Retribution

Sesshomaru did not linger around humans or anything that did not concern him. But when he felt the miko's enraged spiritual energy while she was dressing, he decided to remain for his own amusement. He was glad for once that this wrath was not directed at him at the moment.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I don't know how else to thank you for saving me from a difficult and embarrassing situation. I'm sorry about this." The miko touched his damp sleeve and fur, her gentle caress causing something inside him to flutter unexpectedly.

"Think nothing of it," he managed to say. He glanced at the quarreling half-wits, his displeasure deepening when he heard them state their claims to the miko once more. The subject of their argument sighed, her reiki spiking as she stomped towards the hanyou and the ookami.

"Enough!" she yelled. The two idiots were not listening and they continued to assault one another. This seemed to irk her further and before the hanyou could swing the Tetsusaiga in the ookami's direction, she planted herself firmly between them.

Such ferocity.

"Get out of the way, Kagome!"

"Inuyasha." The miko enunciated the name in a manner that made the hanyou tremble visibly. "Osuwari."

There was a loud crash when the hanyou's face connected with the hard ground. Sesshomaru smirked inwardly. Seeing his half-brother get subjugated like a common inu pleased him to great lengths. The ookami howled with laughter, his hands clutched his stomach and his tail twitched in obvious taunting.

"And you!" The miko wheeled and faced the wolf youkai with her livid face, shutting him up instantly. "You hentai! You should know better than to openly trespass a girl while she's bathing!"

"B-but… you're my woman, Kagome…" the ookami tried to reason out but he flinched under her burning glare.

"Koga-kun." Her tone softened. "I don't belong to you—or anyone else, for that matter. I tried to be polite as I can to decline your advances but you just won't take 'no' for an answer. I can't accept your intentions because I know you promised to take Ayame-chan as your mate. I respect you highly, and I would be disappointed if you wouldn't honor your vow."

Sesshomaru watched in silent fascination as the wolf youkai's expression turned from a smug grin to a disappointed grimace. However, his amusement died when the dejected ookami ignored the hanyou's warning growls and clasped the miko's hands in his. The daiyoukai clenched his fist and forced himself to remain unaffected.

"Kagome, I will take Ayame as my wife if you're concerned about my honor, but I will not go back on my word. I have claimed you as my intended, and in the ways of the wolf youkai tribe, once you accept me, we will become mates for life. I'm willing to wait until you've grown tired of being Inuyasha's wench. You may always come to me."

The miko took back her hands from the ookami's grasp, her face impassive and unreadable. But Sesshomaru could feel her reiki spark with anger, something he had not expected from a female who was declared as a youkai's one true mate. It was the highest honor for a female in the youkai world, and very few were given such a station.

Her reaction to it, however, was very far from pleased. She slowly raised her right hand and slapped the ookami hard across the cheek. Koga stared at her in shock as he cradled the burning skin that sizzled slightly from her purification power.

"Koga-san," she began icily. Sesshomaru noted the sudden change of honorifics and somehow, the alteration in her affectionate tone caused him deep pleasure. She had just put the ookami in his right place. "Where I come from, marriage is sacred. It's not acceptable to take more than one wife. Besides, I won't allow something like that. I'm aware that the women of this era follow that custom, but I don't. Call me selfish, but I can never share someone I love that way. I want to be married to someone I can truly call mine and mine alone. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"What do you mean… Kagome…" The ookami seemed to have lost the ability to form more coherent words. The hanyou sheathed the Tetsusaiga, a smug look settling on his face as his shoulders quavered with laughter.

"That means she rejected you outright, you wimpy asshole," he said. "This time, take her 'no' like a man and get out of here."

With his tail between his legs, the wolf youkai cast a sad and broken look at the miko before his whirlwind enveloped him and sped away in the direction that he came from.

Sesshomaru considered following him, intending to carry out his deadly punishment for trespassing the miko's privacy, but as the lingering scent of the ookami's filth and dejection filled the air, he decided that her blatant refusal of his courtship was more than enough retribution for the trouble he had caused.

As he looked over at the miko who was now walking back towards the camp with the taijiya at her side and the hanyou following close behind, a question nagged at the deepest pits of his consciousness.

Why does the miko's welfare concern me so?

But as his mind thought about what would have transpired had he not interfered with the ookami's intrusion of the unguarded state of the miko, an ominous feeling of repulsion and desire to kill overcame his instinct.

If the maggot breath laid eyes on the miko without her odd clothing, I will make sure he will suffer a long, excruciating torment until I decide it is time for his breathing to stop.

That, Sesshomaru knew, was a retribution he would most definitely enjoy.