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Inugami

"I still think you should have stayed home," InuYasha said. He looked down the path ahead, seeing nothing of note except some other early morning travelers, but his ears twitched, trying to pick up every sound.

"I might have, if Miroku wasn't home recovering." Kagome shifted the weight of her carrying cloth tied over her shoulders. There were times she really missed her yellow backpack.

"Yeah, but I didn't tell him to drink so much sake at the festival," InuYasha said. "And then to go run around with Tomeo's sons like that. I don't know what hurt him more, getting the arm set or the way Sango let him have it for falling off Kentaro's horse."

"So? That doesn't change the fact. You need someone with spiritual powers with you, and Miroku can't do it. So that left me."

"Keh," he replied, deciding he couldn't argue the point. "Village should be over the next rise. We should check in with the headman first."

The two walked on, quiet in their thoughts. As they neared the village, they began to receive curious and sometimes unapproving glances at the people they passed by. It was unusual to see any youkai traveling on a major human road, and even rarer to see one in the company of a miko. InuYasha caught whispers of "inugami" and "inugami-mochi" as they neared the first of the rice paddy dikes surrounding the settlement. Something about it struck him as funny, and he began to walk with a pensive look on his face, taking sly sideways looks at his companion.

Kagome stopped for a moment as they neared and removed a pebble out of her sandal.

"They think you're a sorceress," InuYasha said. "They're whispering about you being an inugami-mochi, a woman who controls a dog spirit. And that I'm your familiar."

Kagome looked up at him. "Oh?"

"Well, I have been rather familiar with you lately," he said, with a look in his amber eyes that made her tingle.

"And you are terrifying to my enemies," she replied.

"Got that right," he said with a smirk, resting his hands on the hilt of Tessaiga.

"But if I make you mad, will you turn on me?" she asked, coyly.

"Hmm. Counts what magic you want to use to subdue me," he replied.

She reached up and fingered the rosary around his neck. "I could use these," she said.

"Don't even think about it." He gently took her wrist, and moved her hand away.

"Then there's a special spell I know that only works at night, when we're alone." She freed her hand and reached up and brushed his ear.

He breathed deeply, and closed his eyes for a moment. "Yep, that one's got a lot of power," he said, swallowing. "We better get to the inn, and quick."

"Oh?" Her smile was knowing and wicked.

He growled, low and sensuously. "Can't let your inugami get out of control and frighten all the villagers, now can you?" With a quick look to see if the coast was clear, he brought his mouth to her neck, ran his tongue up towards her ear until he felt her shiver. "I feel the need for a subduing."

"But what about the headman?"

He growled again, more insistently. "You can subdue him later. But you better use a different spell."

Note: (from Wikipedia)

In Japanese mythology an inugami (lit. "dog god") is a type of shikigami, similar to a familiar spirit, resembling, and usually originating from, a dog, and most commonly carrying out vengeance or acting as guardians on behalf of the inugami-mochi, or "inugami owner". Inugami are extremely powerful and capable of existing independently, as well as turning on their "owners" and even possessing humans.