InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Til Death Do Us Part ❯ The Intimacy ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with Inuyasha.

AN: I'm so sorry about the late update guys. But when you are stuck babysitting three bratty kids when your parents go on honeymoon for a week and develop a cold and pink eye in both eyes, there doesn't leave much time for updating. As you all can see, I changed the rating to R because of Inuyasha's potty mouth and hints of lime that I'm incorporating into the story.

Anyway, thank you guys for all of your wonderful support and the love. You guys are so funny! And you all inspire me. Thanks so much! And gracias to FrameOfMind, iNiGmA, dymond, Baybe-Dinez, FallingDarkness, PreciousRin, and szmadad for their extra long reviews. Gotta love them long reviews. -

In the next chapter, which hopefully won't take as long to update since I'm going on vacation, I'll probably let you all pick which fics that appeals most to you that I'm thinking about. And before you go off and read this chapter let me warn those who are underage or are uncomfortable with sexual situations. Be warned that there is some hints of lime towards the end of this chapter. Nothing really serious but it does contain citrus content. And now that that's out of the way, enjoy people!

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The Intimacy

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Summer unofficially ended with the commencement of school the week following her and Inuyasha's controversial break up. And for Kagome, the first day of school, which had always began with smiles and hugs from those she hadn't seen over the duration of the summer, started on a sour note. Though she had had a week to recover from the falling out with the hanyou, Kagome couldn't seem to focus, as if a part of her were missing, a very important part of her, not that she'd admit it.

It felt strange, not staying up talking to him at all hours of the night into the early hours of the morning and not having her brother yell at her from across the hall to shut up when she giggled a little too loudly at the outrageous things he used said to hear her laugh. It was strange for her and probably everybody else in her household to not see his familiar face hanging around the house or calling every waking second of the day just so he could hear the sound of her voice. But what was strangest of all, was the coldness that came from the lack of warmth of his body not being near her or touching her or holding her. She would be lying if she said she didn't miss him. She couldn't count the times she had cried herself to sleep over the past week, hating him, hating herself, hating their situation, hating the world.

She had expected the first day of school would be horrible, that he would be there and would make a spectacle of her like he had done that day by the pool. She hadn't expected for everything to go wrong within the first five minutes and without him even in sight. As soon as she walked in the building she had seen them, hell, the entire student body had seen them. Her name, spray painted along all the walls of each and every one of the corridors in such a graphic manner that it reduced her to tears, calling her a slut and what a bitch she was and how she didn't deserve someone as wonderful as Inuyasha.

Of course her friends tried to shield her from the deprecating explicitness in which her name was being cast about as, but their attempts were futile, for it was hard not to see the ugly red graffiti stained walls that seemed to glare at her from all sides. And yet, she held her head high, ignoring the stares, the whispers, the snickers she received from her peers. No amount of threatening on both Sango and Ayame's part to those who looked down upon their friend could deter the intense sense of betrayal and shame and embarrassment that overcame Kagome as they walked to their first period class.

She could stand the nasty, scathing comments about her that were scribbled on the hallways of her school. She could endure the derisive comments that were murmured through the throng of students as they gaped at her and pointed out on what a fool she was for cheating on 'the great Inuyasha'. But her resolve immediately deflated as soon as she stepped inside her class and saw him. Her heart practically stopped in her chest. He wasn't supposed to be in her homeroom. He wasn't even in the same year as her. The fates were against her. As if sensing her presence, he turned around from the girl he had been talking to, to lock eyes with her.

He was still the same old Inuyasha. The same long, flowing silver locks that she loved entangling her hands in. The same arrogant aura that practically oozed with over self confidence. The same beautifully chiseled facial features. The same sexy, full lips that she used to love teasing with her own. But there was a subtle difference about him now. Those eyes. Those gorgeous amber eyes she had always loved gazing into, which had always been full of love and tenderness and warmth whenever he looked at her, were a stark contrast to what they once had been.

He stared at her dispassionately, his cold amber depths reflecting an aloofness that he probably learned from his brother, a flicker of contempt and disgust wordlessly conveying just how he felt about her. Sparing her not another moment's glance, he dismissed her completely and turned his attention back to the girl that had attached herself to his arm, a slow smile spreading across his face as he looked down on her as she gazed up at him adoringly.

"Kagome," Ayame ground out after witnessing the display between the two ex lovers, her claws clenched angrily as she restrained her temper with much difficulty at the scene before them, "just give me the word and I'll rip out his throat faster than you can say bastard."

She wouldn't cry. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry. He didn't deserve her tears and he would only gloat, making her feel worse and making his fat head fatter. So instead, she got angry. Really angry. So angry that she almost took Ayame up on her offer to maim him. But she wouldn't stoop to his level. She was better than that. "No Ayame, just let that worthless hanyou wallow in his own foulness and idiocy," she said in a clipped tone, quiet enough so that only her friends could here, but loud enough so her words reached the sensitive doggy ears that sat upon the hanyou's head.

Golden eyes abruptly shifted in her direction, simmering ire welling up within their depths as fangs slowly began to protrude from his mouth. "You want to say that out loud bitch?" he snapped irately rising from his slouched position against the desk and coming to his full height, totally forgetting the girl and their conversation in the heat of the moment.

"You heard me dog boy. I don't have to repeat myself for you," she stated mildly, tossing her hair over her shoulder flippantly and walked over to a desk in the back.

The occupants of the classroom had gone silent, all eager to watch the long anticipated blow out to occur in the battle between exes.

Suppressing a growl, Inuyasha put a leash his temper, knowing that if he acted a fool now he'd only make a spectacle of himself in front of everybody and give her the upper hand and make him look like an idiot. So he contented himself with crossing his arms and putting a smirk on his face, living up to his conceited nature. "You know you're pretty cocky for a two bit whore who likes to fuck with wolves. I don't know why I rescued you from that gang of wolves a month ago. You probably wanted them to have their way with you in the first place."

It was a blatant lie. He knew. She knew it. Her friends knew it. But that didn't lessen the sting any. A wave of coldness washed over her, flooding with a feeling of profound sorrow and pain at the hateful words that had just spewed at her from the one she used to consider her soul mate. Choking back the hot tears that burned in the back of her eyeballs, she clenched her fists at her side and said nothing in retaliation as a pissed Ayame, coming to her defense, leapt across the room and pounced on the hanyou in a flurry of movement.

The teacher came rushing into the room upon hearing all of the commotion and jeers from the other students and sent everyone who was involved to the principal's office. Both she, Sango, Ayame, and him were given detention on the first day of school. But Kagome didn't care, for neither she, nor the rest of her friends stepped foot in the school halls again. After her parents found out what happened to their little girl and the graphic things that were written about it, she was immediately switched to school in another district, saving her from having to face Inuyasha ever again.

Of course, they never did find who the culprit was that spray painted those things about her, but Kagome had a good idea who it was. And she thanked Kami every day that she would never have to see his face again, or thought so.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha crouched down beside her and cupped her pale, waxy cheeks in his palms and tried to detain the fear that threatened to explode into straight out panic. She wasn't moving. Her usually pink lips were blue and the paleness of her skin reminded him of that of a corpse. His heart thudded painfully against his ribs as his gut twisted and churned in angst. This was definitely not the time to panic.

Gritting his teeth and steeling his rattled nerves, he forced himself to calm down and focus. Tentatively, Inuyasha slid his hands down her colorless cheeks to neck in hopes of finding a pulse. A flood of relief washed over him when he felt the pulsation beating faintly beneath his finger tips. It was weak, too weak to sustain life for very long, but at least it was there.

The nerve in his jaw twitched. Hypothermia. That's what it had to be. The blue lips, the sheet white skin coloration, the rigidity of her entire body, the disturbingly low body temperature, and the damp clothes that clung to her like a second skin were all factors of the potentially deadly illness. And it was all his fault. If he hadn't pissed her off she wouldn't have stormed out of the cave and into the pouring down rain of the storm. And if he had cared enough to have made her sleep by the fire instead of sleeping in a distant corner of the cave where drafts from the windy conditions outside had escaped to, she wouldn't be at the brink of death.

And if there was one thing he knew about hypothermia, it was that if the victim stayed unconscious for too long, they would without a doubt, die and the thought of her dying beside him scared him almost to death. He needed to work fast if she was going to live. "Kagome, you will not die on me," he growled slapping her cheeks lightly to awaken her motionless form. "Oi wench! Wake the fuck up!"

Her eyes remained closed, her body still unresponsive to his endeavors.

"Kagome! Open your fucking eyes and look at me!" Inuyasha barked angrily, underlying hints of anxiety and fretfulness taking away some of the harshness of his words.

A puff of visible breath, denoting just how cold she was, slipped through her blue lips, subsequently followed by the slight cracking of her eyes, revealing a pair of dilated, glassy blue orbs.

The hanyou let out the lungful of air he had been involuntarily holding, freeing him from the apprehension that had held him captive only moments ago. "You scared the shit out of me bitch," he murmured leaning over and nuzzling her cold cheek with his own. The scent of sickness was thick on her skin, but beneath it all, he could still smell her own distinct and unique scent that somewhat settled the turmoil that raged within him.

Kagome was cold, cold and numb. Cold enough that she could feel the numbness seeping into her bones. Even her brain felt frozen. Her head hurt and it was getting harder to breath by the second. And she was tired, so very tired. All she wanted to do was let the dark abyss to lay its claim on her and escape the coldness that had pervaded and infused her blood with liquid ice. Her body felt heavy, so unbearable heavy. Even the simple act of keeping her eyes open was becoming harder task by the minute.

The first thing she realized was that something moderately heavy and so warm that it actually burned, was resting on her cheek. And through the fogginess, the coldness, the numbness that seemed to hold her body and mind captive, one name came to mind. "I-inu…" His name froze on the tip of her sedated tongue like a block of ice, refusing to budge any further.

His head snapped up at her broken utterance. "What? What is it?" he questioned anxiously, his brows creased in concern and worry as he leaned over to hear her better.

"S-s-sleep." Her words, mingled together with a wisp of icy air that curled from her mouth, were an octave lower than a whisper, making even the half demon strain to hear what she had said.

"No! you can't go to sleep!" he growled as her eyelids began to lower themselves. Fear clutched his chest when she ignored him. "Kagome!" He positioned himself over top of her body and with both hands grasped her face delicately, lifting it inches off the floor, forcing her cloudy blue eyes to open and look at him resignedly. "If you lose consciousness again, you will wake up in the afterlife."

He held fast to her face when she groaned and attempted weakly to extricate herself from his loose grasp. Why wouldn't he leave her alone? He had already insulted her enough tonight to last a lifetime. All she wanted to do was sleep. She felt her eyelids sagging.

"Please, listen to me," he beseeched earnestly, the pleading tone of his voice plucking a tender cord within her partially frozen heart. With a defeated sigh, she stopped struggling, her neck being too stiff to resist any further and tried to focus her misty orbs on the blurred form that loomed above her body, too tired to argue or put forth an effort.

"You are hypothermic wench, which means that your body temperature is too low to sustain life for long. You need to stay awake, get out of that wet crap, and get warm fast. Now I know you don't want to die here on this deserted island out in the middle of nowhere with me of all people, so I need you to listen to me. Understand?"

If her mind, body, and soul hadn't been bogged down with numbness and if her lungs weren't feeling as though they were being juiced in some kind of electric contraption designed solely to convert solids to liquids, she would've been surprised by his sudden change of heart and outright concern for her well being. Willing her slacken eyelids to stay up, Kagome nodded in acknowledgment, or as best she could with rigid neck muscles. "H-h-urts…. breathing." Forcing out the two words sent an acute jolt directly into her heart, causing her to wince in response.

"Don't move. Just stay still and relax." His heart clenched as he witnessed the brief spasm of pain flit across her taut facial muscles. Seeing her in this sort of pain, in this sort of predicament literally tore him up inside. He was supposed to be her protector, her provider, and all he had offered her with was mental, emotional, and physical suffering, both now and then. He was the cause of all of her misery and if he hadn't been such an ass to her, she would be fine.

He swallowed hard. But she wasn't fine and judging by the shallow, erratic pitches of her labored breathing, she was getting worse. If he didn't act fast, he might lose her forever. Just the thought of him going on without her made his blood run as cold as her own. "I'll be right back. Don't go dying on me." Inuyasha gently swept away her damp bangs from her forehead before getting up and heading toward the mouth of the cave. Kicking away the brush, he stepped out into the open. The temperature had dropped drastically from what it was hours ago, which probably accounted for her current condition.

Mentally chastising himself for his lack of common sense, her raced into the wooded area in hopes of finding some dry article to use for the fire. Finding crap to burn wasn't hard; finding crap that was dry was. The storm had tapered off earlier, leaving the entire island soaking wet in its wake as Inuyasha discovered on his journey. There wasn't one single dry anything that he could find. Shit. Why didn't he put extra firewood in the cave before just in case this happened? And now because of his stupidity, Kagome was suffering.

Letting out a howl of rage, Inuyasha slashed through the base of a nearby tree that was in his way, narrowly missing being hit by it as he weaved in and out of the thicket of foliage. How could he make a fire for her if there was no dry wood? He abruptly stopped in his tracks, golden orbs widening as an idea struck him. Her clothes. The clothes she had brought after she had fell into the lagoon had to be dry by now. And that ugly yellow bag of hers could be burnable. Granted fire set off on clothes and a cheap bag wouldn't last very long, but it was better than nothing at all.

With this plan mind, the hanyou retraced his path and flew back toward the cave, disregarding the wet branches that slapped mercilessly at his half naked form on all sides, too absorbed in his mission to be deterred by anything. Immediately after he got back, he repositioned the makeshift door of branches and bushes and directed his gaze to Kagome, who was still in the same place he had left her, staring at the wall through half lidded orbs. She was still sheet white, her breathing had gotten thinner, but she was alive and that was all that mattered.

Her clothes had been carelessly tossed to the side at the further end of the small cave along with her yellow bag. Inuyasha snatched them from the ground and threw them into the fire pit amongst the ash and cinders from the previous fire. "Matches, matches." he fumbled inside his pants pockets for the book and growled in frustration when he failed to come across it. "Where are the fucking matches?"

"Inu….yasha." It took all of what was left of her willpower and strength push the cloud of air from her mouth and feebly point to where he had dropped them.

Following her shaky finger with his eyes, Inuyasha saw the white book of matches half shrouded beneath the foliage that covered the floor by his feet. "Oh." Hurriedly sweeping it up, he quickly took one out and with one flick of the wrist, lit it and tossed into the pit, which instantly came to life as soon as the alighted stick touched base with the material within.

Now that that was over and done with, the hanyou turned his attention back to Kagome, who was at the moment languidly watching the dancing flames with sleep laden eyes. He had to get her out of those damp clothes. Praying to whatever gods were listening that she wouldn't 'sit' him for what he was about to do, he carefully kneeled down beside her and without hesitation began to unbutton the damp shirt he had given to her beforehand.

Either knowing his intentions or too drained from her hypothermic state to care, Kagome didn't protest against his activities as long, nimble fingers unfastened the damp shirt. Once she was free from the confines of the top, Inuyasha laid it out in front of the fire so it would warm up and later be used as a blanket. The hanyou grimaced when he turned back to her, realizing that she was now only clad in her bikini. She was going to maim him when she found out that he had stripped her down to nothing.

Inuyasha hesitated for a brief moment, uncertainty flickering through his troubled orbs. In order for her to thoroughly warm up and the hypothermia to completely diminish, skin-to-skin contact was a necessity. And that meant everything had to come off. "Please don't kill me when you get better," he groaned and glanced nervously at her for approval to go on.

But she didn't look back at him, for her eyes had closed as she had begun drifting further and further away from consciousness, each breath becoming shallower and slower, until the erratic rise and fall of her chest was no longer visible.

"Fuck! Kagome!" The silver haired hanyou frantically rushed to her side in a flash and placed a furry ear to her chest. The beating of her heart was so subtle and irregular that he had to make an actual effort to perceive the sound that he could usually hear ten yards away. She was fading and fading fast. Whatever restraint had held him back before from undressing her wholly was completely forgotten as he undressed her and stripped himself of his pants and boxers so that all he was clad in was the prayer beads around his neck. He had to get her warm. With a gentleness even he didn't know he possessed, Inuyasha encircled the stiff form of his wife and moved closer toward the blazing inferno.

Once positioning himself a good distance from the fire, not too close that he would be able to feel the embers that sporadically shot out of the flames, not too far that she wouldn't be able to draw in the heat, Inuyasha cautiously laid back on the floor of the cave, pulling Kagome deftly on top of him. Tucking her head tenderly beneath his chin, he enveloped his arms around her naked torso, making sure he didn't scratch her with his claws, and encompassed her freezing legs between his own in hopes she would absorb his warmth. "Come on wench, don't give up on me now," he begged as his forefinger ran across the soft curve of her jawbone.

He held her tightly against him. The urge to protect what was his had never been so strong, so intense, so overwhelming. And it frustrated the hell out of him to know that there was nothing he could do but wait and hope that the little warmth he had to offer her would be enough to reheat her blood and snap her out of her unconscious state. He wanted to see her beautiful blue eyes filled with happiness and fire and enthusiasm again. He wanted to see her beautiful smile that always managed to lift his heart. He wanted her to live.

His throat closed up, his arms unconsciously tightening around her cold, lithe frame. She couldn't die. He wouldn't let her.

Suddenly her breathing ceased completely.

His heart went cold and numb with unbidden fear. "Kagome!" He shifted her so that he was on top with her body trapped beneath his heated one, his hands trembling as he cradled her face with his palms. Tears of frustration and vulnerability clouded in his eyes. "Kagome," he whispered bringing his forehead lightly against to hers, a lone tear trickling down his cheek. "Please. Don't leave me." 'Not before I get a chance to say I'm sorry.'

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Yawning, Kagome continued her trek down the narrow tunnel in hopes that she would arrive at her destination soon. It was a little too dark and a little too long for her liking. A smile broke out on her face as she neared the iridescent light at the end, the brightness and happiness that exuded from it acting like a beacon for her soul. It shone with so much love and joviality that it warmed her to her very core. And with a few more strides, she would be there.

"Wench….please…don't leave me."

She stopped dead in her tracks, the melancholy yet familiar voice reverberating against the walls of the tunnel, sending shivers down her spine. Frowning at the foreign feeling, she glanced back only to see the same desolate darkness at the opposite end of the long tunnel in which she had just come from. Brushing it off as just her imagination, Kagome started walking en route for the light once again, a smile once again extending across her features. Almost there. She could almost feel the warmth of the light against her chilled skin.

"Kagome."

There it was once more. That same, forlorn, hauntingly familiar masculine voice who expressed her name with such remorse, such complete sadness, that tugged painfully on her heart strings, making her prolong those few final steps into the light.

"I'm sorry…Kagome," he began again, the words carried by gentle wisps of wind that originated from the dark end of the tunnel to where she stood now. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most. I tried…and I let you down. It wasn't enough. You're dead…and its all because of me…" the voice cracked and broke off with constrained emotion for a moment.

Kagome's brows furrowed in confusion. Dead? 'What the hell is going on?' she thought straining to sift through the hazy memories that eluded her.

"I'm a complete fuck up, a failure to my parents, my friends, and especially to you. I know I've treated you like shit over and over again ever since that day by the pool. The only reason I called you those horrible names and tried to hate you was because I was hurt by what happened between us. Every time I closed my eyes I pictured you in the arms of the stinking wolf and it made me say things I regret everyday for calling you."

Blue eyes suddenly widened in recognition as his words rang through her mind. "Inuyasha."

"Damnit wench," his voice laced with what she discerned as scarcely contained misery and self-loathing, "Kami knows I've tried to forget you all these years and to forget what we shared. I hated you and blamed you for all the failed relationships I had ever since you walked out of life, because every single one of them could never measure up to you. They never smelled as good as you, or laughed the way you do, or completed me the way you did. No one could take your place in my heart and that scared the shit out of me. Because even after all these years, all the drama, all the mocking and angry words, all the ups and downs…I still loved you and I don't think anything or anyone could ever change the way I feel."

Kagome tentatively touched her face, not surprised to find that a few tears she had been withholding had escaped. "Inuyasha," she whispered, unable to hold back the downpour of tears that clouded her vision as they leaked out of her blurry eyes in a steady stream. He still loved her.

"That's why you can't leave me. Please…give me another chance and I swear I won't fuck up again. I….I don't want to live without you. I can't live without you. Just come back to me." The curls of wind that conveyed his voice died down, leaving only his last words bouncing faintly off the enclosed walls of the tunnel.

"Just come back to me."

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Watery golden eyes stared into her pale face expectantly, his heart sinking further and further into the pit of his stomach with the passing of each second as the realization of the situation sunk in. She wasn't going to come back, even after he had said his little eulogy. And why should she? He had caused her enough grief and anguish to last her a couple of lifetimes. 'She would be better off moving on,' he mused sadly, though the notion of her moving on without him made his vital organs twist in agony.

"I guess this is good-bye then," he forced the words out of his mouth with a bitter smile, not bothering to wipe away the seemingly endless tears that rolled down his cheeks, his mind still refusing to accept the fact that she was gone forever. Ignoring the painful ache his chest, the hanyou caressed the delicate outline of her jawbone. "Be happy in the afterlife Kagome. You deserve it." Strengthening his resolve so that the sobs locked up within his chest would stay suppressed and not reveal exactly how much her death effected him, he slowly leaned down and pressed his lips against her blue owns tenderly in the last kiss they would ever share, assuming that she had already departed to the next world. So he was caught of guard when a spastic shudder suddenly convulsed through her body.

Yelping in surprise when her eyelids unexpectedly shot open, exposing the whites of her eyeballs, Inuyasha jumped back a distance away from her body, his pulse racing a mile a minute as he watched another violent tremor shook her tiny frame. "What the hell?"

Departing from this world is easy; coming back into it is another thing, as Kagome so painfully learned. She sucked air into her oxygen-deprived lungs; her blue orbs rolling back down to their original position within the center her eyeballs. Gripping the foliage and dirt next to her, Kagome braced herself as she struggled to inflate her deflated lungs with much needed oxygen. An acute pinch jolted her heart back into motion, which was consequently followed by a slow yet incessant thumping against her ribs.

Inuyasha snapped out of the stunned stupor that had befallen him when life began to seep back into her body and hurriedly went back to her side. He felt his stomach muscles tighten at her continual failure to inhale and exhale properly. It was as though she had forgotten how to breathe. "Come on Kagome. Breathe normally damnit," he said leaning over her with worried eye and an edge to his voice as he watched her face scrunch up with pain and exertion.

Her lungs burned. No matter how much she inhaled she just couldn't seem to rid herself of the burn sensation that engulfed her respiratory organs. It wouldn't go away. And that scared her. What if she wasn't able to control her breathing? What if her lungs combusted? What if she died again? These thoughts only served as catalysts in heightening her already sensitive state as she panicked. Another wave of spasms ripped through her body, further intensifying the malady she was experiencing with regulating her breathing.

Unable to bear watching her suffer, Inuyasha acted fast, for fear that she would leave him again. As gently as possible for a hanyou, Inuyasha lifted the squirming girl into his lap so that her chilled back pressed against his chest with her head resting on the crook of his neck. "Oi, listen to me wench," he ordered in her ear with one hand splayed across her stomach and the other holding her hips against his so that she stayed in place.

Kagome clenched her teeth, her nails embedding themselves into his thighs to restrain herself. It felt as if her lungs would explode in her chest. Tiny black dots speckled her vision as the world began to swim before her very eyes, tears beginning to gather in the corners.

"Kagome, I want you to follow the rhythm of my chest," he coaxed, both urgency and tenderness lacing his words, "when I inhale, I want you to inhale. When I exhale, I want you to do the same. Now concentrate and stop struggling. Just relax and focus on me and only me. Push through the pain."

Following his instructions, she strained to clear her mind of everything until the only thing she could sense was him and the steady rise and fall of his chest. Regulating her breathing to match his proved to be difficult in more ways than one and brought on another wave fresh wave of pain as her lungs constricted in her chest.

"Come on Kagome," he continued to coax softly, placing his chin on her shoulder and nuzzling her neck affectionately, "I know it hurts, but the pain end will end soon. A few more and we'll be done. Just focus."

But she had abandoned all thoughts of forcing herself to breathe, for something far more enticing had captured her attention. Her heartbeat sped up. She felt his warm breath trickle languidly along the sensitive area of her neck, sending involuntary shivers zipping across her bare flesh and warming her to the core. The subtle beating of his heart against her back dulled the burning sensation in her lungs until it faded completely. But she wasn't yet ready to give up the warmth of his touch so soon. There was something incomprehensibly enjoyable and right being encompassed in his strong hold.

Settling back against him, she sighed in blissful contentment and let her gaze fall to the arms that held her to him. Suddenly, what little color there was to her pallor cheeks darkened considerably in a dark red hue, her breath catching in her throat. "Inuyasha?"

"Yes?" His ears twitched as he heard her breathing even out, a slow grin uplifting the corners of his mouth when he smelled the change in her scent.

"Why are we naked?"

Biting his lip to restrain himself from erupting with laughter, Inuyasha controlled himself as best to his ability. "You had hypothermia. I had to get rid of all of your wet clothing so you could warm up quicker." He coughed to hide more snickers. "And skin to skin contact was more than necessary in this instance."

Kagome felt her face burning up with embarrassment and awkwardness at the compromising position they were in and presently realizing what she was currently sitting on top of. "I… well I'm better now, so…uh, we can…um…put some clothes back on," she fumbled to find the words, a deeper shade of red coloring her facial features.

"No, I don't think so." He tightened his hold around her and burrowed his nose in her hair, reassuring himself that she was really here, that she was alive, that he wasn't alone. Her fragrant scent no longer held the raw smell of death only subtle hints of illness. He would be eternally grateful for the deity that gave him a second chance with the girl in his arms. It still hurt him to his heart that she almost died. The utter fear and emptiness that engulfed his soul when he had thought she was dead was a feeling that he never wanted to experience again. He had never felt so powerless, so vulnerable in his life.

Sensing his shift in moods, Kagome tried to turn around in his lap to see what was going on with him, but whimpered upon finding that her cramped and stiff muscles wouldn't allow her to do so, the failed action sending dull pain thrumming throughout her system. Pushing the throbbing aches that encased her bones to the recesses of her mind, Kagome twisted around in his lap and was taken aback to see the intense, unfathomable emotions flashing through his eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, lifting his face so that their gazes clashed. He stared at her with so much conviction and longing and an openness she had thought he was incapable of rendering, that it stirred something deep within the recesses of her being, a feeling that only he was able of bringing out in her.

Inuyasha sighed, leaning into her touch and allowing her wonderful scent to fill his nostrils. "I thought I had lost you for a minute," he admitted intently, entangling his claws in her long, raven locks and relished in the silky feel of it.

Kagome opened her mouth, then hesitated, half afraid of what he might say, that what happened in the tunnel with his heartfelt entreaty had all been a dream. But she had to know. The thought had been gnawing at her conscience ever since she returned to this world. "Inuyasha," she began timorously fiddling with the silvery locks of his hair, "did you mean all of those things you said, when I was unconscious and all?"

He blinked. "You heard all that?"

She nodded, then dropped her gaze to stare at his collarbone, unable to look him in the eyes. Maybe she was right. Who was she kidding? He had stopped loving her a long time ago.

Her heart skipped a beat when he tilted her head up with a hooked index finger. "Look at me Kagome." Biting her lip, she forced her eyes to look up to meet his and was shocked to see warmth and love shimmering in his golden depths. "I meant every word I said back there. No other female has ever meant so much to me like you do. I'm like putty in your hands, woman. I would do anything for you. It just took you almost dying on me to figure that out."

Kagome held her breath. Would he say it?

A smile quirked on his lips as she gazed at him in anticipation, knowing exactly what she was waiting for. "I love you wench. And if you forgive me for all the shit I did to you, all the humiliation, all of the embarrassment I put you through…if you give me a second chance, I'll prove to you that I'm worthy of your love." This time he was the one to lower his eyes, quickly sobering up to the fact that she might not forgive him. "I understand if you don't. I…I never meant to hurt you-"

Kagome shut him up by flinging her arms around his neck and crushing her lips to his. Sometimes he just talked entirely too much. Caught completely off guard by the force, Inuyasha fell back with her still on top of him, her feverish lips against his rousing his desire for her tenfold. Growling in pleasure, Inuyasha quickly took control of the kiss, shifting her so that he was on top. His claws gently raked in an agonizingly slow trail from her thigh up to her abdomen, sending tiny tremors of delight through her small frame and increasing the raging craving she had for him.

Kagome broke apart first, panting heavily from the soul searing kiss she had initiated, her cheeks flushed and her pulse racing. "Inuyasha," she breathed catching his just as flushed face with the palms of her hands, his molten pools of liquid gold darkened with hunger and love, "I forgive you, because I love you. I've never stopped. I couldn't, not even if I wanted to. You were my first love and even after we broke up, I still dreamt and thought about you. Memories of you prevailed over anything else…and they still do. All I want is you, and only you, if you would take me back."

"Do you even have to ask?" He stared lovingly down at the ethereal creature beneath him, his eyes roaming and marveling in the exquisiteness and creaminess of her luscious body.

Suddenly feeling self conscious under his gaze, Kagome quickly tried to cover up, but was stopped when the hanyou pinned her arms to her side. "Don't," he whispered huskily into her ear. "You are beautiful. You don't need to hide yourself from me." He licked and nipped at her lips before planting wet kisses down her chin to the curve of her neck, the heavy smell of her arousal sparking a desire, a need within him that he had waited four unbearable long years to take care of.

Blue eyes widened when something hard pressed into her thigh, sending a painfully urgent jolt into her lower stomach. A moan escaped through her throat as his tongue slowly caressed the shell of her ear, the warmth of his breath making goosebumps arise along her skin and she shivered in response. Her nails dug into his back as she unconsciously arched toward him. With her mind reeling from his kisses, his caresses, that wonderfully talented tongue of his, she disregarded the acute twinge of pain that ricocheted within her skull, which was then accompanied by the unexpected wave of dizziness and light headedness.

He stopped his ministrations upon sensing her current state of well-being and mentally cursed at himself. What the hell had he been thinking? Bridling the cataclysmic urge to just take her without consideration for anything else, Inuyasha gritted his teeth and pried himself off of her body, much to the displeasure of his inner demon, whom bucked and raged wild with fury at what he was doing, or rather, wasn't doing. The abrupt lack of warmth from contact with her leaving him cold and wanting. "We can't do this," he said gruffly to hide the agonizing pain he felt and pulled on his boxers and then his pants to conceal the telltale sign of his want for her. What he needed was a fucking cold shower.

With her chest heaving, Kagome tried to blink away the blurriness that obscured her vision and shakily sat up. "Why did you stop?" she asked breathily, confusion clouding her eyes as she watched him get dressed. Her heart sank as a thought dawned upon her. Here she was, being the innocent virgin girl who had only had two boyfriends and had yet to move past second base, when he had had a multitude of prettier, smarter, more experience women that she paled in comparison to. "Am I not good enough?" She tried to stifle the impulse to start crying.

Seeing the expression of self doubt and unworthiness on her face, Inuyasha immediately came to her side. Gathering her in his arms, he pulled her into a tight embrace. "Wench, you're more than good enough," he murmured reassuringly into her hair. "You're the only woman that can set my blood on fire for you. I haven't felt desire like this for any other person." The hanyou pulled back to look at her and smeared the stray tears from her eyes with the pads of his thumbs. "I love you Kagome. I wouldn't want anything more than to express to you here and now how much I crave your beautiful body, but not know. Not when you are still sick."

Kagome pouted. "Damn hypothermia." Life just wasn't fair.

"Don't I know it," Inuyasha groaned miserably.

Sighing regrettably, Kagome attempted to wiggle her way out of his grasp so she could put some clothes on, but the aftereffects of ignoring the stiffness of her muscles returned. She hissed in pain as the dreaded cramps returned with a vengeance, each one tightening and coiling around her muscles and bones with a fury.

“What's the matter?” Inuyasha asked, suddenly worried when she froze up. “Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?” His claws began to deftly roam her body in an attempt to alleviate any discomfort she might be experiencing.

“I'm cramping up.” She tried to flex her arm but found that it stiffened even more.

Inuyasha blanched, mistaking her words for something else. “Uh,…um,” he struggled awkwardly to find the right words. How the hell had she managed to come onto her cycle without him noticing? Maybe the scent of illness masked it. “Do you, uh, have any of the, uh…feminine things?”

She stared up at him quizzically. “Feminine things? What are you talking about?”

Gods, she was going to make him say it. His face darkened to a crimson hue. “The little pads or plugs.”

Kagome looked at him blankly.

Inuyasha groaned in exasperation. “The crap you use when it's that time of the month.”

Replaying their conversation over in her head, Kagome realized her mistake and began to laugh at him, finally fathoming why her hanyou was acting so embarrassed. “Inuyasha,” she said between giggles, “I wasn't talking about those kind of cramps. I'm talking about the stiffness and soreness of my body.”

He blushed. “Keh. I knew that.”

Kagome glanced around the cozy cavern so she could locate her clothing. Her bikini lay a few feet away from her left, but there were no other signs of her other articles of clothing. "What happened to my shirt and pants?" she inquired turning to look at him.

He winced, his eyes flicking to the smoldering cinders of what was left of the fire.

The nerve in her temple twitched when she saw what he was looking at. "You burned my clothes and my bag?"

Inuyasha offered her a wan smile. "We didn't have anymore wood and there wasn't anything else on the island that was dry. Besides, it served its purpose. You are alive and well are you not?"

"I guess so. But what else am I supposed wear?"

A devilish grin stole across his features as his eyes wandered down her naked form. "You know, we are the only ones on this islands. I think we should just walk around in our birthday suits. It would be a hell of a lot more convenient and you wouldn't have to wash clothes anymore…" Seeing the look of righteous anger cross her features, he gulped and decided to stop there. “How about I just help you put on your bikini?”

“That would be a start.”

After carefully helping her put her bikini top and bottom on, making sure he didn't disturb her aching muscles and joints, Inuyasha backed up against the wall of the cave and settled down on the floor with her in his lap. Sweeping away her bangs, he touched her forehead to find it still chilly, yet not as cold as it had been before she blacked out. He sighed in relief. So she was getting better.

"Inuyasha, I feel like crap," Kagome mumbled burying her head in his chest to get away from the dizziness that made her stomach turn.

"Yeah, and you look like it too." He chuckled when she half-heartedly slapped arm. "Go to sleep. You're still recovering from hypothermia. You'll probably be fine by morning."

She mumbled something incoherent before sinking into a deep sleep, entrusting her safety and care to that of her husband.

An intense awareness of complete serenity and peace settled over Inuyasha's soul. She was finally his again. It had taken him a while to get back to her, and he would make damn sure she didn't disappear from his life a second time. Smiling into her neck, he closed his eyes and for the first time in a long while completely surrendered into the darkness that had overtaken his lover only moments ago, the ears atop his head remaining vigil throughout the rest of what was left of the night.

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End

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AN: There no cliffy. I hope you all are happy. :P Forgive me for the mistakes and stuff in this chappie since my eyes are burning and itching and blurry. I think I'll go put in my medicine. Revisions will be made later on. And just in case you're confused about that bit where Kagome was in a tunnel, think of it as the halfway point between living and dying. In this case, she chose to go back instead of going into the light where the afterlife would be awaiting for her. She wasn't yet ready to die. How sweet. She chose to stay with Inuyasha rather than die.

Ok, and one more thing. I will not be writing any lemons, but there will be some lime so be prepared. I'm trying to keep this as clean as possible being the good girl that I am and all.

Review and tell me what you think because I love and cherish all of your feedback.

Ciao for now people!

J. Catseye