It all started with a Nameless Beauty

~~~Chapter 9~~~

Kagome stopped in her tracks. She looked to her left and mustered her most threatening glare. Sesshoumaru held his emotionless mask, but his eyes told a very different story. Gold and red danced dangerously within his gaze. He was angry with her. For rejecting him or for hitting him she did not know.

Didn't she understand that SHE was the submissive one? Females were ALWAYS overpowered by the males. It had been that way for all of time and would NOT change. But then perhaps this was the very reason he wanted her so?

When her glare did nothing but elicit an even stronger grip from the inu youkai, Kagome winced and turned to her right. Hopefully this side would prove easier.

As soon as she turned and saw Youko's face, her demeanor immediately changed from anger to guilt. His eyes showed something she could not quite decipher, but whatever it was, she could feel it run across her skin. His eyes would dash around, left to right, up then down. Was it sadness?

His mind was whirling full of questions that had formed when he had discovered she was missing. Why did she leave him? Did he not promise to protect her? Did he not show her how he felt? How was it that one stupid hanyou girl could do this him? He shook his head. No. He would not allow his emotions to overpower him.

Inuyasha stood there next to Kagome, staring at the two holding her wrists. His already boiling blood could not take any more. "What the HELL do you think you guys are doing! Get your filthy paws off of her!" he shouted.

Kagome looked at him, "Thank you… for being so protective, Inuyasha. But I can take care of this myself," she said softly, "And I would also appreciate it, if you wouldn't yell." She flattened her ears to her head. "My hearing is really sensitive now," she pouted.

Inuyasha blushed and backed away. "Sorry," he muttered. Crap! He was caught in the act of taking care of his Kagome!

"Let go of me," she said to the two full blooded demons and waited.

"Please," she added as an after thought.

Youko paused only for a moment, and then let go of her wrist. Sesshoumaru on the other hand did not comply with her request. His grip still held strong.

He looked her dead in the eyes. It was a blatant refusal.

Kagome used her newly released hand and swiped at him with her claws. If he would not do it willingly, she would make him. Just as she was about to strike him, he caught her wrist with his free hand. Crap.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru stood, her wrists in his hands.

"You will come with me," Sesshoumaru said, jerking her away from the other two males.

Kagome lurched forward a step, and then yanked her arms back to stop him. She looked him up and down with one eyebrow slightly higher than the other, and he immediately responded, "This Sesshoumaru, the Lord of the Western Lands, commands you, an inferior being trespassing on MY territory, to follow me. You are still in my debt."

Kagome continued to stare at him. This was unbelievable! She tried to calm her nerves by counting backwards from ten, thinking of any place better than where she was, or any other method she could think of. But NOTHING worked. Irritation was clearly visible in every fiber of her body.

"My DEAR Sesshoumaru-sama," she began with thick sarcasm, "I would LOVE to follow you around and be at your ankles waiting to serve you, but I have a responsibility where I must remain free and travel with my companions," she said glancing in the general direction of Inuyasha and Youko.

Hearing her comment, the taiyoukai went into a frenzy. The red in his eyes had completely taken over and he was overcome with the only emotion he was comfortable with, anger. She would still defy him even if she was in his arms where in any given time, he could kill her?

He looked over her shoulder towards the other two demons. "If you don't have any companions, you could come with me," he looked at her menacingly, "Isn't that right?"

Not waiting for an answer, he let go of her wrists and stormed towards his half-brother with claws drawn. Completely taken by surprise, Inuyasha could not dodge quickly enough. Inuyasha felt the larger youkai's claws dig deep into his flesh, and then almost immediately, knew his lack of attention had cost him. He looked and winced at the poison seeping through his red fire rat haori into his chest. Shit!

Sesshoumaru did not wait for him to recover and charged again, but before he could finish the job, Kagome shoved Inuyasha to the side, just out of Sesshoumaru's reach. Quickly, Kagome scrambled up from the floor and dragged Inuyasha as best as she could. She needed him to stay alive!

She sat him beside a tree away from danger and stood tall. She slowly turned around to face Sesshoumaru. "If you want me to go with you, then your fight is with me!" she yelled with a growl in her throat.

Why would the Lord of the Western Lands listen to a measly hanyou girl? He glanced at her and quickly turned his head, scanning the forest for the fox.

The poison in Inuyasha's body had already begun to circulate. It wouldn't take long for the poison to take effect, to paralyze him from the outside in. If it didn't kill him now, it would soon enough.

"One down, one to go,"Sesshoumaru thought.

Sesshoumaru stretched out his hand, and before Kagome's eyes, a whip appeared out of thin air, "Come out, fox! Or do you want to be hunted like the animal you are?"

Immediately, Youko stepped out in the open wielding a whip as well. From what Kagome could see, his weapon was similar to a vine. Where had that come from? And how would that defeat Sesshoumaru?

"Youko! Get away! I'll deal with him!" Kagome yelled.

Both youkais ignored her. Their gazes showed that only one thing was on their minds. Kill.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, neither of them moving. Kagome had no idea what the hell they were doing. But from what she could see, she guessed that they were sizing each other up. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she knew instinctively to not move. If she did anything out of line, she knew she could be killed.

By her feet, Inuyasha groaned in pain and struggled to stay conscious. "Run Kagome!" he gasped.

Sesshoumaru was the first to strike, aiming to hit the fox square in the chest. However, Youko had effortlessly evaded the poisonous whip. Little did the Western Lord know, Youko was extremely adept with the whip. He knew exactly how they worked and could read them like books.

Youko retaliated with a twirl of his wrist, only to be thwarted with Sesshoumaru's sword. Fuck. This would be harder than he thought.

Kagome's eyes could barely keep up with the pair of them. But from what she could catch glimpses of, Sesshoumaru seemed to have the upper hand with his sword and ability to fly.

Kagome was frantic. She wanted to stop them from fighting, but she couldn't without putting herself in harm's way. She tried to force herself to step in between them, but her body would not listen! Could it be the murderous youkis? Was this her demon half taking over?

With nothing else she could do, Kagome kneeled down towards Inuyasha. He had lost consciousness. His breathing was labored. And a thin sheen of sweat was developing all over his body. FUCK. She couldn't do ANYTHING!

After many more swipes from each weapon, there was a halt. Kagome noticed the lack of sounds and turned towards the fighting pair. Youko was breathing heavily, one knee on the ground, head slightly bowed, as Sesshoumaru stood in front of him, whip still in hand. "Any last words?" he asked as he raised his whip-wielding hand.

But before he let the fatal blow reach its target, Kagome had appeared in front of Youko, shielding him. She didn't know why she risked her life for the fox demon, or even how her body moved that quickly, but she did. It was as if her body had moved of its own accord.

Sesshoumaru stopped mid-motion and looked shocked at her stance. What was this? He looked into her eyes and saw the edges of her iris change to pink and red.

He looked back again at the fox behind her. Fuck! There was no clear shot without harming his prize.

Kagome stood still, arms spread out wide, and looked straight into Sesshoumaru's eyes. "I said this is between US! Did you not hear what I said?" she yelled.

Sesshoumaru studied her. He was an emotionless lord, but it did not mean he did not know what emotions WERE. He saw strength coming from something deep within her. Was it… love?

If he defied her now, she would surely rip him to pieces. He could feel the singe of miko energy emanating, slowly gaining momentum with her demon half.

Losing to this hanyou bitch was worse than losing to his hanyou brother. She wasn't even a true hanyou! From what he could tell, he had no chance against her. He knew now he had no way of forcing her into something she did not want.

Sesshoumaru pulled back from his offensive stance, retracted his whip, and stood tall. "You are no longer in my debt, Kagome. You may do as you wish, and should we ever meet again, the circumstances will be very different. Understand that I have found you not worthy of being mine." And with that, he left, taking off into the sky.

At first Kagome was flaring with madness, but when his youki left with him. She began to calm down. "What changed his mind?" she wondered.

As soon as Sesshoumaru was out of sight and smell, Kagome sprang into action. She sped towards Inuyasha, kneeled, and immediately took off his haori to check on his wounds. Fuck, fuck, fuck! She didn't know how or why, but the poison was spreading much quicker than usual.

Kagome jumped up and did a quick perimeter check of the grounds, but could not come upon anything useful. No herbs in sight. Inuyasha would have to battle the poison himself. She ran back to Inuyasha and kneeled by his side. "Come on, Inuyasha. You can fight this!" Tears were spilling down her face. He wouldn't leave her. He COULDN'T leave her.

"Stay with me!" she almost screamed.

Youko, still crouched in the middle of the clearing, was in awe and shock. Why had she saved him? What did she do to make Sesshoumaru leave?

His thoughts were cut short when a single scent overwhelmed his nose—salt.

She was crying.

And what was he doing? He said he would protect her, goddamnit!

Youko jumped up from the ground and headed over to her. She ignored his presence and continued stroking Inuyasha's hair and hand. She alternated between petting his head and grasping his hand. She was trying to comfort him as much as she could with her shaking arms. It was the only thing she could do to keep busy. "You'll be ok," she whispered, "everything will be alright."

Youko kneeled beside her and pulled out a seed from his hair. Using what remained of his strength, he summoned the seed to grow at an unnaturally high speed. "This is an herb that will work against most poisons." He pushed the now full grown plant into her field of vision.

She was too devastated and continued stroking Inuyasha's hand. "Everything will be ok," he heard her say.

Youko looked on at her broken face. He would stop her tears.

He tore open the plant and a milky yellow liquid began to ooze out of the stem. Quickly, he placed the stem to Inuyasha's lips, forcing it into the hanyou's mouth. He then gripped Inuyasha's neck and moved his hand up and down his throat, driving the medicine into his unconscious body.

Almost immediately, Inuyasha's eyes began to flutter. Kagome finally shook free from her trance, and eagerly looked at Inuyasha, eyes larger than ever. It worked! Kagome smiled with glee and threw herself on Inuyasha. She embraced him with all her might. "Ka-go-me… I c-can't breathe," he barely whispered. She immediately let go and sat back next to him, watching him with her big blue eyes and continued her petting. He would be fine.

Youko looked on at the pair and had witnessed the whole thing. Immediately, he felt uncomfortable.

"So she loves him," he thought.

Slowly, he stood. They would be happy together.

Broken hearted, he began to walk away.

"Youko!" Kagome yelled.

After no response, she yelled again, "Youko!" this time louder.

"Youko!" she tried again, this time running in front of him and pressed a hand onto his chest. "Wait," she paused, "Don't go." His eyebrow rose slightly. She looked into his eyes and stammered, "Um, w-would you like to join me? I mean, us? In our search for the shikon shards?" He scowled when she had said us, her and the other hanyou.

He easily walked around her and her outstretched hand, continuing on his way. Almost as if she read his mind, she quickly added, "It's not just me and Inuyasha, there are three other members in our group, and we're all really close friends."

He stopped in his tracks. Friends? his ears perked up. He knew he had no chance with her, but he wanted to be with her SOOO badly. And what was better than to travel alongside her, day and night? Besides, how could he say no to her? He took a deep breath and turned back around, contemplating his decision. Knowing he might regret it later, he said "You saved my life just now. I guess this is the least I can do."

"Thank you," she said, staring into his eyes. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, embracing him. Youko was caught off guard and stood tense, surprised. "Thank you" she repeated, tears soaking into his shirt. She quickly let go and blushed, "Heh, sorry…" her eyes looking down at the floor. Even when he wasn't trying anything, he still managed to make her heart flutter.

Still standing in front of him, she looked up, deeper than she had ever looked before. He smiled. And ever so slowly, she tiptoed and brought her lips towards his in a small chaste kiss. She blushed once more, and turned back to Inuyasha who was out cold once again.

Youko could not move. She had kissed him! SHE had kissed HIM. A grin had stupidly appeared on his face.

"Come on, Youko! Let's get Inuyasha back to camp and I can introduce you to everyone else."

He quickly shook his head as he was pulled out from his stupor. He happily sped towards them and raised Inuyasha's left arm over his shoulder while Kagome did the same with his right.

Their kiss had been a quick one, but it was everything that needed to be said. Kagome's feelings were in that kiss, and Youko got a clear answer of whether or not she was with the hanyou.

They walked off together with Inuyasha in tow, with similar thoughts in their heads. Why did she kiss him? And what was it they were feeling?

~~~End of Chapter~~~~

Author's Note: LONG CHAPTER? Kinda?

Again, any help on how to end tie this story up with future Youko would be helpful...!