"The Miko is not yours."
Maru bristled at the declaration. Gritting, his teeth, he bit out, "She is not yours either."
Seshoumaru could feel Kagome's eyes burning in the back of his head and resisted the urge to turn around and glare at her. Maru's words made him want to decapitate the whelp but he reminded himself that the whelp was himself from the past.
He frowned.
He did not remember being this annoying when he was young.
Stiffly, he spoke, "This Seshoumaru is her Alpha. She belongs to me."
Maru lifted his pert little nose, "Well, I scent marked her first."
Seshoumaru lost the battle with his common sense and snarled. Maru immediately brought out his poison whip, growling.
"It hasn't even been one minute and you threatened him!"
Seshoumaru looked at Kagome who was striding towards them, scowling at him, "The whelp does not understand his place."
Kagome rubbed a hand over her face in exasperation, rolling her eyes, "His place is your place, Seshoumaru, because he is you!"
Seshoumaru blinked at her and announced, "Impossible. There can be only one Alpha."
The miko wanted to bang her head against a tree. Carefully, like speaking to a slow child, she tried again, "I'm not saying he's an Alpha, Seshoumaru. I'm saying that he is you and you're an Alpha."
Seshoumaru stared at her, stubbornly, "His place is below me."
She wished a youkai would come impale her right now.
"How can your place be below you, Seshoumaru!? Do you even hear yourself?"
Within a second, she was pinned to the nearest tree by her throat and as if right on cue, Maru sprung out his poison whip which he had leashed when she had spoken.
"You shall speak to this Seshoumaru with respect. This Seshoumaru is your Alpha."
Kagome wondered how much money she would have if she had 500 yen for every time she got pinned to a tree by Seshoumaru.
She rolled her eyes.
Seshoumaru blinked. Had the miko just made a mockery of his authority? Before he could say anything, Kagome asked in a completely irritated tone, "Do you plan on gutting me, Seshoumaru?"
He blinked.
"Or killing me? Poisoning me, perhaps?"
He remained silent, his hold not wavering.
Taking that as her answer, she scowled and her eyes flashed pink as she yelled, "Then Let Me Go!"
He released his hold, more due to surprise than the burning sensation his hand experienced. He frowned at the miko, "You attempted to purify this Seshoumaru."
Kagome rubbed her throat, more annoyed than scared, "Stop being a jerk and maybe I'll stop."
"Kagome!"
Maru ducked under Seshoumaru's imposing figure and rushed towards the miko, "Did he hurt you?"
Kagome made a face, "No. But my back is starting to hurt what with being pushed around into various trees all the time."
Seshoumaru had the decency to feel ashamed, only for a few seconds, however. His guilt flew out the window, as he watched the pup deliberately scent mark Kagome as he let her pet him. Resisting the urge to snarl, he narrowed his eyes, "The whelp needs to return to his time period."
"Whelp?" Kagome looked at him, astounded. "Did you just call yourself a - Never mind." She broke off hastily, muttering, "It'll give you an another excuse to push me into a tree."
Maru stood by her side, like a watchdog. He looked up at her, hesitantly, as if to remind her, "But I could not return, Kagome."
Kagome absently put a hand on his head, whilst Seshoumaru seethed inwardly at the contact, "Yeah, I know." She raised a brow, "He tried jumping down the well already. It didn't work."
"Then we shall consult Bokensuno."
Kagome grabbed onto Maru's hand and started leading him away, as she tossed over her shoulder, heatedly, "And in the meantime, you stay away from Maru." Before Seshoumaru could react, Kagome frowned at the small child next to her, "And you stop trying to step on his toes. Don't think I don't know what you're up to."
The silver haired pup looked down at the ground, guiltily, and spotting Seshoumaru's one second smirk, scowled and protested, "But he says you belong to him. That is not true. I saw you first."
Kagome stilled, "What?"
Maru nodded his head, stubbornly, refusing to give up his claim.
Kagome clenched her jaw. She refused to even try to understand what Seshoumaru meant by those words. That meant conjuring up the mother of all headaches and she really wasn't up to it.
Looking down at Maru, she tried to explain without losing her temper, "I don't belong to any person, Maru. I belong only to myself."
The child shook his head, a stubborn glint in those golden eyes, as he argued, "But my beast accepted you. And you take care of me. And you like me. I like you, too, Kagome." His eyes widened, adorably, as he tried to convince her that she belonged to him.
"Maru, I do like you but I don't belong to anyone. Not even Seshoumaru."
The older inuyoukai raised a brow, "We will discuss that in detail, later, miko."
Ignoring him, Kagome tried to explain to the heartbroken child who was slowly turning distraught, however, he saw her answer in her eyes, and he let go of her hand. His chest burning as he realized that he was once again being rejected, he slowly backed away.
When Kagome saw the tears in his eyes, she made a sound and made towards him. However, he backed away, shying from her touch. Right now, he could see his parents who refused to have anything to do with him and his fragile heart shattered. His whisper was low, but reached a confused Kagome's ears, "You are just like them. No different."
With that, he turned around and ran in a different direction into the trees. Kagome gasped and made after him only to be stopped by Seshoumaru who stepped in her path.
"Let him go."
Kagome tried to edge past him but he wouldn't have it, "He's just a child, Seshoumaru. He'll get himself hurt."
Seshoumaru's stare showed no emotion, as he informed her, "He was performing the annual hunt at such a young age. He knows how to survive."
Kagome protested, but she couldn't win against him. She finally slumped under a tree, depression written all over her face. She couldn't forget that broken look on his face. Tears burned her eyes and she rubbed at them, trying to stem the flow.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Shippou slipped away from the group and followed after the young pup. Kagome didn't understand much about different youkai and their behavior and she hadn't seen what he had seen. As much as he was wary of Maru, he refused to let him misunderstand Kagome's intentions. He was doing this for Kagome, not for the pup. Although, he kept telling himself that, his heart clenched as he recalled the look on Maru's face. He knew that look. It wasn't possible, but maybe.
Elsewhere, Inuyasha scowled. Without Kagome, there group was travelling in no particular direction. Maybe he should ask Kikyo to join up with them. However, before he could voice this thought, Miroku spoke up, "Inuyasha, I think it is time we track down your brother and ask to join up with them. We need Kagome and it is strange to travel without either Kagome or Shippou."
Sango made an affirmative sound.
Inuyasha snorted, "Hell no. I ain't apologizing to her. I'll just tell Kikyo to join up with us."
The footsteps stopped behind him and he turned to look back and saw the sporting looks of horror on both his companion's faces.
"Absolutely not!" Sango sounded furious. "She has tried to kill Kagome many times and I refuse to work with her."
Inuyasha bristled at the implied note in Sango's words, "You can't prove that."
Miroku blinked, and spoke slowly, "Kikyo aimed an arrow in Kagome's direction and let it fly, Inuyasha. It does not get any clearer than that. We all saw her."
"It was an accident!" the hanyou spoke, defensively.
"From the miko who has a perfect aim?" Sango spoke, derisively, snorting, "I don't think so."
"We will not work with Kikyo, Inuyasha." Miroku announced, raising a brow, as if daring his friend to challenge him.
Inuyasha scowled and turned away. His eyes flashed black for a few seconds, before they turned back to their golden self.
"We'll see."
A.N: Long time. No see.
Next Chapter: Shippou sits down with Maru and explains to him that slavery has been abolished and people just can't be owned in this time and day. I expect Maru to produce some very valid arguments for his case. Meanwhile, Inuyasha needs to get an eye checkup and eat more carrots. Miroku and Sango need more screen time and Naraku, none at all. Not ready for him yet.