Why was it that it took so much pain to give him a proper wakeup call?

Inuyasha lay under a tree after he had managed to drag himself from the path. The wound delivered by his brother had been more sensation than actual damage and had healed swiftly. But the memory of the intense pain still lingered.

How could he have been so stupid? Sure, he was no great thinker, but he was no one's fool either. At least, that's what he'd always thought. But he'd been wrong.

So very wrong.

He hated owning up to it, but in this case he had no choice. He had a great many things in his life he had to change. Things he needed to make up for and things he needed to gain closure on.

And speaking of closure…

The scent of grave-roses and soil was beginning to waft through the air. He sighed, not ready to deal with this but knowing it had to be done.

Almost on cue, silvery soul-stealers floated towards him, preceding the arrival of the golem-priestess. They swam in the moonlight, almost mockingly, before the soft tread of his 'lover' reached his ears.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said with a touch of bitterness. Kikyo never could resist the chance to revel in his pain, be it physical or emotional. She'd picked a peach of a day and had gained two for the price of one.

"And what did you allow to get a piece of you this time, Inuyasha?" Her voice was deep for a female and oddly cold. It was very unlike the tone she'd had as a mortal woman, as if her death had stripped the warmth from even that.

"My poorly developed conscience," he said with a quirk of his lips.

His self-mockery seemed to confuse her. "Oh?"

But he didn't elaborate.

She moved closer, but was surprised when he stiffened in rejection. It was not something she was used to, either from him or the other men she had occasionally bedded out of boredom. She took another step, and to her shock, his lip curled in the faintest of snarls.

"No."

It could have been the response to a great many things. No to her need for his pain. No to her timing. Because after all he was still recovering and though it would not be the first time they'd rutted while he was bloody, he had eventually developed an aversion to it. No could also have meant that he did not like that he could smell the faintest tang of another male on her body.

"You are denying you want me, Inuyasha?" Her tone was scornful.

He snorted and looked pointedly at his groin.

Her presence had caused no reaction…

For the first time in a long while, her face betrayed some of her feelings. Her eyes rounded a bit in surprise, her mouth tightening. "So they stole your manhood along with whatever 'self-respect' remained?"

"No." His smile was bland. "You just don't do it for me anymore."

Kikyo actually flinched as if she'd been struck. The faintest traces of a flush heated her pale cheeks. Pride warred with humiliation as she submitted to the indignity of gritting her teeth.

She would make him want her!

He seemed to sense her intentions because despite the tremor of pain in his throat, he was on his feet before she'd completed her first step towards him. He purposefully tightened, then loosened his muscles, preparing for the fight he could taste approaching. Another step and for the very first time, he could feel his beast dancing under the surface in anticipation…without overtaking him.

It had never agreed with his decisions over this female. It did not like her when she had been living for the simple fact that her wish would have eradicated it. And it did not like her now, because like all animals, it was well aware of the fact that rutting with her was fruitless as she could not bear him offspring. Nor did it appreciate the way she hurt the first person to accept him as he was. He realized then that it had not, in fact, been his human side that had felt for her, but the youkai side. His humanity had been twisted by his father and his solitary upbringing after his family had died into something low and dishonorable.

He was done with it.

Kikyo ignored his actions and continued, beginning to undress as she advanced. She even managed to ignore the unexpected revulsion in his amber eyes.

But she was unable to ignore the way he suddenly threw her up against a tree and locked his hand around her throat.

"You aren't going to get what you want, you dead bitch! I'm done with your schemes. I can't even believe all the lies I've told, both to myself and others, to convince myself that I wanted you after you came back."

Her lack of life was good for the simple fact that she did not need to draw in air. "Yet it did not take you long to take up where we left off!"

His eyes narrowed. "Did I ever tell you that I attempted to kill Kagome when we first met?"

The small smirk caused by his words was soon wiped away.

"I thought she was you. All I could do was try to convince her to let me go, so that I could disembowel her. It took her months to prove to me that she was nothing like you. She was kind and warm…everything you never were even while alive. And by the time I realized that I was really and truly free, here you come once again."

His disgust was plain in his rough voice and she felt the first traces of unease.

"I used to pray to gods that I don't even believe in that the spell was only temporary. That the body made by the witch would decompose into the nothing it was. But just like everything else, I hoped in vain. And here you are, making my life into a ruin. Only I can't blame you entirely, because I LET you do it."

Kikyo's dead eyes darkened in anger.

"You were the only one that I could convince myself really accepted me. But no. Even now, you still want to have control over me and that's not love."

She grunted as she was unceremoniously dumped onto her backside, her clothing opened to the waist.

"Do not come to me again, Kikyo. Or I will end whatever life you still have. I would have gone to hell with you. But you're already dead, and I have a life to repair."

And he left her there.

Kagome came awake to the sensation of being carried. She yawned, stretching, before opening her eyes.

The trees moved by overhead and she turned to look at her youkai.

"Good morning."

He smiled. "And you."

"Where are we going?" She'd noticed that they'd left camp behind, their surroundings only faintly familiar.

"The huntress stated that you desire to bathe in the mornings whenever possible."

"Oh. Then you are-"

"Going to bathe with you."

Nude demon lord this early in the morning…she must not be awake yet.

But she was soon placed on her feet beside a small pool while he set her bathing supplies on the bank.

Well, she'd already seen him, so she supposed that she should just get on with it. Her hands began on her buttons as a splash came from behind her.

Sesshomaru watched as she slowly removed her clothing, and though he imagined her intentions were not sensual, her actions were none-the-less. The soft flannel dropped to the ground atop his own clothing before she slowly waded into the water. She grinned as his hair floated on the surface, grabbing it and then her bottle of shampoo. He obligingly shifted to allow her to wash his hair, kneeling on the sandy bottom. His eyes drifted closed as her fingers scraped over his scalp while working the soap into the long strands. He ducked under the surface when she indicated to rinse away the bubbles.

His silver head broke the surface and he flung the wet length away from his face and shoulders with a toss of his head. His lashes, heavy with moisture, framed his bright eyes. "Thank you. May I return the favor?"

It was simply another step in the courting dance and he was pleased when she turned without protest.

Kagome sighed with pleasure as his claws ran through her hair and massaged her scalp. Wow, was he ever good at this…

He tugged at the tips of her hair and it was her turn to rinse away the shampoo. Then she was lifted and tucked against his body as he lifted her poof.

This is what every girl needed in the morning. A gorgeous male intent on bathing her while she relaxed her way into the day. The soapy poof eased over her legs, then her arms and shoulders. She bent forward at his urging as he continued onto her back and then leaned against him as it passed down the front of her torso.

Dimly, she wondered why she was so comfortable with him touching her the way he was, but she found herself dismissing the thought almost as soon as it occurred. She even accepted when he tossed the poof and ran his bare, soap slicked hands over her body.

She was very aware of the way he shifted under her, bringing her attention to the way he'd hardened against her backside. But he didn't act on it, intent as he was on exploring her exposed flesh.

It wasn't long before she shivered under his touch, and even then, the only concession he made to her slowly awakening desire was to press his lips against the side of her throat.

So it was going to be like that, huh…

Her mind drifted as he stroked her, replaying the events of the previous night. She wondered if she had been unfair to Inuyasha to have simply left him as she had. Sure, he had called her names in the past. And though never that particular one, it was not his words that had made her abandon him. It had been the disloyalty of his deeds.

She knew very well that he'd survived much worse wounds than those he had suffered at his brother's hands. Indeed, he'd suffered worse at those same hands. It had been the way that he'd ignored his betrayal of the both of them. Sure, he'd been abandoned as a child where he was forced to fend for himself, but he'd never been brutalized by the one who by their very nature was to have protected him. Her soul had cried for her youkai when she realized that he was so emotionally scarred. She hadn't the heart to deny him as he'd come to her, still bloody from his lack of control.

And Inuyasha would heal.

Sesshomaru's touch was slowly becoming more intimate as one hand curved over a breast and the other dropped to press against her belly. She bit her lip as he stroked her, catching her nipple between his splayed fingers.

For his own part, the Tora was simply appreciating something he was well aware he could have lost the previous night. He had never intended it to go so far, but once released, his rage had overtaken him. But the trust he had given her proved to be well-founded and she had accepted him, trusting him enough to curl up with him and sleep even after witnessing his blood-lust.

Right now, he wanted to savor the feel of her slick skin. The way she trembled under his hands and did not attempt to hide her desire for him. His hand left her subtly rounded belly and dipped lower to caress her exposed female flesh. Her head dropped back against his chest as she tensed, then melted against him, her thighs opening and draping over his own.

Small, pleasured sounds emerged from her throat. He responded by flicking his fingers against the small, hidden bud and making her buck in his lap. He truthfully was not intent on joining with her. But it seemed that the beast wished to thank her for staying with him. It understood pleasure, both the need for it and the ways to give it. Her nipple budded against his palm and he eased his fingers into her.

Kagome was having difficulty breathing as his teasing continued and she was unaware of the fact that she'd driven her fingernails into his upper thighs as she clutched at him. He simply ignored it, curling his fingers and stoking the heated interior of her body. Her voice rose in volume and he throttled it with his lips.

Then she released. It was strangely gentle and she lay against him in the aftermath, her eyes closed as he lifted his hand from the water. Curiosity had him licking the taste of her from his fingers.

The beast purred with hungry eagerness, demanding more of it. Kagome was rather surprised when he suddenly spun her around and lifted her from his lap. He knelt before her, shrugging her shaky legs up over his shoulders.

And Kagome discovered just exactly what his rough, feline tongue was capable of.

Miroku and Sango had awoken some time before their miko and bathed, then proceeded to pack up their belongings while waiting for the other couple to return from the spring.

The monk had sat for a time and watched Sango practice with her katana, before informing her that he was going to see what was keeping Kagome and Sesshomaru. She had nodded distractedly, before turning back to her exercise.

He'd walked for a while, enjoying the sounds of the morning and hoping that he would not encounter an angry hanyou along the way. But the morning sounds that he was used to were slowly fading into something he found himself disbelieving. Low growls drifted from the spring and he almost turned about and left. They sounded vaguely threatening and he stopped, just before a female cry echoed under the animal sounds and he hurried forward.

His violet eyes widened at the sight and he very nearly stumbled in surprise.

Kagome was perched on the youkai's shoulders as he stood in the middle of the small pool, small hands clutching fistfuls of silver as the male greedily fed off her body. Now that he was close enough, he could hear her soft moans, watch the way she arched against the Tora.

They were a strangely beautiful sight and Miroku found himself smiling. It was not his normal smile of perversion, but a pleased one.

Sesshomaru would take care of Kagome and please her the way she ought to be.

But this was not truly a sight for him, something that would be so personal to his dear friend, and so he turned and left. Nor was this something he would share with anyone because he had no wish for Kagome to ever feel inhibited in expressing her desires with her chosen mate. Though, he was also certain that if he'd come any closer, Sesshomaru might very well have attacked him without thought for interrupting his pleasure seeking haze.

He whistled after he'd gained a bit of distance from the other two and Sango looked up as he came into sight.

"Did you speak to them?"

He despised lying to her and was grateful that he would not have to. "No, I decided to give them a bit more time."

"Well, it's still early and Kagome will be happy that she does not have to rush."

He nodded before joining her, sparring with her as had become habit when they had a quiet morning.

Sure enough, not more than a half hour later, the other two arrived just as Sango and Miroku ended their spar.

Sango smiled as Kagome thrust her bathing things into her pack. "Didn't the water feel wonderful this morning?"

Her question was completely innocent but Kagome, already rosy from Sesshomaru's attentions, blushed further.

"Wonderful!" she blurted and Sesshomaru smirked as he turned away. "Are we ready?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Certainly. I assume you will travel with Sesshomaru?"

Kirara, who had uncurled herself from the packs, stretched before transforming. She stepped up to butt her head against the youkai and he grinned, lightly raking his claws though her fur. Sango shook her head, still not over the way those two got along.

The smaller neko gave the male a strangely knowing look and the male returned it with a wicked grin. Kirara snorted at him and moved off towards the other two humans.

Kagome stepped towards Sesshomaru with a questioning look.

"You typically ride the Neko, correct?"

"Yes?" she answered almost hesitantly.

"Good."

She shivered as his power suddenly thrummed through the air in a hot swell. His eyes burned and slanted upwards like a cat's as he slowly rose upward into the air. His outline blurred, then expanded as he began to shift forms.

A gasp left their throats as silver fur rippled over his flesh and then they covered their eyes as he became too bright to look at.

When he alighted, it was in a vastly different form. The colossal feline crouched before the young miko on huge, silent paws, his tail gently flicking against the ground in a steady tempo. His golden eyes shone in the stripped mask of his face, warm and familiar.

Kagome's own eyes widened in pleasure and she rushed forward to press herself into the silky fur covering his foreleg. He purred, and though gentle, it was like thunder.

She looked so terribly small against him, and Sango held her breath as he slowly bent to nuzzle the girl. He carefully set his sharp white teeth into the back of her clothing and twisted to lift her onto his broad back, where she settled as if she had done the very same thing all her life.

His black tipped ears swiveled to catch the small sounds of delight she made as she curled her fingers into his fur. His eyes narrowed in amusement at her antics, even as he slowly stood from his crouch. Kirara shifted to adjust the weight of her riders, then leapt into the air and hovered before the great cat's blunt muzzle.

In this form, he was even larger than the form he held as an Inu and Kirara looked insignificant in comparison. She yowled to catch his attention and he turned to face her, content that Kagome would not tumble from his back. She tossed her head in the direction they would travel and he tilted his head in answer.

The smaller feline took off and he followed, his paws hardly touching the ground as he shot after her. Kagome had ridden a horse a time or two and she found this to be worlds different. There was no up and down movement, simply an amazing forward velocity as he declined to fly for the simple joy of stretching his limbs and running full-speed over the rocky ground.

A wild shriek of glee reached him above the whistle of the wind in his ears and he lifted his voice with hers in a deep-throated roar.

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a.n. I realize that a lot of you might have been bothered by the way the last chapter happened, but whenever I attempted to re-write it, it just did not feel right. To address any concerns…no, he did not intend to kill Inuyasha. No, Inuyasha is not out of the story…he still has too much to make up for. And yes, I suppose I could have had Sesshomaru simply slap his brother around a bit, but one has to remember that while Inuyasha was damaged by his father's views of life, Sesshomaru bore the brunt of their father's insanity for over a millennia. Taiyoukai he may be, but like all living things, psychological damage will occur.