To everyone who reviewed: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Chapter 5: Reunions

They followed an old dirt path down a hill, with daisies growing from the ground on either sides. Inuyasha walked beside Kagome, his attention diverted to his feet and his arms crossed on his chest. It was nearing lunch time, and he could already hear his stomach growling. He began to look around for a spot to settle down and eat when he noticed the path was leading them into the forest, and within the forest he could hear the sound of rushing water, and smell it too.

"Oi, Kagome!", he called. She looked up at him with a smile, "There's a river up ahead. Lets stop there."

"Alright Inuyasha." She couldn't help but notice how much kinder he had been since the previous night. This morning for example, he hadn't rudely woken her but instead had let her sleep in, and when she had awakened he was watching her from besides a fire, a rabbit cooking over it.

They had already entered the forest when Inuyasha came up behind her, took her hand in his and began to lead the way. She was a bit surprised at him, but then noticed the pink that was tainting his cheeks, and the way he purposely avoided her eyes. She grinned and squeezed his hand reassuringly. Even after everything that had happened he was still shy around her. It was understandable, some things needed time to change, and she knew that sooner or later they would both become more open with each other. She hoped that eventually he'd be able to confide in her, to take comfort in her. There were many things Inuyasha kept inside of him in fear of being hurt, and his display this morning had proven her right. How scared he'd looked when he confessed he loved her, the way his ears flattened against his head and his eyes avoided hers'. There was the death of his mother, his father. There was Kikyo, and as painful as it was for her, she had to admit that he had cared for Kikyo, even if he didn't love her.

How could he have lived with it? Alone in the world his whole life, no one to even speak to. And when he thought he had finally found someone, she was taken from him. How did he make it? "Oh Inuyasha..." she thought, "You won't be alone anymore, I promise."

~~~

The river ran for miles on both sides until it disappeared from view. At the shore the water was no deeper than four feet and it gradually increased in depth toward the center. There were several large rocks jutting out of the surface, the sun beaming down upon them. A small amount of land on both sides of the river was completely cleared of trees, leaving behind a large space of bright green grass, with patches of daisies, like the ones from the road, here and there.

Kagome spread out a blanket from her bag on the ground, only feet from the water, and took out two towels. She went on to unload some rice balls for their lunch, and set them besides Inuyasha, who was already laying down, his arms pillowing the back of his head, ankles crossed, and Tetsusaiga on the ground besides him. She sighed and shook her head, this was going to be harder than she had originally thought.

"Inuyasha?"

He opened up on eye to look at her, "Hmm?"

"What do you say we take a bath?" She put on the cutest face she could manage, batted her eyelashes, and smiled sweetly. She looked like Shippo when he was begging.

He sat up, his eyes wide open. "A bath? I don't need a bath!!!" Kagome sighed once again, dropping the act. Why did he have to make things so difficult?

"Inuyasha, look at yourself! You're so dirty! Will you please just take a bath?" His hair was more gray than white, his haori was covered in blood, hers most likely, and there were smudges of dirt on his cheeks, probably from when he went hunting that morning.

"Feh, speak for yourself!" One would think by now he'd learned his lesson that disagreeing with her would only make her-"Inuyasha! SIT!!!" She waited a second while Inuyasha stopped mumbling into the ground and said, "Fine! I'll just S-I-T you till you're clean!!!" Not quite sure how that would work out, but getting a clear picture of being plunged into the ground multiple times, Inuyasha peeled his face off the grass and snorted, "Fine!", as he turned his face to the side arrogantly.

Kagome immediately perked up and pulled them both to their feet. She grabbed the towels and placed them on a fallen log by the river, and proceeded to remove her clothing. Inuyasha watched all this with curiosity and finally realized they were going to bathe together. A goofy grin made its way onto his face, his eyes dazed while he imagined the scenario. But he was awakened from his trance however, when Kagome shyly walked past him in her undergarments to rummage through her bag. On her knees, with her back to him, she said, "Go ahead and get in. I'm just looking for some soap."

Inuyasha complied and after stripping off his own clothing and draping it over the log along with Kagome's, he slowly got into the warm water. The surface sparkled beneath the rays of sunlight, and at the bottom of the river he could almost make out his toes. Turning around in the water he saw a bar of white soap, and two bottles of something laying before him on the ground, and further away he saw Kagome removing her underwear, her back still to him. He gaped at her curves, the pale skin that wasn't constantly being exposed to the sun, and for the hundredth time that day he smiled at the fact that she was now his'.

He turned back around and waited while she made her way into the water. He closed his eyes and began to relax, but then felt Kagome's hands pushing his head below the surface. He bounced back out gasping for air, ready to yell his lungs out, but found Kagome massaging his head from behind. Whatever he was getting ready to snarl at her caught in his throat at the sensation Kagome's fingertips were creating. It was almost as good as getting his ears rubbed, and within seconds he melted against her.

When Kagome stopped he almost whimpered. "Inuyasha I need you to wash out your hair, so I can apply conditioner next."

"Conditioner?"

"Yeah. I just washed your hair with shampoo, and now I need to use conditioner so that it'll be nice and soft." He raised an eyebrow at her and then ducked beneath the water until he was sure all the soapy substance in his hair was gone. When he came back out she was waiting with some gooey stuff he had seen her use before when she bathed on the palm of her hand, and a grin on her face. "I love your hair.", she said. "It's so...so...PRETTY!!!", Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "It isn't pretty!!!", he replied.

"Is too!!!"

"Is not!"

"Is too! And so are you!"

~~~

He sat on a rock just below the surface, his back against the bank of the river. He watched as Kagome washed her own hair, and body. He watched as she lathered the soap on her arms, and washed it off with the river water. When she was clean, and free of any soap or shampoo he snuck up behind her and snaked his arms around her torso, burying his nose into her neck, and gently kissing it. She gasped in surprise, her heart skipping a beat, but soon turned her head to the right and kissed his temple, reaching back with her hand to scratch behind his ears. He began to caress the mating mark at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, and slowly kissed his way up to her jaw, his hands going down to grasp her waist. They moved up and down her sides, and wound around her to embrace her tightly.

Before either knew it, Inuyasha had Kagome pinned up against one of the rocks, and was kissing her as hard and deeply as he could, Kagome kissing him back just as passionately. His claws roamed her body, careful not to scratch her, and her hands gripped his slippery shoulders. He lifted her against him and she locked her legs around his waist.

"We shouldn't do this here..." he whispered breathlessly in between kisses. She responded by cupping his face with one hand, bringing her lips to his, and sliding her tongue into his mouth.

~~~

Inuyasha's head lay on Kagome's lap, resting, while she ate her rice ball. They were fully clothed now, their hair still damp from their bath, Inuyasha's haori swaying in the breeze on a tree branch, after being washed thoroughly.

She finished up her lunch and brought a hand down to draw lazy designs on his chest. "Do you think we should tell the others?"

He opened up his eyes and stared at a his fire rat jacket and the way it moved with the wind. "I'm not sure how they'll take it, better not."

Kagome nodded, her own eyes diverted to the sparkles on the surface of the river, "Hai, you're right." She lay back on the blanket and Inuyasha crawled up to snuggle his head into her hair, and entwine a leg around hers' while his arm held her against his body protectively.

"We really should go," he said.

"Hai, but I want to stay like this a little longer."

"Me too..." Kagome brought a hand up to stroke his cheek while she watched him drift off to sleep, knowing that as soon as they met up with the others things would go back to normal, or at least as normal as things could get now.

~~~

Because they both fell asleep, and because according to Inuyasha the village wasn't very far, and they needed to make up for lost time they decided to continue traveling through the night. To make things quicker he had insisted that Kagome ride on his back, but he really just wanted to hold her a little longer before they faced Miroku, and Sango. How would they react if they ever found out?

He could feel her warm body pressing against his back right now, her thighs on his hands. Her arms lay limply around his neck, her breath warm against it. He knew she was asleep, she hadn't said a word for about an hour now. Slowly coming to a halt, he slid her off his back careful not to wake her and placed her on the ground. He took off his newly clean haori, crisp from drying in the sun, and put it around her. He picked her up in his arms where she would be more comfortable, and swung her bag over a shoulder. As he began to race through the forest again, she burrowed her face into his chest and clasped the haori tightly.

It was dark, the only light available filtered from the moon through the canopy the leafy upper branches of the trees created. But it didn't bother Inuyasha, his demonic senses and eyes were more than enough to find his way through the forest. In the distance he could hear the owls hooting and such other creatures. There was still no sign of the village or of their friends.

"Friends...", he thought. Who would have ever thought he'd be here right now, on his way to meet his friends, his mate slumbering in his arms. It was ironic how things worked out sometimes. If he and Kikyo never betrayed each other he never would have met Kagome. If he had never been orphaned he might have never met Kikyo, and thus never met Kagome. He let out a small laugh; it was funny how things worked out sometimes.

Kagome mumbled something in her sleep, and he looked down at her, his lips curving into a smile. He hadn't said anything to her, but she carried his scent on her now. Voices up ahead reached his ears, and when he looked up he could make out the smoke coming from a fire in the center of the forest. "Could it be...?" Then the echo from a slap, and a rather loud screech of "Hentai!" reached his ears. He sweat-dropped; it was them.

He stopped about twenty meters from their camp, and lightly shook Kagome awake. He placed her on her feet, and slightly disoriented she clutched onto him. She looked around and with a yawn asked him, "Where are we?"

"Sango and Miroku made camp up ahead..." He slipped his hands into her shirt and began to gently rub her lower back, as her forehead fell onto his shoulder. She embraced him for a moment, a sort of goodbye, and with a small kiss to his collarbone, let him go.

"Come on Inuyasha, I'm starving." She smiled back at him, and held out her hand for him to take.

When they came within feet of the clearing, Inuyasha gave her small hand a squeeze and let it go.

~~~

"Kagome-chan!" Sango greeted as she stepped over Miroku and made her way towards the younger girl. "We missed you!" She gave her a quick hug, and stepped back to examine Inuyasha. "You too Inuyasha." Kirara purred against Kagome's leg and she bent to pick her up.

From behind Sango, Miroku stood and brushed himself off. "Ah, Kagome-sama, it is good to see you again." He walked up to Kagome and hugged her in the same manner Sango had. Kagome sweat-dropped when she felt his hands begin slip down her backside. "Miroku..." she warned, but Inuyasha's growl was more effective. "Hands off monk!"

Miroku stepped back, and waved his hands defensively.

~~~

They were all asleep, Sango and Kirara, and not too far from her Miroku. Across the fire from them Kagome lay in her sleeping bag, right beneath his tree. He dropped down next to her. She was restless, she kept tossing and turning and still sleep would not come. She had gotten used to having Inuyasha near during the few days they had been gone.

"Kagome?", she heard him whisper. She smiled and sat up on her elbows, scooting over to give him room. Inuyasha pulled back her covers a little and laid down next to her, as she brought down her head to rest on his chest. Her hand sought out his and when she found it she brought it up to her face, gently massaging it. It was rough, and callused. Not smooth, or soft, or delicate like her own, but to her they were beautiful. There were a few scabs, and some scars here and there that would soon fade. She kissed it and held it to her chest as Inuyasha's heart beat lulled her to a peaceful sleep.

~ * ~ * ~

Phew! Thought I'd never finish this chapter, I got kinda lazy....Hopefully the next one will be out on schedule by next Saturday, but you never know. Nothing was really going on in this chapter...kinda borin' but fuffy.

-Luminescent