Friday, January 21, 2005

   Chapter 42: With The Best Intentions...
Inuyasha froze in alarm, his eyes slowly narrowing as his ears twitched madly in an effort to locate the source of that indistinct voice, 'Who the fuck are you and what have you done with the others?!'

'Hell, I should have known you'd make this as difficult as possible.'

Inuyasha growled menacingly, his claws flexing as he turned in a slow circle and tested the heavy air for a scent, 'Listen up, you asshole! Either you show your fucking face right now and I kill you quickly, or you make me look for you and I take you apart one piece at a time! Your choice.'

'You never change, do you, hanyou?'

'You think you know me?!' his eyes blazed as he swung around, swearing at his inability to hear or smell anything around him. It was like his human nights, he thought darkly, 'Dammit, who ARE you?!'

'Will you calm the fuck down for once in your life so I can help before you try to rip out my throat or should I leave now and let you try and sort out this mess on your own?' the voice growled out almost directly behind him, prompting Inuyasha to swing around and make a blind strike. The voice sighed in annoyance, 'This is why we didn't come to you.'

Inuyasha's eyes widened in realization. Kagome said she couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, and that it felt too real to be a dream... His eyes blazed angrily, 'You fucking son of a bitch!! You're the one who's been in Kagome's head! The one who did all this shit to my Kagome!'

'I'm not the fucking genius who kissed a corpse in front of her when she was in flux, you asshole!' the voice snapped back defensively as a blunt force smacked hard against Inuyasha's chest, pushing him backwards.

'Oi! Enough!!' another voice broke in abruptly, startling Inuyasha with the sound so close at his back that his exploding temper really had a chance to really snap over the loaded accusation. 'This won't get us anywhere and it could hurt Kagome more!'

Inuyasha tensed, turning sideways to stand where he thought both "voices" would be in front of him, 'You know what's happening to her...'

'We're...ah, figuring it out,' the second voice responded, just as unisex as the first but distinctly younger, and colored with slight embarrassment.

'Wha-? What the hell?!' Inuyasha's expression twisted with enraged disbelief. 'You cast the spell on her and you didn't even know what it would fucking do?!!'

There was a brief moment of silence, then a flurry of angry whispers quiet enough for the actual words to escape Inuyasha's hearing. He growled in annoyance, his eyes gleaming until the second voice made a sound like clearing its throat and responded, 'We knew what it was "supposed" to do...'

'Then what the fuck did you do wrong?' his eyes narrowed sharply.

The first voice rose in anger, 'It wasn't our mistake! Kagome's soul didn't react to the magic the way it should have! She-'

'Don't speak of her so familiarly, you worthless bastard!' Inuyasha rounded on that voice, his ears flattened back and hackles raised in instinctive reflex. Something about that first voice set him on edge and made him want to lash out, 'I want to talk to this other one, not to you.'

'If not for me, KAGOME would have been seriously hurt if not killed by those fucking youkai almost a month ago, you-!'

'That's it, I'm fucking taking your throat out!' Inuyasha interrupted and tensed, ready to spring at the source of that mocking voice.

'This is NOT productive, you two!!' a hand snaked out and caught Inuyasha sharply upside the head, knocking him off-balance as the second voice barked authoritatively at both of them. 'Inuyasha-sama, we did not risk bringing you to us and revealing you in this way just for you to get into a damn pissing contest! We don't want Kagome to get hurt and we can't get to her when she's surrounded by Naraku's power like this. We need you to listen and help us before he does something that could permanently damage her soul.'

Inuyasha rubbed his hand, glaring into the darkness warily and only slightly mollified by the respect in the younger voice, 'I want some answers from you two fuck-ups before I listen to anything you say.'

'I told you this would be a waste of time,' the first voice grumbled.

There was a muffled curse and something that sounded distinctly like smack and a grunt, 'Will you shut up! We owe him this, you moron, especially after you're the one who opened her up to accepting youkai energy with that stunt.'

Inuyasha's lip curled and he had to forcefully restrain himself from hunting out that first voice's owner all over again. Instead, he settled for barking out, 'Start fucking explaining! What the hell was the spell supposed to do and what is it doing to her now?!'

There was another curse and a defeated sigh before he felt that bizarre disembodied hand on his shoulder, 'Please understand, Inuyasha-sama, we only wanted to help you and Kagome. She's just as stubborn as you are and we were worried it would keep the two of you apart. So when we...ah, found this spell, we decided to use it and open your eyes a little on how much she meant to you.'

Inuyasha bristled in agitation, 'I didn't need any fucking help!'

'It took you a damn month to claim her after we cast the thing when in more than two years you hadn't even kissed her,' the first voice snorted in disgust. 'You ought to be thanking us, hanyou.'

'For nearly getting her killed more than once? Not fucking likely,' he bared his teeth, uncaring if the gesture was wasted in the darkness or not.

'We didn't realize that Kagome being the carrier and guardian of the Shikon-no-Tama along with her miko powers would make the spell distort,' the second voice raised to be heard over the growling between the two, bringing Inuyasha's attention back to it. 'Everything started out fine. She activated the mark, you set the word.... but then the spell changed.'

'How?' he demanded, folding his arms over his chest. In a way he was relaxing, finally getting the answers to the questions that had been driving him insane, but at the same time, he was even more agitated than before. The spell had gone wrong...

'We used your blood to make the mark, but we had made sure it was dormant,' it answered hesitantly while the first voice muttered under its breath behind the second. 'When she was attacked, we thought that the best way to save her was to use the link and give her a boost of power. We attacked the youkai through her when she gave us control.'

'But she broke the fucking seal on your blood when she let us in,' the second growled in his ear, taunting him with its proximity when they knew there was nothing he could do to prevent it. 'Her miko powers matured so quickly with the source of the youkai magic and blood that she threw her soul wide open and turned herself into a conduit.'

'My blood? You...tattooed my name in her with my blood?' Inuyasha took an instinctive step, his mind reeling with the implication. 'Are you insane?! You didn't tell me OR her that you'd-'

'If things had gone as planned it wouldn't have made a difference!' the second voice protested.

'That's why it fucking hurt her... She was fighting the youkai blood and she didn't know it,' he shook his head, raising his hand to rake it through his hair in his growing agitation. 'And when men touched her...'

'You have...possessive blood where Kagome's concerned,' it agreed quickly. 'She didn't really fight it because it recognized your aura, but it would react to anything it saw as a threat. She didn't tell you it got darker, did she?'

Inuyasha's brows drew together angrily, 'No...'

'We had to talk to her. We knew it would risk keeping the path open, but if we didn't speak with her there could have been more distortion that she could handle. She fought us for a long time.'

Inuyasha's lips twisted in a satisfied smirk, 'You thought she'd trust you?'

'Shut the hell up, hanyou, we're TRYING to help here even though you don't deserve it,' the first voice snapped, smacking him against the side of the head again.

'I didn't know why I thought this could be easy with the two of you in the same place,' the second voice cut in, heavy with annoyance this time. 'Look, this IS serious and we do have a bit of time limit, you know!'

'What the fuck do you mean we have a time limit?' Inuyasha's voice had lowered to a dangerous whisper.

'Kagome is in flux-'

'I said that already,' the first voice cut it's companion off in disgust.

'You didn't explain anything!' the second snapped, stopping itself and taking a deep breath. 'I am not arguing about this...'

'Would you explain this to me already?!' Inuyasha snarled at both of them.

The second voice answered, 'The two of you mated before the spell stopped distorting itself. After what happened with the other miko, the dead one, and Kagome balancing herself into a hanyou for your human night, you had connected yourself in ways we that we couldn't prepare for. I told you your blood was possessive and when she almost died, your blood and soul wrapped around her and just wouldn't let go.'

'Don't mention Kikyou to me,' Inuyasha's voice filled with pain, gritting his teeth as his fists clenched. 'Kagome told me that YOU said my heart took over for hers. That she would have died if you hadn't connected us.'

'That was true,' Inuyasha could hear the nod in the voice. 'You were connected before, but after that, she accepted the possession from you and stopped pushing against your attempts to direct her. She protected your blood and began to use her powers to mingle your blood with her own. You should have noticed... Before she accepted it, your soul was expending so much energy pushing itself into her that your own energy was draining faster than you could generate it.'

His eyes widened, 'When I kept falling asleep...'

'Exactly, but you left enough of your youkai blood behind to cause the spell to change again. We don't know how it's changing her, but the blood has mixed together to the point that we couldn't remove it from her without killing her.'

'She's...she's turning hanyou?!' Inuyasha felt of dizziness sweep through him.

'No, no... not hanyou. It's not something we've ever seen happen before.'

'What do you mean?' his heart started to pound nervously, and he pressed his hand flat to his chest in an effort to ease that tell-tale sign.

'Well, your blood and her powers are working with the spell,' there was a note of uncertainty in the voice that had Inuyasha's eyes narrowing even as it tried to expound on that explanation. 'The youkai blood stays separate from the human instead of mixing together like a hanyou. It has made...changes to her human side, but when she feels threatened, the youkai blood overwhelms her. When that happens, your blood takes over and it's almost as though there's nothing human about her at all. She's not hanyou, youkai, or even human anymore.'

Inuyasha blinked several times, trying to process the information he'd just received, 'Then... what is she? Is she...is she still mortal?'

'We don't think so, but every single time we've tried to read her since you mated, your aura attacks us and keeps us away from her soul,' the second voice explained.

'Course it doesn't fucking help that every time we've tried to tell her how to stay safe you do something that makes her lose control!' the first voice hissed out.

'What the fuck are you talking about?' Inuyasha's eyes slowly began to glow, bleeding red at the strength of the anger racing through him.

'Will you let me do this?!' the second voice was nearly silent, supremely frustrated as it argued with the first. 'Inuyasha-sama, Kagome is feeling emotions as a youkai instead of as a human. She's used to handling her emotions at a much lower level and until she adapts to the intensity of youkai feeling, it's very easy for her to become overwhelmed and lose control of them. When that happens, the blood, YOUR blood, thinks she's in danger and takes over to protect her. Her first instinct is to get away from what's causing that danger and when she obeys the instinct, she's going out of range to balance against you.'

'Now you're saying it's MY fault?!' he growled out, his lip curling in disgust.

There was a snort and then the sound of another smack before the younger voice continued, 'You didn't know. What's making it worse is that there was another soul prodding her aura, waiting for her to move out of range. When you mated, your soul took a much stronger grasp over Kagome's and she absorbed a larger portion to hold in your blood inside her. That's what has made her so vulnerable. While her body and soul are readjusting into... whatever it is that she's becoming, they are relying heavily on your spirit for direction. You are also her first-'

'Only,' Inuyasha corrected in a flat, cold voice.

'Her only mate,' it readily agreed. 'She's young and she still thinks like a human. Seeing you in the company of...of another woman she knows you cared deeply for when she is uncertain of your feelings made her fight against your presence inside her. She was so focused on the sight in front of her that she failed to recognize something pushing in on her and urging her to lose control of herself. With the sudden upset of her emotions, it was a simple matter for him to gain access and make her think it was her own mind directing her.'

'Directing her to do what?' the air around Inuyasha hummed with menace.

'To leave with Kagura.'

Inuyasha hadn't thought he was capable of feeling such intense pain when he hadn't received an injury, but the voice's words sent him to him knees. Kagome had left... She'd seen what happened, Naraku had been waiting to implant the thoughts in her head, and because she couldn't handle youkai emotions, she'd given into them. Now Kagome was open to Naraku's influence, in danger and in pain, and there was nothing he could do about it until he found her.

'How could I not have fucking seen it....' he whispered, his eyes squeezing shut.

'I could take a guess,' the first voice muttered only to earn a quick hiss from the second.

'Kagome is in great danger now because of the strength of Naraku's aura. She is sensitive to the Shikon-no-Tama... it hunts for her just as much as you do it. It was a part of her for so long that it does not feel complete without her. Naraku only knows that her aura doesn't push against the magic filtering through the jewel or the youkai blood inside her, and he's using that link to hide his presence inside her.'

'I'll kill him.'

The voice paused at the intensity of the hanyou, but continued gently, 'She is purifying most of the energy filtering into her, but she is weakened being away from you. Her soul feels the youkai blood's strength and borrows more and more of it to restore her energy and fight what it sees as a threat. Without your soul in range, it is being tricked into thinking Naraku's aura is a substitute, but the sheer force of the magic she's absorbing is starting to kill her human blood. We don't know what will happen if that occurs.'

Inuyasha looked ahead, his eyes glassy as he recalled the wave of weakness that had gone through him when he'd reconnected to her in that brief moment, 'He's keeping her from finding me.'

'Her soul CAN differentiate between the feel of you and the feel of another, but if she's threatened your blood will take from anything near to keep her strong. If you don't find her in the next day, Inuyasha-sama, she'll absorb enough that Naraku will be able to form a shell around her and prevent her from sensing your aura even when you are close enough. He will prevent you from connecting and balancing with her. The good news is that you're soul is still fighting off any male that comes near her, but it is likely taking it to the extreme and forming a barrier even you could not penetrate. Even now, you're going to have to make contact, physical contact to force his aura out of her completely and convince your blood she's safe to balance instead of absorb.'

'That won't be a problem,' his voice was still flat, intense, and terrifying with the promise of danger weighing heavily in it. 'I'll get her away from that bastard before anything happens and then you are going to get your ass back here and we are going to talk. I want to know how to fix this shit so that nothing like this can happen to her again.'

'Inuyasha-sama, you aren't listening. We CAN'T reverse it without killing her! The best we can do is stop the distortion so that the spell settles and quits changing itself. But you are correct, you do have to get her away from Naraku before she does serious damage to herself. We simply don't have any more time to waste right now.'

'We can't stay any longer,' the first voice snarled out, more to its companion than to Inuyasha. 'We've already kept the path between the two of them closed for too long trying to help this arrogant bastard.'

'What the fuck?!' Inuyasha rounded on them angrily. 'You closed her off from me even after you're the ones telling me all this about keeping her close? Are you trying to fucking get her killed?!'

'Oi! Would you rather we not have come?' it growled back. 'Face it, hanyou, you fucking owe us for helping you out. Without us, there's no telling how badly you would have fucked things up when you faced Naraku.'

'Liar! I'd sooner kill you than agree with that bullshit,' Inuyasha returned, his hands fisting at his sides. 'When this is over and she's safe, I'm going to track you down and take your hearts out for causing this mess!'

The second voice made a slight tsking noise as the landscape around Inuyasha blurred and dipped, the feel and sounds around him fading away, 'Try not to lose your temper when you get close to her, Inuyasha-sama. Kagome is taking on too much of you as it is...'


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Thursday, January 20, 2005

   Chapter 41: You Have Only To Ask...
Kagome whirled around, her hand catching Naraku's throat as she brought her full weight against him with her other shoulder. Kagura leapt back, her eyes wide and mouth slack in surprise as they crashed to the ground, Kagome pressing her knee hard over his heart, one hand still circling his neck while her purifying energy crackled wildly all around them.

Her eyes burned vivid scarlet as she snarled down at him, her power fluctuating in vivid arches in response to the tainted energy trying to seep through her natural barriers, "Don't you DARE fuck with me like that, Naraku!"

Naraku recovered from his own surprise so quickly, Kagura wondered if he'd felt the emotion at all or if it was simply an illusion for the enraged miko's benefit. His lips curved in a condescending smile as he lay completely unresisting beneath her, as calm as if they were simply making polite conversation, "You can't kill me, miko."

"And what makes you so damn sure of that?" her hands flexed against his throat and her voice lowered with significant threat. "At the moment, I'm not feeling particularly forgiving."

"Kill me and you'll lose your chance to be free of the hanyou," Naraku arched one brow in mocking confidence. "Would you do that when you've already come this far?"

Kagome paused uncertainly and Naraku shifted, taking advantage of her indecision to reach up one hand and brush his fingers over the blood seeping sluggishly from the healing wounds in her cheeks. Kagome jerked her head back when a twinge of pain raced down her spine, her expression filling with disgusted anger as the flesh on his hand hissed and burned down to the bone.

"Truly amazing," he murmured, looking at his hand dispassionately. "You are still so pure... Even after you have sullied yourself with the half-breed."

Kagome moved so fast, Naraku had no idea what she had done until the back of her hand connected with his cheekbone, hard enough to snap his face aside. "Say that again and I don't give a damn if I ever figure out this spell, I'll kill you, Naraku," her lips pulled back in a feral hiss of warning.

He held up his hands in a soothing gesture, his eyes warming slightly when he tasted blood in his mouth. Naraku kept his voice soft as he responded, "I meant you no insult. On the contrary, Kagome, I am... exceedingly impressed by the strength of your soul."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she slowly released her grip on his throat and slid off his chest, balancing lightly on the balls of her feet a few steps away from him, "What game are you trying to play with me? You're the one who was running around in my head before, weren't you? The night Kikyou tried to kill me."

"If you hadn't been assisted, Kikyou would have succeeded in her attempts," Naraku lifted himself gracefully to his feet, his gaze never leaving hers even as he let his eyes slide half-closed to study her appearance. "However, I'm afraid I cannot lay claim to that incident. Had I been the one you heard, I would have saved you this unnecessary aggravation."

Kagome frowned, her anger calming slightly with her curiosity. Was Kagura right? Naraku had the answers she was looking for? A twinge of pain flared to life behind her eyes, prompting her to grunt and lift her hand to her temple as she heard whispers chase through her head again. They were quiet, mumbling and falling over themselves as they made her head pound, but they were not so indistinct that she couldn't tell the voice this time was female.

Ignoring the tension that entered her expression, Naraku waved a hand to indicate himself dismissively, "Unfortunately, I was unaware of that contact. For once, that fool Onigumo actually opened my eyes to what I was missing..."

Kagome's head snapped up, the whispers seeming not so important compared to the shock that rolled through her, "O...Oni...gumo?!"

"Being in limbo as he is, he was aware of your situation long before I," Naraku's brows drew together in mild annoyance. "But he cannot do anything that will not come to my attention sooner or later. Kagura told you I have been watching you, Kagome, and I have. I'm aware that you have been placed under a spell that is unclear to anyone who is attempting to unravel it, perhaps even the caster?"

The answer chased across her eyes before she had a chance to smother it, and Kagome could tell from his quiet laughter that he had seen and interpreted it accurately. She tried to focus, but the ache was increasing and the whispers were growing louder in her mind. Her hands began to shake at the severe sensations and she fisted them in her lap to hide the telling indication of her distress.

Naraku held out a hand to her, "In this matter, miko, you can have faith in me. I have the knowledge and the magic to help you, and I will use it if you would only ask."

Kagome winced, looking up at him as the pain spread through her skull before moving through her blood and concentrating hotly at her hip. She was unable to prevent the hiss of discomfort, clutching both hands to the sides of her had when the volume swelled with a force that stole her breath. She gritted her teeth, trying hard to focus and push the woman's voice out of her mind in an effort to put an end to that horrid sensation, but the aching pulse was making it impossible for her.

Naraku's eyes narrowed fractionally, and he took a step forward to rest a hand on her head despite the way her energy crackled with menace all around him, "He is using Kikyou, you know."

"What are...you talking about?" Kagome's eyes darkened even as a thin line of blood seeped from her nose. Her anger flared again as she lifted a badly shaking hand and brushed the back of her hand over her face, glaring at the blood smeared over her skin.

"The hanyou has connected himself to you with the help of this spell," he bent down, forcing her to meet his eyes as he stoically ignored the purifying energy lashing out at him and reached out to touch her chin. "You are in pain, are you not? Onigumo tried to get your attention in this way at first; the voices and whispers in your head? You were uncomfortable with his aura fighting your hanyou's spirit inside you. How much worse is it with the hanyou helping Kikyou bring you this pain? You know she wants you dead and has the powers to invade your soul."

Kagome pulled her head away from his touch, her brow twitching with her efforts to keep silent, "Ki...Kikyou..."

"You can not fight them by yourself," Naraku shook his head, lifting a hand to hide the way his lips curved in a slight smile.

"Go to hell," she gritted out, the skin beneath her eyes darkening to gray.

"Ask me, Kagome," he leaned in close, catching her gaze again easily.

"Why?" Kagome's hand snaked out, fisting in the front of his elaborate kimono and dragging him close enough the he couldn't prevent the slight tensing of discomfort in response to her powers. "Why do you suddenly want to fucking help me, Naraku?"

Naraku reached up, circling her wrist lightly with his fingers, "It's no secret that I have a great... appreciation for things of power, Kagome. You have also become quite pleasing to look at," he laughed softly when her eyes narrowed in sharp irritation. "This spell that has been cast on you; I must admit it has caught my attention just as much as you have yourself. I want to understand it just as much as you do."

Kagome released him abruptly, pressing the heels of her hands hard against her eyes when the whispers pitched higher, a quiet whimper escaping her before she managed to squelch it. It was still impossible to distinguish everything the voice was saying, but she caught the meaning with ease. This woman in her head was urging her to die, to give up much as the whispers had the first time, but this voice had an edge of malice that had been absent in the previous voice, Onigumo's voice.

Naraku took a lock of her hair between her fingers, marveling at the soft texture in a... well, a human turned youkai, he thought with another smile, "If you believe nothing else, Kagome, you know I would do anything in my power to hinder Inuyasha. If I want you alive, doesn't that stand to reason that he would want you dead? He has always chosen the undead over you if given the chance, hasn't he? Let them have each other as they deserve, miko, I find that I prefer the living over some macabre puppet. I was a fool to let you almost slip away."

An animal growl rose in Kagome's throat as distinct images flashed in her mind, images of Inuyasha and Kikyou together, of him running to her and leaving Kagome behind. Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes to mingle with the blood, "I...I don't...trust you...."

"How much more of this can you take before it overcomes you?" he asked her gently, his voice a low soothing murmur to her tortured senses. "The pain inside you is so great that even I can feel it coming from you. Let me prove to you that I want you to live. You don't even have to trust me, Kagome, only accept my help."

Her hands fisted over her stomach when a spasm went through her, nearly doubling her in half, but she growled violently when he reached for her again, "How do I know... you're not the one... doing this, yourself?"

Naraku's brows lifted and he rose elegantly to his feet, holding out his hand to her, "Do you not trust your own powers? I have no blood in you as Inuyasha does, and your magic has been resisting mine ever since you entered my home. You can see that with your own eyes."

Kagome's brows twitched with uncertainty again, and Naraku smiled at her comfortingly, pushing at that doubt.

"The spell is allowing you to absorb the strengths and energy of the youkai around you," he whispered to her. "That is a great skill, Kagome. It makes you very difficult for them to kill."

"Skill?" she repeated quietly in disbelief.

"If you stop pushing my magic away, you could draw off it and make yourself stronger," Naraku splayed his fingers over his heart. "You can purify the Shikon-no-Tama, what makes you think you can't purify the magic you pull into yourself? You want the pain to go away, don't you, Kagome?"

*Do you want Kikyou to win?*

Kagome's brows snapped together at the mild retreat of the pain when the male voice entered her mind, Onigumo's voice. Naraku was...telling the truth? If she absorbed his power, would Kikyou be blocked from her mind?

Kagome's eyes lifted to focus on the coldly handsome face above her, confused at the thought that Naraku honestly wanted to help her.

"Ask."

*Ask, Kagome. We can make it go away and show you how you were meant to be treated and protected. You are stronger than this. Don't let Kikyou win...*

The memory of Inuyasha and Kikyou kissing danced behind her eyes yet again and Kagome's brows slowly lowered in a deadly scowl.

Kagome rocked herself forward, glaring up at him as her hand locked onto his like a lifeline.

**

Inuyasha dropped to his knees, clamping his hands to the sides of his head as his body arched back from the force of the searing agony that swamped through him.

It was hard to say what was worse... The sound of the scream that tore violently from Inuyasha the moment he hit the ground, or the way the ground in a perfect circle around him shattered under a massive blast of energy that knocked the rest of them flat on their backs.

Inuyasha clamped his mouth shut, shaking almost uncontrollably as he fought to contain the urge to scream again and vocalize the strength of the sensations. Something swirled to life in his mind beneath the throbbing and silent screams that made his heart freeze in his chest and the anger he'd been fighting flood his thoughts.

Laughing.

Something was fucking laughing in his head beneath the pain and the screaming.

"Inuyasha!!?" Sango and Miroku shot to their feet, started towards the visibly struggling hanyou only to have him shoot them a fierce glare and throw up one hand in an obvious sign for them to keep their distance.

As they watched, he dropped his chin to his chest, his eyes clenching shut as his lip curled back off his fangs in a snarl, "K...Kagome... She's... getting hurt... badly..."

Shippo's eyes widened, filling with tears as his hands fisted in Miroku's robes where he sat on the monk's shoulder, "That's happening to Kagome?"

Sango's hands clenched into fists at her sides, her own brows lowering in an angry scowl as she watched Inuyasha fight against something they couldn't see, "That bastard!" Miroku reached out, lightly setting a comforting hand on her shoulder even as his expression turned grim and he murmured, "Kagome-sama will be all right, Sango. Inuyasha will not let anything happen to her."

Oblivious to the conversation beside him, Inuyasha rose carefully to his feet, forcing himself to ignore the pain and focus instead on the rage pouring through him. He didn't have a choice. If he wanted to have any effectiveness he had to risk it spilling over to Kagome, he just hoped he wasn't causing irreparable damage in giving into it.

He was going to make Naraku suffer for a long time for this.

Sango and Miroku didn't have a chance to even flinch as Inuyasha shot forward, ducking down to put a shoulder in each of their stomachs and lift them effortlessly off their feet, weapons and all.

The only warning they got was a growled, "Hang on," and the hanyou was leaping forward at a speed they hadn't thought he would be capable of being so loaded down.

Shippo had barely had enough time to tighten his hands in the monk's robes and even then, he'd still nearly been flung to the ground. He peeked at the shocked faces of Miroku and Sango as they tried to both hold their weapons and Inuyasha, and then buried his face against Miroku's shoulder with a sob, 'Kagome...okaa-san....'

**

Kagura watched in confusion as Naraku pulled Kagome against his chest, catching the girl as she slumped forward. When he lifted her in his arms and carried her to his personal chambers, she trailed behind, "Have you decided to kill her after all?"

Naraku didn't even glance at her as he responded, "Kill her? Of course not."

Her expression turned grim when she felt Naraku's aura drain, Kagome's aura swelling in the same motion as he laid her on top of the futon, "She could kill us."

Naraku frowned at her in annoyance as he rose to his feet, Kagome's back arching up at another pulse in their auras behind him, and her mouth opening in a pained gasp, "Only a fool would kill the guardian of the Shikon jewel when she has been so delightfully enchanted. A human who has the ability to transform completely to a youkai and back all depending on her emotional state... All I must do is discover the root of this spell and turn it to my advantage."

Kagura blinked in surprise, her gaze jumping from Naraku to Kagome, "You want her bound to you instead?"

Naraku's eyes gleamed even as his lips twisted in a coldly arrogant smile, "Can you think of anything that would make such a perfect victory over that damn hanyou? He would be enraged beyond anything else and he'll have known that I have won. There will be nothing he can do to stop me."

"She could purify you," Kagura reminded again when a faint shudder went through his form and Kagome shifted restlessly. "She's almost doing it now," she took a cautious step backwards when the air around the miko took on an ominous chill.

Naraku turned back to the pale figure on the futon, kneeling down at her side, "Only enough to make her believe she is purifying it all. The hanyou is angry...more than angry, and it's making it much easier for me to hide everything she is letting herself absorb. The youkai blood in her is safe from her purification, but not from me."

Kagura's brows rose as miasma curled along his fingertips, watching him reach out and draw his fingers lightly over the deep lines cut into her cheeks. Kagome flinched in her comatose state, her skin sizzling as the heat sealed the injuries and brought an admiring smile to Naraku's face. Under her magic, the miasma burned away, but the mix of the two left the almost perfectly symmetrical lines scarred lightly into her flesh.

They couldn't have looked better if he'd cut them on himself, he decided with an approving nod. Kagome would be so entrenched in the hanyou's youkai blood by the time he found them that it would be almost impossible to revert her. But then, he had to do something about her hearing that bastard's voice...

"How is it possible that she feels just like a youkai?" Kagura cleared her throat, wondering if Naraku would actually answer. The look on his face as he trailed his fingers down the miko's throat and turned her face from side to side was more than a little disturbing. 'He really is obsessed with her...' her lips turned down in disgust.

Naraku slid his hand down to circle her throat, leaning down to stare at her as though she were a very complex puzzle, "I have never seen a human like this one. One spell and her magic transforms her completely without the aid of the Shikon-no-Tama. She's not a human, hanyou, or a youkai..."

Kagome tensed when his hand slid down over her heart and then further to press flat against her stomach, her body unconsciously attempting to escape the touch causing her pain.

"Not even I am capable of such a thing," Naraku lifted his free hand to caress the large chunk of the corrupted Shikon-no-Tama at his own throat. "If I command not only the jewel, but the jewel's guardian who's powers rival that of anything I have seen before, nothing will be able to stop me."

"Then why this?" Kagura indicated Kagome's still form.

Naraku's smiled turned cruel, "They seem to feel the emotions of the other if it is strong enough. Inuyasha will go insane when he feels what her body is experiencing and he knows that her mind is unaware of it. She'll be causing herself and him the pain, but only he will feel it."

When Naraku's hand slid along her stomach to the tattoo, he let out a shout of pain, leaping back away from her when a sharp blast of energy shot through his arm, numbing it to the shoulder. His brows rose high in annoyed surprise as he regarded his steaming flesh, "Damn."

**

Inuyasha hissed, skidding to a halt and dumping his passengers unceremoniously to the ground as he clamped his hand over his heart. Miroku and Sango let out startled exclamations, the sounds cut off as they looked up at the hanyou's surprised expression.

"Something... strange just happened," he looked up at them in alarm. "For just a second it all... it all went away... I could feel her!"

"What did you feel?" Miroku prodded, his face tense.

Inuyasha shook his head, "She's confused. Everything in her mind is... is chaotic. But the pain wasn't in her mind... I can feel it, but it was almost like-"

"She didn't?" Sango finished, lifting her hand to her heart. "Like the first time I fought you, but...if Naraku had used a shard on her, wouldn't she purify it?"

"It wasn't a shard," Inuyasha growled out. "I don't know what it is, but she's not feeling whatever he's doing to her."

Miroku frowned, "Perhaps that is not such a bad thing." At their questioning expressions, he clarified hesitantly, "With all Naraku is capable of doing, would you rather Kagome-sama was aware of the pain you feel from her, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha scowled, turning in the direction he'd felt her from, "No..."

"Could you tell how far away she is?" Sango urged, glaring at the setting sun.

"Too far to carry you all tonight," he gritted his teeth, eyes squeezing shut as he focused on the lingering feel of Kagome. She'd jolted back into his head so abruptly it had nearly staggered him, but more importantly, the feel of the magic wrapped around her had yanked away as well. She had to be fighting him, that was the only thing he could think of that would make the laughter retreat so quickly like that.

Unfortunately, the moment he felt her clearly, a wave of weakness went through him so quickly he'd nearly fainted. Kagome was weak if she'd absorbed so much in that brief moment, but wouldn't it help that she'd just infused herself with his energy?

His hand lifted to his face, 'Her cheeks hurt... why would her cheeks hurt?'

Miroku let out a shout of alarm when the color abruptly drained from Inuyasha's face, "Inuyasha!?"

Between one breath and the next, Inuyasha crumpled to the ground.

**

Inuyasha opened his eyes warily, aware only that he was flat on his back and looking up into a dark sky. Alarmed, he shot to his feet, his gaze darting around for some sign of his companions, but there was nothing but the overwhelming darkness. Inuyasha began to search the gloom frantically for the others, yelling out as loud as he could manage, 'Oi! Where is everyone?!'

There was an odd distortion to his voice, thick and muggy as though his mouth was moving too slow for the actual sound of him speaking. Confused, he lifted his hand to his throat, searching the heavy silence around him for something, anything to give him a clue of where he was and how he'd gotten there.

Something slammed into him from behind, sending him face first to the ground. Dazed, he shot up, reaching for the Tetsusaiga, 'N-nani?!'

The sword was missing, and there was no sign of his attacker in the dark silence surrounding him, 'Who's there?! Show yourself you fucking coward!!'

'Stop yelling, you fucking idiot, there's nothing wrong with my ears.'

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Wednesday, January 19, 2005

   Chapter 40: The Greatest Lies Hide in Truth
Inuyasha opened his eyes as he lifted his hands and set them on Kikyou's shoulders, pushing her away, "Kikyou..."

Kikyou wasn't looking at him though, her eyes were again off to the side as she stared at something only she could see, "I told you I would kill her, Inuyasha. Things would be simple if she were no longer in the way."

Inuyasha tensed, nearly throwing Kikyou away from him at the insinuation in her voice. Alarmed, he spun around, his senses alert as he searched for Kagome's presence. His eyes widened in shocked disbelief when he realized the wind had formed a sort of pocket in the grove, nothing but what he could see registering to his ears or his nose. For as good as his senses were right now, anything could be beyond the tree-line and he wouldn't have known until it was too late.

Like now, he thought grimly, pressing a hand to his heart and focusing inward in an effort to feel the steady pulse behind his, Kagome's heartbeat. It should have been simple, strong and steady with his own, but it nearly eluded him, distant and faint...

"What have you done?" he whispered in pained denial, his fingers curling into a tight fist over his chest as his instincts screamed a warning over the loss of contact. Turning back to see Kikyou at the edge of the grove, surrounded by her youkai, his eyes darkened fiercely, "What the hell have you done with Kagome?"

"You'll come back to me once she betrays you," Kikyou flashed him a cold, enigmatic smile. "That girl is a fool. As long as she thinks she is the one in control, she will not fight against the powers directing her. She will not force him from her mind. He knows it... and he will use that to its full advantage when he comes for you. She does not have the knowledge or the control to stop herself or her powers, Inuyasha, not when they are being fed by another. You will have to kill her, and then there will only be one of us."

Inuyasha turned around slowly to face her completely, his chest tightening even as a touch of scarlet bled into his glowing eyes, "Where is she?"

Kikyou looked away from him, her face bland as her youkai lifted her off her feet, "I will not tolerate anyone who tries to come between us, Inuyasha. You told me that you didn't want to make the choice... Now you don't have to. You will be mine in Hell," she answered as the youkai disappeared into the trees with her in tow.

"Kikyou!" Inuyasha snarled out, reaching a hand towards her despite the futility of the motion. He knew she was already gone, "Damn you, Kikyou! If anything happens to Kagome, I'll-!"

Inuyasha stopped abruptly as with Kikyou's departure, the wind shifted and blew naturally through the small clearing again, freed from whatever force had held it still. His heart began to pound all over again when the wind brought him a scent he knew only too well, 'Blood? Kagome's blood?!'

His head snapped around towards the source, Kikyou forgotten as he covered the distance in almost one straight, desperate leap, crashing through the brush in his haste to locate the source of that smell. A bright glint, half-hidden in the matted foliage, had him skidding to a stop as he dropped into an instinctive, defensive crouch.

Inuyasha's heart nearly stopped when instead of the weapon he'd been anticipating, he recognized Kagome's necklace, smeared with her blood and the chain broken as though ripped forcefully from her neck. But the shards were all there...

His hand closed so tightly over the glass vial it was a wonder the fragile material didn't shatter. Had she been kidnapped and he'd let himself be too distracted by Kikyou's presence to see it? To realize the clearing had been closed off to his senses? Did Kagome pull the necklace off and drop it herself in an attempt to keep it safe from her attacker?

He cursed, long and black in his growing rage until his eyes fell on the remnants of Kikyou's bow a few feet away. Inuyasha rose to his feet with growing apprehension, his ears flattening back as he shuffled closer to look down at the two separate pieces. The wood had been snapped in half under enough force that the string itself had been ripped apart in the same place, and the broken ends of that string were gleaming sickly in the afternoon sun.

That was the real concentration for the smell of Kagome's blood.

Numbly, Inuyasha crouched down again, reaching out to lightly touch one of the dripping strings, but the moment his fingers came in contact with the blood, he let out a sharp hiss and rocked back on his heels. Pain flooded through him so deep and intense it brought the sting of tears to his eyes, and on the heels of that mind-splintering sensation came a wash of rage to sweep it all down to his stomach. The abrupt emotions left him confused and shaking even as he stared at the blood coating his fingertips.

'These...are Kagome's emotions?!' Inuyasha's eyes widening in dawning understanding and horror as his gaze moved from his fingers to the section of the clearing visible from that position.

The vial shattered.

'Kikyou... Kikyou tricked me!’ his eyes clenched shut as his body shook with anger that was unlike any he’d ever known. 'She knew... She KNEW Kagome could see us. That's why she kissed me like that...'

When Inuyasha opened his eyes again they were glowing scarlet, and he looked down from Kagome's blood on his fingers to the blood on the bow and dripping onto the grass with a frown. It wasn't that much, but it would have to do.

Baring his teeth, he reached out and slid his hand over the strings, and then the grass beneath them, collecting all that he could, "This had better fucking work."

He lifted the hand almost tentatively, scowling at it a moment before his let out of pent-up breath and licked the blood off his palm and fingers. If he could feel the emotions she had felt when he touched the blood, wouldn't consuming it give him a clearer link to what she was feeling now?

A jolt rocked through him as he swallowed the last of it, knocking him on his back as he reflexively clutching his pounding heart, snarling at the greatly intensified wash of pain constricting his chest. But this time he could feel something new. Nearly smothered beneath the severity of the pain and rage was a broken thread of sorrow. It had been buried so deep beneath the other two he almost missed it, but the feelings were intense... youkai emotions instead of human...

What the fuck was happening to his Kagome to make her feel youkai emotions?

The growl rose deep in his chest, a natural response to the chaotic jumble of sensation he could feel through Kagome's blood. Kikyou had said she didn't have the knowledge or control to stop herself. Did she know Kagome was experiencing youkai emotions and use that against her, knowing that as a human, they would be too intense?

His eyes dropped bitterly to the evidence at his feet, 'She had to know. She... wanted Kagome to feel them... to lose control without realizing it... She said-'

Inuyasha's eyes sparked murderously as he made the connection between what Kikyou said and what it meant. HE knew, and HE would use it.

The second voice. The man who tricked Kagome the last time she had fought Kikyou herself, almost getting her killed and turning her against him. The man who had tried to steal her from him.

With Kagome out of range she would be vulnerable to that voice again, but who would know enough about them to be able to fool Kagome into thinking he was telling the truth?

A light breeze curled around Inuyasha almost mockingly, bringing with it a scent that was almost enough to push him over the edge of his control.

Kagura had been in this spot... with Kagome.

Naraku had taken her.

**

Kagome would have been violently disgusted with herself if she knew, or more importantly, if she cared, that the blank expression she'd adopted to mask her inner turmoil made her look more like Kikyou than she ever had before.

Really the only differences at the moment were that Kikyou's eyes had never glowed pale blue, she would never wear anything remotely similar to the younger girl's futuristic attire, and the undead miko had never in her lifetime or beyond so visibly radiated with her powers.

As Kagura led the silent miko through the darkened passages of Naraku's present castle, traces of blue and scarlet curled around at sporadic intervals. The ground under her feet hissed in protest as the taint seeping into the stones was purified at her passing, and occasionally bolts would lash out at curious youkai minions who wandered too close. And Kagome walked on through it all, leaving them seriously wounded if not out-right killed by the potent blasts.

Kagura kept a fair distance nervously, glancing back at the miko with a tense, calculating expression. Just because Kagome's wild aura hadn't harmed her yet didn't mean it wouldn't, and the wind youkai was beginning to have serious reservations about Naraku's plans for the girl. She doubted even he had suspected the miko could have grown this powerful in such a short span of time, and her lack of control over that power made her dangerous to have anywhere near them. If Kagome ever focused that power...

Kagura shivered at the thought, but at the same moment, she felt a faint glimmer of hope. What if she really could help free her from Naraku? The idea had seemed ludicrous at the time, just an excuse to fool the miko into coming, but now? She'd have to get Kagome alone later, and she doubted even Kanna could hold an image on the girl with this kind of aura tangling the air around her.

*I told you the hanyou did not deserve your love.*

"Shut up," Kagome growled out, focusing on the boiling rage flowing through her rather than what should have been surprise at the forceful return of the man's voice. She knew if she let go of that feelings, the only thing left would be the debilitating pain humming just beneath her calm facade. The rage was the only thing keeping her from sinking into despair at the embrace she'd seen between Inuyasha and Kikyou.

Kagura jumped a bit in surprise, turning a questioning look back at her, "What?"

*Did you really think it was you he wanted when he was fucking you? He cares only for the walking dead. You saw it then and you ignored it. Look at the suffering it's brought you; the pain.*

"I said shut up!" the blue of her eyes turned violet with her deepening rage.

Kagura frowned in cautious surprise, pacing herself a little farther ahead, 'She... isn't talking to me. She hears something else?'

*You should have listened to me from the start. If you had obeyed me you would not have suffered this pain and humiliation. Why did you shut me out, miko? Is my love not good enough for you? You would rather be second choice to a corpse in that hanyou's affections? A convenient substitute?*

"I don't even fucking know who you are," Kagome reached out and grabbed a door in front of her to yank it viciously to the side, either not noticing or not caring that it melted under her touch. "Get out of my head or I'll get you out myself," her teeth clenched so tightly, by all rights she should have ground off the sharp edges.

*Don't act like that with me, Kagome...*

Kagome froze in alarm when she felt something brush past her cheek.

*Not when you were reborn for me.*

'So strong,' Kagome's hand hovered over the last door Kagura had passed through, her eyes narrowing as she swept out her senses to find the owner of that low voice. 'Why is it so close?'

A cool curtain of silky hair slid over her shoulder from above and behind her just as she became aware of a man’s presence at her back. His mouth came so close to her ear she could feel not only the warm breath but the movement on his lips against her own hair, “I cheated death to be with you, miko, and you have been returned to me. So much more powerful and beautiful than ever... I can help you, Kagome. You have only to ask..."

**

Inuyasha felt his every muscle snap taut when another magic wrapped itself obviously around Kagome, dampening the feel of her heartbeat and emotions in his head. This magic was dark, oppressive and taunting; a blatant challenge to his claim on her that tipped his own tenuous control that much closer to its breaking point.

He could hear whispering in his mind, low taunts and a mocking voice overlapping itself and making it impossible to distinguish what it was actually saying. The meaning, however, was clear. The owner of that voice was goading him, trying to push him past his limit and make him lose control.

Inuyasha scowled, forcing himself to breath slow and deep in a fight to stay calm. If that voice wanted him to lose it, he'd be willing to bet his life that would only make things worse for Kagome wherever she was. She had pulled off his emotions more than once with nearly disastrous results, so what would happen to her if he lost control and he wasn't close enough to balance the flood of emotions in her? Would it be like before or would it be even worse?

What was happening to her now that something was trying to get to him?

If he was right, and Naraku had taken her, how would she react to being so close to the levels of his magic? Would she be overwhelmed or would she be able to purify the evil energy before she soaked it in? Could she purify something that corrupted when he had the assistance of the Shikon-no-Tama and she had left her shards behind?

"Kagome..." Inuyasha bit down hard on his lower lip, his eyes glistening with suspicious moisture even as his expression filled with helpless, dangerous anger. Too many things could happen to her, 'Don't listen to them, Kagome. Whatever they say, don't... I'll be there as soon as I can. I swear it.'

**

Miroku shivered suddenly, clutching his staff as he frowned and turned his gaze in the direction of the disturbing feeling.

"Houshi-sama?" Sango looked up at him in concern when she caught sight of the tenseness in his stance and expression. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"There is a dark chill in the air, Sango," he responded quietly, closing his eyes as he attempted to focus on what could have caused that chill. "Something has happened..."

Shippo looked up at them, his brows drawing together in worry at the agitation in both adults and glancing in the direction of the spring. Kagome should have been back by now... but then, Inuyasha should have been back too. After last night he wouldn't have thought that so suspicious, but they hadn't left together this time, and something felt... wrong.

He smelled the blood first, coming to his feet with a terrified gasp as he spun around to face the direction where he felt Inuyasha approaching fast. He'd been preparing to jump at the hanyou and demand answers, but the moment Inuyasha came into view, the kitsune screamed and shot behind Miroku for protection.

Inuyasha snarled at them impatiently, his annoyance peaking when the pair dropped instantly into defensive stances at his reappearance, "I'm fucking fine, you idiots! What the hell has gotten into you?!"

The surprise was easy to read on their faces as they studied him, still cautious and looking uncertain enough to deepen his impatient frown. He sounded like himself, a bit rougher perhaps, but he looked... He looked like he was halfway to transforming into his youkai form. It was only the lucidity in his narrowed gaze and the death-grip he had on the Tetsusaiga in its sheath at his hip that assured them he wasn't on the verge of snapping on them.

Sango set her jaw, glancing at Miroku briefly before she spoke, "Inuyasha?"

Miroku warily relaxed his stance when the hanyou growled in disgust, his frown changing to a harsh glare before he turned his gaze north. He could only think of one thing that could bring out this near-change in the hanyou and his throat closed even as he questioned, "What has happened to Kagome-sama, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha's growl turned primal and deadly even as he clenched his fist around the shards of glass and jewel in his hand. The sharp edges bit into his palm, sending a pulse of alluring energy tingling through his blood even as he answered, "Naraku has her."


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Friday, January 7, 2005

   InuYasha 39
Kagome stopped struggling abruptly, shocked more than subdued at the quiet hiss in her ear. After a brief pause, the hand over her mouth inched away slowly, leaving her free to growl out angrily, "Why should I believe you?"

There was a bitter laugh behind her, even as the unseen bonds loosened and her attacker backed away, "Because, like it or not, miko, we have something in common now."

Kagome's brows drew together in suspicious confusion as she turned, her eyes glowing bright blue in her agitation, "K-Kagura?!"

The wind youkai gave her a smile filled with self-disgust, "Ironic, isn't it?"

Kagome took a step back, coming up against the damp rocks of the spring as she cursed herself for being caught defenseless, "What the hell could you and I possibly have in common?"

Kagura took a step towards her, her eyes grim and serious as she grabbed Kagome's wrist, "Naraku has been watching you, you know. He knows you've been bound to the damn hanyou and you don't know who. He-"

Kagome brought her elbow up against the woman's face, slamming her to the ground even as she leapt back and slid into a crouch. Her hands flexed as she hissed out, "Don't fucking touch me, you bitch!"

Kagura rose to her feet carefully, her eyes wide with surprise as she lifted her hand to touch the blood seeping from her nose. After a moment, her expression filled with grudging respect and more than a little awe, "So... it is true... You have changed..."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kagome's eyes narrowed even as she shot a nervous glance towards camp, wondering why Inuyasha hadn't come for her yet.

"You know exactly what I mean," she gave the younger girl a smirk, reaching into her kimono to pull out her fans. "Think about it, miko. Naraku knows more about binding spells that any other youkai could hope to learn in a dozen lifetimes. It's the only reason I am forced to stay with him," her lips thinned as she said the last, her hatred easily flowing into her voice.

Kagome turned her full attention to the woman, blinking in surprise as she processed what she'd just admitted. Her brow furrowed in cautious curiosity, "Binding spells... You're bound like that? Bound to Naraku?"

"Much like you're now bound to Inuyasha," Kagura set her jaw and nodded grimly. "Naraku formed us from himself, after all. He holds my heart to keep me and... and I do not wish to die. I'm a coward..."

Kagome felt an unwanted curl of sympathy for the youkai, self-consciously reaching down to cover the tattoo when it gave a sharp twinge and started to pound, "Why me? Why are you telling me all this, Kagura?"

Kagura looked up at her, her eyes full of pride, but at the same time a sort of pleading desperation, "You can help me, miko."

Kagome's brows rose sharply, "Help... you? What makes you think I would do that? After everything you've done, what the hell do you think would convince me to trust you enough to help?"

Kagura smiled, her eyes gleaming at the weakening she sensed in the young woman, "Because I can help you too."

**

"So you'll still come to me after all."

Inuyasha spun around in alarm, his face full of surprise and disbelief, "Ki-Kikyou? What are you doing here?"

Kikyou walked slowly from the shade of the trees, her bow held loosely in one hand and her eyes dark with accusation, "I wanted to hear it from you personally."

"Hear what?" he frowned, his ears flattening as he took a cautious step back. His heart gave a strange lurch, turning his attention back in the direction of camp, 'Was that mine or Kagome's?'

"You debased yourself with that imitation," her hand clenched, brows lowering in pained anger at his inattention. It hadn't been so long ago that when he was with, nothing would turn his thoughts, "You let that girl seduce you."

Inuyasha's head snapped around, "What did you say?!"

"How could you?" she whispered, notching an arrow as her expression twisted in rage.

"Shit!" Inuyasha leapt to the side to dodge the unexpected attack. "Kikyou, stop!"

"You should have helped me kill her before, Inuyasha," she shook her head and readied her next arrow. "You should have kept your promise and come to hell with me."

"Things have changed," his eyes filled with regretful pain as he took another step away from her. "I...I can't keep that promise. I'm sorry, Kikyou..."

"I will not let you go, Inuyasha," Kikyou took aim again.

**

"Why would I need your help?" Kagome frowned in confusion, her growing curiosity pushing away even more of her tension as she regarded Kagura.

Kagura sat on the edge of the spring beside Kagome as though she had all the time in the world, "Naraku knows how to break binding spells, but he won't tell me for... obvious reasons. But he 'will' tell you."

"Just how fucking stupid do you think I am?" Kagome snorted, folding one arm beneath her breasts as her other hand lifted to close around the vial of shards at her throat. "Naraku suddenly wants to help me figure out the spell connecting me to Inuyasha? Out of the kindness of his heart? Try another one."

Kagura wrinkled her nose in annoyance, absently flicking her wrists to toy with her fans, "I'll be the first to agree that Naraku cannot be trusted, miko, but he despises things happening without his knowledge. He is... intrigued by your situation, and in my opinion, he has become more than a little obsessed with you."

Kagome took an uneasy step back, her lip curling in disgust, "Obsessed with me? He... wanted Kikyou... didn't he?"

The other woman's brows rose mockingly and she nodded, "In the beginning. But over time, with the older and stronger you've become, the more he's been drawn to you instead of her. You're the one he watches in his mirrors now, miko."

"Am I supposed to be flattered?" a shudder went through her at the thought of Naraku watching her. 'Why am I even listening to her? Where is Inuyasha?' her gaze strayed to the path again.

"If I were you, I'd be cautious," Kagura shrugged, watching her closely as her aura fluctuated between the normal human feel and that strange youkai aura that had enveloped her ever since she had thought she was in danger. "However, Naraku IS powerful, and he is very knowledgeable with problems like yours. Unless you want to be tied to that hanyou for eternity, you will come with me now."

"Wait, eternity?" Kagome's eyes widened, her body stiffening as she turned to face the woman. "You mean this will happen even when I'm reincarnated?" she demanded, trying to ignore the way her heart started to pound. 'It...it can't be...' she bit her lip, the conversation with the voice echoing in her head.

"Reincarnated?" Kagura's expression filled with genuine surprise. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know...what?" she urged, afraid of the answer, but needing to hear it all the same.

Kagura gestured with a fan at Kagome's altered appearance, her expression saying quite clearly she thought the answer was obvious, "Miko, you feel like a youkai, not a human. You seem to switch between the two...like now... If you're still a mortal after what has happened to you, I'd be amazed."

Kagome gaped at her, her hand lifting to her mouth as she took a step back before she dropped heavily to her knees. It was impossible, wasn't it? Her throat went dry, hands fisting hard in denial as she shook her head against the possibility. This was Kagura, after all, she'd lie in a heartbeat to suit her purposes.

Kagura tilted her head down to meet the girl's gaze, her own uncharacteristically sympathetic, "You really didn't know."

"You're lying," Kagome whispered, her eyes sparking as the growl rose threateningly from her throat.

"I could be, except I don't have a reason to lie about that," she shrugged, completely unconcerned with the accusation. "I could prove it, but not here. It would draw too much attention and that would make it impossible for us to speak."

Kagome nodded dumbly, feeling the prick of tears behind her eyes as she turned her face again towards their camp, 'Where IS Inuyasha?!'

"He won't come," Kagura answered the naked question on the miko's face.

When Kagome's head snapped around, her eyes narrowed and glowing dangerously, Kagura quickly held up her hands to convey her innocence, "I did nothing. I have simply been waiting for a time I could approach you uninterrupted. The undead miko is near and he went to her."

Kagura hadn't thought it possible, but the air around the miko instantly turned frigid, the youkai aura rising and completely obliterating any trace of human blood. Kagura leaned away from the girl nervously, shivering at the chill, and astounded at how quickly the transformation occurred. Kagome's face was perfectly expressionless, her pupils fading as she rose to her feet, but the air around her had grown nearly oppressive with menace and Kagura had to swallow several times before she could speak again.

"At least with Naraku, you are aware of the dangers up front," Kagura murmured, reaching out to close her hand on the girl's shoulder. Her eyes widened at the power vibrating off the girl, and she quickly released her in fear of being purified, "He... he can set you free of the hanyou and if you promise to help me free myself, I swear to you that I will keep you alive. I'll even help you leave the jewel shards you have with the safety of your companions to prove I have no ulterior motives."

Kagome still said nothing, lifting her head as searched the air for Inuyasha's scent.

Kagura held out her hand again, making certain to put herself in the miko's line of sight, "This is the only chance you will have to make this decision. Naraku is not often in a mood to be generous like this, and if you don't come now, he may change his mind."

Kagome's hand snaked out and caught the wind youkai's wrist in a nearly crushing grip. She yanked the startled woman forwards and growled in a low, deadly voice, "Show me Inuyasha."

**

"Don't do this, Kikyou," Inuyasha pushed himself to his feet, his expression grim as she reached for yet another arrow.

"You've betrayed me for the last time, Inuyasha," she hissed out, enraged at his reactions. "You've broken your promises to me."

Before she could take aim again, Inuyasha leapt forward, backhanding the bow out of her hands and deep into the woods to their left. He grabbed her forearms in an unyielding grip and pinned her arms to her side as he growled, "Dammit, Kikyou, stop! I warned you... I warned you before not to force me to choose like this!"

"You made those promises to me long before that child came along!" she struggled once against his hold, then stood still, her body taut and trembling with suppressed emotions.

"And we both died," his ears flattened back, his hands tightening on her arms as he struggled with his own conflicting emotions. "Kagome brought me back, but you...you weren't meant to be brought back like this. It wasn't meant to be between us. I...I have a life with her now."

"Did you take your promises to me so lightly then?" Kikyou turned her gaze up to him, the rage melting into sorrow. "Did I mean so little to you, Inuyasha, that you would turn so quickly to a copy?"

Inuyasha growled low in his throat, giving her a shake, "Kagome is not a copy, Kikyou. You tried to kill her and I can't forgive you for that. I promised to protect you and to kill Naraku, and I will... But you... you have to leave. I won't die and leave Kagome now, and I won't let anyone take her from me. Not even you."

"Then I mean nothing to you now?" Kikyou's voice was quiet and flat as he released her and took a step back. "All it took was this to make you forget what we were to each other?"

"I'm responsible for what happened, and I will punish Naraku for what he has done," he repeated, his hands curling into tight fists at his sides.

"You make no mention of what we shared," Kikyou took a step towards him, her hand lifting to his cheek. "Can you truly forget so easily, Inuyasha? You were going to become human for me..."

A small, warm smile touched his solemn features at that, "I don't have to be human for anyone anymore."

Kikyou's brows drew together quickly in annoyance and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek to his chest, "I should be the one you love, not her."

"I'm sorry," Inuyasha closed his eyes, standing stiff and unresponsive in the embrace. "I... I can't."

Kikyou turned her gaze to the side momentarily, then leaned up until she had her cheek pressed to his as she whispered, "And I warned you, Inuyasha... I will not share you."

She turned her head and pressed her lips to his.

**

Kagome hopped silently off the feather Kagura had "summoned" to answer her demand to see Inuyasha, pausing when her foot came in contact with something unnatural to the forest floor. She frowned, looking down to find the instantly identifiable weapon.

Kikyou's bow.

Kagura watched the miko bend down and lift the bow, narrowing her eyes warily even as she guided the wind to hide their presence from the sensitive hanyou. She'd never been around a creature under a spell such as the one afflicting this young miko, and the auras she threw off at any given time were wildly unpredictable, power without real control. It was those violent fluctuations that were putting the wind youkai on edge.

She shook off the musings when Kagome sent her a look that seemed to demand direction, the undead miko's bow held horizontally at waist level as though she was restraining herself from snapping it in half right there. Kagura pointed forward and moved to follow close behind when Kagome made her way to the tree line.

Kagura's brows rose sharply when they found a break in the dense foliage and she had to fight to restrain herself from laughing out loud when Kagome went perfectly still.

The undead miko and the hanyou were kissing.

'It's like he's fucking handing her to me on a plate,' Kagura's lips twitched at his idiocy even as she breathed a sigh of relief.

The amusement was short lived when the wind youkai was flung backwards as the energy that had already been roiling violently around Kagome arched madly. She steadied herself with difficulty, lifting her hand to her heart when she felt something pulling at her own energy, dragging her down. Concerned and tense, she leaned around to get a look at the young miko's face.

Kagome's face was deathly pale, her pupils faded into nonexistence as her eyes glowed with masked emotions. Her expression, however, was disturbing in the perfect blankness. A pocket of wind around the girl shifted, startling Kagura as it turned into a small vortex moving opposite of her own directions as the girl's eyes turned glassy... liquid.

Just one more push.

Kagura took a deep breath and leaned close to whisper to the girl holding her control by a thread, "Do you really want to be bound to a man like that forever, miko? Do you want to be a substitute for something he can never have? Is it even your face he's seeing when he looks at you?"

Kagome said nothing, but Kagura could tell from the way her knuckles turned white on the bow that she was listening and she pressed harder, "You have your choice. If you stay, he will use you and leave you at the first chance to be with his precious corpse. Or help me... Help me now and I will help you free yourself from him and spare you a youkai's lifetime of this."

A single tear made it's way down her cheek at the same instant her white-knuckled grip on the bow tightened enough to snap the wood in half. Kagome didn't even flinch when the string ripped apart, lancing back and slicing deep cuts in her face from her cheek down to her jaw on either side.

"Take me to Naraku."


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Thursday, January 6, 2005

   InuYasha 38
'Just what the hell did you think you were doing? I said stay close to the hanyou, dammit, I didn't say fuck him!'

'I knew I shouldn't have taken a nap,' Kagome growled, her hackles rising in immediate defense as she searched the echoing darkness for the direction of the voice. 'It's none of your fucking business that I slept with Inuyasha! Do you have to invade my personal life along with everything else? Can't I have even that be private, hn? YOU cast a spell to connect us, dammit, and now we ARE! Why do you care that we had sex when all this time you've been pushing us together?'

'Do you have any conception of what you've done to yourself? To your blood? Or are you seriously trying to permanently alter your soul?' one of the disembodied hands she had felt on her other trips to the dreamscape snaked out and caught her wrist to drag her forward. 'The hanyou isn't even aware of how deeply he's bound the two of you together! He isn't conscious of the changes he's causing in you because it's all being down by his blood inside you and his soul wrapped with yours. And after that mess with the undead miko, your soul isn't even fighting it, it's fucking helping him do it!'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Kagome wrenched her hand free of the painful grip and demanded, folding her arms over her chest.

'Every time the hanyou takes you, his soul wraps itself even more tightly around yours, and that's making it much more difficult for us to study the original distortion of your own magic with the spell. His soul is attacking any foreign presence that comes near you and it's ruining our efforts!'

Kagome snorted in disgust, 'So that's what's pissing you off. Inuyasha's keeping you from traipsing around in my head whenever you damn well please.'

'Miko, this is serious. As a human, your blood should not be protecting the youkai blood he left inside you after the new moon, but it is. It should not have absorbed into you at all. Instead of purifying the blood as it should have, your miko blood moved it into your heart to keep it safe. When you mated, his blood filtered yours through his and then dispersed throughout your body on its own.'

'So? If it was already there, what difference does it make if it was in my heart, or if my blood filtered through his, or even if it's all mixed in?' her expression tightened in a stubborn effort to hide her concern at what the voice was saying, but she was unable to keep it completely out of her voice.

'You are weaving the youkai blood with your miko powers, and that damn hanyou's soul and blood are more than willing to help you do it! For every step you take, his instincts take two and the combined distortion you created when you mated with him made it impossible for anything to distinguish where your blood separates. By doing it over and over, all you did was solidify that binding!'

'What...what does that mean?' she asked quietly, her hand clenching into white-knuckled fists as she waited for the answer.

'It means, little miko, that we will never be able to extract that youkai blood from you,' the hand covered her hip, palming the mark and making it heat. 'You have sealed yourself, with the help of your hanyou, more completely to him that we ever could. He fights to keep you bound to him, and you do not fight against it. You don't want to be released. If we tried it now, we could kill you in the attempt.'

'What do you mean you can't extract it?!' Kagome's voice was barely audible, her face rapidly paling as her eyes went wide. 'What does that mean? I'm not a hanyou and that means I'm still human, aren't I?'

'In a way.'

A wave of nausea went through Kagome so strongly it buckled her knees and she dropped heavily to the ground. Reeling from the hesitant words, she swallowed convulsively and gasped, 'Wha-what the fuck does that mean?!'

'Have you looked at your reflection lately, miko? Some of the changes you and the hanyou are making to you are subtle, but you are drawing off the youkai blood selectively... It's not something we've ever seen done before.'

'Like?'

'You eyes have grown pale.'

'My...eyes?' she repeated in disbelief.

'You've noticed that your muscles are reshaping themselves? Your clothing no longer fits the way it used to? Your levels of strength and endurance are now dependant on the hanyou's condition or the amount of energy you are capable of drawing in from your surroundings. You should try to cut yourself, it will be difficult to do and it will heal quickly so long as the hanyou is well.'

Kagome's mouth slowly fell open, her hands lifting to cover her ears in denial of what she was hearing, but the voice still penetrated.

'You haven't even noticed the sensitivity of your senses, have you, Kagome?'

Kagome bit down on her lip hard, tears springing to her eyes as she choked out, 'What am I?'

The voice was quiet, but when it came again, it had lost the slightly mocking edge to become soft and almost apologetic, 'We don't know. You still smell human and feel human to anything with the skills to test you, but you are not one of them any longer. Don't think you're alone in this, however, the hanyou has changed slightly as well. He just does not sense it because it has not decreased any of his abilities.'

Kagome blinked, lifting her head as she frowned, 'I don't understand. If I still feel human, how can you say I'm not?'

'It's almost as if despite how deeply intertwined the blood has become, the youkai blood is content to lie dormant. However, if you are attacked or threatened, it pushes your human blood aside and takes dominance, but feeds off your miko powers to make itself stronger. Your skills have made all this very complicated.'

'How does it push it aside?' she shook her head, nervously reached down to touch her throbbing hip.

'Youkai blood is stronger than human blood. Your blood retreats without fighting and lets it run wild inside you. When you fight, you feel like a youkai and you pull your instincts from the hanyou.'

'Why didn't you tell me this would happen before? Didn't you think I might not have done this if I knew?' Kagome demanded, slamming her fist into the ground beside her.

'For one thing, we had no idea you were so close to mating with him. We also had no idea the consequences of that action would be this severe until it had been done. Nothing can change this.'

'Have you made it your sole fucking purpose in your life to completely ruin mine?' her eyes narrowed sharply in anger. 'The only time you tell me anything is when it's too damn late to change it and all you do is rant that I should have known better?! What else aren't you telling me that could change my life for good?'

'Calm down, Kagome, you are still no good to anyone when you become angry. In a way, you are worse than even Inuyasha because you have not learned control. We are close to finding the answers, but please do as I say from now on.'

'What do I have to do?' her lip curled in disgust at the commanding tone.

'You still must stay close to the hanyou, however, try to keep the mating down to a minimum, hn? Make him help you with learning how to control it. Do not fight until you have learned, you throw the path to your mind wide open when you fight.'

'Is that all?' she drew her knees up to her chest, looking straight ahead even when she sensed the voice come closer.

'Don't tell the hanyou about any of this yet. It's hard enough with him unaware of our efforts, if he started to actively fight our attempts we might never figure out how to close the vulnerability.'

'I've changed my mind.'

'In what way?'

Her lips curved in a humorless smile, 'Before I said I'd give you a black-eye. Now I think I'll just kill you.'

**

Inuyasha stroked his hand over Kagome's hair as she slept, frowning at the agitation in her scent, 'A nightmare, maybe?'

"Shippo-chan, aren't you going to eat?" Sango looked at the little kitsune draped over Inuyasha's thigh in concern.

Miroku calmly offered, "He stayed up eating what was left of Kagome-sama's candy. He thought she would take it back when she found he had broken his end of the deal."

Inuyasha chuckled softly, ruffling the kit's hair with his free hand before reaching for the ramen Sango offered, "Made yourself sick, didn't you, brat?"

Shippo gave him a glare before rolling over onto his stomach and groaning, "I'm dying, leave me alone."

Inuyasha was about to respond when Kagome shot up with a sharply indrawn breath, her hand pressed hard over her heart. Concerned, he reached out and caught her face, frowning when he saw how pale it had become, "Kagome? What's wrong?"

Kagome blinked rapidly, her chest rising and falling in nearly a pant as her gaze darted around the grove in obvious disorientation. When she felt a light squeeze on her chin again, she turned and focused on Inuyasha's face, shaking her head briefly to dispel the last of her latest "visit" to the voice.

"What is it?" Inuyasha's brows drew low, shifting his weight to put himself directly in front of her.

"A... a dream..." she closed her eyes, lifting her hand to her forehead and forcing herself to take a deep breath. "It was... just a dream. I'm all right now."

Shippo dragged himself from Inuyasha to Kagome's side, tentatively patting her leg to get her attention, "Do you hate me?"

Kagome tilted her head to one side, reaching out to pat the kit's head, "No. I'm still annoyed with you, but I don't hate you."

Shippo gave her the best smile he could manage with his stomach hurting so badly and crawled his way into her lap to whine miserably, "Kagome, I'm dying!"

Her brows furrowed in confusion and she looked up at Inuyasha inquiringly. He snorted and reached out thunk the kitsune lightly on the head, "Idiot ate all the candy you gave him after he told me 'the secret.'"

Kagome smacked him in the shoulder and glared at him, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Threatening Shippo-chan like that."

Inuyasha shrugged, unconcerned and sat back to retrieve his lunch, "It worked out to my advantage."

Miroku winced, sliding a little farther away from the hanyou in preparation for what that was going to bring down on his head. Sango pretended to be very engrossed in her own bowl, but her eyes moved from Inuyasha's unsuspecting smile, to the dangerously bland look now gracing her friend's face.

Kagome set Shippo aside with a final pat on his head and rose to her feet, casting her eyes about for something that would adequately portray her annoyance at that little comment. One brow arched high in speculation when her gaze found the Hiraikotsu behind her with Sango's belongings and she turned a quick glance to the exterminator. At the slight nod of permission, she leaned down and caught the handle the way she'd seen the older girl do, surprised at how easy it was to lift even as she turned and brought it down over Inuyasha's head.

Standing back amidst the all out laughter from her other companions, she set her fist on her hip and smiled as sweetly as she could manage into the hanyou's dazed face, "How's this working out?"

"Bitch, what'd you do that for?" he sat up, grimacing as he rubbed his aching head.

Kagome set the boomerang back where she'd found it and turned back towards the now familiar path to the hot spring, "Wait here, Inuyasha, I'm just going to wash my face and come back."

"But-" he started to get to his feet, but paused when she gave him that same bland look. "Keh, five minutes," Inuyasha snorted and turned his back on her.

"Ten," she folded her arms over her chest stubbornly. "I mean it, give me a second alone for once."

He gave her a dry look over his shoulder, "Things are just a little bit different now, Kagome."

Kagome spun on her heel quickly to hide the blush that brought to her face, clearing her throat and hurrying out of sight, "Five it is then."

Inuyasha smirked and leaned back, giving the highly amused humans a smug nod, "See? Kagome does know she has to listen to her mate."

Sango rolled her eyes and glanced in the direction of the path, shivering slightly when the wind changed direction and drew a cloud across the sun, "I'd love to hear you say that to her face, Inuyasha."

Miroku snorted, shaking his head, "I believe even Inuyasha has more self-preservation instincts than that."

Inuyasha glared at them, but his attention had been caught by the wind-shift and he turned his head to focus on the elusive scent. It was almost as if there was something waiting just out of range that had been caught unexpectedly, but was still trying to avoid detection.

Inuyasha rose to his feet, his eyes trained out into the woods, "Wait here, I'll be back in just a second."

"You can't go far," Sango reminded, glancing in the direction Kagome had gone. "Not unless you want-"

"I know how close I have to stay to her," he assured the girl absently. "I won't put her out of range, but I have to check on something."

Miroku frowned, coming to his feet as the hanyou vanished, "This cannot be good."

**

"Five fucking minutes," Kagome muttered to herself, splashing water on her face and raking her hands through her hair in an effort to dispel the grim sense the voice had given her. "Goddamn overbearing, arrogant, thick-headed-hrm?!"

Kagome was cut off abruptly when a hand covered her mouth, bindings appearing seemingly from nowhere and pinning her arms at her sides. Panicked, she snapped her head back, catching her assailant off-guard enough that the hold loosened. She'd just drawn in a breath to scream when the hand returned, this time with the attacker's other arm around her throat to cut off her air.

Kagome's eyes narrowed, her heart pounding as she felt what the voice had been talking about. A strange rush that left her light-headed, setting her body tingling as her blood heated in preparation to attack. Identifying the sensation only made it that much easier to get angry, and the presence behind her went still at the sudden menacing vibration that filled the air around them.

"Dammit, miko, be calm or we'll both get killed! I only want to talk to you!"


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Wednesday, January 5, 2005

   ...................

Vampire Profile
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Zodiac Sign	AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces
Element	waterearthwindfireicedarkness
Years as a vampire	30000
Special power	telekenesis
You Hate	mortals
Vampire Quote	"Mortals...such a waste of my time..."
Scariness factor - 100%
Will people make a movie after you	(8) - It is certain. - (8)
This cool quiz by xxSilentSirenxx - Taken many Times.

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   InuYasha 37
Kagome's eyes opened slowly, disoriented and sore in places she had never known existed. Her brow furrowed as she stretched her arms up over her head, her mouth opening in a jaw cracking yawn when a muscled arm tightened around her waist and pulled her tightly up against a solid chest.

Memories came flooding back in a rush, bringing an immediate blush to her cheeks as Inuyasha sighed in his sleep and nuzzled his face against her neck. Unable to help herself, she reached up to stroke the ear closest to her hand, smiling when she felt his chest vibrate with a low growl against her back.

A shiver went through her when a light breeze swept through the clearing, making her curl tighter against Inuyasha's warmth instinctively. Her eyes swept around for something to cover herself with, but the only clothing anywhere near was Inuyasha's kimono in a pile off to the side. That brought renewed color to her face as she recalled Inuyasha pulling her from the hot spring and leaving her clothes behind as he carried her some place private.

Taking in a deep breath, Kagome reached down and ever so slowly edged Inuyasha's arm away from her and slid out of his embrace. She held her breath warily as she laid his arm back down, watching his face for any sign of waking. The hanyou grunted in his sleep, his brows furrowing as he reached out for his lost warmth, but after a moment he simply sighed and rolled onto his back, the arm flung up over his eyes.

Kagome reached behind her for his haori, sliding her arms through the over-sized garment and tying it tightly at her waist as she smiled tenderly at the peacefully sleeping Inuyasha. 'He really is beautiful,' her hand lifted to his cheek and she couldn't prevent the soft giggle that escaped her when he turned his face into her touch. As she lowered her hand, however, her palm grazed his lips and an unexpected jolt of desire snaked through the pit of her stomach, urging her to lean down and savor the feel of those lips against hers again.

'Mou, he's going to turn me into some weird sex fiend,' Kagome sat back with a grimace of self-disgust, fisting her hands against her thighs just resist her new-found need to touch him. The action didn't prevent her eyes from leisurely admiring the naked form laid out before her though.

The moment she realized her gaze was lingering just a bit too long in one particular area and increasing her heartbeat in response, she made a frustrated noise in her throat and pushed herself unsteadily to her feet.

The insides of her thighs felt like she'd been on her bike for days and her skin itched from the film of dried sweat she'd earned with Inuyasha's insatiable attentions. Who would have thought he'd prove to be so proficient? Or to have that kind of stamina? Maybe he had-

'No,' Kagome shook of the thought as quickly as it crossed her mind, tamping down the wave of shy insecurity, 'he would have told me, wouldn't he?'

Now thoroughly annoyed with herself, she turned and absently lifted her head, looking left and right curiously. If she could just find the spring again, she could wash off and get her clothes back. Hell, she could even make her way back to camp from there. Inuyasha couldn't have taken them that far, he hadn't run long enough...

Her thoughts were too chaotic to notice she was trying to discern the water's location by sniffing the air.

Even worse, that she was succeeding.

Kagome had only taken one step back towards camp when she paused, chewing on her lip nervously and glancing back at Inuyasha. She just couldn't leave him naked in the middle of the woods like this. Her eyes dropped to the hakama still in an untidy heap on the ground and she grinned, scooping up the article and draping it gently across his lap.

'Good enough,' she nodded and hurried off for the spring before she could change her mind.

Unfortunately, upon arrival, Kagome discovered that at some point during the night, someone had been to the hot springs as evidenced by her missing bathing supplies and clothing. She sighed regretfully, glancing from the water to the path as she debated on whether to retrieve the articles or try to bathe as best as she could without them. Finally, she cursed beneath her breath and folded the lower half of the haori up around her waist to step into the steaming water, determined to at least rinse her lower half before she was confronted by her friends.

After the night's absence and the missing clothes they had to have at the very least guessed what had occurred. Her eyes closed as she awkwardly held the cloth out of the water with one hand, rubbing her other over the aching muscles in her legs and starting the mental replay all over again.

Those memories flooding through her in the spring, however, conjured up the reminder of how..."it" had all started. Inuyasha raking his claws across her stomach and watching her, waiting for her reaction, his eyes suspicious and hopeful all at the same time. The way those eyes had filled first with disbelief and then with arrogant satisfaction...

Kagome went still, her eyes opening slowly and then narrowing, "Shippo."

**

Shippo rolled over on his stomach and groaned miserably, swearing off candy for the rest of his natural life if only the sick feeling would go away. He had been too afraid to fall asleep last night, thinking that any second now, either Inuyasha would come barreling through the trees to beat the shit out of him, or Kagome would. He didn’t know which thought scared him more, and he'd been having visions all night and all morning about just such a thing happening.

He blinked rapidly, staring up at the current hallucination.

He hadn't even gotten her right this time, he thought in sleepy annoyance. This imaginary Kagome was wrapped in Inuyasha's haori, the bottom edge and ends of the long sleeve slightly damp and her legs completely bare. Her hair was wild, cheeks flushed, and her normally dark eyes were a frighteningly intense ice-blue as they speared into him from the path to the hot spring. This Kagome was completely different from all his other imagined Kagomes.

And that really should have tipped him off.

As it was, he barely shot out of the way when she lunged across the campsite to make a grab for him, only natural reflexes preventing his capture. Wide awake now and gaping as Kagome spun around to follow him, he shrieked and immediately began running around the banked fire pit in circles. Wailing at the top of his lungs for Inuyasha, he prayed the hanyou would be close enough to help him out of this one and better yet, that he actually "would" help him out of it.

"You TOLD him!!" Kagome was hissing at him as she slid to a stop and barely missed the kit on the return trip. "I can't believe you fucking told him! After all that shit you talked me into doing so you wouldn’t!"

Shippo leapt up into a high branch and waved his hands madly as he looked down at her, "I had to! He was gonna kill me!"

"I'M going to kill you!" she slammed the side of her fist against the trunk as hard as she could, distantly aware that she should have at least broken her hand and the tree shouldn't have shuddered enough to knock the kitsune from his perch. "Get back here, Shippo-chan, I'm not finished with you!"

Shippo shot between her legs, scrambling over the rousing monk and exterminator in his haste to flee, sucking in a breath to scream for Inuyasha again when Kagome dove at him and succeeded in catching hold of his tail to pin him to the ground.

With all Shippo's wailing, Miroku had expected to see a murderous hanyou when he opened his eyes. Fully prepared to smack his staff across the heads of the disruptive youkai and lecture him about taking his frustrations with Kagome out on the kitsune. As it was, it took a long, frozen moment for the monk to process the scene, and the shock that crossed his face bordered on comical when he realized he was actually looking at Kagome attacking the kit while wearing nothing but Inuyasha's top. A quick glance assured him that Sango was in a similar state, verifying the sight was real and not some twisted delusion.

"You wait and see if you ever get candy again, you little brat!" Kagome scowled down at him, trying to keep a hold of the wiggling Shippo. But with her hands still wet and the sheer force of desperation in his motions, he managed to get free, “Dammit!”

Shippo's eyes were huge when he caught a familiar scent at the other end of the clearing and he reversed his flight instantly to launch his little body behind the more daunting presence of the adult, albeit half clothed and definitely surprised, Inuyasha, "WAAAH! Inuyasha, you have to save me!!"

Kagome paused momentarily when she looked up and met Inuyasha’s highly amused eyes, but it was the banked heat and the sudden pulse at her hip that really tied her stomach in knots. Inuyasha was looking at her as though he was barely a step away from throwing her over shoulder and carting her off for a repeat of last night, and there was a new level of possessiveness not just his face, but in his body language.

Well assured of his right to do so, Inuyasha’s gaze slid from her head, pausing briefly on her eyes before they moved down to her feet and back up again. Her heart was beating too loud in her ears when he looked back at her face and gave her a warm, arrogant smile.

Kagome set her jaw, if she didn’t try to ignore him now, by the time she finally got around to punishing Shippo she could be an old woman! Purposefully moving her eyes from his to the child clinging to the hanyou’s shoulder as though his life depended on it, she growled and renewed her attempts to grab at the kit.

Inuyasha sighed and caught her around the waist the moment she was in range, dragging her up against his chest, "You left me alone to do this?"

"Let go, Inuyasha, he was blackmailing me with… with that and even after I gave him all that candy, he still-!" Kagome's rant was abruptly and effectively silenced when Inuyasha dipped his head and caught her mouth in a lazy, confident kiss.

Shippo calmed slightly when he saw Kagome's taut limbs relax, hopping out of the way when her arms slid around the hanyou's neck. His tail still twitched in agitation as he looked from their bent heads over to the slow smiles creeping onto the faces of the other two humans.

Inuyasha lifted his head with obvious reluctance and tucked her more securely under his shoulder, "Leave Shippo alone, Kagome, he's just a little kid."

"Oi!" Shippo puffed up in indignation, but hid under the hanyou's hair with a squeak when Kagome glared at him again.

"But he-!" she started, pouting when Inuyasha set a clawed finger against her lips. "Fine," she spat, folding her arms over her chest and averting her face in an attempt to hide the shy embarrassment in her expression.

Inuyasha reached back to thump Shippo on the head, "Off."

Shippo balked, but a slight growl from the hanyou had him quickly obeying, his eyes glued to Kagome as he scampered across camp to hide behind Miroku and peek out at the pair, "You promised you would leave me alone if it worked!"

Inuyasha's arm tightened around Kagome to hold her still when she swore darkly and made a move to take off after the kitsune again. He turned his head and murmured softly enough for her ears alone, "You look beautiful this morning, Kagome."

Sango speculated on what the hanyou could have possibly said to take the angry glow out of Kagome's eyes so quickly and replace it with just that exact blend of delight and insecurity. Clearing her throat and fighting to keep a light blush off her own cheeks, she inquired, "Did you... ah, sleep well?"

Kagome squeaked in an almost perfect copy of Shippo, dropping her gaze immediately to the ground while Inuyasha wrapped his other arm around her and grinned so widely it was a miracle he didn't tear something. That response verified the change in their relationship just as clearly as if Inuyasha had spelled it out in detail.

"We didn't get much-" Inuyasha began smugly only to have Kagome elbow him sharply in the stomach and cut him off.

"We slept fine!" she gritted out, her voice much higher and softer than usual.

Inuyasha chuckled, his eyes dancing as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, startling his other human companions with such a warm, open display, "Aa, we slept fine, koibito."

Miroku's brows rose in surprise at the endearment and his lips twitched in amusement, "Kagome-sama, you seem tense... Are you feeling all right? Perhaps you're ill-"

"Shut up, Miroku-sama," Kagome growled at him, her eyes still focused on her feet as she felt Inuyasha’s chest shake with quiet laughter.

“She’ll be fine after a bath,” Inuyasha assured them, his eyes glinting with inner fire and promise when she turned her startled gaze up to them. “But I’m not sure we should do much traveling today after that mess with Kouga. We’ll wait for Kagome to recover first.”

Sango covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes jumped between the two. That was the first and only time to date that she had ever heard the hanyou speak about the wolf youkai so casually, but with the way his arm was stroking up and down on Kagome’s arm, she guessed he finally realized he had no competition for her affection.

“We’ll take care of breakfast then,” the exterminator quickly dug out her bath bag and handed it to the waiting hanyou before she waved Kagome away with as flick of her wrist and a bright smile. “I’m sure Inuyasha can smell when it’s ready.”

Miroku nodded, just barely managing to hold his stoic expression, “Don’t worry, Kagome-sama, I’m sure with Inuyasha’s help you’ll…ah, recover quickly.”

Inuyasha was grinning again as he bent and lifted Kagome up against his chest before bounding off up the path to make the spring in record time and prevent the girl from doing the monk serious injury.

His feet had barely touched the ground when he had her turned, his mouth devouring hers as his hands went carelessly to the ties of the haori, “I was worried… You should have… woken me before… you left.”

Kagome ducked away from his mouth, a smile playing at the corner of her lips as she gave him a suspicious look, “If I had, would you have let me go?”

Inuyasha slid his clothing off her shoulders, a growling purr in his chest as his eyes swept over her form in blatant appreciation, “Not a fucking chance.”

“See? I knew better,” she blushed fiercely when she felt his hands starting to roam. “I thought you said I needed a bath.”

He wrapped his arms around her and fitted her against him, stroking his hand through her hair, “I lied. You smell like me… I like it.”

Kagome shivered, her eyes sliding closed as she wrapped her own arms around his waist and rested her ear over his heart. ‘I really should be more embarrassed about this,’ she frowned in slight confusion, rubbing her cheek over the warm muscles of his chest.

Inuyasha set his hands on her waist and effortlessly lifted her into the spring, rubbing her cheek when she looked at him in surprise, “You’re sore.”

“How did you-?!” her face flamed at his casual explanation.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead even as he stepped out of his clothing and joined her in the soothing water, “You’re in my head, remember?” He tapped two fingers against her heart, “I can sense what you’re feeling, probably because of that damn spell, and right now, you’re tender.”

“It’s not that bad,” Kagome mumbled quietly, sinking down into the water with a sigh. “I…I thought it would be… I mean it was my… I hadn’t…”

Inuyasha laughed softly, reaching out to drag her into his lap and hold her close, “Because that was your first time?”

Kagome was frowning as his arms slipped beneath hers and folded across her torso beneath her breasts, “How-?”

His ears twitched at the soft question that had been squelched so quickly in her throat, “How what, koibito?”

Kagome hid her face against his shoulder, “How did you… know what to do… and… and do it so well?”

Inuyasha threw back his head and starting to laugh so loudly, Kagome jumped in alarm and immediately tried to quiet him as her eyes strayed to the path back to camp. Inuyasha shook his head and lifted her chin to kiss her again, sliding one hand down her hip to cover the pulsing tattoo as his tongue swept inside for a quick taste.

His chest was still shaking as he broke the contact, tucking her head under his chin, “I’m wild, Kagome, not stupid. Any ‘animal’ knows what to do, so what makes you think a youkai wouldn’t have the instincts too?”

“If you laugh at me one more time, I swear I’m going to hurt you, Inuyasha,” she muttered against his throat, lifting her hands to cover her eyes.

“I would never do such a thing,” he soothed, but she could feel the smile against her hair.

Annoyed, she smacked him in the chest and pushed him away from her, leaning over the rocks to search for where Inuyasha had dropped her bag. She was leaning over to grab it when she felt hands close over her hips and she jumped nearly a foot in surprise. Inuyasha calmly kept his grip, tugging her backwards so that she stood with her back pressed to his chest, well aware of just what was on the hanyou’s mind at the moment.

“Again?” she blinked at him in surprise.

“If you hadn’t been tired last night or tried sneaking off this morning, Kagome, I wouldn’t have stopped,” Inuyasha kept his palm over the tattoo while he used his other hand to rake his claws up her stomach to feel the muscles contract and her heart start to race. “I told you last night that I wanted more of you, and I have to make up for lost time. At least a year of wanting you and keeping it to myself,” he lowered his mouth to her temple as his hands pressed her more tightly against him.

“Are you actually going to let me bathe or was this a trick?” Kagome turned her head up to him, the corners of her mouth kicking up in a warm, mischievous smile as she lifted her hand to stroke his ear. So maybe he was turning her into a sex fiend, she thought with an internal sigh. There was just something so right about it that made it impossible for her to push it away.

It felt like she was finally somewhere she belonged.

“Later,” Inuyasha was growling as he dropped his mouth to her shoulder and nipped lightly, scattering her thoughts. Turning her face up even more, he met her glowing eyes with his own, well aware that she could see the warmth in his intense gaze mixed with the fierce protective, possessive feelings that were growing stronger ever day, “We have more important things to do than bathe.”


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Tuesday, January 4, 2005

   InuYasha 36 (do not read if you are easily offended)
Inuyasha stared after Sango's retreating figure thoughtfully, his ears flattening down and then flicking forward to follow the sounds of her footsteps. Had the exterminator really meant what he thought she had? It was almost like she'd just given him her permission to mate with Kagome. Hell, first Miroku had told him he should "talk" to Kagome about what they'd heard from Shippo... that is, he'd laughed his damn head off and THEN he'd suggested it, but not without giving him a warning much the same as Sango's. The monk had even promised to keep the kitsune occupied to prevent another disruption. Shippo was on temporary reprieve while Inuyasha tested out his new-found information, but if he was wrong....

He shook his head to dispel the turn his thoughts had taken and looked over his shoulder at where Kagome had resurfaced, his claws absently flexing in response. He swallowed thickly, glancing back in the direction of camp and scowling at the sounds he could hear from the others.

Definitely too close.

Inuyasha moved quickly and silently to stand behind Kagome, his eyes heating as they followed the progress of the water sluicing along the curve of her spine. Absently he lifted his hand, curling his fingers and looking from his claws to the delicate skin in front of him.

'It was when she was you,' Shippo's nervous muttering raced through his mind as he stared at Kagome's naked back. 'When you told her to cut the bandage, and she touched her stomach, her heartbeat went funny and she smelled different. Like how my mama would smell sometimes when Papa hugged her. It just got worse when you grabbed her and she started blushing. I know you saw that, but you were a human so you couldn't smell it. I think it was feeling the claws...'

Inuyasha snapped back to the present when Kagome spun around, her arms clamped around her bosom and mouth already open to scream. The recognition and relief flashed in her expressive eyes, killing the start of the panicked sound instantly and replacing it with annoyance, "Damn, Inuyasha, don't do that! You startled me."

Kagome frowned when he didn't respond, just kept staring at her with his hand in a lax fist in front of her. She sacrificed the modesty of one arm to reach out and lightly touch that hand, leaning forward "Inuyasha, are you okay?"

There was no way he'd know for certain unless he tried.

Inuyasha caught her wrist, his eyes locked onto her face as he pulled her forward, his other hand already lifting to press flat against her stomach. Before she had a chance to speak, he flexed his fingers to set his claws against her skin and drew them slowly from one side of her abdomen to the other, all his senses attuned to her reaction.

Kagome's eyes went huge at the sudden heat that shot through her the moment she felt the sharp claws moving over her stomach, sending a heavy pulse jolting from her center and out through her veins in a dizzying rush. Her pupils dilated as her muscles contracted sharply and her mouth fell open, but her breath seemed to get caught in her throat in a high-pitched gasp. Inuyasha's brows rose high enough to vanish beneath his bangs, blinking several times as he watched the dark blush sweep from her chest, up her throat, and over her cheeks under his intent stare.

"I'll be damned..." Inuyasha whispered, his expression changing from surprise to a slow, brilliant smile.

Kagome found herself instantly yanked from the spring and all but crushed to the hanyou's chest, his arms tucking her to him possessively as he shot forward into the trees. Her blush turned even darker and she grabbed at his haori to hiss out, "Inuyasha, my clothes-!!"

"You don't need them."

The bottom dropped out of Kagome's stomach, her entire body going perfectly still as her heart lurched and then started to pound heavily against her ribs. And judging from the way Inuyasha's arms tightened around her as he dropped from the trees into a small clearing, he'd noticed it too.

"Ah...Inuyasha?" Kagome tried to burrow against his chest to hide her face, clenching her jaw when she felt that ache she'd been fighting all day flare up even stronger than before.

Inuyasha very calmly crossed his feet, dropping down into a seated position and grinning brightly when she let out a yelp of surprise. He set a finger against her lips before she had a chance to yell at him, his gaze softening as he traced the outline with his claw, "Do you know... how afraid I've been to touch you? Afraid that you would think I'd accidentally hurt you?"

Kagome went still all over again, something in that growling whisper making her throat go dry even as her body tensed with anticipation. Although anticipating what, she wasn't completely sure of yet. What he was going to say? Or was it what he was about to do?

Inuyasha smirked when he inhaled deeply, focusing only on Kagome and the undeniable excitement filtering through her scent, "I always reminded myself that you were a human, and humans are afraid..."

"I don't un-"

"Shh," he pressed the finger to her lips again, his eyes glowing brightly as he waited for her nod of assent before he trailed it down the line of her throat to watch her shiver from the touch. "I'm speaking, koibito, you just get to listen this time."

Inuyasha arched one brow high in suspicion when just that had her scent changing again, the excitement getting even stronger. For all her complaints about him being overbearing, her body was giving her away and starting a rumbling growl deep in his chest.

From her throat, he splayed his fingers wide and dragged his claws down her chest, his eyes sparking heatedly when she arched against him with an involuntary cry, her nipples contracting into tight peaks. Unable to resist that temptation, he shifted the arm around her back up to close his hand over her breast, massaging the soft flesh while he lightly grazed the peak with the pad of his thumb. He kept his touch gentle still, but this time he was much firmer, more assured.

"I thought if you felt claws... I thought you would be disgusted by it, by me," Inuyasha barely recognized his own voice in the thick growl coming from his throat, but from the way Kagome shivered again, it wasn't something she minded.

He shifted his hold on her, turning her to drape her legs across his lap. He continued to knead her breast with one hand even as he moved his other hand to rake his claws up the inside of her thigh just to see her reaction again. She tried to clamp her legs closed even as she arched her back into his embrace even more, a soft keening noise rising in her throat and making his ears twitch forward to catch every last nuance of the sound.

"No," Inuyasha drawled out slowly, his lips kicking up in a slight smile made of pure arrogant satisfaction rather than amusement, "you're anything but disgusted. Aren't you, Kagome?"

She took a shuddering breath, one hand clamped over his thigh beside her hip and the other fisted in the fabric over his own stomach, "I-"

"Don't talk, Kagome, just listen," he leaned down, nipping her shoulder to stop her attempted response and running his tongue lazily over the same spot to soothe the bite. He smiled yet again as her fingers clenched hard against him, rubbing his cheek against hers and inhaling deeply.

Inuyasha moved the hand trapped by her thighs to cup the heated flesh between her legs, a choked mix of a growl and a groan wrenching from his throat when he felt the slick wetness against his fingertips. He slid his fingers slowly along the line of her sex, his eyes on her face as she caught her lower lip in her teeth and curled against him.

The coolness of the grass against her bare back had Kagome's eyes opening with a start and focusing on Inuyasha's glowing gaze beside and above her. He shifted into a kneeling position, his eyes holding hers while he untied his kimono, his smile growing when he saw her own eyes begin to glow.

Inuyasha let out a relieved sigh even as his own arousal heightened, dropping the haori carelessly to the ground behind him. He'd been hoping... and now he had his proof. He'd been having so much trouble reading Kagome's scent recently because he'd failed to consider the full effects of youkai blood in a human "host." His blood was still inside her, enough to cause the subtle, and not so subtle, alterations in her behavior. More importantly, his blood meant that he wouldn't hurt her if he let go.

Kagome had known all along he would be perfect, her eyes huge and liquid as they moved over his bare chest. She had seen him naked when he bathed her, felt him around her even before the spell, and she'd even been wrapped around "him" on more than one occasion. For years she'd been feeling the play of muscles under her touch, riding on his back over and over again. Each time she had pretended it was nothing, perfectly normal to be so close, but as she watched his hands work the ties for his hakama they flooded back with a vengeance.

Inuyasha never knew how it actually happened, but one minute he'd been sliding off the last of his robes, watching the emotions chasing across her face and making his heart pound when he felt her hand lightly brush his bare thigh; the next minute, he was on top of her, his hands buried deep in her hair as his mouth slanted over her with hungry passion, flesh to flesh after waiting for so long...

He'd never felt so hyper-sensitive in his life, her breasts flattened against his chest as he used his knee to nudge apart her thighs and lower himself to rub lightly against her trembling stomach. Growling into her mouth, he moved one hand out of her hair to slide his claws from her throat to her breast, rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Kagome's mouth opened under his in a gasp, arching up against him to instinctively rub herself against the heavy arousal pressing hard against her lower abdomen.

He hadn't thought it possible, but the moment Kagome moved against him, the desire throbbing through him flared even stronger. Inuyasha braced himself up on one forearm, the other still molding her breast to the shape of his hand as he focused on her face. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted you?" he panted, unaware that his eyes had bled to gleaming scarlet.

Kagome's own eyes had gone pale, ice blue as she looked up at him, her hand lifting to stroke his ear as she whispered hesitantly, "As long as I've wanted you?"

Inuyasha dipped his head, grazing his fangs along the line of her throat before sinking them shallowly into the flesh at her shoulder. Kagome's gasp was followed closely by her small hands clenching against his shoulder blades, her head turning to the side and bending as she responded by pressing her own mouth to his jaw.

Inuyasha slid lower on her body, his hands gliding down her sides even as he fastened his lips over her nipple, his tongue dancing over the heated peak and drawing more of those gasps and moans from her throat. Nearly purring, his hand moved down between their bodies, his fingers dipping into her sex to test her readiness before he arched his spine to bring himself against her.

Kagome's hands slid down to the small of his back, her own nails strengthing as she sank them into his flesh, "Inuyasha..."

"Let me take care of you, Kagome. Trust me," he responded to the question in her voice, his hands lifting to cup her face as he moved himself closer, the tip of his erection sliding easily into the slick opening. "Just... trust-" he let out a low, harsh groan at the feeling of Kagome's internal muscles clamping tightly around his erection, the instinct to bury himself in her nearly overriding his senses.

"Always..." she murmured quietly, her hand stroking gently through his hair.

His mouth caught hers again in a searing kiss as he rocked forward with one hard thrust to sink himself deep into her welcoming body.

Kagome tensed when she felt the slight tear deep inside her body, but the pain she'd heard so much about was nonexistent. Instead, there was only a deep fullness, the feeling of being stretched around his pulsing arousal. A blast of heat went lancing through her stomach, sweeping through her blood and making her cry out sharply against his mouth from the overwhelming sensation.

Inuyasha shot up instantly at the sound, sweat rolling down his brow and panting hard. His eyes were glowing fiercely as he searched her flushed face in concern, "Ka-gome? Damn... I didn't... Are you hurt? Did I-"

Reacting to the worry in his voice, Kagome opened her eyes and reached up a shaking hand to lightly touch his lips and stop his rambling. She had to swallow several times before she could convince her constricting throat to get out the words she wanted, and even when she did, her voice was strained and whisper soft, "I... it... it didn't really hurt, Inuyasha. You... feel good."

Inuyasha's eyes closed briefly, a shudder moving down his spine as his hips pressed hard against hers and wrenched a fierce growl from deep inside him, "Good. I feel good?"

Kagome's breath rushed out, her eyes glowing brighter at the motion and her fingers tightening on his face. Inuyasha dropped his forehead to her, gritting his teeth as he slid himself partway out of her before sinking himself deeply into her again and bringing an answering gasp from her.

'Good,' Inuyasha's hands slid down to her hips to turn them up for him even as his mouth moved over hers, sinking his tongue deep into her mouth to mimic the motions of his sex pumping in and out of her in a steady rhythm. 'This is... so much more than good...'

With every motion, the pull and drag against her tightly clenching passage, a wave of nearly blinding pleasure snaked down his spine and throughout his entire body. Instincts riding him hard as he reveled in the gasps and moans making his ears twitch and his blood heat beyond anything he'd ever known.

He had no idea how it happened or exactly when, but in the back of his mind, he felt a separate pulse echoing his own feelings at the friction of their motions. Surprised, he lifted his head to look down at Kagome's face, purposefully making the next thrust harder than the last. Keeping his eyes open through sheer force of will, he watched her mouth open in a low moan in perfect synch with that second wave of sensation.

Inuyasha dropped his head, whispering in her ear as he focused on that feeling, Kagome's feelings. His eyes slid closed and his arms tightened around her at the shared sensations, "Do you feel it too, Kagome? You're in my head, koi. I feel you..."

"H-hai," she bent her knees, arching up into him. She felt the pleasure that went rushing through him, throbbing from her hip to mingle with her own and making her hands tighten in answer against the damp flesh on his back, "Inuyasha, please..."

"Please?" he repeated, flexing his claws on her hips.

"I want more of you," Kagome's mouth lowered to his neck, her teeth raking over the tendon in his throat and bringing a sharp hiss from him a moment before he all but crushed her to the ground, locking his mouth over hers and thrusting into her so hard she nearly saw stars.

Kagome followed his every motion perfectly, breathing heavily as his arms left her hips to glide up her sides, stroking and caressing as his mouth left hers and moved to her throat. She could feel something deep inside herself winding tighter and tighter, urging her on with a promise of something even greater than everything that had come before. Inuyasha was growling as he moved against her hard and fast, the vibration radiating through her body as the winding came to a peak.

Kagome's entire body clenched around his, a soft scream tearing free as she threw back her head, her nails sinking deep into his shoulders. The blinding jolt of sensation echoing through Inuyasha's blood in addition to the sudden spasmodic clenching of her inner muscles jerked him forward against her. His teeth pulled back in a snarl as he wrapped his arms around her, his head dropping into the curve of her shoulder. He thrust hard into her once and again, his teeth sinking into his shoulder as his own body went taut.

Kagome gave yet another shriek, her body curling in around his fiercely as she felt a flood of warmth deep inside with the feel of his climax snaking through her blood. Inuyasha groaned out her name, collapsing against her and panting from exertion as he felt her heart thumping strongly against his. Her own heavy breathing fanned over his cheek as her hands stroked lightly up and down his spine, murmuring his name over and over in a voice filled with wonder.

Inuyasha smiled, feeling drained but the most euphoric contentment he'd ever experienced hummed through him, urging him to get up and start all over again, just to make sure it wasn't a dream. The muscles along his arms rippled as he braced them on either side of her, lifting himself to look down at her.

Kagome gave him a shy smile, reaching up to catch a damp strand of hair falling into his gleaming eyes. Inuyasha's hand lifted to catch hers, his thumb rubbing against her palm gently before he moved their hands aside and leaned down to give a slow, savoring kiss. Kagome was making a sound much like a purr herself when he finally lifted his head, a warm smile on his own lips.

Kagome's eyes widened when she felt his thighs clench, gently pressing his hard length deep inside her again, "Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha's smile deepened as he stroked a claw down her cheek, "I want more of you, koibito..."


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Monday, January 3, 2005

   ...........................
I need information on becoming a manga-ka. If any of you could help, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.
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Sunday, December 26, 2004

   InuYasha 35
Shippo's hackles rose in instinctive response to the menace he felt vibrate through the air when Inuyasha's glowing eyes turned down to him. Everything about the hanyou right then told the kit he'd just made one of the worst mistakes of his life in interrupting whatever they'd been doing way up there. He could hear Kagome panting, but the funny thing was so was Inuyasha, and those weird sounds they'd been making before when he woke up kind of reminded him of his parents....

"Ah...Kagome, are you-? Are you okay?" he called up to them, shivering when he heard the hanyou start growling, low and threatening.

Kagome blinked at Inuyasha in surprise when he settled his hands on her waist and very carefully slid her off his lap. He rose to his knees, turning to sit her securely against the trunk, "Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha slid his finger lightly over her lips, his eyes darkening as he looked down at her, "Don't move. I'll be right back after I rip out Shippo's tail and hang him from a tree somewhere."

Shippo's eyes went huge when he heard the quiet whisper and he turned, shrieking in terror as he fled into the darkness of the woods. Inuyasha was after him in a flash, swearing and demanding the kit stop running away even as he was snarling out all sorts of violent retributions for his interruption.

Kagome stared after them, her chest still rising and falling quickly as she tried to shake off the tingling daze muddling her attempts to think. She gripped the wide branch more securely with her thighs as she righted her clothing mechanically, her eyes distant and unfocused as her mind replayed what had just happened over and over. It was the cool night breeze that restored a measure of lucidity, sending a shiver through her after the incredible heat she'd experienced in Inuyasha's intense embrace. She leaned back to deliberately breathe in long, slow gulps to clear her head and slow her racing heartbeat.

Her hand lifted as though with a will of its own, shaking as she pressed it to her aching breast where she swore she could still feel Inuyasha's mouth moving heatedly over the sensitive peak. The ache still throbbed through her, pulsing in time to the memory of each strong pull...

She shook her head quickly to dispel the images when she felt her heart start racing all over again, the sensations driving her crazy, unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Kagome fidgeted restlessly in the tree, trying to still the overwhelming longing bringing a dark flush to her cheeks.

Determined to get herself back under control, she bit her lip hard and purposefully leaned to one side to judge the distance between her position and the ground. Maybe she could get to her sleeping bag and try to get some sleep, as impossible as that sounded at the moment. It was the only thing she could think to try.

She scowled down below her, her frustration easily adding to her annoyance, 'Of course Inuyasha would leave me too high up to get down by myself.'

Kagome sat back, folding her arms over her breasts and pouting. Unless she wanted to risk breaking something, she'd have to wait for him to either get tired of chasing the kitsune, or catch him and come back for her.

He just had to leave her where she couldn't do anything but think of what they'd been doing before the baby youkai interrupted them, what she was certain they would have done. The feelings Inuyasha had evoked in her had been remarkable, but that wasn't why she would have given in to the desires rushing back and forth between them. It was the feeling that it had been so... so right.

Was that what scared her? What made her so nervous the longer she thought it through?

Everything she did with Inuyasha made her feel safe, loved... like she was really home for the first time in her life. But was it all her? If she was balancing herself with Inuyasha and reacting to his emotions, wasn't it possible that this was all his reaction? Did she only think it was right because he did?

Kagome's hand lowered to cover the tattoo at her hip as her brow furrowed in concentration. The voice had said something about that, hadn't it? Unbidden, the response swirled through her mind and made her eyes slide closed.

'I'd love to tell you yes, that it's all the hanyou, but actually, all his blood is doing is lowering your inhibitions. All your reactions are your own, but the youkai blood is making you act on your emotions rather than hold them in. Making them more intense...'

No. It wasn't just Inuyasha's reaction.

"Lowering my inhibitions and making my emotions more intense," she grumbled softly to herself, sighing deeply at the persistent ache that refused to fade away completely. "No shit."

Her internal struggle was disrupted when she heard heavy gasping down below her, her brows lifting curiously when she saw the little russet ball of fluff streak back into the clearing and race up the tree she was in. Shippo ran straight up her shirt, grabbing the hem and tucking himself up in a shaking ball against her stomach.

"Shippo-chan?" Kagome frowned in concern, trying without success to pull the fabric out of his hands and urge him down to her lap.

"Hide me!" he chirped quickly, bunching the shirt even tighter in his hands.

"Hide you?" she couldn't prevent the tiny smile that tugged at her lips at the panic in his voice. She grabbed the neckline of the shirt and pulled it out far enough to look down at the terrified youkai, "Why should I?"

"Inuyasha's going to kill me!" Shippo peeked up at her. "I barely got away!

"How did you?" Kagome lifted one hand to rub his back soothingly through the shirt.

"Divide and... and run away," he held up a little leaf with a shaking hand. "With the way he was flattening my little copies I had to find somewhere safe!"

"I see...." she turned her head when she felt the tattoo throb, Inuyasha's distinctive presence filling her awareness as he burst into the grove.

He lifted his head, testing the wind until his head snapped to the tree and then up to where Kagome sat. His eyes narrowed sharply when he saw the rounded lump at her stomach, "You fucking coward. Quit hiding behind Kagome and get the hell down here!"

Inuyasha was rather abruptly flattened when the Hiraikotsu smashed against him from behind. Sango glared murderously at the hanyou when he pushed himself back to his feet, growling and rubbing his head as he glared right back.

"Some of us ARE trying to sleep, Inuyasha," Sango stalked over to him and took back the massive boomerang.

Miroku's staff jangled as he tapped it meaningfully back against the trunk he had been sleeping against, "It is very difficult with your yelling. We would be... upset if we had to get up again."

Shippo poked his head out from beneath Kagome's shirt to stick his tongue out at Inuyasha, "Yeah! Just go to bed already!"

Kagome heaved a deep sigh as she watched Sango and Miroku resettle themselves before she looked down at Inuyasha. He was looking up at her, his jaw clenched in obvious frustration and anger as tension hummed through his limbs. She didn't know how, but she knew exactly how to at least calm him for the moment.

Inuyasha's shoulders lost some of their tension when Kagome held out a hand to him and smiled gently. He continued to stare up at her for a moment, his eyes still frustrated, but filling with a slow warmth the longer he watched her. He let out a huff and leapt back up to the branch, growling at Shippo when he squeaked and shot back up Kagome's shirt.

"Leave him alone, Inuyasha," Kagome reached up, brushing her fingers over his cheek and startling him enough that the sound ceased.

Inuyasha reached out, reversing their positions so that he was again leaning back against the tree and turning her in his lap so he could pull her back to his chest. He wrapped one arm around her chest and the other below Shippo's hiding place before he bent down and caught her ear in his teeth.

Kagome sucked in a breath, but to his delight, she turned her head into the contact. He smiled against her temple and whispered, "Next time we won't get interrupted, koibito."

**

Inuyasha watched Shippo dig through Kagome's bag in search of more candy, his eyes narrowing as he waited for just the right moment. Kagome was bending over the bag, working around the kit to pull out her bathing supplies and a change of clothes.

Perfect.

"Oi, Sango."

Sango jumped in surprise, turning to Inuyasha with a frown, "Hai?"

"Go with Kagome," he ordered quietly, sitting back on his haunches and folding his arms in his sleeves.

Kagome's brows rose and she spun around, blinking in amazement, "Y-you mean you're not going to stare at me this time?"

Inuyasha shook his head, his expression carefully bland, "You'll be close enough to stay-"

"Dammit!" Kagome snarled as she hit the ground, her hands fisting in anger against her hips. "Inuyasha!!" her expression darkened.

He bit his lip in an effort to hide his amused smile even as he waved a hand in her direction, "Ahh, sorry, I didn't mean to say it!"

Sango shook her head as Kagome muttered under her breath, and Inuyasha's eyes filled with silent laughter, "You mean that the spring is close enough for Kagome-chan not to be out of your spirit range, right?"

"Aa," Inuyasha turned his attention to her, taking advantage of Kagome's inability to see him and letting his lips spread in a huge grin.

The exterminator nodded, moving to the immobile girl's side and bending down to collect her bath bag, "C'mon, Kagome-chan, no telling how long Inuyasha's planning on being generous."

Sango waited patiently until Kagome rose to her feet, rubbing her tailbone and scowling at the hanyou as she stalked past him. Inuyasha's hand snaked out and caught her wrist, giving her a tug that brought her off balance with a cry of irritation. No sooner had he caught her in his lap that he had brought her mouth to his, ignoring the slight sound of protest and their shocked audience to give her a long, lingering kiss.

When he released her and set her back on her feet, he smirked and gave her a nudge towards the gaping Sango, "Go on, Kagome. Sango's right, there's no telling how long I'll be generous."

Blushing darkly, she gave him a stiff nod and rushed off in the direction of the hot spring. Sango was right behind her, her eyes filled with curious questions, "Wait, Kagome-chan!"

Miroku was blinking in wide-eyed amazement at Inuyasha when the hanyou rolled to his feet, his golden eyes focused on the little tail barely visible as it wiggled at the top of Kagome's pack, "Inuyasha, have you actually-?"

"None of your business, bouzu," he gave him a warning glare before silently moving across the camp to grab the kitsune's tail and lift him to eye level. "And now you," he smiled with dark promise when Shippo's gasped in alarm.

"O-oi! I didn't do anything!" Shippo squirmed around, trying to sink either claws or teeth into the strong hand holding him aloft. "You can't kill me! Kagome said so!"

"She'll get over it," Inuyasha shot Miroku a scowl that told the monk quite clearly to make himself scarce.

Miroku sent one back that just as easily said he wasn't going anywhere. He knew Inuyasha wouldn't leave for fear of inadvertently moving Kagome out of his range of spirit and this promised to be a highly entertaining moment.

Inuyasha swore angrily, but turned back to the kit, "What the hell possessed you to interrupt when Kagome and I were...trying to have a... a serious conversation."

Shippo blinked owlishly, his mouth forming an "o" of surprise as he looked from Inuyasha's tense face to the monk trying to smother his sudden laughter behind his hand, "I... I thought you were sleeping!"

Miroku had quite easily made the connection between the faint color on the hanyou's cheeks and his halting explanation with his anger at the kit, "In a tree?"

Inuyasha growled, flexing his claws and giving the monk a look filled with warning, "Shut the fuck up or you're next."

Miroku raised his hands to show his agreement to that suggestion, but his shoulders still shook severely with his laughter and his eyes were bright, "I won't say a thing."

The hanyou turned back to Shippo, shaking him as he snapped out, "Can you not sleep by yourself for one damn night, you annoying little brat!? I ought to-"

"Wait! Wait!" Shippo waved his hands frantically.

"Why should I?" Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "I'd love nothing more than to rip you up over this one."

"I...ah...well..." he chewed on his lip, debating with himself about the best way to keep himself alive.

"That's what I thought," the hanyou lifted his other hand and smirked down at the kitsune.

"I know a secret!" Shippo shrieked out, curling up as best he could with his hands fisted over his face and his eyes clamped shut.

Inuyasha stopped, blinking several times as he stared down at the kit in surprise and then speculation, "What?"

"I know a secret," the kitsune repeated, peeking up at Inuyasha with one eye and hoping he wasn't about to trade a pissed off hanyou for a pissed off miko.

"Why the hell should that stop me?" one brow arched high in question.

"It's about Kagome," he blushed, tapping his knuckles together nervously and refusing to meet his gaze. "You wanted to know why she was giving me so much candy, ne?" Shippo's brows rose hopefully.

Inuyasha's grip tightened and he brought Shippo up to growl right in his face, "This had better be a damn good secret."

**

"It was just a kiss, Sango," Kagome blushed under the older woman's knowing stare.

"And that?" Sango pointed, one brow arched high.

The "that" in question happened to be the faint bruise Kagome had known she had until she took off her clothes and noticed Sango staring at her chest, her mouth open in shock. Kagome was going to have to talk with Inuyasha about leaving his "marks."

She knew she was blushing as she ducked to rinse her hair, but Sango was still giving her that look, "Ah... well..."

"Are you and Inuyasha-?" Sango's eyes were wide as the thought struck her.

"No!" Kagome's cheeks flamed and she shook her head, refusing to look her way. "We were just... I... Ah, hell!"

The exterminator's lips twitched as she rose to her feet and stepped out of the spring, "Does this have anything to do with Inuyasha trying to kill Shippo last night?"

"Shippo-chan...kinda interrupted," Kagome sank down lower in the water and answered quietly.

Sango shook her head, oddly feeling sorry for the hanyou, "No wonder he's been scowling all day."

She coughed lightly, Inuyasha had been scowling, just not at her. The looks he'd been giving her had set her blood tingling all over, and from the way he would smirk at her, he knew it too. "He hasn't been in the best mood," she agreed, glad she had her back turned.

Sango finished tying on her kimono, looking up when she heard a faint rustle in front of her. Her brows lifted when she saw Inuyasha standing on the small path back to camp, him arms folded and giving her a gesture with his head for her to leave.

She glanced back at Kagome's back with a small smile and then nodded and walked up to Inuyasha, grabbing his hair and giving it a sharp yank to bring his ear down closer to her mouth and whisper, "Be careful. It hurts the first time for a human."

Inuyasha reared back, his eyes wide in surprise and cheeks slightly pink.

Sango gave him a serious look, "She's the best thing for you, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha turned to look at the girl in the spring as she slid under the surface with a sigh, his eyes softening as he gave Sango a nod, "Arigato."

"Just remember that we'll kill you if you hurt her," she reminded calmly and left him alone.


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