~12 hours prior~
The demon snarled and twisted under the weight of the binding spell, unable to move his upper body. His legs thrashed about until succumbing to the realization that no matter how much he resisted, the rosary around his chest and hands would not yield. The dog demon was pinned to the floor indefinitely. Whenever the spell was about to relent, Kagome would utter another subduing command to the charmed beads.
Kagome pressed her back against the farthest wall from Inuyasha. She could only wait until the sun slowly sank past the line of horizon. It would not take long anymore. She had kept her unwavering stare on the subdued demon but broke her concentration for a few seconds to peek out the doorway. The dimming auburn sky was relinquishing its reign to shades of purple and black. Just a moment longer until the new moon would rise. And then-
The human woman felt her shoulder being gripped by sharp claws and was spun around. Her head came into abrupt contact with the wall, and before she could utter a single gasp, her mouth was covered.
Inuyasha pinned her body against the wooden grain, violently thrusting his pelvis against hers.
The girl cursed herself for allowing herself to be distracted for too long.
"You little minx…" The demon hissed with a dark smirk. His left palm was firmly pressed against Kagome's lips, and no matter how she tried to shout at him, she could only produce strangled mumbling. The demon's right hand was grabbing her thigh beneath her priestess kimono, forcing her legs to come apart.
She was trying to rip his hand off her face with every last bit of strength she had, but the hand wouldn't budge even a hair's worth. A scream died as a muffled high-pitched squeak against the demon's palm when it sank its canines into the pliant flesh of her shoulder.
"I'm going to have my way with you until your feeble body breaks," he growled against her neck, his lips staining with fresh blood.
The girl could only shut her eyes tightly and desperately drag air into her lungs through her nose. An onset of panic slithered its way down her throat, settling in the pit of her stomach.
Suddenly, the hands that had gripped her mouth and thigh slackened, and the man collapsed with an agonized groan before her.
"AAAAAAARGH!" The sound emerging from him grew in volume until his lungs were lost for air.
"I-Inuyasha…?" She called him.
The man kneeling in front of her shot his eyes up at her. The crimson dulled into a shade of deep brown, the furry appendages on top of his head shrank away, and the mane of silver transformed into ink-black.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, immediately dropping to her knees and placing her hand to the side of his body where his wound a carved hole in his flesh. If this would not work, he would not see the sunrise again.
She concentrated all her priestess powers to the palm of her hand and released a pulse of healing energy. A bright light surrounded and pierced the demon-turned-human man's wound. Kagome closed her eyes and prayed. Either the wound was being healed or she was killing him; she couldn't differentiate from his tormented howls.
He collapsed into her arms, and she hastily wrapped her arms around him. He wasn't moving or speaking. Kagome tried to swallow down a coat of despair that had paralyzed her tongue. Her arms were trembling. A salty sheen glazed over her eyes until she heard him take a deep breath.
She looked up to the unseen heavens above, filled with gratitude. She squeezed her eyes shut, allowing the tears to fall.
"Thank you, gods," she whispered and hugged him tightly.
Her hands rubbed the back of his head and shoulders.
"Are you alright?" The girl murmured against his shoulder and pulled herself carefully away from him.
She was greeted by a beautiful, albeit tired, set of raw umber orbs.
"Yes… I think…?" Inuyasha coughed to rid his voice of hoarseness. "I feel like I've been out for a while?"
"Oh, Inuyasha." 'If you only knew!' Kagome thought, choking back a sob as she fondly cupped his face between her palms to scrutinize his looks. She still wasn't sure how he had survived his wounds, and time was of the essence if the wounds hadn't healed. His mortal body couldn't survive such damage.
"Could you let me take a look at your wounds?" The young priestess asked. The man knitted his brows together and tried to puzzle together his surroundings and what was happening.
"Yeah, I mean – am I wounde-" His question was overthrown by his observation of the fact that he was clad in a yukata which was completely open at the front. He had exposed not only his bandages to her but everything below those blood-crusted strips of cloth. Starting from a trail of now-black coarse hair on his lower stomach that ended with… His eyes bulged with horror. He quickly looked at Kagome to decipher if her expression was angry, appalled, or disgusted. But he didn't get that far when he noticed that her attire was also compromised. Her kimono was shuffled, dragged down her shoulders, baring a valley of creamy bosom.
"Uh, OH!" He gasped and stumbled backward, essentially flashing her with all of his male glory.
"SHIT!" He squealed in such a high voice Kagome hardly believed he could've been able to physically produce. He quickly wrapped his yukata shut and curled into a small ball.
What the heck had they just been in the middle of?!
Last thing he remembered was how they had been in the midst of the battle against Naraku. Sango had just released her Hiraikotsu into a flock of Naraku's demon birds and Kagome rained them with purified arrows. But after that, he had no recollection of what had happened.
"A-am I dead?" The young man stuttered, too afraid to look at her. Had she noticed that he had stolen a glimpse? Would she be able to "sit" him in heaven anyway?
"Of course not, silly!" Kagome exclaimed and sat next to the ball of yukata. She gently rubbed his back. "You're just mixed up and scared. You fought against Naraku and got wounded," she abridged, not wanting to confuse and burden him with too many details before he had regained some of his bearings. "You've been sleeping since the battle. You just woke up and have been a little… disoriented."
Inuyasha picked up his chin and peered at his caretaker.
"You've been here… The whole time?" He coughed. "Where are the others?"
Kagome reassuringly squeezed his shoulder. "Everyone is safe. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo are fine. You were the only one who… got hurt badly."
The young dog demon pulled his knee up from under him and propped himself upwards.
"I—I see." He mumbled and discreetly tried to pull his yukata more shut.
The young woman ignored his embarrassment and insisted, "Can you please let me check your wound?" Even though he no longer seemed to be in agony, she would not feel at ease until she could affirm his state properly.
"I, I feel fine!" He exclaimed and pulled away from her. She hadn't corrected her own kimono that still loosely hung over her shoulder. Her face was flushed, and raven hair framed her face in a tousled mess.
"Please." She pleaded, looking very concerned. She was kneeling in front of him. Inuyasha could feel heat gather beneath the skin of his face. Her big chocolate eyes looked desperate. She must've been very concerned about him.
"Yeah. Okay. I mean," He gulped. "S-sure."
Inuyasha was blissfully ignorant of everything that had happened between Naraku and now. For him, it was hours. Maybe Kagome had every reason to be concerned. After all, she was a worrywart with every small gash and bruise he had ever gotten. If it made her feel better – why not.
Inuyasha relaxed his shoulders and cleared his throat.
With no coy, Kagome crawled closer to him, pressed her palm on his chest while the other tugged the collar of his yukata to the side.
"Oh, hey!" Inuyasha protested, but Kagome already glided her hand along his side to his stomach.
His skin was pristine, unmaimed. As if not even a blade of sharp grass had ever grazed it. He was completely healed.
"Thank goodness." She gasped to herself and continued to study his torso with her petite fingers.
Inuyasha held his breath and tensed unwittingly. Her cool fingers glided over every inch of his abdominal oblique, intercostals, transverse abdominal muscles, and other plains of flesh he had no name for. Her touches felt like caresses of feathers or wisps of leaves. Soft vibrations trembled through him.
To her, the map of his body was well-traversed by now, but for him, her touches were a novelty.
He suddenly gripped her hand and ceased her ministrations.
"Are you satisfied now?" He asked with a strained tone and labored breath.
But she was not.
She wanted to feel all of him. She wanted to know that every inch of him was as it should be, unhurt.
"Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?" the woman asked with her intense stare of large, beautiful eyes.
Inuyasha swallowed and continued to keep her hand captive. "I-I don't know," he breathed.
Kagome immediately tore her hand away from his and placed her palms on his now bared chest. His already loosened yukata glided down on his shoulders. She inched even closer to him, nearly cradling him. "I need to know if you are hurting anywhere," she exclaimed with a shortened breath. There might be underlying damage, internal bleeding, or-
Inuyasha unintelligibly wrapped his arm around her torso and pulled her close. "Stop," he pleaded. A strand of raven fell down the cheek of the woman, nesting in the crook of her neck.
"But—" she tried to protest.
Inuyasha squeezed harder at her waist. "Stop. I'm fine," he begged, his voice thick and low.
Kagome halted herself and finally paid acute attention to Inuyasha's face. He looked pained, but a hot surge that stirred inside her body told her it was not because of any battle injuries.
She suddenly felt the ghosts of his hands and lips on her body. The touches that had but less than an hour ago adventured on the canvas of her skin. "You need to rest," she whispered, her cheeks flushing and an unfinished want trembling her body. Suddenly realizing that she still was wearing no underwear because the man before her had torn them apart with unbearable ease and passion just moments ago.
The black-haired man cocked his head and leaned forward, as if a weight of a corporeal memory compelled him to get closer. He had no intellectual recollection of days past, but his mouth eagerly thirsted for something he knew he had just gotten a taste of before and was greedy for more. "Rest is for the dead," he said with a rasped voice. Maybe he was supposed to die at the hands of Naraku. Gods knew he was prepared for it. As long as he could protect those he loved, he didn't care. But here he was. Awoken next to Kagome.
"I'm alive."
He swiped a lock of thick and soft hair back her collarbone, making her shiver. Why did his hand feel so at ease on her neck? Like a path he had walked before and could travel even in the dark. "Or am I just dreaming?" he questioned with a whisper, his breath next to her neck.
Goosebumps raked her spine, and Kagome gasped when a hot puff of air hit the side of her collar. She trembled and squeezed tightly onto Inuyasha's yukata. "If you are," she murmured and brazenly scooted closer and hoisted her legs around Inuyasha's waist while still facing him, interlocking their bodies, "then so am I."
One small breath of his was enough to ignite the embers that hadn't completely died down within her. She had missed him so much. Wanted his touch until it drove her mad. If he didn't want this, let him push her away, but she could not hide her longing anymore.
When her hips brushed against his lap, she could feel how hot and hard he was. An embarrassing memory of his hard shaft teasing her nether lips flashed before her mind and within her core. She could feel the space between her thighs get wet with anticipation.
Inuyasha hissed and softly guided Kagome down on her back, climbing on top of her. He found a nest between her thighs. Her kimono unraveled more and laid out the softness of her body to the man's view.
"You have a wound," he murmured and dipped his head into the crook of her neck. "Here," he softly whispered and kissed the red mark better, replacing his earlier hurt with gentleness.
Kagome sighed and grabbed his yukata. He was being unbearably affectionate with her. The young woman hardly could stand the slow burn after the wildfire he previously wreaked within her. "Please, Inuyasha," she cried softly, "I need you."
The man's mouth sought out Kagome's lips and passionately claimed them. Soothing warmth spread from that place of contact and filled them both with a sense of security. He shook down his robes and pressed his body onto hers. Sweetly trembling, he tried to work the hem of Kagome's kimono over her waist and bare her delicates. He grunted softly at the unfamiliar intricacies of female clothing, let alone the workings of female anatomy, of which he knew next to nothing about. But where his factual knowledge failed him, his hands seemed to have some instinctual knowledge.
With patient guidance from the woman underneath him, he pried her thighs apart and wiggled his hips into a more intimate and comfortable position between her legs. He looked at Kagome, who was biting down onto her bottom lip, with a tint of rouge glowing on her cheeks. "A-are you s-sure?" he whispered. Even if it would kill him to have her reject him now, he needed to know that she felt certain. He would be taking something very precious from her, something that could not be replaced or mended afterwards.
Kagome searched between their naked, heat-radiating bodies, and carefully grabbed a hold of his awaiting hardness. "I've been for so long," she assured him and directed the head of his manhood to her slick entry. She wanted to be completed by him. Only by him.
The young man swallowed to moisten his dried, nervous throat and pressed his forehead against Kagome's. "I love you," he vowed, and carefully pushed his way inside her.
Tears ran down Kagome's cheeks. Tears of pain and longing, but also the tears of completion and happiness. She pulled him further tightly into an embrace and buried her face into his hair, to hide the salty droplets from his view.
"I love you." Her voice cracked with emotion. "Make me yours."
He began to retreat his intrusion just enough to rush back inside her. His movements were jerky and lacked finesse, but he held her in his arms with such deep affection and adoration that it made his lovemaking feel unparalleled in its wonderfulness.
They studied every taste and sound of each other, melting into one being time and time again. Separating only to rock back against one another, they loved away the hours of the night.
A bush warbler sang out a skillful tune of high whistles that sounded like a small flute. More flutes joined the orchestra out in the woods, and Kagome opened her eyes. Morning light felt warmer than it had for ages. She stretched her arms and turned around on the makeshift bed of clothes lying under her and a man whose white furry ear twitched as Kagome moved beside him. They had shared Inuyasha's yukata as a bed on the floor, too exhausted from countless times of lovemaking to move from their nest of pleasure.
"Morning," Kagome smiled, teasing the side of Inuyasha's cheek with a lock of her raven hair.
His brows furrowed, and golden eyes slowly opened to her.
Kagome's smile widened, and she dipped her head to give a gentle kiss on Inuyasha's forehead. "My love," she whispered.
His hand came up to her cheek, and his clawed finger grazed her skin. The golden orbs looked baffled and bounced from her face to their surroundings. He could smell her innocence on him, the traces of her blood mixed with her heat, clinging to his skin, clothing, fingers, and mouth. He violently pushed her face away and scrambled up, panting, standing naked in the middle of the small hut.
Kagome kneeled on the floor, holding her neck that had been hurt by his sudden outburst of confusion.
'No.'
The demon screamed like a wounded animal. It grabbed blindly at anything in sight, thrashing around, punching holes in the walls of the hut. He continued to rage until he was spent, slumping down on the ground.
He hugged him, piercing long claws through skin, drawing blood.
Another man had claimed her. She was his. And only his to claim.
That whore.
Tears burned in his eyes when he looked at the woman who had gathered her priestess clothing into her arms, clinging to them like a small child to a blanket. She was of no use to him now. Just spoiled goods.
Kagome saw the look of a bewildered and hurt animal in his eyes, eyes that were no longer crimson but hadn't regained their humanity.
"Si—" she uttered before the demon sprang up and slapped her face into a wall. Her head crashed into the wooden planks, and she was silenced immediately. Her small body glided down to the floor, leaving behind a streak of blood on the wooden wall.
Inuyasha walked over to her and picked her unconscious body up by her silken hair. He wrapped his fingers around her throat, looking at her soundless visage.
Tears began to stream down his eyes. A strong sobbing shook his body while he tried his mightiest to squeeze his fingers around her pale neck, but his fingers would not move.
He began to tremble and sank to the floor, still holding her. He screamed helplessly, cradling Kagome in his arms. Her spell would not leave him at rest. It never would.
"Kagome, is everythi—" A sound came from the doorway of the hut and abruptly ended when the older priestess entering saw a naked Inuyasha cradling a similarly attireless Kagome in his blood-stained arms.
"You. Another fucking thorn in my side," Inuyasha hissed, letting Kagome slide from his arms to the floor.