Forever Yours

Chapter Nine: Capture the Spoiled Pup

Almost two hours later, after more cuddling and eating a quick breakfast, the newly mated pair found themselves engaging in a new favorite past time of InuYasha's: bathing.

It wasn't so much the getting clean part that InuYasha looked favorably upon. Of course not, it was the things that it lead to, sometimes before, sometimes after, or sometimes even during.

He was a virile young male after all who loved to be with his mate.

Kagome had gone ahead and was already in the water by the time InuYasha met up with her. She smirked when she heard him approaching, deciding to put on a little show. The young female was not at all oblivious to the wandering eyes of her mate as he stood along the banks of the river.

For InuYasha, it was times like these where Kagome seemed so agile and so angelic in her movements. It stirred something protective and yet proud deep within him.

Kagome stretched then, running her fingers through her long raven locks, and InuYasha's gaze turned hazy. No longer could the half-demon simply just watch, he had to touch as well.

Just when InuYasha was about to join his mate, the wind shifted and an unwelcome scent reached his nose. Growling internally, he checked to see if his mate had noticed the scent as well, and was glad to find that the moment the wind had shifted she had taken to dunking herself under the water to soak herself more thoroughly.

"Are you going to join me?" she asked coyly when she resurfaced to find InuYasha had still not left the banks of the river.

"In a minute. I just want to check something out." He replied distractedly, not really looking at her, his attention focused somewhere off to the side, near the forest.

Kagome frowned.

"Is everything all right?" She asked, worry evident in her tone. She scented the area, trying to find whatever it was that had upset her mate, but the only scent she could pick up was that of hers and InuYasha's.

"Yes, everything is fine." InuYasha reassured her, confidently. There was no doubt in his mind that he could take care of this little problem quickly, and then rejoin Kagome before worry even entered her mind. "Don't worry. I'll be back in a moment."

"Alright," Kagome said, having absolute trust in her mate. "Hurry back, you know I'll be waiting."

Kagome knew like any male, InuYasha would always been highly protective of her, and the slightest sound or scent that he did not like could set him off. She had seen this in her father often, and especially during the time her mother was pregnant with her younger brother. This was just how males were. It was also why it didn't concern Kagome too much that something had caught InuYasha's interest enough for him to need to check it out. That was just his way of assuring her safety. Sure, she found it ridiculous at times, but it couldn't be helped and arguing with him over something like this would be futile. Plus, she trusted his judgment.

InuYasha took a moment to both marvel and appreciate Kagome's newfound faith in him before he took off through the trees. His life had drastically changed in such a short period of time that it would take some getting used to.

Kagome couldn't prevent the smile that blossomed across her face after his departure. Everything seemed so perfect now. Her relationship with InuYasha was better than she could have hoped. She trusted him, and knew he trusted her, which after what happened between them was more than she could ask for.

Glancing briefly at the water's edge where her clothing was located, Kagome's smile brightened even further as she recalled this morning's events.

Her heart had melted when InuYasha informed her that the kimono was something his mother had once worn, and that he wanted her to have it. The inu youkai was keenly aware of its sentimentality and made a mental note to treasure this gift he had bestowed upon her.

Lost in the happy direction her thoughts had taken her, the young woman spent several more minutes in the water, allowing calmness and peace to overtake her. However, after ten minutes and still InuYasha had yet to return, she got a bit concerned and decided to go looking for him.

Barely had she finished getting dressed when a sound from behind sent her spinning on her heel. What greeted her lit the fire within her blood.

Kouga trailed behind the slayers, grateful the wind was blowing towards him, and keeping his scent from reaching the cat demon companion of the slayers. He was not at all surprised to learn they had a demon traveling with them, as it was common for exterminators of such high level and regard to have a tame demon at their side.

Kouga knew it wouldn't be long now before there was an encounter. He could already smell the mangy mutt, as well as Kagome.

The wolf demon couldn't wait to see the look on the mutt's face when he finally reclaimed his stolen woman! It would be a moment he would never forget, and one he looked forward to anxiously.

Too wrapped up was he in his own thoughts that he didn't realize he was no longer the hunter, but had now become the hunted.

His only warning came too late with the sound of brushing leaves as InuYasha suddenly and unexpectedly burst through the trees to the wolf demon's left, knocking him off his feet.

"Did you come back to finish what you started, Wolf?" InuYasha snarled from his position of dominance over his rival. "I take it you didn't learn your lesson the first time!"

Kouga was more than shocked to find himself on the ground, with the half demon's clawed hand locked dangerously around his throat. It was a reminder of their last encounter that Kouga was not willing to re-enact.

The wolf demon snarled in return and somehow managed to wrestle his way out of the hanyou's grasp—but not without leaving deep scratches in his flesh. "If anyone should be learning any lessons it's you, Mutt!"

With vengeance in mind, Kouga charged.

Kagome eyed the three humans that had snuck up behind her.

"What are you doing here?" She knew immediately by their state of dress what they were. They weren't your average human, and would prove to be quite formidable if things went sour.

Carefully assessing the situation, Kagome began to plot methods of escape. She had to be careful. These humans were good at what they did, and Kagome was quite aware of how easily they could knock her down if she let her guard down for even a second.

Kagome didn't understand why they were here, or why they had cornered her. Normally, such humans went after rogue demons that were causing trouble for humans. Kagome, as far as she knew, had done nothing to warrant their attention.

"Don't you know?" The only female of the group spoke up. "Daddy Dearest sent us to bring home his spoiled pup!"

Kagome started. "Father sent you…?"

Where was InuYasha? This situation wasn't good. A sudden thought occurred to Kagome that sent shivers of fear down her spine. Were they the reason he left so abruptly?

"What did you do to InuYasha?" She demanded, taking a threatening step forward. Alone, and without InuYasha, she had to be alert at all times.

But if they had hurt him in any way…

Now that Kagome concentrated she could feel his distress and rage, but nothing else. Their bond was too new for her to learn anything more from it. She felt relieved that he was okay, but his swirling emotions only set her more on edge.

As long as he was still alive this encounter might not come to blood.

"Your mate?" The woman spoke again, as her other two companions closed in on Kagome.

The female inu youkai was aware of their every move, tense and ready for action if they got too close.

"Haven't seen him, but the fact that he's not here makes our job a little bit easier." The female slayer continued breezily.

"Don't lie to me!" Kagome growled as red tinged her vision and she lunged, going after the weakest link first, which happened to be the youngest male.

Her plan wasn't to kill him, but to scare him and his companions into backing off.

Unfortunately, before she even got within a foot of the young male, there was a cry from the woman, and then Kagome felt the massive weapon she carried slam into her side, knocking her to the ground and forcing the air from her lungs.

As Kagome tried to roll onto her back to regain her breathing, she felt a weight upon her chest, preventing her from moving. Her blue eyes opened to find herself looking up into the snarling face of a saber-toothed neko demon.

Frustrated, Kagome used all of her strength to throw the cat demon to the side, smashing it into the nearest tree.

It cried out in pain but was back on its feet in seconds.

Kagome quickly realized that her actions and betrayal of her father had finally caught up with her. His message was loud and clear, and Kagome knew she was in for trouble.

"Listen," she said through clenched teeth, failing to keep a frustrated snarl from leaving her lips, "I don't want to fight with you."

The slayers had already closed in on her, and Kagome knew this wasn't going to end well.

"Then submit, and let us take you home like a good little princess!"

What was wrong with this woman? Kagome growled, this time deep from within her throat. What had she done to receive such hatred from this annoying human? Kagome tried to be kind to everyone, despite their race, but this human was making that very difficult and getting on the inu demon's last nerve.

Like hell would Kagome 'submit' to the likes of them! If this was how it was going to be, she'd give them the fight they wanted!

With speed that had been underestimated by those that sought to capture her, Kagome spun, once again after the boy she already assessed as the weakest link.

This time neither the woman, nor the neko demon were fast enough to stop her.

The other male, who had been quite silent and pensive as he watched the scene unfold, suddenly pulled a slim piece of paper, Kagome recognized as an ofuda, from beneath his monk-like robes. He sent it spiraling in her direction, but luckily it missed, albeit only by millimeters.

"Kohaku!" The woman shrieked with fear and frustration.

Now Kagome had pissed her off. How dare she go after her brother like that?

"I won't hurt you, I promise," Kagome whispered into her prisoner's ear. She held him tightly against her body, making sure he could not use his arms to attack her, forcing him to drop the weapon he held. "But your friends here have got me in a tight spot here and before I can cooperate with anyone I need to know what happened to my mate. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded though his muscles remained tense under her grasp.

"Let my brother go!" The woman ordered. "If you hurt him, I'll kill you! I don't care if we promised your father we'd bring you home alive! I'll bring him your head on a stick!" She threatened, her eyes wild.

"This girl is your sister? Must have been fun to grow up with her. She's brutal," Kagome muttered sarcastically to the boy she now knew as Kohaku. To the woman she said, "I promise he'll be fine as long as you answer my question. Where is my mate?"

"We don't know where your stupid mate is. He's probably fine somewhere not too far off. Which is less than I can say for you, if you don't get your demonic hands off my little brother!"

With Kagome's attention focused only on the woman, the other male had somehow managed to sneak up behind her. Kagome noticed this with enough time to shove Kohaku out of her grasp, in hopes that this would distract one or both of those that sought to do her harm.

The woman went after her brother to make sure he was okay, but the male made to swing at Kagome with his staff. Kagome caught the weapon before he hit her, but realized belatedly that he must have blessed the weapon with some kind of spiritual power. It burned the palms of her hands and sent shockwaves scorching through her body the moment it came in contact with her flesh.

Kagome cried out, and stepped back, trying to put distance between her and everyone around her once again.

She was enraged now. Her youkai blood was bubbling to the surface and she could feel the urge to change coming on.

"Hurry!" The slayer woman shouted, realizing instantly what Kagome's next move was. "We must stop her before she completes her transformation! She'll be a lot harder to get home if we do so after she's transformed!"

Kagome growled, allowing her youkai blood to do what it did best, as it swirled around her wildly. The transforming inu youkai made her way towards the woman, who seemed to be her biggest enemy, intent on taking her out first.

In that moment, the neko demon that Kagome had allowed herself to forget about suddenly resurfaced, charging out of nowhere and taking Kagome's arm into her jaws.

The unexpected attack was enough to halt Kagome in her transformation and send her sprawling to the ground.

Shocked, scared, and in pain, Kagome did the only other thing she could do in a situation like this. She called out for her mate, hoping that wherever he was he would hear her, and rescue her from this horrible situation.

"InuYasha!" Her voice rang into the air, bouncing off the trees and carrying quite far.

Now even more enraged than before, Kagome struggled against the demon that held her in its jaws, managing to dig her claws deep into its mane of fur.

"Hurry, Miroku!" The woman slayer ordered bossily. "She's called for her mate. If he is anywhere near and heard her he could be here in seconds!"

No sooner had the woman made that order to the man called Miroku did Kagome's world suddenly begin to spiral completely out of her control. Miroku reached her moments later, slapping an ofuda on her, much like the one that had missed sometime earlier.

Kagome's body went rigid, before everything went dark. Slowly, she slipped into unconsciousness, barely registering the movement of the slayers around her.

The young demon's last thoughts before she fully succumbed to the darkness were directed towards her mate.

InuYasha, I'm sorry.

InuYasha was mid-attack when Kagome's cry met his ears. He halted his movements immediately, the sound of her voice startling him abruptly out of his rage towards Kouga.

He let the wolf demon go, his primary concern becoming the safety of his mate, as he focused his attention in the direction he had left Kagome.

Unfortunately for the half-demon, that split-second left himself open for an attack from his enemy. With the hanyou distracted, Kouga took the time to imbed his sharp claws deeply into InuYasha's stomach.

The hanyou cried out, angry at his own foolishness for letting his guard down, and also for leaving Kagome unprotected. The sound of her distress enraged him so completely that he was on the verge of losing himself if he didn't end this with Kouga quickly. The half-demon's only concern was getting back to her as fast as he could and was no longer in the mood to play into Kouga's games.

The wolf demon seemed pleased to have been able to inflict such a wound upon his opponent. Perhaps, too pleased.

"Had enough yet, Mutt?" Kouga taunted. There was no way he was letting InuYasha go anywhere near Kagome. He knew she was okay, that the slayers weren't going to kill her. But InuYasha didn't need to know that.

"Just about." The half-demon returned through gritted teeth.

InuYasha's arm went back, and his fist came forward swiftly and smoothly, connecting with the wolf demon's face, and sending him flying across the clearing and into the nearest tree, several feet away. The force of the blow was so strong that the thick trunk of the tree snapped in half upon impact.

InuYasha did not even wait a second longer before he was off. His heart thundered in his chest, and he could feel his youkai blood bubbling to the surface at his own fear.

It couldn't have been more than thirty seconds before he returned to the river—the last place he had seen Kagome.

He was instantly aware of the fact that she wasn't there. He could not feel any remnants of her familiar youki, nor was her scent even present in the nearby area. It was as if it had never been there in the first place. Which, under normal circumstances, should have been impossible. Her scent should have permeated the area, as well as his own, as this was a place they frequented often, and together.

He knew she would have never left without him. They were bonded now, and it was especially difficult on one another to be too far away from each other for too long—especially so early on in the union. Even now, he was beginning to feel the uncomfortable tug that came when one was too far from the one they were mated to. He began to feel sick to his stomach.

This could only mean one thing: slayers. They were the only creatures that could cover their scent so perfectly and would know to do so. They were highly skilled in their craft, and not the kind of humans that demons wanted to encounter unprepared.

InuYasha knew there had to be more than one for them to be able to take Kagome down. She was a strong female, InuYasha knew that the moment he met her. That and they hadn't completely covered their tracks in their haste to flee with his mate. There were several footprints around the water's edge in varying degrees of size and shape. InuYasha knew there were at least two of them, maybe three, as well as a demon companion.

The intensity of his anger began to grow at the knowledge that she had been ambushed.

InuYasha's fist met the hard ground, leaving behind an impressive crater. He was angry. Angry at Kouga for drawing him away and leaving his mate exposed, angry at those that took her from him, but most of all he was angry at himself for failing as her mate.

A deep, frustrated growl made it's way from his throat. He couldn't feel her anywhere. Not even through their bond. He knew she was still alive and not terribly harmed. That, at the very least, he could tell from their connection.

InuYasha felt lost and weak knowing that he had failed her already. He didn't deserve her. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight for her. Those that had dared to touch her would pay, and they would pay with their lives. When he found them, they would wish for death.

InuYasha could steadily feel his demon blood taking over. The inu hanyou turned on his heel, back towards the one person whom he could vent his frustration on. With speed he had never before accessed, he returned to the place he had last left the wolf demon.

But he was nowhere to be found.

"Coward!" InuYasha's deeply guttural filled voice snarled into the air.

It was obvious the wolf demon had run off with his tail between his legs the moment InuYasha had left to go check on Kagome.

Blood trickled down the hanyou's palms as he fisted his hands in frustration.

The anger he felt at Kouga, at the world, at those slayers was increasingly becoming unbearable. It made him feel powerful and yet overwhelmed. And then all those feelings of self-doubt that he thought he had let go suddenly returned. But this time he unexpectedly felt empowered by them, felt the need to prove all those wrong that thought he was useless and never amount to anything, simply because of his mixed demonic blood.

The remnants of Kouga's scent stunk up the vicinity, alerting InuYasha to the fact that the wolf demon had not left too long ago. A dark grin made its way across the half-demon's face. Unlike those pesky slayers, Kouga did not have the luxury of covering up his scent trails.

Perfect.

Not a second more was spared before InuYasha succumbed to his senses, and allowed his blood to take over as he followed after the wolf demon's scent trails.

His only focus was finding what was stolen—his mate. Nothing else mattered until she was safely returned to him.

And when he found her… blood would spill.

Hang on, Mate. I'm coming.

I'm a bit iffy about this chapter... :/

Also, remember, Kagome is a full inu-demon. So she can transform. Just in case that confuses anyone! On that note, I seriously suck at battle scenes. I SUCK, I SUCK! They never seem right to me, though I try my hardest to make them realistic and energetic. Oh well, I hoped you liked them!

This will be the last update from me for about a month or so. I'll probably still be working here and there on chapters for my fics, but nothing hardcore for a bit. I have a lot going on, and I need to make sure I pass my classes so I can graduate this semester. I'm a nervous wreck as it is. One of my professors is being a huge pain suddenly, and I'm worried that I may not get the grade required of my major. I also have so many things I need to work on this month that it's freaking me out. I am not one that handles stress well, so I'm trying to get as much done as early as possible! Plan on hearing from me again some time in May. I'm sorry it will be so long of a wait!

ALSO! I'm so excited! This fic was nominated for an award at the Feudal Association! I get so excited about these things! I don't usually win them, but to be nominated is the biggest honor I could ever have hoped for! So go check it out! I'll leave the link on my profile and here for you to visit! *dances*

feudal .fav . cc / nominations/ current-nominees/

Please review!