InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Don't know what you've got 'til it's gone ❯ Mole Hunt ( Chapter 20 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: RhiannonoftheMoon 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.14.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 5.0K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.14.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 5.0K | Status: Completed
A/N: A big thanks to everyone who volunteered to beta test and SmallFlower, who did this chapter. I wasn't able to access the emails of everyone - just a note, email addresses with 'at' signs get cut off in reviews. I've decided to post this chapter now, even though not all the betas have responded, because it's late anyway.
LEMON ALERT
FFnet
SadPoet, BusBuddie, will prunty, BloodGore, fluffyrachel, InuPhoenix, stardragon12, Amirha, Samari Princess458, Inulover4ever, Taeniaea, inulover4391, Toya's Gurl, TaintedInuShemeeko, MiniSparky
Dark Inu Fan - yeah, I was sort of drawing on that. The spell hit her the night before Inuyasha's human night. So, a lunar cycle would put her human night at a day before his.
bresteen - definately a stalker. How else would she be able to pop up at such opportune moments? I don't like her either.
AkuTenshi13 - I can't tell you that! Maybe that was a bit OOC for her, but you never really know what goes on in her head.
forgotten_angel_2 - well, I try to update every week...
Sangome - yeah, it was time for her to cause a little mischeif.
Owari Nai Yumes - lots of that in this one :)
MMorg
aNiMe HeLLcat, Lady Ceri, missbritt321
Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 20 - Mole Hunt
“Well, this is ironic, ain’t it?" Inuyasha glared down his nose at the cowering villager standing outside the gate of the demon slayer’s village. “Give us one good reason we should help you.”
The villager glanced from Inuyasha to Kagome, and then prostrated himself in the dirt of the road. He was over forty, the remains of his hair tied back in a sparse topknot. The dust stirred up by his efforts was rapidly coloring his faded blue kimono to a nondescript brown. “We humbly apologize for our treatment of you, Lady Kagome, but we have no one else to turn to. Lady Kaede…”
Inuyasha cut him off with a snort and turned his back to him. “It’s up to Kagome.”
Eyes as hard and sharp as the blade of her sickle, Kagome stared at the man from Kaede’s village.
***
“I’m sorry my child, but ye can’t stay here. I will help as much as I can, but ye must leave.”
Kagome could not believe her ears. Was Kaede kicking her out of the village? “But…“
Kaede shook her head, sadness in her eyes. “This is a human village. They accepted ye because ye were the reincarnation of their beloved miko and they accepted Inuyasha and Shippo because ye accepted them. But they will not accept a family of demons in their midst.”
***
‘They threw us out of their village because I became hanyou and now they want us to save them from a demon?’ Kagome unconsciously flexed her claws, her demon blood seething with fury at Kaede’s gumption to send this villager. The human part of her soul was quicker to forgive, ‘You couldn’t have expected them to forget hundreds of years of prejudice, could you? And this is the demon slayer’s village.” She glanced at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye. Sensing her internal war, he was watching her closely, trying to read her next move.
Her gaze settled back on the man on the ground, slicing through him more cleanly than any knife. Trembling, he kept his face pressed against the parched earth, disregarding the pebbles that bit into his skin. ‘Pitiful,’ her youkai seemed to sneer in the back of her mind. Her humanity recoiled, ‘Which is why we should help them. We can’t refuse someone who needs our aide! Besides, it would be good practice’. Before her youkai could protest, she nodded once, decisively. “We’ll do it.”
The man started to rise, stammering his thanks, but she stilled him with a cold glare. He couldn’t help but shiver in the hot morning sun. “You can tell Lady Kaede that we will be at the village in the morning.” She spun on her heel and stalked through the gates of the village.
*****
“You don’t have to do this, Kagome,” Inuyasha murmured in her ear. “Sango and Miroku could easily take care of it.” He tightened his arms around her under the sleeping bag, his body curled around hers. Shippo lay snuggled against her chest, twitching in his sleep.
“I know,” she wound a lock of his black hair around her claw and snuggled in closer. “But Sango said I need the practice and this mole youkai will serve that purpose.”
“I don’t fucking like it.”
“You said it was up to me,” she tugged on the lock of hair to emphasize her point. “We were friends with Kaede for a long time. I can’t turn my back on her and neither can you.”
“Keh. Just be careful.”
She knew she was right; as gruff and rude as he usually was, he had a big heart and wouldn’t deny help to someone who asked. “I will, but remember your promise. You’ll let me do the fighting and only jump in if I can’t handle it.”
He snorted; disgusted that he’d been cajoled into making a promise like that. Coerced, more like it. He’d definitely been under a form of duress, and didn’t that make a promise invalid? How had she known to hold him like that and tug, ever so gently, until his thoughts had scattered and he‘d been left shaking and sweating. He would have probably agreed to anything at that point. It was a pity that Sango and Miroku were sleeping across from them on the other side of the campfire; he wouldn’t mind revisiting that bit of coercion.
Feeling him stiffening against her lower back, Kagome gave his hair another sharp tug. He really was insatiable and she would have been more than willing, not to mention curious about his performance as a human, but now was not the time or place. Shippo whined softly in his sleep and she wrapped her arms around him, purring. She felt, rather than heard, Inuyasha soft sigh, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.
*****
“I’ve seen mole youkai tear up fields, but nothing like this,” Sango surveyed the remains of the village in shock.
Kagome winced at the twinge of guilt that nagged her conscience. ‘Don‘t be stupid, they kicked you out, remember?’ but she couldn‘t help but think if only they had settled closer to the village or if they had tried to reason with its people, then maybe they could have prevented the catastrophe. She couldn‘t hold on to her anger in the face of their loss. “It must have a jewel shard to have caused this much destruction.” Sango nodded sadly.
Jagged holes gaped where there had been neat, little rice patties. The road beside the river where she had ridden her bicycle had been obliterated and the river itself was choked with mud and debris. The youkai had burrowed under the village and now trenches cut the land where the ground had caved in. Several huts had collapsed and the stench of rotting corpses was ill disguised by incense and burial herbs.
Lifting her head high, Kagome ignored the wary glances of the villagers as she followed Sango to Kaede’s hut. She felt exposed in the black taijiya’s uniform that she had borrowed from Sango. The red front and black panels did not cover near enough of her body for her taste. Sango had laughed at her, reminding her that her school uniform showed much more bare skin. However, it didn’t outline every curve of her body. The deciding factor had been Inuyasha’s double-take when he saw her dressed; the heat in his gaze stirred the pit of her stomach, leaving her breathless.
The old priestess hobbled out of the hut to meet them, leaning on a crude crutch and wincing with each step. Kagome felt Inuyasha stiffen by her side and, sending reassurance through her mark, she took his hand and squeezed it. “We thank ye for coming. As ye can see, we were ill-prepared to fight such a foe.”
Sango bowed to Kaede only as low as courtesy demanded. “We are sorry for your loss.”
The priestess sighed and dropped her eyes, “It was my own short-sightedness that allowed it to happen. I hope ye can forgive me, Kagome, my child.”
“She ain’t your anything, old hag,” Inuyasha growled through clenched teeth.
Kagome squeezed his hand harder. “You did what you thought you had to do.”
“Aye, that I did.” Kaede rubbed her face with her hand, exhaustion numbing her battered body. Her shoulders sagged under the weight of years-old sorrow. She hadn’t expected forgiveness and had hardly let herself hope that they would come. It hurt her heart to feel the lack of camaraderie between them, especially knowing that it was her fault. She sighed again, “The youkai was last seen heading in the direction of the Bone Eater’s Well. It comes to ravage our village at night.”
*****
Kagome swung the sickle in a tightly controlled arc, concentrating on the rumbling beneath the ground. The mole was digging quickly toward her leaving a swath of raised earth and uprooted plants in its wake. The branches of the forest canopy swayed and whispered uneasily in the twilight, forming tortured faces and grasping hands. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she kept her breathing even and steady. She knew her friends were close by, watching, and she didn’t want them to jump in prematurely because of an attack of nerves. Letting her youkai senses extend toward the approaching mole demon, she felt the power of a shard of the Shikon Jewel.
The forest floor exploded in front of her in a shower of dirt and leaves. She leapt to the side and flung the blade at the enormous brown, furry body rising out of the hole. Feeling tension in the chain, she yanked it back, tasting the tang of blood in the air. The mole youkai screeched a horrible, high-pitched sound that set her teeth on edge. Sniffing the air, it turned its sightless eyes toward her and snarled; baring its sharp, elongated front teeth. It stretched its long claws toward her and lunged.
Easily dodging the clumsy attack, Kagome thought, ‘This was a lesser youkai before the jewel shard transformed it.’ She ducked a swing of its giant paw and rolled out of reach, coming to her feet in a low crouch. ‘Why did Kaede have such a difficult time with it? She’s repelled attacks from worse youkai.’
The mole swung around to face her and opened its maw, shrieking and spewing a clump of writhing brown tentacles. ‘No.’ Kagome slashed at one that got too close, ‘They’re roots.’ Twisting and twining around anything they touched, the roots squeezed until the trunks of young trees snapped and rocks were crushed to dust. Kagome leapt up and over its head, whipping the sickle around to bury itself in the youkai’s head. Keeping a firm grasp on the chain, she let her weight and the momentum of her jump pull the blade through its skull. Shrieking and clutching its ruined head, the mole belched another tangle of roots onto the forest floor.
Landing neatly, Kagome swung the sickle over her head and back toward the youkai, slicing through its soft neck. With a spray of blood and a wet gurgle, the youkai keeled over, its blind eyes blank and dead. She snapped the sickle back into her hand and warily approached the body. It was dead but it had died too quickly; this weak youkai couldn’t have been the source of all that destruction. Making a small incision in the back of its head, she removed the jewel shard and deposited it in her bottle.
“Too fucking easy.” Inuyasha sauntered over to her and glared down at the body.
Kagome wiped the blade of her sickle in the grass, cleaning off the blood and gore. “I know.”
“So where’s the other…” The hanyou’s eyes widened in shock as the ground opened up beneath them. Kagome careened into him and clung to his haori as they both tumbled into the pit. Scrabbling with his claws as the walls of the hole, Inuyasha caught hold of a large root, stopping their descent. They both hung there a moment, staring into the blackness below their feet.
“Kagome? Inuyasha?” Sango, Shippo, and Miroku peered over the edge, squinting into the darkness.
“We’re OK,” Kagome called up, her claws tearing holes into the red fabric. Inuyasha grunted and braced himself with feet against the wall of the pit, tightly grasping the root. Hand over hand, he began hauling them out of the pit.
Kagome squeaked and kicked at something tickling her ankle. Glaring over his shoulder, Inuyasha grouched, “Quit squirming, wench.”
“Something’s touching me!” She flailed a foot that had somehow gotten tangled in a cluster of roots.
“Stupid, of course something’s touching you. We’re in a hole in the ground.”
“I’m not stupid, you…” Kagome shrieked as she was suddenly pulled down into the pit by her ankle. She hit the ground with a thud and was immediately drug deeper into the tunnel. Inuyasha’s frantic voice echoed back to her as the last bit of light from the hole was extinguished. She called back, a short yip that she was hardly aware of making. Twisting her body so that she was on her stomach, she dug her claws of one hand into the soft earth and kicked her legs, trying to free the grip on her ankle. More roots twined around her wrists and up her legs, dislodging her claws from the earth. “Inuyasha!” she screamed as the roots drew her further into the tunnel.
“Kagome!” Inuyasha barreled into the tunnel, one hand on the wall to guide him. He followed the sounds of her voice but he couldn’t see in the inky blackness. Her scent was almost completely overpowered by the dank, mildew scent of the other mole youkai. Furious at himself for losing her, he shouted her name again, relieved when he heard her reply. He yanked Tetsusaiga from its sheath and quickened his pace. ‘Why aren’t the roots attacking me?’ he wondered as the raced along the passage. He winced as the answer became clear, ‘You didn’t kill the other mole.’ His heart missed a beat when Kagome’s scream was cut short, followed by the smell of her blood. It was close; he hoped he wasn’t too late.
Slashing blindly in the dark with her free hand, Kagome desperately tried to locate her opponent. This mole was much more intelligent than the other; it had immobilized her legs and one of her arms and was leaping at her from all angles, tearing gouges in her skin. One of the smaller roots had wrapped around her head, effectively gagging her. The clean, pure scent of jewel shards was much stronger and she locked onto source of their power, flicking the blade of her sickle toward it. An ear-splitting shriek shook dirt from the walls of the tunnel and the roots tightened their hold, cutting into her skin. She groaned into the root in her mouth and yanked the sickle into her hand. Slicing the roots that bound her arm, she felt the mole’s sharp teeth sink into her thigh.
“Kaze no kizu!” The earthen passage was lit by brilliant fingers of energy as they tore rivulets in the walls and floors. The mole youkai wailed and shot straight up, frantically digging toward the surface of the ground. Kagome shook off the slackened roots and leapt after it, closely followed by Inuyasha.
Crashing through the thick underbrush, the injured mole left a wake of bent saplings. Ignoring her injuries and giddy with the smell of the blood of her prey, Kagome raced after it. Dimly, she heard Inuyasha calling her name and shouted back, a primal youkai call to the hunt. His answering roar stirred her blood and she grinned fiercely. Her prey was close ahead and it was not going to get away. Neither hanyou noticed Sango and Miroku riding a transformed Kirara soaring above them.
The mole youkai screamed as two pairs of claws tore into its burnt sides, leaving ragged gouges that bled freely. Instinctively, it began digging, keening in fear and pain. That horrible sword bit into it, tearing through its soft belly and still it dug, even as consciousness ebbed away. Its final shriek was ended by a slash to its throat by the hanyou that had killed it’s mate. Lying in a pool of its own blood, the mole shuddered once, and then died.
Panting, the two hanyou stared at each other over the body of mole, their gaze ignited by bloodlust. With a fierce growl, Inuyasha leapt over the corpse and tackled Kagome, locking her lips with a bruising kiss.
Miroku stared down at them from the back of the fire cat, open mouthed. “Next to a corpse?”
“It’s a demon thing. Come on, you letch, let’s leave them alone,” Kirara roared and circled away from the passionate couple.
“Why Sango, you wish to be alone with me?” He leaned against her back, trying to see her face. His hand itched to rub her pert backside.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I didn’t mean it that way.” She swung her elbow into his gut at the gentle squeeze of her butt, and was rewarded by a painful grunt. She should have expected something like this. Mated demons who shared a kill often finished up by, well, mating. Some demons ended up mated because they had hunted together. Still, she had been taken by surprise, probably since she just didn’t think of her friends as the demons she had been trained to analyze and exterminate. Inuyasha really hadn’t displayed much typical youkai behavior until Kagome had been transformed.
Miroku simply did not understand. How did a surly, obnoxious, arrogant guy like Inuyasha get a bedmate before him; a handsome, thoughtful man of the cloth? Indifference, Hochi had told him once, but he could not be indifferent to the delights of women.
***** START LEMON
Kagome peeled off the exterminator’s uniform that Sango had lent her, tugging Inuyasha into the screen of trees. The blood beat heavily in her body, pounding out a rhythm that ached to be shared. He had already discarded his inner and outer haori and was loosening the knot of his hakama. The ties tore in his fist and he kicked out of the fabric, hard and ready for her. Consumed by the sharp, musky scent of his mate, he growled low in his throat. His youkai instincts took complete control and scattered human thought to the wind. He lunged at her, his flowing silver mane trailing behind like a banner, and backed her up against the rough bark of a tree.
Scraping fangs against skin, he explored her body with his mouth, starting at the base of her throat and working down to suckle a hard nipple. Kagome joined his growl with her own and dug her claws into his sides. She was melting into a puddle, aware only of his searing lips and the burning in her blood. He nibbled across her stomach and down a smooth flank, licking the blood from her wounds. Finally reaching the core of her scent, he parted the soft petals and lapped at her bittersweet nectar.
Kagome cried out and arched into him, electrified by the sensations rocking her body. She tangled her claws in his silken hair, holding him to her as he teased her sensitive nub. Her knees weakened as his tongue burrowed into her, until the only thing holding her up was the trunk of the tree and his hand, firmly pressed on her stomach.
Tasting her readiness, he pulled away and let her drop to her hands and knees. Spreading her knees apart and grasping a breast in each clawed hand, he eased into her quivering passage. She gasped and threw her head back, clenching around his throbbing member. He licked a trail over his mark and up her back as he slowly withdrew and pushed back into her. She was filled to overflowing, feeling stretched and taught as wire. Her body hummed with each pulse of him, coiling tighter and tighter. Turning her head, her lips found his, joining a circuit of energy that coursed from one to the other.
No longer able to hold back, Inuyasha thrust faster as a crescendo of pleasure rose in them both. Release washed over and through them, blinding them with the force of its power.
***** END LEMON
Breathing hard, he wrapped his arms around her abdomen and laid his head on her back. Kagome closed her eyes and sat back on her legs, leaning against his slick body. Letting her head fall back against his shoulder, she whispered, “I love you.”
He rolled them to the forest floor and curled his body around hers. “Love you,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck.
LEMON ALERT
FFnet
SadPoet, BusBuddie, will prunty, BloodGore, fluffyrachel, InuPhoenix, stardragon12, Amirha, Samari Princess458, Inulover4ever, Taeniaea, inulover4391, Toya's Gurl, TaintedInuShemeeko, MiniSparky
Dark Inu Fan - yeah, I was sort of drawing on that. The spell hit her the night before Inuyasha's human night. So, a lunar cycle would put her human night at a day before his.
bresteen - definately a stalker. How else would she be able to pop up at such opportune moments? I don't like her either.
AkuTenshi13 - I can't tell you that! Maybe that was a bit OOC for her, but you never really know what goes on in her head.
forgotten_angel_2 - well, I try to update every week...
Sangome - yeah, it was time for her to cause a little mischeif.
Owari Nai Yumes - lots of that in this one :)
MMorg
aNiMe HeLLcat, Lady Ceri, missbritt321
Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 20 - Mole Hunt
“Well, this is ironic, ain’t it?" Inuyasha glared down his nose at the cowering villager standing outside the gate of the demon slayer’s village. “Give us one good reason we should help you.”
The villager glanced from Inuyasha to Kagome, and then prostrated himself in the dirt of the road. He was over forty, the remains of his hair tied back in a sparse topknot. The dust stirred up by his efforts was rapidly coloring his faded blue kimono to a nondescript brown. “We humbly apologize for our treatment of you, Lady Kagome, but we have no one else to turn to. Lady Kaede…”
Inuyasha cut him off with a snort and turned his back to him. “It’s up to Kagome.”
Eyes as hard and sharp as the blade of her sickle, Kagome stared at the man from Kaede’s village.
***
“I’m sorry my child, but ye can’t stay here. I will help as much as I can, but ye must leave.”
Kagome could not believe her ears. Was Kaede kicking her out of the village? “But…“
Kaede shook her head, sadness in her eyes. “This is a human village. They accepted ye because ye were the reincarnation of their beloved miko and they accepted Inuyasha and Shippo because ye accepted them. But they will not accept a family of demons in their midst.”
***
‘They threw us out of their village because I became hanyou and now they want us to save them from a demon?’ Kagome unconsciously flexed her claws, her demon blood seething with fury at Kaede’s gumption to send this villager. The human part of her soul was quicker to forgive, ‘You couldn’t have expected them to forget hundreds of years of prejudice, could you? And this is the demon slayer’s village.” She glanced at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye. Sensing her internal war, he was watching her closely, trying to read her next move.
Her gaze settled back on the man on the ground, slicing through him more cleanly than any knife. Trembling, he kept his face pressed against the parched earth, disregarding the pebbles that bit into his skin. ‘Pitiful,’ her youkai seemed to sneer in the back of her mind. Her humanity recoiled, ‘Which is why we should help them. We can’t refuse someone who needs our aide! Besides, it would be good practice’. Before her youkai could protest, she nodded once, decisively. “We’ll do it.”
The man started to rise, stammering his thanks, but she stilled him with a cold glare. He couldn’t help but shiver in the hot morning sun. “You can tell Lady Kaede that we will be at the village in the morning.” She spun on her heel and stalked through the gates of the village.
*****
“You don’t have to do this, Kagome,” Inuyasha murmured in her ear. “Sango and Miroku could easily take care of it.” He tightened his arms around her under the sleeping bag, his body curled around hers. Shippo lay snuggled against her chest, twitching in his sleep.
“I know,” she wound a lock of his black hair around her claw and snuggled in closer. “But Sango said I need the practice and this mole youkai will serve that purpose.”
“I don’t fucking like it.”
“You said it was up to me,” she tugged on the lock of hair to emphasize her point. “We were friends with Kaede for a long time. I can’t turn my back on her and neither can you.”
“Keh. Just be careful.”
She knew she was right; as gruff and rude as he usually was, he had a big heart and wouldn’t deny help to someone who asked. “I will, but remember your promise. You’ll let me do the fighting and only jump in if I can’t handle it.”
He snorted; disgusted that he’d been cajoled into making a promise like that. Coerced, more like it. He’d definitely been under a form of duress, and didn’t that make a promise invalid? How had she known to hold him like that and tug, ever so gently, until his thoughts had scattered and he‘d been left shaking and sweating. He would have probably agreed to anything at that point. It was a pity that Sango and Miroku were sleeping across from them on the other side of the campfire; he wouldn’t mind revisiting that bit of coercion.
Feeling him stiffening against her lower back, Kagome gave his hair another sharp tug. He really was insatiable and she would have been more than willing, not to mention curious about his performance as a human, but now was not the time or place. Shippo whined softly in his sleep and she wrapped her arms around him, purring. She felt, rather than heard, Inuyasha soft sigh, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.
*****
“I’ve seen mole youkai tear up fields, but nothing like this,” Sango surveyed the remains of the village in shock.
Kagome winced at the twinge of guilt that nagged her conscience. ‘Don‘t be stupid, they kicked you out, remember?’ but she couldn‘t help but think if only they had settled closer to the village or if they had tried to reason with its people, then maybe they could have prevented the catastrophe. She couldn‘t hold on to her anger in the face of their loss. “It must have a jewel shard to have caused this much destruction.” Sango nodded sadly.
Jagged holes gaped where there had been neat, little rice patties. The road beside the river where she had ridden her bicycle had been obliterated and the river itself was choked with mud and debris. The youkai had burrowed under the village and now trenches cut the land where the ground had caved in. Several huts had collapsed and the stench of rotting corpses was ill disguised by incense and burial herbs.
Lifting her head high, Kagome ignored the wary glances of the villagers as she followed Sango to Kaede’s hut. She felt exposed in the black taijiya’s uniform that she had borrowed from Sango. The red front and black panels did not cover near enough of her body for her taste. Sango had laughed at her, reminding her that her school uniform showed much more bare skin. However, it didn’t outline every curve of her body. The deciding factor had been Inuyasha’s double-take when he saw her dressed; the heat in his gaze stirred the pit of her stomach, leaving her breathless.
The old priestess hobbled out of the hut to meet them, leaning on a crude crutch and wincing with each step. Kagome felt Inuyasha stiffen by her side and, sending reassurance through her mark, she took his hand and squeezed it. “We thank ye for coming. As ye can see, we were ill-prepared to fight such a foe.”
Sango bowed to Kaede only as low as courtesy demanded. “We are sorry for your loss.”
The priestess sighed and dropped her eyes, “It was my own short-sightedness that allowed it to happen. I hope ye can forgive me, Kagome, my child.”
“She ain’t your anything, old hag,” Inuyasha growled through clenched teeth.
Kagome squeezed his hand harder. “You did what you thought you had to do.”
“Aye, that I did.” Kaede rubbed her face with her hand, exhaustion numbing her battered body. Her shoulders sagged under the weight of years-old sorrow. She hadn’t expected forgiveness and had hardly let herself hope that they would come. It hurt her heart to feel the lack of camaraderie between them, especially knowing that it was her fault. She sighed again, “The youkai was last seen heading in the direction of the Bone Eater’s Well. It comes to ravage our village at night.”
*****
Kagome swung the sickle in a tightly controlled arc, concentrating on the rumbling beneath the ground. The mole was digging quickly toward her leaving a swath of raised earth and uprooted plants in its wake. The branches of the forest canopy swayed and whispered uneasily in the twilight, forming tortured faces and grasping hands. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she kept her breathing even and steady. She knew her friends were close by, watching, and she didn’t want them to jump in prematurely because of an attack of nerves. Letting her youkai senses extend toward the approaching mole demon, she felt the power of a shard of the Shikon Jewel.
The forest floor exploded in front of her in a shower of dirt and leaves. She leapt to the side and flung the blade at the enormous brown, furry body rising out of the hole. Feeling tension in the chain, she yanked it back, tasting the tang of blood in the air. The mole youkai screeched a horrible, high-pitched sound that set her teeth on edge. Sniffing the air, it turned its sightless eyes toward her and snarled; baring its sharp, elongated front teeth. It stretched its long claws toward her and lunged.
Easily dodging the clumsy attack, Kagome thought, ‘This was a lesser youkai before the jewel shard transformed it.’ She ducked a swing of its giant paw and rolled out of reach, coming to her feet in a low crouch. ‘Why did Kaede have such a difficult time with it? She’s repelled attacks from worse youkai.’
The mole swung around to face her and opened its maw, shrieking and spewing a clump of writhing brown tentacles. ‘No.’ Kagome slashed at one that got too close, ‘They’re roots.’ Twisting and twining around anything they touched, the roots squeezed until the trunks of young trees snapped and rocks were crushed to dust. Kagome leapt up and over its head, whipping the sickle around to bury itself in the youkai’s head. Keeping a firm grasp on the chain, she let her weight and the momentum of her jump pull the blade through its skull. Shrieking and clutching its ruined head, the mole belched another tangle of roots onto the forest floor.
Landing neatly, Kagome swung the sickle over her head and back toward the youkai, slicing through its soft neck. With a spray of blood and a wet gurgle, the youkai keeled over, its blind eyes blank and dead. She snapped the sickle back into her hand and warily approached the body. It was dead but it had died too quickly; this weak youkai couldn’t have been the source of all that destruction. Making a small incision in the back of its head, she removed the jewel shard and deposited it in her bottle.
“Too fucking easy.” Inuyasha sauntered over to her and glared down at the body.
Kagome wiped the blade of her sickle in the grass, cleaning off the blood and gore. “I know.”
“So where’s the other…” The hanyou’s eyes widened in shock as the ground opened up beneath them. Kagome careened into him and clung to his haori as they both tumbled into the pit. Scrabbling with his claws as the walls of the hole, Inuyasha caught hold of a large root, stopping their descent. They both hung there a moment, staring into the blackness below their feet.
“Kagome? Inuyasha?” Sango, Shippo, and Miroku peered over the edge, squinting into the darkness.
“We’re OK,” Kagome called up, her claws tearing holes into the red fabric. Inuyasha grunted and braced himself with feet against the wall of the pit, tightly grasping the root. Hand over hand, he began hauling them out of the pit.
Kagome squeaked and kicked at something tickling her ankle. Glaring over his shoulder, Inuyasha grouched, “Quit squirming, wench.”
“Something’s touching me!” She flailed a foot that had somehow gotten tangled in a cluster of roots.
“Stupid, of course something’s touching you. We’re in a hole in the ground.”
“I’m not stupid, you…” Kagome shrieked as she was suddenly pulled down into the pit by her ankle. She hit the ground with a thud and was immediately drug deeper into the tunnel. Inuyasha’s frantic voice echoed back to her as the last bit of light from the hole was extinguished. She called back, a short yip that she was hardly aware of making. Twisting her body so that she was on her stomach, she dug her claws of one hand into the soft earth and kicked her legs, trying to free the grip on her ankle. More roots twined around her wrists and up her legs, dislodging her claws from the earth. “Inuyasha!” she screamed as the roots drew her further into the tunnel.
“Kagome!” Inuyasha barreled into the tunnel, one hand on the wall to guide him. He followed the sounds of her voice but he couldn’t see in the inky blackness. Her scent was almost completely overpowered by the dank, mildew scent of the other mole youkai. Furious at himself for losing her, he shouted her name again, relieved when he heard her reply. He yanked Tetsusaiga from its sheath and quickened his pace. ‘Why aren’t the roots attacking me?’ he wondered as the raced along the passage. He winced as the answer became clear, ‘You didn’t kill the other mole.’ His heart missed a beat when Kagome’s scream was cut short, followed by the smell of her blood. It was close; he hoped he wasn’t too late.
Slashing blindly in the dark with her free hand, Kagome desperately tried to locate her opponent. This mole was much more intelligent than the other; it had immobilized her legs and one of her arms and was leaping at her from all angles, tearing gouges in her skin. One of the smaller roots had wrapped around her head, effectively gagging her. The clean, pure scent of jewel shards was much stronger and she locked onto source of their power, flicking the blade of her sickle toward it. An ear-splitting shriek shook dirt from the walls of the tunnel and the roots tightened their hold, cutting into her skin. She groaned into the root in her mouth and yanked the sickle into her hand. Slicing the roots that bound her arm, she felt the mole’s sharp teeth sink into her thigh.
“Kaze no kizu!” The earthen passage was lit by brilliant fingers of energy as they tore rivulets in the walls and floors. The mole youkai wailed and shot straight up, frantically digging toward the surface of the ground. Kagome shook off the slackened roots and leapt after it, closely followed by Inuyasha.
Crashing through the thick underbrush, the injured mole left a wake of bent saplings. Ignoring her injuries and giddy with the smell of the blood of her prey, Kagome raced after it. Dimly, she heard Inuyasha calling her name and shouted back, a primal youkai call to the hunt. His answering roar stirred her blood and she grinned fiercely. Her prey was close ahead and it was not going to get away. Neither hanyou noticed Sango and Miroku riding a transformed Kirara soaring above them.
The mole youkai screamed as two pairs of claws tore into its burnt sides, leaving ragged gouges that bled freely. Instinctively, it began digging, keening in fear and pain. That horrible sword bit into it, tearing through its soft belly and still it dug, even as consciousness ebbed away. Its final shriek was ended by a slash to its throat by the hanyou that had killed it’s mate. Lying in a pool of its own blood, the mole shuddered once, and then died.
Panting, the two hanyou stared at each other over the body of mole, their gaze ignited by bloodlust. With a fierce growl, Inuyasha leapt over the corpse and tackled Kagome, locking her lips with a bruising kiss.
Miroku stared down at them from the back of the fire cat, open mouthed. “Next to a corpse?”
“It’s a demon thing. Come on, you letch, let’s leave them alone,” Kirara roared and circled away from the passionate couple.
“Why Sango, you wish to be alone with me?” He leaned against her back, trying to see her face. His hand itched to rub her pert backside.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I didn’t mean it that way.” She swung her elbow into his gut at the gentle squeeze of her butt, and was rewarded by a painful grunt. She should have expected something like this. Mated demons who shared a kill often finished up by, well, mating. Some demons ended up mated because they had hunted together. Still, she had been taken by surprise, probably since she just didn’t think of her friends as the demons she had been trained to analyze and exterminate. Inuyasha really hadn’t displayed much typical youkai behavior until Kagome had been transformed.
Miroku simply did not understand. How did a surly, obnoxious, arrogant guy like Inuyasha get a bedmate before him; a handsome, thoughtful man of the cloth? Indifference, Hochi had told him once, but he could not be indifferent to the delights of women.
***** START LEMON
Kagome peeled off the exterminator’s uniform that Sango had lent her, tugging Inuyasha into the screen of trees. The blood beat heavily in her body, pounding out a rhythm that ached to be shared. He had already discarded his inner and outer haori and was loosening the knot of his hakama. The ties tore in his fist and he kicked out of the fabric, hard and ready for her. Consumed by the sharp, musky scent of his mate, he growled low in his throat. His youkai instincts took complete control and scattered human thought to the wind. He lunged at her, his flowing silver mane trailing behind like a banner, and backed her up against the rough bark of a tree.
Scraping fangs against skin, he explored her body with his mouth, starting at the base of her throat and working down to suckle a hard nipple. Kagome joined his growl with her own and dug her claws into his sides. She was melting into a puddle, aware only of his searing lips and the burning in her blood. He nibbled across her stomach and down a smooth flank, licking the blood from her wounds. Finally reaching the core of her scent, he parted the soft petals and lapped at her bittersweet nectar.
Kagome cried out and arched into him, electrified by the sensations rocking her body. She tangled her claws in his silken hair, holding him to her as he teased her sensitive nub. Her knees weakened as his tongue burrowed into her, until the only thing holding her up was the trunk of the tree and his hand, firmly pressed on her stomach.
Tasting her readiness, he pulled away and let her drop to her hands and knees. Spreading her knees apart and grasping a breast in each clawed hand, he eased into her quivering passage. She gasped and threw her head back, clenching around his throbbing member. He licked a trail over his mark and up her back as he slowly withdrew and pushed back into her. She was filled to overflowing, feeling stretched and taught as wire. Her body hummed with each pulse of him, coiling tighter and tighter. Turning her head, her lips found his, joining a circuit of energy that coursed from one to the other.
No longer able to hold back, Inuyasha thrust faster as a crescendo of pleasure rose in them both. Release washed over and through them, blinding them with the force of its power.
***** END LEMON
Breathing hard, he wrapped his arms around her abdomen and laid his head on her back. Kagome closed her eyes and sat back on her legs, leaning against his slick body. Letting her head fall back against his shoulder, she whispered, “I love you.”
He rolled them to the forest floor and curled his body around hers. “Love you,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck.