InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Quadrangle ❯ Bound and Determined ( Chapter 14 )

A/N: Lemon alert, you've been warned. I've also been sick all week, so it might contain more grammar and spelling errors than usual. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

 

Reviewers on MM: Inu-kag15, Anime Lady PIMP, brower47

 

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

 

Chapter 14 - Bound and Determined

 

“-you have to let us look at her!” An exasperated, concerned, feminine voice broke through the muffling oblivion in which she'd been floating. Irritated at the intrusion, Kagome groaned softly and buried her face in the source of heat that vibrated against the length of her body. Perched on his thigh with her head tucked under his chin, his arm and aura surrounding her curled body, she was so comfortable and warm. Couldn't they just leave her alone?

 

“Demon, ye will release her to our care!” Kaede rapped out, anger coloring her normally sedate voice.

 

Kagome blinked fully awake with a decidedly sinking feeling. `Kaede doesn't sound happy, and she hardly ever raises her voice.' Squirming until she could brace herself against the hard plane of his unarmored chest, she turned her head and peeked from underneath eyelids that were gummy and itchy.

 

The red haze that had claimed his mind receded as the woman around whom Sesshomaru had wrapped himself stirred and snuggled closer. It had been many long years since his blood beast had escaped its cage. The last thing he could remember with a rational mind was the sight of Kagome seated on the well and her dejected words tumbling through the evening air: I'm going home. All of the carefully place stones, the thick, hard mortar he'd used to cement them in place, burst outward in a shower of sandy rubble and his youkai had taken the reins and leapt after her. The other male, Inuyasha, he could now recall, though his youkai hadn't cared at the time, had attacked. Sesshomaru had fought him off with only one objective in mind: to prevent the departure of his female. Even her apparent change of mind had not eased the rage, though his youkai had taken immense satisfaction when she'd screamed his name, further angering his competition. Ha! She was his and she knew it.

 

It had been several moments later when the scent of her terror had pierced the fog in his brain along with another scent that he both knew, and yet didn't. His opponent had also sensed it and while Sesshomaru had pulled his female from danger, the other male had turned his attentions on the creature in the well. How she had convinced him to let go of her again, he still wasn't sure, but he had, following her back into danger and protecting her while she'd glowed with the light of the sun, somehow collapsing the well and trapping youkai within. When the earth had finally settled, only a shallow crater was left and the scent and aura of the creature were gone.

 

He'd gathered his unconscious female to his body, pulling her away from the gore that stained the ground and into the forest, leaving the competition pissed and pinned to the ground by a spiny black insect leg. When the humans had shown up hours later, one of them an adult male and seemingly familiar with his female, he'd wanted to tear into them, but couldn't manage it without first letting go of her. He settled for leaping into the branches overhead and warning them away with bared teeth and fierce snarls, all of which they'd ignored. No matter: when she woke and he knew that she was unhurt, he would kill them for their insolence. She would probably be hungry, anyway.

 

Now that she was awake and his youkai blood had slunk back into its kennel, he remembered who they were and was feeling a little foolish to be caught growling in a tree, not to mention relieved that he hadn't slaughtered her friends and served them to her for dinner. Not that he would have mourned their passing; he could care less. However, Kagome would care quite a bit. It was unnerving to realize how much that mattered to him.

 

The old miko was yelling again and Kagome stirred against him, her hand inadvertently brushing his crotch and instantly sending an inundation of blood to the spot. Which reminded him: he'd only been warming up earlier and though he'd never mated in a tree before, he was feeling adventurous…

 

“I'm alright, Kaede!” Kagome called out, craning her neck to see over the over the wall of white silk to her surroundings. “Eep!” her stomach lurched alarmingly when she realized that the taiyoukai was crouched on a branch several yards over the ground. She needn't have worried; Sesshomaru's arm held her fast in his lap and she was in no danger of falling.

 

“Oh, Kagome, thank Kami you're okay!” Sango shouted up, sagging slightly against Miroku. There had been so much carnage around where the well had once stood: bits of tentacle, ichors seeping into the ground, long ruts that bore witness to the use of the windscar, and Inuyasha, cursing and tugging at what seemed to be a giant spider's leg impaling his shoulder and fixing him to the earth.

 

She had been irritated when Inuyasha had suddenly increased their pace toward Kaede' village, quickly outdistancing them, and she hadn't felt inclined to push Kirara to follow. Regretting that decision as they'd descended on the remnants of a fierce battle, she and Miroku had leapt from Kirara's back before the firecat had landed and rushed to the hanyou's aide. Once freed, he'd cast a dark, angry look into the woods and then bounded off in the opposite direction, refusing to answer any of their questions. Sango had wanted to follow him but was held back by Miroku, who had given her a quiet shake of the head.

 

“Let him go. Perhaps he needs some time to think. It is too dark to follow, anyhow.”

 

“But Miroku, the well has been destroyed! We don't know where Kagome is! Or Kikyou, for that matter.” The monk had sent her a resigned look that had hinted at knowledge he wasn't sharing. Narrowing her eyes, Sango had scowled back; she wasn't in the mood to play games. “What is it, monk?”

 

“I do not think the Lady Kagome is far away, and I doubt she is alone,” he'd said finally, holding up a hand to stop her interruption. “Let us find Kaede and try to make sense of this…” his eyes had strayed to the splintered boards and ravaged, smoking earth.

 

Sango was broken out of her brief reverie as the monk's hand slipped down her back. `Well,' she thought sarcastically, `things can't be that bad if he's already trying to cop a feel.' With a quick step to the side, she left the monk's comforting support and groping hands to stand on her own.

 

“Sesshomaru, can we go down now?” Kagome twisted to look up into his impassive, beautiful face. The pale light of the moon backlit his hair, creating a nimbus of shimmering silver around his head and almost obscuring his features in shadow. Golden eyes burned with a light of their own as they watched her, fathomless and intoxicating. `Focus, girl.'

 

Truth be told, he was not inclined to leave the tree, at least not to join her friends. His loss of control was too fresh, and these humans had been a witness to it. Besides, both the rational and instinctual parts of him wanted to take Kagome and find someplace with more private. Tightening his arm, he shifted their weight to spring but paused when Kagome cuddled closer and bared his mark.

 

“My friends are worried; I need to talk to them,” she said into the folds of his haori, relieved when his muscles relaxed again. She wasn't crazy about manipulating him like this, for that exactly what it felt like she was doing, but she knew from experience that arguing with him did no good and she had no subduing spell to use against him. Not that the spell had been very effective, either.

 

“Very well,” he intoned, the boredom in his voice conveying the huge favor he was granting her, and dropped silently to the ground. Setting her on her feet and taking a step backward, he regarded the other humans with a disdainful eye, daring them to say anything about his previous behavior.

 

Sango was the first to approach, warily, with one eye on the taiyoukai, then drew Kagome into a rough, brief hug. Holding the girl out at arm's length, she asked, “Kagome, what happened? The well is…gone. There's nothing left.”

 

Kagome had known it would be destroyed when she'd made the decision to seal it, but hadn't allowed herself the time to really think about what that meant to her. Never again would she see her mother, Souta, Grandfather, or Buyo. She would never finish her correspondence classes or go to a university for an advanced degree. She would never see the sequel to Underworld when it came to theaters in Japan, munching popcorn and Red Vines while slurping down a cold Pepsi. She would never get Shippo strawberry-flavored instant oatmeal or replenish his supply of candy. The four remaining pairs of panties in her bag were the last she would ever have, and if Sesshomaru hid or destroyed any more of them, she would tan his hide. A hysterical giggle bubbled out of her throat and she tried desperately to smother it with a hand firmly clamped over her mouth. The result was a strangled, desperate sound and Sango gave her a helpless look.

 

A steady flow of reassurance fed to her through the link to Sesshomaru and gratefully, she clung to it without questioning the how or why. `No use crying over spilled milk,' she told herself firmly, because she knew that if she started crying, she wouldn't be able to stop. `Look to the future; what's done is done.'

 

“I'll explain in a minute. Where's Inuyasha?” she asked when she'd found her voice and was sure that it wouldn't crack. Though glad that she didn't have to face him at the moment, as her fragilely maintained composure would surely have broken under the strain of his bitterness, she was afraid that he'd been sealed in the well along with Kikyou's body and the creature.

 

“He's gone, too.” Sango was quick to clarify when her friend's face began to crumple, “He ran off after we pulled the…thing…out of his shoulder.” Belatedly, Sango realized the news of Inuyasha leaving could hardly be welcome, but had to be better than the hanyou being killed by whatever had destroyed the well.

 

Kagome only nodded, oddly numb and somehow not surprised. Kikyou was gone for good and she, Kagome, had been screwing his detested half-brother. He had trusted her in his way and she could imagine that he saw her actions as the highest form of betrayal, never mind the many times he had betrayed her. What reason would he have to stay? Friendship? She doubted that he would ever call her friend after this. Her heart ached for her first love who she hadn't been able to heal. She'd wished so hard for his happiness, prayed that he would find it with her. Swallowing down the lump that had formed in her throat, Kagome gave Sango a watery smile.

 

“He'll be back, eventually.” At taijiya's puzzled stare, Kagome shrugged, “He's still wearing the rosary.”

 

Sesshomaru suppressed a flash of irritation at her remark, aware that his youkai viewed the hanyou as competition. It was ridiculous, really, to think that a wretched half-breed could be considered as such because it implied equality. However, he could not ignore the ranting of his beast and decided that the best solution was to make sure his claim was indisputable.

 

“It is late and the young ones are worried. I think it best if we retire to my home and discuss the events of this evening under a roof,” Kaede gestured for the rest to follow her but stopped when Kagome shook her head.

 

“I have to purify anything that's left of the body.”

 

“What kind of demon was it, Kagome? The mess it left was unrecognizable,” Sango asked, grimacing as she pictured the bits of tentacle and pools of sticky, stinking fluid.

 

“It was Naraku…kind of.”

 

“Kagome, Naraku is dead. We - you - killed him. Remember?” Sango gave her friend a scrutinizing look and wondered if she'd bumped her head.

 

Sighing and pursing her lips, Kagome tried to organize her thoughts and the revelation she'd had as she'd sealed the well. “Yes, we killed him, but we didn't destroy all of his body. Maybe he cast a bit away when he knew he was dying, maybe a part of him just fell off and was hidden in the grass…”

 

…Brown grasses trampled by her body as tentacles pulled her toward gleaming red eyes…

 

Kagome shook herself out of the memory of her recurring nightmare she now knew had been something more. Little of its previous owner's cunning had remained; the creature that had camped out in the well, intertwining itself with the magic of the time slip and waiting for her and the jewel to deliver themselves into its grasp, had been no more than a pale shadow of its former self. Haltingly, Kagome tried to describe her nightmares and their similarity to the horror in the well.

 

Miroku regarded the young miko with a thoughtful frown, "Naraku possessed and used the tainted jewel far longer than any other demon. Since his body was nothing more than a conglomeration of lesser demons, it is possible that a piece of him survived and still hungered for the power of the jewel.”

 

“Then why would he hide in the well instead of coming after the jewel directly?”

 

“I doubt we will ever know for sure, Kagome. Now that the jewel has returned to your body, he may not have been able to sense it clearly. If he was able to invade your dreams, perhaps he was also able to see how you traveled between worlds and decided that that would be the time you were most vulnerable.”

 

Kagome pursed her lips, not quite satisfied with Miroku's reasoning. “I don't know…this creature wasn't that smart. It was if it was driven by instinct, not reason.”

 

Finally, Kaede spoke, “Ye did not tell me that ye had swallowed the jewel.”

 

“I, uh, didn't think it was that important,” Kagome fidgeted uncomfortably. How did Kaede make her feel like a fractious teenager with just a few words and a stern look? It wasn't fair. Brow furrowing, Kaede said nothing, which was even worse than the disappointment in her voice. “I was born with it, after all.”

 

“Aye, you were born with it, whole, in your body. Consuming it, as you have…” Kaede trailed off as the implications tumbled around her mind. Silently, she appraised the youkai and miko standing side-by-side.

 

“She has absorbed it,” Sesshomaru spoke for the first time since leaving the tree, “and is no longer human.”

 

Stunned silence met his proclamation until Kagome elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “And when were you planning to tell me?” Sesshomaru raised a dark eyebrow, partly at her audacity and partly in surprise that she had not yet figured it out for herself. Truly, humans, even former humans, were out of touch with their bodies.

 

Kagome huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She'd known that she'd absorbed it; he'd said as much right after she'd swallowed it. But what did he mean by not being human? Was she demon? Some kind of mutant freak? She fervently hoped that she would not end up donning a pink spandex costume and go by the name of SuperMiko. `No capes,' she thought. `Capes only get you killed.'

 

“Regardless,” Miroku broke in, hoping to forestall the argument he sensed brewing, “If what you say about the creature is true, then we should purify the remains as soon as possible. Kaede, perhaps you could assure the children that all is well while we take care of the demon?”

 

The old miko nodded and lumbered away as the rest of the group turned and made it's way back to the field and the remnants of the Bone Eater's Well.

 

XxxxxxxxX

 

Huddled under a blanket in Kaede's hut, a cup of hot tea in her hand, Kagome sniffled and tried not to think of the scarred earth that had once been her way home. Hell, Inuyasha had left deeper craters after being subdued. Purifying the bits and pieces of the demon had not been near as horrible as shifting through the splintered boards of the well to retrieve her backpack. Tears built at the backs of her eyes, threatening to fall at the slightest provocation, but she blinked them back resolutely. Crying wouldn't help her.

 

“What do you plan to do now?” Sango asked quietly, blowing the steam from her cup and watching as the curls dissipated into formless fog. The adults sat together on one side of the hut, trying not to wake the two children who slumbered on the other side. Sesshomaru leaned elegantly against a wall, a small wrinkle in his nose signifying his disgust with his surroundings, a wrinkle that Kagome chose to ignore.

 

“I don't know, I haven't really thought about it much.” Setting the cup on the floor, Kagome propped her chin in her hand and stared into the flames. Actually, she'd given it a lot of thought, but not under the current terms. They'd been more like daydreams of her and Inuyasha living out their days in the village raising little silver-haired, dog-eared babies, but then everything had changed. The dream, which was always far-fetched, had been shattered with his apparent defection to Kikyou and now he wasn't even the one whose touch she craved.

 

She didn't even know exactly how she felt about the well closing. In a way, her life in the modern era seemed less real to her than her than the one in the feudal era. Though she'd always been disappointed that she hadn't graduated with honors (or good attendance), it had never bothered her as much as had her failures in the feudal era. It was as if she'd simply closed a chapter in her life that was no longer needed. Certainly, she missed her family with a bruising ache, but it wasn't the incapacitating grief that she'd experienced when she'd decided to go home for good. Her family was alive and well and would certainly understand what had happened when they saw the well sealed for good. They had all been aware of the possible consequences of her time travel. She just hoped that her disappearance didn't hurt them too deeply, but she also knew her mother trusted her and her decisions.

 

Kagome frowned as she backtracked in her thinking. If she had closed the well in the feudal era, how was she able to go through it in the modern era when she was fifteen? Would it open sometime in the future or would she have to reopen it? Had she just changed the course of history? Were the past and present connected in a way that she never before guessed? The two timelines did seem to move in parallel; after all, a week spent in the feudal era was a week spent away from modern Japan. Kagome rubbed her temples with her fingers, willing away the headache that was rapidly forming. She would just have to puzzle about that later. What was done was done and she couldn't undo it.

 

“Maybe I'll finish my miko training with Kaede-“

 

“You are accompanying this Sesshomaru to the West,” Sesshomaru stated in a manner that brooked no argument, which did not stop Kagome.

 

“Excuse me?” Kagome snapped in a hushed voice, irritated by his arrogant tone even as her stomach fluttered and her heart leapt into her throat. “Don't I get a choice in this?”

 

To her surprise, it was Kaede who spoke. “I think, child, that ye have already made your choice.”

 

“What?”

 

“He has marked ye in the youkai way and ye have joined, have ye not?” Kaede fixed the girl with a solemn eye over the rim of her bamboo drinking vessel.

 

`I have not had sexual relations with that demon!' Kagome wanted to deny, but settled for blushing and an embarrassed “Um,” and tried to ignore Sango's sudden coughing fit. “But he said it wasn't permanent-“

 

Kaede raised a quelling hand and Kagome subsided. “And ye have bound him to ye.”

 

“Um,” Kagome said again, wondering what had happened to her vocabulary. “No I haven't.”

 

Miroku cut in softly, “Kaede, what you are implying-“

 

“Tell me you do not sense it, monk,” the old woman raised a bushy, disbelieving eyebrow.

 

Opening his mouth do just that, Miroku shut it again and concentrated on Kagome's aura. Sure enough, tendrils of her pink aura were touching that of the demon's red youki. As he watched with his inner eye, her aura pulsed subtly, reaching out and stroking the other aura that in turn flared softly and welcomed it. “Ah. I see.”

 

“It be Shikon magic, which was created by Midoriko to bind the souls of demons within her own soul. Ye have taken in those demon souls trapped by Midoriko, as well as the miko's soul, and made them part of yourself. As she bound those demons, so you have bound your youkai, though in a different way.”

 

“And why didn't you mention this before I tried to leave?” Kagome hissed, bewildered and anxious. `Sesshomaru isn't going to like this.'

 

“It was much fainter when I saw ye earlier; I thought that perhaps I had imagined it. Had you gone home as you had planned, it may have been broken. However, I doubt anything could accomplish that now.”

 

Sesshomaru stifled a growl at the reminder of his female's disobedience and attempt at leaving him. He did not necessarily like the fact that she had bound him, as it was the male's prerogative to mark the female. On the other hand, it cleared up the possible problem of not being able to mark her properly as his mate. As one of the most powerful youkai in Japan, there was no doubt in his mind that he could reciprocate the binding spell and tie her to him.

 

`What then?' he wondered. `Will I be challenged for bringing a seeming human to my bed, as had my father before me? Will I sire hanyou pups?' However, Kagome was neither weak nor truly human as Izayoi had been. If worse came to worse and Kagome produced hanyous unfit to rule the West, then a youkai breeding bitch could be brought in to continue his line, but he seriously doubted it would come to that. Hanyou or not, no son of his would be unfit for anything.

 

“Oh. So, why would it be stronger now?” Kagome felt a little afraid to ask but had to know.

 

Kaede raised an eyebrow. “If it works as I suspect it does, the bond is reinforced when the two auras combine,” she put emphasis on that last word, hoping to convey her meaning without having to draw the girl a picture.

 

“Oh.” Kagome blushed furiously, now knowing that the old miko had a good idea of what she'd been up to on her way to the well. From Miroku's quirky smile, she guessed that'd he'd figured it out, as well. What was more worrying was Sesshomaru's reaction; his expression had not changed and she was getting no strong emotional feedback through their link, but she did not think he would welcome being tied to her. He had meant the scent-mark to be temporary; he'd made it clear when he'd told that she was a part of his pack. Now he was stuck with her, an addle-brained girl who couldn't control her own powers. “Oh, Kami.”

 

She was pulled to her feet by a hand wrapped around her forearm. Waving off the protests of her friends as she was dragged back out into the night, she put `learning to make subduing spells' at the top of her To-Do List.

 

“You know,” she tugged on her arm as he walked her through the village and into the outskirts of the forest, “a simple, `Kagome, could I speak to you a moment in private' would suffice.” She finally succeeded in freeing her arm, sure that it was only because he had chosen to let go. Fuming, she glared up at him, but her ire evaporated at the wounded light in the backs of his eyes.

 

“You do not wish to be bound to this Sesshomaru?” his eyes bore down on her and Kagome felt a strange agitation prickling along her skin.

 

“What? Aren't you angry that I-?”

 

“You belong to me. It is fitting. And you did not answer my question.”

 

Why does he want to know so badly? Kagome searched his simmering golden pools for some sign of what he was thinking and then cursed herself for her stupidity. What good was having a bond with a guy if you don't use it? Actively seeking the thread of connection, she was surprised to notice that many threads now stretched from her to the demon lord. Along them, determination and apprehension hummed as the silence grew between them. She didn't dare let herself hope about what that could mean.

 

“You didn't answer mine, either,” she reminded him softly.

 

For a long moment, he had no idea what she was talking about. He had just answered her question more than graciously, especially considering how she'd overstepped herself by binding him, intentionally or not. Had any other female attempted such a thing, he would not have hesitated before sinking his claws into her entrails. To think that she might not want him as badly as he wanted her was disconcerting, causing an unfamiliar pain to blossom in his chest. As he regarded her impassively, he felt her begin to pull away, sadness and disappointment cooling the tendrils of her aura that caressed his own. He thought harder, disliking her upset and the knowledge that he was the one causing it. `Ah. That question.'

 

“You are not just another Tetsusaiga to me,” he said finally, willing her to understand what he would not admit aloud.

 

It was no grand declaration of love, but it was also not the resounding rejection Kagome had expected. `Take what you can get, isn't that your motto now?' It had seemed like a good idea at the time, though she was getting something different than she'd bargained for. Despite the pompous ass, she found that she really didn't mind belonging to him, though she had bound him, which meant that he also belonged to her. He wanted her for who she was, not who she had been in another life. Maybe it was enough to give it a chance. If things didn't work out, well, she would solve that problem if it came to that. Besides, he had a nice ass.

 

“Then I guess I don't mind having you bound to me,” Kagome said, grinning slightly as she reminded him who, exactly, had done the binding.

 

Sesshomaru felt her come to her decision and released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He knew from the warm, steady thrum of their bond that it was a decision he could accept. Not that she had much choice in the matter; he'd already made up his mind but her compliance only made things easier.

 

A snatch of memory drifted through his brain: his father, long after his mother had died and years before meeting Izayoi, drunk on sake and victorious battle, imparting wisdom on the acquiring of heirs. His father had been badgering him, as he'd been wont to do when both of their lives were in moderate danger, about continuing the bloodline.

 

Grinning widely as he'd lounged against the silk cushions piled in his war tent, he'd fixed his only son with a glittering golden eye.

 

“First, you must find a female.” His father had given him a conspiratorial wink as if this had been a closely guarded secret and had taken a pull from the bottle in his hand. “Then, you impregnate her! Ha!” The Great Dog had laughed uproariously at his own joke. Sesshomaru had made a mental note to never drink sake in large quantities.

 

Well, he had accomplished the first step. Now, on with the second. “Come. We have unfinished business that requires our attention.”

 

“What?”

 

“We were interrupted earlier.”

 

Kagome gave him a long stare. “What?”

 

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, irritated by her intentional (at least in his not-so-humble opinion) obtuseness. Pitching his tone to a level she could not confuse, he growled and tugged lightly on their bond.

 

`Oh, that.' Kagome frowned at him, unconsciously squeezing her thighs together to relieve a little of the pressure that had built between them. “How can you think about that at a time like this?”

 

Taking a moment to reflect, Sesshomaru briefly mulled over her question. He had been thinking about sex a lot more than usual. Though he had certainly not lived a celibate life, he had never been one inclined to rut with anything that moved, as had several of his generals. The surge in his libido was not unwelcome and he had a suspicion that it had something to do with his partner. Not one to look a gift miko in the mouth (there were better things to do with said miko, after all), he decided, along with his nether regions, that there was no time like the present. He growled again, leaning into her and lowering his eyelids in that way he knew she could not resist.

 

“Umm…” Kagome suddenly found it difficult to breathe and knew she had lost this battle before she'd even begun to fight. “Maybe we could find someplace indoors…with a little privacy…”

 

His lips descended on hers, bruising them with the force of his kiss as he pressed her lips apart and filled her mouth with his tongue.

 

XxxxxxxX

 

Sango cleared her throat and glanced at the mat that coved the hut's only entrance. “Should we go make sure she's okay?”

 

“No, I don't think that's a very wise idea,” Miroku said as he settled his back against the wall of the hut, somehow making an innocuous statement sound lecherous.

 

Scowling, Sango took the bait. “And why is that, monk?”

 

Shrugging, he winked at Kaede, who only rolled her eyes and poured him another cup of tea. “You saw how he was when Kagome was unconscious. He won't let anything bad happen to her.”

 

“I think your definition of bad and my definition of bad differ greatly, pervert.”

 

“Oh, come now, Sango. Whether we like it or not, he's mated her, and youkai treasure their mates above all else.”

 

Sango sighed and swirled the dregs of the tea at the bottom of her cup. “As long as she's happy.”

 

Chuckling, Kaede took her cup and refilled it. “Though she may have bound him unconsciously, she would not have done it had she not, on some level, wanted to. Worry not for Kagome, child.”

 

XxxxxxxX

 

His fingers were already questing under her skirt, taking advantage of her lack of undergarments to slide a finger against her hidden folds, wet and still slightly swollen from their last coupling. Shivering, she clung to the front of his haori, pressing the hardened tips of her breasts against his chest. Fangs scraped her bottom lip as he nibbled down her chin, his nose nudging her chin up as he suckled at her pulse.

 

“Can we…at least…take off…our clothes?” Kagome panted as it became clear that they were not going to move indoors to attend to `unfinished business'. Two claw-tipped fingers pressed inside her and she groaned, grinding her hips against the thumb that rubbed circles over the small knot of nerves. He growled in acquiescence, grazing fangs down her long neck to the top bottom of her blouse. With a click of his teeth, the button popped off and he spat it into the bushes. The rest of the buttons followed until the two halves her shirt lay open, exposing the strange garment that bound her breasts, nipples budding through the fabric. Nipping at one of the tiny bumps through the silky material, he ignored her half-hearted noise of protest as he used a fang to slice through the middle section between the two wires. Appropriately bared and undeniably perfect, he covered a breast with his mouth, sinking his fangs in just enough to draw trace amounts of blood as he added a third finger to the hot channel that clenched around him.

 

Kagome cried out and slipped shaking fingers under his mane of silver hair and the collars of his haori, scoring blunt fingernail over his back as she pushed the fabric off his shoulders. Leaning over, careful not to dislodge his fingers from their delightful torment of her body, she trailed open-mouthed kisses down his neck, crying out as his head moved lower and out of reach. He nipped her at her navel, tongue swirling inside, before latching onto the waistband of her skirt. Kagome took the hint, and to prevent the destruction of any more of her clothes, quickly undid the hook-and-eye and zipper so that he could tug the garment down her hips. His fingers withdrew to let her skirt fall, and then he settled on his knees, pulling her down to straddled his legs and finish divesting him of his haori.

 

Running her tongue over his hairless, marble chest, she bit his nipple, teasing the tip with her tongue as she pulled on it with her teeth. He growled, claws tensing against the skin of her hip, and she smiled around his abused nipple as she untied the knot of his hakama. He sprang free of the fabric as she unwrapped the ties, letting the thick silk slither through her fingers to puddle on his thighs. Wrapping her fingers around his shaft, she gave it a firm squeeze, pulling up slowly and watching in fascination as the foreskin bunched around the tip and clear, sticky liquid oozed from the tiny hole. Groaning and painfully hard, he tilted his hips to move in her hand, straining against the desire to plunge directly into her waiting passage. First things first: he had to taste her.

 

Rising up on his knees, he tugged gently on her hip, guiding her to turn her back to him and bend over, presenting him the two most delicious pair of cheeks he had ever seen. Nipping up the ridge of muscle in her inner thigh, he nudged her legs apart, and then buried his nose in the soft fur crowing her sex. His scent mingled with hers, more savory than blood of a vanquished enemy, and he lapped at its source, growling in satisfaction as she trembled at the touch of his tongue.

 

Heedless of the pine needles that bit at her palms and knees, Kagome moaned as his rough tongue slid through her folds, flicking over the nub that sent rolls of heat though her belly. Sharp teeth joined his tongue to tease her, gently pulling on the pearl that throbbed with her thundering heartbeat. After a last lick that left her shaking and sweating, the heat of his mouth disappeared as the weight of his body curled over her. That same tongue licked a long trail up her spine as his length pushed into her, thick and hard, deeper than she thought possible. Reaching around to cup a breast in his hand, he held her steady as he mounted her, quick, purposeful thrusts sending ripples through her ass.

 

Each plunge of his shaft through her core hit a spot that sent dizzying sparks of pleasure ricocheting through her body. Tossing her head and moaning, she relished the prick of his teeth on her back, his answering growls rumbling against her flesh. The sweet ache coiled tighter in her abdomen, burning outward to limbs that could barely support her weight. Without warning, the spring snapped, her elbows collapsing, and she screamed her release into the forest floor as he pounded into her, purifying energy flooding from her pours and tangling with his youki. The sudden change in angle and charge in her skin sent him tumbling over the edge with her, joining her cry with a roar of his own and a few final, frantic thrusts as he burst within her, milked by clenching, quivering walls.

 

Bracing her against his chest, he rolled them over to lay on their discarded clothes, panting and satiated. Languidly, Kagome yawned and brushed bits of leaf and pine needle from her palms as she snuggled into the crook of his arm.

 

“Next time,” she yawned widely again and nudged his chin with her nose, “I want a decent bed. Or at least someplace not so stickery.” He grunted in acknowledgment of the request, shifting so that a rock would not cut so deeply into his shoulder. “And we should take off our shoes,” she mumbled against his neck as she drifted into sleep.

 

A/N: I debating on whether or not I want to post an epilogue and start a sequel or post an epilogue and leave some issues unresolved. What do you guys think?