InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ Clearing the air ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.13.2006 | Updated On: 06.11.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 36.5K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.13.2006 | Updated On: 06.11.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 36.5K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chapter 2 – Clearing the air
It wasn’t hard for Kagome to keep herself awake that night, her mind was racing a mile a minute, and she actually tried to concentrate on mundane stuff like school work just to keep herself from become aroused again. After she heard the steady breathing of those around the campfire, indicating they were asleep, she waited for about another hour or so, just to be safe. Inuyasha wasn’t by them at camp, of course; he’d taken up residence in a near by tree. This time he was a little further away and higher up than usual, claiming he’d stay on watch in case any more youkai came around. Miroku even made him promise not to take them out on his own this time. Looking up at Inuyasha, she couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not, but even if he were, it’d be easy enough to wake him without stirring the others.
Inuyasha wasn’t asleep, of course. He rarely needed sleep, but even if he wanted to lose himself in blissful unconsciousness, it seemed that sleep was avoiding him this night. Just as a certain miko from the future had been avoiding him all evening.
She must really HATE me, he thought from his perch. How could I have been so WEAK?
Suddenly, he realized that she wasn’t even asleep yet. It became quite obvious when she got up from her sleeping bag, careful to not disturb a comatose Shippo, before quietly making her approach to the base of the tree in which he was sitting.
Fuck… he cursed to himself. She must want me to apologize. Why should I? Serves her right for spying on me…right? Though Kagome couldn’t see it from her spot below him, his ears quickly lowered at his thoughts. No…who’m I kidding? She deserves an apology.
“Inuyasha….” came a whispering voice from below “Are you awake?”
He said nothing, but opened his eyes and looked down, meeting her gaze. This time, she didn’t turn away, and cringed at the emotions she could see playing on his face.
“We….” No, change that… ‘we need to talk’ sounds like I’m mad at him “I….need to talk to you….please?”
Still he said nothing, but leapt down from his spot in the tree. Now standing right before her, Kagome did turn her gaze away, but only to keep herself from blushing. Her mind was still playing tricks with her she found, seeing things that were, in fact, currently covered up.
“Umm…can we go somewhere where the others won’t hear?” she mumbled.
Finally, he spoke, muttering “Good idea.” as he picked her up and silently leaped further into the forest.
God, he must really hate me…I hope he can forgive me…
Neither of them noticed the pair of crimson eyes that had cracked open for a moment at their departure, before closing in slumber once more.
Once they were in a fairly secluded location, far enough away that even Shippo shouldn’t hear them speaking, should he wake, Inuyasha put Kagome down and, removing the sheathed Tetsusaiga from his obi, plopped himself down upon the forest floor. He crossed his arms into the sleeves of his kimono, his sword resting against his shoulder, and looked up at her with a ‘well, get on with it’ expression. Kagome just stood there for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts, or was it gather her wits? Finally, she sat down across from him.
“Well…speak, wench.”
Kagome had opened her mouth to begin, but then promptly shut it again, taken aback by his comment. Not so much the words used, as the tone. He was mad… She couldn’t help the salty moisture she felt gathering behind her eyes, although she did her best to fight back her coming tears. But from his point of view, he was just trying to get the bombardment over with, convinced she was about to let him have it, and when he smelled the salt of her forming tears, he feared the situation was even worse than he’d originally thought. Was she really that upset? With ears drooping, he saw her expression become even sadder. Had he really hurt her so badly? Man, he was dirt.
“Kagome…” he started slowly, unsure of what to say. He needn’t have worried, though, because it was in that moment that Kagome finally lost it.
“Inuyasha…” she whimpered, her lip trembling. “I'm…I'm SO SORRY!!!!” Now the tears were falling full force.
She’s sorry??? What the hell??? “Oi, Kagome! What are you sorry for?”
“Umm….hello? For peeping! I…I didn’t mean to…I just…you were just…”
“Feh, don’t remind me.” he muttered behind a blush. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Kagome.” he managed to get out. “I can’t believe you’re not mad at me.”
“Why would I be mad at you?”
“Why would I be mad at you?”
“Umm…‘cause that’s sort of a private thing I walked in on. I’m sure most any guy who gets caught doing…uh…‘that’…would probably be humiliated.”
“You mean other guys do ‘that’ too?” He looked genuinely surprised by the notion.
“Of course they do!” she piped up, forcing herself to not feel embarrassed by their topic of conversation when she saw the look of genuine shock on his face. Did he honestly think it was something only he had ever fallen victim too? No wonder he was apologizing to her for what she’d been ‘forced’ to witness. Sheesh.
“Probably every guy does that.” she explained, “With the exception of priests or monks, of course. Uh…with the exception of Miroku.”
That last remark made Inuyasha chuckle a bit, despite his own embarrassment. Now that he thought about it, he remembered that he had in fact caught…well not so much caught as heard…said lecherous monk perform said lecherous acts. Realizing that Kagome wasn’t angry with him made him relax his defensive posture a little, as he pulled his arms out of his sleeves and sat Tetsusaiga down on the grace beside him. This conversation wasn’t so bad after all.
The sight of Inuyasha chuckling made Kagome laugh as well, as she, too, relaxed her posture. Finally, she thought, the ice had been broken.
“Inuyasha…” she said, reaching forward and placing her hand on his. “I’m not mad at you, okay? What you did was perfectly natural, and nothing to be ashamed of.”
He was in sudden shock, realizing which hand she was touching. Was she aware of it? Then he realized what she just said. Huh, maybe she really wasn’t grossed out after all…
“I thought for sure you’d be mad at me for having caught you in a private moment, but I’m not angry with you for what you did.” she continued to explain. “In a way it was my fault you even had to, anyway, after what happened before, with the pocky.” A deep blush rose to her cheeks at her final words, but she had to make sure he understood that she understood.
Inuyasha had actually forgotten for the moment about his earlier arousal, but blushed as well at the reminder. Damn, he’d better explain so that Kagome didn’t think he was always so weak.
“It wasn’t your fault…not really…”
Kagome’s face adopted an I don’t understand look, so he continued.
“It’s…uh, it’s mating season. So I’m…it’s easier to…uh…”
“Ohhhhhhhh”
It̵ 7;d never even occurred to her that Inuyasha would be affected by the springtime as Sango had once explained to her that other youkai were affected. After all, he was half human, and he’d certainly done a rather good job of pretending he was unaffected by the season up until now. But now that she thought about it, as the events of the last month came rushing back to her, everything suddenly made perfect sense.
All the times he’d seemed hot and out of breath after they hadn’t been walking that long, all the times he’d snapped at her over the stupidest little things, I mean, even more so than usual, and the times she was sure she’d caught him staring at either her butt or her chest, but convinced herself otherwise because she’d figured he wasn’t interested in her that way. Her mind popped back into the here and now upon realizing that the hand she still held was suddenly rather clammy, and she looked up to see that his gaze was no longer meeting her eyes, but rather, was adjusted slightly lower. The tank top she wore as her nightshirt allowed for quite a view, especially with her current posture of crouching slightly forward. Blushing even deeper, she released his hand and sprang back into a more upright position.
“Ka-Kagome…” he stuttered, panting heavily.
“I’m sorry, Inuyasha.” she apologized sincerely, feeling guilty for causing his torture. “I had no idea.”
“You…” Gulping, he tried again. “You better get out of here.”
Huh? “Why?” she asked aloud.
“Be…cause...” was all he could muster, as he gripped the earth with his claws so tightly, Kagome half expected the ground to start bleeding. Looking him up and down, she saw that his bangs hid his eyes, as he stared at the ground, but she could hear how hard he was breathing, and quickly realized that he must be aroused again.
“Okay…” she said with as understanding of a tone that she could muster, desperate to make sure he knew that she wasn’t offended or disturbed. “If you need to be alone…I’ll just-”
“No, I ain’t gonna do that again.” he interrupted, the disgust Kagome had feared he’d think she felt suddenly present in his own voice. “I was just too weak before.” she thought she heard him mumble.
“It’s okay Inuyasha-”
“No it ain’t!” he snapped, getting angry at her lack of comprehension, although at least his anger was helping him get a handle on his arousal. “I shouldn’t have such thoughts!”
“You…” Taking a deep breath, she tried again, “You don’t think of me that way, do you? I mean, when it’s not mating season.” She always knew it was true, but to hear him say it so bluntly…that hurt.
He blinked in confusion over the sudden turn of their conversation. What the hell? “I…” He didn’t know what to say, but at least his blood was cooling off a bit. How could he stay aroused when she looked so dejected?
“It’s okay…” she managed to get out, tears glistening in her eyes once more. “I never really expected you to, anyway.”
“Oi, wait a minute…” he muttered, shaking his head in an attempt to better understand what she was saying. “You want me to have those thoughts? About you?”
“Well…” Now she was blushing again, but he definitely picked up the spike in her scent, so against his better judgment, he decided to trudge forward.
"It's not like I don’t think about sex the rest of the year, ya know.” he admitted, despite his embarrassment to be discussing such things with her. “It’s just, I dunno…nature wants me to mate during spring time, so it becomes that much harder to control.” Taking a breath, he gulped and added, “Especially around you, Kagome.”
Her eyes lifted to meet his own, a confused look of shock and hope replacing her drying tears.
“I just never thought that you liked me in that way.” he finished, while deeply breathing in the scent that assured him he’d been wrong in that assessment. Damn, there goes his control, he grumbled, as he felt his arousal spring back to life, literally.
Kagome did more than just like him that way. In truth, she loved him, but was only just now starting to realize that maybe, possibly, he actually felt the same way. She was hoping he’d be her first, and since she was now seventeen and some of her school friends were already sleeping with their boyfriends, she was more than ready, both mentally and physically. She’d even been on birth control for the last year, ever since she started to really realize just how much she cared for Inuyasha. She’d discussed it all with her mother, and she’d put her on the shot…you know, “just in case”. Not that she didn’t love the idea of raising a family with him, when she was ready, but now just wasn’t the time to think about such things. Not while she was still in school, and they still had to kill Naraku and complete the jewel. With her thoughts winding down, she quickly realized that she’d yet to respond to Inuyasha’s last comment, at least out loud, so finally gathering her courage, she whispered…
“Well, I do.”
He blushed and lowered his face, but raised his eyes so that his gaze still held her own. She couldn’t help but to grin at the sight; he looked so cute, so shy...
“How…um…how much longer is mating season, anyway?” she managed to ask, despite her rising embarrassment and arousal.
“It’s spring time, so what do you think?”
“Another two months, huh?”
“Keh.”
“I don’t remember you going through this last year, or the year before.”
Why was she insisting upon having a conversation? It was hard enough for Inuyasha to breathe, let alone concentrate enough to form actual words. Then again, maybe that was her logic: keep him distracted until his hard on goes away again. Good thinking Kagome…
“Keh…well…it was spring when we first met…and I hardly liked you back then. I did peep on you though…if you recall.” It was Kagome’s turn to blush. He actually admitted he’d been peeping! Not trying to get her jewel shards, as had been his excuse at the time. “And last year…well…it was about this hard to deal with last year…but you were younger…more innocent. I’ve really noticed how you’ve matured since then, Kagome…and last year you didn’t straddle my crotch!”
At that Kagome burst out laughing She couldn’t help it, the whole situation was just too much; it finally got to her.
“Oi, wench! You lost your mind or something?”
“No…I’m….I’m fine…sorry…” she managed to get out between breaths, trying hard to stop her laughter.
“It ain’t funny!”
“In a way it is.”
“Oh yeah? You try it!”
“Hey, I get aroused too, ya know. Youkai aren’t the only ones driven by mating instincts.”
“Keh…but you humans don’t react to it nearly as strong.”
“Wanna bet? I’ve…uhhh….” Finally realizing what they had been discussing, and what she almost admitted to doing, a tremendous amount of red rushed up her cheeks.
Inuyasha wasn’t quite as slow as most people thought he was, though, and easily picked up on her distress. It was only fair that she feel uncomfortable for a moment, he decided, after they’d been discussing his mating instincts so openly for the last few minutes. “I thought you said only guys did that?” he teased.
“Um…” she mumbled while fidgeting nervously. “Yeah well…girls can do it, too.”
He threw on his best ‘curious child’ puppy-eyes. “How?”
Oh gods, was he serious? Then again, how would he know? It’s not like he’d ever actually been with anyone, that much had become quite obvious.
“Um…”
Then it was Inuyasha’s turn to bust out laughing… “Oi woman, I ain’t that dumb, but the look on your face!”
“Oh you baka!” she laughed as well. “Well,” she shrugged. “At least you seem to be feeling better.”
“Not really.” he admitted, as he adjusted his sitting position so that she could plainly see the tent in his hakama.
“Oh…” Her relatively happy expression was instantly solemn once more. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Remarkably, he meant it.
“If you…um…mated…would you still be tormented the rest of the season?” she asked out of the blue.
“Yeah…Wait…what did you say?” He stared at her in shock. He couldn’t have heard her right!
“Your body needs to mate, right?” she asked, even though that much had already pretty much been established by that point.
“Kagome? What are you…” He let his questioning words drift to a stop as she crawled a couple of feet across the forest floor until she was sitting directly in front of him. She had given him quite the view while bent over, and he was having trouble regaining control of his thoughts.
“Let me help you.” she whispered into his ear, which flickered a little at the tickling breeze of her breath.
Shuddering from the sensation it sent through his body, he stumbled over his own tongue in an attempt to remember how to form words.
“It’s…uh…it’s not… that simple.” he managed to get out.
“How so?” she asked in a soft whisper, sitting so closely that even in the low moonlight, she could clearly see the beads of sweat running down his forehead
“Inu-youkai m…ma…mate for life.” he finally choked out.
“Oh…” Kagome pondered his last sentence for a moment. So, he was attracted to her physically, perhaps, but didn’t really want to mate her…not really.
Commanding her tears not to fall, she put her thoughts into words as she backed herself up a couple of feet, desperately trying to remain calm, for his sake.
“I understand. You don’t want to be with me, because then you’d be bound to me for life.”
“What?!” Kami, where had that come from? It wasn’t that he didn’t want her, it was that she didn’t…wait, did she? Ah, to hell with it! “That isn’t it at all, Kagome. Just the opposite . I…” Gulping, he swallowed his fear, along with his pride. “I want to be with you. I...I want you as my mate, for life.”
She bit back her warring emotions as she accepted that he’d just said what she’d always wanted to hear. Could it be true? Oh, how she wanted to believe it! But she would be a fool if she didn’t ask “What about Kikyou?”
His long-winded sigh revealed that he’d been waiting for the moment that she came into their conversation. “Kikyou and I…” he started, unsure of how to explain his relationship with the undead miko in a way that Kagome would understand. Finally, he decided that if they were even remotely considering the possibility of becoming mates, then she deserved complete honesty. First things first. “Even when she was alive…we never…that is…she’s not my mate.”
Kagome was relieved to hear that. She’d figured that the whole “for life” thing meant that even if they had been together, he was now free to take another since Kikyou was technically still dead, but she was definitely glad to learn that they had never been together in the first place. Still…“But…you love her, don’t you?”
Gaining some measure of resolve to clear the air regarding where Kagome stood in his heart once and for all, he reached over and took her hand, locking his eyes with her own.
“I used to…yes. But now, I care for her only the same way anyone else may care for someone they once loved.”
He could see Kagome was still battling within herself not to cry again, so he continued.
“I feel guilty for what happened to her. I owe it to my honor to keep her safe from harm, safe from Naraku, and I owe it to her, to avenge her death. But…I do understand that she’s dead, despite what everyone thinks. I know perfectly well that she’s not the same Kikyou she used to be, and that there can be no real future between us. She’s not of this world. Even Kikyou herself will tell you that.”
“But you said once, that you’d leave this world, and join her in hell.”
He sighed again. “At the time when I said it, I meant it, but my feelings for you have grown since then.” Her breathing hitched at his words, giving him the courage to continue. “If we mated, Kagome, I would never leave you to die with Kikyou. Inu-youkai do not abandon their mates. I’d still avenge her death and help her soul find peace, but that’d have to be enough.”
Inuyasha then brought Kagome’s hand up to his chest, pining it there with his own, prepared to say the words that he knew she needed to hear above all else. “I…love you now…Kagome.” he whispered, before leaning forward and planting a chaste kiss upon her lips.
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chapter 2 – Clearing the air
It wasn’t hard for Kagome to keep herself awake that night, her mind was racing a mile a minute, and she actually tried to concentrate on mundane stuff like school work just to keep herself from become aroused again. After she heard the steady breathing of those around the campfire, indicating they were asleep, she waited for about another hour or so, just to be safe. Inuyasha wasn’t by them at camp, of course; he’d taken up residence in a near by tree. This time he was a little further away and higher up than usual, claiming he’d stay on watch in case any more youkai came around. Miroku even made him promise not to take them out on his own this time. Looking up at Inuyasha, she couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not, but even if he were, it’d be easy enough to wake him without stirring the others.
Inuyasha wasn’t asleep, of course. He rarely needed sleep, but even if he wanted to lose himself in blissful unconsciousness, it seemed that sleep was avoiding him this night. Just as a certain miko from the future had been avoiding him all evening.
She must really HATE me, he thought from his perch. How could I have been so WEAK?
Suddenly, he realized that she wasn’t even asleep yet. It became quite obvious when she got up from her sleeping bag, careful to not disturb a comatose Shippo, before quietly making her approach to the base of the tree in which he was sitting.
Fuck… he cursed to himself. She must want me to apologize. Why should I? Serves her right for spying on me…right? Though Kagome couldn’t see it from her spot below him, his ears quickly lowered at his thoughts. No…who’m I kidding? She deserves an apology.
“Inuyasha….” came a whispering voice from below “Are you awake?”
He said nothing, but opened his eyes and looked down, meeting her gaze. This time, she didn’t turn away, and cringed at the emotions she could see playing on his face.
“We….” No, change that… ‘we need to talk’ sounds like I’m mad at him “I….need to talk to you….please?”
Still he said nothing, but leapt down from his spot in the tree. Now standing right before her, Kagome did turn her gaze away, but only to keep herself from blushing. Her mind was still playing tricks with her she found, seeing things that were, in fact, currently covered up.
“Umm…can we go somewhere where the others won’t hear?” she mumbled.
Finally, he spoke, muttering “Good idea.” as he picked her up and silently leaped further into the forest.
God, he must really hate me…I hope he can forgive me…
Neither of them noticed the pair of crimson eyes that had cracked open for a moment at their departure, before closing in slumber once more.
Once they were in a fairly secluded location, far enough away that even Shippo shouldn’t hear them speaking, should he wake, Inuyasha put Kagome down and, removing the sheathed Tetsusaiga from his obi, plopped himself down upon the forest floor. He crossed his arms into the sleeves of his kimono, his sword resting against his shoulder, and looked up at her with a ‘well, get on with it’ expression. Kagome just stood there for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts, or was it gather her wits? Finally, she sat down across from him.
“Well…speak, wench.”
Kagome had opened her mouth to begin, but then promptly shut it again, taken aback by his comment. Not so much the words used, as the tone. He was mad… She couldn’t help the salty moisture she felt gathering behind her eyes, although she did her best to fight back her coming tears. But from his point of view, he was just trying to get the bombardment over with, convinced she was about to let him have it, and when he smelled the salt of her forming tears, he feared the situation was even worse than he’d originally thought. Was she really that upset? With ears drooping, he saw her expression become even sadder. Had he really hurt her so badly? Man, he was dirt.
“Kagome…” he started slowly, unsure of what to say. He needn’t have worried, though, because it was in that moment that Kagome finally lost it.
“Inuyasha…” she whimpered, her lip trembling. “I'm…I'm SO SORRY!!!!” Now the tears were falling full force.
She’s sorry??? What the hell??? “Oi, Kagome! What are you sorry for?”
“Umm….hello? For peeping! I…I didn’t mean to…I just…you were just…”
“Feh, don’t remind me.” he muttered behind a blush. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Kagome.” he managed to get out. “I can’t believe you’re not mad at me.”
“Why would I be mad at you?”
“Why would I be mad at you?”
“Umm…‘cause that’s sort of a private thing I walked in on. I’m sure most any guy who gets caught doing…uh…‘that’…would probably be humiliated.”
“You mean other guys do ‘that’ too?” He looked genuinely surprised by the notion.
“Of course they do!” she piped up, forcing herself to not feel embarrassed by their topic of conversation when she saw the look of genuine shock on his face. Did he honestly think it was something only he had ever fallen victim too? No wonder he was apologizing to her for what she’d been ‘forced’ to witness. Sheesh.
“Probably every guy does that.” she explained, “With the exception of priests or monks, of course. Uh…with the exception of Miroku.”
That last remark made Inuyasha chuckle a bit, despite his own embarrassment. Now that he thought about it, he remembered that he had in fact caught…well not so much caught as heard…said lecherous monk perform said lecherous acts. Realizing that Kagome wasn’t angry with him made him relax his defensive posture a little, as he pulled his arms out of his sleeves and sat Tetsusaiga down on the grace beside him. This conversation wasn’t so bad after all.
The sight of Inuyasha chuckling made Kagome laugh as well, as she, too, relaxed her posture. Finally, she thought, the ice had been broken.
“Inuyasha…” she said, reaching forward and placing her hand on his. “I’m not mad at you, okay? What you did was perfectly natural, and nothing to be ashamed of.”
He was in sudden shock, realizing which hand she was touching. Was she aware of it? Then he realized what she just said. Huh, maybe she really wasn’t grossed out after all…
“I thought for sure you’d be mad at me for having caught you in a private moment, but I’m not angry with you for what you did.” she continued to explain. “In a way it was my fault you even had to, anyway, after what happened before, with the pocky.” A deep blush rose to her cheeks at her final words, but she had to make sure he understood that she understood.
Inuyasha had actually forgotten for the moment about his earlier arousal, but blushed as well at the reminder. Damn, he’d better explain so that Kagome didn’t think he was always so weak.
“It wasn’t your fault…not really…”
Kagome’s face adopted an I don’t understand look, so he continued.
“It’s…uh, it’s mating season. So I’m…it’s easier to…uh…”
“Ohhhhhhhh”
It̵ 7;d never even occurred to her that Inuyasha would be affected by the springtime as Sango had once explained to her that other youkai were affected. After all, he was half human, and he’d certainly done a rather good job of pretending he was unaffected by the season up until now. But now that she thought about it, as the events of the last month came rushing back to her, everything suddenly made perfect sense.
All the times he’d seemed hot and out of breath after they hadn’t been walking that long, all the times he’d snapped at her over the stupidest little things, I mean, even more so than usual, and the times she was sure she’d caught him staring at either her butt or her chest, but convinced herself otherwise because she’d figured he wasn’t interested in her that way. Her mind popped back into the here and now upon realizing that the hand she still held was suddenly rather clammy, and she looked up to see that his gaze was no longer meeting her eyes, but rather, was adjusted slightly lower. The tank top she wore as her nightshirt allowed for quite a view, especially with her current posture of crouching slightly forward. Blushing even deeper, she released his hand and sprang back into a more upright position.
“Ka-Kagome…” he stuttered, panting heavily.
“I’m sorry, Inuyasha.” she apologized sincerely, feeling guilty for causing his torture. “I had no idea.”
“You…” Gulping, he tried again. “You better get out of here.”
Huh? “Why?” she asked aloud.
“Be…cause...” was all he could muster, as he gripped the earth with his claws so tightly, Kagome half expected the ground to start bleeding. Looking him up and down, she saw that his bangs hid his eyes, as he stared at the ground, but she could hear how hard he was breathing, and quickly realized that he must be aroused again.
“Okay…” she said with as understanding of a tone that she could muster, desperate to make sure he knew that she wasn’t offended or disturbed. “If you need to be alone…I’ll just-”
“No, I ain’t gonna do that again.” he interrupted, the disgust Kagome had feared he’d think she felt suddenly present in his own voice. “I was just too weak before.” she thought she heard him mumble.
“It’s okay Inuyasha-”
“No it ain’t!” he snapped, getting angry at her lack of comprehension, although at least his anger was helping him get a handle on his arousal. “I shouldn’t have such thoughts!”
“You…” Taking a deep breath, she tried again, “You don’t think of me that way, do you? I mean, when it’s not mating season.” She always knew it was true, but to hear him say it so bluntly…that hurt.
He blinked in confusion over the sudden turn of their conversation. What the hell? “I…” He didn’t know what to say, but at least his blood was cooling off a bit. How could he stay aroused when she looked so dejected?
“It’s okay…” she managed to get out, tears glistening in her eyes once more. “I never really expected you to, anyway.”
“Oi, wait a minute…” he muttered, shaking his head in an attempt to better understand what she was saying. “You want me to have those thoughts? About you?”
“Well…” Now she was blushing again, but he definitely picked up the spike in her scent, so against his better judgment, he decided to trudge forward.
"It's not like I don’t think about sex the rest of the year, ya know.” he admitted, despite his embarrassment to be discussing such things with her. “It’s just, I dunno…nature wants me to mate during spring time, so it becomes that much harder to control.” Taking a breath, he gulped and added, “Especially around you, Kagome.”
Her eyes lifted to meet his own, a confused look of shock and hope replacing her drying tears.
“I just never thought that you liked me in that way.” he finished, while deeply breathing in the scent that assured him he’d been wrong in that assessment. Damn, there goes his control, he grumbled, as he felt his arousal spring back to life, literally.
Kagome did more than just like him that way. In truth, she loved him, but was only just now starting to realize that maybe, possibly, he actually felt the same way. She was hoping he’d be her first, and since she was now seventeen and some of her school friends were already sleeping with their boyfriends, she was more than ready, both mentally and physically. She’d even been on birth control for the last year, ever since she started to really realize just how much she cared for Inuyasha. She’d discussed it all with her mother, and she’d put her on the shot…you know, “just in case”. Not that she didn’t love the idea of raising a family with him, when she was ready, but now just wasn’t the time to think about such things. Not while she was still in school, and they still had to kill Naraku and complete the jewel. With her thoughts winding down, she quickly realized that she’d yet to respond to Inuyasha’s last comment, at least out loud, so finally gathering her courage, she whispered…
“Well, I do.”
He blushed and lowered his face, but raised his eyes so that his gaze still held her own. She couldn’t help but to grin at the sight; he looked so cute, so shy...
“How…um…how much longer is mating season, anyway?” she managed to ask, despite her rising embarrassment and arousal.
“It’s spring time, so what do you think?”
“Another two months, huh?”
“Keh.”
“I don’t remember you going through this last year, or the year before.”
Why was she insisting upon having a conversation? It was hard enough for Inuyasha to breathe, let alone concentrate enough to form actual words. Then again, maybe that was her logic: keep him distracted until his hard on goes away again. Good thinking Kagome…
“Keh…well…it was spring when we first met…and I hardly liked you back then. I did peep on you though…if you recall.” It was Kagome’s turn to blush. He actually admitted he’d been peeping! Not trying to get her jewel shards, as had been his excuse at the time. “And last year…well…it was about this hard to deal with last year…but you were younger…more innocent. I’ve really noticed how you’ve matured since then, Kagome…and last year you didn’t straddle my crotch!”
At that Kagome burst out laughing She couldn’t help it, the whole situation was just too much; it finally got to her.
“Oi, wench! You lost your mind or something?”
“No…I’m….I’m fine…sorry…” she managed to get out between breaths, trying hard to stop her laughter.
“It ain’t funny!”
“In a way it is.”
“Oh yeah? You try it!”
“Hey, I get aroused too, ya know. Youkai aren’t the only ones driven by mating instincts.”
“Keh…but you humans don’t react to it nearly as strong.”
“Wanna bet? I’ve…uhhh….” Finally realizing what they had been discussing, and what she almost admitted to doing, a tremendous amount of red rushed up her cheeks.
Inuyasha wasn’t quite as slow as most people thought he was, though, and easily picked up on her distress. It was only fair that she feel uncomfortable for a moment, he decided, after they’d been discussing his mating instincts so openly for the last few minutes. “I thought you said only guys did that?” he teased.
“Um…” she mumbled while fidgeting nervously. “Yeah well…girls can do it, too.”
He threw on his best ‘curious child’ puppy-eyes. “How?”
Oh gods, was he serious? Then again, how would he know? It’s not like he’d ever actually been with anyone, that much had become quite obvious.
“Um…”
Then it was Inuyasha’s turn to bust out laughing… “Oi woman, I ain’t that dumb, but the look on your face!”
“Oh you baka!” she laughed as well. “Well,” she shrugged. “At least you seem to be feeling better.”
“Not really.” he admitted, as he adjusted his sitting position so that she could plainly see the tent in his hakama.
“Oh…” Her relatively happy expression was instantly solemn once more. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Remarkably, he meant it.
“If you…um…mated…would you still be tormented the rest of the season?” she asked out of the blue.
“Yeah…Wait…what did you say?” He stared at her in shock. He couldn’t have heard her right!
“Your body needs to mate, right?” she asked, even though that much had already pretty much been established by that point.
“Kagome? What are you…” He let his questioning words drift to a stop as she crawled a couple of feet across the forest floor until she was sitting directly in front of him. She had given him quite the view while bent over, and he was having trouble regaining control of his thoughts.
“Let me help you.” she whispered into his ear, which flickered a little at the tickling breeze of her breath.
Shuddering from the sensation it sent through his body, he stumbled over his own tongue in an attempt to remember how to form words.
“It’s…uh…it’s not… that simple.” he managed to get out.
“How so?” she asked in a soft whisper, sitting so closely that even in the low moonlight, she could clearly see the beads of sweat running down his forehead
“Inu-youkai m…ma…mate for life.” he finally choked out.
“Oh…” Kagome pondered his last sentence for a moment. So, he was attracted to her physically, perhaps, but didn’t really want to mate her…not really.
Commanding her tears not to fall, she put her thoughts into words as she backed herself up a couple of feet, desperately trying to remain calm, for his sake.
“I understand. You don’t want to be with me, because then you’d be bound to me for life.”
“What?!” Kami, where had that come from? It wasn’t that he didn’t want her, it was that she didn’t…wait, did she? Ah, to hell with it! “That isn’t it at all, Kagome. Just the opposite . I…” Gulping, he swallowed his fear, along with his pride. “I want to be with you. I...I want you as my mate, for life.”
She bit back her warring emotions as she accepted that he’d just said what she’d always wanted to hear. Could it be true? Oh, how she wanted to believe it! But she would be a fool if she didn’t ask “What about Kikyou?”
His long-winded sigh revealed that he’d been waiting for the moment that she came into their conversation. “Kikyou and I…” he started, unsure of how to explain his relationship with the undead miko in a way that Kagome would understand. Finally, he decided that if they were even remotely considering the possibility of becoming mates, then she deserved complete honesty. First things first. “Even when she was alive…we never…that is…she’s not my mate.”
Kagome was relieved to hear that. She’d figured that the whole “for life” thing meant that even if they had been together, he was now free to take another since Kikyou was technically still dead, but she was definitely glad to learn that they had never been together in the first place. Still…“But…you love her, don’t you?”
Gaining some measure of resolve to clear the air regarding where Kagome stood in his heart once and for all, he reached over and took her hand, locking his eyes with her own.
“I used to…yes. But now, I care for her only the same way anyone else may care for someone they once loved.”
He could see Kagome was still battling within herself not to cry again, so he continued.
“I feel guilty for what happened to her. I owe it to my honor to keep her safe from harm, safe from Naraku, and I owe it to her, to avenge her death. But…I do understand that she’s dead, despite what everyone thinks. I know perfectly well that she’s not the same Kikyou she used to be, and that there can be no real future between us. She’s not of this world. Even Kikyou herself will tell you that.”
“But you said once, that you’d leave this world, and join her in hell.”
He sighed again. “At the time when I said it, I meant it, but my feelings for you have grown since then.” Her breathing hitched at his words, giving him the courage to continue. “If we mated, Kagome, I would never leave you to die with Kikyou. Inu-youkai do not abandon their mates. I’d still avenge her death and help her soul find peace, but that’d have to be enough.”
Inuyasha then brought Kagome’s hand up to his chest, pining it there with his own, prepared to say the words that he knew she needed to hear above all else. “I…love you now…Kagome.” he whispered, before leaning forward and planting a chaste kiss upon her lips.