of the whelps marriage to the Shikon miko had finally gotten around in the youkai courts and tongues had been on fire ever since. How shameful for the bastard of the west to take a woman before the Lord of the lands.

Said woman was not only a human but a miko who ran around in odd indecent clothing. She was also caring for the lord of the west's ward as well as an orphaned kitsune. On and on the rumors went, changing and morphing into outrageous stories that held not a shred of truth to them.

It gave him a headache and it amused his mother to no end. Already she was no doubt pulling strings and arranging meetings with potential mates for him. The thought alone made his poison fill his mouth, were he a lesson demon he would have spat it out like an angry cobra. Instead he swallowed it and decided to focus on the task at hand.

Scenting the village he was thoroughly upset to find not even a trace of his half brother, it was as if he had never been there. Hiding his disappointment he instead mused he could use this time to check in on Rin, afterwards he would wander the lands looking for his half brother and deliver to him the lessons and beating he deserved.

Picking her scent out of the many that lingered in the village, he felt his heart stop as the scent of her blood tickled his nose. Pink seeped into his eyes as he moved as quickly to her location as possible. He was ready to rain down fire and brimstone on the person who would dare to shed her blood.

So close to losing it he missed the fact that her scent was right next to the mikos and was surrounded by the smell of sulfur. He appeared at the edge of the natural hot springs, his aura lashing out around him as a low growl left him. He was hunched over, his facial markings turning jagged as he imagined the worst possible thing imaginable. Visions of her small broken body flashing through his mind's eye, he would not lose his pup again.

Kagome jerked back as an angry and down right murderous aura barreled towards her and her children. Quickly she moved between them and the aura readying her body to fight tooth and nail to protect them. While she did not have her bow with her in the waters she was more than ready to channel her miko powers directly into whatever came at them, her own safety be damned.

A gasp was torn from her lips as Sesshomaru burst through the foliage his hair a whirlwind of silver as he crouched low by the edge of the water, looking much like a lion ready to pounce on its prey, a deep brutal growl escaping him as he bared his teeth.

"S-Sesshomaru?" Her voice was a low confused squeak as he turned his dark gaze to hers.

Confused blue orbs met pink tinged molten orbs.

Instantly she stood and moved towards him, the water sloshing around her as she threw caution to the wind and cupped his cheeks, making him focus on her so that the kids could clear the area. "Hey, snap out of it." She gently ran her fingers over his jagged facial marks wiling her soothing aura to wash over him and try to calm him.

"Pup..." His voice was a low guttural growl, it sent shivers down her spine yet she refused to pull away.

"It's okay, come back to me. Everything is fine, Rin is okay, everyone is okay." Her words were low and reassuring and though none of them made any sense to him in his current state it was her soothing tone and calming aura that pulled him back from the brink.

Hackles lowering her reigned in his anger and calmed his beast, slowly his facial markings smoothed out and his eyes lost their tinge of pink. Taking a few deep calming breaths he tried to focus on the miko in front of him, her words finally making sense.

Rin was fine, everyone was fine.

Inhaling through his nose he took a few more deep breaths letting the scent of the miko wash over him. It was no longer boggled down by the scent of stale herbs and medicine. No, it was sweet and pure, clean and alluring...

He froze as an underlying scent waved at him from the very core of her scent. His mouth went dry as his eyes opened slightly, it was as close to a shocked look as he was ever going to get.

Pulling back from her grasp he sat on the ground, his mind racing, jumping from thought to thought. His thoughts were a jumbled mess and had he been his usual normal composed self he would be upset at himself for sitting on the ground like some lowly peasant but honestly...he was at a loss for words.

"Sesshomaru?" Her small voice held worry as she moved closer to the bank of the hot springs, a towel now wrapped firmly around her body hiding it from his gaze. Honestly he hadn't even noticed her nakedness earlier no, he was much more concerned with the change in her scent.

Meeting her worried gaze he could only breath as he let his discovery tumble from his lips.

"Miko, you are with pup."