Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own 'em.

Author's Note: This is happening at about the same time as last chapter when Sesshomaru woke up and decided to go chase down the miserable half-breed...these events happened elewhere of course...lastly...is anybody reading this?!?! I'm gonna cry...hey...review and tell me if I'm evil and need to up the rating yet (I think i will have to later...seriously...this story gets gruesome...)

Inuyasha's New Moon Fumble

She was so warm, like the waters of a hot spring. So warm, in fact, that he hadn't bothered to take back his haori's red over shirt. It was still draped over her sleeping bag, like another blanket.

As far as he could tell the schoolgirl was asleep soundly, drifting through her dreams, light as the clouds that were probably passing over the stars and the new moon outside. Her breathing was light and even, unlabored. Occasionally he thought that she made a sound, perhaps trying to scream at him in the real world just as she was in her dreams. He envied her easy sleep, her simple dreams...he hadn't been able to sleep a wink!

Since Kagome had made him sit right in the doorway he had, understandably, blown up at her, and they'd argued for a time. Then, despite his fears, and much to his weaker side's delight, she'd asked him to share her sleeping bag. She'd said she was worried about him getting cold. Truth be known Inuyasha wasn't fond of the cold but he wasn't about to let her know that.

"I'm not scared of the cold, Kagome!" he'd protested, though inside he knew she was too smart for her own good.

"Yea, well guess what Inuyasha, you're human tonight and humans are more susceptible to the cold so you don't have a choice!"

"As if I'd let you keep me in here!" he'd snorted at her and started to turn and leave, but of course, she had that damn necklace...

"SIT!" and that was that, he'd had to stay.

Thus he now found himself scooted as far from her sweet, heat radiating femininity, as he possibly could be while at once still sharing the same sleeping bag. In the dark with his inferior human eyes he could only make out the shine of her black hair outlining the lighter and softer oval shape of her face. If he squinted and leaned his head closer he knew he could just manage to see the darker smudge of her lips as well.

While she'd been awake he'd pretended that he was angry with her and had rolled away from her so she could only see his back. At first Kagome had tried to calm him down, even tried to rub his back to soothe him, but Inuyasha had only snapped at her and ordered her to sleep and quit bothering him. Eventually, saddened, she'd obeyed. He'd been very happy that she had, he wasn't sure how long he could hold himself back from responding to her touch.

And, even more to his horror, he knew full well that if she'd had just a slightly more powerful sense of smell she'd have known that his coldness was an act. She'd have scented his desire as clearly as he could feel it.

Now, hours later, she was asleep, and he still wasn't. As for the desire, the temptation that he still felt watching her beautiful sleeping form, that was very much alive within him, like a beast in its cage, screaming to be let out.

Slipping outside of the warmth of the sleeping bag, Inuyasha immediately felt the cold hit him and dig into his bones. Goose bumps dimpled his skin and he shivered, shaking all over, a little like a dog might out of old and instinctual habit. Had he possessed his ears still they would've lied flat, as if trying to hide from the chilly air. Inuyasha stopped right where he was, as if frozen. He hadn't expected the cold to hit him like that. Almost whimpering through the chill, he looked back to where his feet were still in the sleeping bag, warm and happy. He scowled at them, annoyed.

Kagome moaned about then, which immediately snatched his mind and all thoughts in it away from how cold it was outside the sleeping bag. Stiff and unmoving for fear that she'd waken; Inuyasha stared back at her shadowy, still form, tense and watchful.

"Inuyasha..." the girl mumbled, her voice quiet and soft. Oddly enough it made Inuyasha's stomach flutter as much as the cold did. As he stared down at her, terrified, Kagome opened her eyes, blinking the sleep away, and frowned in confusion as she registered the fact that Inuyasha was leaving her. Confusion, however, quickly gave way to worry. Was someone attacking, were they in danger?

"What's going on?" she asked snaking one long, silky smooth arm to grab hold of him, tugging on his haori's undershirt.

"I..." he felt his forehead break out in a nervous sweat, "...can't sleep."

"Oh." He heard her chuckle sleepily. The beautiful arm withdrew, both to his relief and regret. "So do you think you'll sleep better out there in the cold, silly?"

"No, but at least out there I can watch over you."

She sighed, fatigued, but even in the darkness Inuyasha could see she was smiling at him, warmly. "I think you should stay here and I'll keep you warm, even if you can't sleep." Damn her! He raged, uselessly. Sighing he slipped back into the sleeping bag, accepting defeat and the warmth that came with it...as well as the company.

"I'm sorry I had to 'sit' you, Inuyasha." Kagome murmured when he'd settled in next to her again, "I just...don't like being alone I guess." She chuckled, heavily embarrassed he could tell, and suddenly awkward. If he'd had his Inuyoukai senses Inuyasha would've been able to smell the emotions rolling off her for certain. At any rate it was so obvious now that he didn't need his senses enhanced to tell how she felt.

"I..." he sighed, uncertain of whether it was worth exposing himself to comfort her, but, likely because of his human side being the dominant at that moment, he decided to reveal it anyway. "I don't like being alone either—when I'm human." He stuttered, trying to look away from the shine of her warm, sleepy, tender eyes. It was the last thing he wanted to see; he knew he was already attracted to her enough. The last thing he wanted was to see her expression and think—and then be horribly wrong—that she was just as attracted to him...

"Really?" she asked, shocked, it seemed. He felt her fingers, soft and irresistible, wrap themselves around his own in the sleeping bag's depths. Staring into the shine of her eyes he nodded solemnly, forgetting rather suddenly that he'd exposed himself and that he'd vowed to stay away from her, to not give in to temptation...to not be weak. It'd all ceased to matter. Why was I trying to run away from her? I know I don't want to...

He squeezed her hand tightly in his own and reached out with his other, on a spontaneous whim, to touch her hair. Cautiously, he fondled one strand, pulling it toward him gently; trying to scent it, though inwardly he knew his nose wasn't nearly sensitive enough on this moonless night. Kagome didn't fight him, didn't even fidget. As if afraid that moving might stop the moment she remained as still as stone, only her eyes stirred, watching his every move.

After a moment of touching the silky strand Inuyasha let it fall and withdrew his hand, suddenly shy. Kagome, unfazed by any of it, reached forward with the hand that wasn't in Inuyasha's, and gently grabbed a strand of his hair as well. As she pulled it closer to her both Inuyasha and Kagome stared at it, marveling at the color change it'd undergone. Silver to black. Demon to human. Between the two of them now there were no anatomical differences to make one inferior or superior, they were just people, just male and female, lying side-by-side in the night.

Kagome dropped the lock of his hair then and withdrew her hand. Through the dark Inuyasha saw her smile at him tenderly...her teeth seemed to glow white in the gloom. She was so warm, so kind, so alive...he wished he could smell her emotions, scent her like only an Inuyoukai could, he wished...he wished...

He let her hand go free of his then and for a split second Kagome's face fell, thinking that Inuyasha had decided to withdraw from her once again, but even as she thought this she felt Inuyasha's hands land tentatively on her waist. Shock came first, swiftly followed by delight and desire, though Inuyasha never saw either emotion—he'd already moved in to kiss her.

The kiss started small and exploratory but the spark between the two grew, like a fire when gasoline is poured over it. Following instinct and desire, Inuyasha nuzzled Kagome's neck, inhaling her personal scent, his mind and heart rushing and filling with it. She was his whole world, her scent and his intermingled, inseparable. His hands, with minds of their own, wandered, exploring, cautiously at first, and then, as she made no protest, feverishly.

Kagome, caught up in it all, yet still to some degree shocked, was as eager and filled to the brink with her own desire, matching his, but, unlike Inuyasha, she'd spent many years being human, many years dealing with her emotions. Even in the shock of it some part of her could still think, still look at things rationally. It was that part which made her speak out against him, made her resist when he went just a little too far...

His hands were on her thighs. Though it made her feel wonderful, shivery everywhere, alive, a voice in the back of her mind was beginning to scream at her, beginning to get frightened. Yes, she'd kissed Inuyasha before but...she'd never thought that he could be so...she didn't have the words for his actions. Aggressive? Passionate? She didn't want him to stop but she knew that it wasn't right...how would they feel in the morning? Would they be able to speak to each other? Would it just be a mistake, buried between them? Or would they fight over it? Would she feel wronged by the time the sun rose? Kagome couldn't risk those things...

"Inuyasha—" but he smothered her words with a deep kiss, sucking the air from her mouth, from her lungs. He was so powerful...fear bloomed in her then. What if she couldn't get him to stop?

His hands were gripping her hips, pulling her closer to him. Following instincts he'd never known he possessed, Inuyasha shifted his weight and tried to pin her beneath him. He was far past the point of contemplating what he was doing. Both hands started creeping over her once more, without pause and without consideration...

"Inuyasha!" Kagome tried to push him away, tried to free herself of his weight on her, but he was heavy, he was strong...

Dimly through the sound of his rushing heart and panting breath, he heard her protests, but he was too distracted to register them. He noted that her hands weren't on his body, but were fumbling with his hands, trying to move them, trying to push them away. Confused he fought her; it was to be a mistake.

"Iunyasha!" Kagome screamed, much louder than every other attempt, and this time she slapped him, hard, straight across the face.

Sanity returned to him at that moment. He blinked, shocked, staring down at Kagome's angry eyes, realizing that the worst had indeed happened. To his shame he felt a burning begin behind his eyes, tears. No, I will not...cry...

He moved away from her, pulling himself quickly, clumsily from the sleeping bag and straight for the door, too ashamed and shocked at what'd happened to face her anymore. A place somewhere between his stomach and his heart clenched up, as if he might be sick. He fought the burning behind his eyes and the block of ice that had mysteriously appeared in his throat. Both made it hard for him to breathe.

Without a word to Kagome he fled the hut, leaving her sitting alone in the sleeping bag, confused, frightened, a sheer mess. After a moment she too felt the burning of tears behind her eyes, though she wasn't even sure why. Unlike Inuyasha she let them come, let them fall into the cold darkness.

As she started to lie back down, hoping to forget everything that'd just happened in sleep, she noticed Inuyasha's red haori overcoat still lying over the sleeping bag. A blanket, a token, a reminder. She had no idea as to why she did it, perhaps it was fate, but Kagome tentatively took up the red haori and slipped it on. Out of it came Inuyasha's scent, as strong and familiar to her as anything could be. Despite what had just happened she felt comforted by it.

With a sigh she slid back into the sleeping bag, the haori wrapped tightly around her. Only minutes later she was deeply asleep.

Endnote: The next chapter will be BAD! If anyone's reading this I warn you now: BEWARE!! Blood will be spilled...SOMEONE WILL DIE!!! Review and scream at me why don't ya? (wink/wink)!