A marriage then, Kagome knew. Part of her had been anticipating this subject would come up between them, at some point. Yet still she braced herself.

“That would be the ultimate way to legitimize you, wouldn’t it?” she said, half-smiling at him, though there wasn’t an ounce of good humor in it. “You’d be beyond reproach, then. And above me, of course, no matter what you say. Isn’t a wife necessarily second to her husband, in this day and age?”

“In some ways,” Ren had the sense to admit. “Yet not in the ways that matter most to you, I’d wager.”

Kagome stared at him, unconvinced. Cool as ever, the samurai drew to a stop just before her.

“I had a wife once,” he said, his voice falling to a silky murmur. “She was a frail, useless thing, a daughter foisted upon me by my late lord, as if in afterthought. Some might say that for a third son with no great prospects, this would have seemed a blessing. But she gave me nothing—no pleasure, not even a child. When those devilish floods came and took her from me, I confess I was not grieved to see her gone.”

With a ferocity that seemed to take him briefly aback, Kagome snapped out, “I loved my husband.”

“The gods themselves dare not doubt it,” Ren replied graciously, after a moment. “When I first saw you, Kagome-sama, I thought, here is a woman who could give me everything—a woman with whom I could build an empire to rival all others.” Significantly, he paused. “I am a man of the sword, this is true. I am a man of the world of men, and what I have seen of demons and the supernatural fills me with an aversion beyond my control. Yet for you, grappling with such forces comes naturally. Edo alone is secure from the youkai who wreak havoc on the rest of the land—even the most fearsome of which you seem to have found a special means to subdue.”

Kagome frowned, misliking this latest insinuation of his even more. “Whatever you think you know about my relationship with Sesshoumaru, you’d better think again.”

“Your demon kinsman is a warrior, that much I know for certain. If there is any commonality between him and I it is this.” Ren’s expression turned wolfish as he reached out, brushing the pad of a calloused thumb to her lower lip. “Surely I don’t need to tell a woman like you that a warrior’s first loyalty will always be to his sword, and the one who commands it.”

Kagome glared, smacking his hand aside. “If that’s what you’re really after with all this, you can forget it.”

Ren chuckled, the sound dripping with conceit. “Not that you aren’t beautiful, Kagome-sama—but you’re a beast of a woman. As tempting as it would be to hold you down and give you a good, hard stabbing, I’m not entirely sure I would get it back.” As Kagome went red in the face, he continued on, “Now, that sweet little apprentice of yours…there’s a flower I’d like to pluck.”

“You stay away from Rin-chan,” Kagome growled outright. “Touch her, and you won’t have just me to contend with.”

“Trust me, Kagome-sama, I want no quarrel with you and your dear demon brother-in-law. Quite the contrary.” Ren’s smile steepened at a vicious slant. “I don’t think I’m wrong to assume that neither you nor Rin-chan would relish the thought of bringing a youkai warlord’s wrath down upon this holiest of places. Marry me, and I’ll leave you to your own devices. She to her maidenhood, and you to your own ‘higher’ concerns.”

Galled at her bluff being so easily called, Kagome turned upon her heel. “The answer is no,” she sternly said.

“A pity, my lady!” Ren called after her, chuckling again. “Well, I’ll give you some time to reconsider.”

“No, I said!” Kagome shouted back, as Ikiryou began to howl from the door.

But she could still feel Ren’s scathing glance cutting into her, long after she’d left the hall behind.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi