They were to be Mated

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

Note: Sesshomaru's fluffy (As in his beast) will be in bold lettering from now on.

Last Time:

"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!

Chapter 11: Conflicted

"Your stance is incorrect."

She was training.

"It's fine."

Yes, she-who-ran-from-such-things-having-been-forced-to-do-them-as-a-young-child was training. All because she had reached a certain point of boredom that forced her to pick up a sword and hack away into the air, and practice her old, and tightly packed away skills.

"Your footing is slightly off."

In all honesty when her main source of entertainment coughcough—Inuyasha—coughcough was gone with Kikyo to a village where her sister lived which left Kagome with him. Apparently, Kagome couldn't go because of a certain youkai that had tactfully said that the villagers would be frightened of a Higurashi and a demon in their area. Since, she seemed to 'scream' Higurashi. Now she was stuck with mister stick-up-my-bum.

God, she hated him. And yet, whenever he was near she could deny her attraction to him, forcing her to loath him.

"It's fine."

She barely heard a sigh, as she suddenly felt long fingers wrap gently around her ankle and nudge it slightly to the right, while another hand with long fingers tugged her knee down. Kagome didn't contain her shock as she looked down at the same time as the taiyoukai looked up.

Kagome gasped.

For the first time, she was able to study him closely. He had perfect face, pale sharp cheekbones covered with purple markings and a strong jaw shaped his face. On his forehead the blue crescent moon seemed to glow almost pulsate. She couldn't deny herself and was lost to those enchanting gold eyes, that shone with an emotion she had too much trouble identifying.

She could no longer tell where she was standing or even if she was. She couldn`t be asked to recall her surrounding or what she was wearing. All she saw were the gold eyes. A gold that was so rich, that even the most pure of gold could not compare.

Something pulled towards the demon that was seemed just as lost as she was. The tug on her heart... her soul was undeniable... but why? Her breath quickened, as his eyes gazed intently into her eyes. His hand moved from her knee, very slowly making its way to her cheek.

Her breath stilled as his hand touched her in the most barest of pressure. She was afraid if she closed her eyes, his hand wouldn't be there. That was another thing; she wanted to feel his hand on her cheek.

What was happening to her? Whatever it was, she knew she had never felt this way before.

She wanted him.

He didn't know what he was doing. Only that is was natural. His hand drifted softly down her neck. So slow, so painfully slow that he wasn't even sure he was touching her. But he was. And, damn he was. He caressed her softly, until he reached the junction between her neck and shoulder blade.

There.

His eyes never left Kagome's but he could feel her. He could feel her confusion, and... want? He realised with a start. He needed her. He wanted her.

'Claim her.'

...what was going on? His body was reacting too quickly, his nails traced circles on her back, while his thumb did so as well, except on the indent.

'Mark her!'

Sesshomaru stepped back quickly before he did anything to her and fled. His beast roared furiously at him. 'MINE!' He leaped through trees, trying to find a secluded place far away—but not too far away from Kagome.

"What are you doing?!" he spoke out loud knowing full well that no one was around.

His beast made its spirit form in front of him. "We must claim her!" The spirit form was a wispy white, translucent shape that Sesshomaru snapped his attention to. It was a majestic being, its fur the purest of silver and white to ever exist. A powerful dog demon, it's red and gold eyes, the demon's marking stood out on its fur.

"Claim her?! She is not a demon! She is only human!" he argued back.

"It matters not! She is our mate!"

"How can it be? She is not even from this time. She is not what I would—"

"Stop blinding yourself! She is our mate, she is the reason we live. The reason why no other creature could become our candidate! She has been marked to us before our birth. She is us. Without her we will die!"

"No, it cannot be." Sesshomaru leaned back against a tree. "It cannot be. She... she is human. She does not deserve our presence in her life."

"Do not be stupid! Mother is like her, she too is mated to a demon!"

"Mother is an exception, only because she is a powerful Seer. The girl has nothing to protect her from the demon world."

"You doubt a Higurashi's power?" The demon snarled, "She is not weak! She is the most powerful pure priestess we have ever come across."

"We will not repeat the example as that woman had! We will not take her by force. If we are to take her it has to be because that is what she wants. We cannot condone the life of a priestess to... us."

His demon side watched him carefully. "She will not have a choice if we wait long."

"What do you mean she will not have a choice?"

His demon shrugged his shoulders, "Her soul calls to us. We can only hold out on her for so long. We will begin to feel pain soon from a forceful distance. The pain will be unbearable to us and soon it will begin for her, if we are to prolong it more than two moon cycles."

Sesshomaru sighed deeply, as he placed a clawed hand on his now aching forehead.

Kagome felt rooted to her spot. Her mind still couldn't seem to register that Sesshomaru had already gone... "What..." Her heart seemed to be pounding almost painfully in her chest. She slumped down onto the ground. Her head in her hands, she whispered, "What are you doing to me Taisho?"

"Nee-san!" a little girl called and came rushing to hug her older sister. "Nee-san! You came to visit!" Then her nose wrinkled slightly as she noticed Inuyasha. "Why did you bring him?"

"Oi! Have a little respect princess." Inuyasha butted in.

Kaeda, Kikyo's younger sister stuck out her tongue at Inuyasha. "Nee-san, Nee-san do you like him?"

Kikyo smiled gently at her sister and lowered down so she was at her eye level. "He is a dear friend."

"Feh, I don't get why the twerp doesn't like me, it's not like I've tried to kill the little thing." Inuyasha huffed as he ruffled her hair. Kaeda sent him a glare, but couldn't keep it as a smile made her way to her lips.

"If you like Nee-san so much, why do you not marry her?" she asked innocently.

Inuyasha turned a slight shade of pink but mumbled out, "She doesn't feel the same way" far too quickly, for the sisters to understand.

Kikyo then caught Inuyasha's eye, which he promptly nodded to. She didn't need to turn around to know that Inuyasha had left to give the two a little bit of privacy.

She pulled the younger girl into a fierce hug, "I love you Kaeda. But I need you to do something for me. Can you promise me something?" the last think on Kikyo's mind was to lose her younger sister.

Kaeda noticed the dramatic change in her sister and she nodded gently, "Anything Nee-san."

"I hate to say this but a war is starting soon. I have to help out in the war... and I want you to remain safe. In order for you to be safe, I will be going to have to have you leave this village and travel to our shrine. Where you were born, can you do that for me?"

"B-but you can be hurt!" cried out the little girl.

"I know sweetheart, but you do not have to worry about me. I have strong friends to take care of me. And I would be more worried about you than anything else."

She sniffed as tears fell down her cheeks, "W-will Inuyasha-nii-san p-protect you?"

Kikyo was about to reply when Inuyasha jumped in and came to kneel beside Kaeda. He smiled at her gently, and pulled her towards him away from Kikyo. He hugged her gently, "I'll protect her with everything I have. I'll die before Kikyo is harmed in anyway."

Kaeda seemed to bury herself deeper into Inuyasha and cried softly. Inuyasha murmured words of comfort and weaved his fingers through her hair. Her tears and sobs soon stopped as she pulled away from him to give both of them a beautiful smile, "I will be waiting for you two."

Kikyo felt herself blink back tears; this was why she started to have feelings for the hanyou. She gave Inuyasha a squeeze on the shoulder, telling him it was time to go. He smiled up at her and gently patted Kaeda on her head. "We will see you soon, imouto."

Kikyo smiled and kissed Kaeda gently on the forehead. She then turned around with Inuyasha to leave.

After a few hours, Kagome had given up on waiting for Sesshomaru. She had also given up on trying to understand what had happened. The last time Sesshomaru had touched her, he had only flicked her on the forehead. But the way he touched her today...

It was so much more intimate, so much more—gah. Now she was sounding like some lovesick high school girl. She was so totally past that stage.

She smacked her forehead with her right hand. This was getting to be very annoying. She decided the best thing to do was to wait for Sesshomaru to arrive so she could ask question about what happened... actually no. She'd wait for Kikyo instead. For some reason she knew that Sesshomaru would not give her the answer, so who better to ask then the best friend of a hanyou?

This then lead her back to her initial problem: boredom.

She had finished practicing her locked skills, though it was difficult to do certain training due to the requirement of a sparring partner. She sighed and retied her sword to her belt hook. For like the twelfth time in the past hour. She huffed out a large gust of air.

"I am soooooooo bored." She concluded once again.

Really she would hope that she could come up with different ideas to entertain herself with. She was easily amused when it came to people, so why the hell couldn't she amuse herself?

She could always think about this situation, but found to be rather depressing. Besides she preferred to be a happy-go-lucky innocent high school girl. Unfortunately, she never was quite innocent. No, not in many ways expect for her virtue.

Now that she thought about, she was completely innocent in that matter. She had never kissed a guy. Seriously not even a peck on the cheek! Ah... she remembered that all too well. She herself had begun to question her sexuality or lack of. She hadn't even found any boy attractive until...

"I am so screwed." She grumbled out, "At least I know I'm not homo now."

Sesshomaru, the enigma and bane of her eighteen years of life, and probably would remain so for the rest of it, however long it may be, was the one person—be it demon she was attracted to. She was so kicking that deity's ass. Maybe she should invest in a mental asylum for herself? Or long term hermit plans? Hmm... now there was a thought to consider.

With a quick shake of her head, being eerily reminded of her grandfather, she got up deciding a walk was in order to elevate some of the boredom and irrational thoughts. She slipped her hand in her hair and pulled it lose from the elastic and began her walk.

She marked the trunks of trees, to ensure she would find her way back. She kept walking who knows how long because she lost track.

She did, however, notice an odd scent... the burning of flesh. Her curiosity got the better of her and she went deeper into the woods following the grotesque smell. It leaded her to a small cave like area. The odd thing around the cave was that there was a feel of foreboding... despair and darkness. 'If you could call it that. Really how could you call something dark?'

Kagome really had no sense of self perseverance. After all not many would blindly travel with a youkai and hanyou, even if a miko was also travelling with her. Anyway, she entered the cave cautiously noting that the disgusting odour was getting stronger.

She barely managed to stifle a gasp as she came across a badly burned body. She quickly made her over to the person. She needed to check to make sure he was alive. She heard him groan, but continued to lay on his stomach. As gently as possible she moved him on his back. This time however, she wasn't able to stifle her gasp.

The man's face was scabbing slightly and had stopped bleeding. The wounds seemed deep, with his first layer of skin burned right of clearly a third degree burn. In some areas, however, fourth degree burns were evident. Kagome didn't want to think about what could possibly cause such injuries.

Instead, she sucked up her shock, pulled up her courage and began to dress his burns. She worked with whispered touches and determination. After dressing the burns she pulled out some painkillers and her canteen of water. She winced as she remembered that this person would need to eat something before she could give him the painkillers. She rummaged through her bag for some soft food, and found some apple sauce.

She looked for a disposable spoon and carefully began to feed the man. After the first few bites, the man made a grunt sound. She looked towards his eyes, "How are you feeling?"

With obvious effort the man opened his dark eyes. His voice was hoarse, "W-who are you?"

Kagome blinked, "Oh... umm Kagome. I just found you after getting frustrated with that stupid Sesshomaru and well it looked like you needed the help. I've already fixed up your burns. I was feeding you some food, so once you finish this, I have some medicine that will help with the pain."

"W-why?"

"I don't know... I guess because it's the right thing to do." Kagome answered with a shrug and then restarted feeding the man. Once she finished, she took out two painkillers and popped them in his mouth. Lifting his head gently, she got him to swallow a few gulps of water. "There, rest now. I'll come back later to check on you. Also, I think my friends are worried."

Kagome made sure he fell asleep before packing up her things and heading back where she originally was waiting for Kikyo and Dog-Ears to arrive.

When she got there, Sesshomaru was already there relaxing against a tree. She noticed his shoulders tense slightly, before he turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. "Where were you?"

Kagome rose an eyebrow, "Why does it matter?"

"Of course it matters."

"Why should it Taisho?"

"You reek of some disgusting a vile creature!" Sesshomaru gritted out. "Besides, its is my responisblity to make certain you are alright."

Kagome's eyes narrowed, as her anger got the best of her. "Don't you dare! Don't you fucking dare! You can go fuck yourself Sesshomaru Taisho, because I just spent a little over two hours helping a man that was severely burnt that I just cannot handle your fucking bitching." She turned around, "Guess what! Tell Kikyo and Inuyasha that I went to stay with the guy to make sure that he'll be fine."

Sesshomaru's eyes widen as Kagome continued. His heart clenched painfully—and he didn't know why. Just that his beast was telling him that their intended was in danger that some sort of evil and dark creature was going to attack her.

When he had returned after finally cooling himself down, he had been surprised to see that Kagome hadn't been there. He had meant to explain... well dust on some youkai knowledge for when she was to meet with his parents.

However, when she did return... she was coated. Coated with a stench of burnt flesh and something... something evil and dark. Of bad intentions, and greed so strong that even he was overwhelmed for a second by it.

He only wanted to protect her, but he knew that somehow he has messed up. And he had messed up big time. He watched her walk deeper into the woods, from where she had come earlier.

His body betrayed him.

He had wanted to reach out and stop her, but his damn body betrayed him! He was frozen with a cold feeling wafting into him. He just knew that something bad was going to happen to Kagome... he just didn't know what.

What he did know was that he was going to protect her.

"Yes." His beast growled, "They were going to protect her."

His head snapped up as he heard two pairs of feet making their way over. He grimly watched Kikyo and Inuyasha walk towards him, both looking at him with curiosity and then a slight fear when they didn't see Kagome.

"Sesshomaru-san, where is Kagome-san?" Kikyo asked after a minute had passed.

His eyes, moved towards the young miko, "Follow her. She went to help some man we do not trust. Make sure... she is well."

Kikyo's eyes widened in surprise, she gave a quick nod and smiled softly at Inuyasha. Sesshomaru heard her softly whisper to Inuyasha that she would be fine and so will make sure that Kagome is too. She also then promised to see him tomorrow, as it seemed that they might be long if the man was far too injured.

Her footsteps soon left the small clearing. Sesshomaru closed his eyes, and he leaned back against the tree. His ears picked up sounds of Inuyasha leaping onto a branch, and his eyes watched him.

He could picture his little bother's face. Eyebrows furrowed, nose scrunched slightly, and a look in his eyes that made you wonder if his normal brash behaviour was just a simple hoax.

"I don't like that smell."

Sesshomaru didn't open his eyes but murmured, "Nor do I."

"Is she...?" He trailed of wondering why Kagome's scent was mixed with that odour.

Sesshomaru let out a sigh, "I have angered her Inuyasha."

Inuyasha gave him a soft grunt of reassurance; however it did not reassure the Taiyoukai in anyway.

Conflicted

Author's Notes:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Okay, now I'm really sorry about the delay.... but I was swapped. You guys got to see a failry mature Inuyasha! Woot! And umm frustrated Sesshomaru. Anywho, here's an announcement.

All REVIWERS will receive a PREVIEW of the next chapter.

Let me know your thoughts :D