Chapter 3
By the time the girls and Shippo returned from the bath, there was several rabbits roasting over the fire. It had taken Kagome a while to get used to fresh game. Fresh fished grilled over an open fire were her favorite meal, but after weeks of nothing but ramen while traveling away from the rivers, she'd found that roasted meat was worth the knowledge that she'd seen the animal it came from.
They ate quietly; even Miroku and Sango's antics were subdued. Eventually, Inuyasha cleared his throat. "Um, Kagome, maybe we should do a perimeter check together. I mean, if you want."
Kagome considered turning down such an obvious attempt at getting her alone again, but Sango was nodding in encouragement. "Sure, I suppose."
The two of them got to their feet, and Inuyasha picked her up and lept into the air. She had to admit that traveling like this was exhilarating. The first time, it had been somewhat terrifying. Having no way of controlling where they leaped, and not entirely trusting him not to simply drop her mid-jump, she'd been afraid for her life. Now, whatever differences they had, she trusted him to protect her.
She frowned. But yet, even though she trusted him to protect her body, she wasn't so sure about her soul. Quite literally. After a copy of Kikyo had been formed from her bones and clay, she'd tried to take back the soul that she and Kagome shared. In the end, Inuyasha couldn't bring himself to destroy the imitation, letting it escape with a few fragments of their shared soul – mostly the bitterness and anger that had entered it when Naraku convinced Kikyo that Inuyasha had betrayed her. Now, Kikyo wandered the lands, a shadow of the beautiful priestess she once was.
When he stopped, they were on the other side of the hill from their camp, where a spring cut down the hillside. It was pretty, she noted as he set her on her feet.
She sat down heavily on the boulder beside the spring. "Why do we always end up like his?"
Inuyasha sighed as he sat down next to her. "Maybe the Kami are bored, and our frustration amuses them."
Kagome laughed, although it felt just a little bitter. She often felt like her life was for the entertainment of others.
He pulled her against him. "Gomen ne. I know I'm not always the brightest, or best spoken guy around," he trailed off for a moment. "I know that I'm easily mislead by the shadow of Kikyou. And to make it worse, both of us have to figure out where my feelings for you really come from. Whether I love you, or the fact that you both share the same soul …." He growled in frustration as he tried to find what he wanted to say, and his cheeks turned red.
Kagome's eyes widened as she looked up at him. He was struggling with putting his feelings into words, but for the first time he was talking to her about the important things.
"What I'm tryin' ta say is, I love you, Kagome. Not because of who you were, but because of who you are. Ah, damn, I never look cool when I'm... Mmrph!" His sentence was cut off as Kagome pulled him into a kiss. Surprise was quickly replaced with passion as he pulled her into his lap, wrapping his strong arms around her.
Eventually, she pulled back from him enough to speak, their foreheads still touching. "I love you, too. So just don't say anything else, okay?" Kagome's sweet laugh rang out as he nodded his head enthusiastically. She kissed him again, her hands running through his hair until she found his ears. He tensed – they were sensitive – but she started to rub them gently and he let out a low groan of pleasure.
He reached up and ran his hand along her side, before running his thumb over a pert breast. She gasped at the touch.
"Inuyasha …." she murmured as she leaned up and kissed him again.
Author's Note: Next chapter gets lots of lemons. :3
