Chapter #3

Disclaimer: Just because you sit at you computer and stare at Sesshomaru, chanting "I want to own him. I want to own him. I want to own him." Doesn't make it true...Trust me I've tried.

Squirrels were evil. Yes. They were evil, noxious, vile little creatures that plagued the world with their very existence! Or, at least this is what Kagome told herself as she searched to forest for the little beast. She had been running through the forest on high speed, like any mentally disordered person. When a squirrel ever so kindly decided that her new electric blue backpack (complete with expendable pockets!) was of great interest to him.

The rodent had practically sky-bombed her from the trees, then ran off with a family portrait she had been carrying in the front pocket. It was a picture of her with her mother, brother, and even her father. It was the last picture that he was ever in, and she didn't want to ever forget the way he smiled.

But that vermin had made off with it, and into the trees! So now she was mumbling curses beneath her voice. (Inuyasha had expanded her vocabulary quite significantly.) While she craned her head upwards, trying her best to locate the scruffy creature that raided her. Vaguely the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, she felt as though she was being stalked or something, but she brushed it off. You get used to that sort of stuff when you spend your life dashing from bloodthirsty psychopaths.

"Ah, ha! I see you, you little bag of flees! Get back here and give me my picture! Or else...or else, uh. Or else I'll skin you and use your pelt as a dusting cloth!" That's right, her threats were truly intimidating! She could see it know, every chipmunk would cower in fear of her!

Hauling herself into a tree, she decided that she was going to make that squirrel feel the pure wrath of a sixteen-year-old girl. But just as the offender was within her reach, just as her hand was reaching out to strangle it's tiny little throat. The tree branch snapped, and she was sent tumbling to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs and tiny scratches.

She landed flat on her bottom, and all of her breath was knocked out upon the action. She just sat their for a few moments, groaning as she waited for the feeling of a shattered tailbone to ebb away. Brushing her leather pants off (She had decided a few minutes ago that pants would be better than a short skirt for running around, plus the leather was far more durable than any regular fabric, So she had slipped them on behind a few boulders.) she readied herself to push off the ground, when something caught in the corner of her eye.

She turned her head over to the left, were the bushes were now visibly moving. She was about to about to bolt for it, but whatever resided in the fern choose to make themselves known.

Before she hold lift herself off the ground, a finely booted foot stepped out of the bushes, shortly accompanied by it's body. She stared open-mouthed at the Taiyoukai that towered over her. Her eyes like saucer plates, all she could manage to stutter was a weak, "I-Inuyasha?"

She knew he wasn't Inuyasha, but the similarities were incredible and she didn't want to think about who this man was if he wasn't Inuyasha. Looking at him, she thought him to be a little over six feet. He had his long, straight, silver hair pulled up in a high ponytail. Large metal plates with thick spikes adorned his shoulders. So'unga strapped to his back, and his double tailed boa wrapped was around his shoulders. Definitely not Inuyasha, and he hardly looked anything like Sesshomaru. Which meant, this was the Inu no Tashio.

He stared down at her, analyzing her very being. For what, she didn't know, and wasn't sure if she wanted to. He had that predatory glint in his eyes that made her feel as though she were a cornered deer. It was as if she was the prey, some target for his hunt. Just to chase down, nipping at the heels, and leaving trails of blood.

It was terrifying.

Finally his mouth parted, fangs like daggers peeked out, and all Kagome could do is stare at him in horror. "Do you always end up falling on your rear end when in the hot pursuit of squirrels?" Kagome almost fell backwards in relief. The rapacious gleam in his golden eyes was gone, he was just teasing her.

It wasn't as if she liked being mocked, but it was far better than holding the role as his next victim. "Uh, it took my picture. So I wanted it back, um...?" Wow she was intelligent, she wouldn't be surprised if he just killed her then and there. But he just tilted his head at her in consideration. She still didn't know what for...

"Who are you?" He demanded, it was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to leave this question unanswered. She looked up at him a bit warily. What was she supposed to say? I'm the girl both your sons tried to kill? I'm the girl from two different futures? Or how about, I'm the girl your son falls in love with? (The last one was her personal favorite. Inuyasha had never directly said that he loved her. But she could tell from the looks he gave her when he thought she was asleep.)

Yeah, any of that was out of the question. So instead she went with what she considered safe. " I'm a Miko."

She didn't expect his response.

Immediately the Inu no Tashio's eyes turned to slits and grew in intensity. She could see the instinctual growl that tried to raise out of him and flinched. Before she had time to become fully afraid he was directly infront of her and had placed a clawed hand over her mouth, and another around her neck. She squeaked in fear, but it wasn't heard due to their current positioning. She could see the debate in his eyes, stronger than ever. He was trying to decide whether or not to kill her.

They just sat there. Kagome on her hands and knees, and the Inu no Tashio crouching down in order to hold her in place. She would bet that she looked like some pet bowing to it's master. Well, hopefully the position would keep him from killing her. At least for a few minutes so she could try to explain that she wasn't a threat.

After a while he straightened himself to his full impressive height, and slowly removed his hand. "A Miko..." He muttered to himself, it seemed like he thought that was really important. She nodded her head vigorously, and started again. "Yes, I am. But not a very good one, I-I can't even shoot a proper arrow!" Once again she was trying to be less threatening, though she couldn't see why anybody (Especially the Inu no Tashio) would ever see her as dangerous in the first place.

A smile erupted on his face, wicked and sly. She once again didn't understand his actions, and wished she wasn't so confused all the time. But what she really wanted, more than the previous statement was for him to stop looking at her like that. To her further terror he gave a low laugh. She started to shake under his gaze, and nearly had a heart attack when every emotion dancing in his eyes just shut off and he stared at her in.

it was deafeningly silent.

"I think...That you will be the forth. Yes. A nice addition.." His words were spoken more to himself than her. Finally she somehow found the courage to scramble onto her own feet and back towards the bushes. But when she turned to make a run for it she found him directly infront of her. He moved so fast that she hadn't seen it and crashed right into him.

"Now were do you think you're going?" He practically purred. In her book, dogs should NEVER purr. Righting herself into what she hoped was a uncaring stance, she glanced everywhere except at him. "W-Why should you care were I go?" She had no idea how she mustered the courage to voice the question. But never the less, there it was.

She expected threats, maybe a menacing growl, so she wasn't at all prepared for what he actually dished out.

He still wasn't smiling, but she didn't really want him to. Yet, the traces of secret amusement were defiantly there. The Inu no Tashio once again displayed his superior strength by grabbing her by the waist, effectively pinning her form against his armored chest and took to the sky in a rush of white. As the great dog exploded into the sky Kagome felt a ragged scream pierce through the air. She new her screech was loud enough to temporarily damaged anybody's ears, but if the Taiyoukai had felt any pain he wasn't about to show it.

"Because," Apparently the Inu no Tashio had decided to answer her previous question. "You will be a nice pet for my son."

PET?! Her mind practically howled in indignation. But on the outside all she could manage was a squeaky "S-son?" He didn't seem to feel that her stutters were worth being acknowledged. She tried to struggled in his grasp, but found that when she did so he would only grind her back into his armor. She sported a more than a few bloody nicks before she finally gave up and tried to think things through. This dog demon only had two son's that she new of, Inuyasha, and Sesshomaru. But if the Inu no Tashio was alive, that meant Inuyasha wasn't...Which only left Sesshomaru.

She was going to be some sort of...pet, to Sesshomaru...