"But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me."
– Pablo Neruda, Your Feet

In spite of her anxiety about crossing this new territory with Kouga, Kagome knew that this was where she was supposed to be right now. A few weeks ago, she had questioned everything in her life and never did she imagine herself here.

Kouga waded into the spring, completely entranced by the woman before him. Without warning, Kouga pushed her hair off her shoulders and onto her back, almost angrily that her hair would obstruct his view from his mate's pretty flesh.

And he kissed her.

Fire. Everything was fire and hands and flesh and touch and lips and Kouga. He was kissing her and tenderly holding her face, guiding her deeper into the warm spring, his hips pushing against hers, one step at a time, his lips never leaving hers.

When Kouga had returned from their fight with the demon and Kagome had seen him covered in blood, all she could think about was getting to him. All she could think about was what she might ever do without him and that is when she knew. That is when she knew that her mother had been right, that she was perhaps more in love with Kouga than she cared to acknowledge.

It made no sense. How she felt, having only been with him for a week and instinct or not, she didn't care anymore. She loved him and that is what she knew, like she knew the back of her hand, the way she knew Souta's favorite cereal, knew her mother's favorite flower, knew how much Sango loved her children, and knew that if it were not for that dumb Bone Eater's well and the sum of all the things that had happened to her that she might not be here right now with him.

And that was crazy. Kagome could not imagine a time before or after Kouga and she didn't want to. If Mama had told her anything, it was that love could be just that.

Love is crazy and without rules and it doesn't have to make any sense, and when you find it you have to hang on. Just as Kagome knew her love for the wolf prince, she knew his love for her, that it outweighed the stars and the moon and time that had separated them, that Kouga would have waited 500 years to see her again if he had to, that he would have found her and he would have loved her, no matter where or when, that his love would have moved time and space for them to be together.

Kagome thought about death and whether or not Ayame had felt any pain as she died. She thought about their conversation by this very spring, about how she had said that it took courage to love someone who doesn't love you back. She reasoned that perhaps it took courage to love when you had lost, too, that it took courage to love at all.

As he broke their kiss and gazed down upon her, she never felt more beautiful or lovely or loved.

"Say something," he beckoned, his bright blue eyes drugged and full of his want.

She thought back on that morning after he had kissed her and said, "I'm so in love with you."

And her words didn't make any sense, didn't align with how long it took a normal person to fall in love, didn't follow any rules, but she knew them wildly to be true. Kagome's breath hitched in her throat as his lips hovered centimeters from hers.

"That isn't what I thought you would say, but I'm glad to hear it all the same."

"So is this part that is instinct?" Kagome wanted to know, running her hands up and down his chest. "Loving you?"

Kouga shook his head. "I don't know how to answer that. Isn't all love like this? Don't you just know?" He leaned in to kiss her once, twice.

Kagome considered his words. She had often heard it said that once you found love, real love that you did just know, love at first sight and all, but she hadn't believed any of it. "If I know that I love you, does it matter?"

He placed his forehead against hers, sighing as he felt her body against his. "I suppose not."

"Kouga, will you always love me?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Always," he repeated, his lips pouring kisses down her collarbone.

Her eyes filled with tears. "You know that I will grow old someday. That I will die."

He didn't pause. "I know that, too."

Kagome bit down on her lip. "Why do you love me?"

She had never asked, but now wanted to know.

He paused as though someone had doused cold water over his head. Why? Why does the wolf love the moon?

He looked down on her lovingly and fanned his fingers through her hair. "I love your dark hair." His thumb brushed against her lips. "Your face, your eyes, your lips…" and he kissed each of them in turn. "I love the way your body curves," he kissed first down her shoulder and his fans rolled over her breast and down the curve of her hips. "I like the way you bite your lip when I touch you," he said, grinning.

"I love how stubborn you are, how kind and generous you are, the way your body gives at my touch." Just to prove his point, he lavished more kisses along her throat and pressed his hands around her hips, and Kagome bucked her hips against him, gasping softly. Kouga thrust his thumbs through the waistband of her underwear on either side of her hips like holsters. "And god, I love your weird human clothes, especially these."

Kagome threw her head back, laughing. It was such a, well, Kouga-esque thing to say.

"Your laugh, I love your laugh," he added, eyes hooded, half smiling, drunk off her skin.

Suddenly Kagome felt the urge to tell Kouga something, to make sure he knew this, he had to know. "Kouga, you aren't my second choice, I – I'm not here, because – because he isn't." Her voice started strong before gradually lowering in volume to almost a whisper. "You aren't second."

He grinned down at her and kissed her hard, his lips hot and burning against hers. He knew. He had to know this and she was certain by the cocky, self-assured way he smirked, the way he possessively locked his hands around her hips that he knew this.

Her body thrummed under his touch, his fingers electrifying her skin and burning her alive.

Of course he knew. He knew that even if the hanyou had died that it would have been a fight, but that instinct would have won out, that he would have shown her that he was the only choice. He thought about how touch bonded mates before they joined as one and how he had almost kissed her eight years ago, how difficult it had been to release her back to the well after their lips had touched just one night before. Instinct and his touch would have bonded them, he was certain of it.

You aren't second.

As sure as he had always been of his love for Kagome and her eventual falling, there was always a small part of him that had feared that Ayame was right. That she didn't love him, that she wouldn't come back, that he would be lonely forever.

That's the funny thing about falling though. She was here. She was solid and in spite of all the shit that had happened today, she was beautiful and giving and his and right here.

"You weren't second, I just couldn't see you," she said breathlessly between kisses.

"I know," he whispered back. "I know."

Then, he made her his over and over again until the sky brought dawn upon them.

Author Note: I don't know if I'm perfectly content with this, but I wanted to get this up because I don't know when I'll be able to update again (I will update this, it might just not be for a couple weeks, instead of every other day). Things are happening with work/life and I won't have as easy of an access to a computer every day. But never fear! More is to come.