Sheer Cruelty by Hairann

Give a dog a bone

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them. Only the story belongs to me.

Special thanks to my betas PockyThief, Kiyota and Ethereal Siren.

Title: Sheer Cruelty

Subtitle: Give a dog a bone

Author: Hairann

Theme: 50 Ways to Torture a Taiyoukai by Danyealle-sama.

Genre: Humor

Rating: T

Warnings: Not to be taken seriously

Word Count: 1379

It was official. Kagome was done dealing with Inuyasha and Kouga fighting over her like she was some piece of meat. 'Yeah like some juicy, rare, sirloin steak,' Kagome grumbled to herself mentally. She had decided to take matters into her own hands while she was back home taking a break from the two of them. And it was about dang time in her opinion. For far too long the two of them fought when ever they were in the same place. “Kagome's my woman. She's not your woman you mangy wolf. She is too, mutt.” Kagome mumbled out loud to herself, mimicking their voices as she pulled herself out of the well, dragging her over sized yellow backpack behind her.

Knowing Kouga would most likely still be in the area, waiting for her to come back, she had thought long and hard about ways to get the two of them to stop bothering her about who's 'woman' she was while she was visiting her family. Finally after two days of staring at an empty notebook, that she had decided to use to keep track of her ideas, she came up with what was the best idea, in her opinion. She simply needed to give them something else to distract them. It was so simple she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before.

So packed away in her trusty yellow friend, was something she was sure would distract any member of the canine family and give her some peace and quiet for once. So perfect in fact, that the two of them would never know what hit them or that what she had planned was a simple distraction. They would simply think that she was just bringing something back like she normally did when she went home. Now all she had to do was find them, which looked like it wouldn't be all that hard as their raised voices reached her ears. Rolling her eyes, Kagome began making her way toward them.

When she reached the clearing where they were currently growling at each other, they quickly turned toward her and she was bombarded with 'Kagome tell him you're not his woman!' and 'How's my woman doing?'. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes at their antics, Kagome opted instead to just smile at them as she pulled her bag off of her shoulder and begin to go through it. After a few moments, she pulled out the box she was searching for and gave it a light shake.

Right away you could see Inuyasha's ears twitch at the sound as both he and Kouga began sniffing the air. Kagome simply let her smile grow before shaking the box once again. Behind them, Kagome watched as Sango had to hide a smile of her own as Kouga's tail started swishing back and forth. Shaking the box yet again, Kagome turned to stare both of them in the eyes before speaking. “If I give you some, will you two be good?” Both of their heads began nodding vigorously and Kagome opened the box, watching as the began to sniff the air more as she did so.

Taking out two from the box, she tossed one at each of them and watched as they began scarfing them down, finishing them off in mere seconds. As she went to close the box, the two began whining at her and she glanced back up at them to find them giving her 'puppy dog' eyes. Sighing, she took two more out and told them, “Alright but this is it for now.” After they nodded, she tossed them each another before closing the box and putting it back away. As she put the backpack back on, she glanced around with a smile. “So who's ready to head back out?”

They had left the well two days ago and so far everything had been going okay. Kouga had returned to his pack without any further problems from Inuyasha, and Inuyasha was, for once, behaving himself. So far, to Kagome, today was looking like it was going to be another great day. They had just started walking again after stopping for lunch. So far there had been no demon attacks, it was sunny and Inuyasha hadn't had a single fight with Shippo. Even Miroku seemed to be keeping his hand in line for once.

Yep everything was going perfect, up until the point that Inuyasha stopped suddenly, causing Kagome to bump into him. Picking herself up off of the ground, Kagome glanced around to figure out what had him growling and reaching for his sword. It wasn't long before she discovered what was causing him to react that way. Sesshoumaru was walking toward them with his loyal companions following close behind.

He was still a football field's length away and Kagome didn't feel like dealing with any problems between the two of them today, so she decided to distract Inuyasha, praying Sesshoumaru would just continue on his way if he wasn't baited. So pulling her bag off of her shoulder, she reached in to grab her new favorite box and gave it a quick shake. The moment she did, she had Inuyasha's full attention and he was giving her 'puppy dog' eyes once again.

Opening the box with a smile, she reached in and went to hand him one just as a blast of wind threw her skirt up around her waist. Embarrassed and beat red, Kagome quickly smoothed down her skirt and glanced up to continue distracting Inuyasha, only this time away from her skirt flying up, and found he had been joined by his brother. Kneeling, right beside his hated half-brother, was Sesshoumaru, giving her his own version of 'puppy dog' eyes.

Shrugging, Kagome tossed Inuyasha his, which his scarfed down in mere seconds, before reaching back into the box to give one to Sesshoumaru. His was gone in a matter of moments as well and soon both brothers were whining for another. As Kagome reached in the box for more, Sango leaned over and whispered into her ear, “Do you have any idea of the power you hold in your hands?”

“I do now.” Kagome whispered back with a smile before tossing the brothers each another one. “Alright, while I've got both of your attentions,” Kagome began, shaking the box once to make sure she did in fact have their attention, “I think it's time the two of you had a talk. I'm sure I speak for the rest of us when I say we're tired of listening to you two fighting each other every time you meet up. Now start working out your problems or no more.” Kagome threaten as she shook the box once again.

“Are you trying to torture this Sesshoumaru?” he questioned after a moment of silence as everyone looked at Kagome like she had gone insane.

Tilting her head in thought for a moment, Kagome nodded. “Yep I think I am. Consider it payback for all of the times you two have tortured us with your fighting. Now both of you have a seat and start talking.” Kagome instructed as she shook the box a little harder than before, letting them know she meant it.

Inuyasha glared at her for a minute before finally letting himself fall to his butt and folded his arms in front of himself. With a smile, mostly to let Sesshoumaru know that he wasn't going to get any more unless he cooperated as well, she reached into the box and tossed Inuyasha another, which he happily munched on while smirking at his brother.

After a few moments, Sesshoumaru finally lowered himself to the ground, much more gracefully than his brother had done and with an almost inaudible sigh, he began talking to Inuyasha. Every so often as they talked, Kagome would toss them each another one just to keep them happy and not fighting. A few minutes later, while they were too distracted munching to notice her, Sango leaned back near Kagome's ear and whispered, “What are those things anyways?”

Turning to her with a smirk, Kagome raised the box so she could see a picture of a golden retriever on the front. “Dog treats.” Kagome replied as her smirk grew.

Please R&R, good and bad reviews are welcome, however, I will ignore flames.