Tears ran down Inuyasha's face as he ran through the forest. He didn't understand how he could do that to Kagome. She may be the kindest person he knew but even he knew she would never forgive him for what he had done to her. She may even return to her time and never come back. A new fear raced through his mind. Just the thought of never seeing Kagome again, never smelling her sent was the scariest thing in the world to him.
Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks when a familiar scent suddenly hit his nose. Normally this scent would cause hate and anger to run through him, but right now all he felt was relief. He knew his brother would have the answers he needed. With new found purpose Inuyasha quickly followed his brother's scent.
"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha shouted as he found his brother and his two followers walking through a meadow. Slowly Sesshomaru turned his emotionless eyes to his brother. "I need to have a word with you!"
"Congratulations Inuyasha for claiming your mate," Sesshomaru said before turning his attention to Jaken. "Answer whatever questions he has."
"Yes my lord," Jaken agreed before Sesshomaru took Rin's hand and began walking with her further into the meadow.
"Fucking wait!" Inuyasha shouted and was about to go after his brother when he realized Jaken was approaching him.
"I will answer your questions hanyou." Inuyasha sighed before taking a seat next to the small green demon. "Like my lord said congratulations on claiming your mate."
"How can forcing a damn innocent girl to mate with me be worthy of congratulations?" Inuyasha asked with distain.
"Well if what you say is true then that would be the first time a demon had to force his destined mate to bond to him." Inuyasha turned his eyes to the imp with confusion clearly written on his face. "Let me guess, your yokai took over and as far as you know you forced the miko to mate with you. Am I correct?"
"I have no memory of it," Inuyasha admitted. "One minute I was fighting Sesshomaru and the next I woke up in a cave with Kagome beside me, naked. She had claw marks all over her, my bite mark on her shoulder and," Inuyasha clinched his eyes shut as he tried to force the image out of his mind, "I clearly had fucking raped her and I think more then once."
"Mates can't rape each other," Jaken stated as if what Inuyasha had just said was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard. "If she truly did not want to mate at the time your yokai would have submitted to her. Male yokai know better then to anger their mates by forcing themselves on them. Mates are too precious."
"No one has ever explained to me what having a mate meant."
"Hanyou first you must understand that every yokai in Japan has a destined mate. Even hanyou yokai. Someone that the universe created just for them. Not all yokai are fortunate enough to find their mates though. It is not uncommon for yokai to never find there mates and are left to wonder the land never knowing what it's like to have a mate and create a family."
"Wait, if every yokai has one destined mate then how in the hell do Sesshomaru and I have different mothers?" Jaken lowered his head and shook it.
"My lord's parents went against nature. His mother had lost her mate very soon after finding him and was never able to conceive a child. You see Lord Sesshomaru's mother is much older then his father was. It was a very long time later when she met the great dog demon and struck a deal with him. Since they were both incredibly strong inu yokai they decided to mate and create an even stronger inu yokai offspring. Not too long later Sesshomaru's father met his destined mate who happened to have been human."
"My mother."
"Yes," Jaken confirmed. "Sadly though nature does not forgive those who disobey it. It is known that misfortune comes to yokai who create offspring with others who are not their mates. That is why it is believed that your father died as penance for him creating Sesshomaru with my lord's mother. It's amazing that the great inu diayokai and both his sons would have human mates though."
"What? Sesshomaru has a human mate?"
"You never thought it was odd that someone like Lord Sesshomaru would allow a small human girl to follow him?" Realization suddenly set in to what Jaken was telling him.
"You don't mean Rin is Sesshomaru's mate?" Shock was clear on Inuyasha's face.
"At first I thought it was strange that my lord allowed Rin to join us until I realized that he was not just allowing her to follow us, but he was also protecting her. She is the only one allowed to touch him whenever she wants and I've caught my lord's eyes staring at her with what looks like affection in his eyes."
"My stick up his ass brother knows how to show emotion?" Jaken fought not to smirk at Inuyasha's comment. He may be completely loyal to Lord Sesshomaru, but he wasn't blind to his lord's harsh personality.
"I've been with Lord Sesshomaru for a very long time. Time has taught me how to read the subtle nuances in his expression."
"Makes sense," Inuyasha had to admit.
"He is clearly keeping Rin near to make sure nothing happens to her till she is old enough to breed. My lord was able to save her from death once, but I know if he ever truly lost Rin I don't know what he might do to himself."
"What do you mean?"
"If one mate dies the other usually follows not too long after. It's actually rare for one mate to out live the other for very long. The only known reason for one mate to continue on living is if their offspring are still young."
"You sound like you knew this personally." Jaken closed his eyes as a sad smile crept across his face.
"I was the chief of my village. My mate gave me three sons. She was so beautiful and a wonderful mother. During a battle with a neighboring village my mate was killed protecting our young sons. I never knew such grief in my life and would never wish it even on my greatest enemy. I wanted to so badly follow her to the afterlife, but I knew I couldn't leave our children behind. They were too young to be able to make it on their own. Also I know my mate would be sadden if I left our sons alone with no parents to take care of them. The only bond stronger then the bond between mates is the bond between a mother and her children."
"I've heard that before," Inuyasha said as he remembered how he overheard Toga saying the same thing. "So why are you traveling with Sesshomaru if you have three sons to take care of?"
"Oh my sons where all grown by the time I met Lord Sesshomaru. Two of them have even found their mates and have children of their own. When I met Sesshomaru I saw a new purpose for my life. So I passed my position as village chief to my eldest son and left to support Lord Sesshomaru in his travels."
"So how is this suppose to fucking help me with Kagome?"
"The point is you half witted hanyou is that the miko was created for you! She is the most precious thing in your life! No matter what you may think she was always meant to be yours and you hers!" Jaken took a breath to calm himself. "My guess is that she must have been in heat when your yokai blood took over. Until she is no longer in heat you will be compelled to constantly mate with her. It's difficult for a female yokai to become pregnant and they only come into season once a year so in order to safeguard our kind when our mates go into heat all we can think about is impregnating them. I remember whenever my mate went into heat we would mate countless times a day."
"But Kagome is only a damn human," Inuyasha interjected. "And human females go into heat every month."
"Then she will have to endure you every month," Jaken said with a rakish smirk. "It does not matter though. Even a miko knows better then to go against the laws of nature." Suddenly something came to Jaken's mind. "Where is your mate now anyway? I assume safe with the rest of your group." Inuyasha suddenly sat upright clearly nervous.
"I kind of left her back in a cave alone."
"You didn't leave her naked and unprotected did you?" Jaken shouted angrily. All Inuyasha could do was lower his head in shame. "You stupid hanyou! What a worthless male you are leaving your precious mate alone and naked at that! She's only a mere human! She's probably scared out of her mind!"
"What should I do?" Inuyasha asked as he scrambled away from the fuming imp.
"You better get your useless ass over to her and beg for her forgiveness! Make sure you don't go back empty handed either!"
"Empty handed?"
"Bring your mate a kill to show her that you will provide food for her and any offspring you're lucky enough for her to give you."
Back at the cave Kagome was just barely waking up. It was midday and the first thing that came to her mind was that she felt sore all over. Then she noticed that she was wrapped in a haori that smelled of Inuyasha. At the thought of Inuyasha memories of what had happened flashed through her mind and Kagome's eyes shot open. With a quick scan of her surroundings Kagome saw that she was still in the cave, alone, and wrapped in Inuyasha's haori. She barely remembered Inuyasha taking her a third time before she passed out from exhaustion.
Slowly Kagome stood up and after securing the haori around her and grabbing her bow and arrows, she gingerly made her way out of the cave. After she got past the waterfall Kagome scanned the surrounding area and realized that she recognized where she was. While she and everyone were traveling to the village they were just at, they had camped near this waterfall in order to use the water. With a relieved sigh Kagome began to make back to the group. She had to get to the group before Inuyasha returned. She assumed he was still in his yokai form and she needed them to keep him at bay until he was back to normal. With any luck she'll be able to hide what happened from him and Inuyasha would never have to know that his yokai blood forced him to take the wrong mate.
By the time she found where everyone was camping the sun was starting to set. They were several hundred feet away camping just outside the edge of the forest. Just as she was about to call out to everyone Kagome suddenly felt her mark start to tingle. It dawned on her that it was Inuyasha calling out to her. He was close. Very close. With panic racing through her Kagome began to run towards the group.
"Toga! Sango! Miroku!" Everyone turned to see Kagome in Inuyasha's haori running towards them as if the devil himself was chasing her. Toga spotted Inuyasha not to far behind her and instantly raced to his mother's side. He could see the panic look on her face as she ran towards them.
"Kagome!" Toga shouted as he was at her side within moments.
"Toga!" Kagome exclaimed as she threw herself into his arms. "Please don't let Inuyasha near me." Toga looked down at her in shock. He couldn't understand why his mother was running from his father. A moment later Toga noticed Inuyasha standing with his head down several feet from them with a dead rabbit in his hand. He also noticed that Inuyasha was no longer in his demon form. Toga quickly deciphered what must have happened.
"Everything will be all right," Toga reassured. "Inuyasha is back to normal." Kagome's eyes widen at the information. "Please allow him to speak to you and please accept his offering."
"Offering?" was all Kagome got out before Toga had left to inform the others to stay away and allow the two to talk.
"Kagome," Inuyasha said her name barely above a whisper. Clinching his haori tighter against her body, Kagome turned to face him. They had barely locked eyes before Inuyasha suddenly threw himself to the ground prostrating himself before her. "Please forgive me!"
"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned.
"I should have never left you alone in that damn cave!" Inuyasha voice broke as his body trembled from the amount of shame he was feeling. "You must have been scared waking up by yourself! Especially after everything that happened! After I forced you to be my mate!"
"No Inuyasha!" Kagome protested before falling to her knees. "There is nothing to apologize for. I'm just sorry your yokai blood made you claim the wrong mate."
"What?" Inuyasha asked in shock as he raised his eyes to meet hers. He had no clue to what she was talking about.
"I know that Kikiyo is really your mate," Kagome began as tears began to form in her eyes. "I'll hide my mark so no one will know that your yokai took me by mistake. I know you would never really want me as your mate."
"Fucking stop it!" Inuyasha shouted angrily as he grabbed her shoulders. "How could you think I wouldn't be honored to have you as my mate? It is I who is unworthy of being your mate. You clearly have no idea how damn lucky I am to have you." Inuyasha paused to lower his head to the ground again and thrust the rabbit he had caught to her. "Please accept this as both an apology and a promise that no matter what I will always make sure that you and our future pups will never know hunger." Kagome recognized that this was the offering Toga was talking about. With a small smile she gently took the rabbit.
"Will my mate prep my rabbit for me?" Slowly Inuyasha raised his head to reveal a light blush that had appeared across his cheeks. He never expected the effect of hearing Kagome call him her mate would have on him. He felt pride swell inside him.
"Of course," Inuyasha agreed as he rose to his feet before offering his hand.