A/N: All right so here's another chapter! Now the plot begins to thicken! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Remember I don't own Inuyasha and neither do you. Let's all wallow in our non-ownership status…whee! This is so sad…

Too Good to Say No

Chapter 4:

I knew the instant we arrived at his castle. The gusts of wind and power that erupted into a maelstrom about us when he brought me into the circle of his arms and kissed had subsided. And still he continued ravish my mouth with an unbridled fervor that shook my frame with need. He was trying to make me forget about my friends, and the plan he refused to share with me that would explain my sudden disappearance. He held me close as if he would meld our bodies together—my lush curves to the firm contours of his body. When at last he pulled away, I was in a dazed stupor of lust and need; his lips curved into a pleased smile.

He went to reach for me again, but I sobered up and pressed the flats of my palms against his chest, shoving him away. I went over to his bed and sat heavily on the edge, spine bowed and eyes finding a sudden interest in the floor.

A thick curtain of my own hair shielded me when I said, "I want to know the excuse you've come up with to explain my sudden disappearance. I want to know your plans."

I looked up letting the fiery intensity of my ire show clear in my deep brown eyes. He said nothing as he approached me and sat beside me on his bed. When he reached for me for the third time that night, I failed in repelling his touch. He swept me into an embrace in between his legs, my back melded firmly to his front. He brushed my hair aside gently, and placed a chaste kiss against the side of my neck, bringing back exhilarating memories of when he first took me. I sighed lightly, and unconsciously snuggled in closer to his body; there was just no denying his touch or the comfort of his body so close to mine.

"Sango," he whispered heatedly against my neck. "You're so tense. You need to relax and I can show you how . . ." The last was said with a husky growl that sent a thrilling tingle down my spine.

Before I could protest, his hands were kneading the muscles in my shoulders in a slow rolling motion, melting away the tension in my neck and back that I hadn't known was there. I let his name stumble from my lips on a long exhalation, and rested my head against his shoulder, letting him ease the stress he had caused me. He brushed his lips against the rim of my ear, and traced a path downward to the delicate line where my neck met my shoulder. His fangs grazed there, and I jerked in his arms, an unexpected moan escaping me. I tensed with the suppression of my desire, but then submitted to it, giving myself over to the feel of his deft, warm hands kneading my muscles into the consistency of jelly.

Naraku leaned toward the junction between my neck and shoulder, warm breath tickling me, and pressed those luscious lips to my bare skin once more. I stifled a gasp when his tongue replaced his lips, igniting in me that ache that almost never seemed to leave me in his presence. His hands ducked lower, skimming over the thin fabric of my kimono just above the curve of my breasts. When I did nothing to protest the position of his hands, he tugged at the v-shaped opening, leaving the once protective fabric to hang limply just past my shoulders, and my breasts fully exposed. Pausing for only a brief moment, he brought his hands to cup them gingerly, before he began to massage them much like he did my shoulders, occasionally fingering my tender nipples. My vision swam with desire for him, and it took all my conscious effort not to fling myself at him in want.

I came undone in a sobbing moan of desperation when he turned me in his arms, and took my right nipple into his mouth. My fingers delved into his rich ebony tresses, holding him to my breast tightly as I took in each and every sensation that his clever tongue instilled in me. Before long I was panting his name and begging for him to give me the release that only he could coax from me. He pulled away upon hearing this, and lifted me into his arms, carrying me to the open washroom door. After setting me down on my feet for a brief moment, he shut the door, and brought my lips to his in a breath-stealing rush that weakened my knees. His hands made quick work of my clothing, leaving me exposed in the dim light that bathed the bare walls of the expansive room.

I pulled away from his kiss then, working at his clothes until he too stood before me naked and ready. With a gentle shove, Naraku began to back me in the direction of the bath, eyes intent upon my face, taking note of the dark desire that had my eyes hooded, and my body quivering in delightful anticipation of what was to come. He stopped moving me, and turned me so that my back was facing him, his erection digging enticingly into the curve of my lower back. It was enough to send delightful quivers of lustful longing to my center.

Without any outright persuasion on his part, I stepped into the warm waters of the bath that encircled my bare body in an immeasurable heat, soothing my muscles and making my heart thump faster in excitement.

I floated on my back, water glistening brightly on my flushed skin—body exposed to Naraku's open, hungry gaze. He watched me for a while, eyes roaming to every part of my body accentuated by the water flowing about me. Steam rose high in the chamber as he finally stepped into the water, gliding over to me slowly, as though he had all the time in the world to make love to me; this time he did. I eased from the surface of the water, until I was standing on my own two feet in front of him, and pressed him against my wet body with my arms wound tightly about his neck. He groaned at the desired contact, grinding against my body shamelessly. The water danced about our hips, warming us. We wanted each other, there was no doubt about it, and we would have each other on this night.

Bringing his lips down to mine, I slid my tongue into the cavern of his sweet mouth, tasting the unique tang of his tongue in my own mouth. His hands encircled my waist, lovingly before finally resting against the hollow curve of my lower back. I sighed into his mouth deliciously before, easing my fingers through his hair and holding his head firmly in place as I kissed him. He groaned as I massaged the base of his skull, warming him from head to toe with my simple, innocent touch. Each of his groans made my ache for him grow stronger, and I could hardly resist the urge to tackle him down and ride his body in a loving manner that dulled his senses, and made him want more of what I so graciously gave to him.

With the burning need to be filled up overriding all my conscious thoughts, I jumped up and wrapped my legs tightly about his waist, feeling his member brush enticingly against my exposed womanhood. The sudden sensation nearly made me grind down onto him hard, taking him inside me, and enduring the pain of doing so with a cry of both pleasure and pain; it was a thought that brought a flush of embarrassment to my cheeks.

Instead of following through with that thought, I continued kissing him, milking from him those delectable moans that made me quiver in delight. Detaching his lips from mine, Naraku moved us to the other side of the bath, placing me down on the stone edge gently so that my feet were dangling in the warm water that filled it. I released his neck from my grasp, waiting for him to make his next move, and ravish my body thoroughly like always.

His hands found my breasts and began to tease them, coaxing sweet sounds of ecstasy from me as my body arched into each stomach-clenching roll of his clever hands against my sensitive flesh. The fire he instilled in me would not be extinguished, and steadily grew into a roaring flame as he continued his ministrations. I bit my bottom lip, fighting to suppress my moans, but they spilled past my lips, echoing against the walls and filling the chamber with melodic cries that spurred Naraku to continue his lovemaking. I gasped when he took my left nipple into his mouth, suckling the bud until I was breathless with a need to feel his mouth elsewhere in a place that was aching with an urgent need.

With my hands braced against each side of his face, I extracted his mouth from my left breast, and guided his head down to where I needed his mouth most: sealed over my aching, drenched womanhood. Naraku's eyes darkened with a starving man's hunger as his eyes became level with my nether regions drenched in my own juices. I blushed brightly when he directed his gaze upward to my face, meeting my eyes. Never had I seen such a magnitude of intensity purge the pure darkness of his eyes. I swallowed hard as he continued to pierce me with his gaze, as though he might see right through me. I looked away in unexpected embarrassment, but my attention was brought back to the man kneeling between my legs when he placed his warm hands on each of my knees and spread my legs farther apart.

He gave me another probing look that shook me to the core before he asked, "What is it that you want, Sango?"

"I want you," I said without hesitation, and making a bold move on my part, I brought his mouth to my entrance, relishing the sensation of his warm breath so close to my core.

With a flick of his tongue along my folds and then my clit, I was on my back, writhing in ecstatic longing for him to continue his tender assault. I tangled my fingers in his damp tresses, fisting a handful of them as he continued to give me more and more pleasure. My voiced pitched unnaturally high, expressing without words my desire, my longing, and my steady race to boneless completion. I trembled with the need to release, thrusting my hips to meet each dizzying pattern of Naraku's tongue. A few taps, flicks, sucks, and swirls later, and had me crying out my release, body arched, mouth open in a silent scream as I held my breath. My cries burst forth, like an explosion when Naraku reached up to pinch my right nipple, sending a sudden shock of pleasure up my spine before it settled at my core, throbbing as I continued to empty myself into his waiting mouth.

There was a long pause, filled only with our ragged breathing. My body was completely numb, spent with the exertion of reaching my peak, and my mind was slowly drifting back to me, breaking through the fog of pleasure. A few more minutes passed without either of us making a move, which gave me plenty of time to return to my senses, and pick up where I had started when we'd arrived at his castle. The anxiety about Naraku's mystery plan and whether it would work crept back to the forefront of my mind, blocking out any other thoughts that might interfere. I felt Naraku kiss tenderly up from my core to the valley between my breasts, pressing his lips to the undersides, before finding my collarbone. He was at my neck when my breathing started to pick up, and I felt the fog of desire slowly descending. I fought it, even as I felt his hot breath there, and his fingers tangling in the curls that guarded my precious pearl. If he touched me there, I was done for; my resolve to know the truth would shatter, and I'd come succumb to him, greedily lapping up whatever pleasure he could give me.

I shifted my neck out of his reach. I was panting, wanting him more and more with each light circuit his finger ran about my clit, not quite touching it squarely, but applying enough pressure to stimulate it. I place a firm hand to his shoulder when he pursues my neck, his fingers easing down the length of my slit to find my entrance, drenched and throbbing in need. He started his maddening circles again, this time inserting his finger partway after every third circuit. I felt my inner walls clench tight around it, and my body warmed at the thought of a different appendage, circling my entrance before being thrust inside. I chased it away however, focusing on the last shred of resolve I had left when a second finger joined his torturous assault.

Stay focused, Sango. Remember what you want . . .

Oh, I knew what I wanted, and it wasn't to push Naraku away; it was a conscious effort on my part, but I was finally able to dredge up the words that would put an end to this precursor of what would've been a bout of fantastic, toe-numbing sex. I placed a hand on his chest, pressing upward, and prying opening a slight gap between our flushed bodies.

"D-don't—don't think I-I've forgotten . . . I s-still want to know . . . your—plans . . ."

My words are expelled between gasps as he continues to tease me down below, stopping only when I mention the latter. He arched a questioning brow at me, and I hardened my gaze to match my resolve, even if my insides had turned to jelly, and my body was throbbing in protest, longing for more than just foreplay.

After a pregnant pause, he said, "As you wish, Sango."

He shifted so that he was no longer on top of me, and I immediately longed for the contact. I wanted to draw him back to me, to continue where we left off, but the moment was ruined. I suddenly felt colder than I had when we had entered. I heard the sloshing of water, and rose to a sitting position, watching him reach the other side of the bath and climb out, body glistening with droplets of water running down his back and thighs. He turned back to me, and I had to forcibly focus my gaze on his face and not the swollen object of his desire. It made my core throb in want, and I had to suppress the urge to call him back to me.

"Finishing bathing, Sango, and meet me in the room when you're done. I'll send a servant in with fresh clothes."

And with that he left, before I could ask him where he was going. After a moment of staring after him with longing, I settled back into the bath water, shivering at the sudden change in temperature from cold to warm. It reminded me of Naraku's mood just now; he went from hot to cold in the blink of an eye, and I hardly knew what to make of it. I thought for a moment that he might be mad at me, but quickly brushed it aside. Why would he be? It wasn't like we hadn't made love before. I continued to wash as I pondered this, wondering what I could've done to make him so unreadable, and decided that we'd have a talk about it later. The servant came in with my clothes just as I was finishing, and I thanked her before climbing out of the bath to dry off, and dress myself in a red loose-fitting kimono with a floral pattern that hit me just above the knees. It was a lot shorter than I was used to, but it suited the purpose of allowing a freer range of movement. I wondered if Naraku kept that thought in mind when selecting it for me. I tied it off with a crimson sash at my waist, shook out my hair, finger-combing it gently, before entering the adjoining room.

Naraku was there already with his back turned to me. He pivoted, his dark gaze assessing me, as I assessed him. He was wearing navy blue hakamas and a matching haori, held open to reveal a tantalizing stretch of throat, and a triangle of bare chest. My mind spun as I thought of my mouth there and his groans of pleasure. A blaze of heat shot down from my chest to my core, and my eyes dropped below his waistline, disappointed to find no remnants of his previous desire. I frowned at first then blushed as I realized what he had to do to get rid of such a problem. I thought back to the time I nearly exploded with my desire for him, almost resorting to masturbation to get by.

Self-stimulation may solve the issue, but it doesn't hold a flame to the real thing. I'm sated, but far from satisfied . . .

I blinked in surprise as these words whispered across my mind. He gave me a knowing look and a smirk, stirring my already boiling pot of desire. We stood there in charged silence, eyes locked, heartbeats drumming against our sternums, and our minds engaged in a shared fantasy of lovemaking. At last his words shattered the silence.

"Shall we go?"

I nod, mind still hazy with thoughts of us making love chasing one another about my mind. I followed close behind him down several drafty corridors, mind still tainted with less-than virtuous ideas about how to better spend our time. He stopped short, and I bumped into his back, willing my hands to behave themselves as I use his back as leverage to steady myself. He turned to me, gesturing for me to enter the room. Nerves skittered up and down my limbs at his heated—dare I even say, suggestive—stare, as I brushed past him. I half expected him to indulge in a fleeting caress or perhaps whisper against the edges of my mind, but he does neither, and I'm left feeling disappointed and mildly annoyed that I was anticipating this behavior.

The room was dark, and it appears unoccupied until the torches jump to life, filling the room with a moment of blinding illumination. I jumped when I found Kanna there with her mirror, eyes bottomless pits, devoid of life, depicting sorrow and despair. I backed into Naraku's chest, but refrain from turning. I tilted my head to give him a look that said "What are we doing here?"

He easily read the question in my features and said, "You wanted to know my plan, so you must be wholehearted committed to this."

"Committed to what?" I turned to fully face him, speculation tracing the edges of my words.

"We're going to make a demon puppet to pose as you for a week." His hands are on my shoulders, comforting and firm.

"How, exactly? I'm not a demon. I don't possess to the energy to create such a creature."

"That's why we're going to improvise . . ."

The way he said the last sent a shot of anxiety through me. Something told me I wasn't going to like the means of improvisation. Naraku drew me further into the room by my hand, closer to Kanna, who sat there garbed in white, looking like a specter. She watched us with a blank, unmoving stare, holding her mirror at her chest level. It looked ordinary, but I knew the true nature of that vanity object. Though questions were running a fierce circuit in my mind, I kept quiet until we settled down in the middle of the room.

"So how's this work?" I toyed with the hem of my kimono, torn between knowing the answer and dreading its eventual reveal.

"First we start with a host . . ."

He paused, snapping his fingers; the limp, very still body of a female demon appeared before us, dressed in a plain white kimono. Her hair was dark brown, about the length of mine, but her facial features were different, and she was definitely a few inches shorter than me.

My hand flew to my mouth, suppressing a cry of surprise. "Is she dead?"

"No. Her soul is just trapped in Kanna's mirror."

My eyes were immediately drawn to the mirror, looking harmless as ever. I shivered at the thought of an existence trapped there.

"She looks nothing like me. How is this going to work?" I couldn't shift my gaze away from the prone form before me.

"Simple . . . We just need to bind a part of your soul to her body, add your blood and an object you hold dear, and let the magic do the rest."

He made it seem so simple, and yet my stomach churned as an all-out moral battle took place in my mind. Sure I wanted some adequate cover for my absence, but at the same time I didn't approve of using someone else's body for my benefit, especially when I wasn't sure of how this would affect the other party.

Naraku seemed to sense my turmoil, or just merely read my mind, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sango. The effects are not permanent, and so long as Kanna's mirror and the body remain intact, the soul will return to her body without fail."

"And what of my soul? How will this affect me?"

"Only a tiny part of your soul will be drawn into Kanna's mirror to be placed in the demon's body, and it will be bound to the object that you give up. That's why you must make sure the object isn't one that can be easily destroyed. Once the spell is broken, your soul will return to you."

I found his gaze, eyes asking my unvoiced question.

I would never hurt you, Sango . . .

I blinked once in understanding and turned back to Kanna and the demon.

"Let's do this." I offered my hand to Naraku, waiting for the inevitable pain of a blade easing my flesh apart to reveal a well of blood, flowing forth eagerly.

"First, I need the object that you want to bind your soul to."

I nodded, feeling at my throat for my mother's necklace: black leather laced with three, white sea shells at its center. I untied it gingerly and pool it in my cupped palms, offering it to Naraku. He took it and placed it on the demon's chest.

"And now the blood," he said, unsheathing a blade from his back.

I held out my palm, putting on a brave face as the torchlight glinted of its shiny surface. The pain was immediate, but quickly ebbed away as the blood ran down my palm and along my arm, running off my elbow to patter to the floor. Naraku clenched my hand in his, bringing it to the demon's body. I winced when he massaged my palm over my mother's necklace; I shut my eyes against the renewal of pain, as he continued to rotate my palm to draw out more blood. I sighed when I felt some cloth draped over my wound, before being tied with a loose knot.

"And now your soul."

I nodded, but there was a heaviness to the gesture. He pointed in the direction of Kanna's mirror, and I stared at my reflection there, trepidation accelerating my heart rate to dangerous levels. A moment later I felt a tug from deep within my core, and then a tiny bit of my soul was airborne—a small orb of pure white light—before it sank into the still form of demon before me. I blinked slowly, suddenly feeling lethargic. I found myself leaning heavily against Naraku's shoulder.

"Now . . . now what happens . . .?"

"We wait. It takes eight hours for the spell to take effect. In the meantime, it's best that you get some rest. Having even just a part of your soul removed drains you."

I nodded weakly, clenching and unclenching my bandaged hand, wondering if the spell will work and, if in the end it would all be worth it.

A/N: So, yeah . . . I've left it at a weird place and have actually changed a bit of direction with this story. Hope you like! And please, reviews are fiercely desired! I want to know what I'm doing right andwhat I'm doing wrong. I'm out!

Silver Moon Vampiress