Kagome’s arrow cut a brilliant, rosy swathe through the darkness. Streaking toward the rutting pair, it flared almost white as it struck the ground near Sesshoumaru’s left knee. With a deafening roar, the daiyoukai reeled from the blast, the bloodied girl breaking away from him with a frightened scream. As Kagome rushed into the clearing, the teenager lay naked and shuddering, her knees huddled to her chest as she stared at Sesshoumaru in abject terror.

“It’s alright,” Kagome said, reaching out. Her own voice quavered despite her best efforts to still it. “Everything’s going to be alright now—”

Face bloodless with fear, the girl fixed Kagome with a frantic, wide-eyed glance before she lurched to her feet and bolted, weeping, from the clearing. Stung, Kagome watched after her as she fled, her outstretched hand falling slowly back to her side.

In her concern for the girl, she had almost forgotten about her brother-in-law. Now she turned toward him with a troubled frown. Crouched and golden-eyed once more, he glared toward her, radiating hostility, his whole left side smoking and scalded reddish-black. Kagome glared back.

“You brought this on yourself, Sesshoumaru. You should have stopped when I told you to.”

His youki simmered with agitation. “Do you think I did not try?”

“Try…” Kagome muttered, stalking toward him. “From where I was standing, it looked like you were trying to rip that poor girl to shreds.” Banding her arms across her chest, she drew to a stop, peering down at him in bitter disdain. “If I hadn’t shot that arrow at you, you’d have raped her to death just like all the others.” Kagome’s fists clenched as her voice frayed, threatening to break with anguished fury. “You heartless beast.”

At this condemnation, Sesshoumaru went deadly still, the very air around her seeming to chill with his displeasure. “Were you any other,” he spoke to her with terrible softness, “I would strike you down where you stand.”

“I’m sure you would,” the miko replied just as lowly, the corner of her lips rising in a humorless half-smile, “if I were any other.”

At an impasse, they regarded one another in frigid silence. Implacable as Kagome felt, she was still surprised when Sesshoumaru was the one to end the standoff.

His eyes slid shut as he exhaled shortly through his fangs. “I need relief, Kagome.”

The miko’s shoulders stiffened, her gaze descending. In her anger, she had overlooked his nakedness, but now she found her attention riveted on his flushed and throbbing sex. Swallowing shallowly, she tore her eyes away—only to be confronted with his own searing gaze. Kagome’s cheeks flamed, tension coiling like a spring in the pit of her stomach. And now she could see the strain in him as well, crimson leaching into his vision as he fought to hold himself in check.

“Kagome,” he said again, the edge of lust in his voice making her blood run cold.

Before she could stop herself, the miko retreated a step. “No.”

“You must,” he said, leaning toward her. Close to her now, the heat of his body made her shiver. “Surely you see that it is the only way. You cannot temper me while I take another.”

Her face burned once more—this time in outrage. “I’m a holy priestess,” she snapped, bristling further at his obvious indifference. “I’m your brother’s wife!”

“My brother is dead,” he stated with a coolness that made her want to slap him bloody. “You are bound to no one—or is your shoulder not as bare as the day you were born?”

Unconsciously, her hand went to it—to the spot near the base of her neck which had once borne Inuyasha’s mating mark. No longer. Her jaw locked tight against the sting of unshed tears.

“The marking doesn’t matter. In my heart, I’m committed to him still.” Her gaze narrowed. “Not that I’d expect someone like you to understand that kind of devotion.”

Sesshoumaru’s expression darkened, an inscrutable intensity shadowing his eyes. It disquieted Kagome in a way she could not place. Then, just as swiftly as it had appeared, the shadow lifted.

“Kill me,” he said.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi