Chapter 5: Blood Beast
Disclaimer: no, I do NOT own InuYasha and co.
Kagome blinked in confusion. A male?
"Well, InuYasha's always around me." She answered.
Sesshomaru growled. "Not the hanyou, nor the monk or kitsune. A ningen male." If it was entirely possible Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed further and another low growl was heard.
"I just got back from home. It could be my grandpa, or my brother Sota." Kagome reasoned. It was hard enough to deal with InuYasha's possessive attitude. Kagome mentally cringed. InuYasha was only a half dog demon; it was likely to be even harder to handle Sesshomaru's natural instincts. She could already tell that his blood beast was influencing his actions by the way his eyes were slightly red around his pupils.
"No." Sesshomaru bit out. "This male is not a blood relation." He spat.
Kagome could see that the conversation was veering wildly out of control. Sesshomaru's eyes were becoming redder by the second and growls ripped out of his mouth. His lips were parted in a possessive snarl and his exposed fangs glinted a pearly white in the afternoon sun, and Kagome saw tiny drops of poison falling to the ground beside his feet. He was, altogether, a terrifying sight to behold.
Sesshomaru, on the other hand, was fighting gallantly to control his beast. When he had smelled an unknown male on the miko his blood beast had gone into a rage. His beast fought with a vengeance against every restraint he had. Sesshomaru prided himself on the control he had over his beast. All the control had flown right out the window when he had positively scented an inferior male's sent on her. A weak ningen, a human, had imprinted his sent on Sesshomaru's miko. He wanted to know what wretched human dared.
At this point Sesshomaru had lost all sensible thoughts as he gave into his blood beast's primal instincts.
Kagome, for her part, was getting quite nervous. She remembered when InuYasha had first smelled Hojo on her. He had been possessive and aggressive enough, and very, very hard to handle. To this day InuYasha still called Hojo Hobo. But Sesshomaru was different than his half-brother. The fact that his blood beast had made an appearance was proof enough.
Kagome was hesitant to tell Sesshomaru the truth. With his blood beast in control he was unstable and likely to act irrationally, without thought. On the other hand, she grimaced, Sesshomaru would probably be able to tell if she was lying or not by using his superior nose. That was probably why he believed her about his match and the palm reading.
Her mind made up Kagome decided the safest route for everyone would be to tell the taiyoukai what had transpired with Hojo.
So she told him about her "date" with Hojo. As she talked Sesshomaru visibly calmed. She could only assume that his b4east was satisfied, at the moment, with the fact that there was an explanation for the situation at hand.
Sesshomaru was appalled at his inability to control his beast. While listening to Kagome's explanation he fought his beast down. The worst had passed and now that the beast was getting the explanation it so desired, it allowed itself to be forced back into the farthest recesses of his conscience. While Sesshomaru was shocked at his loss of control over his blood beast, he was even more astounded by the sheer amount of rage his blood beast, as well as the more conscientious part of himself, had felt when an unknown male sent was on found the miko. He even recalled claiming the miko as his own during his lapse in control. Not out loud, of course, he would have been mortified if he had. He did believe that Kagome belonged to him, in a sense, or at least for the time being. Sesshomaru needed the vital information she held.
Kagome watched as Sesshomaru slowly regained domination over his beast. She was genuinely surprised. As far as she knew Sesshomaru was notorious for his firm restraint over his blood beast. For him to loose control like he had didn't make any sense. She sighed. At least he was back to normal.
A now in control Sesshomaru sized up the miko. She seemed to be in contemplation over what had occurred moments before. Finally, he decided to speak.
"And what, pray tell, miko, is a 'date?'"
Kagome got a funny look on her face, as if she couldn't believe he didn't know what a date was. Until she remembered she was in the Feudal Era talking to a demon.
"Well, I guess you could say that dating is like… um… courting." She tried to put it in terms that he would understand, and now he did.
The silence was palpable and Kagome shifted uneasily on the edge of the well.
Sesshomaru turned his back to her before speaking again.
"You will not partake in the 'dating' anymore, miko." Sesshomaru told her.
"What!" Kagome yelled. "That's not for you to decide, nor is it any of your business." Kagome was fuming. How dare he tell her what to do! He wasn't her Lord! How dare he tell her what to do! He couldn't control her life, especially since she lived on the other side of the well.
"Why are you complaining, miko? Did you not say that the boy was always pestering you? If you are not interested in him, why continue to mislead him?"
"I don't want to date Hojo, you're right, but that doesn't mean there are not other men I want to date." Kagome responded.
Sesshomaru didn't even turn around.
"It will not do for you to forget your responsibilities, not only to complete the jewel but also you have yet to reveal the identity and location of my future mate." Sesshomaru coolly.
Kagome groaned. "And I thought InuYasha gave me a hard time about Hojo." She muttered under her breath.
Sesshomaru heard. He was a dog demon, after all, the whole sensitive hearing thing.
He stiffened.
"The hanyou knows about this 'Hojo' and yet does nothing about it?" he questioned.
"Yeah. Well, he sure isn't happy about it and gives me a hard time, but there's not much he can do to stop me. From dating other men, I mean. I try to stay clear of Hojo as much as possible and make up excuses when he asks me. Unfortunately today's date was unavoidable." Kagome answered him with a roll of her eyes.
"Hn." Was the only response Sesshomaru graced her with.
"Oh. Please, Sesshomaru! My going out with one guy is not going to distract me! Hojo's been asking me out for years! Two of which I've been here and its never distracted me before."
"So, am I to believe that the hanyou allows his bitch to see other men, and does not challenge them?" Sesshomaru asked this as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
A tic developed in Kagome's brow and that was the only warning Sesshomaru got before she went nuclear.
"How dare you! I am NOT a whore! Nobody's whore and that you would suggest such a vile thing is insulting! I-" Kagome got only that far in her rant before Sesshomaru interrupted her in a cold, bored voice.
"I would not think to do such a thing miko. What good would insulting you do me?"
Kagome sputtered for a moment before forming a coherent sentence.
"But, but you called me a bitch!" she exclaimed.
"Miko," Sesshomaru spoke to her as if she were a five-year-old child. "What is the literal meaning of bitch?"
She looked confused for a moment before responding, "a female dog."
"Yes, and InuYasha is a half-dog demon. By calling you his bitch I was calling you his mate, or his intended." Sesshomaru calmly explained.
Kagome blinked rapidly, trying to digest the information she had just been given.
"Wait a damn minute! I'm not InuYasha's bitch, mate, or intended! Where in hell did you get an idea like that?!"
Sesshomaru raised a delicate eyebrow. "My half-brother seems to have an… affinity for protecting you."
Kagome's face became still and she lowered her head so that her bangs covered her eyes, and Sesshomaru could have sworn he smelled the faint, salty smell of her tears.
"InuYasha swore to protect me so he could use the Tetsusaiga. Besides that, I can sense jewel shards. That's all."
Sesshomaru could feel the sadness rolling off her in waves. He had the sudden and quite unexplainable urge to comfort her; something his beast did not take very kindly to his ignoring. Oh, and the urge to shake the scrawny neck of the hanyou that caused her sadness.
"You are worth much more than that, miko." He said simply, head turned slightly away from her but eyes trained on her from the corner of his eye.
Kagome looked up and smiled brilliantly. "Thank you Sesshomaru." She said softly.
He watched her silently for a moment before turning to walk away. He spoke as he left. "The hanyou is closing in fast. If he really does not like that ningen's sent I suggest that you prepare to face his anger."
Seconds after Sesshomaru had disappeared behind the thick trees, InuYasha burst through the tree line at the opposite end of the clearing. He blinked as the looked at her.
"You sure are in a hurry, aren't you InuYasha." Kagome said grinning.
"Y- you're early wench."
"Yeah, I know. Miracle, right?" she responded.
He grinned "The kits been whining about when you're gonna be back, I want some Ramen, and Sango needs someone to keep her from killin' the lecher. So come on we- "
He stopped abruptly and as he got closer to her, sniffed. Kagome sighed; she knew it was coming.
"You've been around that weak human, Hobo again haven't you! I smell his stink all over you. What was it? Another 'date' right? I'm tellin' ya woman that human is…" InuYasha continued to rave about "boys from the future being numbskulled wusses who couldn't look a youkai in the eye much less raise a sword to one."
Kagome tuned him out as she had become accustomed to doing. Instead her thoughts turned to a certain taiyoukai's strange behavior. Sesshomaru sure had been acting strange. And then he'd just left!
An angry InuYasha interrupted her thoughts. Confused, she wondered if he'd asker a question while she hadn't been paying attention to him.
"I said: why do you smell like Sesshomaru? His sent it on you too! It's faint but there! What the hell were you doing talking to him?! I… " And she tuned him out again.
InuYasha suffered through several 'sits' on the way back to the village. Needless to say he did not take them very graciously, resulting in even more 'sits,' only further proving that he never learned when to shut his trap.
Golden eyes watched emotionlessly as Kagome and InuYasha continued to bicker. The owner of the eyes slowly turned away as the taiyoukai Kagome had been conversing with moments before turned back towards his camp.
a/n: sorry it took me so long to update! I was very occupied! My parents made me go to some stupid academic camp after we got back from the beach. On the bright side though, my hand is healed enough to type comfortably!! Yay!! Don't kill me for not updating quickly! I had good reasons!! Also I have some story ideas posted on my profile that I beg people to go and see! If one of them sounds particularly good to you then please, don't hesitate to send me a message and TELL ME which one you prefer!