The cool air of the outside world let her know, she had made it. She was safe in Inuyasha's arms; although, as she understood, something was different about him. He moved with a lightning-fast pace along the roof of the castle, and she felt a hum of dark energy swirling around him, filling her with unease as the wind whistled through her hair and past her ears. He leapt once into the moonlight as a cloud rolled back, lighting his face with a weak ray of light; Kagome followed the illumination until she saw Inuyasha's expression and drew in a terrified breath. His eyes were as red as the demon who had attacked her in the forest, glowing like two fiery embers in his skull.
She remained silent as he carried her, bounding fearlessly to the ground below. Kagome held fast to him as they descended, her stomach flipping, though Inuyasha seemed unperturbed by the way they barreled toward the ground. Landing with only a slight shock wave of resistance, he continued to run almost instantly, as though unaware of the heights he had just surmounted. Kagome noticed Sango's companion emerge as Inuyasha pushed forward; at first, Kirara had taken sight of them and tried to follow, but one scathing growl from Inuyasha was enough to send the feline back to her post, hackles raised.
They raced through the forest for a tense bout of time before coming to a small hot spring, surprising Kagome with the choice of destination. Even as Inuyasha trudged toward the banks, she recalled how many times during their original journey he had complained when the humans had to stop, bathe, sleep, eat; now he carefully moved toward the water, failing to kick off his clothing before submerging himself to the knee and sinking into the pool with Kagome still aloft in his arms.
At first horrified, kicking gently against the demon in her attempt to struggle free, she cried out,
"Inuyasha, my clothes are going to get soaked!" Glancing down at her uniform to survey the impending damage, she only then remembered why a light patch of bumps dimpled their way around the entirety of her skin in response to the cool wind. She sucked in a gasp of shock. With a slight shriek, she rapidly crossed her arms over her chest and clenched her legs together, even as the warm water hit her and Inuyasha sank to a seated position, holding her cradled across his lap. His fingers rubbed her neck soothingly, urging her tense body to relax and allow him to continue, but she fought against his hold. "No, Inuyasha, let me go. I'm, I'm… I'm naked."
Growling a protest, the red-eyed Inuyasha held her fast to him, and she felt the softness of his now soaked pants floating in the water beneath her, giving way to the mystery of his strong thighs and elongated appendage - one she now felt hardening against her as he drew her into his lap. Even with his claws extended by the force of his demonic aura, he managed not to scrape her as his fingers absently worked. Rumbling a calming growl into her ear, he continued to rub her neck while effortlessly removing his suikan with his free arm and tossing it to the shore, followed by his white undershirt, leaving his chest bared to her.
Giving in to the touch of full-demon Inuyasha, unsure how he might react to further struggling in his transformed state and still frightened by the demeanor Naraku had held over her as he'd violated her with his touch, with his eyes, she gave in and allowed Inuyasha to rub her neck, her shoulders, and eventually move his way down to her back. His caresses became increasingly leisured, though respectful, despite her completely naked body blushing beneath his hands.
"Inuyasha, I…" She bowed her head and despite her embarrassment, found herself lulled by the motion of his fingers. With her guard down for even a moment, a surge of emotion finally emerged, making its way to the surface. Feeling her heart swell with the gratitude of her escape, she shook the images of Naraku out of her mind and, though she wasn't sure he could hear her, looked to Inuyasha to say in a voice no louder than a whisper, "I knew you would come."
Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck, ignorant to the way his hands stopped moving across her body and paused in their journey. She pressed herself to him and let the sobs she had been holding in ring out with her full stomach, curling her body into the safety of his with much needed release. She had been so petrified, not only of losing her life, but losing her dignity beforehand, not even spared the memory of a morbid first time; but Inuyasha had kept his promise, had saved her. She held him, her breasts crushed to his chest, only breaking away when she felt his grip tighten and the limb she had previously tried to avoid demand attention.
In one deft movement, he had swapped their bodies, so she floated carefully to the rocks beneath him. He leaned over her, trapping her with his arms, his hands planted against the rocky lip of the bank around the spring. She looked up to his torso rippling with muscle and scars from previous battles, the rush of seeing him the way he saw her, completely exposed, flushing her cheeks near to the red of his eyes. He fixed her in his view and purred a soft grumble.
"Please," She felt her breath coming in short, harsh gasps, horror flooding through her alongside a mounting desire she tried to fight. She knew he wasn't in his proper state of mind, and this only alarmed her further as his needing and lustful gaze swept over her, his hands moving to take advantage of her unclothed state.
Turning to cringe away from him, she felt his strong grasp reach out in a challenging bid to pull her arms apart where she had clenched them across her chest, obscuring the now hardening peaks from his view. Forcing her to face him, and with the removal of her desperate attempt to cover herself, he took in the site of her rounded chest, satisfaction urging him to lower his head and flick his tongue against her reddening nipples. His lips clamped softly over one to suck gently, causing her back to arch. Against her will, the reactive motion filled his mouth even further with her full, trembling breast. He gladly took the weight of her, lapping graciously at the offering.
He won't forgive himself, Kagome's mind raced as a guilt laden pleasure began to pump with her heart in response to the heady contact of Inuyasha's tongue, the sharp edges of his fangs nearly digging into her, threatening her not to move for fear of being cut as he swirled a fiery path of circles over her. But even in his full demon transformation, his licks and nibbles remained so gently applied that not a mark was left, aside the red flush of her skin everywhere his tongue and hands travelled.
Before she could consider a plan, he had lifted her roughly by the hips and spun again so she straddled him, and now she felt the material around his lower half give way. Panicking, she searched her mind for some way, any way to bring him to his senses, before he did to her what Naraku had wanted, what the demon in the woods had wanted – what Hojo had wanted. He would become the monster he had promised her he wasn't, and even though the hands melding her in their palms were the ones she had dreamed of on more than one occasion, she knew this wasn't the way either of them wanted it to be. Her thoughts were interrupted as he softly drew his lips over her opposing nipple and sucked, rolling his hips against her as he did so.
Tears collecting in her eyes, she fought against the force of Inuyasha's demon strength, but his powerful grip remained untiring. He held her by the waist, rocking his solid arousal against her core with growing need. She clenched her eyes shut and, with a sob of desperation, placed her hands on his chest again, softly this time, giving up on trying to push him away.
"Inuyasha please, you promised me." She gazed into the glowing red of his eyes, tears spilling from hers to fall into the hot spring, a wave to the ocean. His hands continued a busy path from her waist to her thighs below the water, cupping her to lift her body against him, revelling in the way it made her rub against his swollen piece. She gasped, but continued, "You promised you'd never hurt me, jewel or no jewel. You promised." She gripped the jewel at her neck for a rush of strength, realizing with a start that not once in his full demon state had he attempted to take the jewel from her. In fact, he hadn't even inched toward it or given it a second glance, completely distracted by caring for her and submerging her in the spring. Even now, he was fully enraptured by the task at hand, his eyes glued to the curves and swells of Kagome's dripping wet body as he rubbed against her entrance with dangerously insistent strokes.
Taking this into account, she leaned into him, willing herself to regain the trust that had nearly been ripped away in Naraku's chambers. Distracting him with the words she spoke, which only proved to confuse him in his current mindset, she blinked back her tears and faintly whispered, "I know you won't hurt me, Inuyasha. You prove it in everything you do, over and over again. Don't you know that?"
Closing her eyes again, she inclined her lips to the demon she had grown to love, but not as the menacing figure that locked her body to his, driven by his primal instincts; as a half-demon, as Inuyasha. Softly pressing hers to his, even as his fangs trembled in lust-drunk desire, she clenched her fingers in frantic hope, and leaned into her kiss while tears continued to fall. I love you, Inuyasha, she thought, and took his lips with all the softness she had left in her weak and wounded body. She felt him tense beneath her, but not a flex of compulsion or arousal, rather a shudder of response as her hands moved gently up his chest, up his shoulders and neck to carefully grasp his chin, deepening the soft kiss that connected their bodies at the lips. His hands fell from her waist, and she felt the demonic aura in him wane, until she realized the kiss was being returned with a light pressure of longing.
When she pulled back to face him, she saw that although his body had remained as tense as it had been since he'd destroyed Naraku's bonds and lifted her into his arms, a honey-gold warmth had returned to his eyes as the blood red began to fade. While she watched his normal colouring return and the purple lines adoring the sides of his face begin to fade, a flash of guilt ridden knowing overtook him, burning his nose with blushing understanding.
"Ka-Kagome," He stuttered, looking down only once before quickly glancing up again, pinning his eyes to the sky above, not daring to glimpse her way even briefly. "Kagome, tell me right now, and do not lie to me." He gulped, pushing himself away from her and retreating to the opposite end of the spring, looking down shortly at his naked body before floundering in the depths to retrieve his pants, dragging them up his legs with revulsed urgency. Rotating completely around, he ignored the wanting eyes of the miko that begged for his tenderness, and instead began to bash himself with the logic of the situation laid out before him. In a tormented whisper, he demanded, "Tell me what happened."
"Wait, Inuyasha, you didn't-"
"I said don't lie." He shouted, silencing Kagome as he slammed his fist into a rock at the lip of the spring. Regardless of physics, the rock cracked under the weight of his force. He pulled back his shaking hand to bury his face in both his palms, the muscles in his back taught as he turned on Kagome. She watched his spine curve downward as he bowed in a defeated slump, "Your clothes… I tore them. I-I'm so sorry Kagome. Please, my suikan is on the shore, I'll get it and you can dress. I won't touch you, I won't look."
"Inuyasha." She snapped, almost out of patience with the hanyou and his misunderstanding. Her weakness was nearly overwhelming, but she couldn't let go now, not when he thought such terrible things about himself, and he had been the one to free her. Without him… she shuddered, thinking back to how she had woken with her arms pinned and the caress of a breeze the only indicator that her clothes had been torn from her, as she laid in that cell for what seemed like hours; and that hadn't even been the true horror, only a precursor to what nightmares were to come when Naraku joined her there.
Inuyasha didn't face her, but she could see his shoulders shuddering in silence. As long as he wasn't ranting on, she took the moment to calmly speak.
"Naraku was the one who tore my clothes off, Inuyasha." She saw his breath halt, the shaking in his shoulders subsiding as he listened keenly to the priestess who, still naked, took a step in his direction. He flinched away when she reached out to touch his bicep, but bravely advancing forward, she continued until her hand wrapped around his arm, and she pulled herself to stand beside him, leaning her body against his. "He was the one who was going to do vile things… started to… but you…" She swallowed the disgust that welled in her throat as memories flooded back, and she turned to Inuyasha to allow her eyes the gift of being filled with his vision instead of her horrible recollection. "You came. You promised you always would, and you did. I knew before you arrived that you would. Don't you see, Inuyasha? I trust you. And there's more."
Gazing down at her necklace, the only garment she wore, she absently wrapped her palm around the jewel.
"Even in your demon state, you didn't try to take the jewel. You didn't attack me, or even glance at it." At this, Inuyasha startled, surprised to hear that even with his mindless yokai in control, he hadn't harmed Kagome after all. However, she couldn't deny that he had laid his hands on her with lewd intention; had, in fact, almost committed an act so heinous he cringed in remembrance. As if reading his mind, she hugged his arm closer, blushing as her breasts firmed against him but needing his closeness all the same. Inuyasha however had heard enough, and sought out his red suikan where it had been abandoned somewhere before the spring.
Gently placing it around her shoulders, he finally turned to face Kagome after allowing her a moment to fasten the material around her body in a dress-like form. He gulped when he saw her and fought to hold back another wave of thoughts he might regret.
Kagome held out her hand to him, and he sighed, pulling her from the spring.
"You have to forgive yourself." Kagome frowned, urging Inuyasha to look at her with insistent eyes, craning her neck to stare him in the face. He pouted away from her in a way that almost drew her to chuckle, but, remaining serious, she concluded softly, "Your demon saved me, and only reacted in a way that was natural to it. It normally murders everything around it, doesn't it?" Though he flinched at her words, she remained convinced of his innocence. "Inuyasha, if you truly wanted nothing more than to hurt me, you would have. I watched you rip out Naraku's throat with your bare hand. I don't doubt… I don't doubt if hurting me was your objective, you would have. You kept your promise."
"I…" Inuyasha closed his eyes, swallowing the lump of words unsaid accumulating in his mind as he faced down the girl who he couldn't believe he'd once ever mistaken for anyone but Kagome. Lowering his face toward hers, he let his guilt subside momentarily, drawn with gratitude to the girl who wouldn't give up on him, him, a pathetic half demon who had lost control and almost succumbed to it. She stared back up at him, wearing nothing but his red hooded top pulled into a crafty short tunic, and he thought as he opened his eyes again to sternly capture hers, he'd never seen anyone more beautiful.
He smiled a rare and lopsided smile as he held her gaze, running a hand softly down her cheek, so thankful to see her alive.
"I love you, Kagome."
With that he let his lips fall onto hers to claim them once again, breathing in the relief of holding her in his arms, safe once more.
