Part III

~v~

As soon as the soft skin of her neck was bared, Mattaki pounced, nuzzling along her fragrant skin and nibbling on especially soft areas. That hint of fang made Kagome see stars and it wasn't long at all before Inuyasha was completely erased from her mind – he could come home and bring Channel five news with him and she wouldn't care.

Mattaki's chest continued to rumble with that deep thrum and if Kagome had wanted to deny him, she wouldn't have been able to – but since she didn't want to stop him she went under much more quickly, her scent spiking and sending heat flaring through the inuyoukai's veins.

"Do you have any idea of how long I've wanted you?" he asked in a growly, grumbly voice that did terrible things to her body as heat surged through her veins.

Unable to even form words as Mattaki trailed those fangs of his down her throat, Kagome whimpered and brought her hands up to clench in his hair, which was just as soft and silky, yet heavy, as she'd always thought it would be as he allowed it to slither over both their shoulders to pool in her lap. She whimpered – she'd be pulling his hair out of that topknot of his just so she could let it caress her skin freely very often.

He chuckled – her reactions did such terrible things to his masculine vanity. Unable to hold out any longer, Mattaki swept her up and deposited her on the bed, following her down to capture her lips with his.

Determined to take his time, he moved slowly, savoring the experience. The kiss was long and lush and the most erotic thing Kagome had ever experienced. What Mattaki was doing to her was nothing like anything she'd ever known at anyone elses hands, and because of that she could do little more than follow his lead. This was brand new territory for her.

A little surprised at her seeming innocence, when he knew she was not a virgin, Mattaki grinned inwardly at what that showed; she may not have been untouched, but obviously, she was much more selective than many females and didn't dally very often. His flesh stiffened even further when his mind went to the next step – she was probably very tight, and he could hardly wait to feel her wrapped around him. After all, he'd been waiting for many months, now, and he was done with that. With that in mind he let himself go, determined to have his little priestess completely undone by the time he actually joined their bodies together.

And if that little whelp Inuyasha dared to barge in while Mattaki was in the middle of bringing he and Kagome as much pleasure as possible, he would soon find out what it felt like to be unable to speak at all.

~v~

"Damn bitch won't answer her phone," Inuyasha grumbled sourly as he headed for their apartment. He'd been so caught off-guard and stunned by what she'd said before hanging up on him earlier that he'd been forced to call his tryst with Kikyou off just so he could rush off to confront his live-in girlfriend. He'd been in such a hurry that he hadn't even bothered driving around the complex to their parking spots; he'd simply parked next to one of the entrances for quicker access to the apartment. "She'd better fuckin' be here after all this shit."

It took just a few moments for him to reach his door; with minimal movement he shoved the key in the lock and pushed the door open before heading inside and kicking it shut behind him, relishing in the loud 'slam'. She had to have heard that if she's anywhere in the apartment.

Catching sight of his face in the mirror hanging in the entryway, he scowled; he was still healing from the beating he'd taken at his father's damn hands yesterday. Maybe it was that bastard that told Kagome what I was doin' and that's why she said that, he belatedly realized; that scenario hadn't even occurred to him before, though it should have.

So far there'd been no response to his noisy entrance but just as he was beginning to think she wasn't even here, a muffled cry came from further in the apartment and his scowl deepened – if his meddling father had told her what was going on, the next little while wasn't going to be pleasant. With an irritated sigh, he wandered over into the kitchen and opened the fridge; taking out a twelve pack of beer he lined them all up on the counter and popped them open and then put a claw into another part of the top, opening up another hole in the can. This was called a carburetor; it made the beer pour faster so you could pretty much down it in one go and he was going to need the fortification, he was pretty damn certain.

He sniffled and growled slightly – his father had broken his damn nose last night and though it was healing he still couldn't smell shit, and that was really pissing him off. He might be half-human, but he was half-inu as well, and not being able to smell things was sending him crazy. On top of that, the rest of his senses were almost shot, as well, since his damn human night was tonight, and the sun was about to set so he could barely hear anything, either.

Bastard. That's why he did what he did – he knew it would be my human night tonight and that would make it harder and more painful to heal, he thought with sullen resentment towards his father. Tonight wasn't going to be pleasant – that was why he'd set up that tryst with Kikyou, hoping to keep the pain down with pleasure. But no... now he was sitting in the apartment drinking beer instead and getting ready to deal with a weepy, angry, and accusing woman who was probably going to break up with him and move out.

Damn it, he thought sourly, why'd this have to happen? I don't want Kagome to go. Kikyou's fun in bed, but she's a bitch and I'd never want to actually be with her. Kagome's always so busy that sometimes she's too tired to get freaky like I really like. Fuck! This sucks – just because I've got a high sex drive I'm the bad guy.

He knocked back his first beer, downing it all in one go, and then slammed the can down on the counter and grabbed the second one, throwing his head back and pouring that one down his gullet, as well. It was going to take a few before he'd have the courage to go and face Kagome, so he leaned against the counter, downing beer after beer until he began to feel somewhat numb and a bit calmer.

When the last beer in the row was all that was left, he considered it for a moment before he picked it up, drinking this one a little slower as he tried to figure out how to stop what he just knew was coming. Just as he tilted it back to take a long swallow, though, a loud snarl from the back of the apartment had him choking and dropping his beer, his eyes widening in shock as the remaining alcohol in the can spilled onto the floor.

"What the hell?!" he managed to wheeze out in between coughing and gagging, his eyes watering and the whole thing made worse as the sun crossed the horizon and his human change overcame him in the middle of his choking fit. It took several minutes for him to recover and catch his breath, but before he could actually head back towards the bedrooms, a door opening and then closing echoed through the apartment, and eyes still a bit watery, he blinked, waiting for Kagome to come around the corner into the living room/kitchen area.

Instead, what met his eyes had him shocked so speechless that his jaw dropped and his eyes widened, almost bugging out of his head as he once again was knocked breathless.

"Inuyasha."

The hanyou turned temporary human blinked wildly, hoping that he was just hallucinating – but that didn't change what he was seeing, and finally he croaked out, "D-dad?" in uncertain, numbed tones.

The half-dressed, rumpled and smug looking Mattaki cocked a brow at his stupefied son and smirked. "Yes?" he asked haughtily.

Inuyasha looked at him, then looked back towards where he'd come from, then looked at his father again as the knowledge of what was going on slowly, slowly filtered into his brain. Gobsmacked, he shook his head rapidly in denial and closed his eyes, then opened them back up. Glaring suspiciously at his father, he asked, "What the hell are you doing here, old man?"

Mattaki's evil smirk widened, a satisfaction-laced expression on his face that his son couldn't miss if he tried and replied, "Taking advantage of the fact that you are a disloyal fool – and to put it bluntly, and in your usual vulgar terms, a dumbass."

Just then, the door in the back of the apartment opened again, and Inuyasha's head whipped around as a thoroughly rumpled Kagome walked around the corner, ignoring him and smiling at his father, her face and body simply radiating complete satiation and satisfaction.

Horrified, Inuyasha gaped at the two as his father turned and smiled down intimately at Kagome, drawing her into his side and leaning down quickly to kiss her.

That unstuck Inuyasha's brain, and he immediately started shrieking. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he screamed, looking between the calm faces of the two as they both turned to look at him with raised brows. Neither one looked guilty at all, and that just made him angrier.

"If you must have it spelled out for you, my son," Mattaki began in sarcasm-laced tones, "I have just finished mating my chosen female, that is what I have been doing. Do you have a particular problem with that?"

When the word 'mate' passed his father's lips, Inuyasha actually staggered, horror written all over his face for several long-stunned moments... and then his lips drew back from his teeth, and human or not, he snarled at Kagome. "You bitch!" he hissed between clenched teeth before lunging at her, the fact that he'd just finished downing a twelve pack of beer within five minutes overriding his normal fear of his father as sudden rage washed through him. Had it not been his human night his youkai blood might well have overtaken him.

Kagome didn't even have a chance to register Inuyasha's movement before Mattaki, a terrifying snarl crossing his own face and rattling the walls of the apartment, had his son pinned to the floor, claws digging bloody holes in his son's arm and chest where he had gripped him.

"If you ever raise a hand to Kagome again, you little bastard, I will rip your throat out and have done with it!" he roared out, his voice so deep in his wrath it was barely understandable as his eyes, crimson and pouring bloody light over his son's body, narrowed in terrible rage. "In fact, if I ever find out that you are dishonoring your blood by treating any female with violence I will make sure you cannot walk for a week, no matter how good your healing is!"

Inuyasha, full of alcohol or not, was shocked right out of his own rage as his father's far overwhelmed his own, and he shrank back in sudden fear – he'd never seen the old man this angry in his entire life, and he knew that son or not he was staring death in the face at that moment. Stilling and submitting instantly, he waited with fear staining his scent even over the smell of the beer for his father's next action.

So angry he was almost unable to unlock his muscles to let the boy go, Mattaki closed his eyes and fought his blood back, trying to regain his control. Never had it ever been so tested, and he wasn't having much luck – until Kagome's wonderful scent suddenly surrounded him, blocking his son's scent out entirely.

Stunned at Mattaki's instant response and deadly rage at the threat to her, Kagome had been unable to move for several long moments – and if at first she was disinclined to interfere, when she realized just how enraged and close to killing his own son he was she forced herself to move and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her brand new mate and laying her head on his back. Closing her eyes she raised her own aura, gently feathering its calming energies over him, and after several seconds she felt his muscles begin to unlock and his own aura lose the killing edge it had clearly had.

Pulling him slowly back from the precipice, Kagome said, "It's okay, Mattaki, yameteoku. Let the matter drop – Inuyasha submitted, so you can calm down now and let him go," in a gentle whisper she knew he would hear quite well.

Mattaki let his eyes fall closed as his blood and instincts were once more seduced by his female's scent, still so laden with his own, and her calming aura. Slowly, oh, so slowly to the stunned and still frightened Inuyasha, his father's claws pulled from his bloody flesh and his body lost its fierce tension. After what seemed like hours to the very scared hanyou, he opened his eyes, which were now golden with just a tint of red to them, and looked down at him.

"Remember this day, Inuyasha, for I will never warn you of this again. If I ever hear of you being an abuser, I will make your life no longer worth living, are we clear?" he said, his eyes still narrowed and a very dangerous edge to his voice that no one could miss.

Inuyasha gulped but nodded, stone cold sober once more – this brush with the great beast that his sire truly was had scared every bit of alcohol right out of his system, and he was completely cowed in that moment. "Y-yes," he managed to get out of a tight throat.

"Good."

As Mattaki loosened his hold on Inuyasha, Kagome moved back away from her mate and let him climb back to his feet, just so relieved that was all over. While she definitely was angry about the cheating he'd been doing and the fact that he was obviously the type to hit a woman, she didn't think he deserved to die – and from the white face of her former boyfriend, she was pretty certain he'd be too frightened of his father's wrath and the promise he'd given to ever lay a hand on a woman in violence again.

Inuyasha slowly climbed to his feet after his father moved back, and he stepped further away, not wanting to be too close after all that. Once more looking between the two, he swallowed, but then asked, "Since w-when have you wanted to... mate... Kagome?" quietly and very cautiously. He just couldn't believe that his sire had actually mated anyone – let alone that it was Kagome!

"Since the day I met her," Mattaki replied, his voice still rumbling deeply in his chest.

Blinking, Inuyasha took a moment to realize just what that meant, and then his eyes widened. "That's why you finally divorced mom, isn't it?" he said, suddenly understanding... well, almost everything.

"Yes," his father replied curtly.

Still so stunned by everything that had just happened, Inuyasha shook his head, trying to take it all in. He looked at a quiet Kagome. "And you? I... we were together, and yet, all of a sudden in one day you've turned around and let him... mate you?"

Kagome studied him coolly for a moment, and then to his surprise said, "I owe you an apology, Inuyasha. I had not realized it until the day I caught you with Kikyou here in the apartment-" she smiled grimly at his shocked expression, "-that I did not love you. That was why I had never really been happy with you. The truth was that I was in love with your father, and had just not realized what I was doing. That was one reason why, when I caught you in bed with Kikyou, I didn't say anything and simply left. I was stunned at my reaction and what I was realizing, and became angry at myself for doing something so shallow as to date you because I didn't think I could have your father – even unknowing."

Before he could even think of anything to say, his father narrowed once again warning eyes on him. "Don't even think to lay any blame to her for that, boy. Kagome did not deliberately set out to hurt or use you – but you were deliberately cheating on her, knowing all along that what you were doing was wrong and hurtful. You have no room to point fingers at anyone."

Unable to deny any of what had been said, Inuyasha flushed miserably as he realized just what it all meant.

"So... you're going to move out and go live with him, then?" he asked quietly, head down.

"Yes. I will be having a moving company come tomorrow and move my things," she replied just as quietly, not seeing any reason to draw things out. It looked like her ex had been given more than enough to think about with everything that had already happened.

Without looking up Inuyasha nodded, clearly chagrined and unhappy, but knowing he had neither the right to say anything, or after his father's demonstration of just a few minutes ago, the nerve.

"I'll just go, then, and let you do-" he paused awkwardly and gestured at them, "-whatever it is you're going to do."

"I'm only going to pack a bag for tonight, so you don't have to leave, Inuyasha," Kagome replied gently, shaking her head. She glanced at her so far quiet new mate, and was glad to see him looking at his son with no anger apparent any longer.

"Yes, we will be gone in a few minutes, Inuyasha, and I do believe that it would be best for you to stay in – driving as you are right now would not be a good idea," Mattaki said evenly, enough authority in his voice to let his son know that it was an order, but not being overly forceful about it.

Not really wanting to stay in and alone with his now heavy and upset thoughts, nonetheless he wasn't about to disobey his father after the object lesson he'd just been through so he simply nodded dejectedly once more and turned to go to his room. He paused for a moment, seeming as though he wanted to say something, but then just shook his head and continued on – if this hadn't been his human night his ears would have been flat against his head.

Once he'd disappeared into the master bedroom with a quiet click of the door, Kagome sighed and looked down at her hands where she'd crossed them over her stomach and tightened her grip on her forearms for a moment. "As much as I wanted to let him know what I thought of his cheating, I regret it now. Paybacks just aren't really worth it."

Mattaki turned and pulled her gently into his arms, soothing her upset. Kagome really wasn't usually the vengeful type, and what she'd thought she wanted to say while angry was simply making her feel guilty and unhappy now that the confrontation was over. He smiled a bit and swept his hands up her back, indulging her need for comfort for a moment.

"I may not agree, but I do understand. But look at it this way," he said encouragingly, "what happened here might have just been what he needed to begin to grow up and actually become the decent being he could be – this was a lesson he'll never forget, after all."

Kagome frowned for a moment, uncertain what lesson in particular he was speaking of. There had been several possible 'lessons' Inuyasha could have taken from this. "Lesson?" she asked, her voice a little muffled by Mattaki's bare chest.

"Yes, lesson," he replied in satisfaction-laced tones that it was impossible to miss. "Or perhaps I should say lessons. The lesson of just who is alpha..." he trailed off for a moment, a smile entering his voice, "...and the other lesson – that you don't know what you have until it's gone. It never pays to be a fool. Maybe next time he'll remember that and not continue following along with his mother's deplorable behavior."

There was very little Kagome could say to that, and so she simply gathered her overnight bag and redressed, exhorted by her new mate who let her know in no uncertain terms that he was far from finished with her and that she had a very long night ahead of her.

Mattaki proved to be right; in the following months and years Inuyasha changed quite a bit, growing up and actually doing something worthwhile with his life and eventually even finding himself a mate.

It took a few years but he even managed to apologize to Kagome and they ended up developing an easy friendship - and found a closer relationship with his father and even his older brother, who had not been fond of his younger brother at all in earlier years.

Sometimes, great good can come from what seems like such a bad situation...

And this had definitely been one of those times, to Mattaki's great satisfaction. He had gained the woman he'd wanted so badly, and finally a second son he could be proud of.

Life was definitely good for the Inu no Taisho.

~v~

A/N: Just something that I typed up while suffering from four days of insomnia and no sleep. See what exhaustion does to me?

Amber

(The part about the extra hole in the can of beer being called a carburetor is true – my ex-husband was a damn drunk who drank a 24 pack of beer every day and I learned that from him.)