Sunday, March 26, 2006

   Chapter 64: Perfect Balance...
Kagome’s eyes went wide, but her lips were twitching upwards slightly when she felt his hands start to tug at her kimono. “This has been on your mind since the last new moon? We hadn’t-” she broke off and swallowed, trying to control the way her cheeks still heated at the thought of their shared intimacy as she stubbornly continued. “We hadn’t… mated then,” she finished quietly.

Inuyasha’s lips curled back in a smirk, tilting his head to one side as he stroked down her thighs to find the bottom edge of her sleeping kimono, “You think I never thought about it before then?”

The blush darkened, ears flattening back slightly, “But… all we ever did was fight. I didn’t think you even looked at me with… well, that way, until…”

“Until you got that spell,” he finished for her when she faltered again, his eyes warming as he lifted one hand away from her knee to cup her cheek. He slid a thumb gently over the smooth curve of her face, flashing her a grin with the smaller fangs her blood provided for the night, “And I kissed you.”

“You scared me to death,” she stuck her tongue out at him in mild annoyance, and to hide the rush of warmth that went straight to her soul at the memory. “I never want to hear you laugh like that again, Inuyasha, I mean it.”

Inuyasha chuckled at that, leaning forward to kiss her other cheek softly, “I was happy.”

“You were terrifying.”

His shoulders had started to shake ever so slightly with laughter, “Maybe happy isn’t a strong enough word… I was feeling…”

“Diabolical comes to mind,” she muttered, inserting the observation when he failed to come up with one quickly, but averted her face and tried to stay irritated when he nuzzled at her chin.

“I was not,” he nipped at her mischievously.

Kagome’s eyebrow twitched, “You were fucking ecstatic and you went crazy with it, you can’t possibly deny that.”

“If I’d gone crazy with it, we’d still be at the well yelling our spells back and forth at each other,” he smiled against her skin, not denying that he had been pretty damned ecstatic when he figured out her spell. Inuyasha moved his mouth down over her throat to that little spot just above her pulse that always got at least a shudder from his obstinate bitch, “I went easy on you, and you know it.”

She let out a dry “keh” that had him chuckling again, but stubbornly refused to acknowledge that little truth.

“You’re cute when you’re pouting,” he kept trailing open-mouthed kisses along her bared skin; licking at her shoulder while his hands tightened slightly at her shivered response, then again when he felt the pulse of rising arousal echo in her blood.

“I take back every nice thing I ever said about you,” she murmured, eyes closing and head lolling back to expose more of her throat to his touch, despite her best intentions to pretend she was unaffected. “You’re evil.”

“But you love me,” he purred arrogantly, the hand still on her knee curling to skim the smaller claws up her bare thigh, delighting in the way the muscle tensed beneath his touch.

“Lapse of sanity on my part,” Kagome had tried to make the comment sound insulting the way she’d almost managed the last time they’d teased each other this way. However, it lost the edge under the faint whine that escaped her, when the hand on her thigh slipped higher and squeezed.

Inuyasha’s eyes took on a brighter, smug gleam at that reaction and he slid his other hand down her cheek to her throat, rubbing his thumb over the throbbing pulse point he’d been kissing moments ago, “I’d say you’re thinking clearly for the first time since you fell through that goddamn well.”

“I used to have such good taste in boys too,” she taunted in a low growl, her own hands coming up to lightly press on his chest, giving up on the pretense of anger under her growing need to touch him back.

He let out a sound of disgust, “Weakling human boys, especially if that brat I warned off you that day was any example. You’re lucky you have a strong mate to keep that trash away from you, little girl.”

Kagome rolled her eyes and let out a slight giggle, fumbling with the ties of his haori impatiently to get to the skin beneath, “Inuyasha, you’re the only person I know who can somehow be sweet when he’s being so damn obnoxious and insulting.”

“I’m special that way,” he mumbled, not really putting his entire focus on the conversation anymore, as he became much more engrossed at the way she was starting to shift restlessly in his lap. He could feel every inch of muscle in her legs and even up into her stomach bunch and twitch as she squirmed in an effort to bring herself in closer contact with him.

Kagome gave an inelegant snort, but that turned into a contented sigh, when the stubborn knot holding his clothes in place finally loosened enough for her to slip her hands past the cloth to find warm flesh. “I don’t think I can argue with that,” she finally admitted quietly, turning one of her hands to rub her knuckles along the well-defined lines of muscle over his chest.

He smirked, but refrained from making a comment about how much more obedient she was behaving lately, nibbling along her shoulder as the hand on her throat slid down to part the kimono and let it slowly expose more of her body to his roaming hands. He wasn’t a complete idiot, and he did know his blood better than anyone; taunting her about something like that now would just ruffle her instincts, encourage her to overcompensate trying to prove she wasn’t feeling submissive. While he admittedly didn’t exactly mind mating more forcefully, he was in the mood for something different tonight.

“Then you aren’t mad anymore?” one of Kagome’s ears twisted towards him while she leaned forward, sliding her arms inside his kimono and under his arms to run her claws slowly down his back.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and groaned softly at the tingle her touch had left behind. Her hands pressed down at the base of his spine more firmly as she pressed her lips over his heart, “Mad about what?”

She was the one smirking this time, delighting in her ability to scatter his thoughts just as completely as he did hers, “About the spell? The youkai lying about us being disconnected so he could test us?”

“Maybe I’ll be mad when I finally find the bastard,” both his hands were on her thighs again, shoving the soft kimono up to bunch it out of his way at her waist, as he gave in and pulled her closer to himself. His chest expanded with a thick sigh as he pulled her close enough to grind his erection against the juncture of her legs and lower stomach, ‘Maybe, but it’d just be for show… Stupid asshole actually fucking helped me catch Kagome…’

“I’m a bit more distracted by not being human on a new moon, for the first time in my fucking life, while my cute, blood-stealing mate is being ‘affectionate’ in my lap,” he added, nuzzling her temple before pressing a kiss directly over the same spot.

Kagome moaned quietly, looking up at him and trying her hardest to process his words, when all she really wanted to do was pull him up against her again, “Not being… Oh!”

Inuyasha’s lips quirked in a half smile at her almost dazed acknowledgement of his observation, “It’s… bizarre, but it’s amazing. I don’t feel weak, or helpless… I haven’t lost my youkai strengths; I can still smell and feel everything the right way, even if your senses aren’t as sharp as mine,” he couldn’t resist to add with a joking wink.

She snorted and pulled one hand out to smack him on the chest, “Just had to ruin it, didn’t you?”

He tried to hold in his laughter and look like he had no idea what she was talking about, “Ruin what?”

“You were actually being sweet until you insulted my abilities,” her chin came up defensively, hands squeezing and relaxing in protest to his remark. “So what if I’m not as good as you? I’m not weak anymore! And I-”

Inuyasha pressed a finger to her lips to stop the rambling and gave her a tender smile, “I didn’t say you were weak, koi.”

“But you said-!”

“All I said was that your blood didn’t develop as intensely as mine. I’m supposed to be stronger, faster…” he scolded her lightly. “I have to keep you safe, remember? How could I do that if we were exactly the same? Or better? This way you’re always mine to protect.”

Kagome bit his finger, but she knew from the way his eyes were glowing that he could feel how her heart fluttered at those words, “Mou… what did your blood do to me that I actually think it’s cute when you’re being so damn cocky?”

Inuyasha dropped his hands back to her waist and lifted her with ease to readjust her legs on either side of his hips, and seat her directly over his neglected erection, brushing a kiss over her cheek before tilting his head to nibble on her closest ear, “That’s all you, Kagome, not me. You just didn’t realize I was exactly what you wanted, what you needed, until the well brought you home to be where you belong.”

Kagome’s eyes nearly closed when he pulled her up against his obvious arousal yet again, lightly grinding it against the apex of her thighs to remind her of just what he was intending to do to her shortly, “Were you always so sure…? That I was supposed to be here?”

His tongue slipped over the spot he’d been biting, “Why else would I hate it every time you ran away? You were supposed to be here. With me. Why else would you have fallen through in the first place, or been the one who woke me up? What if the well had been damaged or destroyed, when you were on the wrong side of it when that happened? It would have taken me five hundred years to get to you again.”

She blushed slightly at the sheer conviction in his voice, her head turning into that tingling stroke, but when her mouth opened to refute that, her voice wouldn’t come. Her eyes widened slightly with confusion as her mind raced, ‘Do… do I feel the same? After all this time, do I look at Sengoku Jidai as my home now? Did I always think of it that way after I realized I loved Inuyasha?’

Kagome tried to shake that off, leaving the dawning realization for another day, but her voice was still subdued and lacking its usual fervor when she quietly insisted, “I still have to go back, Inuyasha. My mother…”

“I’ll take you back to see her soon,” he promised, working one hand up under the kimono to trace up and down her spine when she trailed off uncertainly. He’d felt the hesitation easily, but it was too soon for him to press her too hard into openly acknowledging he was right. Kagome needed time and patience to come to terms with her insight, ‘It’s about time you understood, koishii, and admitted it at least to yourself.’

His other hand found hers as he leaned back to give her enough room and drew it down to the ties of his hakama. Still, he was unable to resist giving her thoughts a little nudge in the right direction, “But you know we can’t stay there…”

Her ears flattened back, eyes closing even as she swallowed hard and gripped him tighter, whispering, “Please… Can we deal with that later? I just… I just want to be with you right now. Without anything else to worry me.”

Inuyasha slowly leaned back far enough to meet her pleading eyes, giving her a gentle smile as he lifted his hand back to cup her cheek, “I think I can handle that, koi.”

Kagome blinked before giving him a smile that started small and slowly turned brilliant, openly displaying her feelings. “You really can be perfect, Inuyasha, you know?”

He tilted his chin up arrogantly and snorted, “Of course I can.”

She giggled and braced her knees on the wide branch to get more control of her position, tugging his hakama open, “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late,” he flashed her a smirk, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes when she reached out to push his own clothing out of the way. “I already know you love me, enough that you’re willing to give up everything you knew to be mine.”

Kagome’s blush darkened, and she ducked her head, silently admitting to herself that when he put it that way, he was right. How could she possibly expect him not to get cocky over the entire situation, when he was so certain of her devotion? “Mou…”

This time he simply smiled and chuckled softly, deciding it was time to move on to a much more direct route to getting on with more pleasurable things. Gripping the already loosened folds of her kimono, he carelessly pulled it open completely, letting the ends hang loosely at her sides to bare her to his rapidly warming gaze, “You still talk to much.”

She may have retorted differently to that amused remark, if Inuyasha hadn’t picked that particular moment to reach out, and lightly stroke his palms up and down across her ribs, his thumbs gently grazing the undersides of her breasts. He shot a discreet glance at the sky, mentally calculating the time until sunrise, before nodding and turning his full attention back to Kagome’s heavy-lidded gaze.

Satisfied with the observation, the smile on his face underwent a subtle transformation as he leaned his back against the trunk, and turned his hands to cup her breasts. It was hard to keep his emotions from showing on his face, as he curiously gave the soft flesh a gentle squeeze that had her ribs expanding sharply. ‘I thought so… She’s already swollen, and they’re more sensitive than they used to be…’

The real question he wished he could ask was if it was normal for her body to be reacting so very rapidly to her altered condition. Unfortunately his only two options for answers weren’t exactly his favorite sources. With Myouga there was a chance Kagome would find out before he told her, or the flea wouldn’t have accurate information; his other option was more reliable… provided Sesshoumaru would actually talk to him without trying to kill him.

But then all thoughts of worry, or finding answers to his questions went sailing off on the breeze when Kagome’s hands finally succeeded in getting his hakama out of her way, brushing past the slightly tangled clothing and wrapping around his erection.

Inuyasha growled low in his throat, his lips momentarily quirking in distracted delight at being able to make that particular sound just as well as ever despite the moon’s phase. That was quickly overshadowed by the feel of her hands sliding over him, encouraging him to raise himself onto his knees and make it easier for her to handle him. Her touch was light at first, then gripping tightly to squeeze, “Kagome…”

She looked at him through her lashes and gave him a lazy smile, “You were taking too long.”

“Was I?” one eyebrow kicked up, deliberately mocking as he held his breath to stop the telling groan hovering at the back of his throat.

Kagome put on the best serious expression she could manage under the circumstances, increasing her grip just to feel him tense and curl in around her with a soft growl, “Way too long.”

Inuyasha reached out, knocking her hold loose as he slid his hands under her thighs and lifted her up, “You’re always so impatient when my blood’s inside you.”

She let out a growl of annoyance, when all he did was hold her poised above his straining flesh, lowering her enough to feel the tip brush along her slick folds before he lifted her back up again. Baring her fangs at the deliberate teasing, she brought her hands to his shoulders and purposefully dug her claws into the muscle, “You just like driving me out of my skull wanting you, baka!”

He flashed her a grin, that only grew deeper at the way her growl changed pitch when he lowered her again, letting her sink halfway down on the throbbing shaft this time before lifting her back up, “I like hearing the words from you, koi.”

If Kagome heard that heated whisper, she gave no sign. Her head had fallen back, clutching at his back as she hissed with a wealth of feeling, “Inuyasha…”

Inuyasha repositioned his weight. His eyes sliding half-closed as he moved her back into alignment and simply dropped her, letting gravity sink him inside her to the base. His hands shook as he savored her choked gasp, moving them to get a better hold on her hips, while he nipped at her exposed throat and finally let the groan break free, “It feels so fucking good to hear you say my name like that.”

Kagome’s throat worked in a futile attempt to respond, clamping her thighs around his hips hard to keep him inside her, when she felt his hands start to lift her off him again, “No-“

Inuyasha ignored her, drawing her high enough to almost separate them before his arms tensed, and he yanked her back down forcefully, twisting his hips upwards at the same time. Kagome’s spine arched, her hands leaving his shoulders in favor of sinking deep into his hair and clenching demandingly, “Do it again!”

His eyes filled with smug pleasure at her demand, looking up at her closed eyes and flushed cheeks before bending his neck to blow softly on her closest nipple. His lips quirked with that same pleasure when she shivered and fisted her hands harder, letting his lips brush over the peak with his next whisper, “Ahh, then you’re done mocking your very generous mate, Kagome?”

“You have exactly five seconds to make up your mind as to whether you want to keep being evil to me or prove that you aren’t all fucking talk,” she bared her fangs, and tried to gain enough control of herself to look down at him. Cursing whatever the hell it was inside Inuyasha that seemed to make it so damned easy for him to still have control enough to tease her, when she could barely think straight. She arched her back even more, closing that tiny gap between his mouth and her breast on her own.

Inuyasha couldn’t help but chuckle warmly, wrapping one of his arms tightly around her waist to bend her backwards at a more severe angle, while the other pushed her hips down harder. He opened his mouth wider, drawing the nipple deep into his mouth as he rocked up onto his knees, penetrating even more deeply to change her growl again. When he felt her head drop back, he let his mouth slip off her, nipping at the distended peak as he chided, “You already know I’m not ‘all talk,’ koi… and here I thought that you would like the slow way.”

Kagome shivered, her fisted hands pulling to try and bring his mouth back down as she murmured, “Your blood isn’t feeling like the slow way at the moment.”

He snorted, his eyes closing on a groan when she finally managed to wrap her legs around his waist, clenching her thighs to rock back against him. His hand left her hip in favor of pressing between her shoulder blades, while he trailed the tip of his tongue to the other breast, “My blood can get over it. I told you, I’ve been wanting to do this since the last new moon.”

She let out a sharp cry when his teeth closed over the previously neglected nipple, his tongue making an apologetic swirl before his mouth closed over it with the same firm suckle he’d given the other. His growl vibrated through her everywhere they touched, as he thrust upwards just a little harder, making her earlier annoyance totally vanish, “Inuyasha-“

“I thought you’d like that,” she could feel him smirk against her breast, his voice getting rougher with each breath he took.

Kagome fought her own urge to grin, her pride highly mollified by feeling the way his heart was racing, each exhalation becoming more like a pant. Even the way he held her started to lose its taunting air and turn to something more possessive, “I like all of it, all of you. It’s when you’re not letting me feel you that you piss me off.”

Inuyasha dragged the hand between her shoulder blades down, raking his claws over the damp skin to encourage her to arch up again and press her breasts against his throat, “You know I’ll always take care of you.”

“Sometimes you take too long,” Kagome moaned, feeling her stomach and her thighs start to quiver from the vulnerable position he’d twisted her into. She forced her fingers to release his hair, sliding her claws along his jaw and then back to cup his head as she added, “Like now.”

His groan was deeper this time, yanking her up abruptly to lock his mouth firmly over her own, his tongue parting her lips and thrusting inside to mimic the motion of his hips. The hand on her back slid upwards, fisting hard in her hair while the arm around her waist all but flattened her to his chest. He used his hold in her hair to turn her head, growling as he bit down on her lower lip, “Kagome…”

“Now who’s talking to much?” her eyes gleamed with banked heat as she managed to lift her eyelids, tracing his lips with her tongue as she slid her claws down over his chest and around to his back. His mouth opened again, but she locked her ankles behind him and let her hands move up to lightly cup his face between her palms, brushing her words over his lips, “Shh… no more talking, Inuyasha. If you’re so determined to love me slow, then love me. Or I’ll knock you out of this tree and assault you on the ground.”

Inuyasha’s lips quirked in helpless affection before he traced her fang with the tip of his tongue, and unwound the arm at her waist to take up a hand-hold on her hip again, “Such a violent bitch.”

She bit his tongue in retaliation, but then sucked on it apologetically, “It’s your blood.”

“And I know just how to handle it,” the hand in her hair fisted at the nape to hold her where he wanted, when he dragged his mouth away from hers to bite her neck and then lower at her shoulder.

Whatever response Kagome might have made was lost in his mouth when it returned to lock over hers again. He dropped a hand under the curve of her backside, keeping her legs around his waist as he spread his knees into a wider stance. His breath rushed out in a low growl when she clenched her thighs and ground down against him, gritting his teeth against the urge to say hell with going slow and just slam into her, ‘I’ve waited a month for this, dammit, I can wait another few minutes!’

Kagome threw her head back again, her throat working convulsively with a keening cry at the flutter of warmth rippling outward from the pit of her stomach, until it felt like her entire body was starting to pulsate with every move he made. Inuyasha’s mouth was back at her shoulder, fangs scraping along the sensitive flesh. He released her hair in favor of cupping his hands under her, and helping her take him even deeper.

Her arms wrapped around him, clenching him to her with bruising strength before she turned her hands downward, claws scraping to try and find purchase on the sweat slicked skin, until she finally managed to dig them into his back, “Inuyasha, please!”

“Not yet,” he denied thickly, forcing his eyes to open and check the slowly lightening sky. He flexed his claws, digging them into her backside, and growling as he yanked her down harder to feel those wonderful muscles clench around his erection again. ‘Dear gods, be soon…’

Kagome whined, her ears flattening back as she squeezed her thighs hard around his waist, rubbing her aching breasts against him with each rocking motion in an effort to push him past his determined control. She could feel him, the tattoo pulsing with his rising frustration at every steady thrust and slow drag of his shaft deep inside her, but why wasn’t he letting them finish?

Inuyasha was starting to shake, biting down on his lip hard as he fought off every last instinct pounding through his head and blood while Kagome bucked wildly against him, trying just as hard to get them over that elusive edge. “Kagome,” he cracked one eye open, the points of his claws biting even deeper into her smooth skin.

He’d opened his mouth to say more when he felt it…

The jolting heat that snaked down his spine, made his skin itch from the inside out, like it had grown too small in the last breath of time.

“Fucking finally!” Inuyasha tilted forward, dropping Kagome flat along the branch to pin her down and completely let himself go.

Kagome’s eyes shot open, widening at the sudden change in sensation with the bark scraping against her back and the forceful thrusts she’d been missing that hit some point so deep inside, that she felt as though Inuyasha was touching all the way to her soul, “Oh… oh gods!”

He sat back up just as quickly, leaving her draped on the branch like some primitive sacrifice and reveling in the intense heat rushing through him. Every muscle snapped taut, making it hard to breathe while he held them suspended just short of climaxing, watching her face, “Look at me, Kagome! Keep your eyes open no matter what!”

Her eyes darted up to his, confused beneath the glazed heat of arousal as she managed to pant out, “Wha-?”

“Don’t close your eyes.” His own eyes twitched with the effort, his expression taut with the exertion, as he caught his lower lip in his teeth for that attempted distraction once again.

Kagome’s hands snapped up to grip his forearms, feeling the way the thick cords of muscle danced under his skin when the hands at her hips pulled her back for an even deeper thrust. Her claws raked long, shallow gashes over his ribs before she finally seemed to decide where she wanted them, and tangled her fingers in the thick locks of hair trailing down over his shoulders. Her heart lurched, a sudden pulse completely separate from the nearly blinding arousal almost doubling her, ‘That’s-!?’

Inuyasha let out a snarling groan. The muscles in his arms standing out starkly and claws ripping deep gashes in the thick wood as he pulled himself almost completely out of her, only to thrust inside her with bruising force one more time, “Now!”

Kagome barely remembered to keep her eyes open, fighting against the natural instinct to close them, when that low growl shredded the last tenacious thread of resistance, and the building heat finally wound tight enough to snap. She nearly screamed, clamping down around Inuyasha inside and out, just as the sun peeked over the horizon.

Inuyasha bared his fangs, his chest heaving when the rolling pulse shot down his spine, centering low in his belly and finally breaking free to pour everything he had into Kagome over and over again…

Right as the sunlight filtered through the trees to hit her face, arching their backs with the rush of blood between them, at the exact moment they hit the peak of climax.

Inuyasha’s eyes devoured the look on Kagome’s face, the dazed realization passing over cheeks still stained pink from the continued thrall of her humming body as the amber of her eyes began to darken and shift. Her muscles twitched, knuckles going white with the strength of her grip, as the hair at her roots changed to ashy gray, and her ears started to slide down the sides of her head.

“Inuyasha?!” Kagome gasped almost fearfully, when a completely unexpected rush of heat swamped her body again in a softer, but no less staggering climax for the second time.

“Just let it come,” he managed to reassure her in a shaking growl. Forcing one of his hands up to cup her face, he focused on the unbelievable sensations pouring through him, as he felt the balance shift and just as it had on that last new moon, level out completely.

Perfectly half and half.

“I wanted… to feel you when this happened. All of you,” he panted out softly; more overwhelmed than he thought he’d be by what he felt through their connection. Every thought, emotion, sensation… all of it was echoing through him to the core, as the tautness of their bodies started to settle from the height of mutual orgasm, into the lazy euphoria of afterglow. “Ever since I felt us change back when we were kissing. I wanted to watch your face.”

Kagome’s eyes were wide, slowly shifting to pale azure as the gray color spread down her hair like a wave, the roots turning black, while her ears shrunk in perfect time to Inuyasha’s own youkai features, melting back into place, “That… that was…”

“Unreal,” he finished, letting out a heavy breath when his blood gave a jolting pulse, and settled back into his body with ease. “That was just fucking unreal.”

She shivered when she felt the last of the transformation melt away, ducking her head shyly when Inuyasha slowly bent down to lie his body bonelessly over hers. The warmth that radiated from him had her slowly melting back into the branch even more, her throat vibrating with a low purring growl, “Yeah… I can see why you wanted to do that so badly.”

Inuyasha chuckled, “I didn’t know it was going to be that intense, koi.”

“Still,” she sighed and slid her arms around his neck, yawning and letting her eyes slip closed. “I’m less inclined to bite you for taking so long.”

“Nice to know that my mate feels the need to commit acts of violence if I’m in the mood to be gentle,” he muttered dryly, giving her a pinch before starting to wrestle with her twisted kimono and pull it back up to protect the flesh of her back.

Kagome nipped at him, lethargically following the directions of his hands, “It takes too long.”

“I thought humans liked it best if it took a long time,” Inuyasha tilted his head in confusion, pressing soft kisses against the visible beat of her pulse below her jaw. “You and Sango always talked about the sweet shit, and how much you’d like to be… what the hell did you call it? ‘Romanced?’ That’s the slow way, ne?”

She blinked and leaned back to look at him in amazement, “Oh gods, you were spying on us? How many times? You heard all of that?”

He yawned, the effort to keep his eyes from closing was just a little too much at the moment, “I was protecting you. I can’t help it if you spoke loud enough for me to hear what the two of you were talking about.”

Kagome’s cheeks flamed as she twined her hands in his hair and gave it a half-hearted yank, “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Maybe not, but you said it,” he arched an eyebrow and grunted at the unexpected discomfort from the tug before managing to lean up just enough to look at her face. “Were you lying?”

“Not on purpose,” she still tried to look anywhere but at his laughing eyes. “I’d never even kissed a guy Inuyasha, how the hell was I supposed to know you’d turn me into some weird youkai nymphomaniac.”

“Nympho-what?” Inuyasha blinked in confusion at the unfamiliar word.

“I’ll explain some other time,” Kagome muttered more to herself than to him.

For a moment he was tempted to pry, but he finally just shrugged again and dropped his head back to her shoulder, filing the odd word away, in the separate part of his mind reserved for questions to ask Kagome when the opportunity presented itself. Well, it was either that, or say it where one of the others could hear; that almost always guaranteed they’d ask Kagome, where he could unobtrusively overhear and get his answer without looking like he was ignorant as well.

“That was almost as bad as being in heat,” she sighed wearily, bumping her cheek lightly against him with soft affection. “Your blood… likes being aggressive. Especially when we’re doing things like this.”

Inuyasha smirked, lifting his hand to cradle the back of her head, giving her a better pillow than the unyielding wood, “I can’t help it. Besides, females are usually more mild unless they’re in heat or breeding, you should know that by now.”

Kagome made a face, “I know you’re feeling extremely pleased with yourself over your little experiment, but can we keep the cocky remarks down to mild or moderate annoyance levels?”

He laughed out loud this time, kissing her shoulder and then her temple as he held her close, “You’re still cute when you’re pouting.”

“And you’re still an ass,” she huffed, but wrapped one of her legs around him, kissing his jaw and down to his shoulder.

Inuyasha rested his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes with a sigh, and absently stroking her hair and down her sides. His hands paused ever so slightly whenever he neared her stomach, brushing his fingers over the smooth skin while she continued to cuddle up to him lovingly, “I can live with that.”

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