Chapter 4

You know when you're actively seeking out one specific person in a crowd of strangers—you're on the lookout for that distinctive feature to differentiate your person from all the others—and you're scanning these unfamiliar faces that mean nothing to you—like they're literally just an assortment of hair and eyes and mouths that, when combined, are people who aren't significant to you in any way so it's easy enough to overlook them—and then you finally spot who you're looking for, and the recognition has you feeling a burst of relief like your body just exhaled after holding its breath for the entire search, and your panic and worry are gone, instantly, like you were silly for having worried you might not find them? You feel lighter and joyful and even a little grateful that you've just guaranteed you're not alone anymore because you located your person amongst the horde, and it feels almost a little too good to be true, like there are all these people and you were fortunate enough to stumble across the one exact person you were hoping to find?

That incredibly specific feeling is what being with Inuyasha felt like.

She'd never felt anything like it before. Kagome was this concoction of joy and lightness and thankfulness and relief, and the more time she spent with Inuyasha, the more its intensity grew. The sensation worsened when he smiled at her and became almost unbearable anytime he touched her.

Sitting next to him at the bar, Kagome wondered if Inuyasha felt something similar—or maybe the hanyou was just starting to feel the effects of his liquor. For a person who seemed prone to bad moods, a contentedness had settled into his features: his eyebrows were less frowny, the space between them less wrinkled and tight, the ends of his sensually narrow lips more frequently curved in a smile. Her cheeks were a constant source of heat from the way he stared at her, from how frequently he stared at her. His roaming gaze was an elastic band springing back to her after it strayed, stretching only as far as the gravitational pull of his attraction would allow.

It had been almost an hour of companionable conversation, and Inuyasha proved himself to be attentive and thoughtful and really quite sweet. There was a softness that ebbed and flowed with his moodily gruff and mercurial attitude. He was like a loaf of bread whose hardened crust hurt your mouth—not every bite was a literal pain, but there was enough ouch to make you question the allure of this particular loaf. Once Kagome got past the hard-bitten surface, there was enough to keep her hooked. A texture to his skin. A taste that scored her mouth from their earlier kiss. A striking aesthetic of gold and silver. Kagome couldn't get enough of him. Every little bit more she felt, she saw, she learned, had her that much more enamoured with him.

For as much as Kagome enjoyed his company, his hot and cold tendencies gave her emotional whiplash. Not that she was much better. Her own character flaws had her hot and cold in her own way. She could be confrontational, easy to indignation because she was naturally empathetic and altruistic. She was also impulsively quick to apology because she feared festering animosity as the ultimate killer of relationships. There was humour to their back and forth dynamic, the way their hot and cold interacted. One minute they'd share these sweet little exchanges and then one of them would inevitably say something stupid (usually him) and they'd wind up escalated and polemic.

Kagome took an enthusiastic gulp of her drink to stifle a laugh. Their arguing banter had cleared the barstools around them again. Apparently, nothing killed the mood quite like the two of them at each other's throats. Their most recent argument was an echo around them as they each settled, seeking solace and a cooler temper in their respective drinks. They'd been heatedly debating if ice cream could be enjoyed in the winter (Kagome claimed the existence of candy cane ice cream practically declared it an all seasons treat; whereas, Inuyasha was willing to die on the hill that ice cream had no business being consumed outside of summertime—because he's ignorant and dumb).

It wasn't a mature debate, by any means, but Kagome had discovered over beer pong that it was easy to lose her temper with Inuyasha, regardless the topic. When someone was that smug about something so unacceptably deluded, she couldn't not say something.

As seemed to be their way, they would debate, loudly, and then eventually they'd simmer down, often reaching neither a compromise or an outcome. After a swift swig of their beverages in a heavy silence, their eyes would slowly meet and they'd burst into (embarrassed) laughter, like the whole thing had been some kind of joke. Then they'd find themselves back in a moment of tenderness, and any enmity that existed would melt away. This was their dynamic, their formula, their pattern. Despite its silliness, Kagome liked that she and Inuyasha created a motif for themselves so early into their relationship, friendship, acquaintanceship—whatever this was or would be.

With her drink empty and her hands bookending the glass, Inuyasha's fingers inched back to hers. His caress was searing as her smaller hand slid into his. The way his fingers constricted around hers in apology became all she could look at. His touch made her warm and fluttery inside. His touch broke the tension better than any words ever could. His touch was quickly becoming something Kagome never wanted to go without. When Inuyasha began stroking his thumb across the back of her hand, Kagome swallowed down her blush with a sip of melted ice.

Neither of them spoke. Inuyasha seemed content just holding her hand, drinking his beer. Nothing happened between them other than the slow arc of his thumb over her hand. The motion enthralled her, soothed her. She absorbed every iota of heat from where he leaned into her shoulder. Or maybe she was leaning into him. Kagome really wasn't sure anymore. Silence, she found, wasn't uncomfortable with Inuyasha. All she knew was that she really enjoyed feeling his skin on hers.

They came together like old friends reunited. There was none of that awkwardness that usually accompanied the transition between Complete Stranger and Friend. Kagome blushed for how much she wanted Friend to keep going, to transform into More. It shocked her, arguably even scared her, how comfortable she felt with Inuyasha. She settled into that comfort like donning an old, trusty pair of sweatpants, like sinking into that one spot on the couch that immediately remedied an exhausting day. His presence made her question how it had ever been possible to get through a day without him.

She didn't know how to explain it, this rightness, this relief.

More than once, she found terms like meant to be, fate, and destiny flashing through her mind. She even caught herself wondering if half-demons had mates just like full-blooded demons.

Every little girl seemed to have a fairytale phase. It was like an unspoken rite of passage, reaching a certain age as a young girl and swooning over Prince Charming or dreaming about her Demon Mate. Nothing said Happily Ever After to an eight-year old girl quite like being whisked into the sunset by a knight in shining armor or being cherished forever by an immortal demon who would bind his lifespan to hers.

Kagome had been such a little girl, daydreaming about meeting the mate to her soul, her other half, the male who would draw her from a mundane, ordinary existence. Unlike many of her childhood friends, Kagome always preferred the idea of having a Demon Mate over a human prince. Instead of wondering what sort of horse her Prince Charming would ride, Kagome spent her girlish years wondering what type of demon would steal her heart, how old he would be when he finally made his appearance in her life, contemplating the details of the intentionally-ambiguous-to-humans Mating Ritual that would join their lifeforces.

Nowadays, it seemed a little grandiose for her liking, that the universe paired demons up into perfect partnerships. It really did seem the stuff of fairytales, but Kagome certainly couldn't deny the loveliness of it.

A goofy little smile slid up her cheeks, acknowledging the lovely bit of yin and yang poetry of how her humanness would complement Inuyasha's demonness if she was, in fact, his mate. It could explain all the staring, all the touching, not to mention the rightness she felt, the relief. Sitting beside him at the bar, she found herself back in the shoes of eight-year old Kagome, blushing and swooning at the heart-thudding premise that not only did she have a Demon Mate, but he had finally found her at the ripe old age of one hundred and twenty-nine.

Kagome inwardly snorted away that thought, feeling ridiculous with herself for even thinking it in the first place. Surely, if there was anything about her and Inuyasha that was meant to be, he wouldn't have turned his nose up at the idea of bringing her home with him.

Side quest girl, indeed.

Silence wasn't uncomfortable with Inuyasha but Kagome did find it dangerous. Nothing good could come from her brain having free time to roam and wonder and spurt what ifs that had Kagome's cheeks blanching.

It scared her, how into him she was for how short a time she'd known him.

What she desperately wished for in that moment was to be kissed by him again. Their first kiss had been as much a sedative to her soul as it was a fire in her blood. She'd do anything to feel the rush from his taste in her mouth one more time.

As if he could sense her turmoil, his grip on her hand tightened and Kagome smiled gently at their entwined fingers.

Inuyasha was touchy-feely with her, which a hands-on woman like Kagome appreciated. Her cheeks kept lighting up like a bloody holiday display every time he sought an excuse to touch her. Theirs felt a bit like a kindergarten love story—the premise that the more a boy teased a girl, the more he liked her. That was Inuyasha: all sugarcoated insults and poking jabs (both verbally and physically) and beautifully sarcastic grins that had Kagome fixating on his mouth more than was probably healthy.

Kagome felt perfectly teased, which, for some backwards reason, had her feeling perfectly cared about.

The more time they spent together, the more she realized he could possibly be as smitten with her as she was with him, which seemed to spur the hot and cold behaviours. Inuyasha was like a faucet struggling to regulate his temperature. In one moment, he was so sweet, so sensually tender, it was like he decided he needed to turn down the heat. So he'd blast the cold to try and compensate, which inevitably led them into a new argument following a thoughtless or crass remark.

Like she said: he was mercurial.

In their hour at the bar, they talked about themselves, their jobs and interests, their aspirations for the upcoming New Year. Kagome learned more about Inuyasha's dog demon heritage, finding it mind-boggling that he had turned one hundred and two the year Kagome was born. When Kagome asked him if he felt like a cradle robber having made out with a twenty-seven year old human, Inuyasha didn't seem to find the joke as funny as she did. The fact he had an entire century on her was...a little hard to wrap her mind around.

Kagome spoke in depth about her upbringing, her family and friends. Inuyasha was less keen to discuss his social relationships; he was arguably reluctant to share any details about his family other than the fact both of his parents had passed away and he had an estranged brother. When Kagome shared the fact her dad had passed almost a decade ago, the bond with Inuyasha seemed to solidify even more. There was connection in the pain, in their loss. They sat a little closer at the bar after that. Their hands were a little more connected after that. Kagome's cheeks hurt from smiling at him constantly after that. Inuyasha rarely looked away from her after that.

Inuyasha had this way of staring at her like, on one hand, she surprised him, and on the other, she was this cherished thing to him. Her heart yearned for him every time she saw that look behind the shimmering gold of his eyes. He made her feel like one of those pictures where the longer you look, the more things you start to notice. She couldn't help but wonder what he saw when he looked at her. Kagome's heart had the audacity to assume he liked what he saw. Inuyasha's face kept changing, his expression blooming with levity like the longer he stared, the more he saw, and the more he liked.

Then that nagging voice of pessimism in the back of her head had to pipe up that Inuyasha must not have liked what he saw that much, or else he would have wanted to take her home.

She was drawn from her thoughts when Inuyasha's sharp fingernails tickled the sensitive, veiny skin below her palm. She shivered, goosebumps scaling her arms and thighs, settling into her scalp and nipples. She watched him watching her, the way his eyes dashed up and over her arms to observe the dimpling of her flesh in response to his touch.

Kagome's attention was snatched by the transition to a new song, the upbeat, electric guitar riff that vibrated through the speakers to accelerate her heart. The song spoke to her hip-shaking soul, and Kagome sat up straight with a shriek of pure feminine glee. She scrambled out of her seat faster than Inuyasha had probably seen her move all night. He startled, which enhanced her laughter. She practically tugged his arm out of the socket by how eager she was to get him off the stool and onto the dancefloor.

"This is the best song!" she squealed, pulling on him like that would help him move faster.

He smirked into his almost empty pint glass. His body barely swayed despite her obvious effort. Inuyasha drew out his last sip like he needed to get his money's worth, which just frustrated Kagome more. They were wasting precious seconds of this fantastic song.

"You. Me. Dancefloor. Ideally today, Inuyasha!"

"Hold your horses, woman!" he laughed when her hand crooked around his elbow. Another bar of the song and she was tugging on him with both hands. "The dancefloor ain't goin' anywhere," he grumbled, despite the mirthful sheen in his eyes. His smile brightened when she made an impatient keening sound at him. A throaty, broad guffaw burst from his mouth that had her entire face sprouting with a smile.

God, he was so beautiful, and that laugh? Kagome's heart sighed.

How was it possible that the longer she was with him the more she lamented this night had to eventually end?

She'd seen enough time loop films to know the same day lived over and over eventually started to suck. Regardless, Kagome would've been willing to chance that for Inuyasha. She'd be willing to gamble experiencing tonight over and over if that meant she could spend more time with him. She honestly felt she could spend the rest of her life embracing this lightness he made her feel, this warmth that bloomed in her chest every time he touched her. If she felt this way from just receiving a smile and holding his hand, it made her wonder how much more she'd feel if they were intimate.

Maybe if Inuyasha knew how she really kissed, how deeply and roughly and badly she wanted his mouth, he'd reconsider bringing her back to his place.

Kagome had been on the cusp of losing herself in that kiss earlier. The audience had prevented her from enjoying his mouth as much as she wanted to, and it had her wanting a do-over. It was hands down the best first kiss she'd ever had. There was no way she could allow the night to pass without a repeat performance.

Maybe that's what prompted Kagome to finally lure him to the dancefloor: the promise of closeness. She needed to get his hands on her. She needed to taste him again.

Kagome was done being patient.

Inuyasha's insides felt like a goddamn yo-yo, and this beautiful human woman was to blame for that.

She had some nerve being all attractive and addictive sitting next to him with those long, dark lashes and lush, pink mouth. She was a goddamn siren song trying to lure him closer to destruction. She wanted one night. He wanted forever. Despite his hesitations, his demon blood had him succumbing to the attraction. He knew he'd give her anything and everything she wanted if she pushed him hard enough—even just the one night to enjoy his body if that's all she wanted from him. Unfortunately, Inuyasha knew in every atom of his being that one night with her would never, could never, be enough.

He heard Kagome earlier. She wasn't here tonight looking for a long term commitment, like becoming some broody hanyou's mate. She was looking for a one night stand, which Inuyasha did not want, especially not from Kagome. He wanted her for the rest of his life, and he didn't know how to compromise. If the two of them even could compromise, which seemed unlikely, given the way they argued.

How was he supposed to convince his mate to want more than just one night with him? How the hell could he convince the woman he was supposed to end up with to want to end up with him? It felt like a fucking joke—Congratulations, half-demon, you've found your mate! Now you get one night of her time to convince her to spend the rest of her life with you. Good luck!

Anytime a silence overcame them, he recalled the image seared into his brain of her disappointment. Inuyasha knew he could be ignorant about a lot of things, but he knew the look of rejection when he saw it. It was crystal clear in the way she wouldn't meet his gaze. She'd wanted him to take her home, and even though he didn't outright say no, he still rebuffed her. Inuyasha wanted to kick himself. He should have explained himself rather than allowed her to assume he didn't want her. But the words had evaded him, his tongue fat and useless in his mouth. How was he supposed to explain she was his mate?

Kagome deserved so much more than being whisked from a bar to end up on her back without any sort of gesture or—he shuddered—romance. At the very least, she deserved clean sheets. It had been two weeks since Inuyasha last changed his bedding, and that fact alone basically solidified he couldn't bring her home. Unless they could contentedly fuck elsewhere in his apartment or she could hang out while he swapped his bedsheets, but both of those things...they both sucked and were non-options, as far as he was concerned. If he was sold on the idea of banging her tonight—like his inner demon really wanted to—he could maybe convince her to bring him back to her place. But that felt equally...unappealing.

Inuyasha sipped his beer, watching her watch other people dance and have fun. For a moment, he worried she was bored sitting at the bar with him. Inuyasha couldn't blame her if she was. They'd arguably done nothing but occasionally hold hands and drink in between bouts of colourful arguments. Watching other people be drunken idiots seemed to amuse Kagome. Her face lit up with vicarious joy, and she raised a hand to her lips to smother a giggle. She was so fucking perfect, sitting there with the blue glow in her hair from the lights, the dark brown of her eyes that looked almost black, the fullness of her lips as they stretched over her teeth in a smile. Inuyasha couldn't remember the last time a woman's smile of all things had him feeling this choked up. The smallest upturn of her lips had a fuzzy warmth vibrating in his chest.

It was a little nauseating, honestly, how much he liked her.

Kagome was a paradox to him. One moment, she was a compassionate and kind person who seemed emotionally patient with Inuyasha's hard-heartedness. Then, like the flip of a switch, she was petulant, yielding to a short fuse that had her bickering with him to the point it felt competitive. She was stubborn, juvenile, vindictive in the way she seemed to enjoy pointing a finger (read: stabbing a finger into his chest repeatedly) and saying, Ha! I told you so! or those couple of times she called him an idiot on repeat until she ran out of breath. She didn't seem easy to offend, her sharp tongue dealing blows to Inuyasha's pride just as quickly as he had retorts snapping back at her. He was amazed by her, even when he found himself thinking she was the most annoying person he'd ever met. She was a contrast to Inuyasha's...well, him. She was the light to his dark, the fire to his ice. He was a mopey, broody, miserable miser and she was the sun that emerged to banish his storminess away.

Inuyasha was grateful had hadn't blown it with Kagome when they met. He still felt guilty over how much of an asshole he had been. He wanted Kagome to be his mate and he overheard her saying she wanted non-committed fun. Disappointment was overwhelming after he had put himself out there. He hadn't been able to help the rude, curt way he spoke to her, even though she truly hadn't done anything wrong. Inuyasha just didn't like that he made himself vulnerable to Miroku's teasing about rigging a stupid game. He felt like the biggest asshole, taking a chance on a future with a woman who wanted less than a day of his time.

Thanks for fuckin' nothin', Universe.

Inuyasha also didn't fail to recognize the universe's sense of humour in mating him to a veterinarian. His life felt like one big joke.

"Where do you think Sango and Miroku ended up?"

Inuyasha raised his pint for a sip. "They were on the dancefloor," he answered. "Couple songs ago, I heard your friend threatenin' to pummel Miroku 'cause he groped her."

Kagome giggled. "Sounds about right." She pointed to his ears. "Must get old, huh?" He frowned at that, not understanding her meaning. "I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be to have supersonic hearing—"

"It's not supersonic," he scoffed.

"—and how loud things must be all the time. My ears are already tired from how noisy it is in here and I have average hearing."

Inuyasha shrugged, fighting back a flush. No one had never acknowledged this for him before. "You get used to it."

Kagome smiled at him sadly before turning her body to face him. Inuyasha looked down when he felt her knee bump his thigh. "Did you hear Miroku's response? Did he deny it?"

Inuyasha snorted and took another drink, leaving enough for one more sip. "Unfortunately, I've known Miroku long enough I can easily pick out the cretin's voice in a crowd, which means I had first row fuckin' seats to the horror of him sayin', You can't blame me, Sango. If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone as beautiful as you, I'd have five cents."

Kagome covered her mouth while she laughed. "And how did she respond?"

He scoffed loudly. "I'm not your fuckin' middle man, Kagome! If you're that invested in the two of them, track 'em down yourself and ask!"

She raised her palms in concession. "Fine—sorry! Sheesh!" She pouted and swiveled to face the opposite direction, leaving his thigh cold once her knee turned with the rest of her body.

Inuyasha groaned, wishing he wasn't so...him. "She told him to shut up and just get the next game ready to go."

Kagome smirked as her head meandered back towards him. "She didn't smack him?"

"Not that I heard or saw," Inuyasha snorted.

"I knew she liked him," she said under her breath. Kagome took another sip from her glass, like she'd uncover some alcohol in the melted ice. Then, she was up like a shot, her slender fingers wrapped around his bicep and tugging on him like the bar was on fire.

He wanted to grouse and stomp his feet and really make her work for it to get him to the dancefloor. It might make him an asshole, but it was kinda fun annoying her. But then Inuyasha saw the way others were dancing in a tangle of limbs and his brain put two and two together. Taking her to dance meant he would get to touch Kagome like that. Inuyasha found himself gripping her hand a little tighter like he had no good reason to be reluctant anymore.

Just before they reached the dancefloor, a group of Inuyasha's coworkers called out his name, having him pause with a curse under his breath. He was about to dismiss the huddle of colleagues, but found himself mesmerized when Kagome stepped forward to introduce herself. He had expected her to either release his hand and loiter behind him or tug him away with the reminder of where they were headed, but she did neither of those things. She acted like she wasn't remotely embarrassed to be seen with him. She stepped into the conversation circle, her shoulder brushing Inuyasha's bicep, like the two of them were together. They were his coworkers, but Kagome was carrying the conversation. Inuyasha didn't even know what they were talking about. All he could do was stare at her.

How the hell was he so lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to meet her?

Maybe the Universe could catch a bit of break from him for that one.

Seeing the sweet pink on her face, blushing in response to something that was said, Inuyasha was beside himself with infatuation. The swell of amourousness had him noticing things he hadn't before, like the freckle beneath her earlobe on the left side; the hazel rim of her eyes right around the pupil; the way she favoured leaning her weight into her right leg, her hip swelling out with the stance; the way she squeezed his hand anytime she made eye contact with him, like she didn't want him forgetting it was her who hung onto him. Like he could ever, ever forget.

His eyes on his coworker who was talking, Inuyasha's mind sauntered away. He thought about when Kagome referred to herself as someone's stepping stone—a side quest girl, she'd called herself—rather than a woman who could be someone's final destination. Feeling her gaze on the side of his face, he squeezed her hand back. He wished she'd know from that gesture alone that Kagome would be it for him. He wished that single gesture could show her his resolve. He was willing to commit himself to her for the rest of his life after only knowing she existed for two hours.

Inuyasha was determined to spend this solstice with her. He decided, then and there, he would take every opportunity he could to prove that if she gave him a chance, he would make her happy for the rest of their lives. Which would be a long fucking time if the two of them completed the mating ritual. They'd just say the magic words, do the bites, swap a little blood, and then presto, this human woman would be tied to Inuyasha's lifespan. If they were mates, they would age together and then die together so they'd never have to go a minute without the other in their existence. His chest swelled with that annoying hopeful optimism again.

Inuyasha had no fuckin' clue what these people were talking about, but suddenly he didn't care. His mind was running a single track that involved two steps. Step one: get Kagome's body up against his. Step two: his brain needed to get its shit together and figure out a way to tell her she was his mate. Inuyasha didn't need to focus on the fact that step two had multiple sub-steps to it, like perhaps having to explain to her what mating meant, and the ritual behind it, and then somehow make himself appealing enough to encourage her to say yes to him being the one.

He inwardly rolled his eyes at the term. Inuyasha always found it a little moronic how most human ideals about love were appropriated from demonkind, like the concept of soulmates and the one. It was just a way of making demon mating more palatable to a finicky, sensitive race.

"C'mon," Inuyasha said bluntly. He pivoted suddenly, pulling Kagome along with him. She shot a quick apology and a nice to meet you! over her shoulder before looking up at Inuyasha with surprise.

Inuyasha led them to the centre of a jostling crowd and turned to her. Kagome looked dumbfounded, the sweetest hint of pink in the apples of her cheeks. She stood there motionless for a few seconds like she was a marionette, hopeless without her puppeteer. Inuyasha smirked at her and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her eyes snapped to his with a flash of red on her cheeks when he drew her hips to his. She tucked her lips over her teeth with a deep breath when his palms circled the small of her back to hold her to him. Inuyasha grinned, surprising himself by not feeling the least bit like an asshole when he started swaying their attached hips side to side.

He focused on that hazel ring in her eyes, like that circle of lightness could distract him from noticing how perfectly his cock settled against her. It felt like her body was meant for him to nock against. Her soft to his hard. Her curves to his lines. Like she could be the sheath to his sword. The—

He shook his head, clearing his throat as he felt heat rush into his cheeks.

When Kagome raised her hands from his shoulders to cup his ears, muffing the sound, his eyes jerked to hers.

"Is this okay?" she asked him. "Sorry, I don't know if demons have a thing about—" She cleared her throat, her cheeks pink. "The angle of your ears—I've seen it before in some of my canine patients who are...spooked." She laughed at her word choice. "I was worried for a second it was too loud for you over here. I wanted to—" She stopped herself. Her eyes flicked back and forth between his, trying to read his expression.

Inuyasha didn't know what to say. He stared at her blankly for a second before acknowledging, "I—I'm—Yeah, I'm good. Uh...thanks though." He peeled his hands from her back to guide her hands to his chest. But not before bringing one of her palms to his mouth. He kissed the heart of her palm in appreciation. He'd never had a human be so empathetic of something that took most of Inuyasha's childhood to figure out how to deal with.

Kagome flushed, nodded at him, then stole her hand back and settled it on his chest.

Inuyasha wondered if she could feel how savagely his heart was pumping. Maybe she'd think it was the bass from the current song.

Being amongst a crowd usually sucked because not only were the sounds overwhelming, but Inuyasha had to manage lots of conflicting smells. Despite this being a fact Inuyasha had learned to deal with effectively since he was a literal teenager, he was suddenly pissed by it. Inuyasha wanted to lose his senses in Kagome specifically, but there were too many people around preventing him from doing that. He wanted to know more about her scent than just jasmine and vanilla. He wanted to know what her happiness smelled like. When she grew frustrated and enraged (probably with him)—he wanted to know that scent too. Mostly, he wanted to know what she smelled like when she was aroused, when she was sated after a body-shaking orgasm. He wanted to know what Kagome in love smelled like. He flushed, realizing that was super presumptuous of him. As if he would ever be privy to know that.

But she was his mate, so maybe he had a right to be hopefully—daftly?—optimistic.

It didn't take long before she started losing herself in the music. Half a song, in fact. A dumb little smile grew up her face as her embarrassment drifted away. Her dancing became bouncy, almost a touch silly. Inuyasha wanted to grumble that they weren't grinding like he'd hoped they would, but then he saw how happy she looked acting like an idiot and that made him happy. She was shaking her hips like she was hula hooping, and Inuyasha's smile grew all the way to his eyes.

God, she was so happy. She made it impossible to be anything but happy around her. Kagome was giddy, singing along with a dozen other wasted people on the dancefloor. She laced their fingers together as she shook his arms in strange wave-like motions, her feet skipping around as she jumped. Her hair and breasts bounced with distracting vigor that had Inuyasha clearing his throat. Kagome hung off his neck as she danced, their hips playing that teasing game of moving and oscillating to the beat without causing friction. In that moment, Inuyasha's struggling semi actually appreciated that she was genuinely dancing and not just grinding up on him. Which sounded ass backwards since he wanted her on his cock. But he was over the PDA. Kissing her in public had been enough exhibitionism for the night.

The triggering desire of wanting to have sex with Kagome reminded him she just wanted him for a one night stand. That crashed through Inuyasha's mood faster than gravity.

For fuck's sake—this woman had turned him into a marshmallow. Inuyasha had become this squishy, pathetic, spineless thing that was bland, soft, and wholly irrelevant except in specific contexts. Inuyasha was a marshmallow who dreamed of being a full, legit dessert in its own right and Kagome only saw him as being good enough for her hot chocolate.

Inuyasha was miserable. He wanted something he knew he wasn't likely to get, and here he was thinking in fucking metaphors and similes. What the hell had she done to him?

Kagome shrieked with glee at the next song. Her smile had his funk slowly rolling off his shoulders. His mind felt lighter when her hands found his hips, forcing him to shake them. She shook her own hips and head at him with this toothy expression that had him rolling his eyes playfully. A few more seconds of her brightness and Inuyasha's rancid mood was nowhere to be found.

When he grabbed her hands to twirl her, Kagome screeched with pleasure. She was cackling and he was in love with the sound. His face lit up as he spun her away, waiting until their arms were taut before pulling her back into his chest. She crashed into him with a throaty laugh, her palm landing on his clavicle. The closeness of their bodies tinged her face pink, had a rush of heat invading Inuyasha's stomach. He could smell the gingerale and whiskey on her breath as she looked up at him, her gaze drawing a triangle between his mouth and eyes. That was the first time Inuyasha could distinguish a specific scent.

Arousal. Kagome's arousal.

It was a spicy, pungent musk that sat in his nostrils with a savoury heat, like a combination of ginger, allspice, and cantaloupe. He wanted to cocoon himself in that scent, smell it wafting off his skin, his clothes. He wanted to bathe in that scent, fall asleep to it, wake up in it.

And just like that her sweet silliness was gone. Her fingers ghosted a trail across the hollow of his neck, up his Adam's apple. Her eyes dipped from his to watch the motion of her pads on his skin, like she needed to see that gossamer touch to believe it. His body and brain became separate entities. Inuyasha had no volition to stop his hand from rising to cup hers and hold her palm over his heart.

"K-Kagome, I—I need to tell you somethin'."

Her eyes quivered. "Yeah?"

"Do...do you know anythin' about—?" Mates.

He didn't know why he stopped there. Maybe it was the way her gaze snuck from his to peek at his lips, to watch the way his tongue slid out to moisten the dryness away. Inuyasha leaned in like he considered kissing her again. He wondered if she'd like it.

Her stare lingered on his mouth. "A-about?"

Inuyasha lost his confidence. It was too fuckin' loud to have this conversation here anyway.

He was watching himself in third person, lifting her hand and bringing her fingertips to his lips to kiss. He couldn't hear her gasp but he saw the colour change on her cheeks, the widening of her eyes, and the deepening of that smell that was now more allspice than anything. He didn't know what he was doing when he slipped her finger between his lips for a taste. He'd never done anything like this before. His demon blood was screaming to make her his, and his tongue demanded to know what her skin tasted like, and the rest of him just...complied.

He heard her gasp then, that breathy, moan-like inhalation that had his cock twitching and his balls tightening. He wasn't expecting her to push her finger deeper into his mouth, past the second knuckle until she was in his mouth up to her palm and close to triggering his gag reflex. Her hips flexed closer to his. His fingers strained around her hand as his tongue stroked the length of her slender digit, deepening the hue of her cheeks. When he slowly drew her moist finger from his mouth, he didn't know what he was thinking when he gave a few fast flicks of his tongue to the tip of her finger. Her eyes lit up. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth with a gasp. Kagome looked...hungry. Oh fuck, she looked so interested in him it hurt.

And she smelled...fuck! He was so hard because of how she smelled.

A moist Kagome had her aroused musk become more cantaloupe-forward and Inuyasha had never loved the fruit more.

Her arms encircled his neck, her skin sliding across the cotton over his traps and shoulders. She seemed hesitant at first to curl her fingers in his hair, but he stepped into her, sealing their bodies together and Kagome gripped his locks tightly like she needed something to hang onto. Inuyasha knew she could probably feel his erection digging into her stomach. She still smelled like cantaloupe, which meant she was wet for him, which made it safe to assume she liked that he was hard for her.

Inuyasha didn't feel bold enough to cup her ass tightly like he wanted to, but his fingers had a mind of their own to trace the hollow of her back, the swell of her ass. He caressed the slope of her buttocks with the gentlest graze of his palm that had Kagome sucking in a breath hoarsely. She leaned in, her breasts flattening against his chest, and Inuyasha forced himself to breathe through the ache of his arousal. He let the sway of his hips guide and rock hers gently side to side, like they were in fact still dancing and this...whatever was happening...wasn't just going on in the middle of a raging hormone-spree of a dancefloor.

When her nose began nuzzling his chin with the gentlest tenderness, Inuyasha's heart couldn't fuckin' take it. How could a basic stranger have so much kindness, so much sweetness, so much tenderness at their disposal for a stranger like him, a hanyou like him?

His mate could, that voice reminded him. He wasn't a stranger to her. He was Kagome's mate. Just as much as she was his. She was made for him like he was made for her. She would plug the void in his heart, the emotional leak that left him cold, anxious, and lonely.

He was absorbed in her eyes, engraining in memory the hopefulness he saw in the way her caffeinated orbs paced between his. He cupped her cheek, his heart shuddering when she closed her eyes to the touch. His heart wanted to explode when he felt the weight of her leaning into his palm. She was leaning into his touch like...like she wanted it. Like she wanted him.

This...whatever this was...felt so good. Too good. Inuyasha couldn't take it.

He licked his lips and cleared his throat, readying his mouth and voice to work, mentally practically the Actually, on second thought, you wanna come over? that he was preparing to throw out there.

He'd figure out the bedsheets 'cause he couldn't live without knowing what it felt like to be inside her. He needed to know what she looked like when she came. He needed to hear his name a desperate, gasping cry of mind-blowing pleasure from her lips. He needed to know that no one could make her feel the way he could.

Inuyasha's foolhardy heart became convinced that maybe he could persuade her to love him through really good sex. Like that wasn't the same logic as having a baby to save a failing marriage.

Actually, on second thought, you wanna—?

But then Miroku and his goddamn fucking timing had to interject.

"And just like that guys and gals, we have our winners for Team Beer Pong! Kouga, Ayame, take heart in knowing that you two have bested a room full of adults at sinking tiny balls into cups! Congratulations on your extra drink tickets!"

He laughed into the microphone before jumping into a thrown voice like a terrible gameshow host. "For all my social butterflies out there, you're gonna love our next game! Anyone familiar with Most Likely To...? It's one of my personal favourites!

"Those who sign up to play will take turns saying things like most likely to... get arrested, or star in an adult film, or score tonight—" Inuyasha heard Sango scoff angrily, which meant Miroku likely made eye contact with her— "and everyone, at the same time, points to whomever they think would be the most likely to do or be that thing. And yes, my friends, pointing at yourself counts!

"The person with the most fingers pointed towards them will take a drink and earn a point. The person with the most points after two rounds wins the game. Sounds fun? You bet it does! Come on down and sign up—we'll get the first round started in ten minutes!"

Inuyasha didn't know what disappointed him more: the fact that he didn't get the chance to ask Kagome back to his place or the fact that she was dragging him towards the sign-up sheet.