The Importance of Being Kept

"The youkai here are gods. They are big, they are strong and they are very powerful."

Inuyasha looked around frantically for Kagome. She couldn't have just took off with no warning. She was a human, she couldn't run as fast as a youkai. He sniffed the air for her scent. It was faint and fading fast, he followed its direction to a dark space between two buildings.

Kagome struggled to get away from what she could only describe as a web wrapping rapidly around her body. She saw two several beady reds eyes staring at her from the darkness and long spiky black sticks busily working at her body. Wait a minute, those weren't sticks...those were legs! The creature finally showed itself just as the web was about to cover her mouth. Kagome screamed at the gigantic spider, but only a whimper came out, her mouth was completely covered, in a second her face was covered.

Inuyasha stared into the dark alley. Kagome's scent had suddenly disappeared. Instead a much fouler scent scorched his nose. He coughed. What the hell was going on?

Sesshoumaru landed on the ground gracefully followed by Galieo and Jinko. They walked passed a baffled Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru turned to Jinko and nodded Jinko grinned maliciously. He got down on all fours and leaped into the alley like a lion attacking its prey. There was the sound of tearing and then the sound of outraged shrieks. Suddenly, hundreds of spiders began running out of the alley into broad daylight. They headed straight for Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

"Hell no!" Inuyasha yelled furiously. "You bastards are trying to have my girl for breakfast? I'm going to kill everyone of you with my bare hands!" His long claws extracted with a sharp zing. "Kagome, hold on!" He yelled as he ran into the alley.

Sesshoumaru nodded for Galieo to strike. He couldn't be concerned with the little minions of Jegger, he wanted Jegger all to himself. Galieo's long hair began to break into pieces and form long scaly green snakes with the head of a dragon and sharp fangs. He stretched out his hands which also turned into the snakes. Within seconds, the snakes whipped out and killed 50 spiders at once by biting them or squeezing around until they burst into pieces.

Inuyasha fought the spiders bravely in the alley, slicing, dicing, killing them recklessly as he searched for Kagome. He found a body wrapped in webs and assumed it was her. He quickly cut open the webs. Kagome laid in his arms unconscious. He quickly carried her out of the alley and away from the fighting. "Kagome? Wake up!" He yelled at her shaking her frantically.

Kagome opened her eyes and began to scream and kick. "Spider, spider! Get it off me! I'm going to die. Spider!"

"Kagome, it's me, Inuyasha. I got you out of there. You're okay!" Inuyasha held her still and stared deep into her eyes.

She stopped and stared back at him seeing him for the first time. "Inuyasha!" She threw her arms around him and held him tight.

Inuyasha held the shaken girl in his arms torn between comforting her and joining the fight.

"Kagome!" Someone called from behind him. He turned around to see Rin running up to them.

She fell down on her knees beside him. "Is she okay? Did they hurt her?"

"She's fine Rin, just terrified. Here, take her. I gotta a score to settle," Inuyasha handed Kagome to Rin and stood up with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called after him not wanting him to leave her and definitely not wanting to see him get hurt. She held on to Rin as they watched the most gross battle Kagome had ever seen. She recognized the two youkai fighting the spiders. "Aren't they..."

"Galieo and Jinko, Sesshoumaru's friend," Rin said. She knew she should have left with Kagome, but watching the powerful youkai fight was hypnotizing. "Jinko is the golden haired one, he's a lion youkai, one of the most feared youkai on campus. He's a complete lunatic when it comes to fighting. Galieo is a sea serpent youkai, he scares me even more than Jinko."

Kagome watched Jinko pick up a spider twice his size and rip it into discarding its carcass like garbage. He sunk his fangs into another one he grabbed and ripped a large chunk of flesh from its body. He was covered in blood. Kagome shivered at the terrible sight. Jinko was the one who had the nice smile that had winked at her, it was hard to believe the ruthless creature he'd transformed into. He reared back his head and let out a deafening lion's roar. Kagome covered her ears.

Across from him, stood Galieo, Kagome understood why he scared Rin. She trembled when she saw him and thought for a moment she would turn to stone. He reminded her of Medusa. His beautiful long hair had turned into millions of green scaled snakes that lashed out with vicious loud hissing noises when they attacked their enemy. Kagome watched the snakes bite their victims quickly before moving on to the next. The spiders didn't have time to attack. The snakes struck fast, hard and the spiders withered up and turned black.

Inuyasha came into her vision as one of the spiders ran towards Rin and Kagome. The girls held each other in fear. Inuyasha sliced it open with his claws in mid-air as it sprung towards them. Several other spiders made their way to the girls. Inuyasha swung the blood dripping from his claws at the spiders and Kagome watched in awe as the blood became sharp knives tearing into the spiders bodies.

Sesshoumaru turned around just in time to see his brother save Rin and the girl, Kagome. He flew towards them and landed in front of them. "Rin, you should not be here," he told her coldly showing her his displeasure.

"I'm sorry, I was worried about, Kagome," Rin said.

"Take the girl and leave. Now!"

Rin hopped up. Sesshoumaru rarely raised his voice at her, but when he did, she knew he was furious inside. She pulled Kagome along with her.

Sesshoumaru turned to Inuyasha. "Stay out of this, Jegger is mine."

"That fucking bastard tried to eat Kagome! He's mine!"

Sesshoumaru sighed in irritation. He knew he would have to let Inuyasha fight with him. There was one thing they both shared in common besides their deceased father and that was vengeance. "Do not get in my way." Sesshoumaru turned back to the battle. Galieo and Jinko had finished off all the spiders. The ground was littered with their dead bodies. His two loyal followers waited patiently for him to destroy the leader of the spiders. Sesshoumaru flew to the opening of the alley. A large whip flew out of his right hand and shot into the alley. Sesshoumaru closed his hand around the whip and pulled. "Show yourself!" He demanded as he continued to drag the spider out.

It did.

Kagome and Rin hadn't went far, they were still too busy trying to see what was happening. When the gigantic hairy black spider appeared with Sesshoumaru's whip around its neck, Kagome let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead. Kagome completely and utterly detested spiders and this one was the size of an elephant. It's long black legs moved heavily towards Sesshoumaru who faced it bravely.

"How dare you destroy my children!" It hissed at Sesshoumaru. "I will slowly suck the blood from your body and watch you die an agonizing death!" Webs shot out of its body toward Sesshoumaru which he easily cut before they could wrap around him.

So the spider was a female, it didn't matter to him, she would die just like her children. He dodged the webs she was shooting out a zillion a second and landed on top of her back. The spider let out a loud screeching sound as Sesshoumaru's poisonous claw extracted and sliced into her back deeply. He dragged it across the rough skin tearing open her flesh. Green poison began to ooze from the wound, it bubbled and burned through it like acid.

The spider began to grow crazy from the pain. Sesshoumaru released it, the whip slipping back into his hand and disappearing. He jumped off it and turned in time to see Inuyasha running towards it laughing insanely. Kagome gagged slightly when he chopped off the spider's head, then it's body in half with his claws.

The spider's body fell over in pieces, its legs jerked around for a moment before it died. Green poison continued to run out of its body and burn the grass around it.

Kagome shivered. "These youkai...are ruthless wild animals that seem to enjoy killing." She turned to Rin for comfort.

Rin stroked her hair. "I know, but at least they are on our side."

Sango followed Miroku after he had returned from his classes. She had thought about the talk they had last night and it just didn't make any sense. Why would Miroku still want her around if he didn't love her and his body language had not matched his words. He had held her as if he loved her. He seemed just as hurt as she did when she looked into his face. He had cared for her, showered her with affection and yet had never let anything go further than just a kiss and an occasional grope. She knew this was not uncommon with "kept" women, but still there was this nagging suspicion that he was keeping a secret from her. How much did she know about Miroku? He had told her the basics about himself, but never went deeper.

She was suppose to be in class right now so he thought. She was going to get to the matter of this if it killed her and then maybe she would be able to have enough confirmation to move on with her life. She was not the one to be left hanging without answers.

She hid behind the stage in a dark corner as Miroku led a pretty red headed girl to the little studio behind it. Sango gritted her teeth, usually she left or pretend she didn't know what he was doing whenever he brought a girl back here, but today she would stay even if it did hurt her. She had to know what was it about these random girls that he craved for more than her. She knew he was attracted to her, she could feel how much he wanted her at times, but not once had he tried to make love to her.

"Ahh, Kelly you are looking absolutely scrumptious today," Miroku turned her around to admire her.

Kelly giggled, "Miroku, you always make me feel so sensual when you look at me like that."

They walked into the studio. The door closed. Sango waited. Ten minutes later she could hear the moans and whimpers of the female. Miroku was obviously a professional. 'Well he'd certainly had more than enough practice at it,' Sango thought sarcastically. The girl groans began to grow louder and more intense. Sango raised an eyebrow. A white glow began to seep from beneath the door. 'What's that?' She thought. She quietly cracked open the door and peeped in. What she saw was something she would never forget. Miroku was locked into a passionate embrace with the girl. She clung to him as he thrust into her hard and fast. The girl's body was surrounded by white light, Miroku opened his mouth and the light began to move into it.

"Oh Miroku, you're so good at this. Oh, oh, I feel so good. I've never felt like this in my life!" Kelly groaned between the hard thrusting Miroku was giving her unaware of what he was doing to her. "I'm going to cum, I'm going to cum!" She yelled and then let out a loud scream.

Sango watched Miroku draw the girl's life-force into his body as she orgasm. He groaned and fell over beside her. She gasped when she saw Kelly's body. Her skin had lost most of its color and had turned grey, there were dark circles under her eyes, her red hair which had been thick and luxurious was now dull and thin. "I'm so weak," she mumbled in ecstasy. "You are the best I've ever had Miroku."

Miroku stood up naked and glowing with the girl's energy. He stared down at her and placed his hand on her arm. Her skin began to get its color back and her hair grew to its natural state. "Rest," he told her softly.

Sango nearly stumbled over, she caught herself, but not in time to push the door slightly open. Miroku turned. She gasped and turned to run away, but it was too late. Miroku was just as fast as any youkai. She felt his strong hand wrap around her wrist. She turned towards him slowly. They stared at each other. His dark eyes showed so many emotions at once that her heart went out to him. Fear, shock, guilt, anger, confusion, shame...

"Miroku, sweetheart, what are you doing?" The girl name Kelly called to him, she was obviously feeling much better.

Sango tried to pull away from him. "Let me go," she whispered.

"Miroku? Are you ignoring me?" Kelly called to him.

Miroku let Sango go. She ran away without looking back. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Miroku was an incubus. She had studied them before in her classes, but never believed they had actually existed until now. Miroku was an incubus! She couldn't believe it, yet there he was. The man she loved was an incubus...no wonder he felt he couldn't be with her, he was trying to protect her from himself. It explained so much.