InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Short Straw ❯ Chapter ten ( Chapter 10 )

Author's note- I know Kagome seems a little wishy-washy, but one point in the story is that she was living with Naraku and Kikyo and Kagura in that hellhole, where her self-esteem suffered and she pretty much learned it was best to keep her mouth shut. And about how naive she is, remember it is the eighteen hundreds . . .women really didn't know much about wedding night activities.

Lemon warning: Beware the evil lemon of doom! You've been warned.

The Short Straw

By Flamingwillows

Chapter

Kagome heard Koga moving around downstairs, perhaps checking to make sure the lamps were out and that windows and doors were closed against the cool night air. He would be up soon. She threw a wild look at the bed, wondering if she should dive beneath the quilts and pretend to be sound asleep. But the last thing she wanted was to be anywhere near the bed when Koga came in.

So she stayed where she was, her eyes huge in her pale face. When he entered the room, Koga thought she looked nothing so much as a virgin sacrifice, waiting to be thrown into the maw of a volcano or fed to the lions.

He was already half aroused just from thinking about having her in his bed, but it was immediately obvious that it was going to take considerable effort to get her into that bed in the first place. Schooling himself to patience, he pushed the door shut, closing them in together. If possible, Kagome's eyes grew even bigger.

He'd left his hat downstairs, and now he reached up to run his fingers through his dark hair, still slightly damp from washing up outside. The ice-cold water hadn't done much to quell his hunger. But even the simple motion of combing his fingers through his hair mad her jump, and he suppressed a sigh. It had been foolish to think she wouldn't be nervous.

"I'm not going to pounce on you," he said, keeping his tone light and easy. She didn't smile but only looked away as he shrugged out of the black coat he'd worn for their wedding. He draped his coat over the back of a chair and turned to look at her again, debating the best way to go about seducing his wife.

"You knew we were going to share a bed, Kagome." The words were neither a statement nor a question but hovered somewhere in between the two. When she spoke, her voice was so low he had to strain to hear her.

`I just wondered . . .I wasn't sure . . ." Kagome couldn't seem to meet his gaze.

"You wondered what?" The calm inquiry in Koga's voice gave her courage and she managed to raise her eyes as high as his chin. "What did you wonder, Kagome?"

"I wondered if maybe you didn't have in mind a real marriage at all." She spoke the words in such a rush that they nearly slurred together. "That perhaps you needed a housekeeper but couldn't find one and knew that my uncle would never allow me to work for you because it would mean living here alone with you and your brother and so you married me instead."

She stopped abruptly, holding her breath as she waited for his response. Koga's chest rose and fell as he drew in a deep breath and slowly expelled it. The silence stretched out so long that she dared a nervous peek at his face. He was watching her, and she flushed and looked away.

"I had in mind a marriage real in every way," he said finally. "I'd hoped you'd want children."

"Oh, I do," she said, her mind filled with an image of a dark-haired baby with blue eyes.

"Well then, having children requires a real marriage," Koga said reasonably.

"I know." Kagome returned her gaze to the floor.

Koga couldn't help but notice the soft thrust of her breasts against the thin muslin of her nightdress and wrapper. The voluminous cut of the garment failed to conceal the womanly curves of her and he thought again that, while she might not be statuesque, there was certainly plenty there to fill a man's arms.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"No," He liked the way her chin immediately came up as if her pride had been stung. But her eyes skittered away the moment they met his. Her chin came down. "I'd just like a little more time before we . . .before we become . . . intimate."

Koga's first impulse was to give her what she asked for. Despite the pulsing beat of arousal that thrummed in his blood, he had no intention of starting off his marriage by forcing his bride to share his bed. But he hesitated, his eyes on her down-bent head. That time he'd kissed her on her uncle's front porch she responded with a warmth that had made it damn uncomfortable to sit a saddle.

There was passion there and he wanted to taste it again. Whether she admitted it or not, she was scared to death, and if not of him, then of what he might do to her. He could give her the time she asked and spend it trying to show her that she had nothing to fear from him, That might work. Then again, her fear might simply grow stronger.

"When I was a little boy, I fell out of a tree and broke my arm," he said slowly, speaking apparently at random. "It wasn't a bad break but my mother didn't want to set it herself and risk leaving me crippled, so she sent for the doctor. It took him several hours to get there and I had plenty of time to think about what he was going to do when he got there and how much it was going to hurt. By the time he got there, I'd scared myself so much that I started to cry the minute he set foot in the door."

He was pleased to see that Kagome was looking at him, her eyes full of sympathy for the child he'd been. "Was it very bad?"

"No," Koga's mouth twisted in a rueful little smile "The waiting and worrying was a lot worse than anything he did. I'd scared myself half to death for nothing."

She blinked at him as his meaning sank in. "Are you saying that . . .marital duties are no worse than a broken arm?" she asked finally, looking both confused and even more apprehensive.

Koga nearly groaned aloud at the results of his clumsy attempt at reassurance. "What I'm saying is that the waiting and worrying are a great deal worse than reality."

"So you're suggesting that we just . . . get it over with?"

"That wasn't exactly what I meant." Koga choked back a laugh at her choice of wording. "But it's close enough, I suppose."

Kagome chewed on her lower lip while she considered that possibility. She was still uncertain, but the longer Koga stood there talking to her, not jumping on her, the more her fear receded. It was difficult to hold onto her fear when he hadn't done anything frightening. Perhaps he was right, and waiting would only make it worse.

"All right." The words exploded out of her as if she had to get them out in a hurry or not get them out at all. "If you think it's best."

It wasn't exactly an enthusiastic agreement, but it was as much as he'd hoped for to start with. Koga released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and considered the best way to proceed from here. The blood thrumming in his veins demanded that he strip them both naked, throw her on the bed and get to it.

Odd how much he wanted her. He'd known more beautiful women. Women who trembled with anticipation rather than fear at the thought of taking him to their beds. But there was something about this slip of a girl with her big brown eyes and sensuously full lower lip that had edged it's way under his skin.

Just as well. It would make the job of producing a son a pleasure rather than a duty. And he'd make it a pleasure for her, too, he thought arrogantly, once he'd convinced her that he wasn't going to pounce on her and ravish her like some animal in the jungle.

"Did your aunt talk to you about what happens between a man and a woman?" As he spoke, he moved closer. Kagome trembled but stood her ground, not pulling away even when he reached around behind her head and tugged loose the ribbon that held her hair at the nape of her neck.

"Yes." She managed to answer his question despite the shiver that ran down her spine as she felt his fingers brush her skin.

"What did she tell you?" Koga's tone was almost conversational as he gather a handful of her hair and let it sift through his fingers to fall almost to her hips against the front of her gown.

"She said that a woman had to fulfill her marital duties and that I would learn to endure-that I should close my eyes and pray."

"Do you think I'm going to do something so horrible to you that you'll have to close your eyes and pray?" Koga didn't sound upset, only curious, and she glanced at his face.

"I. . . I don't know. My friend Sango said it was more likely Uncle Naraku who'd had to learn to endure." Koga's quick bark of laughter reassured her. Whatever was going to happen couldn't be so terrible if he was laughing. Could it?

"What else did Sango say?" He kept his tone conversational, almost as if they were discussing the weather over a cup of tea. So casual was his pose that it took Kagome a moment to realize that he was deftly undoing the row of small pearl buttons that ran down the front of her wrapper. By that time they were nearly undone and it seemed foolish to protest.

"Sango said that . . . it might hurt a bit . . . first time. But after that, it could be quite pleasant."

"Did you believe her?" He made no move to push the wrapper off her shoulders, though it was completely open now.

"Yes . . . no . . .I'm not sure," she whispered finally.

"Would you believe me if I told you the same thing?" Koga's fingers slid along her jaw to her chin, tilting her face up to his. It took a considerable amount of courage but Kagome met his eyes.

"I'd try to."

Her careful honesty made him smile. But the smile faded when her tongue came out to lick her lips. The nervous gesture left a faint sheen of moisture behind and Koga thought he's never seen anything so inviting in his entire life.

"Try real hard," he whispered as he lowered his head to hers.

Her mouth was just as he remembered it, soft and sweet. Her lips were stiff against his for a moment but gradually softened, allowing him to deepen the kiss. Koga's fingers drifted down her throat, his thumb resting on the pulse that beat steadily at its base. His tongue stroked across that tantalizing lower lip of hers. Just as before, she sucked in a quick shocked breath, stiffening under his touch.

"Open your mouth for me, Kagome," he whispered without lifting his head. After a moment's hesitation she did as he asked, and then shivered in surprise as his tongue slid inside, claiming her mouth for his own.

At first she merely accepted his possession, standing rigid as a fence post beneath his touch. But Koga was patient. If it took the whole night to draw a response from her, then the whole night he'd use, even if the torture of it killed him.

But it wasn't going to take that long. He felt the change in her pulse first, felt it skip and then speed beneath his thumb. And then he felt it in the way her mouth opened wider beneath his, offering him greater access to the sweet warmth of her. Koga curled his tongue around hers, coaxing a response from her.

Kagome was so absorbed in the wondrous feelings stirred by his kiss that she didn't notice his hands settling on her shoulders and then moving down her arms, taking her wrapper with them so that it pooled like a white shadow at her feet. His hand settled on her hip, warm and heavy, the heat penetrating her nightdress, making her aware that one layer of protection was gone.

She shifted uneasily but before she could murmur a protest, if that's what she'd intended, his hand left her hip. She hadn't had a chance to decide whether she was relieved or disappointed when she felt him touch her again. The breath was driven from her in a shocked little whoosh as his fingers brushed the side of her breast, once, twice, then cupped the firm globe as if laying claim to it. Kagome dragged her mouth from his, her hand coming up to catch his wrist.

He left his hand exactly where it was. "Have I hurt you?"

Her eyes, wide and uncertain, stared up into his. She swallowed hard but shook her head. His eyes held hers as he brushed his thumb across the peak of her nipple. At the light touch, sensation rocketed through her, making her tremble.

"If you want me to stop, all you have to do is say so," he said.

Kagome opened her mouth to tell him to stop, and he caught her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing gently. Her breath left her in a sigh that was nearly a moan. She wanted him to stop. Of course she did. But it was so difficult to think when he was doing that. Her fingers still held his wrist. She was completely unaware of using the hold to press him closer.

But Koga felt the subtle pressure, felt her lean into his touch. He lowered his mouth to hers. Her tongue came up to meet his with a hesitant eagerness that made his pulse beat with a thick, heavy rhythm. He no longer questioned the depth of his hunger for her. It was enough that he wanted her and that she was there, in his arms, yielding to his touch

Afterward, Kagome remembered his promise to stop if she asked him. And that she'd started to tell him to stop but somehow never go the words out. And then it had been too late. Her fear and uncertainty had somehow disappeared beneath a wave of unfamiliar sensation. Instead of pushing him away, she'd found herself pulling him closer, wanting more of his touch.

She hardly noticed when his hand settled on her hip again, his fingers gathering the fabric of her nightdress, drawing the folds of it upward, slowly baring her legs. Lost in the pleasure of his mouth on hers, his hand on her breast, she obeyed the subtle urging of his knee and shifted her legs apart. It wasn't until she felt the roughness of fabric against the softness of her inner thigh that she realized she was nearly bare to the waist. She dragged her mouth from his, feeling something akin to panic flutter in her chest.

"Koga . . ." His name was a breathless whisper that ended on a sharp, indrawn breath as he slid his hand beneath the fragile protection of her nightdress, flattening his hand against her rear, urging her closer to him. At the same time his mouth slid down her throat, his tongue tasting the frantic pulse at its base.

"Koga, please."

She couldn't have said just what she was asking for. She wanted him to stop. Of course she did. But she didn't think she could bear it if he stopped. No doubt she'd pay for the sin of enjoying the deliciously wicked things he was doing to her. But the threat of punishment in the hereafter wasn't as real as the feeling he was giving her here and now.

Koga felt the uncertainty in her and knew she was hovering between pleasure and protest. But pleasure would win. There was too much passion in her for it to be otherwise. He eased his leg farther between hers, feeling her start of surprise. He pressed harder, forcing her thighs wider so that she all but rode his leg.

Her shaken whisper was smothered beneath layers of muslin as he swept her nightdress up and over her head. His mouth swallowed any protest she might have offered, his tongue thrusting boldly inside, stealing her breath, stealing her ability to think. The very thought of standing before him naked seemed horrifying just a little while ago. Yet here she stood, without a stitch of clothing on, uttering not a word of protest.

Koga's mouth left hers and Kagome sucked air into her lungs, only to have it leave her on a startled shriek as she felt the wet heat of his tongue on her nipple. Her hands had been gripping his shoulders. Now they flew to his head, her fingers clutching his dark hair to pull him away. His mouth opened over her, drawing her into his mouth and the strength left her hands.

Her protest became a whimper. Her head fell back, the thick fall of her hair covering Koga's arm where it lay across her lower back, supporting her, holding her. She'd never felt anything like this in her life, had never imagined such feelings were possible.

Koga felt her complete surrender in the yielding softness of her body against his, heard it in the barely audible whimper that escaped the back of her throat. He'd known there was passion in her. He'd counted on patience and skill to draw it out of her. What he hadn't counted on was the strain that patience would put on his control.

He wanted her with a hunger that would have surprised him if he'd been in any condition to consider it. But at the moment all he could think of was laying his bride on the bed and stripping his clothes off.

Kagome felt the world spin as Koga lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. The linens were cool against her skin, which felt as hot as if she were burning up with fever. She opened her eyes and saw Koga standing next to the bed, his fingers on the buttons of his shirt. He stripped the garment off his shoulders and his hands dropped to the waistband of his pants.

Kagome told herself to look away, but then he was shoving his pants over his hips and Kagome's eyes widened, her mouth forming a round `O' of surprise. Sango had said thar her husband would be putting his manly part inside her. Though the thought had been shocking, she'd thought she had some understanding of the process. But she'd had no idea . . .

"Koga, I don't think-"

"Shh." He was beside her on the bed and she could feel him pressed against her hip. The heat that radiated from him surprised her into silence for a moment, long enough for Koga's fingers to burrow in her hair, tilting her face so that his mouth could claim hers.

Her thoughts grew fuzzy. She needed to talk to him, to explain that what he had in mind just wasn't possible. But it was so hard to think when he was kissing her like this, when his fingers were touching her breasts, her belly, her-

She bolted against him, the breath whooshing out of her. He couldn't, he mustn't-But his fingers had already found her, discovered her most private feminine secrets. His thigh lay between hers, preventing her instinctive move to close her legs. And then he was stroking her, teasing her sensitive flesh, and instead of drawing away, she was arching into his touch, wanting more.

Her hands clung to Koga's shoulders as he rose above her, his legs sliding between hers. She felt his chest brush against her nipples, already sensitized by his mouth. She felt him lower still, probing against the heart of her. Fear and uncertainty worked their way past the hunger he'd created and she caught her lower lip between her teeth, staring up at him with huge, dark eyes.

"Trust me," Koga whispered, seeing her uncertainty. Every fiber of his body screamed for him to find the satisfaction that lay so close, but he waited until he felt a subtle easing of her tension.

He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his own as he consummated their marriage with a slow, steady thrust. He tasted her sharp gasp of pain as her maidenhead yielded to him, felt the shock of his possession ripple through her body. He forced himself not to move, to give her time to adjust to the reality of sharing her body with a man.

He waited, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead as he struggled for control. And then she shifted beneath him, a tiny movement that made him bite back a groan. He moved, retreating from the heated warmth of her. Her hips shifted slightly, as if in protest. He gave her what she asked and heard the startled gasp that broke from her at the sensation that resulted.

He'd known there was passion in her, and he'd been right. But he was surprised by the depth of her passion. He'd always prided himself on his control, on his ability to bring a woman to pleasure, but Kagome's untutored response strained that control to the limits.

Kagome was oblivious to Koga's struggle. She was awash in sensation. Tension coiled in her, starting in the place where they were joined and spiraling out to encompass her entire body. The coil wound tighter and tighter until the tension was unbearable. She stiffened, suddenly frightened by the power of it.

Koga murmured something undistinguishable in her ear, some reassurance. And then his hand slipped between them, finding her, touching her, and she shattered into a thousand pieces. She heard Koga elicit a low guttural moan, then felt him shudder in her arms.

It felt like a long time before Koga could gather the strength to lift himself away from Kagome's lax body. She shivered slightly as cool air brushed over her warm skin. Koga tucked the quilt up over them, pulling her against his side as he sank back against the pillows. She snuggled into his warmth, her head pillows on his shoulder, her small body curled into his.

Koga allowed his eyes to drift shut, his mouth curling into a satisfied smile. It wasn't often a man had a reason to be glad he'd drawn the short straw.