Deserted 21: Reconnection

She found Inuyasha moments later sitting at the water's edge. His legs were drawn up against his chest, arms wrapped around them, chin resting atop his knees as he stared out over the ocean. He didn't stir as she made her way closer, didn't lift his head or acknowledge her presence at all. She wanted to reach out to him, to wrap her arms around him. She wanted to tell him the words that screamed in her head. "I love you! I'm sorry..."

But fear of rejection clouded her senses, forcing her outstretched hand to drop to her side. How could he forgive her for what she had done? Why would he welcome her embrace after she had so callously rejected his in front of everyone so many short hours ago?

But even through her fear, Kagome couldn't force her feet to carry her back to camp. She couldn't leave the spot on which she stood, or ignore the way being near him affected her. She wanted so much to hold him close, to kiss away the hurt she could feel tearing him apart. She wanted to feel him hold her in return, wanted desperately to taste his kiss again. But after all she had done, all she had said…

His voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and her heart jump-started at the promise she heard in his whispered words.

"I never meant to hurt you. I would never willingly hurt you. Please, if you believe nothing else I've said, just believe that."

Kagome ignored the sting behind her eyes, didn't bother to wipe her tears from her face. She took the few remaining steps to clear the distance between them and dropped to her knees behind him. She didn't think as she reached to wrap her arms around him, dropping her head to rest on his shoulder.

She heard his sudden intake of breath and closed her eyes against the guilt that welled up inside. Dropping her arms, Kagome pulled away, lowering her gaze to the soft sparkle of the sand beneath her knees and drew in a shaky breath.

"You're afraid of me, aren't you?" Kagome breathed. This was what she had feared the most: rejection of those who had reason to fear her power, isolation from the very beings she wanted to keep close. They were her friends, the closest thing to family she had. She couldn't lose them, not to this... She let out a shuddering breath as she blinked away the tears clouding her vision. She wouldn't blame them, of course. She was dangerous... But to lose the man she loved - it would break her completely.

"I didn't mean to... I have tried to keep it buried, ever since he..." Kagome paused, unwilling to speak his name. "Ever since that night..."

Inuyasha turned toward her, a small, pain-filled smile on his face. He studied her quietly before raising his hand to brush away her tears. "It's a defense mechanism - you feel threatened and it flares up... right?" Inuyasha pulled back, his gaze meeting hers in the darkness. "You could kill me, here and now, and I'd be nothing but a purified mass of flesh here in the sand."

She shook her head, desperate to convey that she wouldn't... couldn't hurt him - not like that, never like that! Inuyasha spoke before she could formulate the words to tell him as much, his palm cupping her cheek. "I could just as easily kill you, if I wanted too... " He trailed his claw across her throat, taking in the soft rush of air that whispered past her full inviting lips. "But I wouldn't kill you, Kagome- couldn't kill you, nor would I ever want to. Do you know why, Kagome?"

She shook her head, her body too muddled to do anything but wait beneath his tender assault on her senses; her breath hitched, her heart raced. Her mouth was dry, and out of desperation, she swept her tongue over her lower lip, as much to moisten it as to hide the way it quivered as she struggled not to cry. Inuyasha watched, his gaze as potent as his touch.

"Do you feel threatened, Kagome?"

She struggled for words, tears burning past her cheeks, wetting his skin as she struggled to say the words she so desperately wanted him to hear. But his sudden movement had her choking on what she would have said and in the space of a heartbeat she found herself cradled in his lap. His mouth brushed her lips, his words feathering past her ears. "I love you, Kagome. I would die before I ever hurt you again. Please, Kagome, you have to believe that!"

Turning so that she straddled him, Kagome gazed deep into his eyes, past the tears that glittered there, past the hurt that made her heart clench and her breath hitch. In their golden beauty she found sadness and heartbreak... but she also saw love.

She pushed her hands through his hair, watched as his eyelids slid closed, blissful contentment washing over his face. She tasted his lips, gentle and sweet as he swallowed her kiss. Her fingers found the curve of his chest, trailed over him softly until they rested on the mark that made him hers. She ignored the sting of her incisors as they burst into her mouth and the anticipation thrumming heatedly through her body.

"I am so sorry, Inuyasha. I never meant to hurt you. I should have known that something was wrong... I should have seen it, should have felt it! But I was so hurt... but losing you? It's more than I can bear."

Inuyasha's lips brushed past hers, closing softly over her own before retreating momentarily only to press more insistently against them again. She could hear his heartbeat echoing with hers, could feel his excitement building beneath their kiss.

"Never again," he breathed between kisses. "Never again will I let anything so stupid come between us."

"You're the only man I want... the only man I'll ever want," she breathed against his mouth. "I need you, Inuyasha." Pressing her forehead against his, Kagome encouraged him to look at her, and when his gaze met hers, she whispered, " I love you."

She pulled away to trail kisses down his jawline, his neck. She wanted to taste him, needed to show him how intensely she wanted him, how desperately she missed him.

Pushing him gently to the ground, Kagome made her way across his shoulder, her tongue searing heatedly over his skin. She'd wanted to go slowly, wanted him to feel her apology, needed him to know that she loved him, desired him. But once she'd reached his mark, once she felt the hitch in his breathing and the unmistakable state of his arousal pressed hard against her ass, all the gentleness disappeared.

Urgency fueled her desire, his husky growl lighting a fire only he could tame. Biting harshly into his mark she was rewarded with both a guttural growl of approval and a surge of desire that left her shaking in its wake, desperate to remove the clothing that separated her body from his.

A/N:

I am sorry for the wait on this. I haven't been feeling well, at all. It (my health condition) has taken so much from me- things I can never do again, things I try to do that land me in bed for hours or days at a time, with enough pain to remind me that I am at its mercy.

But you all have been so patient, many of you sending touching PM's and reviews... It is you all who encourage me to never give up. It is this that keeps me posting, because it would be so easy to give in, give up, let the pain take this away, too...

But there are so many who are willing to remind me that there are those still waiting, and no matter the wait, they will still be there when the next chapter is posted, still willing to share their wonderful words and reviews with me, still there to read the words that spill from my heart- because I love this.

I love telling stories. I love creating worlds for people to fall into to, to get lost in, if only for just a few moments. I can't escape my condition, but, if for only a few moments, I can draw others from theirs, give someone a few moments where they can forget about life's harsh realities, then I have done something worthwhile- and that is worth everything.

I owe a great debt to the many people out there that have invested their time in me, those very wonderful people who gave me the one thing I never thought to have when I started this whole writing fanfiction thing so many years ago- readers to enjoy the stories I create. I owe a 'thank you' as well to Rumiko Takahashi for creating and allowing the use of her characters for so many of us to play with.

*HUGS*

I'll post again when I can-

Neisha