Here it is guys! The next chapter of Lady in the Dog's Den has been finally added!

For explanations on the rather major delay, please see end.

Chapter 10

The threat was left unspoken…

The return journey was a nightmare for Kagome to say the least. Once again she was before Inuyasha on his horse, but unlike the journey out, she did not look at him. Training her eyes on the road ahead she was conscious of every contraction of muscle that signified that this ride wasn't easy. Physically or emotionally.

The anger had started to slowly build into a subdued bon fire inside her after the danger of a fight wouldn't erupt between Inuyasha and Naraku. However overlying the anger was confusion. Why would Inuyasha want to marry her? Lady Kagome was not a toy of war to be given to the victor and she certainly would not be given to an over bearing, arrogant and down-right rude man.

She was appalled, furious and humiliated and said nothing all the way back, and she certainly did not allow herself to relax back into the warm curve of masculine flesh behind her. Inuyasha was equally silent , forcing a relentless pace back to the low building that was his retreat.

Miroku emerged from one of the outer buildings as they reined in the horses and he came up with a cheerful greeting when Kagome slipped to the ground effortlessly without waiting for Inuyasha to dismount and walked quickly into the hall.

"What ails the Lady?" Miroku demanded, frowning as he took in Kikyo's hard expression and how everyone else avoided looking at their leader. The Shikonean who had escorted Kikyo, whose name was Hatsu gave him an expressive look as he lead her inside.

Inuyasha did not answer immediately, but dismounted and put his hand on miroku's shoulder as they followed them in. "she is upset because I told her uncle I wished to marry her."

Miroku stopped mid-step and swung round to face his silver haired Lord, "What?!" Shock and disbelief registering on his face; then, with a crooked, wary smile he said, "you're joking."

Inuyasha shook his head, "No, my friend. I've never been more serious in my life."

For a moment Miroku seemed stupefied, unable to accept what his ears had heard. Others in the ahll had also stopped what they were doing to cast startled glances at their lord. "Then you're mad!" he exploded. "What demon possessed you? I have known you since we were children and never have I thought you were wanting in the brain. Maybe overly cautious and to easily angered but never an idiot! You ridicule everything we have been working for with such a demand. Washoru will never agree now! He'll not have a man wanting in the upstairs department swearing fealty to him!"

Inuyasha laid a hand on his arm. His face was set, his eyes hard and glinting and his voice low and controlled, "Have a care, Miroku, my friend. I am in earnest over this and no man, not even you shall call me fool for it. I will have that wench for my wife."

"And endanger us all for it!"

With a sound of disgust, Miroku swung away, stopping when he saw Kagome watching them. Then he strode angrily across the hall and as he was going through the doorway that lead to the kitchens he heard Inuyasha's voice call after him, "Oh and we know what demon possessed me, it was a dog's and my own."

Inuyasha stared after his friend for a moment, his expression icy, then he walked across to the two girls with long powerful strides, and jerked his head towards the other doorway and said "come."

"I guess it is too much to hope that you will grant me the courtesy of an explanation," said Kagome in a small cold voice.

"You have heard my reasons."

"yes, and have only contempt for them!" she retorted scornfully. Then, her voice heavy with sarcasm, she went on, "I will not be a hostage for your safety, my brave Lord Inuyasha, and if you believe that my uncle and the King will ever agree to a marriage between us, you are mad indeed!"

"I am in no humour to exchange pleasantries with you, wench!' he caught her arm in a bruising grip, "And if you value your safety, "he added in a dangerous voice, "you will obey me. Come."

She pulled back, daring to defy him. "Just because Miroku had enough courage to tell you that he thinks you are a fool, does not mean you have a reason to break my arm!" She wrenched free of his grasp. "Do you intend to keep us confined to those chambers for three days? A fine way to treat the lady you profess the wish to wed!"

For a moment his face was unreadable. Then grudgingly, he replied, "Very well. Escape is impossible without help and no one will aid you now. So you may have the freedom of this building but you are not to go outside."

She met his gaze and inclined her head. "Thank you," she said tautly, "you are very kind!" He sent her a withering look, turned on his heel and went back after Miroku.

Now left without a word, the girls were at a loss. The shikoneans had returned to their various tasks, discussing the morning's revelations in hushed tones, an there semed little they could do but shed their cloaks and sit down on one of the benches at the long table.

Kagome was still infuriated by Inuyasha's treatment of her and leaning forward onto the table she demanded in a low voice, "How dare he, Kikyo? Does he think I am a slave to be sold on a whim? A piece of merchandise?"

"If he thinks that," Kikyo said quietly, "he will soon discover his mistake! It is a good thing, I think, that he will not hear what Hiroshi says about him to the King!"

Kagome turned to look at her, realisng for the first time that her uncle would see the situation very differently form herself. Only this morning she had been hoping that Inuyasha would succeed in his aims and be restored to Nightingale as a loyal subject of Washoru, sympathising with his cause. But her uncle… He would see a man who, by his deeds this past year, had brought to king's attention the fact that Lord Hiroshi had not really succeeded in doing what he had been sent to Nightingale to do. And also, Inuyasha had taken advantage of his absence to abduct his wife and niece, and then had made demands of the king, using him as a go-between…

She could easily imagine how bad her uncle could and would make it all seem. What if the King felt Inuyasha was a threat to the kingdom? A flutter of unease stirred in the pit of her stomach at the several disagreeable possibilities that suggested themselves. "Oh,, Kikyo," she murmured, "however will it all come right?"

Kikyo sighed and smiled a small smug smile. "Hiroshi will find a way."

Kagome could only marvel at her confidence. But then, of course, her idea of a happy conclusion to all this was quite different from Kikyo's. She did not want anyone to suffer unduly, which included the golden-eyed hanyou who held their lives in the palm of his clawed hand. Kikyo on the other hand would doubtlessly cheerfully see Inuyasha hang.

Hating the boredom of having nothing to do and needing something to keep her from thinking too much about Inuyasha d what might happen when her uncle returned from seeing the King, Kagome let her gaze stray to several women seated by the fire and working on a very fine tapestry, which was presumably intended for Nightingale.

Perhaps, she mused, if they were both quiet, friendly and didn't cause trouble, the Shikoneans might grow careless in their watching, might trust them too far. Then, perhaps tomorrow, there might come a chance to escape. For although she did not believe that the King would even consider agreeing to Inuyasha marrying her, Kagome realized that it was possible he would agree to grant him an audience, and the hanyou was likely to keep them hostage for as long as it suited him.

At first the women were unwilling to allow them join them, and much of their reluctance seemed to be directed towards Kikyo- she had not endeared herself to the people during Lord Hiroshi's absence from Nightingale. But they overcame their reticence when Rin pointed out that both ladies were skilled at such things, and with two more needles working, it would be finished all the sooner.

Kikyo made herseld much more amiable than Kagome had ever seen her with Shikoneans, going as far as attempting a few words of their language. However, kagome felt restless, and although she worked on a corner of the tapestry for some time, she soon tired of it, and murmuring a few words of excuse, rose from the little circle.

Smiling reassuringly at Kikyo, she turned away and saw Miroku standing in the doorway surveying the world outside. She walked along the side of the table and sat down at the end of the bench a few feet from him. He turned and looked at her, and to her relief there was little of the hostility about him that there had been earlier.

He nodded towards the women by the fire, "The stitching does not interest you?"

She shrugged and replied, "Yes, well enough. But not today." She paused and then raised troubled eyes to his. "Miroku, why did he do it?'

He made a sound of disgust. "There can only be one reason, but I like it not."

She nodded and could not prevent the trace of bitterness in her voice. "He wishes to wed me to secure his position with Washoru, and as a hostage to ensure that the King will not attack once he is back at Nightingale!"

Miroku looked at her sharply and narrowed his eyes. For a moment he said nothing, suddenly he burst out, "It's madness! All of it! He has no right to do this to you!"

"Surely you do not believe the King will agree!"

Miroku shrugged, "Inuyasha is used to haing what he wants."

This ambiguous statement did not seem to be an answer, and it rendered Kagome silent, powerless to quell the sudden fluttering in her stomach. "But,' she began tentatively, "you do not have to be as guilty as he. You could perhaps…help us. To-to get away…?" her heart sank, aware even as she spoke of the futility of such a clumsy plea.

He smiled a little, almost regretfully, "No, as much as I like to help a maiden in distress. I owe him some loyalty. Actually, I owe him my life." He returned his gaze to the activity outside, and beckoned her. "Look." She rose, mystified, and went to stand beside him. "I am not so brave, either," he said with a wry smile, "that I would make an enemy of such a man as that."

The sight that met her eyes as she followed his gaze made her blood run cold.

Inuyasha was standing with a handful of his men, and he was practicing with a sword that was almost twice the length of his body and almost as wide. The late afternoon sunlight glinted off it with each effortless swing he made. The sword of destruction. She had known it he was the welder of the legendary Tetsusaiga but had not seen it in or around the hall. The sword that could cause such havoc, with a single swing, severing horses' heads and men's limbs with a single swing and without even unleashing the swords true power. He stood half turned away from her, legs set apart, the sword held in both hands, blade down in front of him. Slowly he lifted it and swung to the left, then over his shoulder, the muscles of his arms hardening to take the weight as he raised the heavy, deadly weapon above his head.

Suddenly, for a few terrible moments, kagome could visualize him in the Final Battle; she could hear the sounds of battle, the shouting and screaming and the clash of metal. She could see her father on his knees before him, the sudden horror of realization in his eyes. The sword paused in mid air for the briefest instant, and then, with all the force of hatred, it crashed downwards…

Faintly, as if far away, Kagome heard a woman scream and when her head reeled, the world swimming before her, she realized that it had been her. Vaguely she heard a voice close to her, felt a hand on her arm and a hand gripping her shoulder; but she fought him off, twisted away and ran across the hall, sweeping aside the heavy curtain and half stumbling into the bedchamber, pushing the door closed behind her.

Dropping to her knees before the fir, she buried her face in her hands and slowly felt tears fall silently through her fingers. They were few and quickly brushed away at the sound of raised voices outside.

A moment later the door opened and she turned her head, half expecting kikyo but it was Inuyasha. "What's wrong?" when she did not answer, he crossed the room in a few strides and firmly but tenderly, raised her to her feet and turned her round to face him.

She pulled violently away. "Don't touch me. Can you not leave me in peace? Go away!"

He shook his head, frowning a little, "No. Why did you cry out? Was it Miroku? He's been known to get to close for comfort. Did he-?"

"He did nothing! You! I hate you! I hate you and I hate this accursed country, do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you, and so does half of Miro, because you scream like a banshee-" it was an exaggeration, and if it was designed to make her angrier, it succeeded. Catching the arm that flew up to strikehim and he held it firmly as his free hand closed around her other wrist. "why do you hate me so suddenly?"

"I have enough reasons to hate you, I think!"

"Yes, but no more now than you had a few hours ago, and you were not so distraught then."

"It might have been you who killed my father! You who cut him down as if he were no more than a log of wood. You, with your large sword that sliced him in- in two…" her voice trembled and broke, and she half turned away.

He was silent for a moment, and then released his hold of her, "and for that- possibility," he said softly, emphasizing the word slightly, "you would hate me and all my kind? No, wench. That's not you. You have proved that all these past months at Nightingale. It's merely the injustice that angers you, I think."

He reached out and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look at him, and with his other hand he brushed several strands of hair from her face. Softly he pulled her against his body and wrapped his arms around her. "I killed many men that day," he said quietly, "It's possible one was your father. It is also possible it was your father's sword that killed my brother Sesshomaru. But if you want to hear and see real injustice, look at the woman called Rin. Really look at her, see what is buried in her eyes." Seeing the confusion on the face of the woman in his arms, Inuyasha sighed. "Rin was married to my brother. For seven months they had joy in their hands, then when it seemed that the world was almost complete, Rin became pregnant. The final piece and they were so happy. And then the war came and Sesshomaru had to go to fight. Sesshomaru died in the Final battle, died within two metres of me. And I could not help him. All I could do was pick up the pieces that had once been a great man when the battle was over and take them home to the one woman who did not deserve such heartbreak. By the time I got home, a messenger had already been through bearing the news of the wars out come. Including my brother's death. Rin had come outside to greet the man when she heard the news being told to the yard workers. She stumbled and fell. Five months pregnant and she lost her baby. She also broke her leg, but that has never caused her to complain even though she still walks with a limp to this day, a constant reminder of what happened. All she cared about was taken from her that day. Her husband and her little baby son, who would have looked just like his father. They had been married a year."

He stepped away from the warmth of her body, watching the tears trace their way down her face. Then he turned and walked to the door. Pausing he looked back at her and said, "Do not treat her as a servant, she was just playing the servant for as long as she worked under your uncle. She does not ask for pity. Only understanding."

Kagome stared after him, shocked at what he had just revealed. Slowly she sat back down before the fire. As she sat there staring into the flames only one thought ran through her mind,

"War is the destroyer of us all."

----------

Tis done.

OK I fully apologise for the gigantic delay on writing a new chapter. I've actually written this chapter in two nights, after I went on to my account for what was probably the fourth time in two years, and saw that I hadn't updated either Silent Screamer or Lady in the Dog's Den since 2007.

The reason it was so delayed was because I was going through senior at high school and to me, as shocking as it may seem to some of you, school was more important. However, I've got to say that I did read A LOT of fanfiction during my senior years so I wasn't completely celibate =P So I've finished high school, am in search of a job, about to start university to become a teacher and on the lookout for friends at my university because I know no one there. So life moves on even if writing my stories has been pushed to the back of my, rather full, wardrobe I will go back to it every so often just to please the people who are constant in their regard for my stories. For those of you who are also readers of Silent Screamer, my infamous first story without a plot, keep your eyes open and look for a new update in the next week or so, as I slowly work out how to put a plot into it. Also I'm going on a week's holiday to the coast so in between swimming, meeting rather attractive guys on the beach, and watching my skin turn that lovely honey golden brown that I love, I will be writing a few more chapters. Unless I get very side tracked by some lovely male =]

Thanks again for being (incredibly) patient!

Yours Alex.