InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cereal Box Romance ❯ Two Kisses ( Chapter 9 )

Edited by thyme_cat.

 

A/N: Yes, I know I was mean/evil/cruel with that last chapter. Hope this extra-long one helps to make up for it. Izzyco - a conversation we once had inspired something in this chapter. I'm sure you'll recognize it.

 

Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers! You guys are the best!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own any character created by Rumiko Takahashi.

 

Xxx…Previously…xxX

 

Placing a hand on his un-armored chest, she rose to her tiptoes, tilting her head and parting her lips to fully receive him, her eyes fluttering closed. The colorful bunch of flowers in her hand dropped slowly to her side to rest against her thigh, the ends of the silk cord tickling her calf. Relentless, her pulse thrummed steadily faster as it beat down any lingering doubts and hesitations, leaving only one giddy thought to spin through her head, `I really, really want to kiss him…'

 

Chapter 9 - Two Kisses

 

His breath fanned her face as he licked the corner of her mouth and she tapped the tip of her tongue against his just before sealing their lips. As he tangled his claws in her hair, the sharp scrape against her scalp raced down her spine in delicious little shivers, emboldening her to enter his mouth and explore his curved fangs, the rough surface of his tongue, the slightly acidic taste of saliva not her own and undoubtedly bearing trace amounts of poison. Restless and searching, her fingers slid along his silk collars in a quest all their own.

 

Prickly trails tickled across her skin as his claws glided over her back, snagging in the cotton of her dress. She shivered as her fingers found naked flesh of his chest and his claws tightened momentarily, the sharp tips piercing the thin fabric of her dress and puncturing her skin like needles tipped with fire. Moaning, she curled her fingers and drew her nails down the hard muscles of his chest to his chiseled stomach as she pressed their lower bodies together. His tongue filled her mouth, the kiss suddenly raw and hungry as he scraped his fangs over her lips and cupped one firm cheek in his claws, dragging her hips against him with such force that she lifted a leg, wrapping it around one of his calves to steady herself.

 

Her head buzzed with a high-pitched whine, her lips slightly numb where his teeth had nicked them, and the hard length pressing against her belly only encouraged her to grind against it. Aching and hot, her body thrummed with a potent, organic need. She groaned as his hand slid down the back of her thigh, the clawed fingers clenching closer to the center of her pain, and she pushed back with her tongue, taking his mouth by force as if trying to devour him to satisfy her newfound greed.

 

He was spiraling down into the most primal urges of his youkai self, the debonair, aloof charm that he used to make his conquests evaporating in the blaze of her passion. Power and desire radiated from her in waves, but he was too lost to gloat. Instead, he sought to draw out more, pulling her leg to his hip and bending his knees to surge against the dark heat the called to him. She gasped against his mouth, rolling her hips to blot the distended crotch of his pants with pungent juices, and he was nearly undone. Hard and beading with his own fertile liquid, he matched her movements until he felt her wetness against his taut skin.

 

“Talking to Shippo, my ass!”

 

Inuyasha's shout broke through the haze of Kagome's lust and her body became ridged with shock and embarrassment, her skin flushed with high color and her breath coming in short, rasping pants. Sesshomaru jolted back to himself with a mental lurch and simply closed his lips around her stilled tongue, sucking slightly before he released her with a final thrust against the soaked crotch of her panties. He turned to his brother, his hand gripping her thigh. One of her hands was still pressed against ridges of his abdomen between the parted layers of his kimono, the other holding the bouquet limp at her side.

 

“You are intruding,” Sesshomaru drawled, though the narrowing of his rouged eyes indicated irritation rather than his usual boredom or indifference. The hanyou stood growling on the other side of the river, his ears lying back against his head and his fist clenching around the hilt of Tetsusaiga. Sending a meaningful glance at the sword, Sesshomaru added, “Even a half-breed such as yourself knows the rules.”

 

Forcing his hand away from his sword and into a tightly clenched ball, Inuyasha bared his fangs. Of course he knew the rules, such as they were. This was a contest to win a woman through seduction, not by beating the crap out of your opponent. Damn it all. “I should've kicked your ass out of this village the moment I smelled your stench.”

 

“Your attempt would have been amusing, if futile. Do you renege?”

 

Still held fast in a compromising position, Kagome tried to tug herself away and was only mildly relieved when she succeeded. Shaking and unsatisfied, she tried to catch her breath and stamp out the disappointment and frustration flooding her body that he had not filled her to the brim and driven the fire out of her blood. She couldn't help but feel ashamed that Inuyasha had caught her…kissing…Sesshomaru, especially when she had initiated it. Not to mention the fact that she was doing some seriously heavy petting with a demon with whom she was furious.

 

Coming to terms with both brothers pursuing her, yet not shedding blood, was difficult enough, but purging herself of those final dregs of guilt for moving her interest from Inuyasha to someone else was proving to be strenuous. The only thing that really helped her was the hanyou`s feelings. Not once had she sensed the kind of love he felt for Kikyou: affection, jealousy, lust, yes, but not that pure, untainted love.

 

`And what was that about backing out?' she wondered, latching onto the conversation in order to distract herself from the throbbing between her legs and the slightly bitter, tingly taste of him on her tongue.

 

“Hell, no!” Inuyasha shouted, furious with himself for letting Kagome out of his sight.

 

Apparently, the girl had worse taste than he thought if she could stand kissing that bastard. Shittier still was the fact that he'd gotten a good look at that kiss, and even though it had involved his half-brother and made his blood boil with anger, jealousy and disgust, he'd felt his prick stir to life. Kikyou had never kissed him like that. He hadn't known one could be kissed like that, but Kagome did and it got him wondering what else his friend knew. And whether she would do it with Kikyou while he watched? Somehow, he doubted it, but the fantasy was doing amazing things below the belt.

 

His original tactics to win the miko had been to prevent his brother from pulling his mojo shit on Kagome, and then remind her that the sun rose and set on himself. The details of that venture had remained a bit fuzzy in his mind, but he'd been confident that it would work itself out. Strategy just wasn't his thing.

 

Now, he realized that he had to figure out what she meant by atmosphere and mood, and fast. Kagome had been nothing but furious with him since he'd arrived, something he hadn't expected when making that fucking bet. Unfortunately, he hadn't a clue how to get off of her shit list and into her panties. At least that damn pervert, Miroku, was almost back; he could smell the group of exterminators approaching and damn, did they need baths. If he had to stoop to ask Miroku for advice, then so be it. He would weather the ridicule.

 

“What's going on, guys?” Kagome interrupted the bickering brothers. They were acting out of character, having not physically whaled on each other once, and it was confusing and more than a little irritating.

 

“Stay out of this Kagome, it's demon stuff. It don't concern you,” snapped Inuyasha.

 

“What?!” Did she just hear correctly? They were fighting over her and it didn't concern her? What nonsense was this? Anger, potent and fierce, began to seep into her brain. Her fist tightened around the bouquet, bruising the fragile stems. “Inuyasha…”

 

Sesshomaru smirked ever so slightly, knowing exactly what that warning tone meant. Apparently, so did Inuyasha. “Ah, shit,” Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

 

“I've had enough of this…this!” Kagome shouted, to the brothers' surprise, and waved her hands expansively. “I'm sick of it!”

 

“Maybe you shoulda thought of that before you started sucking face with fuckhead over there!”

 

“Stop it! Just stop it! Inuyasha, you should be ashamed of yourself! You love Kikyou, I know you do, and yet here you are harassing me! This is just like when Kouga still used to drop by. You don't want me but you don't want anyone else to want me, either.”

 

“But why are you suddenly fawning over my brother, Kagome? Because you thought you couldn't have me?”

 

“OSUWARI!” Kagome screamed, stamping her foot and only narrowly missed trodding on Sesshomaru's boot. Inuyasha hit the grass at the edge of the riverbank with a muffled thump. “OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI!”

 

Groaning as clods of dirt broke off the inside of the short cliff and fell into the water, the bank shuddered and collapsed, sending a swath of grass and a pissy hanyou plunging into the river.

 

“Kagome, you-“ gurgle, gurgle, “-fucking-“ splash, gurgle, “-aah!” Inuyasha suddenly disappeared in a flailing, soggy mess of silver and red, having found a small waterfall.

 

“And you!” she whirled on the taiyoukai and prodded him in the chest, trying to ignore the little quiver in her belly at the sight of his sculpted, white flesh. “You haven't given me a passing glance all these years and suddenly you're all over me? What gives?”

 

The taiyoukai gazed down at her impassively, silently, her tirade washing over and around him but leaving no trace of its presence other than the tiny voice of his thoughts as he wrapped his hand around her finger and gave it a gentle squeeze.

 

`You're wrong, little miko. I have watched you from afar since our first meeting. Though, usually I am the one to do the poking. '

 

Kagome paused her rant as that thought began to filter into her brain and a warm tingle began in the center of her chest, only to be extinguished by the final words. `That pervert! More like “impale” than “poke” by the feel of things.'

 

Gasping, her eyes widening as her cheeks heated. `I did not just think that! And I know what it feels like! Gyah, his perversion is contagious!' She felt the blush creep down her face and into her neck and watched as his bright eyes followed the spreading crimson. `Stop blushing, already!'

 

`How far down does that blush go?' He leaned forward slightly and she was absolutely positive that he was looking down her shirt…again.

 

Throwing up her hands, she whirled around. “Ooooh! Impossible dogs! Leave me alone, both of you!”

 

Sesshomaru watched her stomp back into the forest, momentarily forgetting to watch her skirt ride up in the back as the theft of her energizing presence left an empty, hollow vacuum in her wake. He'd been enjoying their brief interlude up until the hanyou's arrival, perhaps more than he should have. One should never get attached to their conquests; it was a cardinal rule of womanizing.

 

Annoyed and needing to take it out on something, he gathered a cloud of youki beneath his feet and flew downstream to where his half-brother was pulling himself out of the water. Setting down on the smooth rocks that paved the shore, he fixed the boy with a cold, superior glare.

 

“Dear brother, if that is how you charm women, then you will remain a virgin until I kill you.”

 

XxxxxxxX

 

Sango groaned as she sank into the cool stream, pausing with a hiss as the water hit an open cut on her side, and then finished lowering her body until she was submerged from the neck down. Sighing, she closed her eyes and let her head loll back against a boulder. “Man, did I need this.”

 

Snickering behind her hand, Kagome had to agree.

 

When the exhausted, ragtag team of youkai exterminators had puffed and panted their way into the village, Kagome had barely recognized them. Sango's lustrous, brown hair had been cut to a short bob, Miroku had a gash running across his forehead that had bled profusely, caking his face in a red, cracking mask, and Akago hadn't said a nasty word to anyone. The lot of them had smelled so foul that she'd shoed them back out of the village and to a shallow part of the river to rinse off before letting them into the main house. This bath was probably Sango's third of the day.

 

“Lord Sesshomaru had better cough up a bonus,” Sango grumbled as she let her arms float to the surface of the water. “That wasn't your typical beetle swarm.”

 

Kagome poured a generous puddle of body wash into her plastic poof and set the bottle aside, squishing the poof in her hands to build up lather. “Don't tell me a bunch of beetles gave you trouble,” she scoffed lightly.

 

Akago snorted as she tried to untangle her hair with her fingers. “They didn't, at first. We'd busted almost all of their shells, but then…” she shrugged, her fingers still caught in her hair, “it just got weird.”

 

“Weird is an understatement,” Sango added. “It was as if…I don't know, they could predict our movements.”

 

“Oh,” Kagome said, a sudden leaden feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach. It had to be impossible, right? What were the chances? A gazillion to one? “Sounds weird, alright. But you were able to defeat them?” she finished hopefully.

 

Pulling her fingers out of her hair with a painful grunt, Akago huffed, “Of course we were, no thanks to that damn hanyou. He ran off because of you.”

 

“No,” Sango interjected, “he ran off because of your damn mouth, Akago. If you hadn't made that comment about Lord Sesshomaru, then he might have stayed to finish the job.”

 

“Which comment?” the question popped out of Kagome's mouth too quickly for her to cork it.

 

Akago sneered, her scar puckering across her face, though the effect was ruined when her fingers became embroiled in a particularly stubborn knot. “Have your leg humped, lately?” she asked in lieu of a real answer.

 

“Wh-what? No!” Kagome tripped over her own tongue in her haste to deny it. And it was the truth: Sesshomaru had not humped her leg, exactly.

 

Sango pinched the bridge of her nose and produced a passable growl. “Shut it, apprentice. I'm not in the mood.” Releasing a sigh in a gust of breath, she continued where she had left off, “But I'm not convinced that we got all of them. Something tells me…” she sighed, staring up at the distant stars with a preoccupied frown. “But it's probably nothing.”

 

The worry came crashing back at the reminder of her carelessness and possible culpability. Kagome fiddled with the cord attached to the poof, feeling horrible. “I'm sorry,” she mumbled, apologizing for more than just distracting Inuyasha from the fight.

 

“It wasn't your fault, Kagome,” Sango gave her that familiar, sympathetic smile that Kagome so despised. “You shouldn't try to blame yourself for Inuyasha's actions.”

 

`But it might be my fault,' she thought as she stared blankly at the ball of plastic mesh in her hands. `This is bad. I have to tell her about the blank ring…but I better wait until Akago goes away,' Kagome peeked at the apprentice demon slayer through her lashes, surprised to see her staring at Sango with something akin to hero worship as she jerked her fingers through her hair. In a moment of pity that she would probably regret later, Kagome handed her the bottle of detangler. Akago gave the bottle a suspicious glare and was about to wave it away when Kagome harrumphed, “Oh, just take it. Not everyone is out to get you.”

 

“So, Kagome,” Sango interjected before another squabble could break out, “how have you fared? Did Lord Sesshomaru behave himself?”

 

Kagome choked and almost dropped the bottle of detangler in the water as Akago handed it back to her. “Well, um, actually, he-“

 

“If he hurt you, I'll kill him,” the snide teasing dropped out of Akago's voice and she ceased combing through her now easier to manage hair to level a glare at Kagome.

 

“No, no, it wasn't like that!” Kagome was hasty to correct her. `And here I thought she didn't like me. Maybe she just looks for an excuse to fight to hide her true feelings. Kinda like Inuyasha,' she thought with an uncharitable, mental giggle.

 

Sango sat up and fixed her friend with a queer, searching look. “Kagome? It wasn't like what?”

 

Giving herself time to think, Kagome ducked under the water. Unfortunately, the misshapen, wavering forms of her friends inspired no more acceptable answers than their questioning faces. Finally out of breath, she resurfaced and shook her wet bangs out of her eyes. With little surprise, she found Sango still staring at her, waiting for an answer that she preferred not to give in front of Akago, who would definitely have some choice things to say.

 

“It wasn't like what?” Sango repeated, a bit more emphatically.

 

“Well, kinda it was, maybe,” she evaded as she drew circles in the surface of the water with her index fingers.

 

Akago snorted, “Didn't you see the way that youkai was eyeing her?”

 

“Who, Lord Sesshomaru?” Sango asked incredulously, the tone of her voice implying that her apprentice might have a screw loose.

 

“Yeah,” Kagome stepped in before Akago could say anything derogatory. If the story were going to come out, then at least it would be her version that hit the press first. “He's been sort of…amorous, lately.”

”Amorous?”

 

“I knew it,” Akago muttered. “I'm going to cut off his-“

 

“No! We haven't done much more than kiss!” protested Kagome as she frantically waved her hands in front of her.

 

“KISS?” Sango repeated, looking flabbergasted.

 

Kagome couldn't help herself. The shocked, bug-eyed expression of her best girlfriend was simply too much to resist. “He's a great kisser,” she added, also not being able to help the blush or silly grin that spread across her face.

 

“Dog slobber,” Akago spat, frowning and crossing her arms over her chest. “And who knows where his nose has been.”

 

As she barely suppressed a snicker, the increasingly vocal naughty voice in the back of Kagome's mind commented, `Oh, I bet I do…'

 

“KaGOme!” Sango hollered, and then fell backward into the water. She resurfaced with a sputter. “What about Inuyasha?”

 

“Now, that's the weird thing…”

 

XxxxxxX

 

“You did WHAT?” Miroku stared at his hanyou friend in utter, abject astonishment over the light of the small cooking fire. “Are you a complete imbecile?”

 

“Hey! There's no need to be calling names, here!”

 

“Inuyasha, do you realize what Kagome will do to you when she finds out?”

 

“…she won't sleep with my brother?”

 

“To YOU, baka! You can kiss that straight spine goodbye!”

 

“But Sesshomaru-“

 

“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe she doesn't want you anymore? That because you chose Kikyou, she has moved on?”

 

“But-“

 

“Damn it, Inuyasha, I knew you were dense, but this…”

 

“So you ain't gonna help me, is that it? Let Sesshomaru fuck her and toss her away like he does all his other women? Or worse yet, keep her?”

 

“What concerns you more: winning or Kagome's feelings?” the monk countered. Inuyasha just looked baffled, his golden eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape.

 

Miroku sighed, rubbing his once-cursed hand over his face. This was a tough situation, perhaps one of the most awkward ones he'd endured in the recent past. While he didn't wholly approve of Sesshomaru courting…or whatever…Kagome, he had seen the girl's heart break so many times over the hanyou sitting across from him that he couldn't say he disliked the idea of her finding a new love interest. Some hentai radar told him that Sesshomaru's attention to Kagome extended well beyond a simple wager. However, he couldn't leave Inuyasha in the proverbial ditch, either: he was hopeless when it came to women.

 

“I'll give you some tips on how to woo the female species, but I'll have no part in this bet you made with your brother. Do you hear me? You dug your own grave, baka.”

 

“Keh. Whatever.”

 

“Now, damage control first. Have you done anything to anger her, lately?”

 

XxxxxxX

 

Sango sighed heavily and pressed her thumb and forefinger to her eyeballs, tightly scrunching the lids. With another sigh and a roll of her neck, the bones popping loudly over the singing of the crickets, she opened her eyes and regarded her best friend with a serious, almost regretful look. “Demons aren't humans.”

 

“Well duh, Sango,” Kagome replied, trying to bring some lightness back into the conversation.

 

“Duh nothing, Kagome. Some of them may look human, but they've got their own traditions, code of ethics, societal norms,” she waved her hands vaguely as she trailed off.

 

Kagome raised suspicious eyebrows, “Have you been reading my text books?”

 

“What I'm trying to say,” Sango continued, ignoring Kagome's question, “is that what may seem like a fling to you may be something completely different to Inuyasha, and especially to Sesshomaru.”

 

“I'm pretty sure neither of them want to marry me,” Kagome muttered sarcastically as she crossed her arms over her chest. That's what this was about, wasn't it? Sango wanted her to get married, not just experiment. Whatever happened to shopping around?

 

Sango countered angrily, “Have you ever seen a human-demon relationship that actually worked?”

 

That question made Kagome pause. Come to think of it, no, she hadn't. She'd met several hanyou who had come from single parent homes, their fathers having been killed for dabbling with a mortal. Hoshiomi and Sukiomi, an ill-fated priestess and demon, never even made it to the baby-making stage of their relationship. But she wasn't looking for a long-term relationship, was she? She just wanted a little romance in her life! “Yeah, well-“

 

“You're in love with that dog,” Akago broke in accusingly, her voice thick with revulsion. Truth be told, Kagome had almost forgotten that she was there.

 

“Ahaha,” Kagome laughed nervously. In lust, maybe, but she'd learned her lesson when it came to loving dog demons. “Don't be silly. I would never-“

 

Sango groaned and dropped her head in her hands. “Kagome, you are far too trusting for your own good.”

 

“I know what I'm doing,” Kagome defended herself. And she did, to a certain degree. She also knew that what she was doing was careless, stupid, and could potentially get her in a butt-load of trouble, but at least she wasn't deluding herself!

 

Akago snorted and rose out of the water, reaching for the drying sheet she'd left on a near-by boulder. “The hell you do, but when you're along and birthing a litter of puppies, don't say I didn't warn you.”

 

Sango and Kagome watched as she strode out of sight, the hem of her thin yukata fluttering about her legs. Sighing, Sango turned to Kagome and propped her elbow on the boulder, chin in her hand. “She's right, you know.”

 

“Puppies?” Kagome squealed, trying not to surrender to a fit of giggles.

 

“No! For kami's sake, Kagome!”

 

“I can handle him,” Kagome stated with more confidence than she actually felt, raising her chin defiantly.

 

Sango rolled her eyes and groaned.

 

XxxxxxX

 

“I'm telling you, Inuyasha, if you want to have any chance, whatsoever, of winning Kagome, then you must apologize to her,” Miroku felt like a wheel in a mud pit, spinning and spinning in place but never getting anywhere. Kagome deserved an apology from Inuyasha and if nothing else good came from this idiot game, then that would. `But what is so terrible about apologizing to one's friend?' he had to wonder as dark clouds gathered around the hanyou's silver ears and a storm brewed behind his eyes.

 

“For what? I ain't apologizing,” Inuyasha repeated for the umpteenth time.

 

“It doesn't matter!” Miroku exploded impiously. “Anything! Everything! Women just like to hear it!”

 

“Feh. Forget it.”

 

“Which is exactly why you have yet to become a man,” gesturing at the hanyou with a flourish, the monk sat back smugly and watched as his point sank slowly into Inuyasha's thick skull.

 

“…damn it.”

 

“You have to give a little to get…a little,” Miroku explained with an inward cringe. `I'm a bad man. A very bad man.'

 

“Get a little what?” Inuyasha asked, his ears rotating to train on the monk and his golden eyes widening as he leaned forward slightly.

 

Miroku blinked. `He can't be serious,' he thought, and then corrected himself when the hanyou cocked his head curiously. “Ah…the pleasures of a woman's company, of course.”

 

Inuyasha's face scrunched as he leaned back in his seat, “I don't want company, I want pu-“

 

Snatching his staff from its resting place against the wall, Miroku smacked him over the head. “My money is on Sesshomaru.”

 

XxxxxxX

 

Sniffing the noontime breeze, Inuyasha located the scent of Kagome's shampoo and stomped in that direction, his brain churning with reluctance and annoyance. Why did he have to apologize, anyway? Kagome always forgave him, eventually, and it wasn't like he'd done anything wrong. The girl was often upset about stupid shit. If anything, she should apologize to him for sitting him, spraying him with chemical scents, and making out with his bastard brother.

 

He paused his slow trudge to where Kagome sat at the base of a tall tree, reading some book or whatnot. As he watched, a sensuous smile stretched her lips and her heart rate quickened. She shifted against the trunk, her skirt riding up to reveal the lines of her thighs as they angled toward her hidden woman's mystery. Groaning in appreciation, he adjusted the front of his hakama to give his dick a little room to grow.

 

Then again, maybe apologizing wasn't such a bad idea. Miroku had insisted that women loved a contrite man and damn, did he need some loving. Maybe he could take her piggyback somewhere, just to get a preview of that sweet spot as it pressed against his back. `It's my turn,' he thought irritably. `That fucker has had way too many feels.'

 

Resuming his march, peeling his eyes away from the crease where her breasts pressed together, Inuyasha stopped at a fairly safe distance, just in case she decided to whip out her stench bottle. Clearing his throat, he hoped that she might start the conversation and save him from apologizing, after all.

 

“Yes, Inuyasha,” she said without looking up from her book, frost edging her words. He hadn't heard that particular tone of voice since the last time he'd left her to visit Kikyou. Damn. At least it felt familiar.

 

With a grunt, he sat next to her. He sighed, “Kagome…” When she remained silent, he decided to take the plunge. “I'm sorry,” he muttered quickly, his ears flattening against his hair with a twitch.

 

“For what?” she asked coolly, finally putting her book aside.

 

This wasn't a question he wanted to answer. However, for the sake of his hard-on, he gave it a go. “Keh. Stuff,” was his eloquent reply.

 

Kagome breathed a long-suffering sigh from the soles of her feet. “What's the point of apologizing if you don't know why?”

 

He did know why, but telling her: “because I want to screw you before my brother does” just wouldn't fly. Though now that he looked back on the last few days…weeks…okay, years, he might have been a bit of a cad. `I bet she didn't like seeing me kiss Kikyou any more than I liked seeing her kiss Sesshomaru.'

 

Kagome watched her best friend huff and fidget, a warm fondness blossoming in her chest. It was just like old times: him shy and tongue-tied, her anger dissolving into affection. Perhaps not the heart-tearing love it had once been, but a deep caring, nonetheless. And behind his gruffness, she felt his remorse and tenderness toward her. What would she bet that Miroku had put him up to this?

 

“It's okay, Inuyasha,” she relented, giving his knee a quick pat. “I forgive you for stuff.”

 

He snorted and looked away, his cheeks dusted with pink, “Like I need your forgiveness.”

 

“You want me to take it back?” Kagome asked in mock anger, placing her fists on her hips and thrusting out her bottom lip.

 

“No, I don't want you to take it back!” he snapped, rising to her bait until he got a good look at her face. He blinked, staring at her plump bottom lip, and without a second thought, caught it in his teeth. Gently, he held it still as he sucked on it, running his tongue over the slick flesh.

 

“Inu-“ Kagome yelped in surprise and he took the opportunity to claim the rest of her mouth, lapping at her lips and tongue as if she were lemonade on a hot summer's day. So this is what a living woman tasted like. He'd had no idea that she would be so slippery and sweet, the tang of soda still on her tongue.

 

Shocked by the sudden fumbling assault on her mouth, Kagome couldn't help but think, `Ack! He needs to take lessons from his brother!' Whereas Sesshomaru's kisses had been passionate and sure, Inuyasha was all over the place, slavering on her lips and blindly pushing with his tongue. Just the same, she'd wanted this for so many years that she couldn't push him away. Instead, she pressed against his lips firmly, trying to still their hurried movements with rhythmic caresses. When he seemed to get the idea and settled down, she brushed his tongue with hers, tracing it into his mouth to glide along a fang. A deep rumbling was building in his chest, and she realized that he was slowly moving her to lie on the ground. At the feel of claws scraping her tummy at the hem of her shirt, she broke away, placing a hand on his chest to prevent him from following.

 

`Well, I've done it. I've finally tongue-kissed Inuyasha,' the thought stumbled through her mind as she gazed at his flushed face, drunken, golden eyes hidden behind heavy lids and lips still parted. Interestingly enough, it only stirred a melancholy sadness. She didn't want to do it again. Inuyasha, on the other hand, had other plans.

 

“Kagome,” he protested, his voice husky and impatient.

 

“Inuyasha, we can't do this,” she scooted her butt away from him, using the weight of his chest on her palms as leverage.

 

His ears flattened and he whined harshly at the back of his throat. “Why not?”

 

“I've told you why not.”

 

They sat together in silence, neither meeting the other's eyes, and Kagome could feel the frustration and desperation rolling off of him in palpable waves.

 

“If this is about Kikyou-“ he started but Kagome cut him off.

 

“It's always about Kikyou.” At his stricken expression, she added, “But you'll always be my friend.”

 

“But why can't we-“

 

“Inuyasha!” she grated and pressed her fingers to her temples. He really was impossible. A fierce surge of anger projected by the decoder ring riveted her eyes to his face.

 

“Did that asshole give you that?!” he shouted, staring at her dog demon ring with jealous hatred. He grabbed her hand, yanking it toward him. “Why that-“

 

“No, you idiot! Where would he get plastic? I brought it back from my time!” she shouted, trying to jerk back her hand, but to no avail. With a quick snick of his claws, he'd severed the flimsy plastic band and pulled it off her finger. “Inuyasha, you jerk, give it back!”

 

“It's an ugly little thing, ain't it?” he held it up to his eye and peered at it curiously.

 

“What do you care? Give it!” Kagome grabbed at it, only to have Inuyasha move it out of reach. Cursing under her breath, she was about to sit the insolent hanyou when her heart stuttered to a stop at Sesshomaru's melodic voice.

 

“Little brother, you behave like a pup,” he chided as he plucked the ring from Inuyasha's out-stretched hand.

 

`Oh no, oh no! I'm caught!' Kagome tried not to hyperventilate as she watched Inuyasha turn to growl a reply to Sesshomaru. `Inuyasha will hear Sesshomaru's thoughts…Sesshomaru will feel Inuyasha's emotions…what am I going to do?'

 

She was beginning to feel nauseous, her ears ringing as gray began to creep over the edges of her sight. Sesshomaru still held the blue dog ring in his hand and she could see his lips moving as he insulted Inuyasha, but the words made no sense to her. His lips curling over his teeth, Inuyasha snarled something and bounded to his feet, shaking one fist in front of the taiyoukai's face. A bead of cold sweat slid out of her hairline and down her spine, catching on the back of her dress, as visions of two pairs of angry golden eyes rounding on her demanding answers flashed across her mind.

 

She was so dead: Sesshomaru would kill her and Inuyasha would never trust her again. She wasn't sure which was worse, though she supposed that once she was lying in a pool of her own blood, Inuyasha's trust, or lack thereof, would be a moot point. So, so dead…but all she could do was sit, and sweat, and list in her seat as unconsciousness tried to claim her. And just when she thought that she could retreat for a quick stint into black oblivion, her nightmarish vision became reality.

 

Almost simultaneously, the brothers ceased their bickering and turned to stare at her, faceted topaz and warm amber searching her face…anxiously. Kagome shook her head dazedly and blinked up at them, trying to concentrate on what Inuyasha was saying.

 

“Kagome! Kagome, are you alright?” Inuyasha grabbed her shoulder before she could topple over and peered into her pale face. Bending from his lofty height, Sesshomaru snaked a supporting arm behind her back, taking a good sniff of her breath and grimacing at the scent of his brother.

 

“She does not smell ill,” he stated, then rounded on his brother over the top of Kagome's head. “What did you do to her, half-breed?”

 

“Why you-“

 

“I'm alright!” Kagome interrupted before yet another argument could begin. Amazingly, it didn't look like it was her day to be maimed beyond recognition. She didn't understand it, but she was oh, so grateful. Relief was a soothing salve on her raging nerves, and she took several deep, cleansing breaths. “I guess I'm just tired, is all.”

 

Inuyasha's ears pinned to his head briefly as he took his own whiff of her breath. Shrugging, he said, “I'll help you to your house.” He moved his hand from her shoulder to the small of her back, mouth dropping open when he realized that another hand already claimed that position. Baring his teeth, he growled menacingly and Kagome was forcibly reminded of a dog growling over a bone, a comparison that did not amuse her.

 

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, the skin between his eyebrows creasing ever so slightly. “She does not need assistance from the likes of you. I will escort her. And cease that ridiculous display.”

 

“I'll display my foot up your ass if you don't move your grubby mitt!”

 

Rising to unsteady feet, Kagome shook both brothers' hands from her person. “I'm fine; I can make it there myself.” Dusting the grass and dirt from her skirt, she waited for the world to stop its slow rotation, and then asked Sesshomaru, “Could I have my ring back?”

 

Quicker than she could react, he lowered his head and planted a bruising, wet kiss on her lips as he placed the ring into her waiting palm. Trailing his fingers over hers, he drew back with a tiny smile. Kagome knew that smile: it was his “come to me, bitch, and we will make sweet love in the moonlight” preening smile and she waited for the accompanying perverted thought, tuning out the blustering shouts of the hanyou to her right.

 

Silence on the mental planes.

 

Inuyasha lunged forward and Sesshomaru caught his face in his hand. With an easy push, he sent the hanyou staggering backward, cursing up a storm. “Know your place, half-breed,” he taunted, smirking in the face of his brother's impotent wrath though his eyes never left her.

 

Kagome ignored their antics; so intent was she on Sesshomaru's unusual mental hush. “So! Um, I'll just go lie down for a while,” she said, and then waited for Sesshomaru's brain to throw in his two perverted cents. She'd left herself wide open with that one, yet still nothing. Where was the lascivious musings of a horny taiyoukai? “…soooo, yeah.”

 

Turning around slowly, her brain unfocused and distant, she wandered back up to her little house, hardly hearing Inuyasha call after her. “Hey, Kagome, are you sure you're okay?”

 

“Yeah, I'm sure,” she said distractedly, waving at him over her shoulder as she stared at the ring her in hand, the blue plastic band severed near the disc at the top. She had a feeling why neither Inuyasha nor Sesshomaru suspected anything strange about the ring. The very concept was bringing the nausea back in full force. `He broke it...Inuyasha broke my dog decoder…'