Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I am not Rumiko Takahashi and she is the one who owns Inuyasha.

Personal Note: You may hate me by the end of this chapter. Read at your own risk.

"She is here."

"She is? Then let us go. I do not want this to be any longer than necessary"

For all his layers of clothing, Miroku was fast. Kagome panted as she tried to keep up with him on the dirt path. He ran up a set of stairs and soon she lost sight of him once he crested the top. She tried to increase her speed up the steps but ended up tripping and landing on her knee. Hissing at the pain, Kagome forgot about Miroku for a moment and waited for the pain to ease away. Once it did, she slowly ascended the stairs.

Coming to the top of the stairs, she came to a stunned halt. She saw Miroku bowing before two men who were standing on a tiled path. One man looked to be in his mid to late forties. Dressed in an elaborate sokutai, he looked like an aristocrat from centuries ago. He looked down his nose at Miroku giving her only a brief glance.

His companion had her fervent attention, though. Looking at the silver-headed man, Kagome couldn't help but be fascinated by him. He was like some fairytale warrior brought to life as he stood like a proud statue. Wearing thick leather armor, a spiked shoulder strap, and two swords at his waist, he was the very picture of intimidating. Yet he was undeniably beautiful and it seemed to conflict with the fierce façade he put forth. Especially when combined with the white boa on his other shoulder and the red flowers that were sprinkled on the shoulders of his haori. To her, he seemed like a living contradiction.

"Is this her?" she heard from the older man.

A red blush stained her cheeks as she turned her gaze away. She could not believe she had been so sidetracked. Not to mention, she had completely forgotten her anger towards Miroku.

The monk straightened up to look at her. "Yes, that is her, Shirosaki-sama."

"Good," turning his cool gaze to her, Shirosaki spoke, "Follow us, girl."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at the name but decided to ignore it. For now.

"Look," she pleaded, "I don't want this Shikon __ whatever. Please, can you not take me home and forget about me?"

With every word she said, Shirosaki's stoic expression quickly formed into an ugly scowl. Once she was finished, he stalked up to her like a snake would its prey and grabbed her by the forearm. Kagome almost yelped at the tight grip. She was not going to let him intimidate her. The only sign of her discomfort was a temporary wince. However, she made no effort in hiding her anger.

"Let go of me," she demanded.

"Shut up, wench!" Shirosaki hissed out, "If I had the choice, I would never have brought your filth here. The Kami truly must hate me," his fierce grip tightened as he continued, "Now you will follow us to the shrine and begin with this abominable ceremony. Then I won't have to look at your face any longer. Until then, you will act like a good little girl. Understand?"

Kagome hesitated before answering. Every fiber of her being wanted to scream, protest and fight. She decided to ignore the desire as a tentative idea came to her mind. Slowly, she gave a nod.

Shirosaki gave a satisfied grunt and thankfully released her arm. He turned away from her and began towards the shrine along with the other man. Miroku, on the other hand, went to her.

"Are you all right, Higurashi-san?" he asked concern clear in his eyes.

"I've been better," Kagome answered rubbing at her arm, "but I will survive. Thanks for the concern though."

Miroku gave her a smile and a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Afterwards, the monk began to catch up with the others. Kagome, on the other hand, turned around and began to run.

If they thought for a minute she was going to give in so easily, they obviously didn't know her well. The trees around her became like a blur as she rushed back down the stairs. Each step struck a bolt of adrenaline through her body as Kagome attempted her escape. It helped to alleviate the dull pain that still lingered in her kneecap. Once she got to the car, she would try to convince the driver to take her back home. She planned to tell him something along the lines that the Shikon had ended up rejecting her and that she could now go home. She tried to put aside the fact that she could not successfully lie to save her life.

In the end, it was pointless because she ran into a wall.

Or at least it felt like one. Kagome did yelp this time as she fell hard on her bottom. Tears welled up in her eyes as she glared at the towering figure above her. The same young man from earlier stood before her.

If "man" was even a proper term for him. Closer to him now, Kagome could see just how inhuman he looked. The silver hair was one thing but now she could see the cat-like amber eyes, the pointed ears, and most of all the deadly claws. Not to mention, he had appeared before her almost like a ghost. His very presence sent pinpricks of awareness through her body. 'What is he?' she wondered in awe.

"Come," he spoke in a baritone voice.

Walking past her, Kagome watched him as she stood. She began to follow him after dusting herself off. She considered trying to escape again but felt it was pointless. He would only stop her. For now, she decided to comply with their wishes. Hopefully, after this ceremony was done, they would let her go and things could finally go back to how they were.

She refocused her attention on the . . . whatever he was. Her best guess was that he was youkai, though he was not anything like the youkai depicted in her grandfather's stories. Her Jii-chan's demons were always grotesque in appearance with bulging eyes, bloated faces, and abnormally long tongues. He was nothing of the sort.

Tired of not knowing anything about him, Kagome asked, "Who are you?"

"Sesshomaru," he answered after a few moments.

'Sesshomaru,' Kagome said in her mind experimenting with the name. A host of meanings came along with it and none of them came with any friendly connotations. "Killing Perfection", though, seemed to suit him the best. It went along with the contradiction he presented.

"And," Kagome continued a bit hesitant to ask her next question, "What are you?"

Sesshomaru paused at the question and looked back at her curiously. Soon he turned way and continued on while saying, "I am inugami, a dog demon."

The answer only acted to increase Kagome's curiosity. He was not anything like the inugami she had heard of. When she thought of one, pictures of a dog dressed in human clothing or a giant dog leaping through the skies would come to her mind. She wanted to ask him more but felt there was time of that later. They had now gone past the steps and were soon past the torii that marked the shrine's entrance

The shrine itself was immense in size and made the Sunset Shrine, her childhood home, seem like an ant in comparison. The entirety of the shrine was tiled down in smooth stone. Each building and structure was built from a dark, cedar wood and were all centered around a large temple. The temple seemed to be their destination.

Kagome gave out a sigh. Tired, angry, and confused, she wished that somehow all of this was a horrible dream. Though, she knew it could not be a dream. Her stinging kneecap, sore arm, and aching bottom were all proof of that. If Kagome did not know any better. She would say she was a bit accident-prone.

Now, entering the massive building, Kagome was awed by its size and ornate appearance. It could easily be as big as a football field if not bigger, she decided. At the moment, Sesshomaru and she were walking down an aisle padded down with bamboo flooring. Each side of her was flanked with hundreds of sitting cushions. Ahead of her was a stage, where she could see a large, golden statue of Buddha but most importantly a pedestal where a small jewel sat. It could only be the Shikon no Tama.

Shirosaki and Miroku were standing at each side of the pedestal. Shirosaki was giving her a death glare while Miroku only gave her a smile. Sesshomaru stayed just off stage while Kagome stepped up onto the stage and put herself just before the jewel. Shirosaki spoke.

"Now, wench, touch the jewel."

She practically growled at the expletive. "Kagome," she grated out.

"What?" he said.

"My name. It is Kagome. Use it," she demanded looking him straight in the eye.

"All right, Kagome," he snarled out, saying her name like it was stinking puss, "Touch the jewel."

Wanting to get it over with, she raised her hand. Her touch had a ripple effect on the jewel, as it suddenly went from a dark lilac hue to a bright, iridescent one. It brought a sigh from Shirosaki.

"It seems you are the one," he said bitterness and anger thick in his tone, "Miroku, you put the jewel around her neck. Then proceed with bonding her to Sesshomaru as her protector. I am leaving."

A shocked look overcame Miroku's face. Unknown to Kagome, this was not how things were done. Shirosaki was supposed to be the one to carry out those duties and the fact that he was pushing them onto him was a grave insult to Kagome. This was worse than Miroku had suspected. He knew there would be great tension and perhaps a few insults but he never thought that Shirosaki would take it this far.

"Do you not need to stay as witness for the bonding ceremony, Shirosaki-sama?" Miroku asked.

"No," he answered, "I only had to be present for the purifying of the jewel. Now that it has been done, I will leave."

And with that, Shirosaki let himself out of the building. Miroku turned to Kagome and gave her a deep bow. "I apologize for his rudeness, Miko-sama."

"It's ok," Kagome said off-handedly and a little puzzled by the new title, "I'm just glad he's gone. But I would like to know what he was talking about when he said 'bond ceremony'."

"Oh yes! The bonding ceremony will be used to bond Sesshomaru-sama to you as your protector. The ceremony is used to symbolize the new connection you both now have," Miroku explained and then turned to the silent demon, "Sesshomaru-sama, do you mind coming on stage while I put the Shikon around her neck? Then we can go ahead and start the proceedings."

He did as Miroku asked and came on stage. Standing himself before her, Kagome could not help but feel small. Her head came just above his shoulders and his body frame was so wide that he could easily engulf her. After fastening the necklace around her neck, Miroku went to stand just to her right. Her eyes nearly bolted out of her head, when Sesshomaru bent down on one knee before her and bowed his head.

"Sesshomaru-sama, great inu-daiyouki who sworn himself to the Konshi family long ago," Miroku began, "do you swear to protect and honor the current Shikon no Miko until the day she dies?"

"I do," he stated.

Turning to Kagome, Miroku continued, "Higurashi Kagome, now that you have become the Shikon no Miko, do you accept Sesshomaru-sama as your life-long protector?"

Kagome blushed feeling almost like she was in a wedding ceremony. "I do?" she uttered sounding incredibly unsure.

"Good," Miroku said a satisfied grin coming on his face, "Now stand, Sesshomaru-sama. Stand so that you both may kiss to commemorate this grand occasion and symbolize your new link to one another."

"K-kiss?" Kagome whispered as an even more furious blush overtook her face.

Do you hate me now?

If its any consolation, I am going to try to update on Wednesday afternoon. . . please don't hurt me. T_T

This chapter gave me so much trouble. There's no telling how many changes I made or how many paragraphs I rearranged. This chapter was unbetaed as well so I apologize if I missed anything. Be sure to point it out if I did and I will be sure to fix it.

A quick thanks to all my reviewers, you make my day shine! And don't forget, violence is not the answer!!!