A/N: Uhhh... hi?

I wanna finish this story so I can upload more! D: Technically it's done, I'm just horrible at uploading. Here's two chapters for funsies!

Enjoy~

The Other Side

Chapter 40

Feels like I'm Drowning

The walk back to the West was horrible. It was clear to Kenichi and Kagome that Sesshomaru was beyond angry and neither of them wanted to talk to him during this. He was at least a few meters away from the two of them since they decided to walk slower.

Kenichi glanced to Kagome in thought. The God of Time was an element to her? That in and of itself was a weird, not to mention a completely mental thought. He wondered why and how that came to be. He also didn't like the way that that male had held her and no doubt that his friend could smell him on her. It was probably one of the reasons why he was utterly mad.

She looked up at him, catching him staring at her. He didn't look away until he felt the need to sigh. He pondered for a moment on whether he should talk or not but did anyways. "Why did you allow him to hold you for that long?" he asked, taking note that Sesshomaru had tensed up front. He watched her frown.

"I don't know," she answered and from what he could tell, it was the truth. Kenichi didn't know what to say to that though, considering he was angered at her back in the dungeons. "It's not like I care for him anyways. He was just there to protect me."

"Odd way of protecting you if I'm being honest," he commented as Kagome gave a small chuckle. "If there's anyone that should hold you like that, it's Sesshomaru. No one else should touch you like he did."

He resisted the urge to smile when Kagome twitched. "Zhou-Mao is a jackass, surely you can understand that. Plus as he oh so kindly said, he likes to see me suffer and now I understand what he was talking about."

He let his gaze settle on his friend; god, he was tense, not that he blamed him. This situation was very stressful. Miroku had been the one with Kagome when she was taken away. When he came flying into Sesshomaru's study—he was there with Sesshomaru, InuKimi and Inuyasha—the monk had described what happened. Suffice to say, mad panic happened.

And to make matters worse, an army of men came to the castle; an army of men from the East. Kenichi had immediately told Sesshomaru that it is possible that his father was behind this and if that was the case, well, it wasn't anything good.

But when he found the commander to the army and he told him that Jasper was the one to give the command to attack; Kenichi was on a mission to kill...or mane at the very least. If Jasper was around then that would be mean that his brother wasn't all that far behind. And knowing those two, meant that his father was the one that ordered them to do this. He hated being right.

If there was one thing that he knew that was going to happen when they got back; it was that Kagome wouldn't be allowed outside for some time. He hoped that she would understand...

"Even so, you shouldn't allow anyone else besides your mate to touch you," he said, causing her to jump at this voice. Kagome looked back up to him then sighed sadly.

"He is apart of me, so technically I was touching myself." Kagome flushed hard at what she just said that caused Kenichi to laugh hard; all tension leaving his body. Well when she put it like that, what was he supposed to say? "Oh god, that didn't sound right," she whispered to herself that only fueled Kenichi's laugh. She smacked his arm lightly while trying to cover up her blush. She failed, naturally.

"Enough, both of you," Sesshomaru growled out that caused them to pause mid-step for a second before resuming to walk. Kagome glanced to Kenichi as if he was the one that would have the answers. He merely shrugged in a 'I don't know' sort of way.

"He's not jealous, is he?" Kagome asked, loud enough that Sesshomaru stopped walking. Kenichi's eyes widened as his friend rounded on her. Kagome felt her mouth drop a little. "I mean, of course you are!" He narrowed his eyes on her at that. "No wait, that's not what I meant! I mean—I just—shit!" She squeaked then gulped as Sesshomaru slowly walked over to her.

She looked to Kenichi for help but all he did was move out of the way and saluted her in a mocking fashion.

"You enjoy getting into trouble, do you not? I suppose you just like having someone come to your rescue," he sneered as Kagome stood still. "I now see why my half-brother hates it so much; you are nothing but trouble. I regret my decision." He turned around and continued his walk forwards, leaving Kagome behind.

Kenichi gaped; holy crap! He looked between both of them, unsure of which he should go with but gave a sad look to Kagome and went after Sesshomaru. He did say that Sesshomaru was his friend and that he would chose him over her if need be. When they both were far enough from her, she slowly started walking.

Kagome's lip trembled and she couldn't resist the tears that started trailing down her cheeks. There was a burning sensation on her neck that she cupped and soon realized why it was burning. She honestly didn't remember mating with him and when she turned her attention to her neck on the right side, she gasped.

From what she could see, it was some type of star with multiple points. What was this; some weird mating mark? The top point of the star was red and raw; why though?

On a side note though; Sesshomaru said he regretted his decision. It hurt, so much in fact that she felt like she was drowning. She couldn't breathe; it felt like there was water in her lungs. Sesshomaru was right about one thing; trouble did follow her. She grabbed a hold of her neck with a gasp. What was going on?!

"S-Sesshomaru..." She gave one last breath before falling unconscious but not before she heard Kenichi panicking.

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