"Very good, Sesshomaru; we will return in two weeks' time for the grand ball and announcement of your title of Lord of the West, as your father before you,"

The wind blew, and Kagome felt a chill, what had she done?! She thought that would be it, they would leave and that would be the end of it.

Sesshomaru did nothing but stand there looking at the stupid Lords in front of him. Had his blasted father not gone and got himself killed, he would not have to go through all this. The Lords all bowed to him before turning and making their way to their castles. Once they were out of sight, Sesshomaru turned sharply to the woman who now bared his mark.

"Why didn't you stop me!" She yelled, snapping out of it,

"You asked for it, Miko."

"I had no idea that this would happen! I thought I would be playing a part! I was trying to help you!"

"And now you're bound to me, wench,"

"I'll kill you!" Inuyasha yelled from the arms of his friends, who were holding him back,

"You could have said something, stopped her, you bastard!" Inuyasha yelled louder, fang showing.

"Why did you not stop her?" Miroku asked, concern on his face,

"It matters not; I now have my lands, and the Miko will forever be protected, you should be thankful."

"Thankful?" Kagome spoke, "Thankful for what!" Jerk.

"That your life is spared from hardship, woman, you now belong to me, you will be protected by me, you woman, are now the Lady of the West, you will never want for anything, women would kill to be at my side." Hell, it could have been worse, at least she had some type of power, and could move through time, there were many odd things about her, and he just could not put his demon finger on it.

"That's right, kill! You hear that Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled,

"Quite half-breed! She brought this on herself, I did not cause this, if you wish to be angry, be angry with her!" Why were they blaming him? So he didn't stop her, this was his last chance, he was not about to lose his title and land because of one stupid Miko if she wanted to submit to him, fine. It was her doing, hers.

Inuyasha's eyes slid to Kagome "Why do you have to be so stupid all the time!" He said quietly, anger rolled off him,

Hurt flashed on Kagome's face,

"Watch that tongue half-breed, lest I cut it out."

"Grrr don't you dare Sesshomaru, you don't care about her!" Inuyasha snapped, how dare he act like he cared about her!

"It matters not how I feel half-breed, she is my wife!" Sesshomaru snapped,

"Fuck you, Sesshomaru, dammit, you should have stopped her, she doesn't wanna be with you!"

Kagome stood there, did no one care about how she was feeling? Did anyone ever care how she felt?

"Better me than you, half-breed, perhaps you should have claimed her; this all could have been avoided," He pointed out.

"Don't put this on me, you jerk, this is not my fault!" But he knew, sadly, some of it was indeed his fault; he had been stupid with her, shoved her love aside for another time and time again.

"Is it not, did the girl not wish to be your mate?"

"Shut up, Sesshomaru" That hurt, he knew Kagome loved him, he loved her, but his love for another was greater, but being stupid, he never fully talked to her about it.

"Tell me, half-breed, why not mate with her? By the way, your pathetic human friends could not hold you back; you could have stopped her at any time; you simply did not wish to."

"I THOUGHT YOU WOULD!" But inside, his brother was right, he knew. He hesitated. If he really wanted to stop her, he would have.

Kagome stood in the middle of the fight, both me yelling at each other, well more Inuyasha yelling and Sesshomaru speaking as he always did, but one thing came out of it all.

Neither of them wanted her. Sure, she was not thrilled about this, and Sesshomaru had a point, but, still, could they not make this better for her?

Kagome sighed; in the end, this was only about power. Inuyasha wanted to be with Kikyo for the jewel's power, Sesshomaru was now mated to her because he wanted power, and Kouga only wanted her for her power.

"Stop, Inuyasha," Came her quiet voice,

"What?!" He stopped screaming,

"I said stop, yelling is not going to change anything, whats done is done." Her voice was sad, and void.

"What! How can you say that you act like you wanted to be married to him!" He was yelling again,

Kagome fought back the tears. "Yeah, that's right, Inuyasha, I wanna be married to your older, human-hating, jerk, dog demon of a brother!" She yelled, tears forming.

They all went silent; Sesshomaru would deal with her outburst about him later.

"Why do you care? You want to be with Kikyo anyway; why are you so mad, hu?" Forget it; she would say what they were all thinking. "This way, it's an easy out for you,"

His ears went flat; it hurt because it was true.

She then turned to Sesshomaru, "If you think for one moment that I am going to submit to you, you have another thing coming; I don't care how powerful you are, you tried to kill me once and failed, and we all know I can land an arrow on you."

"You are out of line."

"Shut up!" She snapped, "Look, I'll do what I need to do, I'll be the stupid lady of the West; I'll play the part for you when I have to, but when we are behind closed doors, we are nothing more to each other than a demon and a Miko, got that!" Tears rolled down her face. None of them cared about her, but wasn't that her luck?

She turned and began to walk away. "This is, after all, all about power, isn't it?" She didn't wait for a response; she headed West.