I.

"Touga-sama," came an especially grating whine from the bimbo hanging off his right arm.

He really hated this particular aspect of being a crime boss.

Not waiting to hear the bitch whine one more time, he turned his head towards her, making eye-contact.

"What," he growled, one thick eyebrow arched in a foreboding glare.

A whimper was his only response, the woman's fear spiking her scent.

'Nasty.'

His nose wrinkled a bit before he decided to shove her off him, not caring when she yelped as she hit the floor. Remorse was not a word in his vocabulary. He was the Inu no Taisho, Touga, head of the youkai crime syndicate. There was no room in his life for feelings like remorse, especially for a cocaine-addicted prostitute. Women like her were as disposable as garbage. She'd be lucky enough to even have the chance to lick his boots. No matter, Sesshomaru would immediately find a replacement.

Just like clockwork, she was hauled out of the room without him even needing to lift a finger. His eldest son had trained his men… thoroughly. When the door closed, Touga waved his hand and the other men vacated the room, leaving only the boss and his son.

Touga was not happy.

"Sesshomaru," he bit out, his eyes staining a frightening shade of vermilion.

"Father," came the crisp-cool answer of his second-in-command.

Eyes returned to their normal amber hue, Touga crossed the room to the liquor cabinet and began to fix them both a glass of whiskey. Handing one to his son, he lazily sauntered over to the big wingback armchair by the crackling fireplace, sat down and draped one long leg over the other. Motioning for his son to sit in the chair across from him, Sesshomaru hesitated, knowing his father's volatile state, then joined him.

For a moment, his sire did not speak, and he thought that perhaps he would get out of this unscathed. After all, it was always intimidating being alone in the same room as his father.

"That was the last straw, Sesshomaru," rumbled his father in barely contained fury.

Trying his best to keep his fear from his father's heightened inu senses, Sesshomaru slowly inhaled through his nose and let out a slow, calming breath.

"Forgive me, father, for being unable to provide you with a satisfactory companion. A more… appropriate escort will be arranged."

Touga snorted.

Such pretty words, but they sounded empty when his son uttered them; he was like an icy, stone wall.

"Hn… I will accept your - failure - at providing a suitable female. After all, it is a position only meant for a whore."

Sesshomaru winced at the word 'failure' as Touga knew he would. It was akin to a verbal slap in his son's face.

"However," Touga continued, "I understand that we all make… mistakes."

Another verbal blow.

If Sesshomaru was in his inu form, his head would droop down and his tail would tuck between his legs. His pride would not stand for not one, but two verbal chastisements in one day.

"Your... satisfaction is the only thing I desire, father," Sesshomaru gritted out between his clenched teeth.

Touga smirked; of course his son would make it up to him. Humming in approval of his eldest's groveling, he stood and leaned against the mantel, the flames reflecting in his hard, cold gaze.

"Yes, Sesshomaru," he said, turning to look at his son's flawless visage, "yes you will."

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"Good work, Kagome, have a good night," the middle-aged man said as he smiled at his best employee, his eyes crinkling at the edges.

"Thanks, Mr. Moto, you too," the young woman called over her shoulder as she gathered her things from her locker and practically skipped out the back door.

Chuckling to himself, Mr. Moto shuffled to the back door and locked it for the night.

'What a nice young lady.'

Kagome stood at the bus stop on the corner just in front of the bar. Pulling her thin coat more tightly around her, the autumn wind crisp and damp. Looking up at the dim glow of the moon, she shivered as the clouds began to eclipse it completely. A knot of apprehension tightened in her gut, making her empty stomach clench. Whether it was her spiritual instinct warning her of approaching danger, or just hunger and exhaustion after a hard days' work, she couldn't be entirely certain.

She exhaled sharply, making note of her surroundings. It wouldn't do to get in to a bind this late at night on this side of the city. Breathing in, she closed her eyes, letting her sixth sense scan the area for any threats. A pair of young men in a nearby alley, talking in hushed tones; an old homeless man shifting to his side under a bench to get out of the wind; an elderly lady dressed in rags pushing a stolen shopping cart. All of them were harmless, unless provoked. She'd been working here long enough to know how to get out of an uncomfortable situation with the street's bums and drug dealers.

Opening her eyes once more, she reigned in her power to the subtlest hint of reiki, not about to expose herself if there were any youkai nearby. Humans, she could deal with, but youkai were another matter. Having grown up in the 'mixed' part of Tokyo, she'd developed a healthy tolerance to her youkai neighbors, but that didn't mean that she wasn't cautious. Of course, you had to keep your guard up in this part of the city, regardless of race. She was one of the lucky few who'd grown up on a shrine and had been taught since childhood how to control her powers.

Hearing the unpleasant screech of the bus approaching, she basked in the warmth of the bright headlights as the bus pulled up in front of her. Relieved, she found a seat near the front, relishing in the heat from the radiator. Allowing her head to rest against the window, she gazed out onto the sparsely lit streets as the bus made its way back to the more populated part of the city. Mulling over the past few years of her life, she wondered if there was anything more out there for her, just waiting for her to reach outside of her self-imposed protective bubble. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried…

At eighteen, her grandfather and head of their shrine, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The news had devastated their tight-knit family, and she and her mother had both gotten jobs to help pay for grandfather's expensive chemotherapy treatments. But it hadn't been enough. The multiple jobs, working overtime, weekends, holidays… No amount of money they could scrounge up between the two of them prevented the inevitable. In the last six months of his life, her grandfather had turned into only a shadow of the vibrant man he had been. It had been heartbreaking. Her younger brother, Souta, had wanted to help too, but he was much too young. So instead, he had visited grandfather in the hospital every day and read and talked to him to keep his spirits up.

The doctors had said it had been a mercy that he'd died in his sleep. The funeral ate up more than half of their savings, and left very little for the family of three to live on. Then there was the upkeep of the shrine and of course, since Kagome had inherited grandfather's position, she'd had to quit high school to devote herself to her shrine duties and miko training. Ever since, she'd taken every possible job to keep the family shrine running as smoothly as if grandfather had never passed. It had been hard; leaving her school friends, working all hours and double and even triple shifts, but it had been worth it. But somehow, she still felt she had missed out on something...

'Twenty-seven and never had a boyfriend,' she mused, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

The bus moaned and lurched to a stop just in front of the stairs to her home, jolting Kagome out of her thoughts as she gathered her small backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Sliding out of her seat, she said a parting farewell to the driver, whom she had come to have a casual camaraderie with over the past few years, and carefully stepped off the bus. As the bus drove away down the deserted street, Kagome began to climb the steep, stone stairs to the top of the shrine. As with every night, she allowed her mind to wander once she was in her home territory, and let her thoughts mull over the little excitement and amusement she gleaned from her mundane life. Passing under each red torii gate, she silently sent a prayer up to heaven for her father and her grandfather, hoping that they both had found peace in the afterlife.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped short as an ominous wind blew, carrying the traces of demonic energy, filling her with dread. Senses on high alert, she crouched down and quietly made her way to the front window of her childhood home. Coming closer, she could hear voices, and not at all familiar ones. Where were Mama and Souta?

'Oh, God!'

She peeked through the crack in the living room curtains to see two men dressed in all black, their faces contorted in sadistic pleasure as a man dressed all in white, with unnaturally long, silver hair, struck her mother's bloodied face. The scene made her heart wrench as she felt her power stirring the angrier she became. Cloaking her scent and aura, she focused on what the man in white was saying.

"Where is she," he said in a dull, flat voice that froze the blood in her veins.

She heard her mother crying softly, and whimpering, but she managed to ask him who he was talking about.

"Wh-who is sh-she? W-what d-do you m-mean?"

The man in white stood as still as a statue, only his eyes narrowing into deadly slits. He was not feeling magnanimous tonight, and although Mrs. Higurashi did not smell of falsehood or trickery, he wasn't taking the bait.

"Your daughter, Mrs. Higurashi. The one called Kagome."

Kagome gasped.

'What the hell do they want with me?!'

"Sh-she's… sh-she's d-dead."

"Mrs. Higurashi," the man said coolly, "this isn't the time to be making jokes."

To her credit, her mother scoffed indignantly, trying to cover up her blatant lie.

"I-I'm not joking, Lord Taisho! Sh-sh-she d-d-died. Over a year a-ago. Traffic acid-d-dent."

'Lord Taisho?!' she thought, 'The Lord Taisho?!'

She started to silently pray for her mother; one did not simply lie to a Taisho. It was just asking to be killed on the spot. This Taisho, however, had a calm air about him, and seemed to be averse to killing for sport. She watched as the man gently grasped her mother by the chin, a faint, sadistic smile twisting his handsome face.

"Mrs. Higurashi, I must advise you against this – rather pitiful – attempt to keep your daughter's whereabouts unknown. Do you really wish to throw your life away so carelessly?"

Kagome's heart stopped. There it was; the final threat. If her mother didn't comply with this man, she would undoubtedly be murdered. When her heart started beating again, it beat so forcefully against her ribs that it was painful to breath. Her entire world had just been flipped on its head. Until now, her days had been filled with predictable drudgery and barely scraping by. Now that was all meaningless. Her family was now in danger, and she was the only one who could save them.

'Whatever the outcome… this is my destiny!'

With that thought, she unleashed her aura and let her reiki sweep over the entire property, alerting the demons inside to her presence.

"She's here," the man in white smirked as he let go of her mother, roughly knocking her to the floor.

'That's right, bastards! Come and get me!'

"Kagome! Run!"

She heard her mother scream as she threw herself at one of the goons in black, trying to hold him back. He promptly struck her, hard, and she saw her mother fall to the floor, unconscious.

'Oh, they are going to pay for this!'

She allowed her reiki to build inside her to the point where she could feel her power thrumming just beneath her skin, then formed a barrier of light around herself just as the man in white and the two goons found her. Her body stiffened at the sight of the demons, and she felt her miko powers flooding her system and aura flaring outwards like flames licking at their yoki energy. Sucking in a steadying breath through her nose, she briefly closed her eyes before she address the one called Taisho.

"Good evening, Lord Taisho," she greeted, her voice dripping with venom.

Sesshomaru smirked

'So this bitch is the one Father's in a heat for… Let's see if she's worthy of becoming Father's new mistress.'

Without warning, Sesshomaru released his poison-whip with a delicate flick of his wrist with a resounding crack!

"Good evening… Miss Higurashi," he returned politely, just as he narrowly escaped a zap! of her reiki.

'Impressive…'

Kagome shot bolts of hot, pink reiki from her hands at the demon, unleashing all her anger and disgust she held for the ones who dared to target her family. No one assaulted her family and got away with it. No one.

"What a frightening little miko," Sesshomaru challenged, attempting to wind her up even more than she already was. He could literally feel the waves of rage rolling off the young woman, her reiki blasting away his two henchmen all the way across the yard. They hadn't moved since.

"Oh, you have no idea!" She countered, eliciting a brief chuckle from Sesshomaru.

His father had been right to claim this spitfire.

At first, he'd been thoroughly puzzled as to why his father would bother with a miko, since they were so rare in this day and age, the majority of them were old and wrinkly. Holy monks and mikos were a dying breed. But then, there was Kagome…

Bringing his train of thought back to the present, he allowed her to get a few hits in, just to make her think she was getting the best of him.

How wrong she was.

Right when she went all in, in an attempt to pin him down, he forced his yoki into her holy barrier, shattering it. In a split second, he'd thrown her underneath him, pinning her to the ground. The wide-eyed look of surprise on her face was priceless, and made the few wounds he'd let her inflict on him totally worth it.

He had her now.

Their faces inches from each other's, their ragged breaths mingling and chests heaving, for a moment their position almost looked intimate. It certainly felt intimate. Immediately uncomfortable, Sesshomaru shoved himself off of Kagome, promptly ignoring the growing hardness in his trousers. He'd take care of it later.

"You're defeated, miko," he said in an oh-so-irritatingly-calm voice.

Standing up, Kagome brushed the dirt from her hair and clothes, steeling herself to face whatever hell this demon had planned for her and her family. Her safety didn't matter; she'd fight to the death to protect her family. Bravely, her head rose up and her deep, azure eyes met his.

'The makings of an alpha bitch,' he thought.

"Lord Taisho," she began, her voice unnaturally calm and steady, sending a ripple of pleasure down his spine, "I will admit my defeat. I do not condone senseless violence, however," her gaze hardened into two black slits, "you will not hurt my family. You and your men will peacefully remove themselves from this shrine, and you will never return. Am I clear?"

Sesshomaru nodded his assent.

Kagome gulped, but her face remained composed.

"Then I will swear on my life, that I will not fight you, as long as my conditions are upheld."

He nodded again, admiring her loyalty to her pack and the courage it must have took to surrender herself to him. Most humans would have soiled themselves just at the sight of him.

'Yet another admirable quality.'

"Agreed. You have my word as a daiyoukai, and heir of the Inu no Taisho; you're family will remain unharmed. We will never trespass on this shrine again. This Sesshomaru swears it."

Nodding, Kagome's knees decided to give out at just that moment, unable to hold her up a moment longer. Her vision blurred as she fought herself to remain conscious. Head bent in humility, she allowed Sesshomaru to pick her up and carry her in his arms down the seemingly endless steps to a parked black SUV. The last thing she remembered was the slam of the car door, the roar of the engine, and Sesshomaru's muffled command.

And then…

Nothing.

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He had first seen the girl during a random sojourn into one of his old haunts, the Midnight Café & Lounge.

She had impressed him.

No one impressed Touga Taisho.

Her megawatt smile – her curling, raven tresses – her bluish-black eyes and tall, curvaceous figure.

He wanted it all.

She'd had no clue who he was, and that only added to her charm. It seemed there was nothing that could faze her, either – and he'd tried!

First, he'd changed his order several times just to see if he could get on her nerves. She didn't even bat a thick, curled eyelash. Then he demanded that only she was allowed to wait on him, forcing her boss to call her in whenever he had his son call and give him a head's up on his arrival. Even on her days off. Unperturbed, she seemed impenetrable, showing up to his private table in the back with her signature smile and flawless service. So he decided to take it up a notch. He ordered catering service to his office in the middle of a fucking typhoon – and she still had shown up, on time, her appearance impeccable despite being soaked to the skin through that ridiculously thin jacket, and the food was still in perfect condition and still hot!

If nothing before had set him off, that certainly had!

Now having become a fixture in his brain, his inner beast had been practically salivating over her the last time he'd visited the Midnight.

She was the star of their monthly employee showcase, or whatever the rubbish event was called. A stage had been set up on the small dance floor, and Kagome had shone like a sparkling diamond in the rough. Dressed to perfection in an Old-Hollywood style, halter gown, deep blue satin clinging to every delicious curve of her tight, toned body, his eyes had instantly devoured her. The neckline of the dress dipped in a low-cut v, a sparkly brooch pinned just at the bottom of her full, plump breasts. He could tell she was completely naked underneath that silky sheath, and that stirred his demon blood into a frenzy. Her nipples strained against the material of the gown, begging to be released, making him shiver at the thought of his tongue rolling and flicking over them. Grimacing when his cock grew into a rock-hard bulge, he attempted to calm down his fevered brain.

But then, she opened her luscious, crimson-stained lips, and sang.

Her voice… it was a privilege to experience that golden, sensuous voice.

That voice had made it impossible to sleep that night, or any other night thereafter.

Now, the girl had become a bit of an obsession, and he was running out of excuses to keep going to see her at the lounge. For a demon of his position and rank, it would not bode well for him or the girl to go chasing after her like a lovesick pup!

'This will not do…'

Touga paced his study as he promptly ignored the show the two whores were making on the sofa. Their underwhelming attempt to fuck each other senseless had left him bored a while ago.

He needed Kagome.

He needed her now.

His inu instincts demanded that he leave right this minute and claim his bitch.

Ah, the trials of being a bestial demon...

He had sent Sesshomaru to Kagome's house with two of his most trusted and best-trained demons to aid him in her capture. Oh yes, he would enjoy breaking her – tearing away the layers of her humanity until she was reduced to her base instincts. It would be a masterpiece in the making… An inu daiyoukai taming a human miko. He felt his demon blood sing in anticipation.

'Any day now, pup!'

Reaching out with his yoki, he sensed his eldest son approach the mansion.

He smirked.

He rewarded those that did not fail him. He would have to think of what to do for Sesshomaru now that he had his Kagome. Looking at the forgotten pair on the sofa, he narrowed his eyes in a death glare, a feral growl issuing from his lips; a warning. Both whores froze, then scrambled off the sofa, grabbing their… 'clothes' and scampering out of his study like two scolded inu pups. His lips quirked in a satisfied smile.

'She will be here soon…'

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.

.

As the car pulled in to the gates, Sesshomaru took out his cell phone and dialed his father.

'Shouldn't put it off any longer, else the old man will have my head.'

He nearly snorted at the thought.

His father picked up after the first ring.

"We're here."

"My study. Two minutes, pup."

'My, my, how impatient,' he scoffed.

His father hadn't taken an interest in any female for over half a millennia. He had a right to be impatient. However… Sesshomaru looked down at the girl lying limply in his arms.

'Such an angel… What a shame.'

Looking away from the miko's deceptively peaceful face, he gazed out the window at the steadily approaching mansion, their family's home and headquarters for over a century now. He thought back to a time before his father had to lower himself to the level of human yakuza. It hadn't been their fate to exist in the light of day; the time of the youkai was fading. To prevent their extinction, he and his father rallied alliances with demons and humans alike to form a pact that would protect the balance between them. Gone were the days when he could roam the earth in his true form, going wherever he wished.

He let out a sigh.

'We can never go back to that time…'

The miko stirred, jolting him back to reality. He might not like what he has become, but he still held his head high with pride at being his father's son. The car stopped and the door opened, the lowly servant bowing to him and backing away respectfully. Taking her in his arms, he carried her into the entryway and slid off his shoes before taking hers off, too, letting them drop onto the tiled floor. Stepping up into the foyer he navigated his way through the maze of corridors to his father's study. When he reached the door he heard his father's growl and the door swung open.

"I said two minutes, pup, not two and a half."

'Good grief,' Sesshomaru inwardly groaned.

Ignoring his irate sire, he side-stepped him and crossed the room to set Kagome on the couch - no, definitely not there; it reeked of his father's 'toys'. He laid her down on the chaise by the open shoji that led out to the garden. Then he turned to face his father, not a trace of nervousness sullying his cold demeanor.

"So?"

Touga demanded in a whispered hiss. Sesshomaru just pretended to examine his pristine claws.

"A true alpha bitch; she's powerful, is fiercely loyal to her pack and could be persuaded to be loyal to us… if we uphold our end of the agreement. Her weakness is her family. She made me promise not to go anywhere near them again. Of course, I agreed, since she had proven she could accept defeat gracefully and with humility."

Touga gaped at his son for a moment, then sneered and let out a mirthless laugh. Giving his son a curt nod, Sesshomaru took that as his cue to leave. Once the door clicked shut, Touga stalked over to his fresh prize, standing over her. Kneeling down next to where she lay, still unconscious, he reached out his forefinger and stroked her cheek. A softness began to stir in him and the cold hardness in his eyes melted into two languid pools of amber. Bending forward he buried his nose into the side of her neck, relishing the seductive scent that emanated from her, igniting his demon blood. A raspy sigh escaped him as he pulled away.

'It's all right now,' he soothed his inner beast, 'Kagome is here… and we will never, ever let her go."

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A/N: I absolutely LOVE this pairing! I've been practically obsessed for MONTHS now! I know, I know, I have other fanfics to update, but... Yeah, I thought in the mean time I should just post whatever I can! Please. Please. P-L-E-A-S-E! Leave a Review! This is why I upload these stories at all and I literally have no one else around me to talk about Inu Yasha fanfiction! Unless I wanna seem more like a weirdo than I already am... Please don't force me to even more of a weirdo... REVIEW 3

~Yours Anonymous

P.S. Also, make sure you AT LEAST FOLLOW this story if you want to see updates when they come out. It's tragic when I get PM's from readers who loved my fic, but forgot to follow and couldn't find the story T_T