A/N: Sorry this took so long to update! Happy reading, everyone!
Prompt: #8 – Delight | Words: 517
Kouga was accustomed to the way instinct sometimes took over, loosening his tongue and driving his limbs as his brain scrambled to keep up with what his senses prompted him to do. And he allowed it, more often than not, because when rationality failed and emotion addled, it was instinct that took rein, its sole ambition ensuring that its host's conscious and unconscious needs were met.
Closing the distance between himself and the miko—Kagome, his mind joyfully supplied, because in the chaos of their last interaction he'd walked away without ever having learned it—was instinct. As was gathering her hands in his own and drawing them against his chest, which ached from the impact of his heart hammering against his ribcage.
Mine, he thought, gaze taking in each minute change in her flickering expression and cataloguing them all for future reference. She truly was lovely, all sharp contrasts and striking features; dark hair fanning pale skin, grey eyes that shone, delicate lineaments that effortlessly contorted with ire.
Kouga had known women who were, perhaps, more conventionally beautiful, but he'd never before met any whose face was a mosaic he felt he could spend his whole life studying. Or whose eyes were a seabed he'd willingly travel a lifetime to reach.
Lovely, he thought, and mine.
"Woman," Kouga said reverently, ignoring the way her power warmed threateningly at their point of contact, rising like exhaust fumes waiting to be lit.
"Oh," was her flat response. "It's you."
"You remember me!" he crowed.
"You're kind of hard to forget," she said dryly, likely not intending it to be the compliment Kouga took it for. He couldn't bring himself to care; not when the prospect of being forgotten by the one who'd carved a permanent place of residence in his thoughts was so much worse.
"Think of me often, do you?" he asked, drawing her in closer.
"I've made leaps and bounds in archery practice thanks to you," Kagome offered, and the power that surrounded her gave a warning pulse.
Kouga only laughed, paying it little heed. Powerful, beautiful, and witty. The more time he spent with her, the more she unwittingly revealed just how suitable she was. And how he yearned to discover more, yearned to strip her layer from layer until he reached the very core of her, yearned to finally be able to articulate that which his instincts could not put into words.
"You're welcome," Kouga said magnanimously, and felt his smirk broaden when the corners of Kagome's lips twitched into a reluctant smile.
Kouga opened his mouth, another instinctive marriage proposal hovering at the tip of his tongue, when a sudden jolt of pain at the back of his head caused the words to scatter. A stunned pause, and then he was turning, hackles rising and claws elongating in preparation to slice into ribbons whomever had dared to assault him, only to stop short at the sight of an enraged hanyou glowering up at him.
"You and I," Inuyasha said, gripping Kouga's elbow and viciously tearing him away from the miko, "need to talk."
A/N: To be continued. Thanks for reading!