I just wanted to let you guys know that I'll be updating this story every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday due to school. Schedules are good for my ADD brain and I'm sure you guys like having some idea of when I'll be feeding your addiction ~.^

This chapter is dedicated to .substitute, my unofficial beta and comma splice police! :D

Sesshoumaru leapt from rooftop to rooftop, blurring his form so anyone who glimpsed him only saw a waver in the air, like a mirage. Silently he cursed his half-brother and kitsune ward. The idiots had allowed the humans to lure them to an institution that served alcohol where they would be much more likely to ruin the particulars of his plan.

It had been such a good plan too. Inuyasha would keep feeding Kagome the waiting-until-graduation story, thus keeping her single until Sesshoumaru was able to court her openly and sweep her off her feet. Now he'd probably have to come up with a whole new plan.

His train of thought was interrupted as a familiar figure in a red button-down shirt and jeans leapt to the roof in front of him, emerging from the bar that he'd tracked Inuyasha and Shippo's scents to.

The figure was given away by the unmistakable presence of dog-like ears perched atop his head and the characteristic look of panic that Sesshoumaru had come to associate with his half-brother.

"Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru's voice froze the hanyou who slowly pivoted on the spot. "What happened?"

"She knows!"

Sesshoumaru suppressed a growl at his half-brother's vague explanation. "She knows what exactly?"

"She knows I'm mated! And she knows about my pups!"

Sesshoumaru sighed and caught his chin in thought. He should have known that Kagome—who had been studying taiyoukai for years—would be extremely familiar with their culture. As a reiki user she would be able to see that Inuyasha's aura carried the presence of his mate's influence.

"How did she find out about Tsubasa, Yuki and Tanken?" Sesshoumaru asked, half-suspecting his idiot half-brother had pulled out his wallet to show off pictures of his three pups.

Tsubasa, Inuyasha's eldest daughter, was dating Shippo. Sesshoumaru knew that the kitsune wanted to take her as a mate but the bond was a permanent one and they were both still considered to be quite young by the standards of taiyoukai royalty. Yuki, the middle child and Inuyasha's only son, was attending Dartmouth in the United States and took more after his mother than his father. Tanken was the baby of the family, she and Rin were close to the same age and inseparable and she was Sesshoumaru's secret favorite of Inuyasha's pups. He even had been given the honor of naming her.

"A stupid drinking game." Inuyasha growled and Sesshoumaru was brought back to the matter at hand. "She said it'd help her learn more about me since I was courting her and all."

"You are NOT courting her." Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed dangerously and Inuyasha held up his hands quickly to placate the taiyoukai.

"Hey! I know that! And now so does she!"

"How much does she know?" Sesshoumaru looked over the roof's edge and scanned with his youki, looking for Kagome's distinctive aura.

"She asked why I'd be courtin her if I was mated with pups and that's when I ran." Inuyasha rolled his eyes at Sesshoumaru's incredulous look. "Hey bro, you did it too, and now I know why. That girl is crazy."

Before he could blink Inuyasha was dangling over the edge of the roof by his throat.

"She is NOT crazy."

"Crazy… smart! Crazy… gorgeous!" Inuyasha amended quickly while gasping for breath.

"Hn." Sesshoumaru tossed him back on the rooftop where he landed on his feet.

"Man, you got it BAD." Inuyasha rubbed his throat. "So I've had a rough ass night and if you don't need me for anything else I'm goin home. Tanken made me promise to read her favorite book tonight. Which I still cannot believe you bought her."

"The Art of War is a timeless wealth of knowledge." Sesshoumaru waved him off, effectively dismissing him and within moments he was alone.

He waited for the others to emerge and when they did not he got annoyed. It didn't matter that they had no idea of his presence—to him timeliness was godliness and in his opinion, they were late.

Another half hour passed before his temper got the better of him. He called on his human illusion, making his hair appear shorter so his ponytail only reached mid-back and changing his eyes from their usual predatory gold. He finally rounded his ears and hid his markings underneath a tone of skin darker than his natural moonlight-kissed complexion.

He surveyed the people going into the bar, eyeing their clothing before removing his suit jacket and tie, unbuttoning the collar of his shirt to expose his collarbone. He pulled his wallet and phone out of his jacket and pocketed them before reluctantly leaving the extra garments on the rooftop and dropping down onto the rocky road of the alley below.

Lastly he shielded all of his youki and entered the bar. It was still early enough that the presence of a bouncer was not needed and he scanned the room, sorting through the mingling auras and scents to find Kagome.

Her presence shone brilliantly among the crowd and he found her on the dance floor with Shippo and Miroku. The houshi was clearly inebriated and relied heavily on two young women who seemed more than happy to allow his hands to wander while they returned the favor. Shippo on the other hand was sober, which surprised Sesshoumaru as the kit had been legally able to drink for nearly five hundred years. He and Kagome were dancing playfully, with none of the sexual overtones that the other couples on the dance floor positively reeked.

Sesshoumaru settled in a corner of the bar and watched his future mate and ward sing and dance like no one else was present. The sight made the corner of his mouth twitch in an unfamiliar way.

It didn't take long for Shippo to pick up on his mentor's scent and he searched the darkened room until his eyes fell on Sesshoumaru. He said something to Kagome that even Sesshoumaru couldn't hear over the music and left her.

The second the kit left Kagome's side another male moved in to fill the space and Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. It was a human, middle-aged with wavy black hair, in a polo shirt and slacks. The taiyoukai lord could break him with barely a thought but he waited to see what his ward wanted, eyes never leaving his future mate's face.

"Hi Sesshoumaru-sama!" Shippo exclaimed. "I wanted to ask what sneaky alias you wanted to go by so I know what to call you around Kagome-chan."

He frowned, gaze still fixed before the kitsune's words filtered into his hyper-focused brain. He thought about it and decided that disguising himself to court her was a much better plan than having Inuyasha court her. Contact would have to be extremely limited to keep his instincts in check but if he could just keep her interested and single then his goal would still be accomplished.

A name jumped out at him, one he'd heard on Rin's most recent anime obsession that she'd made him watch with her when it got scary. "Naru. Naru Shibuya."

"Naru… how appropriate." Shippo grinned.

A growl built in Sesshoumaru's throat as the man invaded Kagome's personal space and started grinding his hips suggestively. Kagome backed up a step uncomfortably and tried to tell the human something but he just grinned and nodded, disregarding her defensive body language. When he captured Kagome's arms in his hands Sesshoumaru started weaving his way towards them. His steps sped up as the man ignored Kagome's attempt to wrench free and infuriated expression.

Any thought of plans and tact flew out of Sesshoumaru's mind as he saw his mate being man-handled and one word echoed forcefully through his mind as he approached them.

Mine!