Mature content (lemon/lime) warning.

I do not own Inuyasha, but I do own this story.

The Count Down

Chapter 6

5: Forever isn't Long Enough

Our first hospital visit in August was overwhelming. We experienced so many emotions and happenings in such a short amount of time. I could not, at the time, contemplate how to even tell anyone. I would have liked to surprise my mother and taken a picture of her first reaction, but nothing ever goes as planned. She left the hospital with promises to keep our secret until the time was right, even saying she would feign surprise with everyone else.

I spent many moments staring at the ceiling. Click. Click. Click. The tiles were as uninteresting as the hospital was quiet. I moved softly, grabbing my chart from the foot of the empty bed. Click. The test results would forever be caught in my camera. Turning back to you, I pursed my lips, disapproving of your stoic expression even in slumber. You deserved to feel so much love and passion that smiles found you even in sleep. Then I had begun to wonder what you were dreaming about with such an expression. Click. I would save it forever, regardless.

Click. Another picture of the entire room, including my tray of half eaten bland food that had settled my stomach and brought me further to life than I was hours before. Click. I snuck a photo of the nurses station from the crack in the door. Click. I had grabbed your chart this time; nothing was worth the chance of losing to time. Click. One more picture of you before crawling back into the bed and your side.

You woke up to me pinching the skin of your abs under the blankets and hospital gown. I kept wondering how you would have liked to be awoken with sexual pleasure. Would the injection and sickness make it less than it should have been? It was, however, the perfect time to take another picture. Click. I caught a little bit of shock in that expression.

"What are you doing, Kagome?" Your voice was hoarse and rigid from sleep.

"Behaving." I winked before clicking another picture of you rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

I moved to hide under the blankets and kiss your stomach. You took a sharp inhale of breath. Lower. Lower. The top of your boxers hid my prize. I nibbled the elastic and moved to the buttoned hole in the underwear. You were already hard for me. I turned to look back at you, camera resting on your pelvis, and took a picture. Click. You tugged at my arms, trying to move me back to your level. That was not what I wanted. I used your current weakness against you and pushed further down, moving the clothing until your hard member stood straight up out of the little cut where I had released the button. You were too big to fully take into my mouth, but I tried anyway.

Choking on your length, I drooled sloppily down your shaft while moving up. You throbbed and jumped, excited by my actions. As much as I was trying to be sexy, I was lacking more than anything. I gave you pleasure in all ways possible. In my mind, I was fighting your demons away, even if only temporary.

You pulled me up into your arms, smoothing the hair away from my face and kissing the top of my head. Time seemed to stop, life hanging in the air around us. You rubbed my stomach and I wondered what you were thinking. In another day we would be able to go home and again, I was at a loss for what it would bring. So, instead, I laid there with you in the sterile hospital room listening to machines whir and buzz in our pure untainted love for one another. A love that broke your disposition towards humans. A love that brought me away from work for the first time since I had picked up a camera. A love that reminded me of why I sat on that bench with the same continuity of human nature swirling around. A love that caused me to pick up a camera again and remember; remember everything that had conspired and pushed me to reach for that device at the beginning.

Sexual turned sensual as the embrace was as tight as you could manage with the lines and cords around you attached to your body. It reminded me of our first round of chemotherapy and medicine. You had almost yelled at me to stay away for danger of the remnants of radiation but nothing could keep me away from you. I needed every minute with you that was available and the doctors had told me that the only type of treatment available would be safe for myself and now the growing life inside of me. To be on the safer side of the situation, you suggested I get tested for any type of radiation poisoning, just in case.

Laying there, resting my ear against your beating heart, I realized how truly tired this all made you. Your breathing had slowed down and again you drifted into sleep. How I wished we were climbing the mountains that you visited in your slumber, or bathe in the deep natural springs hidden deep within those cliffs. I had closed my eyes and pulled at the spiritual energy that you had tried to convince me I possessed. The energy, I had hoped, would let me jump into your dreams. I had wanted to follow you everywhere and even though I had sometimes hoped for death together, I would never let anyone know my secret.

You had told me before of the great secrets of the Jewel that I refused to remove from around my neck. At my disbelief at my own potential and your fantasy stories, I had voiced my opinion. You only said that I would see one day. Could I will the jewel and my powers to help me see into your mind? I focused on my breathing; inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. The constant chatter of my thoughts funneled into a solid black nothingness with the sound of static following close behind. I could see myself sitting in the blackness, waiting for a door to open and when it did I jumped in full force.

The wind wrapped my hair around my face, blocking my view. I inhaled deeply, all of the pollution was gone and the air was clean. Hair pulled back, I was finally able to see the solid sheet of green which painted the land below the small cliff I stood next to. You were there, up wind from myself, lost in thought. Sesshomaru. Your name was more a thought than a voiced word. You turned to me still, shock very present on your face. I could see your question and wrapped my fingers around the stone pressed against my chest.

Then we were flying, up again in your mystical cloud and for once you could not stop talking. All of the villages had names, the massive ancient trees, the God tree, and all of the majestic creatures. You had lied about nothing. The demons ran free from shame and humanization. Nature was not cut back for expanding technology. Everything seemed as it should and my heart ached at the loss for both of us.

We landed outside of a massive fortified castle with strong walls and looming gates. You led me through and showed me the way to each room. I took more time than was needed to study each minuscule detail; I needed to remember it all to tell our child. To my surprise, we stopped at a large door with a waterfall carved into it. No words this time, just the gentle press of your hand on the shallow of my back. It was the wash room, a large spring carved into the middle. Steam rose from the circulating water. Rags, oils, soaps, lathers, and blades stood tall at one edge of the pool. You began stripping me of clothes and setting me into the water before I could stop you.

Your name became a whisper, barely leaving my lips, traveling into the emptiness around us. You covered my mouth with yours, pecking gently to add depth. My tongue found yours first. I am still unsure of your intentions of kissing me before disrobing but I pulled you into the water without a second thought. We tussled and rolled under the warmth. Your yukata floated away from us. I watched it ripple, half sinking, when I pushed away.

I want to see you. It was more than a physical closeness I wanted in this new foreign time. I wanted to live this life with you in your dreams. I wanted to take these memories with me until there were no memories left in my soul. Age and a decrepit mind would never take you away from me, even if the Kami's took your physical body.

You understood immediately, if not reluctantly. A chaste kiss once more, backing away from the lust and sexual embrace we just shared. The water poured off as you stood, each remaining article of clothing peeling away from your body painstakingly slow. Then I saw your arm. I knew you had lost it during your warrior life time, but I did not expect you to come to that time in your dreams. There was not even a miniscule of care in my body; I just wanted you and all of you.

That was the moment that I needed more than you could comprehend. Maybe it was my human life or maybe it was the emotions you opened up inside of me. My body wanted yours in the most primal way possible. My heart wanted the sensual parts of your being. My mind and soul wanted something so deep and profound that there were no words for it.

You took it no further. Passion obvious on your face, an almost pained look creeping at the corner of your eyes, but you picked up the soaps and washed my body. Your nails scraped along my scalp, a tiny sound escaping my lips. I turned to return the favor, suds sliding down into the water. You pushed my head down and I was forced to hold my breath. I could have sworn I heard a deep bellow of a laugh bubble up from your stomach. It was a sound to relish and savor.

I love you. Like a whisper in the wind, you spoke to me as I surfaced. Then we were out of the water and racing through the rooms until we were together in a bed of soft furs and silk. We must have spoke with our minds because your lips never moved and my throat was closed up in anticipation. I want to share my memories with you. Emotion shown in your eyes was more that I had seen outside of our bedroom.

Share them with me so that I can tell our child all about everything that you are. You took my face in your hands and kissed me, rolling forward to press your forehead against mine. I thought I heard you say be calm but the world turned black before I could realize what was going on.

Your memories flashed through me like a slide show so fast that I was unsure if anything would be remembered when done. I saw Inuyasha as a child, felt your sadness at all of the loss over the years, and saw the child you secretly regarded as your own.

I jumped and gasped for air, suddenly in a different room once again. You pulled me back before I could fall off the bed. The hospital. My heart felt heavier than it had ever before. You were too great of a man to have so much hurt hidden inside.

"You have experienced so much." I kissed you, moving to straddle your hips. "I promise you will never feel pain because of me. I love you so very much."

You returned the kiss before pushing me away. I looked down at you with a pout, confusion running through me.

"Marry me."