The sun was setting as Sesshoumaru and his retinue returned to the village. Touching down in a clearing in the outlying woods, the daiyoukai continued on his way alone. As he approached the last line of trees, he saw her. Far from anxious or despondent, Kagome seemed perfectly content as she walked arm-in-arm with her taijiya friend, laughing and talking with the slayer and the monk and the children as she went.

From a distance, Sesshoumaru continued to watch her, his mood darkening further at every easy smile that graced her lips. It was clear she had not missed him as he had thought she would. As night fell and she dined with the others in the home of the elderly one-eyed miko, he began to doubt that she remembered him at all. Not once so far had she even spoken his name.

Sesshoumaru’s jaw clenched harder as the long minutes passed without the slightest sign of her consideration for him. It was as if he did not even exist to her in his mind.

As she parted ways with her human companions at last, Sesshoumaru stalked her and Entei back to her hut at the edge of the village. The horse youkai’s ears twitched toward him in question, but the girl remained ever oblivious to his presence. He, on the other hand, was feverishly attuned to her. Listening from outside, he heard her hum pleasantly to herself as she prepared for bed, joking occasionally with the horse.

Fuming, Sesshoumaru found himself unable to bear her disregard any longer. Striding through the curtained door, he took hold of her by both of her bare arms and backed her up against the wall behind her. A startled gasp left her lips, the horse giving an irritated snort as he cantered from the dwelling.

Wide blue eyes stared up at him in surprise. “Sesshoumaru, you–”

His mouth crushed down on hers before she could finish. Her sweet taste made him groan, his fangs nicking her closed lips as he prised them apart and thrust his tongue in to claim her. She whimpered into him, her fingers snagging desperately in his sleeves. She needed to breathe, and he needed to stifle her—as she had so thoughtlessly stifled him.

Half-undressed, only her straining bra concealed her otherwise naked chest. His claws hooked into the straps at her shoulders, her breasts springing free as he wrenched the whole contraption down around her. Seizing hold of one heavy swell, he broke from her with a growl as he turned her, shoving her front-first into the wall.

“…S-Sesshoumaru,” she stammered, pushing back against him as he yanked down her hakama and ripped open the ties of his own.

There would be time later for her pleasure. Right now Sesshoumaru could think only of his own, his need to be within her consuming him as he brought his burning flesh against hers.

“Sesshoumaru!”

The sound of her crying out his name enflamed him. Setting his fangs against her shoulder, he pushed and parted her, seeking her entrance. The moment he met it, she went silent and still.

Rigid.

Snarling in frustration, he drew back and spun her around to face him. “You cannot be hurting still.”

Her hard eyes glistened as she snatched up her fallen hakama and shielded her breasts with an arm. “That was never the issue.”

Righting his own clothing, he glared fiercely at her in turn. If pain was not the reason for her reluctance, then he could only conclude that he had displeased her in some way. It rankled him to even consider that his performance had been lacking. She had seemed to enjoy herself quite well the night they had lain together, and at this thought, his temper flared.

“So,” he seethed, “you have had your fill of me, is that it?”

Her eyes flashed at the accusation. “I’ve had my fill of being treated like a sex toy or just another place to put your seed. Go mark your territory somewhere else, Sesshoumaru, if that’s all you care about.”

His claws cracked as he fought the urge to strike her. Despite his status, despite his nature, despite his beliefs and his better judgment, he had made her his. And this was how she repaid him—with insolence and scorn.

“You,” he ground out in barely-contained wrath, “are my woman.”

To his furious disbelief, she still had the audacity to set her jaw against him. “Even if I am, that doesn’t make me your slave.”

He laughed shortly, shaking his head. “Did you not give yourself to me as such?” She retreated into the wall as he as advanced a step. “If I want to mark you, if I want to fuck you,” he said just to make her flinch, “what can you possibly say against it?”

She scowled up at him in defiance. “I’d say that you’ve already gotten what you want from me, it seems.”

His lips thinned as he trapped her against him, his flexed claws caging her in at the cheeks. “When I have gotten what I want from you, Kagome,” he promised her lowly, “you will know.”

She turned her face away from him, her voice faint but steady. “You’re better than this, Sesshoumaru.”

He had expected her to struggle and to plead, but her reproach checked him in a way that her protests never could. Here he was, hurling himself repeatedly at a girl who did not want him, threatening to force himself upon her like a savage beast. She—a lowly human—had driven him to such a state.

Sesshoumaru was above this self-debasement, this senseless longing. He was above her.

Bitter and ashamed, he withdrew, a rueful smile twisting his lips as he looked coldly down upon her. “You are right.”

Turning, he crossed to the door, leaving Kagome and her miserable human concerns behind him.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi