Thirty Days to Fall in Love

by Lady Morganna

Kagome soon finds herslef revealing more and more of herself to Sesshomaru after he and Inuyasha strike a deal. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? Thirty days together may prove to be just a little to much for the miko and youkai to handle.

3. Day Three: The Prey Knows it is Hunted

Thirty Days to fall in Love

By: Lady Morganna

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha Characters.

Chapter 3: Day Three: The Prey Knows it is Hunted

Authors Note: Okay I am placing this here instead of at the end of the chapter because this chapter is really weird. I wrote it and I think it is weird. Once I started I could not stop. It was like a lecher had possessed me and forced me to write this! Also this chapter would not have happened if I had not gotten a wonderful message from kagvsinu. She asked me to update because she was obsessed and could not stop thinking about this story. I knew how she felt about a story. I never thought anyone would ever be obsessed with my story, but now that someone is maybe I will write faster. This chapter is dedicated to kagvsinu, because without that one little message I would not have updated today. Thank you for a wonderful message. Okay now on with the story.

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What the hell was wrong with the girl? Her breathing was erratic, coming in soft breathy moans. Her heart beat so fast he thought it was going to slam out of her chest at a moment's notice. Her skin was flushed a bright red, usually she only blushed if she was mad or embarrassed. How could she be either of those in her sleep? She had tossed and turned all night, eventually the kit had crawled out of the sleeping bag and headed for a safer place to sleep against the fire neko. The strangest thing though was her scent. It was her scent that bothered Inuyasha the most. Usually Kagome smelled like lavender, a calm gentle scent, however, now there was a tang in her scent. This new part of her scent made the hanyou worry. She had never smelled like this before. Was she dying? Was she sick? He was too inexperienced to understand the scent and what it meant to the other inu youkai in the camp.

Sesshomaru sat against his chosen tree with Rin curled against his leg as usual. His usually placid face was twisted with a feral grin as he glanced at the miko across from him. The tips of two lethal fangs could be seen in a predatory way. Inuyasha looked to Sesshomaru when he heard a soft growl. At first the hanyou thought he saw his brothers' eyes swimming with red, except that in a slow sensual blink of sun kissed gold the red was gone. In the space of a breath, Inuyasha found himself caught in the piercing golden gaze of an inu that was on the hunt. Rearing back in shock, the hanyou hit his head off the trunk of his tree hard enough to make him curse.

Just fucking great! Not only was Kagome acting weird, now Sesshomaru was acting like a predator. Wonderful! That made his day fucking great. He had a possibly ill miko who smelled funny on one hand and on the other hand he had a predatory homicidal manic who was smiling. What in the seven layers of hell was that bastard smiling about? Sesshomaru usually only smiled in two scenarios, when something was dead or when something was about to die. Which one was causing the sadistic grin on the asshole's face? What the hell was wrong with everyone? Was he the only sane being around here anymore? Sighing Inuyasha took in the rest of his group. Everyone was still sleeping peacefully. Thank the kamis! At least Sango and Miroku could be counted on to act normal. All of this weird shit was driving him crazy.

Inuyasha looked back down at the miko when she moaned and mumbled something in her sleep. What the hell was she saying?

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Kagome kicked her sleeping bag down in a fit. It was so hot. When had the temperature risen so high? She was lost in her dreams. Dreams? Hah, they were more like a nightmare to the young virginal miko. She kept seeing the same thing over and over again. She was waiting for someone; aching for someone in a place she had never realized could ache. Then golden eyes swam into her vision and moon spun hair clouded her view of the world. A pair of cool, firm lips settled on hers in a breathe stealing, soul searing kiss. She moaned into those lips wantonly, begging for more. A gentle hand moved from her cheek to her neck and then trailed a tingling slow path to her hip. Kagome moaned again, she needed something. She was not sure what she needed, just that there was something that she really, really needed. She felt like she was standing on a cliff and could not decide if she should jump or run down the path as quickly as possible. The hand smoothed over her belly, riding lower to the vee between her legs. Sucking in a deep breath, Kagome moaned again. The hand traced gentle whorls on the fabric of her skirt, causing her to buck her hips against the hand and bringing a moan to her throat. A male chuckle full of arrogance rumbled near her ear, causing her flesh to tighten into goose bumps. She really needed something from that hand and the gentle petting was not enough. She pulled back from her lovers embrace to beg for something she could not describe, the being that held her brought disbelief to her face. Golden eyes and moon spun hair, check. A face a god would kill for, check. Pale skin marked by high maroon strips on high delicate cheekbones, check. A crescent moon set above a slender aristocratic nose, check. One devilishly handsome smirking taiyoukai holding her close to his hard perfect body, check. One miko aroused beyond her wildest dreams, check.

The silence of the morning was broken by shrill scream from Kagome as she leapt from her sleeping bag and feel onto her knees. She scrambled back from the sleeping bag, giving the innocent material a death glare. Inuyasha looked down and sighed. Well, she wasn't dead and she was moving, and she did not appear sick. She had just gone insane overnight. He could deal with a crazy miko, right? She would just glare at inanimate objects and talk to herself now. He could handle that.

The hair rising on the back of her neck made Kagome turn around to look at Sesshomaru. He was still smirking. As a matter of fact, he was smirking like he knew what she had dreamed about. Narrowing her eyes, Kagome shot him disgusted look.

"I'd be cocky to if I had enough sleep and didn't have nightmares, you jerk." Sesshomaru only smirked wider at her proclamation. Nightmares? He thought not, females did not smell the way she did when they were having nightmares. No, she smelled like she had been rutting wildly.

Giving a human growl in the back of her delicate throat the miko turned away from the, in her opinion, perverted taiyoukai. She stomped to the smoldering remains of the fire and began to stir the logs into a small flame. Going to her bag, Kagome threw packages of Ramen to the ground. The clattering of the kettle forced the monk and demon slayer from their sleep. They awoke to an angry looking miko, grumbling about stupid inus and their horrible attitudes. Most of what she said was lost in the racket she was creating as she was fixing breakfast.

Sango rose and walked to the young woman's side. "Kagome, maybe I should fix breakfast? You could go take a short walk and take a few moments to calm down." Kagome looked from the whiskey eyes of her friend to the midnight eyes of the monk, and nodded her head.

"Thank you, Sango. I think I do need to calm down before we leave." Standing the miko sent both inu males a look that clearly stated if they followed they would find themselves in hell. Inuyasha shrunk back from her and slunk to Miroku's side. Sesshomaru on the other hand rose and walked in the opposite direction as the young miko, smirking the entire time. Perhaps the young woman needed a few minutes alone? She would appreciate some space to sort her thoughts.

Kagome walked away from the camp with her bathing supplies. She really needed a bath, she felt sticky with sweat. Entering the small clearing with a smile, Kagome peeled her clothes off and dove into the water. The heat and the steam melted away the tension in her muscles and smoothed the frown from her mouth. Kagome giggled and began to lather up the pouf she had brought with her. She spent a very enjoyable twenty minutes not thinking about the taiyoukai and her horrible dream. As she toweled herself off, Kagome decided she just needed to forget about it. It was just a dream and Sesshomaru was probably just bored. And what did males do when they were bored? They picked on the weakest female around them, until said female hacked off necessary body parts. Smiling, Kagome imagined the inu begging her to not castrate him. That thought was still in her head when she entered camp and found once again a bowl of ramen waiting for her. Smiling a thank you to Sango, Kagome sat down and ate the tepid ramen.

"Come on, ya lazy humans. Let's go."

"What about Sesshomaru-sama? Rin will not leave Sesshomaru-sama!" The child was quickly becoming hysterical in her fear of Sesshomaru-sama being left behind.

"It's okay Rin. He's probably off making sure the forest is safe. Besides could we travel to fast for Sesshomaru to catch up to us?" Kagome had gathered the child to her chest and was rocking her gently while Shippo patted her hand.

"No, Sesshomaru-sama is the fastest person in the whole world!" Oh, to be young again and have complete and utter faith in another being. Or maybe it was not her youth that made Rin believe whole-heartedly in Sesshomaru; maybe it was Sesshomaru himself that instilled such faith in the little girl. Rin did spend every day with a living, breathing god. He had complete confidence in himself and believed his strength was all he needed. Living with that kind of complex would instill a mere human with a bit of hero worship, especially one so young and easily swayed as Rin.

"Okay then we can go ahead without him and whenever he gets done doing whatever he is doing he will find us. Right?" The small girl looked up at the miko with eyes quivering with tears.

"Sesshomaru-sama won't be mad that Rin left him will he?" The question was posed in a whisper with a sniffle added at the end.

Surprisingly it was not Kagome, but Jaken who answered "He won't be mad Rin. It is in your best interest if we continue on with the miko. Sesshomaru-sama knows the miko will not let anything happen to you that is why he left you in her care." Rin smiled and Jaken and Jaken nodded at Rin. The two seemed to have a relationship that only they understood. Rin pulled herself from Kagome's arms and bounced away giggling at Shippo.

"Come on Shippo lets play a game!" Jaken was already waddling after the girl and kit, telling them to stay close in his shrill voice. However, before he had gotten five paces from the miko he turned around and bowed to her. Kagome was stunned to say the least; Jaken had just thanked her for calming Rin. Looking to the sky, Kagome made sure pigs were not flying overhead.

Standing up and shouldering her massive yellow bag, Kagome smiled at Inuyasha. "Come on Inuyasha. Those jewel shards aren't going to find themselves."

"'Bout damn time woman." The inu hanyou took his place at the head of the group and walked from the small clearing into the sun dappled forest.

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The group of shard hunters trekked through the forest until midday without any incident. The sun had risen high over head and was slowly but surely broiling the group below. Kagome wiped the sweat from her brow and glanced at the two sweating children atop Ah-Un.

"Kagome, it's so hot. Can I have a drink of water?"

"Of course you can, Shippo. Here you go. Share with Rin, okay?" The kit nodded as he chugged down some of the warm bottled water. Handing the bottle to Rin, Shippo wiped the water from his chin.

"Inuyasha, do you think we could go down by the water and stop for awhile? We could use a break. We have covered a lot of ground today." Inuyasha turned to look at the girl with a small smile. He was in a good mood. Kagome did not seem to be insane, as he had previously thought she was, and Sesshomaru had not shown up all day. He knew the taiyoukai would be back but it just felt good to travel without second guessing every choice he made. Since he was in such a good mood, Inuyasha merely nodded at the girl and veered off the path to the river. Kagome smiled and followed the hanyou out of the trees.

Once they reached the river, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Miroku settled beneath a tree on the bank and closed his eyes. He was fully intent on using this time to take a much needed nap. Inuyasha leapt into the branches of the tree above the monk. He too closed his eyes, but kept his senses on the alert for anything that would pose a threat to the group.

Sango turned to Kagome and the two smiled at each other. "Shippo, Rin! Would you like to go swimming?" Shippo leapt up and down in excitement. Rin just stood there looking perplexed at the kit, wondering why he was excited to get into the water. He had never shown such enthusiasm when it was time to bathe. Sango called Rin to her and lead her behind some bushes, where she helped her out of kimono into one of Kagome's smaller t-shirts. Sango then changed into the modest blue one piece swimming suit Kagome had brought back for her.

"Come on Rin! I bet Kagome and Shippo are already waiting for us." Taking the girls hand in hers, Sango walked away from the bushes and toward the river. Near the water's edge stood a bouncing Shippo in a pair of red swim trunks and Kagome in a pink one piece swimming suit.

"I'm sorry that I don't have a swimming suit for you Rin. The next time I go home I'll bring you one." Kagome stepped into the water and walked out until the water reached her waist.

"Okay Shippo, Rin this is your boundary you cannot go out any further than this." The kit whooped and ran headlong into the water calling for Rin as he went. Laughing the girl followed him into the water. Rin understood why he was excited now, swimming with a friend seemed like a lot of fun. Sango followed the girl into the water and came to a stop next to Kagome.

"This was a great idea, Kagome. The water is very refreshing after the heat of the day." Sighing the slayer sank beneath the water. Jaken looked on with a happy sigh. He did not have to go into the water to watch the child. The miko was there and would ensure her safety. Sighing again the toad settled back on the bank and prepared to take a nice long nap.

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Sesshomaru came upon the peaceful scene an hour later. By this time the quiet playing in the water had erupted into an all out water fight. By the looks of it Kagome and Rin were on the losing end of the fight. The kit and slayer were ruthless in their splashing. Kagome slipped and fell under the water only to come up gurgling and begging for reprieve. The four in the water were laughing as the youkai lord settled into the lotus position near the monk.

"Okay guys I think it's time to get out and have some lunch." The miko's words were met by the groans of two children as she and Sango chased the two from the water. Sango and Kagome slipped behind the bushed to change. When they reappeared they seem to have come to an understanding as the slayer walked to the miko's bag and began to rummage around for lunch. The miko had reappeared with two wiggling children who had been put back into their clothes. Holding the kit down forcefully, Kagome roughly toweled his hair dry, combed it, and put it back up its usual ponytail in less than two minutes. It seemed the female had practice dealing with a male child and their disdain for anything to do with bathing. Rin smiled and came to sit beside the miko. Kagome gently toweled her hair and then braided the thick dark hair.

"There you go Rin. You won't get so hot with your hair up like that."

"Thank you Kagome." The girl hopped up and ran to Sesshomaru. "Sesshomaru-sama! Rin went swimming with Kagome, Shippo, and Sango. Rin had so much fun! Sesshomaru-sama, you are not mad that Rin left you are you?" The girl went from extremely happy to miserable in the space of a heartbeat.

Sesshomaru looked up at the child and patted the crown of her head. "I am not mad Rin. You made the right choice." Smiling, Rin ran to Sango's side to receive her portion of lunch. It was refreshing to the youkai to see the girl smile at others. She usually looked so lonely with only Jaken to play with. Speaking of Jaken, where was the ungrateful toad? Spying him sleeping when he should have been watching Rin, Sesshomaru sent him a wake-up call in the form of a smooth river pebble.

Jumping up the toad bowed to Sesshomaru begging forgiveness for having fallen asleep. Fifteen minutes later, Inuyasha jumped down from his perch.

"All right breaks over. Let's go." Kagome frowned at his back. He had been happy just a mere hour ago. What had upset him? Glancing to her left, Kagome saw Sesshomaru and understood Inuyasha's unease. The hanyou was worried the full youkai would find fault with his choices. Sighing, Kagome stood and gathered her bag. Ushering two sleepy children onto the back of the dragon, Kagome took up the rear of the group to keep an eye on them while they slept. It did not take long for the sway of the dragon's back to lull the children to sleep. Five minutes after the group had begun their walk, Miroku's hand twitched. Two minutes later, Miroku's hand moved toward Sango's bottom. One minute later, Miroku was in heaven as his cursed hand caressed the lovely bottom of the slayer. Fifteen seconds later and Miroku was seeing little birdies. Kagome smiled at the perverts antics. Would he ever learn? Sango had picked up her pace to avoid the wandering hand of the monk. Little did the slayer know, the monk had a wonderful view and would gladly allow her to be angry for quite some time.

Kagome nearly stumbled when a large white silk covered body moved into her vision. Gasping, Kagome felt her skin heat up at his proximity. Inuyasha turned around to see what the problem was. He found his brother walking near Kagome with his nose in the air. His posture said he was not even paying attention to anyone in the group. Kagome was flushed scarlet and Inuyasha wondered again if she was sick. Turning around with a feh, the hanyou missed the smirk his brother gave his back.

The miko was given enough space. It was time to engage her in a game. He was bored and a bored taiyoukai generally meant something bad for the miko. He knew she would not speed up and pass him. She was concerned about the children and afraid they would fall from the dragons back. She did not need to know that Rin often rode Ah-Un while she was sleeping. He also knew she did not want to cause a scene in front of the hanyou. Circumstance had worked in his favor once more.

Sesshomaru raised his hand to brush his hair behind his ear and watched as the miko stared at his hand to ensure it stayed away from her. Smiling to himself, Sesshomaru pulled his claws through his hair and lowered his hand to the mikos neck. Allowing his claws to caress her skin delicately, Sesshomaru watched as the flushed darkened. Kagome shrieked and jumped into the air, which caused Inuyasha to look back at her again with a quizzical expression.

Inuyasha looked at the woman as she blushed even deeper and glared at his brother. Sesshomaru looked down at the girl with disdain. Wonderful, crazy Kagome was back. Inuyasha sighed and turned around to watch where he was going. Kagome couldn't believe Sesshomaru had touched her and Inuyasha had done nothing about it! Looking up into the youkai's face, Kagome glared at him. Sesshomaru merely leered at her. Kagome turned her attention back to the road. She reminded herself that he was a bully and bullies just picked on people when they were bored. The best way to deal with a bully was to ignore them, firming her resolve Kagome lifted her head a little higher and stuck her nose in the air.

Sesshomaru was amused. The little vixen was trying to ignore him, was she? Sesshomaru did not like to be ignored. He truly believed himself to be walking perfection and every female had confirmed his belief by falling at his feet with just a hooded expression. Bedroom eyes they called it. If the vixen was going to ignore him, he was going to have to up the ante. Smirking to himself, Sesshomaru raised his hand to her cheek and ran his claws from her cheek, down her neck, and down the gentle swell of the side of her breast. He watched as her facial muscles tightened and she blushed again. She, however, did not look at him. Instead she continued to stare forward.

Kagome was fuming to herself about stupid dogs and their need to worry a bone until there was nothing left but the messy pulp on the inside. She did not want to be his bone for the duration of this trip. Okay just keep ignoring the damn youkai and he will either get tired of annoying you and go kill something or he will get tired of being annoyed and will kill you. Either way at least the torment would stop. Sesshomaru watched as the girl stuck her nose further into the air.

Sesshomaru raised a silver brow at her. She was really good at ignoring people. Well, he could be very persistent when he wanted to be. Raising his hand again, Sesshomaru brought it to rest against her bottom. When that did not get a reaction, the youkai squeezed the soft tissue. Growling in the back of her throat in a pathetic way, Kagome stuck her nose in the air even farther and continued to ignore him. Glancing to the hanyou to ensure that he was still facing forward, Sesshomaru decided to take his game up one more notch. Keeping his hand on her bottom, he leaned in and licked the pulse point below her ear while squeezing her bottom again.

That did it! The miko jumped a foot off the ground and screamed. Sesshomaru composed his face and resumed his previous stance beside the miko in the nick of time. Inuyasha and the others turned to see what was wrong with Kagome, only to find her fuming at the inu beside her. She had her hand to her throat and a long slim finger from the other hand pointing rudely at Sesshomaru. Inuyasha placed his hand on his sword.

"Kagome, what did he do?" The hanyou was quickly becoming inflated with anger.

"He…..He……He licked me and grabbed my ass!" The girl spluttered. The hanyou took his hand away from his sword. Looking at the miko with a weird expression on his face, Inuyasha sighed. Wonderful, crazy Kagome was back. Sango and Miroku looked at her like she had lost her mind to.

"Guys he did. He licked me and grabbed my ass! I swear …" Stopping mid sentence Kagome realized what exactly the damn inu had been up to. It was never about being a pervert. It was about getting her to look crazy in front of her friends. By the looks on their faces, Sesshomaru had achieved his goal. They were all right to. Who would believe the ice lord himself would go around licking girls and grabbing their bottoms? Especially licking HUMAN girls and grabbing HUMAN bottoms. She would never convince them that he had done it, the only thing she convinced them of was that she had spent too much time in the sun. Kagome decided that they already thought she was crazy, so she could throw a little fit and no one would find it odd at this point in time. The miko stamped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You just wait, Sesshomaru! Inuyasha will catch you at it eventually." The girl then proceeded to stick her tongue out at the inu. Stomping to the head of the line, Kagome lead the group away. Sighing, Inuyasha walked behind the girl. If she was going to act all crazy and shit she could just walk by herself. Next she would be accusing him of groping her. What the hell was wrong with the girl? She was mumbling to herself now and hacking away at any branch that crossed her path. Sango looked to Miroku with concern. What had happened to Kagome?

Sesshomaru merely smirked. The woman was too easy to rile up. It was deeply amusing to watch as she stomped away like she was a threat to anything before her. She was about as deadly as a dust bunny. Composing his face, the taiyoukai calmly began to walk behind the group once more.

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Kagome had been leading the group for about a mile, stomping all the way, when she drew up short. There was a split in the path, which direction should she choose? Which direction did Inuyasha want to take? Why was she wondering which way Inuyasha wanted to take? Why didn't she just choose a direction and let him follow her for once? A light giggle broke the silence.

"Kagome, which way will we go?" Apparently Rin and Shippo had woken up and sought out their favorite female in the world.

Kagome's face softened. "Why are you guys here?"

"Sesshomaru-sama said you were mad at him. Sesshomaru-sama said Rin and Shippo should come make you laugh again. Why are you mad at Sesshomaru-sama Kagome?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about Rin. Come on lets go this way." The two children trailed after the miko. A few minutes later the rest of the group took the same path. They were following the frustrated miko silently. Inuyasha was sure she had finally lost what little bit of mind she may have had. Sesshomaru had woken the children and whispered something to Rin. The girl had smiled and ran ahead of the group, dragging Shippo along, so they could join Kagome.

It was amazing what a voice could do to a person if it were raised to a shrill scream.

"SESSHOMARU-SAMA!" The child's fear reached him through her voice. Something was wrong with the child. Sesshomaru flew past Inuyasha and the human's becoming a white blur before their eyes. Inuyasha took off at a run towards the child's scream, Sango and Miroku following quickly.

Sesshomaru burst through the trees into a small clearing. What he saw stopped his heart, Rin was standing behind the miko, the fox kit clutched to her. The miko was standing with her bow drawn, purity flaring from the arrow in a brilliant arc around the children and her. And before the miko was a lowly centipede youkai demanding the shards around the girls' neck. Without thinking, Sesshomaru rushed forward and up. He did not even bother to draw his sword, preferring instead to take this youkai's life with his claws. He felt the skin of the centipede stretch before giving way to his claws and tearing with a loud pop. Blood pooled at the cut and hung there for a moment, it was just long enough for the children to get out of the way, but not long enough for the miko to move. She had turned to run, had barely taken one step before she was covered in a deluge of blood and gore. Inuyasha and the others rushed into the clearing just in time to watch the bloody waterfall hit the miko head on.

Gagging Kagome looked down at herself. Disbelief washed over her. She had never been covered from head to toe in blood before. She didn't know what to do. Should she run around screaming like a little girl? Should she stand tall and act like it was nothing? Should she cry? Should she yell at Sesshomaru for not waiting just one damn minute until she was out of the blast zone? Drawing in a deep breath, Kagome did the only thing she could do. She walked to her poor abused bag, picked it up, tossed it at the damn inu, and stomped to him. He had, of course, caught the bag easily and was now staring at it as if it had jumped into his hand on its own.

"All right this is how this is going to work. You" a delicate finger jabbed Sesshomaru right above his armor "are going to sniff out a hot spring right now. You will take me to said hot spring so that I can wash this off of me. Oh yeah and you will carry me there, so I can get there quickly. You" a finger jabbed at Inuyasha " will follow us and not argue about this. You will help set up camp and you will hunt something for dinner tonight. You will also cook whatever it is you find. Sango please keep Miroku from peeping at me. Does everybody understand?"

The entire group nodded mutely at the miko. Inuyasha was too afraid of being sat into oblivion to argue with her. Sesshomaru had pissed her off, he could take her to the hot spring and put up with her bad attitude. If he hunted and cooked something, maybe she wouldn't be mad at him too.

Kagome turned to Sesshomaru, the only one who had not nodded his head at her demands. Slamming her hands onto her hips, Kagome began tapping her foot.

The little vixen thought she could order him around, did she. Well, he would take her to the hot spring but he would get payment for services rendered. He was no one's puppy. He shouldered her bag and wrapped his arm around the fuming woman's waist. Leaping into the air, Sesshomaru took off in the direction of a hot spring.

"Kagome was really scary." The entire group agreed with Shippo and began to follow the miko and the taiyoukai at a very slow pace. They would give her plenty of time to cool off.

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Sesshomaru touched down gently beside a hot spring and released the miko from his grasp. She yanked her bag from his shoulder and disappeared behind a bush. As she went, she told him to, in her words, get lost. Sesshomaru glanced down at himself and smiled. Carrying the miko had done the trick. His clothes were bloodstained, his neck was covered in blood, and even his hair had become sticky with blood. The miko had once again dirtied the body and clothes of the Western Lord. Sesshomaru quickly undid the ties of his heavy armor and let it hit the ground, his silken clothes followed and were kicked into bank of the hot spring. Moving silently to the steaming water, Sesshomaru entered it before the miko emerged naked from the bushes. She clutched her soaps to her and did not even notice him in the water. She was too busy mumbling to herself about him. He thought he heard something about a very important part of his anatomy rotting and falling off.

He watched with hooded eyes as the miko entered the water and dipped below the surface to wet her body completely. She rose from the water facing him and nearly drowned at the vision she received. Falling into the water and back pedaling away from Sesshomaru, Kagome swallowed water and began to cough.

He was sitting against a natural ledge in the hot spring. The water was lapping at his waist and barely covered the important bits from her sight. His knees were raised above the water, showing off his muscular thighs. His hand rested against a boulder that protruded from the water, his claw tapping lightly against the surface of the boulder. She watched that claw trace small circles around the rock. Swallowing, Kagome took in the rest of the picture. He was reclined back against rocks, she could see every muscle beneath his skin ripple as he breathed. The natural contours of his well toned abdomen were there in all their glory, begging her to run her fingers down them. Two maroon stripes ran along each of his hips. His silver hair pooled around his hips in the water, some of it rested over his lap. The tendrils of moonlight in the water curled out towards her, drawing her closer to the youkai. When she finally moved her eyes up from his body to look at his face she was lost. He was looking right at her. Steam curled around him making him look even paler, his markings stood out in sharp contrast on his face. His eyes, oh kami, they were heavy lidded and smoldering. They had gone from the color of the sun to a deeper molten color that seemed to have tendrils of red swirling in their depths. Swallowing again, Kagome tried to find her voice.

When nothing came out but a small squeak, the miko swatted the water and desperately tried to regain her composure. She was mad damn it! Wait, why was she mad? Was she mad because there was an extremely hot male in her bath? Why was she made about that? Didn't every woman want to look up and see this kind of god in their bath? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Kagome drew in a deep breath and spoke through clenched teeth.

"Sesshomaru, what are you doing in my bath?"

"This Sesshomaru was in need of a bath, miko. You got blood all over my clothes."

"You could wait until I am done." She was furious, he could see her anger bubbling in her eyes.

"This Sesshomaru believes you will wash the blood from my person." Kagome flung water at the inu and shrieked.

"I am giving you until the count of three and then I am screaming loud enough for Inuyasha to hear ten miles away."

In an instant she had taken his place on the ledge, with a very large male positioned between her thighs, her naked thighs. Kagome eeped and tried to wiggle away. Sesshomaru merely wrapped his hand around her throat loosely. He looked down at her with a veiled look to his eyes.

"I remember the last time we were in a spring together and you threatened to call the hanyou. What did I promise you would be doing if you thought to call the hanyou's name again?" The inu seemed to be lost in thought as he gazed down at her. She blushed a deep dark red, she remembered perfectly what he had said. She had dreamed about what he had said and threatened to do to her. Swallowing hard, Kagome tried to wiggle away again. Sesshomaru tightened his grip.

"Ah yes, I remember. I believe I said you would scream, but you would be screaming my name in pleasure." Smirking the taiyoukai bent down to the girls ear. His warm breath wafted over her delicate ear as he spoke. "You have two choices miko. One, you can call for the hanyou and I can kill him and then you can bathe with me. Two, you can bathe with me quietly and the hanyou can live. Which is your choice?" Sesshomaru added pulled back and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You must choose miko."

"The second one." Shivering Kagome tried to move out of his hold once more.

"Where are you going?"

"To bathe, Sesshomaru. Quietly like you said." Kagome's eyes widened as the inu grinned at her.

"I believe woman you have misunderstood me. You will wash this Sesshomaru's hair first." Kagome began to shake her head, until one silver brow rose and she remembered his threat about Inuyasha.

"Can I least put something on?"

"No. There is no reason to. It is only you and I here."

"Can I move into the water? I'm cold and it's not really necessary for me to be embarrassed is it?" She flushed when his gaze slid down to her chest that was currently crushed against his.

Releasing her, Sesshomaru turned from the miko and dipped below the water. When he resurfaced, Sesshomaru grabbed the miko's leg and dragged her to a lower ledge. Just like the previous night, Sesshomaru slipped between her legs. However, this time he settled down even further resting his head against her chest. Sighing, Kagome picked up the bottle of shampoo and began to lather Sesshomaru's hair.

"You know I think you are just doing this so you don't have to wash all of this stuff." The youkai between her thighs merely grunted as her nails scratched against his scalp. He turned his head into her touch when she moved to rub behind his ears. Kagome actually smiled, he was such a dog.

"Yep, you just don't want the hassle of doing this yourself. So, you scare some poor girl into doing it for you. Who do you get to do it when you cannot find some unsuspecting girl? Do you make Jaken do this?" Kagome giggled at the thought of the toad scrubbing Sesshomaru's hair. A growl and slap to her thigh was her reward for her comment.

"Ow. If you don't play nice I will leave."

"If you leave, I will kill Inuyasha."

"You don't fight fair."

"Why should I?" Sesshomaru ducked below the water and rinsed the shampoo from his hair. When he resurfaced he picked the miko up and took her place. He settled her between his thighs and began to lather shampoo into her hair. He made sure to scrub until he was sure the blood was no longer marring her hair. Kagome gasped. She was sitting in the lap of Sesshomaru and she was alive to tell about it. When he pushed her into the water, she dipped below the surface to rinse the soap from her hair.

Once she broke the surface, she was met by a very predatory taiyoukai holding her pouf. He leered at her, a fang peering out from his lips. He could smell the places this particular thing had been.

"I will do that part myself, thank you. And before you threaten me with killing Inuyasha, remember you said I only had to bathe with you. You never said anything about you bathing me." Kagome held her hand out for the pouf. Sesshomaru gave her the strange object. He would have to be more cunning tomorrow. Kagome turned her back to him and began to soap herself under the water. Sesshomaru smirked, he too washed himself, however, he did not turn away from the miko.

Several minutes later the miko was clean and fragrant once again. She turned back to the taiyoukai, making sure to stay below the surface of the water, and smiled.

The smile drew him to her. The gleam in his eyes kept her from moving. In that instant, Kagome knew, knew without a doubt that he was not only there to defeat Naraku. He was there to hunt her, to make her his prey. Her eyes widened like that of a doe and all of the days troubles came back to her. She had missed the signs. Sure Sesshomaru did not like humans but for some reason, he was after her. She was brought out of her musings by the press of a hard body against hers. His turgid member pressed into her belly and demanded her attention, her eyes widened like even more.

"This Sesshomaru will have you female." Announcing his intentions was part of his instinct. The female did not need to know why, just that he intended to take her. Kagome swallowed, he was definitely after her in a very primal way. She did not understand why and she did not want to. She wanted to get the hell out of her and rush back to her friends and make sure she was never anywhere near the damn inu anymore.

She pushed away from him and he let her go. He watched as she scrambled from the water and dressed as she ran towards the sounds of her friends. She wouldn't tell anyone what he had said and if she did they would not believe her. He made sure of that today with is little game of grope of the miko.

Sesshomaru settled back into the water and reclined against the rocks. He directed his gaze to the stars and reflected on the progress he had made.

The female was aware of his intentions. He could now begin the hunt in earnest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone had done everything she had asked. Inuyasha had even hunted and cooked the meat. Shippo had laid out her sleeping bag. When she came flying into camp, everyone looked up. Kagome never looked at any of them. She made a dive for her sleeping bag and settled in without a word to anyone. Inuyasha hung his head and sighed. The damn girl was crazy.