"What are you doing here?!" Kagome was out of bed and into her closet before she was finished yelling. She didn't have time for anything – she stripped in record speed, shimmied up a soft pair of jeans, threw on a t-shirt, and stepped into some pair of shoes before he landed on the ground.

She was pushing him out the door before he could respond, really not wanting to deal with a room filled with the stench of burning for the next week. She herded him down the stair and out the door before making a quick detour to grab a coat. It was cold and she didn't really have time to grab a bra.

"Let's go!" she demanded as she slid the door shut. No use in being quiet; they had probably woken up the whole house when they thundered down the stairs.

Kagome didn't stop running until they crossed the property line.

"Hey, Kagome," Kouga murmured.

She waited for him to tuck her hair behind her ear and give her a quick kiss before shoving him down. Completely ignoring his grunt of surprise (and the inappropriate comment about times and places), she dropped to her knees and yanked off his shoes.

His heels had started to blister and his toes were turning red, but the skin was all still intact. Huffing a small breath of relief, she grab his hands next. She slowly peeled off the gloves he finally started wearing, watching for any sign of pain.

His hands resembled his feet, only slight blistering on his fingertips and the redness starting to ebb away.

"Kagome–"

"My phone is not just an accessory!" she snapped, not wanting to hear any of it. "How many times have I asked you to call me rather than hurting yourself?!"

Kouga flashed a beautiful, charming, toothy smile. "I just wanted to see you."

"At least you're learning," Kagome went on, digging through the pockets of her coat. It had to be in one of those; she can't remember taking it out. "I can still remember that awful smell when you climbed through my window barefoot."

Finally finding the salve, she took one of his hands in hers and slowly started applying it. It was always fascinating to see the white balm sink in as the skin slowly stitched itself together. She continued in silence, covering both hands and feet before sitting back on her heels.

"Anywhere else?"

He was smiling at her, a soft, quiet smile that she rarely got to see. Kouga held out his arms and helped her crawl into his lap, the two of them rearranging limbs until she was comfortably resting against his chest.

"As much as I like seeing you, I don't like you hurt," she murmured a few moments after they settled.

"I know." He softly kissed her hair. "I know."

"I'm so scared that one night I won't wake up." Kagome was rambling, but she didn't know how to stop herself. "And I know you, you would just curl up next to me on the bed and I would wake up to a burnt corpse–"

"Shhhh," he soothed. His arms tightened around her waist. "You know that's not going to happen."

"Then why? Why do you insist on visiting? I live on a shrine, Kouga. A shrine! It's not like sunlight where you can just keep inside during the afternoon, or lather on the lotion to keep a layer over your skin!" Her voice rose with every word, ending in hysterics she couldn't control. "I want to see you, too, but not at the expense of your life!"

"But here I am and I'm okay," he replied in her ear. His fingers touched her lips when she went to reply. "I'm okay."

She wasn't convinced.

"If you hate it so much, revoke your invitation."

Her blood ran cold. No. No! She was not going to that. How could she possibly–

"Then drop it. I've already promised to watch my limits. A few blisters is worth seeing you jump out of bed in those skimpy pajamas you insist on wearing." His chuckle rumbled through her as she slowly got over her shock. "Besides, it's only a couple more months of this, right?"

Kagome forced herself to pull in a breath. It was true. The sooner she finished her last semester, the sooner she could justify moving.

"We'll make it. I promise."

Apparently, I couldn't write this without thinking up an entire backstory. Stupid brain. To answer some questions that may or may not have popped up:

- These vampires "burn" like everyone else in the sun, only they do so at a much quicker rate. As long as it's cloudy or overcast, they can get away with a small tan. If it's sunny but the sun isn't high, they can put a barrier on their skin – the most common being suntan lotion.
- I'm treating a shrine the same as a church. Vampires, because they cheat death, can't be anywhere that represents an afterlife without consequence. So Kagome is always soothing burns Kouga doesn't care about.
- Kagome absolutely will not revoke Kouga's invitation. There's a backstory (Kagome was attacked and Kouga had to get in) that I haven't completely fleshed out, so I'm not quite certain there won't be a story about it.

ANYWAY. That was a long author's note for such a short story. Thank you, mamamakoshark on tumblr for the prompt!

Let me know what you think!