Madame Masseuse
"Mark My Words"
To say Kagome entered her apartment feeling flustered would be an understatement.
Inuyasha was close on her heels, shutting and locking the door behind them as Kagome kicked off her shoes. She discarded her purse on her entry table then headed for the kitchen. She planned to distract herself by making coffee, hoping those few minutes would give her enough time to settle from the grand unveiling in Inuyasha's car about the saliva marking process.
Inuyasha stood in the doorway, watching her as she flit around her kitchen, grinding coffee beans, pouring water, collecting mugs.
"You doin' okay?" He asked hesitantly, crossing his arms before leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb.
Kagome paused her motions—froze really—with her palms on the countertop, her back to Inuyasha. "Yes—no—ugh! I don't know!"
"What's goin' on?"
Kagome groaned, thinking she could distract her churning, rapid thoughts by looking over her appliances. When her eyes landed on the display of her stove, the digital, blue numbers seemed to taunt her, indicating it was only 10:15.
How could so much have already happened for it to still be Thursday morning?
Kagome groaned again for good measure. "I don't know."
Inuyasha wore a skeptical expression for a few seconds before he approached her kitchen island. "Tell me what you're thinkin', Kagome."
A self-deprecating, facetious laugh blew out of her mouth before she could stop it. "God, so much," she breathed, "too much..."
"Like what?"
Kagome sighed, started the coffee maker's brew cycle, then turned to face Inuyasha with heated cheeks. She stared at him for a few heartbeats, her eyes pacing between his. She wished he could read her mind so she wouldn't have to try to make sense of what she was thinking, feeling.
Kagome chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I thought you said the demons who worked in your building on new moon nights were Sympathizers?"
Inuyasha didn't recoil exactly, but his facial expression transformed so quickly there was an echo of shock. "They are," he answered. "Why're you—?"
"So, then, what the hell was that back there with Kouga's reaction to you? His comments about you being a half-demon? I've been around enough bigots to know racism when I hear it, Inuyasha."
He soundlessly observed her ragged breaths, her shoulders rising and sinking. His brows creased as a thoughtful sheen took to his eyes. "Where's this comin' from?"
She sent him a heartfelt yet wallowing expression. Her words quaked like she struggled to say them at all. "Why did he talk to you like that when he's supposed to be on your side?"
Inuyasha sighed and sunk down onto his elbows on the island. He clasped his hands together over the countertop, looking up at Kagome.
She felt mesmerized by the aura of his hair under her kitchen lights, the curve of his wideset shoulders, tense from how he hunched over the counter. It was kind of nice...the temporary distraction from her whirling thoughts.
Who knew the appeal of Inuyasha's physique could be such an effective distraction?
"Full bloods can be Sympathizers without havin' to like half-demons, Kagome. There's a pretty big difference between tolerating half-breeds and wantin' to murder them. But—" Inuyasha cocked his head to the side, his ears giving an indignant little twitch to mirror the dubious face he wore— "why are we even talkin' about this right now?"
Her thoughts, worries, all of it, came crashing back.
"Because I'm mad for you!" she blared, her arms thrown out to her sides. "It's one thing to hear you say people treat you horribly for being a half-demon. It's another thing entirely to witness it first-hand! And—" She paused, turning away from him, feeling the familiar burn of desperate tears behind her eyes— "And I did nothing. I said nothing and I should have! I should have said something to him!"
"Kagome," Inuyasha sighed, his tone soft despite the hard set of his jaw. "You couldn't've done anything."
"I could have told him off!" she yelled, her eyes meeting his. "I could've ensured he didn't keep saying that stuff, with that tone!"
"What he said was pretty tame considerin' what I've heard from other demons."
His comment didn't help—Kagome's rage just intensified. "That doesn't make it okay!"
Inuyasha stood and rounded the island, approaching her guardedly. His words carried an apprehensive tone like he was worried he'd spook her further. "Why are you gettin' so worked up about this?"
Kagome sighed, tears lacing her voice. Without really thinking about it, she walked face first into Inuyasha's chest. She stood there for several heartbeats, her nose flattened between his pectorals, before her arms rose to wrap around his middle.
Inuyasha chuckled so softly Kagome wouldn't have heard it if her face wasn't smooshed up against him. He didn't waste any time folding his arms around her, resting his chin on her head.
The sigh that parted her lips snuck out of its own volition, her body softening the longer she held him. Kagome was surrounded by Inuyasha. She'd never felt so sufficiently tucked in and safe.
His breath in her hair was a comfort that had Kagome snuggling into him until there was barely a seam between their bodies. Everything about their embrace was warm. They were so close, for a split second, she dared to acknowledge his growing erection against her soft belly. But this wasn't that kind of hug, so Kagome let that thought, that observation, float away like a leaf on a stream.
Her arms strained from how tightly she held him. It was almost a little pathetic, how joyously her heart leapt to feel him squeeze her back, holding her with equal force. Kagome nuzzled her face into his firm chest as if she could burrow herself away.
Inuyasha caressed her hair with his nose before taking a deep, lung-filling inhalation of her scent. The pull of his breath was a loud reverberation through Kagome's head that made her cheeks colour.
No one had ever hugged Kagome like Inuyasha. His embrace was a sanctuary of broad shoulders and corded, muscular arms.
She breathed in until Inuyasha, and the potent combination of his skin and the fabric softener of his sweater, was the only thing she could focus on.
"You shouldn't be okay with being talked to like that," came her muffled words a few seconds later.
Inuyasha exhaled an audible breath that warmed her scalp, causing gooseflesh to pucker along her arms. "For how long I've dealt with this shit, I gotta pick my battles, Kagome. You have no idea how fuckin' exhausted I'd be if I got worked up over every little comment directed at me about my ears, my family."
"I'm still mad for you, though," she sighed into his grey sweater. Her breath evaporated quickly, leaving her feeling cold.
"I know you are," he rumbled, rubbing a palm up and down her back. "If you're planning on stickin' around, this is just somethin' you'll—"
He stopped, his words halted by the way Kagome shook her head zealously from side to side.
"Don't say I have to get used to this," she demanded, compressing herself to him. "I don't want to condone people insulting you—being racist to you."
Inuyasha snorted gently. "Then you're probably gonna have a real tough time on our date tomorrow."
Kagome's head shot up to look at him. "What? Why? What does this have to do with tomorrow?"
Inuyasha sighed, allowing his arms to lower as a caress of fingers down her back until his hold was loose around her hips. The coffee pot burbled behind them, signaling its near completion.
"Where we're goin' tomorrow—it's kind of a members-only place for demons. There's a chance I might get a few comments or somethin'."
Her eyebrows furrowed as a puzzled look glazed over her face. Her large brown eyes skipped between his, inspecting him with a thoroughness to understand his innermost thoughts.
"What's with that face?" An amused half-smirk lit up his left side.
"Someplace meant for demons?" she repeated, a hint of apprehension in her features.
Inuyasha nodded. "Does that bother you?"
"If it's for demons, how am I—?"
His breathy laughter interrupted her. "You're goin' as my guest, Kagome, so it's fine."
The coffee pot beeped its completion but Kagome didn't want an intermission to this conversation just yet. She licked her lips, leaning back into his hold. Her palms rubbed circles on his shoulders. "Will demons we encounter tomorrow really say something to you about being a half-demon?"
"I don't wanna say probably, but they could. If anyone does talk shit, you just gotta ignore it, Kagome, regardless how much it pisses you off. You couldn't do anythin' anyway, as a human against a buncha full bloods, and gettin' all worked up will be for nothing. So—just don't, alright?"
Kagome scoffed. "Inuyasha, are you really telling me to be on my best human behaviour tomorrow?"
"Do I gotta be more blunt about it?"
Kagome thumped his chest playfully with her shoulder. "I can behave myself in unfamiliar environments, thank you very much."
Inuyasha tossed her a look that said he thought that claim was debatable, but he knew better than to verbalize that.
In return, Kagome lobbed a nose-wrinkling, eye-tapering sneer at him. After Inuyasha chuckled at the expression he won from her, she decided to ask, "So, what kind of place are you taking us to tomorrow?"
"She doesn't wanna be surprised?" Inuyasha lifted that brazen right eyebrow of his.
Good grief—what a stereotypical Inuyasha face for him to make!
Fighting back a coy grin, Kagome couldn't deny how much she loved that stupid eyebrow.
She flushed. "I mean—the fact you're taking me somewhere interesting tomorrow is really appreciated. I guess I just don't understand why we're going somewhere that's meant for demons."
"What's there to understand?"
"I thought you didn't—don't—like to involve yourself in demon society—with demon things? I guess I'm just confused why we're going somewhere specifically for demons when you said yesterday that you—"
Inuyasha groaned a sigh and threw an irked look at the ceiling. "For fuck's sake," he murmured under his breath, "my human side can be such a little bitch." He exhaled a peeved breath and locked his golden gaze on Kagome. "I may not love it, Kagome, but I'm still part demon, and that allows me into places that only demons can access."
She played with the hem of his sweater thoughtfully. "I didn't realize things like that existed—places only demons could go."
"Aren't there places like that for humans? Women-only spaces? Places meant specifically for people of a certain religion?"
Kagome tilted her head from side to side in a conceding gesture.
Inuyasha's palms centred on her hipbones as he continued. "Despite how much this shit bothers me as a human, I can't just stop livin' my life. I'd be a miserable fuck if I hid from places that demons go or avoided doin' things humans do. Besides, most times when I'm in those demon only parts of town, I'm with Sesshoumaru, and someone would be real fuckin' stupid to mess with us together—it'd be a death wish."
"Ah, yes," Kagome said mirthfully, her index finger running the length of a protrusive vein in his forearm. "The two sons of the fierce and mighty dog demon king. I bet that would make a few people tremble in their boots."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "He called himself a general, Kagome, not a king."
She snorted, sliding her hands around his waist until they connected above his tailbone. Her arms went taut as she leaned away to look at him. Kagome tilted her chin up, awarding him with a cheeky little grin. "Thank goodness! 'Cause if he was a king then that would make you Prince Inuyasha, and I don't think I'd survive your ego if I had to call you Your Highness."
Inuyasha barked out an eye-crinkling laugh. The sound of that musical tenor warmed Kagome all the way from her toes. Hearing him laugh like that had the smile on her face broadening until the apples of her cheeks narrowed her eyes.
"But, uh, hey, Inuyasha—" Kagome felt a flutter of something in her stomach at the smile he gifted her use of his name— "since you brought up this place tomorrow..."
That right eyebrow of his shot straight up as Inuyasha leveled her a sassy smile. "You wanna ask me where I'm takin' you, don't you? She's that impatient is she?"
Kagome rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't call it impatient—I'm just a little intrigued to learn what sort of shenanigans you've planned for us tomorrow."
"Do I look like the kinda guy to plan shenanigans?"
"Oh, one-hundred-percent!"
He scoffed at that, making Kagome laugh.
She couldn't stop touching his forearms. Kagome never realized before how much she liked it when he wore his sleeves rolled up, exposing the veiny appeal of muscles fluttering beneath his skin.
"You don't have to tell me everything," she lured, as if the tone she used would convince him to spill a few details. "How about a general overview of our agenda?"
There went that right eyebrow again. "A general overview, huh?" When she nodded, Inuyasha asked, with a shit-eating grin, "What if it's a coffee shop for demons?"
Kagome snorted. "Please, Inuyasha—I'd call bullshit."
"Would you?" His words were teetering on the edge of laughter.
"Uh—most definitely," she laughed. "You were the one who reinforced ages ago that coffee is not a date, remember? If you weren't serious about taking me on a date-date, then yeah, sure, maybe I could see us getting a coffee. But—" Her nose crinkled underneath her shameless half-grin— "I think you want this to be a date-date so...no coffee."
Inuyasha chuckled, tightening his hold around her. "A date-date, huh?"
She hummed a congruent sound and ran her hands up his biceps, settling them on his trapezius.
"What exactly happens on a date-date, Kagome?"
Kagome grinned. "You really wanna go and spoil the ending for yourself, Inuyasha?"
He leaned in to kiss her temple. His touch was so soft it had Kagome inhaling roughly, her eyes falling closed. She took that to mean yes.
"I think," she began, "a date-date involves two people who tolerate each other going to an ambiguous venue for demons to enjoy each others' company. I'd even hazard a guess that the evening ends with copious amounts of sex."
"I think I like the sounds of your date-date, Kagome." Inuyasha's mouth transformed into a toothy smirk against her cheek.
She chuckled, angling her head until her lips found his. "Don't give me any credit—you're the mastermind behind our evening tomorrow."
Inuyasha snuck a hand underneath her billow of hair to cup her nape. "Is this your way of tryin' to entice me to tell you what I have planned?" His thumb teased the sensitive skin below her ear.
Kagome fought to hold back a grin but failed marvelously. "Is it working?"
"Alright, Kagome—I'll give ya a hint." He leaned his chest away, pausing as he looked her in the eye for dramatic effect. "It's not coffee."
Kagome covered her mouth with a fraudulent gasp that had Inuyasha pinching her hip as he laughed. Her body jerked away from him, a fit of giggles erupting over her tongue. "Come on, Inuyasha—I think you should just tell me where we're going."
Inuyasha raised that eyebrow again and it had a funny sensation whooshing in her stomach again.
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because it would make me happy."
"And?"
She pushed up on her toes to kiss the peak of his nose. "And I think you like to make me happy."
Inuyasha's eyes jumped fanatically between hers, his crow's feet exaggerated. "She really wants that general overview."
"She does."
"Enough to beg for it?"
Kagome snorted. "Not quite."
Inuyasha laughed, grabbing her bicep and wrenching her into him until their chests met.
She smiled up at him with her most charming, non-verbal pretty please. "What's the harm in the teeny-tiniest of hints?"
Inuyasha's lips quirked into a smile, the warmth of his palms melting into the small of her back. "I dunno—what'll she do with this information?"
"Definitely not think about it obsessively until tomorrow night."
Inuyasha laughed, pulling her against him until their bodies were flush, her breasts swelling upwards from the pressure. "Obsessively, huh?"
Kagome feigned an uninterested expression. "Okay, maybe not obsessively. A mild piqued interest at most."
The toothy grin he wore below that lifted eyebrow was all wicked playfulness. Her eyes darting between his, Kagome decided she liked the richness of his honeyed stare most when he looked at her like he wanted to give chase. It had a warmth dipping below her navel, making her moisten her tongue.
"Is that so?" he said, his tone deepening with a suggestive, husky rattle. "You're only mildly interested?"
Kagome scoffed, willing her lustful tendencies to not react. "Are you actually gonna tell me, Inuyasha, or are you just gonna keep teasing me like this?"
Inuyasha leaned in until she could feel his breath across her cheeks.
Her eyes dipped to his mouth before she returned them to amber irises that sparkled with gaiety. The look he gave her had her licking her lips.
"I thought you liked it when I teased you, Kagome?"
"Inuyasha..." Kagome grumbled amidst a nervous laugh. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her core temperature rising. "What's a girl gotta do around here to get a hint?"
He sighed loudly in a gesture of defeat, retracting his head to permit space between them. "Fine, Kagome. If you wanna know that badly," he laughed. "We're goin' to a demon club."
Her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly as her eyes pivoted between his. "A demon club," she parroted.
Inuyasha nodded.
"So..." she droned. "We're going dancing?"
"Well, there's gonna be a meal first, but yeah."
"You—you're taking me out for dinner and dancing?"
Inuyasha's cheeks flushed from the expression Kagome gave him. "Is—is that not up to your first date standards or somethin'?"
Kagome tightened her arms around his neck. "What? No! No, that sounds—" She paused, looking for the right word to let Inuyasha know exactly how much she loved this idea— "I'm excited!" she decided to say, a wide smile lighting up her eyes. "I'm sorry if my reaction surprised you," she laughed, "I just wouldn't have taken you for someone who enjoys dancing."
Inuyasha huffed a laugh. He seemed embarrassed—because why else would he refuse to look her in the eye? "You told me a while ago you had a party girl phase. I don't recall hearin' you say anythin' about going dancing since and thought you might like to."
Kagome blushed. That was really thoughtful of him.
Okay, these butterflies or whatever the hell is fluttering around in there are starting to get ridiculous, her mind vented. Her cheeks flushed. I dunno who I like more—Probably Sex God, Inuyasha or Sweet and Thoughtful, Inuyasha.
Can't I have them both?
That thought had Kagome drawing her lips over to teeth to bite down nervously.
She cleared her throat. "Must be a pretty swanky place if demons have to be a member to get in."
"It's got a reputation in the demon community."
"Does it?" she asked, her head cocking to the side. "What kind of reputation?"
"It's pretty upscale. Not many places like it that I know about."
"Really?"
He nodded.
Shit—thankfully he said something about this 'cause now I definitely need to go shopping before tomorrow night!
Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck until her forearms overlapped. She pulled down on him, forcing him to arch his back and hover over her. His hair tickled her neck as it draped over her shoulder. "You taking me out for an extravagant evening amongst the upper echelons of demon society, Your Highness?"
Inuyasha met her gaze with a stubborn and facetious resolve. He tongued an upper canine playfully. "You gonna complain that I wanna take you out and spoil you for once?"
Kagome's cheeks ignited beneath a blush. "I'm looking forward to going out with you, Inuyasha—I really am. I don't want to give you any impression that I'm not. I just—I want to be honest that I feel a bit uncomfortable going somewhere that's gonna cost you a lot of money."
"Why?"
It was Kagome's turn to be too self-conscious to look at him. "Is it weirdly feminist of me to say I feel weird going on a date with you that I could never reciprocate? There's also your history with Kikyou that's left a not-so-great impression on me."
Inuyasha snorted. "You're nothin' like her, Kagome; that's a moot concern. I don't worry about that with you."
"Still," she emphasized, despite the rising heat in her cheeks. She risked a quick glance at him. "It's hard not to worry about that."
"Kagome," he sighed, leaning forward to kiss the tip of her nose, "what's the fun in bein' rich if you can't occasionally spoil the person you care about?"
Kagome's heart jumped with reckless abandon. "Inuyasha..."
"What? Is there somethin' wrong with that?"
"No," she answered bashfully, "that was just—you're being sweet. You don't have to spoil me."
"I know I don't. But you're mine tomorrow, remember? And if I wanna spoil you then you gotta suck it up, Princess."
Kagome wanted to tease him over the nickname, but found herself sighing an acquiescing breath. She pushed up on her toes to gently caress his lips with hers. "Remember when I told you you're a really good guy, and you said I needed to keep telling you that so you'd believe me? Well, remember this conversation, okay?" She giggled softly then nuzzled the end of her nose against his. "Because you're a really, really good guy, Inuyasha."
He cupped her cheek and guided her mouth to his for a far more breath-stealing kiss than the one Kagome had given him, then any of their last few caressing pecks. They lost a few minutes in a growing heat of tangled arms, lips, and tongues.
Kagome broke away to catch her breath, her face red. "You know coffee's been ready for a while, right?" Her heart was a frantic pulse in her ears, her lust a growing dampness between her legs.
"You still kinda taste like your latte from breakfast—it's tidin' me over."
Kagome snorted and bunched her hands in Inuyasha's sweater, pulling him in for another kiss. She gasped as Inuyasha coaxed her head back, exposing her neck to him. Kagome's words warbled as he drew the column of her neck with the fine point of his tongue, his fingers tightly fisted in her hair. "How are you so smooth sometimes when other times you can barely put a sentence together?"
She found her spine bending unnaturally as Inuyasha draped her over his arm, granting him even better access to claim the flesh of her throat. Kagome couldn't believe most of her body weight was being held up by a single forearm.
"Your fault," he answered around tongue-tinged kisses.
Kagome bit back a moan at how he applied such stimulating pressure to the delicate skin beneath her jugular.
Inuyasha huffed a breathy laugh, as if pleased with his response, before sucking a mound of her flesh between his lips, moaning as he bit down.
Kagome's hips involuntarily flexed, prompting a lewd, coarse growl to tear from Inuyasha's throat.
The sound was positively animalistic.
She felt like the world's biggest debauchee for how much she loved it when Inuyasha went all primal.
"You smell so fuckin' good," he groaned into her neck, the warmth of his breath causing a dribble of arousal to line her panties.
Kagome gulped a frenzied breath as Inuyasha backed her up into the counter. "I don't know if this is the best idea right now," she panted.
"Why the fuck not?" He tore his lips away from her neck to throw her an admonishing leer.
Kagome's voice was so raspy she sounded out of breath. "If you're gonna mark me, is it really a good idea for us to get all hot and bothered like this first?"
Those two little words—mark me—had Inuyasha detaching from her so quickly it left Kagome dizzy. She gripped the cool stone countertop in her palms, her heart racing like she just ran a marathon.
"You—you were really serious about that?"
Kagome's chest rose and fell with arduous breaths as she stared at Inuyasha's rounded eyes and flushed face. "I was serious enough about it that I want to talk about it some more." She couldn't understand why he looked so...panicked.
"Kagome," Inuyasha sighed, looking away from her, taking another step back. "You—we—don't have to do this today."
"Why not?" Oh God—she could barely think around the fluttering of her stomach, the drowning pulse of her heart. "You'd be marking me tomorrow anyway—does it really matter if we do this one day sooner?"
Why doesn't he seem like he wants to go through with this? How could he want to fuck me tomorrow but isn't willing to—?
Is it the idea of claiming me outside of fucking that's tripping him up?
Her heart gave a dejected flutter. "I want a truth from you, Inuyasha," she uttered, deciding she was having zero success reading his body language.
"Fine." He ran a perturbed hand through his hair, his hands landing on his hips. He wouldn't hold her gaze—his eyes, his attention in general, seemed jumpy.
"If another demon claimed me before you could, would you do anything about it?"
"Are you fuckin' kidding me with that question, Kagome?"
Her eyes widened.
Okay, she was genuinely not expecting him to get angry in response.
"Inuyasha, it's just a hypothetical question! W-would you do anything?"
"You seriously wanna know if I'd follow demon rules and do nothin' if some asshole swooped in and took you?"
Kagome gulped and nodded her head, words seemingly trapped somewhere between her esophagus and tongue.
He took a few seconds to piece together his response. To Kagome, however, it seemed like he used those few seconds just to get more pissed off.
"Demon rules are different for me," he spat. "Full bloods would use any fuckin' excuse to screw over a half-demon, and not followin' demon societal standards seems like a pretty simple way to—"
"So the rules would be more important to you? Would you even care if—?"
"Of course I'd fucking care, Kagome!" Inuyasha threw his arms out to the sides, his breaths becoming hectic. "I'd lose my goddamn mind if some asshole claimed you! 'Cause that means you were either assaulted or that you actually liked some other fucker enough that you wanted him to—"
"Whoa!" She waved away his explanation. "Assaulted? Back up, Inuyasha! What the hell does that mean?"
Inuyasha snorted, angling his face away from her. "I told you earlier—demons don't ask, they claim. It's not unheard of for a demon male to claim a female without givin' her much say in the matter. That's not the way it's supposed to go, but there're always assholes who don't give a fuck about the rules."
Inuyasha's words had goosebumps dimpling Kagome's arms.
'Cause now I'm fuckin' paranoid that you're gonna be outta my sight from now until tomorrow night and who knows what other demon assholes out there will want you for their own.
The words he spoke in his car just took on a whole new meaning.
Kagome's heart was a quivering mess within her ribcage. "Inuyasha, I—I'm sorry for my obviously not-well-thought-out question." She licked her lips. "I just wanted to understand how much it matters to you—this whole...claiming me thing."
"I told you before—demons are territorial bastards, Kagome. Combine that with my alpha instincts and—" He stopped himself with a heated sigh. "It matters, okay? Let's just say it matters."
If fighting with Inuyasha felt wrong, then not touching Inuyasha when she was upset felt even worse. Kagome bridged the gap between them to clasp his hand between hers, her pads running over his knuckles. "I just—" She exhaled a vexed breath— "Obviously, this marking and claiming stuff has me feeling a little nervous; but...learning that someone else's actions could impact my ability to be with you makes me more uncomfortable than going through with this whole lick-me-to-mark-me business."
She sighed, squeezing his hand until her fingertips turned a rosy hue. "I'm not familiar with demon practices or societal norms, Inuyasha—I'm new to all this. If you're telling me there's a possibility a demon like Kouga could see me and just take me because I'm unclaimed...take me from you...I don't—"
"That would never fucking happen, Kagome! I wouldn't let it!"
Kagome closed her eyes, squeezing his fingers again. "Would having your scent on me do anything to protect me from that type of situation?"
Inuyasha sighed, his tone losing the heat of his frustration. "Bein' marked is the next best thing to bein' with me around other demons."
Kagome looked at him then quickly lowered her gaze. "So you're saying it could prevent that type of thing from happening."
Inuyasha nodded.
She was silent for a few seconds as her thoughts spun and spun. An embarrassed laugh snuck out. "I didn't mean to create this weirdness between us," she whispered hotly.
Inuyasha tightened his grip on Kagome's fingers. "Things aren't weird, Kagome. I know it's a lot to consider. You—" He sighed so heavily it came out like a low growl— "You couldn't just—I dunno—stay here until I come pick you up tomorrow?"
Kagome raised an incredulous eyebrow at him, her lips a thin, tight line. "You seriously want me to hide in my apartment until tomorrow night? I don't think so, Inuyasha! I'm not gonna hole up in my house because I might run into some demon who likes me enough to—"
Inuyasha's growl silenced her and Kagome sighed aggressively.
"Is the thought of marking me really that bad that you'd prefer me on house arrest for over a day and a half?"
"No, it's just—" He exhaled aggressively— "Do you even understand what you're askin' me to do when it comes to markin' you with my saliva?"
"Somewhat," Kagome answered, a lusterless, unsure tone to her voice.
Inuyasha sighed, squeezing her fingers again. "Those five places on your body that emit the most of your scent? I need to cover those spots with my saliva so you smell like me—well, like both of us. You'd really be okay havin' me lay you down so I can lick you in those places? And I mean lick you, Kagome—this isn't some ice cream cone sorta bullshit. You'd need to be wet enough with my saliva that it absorbs into your skin. Do you need me to remind you where I'd be—
"For fuck's sake, Kagome!" Inuyasha swore, interrupting himself as he looked her over with a wild expression. "Why the fuck do you smell so aroused right now?"
"You—you don't need to draw attention to that, Inuyasha!" Kagome stuttered as a shout, her face a bright red as she jumped back from him. "God—do you know how embarrassing that is?"
"How are you wet from what I just said?"
"Inuyasha!" she cried as a mortified groan, her hands covering her cheeks. "I've told you before in very elaborate terms how much I like your tongue! You're talking in detail about using that same tongue on my body—you can't blame me for finding that a little sexy!"
Inuyasha's exhale was shaky, half scoff, half incredulous sigh. He tented his hand over his eyes for a few breaths, like not having to look at her for a few seconds would make it easier for him to think.
"Do you want to do this?" She asked him on an unsteady breath, lowering her hands from her face.
He dropped his hand to meet Kagome's flustered yet intense stare.
"Forget about what you think I want or don't want," she added, "do you want to mark me, Inuyasha?"
"Yes," he answered quickly, dauntlessly. His eyes bounced back and forth between hers with an urgency to have her acknowledge his affirmation.
Kagome chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Have you thought about this before?"
"Feh—I've thought about it more times than I care to admit," he professed with a humourless scoff.
Kagome sighed, lifting a palm to cool the heat of her cheek. "I wish you had talked to me about this the first time you thought about it. I mean—you're gonna be marking me more intimately tomorrow anyway, so—"
"Kagome," he exhaled loudly, searching her kitchen island for his words, "is this somethin' you even want?"
She looked at him like she didn't understand the question. "What? To have your mouth on my body?"
Only once her words were out there did Kagome pause to think his question could have two meanings.
He was speaking literally, right? Asking her if she wanted to go through with the physical process of marking?
Or...was he actually asking her about the claiming part? Asking if becoming his—truly his—was something she even wanted?
He looked outright flustered after her question. She watched his chest and shoulders shift under his breaths before he finally said, "My mouth would be on parts of your body that I wouldn't normally kiss—parts I haven't been able to kiss."
Like my vagina?
"Like my feet?" Kagome substituted with a sarcastic, uneasy laugh.
For a relatively simple conversation, her heart was rabid.
"I was thinkin' you'd find the armpit part weirder, but yeah, that too," he chuffed breathily.
"Does this make you uncomfortable, Inuyasha? Going through with marking me?"
"No," he replied instantly. "I just wanna make sure you know what you're agreein' to."
Kagome stepped forward to cup his cheek, pushing up on her toes to kiss him. "I'm choosing to give myself to you tomorrow, to be yours tomorrow. Do you really think I'd want that if I wasn't okay with being yours today?" She kissed him again. "Yes, it will be really friggin' weird to have you lick my armpits and my feet," she laughed, "but I can grin and bear it knowing that it will mean something between us."
Inuyasha rested his forehead against hers, allowing a gentle silence to linger before he decided to break it. "I'm a little surprised you haven't brought up the other part of your body I gotta lick."
"Hmm—what part could that be?"
Kagome hoped humour would slow her frantic pulse.
It didn't.
Inuyasha snorted at her then wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm bein' serious, Kagome! I don't want that to be...a weird experience for you."
Kagome leveled him a stare like he was crazy. "Why would that be weird for me? I—" She paused, becoming momentarily distracted by how her heart propelled into her throat— "I've thought about your mouth there before, Inuyasha—those intimate little kisses you teased me about. I don't think weird is the word I'd use to describe how I feel about it."
Inuyasha exhaled like he'd been holding his breath for a while. "It wouldn't be as intimate as you'd think it might be."
"Oh?"
"When I say groin, it's actually more specifically the crease between your thighs and your...pelvis."
"So...it's actually more licking around my groin, than licking my actual groin?" She forced an awkward chuckle, nodding her head like it helped her process this. "That's not what I was expecting but it's—" she gulped— "doable."
Inuyasha stared at her for a few silent breaths. "What're you thinkin'?" He directed her a look of concern beneath furrowed brows.
Kagome leaned into Inuyasha with a sigh, wrapping her arms around his middle. "I know the plan is to wait for everything tomorrow. I just can't help but wonder if you'll really be able to hold yourself back this time—" Do I even really want you to hold yourself back this time?— "I mean, your mouth has never been—"
"I know." Inuyasha cupped her cheek. "You know I'd never do anythin' you didn't want, right?"
She nodded slowly.
"If you want this to happen, if you want me to mark you, Kagome, I won't let myself get carried away." Inuyasha sniffed a chuckle and tucked her in against him. "Unless you beg me to, of course."
Kagome snorted at his words before resting her cheek against his chest, appreciating the berceuse of his heartbeat in her ears.
They were silent for a while, standing in her kitchen, enjoying the comfort of holding one another.
Kagome sighed, breaking the silence. "So," she found herself saying, "I guess we're doing this, then?"
"You want to?"
She chanced lifting her gaze to his. The emotional gravity she found in his tawny eyes rendered her mouth defective. Kagome assented by granting him a bashful little smile and a nod of her head.
Inuyasha's face illuminated with his beaming grin, the magnitude of which Kagome had rarely seen. "You comfortable doin' this in your bed? Or would you rather we keep it outta the bedroom? Couch, maybe?"
"The—the bed is fine," her voice croaked.
Inuyasha's responding smile—all smug and infuriatingly handsome—had more arousal soaking into her underwear. Kagome sighed as Inuyasha brought his lips to her throat, adorning her skin with a peppering of soft kisses. She could feel his smile against her windpipe, which exaggerated the grin that spread from her own lips and crinkled her eyes.
"Not that I'm trying to make a case for this or anything," she said into his hair as he continued kissing her neck, "but you've emphasized a couple of times that you have to put your scent on all the concentrated areas. What happens if you don't? Does the marking not work or something?"
Inuyasha straightened to look her in the eye. "My scent would be weak if it wasn't in all those spots. It's a contentious topic among demons—if claimin' a female is justifiable if another male's mark is faint. I dunno about you, but if we're gonna do this, I'd rather do it right and not leave any doubt in anyone's mind who you belong to."
Is belonging to someone—to some group—really that important to you, Inuyasha? If it is, then fine! You can belong to me, okay? You belong with me.
The echo of her previous words, of telling Inuyasha he belonged to her, had Kagome's stomach somersaulting.
Her blush would put a tomato plant to shame.
Inuyasha kissed up the column of Kagome's neck, along her jaw, and placed two tender kisses to her lips. He palmed her cheek, angling her face so he could look into her eyes. "We don't need to jump right into this, okay? It'll happen today, but it doesn't have to be immediately. You wanna just hang out for a bit? Actually have some coffee?"
Kagome smirked, her lips brushing his. "Is the suggestion of waiting meant to be for my benefit? Or do you actually want to wait?"
"I don't gotta wait," he answered with a shameless grin, "but I'm not the one who panics when I don't get more than ten minutes to process shit."
Kagome gave Inuyasha a scolding look which he snickered at in response. "You have a tendency to do that," she sulked.
"To do what?" he asked.
"To put my needs before yours."
"No, I don't."
Kagome chuckled incredulously, her shoulders shaking. "You do, Inuyasha! I only want to kiss you, so we only kiss. I change my mind about wanting to have sex with you, and you decide we'll wait in order to accommodate my emotions. We agree you'll mark me and you are, again, deciding my emotions need to be accommodated. Your go-to response is to do whatever you think is best for me regardless what you want!"
Torrid orbs of amber bounced between hers, making Kagome gulp nervously.
I want my needs to be met in the same way I meet my girl's needs.
A generous pink glazed Kagome's cheeks. Now really wasn't the most convenient time for her brain to remind her that she was doing exactly what Inuyasha said he wanted.
That thought had a flippant whooshing sensation fluttering around Kagome's stomach.
"Forget about accommodating me for a second," she continued, "pretend what I want doesn't matter—"
"Kagome..."
"—What do you want, Inuyasha? Do you want to wait? Do you wanna do this right now? I could care less about an untouched pot of coffee," she giggled. "I want to do what you want to do for a change. If you want to do this now, I promise I'll be fine—we can head into the bedroom right now."
"Kagome..." he repeated, lowering his eyes.
She cupped his cheek. "What do you wanna do, Inuyasha?"
"You know what I want," he sighed.
"You want to do this now?"
Inuyasha's nod was obvious albeit a little reluctant.
Without allowing her heart or brain to react more than they already had, Kagome grabbed his hand in hers and led him into her bedroom. When their fingers detached so Kagome could close her bedroom door, her heart decided that now was the best time to pound with such a vigorous intensity she felt obligated to rest her palm over it.
"Inuyasha? Is—would it be okay if I shower before we, um—?"
"Yeah," he answered quickly. "Yeah, that won't—um. Yeah, it's fine."
Kagome tried to avoid rushing into her ensuite. Yes, there was a good chance Inuyasha could hear the cataclysmic thundering of her heart, but she didn't need to prove her nervousness by speed-walking into her shower to avoid looking at him.
She left the washroom door open behind her while she prepared—collecting a fresh towel, laying out her bath mat. She stepped into her walk-in closet to figure out what to wear afterwards. Sensing Inuyasha behind her—leaning against the doorjamb as he was wont to do—Kagome asked, without turning to him, "How will this work?"
He was silent for a few breaths, watching her neck crank around to look at various articles of clothing. "You don't need to be naked for this to work, but I will need access to—"
"Will a tank top and shorts be okay?" She peeked at him over her shoulder, her cheeks scorching.
Inuyasha met her gaze for a second before a flustered look overcame him. He nodded then turned away.
Kagome collected a bra, panties, spaghetti strap tank top, and a pair of cotton-fleece blend shorts from various drawers and shelves. She tucked them into the nook of her arm before she exited her closet.
The silence growing heavy between them, Inuyasha exhaled loudly, as if keen to rupture whatever awkwardness had started blooming. He seemed to share the first thing that came to his mind. "I—I planned on marking you before goin' to the club tomorrow—so the males there would know you're mine."
Kagome's eyes fixated on him where he sat on the corner of her bed, his nails tapping on the post of her footboard. A small smile grew up her face. She wanted to tease him for the alpha-ness of his comment, but found different words coming out of her mouth, instead.
"But, I thought the marking—or claiming or whatever—tomorrow would happen when we have sex?" As Inuyasha nodded, Kagome couldn't help the small giggle that left her lips. "So that means your plan was to have sex with me before we went anywhere?"
"Yeah," he chuckled sheepishly. She could hear the edge of defensiveness in his voice.
Kagome guffawed, gripping her clothes in her hands as she sat down on the bed next to him, her shoulder brushing his. "You seriously thought once we started doing it we'd have no issues stopping to go somewhere afterwards? 'Cause I sure don't see that happening."
Inuyasha sent her a stare that made her feel like innocuous prey. "Oh, yeah? Don't think you could keep your hands off me once you got me naked?"
"And you're saying you could?" Kagome snorted a laugh. "Inuyasha, come on—with how sexually frustrated we both are? I think that's the most rhetorical question I've ever heard."
Inuyasha laughed. "Fine—maybe. I guess it's just as well we're doin' this today then. If we wouldn't be havin' sex before the club, I would've been marking you with my saliva instead. Like I said, there's no way I'd take you into demon territory without my scent on you."
So, it's either lick me down now and try to move on with our day, or it's lick me down tomorrow and chance not actually going on our date. Because the odds of Inuyasha having free reign to go down on me and not escalating things further is...slim to none.
Kagome mentally scoffed. And once we get our hands on each other, I think it's pretty safe to say we wouldn't end up going to that club tomorrow.
The reminder of the demon club had a thought jumping into the forefront of Kagome's brain. She rushed a hand to Inuyasha's thigh to get his attention. "Wait—if we don't have sex before, does that mean you'd still be on the market to demon females tomorrow?"
"On the market?" It was obvious by the look on his face he thought her phrasing was cute.
Kagome rolled her eyes and bumped his shoulder with hers. Some of her hair fell over her collarbone from the force. "You know what I mean, Inuyasha!"
He smirked. "I mean, if we're talkin' in terms of demon logic, then yeah, technically. I'll be marking you, but I won't be marked."
"Which means, in terms of demon logic, you'd still be unclaimed—you'd still be up for grabs tomorrow. How is that fair?"
"Up for grabs?" he laughed, reaching forward to tuck the loosened hair behind her ear. "Kagome, there's no risk of a female seekin' me out tomorrow to claim me. It's the demon way that males claim females—it doesn't happen the other way around."
"But just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it couldn't!"
Inuyasha parked a hand behind him on the mattress and leaned his weight into his palm. "I guess—I mean, I've met some pretty bold females before—but regardless, Kagome, you don't gotta worry about that! I have no interest in leavin' that club tomorrow with anyone but you."
Despite the little vault in her heart his words provoked, Kagome couldn't withhold the pout that took over her features. "It just doesn't seem fair. If I'm going to this club tomorrow claimed, you should be, too!"
Inuyasha looked at her like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you really fightin' with me right now 'cause you wanna mark me, Kagome?"
"I'm not fighting with you, I'm proving a point!"
"Feh—In a loud volume and kinda aggressively."
Kagome drew her lips into a thin line then puckered them in a huffy sneer. The pure adolescence of her tantrum-esque expression had Inuyasha grunting a laugh.
He poked at her cheek with a long finger, which Kagome promptly slapped away with an miffed chuckle. "Tell me a truth, Kagome," he bade around his settling laughter. "Do you wanna mark me with your saliva?"
"I—I don't want to be the only one claimed."
"It's a yes or no question, Kagome. Do you want to mark me?"
She flushed. "If you're marking me, then—"
"That's not an answer—try again. Do you wanna mark me? Yes or no?"
"Yes—fine! Yes, I want to claim you, alright? Stupid alpha idiot..."
Inuyasha plucked Kagome's clothing from her arms with such unexpected speed it left Kagome gasping a small shriek of surprise. He leaned forward, dropping her clothes as a pile on her vanity table before he turned on her, scooping her face in his hands and driving her lips to his.
Inuyasha's kiss was demanding, hard, and honestly a little painful, but it had Kagome instantly moaning and melting into him with a greediness she only knew for him. She was frantic to cradle his jaw in her hands, her thumbs poking across his cheeks. His tongue stormed between her lips and fondled hers with long, smooth strokes.
Kagome drank in a rush of air before sucking his bottom lip between her teeth, biting down with enough pressure that she knew he'd start moaning for her.
At the first gorgeous rumble of pleasure in his throat, Kagome had her palms on his chest, pushing him back and back and back until he was laying down on her bed. If he was shocked or scandalized by her straddling him, Inuyasha didn't show it. His palms gravitated to her thighs, his head happy enough to tilt back to accept the hungry pressure of her mouth. On all fours, Kagome lowered herself until her chest met his. With a throaty groan, she intensified the connection of their mouths.
It blew her mind how she could never get enough of him. The taste of his mouth, the feel of his skin—hot to the touch through clothes, even hotter without—the way his body responded to hers. Kagome was a bloody addict.
He nipped at her earlobe, prompting a gasp of his name that left him chuckling with wayward enthusiasm. "What happened to this not bein' a good idea before marking you?"
"Shut up," she cried into his mouth. Kagome ran her hands through his hair, her fingers massaging his scalp as she slipped her tongue between his lips, teasing a canine with the peak of her slender organ.
Inuyasha moaned a laugh. "I'm just sayin'—you really wanna get yourself all juicy and tender for me before I gotta lick my way around that glorious mound of yours?"
"You better watch that mouth, Inuyasha," Kagome groused breathily, her cheeks turning pink with his heinously sexy language.
"Or else?"
Kagome sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and pulled away, his lip stretching and releasing with a succulent smack. "I don't think an or else is a good idea in this case—especially not when it comes to my—what did you call it?—glorious mound?"
Inuyasha made to roll them over, so he could mount himself on top of her, but Kagome sat up. Her ass settled over his thighs, the long, firm ridge of his erection between her legs.
She leaned into her spread palms on his chest, gazing down at him with glassy, lustful eyes. "You really want me to stop?"
Inuyasha answered her with an arch look. "Is that a serious question?" He scratched his nails up and down her legging-covered thighs and goosebumps shattered along her skin.
"Kind of," she grinned, sinking down until they were chest-to-chest, her cheek propped up in her palm.
"Comfortable?"
Kagome wanted to lick that insufferable eyebrow.
"Mostly. The terrain's a little...hard."
Inuyasha beamed at her, running the back of his hand down the side of her face.
Kagome felt something in her stomach settle from the way he looked at her. Her heartbeat felt bigger, more intimidating—like it was echoing in a massive, empty hall.
"You really wanna mark me, Kagome?"
"Yes," she answered quickly, closing her eyes to relish the way his rough hands felt on her face.
"Why?"
"Why do you want to mark me, Inuyasha?"
He leveled her a look like he didn't want to answer. He worried his bottom lip with his teeth and Kagome was happy to lean forward, replacing his teeth with hers.
She licked along the curve of that sumptuous, swollen lip before she sipped it into her mouth. She tightened her lips around that mound of flesh, sucking with an intensity like she would a lozenge.
His hand cupped her nape with rigid, rough fingers. Kagome's insides felt gelatinous as his eyes searched hers, the gold becoming an iridescent copper in the low-light of her bedroom, despite it being only early afternoon.
"I could kiss you all day," she sighed against his lips, loving the way his mouth fastened to hers. There was nothing passive about the way Inuyasha kissed.
"Then do it."
Kagome grinned into their kiss. "Maybe I will."
"Good," he growled, his palm rough in its trail down her spine, "Maybe I'll like it."
"Good," she echoed, her voice breathy with anticipation of what that mischievous hand was up to.
Another witty, flirtatious remark was building in the back of her mind before all ability to think was thrown out the window by the way Inuyasha devoured her mouth in a ravenous kiss. He was all teeth and tongue and growling, throaty breath.
Dear God, he was dominating her with this kiss. His body was becoming ever so slowly more involved in the way he held her, in the way he felt her.
If the way Inuyasha kissed her wasn't a way of claiming her as his, Kagome was a lost cause.
She wanted to kiss this man—this half-demon—for the rest of her goddamn life.
Whether in an act of lust, bravery, or he just stopped giving a shit about holding himself back, Inuyasha cupped Kagome's ass with one hand, his other tangling in the hair at her nape. He gripped her buttock with vice-like, restricting fingers. Inuyasha used the leverage of her ass to slam her hips down at the same time his rose to grind his hungry erection against her.
"Holy shit, Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped into his mouth.
She hadn't known how badly she needed his hands on her ass until right now. Inuyasha used her backside like a handle, like something to grip to better grind himself against her. His erection rode her aching slit with a closeness and ferocity she hadn't felt before.
"Do that again," she heaved around a breathy puff of air. "I liked that a lot!"
"Yeah?" he said into her open mouth with a cocky grin. The wetness of her lips made the warmth of his breath even more erotic. "You like it when I grab that ass, Kagome?" He clenched his fingers around her butt-cheek, squeezing until his indenting fingers had a sizzling ache radiating up her spine. That lick of pain was ridiculously pleasurable.
"Yes," she cried, grabbing his neck, his cheek, his hair—anything she could get her hands on. Her knees denting the mattress on either side of his hips, she curled her spine, dipping her tailbone to push her buttock even more into his palm.
Inuyasha obeyed dutifully, clenching her with such vigorous fingers it had a keening moan slithering from her throat.
Inuyasha shifted, siphoning a mass of her neck between his teeth. Kagome exposed her jugular to him, whimpering from how good it felt to be sucked on. The sheer pull and pressure and power of his lips was a force to be reckoned with. He coordinated the sucking draw of his lips with the rhythmic clawing and clenching of his fingers as he cupped her buttock. He thrust his hips in time with his other actions, grinding against her welcoming and weeping slit.
"You wanna mark me, Kagome? You wanna taste my body?"
"God, yes," she gasped in a shrill tone.
He pinched her ass, causing her to buck against him—it was a surprising, delicious bite of pain.
She felt like such a degenerate for how badly she wanted him to spank her.
Kagome shrieked the most pornographic sound she'd ever made as Inuyasha cupped her ass with both hands and grated his erection against her swollen bud. The way he ground against her spread her moisture around her vulva, between her lips, up the crevice between her cheeks. He rid her slit so thoroughly, so continuously, the pressure growing in her core had her desperate for a remedy to how badly she needed release.
"Fuck!" He grunted, a deep rasping sound. "You will only ever make that sound for me. Do you understand?"
Kagome moaned something that may have been a 'yes' before she lost the ability to think thanks to Inuyasha's tongue polishing the length of her neck. Her brain could barely function through her arousal, through her lust-clouded vision. There was only Inuyasha's hot tongue on her throat. There was only his hands on her ass, the solid girth of his cock rubbing against her saturated heat that had a pulse of its own.
She cuffed Inuyasha's sweater and sat back on her haunches, tugging on his shirt so he knew he needed to rise with her. He grinned into her kiss as Kagome guided him into a seated position. She straddled Inuyasha where he sat on her mattress, bucking against him, crying out into his saliva-soaked mouth. His lips sucked at hers, his tongue licking the wetness from her lips.
"Fuck, Kagome," Inuyasha growled, cradling her head between his hands. "You really fuckin' want me, don't you?"
"So much," she answered in a husky voice she barely recognized as her own. "Tell me you need me, Inuyasha," she gasped into his mouth, reaching up with her right hand to fondle his ear with her thumb and forefingers.
Inuyasha groaned a wanting, needful sound like she'd never heard from him before. That was all the encouragement Kagome needed to continue stroking his ear.
"You like that?" she whimpered as a grin against his gaping lips.
His eyes tremored from how tightly he clenched them.
"You like it when I play with your ears?"
"Jesus Christ, that feels too fucking good..."
"Can I kiss them?"
"Do whatever the fuck you want, Kagome—just don't stop touchin' me."
Kagome giggled, her face splitting into a sumptuous smile as she pushed up onto her knees, giving herself the height she needed to reach Inuyasha's ears with her mouth. Her breasts grazed Inuyasha's chin before she knew it was happening. Kagome froze, hyperaware of how her achingly hard nipples hovered in front of Inuyasha's face.
"You tryin' to get your tits in my mouth, Kagome?" he chuckled menacingly, his voice deliriously low and gravelly with lust. His focus alternated between Kagome's raised face and her breasts at eye-level. "I'll suck 'em 'til you scream if I feel 'em on my face again, understand?"
Kagome flushed, an outpouring of arousal bringing a tremor to her lip. She leaned her torso away from him with the obviously-not-so-empty threat. She held the outer white flap of his ear between her thumb, index, and middle finger, completing circular, rolling motions that seemed to distract him from her breasts. The ministrations of her fingers prompted a sound like a purr from Inuyasha's chest.
"You like that?"
"Yeah," he moaned, his eyes falling closed.
"Is that a sexy yeah, or a yeah, I'm putting you to sleep?"
Inuyasha chuckled in a husky, melodious way. "Both."
Kagome smiled warmly, a coo of laughter in her throat. She lifted herself up off Inuyasha's lap to kneel beside him on the mattress. She held herself upright with a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, then leaned forward, pressing the softest of kisses along the triangular contour of his ear.
Inuyasha sighed a sound of pleasure, his ear flapping and hitting Kagome in the nose from her proximity. The response had her giggling.
"Shit," Inuyasha hissed with a flinch, his ears flattening atop his head, "that's kinda loud, Kagome." His reaction had her backing away from the organ with rushed, quiet apologies. "It's fine," he said quickly around a scoff of laughter, squeezing her hip, "just remember that these ears are way more sensitive than my human ones."
Kagome nodded in understanding and held her breath, hesitantly continuing her attention and kisses to his ear until the panic was gone from her heartbeat.
The soft white fur—it felt more comfortable in her mind to think of it like short human hair for bestial reasons—tickled her mouth with every caress of her lips. Kagome exhaled warm air onto the organ, watching with a smile as it flicked and responded to her, a rumbling moan slinking from Inuyasha's mouth. Feeling brave, Kagome opened her mouth, taking the upper tip of his ear between her wettened lips. Careful to avoid her teeth, she dragged her mouth up and over the tip with a mild pressure, leaving heavily moistened white hairs in her wake.
"How was that?" that feminine, husky voice that Kagome still couldn't believe was hers asked.
"Good," he shuddered in response, pausing to lick his lips. "Really fuckin' good."
Her arousal morphed into something gentler, something far more intimate and playful as Kagome's fingers became familiar with his ears. It wasn't long until her fingertips were in his hair, massaging his scalp. After not even a minute of stroking him, Kagome found herself falling into routine, unintentionally completing a cranial-facial massage.
She encouraged Inuyasha to lay down on her bed, one of her sham pillows beneath his head, so she could go about her work.
Kagome's fingers were almost autonomous in finding the calming flow of circular motions against his scalp. She pulled on his ears gently, hoping that the anatomy of Inuyasha's dog demon ears would still release pressure at the frontal bones like it would for humans. Her eager fingers drifted towards his forehead, her pads working light pressure on his temples and jaw in case he had any TMJ pain. She began to habitually focus on his sphenoid bone, stroking her thumbs alongside his nose to help with any sinus pressure.
"Fuck me, that feels amazing, Kagome," Inuyasha groaned, causing a genial laugh to escape her mouth. "I almost forgot how fuckin' amazing your hands were when you were my masseuse."
Kagome giggled softly. "That was a while ago now."
Inuyasha sighed, opening his eyes to pierce Kagome with warm gold that instantly became molten. A plummeting heat rekindled an ache between Kagome's legs.
"What're you thinkin' about?" Inuyasha asked weakly, clearly sensing her revived arousal.
"Nothing of interest," she answered with a coy smile.
Inuyasha gave her a wry half-grin. "Tell me the truth."
Kagome sighed. "I was just thinking about how handsome you are, okay? I like when you look at me with that expression."
"What expression?"
"The one you're wearing now—the way you're currently looking at me."
"How am I lookin' at you?"
Kagome smiled bashfully at him, reaching forward to caress one of his ears in an affectionate, familiar, touch. "Like you like me," she said plainly, her cheeks pink.
"Maybe that's 'cause I do like you, Kagome."
"Enough to claim me?"
The smoldering expression that question received had Kagome gulping despite herself.
Inuyasha sat up on the mattress with a startling speed. "Do you want me to go first, Kagome?" he asked. "Mark you first? So you feel like you know what to do with me?"
Kagome steeled her emotions, eager to avoid letting her mind drift to dangerous places.
This isn't about that, her mind snapped. Get your head outta the gutter, Kagome! Consider it like...a business transaction.
Another part of her mind snorted at that. Yeah, right—'cause nothing says super professional transaction like tongues and heavy amounts of slobber featuring your private parts.
That last thought almost had Kagome shaking her head to free herself from the embarrassment and nervousness that left her heart pounding.
"I just have to lick those...places, right?"
"Yeah," Inuyasha said with a nod. Was that pink in his cheeks?
"Okay," she responded, wishing she sounded more confident than that. "I think I should be able to do that."
It may not be a bad idea to get it over with, she thought, while another part of her brain was screaming on repeat, Lick his groin, lick his groin, lick his groin!
"I can—" she paused to gulp— "go first."
Inuyasha smirked like he could hear her thoughts. "Make sure to use the full surface of your tongue, not just the tip. The idea is the more thoroughly you coat your scent, the longer it lasts, alright?"
Kagome closed her eyes and nodded, suddenly so aware of every part of their bodies that touched. "Yup, that makes sense."
Inuyasha reached forward for Kagome's hand, causing her to jump since she wasn't expecting the contact. His thumb skated across the back of her hand, over her knuckles. "You still okay with this, Kagome?"
She took a second before opening her eyes. Her heart wanted to melt from how softly he was looking at her. "I'm just nervous."
"You're sure you wanna do this?"
She leveled him an annoyed stare that had him chuckling and raising his palms in defeat.
"You can't blame me for wantin' to check in that you haven't changed your mind."
"I'm not gonna change my mind, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha stood from the bed, prompting Kagome to strain her neck back to look up at him. "Then, in that case—if you're okay with it, Kagome—I'm gonna hop in the shower real quick. I'll take the washroom out there so I'm not takin' up any space in your ensuite."
She rose from her kneeling position to stand beside him. "Okay." Kagome's voice was growing increasingly fainter. Her mouth was growing increasingly dryer. "Um—everything you'll need is in the closet behind the bathroom door."
Inuyasha nodded his understanding. He looked like a half-demon on a mission. "I'll meet you back here in, say—fifteen minutes?"
Kagome nodded. "Yeah, okay."
Inuyasha opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but instead reached forward to squeeze one of Kagome's hands.
Then he was gone from her room, leaving Kagome standing beside her bed, stunned into trying to remember how this all came about in the first place.
Kagome entered her ensuite, closed the door, and turned to face her reflection. She shut her eyes, deeply inhaling a state of calm into her body. It wasn't until the pipes in the walls signified the other tub-shower coming to life that Kagome opened her eyes and decided she'd dawdled long enough. Kagome looked her reflection in the eye one final time—blew out one final lung-emptying breath—then disrobed to get in the shower.
She'd never had such an efficient shower, paying extra attention to exfoliate the areas of her body Inuyasha would be licking. As she rubbed almond oil into her skin, her towel around her body, Kagome was thankful she had her full body sugaring appointment on Wednesday before work. It felt like one less thing to worry about. Ever since she discovered waxing, and then switched to sugaring, Kagome's body always felt cleaner hairless—well, hairless except for the groomed, narrow strip on her pubic mound, since complete genital hairlessness freaked her out in a prepubescent kind of way.
Dressed, with her hair and teeth brushed, Kagome left her ensuite to sit on her bed. She anxiously played with strands of her wet hair, waiting for Inuyasha's return. Even though it was only a couple of minutes waiting for him, to her vulturine beating heart it felt like...a lot longer than that.
When he finally re-entered her room, her breath skipped.
Inuyasha was shirtless, his sweater in hand, with his slacks unbuttoned, revealing the elastic band of his red boxers. Kagome's eyes were helpless against the masculine yumminess that was Inuyasha's body post-shower. Her sight wandered all over him, appreciating the lean muscles of his waist, the ridges of his defined hips. She was drawn to the space between those hips; the ovular bellybutton; the column of dark hair like his eyebrows, disappearing beneath his underwear; the allure of pointed hips like an arrow marking where her mouth would be in minutes.
Kagome's eyes crawled upwards.
His torso was long, his pectoral muscles cut and shapely, surrounded in firm lines that had Kagome's fingers itching to touch. His nipples were hard, dark crimson beads that Kagome's lips wanted to suck. His forearms and shoulders carried a sheen of waterdrops, like he had dried off hurriedly, not thoroughly. He hadn't washed his hair, yet the ends were damp, sticking to the curves and hollows of his corded muscles and broad shoulders. Kagome sucked on her bottom lip as her eyes tracked veiny pathways down the length of his arms.
She could barely restrain herself from salivating—which her brain found humourous given that was kinda necessary to mark him.
Inuyasha gripped his bunched sweater even tighter in his fist as he approached Kagome's bed and sat next to her on the corner. His eyes roamed her face, dipping to appreciate her body no less shamelessly than she had his. She wasn't oblivious to how his sight lingered on the dipping V-neck of her somewhat loose-fitting tank top. His weight depressed the mattress, forcing her body to tilt, drawing her shoulder to press against his.
She closed her eyes as she breathed him in, reveling in the scent of Inuyasha with a hint of something woodsy—probably from whatever bodywash he found in her cupboard.
"Change your mind yet?"
Kagome frowned, falling quite hard out of her appreciative reverie. "Why do you keep saying that like you're expecting me to? I want to mark you, Inuyasha. I want to be marked by you—you can stop asking me if I've changed my mind. I won't!" She growled with frustration then forced herself off the bed, moving away from the heat of his flesh. "Are you trying to get me to change my mind or something? Do you not want to do this after all?"
"What? No!"
"Then why do you keep asking me that, Inuyasha?"
"'Cause—because..." His shoulders sagged under the weight of his next exhale. "I've...never done this before." Inuyasha wouldn't meet her gaze.
Kagome slumped back onto the bed beside him, her shoulder incapable of escaping his from the gravity well of his body weight. The heat his skin emitted damn near burned her. If she wasn't feeling so self-conscious of what they were about to do, she would have rubbed her face into that heat.
Either he had a scalding hot shower or Inuyasha wasn't freaking kidding—his demon blood ran hot.
In a gentler tone than how she previously spoke to him, Kagome asked, "You've never marked a woman with your saliva?"
"No, it's not that." His cheeks coloured. "I've—no one's ever marked me with saliva before. This is my first time bein'...claimed like this."
Kagome reached over to grab his tepid hand. She squeezed his fingers, not knowing what to say.
"I don't know how to feel about it." Inuyasha's words were conveyed in a voice so close to the tone of his human self. Breathy. Unsure.
"You don't know how to feel about me marking you?"
"About you wanting me...enough to claim me."
Kagome's heart thudded in every crevice and corner of her chest cavity. A nervous edge laced her breaths. Intimidation soaked into her blood from how much emotion he wore on his face as he looked at her.
"Inuyasha," Kagome sighed. "I—"
"Lay down with me." He raised her hand to his mouth, leaving the softest kiss to the pads of her fingers before returning her hand to her lap.
Kagome's heart galloped as she watched him stand, rounding the mattress to lay down, without complaint, on the left side.
Her eyes on him, she scooched back on her hands until she reached pillows, then laid down. Kagome was quick to turn onto her side to face Inuyasha.
God, her heart was loud.
As if Inuyasha's own nervousness was getting the best of him, he reached across the nominal space of mattress between them to squeeze her whole hand in his much larger fist. Maybe Kagome wasn't the only one who found comfort in the other's touch.
"Tell me what you're thinking," she whispered, her fingers petting his.
Inuyasha sighed before slowly raising his eyes to meet hers. There was so much emotion behind them Kagome's heart spasmed.
"I'm feelin' anxious," he admitted quietly.
Kagome bounced her hips towards him, closing the gap between their bodies until she could kiss him without any effort required. "Why?"
"Because you were right."
"About?"
"This meanin' something."
Kagome pressed her lips to his again, her body almost shuddering from how full her heart felt, from her own nerves. She palmed his cheek, tracing his skin underneath the pad of her thumb before detaching her lips. "You still okay for me to—?"
Before Kagome could lift her hand away, Inuyasha snatched her wrist in a tight grip, startling her.
"Inuyasha! What're you—?"
It all happened so quickly.
Inuyasha extended his tongue so fully it almost touched his chin. Jerking Kagome's hand to his mouth, he applied the full force of his wet, muscular organ into the heel of her hand. He dragged her wrist down while he simultaneously tipped his head back and back, the motion moving his tongue upwards across her flexed, open palm.
Kagome clenched her thighs together as arousal consumed her. A moan caught in her throat. Her heart pounded relentlessly.
She could only watch as his tongue glissaded over her skin. The heat of his breath warmed her entire hand, traveling up her arm to settle between her legs.
Her proximity to his bare skin had Kagome absorbed in a heady, disorienting cloud of Inuyasha's scent. Yet, she also detected mint—like the Winter Mint toothpaste Souta accidentally left the last time he stayed over.
Watching the sexual display of Inuyasha slowly—painfully slowly—licking her palm, the word juicy came to mind. Kagome's face exploded in crimson heat.
The caress of his moist muscle left a dripping trail in its wake. Those tickling beads of spit fell over the heartline of her palm, down her wrist. His lengthy, hot organ dragged all the way to the tips of her fingers before Inuyasha dipped her middle finger into his mouth, sucking deeply up to her nailbed before letting her go.
Kagome almost didn't know what to do with her hand now that he was no longer making love to it with his tongue. Her skin instantly froze without his heat, his attention.
Inuyasha sealed his lips, his chin wet, lips glistening, his eyes wild.
Kagome's heartbeat was downright savage. Her breaths uncontrollable with every dramatic rise and fall of her breast.
She had no idea how she was supposed to survive this licking-to-marking business.