InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Baby Steps ❯ Baby Steps ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Inu & Co. don’t belong to me. Damn! Baby Steps  

The woman hung up the phone, shaking her head. “That woman never gives up.”

“Who?”

She jumped in surprise at the voice behind her. “Don’t do that!” she yelled, then broke into giggles as he gathered her into his arms, nibbling gently at her earlobe. When her mate of five years reluctantly released her she clung to him, remembering the circumstances under which they had finally found each other again after a separation of more than a month--or five centuries, depending on which way she looked at it. Although that month had been pure hell for her, she couldn’t begin to imagine what the intervening years had been like for him.

She was, because of their work together, starting to find out. Although he had changed in a great many ways, there were still a lot of things about him that had remained the same. One of them was his refusal to let things go once a question had captured his attention.

She looked around blankly, her dark eyes searching his features. “Who what?”

He shook his head slowly, the long mass of silver-white hair hanging down his back swaying with the motion. A feral grin crossed his face, and she could see a little of his old attitude. “Baka,” he growled. “Who never gives up?” He lightly rapped a knuckle on her forehead. “On the phone, remember?”

“Oh!” she said, rolling her eyes. “That was Mei.”

That explained everything. He easily lifted her from her feet, ignoring her squeals of laughter as he threw her over his shoulder and took her back to the large bedroom at the rear of the house. Dropping her to the mound of pillows that nearly concealed the bed, he stretched out next to her, head propped up on his hand, focusing his golden-amber eyes on her. “What was it this time?”

She reached out and traced the lines of his face, more angular now than they had been when they had first met--he had, after all, aged a bit while waiting for her to be born. She sighed. “The same old thing,” she said. “It’s doing really well, and she’s trying to get us on the talk show circuit.”

“Damn!” he growled, pounding at the pillows with a clenched fist, “What the hell is wrong with her?!? What part of ‘no publicity’ doesn’t she understand?”

She took his fist in her two hands and rested her cheek against it. “That’s the problem, koi. She’s one of the best agents in the business--that’s why she’s always on our case about all that promotional stuff.”

“I’m gonna kill Sesshoumaru.” Despite his harsh words, she knew that he was no more likely to take action against his older half-brother than she herself was. Though there had been a long-standing animosity, the two seemed to have mellowed over the centuries that her mate had been waiting for her. They had spent a long time working together, and had managed to finally overcome their differences. It had, in fact, been Sesshoumaru who had set them up with Mei when they had found that no publisher would even look at their manuscript unless it was submitted through an agent.

She swatted his shoulder. “Oh, stop it. The reason he found Mei for us was because she was the best. I think we should probably start thinking about another agent soon, though--she’s really very insistent, and it’s starting to get pretty old.”

“Well,” he said, reaching out to pull her closer, “Maybe we should reconsider and schedule one event a month. Do you think that would get her off our backs?”

She shook her head, reaching up to stroke the velvety fur on the outside surface of the triangular ears set at the top of his head. “It wouldn’t work. First of all, if we give her even a little of what she wants, she’ll only start demanding more and more. Besides, I think it’s a lot easier to maintain the façade of being a complete recluse who makes absolutely no appearances than it would be to appear in public only one night a month. I know--you could always get a kitsune to give you an illusion, but I really like you best the way you are. Besides,” she added, leaning forward so that she could reach his lips more easily, “I kind of like the idea of not having all those demands on us--we can set our own schedules and not have to worry about having to satisfy outsiders.”

“Yeah,” he whispered, his voice rough with the desire that her rhythmic stroking of his ears had awakened in him. “I’d much rather satisfy us.” He reached out to her, lightly dragging the claws of his right hand down the back of her neck, enjoying the involuntary shiver he caused. Even though he was centuries old, he had been virgin when he had come to her--he could never permit any other woman to become close enough to him to allow even the first hint of intimacy. They had spent months together learning each other, each discovering exactly what pleased the other the most. It had surprised him that the same claws he had once used to hunt and fight with could cause such intense pleasure in his mate. It was not a lesson that he would ever forget.

Some time later she opened her eyes to see a steady regard in the amber-colored eyes of the hanyou that shared her life. She sighed, stretching. “I suppose we really should get up and go to work now.”

“Or,” he said, pulling her back down to rest against him, “We could just stay here a while longer and see what happens.”

She laughed out loud at his insatiable appetite, so very much like her own. “Animal.”

He smirked, fully aware of the satisfaction she had received from him, something no human lover could ever hope to detect from just her scent. “That didn’t exactly sound like a complaint.”

Kagome sobered slightly, reaching out to trace the outline of his lips with a fingertip. “You’re right--it wasn’t.” She frowned a little in thought. “Do you remember where we left off yesterday?”

Mentally shifting gears, he nodded as she rested her head against his shoulder. “It was shortly after you first came through the well--just after we fought Yura.”

She looked suddenly thoughtful. “Wasn’t that about the time you got the Tetsusaiga?”

He nodded slowly, thinking about all the misery the sword his father had left him had caused between himself and his brother. He was, he decided, very glad that he had managed to come to an understanding with Sesshoumaru. He had long missed having a family, and after Kagome had disappeared….

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Kagome sighed, raising her hands from the keyboard and flexing fingers cramped from more than four hours of nonstop typing. Although her mate would gladly have shared the burden, his claws made his typing haphazard at best. Instead, he settled for standing behind her and kneading the knots from her shoulders as she typed.

Still, it was obvious that she took the writing much more seriously than he himself did. It wasn’t, after all, like they needed the money that their book had generated--his former position as a senior executive in Sesshoumaru’s immense financial empire had provided them with much more wealth than they could ever hope to exhaust. As a result, even though he understood--and acknowledged--what they were hoping to achieve by publishing the books, he couldn’t honestly look at their production as a “job” in the usual sense of the word.

As a result, they had decided not to accept any of the profits from the books--the funds would go to finance the couple’s favorite (and completely anonymous) charitable work.

Despite the fact that it was only midafternoon, the hanyou took her by the shoulders, lifting her from her place in front of the computer terminal. “That’s enough for now. Let’s go.”

She looked up at the slight tension in his voice. He had never been comfortable spending long periods indoors, and they hadn’t been outside the house since the previous day. She smiled up at him. “Sorry. I didn’t realize that we’d been at it this long. Just give me a couple of minutes.”

When she returned she carried an armful of silk robes and thick cotton towels. “Now,” she said, flashing him a smile that almost made him forget how to breathe, “Let’s go.”

When she had first seen the house in the small forest outside of Tokyo, she hadn’t really believed it. She had known that he must have had a place to live all this time, but she never expected anything quite so perfect. The building itself was large but sparsely furnished. The design was classically traditional, including a wide porch around both sides and the rear of the structure. Although the house was equipped with all of the modern conveniences Kagome had taken for granted throughout most of her life, it was not surprising that both of them genuinely preferred using the small hot spring just behind the house.

As the two sat in the gently steaming water, Inuyasha looked at his mate with something like concern. “You’ve been awful quiet today. What is it?”

She looked up guiltily. “Nothing, really. Mama called me last night.”

Although he hadn’t heard any of the conversation in question, he was pretty sure he could guess what the subject had been. “Don’t be mad at her--hell, we want the same thing ourselves.”

She brightened a little. “I know. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t been working on it.”

He pulled her to him, almost as though trying to absorb her pain into himself. In the five years since they had been mated, they had succeeded in starting a pup on three separate occasions. On each of those occasions, they had lost the pup before six weeks had gone by. He silently stroked her hair, not really wanting to explore the possibilities. He had spent much of the time while waiting for her in educating himself in whatever subject happened to catch his attention. By now, he probably had the equivalent of a half dozen university degrees. Two of those subjects had been biology in general and genetics in particular. In the past couple of years it had occurred to him that maybe they had not yet managed to have a pup simply because they were so different.

‘Still,’ he had thought, ‘My parents were more different than we are. Maybe it’s just a matter of time and opportunity.’ Releasing his mate from his tight embrace, he lifted her easily. “Let’s go inside, love.”

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As evening closed in, the hanyou looked down at the human woman sleeping contentedly in his arms. Although he could almost hate her mother for reminding her that they had not yet succeeded in giving her a grandchild, he had long understood that she really only wanted the same thing that he himself did--for Kagome to have a happy life. That fact alone was enough to give them a certain common ground.

He looked at her closely, her sleeping features clearly showing the disappointment, sadness, and worry that she so successfully concealed when she was awake. His thoughts turned to his last conversation with Jinenji, when they had finally worked out exactly why the couple kept losing pups.

As the healer explained it, they were obviously compatible--his mate had, after all, conceived three times in a five-year time period. The problem, as he put it, was not in their bodies but in their lives. When they had lost the first pup, Kagome had been under a great deal of stress due to a savage attack on the young kitsune she had helped to raise in addition to the strain inherent in being newly mated. On the second occasion, they had been trying to get their book published. Of course, the fact that she had lost the one pup had preyed on her mind, making her more likely to lose a second. The same thing had happened on the third occasion, when Mei had begun to pressure them to become involved in publicizing the book.

The question, as far as he was concerned, was whether or not to tell his mate about what they had discovered. Would she accept the challenge and do whatever was necessary to successfully bear them a pup, or would she become depressed and give up hoping?

He had been considering this matter for days now, and had nearly reached a decision. He looked down at her as she moved restlessly in her sleep, tangling the fingers of her left hand into his thick hair. This was a relatively recent development, having begun shortly after they had lost the second pup. Apparently, no matter how he tried to reassure her, she thought of their inability to successfully reproduce as a danger to their life together.

He shook his head slowly, worrying about her increasingly fragile state. Did she really believe that not having pups together would be enough to take him from her, or was this just some subconscious reaction over which she had no control? In that moment, he made his decision.

Turning her slightly away from him, he brushed his lips lightly across the back of her neck and down to the scars he had left on her back when they were newly mated. It had not taken him long to learn that this was her very favorite way of being awakened. “Wake up, love,” he murmured. “We have to talk.”

“What is it?” Though she was still half asleep, she was more than willing to listen to whatever he had to say.

“I saw Jinenji the other day,” he began, wrapping her in the unbreakable warmth of his arms and lightly stroking her hair. “I think we may have the answer.”

That brought her to instant wakefulness. “Really?”

It was time for the explanation he had been dreading--would she think herself responsible for the loss of their pups? “Remember when we were first mated? You conceived a pup at the first opportunity, during your very first heat cycle after we were together. Do you remember what else happened at that time?”

She had no idea where he was taking the conversation, but decided to take a stab at it all the same. “Isn’t that when I found out that youkai still existed?”

He nodded slowly. “That’s right. That’s also the time when Shippou got attacked by those humans and we decided to set up our own underground railroad for youkai who were discovered. According to Jinenji,” he said, hoping he could make it sound better than he thought it would, “That’s why we lost the pup--all the stress and worry from that time. The same thing happened on both of the other occasions, except that you had the previous losses on your mind--the whole thing sort of fed on itself, and made it even harder for us to have pups. But,” he said, pulling her tighter against him, “We think that there’s a way around it.”

She looked up at him, eyes bright with unshed tears of hope and joy. “What way? Tell me--I’m willing to try anything.”

“First,” he said with something suspiciously like a smirk, “We fire Mei. You were so hurt by what happened after we beat Naraku that we don’t know if you’ll ever completely recover, but Jinenji thinks that we may still be able to have pups if we can keep you completely free of stress, at least for the first few months.”

She bounced to her feet, grabbing his hands. “Let’s go someplace--just the two of us.”

He thought about it briefly. Getting away from things wasn’t quite as simple as it used to be. Of course, the fact that they were essentially free of the strictures of jobs or school helped, as did their ability to devote whatever monetary resources were required to a given project. He nodded slowly. “Works for me,” he said, burying his face in the hollow behind her right ear. “Did you have anything special in mind?”

She shook her head. “I really wish the well still worked--I miss traveling around the countryside like we used to do.”

He nodded slowly: he had often thought the same thing himself. “Unfortunately, that’s something I can’t arrange. But,” he said, eyes narrowed in concentration, “I remember something I saw a while ago about a resort up in the mountains. It’s a whole region, actually, maintained pretty much untouched from the way it was when people first settled in the area. It’s a really popular camping resort even though it lacks most of the common amenities.” Thinking hard, he moved across the room to the computer that had been set up there. “This may take a little time,” he muttered, cursing as his long claws inadvertently typed in the wrong letters for the search.

Still, it only took a matter of minutes to locate the information concerning the resort in question. Even though it was still very early in the spring, it was already open, a fact that boded well for the plans that he had formulated in the last few minutes. Only a few minutes later, he stood and returned to where she waited not too patiently among the cushions. “No more work for today, love. Once we get up, we have to get packed. We’re leaving in the morning.” At the questions in her eyes, he shook his head. “Not to worry. I’ll call Mei myself and tell her, then we’ll get Shippou and Myouga to take care of the place while we’re gone. I’ll even call your mother and tell her we’re going away for a while.” He realized that he was less likely to get bogged down in questions than his mate.

For the first time in many months, she slept peacefully, without the concerns that had been haunting her.

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At his insistence she packed lightly, taking only what would fit into the school bag that she had purchased to replace the one that had been accidentally left behind in the Sengoku Jidai when the completed Shikon no Tama had brought her back to the present and sealed the well so that she could never return. It had, she realized, been a long time. Still, she hadn’t forgotten how to pack.

Though it was only early spring, she dressed lightly, knowing that hiking through the woods would cause her to sweat in heavier clothing. She did, however, pack a lightweight nylon jacket as well as a couple of sleeping bags that could be zipped together to form one much larger one, a couple of towels, a small bag of bathing supplies, two changes of clothing, a first aid kit, cooking gear, consisting mainly of a kettle, skillet, a couple of bowls, chopsticks, and a knife, and as many packages of instant ramen as she could fit into the top of the bag. Although her mate had protested vigorously, she had decided on wearing denim shorts and a light cotton sweater: even after all this time, he still thought that the zipper and snap closure on the jeans was an enormous waste of time. Still, he often said that a prize that is difficult to attain is always valued more than one that is gained too easily.

She looked up in surprise when he emerged from the bedroom wearing his old haori and hakama. Although she had grown used to him in contemporary clothing, this was almost exactly the way he had looked when she had first fallen in love with him. Of course, the fact that she was fully aware of exactly what was hidden beneath the extremely loose-fitting clothing caused a welcome warmth to gather in the pit of her stomach.

She had understood from the beginning exactly why they were doing this, and she shivered in anticipation at the thought of the long days--and longer nights--of passion soon to come. It was certainly no coincidence that they were making this trip in the early spring, as she was very much aware that this was the natural mating season for many kinds of youkai. She was sure that her very next heat period--that time in her cycle when she was fertile and could conceive--would trigger her mate’s own heat cycle, causing a desperate, frantic week or so of making love at every possible opportunity.

She could hardly wait.

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The journey to the resort in the mountains took nearly five hours, and Kagome felt herself relaxing further with every minute of the trip. She always felt safe when the hanyou drove--his acute senses and inhumanly fast reflexes made him the best driver she had ever known. As they left the city farther and farther behind, she could almost feel the years dropping away, leaving her feeling much as she had when she had first come to love the hanyou.

As the road narrowed and began to wind up into the mountains, she felt a peace descending on her, much like the one she had always associated with the Goshinboku at the shrine in which she had grown up. Though it was still well before noon, the forests closed in around the road, casting it into a light shadow. About halfway up the side of the mountain, the trees gave way to broad meadows. In the middle of one of those meadows was a long, low building. This was their destination.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the structure. Except for its size, it could have come directly from the Sengoku Jidai. The gravel parking lot was empty, although she supposed that that could be due to the fact that it was Wednesday--it was probably much more crowded on the weekends. As he parked the car and grabbed their bag from the trunk, she realized in something like surprise that he had dropped the concealing spell he used on those occasions when it was necessary to appear among humans.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a loud whisper.

“It’s okay,” he said, taking her hand carefully in his own, always mindful of his sharp claws. “The woman who runs this place is hanyou. In fact, most of the people who come here have at least a little youkai blood in them.”

She suddenly realized that he was trying to recreate the time when they had first met and fallen in love, maybe as a way to recapture the missed opportunities that had haunted them both. “You know, love, I’m not too sure about this. I mean, I’m not exactly a kid any more.”

He stopped and stared at her in surprise, then shook his head. “You don’t look all that different from when we were mated, you know. Your hair’s a little longer--and yes, I know that your mother’s been after you to cut it, but I’m glad you didn’t--but you have a very long way to go before you turn into an old hag like Kaede.”

The mention of her old friend from the past cheered her considerably. She shook her head. “I just wish there had been some way to tell her what happened to me.”

He shrugged. “We sort of figured the whole thing out--at least, Myouga and Kaede did--but there was no way to be sure we were right until I got to see you again. In any case,” he continued, sniffing the air appreciatively, “I think I need this more than you do--I’ve forgotten exactly how much this world of yours stinks.”

To her experienced eyes, the woman who met them inside the lodge clearly had significant youkai ancestry: with her moonlight-pale hair and water-clear eyes she could be nothing else. She appeared to be in her early twenties, although long years of experience had taught the human woman that appearance was not really very useful in determining the actual age of people having even small amounts of youkai blood in their ancestry. With a short bow--not much more than a nod, really--to the inuhanyou, she said, “All the arrangements have been made, exactly as you specified. I have taken the necessary steps to ensure your privacy.”

He reached out to draw his mate closer. “I think,” he said, grinning broadly at their hostess, “That we’ll stay at the lodge tonight--do you have a fairly remote cabin or something? Maybe with a small hot spring close by?”

The woman nodded briskly, a bright smile spreading across her features. “I know just the thing!” she said, scurrying for the door at the rear of the building. “Come with me!” she called back over her shoulder.

As Kagome had learned to expect from anything her mate arranged, the tiny cabin was almost too perfect to be true. It consisted of a single room and was furnished only with an oversized futon in one corner with a low table at one side and a cabinet on the opposite side of the room that held extra bedding, towels, and a selection of the non-polluting herbal skin and hair care products that were one of the resort’s specialties.

While Kagome moved aside the reed curtain that concealed a wonderful view of the edge of the nearby forest and the gently steaming pool that awaited just outside the building, the hanyou spent several minutes verifying the arrangements he had made with the operator of the resort. Although the arrangements were rather strange in themselves, the woman was only too glad to grant any request she could--even after all this time, she still felt she owed the inuhanyou for his help in protecting the human village in which she had lived with her mother from the horrific attacks of her youkai grandfather’s tribe.

For his part, he considered that debt long paid, as she had helped him learn how to destroy barriers with the Tetsusaiga. He wasn’t entirely sure what his mate would think when she finally learned exactly what kind of holiday he had arranged, but he was hoping that she would accept the surprise in the spirit in which it had been intended.

With a small nod, the woman left, saying that the requested items would be left outside the door once they had been prepared.

Moving silently across the wooden floor, he pulled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I don’t think we’ll need a fire until tonight,” he whispered. “What do you suppose we should do in the meantime?”

Turning in his loose grasp, she reached up to lightly stroke the sensitive ears at the top of his head. “I’m sure,” she said with a brilliant smile, “That we can think of something.”

Lifting her effortlessly from her feet, he carried her back to the futon on the opposite side of the room.

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Considering the late hour at which they had finally gone to sleep the night before, the woman woke relatively early, only an hour or so past sunrise. Opening her eyes, she was not at all surprised to see a steady regard in the amber eyes of her mate. His voice was soft, filled with a desire that mirrored her own. “It’s about time you got up. Do you want to move on today, or should we stay around here a little longer?”

She thought about it for a few moments. “I absolutely love this place,” she said, pulling herself tighter against him, “But could we wait a couple of hours before we go? Or do we have to be out of here by a certain time?”

For one of the few times in his life, he was glad that he had been born hanyou--his sensitive nose allowed him to catch the scent of the growing need that only he could satisfy. “We can stay here as long as you want, love--the whole point of this trip is so that we can be together without any outside interruptions, and I know that nobody would dare to interrupt us here. I think,” he murmured, leaving a line of soft, feather-light kisses running from her lips down to the hollow of her throat, “That we can spare a little time to play.”

She gasped and trembled in his embrace, some small part of her wondering how he could still have this kind of effect on her after all this time. He, on the other hand, wondered both what he had done in his life to deserve the love of such an extraordinary woman and also how on earth her frail human body was able to keep up with his youkai power. Never ceasing his explorations of her flawless skin, he moved so that he could speak directly into her ear, his voice soft but rough with passion. “Do you like this, love? I hope so, because I’m never going to stop--I’m going to have you screaming in pleasure for the rest of our lives.”

With something very much like a smirk, he noted that the intensity of the shivers in his mate increased with his words. After a brief nibble at her earlobe, he continued with his descriptions of exactly what he planned to be doing long into the future. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the combination of his skilled touch, soft lips, and erotic words caused her to stiffen against him, crying out in her release. He pulled her tight against his body, lightly stroking her skin to calm her slightly before beginning again. “Are you ready for me now, love? Do you need this as much as I do?”

Raising her to her hands and knees, he knelt behind her. He loved this position--the tightness and friction of her youthful body seemed even more intense this way--although he was more than happy to love her in any way that she desired. Gripping her hips with both hands, they moved together, he pushing into her yielding flesh, she forcing herself back against him to impale herself even deeper. As he could feel her inner muscles beginning to tighten around his flesh he leaned forward, nibbling at the scars on her back. The relentless motion of her mate inside her and the unbelievably erotic sensation of his fangs against her mark forced her over the edge into a screaming climax that instantly had him howling through his own release against her skin.

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In the main lodge, Shiori smiled at the faint sounds of the lovers. It was, she decided, time to start working on breakfast for her guests before they left for the forest. As she had done with the light dinner the previous evening, she left the laden tray outside the door of the cabin where they would be certain to find it.

Financial considerations included, there was no reason she could imagine that would be sufficient for her to disturb them.

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Although it was nearly noon when they set out, the pair made relatively good time as they wound their way up into the mountains. Still, after only a few hours, they decided to start looking for a campsite for the night. The location they found was so much like many of the campsites in which they had stayed during their search for the Shikon no Tama that Kagome experienced a brief surge of déjà vu--she half expected to hear the resounding slap of a youkai taijiya’s hand against the cheek of a hentai monk. Looking around at the trees surrounding the tiny clearing, she grinned broadly. “I guess I’ll gather us a little wood for the night. Is there any water in the area?”

Sniffing delicately, he nodded. “There’s a stream just around that bend in the trail.” he said, pointing to the west. “I’ll go and fill the kettle while you’re getting the wood. Leave the bag here,” he said. “You don’t want to miss the clearing--most spots in this forest look pretty much like all the others.”

It didn’t take very long to fetch the water, although it took a few moments longer to catch a few of the fish in the stream. Even though they had brought a significant quantity of ramen with them, he had been planning all along to live pretty much off what they could find in their travels. It had been, he reflected, a very long time since he had tasted fresh-caught fish baked around a fire. Looking around, he noticed some edible mushrooms. With a broad grin, he harvested the mushrooms along with a few herbs he had seen and used in the past.

By the time the human returned with a third armload of firewood, she found her mate sitting at the campsite, three large trout stuffed with mushrooms and herbs threaded onto sticks and ready to cook. “Where did you get those?”

“I went to get water, remember? That stream was full of them, so it seemed like a good idea. On the way back, I found the herbs and mushrooms--just like we used to use. I thought you might like it.”

He was instantly rewarded by the huge smile she flashed at him. “In that case,” she said, “I guess I should get the fire started.” One of the few concessions to modern convenience they had brought along was a package of butane lighters. The fire lit, they pushed the sticks holding the fish into the ground so that the meal could be cooked by the flames.

While waiting for the food to cook, she spread the sleeping bags out, zipping them together to make a single large bed. He glanced at the device briefly, then asked, “What’s that for? Don’t you want me sitting up in a tree to keep watch?”

Her shocked expression at his words turned to amusement as she noted the glitter in his eyes. “If I wanted you sleeping in a tree, we would never have come here in the first place,” she growled in a fair imitation of her mate at his most ornery.

He laughed out loud at that. “It almost sounds like you want something from me,” he teased.

She gave him a sweet smile. “Oh, I do.” In a move worthy of her hanyou mate, she leaped at him, pinning him to the mossy ground. “And I might just have to go ahead and take it for myself.”

The human woman, however, had forgotten about her mate’s strength and coordination. He easily flipped them over so that she was on the ground with him sitting across her hips. “This,” he said with a definite smirk, “Has certain…possibilities, don’t you think?”

“Oh, yes….”

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By the time they got around to the fish, they were decidedly overcooked, but neither of them really minded. Sitting together on the ground, leaning against the bole of a massive tree, the woman traced a fingertip across her mate’s chest. “Have you decided which way we’ll be heading in the morning?”

He shrugged. “Not really. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this part of the country, but I’m pretty sure we want to go west from here.”

From the map she had seen displayed in the central lobby of the lodge when they had arrived, she didn’t see that it made much of a difference--the lodge had been built in the approximate center of the area. “Seems as good a plan as any,” she murmured, leaning against his shoulder.

Turning slightly, he buried his face in her hair, inhaling the scent that had long since come to mean home and comfort. He had always been able to tell a great deal from the nuances of her scent, but since they had been mated, his perception had grown. The subtle changes were already beginning--another two, maybe three days, and she would be in heat. If he remembered right, it would probably take them two whole days just to get to his intended destination.

Bending his head to more easily reach her lips, he murmured, “Let’s go to bed, love. We should get an early start in the morning.”

Although it was barely dark when they crawled into the enormous sleeping bag, the moon had risen to high above the surrounding trees before the lovers finally went to sleep. Earlier in their relationship he would have been worried that the little amount of sleep they would be getting would make traveling difficult, but he had come to learn that even a brief period of sleep was adequate after making love. Maybe this would work out to their mutual advantage after all.

Listening to the soothing sounds of her slow, steady heartbeat and deep, regular breathing, he spent the remainder of the night indulging in one of his greatest pleasures: holding his mate and simply watching her as she slept. Despite the fact that she would not enter the fertile part of her cycle for a couple of days yet, the knowledge that this would soon happen was very nearly as stimulating as the demanding scent of her need for him. It was, he decided, going to be a long couple of days.

They made excellent progress during the next two days of travel. The hanyou was both surprised and delighted to find that the spot was much as he remembered it. The large clearing contained a hot spring and had a small waterfall dropping into it at one end with a merry tinkling sound. The left side of the open area was bounded by a sheer rock face about ten meters in height. Some of the lush vegetation from the top of the cliff trailed down over the vertical face.

He set the overstuffed bag down against the rock face. Turning to the woman who followed him, he grabbed her, spinning her around until she was dizzy. “We’re here, love. I expect we’ll be staying here for a week or more.”

She looked around the clearing, smiling broadly. She had formed the habit of keeping track of her cycles, and knew that she would be going into heat within the next day or two. “This place is so beautiful! How did you ever find it?”

He pulled her tight against his lean body, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Believe it or not, I was born not too far from here. I was only a little pup when my mother was killed. I managed to escape, but had nowhere to go--where would I be able to find anybody willing to take care of a worthless little hanyou? I spent several years living right here.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “You didn’t expect that any shelter that you might have had back then would still be here, did you?”

“Actually,” he said with a toothy grin, “Not only did I expect it, but I was right.” Moving to the rock face, he pushed aside the curtain of living vines that obscured the opening. “I wouldn’t have lasted a day if I’d tried living out in the open.”

Sniffing delicately, he quickly realized that the cave had been vacant for a very long time. Even though he had to duck his head slightly to enter, everything was much as he remembered it. It would take a little cleaning up, as some youkai or wild animal--it had been too long ago for even his sensitive nose to determine exactly which--had used this place as a den, leaving behind piles of bones and what looked like nesting material.

Moving quickly to the rear of the cave, he looked up, pleased that the vegetation had not entirely obscured the natural hole in the roof that not only allowed a certain amount of light into the interior but had also permitted the smoke from his small cooking fire to escape as well. Though scattered, the stones he had used to make a small fireplace were still there. Turning to his mate, he grinned again, his eyes glowing in the dimness. “Granted that it’s not exactly the Ritz, but it’s fairly comfortable, and hard to find if you don’t know it’s here. Do you mind if we stay here for a while?”

She laughed out loud, the joyful sound echoing in the small space. “Of course not. This is just about perfect--I mean, we’ve stayed in places a whole lot less comfortable than this at times. I think we could have a wonderful vacation right here.”

Moving forward, he swept her into a heated embrace, reluctantly releasing her when he noticed the trembling in her muscles that indicated her growing desire. He looked at her stricken features, shaking his head slowly. “No, love. Not yet. We have a little work to do if we’re going to stay here.” Gesturing at the piles of debris, he continued, “I’ll start moving this stuff. You can set up the fireplace and get things ready--once we’re done, we can move on to other things.”

She shivered in anticipation. “I think we can probably do with just some ramen tonight, okay? I don’t really feel like bothering with anything more elaborate right now.”

The look he gave her was suspiciously like a leer. “We may never get around to the ramen.”

********************************************************** ********************  

As things turned out, they had nearly an additional twelve hours before the desperation of their joint heat cycle woke them with the sense of screaming urgency that had characterized this time on other occasions. With no worries about being interrupted or otherwise disturbed, the two were free to satisfy their needs, pausing only to eat and sleep. Even in his desperation, he recognized that she was, after all, still human, and required food and rest at intervals. For her part, she would have chosen not to interrupt the joy they were giving each other, but eventually her body would continue no further without rest.

Her mate smirked at her single-mindedness. Although she had been satisfied, he could already smell the need growing in her scent once again. Keeping a tight grip on her, he gently stroked her burning skin, soothing her into a light sleep, hoping to allow her a little rest before their desperation once again grew beyond the limits of their control. Only then did he allow himself to drift into a dreamless sleep.

The hanyou was awakened near nightfall by the feel of soft lips and cool fingertips gliding across his burning flesh. Although he usually preferred to play the aggressor, this time he simply let himself be taken by his mate. As he pulled him along to new heights of passion, he slowly teased her eager body to a state of equal readiness before allowing her to complete the act that they both desired more than--for the moment, at least--air itself.

This pattern of unquenchable passion interspersed with occasional pauses for food or sleep continued unabated for eight days, the longest cycle of its kind either of them had ever experienced. When he finally awakened with the burning need of the previous days gone from his body he looked down at his sleeping mate. She always looked so peaceful like that, he thought--like some kind of angel, maybe. He bent his head to her, resting his chin on the top of her head, inhaling the sweet fragrance that was so uniquely hers.

His grasp tightened on her as his sensitive nose picked up the faintest hint of something new in her complex aroma, something he had been hoping for for what sometimes felt like an eternity. ‘Now,’ he thought, ‘It begins.’

He had had the plans in place since they had decided to come here, but had still not figured out exactly how to manage what he had decided really needed to be done to ensure their ultimate success in this newest of undertakings. He was immediately glad that he had fired Mei and informed their publisher that the next volume in the series would be delayed indefinitely for personal reasons.

Now, all he had to do was figure out how to keep his mate in the dark until conditions made it safe enough for him to do otherwise.

************************************************************* *****************  

They had been staying in the cave for nearly three weeks when the hanyou suddenly found himself the object of intense scrutiny. Even in the near dark, something in his mate’s direct gaze made him decidedly uncomfortable, and his ears flattened to his head in reaction. For once very glad that she had removed the subduing spell from around his neck, he squirmed inwardly. “What is it?”

Her eyes narrowed just the slightest bit. “When were you going to tell me?”

‘Oh, crap!’ he thought. ‘I’m in for it now.’ He hadn’t meant to deceive her, but he thought that knowing that she had conceived again might have started her worrying and possibly contributed to the potential problems. Pulling her down to the bank of the steaming pool, he decided that the time had come to come clean. Wrapping her in a loose embrace, he shook his head slowly. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice for a while yet.” At her puzzled expression, he continued, “I thought that if you knew you would start to worry, and that wouldn’t be good for you or the pup.”

As the meaning of his words sank in her anger began to evaporate. She nodded slowly. “Now I don’t have to worry--I thought there might have been something wrong.”

“Baka,” he said, tightening his grip on her, “This is what we came here for, after all.”

“So,” she said, reaching up to rub the soft fur at the base of his ears, “How long are we staying here?”

He looked vaguely uneasy. “Do you want to go back now?”

She thought about it briefly. “No,” she said, shaking her head, “I’m having a wonderful time. I almost wish we could stay here forever.”

“Do you really?” he murmured, inhaling the scent that seemed to contain no trace of stress or worry.

“Mmmmm-hmm,” she mumbled, her eyelids drifting shut as she relaxed completely against the toned muscles of his chest.

He sat there for long moments, thinking about what she had said. After over an hour of deep thought he rose carefully, lifting her slight form effortlessly. After placing her in their sleeping bag, he built up the smoldering fire and started water heating so she could have some tea when she awoke.

Removing a small object from a pouch he had carried stuffed into his haori, he left the cave and found a quiet spot in the nearby forest. After a few moments he returned to his mate’s side, replacing the cell phone in its hiding place.

Although the entire point of this journey had been to get away from the tensions of the modern world the hanyou was no fool. Even though the dangers that had existed in the wilderness in which he had grown up had largely vanished, he understood that other hazards still existed--he would not expose his mate to those potential dangers without a plan in place to get her to emergency treatment if it ever became necessary.

He wondered briefly what she would say when he told her.

******************************************************************* ***********  

Kagome awakened early the next morning, and the hanyou found himself deeply regretting every one of the times he had badgered her to rise at the crack of dawn or to abandon the comforts of her warm bed for the sake of their mission. As she tried to get up, he grabbed her arm, causing her to lose her balance and fall on top of the figure sitting up, the top of the sleeping bag pooled around his hips.

“Stay here,” he snarled. “I’ll get us some tea.”

Although she had seen him undressed countless times, her breath caught in her throat as it always did. She had truly never seen anything as beautiful as her husband in her entire life. His pale, perfect hanyou skin seemed to glow golden in the firelight, shadows playing across it as the lean muscles moved beneath his flawless skin. His long silvery hair seemed to glitter in the flickering light as it swirled around him. When he turned back to her, she had to consciously remind herself to breathe--even in the shadows, his eyes gleamed with a burning intensity as he approached.

She held the cups as he returned to his place by her side. As he accepted his tea after slipping into the sleeping bag he brushed a stray tendril of ebony hair away from her face. “You know,” he murmured, wrapping an arm around her as she sipped her tea, “I never understood what a huge pain in the ass I was.”

She looked up with a puzzled expression. “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head in sorrow for all the missed opportunities of his life. “All those times I woke you up before daybreak or dragged you away from your home. I never understood what it cost you to leave all your comforts behind to follow me.”

She reached up to run her fingers through his silver-white hair. “It was never a hardship, love. I was always glad to be with you, even if it was a little inconvenient sometimes.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Whatever made you think of that?”

Having finished his own tea, he pulled her slender body tightly against his own. “When you tried to get up now it made me think of all the times I disturbed your sleep. I realized that I didn’t want you to get up and leave me--not even just to make tea. How could I have been so stupid?”

Setting her half-empty cup aside, she curled up tight against his side, resting an arm across his chest. “I never thought you were stupid, in spite of what I might have said. I was pretty insecure back then--I was just glad for every minute you let me stay with you.”

His laugh had a bitter edge. “You didn’t know what insecure was. Remember how I always used to fight with you about going home? I was scared to death that one time you would get together with that Hobo guy and never come back. Between that and worrying that that mangy wolf would come along and take you from me it was all I could do to keep from claiming you for myself a thousand times. I got a flash of that same feeling when you went to get up before.” He shook his head ruefully. “I guess some things really never do change.”

She tightened her grip on him. Even though his rare admissions of weakness always surprised her, she loved him for them--at times he seemed too strong and perfect to be real. “You know, I never want to be anywhere but right here. I don’t think I ever did.”

“Well,” he said, his voice a soft purr in her ears, “We can be here any time you want, for as long as you want.”

Something vaguely odd about the way he had phrased his answer made her look up at him in curiosity. “What do you mean?”

Wondering briefly exactly how she would take the news, he simply said, “I bought us the resort. We can come up here any time you like. If you want, we could even live here.” Before she could say anything more, he held up a hand, continuing, “Don’t worry. I’ll be keeping most of it open to the public, but this immediate area will be protected by a barrier that only the people we choose can enter. The little cabin we spent our first night here in will also be off limits, unless you’d rather stay in the main lodge. We can work out the details with Shiori later on.”

Sudden recognition flashed in his mate’s eyes. “I thought she looked familiar! This is the same Shiori we met at that little village near the sea, right?” At his slow nod, she continued, “What happened to her after we left?”

He shrugged. “Once she saved the human village, they suddenly decided that they had been a little unfair in their treatment of her and her mother.” He sniffed a little at the hypocrisy of the villagers. “They never became what you’d call popular, but they were allowed to live in peace after that.”

She nodded slowly, thinking hard. “Why did you buy the resort? I mean, we could probably come here any time we liked anyway.”

“I didn’t think about it that way. I remember you said that you wished we could stay here forever, and it seemed like the natural thing to do.”

She laughed, remembering that he had been anything but considerate when they had first met. “I guess I have to remember to be careful what I wish for when you’re around. What I really meant was that I wanted to be with you like that forever, although I have to admit that this is a beautiful place. Maybe we could split our time between here and the house in the city?”

“I think,” he said, smiling at the gasp of pleasure she made as he maneuvered his fingers across the mark on her back, “That we can probably manage something like that.”

*********************************************************** *******************  

Before either of them realized what had happened, early spring gave way to high summer. Since they had been there for nearly four months with no sign of a problem, they decided--after consulting with Jinenji--that it was probably safe for them to return to their normal lives as long as they made a concerted effort to avoid stressful situations.

Work on the second volume of the “Through a Youkai’s Eyes” series was resumed, although at a more leisurely rate than before. After only a brief delay, they located a new literary agent: Kagura, the wind youkai who had been born of Naraku and had, in the end, been instrumental in his defeat. Although she had once been their opponent, that had been a very long time ago, and the two realized that they would be unlikely to ever find another agent who would be a tougher negotiator.

In time, Kagome’s mother was informed of the situation. She was even allowed to accompany her daughter on a few marathon shopping trips, though always under the watchful eye of her hanyou mate. He had made it clear that he would terminate the encounters instantly at the first sign that his mate was becoming stressed or fatigued. He had never found it necessary to carry out his threat.

**************************************************************** **************  

The hanyou raced through the forest behind the large house outside Tokyo. Even though he understood that there was nothing he could do to actually help the situation, he couldn’t simply sit by and wait--he had to do something, no matter how futile or pointless.

Still, he soon realized that the stress of waiting out the inevitable in the forest was even worse than it had been before his mate had sent him away from her side. His ears swiveled to catch the faint sound of a painful cry in the distance. His mind made up, he stopped dead in his tracks, turning to sprint back to the house by a much shorter route than the one he had taken to get there.

Some time later he lay in his own bed, holding his tired mate as she slept. He carefully flexed the fingers of his bandaged right hand, testing to see if the three bones she had broken when she had clutched at him in her agony had healed completely yet. ‘Still,’ he decided, ‘It was more than worth it..’ He had been a little surprised to see that his son looked--almost--completely human. Still, the child’s parentage became apparent at his first yawn, when he exposed tiny but very sharp fangs, and when, in time, the newborn blue faded from his eyes to leave them the same honey-gold color as his father’s.

He had been even more surprised to learn that he also had a new daughter. Although her hair was a more like her mother’s, the golden speckles in her eyes and the two tiny flaps of skin that would soon stand up to become ears like her father’s clearly marked her as her father’s daughter. He was pleased to note that his daughter was, after all, the younger of the pair--even though only her elder by a few minutes, her brother would one day assume the role of her protector.

In the end, it had not been difficult choosing names for the pups. Even though they had long considered naming their family for old friends now long gone, none of those names were exactly right this time. After the long wait and the measures that had been necessary to bring them into this world, only two possible names would do: Takara and Kicho.

They were, as his mate agreed, the perfect choice.

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