7:20 AM

'One could really get used to waking up like that.' She thought. They still had yet to move or talk, she had even taken a little cat nap while he held her close. When she woke up again it was to find him watching her sleep. 'Only he could get away with watching people sleep and not appear creepy.' She thought. She was still enjoying their calm morning, not wanting to return to the reality of life.

She didn't want to think about what was to come, didn't want to get up only to be told it was time for her to go. Yes, she had agreed on what basically amounted to a one night stand, but she hadn't realized just how much she wouldn't want that night to end. She sighed sadly.

"What is it, Kagome?" His voice cut through her thoughts. She couldn't help herself and frowned a little into his chest, keeping her head down so he wouldn't see her.

"Nothing." She replied. His hand lifted her chin and their eyes met.

"I can see that something is bothering you, Miko." Kagome sighed in defeat.

"It's nothing, really. I just wasn't ready for this to be over is all." She figured there was no use in lying, he could probably smell her deceit anyway.

"Over?" He asked, one eyebrow shooting up in question.

She rose off of him, covering her body with one of the heavy fur pelts he had laid on top of them. "Well, yeah. The only reason you brought me here was because of the blood moon, and I get that, really I do. So, I can only assume that with the lunar eclipse over you will be returning me back to the village." She surmised.

"Do you wish to go back?" Was it her imagination or was the tone of that question actually a little sad?

She bit her lip. "Truthfully? No."

"Then you shall remain here until you do." His hand reached up to draw her back to him and she let herself be pulled down to his side.

"Sesshoumaru...you don't have to force yourself." she hedged.

"I am aware of that." His fingers ran through her hair. "I am not in the habit of doing things I do not want to do."

Kagome smiled a little at that. "Is that so?" She asked.

"Hn." Was all he said.

"Still…" Kagome began, "As much as I wish to stay… I don't think that will be possible." She finished. Her hands had balled up on his chest, and she buried herself closer to him, directly opposing her own words.

"Explain." His hand at her hip gave her a little nudge when she did not speak quickly enough.

"I have to go… home… and turn in some… assignments. Inuyasha is also going to go look for me in seven days." She was not sure if she was ready to tell Sesshoumaru about the whole 'being from the future' thing, but she was certain she did not want to lie to him.

"I see." His other hand went around her as well and she wondered if he was as reluctant to let her go as she was to leave.

"These… assignments, are they of dire consequence, or time sensitive?" He asked.

She thought about it for a little while. Even though she wanted to get things turned in sooner rather than later, the whole reason she chose the specific training program she did, was because it allowed her to be as flexible with her time as possible. There were no real due dates, she could take as long or as little time as she wanted to finish the nursing program. "I suppose not." She concluded.

"Then we have seven days." He said matter-of-factly.

"Seven days?" Kagome asked. She was torn. She wanted to be here, but she also felt guilty about not being with her family, and unknowingly having lied to Inuyasha about where she would be.

"Is that not acceptable?" He asked.

She wasn't sure how to answer that question. Would seven days with him be too many? Not enough? Was she simply drawing out the inevitable? Was she trying to change a one night stand into a seven night stand? There were so many questions she did not have the answer to. But one thing she knew for certain. She would take anything he was willing to offer. If seven days was all they had. Then seven days would have to be enough.

Kagome swallowed hard and made up her mind. "It is." She replied, looking into his eyes with steady resolve.

They held each other's gaze, neither one willing to look away. His amber orbs seemed to want to tell her something and she so badly wanted to understand. Her hand rose up to cup his cheek, an offense that just yesterday he had not allowed. Today though, he let her touch him. She cupped his cheek and softly ran her thumb along his Youkai markings. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

His own hand rose up to grab hers, but it did not push her hand away, rather kept it where it was. His eyes opened slowly, their golden amber bringing back memories of their time together as well as promises of pleasures to come. She was starting to lean in, their lips almost touching.

At that moment, her stomach decided to make its presence known with a loud rumble, effectively ruining the intense mood. Kagome blushed in complete embarrassment and realized she had not eaten anything since lunch yesterday. Their little work-out had also used up most of her reserved energy.

With a small smile and a throaty chuckle, Sesshoumaru disentangled himself from her and sat up on the bed of furs.

"I suppose I should see to your feeding." He provided.

Her blush darkened and she nodded. "One of the unfortunate side-effects of being human." She replied.

He rose and the pelts that surrounded him fell beside her. She stared at his glorious hair, its length covered him all the way down past his knees. He must have known she was admiring his beauty, because the next thing she knew, he had flipped his hair in front of his shoulder, leaving her with the image of his taut bare ass as he finished gathering his clothes and exited the alcove, with a little smirk on his face.

'Why that little…' Her mouth was still hanging open but the surprise had died down. She almost laughed at his uncharacteristically playful antics, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized... he had a really nice ass. 'And was that a little dimple on his left butt cheek?' She wondered.

With a shake of her head she gathered her thoughts and uncovered herself to get up and get dressed herself. Her body however, shrieked in protest. She tried to stand up but every movement she made brought forth a new ache. 'Ow, ow, ow, ow!' Every inch of her ached, and looking down at her body she noticed that every inch of her was covered in little marks. 'What in the world?!' She didn't remember him doing that. How out of it had she been?! She tried again to put her weight onto her feet, but her muscles refused to listen.

With a sigh of defeat she relented to her aching body, there would be no moving about for the foreseeable future. Tenderly she pressed on the few bruises she had on her side. 'Not so bad.' She thought. Looking around for something to cover herself with that didn't weigh as much as the giant fur pelts or tossed to the abyss, her eyes landed on his soft white fluff.

'Hmm...I don't suppose he'd mind…' She thought. It was close enough that she could reach without moving too much and it was light enough on him to flow in the wind, so it should be light enough to carry around. 'If he really gets upset I'll just find a way to apologize.' She reasoned with a devilish smile. 'I'm sure I can think of one or two ways to make him… happy again.' She giggled to herself and grabbed the soft fur.

Her fingers just sank into the deliciously soft fur of his… scarf? No… that couldn't be right. And unless he had a detachable tail, it wasn't that either. Well, whatever it was, it was heavenly. She had never before felt something so luxurious. It was like touching a fluffy cloud. 'A warm fluffy cloud.' She corrected. She grabbed one end of the fur and wound it around herself, she was prepared to struggle with it, but the fur seemed to have a mind of its own. It wound down her body and secured itself to her, she paused waiting to see if it was truly moving on its own or if she was imagining things in her pained state of mind. With complete amazement she watched as it covered her, its end winding around her torso, up her shoulder, and back down to her hips. She managed to sit up on her knees and the boa continued down, wrapping her down to mid thigh and going back up again to her other shoulder, finally settling down.

The end result was something resembling a dress. The fur was secured around her and she was able to move around (albeit with some pain) without worrying about it coming undone. 'Wow… I was not expecting that.' She tried to get up again, but her knees buckled and she landed on her butt with a soft thud. 'That is a really unexpected and annoying consequence of sex.' She frowned.

The warmth that the fur provided though, was actually starting to soothe her aching muscles. 'Seriously, what is this thing?' She wondered to herself. It felt almost alive, it was obviously imbued with Sesshoumaru's youki. She could feel his presence within every fiber of the fur. It also smelled strongly of him, as well it should, she couldn't remember the last time she ever saw him without this thing wrapped around him.

She was almost tempted to take it off and get her clothes on, just in case it really would cause him to be upset with her, after all, the warmth had healed her a little, surely enough to put on a dress at least. The moment she had tried to tug it off though, the damn thing tightened around her and hid its loose end. After a few minutes of futilely trying to find an end to unravel, she decided to let the stupid, warm, fuzzy, comfy, heavenly, boa win.

She was finally able to settle down into a somewhat comfortable sitting position when Sesshoumaru walked in, food in hand.