Rough Treatment

He was never rough with her. He was never. Rough. With her. Although sometimes she would position herself just right, and call his name and her lips would form into a smirk and her body looked good enough to - and she would ask him to - but no. He was never rough with her.

Which is why the scent of blood confused him.

And worried him.

He halted his movements, hands planted beside his wife's sides and hips held firmly to hers. At first she stared up wearily, confused, but then she blinked to a higher state of awareness and turned her face towards the door.

"What? Did -" she sucked in a needed breath, "you hear something?" She guessed, as about the only reason she could think of as to why her husband would stop dead in the thick of things. He neglected her query, regarding instead her body beneath him. He scanned her form in the darkness for any small cuts to her soft, smooth skin, as he had accidentally inflicted within the first week of their consummation. He had since been diligent about control, much to her annoyance, watching carefully for how he handled her flesh. If she wanted more than the delicate handling, he knew to put his tongue to work as to avoid the risks that came with claws and fangs. It was to avoid having to smell unwarranted blood, yet here he was, six months into his marriage, and she was bleeding again.

From where, though? He scanned the areas he had temporarily marred those first few encounters with her, and he saw nothing upon her skin besides a thin sheen of sweat. Not her wrists, her thighs, her hips, or her breasts carried a single scrape from him.

"Inuyasha?" Came the concerned whisper that drew his eyes to her face once again, and there, he spotted the dark smear of blood. Her lip. He hadn't kissed her in several minutes, and he would have noticed right away if he had drawn blood, so had she done this to herself?

"Kagome, you bit your lip." He leaned down to lick the irritated pink skin. God she tasted so good, but he deliberately ignored the metallic taste to stare her down.

"How come you did that?" Didn't she know she was hurting herself? Her only reply was to squirm below him and frown, wanting them to start moving again. He was heavy against her, but her wriggling hips sent a sensation to him he felt all the way into his belly.

"Uh, Kagome you have to be careful. You'll bite through your lip if you do that," he said, although his eyes had closed and he instinctively licked another spot of blood from her lip. She gripped his hips tightly and ground against them.

"Please," she whispered against his lips, "I like it but I need something more."

"That's why you're -" he retracted his hips for a short push forward, "hurting yourself? If you want pain...I'd never hurt -"

"I don't wanna hurt...I just," she lifted her hips, urging another push out of him, "want...m-more..." Her voice was high, and she squeaked the last syllable, embarrassed at having to say it aloud. His knuckles stroked her sides and he raised back onto his outstretched arms.

Her beautiful brown eyes begged him 'please'. Her eyes were so perfect hazed with lust and framed by damp strands of hair.

"Please," she pleaded in a voice so small he barely heard it, before she sucked that bottom lip between her teeth once again.

"Don't," he whispered, bending down to force her lip from her teeth with his own lips.

"Don't do that," he repeated, the heat of his breath blowing over her ears. She shivered despite her disappointment; he was trying to distract her, like he always did. He had never given into her before, and he wouldn't now that she was essentially begging him to do something. Something that didn't treat her like soft wax that might melt or deform against the heat of his hands, the roughness of his grasp.

Of course, she was begging.

Suddenly a hand was gripping her knees, and he sat up to watch her expression as he gripped around her other knee. Suddenly timid, but a little hopeful. Warm amber held strongly to her deep brown as he slowly pushed her knees back. Back, back until her thighs were ghosting against her abdomen. Then he fell back onto his hands a shoved his way inside at the new angle.

Her gasp was loud and ended in a squeak when he repeated the motion before she had time to draw breath. Her body was scooted up the futon by a fraction from the force of him. Her hands found purchase in his hair - pulling at the strands to keep herself grounded. Of course, while he could tolerate pain, he did not enjoy it. The tug on his roots became too much after a few more motions and her tugging harder with each. He grabbed one of her wrists and slapped it down beside her head, repeating the same with the other. Her eyes came open as a growl rumbled through his chest, and she moaned openly. She arched her back as much as her position would allow, making Inuyasha shudder at both the sight and feel of her body.

"I...Inu...ya..."

Her voice was so sweet, and it felt so good to hear her trying to speak his name while clearly overcome by the feel of their joined bodies. And to speak it while her eyes were locked on his...

The little woman arched again, wrists struggling against her husband's grasp, though it was clear to him she no thoughts of escaping him. No, she was exactly where she wanted to be. She was exactly where she had begged to be, and she would rather be no where else.

She wiggled those wicked hips of hers from side to side and it was the hanyou's turn to bite himself. He felt the familiar sensation coming onto his body and he grit his teeth. As much as she seemed to like this, she had never gotten off in this position before, and he doubted she would, even with him giving her what she asked for. He twisted her wrists to her right side of her head and held them both in his left. His right wrapped about her hips and twisted. Her eyes snapped back to his with the new sideways angle. He straightened her top leg and pulled it over his shoulder. He pulled her wrists down to the side of her belly to help balance and pushed inside her just as deeply as before. He watched her eyes roll back from just that as he snaked his right hand between her legs.

"Oh god -oh!" Her reaction was immediate. He had no room for conscious thought with all he had to focus on between balancing himself without hurting her wrists, rubbing two fingers in quick little circles, and not finishing though the motions of her own hips were delightful, but he appreciated the strained gasps with a smirk as she tried to deal with the sensations in her own body.

"Oh fuuuu...uh..." he felt his own shaky breath leave his throat with syllables attached.

"Don't stop!" She squeaked in what sounded vaguely like annoyance. He hadn't even realized he had slowed his pace and stopped his fingers altogether. He fixed his posture and shoved back harder than he had all night. Her mouth was wide although no sound escaped. He rubbed with the same pace he had set, and suddenly...she was...loud.

They went quick after that. She was moving her hips and he knew she was close. She rolled her shoulders to press her face into the futon. Her leg was pressed as hard against his shoulder as she could manage when she...

He had never heard her make that sound before. It was almost...a hoarse, strangled, high pitched and very loud sound, not unlike a...scream? Inuyasha had no thought to comment on it, because her body was shaking. Shaking and tense, and gripped so strongly around him it almost hurt, but god, did it feel good. His resulting growl was forced through grit teeth and almost as loud.

Kagome was still trembling below him when he forced his eyes open. His senses were somewhere beyond him for a second, but as they returned, he smelled blood again. She still had her eyes closed when he looked to her face to see she had not bitten her lip this time. He reluctantly removed his hand from her wrists to expose the pinkened skin underneath, and the thin red lines that beaded with miniscule drops of blood. Less damage than cat scratches. He watched the pink skin start to return to its natural color before he pushed her leg from his shoulder and laid beside her. Her body was still quivering every few seconds, when she would hold her panting breath and squeeze her thighs together.

'Damn,' he thought. She was still feeling it afterwards. Actually, he was a little, too. Only when she stopped shaking and let out a sigh did he push her shoulder to get her to roll over and face him. She didn't look tired like she usually would, but surprised and nervous. It made him nervous, and he fidgeted as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

"So..." he started, trying to find a reason to break the silence. He trailed his knuckles up her side and felt her knees curl reflexively against him with the gentle touch. His hand slid down her arm, and grasped onto her forearm to examine her wrist.

"I cut you," he said quietly. She looked down to her wrists.

"A little," she admitted. It was nothing like the first few nights, when he hadn't been aware of himself, but there were still cuts. She expected a further response from him, maybe, that this was the reason they couldn't get carried away like that, or maybe that it could have been worse or - but he said nothing negative.

He instead raised her wrist to his lips and began to wipe away the drying blood with his tongue. Her blood tasted sweet to him. It always had. Metallic and sweet. Thinking back, lots of humans liked that taste of blood, they made entire dishes around cow or pig blood...so him liking the taste of her blood had absolutely nothing to do with the sick part of demon nature that desired human flesh and blood - he was sure. And besides, he loved lots of things about her, adding the taste of her blood to that list was nothing special.

"Inuyasha, don't. I can get that clean, myself."He met her eyes as he licked the last of the blood from her right wrist and moved on to the left. He laved it in tender strokes, holding her eyes as he did so, and she gave no further protest until he finished, then laying his arm over her hips. She kissed his cheek and set a hand on his shoulder.

"I have to clean up, anyways." He frowned and drug her body closer to his.

"Mn. I don't want you to move," he whispered to her eyes. She smiled softly in reply. She pushed gently on his shoulder again.

"Inuyasha, I know it's not exactly romantic, but I've had one too many bladder infections, and I really should clean up."

Ah.

He released his hold on her so that she could remove herself from his side. He enjoyed seeing the wobble when she got to her feet and the slow, jerky strides she took as she made her way to the washcloths. He noted the three thin lines on her hip and the back of one of her knees, but they were in the same condition as her wrists, and would vanish without a trace in a week's time. They were nothing to worry about.

He stretched his body and damn, did he feel good. He wouldn't want it that way every time, but he'd be fine to do something like that more often.

...

This fic here is actually a little like what Little by Little was supposed to be, purely smut, with a little fluff, but ended up the other way around. I put this chapter here first because I wanted something for Valentine's Day, and this was the only thing I had half written in my drafts on my phone. I had wanted to finish chapter 25 of LbL, but life is not permitting. Sorry, rough is a little too rough maybe.

More chapters to come.