Clash of Alphas by sarhea

Collar

AN: Regarding the previous chapter… I was channelling some really elderly relatives who love to ramble on and on but who have interesting moments, experiences to share. And now I’m done with the POV Challenge, so back to the Inu Challenge prompts. This chapter is for Wudelfin who asked for Kagome to ‘smack him on the nose’. Oh, and if anyone’s wondering Sesshoumaru has regenerated his arm and has Bakusaiga. Naraku and Magatsuhi are still running around but Rin is safe.

~ooO Collar Ooo~

Kagome winced and stretched slowly as her mind emerged from a sleepy daze. There was a lot of white around. Very soft silky white stuff. She came awake in a quick rush realizing exactly what the white stuff was: Sesshoumaru’s haori, hair, and that furry pelt. She felt him shift against her backside. She stiffened minutely feeling the very firm bulge pressed against her ass. Was that…? When she tried to inch away he growled and wrapped his arm around her waist drawing her firmly against his front. Then she remembered exactly what had happened last night. The miko cringed and squeezed her eyes shut. He was going to kill her!

Several seconds later she opened one eye. She was still alive! Hesitantly she rolled onto her back to look at him. He was propped up on one elbow and looking down at her with a faintly amused expression. His eyes were pure gold, almost like citrine gems with no trace of red. It was him! And he hadn’t killed her!

Deciding questions could wait she sat up dragging the haori-coverlet with her, wrapping it around her shoulders. This left him nude, modestly only preserved by the haphazard draping of the furry pelt over his hip and groin.

“This is not my fault,” she told him firmly as she wriggled, trying to keep herself covered and thrust her arms into the sleeves at the same time. When she finally succeeded she dragged the front opening edge across her front like a short kimono-robe. She needed something to tie around her waist like a belt, to keep it closed.

Then she remembered the red ribbon around her throat. She reached up and tugged at it. It was taut against her throat but loose enough not to choke her. She frowned and ran her finger along the edge searching for the knot. And panicked when she couldn’t find it. It was seamless, with no knots or ends! Kagome pushed her power into it and was stunned when it flowed over and along the ribbon instead of penetrating it.

“Sesshoumaru!” she glared at the daiyoukai. “What is this?”

He blinked slowly like some giant predatory cat. “A collar,” he told her.

Kagome resisted the urge to cringe and hide. Instead she glared at him. “Remove it,” she ordered him sternly.

He smirked at her. “No.”

“I’m not going to wear a collar! Like some pet!”

He pushed himself up into a sitting position. The smoothly flexing muscles under pale skin drew her attention. She forced herself to look up and cringed inwardly at his smirk. He had seen her gawking at him.

“You are not a pet,” he told her calmly. “But you belong to this Sesshoumaru.”

“I’m not yours! I belong to myself!” she protested.

Now he did not bother to hide his amusement. “Oh really? That is not what you said last night.”

The miko blushed furiously. “That was a mistake,” she told him firmly. “You don’t really want me. You hate humans, remember?”

His expression turned thoughtful and his eyes never left hers. “Perhaps. But now you belong to this one. And what this Sesshoumaru claims remains claimed.” His expression hardened a fraction. “Or do you wish to repeat the lesson in submission?” And he smirked when he scented the surge of fresh arousal over the aroma of their recent exertions.

“No!” she told him reflexively looking at her feet, anywhere but in his direction. When she finally retained her equilibrium she touched the red silky feeling ribbon wrapped around her throat like a half-inch wide collar. “What is this?” she asked. “I can feel it has jyaki.”

“The collar is this one’s mark,” he told her.

That confused her. “Mark?”

“Yes,” he told her patiently. “It is infused with this one’s power. It will warn all who approach that you belong to this Sesshoumaru.”

Kagome was irked at the thought of being marked like property. “What’s stopping me from purifying it off?” she asked him pointedly.

One corner of his mouth lifted in a private smile. “Only this one can break the collar. And only when the mating claim is broken and dissolved.”

“Wait a sec, mating claim? What mating claim?”

She saw her question clearly surprised him. “You do not know about inu mating claims?”

She glared at him. “As my question indicates… No!”

He looked bemused. “How odd… you were never aware of your mating claim on the hanyou?”

“What?” Kagome screeched. “We’ve only ever kissed! And only to stop him when he was in a berserker state!”

“And what of the beads? The ones you use to subdue him?”

“Oh Kaede did that.” Seeing his confusion she explained. “When I first met InuYasha he tried to kill me. Kaede cast the spell, the beads and told me to use a word to subdue him. After that whenever I say ‘sit’ he does it. Literally.”

“So it was not a mating claim?”

“No!” she fidgeted. “My people present rings that go over the finger,” she held up her left hand, fingers folded down except for the ring finger. “This one, to each other, to demonstrate to others that we are in a committed relationship. That we are married.”

“Ahh.” He leaned forward and caressed her throat through the ribbon. “Then this collar is similar to your rings.”

Kagome went cold. “Wait a sec, you mean I’m married to you?!?” her voice ended in a high pitch screech.

He stared at her before replying calmly, “Yes.”

Kagome could feel her blood pressure rising. “I’m sorry but I thought youkai, inuyoukai, would use something different to indicate a claim.”

“Like what?” he asked.

She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Oh I don’t know, a tattoo, a bite on the shoulder or neck or something!”

His expression indicated he was very offended. “Do you believe this Sesshoumaru is uncivilized as to bite an ally, a mate? Like a lesser mindless youkai?”

She knelt before him, leaned forward and yelled in his face, “I don’t know!” Then more calmly, “I don’t know anything because you and InuYasha are tight-lipped idiots who refuse to explain what you think or why you do certain things!”

He blinked. “You do not have to yell miko. This Sesshoumaru has exceptional hearing.”

The tension, the stress of everything, it got to her and she snapped. She flicked him in the nose with her finger and glared at him, refusing to be afraid. “If I had a newspaper I’d smack you with it.”

Her words caught his attention. “Newspaper?”

“Yeah, it’s something we use to discipline unruly dogs in my time.”

Then she proceeded to ignore his glare and rose to her feet, wrapping the haori tight around her waist. He had shredded her clothes so he could manage without this garment. At least until she got back to camp and her backpack.

Camp. Her blood pressure began to rise again as she imagined how InuYasha would process all that had happened, her new… status as his hated half-brother’s mate.

She scowled darkly. It was his fault for not explaining a damn thing about inuyoukai psychology and how to avoid being dominated and forced to submit. But to be honest she had never expected the Western Lord to make such a claim on her. She huffed and hoped Miroku had plenty of sutras to restrain InuYasha. She did not want to break his back by ‘sitting’ him too much.

TBC...

AN: I wanted to try something different from the usual bite/tattoos indicating mating claims.