Author's Notes: Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long. Hope you're all doing well during this strange quarantine time. I'm still going over all the reviews you've left from the last time YITM was updated, so please give me a little bit of time to continue replying to all your wonderful comments!

I'd also like to inform you that the chapter posted here is not the original. Due to FFN rules, I've cut down some of the super detailed parts and patched it together. Still steamy for your pleasure, though. If you'd like to read the unedited version, you can do so on Archive of Our Own (AO3). However, I hope you still come back here to review if you usually do so! I love reading them so much and I don't know why FFN has such a special place in my heart?

Dedication: This chapter's dedication is special, because it's the first time I've ever written anything so… sultry. I would like to dedicate this chapter (more specifically the chapter posted to AO3) to Keichanz, who has done everything in her power to shame me into making this happen. I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to my wonderful beta Penthesileia, who took a lot of time and energy to really help me make this chapter flow well.

That's all, on to it!

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Chapter 55: Skin and Skin and Sun

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Kagome

Kagome looked back over her shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd slipped as quiet as she could from the cave that morning.

The forest behind her was quiet. The morning dew had soaked into the leafage and grasses, the early dawn mist that covered the ground had dissipated. She waited for a few moments, still as the hush of the trees and bushes.

Hm. Kouga wasn't following her. At least, she didn't think he was.

You'll know he's coming, she reassured herself. The Jewels embedded in him would alert her before her human eyes saw him coming.

Still, she was surprised he hadn't appeared behind her yet, angry and spitting fire, and his lack of ambush drove her forward. She called Inuyasha's name as she walked, eyes peeled up into the tree branches, trying not to squint at the sun glittering down through the canopy, thinking he might have found a particularly foliage-heavy tree to hide from the light. The morning air was crisp and fresh against her cheeks, and her nose had started to tingle a bit in the cold. She followed a straight line as best she could in an attempt against losing her way. Every cave she came across, she stopped and peeked inside.

Her progress was slow. There were a lot of caves.

She paused for a bit to eat her fruit and then splashed her face in a bubbling stream. Despite the chill in the air, she had started to sweat. She took a moment at the stream, remembering how much easier it had been traveling with Inuyasha.

If I find him, she thought, I'll never complain about how we travel again.

Her memories of their time together were like the billowing wind, pushing her up and away from the stream, forcing her to continue on. With every passing hour, her hope diminished. She was sure Inuyasha wouldn't actually leave her, and she was not being quiet. Not even attempting it as she stomped her way through shrubbery and fern, snapping the tiny branches that reached out to snag her clothing and hair.

...Would Inuyasha be so evil to let her wander around in these wolf-infested woods, screaming and hollering for him while he watched nearby?

Yes. Yes, he would, she thought. Because of course he would. He was that evil.

"Jerk," Kagome mumbled under her breath. As much as she hated the idea, maybe she should just go back and allow Kouga to help her look. What choice did she have at this point? Inuyasha wasn't making this easy. Stubborn idiot.

Still, she didn't want to utilize Kouga unless she absolutely had to. It would be difficult enough bridging any sort of gap between the two, and she had a feeling neither would let the other speak, preferring to fight to the death instead.

The thick shrubs and bushes grew thicker, then thicker still. With no pre-set path to walk, Kagome forged her own, until a large fern rose above her, blocking her way. She reached out to pull it back. Her fingers dragged the long, thin leaves down, and she moved to step forward, then froze.

She had uncovered a clearing in the shrubbery, small and secluded, the trees sparse and air shimmering in the sun. And in the middle of it, stood a man. She recognized that heap of white hair, those fuzzy, twitching ears…

Kagome's eyes widened. Her fingers trembled.

Inuyasha stood there, in the clearing.

His firerat coat was abandoned at his feet, his torn, blood-stained tee hanging off his shoulders and torso, forgotten. His chin was tilted back, his beautiful eyes closed, his arms raised slightly as if the gesture would soak in more of the sun.

The sun… which he stood under. Out in the open.

It glistened off his skin, off the tips of his long, silver hair, dancing in the breeze as it whisked through the clearing. His nose was tilted towards the star-on-fire, his lashes a stark contrast against his pale cheeks. He was otherworldly. Beyond her reach. Far more stunning than when she'd first laid eyes on him: tall and overbearing, towering over her in his mirror.

Her breath caught in her throat.

How had it happened? How was it possible? How was he standing open and free under the sun?

Awe washed through her, built like a tidal wave and crashed inside her chest. Her heart throbbed. Her eyes watered. She tried to blink her tears back and failed. She couldn't believe… there was no way… how…?

"...Inuyasha?" she whispered, barely able to speak his name, not wanting to wake up and discover it was only a dream. Something had happened last night. She wasn't sure what, or how, but something had changed, had made him impervious to the spell Kikyou had placed upon him all those years ago.

Her thoughts ran wild as the last of his name left her lips, and his ear twitched and flicked in her direction.

Slowly, his head tilted towards her, and his eyes widened to match her own. Kagome brought trembling fingertips to cover her mouth, to hold back a sob that threatened to break free. She watched the same look of surprise break over his face, and then…

It changed.

And she saw it in his eyes.

"Kagome," he said, and she could hear it too, everything that he'd been holding back, everything she'd been holding back... everything they both refused to say was revealed in the way his lips formed around each letter of her name.

And then she was running towards him. The need to touch him, to confirm through her own hands that this was real, was overwhelming. Her pack slipped from her shoulders and fell to the side, and he turned towards her, his own eyes just as eager and wet, his arms open wide as she threw herself between them. They wrapped around her and pulled her in tight. She shook as her own arms enveloped his neck. She nuzzled her nose there, at the base, where he smelled just as wonderful as she remembered.

"How?" she breathed, inhaling his scent, tears falling faster and faster, completely out of her control. They wet the skin pressed against her nose and cheeks. Skin that was warm and flushed under the sun.

"I don't know," he said, squeezing her tighter.

"No, but how?" she asked, pulling away from his chest and pressing the palms of her hands flat against his skin. She trailed them over his shirt, pulling at the torn fabric in an attempt to get a better look. "How are you standing here?" her voice started to climb, like the rising need inside of her. "What happened-"

"I don't know," he interrupted, holding his own hands up as she traced his arms with her palms, searching for an answer. "I thought you… you didn't do this?"

"No, we don't have the jewel put together... Inuyasha, how is this possible?"

"It's real," he breathed, the awe evident in his voice, as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. He pulled her to him again, this time burying his own nose into the crook of her neck, his hands trailing down her arms and over her hips. "I fell asleep and when I woke up it was daylight and I was outside and still here, and…"

He trailed off and jerked back, eyes wide, gazing down at her. "You," he said. "Your smell."

She was instantly afraid he would bolt again. "I know I smell like the wolves, but-"

"No," his voice tightened, "you smell like... yourself under the wolf-scent. You smell… Kouga didn't… he didn't claim you." It wasn't a question. As if to confirm, he dipped his head low, the tip of his nose brushing gently against the nape of her neck.

"What do you mean 'claim?" Kagome asked. She brought her hands up to either side of his face, urging him to look at her again. "Do you think," she started, her eyes welling up once more, "for even a second, that I would leave you? After all of this? After everything we've been through?"

His eyebrows knotted together, his hands trembling as they wiped the tears from her face. "Don't cry," he whispered. "I don't want to be the one to make you cry."

"I thought you might be gone forever. That I would never get to see you again. The you that I know." She leaned into his hand cupping her cheek. "Nothing was working, and you wouldn't cooperate with me."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Her words were agonizing to him, Kagome could tell.

"No," the tremble in her voice persisted through the firmness she tried to force. "No, I would have died. We would have died. I thought it was the end, when I was dropped from the cliff. And then… And then you…"

She met his gaze. "You saved me. Again. Even after you turned, even though you were scary. There were so many of them after us, and still you kept me safe."

Fingertips trailed a line down her jaw and into her hair. He paused, his eyes seeking answers. gathering it into his grip and gently tugging back, exposing her throat. A rumble deep in his chest broke free. He leaned down, until his lips were inches from her own, his eyes searching her face. "I thought… I thought that after I'd changed… after I treated you the way I did as a youkai…"

"Idiot," she chided, her gaze moving down to his lips. "You did nothing but protect me. You always protect me. You have to know that I'll protect you also."

Something changed in his eyes, and Kagome recognized it; That same hungry look she'd come to know so well. The one that caused her insides to quiver. She knew what would come next, and yet she was still unprepared as he gently touched his lips to her own. His fingers gripped tighter into her hair, holding her in place.

She ached for him, her core throbbing in rhythm with the pounding of her heart, at the sensation of him connecting with her again, finally. She couldn't take it anymore. And as if he could read her thoughts, he gathered her to him, wrapping her up in his arms once more and lifting her up off the ground. Her eyes fluttered closed, her complete trust in his hands, relishing each feverish kiss he bestowed upon her. She folded her legs around his hips and he walked for them both until she was back against a tree, the cloth of her robe the only protection between her skin and rough bark.

He continued to kiss her, his lips searing hot. It was a shock to her system, awakening her body to his once more. Her thighs trembled, a welcomed heat as he pressed himself between them.

Her hands in his hair, he left her lips, despite her whimper of protest, and moved down her jaw, her throat… he breathed her name onto her skin as he left a trail of kisses in his wake. Her chest expanded, filled with something she hadn't even realized she'd been missing. Warmth spread through her and pooled below as he found her mouth again. Delicious and intoxicating; adrenaline buzzed in her veins, her senses alive.

She had desperately missed the way he kissed her.

"I can't hold back," Inuyasha breathed as his nose burrowed at her neck once more. He nipped his teeth against her skin. "I can't hold back anymore. I don't care if it's a trap. I don't give a fuck. I need you."

In an instant, she was dripping. She could feel a pulsing inside of her, just at the edge of what she couldn't describe, ready, and willing. It took such simple words for her to completely fall apart in his hands.

...Because she knew exactly what he meant. All of this, from the very moment his lips had pressed against hers through the mirror, to the heated prodding of his fingers on Sango's rooftop, to saving her from the brink of death with the Naraku youkai… every kiss, every touch, every single, heated gaze spoke to something bigger. Something she couldn't explain.

Was all this a trap...?

Kagome no longer cared. She didn't care one bit as she heard him inhale and whisper her name, as she felt him shudder against her. He wet his lips, darkened eyes flicking down to catch her own. No, Kagome didn't care about any trap, she just knew that he was here, with her again, his full, whole self, standing under the sun…

There was no going back to normal for her.

"Inuyasha," she breathed, and in between kisses: "Please…"

He groaned as she teased her tongue against his and brought her down so her feet touched the ground. "You have no idea what you do to me," he murmured. His fingers were back in her hair and his grip tightened, pulling her head back. He pushed the collar of her robe open, exposing her shoulder, before reaching down and tugging at the rope that held it all together. "You have no idea what I've had to do to keep myself from touching you."

His hands were fire on her skin, each touch sparking a jolt that shot directly to her insides. She shuddered under him as his fingers trailed down her sides, tracing the curve of her hips... He gripped her there, another moan falling from his lips.

"Beautiful," he breathed, before dropping to his knees and placing a kiss above her belly. "I've needed you since the first moment I took that kiss from you, inside that damn mirror." He moved lower, every few words punctuated with a light swipe of his lips across her skin.

Kagome's chest rose and fell, her breath quickening, her legs trembling at each soft caress. His mouth moved closer to the spot she desperately ached for him to touch, and her fingers pushed into his bangs, twisted in his hair and tightened as she felt his hot breath against the apex of her thighs, and then -

"Oh!" she breathed. Every thought she had in that moment rolled into an incoherent mess. There was nothing but her skin and the sun and Inuyasha as he worked her into overdrive. It was a title wave of pleasurable warmth, pulsating, and she was going to lose it. She was going to lose herself to him, each peak she reached overcome instantly by the next and then the next.

She was back to the rooftop of Sango's house, the smell of him just as intoxicating though unfamiliar at the time. She'd been on the brink of losing herself then too, the strange, animalistic lust that had overcome her worrisome for her then.

But now, every worry she'd had back then was gone, overcome by a wave of safety and security and awe and…

Pleasure.

Oh god, the pleasure.

Inuyasha's name slipped free, and she couldn't control the words that followed. They jumbled together, in sync with the flow of her thoughts as she lost herself in the sensation of him.

She came undone.

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When the world around her solidified, Kagome collapsed into Inuyasha's arms, her legs quivering and unstable, her breath deeper than she'd felt before. Slowly, she found her footing and straightened, though the ground beneath her trembled still.

"Wow," she breathed. She couldn't think of anything else to say. Her mind was buzzing: a wonderful numbing sensation.

"Careful," Inuyasha chuckled deep in his chest, his hand wrapping around the back of her neck. He caressed the sensitive skin under his fingers. "You have no idea what your body is saying to me."

"Wha- what's it saying?" Kagome asked, squeezing her thighs together in a desperate attempt to quell the pulsing that had returned between them. The ache was deeper inside, an ache that hadn't yet been satisfied. She rose up onto her toes, inching herself closer to his lips. She glanced up at him through her lashes, her gaze hooded and yearning. "Tell me."

He only shook his head, tucking a stray ribbon of hair behind her ear, tracing the line of her jaw with his fingertip.

"Please," she begged, desperate for more of him. Desperate to return the favor. "I want to make you feel good too."

"You already make me feel good." His voice was rough. His words tense. They held a promise behind them.

Kagome shook her head, slowly. "I want you to feel as good as I do." She brushed her lips against him, her eyes locked onto his.

He gathered her up again, deepening her kiss.

"Ready?" he asked, eyes searching.

Her hands tightened around what was left of his shirt, trying to still the tremors that rocked through her. Her mouth opened, then closed. She bit at her bottom lip before admitting: "I'm scared."

He stilled; inhaled sharply. "You say the word and we'll stop," he said.

She shook her head and gripped his shirt tighter. "No. No, don't stop. I need this, I… I need this ache to go away. Please." She would go crazy if he left her like this.

His eyes fluttered closed and he made a noise in the back of his throat that she'd never heard before. "Kagome," he said, drawing the word out, "you drive me insane." He dipped down to capture her lips once more. Gentle. But it only made the ache grow.

"Please," she whispered. The build was irresistible. It was torture.

"I've got you," he said, stilling her once more and catching her gaze. "We'll go slow." He dipped in to catch her lips again, his gaze steady through his lowered lashes. "Ka-go-me," he continued, drawing out her name like he had when he first met her. Like he had on top of Sango's roof… The connection to each event caused her insides her squeeze, the memories overlapping at the sound of each syllable. "I'm going to move. You ready?"

She nodded, eyes closed, overwhelmed with sensation.

"Look at me," he insisted; a calming, gentle demand.

She obeyed. Her eyes fluttered open, catching his gaze, and he held her there as if entrapped.

His shoulders were wide and strong, a protective circle around her most intimate moment, a side of herself she wanted only him to see. Her back arched, and Inuyasha drew her in. His skin, warm from the sun, enveloped her. His solid arms held her close.

"Mine," he growled, his lips at her ear as she lost herself to him. "You're mine."

And oh god, yes, she was his. A wave built, crashed against her, - over and over, taut and convulsing before washing her away, leaving behind a warm, euphoric glow; an indescribable, vibrant hum that filled her senses.

Inuyasha's fingers slowly swept her hair back. He leaned down, placing heated, lazy kisses across the ridge of her shoulder. His sigh caressed her skin, his breathing heavy and ragged. Kagome managed to lift her chin and catch his lips. His tongue prodded her open, deepening his connection to her.

She gasped at the sensation of him, still incredibly sensitive to their connected bodies. She hadn't even realized he'd had a release of his own, she'd been so caught up in her personal exhilaration.

He chuckled at her reaction. "Enough for you today." His voice was still thick and heavy with sated lust.

Kagome couldn't help but collapse onto him. And he swept her up and maneuvered them to the middle of the clearing. He spread his firerat coat on the grass and tucked her under his arm. His palm trailed slow, lazy circles along her side, his touch warm and gentle and comforting.

For a short while, Kagome closed her eyes and let the world settle around her. Inuyasha's fingers moved to her hair, slowly brushing through her thick strands and playing with the tips as he pleased.

She stirred, and he rolled to his side, propping up on his elbow to get a look at her. "Kagome," he finally said, satisfaction and… was that a swell of confidence she heard woven through his words? "Tell me what my mate is thinking. I can't read her mind."

She sighed deeply and reached up to take his hand in her own, bringing it up to let the light filter through their fingers. "I feel warm," she finally said, "even though winter is almost here." She tilted her chin back to get a look at his face. She wanted to memorize the way the sunlight lit up his eyes. "I've never… I mean, no one has ever…" A light blush fell across her face. "You did that really well."

Her body was alive, her chest vibrating with pleasure, her core warm and tingling. It was almost like her insides had been hibernating, like the very essence that made her alive - Her soul? Something else? - was breathing again.

"Keh," he said, although it had taken on a softer tone than she remembered. "Of course I did." He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "You made it easy though. You are very responsive." He rolled onto his back again, stretching his free arm back behind him.

Kagome's head lay cradled in the curve of Inuyasha's shoulder, her hand drawing lazy circles over his chest. There was the barest of hair, light and silver. She'd never noticed it before, but it was visible under the sun, and she felt it now, under her fingertips. Her eyes followed the path she created. Was it her imagination, or could she feel something… more where her skin brushed against his? Like the world was complete as long as she was touching him?

Slowly her eyes drifted shut and she concentrated on his hand at her back, softly brushing up and down, his breathing slow and steady. Every so often he made a satisfied noise that seemed to rumble up from his chest.

Kagome hadn't felt this calm and relaxed in… she couldn't remember how long. Certainly before she first discovered Inuyasha and his mirror. But even back then, the stress of everyday life, of her social group and schoolwork and family expectations… she didn't ever remember feeling so at home.

Slowly, she lifted her head. Inuyasha seemed to read her thoughts, and he met her gaze with a soft kiss to her lips. Slow and leisurely, he took his time, and she melted against him again.

When they broke apart, she let him nuzzle his nose into her hair, and - oh, who am I kidding? At this point, I'll let him do whatever he wants to me. Besides, she wanted this moment to last forever. To think that even for one second, she would be able to lay underneath the sun with him like this…

The thought stuck with her as Inuyasha released her and nestled again onto his back. He kept his hand on her though, a skin-to-skin contact that she didn't want to break either. Was he feeling the same? As if they stopped touching they might lose each other and never find one another again?

She sat up to gaze down at him. He was stretched out, his head resting on a patch of lavender, his eyes were closed, his lashes stark against his skin. He breathed slowly, and his face was…

Content, she thought. It was a side of him she'd never seen before: relaxed brow, a small tilt of the lips… he was practically glowing.

"Mate, I can hear your heart speeding," he teased her, not even gracing her with a glance. A hint of amusement was threaded between his words.

Mate… The term of endearment was strange to her ears. Foreign, and yet... "I'm just looking at you in the sun," she said, hoping he wouldn't catch on to her worried about losing him again. Losing him to his other self.

"Like what you see?" He cracked an eye open, a grin spread across her face, watching for her reaction.

She smiled. "Very much. You know how much I… You know that I think…" She couldn't help the heat creeping up her cheeks. Why was she so weird and embarrassed?

He propped himself up on his elbows, his movements slower than usual, she noticed, as if he were trying to be extra careful around her for some reason. "Tell me," he said. "I want to hear it from you."

Kagome huffed and rolled her eyes, mumbling her words.

"What was that? I can't hear you,"

"You liar, you can hear everything." It was annoying but true, though, would she ever figure out how good his hearing actually was? Probably not. She paused, biting at her lip, hesitating.

His eyebrow raised. "Spit it out."

She opened her mouth. Waivered. The last time she'd tried to tell him, he'd stomped out any preconceived notion that he'd felt the same. But the way things were going, the way they both kept edging to the brink of death…

"You know, for a while, when all this started, I was a really selfish person. I couldn't see it back then because of the life I'd been caught up in, but... I see it now." She paused. He didn't try to interrupt her. "You told me, before the wolf attack, that when all this is over that I'll be back with my family and back at school and… and dating humans and stuff. That you're not human and part youkai, and you said all of it as if I'm still the person I was when you first appeared to me in the mirror."

He stiffened before slowly sitting up, his arm resting on his knee. Though, he didn't move to leave, thankfully.

"But…" she continued, her confidence rising, "I don't care that you're not fully human. I don't care that you're part youkai. I want my family safe, but the world around me has expanded and changed - enough to where it's changed me, fundamentally - and I can't go back to living the way that I was before. Even if I could, I don't want to."

"Let me be very clear, Kagome," Inuyasha had said back in the cave where he broke her heart into two, "I don't want your feelings, I don't want to feel this way. I cannot say it any clearer. Do not make this journey any harder than it has to be."

Kagome's head would never be rid of those words, the words that pierced her soul and left her broken, but now she had a moment to clear up her own feelings on the matter, and whether it was because Inuyasha wanted to hear her say it, or he just didn't care anymore, at least he was finally letting her speak.

"So let me be very clear. I want your feelings. I want to feel this way. I cannot say any clearer that I don't care how hard this journey is on me. I need you to hear it from me, at least once."

She leaned in, on her hands and knees, tilted her chin up so his face filled up her vision.

"I love you," she said and stole a gentile kiss from his lips.

Just as he had hers back in the museum. A lifetime ago.

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Thank you for reading! See you in the next chapter! ~SugarRos