They were to be Mated

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters.

Dedication: Kagome Lady of Darkness. Congrats for being my 100th reviewer!!!! Gives a bishie basket.

Last Time:

They both stepped inside. Kagome gave Kikyo something wrapped. Inuyasha watched, but noted it was not ramen. "Here you can eat this while we're moving." Kagome said with a smile. "If you're all done we should head off so we can make the best of today." She picked up some of her things that she had left behind. "Come on, Mutt-boy let's go."

Inuyasha watched as Sesshomaru walked out with Kikyo and lastly following him. He felt pissed. Who was she to order him around? "Screw off."

"Make me." She retaliated without another thought.

"Wench."

"Mutt."

Four Forces We Bind

Chapter 10: To the Castle!

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course I know what I'm doing!"

"Really? Because honestly I don't see how this will help."

"That's because you don't look underneath the underneath.1"

"Maybe it's because you don't need to."

"Watch, it'll work, believe it! 1"

Kagome's left eye twitched. Was it just her or was this conversation a lot like a manga her little brother was obsessed with? But that had to be impossible. That was over... five or so many hundreds of years ago. And yet, here she was listening to the same damn thing that the little boys thought was the phrase of the century.

She wasn't exactly sure how to deal with it all. Should she smack Inuyasha over the head and ask him never to repeat that phrase ever again? Or just turn around and pretend she never heard that accursed phrase? Maybe she should get Sesshomaru here and torture Inuyasha to nothing but his cute little ears? Oh wait, she could do that to him personally.

Though, right now that wasn't exactly an option anyway.

"Dog-ears, don't say stupid things."

After all, she was stuck to a freaking tree with Inuyasha helping her. Yes, she knew it was quiet impossible to get stuck to a tree. Really she did know. But for some odd reason, she could not fathom, the tree had wound around her with its branches and roots and held her to his side.

She did realize she had given the tree a gender, it just made this whole thing a little more comforting to hear that a creature got to her instead of a bunch of supposedly immobile, rigid plant cells that should not be able to do anything.

Oh, and get this. Only she had been captured, but for some reason her tai-youkai, hanyou and miko companions could not get her free or warn her of the danger.

Pathetic really.

Kikyo had tried but it only seemed to make 'him' worse, and caused 'him' to wrap more around Kagome more tightly, as if Kikyo's purity was causing 'him' to grow larger and stronger. Kikyo then said that she would go and get some water, as this might cause the tree to stop and divert 'his' attention to water and for anyone who maybe thirsty in their group.

Kagome was pretty sure that Kikyo was going to get water as an excuse to laugh her cute little head off.

The stupid demon Taisho hadn't even bothered to try and help, instead he stood a few feet back watching with an impassive face. But she knew the truth. Inside that demon was rolling in dirt full of so much glee that he couldn't help keep that fact out of his eyes. Or maybe it was the fact that those emotions were rolling off him to her in such waves?

But what really ticked her off, was that he had simply jumped into the tree he was closest to, and relaxed into it watching this scene play out. What the hell was that demon playing at? Who knew, but she knew that once she was free, that tai-youkai was going to be a dead man walking.

That left Dog-Ears.

Enough said. Well... no she wasn't that harsh on the hanyou. Actually, she was quite a bit thankful to the guy. He was fairly nice and sweet when he wanted to be.

Like for instance, right now. The little puppy was trying to help her out of her... err predicament by slashing away at the tree growth. He was being very adamant about getting her out before Kikyo returned with some drinking water. Kagome would even go far and say that she though he was being very cute, and after this was over she would give him a friendly hug.

One that did not have any evil or sadistic feelings behind it.

Inuyasha used his inhuman strength to pull away the enveloping branches away from Kagome. "Almost got! Believe it! 1" He exclaimed.

Her eye twitched again. Then again, maybe not.

Kikyo broke out into a large grin.

Her life had taken a turn for the better. Her new friend Kagome was indeed a very entertaining person, whose presence ensured that there would never be a dull moment. She was smiling more, she knew. Before it had only been around Inuyasha, but now?

Kikyo was finding it hard not to smile.

She was enjoying the little happiness. After all, why shouldn't she? A war was going to begin soon. That reminded her; she needed to get her younger sister Kaeda to some sort of safe-hold until it was for certain that the war was over.

That brought a grim smile on her face. She needed to speak with everyone and ask for a small detour. She made her way back to her friends slowly.

"Just die!" Inuyasha roared out.

"God damn it! This isn't working!"

Kikyo blinked; well the situation had definitely changed. She quickly dropped the canteen of water to the ground, and pulled out her bow and an arrow in record time. She paused. What was she supposed to be aiming at?

It seemed that the tree had decided to take a violent turn, as it began to attack Inuyasha and pull Kagome up into its canopy.

Kagome's eyes travelled to where Kikyo was standing, "Oh thank god! Kikyo help me!" Relief was quite evident in her eyes.

"What happened?" was all she could say as she quickly sent a binding arrow directed at one of the tree limbs. The arrow pulled the limb back, pinning it effectively into the ground behind it.

Inuyasha's grabbed Kagome, and with a powerful tug, pulled her free. The force of the pull sent both of them back into another tree. Before any collisions could occur, Kagome rolled out, and flipped onto her feet before hitting the tree, while Inuyasha leapt out of the way.

Kikyo sent another arrow directly into the center of the wildly flaying tree. They watched as the tree shuddered and stiffened, finally becoming immobile. With practise ease, she put her bow away. She turned, her eyes narrowing at Inuyasha.

"Hey! It wasn't me!" Inuyasha said defensively. "I swear!"

Kagome just rushed over to Kikyo and pulled her into a bear hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She pulled away and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. "I love you soooooo much!"

Inuyasha actually gasped loudly, before grabbing Kikyo and shielding her. "Don't corrupt her!"

"She saved my life, you incompetent idiot!"

"She's not interested in you wench!"

Kagome's eyes widened, "You think...?" She let out an incredulous laugh, "No thank you, Kikyo's beautiful but I'm interested in men, m-e-n. And besides, it's not something you should worry about." Kagome's eyes gave him a knowing smirk, "After all you are just the best friend."

"Why the hell are you saying that so condescendingly?"

"Who knew that you would know such a big word?"

"Get over it!"

"Why don't you!"

"You're impossible!"

"You're worse!"

"Wench!"

"Mutt!"

"Ow. Ow. Ow. OWW!" the two yelped together as they soon found their ears in Kikyo's capable hand.

"Enough." Kikyo said raising her voice, "You two are behaving like children." Her fingers held their ears, as she calmly looked at Sesshomaru, "Shall we, Sesshomaru-san?"

Sesshomaru gracefully jumped down from the branch and gave her a nod. Kikyo gave a small twist then let their ears go. Inuyasha was slightly embarrassed, but kept a safe distance of three feet away from his best friend.

"Damn Kikyo, my ear still hurts." Kagome complained as she held her ear safely away from Kikyo's firm hands.

"It was not so hard." Kikyo may have rolled her eyes at Kagome's dramatics. "Do not root your problem onto me, Kagome-san."

"Kikyo!" Kagome gasped her face become red with embarrassment.

"What?"

"Please don't!"

"Kagome-san you should learn to leaf with things." Kikyo replied with an odd twitch to her lips as Kagome groaned.

Touga had learned over the years that the two children he had taken under his wing those eighteen or so years ago may have been the devil's children. Usually, the brothers argued over the simplest of things, and yet when the two worked together they were unbeatable—even to some powerful demons. However, when they were off duty... they wrecked more havoc than several pregnant youkai women in a small room.

Touga sat in his study, warily watching his spymasters. They had just returned only a few minutes ago but seemed to be delaying in giving their report, as per usual. Only today, they seemed... a bit excited. That was another sign, it either meant they had something planned that would have nearly every resident in the castle chasing them, or they knew something for a decent amount of blackmail.

The two men that sat comfortably in front of him were the exact copies of their father. They each had black hair that kissed their shoulders, their eyes were an onyx that left people questioning on what they were truly thinking. Their body were well toned and held several tattoos they seemed so fond of.

Looking from the physical point of view, one could never tell them apart. Not right away, it had taken Touga several years to finally be able to distinguish between the two. By their scent, sadly enough it had been his lovely human mate that had pointed that out to him.

"Well Touga-sama, you will be pleased to hear that our lands are doing well." Hiroyuki began. He was the older of the two brothers.

Hideaki twitched, and smacked his older brother on the head, "Don't start and end with the same word."

Touga sighed, maybe the prophecy had all been a hoax? But he knew better than to doubt any of his mate's visions. "Are you sure there haven't been any signs of any sort of rebellion?"

"Not in the west." Hideaki paused. "However..."

"...There may be something brewing with the hanyou and lesser youkai."

"They seem unsettled... as if waiting."

"When questioned, we found nothing, only that they were just feeling it." Hiroyuki finished.

Yes, another one of their strange habits of finishing each other's sentences. "Keep watch, Izayoi... she had a vision recently that was most unsettling." Touga sighed, "Now... do I want to know why the two of seem excited?"

Hiroyuki grinned widely, "Well... if you must know, there has been a large magical burst at the end of Inuyasha's forest."

"It seems that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are going to have to work together." Hideaki continued.

"The magical burst or whatever it is, it's huge and life changing."

"It feels like a legend is beginning."

"Only Sesshomaru and Inuyasha aren't the main characters of it."

"They already are somewhat of a legend..."

"But this legend will be about all things holy and pure."

Then together they said, "We can feel it in our souls!"

Touga sighed, slightly overwhelmed... maybe they were Seers as well? "Explain."

Hideaki started, "It is weird Touga-sama... I don't think that anyone felt the magical burst or thousands of youkai and humans would have been asking about it. In fact, the only reason we felt is probably because we have such a strong entity to pure magic."

"Another thing was that our swords chimed at the same time, as if something was calling to them."

"It almost makes me wonder... if our baby sister is alive." Hideaki said softly gazing outside the main window in the study. Hiroyuki nodded solemnly beside his brother.

The group of four had finally begun to continue on their journey. Kagome still had the most difficult time getting up at such an 'ungodly hour' for the second day that she was barely functional. The 'ungodly hour' was just before sunrise. And that in her opinion was like asking the sun to rise from the West instead of East.

When she reminded her companions of this, Kikyo would begin on those tree jokes for at least an hour. Until of course, Kagome threatened her that she would let something slip about a dense idiot.

That had shut Kikyo faster than a two year old given a lollipop. Anyway, Kikyo had taken over making breakfast in the morning, while Kagome took lunch and the two worked together on dinner. This had become a very routine thing. The only real issue in the problem was Inuyasha's insistent complaining whenever Kagome cooked.

Apparently, Kagome always gave him a smaller cup of ramen then everyone else. Even when she proved to him that they were all the same size. Kagome couldn't help but notice her own little brother in Inuyasha's position complaining about the same thing. Kagome had actually gasped out when she realised this. When asked what was wrong, Kagome would shake her head and claim that the old man had really hit her too hard that one time.

On the second day, they were sitting around the fire, and oddly enough the night was colder than usual for summer. They were crowded around the fire, in an attempt to stay warm. Well... technically only Kagome and Inuyasha were since both Kikyo and Sesshomaru did not find the weather to be that cold.

Though Kagome and Inuyasha both agreed that Sesshomaru had an icicle around his heart, therefore it inhibited him from feeling the cold. And Kikyo? Well... she was just plain weird, especially with all those corny jokes.

They had just finished eating the last meal for the day. Kikyo was meticulously cleaning her bow staff and counting her arrows. Sesshomaru seemed to be sleeping. Inuyasha knew better though. Kagome was humming 'the song that doesn't end', while Inuyasha was sprawled on the ground very close to the fire.

Everyone paused in what they were doing as an odd scent came around their camp site. They scrunched their noses. It smelled like singed hair.

Kikyo gasped loudly and pointed, "Inuyasha!"

He shot to his feet at attention, "What?"

Kagome and Sesshomaru followed the direction of Kikyo's finger to see that a small flicker of fire was slowly making its way up Inuyasha tresses. Kagome's jaw dropped open. Sesshomaru wasn't sure whether to smirk at his brother or cock his head to the side in wonder of how the flame had reached Inuyasha's hair.

Inuyasha grabbed his hair, his eyes widened comically. He started to blow on his hair hoping to abate the flame.

"Stop! Drop! And Roll!" Kagome quickly said. "Stop, drop and roll!"

"What?!" Inuyasha all but yelled, "How the hell is that going to help?"

"Your hair!" Kikyo gasped, "Your long, silver hair!"

Kagome motioned with her hands, "Stop." She then pushed her hands down, towards the ground, "Drop." Then twirling her hands in circles, she said "Roll."

The flame was tickling away his hair, until Sesshomaru quickly took a canteen of water, opened it and threw its contents all over Inuyasha. Then, he promptly got up and sat down leisurely on a tree and muttered a quick good night.

Inuyasha flicked wet hair away from his face. Well, at least now his hair wasn't burning.

"It's a stream! You can tell by its size!"

"Please, it's freshwater. It'll probably end up by the ocean and therefore a river."

"Not all rivers' end up towards the ocean. It's too small to be a river, not to mention it's hardly deep enough."

"Inuyasha, it's a river."

"Stream."

"River."

"Stream."

"Stream."

"Riv—aww crap!" Inuyasha groaned having been caught, "That's cheating!"

"Is not."

"It too."

"Not."

"Is."

"Would the two of you just be quiet?" Kikyo finally said exasperated, giving them a slight glare.

The third day found them walking by a small river or stream. It was still an ongoing argument between Kagome and Inuyasha at this point. They side stepped away from Kikyo, making sure to keep their ears away and continued their argument in hushed tones.

What they failed to realise was that Sesshomaru was an Inu-youkai and more importantly a Taiyoukai. He had no problem at hearing their 'hushed voices' and found their little 'debate' to be utterly ridiculous and annoying. Now what was he supposed to do? He could easily push them into the river—yes privately Sesshomaru did agree with Kagome on it being a river, though he would never admit it—but after thinking about it for a good three minutes, he concluded that they would just complain more.

Maybe he could separate them? That would work... though he would have to get stuck with one of them, and would that be worth it to stop their constant babble? But maybe he could be alone with the Higurashi? That would allow him to ask her several questions, though there would be a chance of Inuyasha hearing it. And, he felt like that needed to be avoided.

He could already tell that Kagome was unconsciously a tight lipped girl about things that truly mattered, just as he was. But in truth he was very curious about her. She was from a different time period, how far from the future was she? Was that not impossible?

'No, not impossible just improbable', he realised with a start. The world and the Gods had a mind of their own. Yet, he knew one thing was that her scent—it called to him. In so many ways, that it half terrified him. "Higurashi."

All three turned towards Sesshomaru, since he was the quietest member of the group. Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Taisho."

"A word?"

Kagome grinned back at him, "Of course." She came to stand by him, while Inuyasha went up to where Kikyo was and took lead with her. "What is it?"

Sesshomaru remained silent, how was he to word this? "You are a Higurashi?" He mentally smacked himself for sounding so stupid with her.

"Well... I was told that I was adopted." Kagome shook her head silently, "It's weird. Just before I ended up here my mother, Rukaya, she told me a few things that didn't make much sense at the time."

The name sparked a memory in Sesshomaru's mind; Rukaya was Ruksana's lost sister. "What exactly did she tell you?"

Kagome sighed sadly, "Apparently, when I was born, my original home was attacked only an hour later. She was ordered to take me away."

"The Higurashi Siege." Sesshomaru whispered softly. It all made sense now. She was the reason why he had frozen in the middle of the battle almost two decades ago. It was her scent that had stopped him.

"Huh?"

"KIKYO!" Inuyasha yelled in alarm.

Kagome and Sesshomaru quickly turned to see Kikyo wrapped in water, as if the water was pulling her towards it.

Inuyasha quickly grabbed her hand. "Don't let go!" He was starting to be strangled by the water, as if trying to drown him.

Kagome pulled out her blade, 'Oh! How sweet and gushingly adorable! Too bad, I'm going to save them both.'

Sesshomaru's lips pulled into a smirk. His answer was him whizzing past Kagome in a speed she never thought possible.

"Oh hell no." Kagome said as she whirled her blade beside her. A strange sort of competiveness seemed to consume her for an instant.

Sesshomaru didn't even bother to look back to see the competiveness that had taken over the young girl. Instead his claws extended as they began to glow a dark poisonous green. He swiped his hand across the water, watching it steam. As the hold of the water weakened he grabbed the collar of his brother's and gave it a strong pull, freeing his from his water jailor.

He turned his attention to the miko only to find her securely behind Kagome. Her eyebrow was raised as he turned stoic eyes over her, silently asking what took him so long.

Inuyasha began coughing water, "What the fuck was that?" Kikyo, though completely unharmed came over to Inuyasha to check for injuries.

Sesshomaru could feel the taunting glare from the Higurashi girl. 'You may have tied this battle but there is still more to come.'

Kagome returned the same feeling as a tiny smirk made its way on her lips, "Well Dog-Ears, that was getting your ass saved by your brother from the river, I believe."

"Shut it wench!"

"What are you doing?"

Hideaki looked up to see his brother watching him with curiosity. Hideaki gave him an impish grin, "Well... I was thinking of leaving a surprise for my best friend."

Hiroyuki raised an eyebrow, "What exactly is the surprise that seems to already have the entire castle in caution?"

He blinked owlishly, "It's not that obvious is it?"

"Considering how many are wondering exactly what you could do with the scent of a Neko in heat, I would say they are slightly concerned."

"Oh. I see."

"Aren't you going to tell me Aki-chan?" Though, Hiroyuki was slowly figuring out what he had planned, something that would surely cause the victim to chase the ones responsible for hours without out rest.

"Did you want me to tell you Hiro-chan?" was the cheeky reply.

Hiroyuki considered it for a minute, his idiot of a brother was messing with a very deadly youkai... a taiyouki to be exact and more specifically Sesshomaru. Was it wise to become involved? No... It wasn't. But then again, when had that ever stopped him. "Of course, how can I help?"

To the Castle!

Questions and Answers:

1. Citrus?

The vote was a yes, so yeah. How much in quantity? Well, as of right now (on the top of my head) I can only see two occurrences. So... we'll see.

2. Elements?

My friend asked me this after reading the chapters, and I quote, "Wtf Ram, you know there are five elements! Where's the fifth one? Can he be Kouga or oh...I don't know a hot bishie?"

My initial response was that Kouga wasn't innocent or wise enough to be the fifth element. That was quickly shot down along with the smack on my head—courtesy of my friend.

My actual response to that is that it's easier to work with four elements. Yes, I've been told on a number of occasions that I am too lazy. Another thing is that—no offense to anyone—but I don't consider 'Void' an element. Also, with four elements, I can use the four directions and little creatures such as Water Nyhpms, brownies, at my own leisure. Although I shouldn't really say this because I will be using Void (Sky/Heaven) at a certain point... Ugh! Just note, it's not an active Element. In fact, it's like time. It wants to meddle but can't.

Reference:

1: Nauto. Kakashi and Naruto. Only because recently I`ve been obsessed with its fanfiction.