InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ Dinner, Math, and a Better Plan than Cartoons ( Chapter 32 )

A/N: All Inuyasha characters and references belong to the creator of Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi and published by Shogakukan. Any other characters are more than likely my own creation. If I borrow directly from another story I will do my best to make sure I give credit where credit is due. I will be pulling some material (ideas and inspirations) from Burn Notice, Leverage, Scorpion, Supernatural, and Lockwood & Co.


Thanks for your reviews hms1975 and chika_alternita! I’m glad you guys liked Felix. I wasn’t sure if adding him would be too much or not so it was reassuring. Kagome will be dealing with him at least a few more times in future. And I know what you meant about rushing things and I’m trying not to do that. I always think the good stuff has no payoff if there’s no foundation for it to stand strong on. That being said…. Lol, see the following statement.

*** Mild lemon alert, kinda… ish (I assume since you’re still reading at this point you have seen the rating and understand all that it implies can happen, both the good stuff and the bad. Also, be kind, as this is the first time I have EVER let anyone else see this kind of writing of mine. I’ve written both fluffy and serious smut now and then for years, but never put anything out there. Eeep!)

*** Dinner, Math, and a Better Plan than Cartoons **
03212015 (numbers are for my own purposes, don’t mind them)

As they pulled back into the garage, Kagome saw a big red Hayabusa propped up next to the dusty silver motorcycle that had been there when they’d left. When he saw her looking at it Inuyasha explained, “that one’s mine. I had Gabriel ride it back for me.”

She considered the silver Ducati and asked, “then this other one is Sesshomaru’s?”

Inuyasha nodded. “Yep, as you can see, he doesn’t get out much lately.” Kagome pursed her lips and shrugged over the thick layer of dust on the bike. Who was she to judge? She didn’t know much about the alpha Warden.

When Inuyasha and Kagome walked in, the house was warm and full of people. The voices filling the air gave the impression that almost everyone had to be in the kitchen. Kagome stopped as the sounds and smells overwhelmed her. There hadn’t ever been quite this many people, but this was what it felt like when her family had been together during the holidays; years ago, when she was little. The feeling washed over her, and on its heels she was hit again with the knowledge that nearly everything was gone. It was only herself and her grandmother left. She would never have this feeling with family again. The fact sat low in her belly, like a frigid stone that chilled her insides.

Inuyasha was almost to the door of the kitchen when he noticed Kagome wasn’t behind him anymore; and he turned back. She stood in the front hall, one hand still on the door knob, the other tightly clutching the strap of the yellow backpack over her shoulder. Her face looked strangely blank, eyes staring at the floor as though she were lost in the dark. He frowned and walked back down the hall. When he got close to her those vivid blue-gray eyes snapped up to him in surprise and she took half a step back against the front door.

“Hey…” he said quietly, taking her hand that remained on the door, weaving his fingers with hers. “What’s going on in there?” He couldn’t feel the usual return of anxiety, but rather a painful sadness that seemed to lap at his mind like unpleasant waves.

Kagome smiled a little ruefully. This question was beginning to feel like a somewhat endearing ritual between them and she ached for it to be just that, but wasn’t sure if it was possible. She took a deep breath but as she opened her mouth to answer him, Sango came out of the noisy kitchen and called, “yep, that’s them. Come on guys, supper’s ready.”

When she disappeared again Inuyasha turned back to Kagome. Before she could register what he was doing, he cupped her cheek in one warm, rough palm, and leaned down to press his lips to hers. She gasped against his mouth in surprise and found that somehow the frigid space in her gut was suddenly warm and not nearly so uncomfortable. Against her lips he said quietly, “later. Come eat.” She swallowed and nodded, set her bag down against the wall, and let him lead her into the bright, noisy kitchen.

The cozy room was alive with people talking, setting the table, and pouring glasses of this and that. They all seemed as happy to see Kagome as they were to see Inuyasha. Sesshomaru stood at the end of the kitchen island with his arms crossed, not saying much but surveying the whole cacophony with some amusement. Beyond the initial look of contentment though, it was easy to see he was only half there in the room with them, mentally processing probably half a dozen different things connected in some way or other to the people he was preparing to share a meal with.

Shippo ran up to give her a hug, and mercifully, was gentler this time. Kagome smiled down at him and ruffled his hair. “Hey Shippo, how was school?”

The little kitsune grinned and said, “it was okay. Our whole class caught a bunch of caterpillar pets on the playground, but Ms. Brukner got angry because some people brought them inside and there were two on her shoulder during music time.”

Kagome couldn’t help but laugh and when Shippo asked what she’d done today, told him about learning to put a motorcycle back together. She thought it best to leave Felix and his issues out of things. There was struggle for a moment as Shippo tried to decide whether caterpillars or motorcycles won as the coolest activity. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I think they’re both pretty cool. Today was a win hugh?” When she held out her hand the fox demon agreed and gave her a high five.

Rosalind somehow managed to get the madness straightened out. The table was laid and everybody formed a line, serving themselves from several large casserole dishes of hot shepherd’s pie and a platter of fresh dinner rolls at the island counter. Once everyone was seated the noise level fell considerably as they dug in. Rosalind couldn’t help wondering how she could’ve forgotten how nice this felt when they were all together at the house. Though she knew that, to some extent, they all lead separate lives, this more than anything else felt like home. When Sesshomaru caught her eye she gave him a pointed look as she put a big bite of her dinner in her mouth. She wasn’t positive, but she thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch like he wanted to smile. Something about that little quirk always made her own lips twitch into a smile of their own.

When dinner was over, the kids disappeared into the living room with Sango to work on homework. Rosalind was pulling out plastic wrap to put away the minimal leftovers when Kagome came over and stood near-by to ask, “can I help? I feel bad, you spend all this time cooking and I’m adding an extra mouth to this crowd. You shouldn’t have to do the entire cleanup.”

Rosalind smiled appreciatively. “Yeah sure! Thanks. Here…” she handed her the plastic wrap. “Go ahead and cover this last bowl and put it in the bottom shelf of the fridge. I’ll get started with the dishes.” They worked quietly alongside one another for a few minutes, Rosalind rinsing and Kagome stacking the dishes into the big dishwasher. Rosalind raised a brow when Inuyasha started carrying the rest of the cups to her from the table, leaving them next to the sink for her as she worked. The red head raised her eyebrows and smiled. “Assembly line action, I like it. You put him in such a helpful mood Kagome. He’s always been kind of a brat about dishes.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Only you would call someone who’s been alive as long as I have a brat.” She grinned. “Maybe some people just never grow up. It’s not a bad thing… necessarily. Not a judgment, just an observation…”

Kagome blinked at the repeated expression and laughed softly to herself. “He said that to me earlier.”

Rosalind looked at them curiously. “Oh? About what?”

Inuyasha set down the last load of dishes and reached over Rosalind’s shoulder to dip a cloth in hot soapy water, “I told her she was a magnet for trouble. Go ahead, swear on your life I’m wrong. I dare you.”

Rosalind scrunched up her nose and gave Kagome an apologetic look. “Sorry, I don’t know you terribly well, but if the past week is anything to go by he’s probably right, at least for now.”

Kagome sighed and shrugged, stacking another glass in the top rack. “Probably so.” She smiled a little and said, “he showed me the Bugatti this afternoon.”

Rosalind’s grin widened a little. “Sexy car hugh? It’s gorgeous. The ride is even better.”

Inuyasha finished wiping down the counter and came to lean against the cupboard next to the Kagome. “I’ll told her I’d take her out for a drive when some stuff blows over. That car’s a lot of fun but it’s the opposite of inconspicuous, and that’s the name of the game right now.”

The red head sighed sadly. “That’s too bad. It’s a pretty fun machine. Sesshomaru’s racer is pretty darn nice too, though I’ve never been in that one. Come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen him drive it.”

Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest and told them, “it’s been a while since he raced. He doesn’t enjoy the small time stuff like I do. He doesn’t see the fun in playing in any other weight class. The last car meet he went to involved tuxedos, champagne and a bunch of other rich guys in a shiny airplane hangar. Those are fun cars but the party’s just plain torture.”

Rosalind let out a wry laugh. “Yes, you prefer the crowd that lives on food stamps because they’re too dumb to use their money on their groceries instead of modifying their fuel system. Racing is more important than eating.”

Inuyasha scowled. “They aren’t all like that. There’s some money to be made there if you’re any good. It’s just not a multi-million dollar pot. Besides, those drivers are more fun and there’s a lot more of them that do their own work than there is in the billionaires’ crowd.”

Kagome gawked for a moment, sure she must have misheard him. “You can’t be serious.”

Inuyasha looked at her blankly. “About what?”

She arched a brow, skeptical. “Billionaires?”

He snorted and smirked. “Yeah, really. Sesshomaru enjoys business. It’s just a different kind of war logic. Strategy has always been what he’s wired for. It’s hell trying to pull one over on him.”

Rosalind looked a little surprised too. “I knew he was wealthy but I didn’t know he was a billionaire.”

Inuyasha shrugged. “Live long enough and wealth just turns into this thing that builds up over time, but yeah, it builds more when you like playing with it.”

Kagome’s lips curved in amusement. “Must be nice, is that how you can afford a Bugatti Veyron?”

He shrugged again. “I’ll have you know at least 70 percent of the money that went to that ride was legitimately, lawfully earned.”

She arched a brow and smiled up at him as she asked, “what about the other 30 percent?”

He continued to grin and swing his ring of keys around a finger. “That was just legitimately earned.”

Rosalind gave him a dry look as she wiped down the empty sink with lemon and baking soda. “Uh-hugh… in the races or fights?”

Kagome raised both brows this time, looking at Rosalind. The other woman frowned a little, remembering the large scar that stretched across Inuyasha’s torso. He shrugged, unconcerned. “A bit of both… and some under-the-table military and law enforcement training contracts.”

When Kagome looked at him a little incredulously he held out his hands. “What? It’s not my fault if those idiots are dumb enough to pay me to put them on the floor. It’s good money and there’s really very little work involved. Not much planning and no product to move. Where’s bad?”

Rosalind sighed and exchanged disapproving looks with Kagome. “I know, I agree. The other guys do it too some times.” She looked at the door to the living room to make sure the kids were all far enough away before she turned her eyes to Inuyasha again. “Bad is where Miroku calls me at three in the morning to come stitch you back together.”

Inuyasha snorted dismissively and rolled his eyes. “He panicked, it wasn’t necessary. I would have been fine in a few days.” Rosalind looked like she wanted to argue the point but glanced at Kagome’s face and held up her hands in defeat. “Whatever you say Inuyasha. Thanks for the help guys. I’m gonna go check on the homework crowd. See you guys in a bit. I think we’re meeting in the front room in two hours.”

After Rosalind walked away Inuyasha sighed and started opening cupboards. “Turn the burner on under that kettle, would ya?”

Kagome couldn’t imagine he was a tea drinker, but did as she was asked. After a few moments of searching, he found what he was after. He set a glass jar labeled NETTLE on the counter in front of her, along with a mug and tea strainer. When she gave him a curious look he said, “you were limping again earlier.”

She swallowed, remembering why her leg had seized, her skin crawling a little at the memory of Hiroki’s fingers on her cheek, and nodded. A few minutes later she was sipping her tea and Inuyasha sat next to her at the end of the table, flipping through a copy of Popular Mechanics magazine. Kohaku poked his head around the kitchen door. “Hey… Kagome?”

She looked up in surprise, realizing all of a sudden that she’d rarely heard the teenage boy speak. She blinked and before she could respond, Inuyasha asked, “what’s up kid?”

Kohaku held up his algebra book. “I’m running into some trouble and Rosie said you might be better at math than her and Sango. Got a minute?”

Kagome shook off her surprise and said, “uh… yeah, sure, no problem.”

Kohaku looked relieved and dropped into the seat across from her. As he opened his book she asked, “what are you guys working on?”

The lanky boy winced. “Dividing polynomials… I think my head’s about to explode.”

She laughed and shook her head. “We’ll maybe we can keep that from happening. Let’s see…” Kagome slid his scratch paper over to take a look and they got to work. After almost an hour of patient explanation and repetition on her part Kohaku seemed to be improving, or at least getting the right answers three out of five times. He sat back and turned off his calculator. “You’re definitely better at this than Rosie. English Lit and Biology are more her dig.”

Inuyasha snorted out a laugh. “She failed Algebra twice. Rosie can do a lot of things well but numbers mixed with letters never really were her thing.”

Kohaku’s eyes widened and he grinned. “Seriously? She failed twice?” Inuyasha nodded, then saw the look on the boy’s face and realized his mistake. Looking a little guilty he muttered, “don’t tell her I said that.”

Kohaku’s grin just got wider and he crossed his arms over his chest, tipping his chair on its back two legs. “What’s it worth to ya?”

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and bared his fangs a little. “How about your good looks? I saw you palling around downtown with that leggy brunette. Think she’d be impressed with a busted nose?”

Kagome choked on her tea but Kohaku was still grinning, apparently comfortably certain Inuyasha wouldn’t carry out his threat. The kid rubbed his fingers together in the universal sign for currency exchange. “How about fifty bucks? Those legs like ice cream dates.”

Inuyasha looked at him with consideration. “Twenty, ice cream don’t cost that much.”

Kohaku countered. “Thirty, it does after you take her to the movies.”

After a moment’s consideration the half demon shook his head, getting his wallet out of his pocket. “Deal, but remember, this is a one-time thing. It ain’t worth a double black mail to me. Plus, you try it, and next time you sneak off someplace Sango told you not to go… I’ll hang you out to dry.”

Kohaku hooted with victory and collected his winnings. He packed up his homework and loosely saluted them, a gesture she’d seen from several of the Wardens now. “Thanks for the help Kagome.” She nodded and laughed to herself as the boy left the kitchen. When she was sure he was out of ear shot she shook her head. “What a little scammer.”

Inuyasha sighed. “Yeah… it’s a danger of a bunch of criminals raising kids. They learn quick how much information is worth and use it against us.”

She laughed again and sipped her tea. “And the brunette? Really? He can’t be old enough to date.”

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. “He’s actually only about four or five years younger than you. Didn’t you date in high school? You only graduated, what…. a year ago at most?”

She shook her head. “I finished three years early, skipped sixth, seventh and ninth grade. And I’ll be 20 in a few months, in May.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “I think you missed half the point of school. I never went- but even I get it.”

She set her mug back on the table and looked at him doubtfully. “Get what?”

He sat back in his chair and explained. “Half of going to school is screwing around with other kids, figuring out who you are, what you like and don’t like, who you like and don’t like. What’s in most of those books isn’t real important. You said you had a boyfriend at least once right?”

Kagome looked thoughtful, then said quietly, “yes… Hojo. He was sweet but- it was a weird situation… and in the end I just wasn’t as interested in him as I was in my calculous class or learning to crack WIFI routers and Webroot.”

Inuyasha winced. “Ouch… I hope you didn’t tell him that. The poor sucker will have a complex the rest of his life.”

She bit her lip on a smile and shook her head, hesitated, then admitted, “also… I now know that he was a really bad kisser.”

Inuyasha barked out a laugh and leaned forward on his elbows, slowly taking one of her hands in his and rubbing light circles on the back of it with his thumb. He had other questions he wanted to ask, but they would all lead to territory too close to all the things that made her whole manner constrict with tension, and she’d have to do that again before long anyway when they held their meet-all. He wanted her to be able to enjoy the rest of the time in between and relax. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he said she needed to decompress.

“Come on…” he said, standing up and pulling her out of her seat. She gave him a curious look but followed him. He led her back to his rooms and into the bedroom. Once the bedroom door was closed all but a crack he turned on the lamp next to the bed. She stood against the wall, clutching her mug of tea and looking a little perplexed.

He came to stand in front of her, covering her small hands with his and taking the tea mug. After he set it on the bed side table he took her hands again and pulled her towards him while he walked backwards to the bed. She frowned and he could smell her nerves jumping, fear and doubt creeping into her scent in a sickly spiral. He shook his head. “Don’t do that, you’re alright. I want to take a look at your ribs again.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed and gently tugged the belt loops at her hips until she was standing between his knees. His bed had no headboard, footboard, or frame. The mattress and bedspring sat right down on the floor, putting him at eye level with her torso. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “It’s doing better. It’s fine.” Inuyasha snorted, propping his hands on his thighs as he looked up at her. “If I had a nickel for every time you said you were fine when you weren’t, I wouldn’t have to worry about any kind of pay check for years.”

When she still hesitated he gave her a disapproving look, his right ear twitching back and forth once. Her eyes tracked the movement and he got an idea. “You can mess with my ears again if you let me take a look.”

She scowled. “You like it when I touch your ears.”

He grinned, flashing some fang. “Yeah, but so do you.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, hands dropping to the hem of her heavy sweatshirt as she muttered, “fine.” He chuckled as she pulled the sweater over her head. He lifted the hem of her black, long sleeve shirt just until he could see the band of her sports bra. She laced her fingers up behind her neck and chewed her lip uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at him.

When he looked down, golden eyes scanned the cloud of color across her side and he frowned. It looked better, no doubt. The darkest colors had faded to sickly shades of brown and yellow. He’d been concerned yesterday. She’d still been so marked up after the sword had been used and she’d gotten some rest. Now that the bruising wasn’t so bad and the swelling was gone, he could tell she’d actually had some real muscle tone before her body had been so badly abused. Even now she had some faint definition across her lower belly, the kind of muscles you get only by being very active. He felt his mouth go a little dry and ran his hands down her sides, brushing one of the bruises lightly with his thumb. She shivered at his touch and he frowned a little at how chilly her skin felt. “You’re still cold.”

She smiled ruefully and told him, “I’m usually running a little cool Inuyasha. It’s a constant state of being for my kind.”

He sighed and let her shirt fall. “Well…” he said slowly. He scooted back a little and pulled one of her belt loops until she fell over with him onto the bed. She cried out in surprise and tried to squirm away but he held her close. “I guess you’ll just need to be warmed up,” he teased, settling her slim frame on top of his and giving her a shameless grin.

“Inuyasha… please…” she muttered, laughing a little as she braced her elbows on either side of his head and tried to squirm away again. He just kept holding onto her. “Please what? You gonna shock me again? And if you don’t want this to get awkward, you should really stop the wiggling.”

She paused, looking at him quizzically, but then her face froze as she felt something hard pressed insistently against her hip. She went tight as a bowstring in his arms and nearly stopped breathing. He shook his head and relaxed his hold a little, sighing. “I tried to warn you.”

Kagome swallowed hard and he breathed in deeply, gathering in her scent as he watched her eyes, felt the surge of her anxiety in his mind, and waited to see how she would process the situation. She still wasn’t breathing, and though he sensed the return of fear, there was also the faint fragrant addition of arousal. He reached up and tugged the tie off the end of her messy braid, carefully loosening the long tresses with his fingers and brushing them away from her face.

She was nervous, but she hadn’t jumped away, and that was something. Wary blue-gray eyes flicked to his and he remained purposefully relaxed, despite the raging hard on she’d given him. Carefully he said, “you already know you turn me on. I hope by now you also know I’m not gonna to do anything with you that you don’t want to do.”

Kagome finally let out a shuddering breath and pulled in another, her eyes cutting to the side. He frowned and added, “we’re not all like them.” She closed her eyes tightly, dropping her head to his shoulder while she pulled herself together. Then she looked at him again and said slowly, “I know. I think I would want to… but I’m not sure, and it… it’s not a good idea…”

He ran his fingers through her hair again, his voice low and a little husky as he said, “and even if you were sure, you aren’t ready. There’s no reason we have to do anything more than this… right here.”

After a few minutes of quiet she seemed to relax into him, some of her muscles loosening. She licked her lips and he wanted to press up against her tighter at the sight, but controlled himself. Her lips twitched into an uncertain smile, and she looked at him cautiously. “Isn’t that… er… uncomfortable… down there?”

He snorted and laughed once. “Uh…. Yeah, it is, but I guess it’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

She raised a brow and he explained quietly, “despite the case of constant blue balls it’s probably going to give me, this is nice.” He squeezed his arms around her waist gently. She bit down on her lip and despite his words, he felt the control on his libido slip a notch. If he was going to behave himself, she had to quit doing that. Inuyasha closed his eyes and ran his hands up and down her sides once, twice, then settled them on her hips.

Kagome ran her fingers slowly into his silver white hair, enjoying the contrast of it against her hands. She hesitated; as if she was waiting for him to stop her, and when he didn’t she relaxed a little more. Her fingers ran through his hair and up to his ears, very gently stroking the soft white fur. Her lips couldn’t seem to help smiling as she saw him soften a bit in content enjoyment. When she shifted a little on top of him, that softness went away again and he couldn’t quite quash a low groan. Her hands stopped their small movements.

He opened his eyes to see her nervous expression. Slowly, her lips curling at the edges, she asked curiously, “is that a good sound, or a bad sound?”

He snorted out the single word, “both.”

Kagome’s smile began to fade. “Should I move?”

Inuyasha’s brain screamed, ‘gods yes, start moving and don’t stop.’ But out loud he said, “nah, just… stay put.”

She considered him for a long moment and to his complete shock, she moved her hips a little against his again, experimentally. He gasped and gripped her hips tighter. She blushed but looked somewhat intrigued by the reaction she’d caused in him, and he couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. Slowly, she did it once more, rolling her hips down and forward against his hard length with a little more confidence. He emitted a low, appreciative sound, and she felt him get hard as rock, his cock twitching once against her.

She licked her lips again and now it was him that swallowed hard. Voice a little husky he said, “Kagome… that feels great, but either you have to stop, or you have to let me take these pants off. Jeans do not have the room for this kind of thing.” He could feel her pull back a little and called himself a thousand kinds of stupid for saying anything. ‘Baka, you should have just suffered and enjoyed it while it lasted.’

Inuyasha watched her face flicker with more than one emotion as she took a deep breath and sat up. Hesitantly, she asked, “just your jeans? We don’t have to… um… take off… anything else?”

His brain locked up, unwilling to believe his luck. Slowly, he nodded, running his hands over the outsides of her thighs where she straddled him. “You don’t have to Kagome.” Again, despite his words, her arousal had thickened in his nose and he could feel every cell in his body screaming, ‘yes- yes she DOES have to, she has to over and over again or we’re gonna die.’

She sucked in another uneasy breath but nodded once, blushing. “If you’re sure… we can do that… I think… just this once.” She added the last part a little breathlessly. He patted her knee and she moved to the side, letting him get to his feet. The first thing he did was close the door the rest of the way and turn the lock, explaining simply, “there’s kids in the house.”

Kagome went an even deeper shade of scarlet and he remembered what Rosalind had said about control. He had to lock the door, but he could give her control over her situation in another way, maybe. Inuyasha came back and took one of her hands, pulled her to her knees on the bed, and leaned down to kiss her deeply. She returned the kiss almost immediately, and he pulled her hand down to the button of his pants, hoping she would understand what he meant. He was still surprised, and concerned this was too fast to go even this far, as skittish as she’d been that first day he’d met her. If she couldn’t make herself undo the button with her own fingers, then he would know it was too fast, and slow it down. Possibly, it would require dousing himself in ice, but for her he’d give it a shot.

To his great relief, she hesitated no more than a moment, tugging the button loose and slowly pulling the zipper down. He nearly growled in approval when she let her fingers brush his erection through the gray boxer briefs. Instead, he kissed her again, slowly sliding his tongue against hers. She rose to meet him, and her taste was enough to make him loose a sigh against her lips as he slid his hands up her sides. When he pulled away she was panting slightly and her eyes shone. He toed off his boots and stepped on his cuffs to slide out of his jeans and socks.

Kagome’s eyes followed him closely as he sat down and lay back on the bed again, dressed only in his shirt and boxers. Now that they’d separated a little, she was less sure of herself again and he held out an arm for her. Slowly, she toed off her sneakers as well and lay down alongside him. Without any effort, he pulled her body atop his again, rubbing small circles on her lower back. He could see she was nervous and he joked a little as he tried to set her at ease. “You have the say on what does and doesn’t happen. But no matter how bad you want me, remember we aren’t knocking boots all the way here right now… okay?”

Her lips twitched in a short, tight smile, and she nodded. Kagome braced herself properly over him again, then leaned down to kiss him as he smoothed his fingers up her cotton covered back, into her hair. When she released a small sound of appreciation, he raised his hips against hers once, nudging her gently. She gasped into his mouth, better able to feel the exact outline of him hard against her, now that there was only one layer of denim between them, rather than two. It excited her, and at the same time, made her apprehensive on a few very basic levels. He suddenly felt a lot bigger than she would have thought possible. After a moment’s pause she rolled her hips against him obligingly and he let his head fall back at the welcome pressure, releasing a low sigh of gratitude as she did it a second time, and breathing out the words, “good gods Kagome…”

She smiled a little and did it again, grinding her hips down against his rigid cock. He raised his pelvis to meet her and they developed a rhythm, moving against one another. As he ran his hands up her back, all rational thought was sliding away and he thrust up against her rolling hips faster. She adjusted her pace, leaning down to kiss his neck while his hands ran down her back to grasp those moving hips. He kissed her again deeply, she let out a soft whimpering sound of her own.

Kagome was happy to move faster, as somehow the seam of her jeans had lined up just right along his twitching cock, and she was beginning to feel an insistent heat pooling in her belly and cork screwing pleasantly through her. With each press she felt like she was getting closer to something that was just out of sight, something she suddenly and desperately needed. A low rumble erupted from Inuyasha’s chest when she let her teeth skim his lip. She paused, unsure, and looked up at him. His gold eyes had sharpened and heated to rich amber, the iris actually shot through with red at the edges. His growl and this change shook her and she wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake giving into this urge.

His eyes met hers and though his voice was rough, his touch remained gentle. “You’re alright… keep going… if you can. Hang on…” He pushed her to sit up while he pulled his shirt over his head and tucked part of it into his boxers.

She bit her lip, eyes sliding over his well-muscled chest and abs, catching for only a moment on the large scar across his stomach. Immediately, he guided her back down to him and rose to kiss her hard, pulling her lower lip into his mouth. She moaned and relaxed back into him more easily, returning his eager thrust against her center. Inuyasha inhaled deeply, the smell of the garage clung to her, mixing with the scent of her arousal in a way that made him a little crazy.

His hands slid down her sides and without hesitation, moved lower to grasp her butt, pulling her tightly against him as they fell back into rhythm. Kagome found to her surprise that, opposite of making her nervous, she liked this. She moved faster, that seam rubbing a sweet spot that made her whimper again as he pressed against her. A minute later he bucked hard, emitting another low, rumbling growl as he slid over the edge, spilling out into the shirt he’d tucked in his boxers.

They lay there for a minute, panting, before Kagome muttered haltingly, “I can’t believe I did that… was that… good?”

He opened his eyes and laughed a little, squeezing her butt where he still held her. “Yes… that was good.” Inuyasha met her somewhat unfocused eyes, her face was flushed and her lips swollen in the most delicious way. “How’re you doing in there?” He searched the perimeters of his mind for hers and found a tangled and confused, but well heated arousal, shifting uneasily.

She pulled in a shuddering breath and nodded once. “ I’m ok… I don’t... I don’t know.”

He frowned a little. “Don’t know?” Now, as good as it had felt, his brain cells began kicking back into gear and he wondered if he should have put more effort into restraint. Had it been too much, too fast after all? He’d tried to pay attention, but towards the end he’d nearly lost the ability to see straight, and he hadn’t even been in the ballpark of coherent thought.

Kagome focused on him and she saw with some relief, the same warm, inquisitive golden eyes she was used to, the sharp red-tinged gaze gone, as if it had never been. She licked dry lips and tried to take stock of herself. “I feel… I don’t know how to explain it.”

His frown deepened and he moved one hand carefully to her bruised side. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head right away and squirmed a little over him. “No… nothing like that. Somehow…” her face was burning and she looked away at the rumpled blanket next to them. Inuyasha gave her butt a gentle squeeze again and ran his hands up her back, sliding them beneath her shirt to run over her smooth skin. With this touch, he felt her body relax again where it had been starting to tense. He brought his nose up to nuzzle her neck, kissing her pulse and prodding her quietly. “Somehow… what?”

She still wouldn’t look at him as she said, almost so quietly he wouldn’t have heard if he weren’t equipped with demon ears. “Like somehow, I wanted… like I’m missing something… or doing it wrong.”

He blinked, then smiled and let out what could only be described as a husky chuckle against her neck. She pulled back to look at him and he brushed her hair away from her face. “Well yeah- I got to finish- you didn’t.” She considered his words for a minute and the way her face worked through self-conscious doubt, a thought whispered into his mind; a scenario that he thought couldn’t possibly be. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and asked, “you have… uh… finished before, right?”

Kagome went even redder and wouldn’t look at him again. “Maybe, I’m not sure.”

He took a second to be floored by this thought, and then felt like a jerk. He’d just had dry sex with this woman, and while he knew she’d been enjoying it, he’d finished without any way to ensure she got to do the same. He hadn’t guessed for a second that she hadn’t realized that going in. A part of him felt absolute rage that she’d been through what she had, and been sure she was pregnant on top of it, without ever having experienced how good being with another warm body could feel. He puzzled through this for a minute. Slowly he said, “if you’d ever had an orgasm, you’d know it, trust me… you’d be sure.”

She frowned now and shook her head, whispering, “then- I guess not.” She looked ashamed of herself somehow, and he couldn’t understand why. He hated the way that emotion looked on her, reducing her countenance to that of a kicked puppy. He leaned up and kissed her warmly, tilting her chin back so she was forced to look at him. “You weren’t doing anything wrong, that’s for damn sure. In fact, I think you’re probably the only woman on earth who could get me off like that without even showing any extra skin. If anything you should be proud of yourself; that’s kind of impressive.”

Her expression eased a bit and she exhaled, leaning her cheek into his palm and closing her eyes. When she opened them again he said cautiously, “I’d love to iron this out this for you, but I don’t know how to make that happen with all your clothes on. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

She chewed her lip, pondering his words, then asked, “how far would I have to go?”

Inuyasha didn’t answer right away. He lay beneath her, trying to think of a way to go about things without resorting to a home run score. She was nowhere near ready for that- but she deserved to feel good. She deserved it doubly after the number she’d just done on him. He hoped he could do that for her, despite the fact he didn’t have a lot of practice with taking things slow and easy like this. Finally he said, “let me up, then I think I have an idea.”

Kagome rolled off of him and he got to his feet, turning away from her to clean himself up. He tossed the dirty shirt into a laundry hamper in the corner, before sliding his jeans back on. He didn’t particularly want them, but he thought maybe it would make her more comfortable. He left the room for a minute to wash his hands and returned, locking the door again behind him. Kagome was sitting cross legged on what had become his side of the bed, looking a little lost and frustrated.

She’d gasped as he’d turned to lock the door and he looked sharply back in her direction at the sound. She sat with a hand over her mouth and he couldn’t imagine what she was reacting to. “What?” he finally asked.

Kagome said softly, “the scar on your stomach… there’s one on your back, too.” She’d seen more scars and wounds than she could count, though they weren’t usually on living bodies. Some of them hadn’t even been physically there at all, but she knew enough to see the wound he must have had would surely have been fatal for a human. Her stomach lurched a little at the thought of Inuyasha laying with something stabbed all the way through his body. It had clearly been something more substantial than a blade or bullet

Inuyasha’s hand went to the scar on his lower back briefly and his expression darkened for a moment, then he shrugged. “Yeah… that was a nasty one, but it was a long time ago. It’s almost gone… maybe in another 10 or 15 years.”

Kagome asked hesitantly, “was that the injury you mentioned earlier, when Sango had to wash your hair in the sink?”

He snorted out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “No way. This one’s a lot older than that, more than 200 years old actually. The one I mentioned back at the apartment was just a bad slice across the ribs. It disappeared completely after a month or so. Don’t worry about it.”

As he spoke, he opened the drawer in the desk that sat against the wall near the empty fireplace and pulled out a short knife. Kagome frowned a little as he pulled a small garbage bin up onto the desk and began to smoothly trim the sharp ends off of his claws with the strange knife. The tool had a strange, clear, crystalline blade and a handle wrapped in leather stripping. She could feel a very faint trace of a strange demon’s energy coming from whatever it was made of.

Her eyes flicked between his hands and face as she asked, “what are you doing?”

Inuyasha looked up at her for half a second before he turned his gaze back down to the knife. “I don’t want to hurt you by accident. Don’t worry about it, these will grow back in about two or three hours.”

Inuyasha finished his task quickly, left the strange knife on the desk, and came back to sit down on the bed with her. He pulled himself up to lean against the wall. When she finally met his eyes again he explained carefully, “if you can be okay with opening your jeans I think we can work something out.” She looked perplexed and was wound tight again, her apprehension buzzing away at him. He bent one knee, bracing his foot on the mattress, and offered her a hand. She looked at him doubtfully and he said, “if you don’t like what I’m doing, you say so, and it stops. It’s that simple.”

For a second he thought she would change her mind and refuse. Privately he figured that much sexual tension would be enough to make anyone self-destruct, but maybe she had a secret to dealing with it if she’d made it to nearly 20 years old without having an orgasm once. Kagome hid her face for a moment, muttering to herself. “I must be out of my mind.”

But she took his hand and let him pull her over to sit between his knees, her back against his chest. He brushed her long hair to the side and laid a kiss against her neck, stopping when he felt her body tense up right away. He rubbed her arms and nuzzled her ear, ordering gently, “talk to me.”

Kagome murmured in a weak voice, “I don’t think I can do this. I need… I’d need to be able to see you.” She began to pull away and he lightly squeezed her arms. “Hang on. Work with me for a minute here. Scoot down.”

He helped her shift so she lay in his lap, her head on his right hip, rather than up by his shoulders. Now she could look up and see him and he gave her a reassuring look. “How’s that?”

Slowly, she nodded, her fingers nervously pulling the ends of her sleeves down over her hands. He ran his fingers down her cotton covered arms and back up again. He just rubbed her shoulders for a minute until she started to relax, then he explained, “we’ll use traffic lights. Ever play that game? If you like what I’m doing, you can say nothing, or say green. If we’re getting iffy, tell me yellow. If you want me to stop you can say red.”

She nodded again, letting her hands rest on his legs on either side of her. He just rubbed her shoulders for a minute more, then began to smooth his fingers over the skin at the neck of her shirt. She swallowed, but didn’t say anything as he ran his fingers under the neck line a little, gliding over smooth, soft skin. As his hands came back up to her collar bone, she tensed and he felt her hands tighten on his legs. He looked down at her and asked, “what color?”

Kagome had to clear her throat before she said, “yellow.”

He ran his fingers down until he was massaging the tops of her breasts, deciding this was as good a time as any to establish where her problem areas were, so as to avoid freaking her out in future, if he was lucky enough to have the opportunity. He stroked and massaged her in turns, feeling himself go a little hard again as he waited for her responses. She pulled in a breath and whispered, “green.”

This surprised him, and he massaged for a moment more before pulling his hands up to her shoulders, running them across her upper chest again, tracing her collarbone. Her hands tightened again and she gasped, “yellow.” He frowned and paused before lightly running his hands a little closer to her neck. She squeezed his leg harder and he backed his hands away to her shoulders, smoothing his palms down her arms again all the way down to her wrists and back. “Your neck’s a red zone then,” he said, not really asking as he looked down into her face. She nodded mutely, her eyes sliding away from his.

He felt the beast in his chest snarling at the thought of a man holding her by the neck. He remembered the collar of bruises that had been there though, and there was no doubting she’d been half strangled more than once. He gave her a moment to calm and then ran his hands back down to the tops of her breasts, rubbing small circles with his thumbs. She seemed to do alright, even began to enjoy it until he slid his fingers into the fabric of the sports bra, just brushing the edges of her nipples. Her voice was uncertain as she whispered, “yellow… almost red.”

A part of Inuyasha was dying to see those breasts, to touch them out of the tight binding. But he backed off, accepting that it would have to wait. He rubbed small circles down the sides of her breasts, where her skin was like silk, and as long as he didn’t actually touch her nipples, she seemed to relax. He pulled her shirt up, folding the front of it over her bra, running his warm hands over her sides and belly, applying very little pressure where she still had bruising.

He frowned a little, tracing the pinkish brown scar that stretched down her side where she’d had a long bleeding gash the day he’d found her. He moved on, making a point of not calling attention to it. This she seemed to enjoy as well, and he spent several minutes just letting her feel comfortable being touched. Humans liked to think they were so different from the rest of the species on the planet, but really, both humans and demons often enjoyed a good rub down just as much as, often more, than any dog, cat or horse did.

He smiled a little at the thought and asked softly, “how are we doing in there?”

She sighed softly and murmured, “green.”

His hands slid down to her hips, his thumbs dipping briefly below her waistband before he moved to massage her lower abdominal muscles. As he worked he told her, “undo the button and zipper for me.” He wanted to do it himself, but he knew it was important that she be a part of this, go into it under her own steam. She bit her lip and he took her hands in his, guiding them to slide down her own stomach. Finally she tugged the button loose. He could feel her breathing become more shallow as she undid the zipper, revealing the top of her black cotton panties. He continued to run his hands along her sides, reminding her, “you can say ‘red’ any time.”

Privately he took a moment to appreciate that there was no way he would have managed this in any kind of civilized fashion if she hadn’t already pushed him to a finish once just now, because he was fully hard again. Kagome moved her hands back to his legs and he rubbed small circles over her stomach and abdomen before tracing the lines of her pelvic area and hips. He was careful to run his fingers only over top of her underwear at first.

The scent of her arousal was rising slowly again, despite her nerves, and he ran his fingers around the place he most wanted to touch, letting his palms slide down to the tops of her legs before coming back up to her hips. Kagome was looking up at him, her eyes focused on the ceiling as he ran his fingers closer and closer to her center. Her breath hitched as he lightly traced her center through her underwear with the pad of his thumb, and she whispered, “yellow.”

Inuyasha nodded and did the same thing over and over for a minute, touching her softly, repetitively, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. He ran his fingers over her hips and down again over her center. When he sensed her beginning to relax a little more into it, he increased his pressure and she stretched a little beneath him, her chest rising and falling a bit faster as her body grew more excited. Kagome began to move her hips slightly, almost involuntarily, her lip caught between her teeth as her eyes began to go unfocused again. They were making good progress, if slowly.

Taking a chance, he slid his fingers under the waist band of her panties, tracing the skin down to the top of soft curls before she whimpered, her voice slightly panicked, “red!” He nodded, taking note of the fresh surge of her anxiety that almost thrashed against his mind. He withdrew his fingers and made a few long strokes from her hips to her sides and back again. After he gave her a moment, he began to stroke her through her underwear again, increasing the pressure a little, tracing his fingers along the seams at her legs and running them between her thighs.

When he could feel the cloth over her opening becoming damp with her wet excitement, he rubbed a little harder in tight strokes over her opening, and then pulled his fingers up to press in circles over her sensitized bundle of nerves. He could tell when he found exactly the right spot because she gasped, bucking her hips a few times against his hand. He grinned down at her, murmuring, “see? Not so bad...”

She moaned softly as he moved his fingers back and forth. He slid a finger between her folds, pressing the wet cloth into her a little, causing her to buck again and make an appreciative humming sound. She licked her lips and he moved his fingers a little faster. Her hands tightened again on his legs, but this time for a totally different reason. When she was beginning to pant he asked, “can we try down to the skin again? It’ll feel better.”

Kagome looked up at him and nearly whimpered her agreement. He brought his warm hand back up to the top of the soft cotton, spreading the other over her pelvis to hold her still, and then sliding along her skin until he felt the now dampened curls between her legs. She bit her lip hard and he whispered, “just say the word again if it’s too much. We’ll work around it.” Despite his words to the contrary, he hoped she’d be able to handle it this time. It would make things much easier on both of them.

When she didn’t say anything, he kept moving his fingers until they met her sex. He found her slick, warm velvet cleft, soft and swollen with need. Her eyes closed and she whimpered again, moving her hips against his hand as the ache between her legs seemed to shoot through her from head to curling toes. Inuyasha swallowed hard himself, worked up all over again and trying for the sake of his own sanity, not to imagine pushing himself deep into her. He slid three fingers along the wet folds, rubbing and gently pulling the heated flesh. He began steady circles over her clit with his thumb and she responded with a high, breathy groan, rocking into his touch, bending her knees as her thighs spread slightly to give him better access.

Inuyasha kept working her until her body began to release more viscous fluid against his fingers, the smell of her excitement filling his nose all over again. When she let out a low moan with his name on it, he slid two fingers between her folds and dipped one into her opening. Her eyes, which had fluttered half closed, flew wide open and she cried out as her climax began to hit her hard all over, rushing through her like a wonderful kind of fire. He moved his thumb across her clit as he pressed his finger into her again more deeply, rubbing her in a way that made her buck and pant until she arched beneath him, eyes squeezing tightly shut. Her hands clenched his legs tightly as she trembled, panting out his name on the wake of a long, high pitched groan.

His cock twitched and his breath caught in his throat as she moaned for him, and then her body began to relax against the bed again, her grip loosening. He gentled his touch, stroking her a few more times under the soaked cotton between her legs. When pulled his hand back, she watched, eyes a little unfocused, while he licked one of his fingers. Her breath came with a small shudder and a few tears slide from the corners of her eyes, making him pause and frown. Inuyasha pulled her hair back from her face, brushing the tears away. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

He didn’t know how he could have. He thought he’d been more careful with her just now than he’d ever been with anything in his life. But Kagome’s lips twitched in a smile and she shook her head, her recovering voice sounding thick as she said, “no… not at all… that was amazing… I just… it was a lot...” She stopped and laughed a little at herself, bringing her own hand up to swipe away another tear as she said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know why the water works. Just give me a second.”

Kagome didn’t move until her breathing had returned to something closer to normal. She slowly sat up, sniffing once, and turned to slide her feet over his right leg and pull her shirt back down, though her jeans were still unfastened. She was shaking a little, and propped her elbows on raised knees, her hand to her mouth as she whispered, “holy smokes...”

He chuckled in a low, satisfied tone and grinned, licking a finger again before he wiped his hand against his jeans. She looked at him a little wide eyed and dropped her hands to her knees. “That was insane.”

He arched a brow and grinned. “Feel better?”

She almost choked on a laugh and nodded, then tried to cover a yawn. “Yes, very much, except now I kind of want to go to bed.”

He snorted, amused. “Now you know why people usually fall asleep after sex.”

She nodded, blushing deeply. “I guess so…”

Kagome ran her palms over her knees anxiously and he propped his elbow on the leg he’d raised behind her. “What’s going on in there?”

She looked at him a little guiltily for a second, then admitted, “there’s no way what I did for you was as good as what you just did for me…”

Inuyasha snorted and shook his head. “What you did was fine. There’s no hurry.”

She eyed him for a moment, her mind spinning again now that her crazed hormones were starting to relinquish some of their grip at the wheel. He ran his left hand through her hair and said, “this was great… just chill. There’s no reason to stress out about it.”

She sighed and nodded once, laying a kiss on his palm where he stroked her cheek. He pulled her closer into his arms. “I came back here with the plan to check your bruising and relax with you and some cartoons, but your plan definitely wins.”

Kagome laughed, looking a little mortified. They sat for a few minutes in the quiet while she cooled down and relaxed against his chest. She’d started to doze when he picked his phone up off the bedside table and checked the time. With a sigh, he squeezed her gently and said, “we both need to shower, unless you want to announce to everyone what we’ve been doing for the last hour.”

Her eyes widened and her mortified expression returned. “What?”

Inuyasha tapped his nose. “Anyone who comes back here into the bedroom would be able to smell it too, among other things. If we have a regular, dedicated sleeping place, we tend to keep it very private for that reason. Scent can tell us everything. If we shower and change into clean clothes, some of them might guess but otherwise we’d kind of be throwing it in their faces. The smell clings to your skin.”

Kagome wrinkled her nose and asked, “do I smell bad?”

He shook his head, amused. “Gods no, you smell great. That’s the problem.”

She rubbed her hands over her face wearily. “I’m never going to get used to this. It’s not fair.” He laughed and kissed her temple. “Go jump through the shower. They’ll be putting the kids to bed soon.”

She crawled off the mattress and pulled a clean set of clothes from her grocery bags. She paused in the open doorway and said quietly, “thanks Inuyasha.”

When the bathroom door closed Inuyasha let his head fall back against the wall with a clunk and released a gargantuan sigh. In a perfect world, he thought, all the mess with Naraku and everything else would go away, and they could lay in bed for a week, just touching and tasting each other, breathing in each other. She was intoxicating like nothing he’d ever experienced. He let out a groan of resigned frustration.

Kagome leaned against the bathroom door for a second, still floored. Her hands were a bit unsteady as she set her things on the counter. What had she been thinking? This wasn’t smart, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. He touched her and she turned into mush; happy, needy, mush. He kissed her and all good sense was just gone, fizzled out, toast- but in the most delicious way. She shook her head as she turned on the hot water. She decided that for now, it was best to take his advice and let it be. She was enjoying the warm feeling that had settled inside her too much to allow anything to spoil it yet.

Standing beneath the steaming water, she quickly shampooed and rinsed her hair, smoothing her hands over sudsy skin, remembering what his fingers had felt like on her, and very briefly, in her. Almost lazily, she ran her finger tips between her legs, finding herself still slick from his attention. Kagome bit her lip and leaned her head back, rubbing her sensitized body a little, before sighing and continuing her shower. She knew she wanted to experience that again, but wondered if she dared. She would be getting herself into real trouble, and was afraid it would be somehow promising him more than she could give if she went there a second time.

When Kagome came back into the bedroom she was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and another long sleeve, plain cotton shirt. This one was a dark blue, which made her eyes look about five times more intense. She pulled out a clean pair of socks and stored her dirty clothes in the second Walmart bag, setting it on the floor next to the dresser. When she turned, Inuyasha was watching her, his eyes seeming to run over her every inch from head to toe, but not in a way that made her feel terribly uncomfortable. Rather, it was as if he was admiring her. The look wasn’t totally dissimilar to the one he’d given his Bugatti, she thought a little wryly. Good thing it was just different enough that it felt flattering.

Kagome’s lips twitched in a smile as she sat on the edge of the bed to put socks on. Inuyasha swung his feet onto the floor and retrieved his own change of clothing. Kagome spent a few moments doing her own looking while he had his back turned, enjoying the strong lines of his shoulders. Silently, she thought that if any guy looking like him had come her way showing interest before, she might have had more than just the few crappy make-out sessions with Hojo on her resume. Some of her warm, floating feeling went away as her mind skipped like a scratched CD. She had plenty more to the record than that make-out session now.

As Inuyasha turned around he saw her expression change from one of contented preoccupation to something flat and almost distressed. He caught her eye and raised a brow, silently inquiring. She gave him a genuine smile and a nod before she straightened her sock at the ankle and said quietly, “you should hurry, it’s almost nine.”

Inuyasha snorted and came over to run his hands into her thick, wet hair, tilting her face up and brushing his lips over her forehead, before pressing his mouth to hers. When she smiled again against his lips he felt better about walking away from her, even if it was only for ten minutes. He flashed her a fanged grin and said, “back in a flash.”

When Inuyasha came through the open bedroom door again he found her curled up in the blankets, lying across the bed, his pillow under her cheek as she drowsily watched the television. He looked up and grunted a small sound of amusement when he saw she’d found an episode of Duck Tales. He took a second to be grateful her ears seemed to work so well. She had the volume down low compared to what most humans seemed to prefer and his sensitive hearing appreciated it.

She blinked and returned his smile, making room for him in the blankets. He climbed in behind her and curled around her, wrapping an arm over her waist and propping his head on his hand. Her small body relaxed against his and he let a few peaceful minutes pass before he asked, “what happened when we walked in earlier?”

Kagome turned her head on the pillow, making a small “hmm?” sound. He rubbed small circles against her side with his thumb. “When you stopped in the front hall, you looked like you were a million miles away… For a second, I thought you might turn around and run for it.”

She let out a heavy sigh and shrugged, explaining, “it wasn’t anything really, just some memories becoming a little more valuable than they were before.”

He cocked his head, clearly waiting for more. There were only the quiet sounds of the cartoon characters for long enough that he didn’t think she would give him more, but then she said, “my family used to all get together at the holidays. It was warm, and loud and wonderful. That’s what it was like when we came in tonight. I just miss them is all.”

She turned her head to look at him more fully, her lips sliding into a timid, somewhat envious smile. “That’s what you all have here. I’ve never seen a crew anything like the Wardens.”

He nodded, thoughtful, and squeezed her gently to him. “We’re different, that’s for sure. Sometimes I think we’re just made up of people that didn’t really fit anywhere else.”

There was a pause and he felt the flutter of her stomach muscles as she laughed to herself. He smiled a little and asked, “what’s funny?”

Kagome looked back up at him again and asked, “have you ever seen the movie Ice Age?”

He thought for a moment and shook his head. “I… don’t think so. Why?”

She laughed to herself again and he thought he would pay a lot to see her like this more. She was relaxed and relatively happy, more at ease with everything around her, and with him. She licked her lips and he didn’t think twice about leaning down and kissing her, this time softly, without the urgency that had felt so necessary before. Kagome kissed him back, and when he pulled away she continued. “It’s a personal favorite. There’s a line in that movie that reminds me of you guys.”