Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters.

Chapter 5

"Where have you been? The labs are ready for us," Miroku's excited voice came from the speaker of the phone.

Inuyasha was in Kagome's home office. He clicked a few screens on the monitor before replying, "Yeah, I know. I've been busy trying to get the simulation to rebuild for Kagome." He didn't want to admit that following her advice also helped clarify a few things for him.

"Kagome, eh?" The smile could be heard through the speaker. "You know she's been missing, too? Almost two weeks now. And you've been M.I.A. I mean, I'm no scientist but that seems to be too coincidental." The lab assistant laughed at his own joke, obviously enjoying it a bit too much.

Inuyasha smirked into the receiver before he said, "Scientists don't believe in coincidence."

That got Miroku to stop laughing, and Inuyasha heard, "Wait. What? Hold on! Are you with her?"

"Bye Miroku." And he hung up on the man's protests.

The truth: Inuyasha was still with her. However, not in the way the perverted scientist was probably assuming. And not in the way the lead scientist wished himself.

The hanyou ran a hand through his disheveled hair. He was exhausted, to say the least. Kagome had slept for nearly 4 days straight. Only waking up in small intervals to eat, shower, and brush her teeth occasionally. Each time she would smile at him through milky brown eyes, as if in a daze. Originally, he had been concerned. But a few Internet searches and time spent reading medical issues common in mikos, he found it was pure magical exhaustion. She was attempting to heal her aura and herself on her own. So he stayed, eating when she ate, ordering food to be delivered, and checking up on her when she slept.

It was during this time that he really found how convenient it was to be Kagome. A few emails sent under her name and things got done. With no questions asked. Staff didn't bother coming in, assuming Kagome had requested they go on a longer vacation, and even more surprising, he found out what an amazing assistant Rin made.

A quick email her way explaining the situation, with a few items left out, and she was sure to answer and forward all necessary emails and phone calls. Between the two of them, they were doing an okay job at filling Kagome's role. Just an okay job, he reminded himself.

On top of that, he had made himself at home in her office and was currently attempting to rebuild the simulation. With all of that, he hadn't slept in days. A clawed hand dragged down his face in a motion that forced him to close his eyes. Sighing, he leaned into the chair that smelled of the powerful miko and leaned his head back.

He must have dozed off for just a moment because he hadn't noticed the shift in aura around him, and he definitely missed the delicate scent of Mother Nature envelope the room.

"Inuyasha?" Her voice was horse, not having used it since that first day he arrived. His eyes snapped open and his head sharply turned her way.

Standing in the doorway was Kagome, clad in clean jeans and an oversized plain red tee.

He rose from the desk, making hurried steps her way. She raised her hand to pause him, and he obeyed, leaning a bit away from her. Just a few feet separated him from her, and he held back the growl.

"I don't remember much, but from what I do remember," she hesitated and looked at him straight in his eyes, her voice growing stronger. "I owe you my gratitude. So thank you. Thank you very much." And then he saw the tears.

Screw her command; he closed the distance between them. He ignored the shake of her head and her hesitated step back. The hanyou closed his arms around her, and held on tight, letting all his warmth seep into her soft skin. God, she is so perfect.

Kagome didn't expect him to react that way. Hell, she hadn't expected to suddenly feel so emotional. But how could she not? The man holding her had been there for her. He had devoted himself to her for days. She shut her eyes as the thought sunk in: He did what I never would have done.

And she found herself clinging tightly onto him, returning the embrace with all her might. Who would have thought the man she had almost killed would be the same one to save her from herself?

Sighing, he pulled apart from her and it was then that she saw the bags beneath his eyes. Blinking, she traced his face with her fingers. "You haven't slept." Not a question, just fact.

Inuyasha turned from her gaze, but not her touch. "Feh. I'm fine."

Kagome raised a sharp eyebrow and shook her head. "You need rest, Inuyasha."

He tensed at the words and she could see hurt etching itself into his expression. He thought she was dismissing him.

Fighting back the blush creeping up her neck, she nonchalantly shrugged and said, "There are plenty of beds you can take."

"You want me to stay?" His ears lowered as he asked, hope welling up. He sure as hell wanted to stay.

The controlled smile that became her trademark settled itself on her lips and she nodded curtly, "Of course I do." The shiny gloss of her unshed tears began to subside.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, watching as the lines in her face settled into an expression he had worked so hard to weasel his way passed. He gripped onto her shoulders and shook her the slightest. "Stop. Please. Don't build that wall again. I know you now. You aren't that woman all the time. Fuck, Kagome, don't start shutting me out."

Her eyes widened slightly. He had recognized it all, she mused to herself. He had seen her slowly convert back to the woman she had worked so hard to convey at all times. It wasn't a mask, and it wasn't a wall. It was who she was. At least, outside of her home and among others.

Kagome sighed and her smile altered into something less controlled and tight at the corners. Her eyes glistened softly as she said, "Inuyasha, it isn't a wall. It's who I am."

"Bullshit," he threw his hands in the air and pointed a finger in front of her. "I call total bullshit. That isn't you. You have feelings damn it!"

Her eyes became dangerous and her sneer was ugly against her face. "Just because I prefer to have some self control does not mean I lack any form of emotions." She slapped his accusing hand away from her face, a jolt of her strengthened magic flowed through him and he took a few steps back.

"You keep forgetting who you're speaking to, and I hate having to remind you." She crossed her arms against her breasts, watching him intently. It was only a spark. Just enough to show him, once again, exactly what kind of person she was.

Inuyasha had a little hard time concentrating on her words. The magic running through him was fucking painful. His face twisted and contorted as he doubled over, gripping onto his abdomen.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and then called her power back, sucking it into herself. The throbbing ache settled in her stomach – one she was at all times accustomed to.

"You've met mikos before, haven't you?" She asked as she moved to sit on her office couch. Too many times had she actually fallen asleep on the thing.

Inuyasha noted how immediate the pain evaporated from him and he stood straight, staring down at his body. "What was that shit?"

Kagome looked him up and down through sad eyes. "My emotions, Inuyasha." She spat out the emphasized word, hating how it sounded and made her seem weak.

His eyes snapped to her small body and he looked at himself again. "That," he shook his head and concentrated before answering her, "Yes, yes I have met mikos before." He slowly followed her footsteps to the couch she was sitting on.

Kagome watched him and made no indication of moving when he sat beside her. He was hesitant in his motion, not wanting to intrude in on her space.

"Scared?" She smirked, but it wasn't an amused look.

"No. Interested." He studied her, the scientist coming out and questions piled in his head.

She nodded and relaxed a bit in the seat. "You've never experienced it?"

"No, the miko I was with – who I knew, she didn't seem to have a hard time controlling anything." He hoped Kagome wouldn't have caught the correction, but he wasn't too sure. Her expression gave nothing away, like always.

Tilting her head, the powerful miko chewed on her bottom lip as she said, "She must have filled it."

The hanyou was looking at her teeth chew her lip and he wished it had been his fangs instead.

His demon was pleading inside him. "Can you please stop doing that?"

Kagome paused and smiled playfully. It was a look that caught Inuyasha off guard, but one he was just as into as her nibbling on her lip. "And why should I?"

Is she teasing me? He was taken aback and blinked. Heat spread through him and his demon roared inside him. "Because if you don't stop I might need to show you how it's done."

A shudder run down her spine, a memory of his mouth on her flashed through her mind. Her need seeped away from her and she decided to let him take notice of it.

And he noticed. Inuyasha's eyes glazed over and he was just about to reach for her when she stood and moved to lean against her desk. Her legs crossed in front of her and she smiled at him.

"So was that it?" She sweetly asked, enjoying the struggle the hanyou was experiencing.

He looked at her longingly, his own desire rolling over him in waves of heat. "Was what it?" He forgot what they had been talking about. Something about her magic, emotions. He didn't care. She was a miko, he was a hanyou. Their dance could only end in one way: someone would submit. It's all he cared to think about at that time.

Kagome's smile turned seductive, her eyelids heavy. She was having a hard time concentrating on the question herself. But she wanted to play with him more. "Is that how she managed it? Did she feed her void?" When she noticed he wasn't putting two and two together, she elaborated, "The miko, Inuyasha."

He blinked at that and shook his head, "What void?"

Kagome's shock was huge. "You mean to tell me you were with a miko that didn't care to elaborate on what exactly that meant?"

Inuyasha winced at that, his lust deflating. "Kikyou wasn't one to share her struggles, if she had any." It was something he had also admired her for. But it had turned out to be what ended them. A relationship meant more than just take and take. He had wanted to give her something, but she never allowed him that comfort.

Kagome nodded and took a deep breath, her resolve finalizing. "If we're going to sleep together, which it sure seems like it," she ignored his widened eyes, "then I'm going to be very honest with you, hanyou." She sat there silently and then exhaled her words, "I'm dangerous."

Inuyasha was trying hard to hold in his desire, luckily his curiosity was worse than a cat's. "I don't believe that."

Kagome walked over to him and dropped to her knees at his feet. He watched her carefully, noticing how hard he was getting between his legs. Not exactly the right time when she was attempting to open up to him. He bit his cheek

The miko sighed and folded herself so that her head rested on his lap.

"What I did to you the other night was more than just an accident, Inuyasha." She closed her eyes when she felt his hand slowly run through her tousled hair. Comfort, that's what he was offering her. She smiled into his leg and allowed him to touch her.

"It seemed like you didn't mean to do it," he tried to reassure her. He hadn't stopped thinking about what had happened. He wanted to ask her about it, but timing was everything, and he had none of it to spare.

"I was upset. And you were so close to me. It wasn't purposeful, but my power found you…easy."

They sat in silence. Inuyasha was practicing his best patience, and Kagome was still trying to find words.

Finally, "It's a curse. Something all mikos live with. We're born with these gifts to heal and purify. But there needs to be a balance in the world. Nothing is free." She was absentmindedly running her hand over his calf, up and down, the words coming out as if she had memorized them. Her hand, though, it was distracting the hanyou too much. He worked hard to ignore the blood rushing to his cock, choosing to concentrate on her delicate words that would help anchor him down.

"It's like a bucket of water. In childhood we're prepared from day one to handle the bucket spilling out as we matured. And once all the magic is dumped, we still have that empty bucket – a void in us that we can feel lingering inside. Some mikos resort to binding their magic back into the void. Others, the majority of us, fill the void to end the struggle."

The scientist asked, "What could fill it though?"

Kagome's sigh was heavy before she answered, "Souls. We take souls into us. Just enough spirit to content the void. And then we're free to live normal lives."

Inuyasha paled the slightest. Kikyou would never have…or would she had?

"It sounds like murder," he said, attempting to hide his concern.

Kagome heard it though. She looked up at him and nodded, "It is. Of course, it's usually dying and ailing souls that are up for grabs. But it is still murder. And yet," she looked sad, "it's safer. It's so much safer to live with that small guilt rather than living a life being a danger to everyone you know."

The hanyou was having a hard time swallowing this. Why didn't she ever tell me this? And then, suddenly, he looked down at the miko at his feet in amazement.

"You haven't filled it."

Kagome smiled and nodded, she still looked distraught as she said, "I couldn't do it. We're all taken by our elders to have it filled, and when it was my turn, I couldn't do it. I couldn't look at him and do it. So I've chosen to be one of the very few to live with the void. Don't get me wrong, it's still tempting. Do you know how hard it is to be this way? Knowing you could destroy someone so easily just by letting any emotion take you over?"

In fact, Inuyasha sighed, he knew. He knew how easy it was to let anger get the best of him. He knew how easy it was to let the demon in him take over. All hanyous suffered it: having the human side as just enough to protect everyone from the beast within.

But he didn't say anything. He didn't have to. They were kindred in his eyes.

Grabbing her with confidence, he hoisted her into his lap. Inuyasha locked eyes with Kagome, and he stared straight into her – straight into her void.

"Inuya-" she started to protest, but he grabbed her chin in one hand and kept their gaze.

After a few silent moments of her fighting her own desire and her anger and hurt and confusion – all of it. She finally sighed, her body relaxing into him. She had herself under control.

He smirked and nodded, letting her face go. "You won't hurt me, Kagome."

And then he kissed her. It wasn't feverish as it had been before. No. It was slow and tender. He enjoyed the taste of her on his tongue, he savored the feel of her soft skin beneath his claws as he grazed them on that delicate flesh.

Kagome was having a hard time thinking. The Takagis sure do know how to kiss. The thought made her smile momentarily in the kiss, and then the smile was wiped clean off her face when his mouth pulled back and it latched onto her sensitive neck.

"Oh," she moaned, pressing her neck closer to his suckling lips. Her breath was coming out faster and heavier. His tongue and teeth were accosting her, but there was a nerve he was playing with that had a direct line to the heat between her legs. With each tongue stroke, she could feel her clit throb with a stronger need.

"I want to taste all of you, miko. I've wanted to since I met you."

Kagome whimpered at his husky words against her ear, a shudder flowing down her back.

His hands had found their way to her spread thighs, and he run them up and down the length of her, inching closer and closer to where he could feel her wet heat begging for him to take her in his mouth.

"Please, Inuyasha." He smirked when he heard the deep tone of her voice.

"As you command," he said and reached with fingers to graze her.

But as his claws moved to slice the clothes away from her, the doorbell rang. And their lustful world shattered around them.

"Who. In. The. Fuck." Inuyasha growled.

Kagome was just as annoyed, her eyes glaring through the office doorway into the hall. She wanted the hanyou, badly.

She prodded with her magic, taking her time as she turned back to Inuyasha and licked his lips with her tongue. Hiding her smirk when his snare melted into pleasant surprise. Kagome enjoyed this. She felt like she could tease him, play and laugh while rolling around in a bed with the man.

His lips caught hers, and his hands returned to his seductive touching. He groaned into the kiss when his finger ran along her clothed slit. He could feel how wet she was through her pants.

The shiver was a cascading wave as it pulsed through her body. She wanted him.

Finally, her magic reached the door, taking it's time as the miko enjoyed the hanyou's touch.

Kagome froze. The pleasure depleted from her and she sat still on Inuyasha.

The hanyou, sensitive to her response, pulled back and furrowed his brows. "What's wrong?"

The miko's power retreated back into her in a crash, and she peeled herself from Inuyasha. He whimpered from the lack of her heat and wetness against him, until she settled her cool eyes on his.

"Sesshomaru," was all she said, brown eyes hardening as they stared down into gold.

The reaction was swift. Inuyasha's demon roared inside him. The last thing he saw was Kagome's slightly widened eyes and her shifting her stance before all went red.

A/N: Okay! So. I updated two chapters. Why? Because I love my readers and reviewers! Also, my fiancé is coming to spend Thanksgiving weekend with me and I won't have time to update. ;) PLEASE REVIEW! Peace and love!