AN: Yay, new chapter! This one's from CPH, so make sure to tell her what a good job she did!

Disclaimer: We don't own Inuyasha….or at least I don't, dunno about Penthesileia…no…no she'd be rubbing my face in it if she did…*sighs* (I totally would by the way, mwhahaha)

Chapter 8

"Hey babe, told you I'd be back."

Kagome's eyes widened as she looked at the man she had been daydreaming about for days, her body instantly getting warmer as she remembered their last encounter. Her lips pulled back into a smile by themselves but froze midway as she noticed his sudden shift.

Whereas just a second ago he had been completely relaxed, his body was now tight with tension and he was gazing coldly at something just to the right of her. Glancing to her side, she noticed Hojo had stood back up from where he had fallen on the ground and was holding on to her arm to steady himself. She looked back at the man and before she could even blink he was gone…and at her side, grabbing Hojo by the neck and slamming him against a tree a dozen yards away.

"You DARE TOUCH HER?!" He all but growled as he cut off Hojo's air supply, slamming his

head against the tree once more.

Hojo's head was alarmingly limp by the time Kagome was at his side, pulling on the, admittedly hot, stranger's hand. "STOP!" She yelled, pulling on the arm holding on to Hojo's neck…the guy might be a pain but this was serious!

Inuyasha instantly relaxed his grip on Hojo and the poor man slid to the floor, gratefully unconscious. He stared as the young woman before him checked the annoying weakling he had been removing from her site for a pulse.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Kagome yelled up at him as soon as she made sure Hojo would live.

"Punishing this idiot for touching you?" Inuyasha asked looking confused and a little irritated.

"Who the hell asked you to?!" Kagome wondered out loud, wishing she had come prepared with some kind of blunt object so she could smack him.

Now Inuyasha was annoyed, and he bit down on his anger, trying to stop himself from saying something he'd regret…..oh screw it.

"No one asked me to….but no one, no MAN is allowed to touch you, especially not while I'm in the nearby vicinity to help enforce that statement!"

Kagome's eyes widened, her mind spinning as she stared at him in disbelief….which was quickly followed by anger.

"And just who the bloody hell do you think you are?!"

Inuyasha thought his eye would twitch he was so annoyed….this was not going the way he thought it would…he was supposed to get here, woo her off her feet, get the jewel back and give it over to his brother and then spend the rest of his life playing out every single fantasy he had ever had with the incredibly beautiful woman standing in front of him….and she was yelling at him!

Growling with a mixture of anger, annoyance and lust he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her with all the desire and frustration he had been feeling since their last encounter.

Her body instantly molded to his, as she instinctively kissed him back. The demon in him practically purred with pleasure.

Mine….Mate….

Inuyasha reluctantly separated from her, holding her against his chest and staring into her face, pleased to see her bedazzled look as well as the response of desire in her eyes.

"My name's Inuyasha," he said, smirking as her body reacted to the name, "and I, Beloved, am your mate, just as you are mine."

Kagome stilled her mind racing as his words hit her denial setting in pretty quickly. This was partly because she wasn't used to random guys claiming to be her mate and partly because the second he said it, she knew it was true….

Inuyasha looked down at his mate, his inner demon, feeling like he would burst with joy at the thought of it all…he had found her! His mate, his-

"ARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!" The yell cleared Kagome's head just as Inuyasha was slammed from her arms by a birthing chair wielding Ayame.

"Ayame what are you-?" Kagome began before Ayame followed through with another blow to Inuyasha's head as he tried to pick himself up, the chair's metal frame denting where it had hit him.

Throwing the chair to the side, Ayame went at him again with her piece of wood, barely missing impaling him to the ground as he rolled out of the way.

Ayame leaped after him, knocking him to the ground before taking a deep breath, squaring her shoulders and opening her mouth.

"SAAAAANGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kagome, still recovering from the shock of the last few minutes, paused to marvel at the lung capacity Ayame seemed to possess just as Sango appeared, sprinting into view.

Looking around, Sango took in the sight of Hojo's unconscious body, Kagome's rumbled clothing and dazed expression, Ayame's dirty clothing from rolling around on the ground and a strange man lifting himself up from the floor and her eyes lit with anger.

"YAAAAAAAAARRRRGGG!!!!!!" She screamed as she leaped into the air, removing her sword from its sheath while in the air and aiming for Inuyasha's heart.

If Inuyasha had been anything other than a demon he wouldn't have survived the attack, and as it was he took the blade to his shoulder as he moved out of the way, using the weight she was putting on the sword to impale him against her and throwing her on her back with his feet.

Removing the sword from his shoulder, he threw it as far as he could just as a mist of poison gas appeared not two feet from where he stood, causing him to become momentarily disoriented, which was all Sango needed.

"STOP!" Kagome yelled, not knowing to whom she was speaking.

Retracting her dagger gauntlets, Sango ignored the warning as she skillfully crept up behind him, knocking his legs out from under him and pinning him down with one hand as she raised the other to slash at his throat.

Inuyasha's eyes flashed red as he threw her off of him, rising to his legs before she even hit the ground and grabbing her by the leg, swinging her around to throw her in the air while simultaneously striking Ayame with his left leg in the stomach, knocking her down a dozen yards away.

Inuyasha growled and turned back to where Sango had landed, unconscious, crouching down, muscles tense and preparing to attack…when a hand stopped him.

Mate…

"Stop," Kagome said, looking up into his eyes, noting the instant they changed back to the golden color she loved.

"Sango!" Miroku yelled as he arrived at the scene. He bent over Sango checking her over to see if there was any real damage. "She'll be fine," he answered Kagome's unasked question with a sigh of relief and a glare at Inuyasha, "but she's gonna be incredibly pissed when she comes to."

----

A few hours later after Miroku had put Hojo in a Taxi heading home after assessing that Inuyasha had done very little actual harm to him, which just about shocked everyone who'd known him for more than three minutes.

Ayame had also been given a clean bill of health and Sango had been relieved of her weapons and locked in a linen closet with a surprisingly sturdy door until she cooled down and Inuyasha and Kagome sat down to have a very long, very complicated talk.

"So you're a demon?"

"Half demon," Inuyasha corrected sitting across from her in the living room of her mother's house.

"Half demon right. But you have a human form?"

"Most demons with royal blood have a human form, helps us blend in with the general populous."

"Right. And you're the son of InuTaisho….the incredibly powerful demon lord who ruled the West of Japan for over a millennia? Who destroyed countless armies of demons during the feudal era and formed the three swords of power from his fangs?"

"Dear old dad."

"…and I'm your Mate?"

Inuyasha suddenly looked both incredibly pleased and serious as he grabbed both of her hands in his, "Yes, you are my Mate."

Kagome shook her head, noticing her hands tingled where they touched his… "and what does that mean exactly?"

"Mates are basically the demon version of what humans call 'soul mates', they are born to be with their demon," Inuyasha explained as he rubbed small circles with his thumb onto her hand, "it's very rare for a demon to actually find a mate since they will not be able to detect them until they have had some sort of physical contact with them."

"Physical contact like playing tonsil hockey in a train?"

Inuyasha smirked at the memory, "Exactly."

"What's gonna happen to me exactly?"

Inuyasha sighed and leaned back on the chair. "A few things actually, for one you're going to be basically immortal now, or as close as someone can get without being a God," Inuyasha explained as he watched for her reaction, "you'll be harder to kill than the killer in a slasher film, and you'll live for as long as I do, which is almost impossible to guess how long. You'll also be able to channel some of my powers."

"What if I don't want to be a Mate?"

Inuyasha's eyes flashed with an emotion that seemed so hurt and heartbreakingly sad that Kagome immediately regretted the question, but just like that the moment passed and his eyes were back to their normal warm self.

Inuyasha smirked, "Sorry babe, doesn't work that way. You were born to be a Mate, and you can't change that."

Kagome sat thinking. Personally she thought she was handling this very well considering all the new information that was going through her mind…

"Wait a minute, you said I'm GOING to be basically immortal….I'm not now that you found me?"

Inuyasha hesitated before nodding, "I haven't technically claimed you yet..."

"So I don't have to be a Mate? If you haven't claimed me?"

"No," Inuyasha responded, shifting in his seat, " you were born to be a Mate…but since I haven't claimed you, another demon can try claiming you."

Kagome frowned, "Wait….I'm not YOUR Mate?? I'm just a random Mate that can be claimed by anyone?!"

Inuyasha was on her before she even finished the sentence, slamming both arms on either side of her head and kissing her senseless before she could draw her breath.

"You…are…MY…Mate!" He growled out against her mouth, kissing a trail down her jaw before burying his head in her neck and breathing her scent. "Any demon comes near you will have to challenge me to a battle to the death for the honor of claiming you."

Kagome's eyes widened as she unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down closer to her, "You can't do that! You could die!"

Inuyasha smirked against her throat, "Trust me Beloved, it'd take a hell of a lot to kill me."

"B..but earlier today, Sango and Ayame…they were.."

"Friends of yours who I didn't want to hurt, I held back until the slayer started going in for the kill," he took one more sniff of her neck and then pulled back to look her in the eye.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, there is something else we have to discuss…specifically that thing hanging around your neck. I don't exactly enjoy having my Mate wear a bulls-eye on her person with all the demons in the area."

Kagome's eyes widened, she was surprised they hadn't popped out of her head for all they were doing that today, and her hand reached for the jewel around her neck.

"What do you mean, 'Bull's-eye??"

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AN: This would be the part where all you little darlings review!