Wednesday, January 5, 2005

   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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