As soon as he woke up that morning, Inuyasha took a deep breath through his nose. He held it in his lungs for a moment, savoring, and then slowly released it in a satisfied, gusty sigh. All the while he was grinning against his pillow, his right ear slanted toward the sounds of soft breathing beside him.

He cracked open an eye and peeked at the woman sleeping in his bed. She lay on her side facing him, knees bent and feet tucked behind her, upper body curving towards him. One arm stretched beneath her pillow while the other lay across the short space between them, hand resting just next to his torso as though reaching out for his body heat. Her inky black hair was sleep-tousled and a little frizzed, strewn across the pillow around her head. A strand of it was caught at the corner of her mouth, and he couldn't help brushing it away from her face, the pads of his fingers lingering against the warmth of her cheek. The dim morning light—muffled by the shuttered blinds covering the window—pearled her pale skin, made it almost glow.

She was an amazing sight to wake up to… a sight made all the better by the fact that she was completely nude.

His grin widened. The fingers still rubbing her cheek trailed down, smoothed along the delicate line of her jaw, thumb stroking over her lips once, twice, before his hand wandered down her neck, coming to rest at her collarbones.

Her eyelids fluttered a little before she sighed gently. "Mm," she mumbled, turning her face further into her pillow. The beginnings of a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Stop that. Tickles."

A blue eye opened lazily to meet his gaze. He watched with rapt attention as it took in his face, then traveled down his body before returning to his eyes. Her skin flushed the faintest pink. "Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," he whispered back, a hint of masculine satisfaction lacing his tone as he leaned towards her. He intentionally bumped the tip of his nose against hers, relishing in her little giggle, before dropping his mouth over her lips: caressing, exploring, tasting. His hand moved from her collarbones to her shoulder, stroking up and over its smooth slope, gliding down her arm to her side. She squirmed a little as his claws trailed over her ribcage, but instead of edging away she scooted closer to him, resting her hand against his chest and nibbling on his bottom lip.

"Inu… yasha," she mumbled between kisses, "You… need to… get dressed…" A gasp, followed by a little moan in the back of her throat—his very favorite sound, couldn't be beat—as his tongue slicked along the roof of her mouth.

He grunted, but didn't stop kissing her. The hand on her waist slid to her hip and tugged, pulling her body up against his.

Her hand rose to cup his cheek, fingers stroking gently. The arm still lying under her pillow shifted, curling around his neck as her fingers combed through his silver hair.

When his mouth dropped down to her neck, she tried again. "You have to meet Miroku this morning, remember? You—oh!" she broke off when he nipped at her pulse point. He felt her throat ripple against his mouth as she swallowed. "For the," a tiny hitch in her breath, "bachelor party planning."

"If I didn't know better," he grumbled, kissing his way back up her neck, "I'd think you were tryin' to hurry me out of bed. Hit it and quit it, huh Kagome?"

"Inuyasha!" she gasped in mock outrage, her tone failing miserably when she laughed right after, her breath fanning across his ear.

His lips returned to her mouth for another kiss, slow and soft, before he pulled back enough to make proper eye contact. "Fuck the party planning. I've got more important things to do with my time." He enjoyed the blush that swept across the bridge of her nose, and even more the smile toying with her mouth as she pressed her forehead to his.

"We've got all day, Inuyasha. I'll be right here when you get back. I might even cook you breakfast before you go, if you get in the shower now."

He screwed up his face in exaggerated thought. "Hm. Pass." Despite his best efforts at keeping a poker face, his tone turned sly as he added, "'Sides, I'd much rather have you for breakfast."

She groaned. "I can't believe you just said that. It's so corny."

"But you like corny."

She rolled her eyes, but didn't deny it.

"The pervert can reschedule. I ain't rushing this morning."

She sighed in response, though the tender look in her eyes belied the action. Her hand slipped away from his cheek to land on his shoulder, gently massaging the corded muscle there. "We probably should have considered your previous plans last night before we…" Her cheeks pinked.

A telltale shift in her scent told him that she was remembering last night, too. Their first time together. "Keh. You act like I didn't remember. I did, I just didn't care." He smirked when her small hand slapped at his arm half-heartedly. "And I'd do it again. This is way better than listening to Miroku gripe about wedding plans." He paused, eyed her thoughtfully. "You don't… no regrets, right?"

She smiled, leaned in and kissed him softly. "No. No regrets. Last night was… perfect."

"Good," he growled, one hand stroking up her stomach—heat igniting in his gut when her abdominal muscles quivered under his touch—while the other gripped the nape of her neck, delighting in the feel of her skin. "It shoulda been. You made me wait long enough or it."

"You call six months of dating 'waiting'? I call that fast."

"That's cuz you're stupid."

Slap! went the hand against his arm again. "Impatient puppy."

He intentionally flicked an ear at her. Then, applying gentle pressure against her nape, he pulled her face closer to his. "Damn straight. I was ready for this after the fourth date."

In response to that, her lips formed a tiny moue, features wry. "Of course you were. Most men are 'ready' after the first date."

Frowning, he shook his head. "Not like that. I meant I was ready for, well…" he shrugged, used his chin to gesture between the two of them, unable to articulate the feeling of complete intimacy that enveloped them like warm bath water. "This. Everything." At her confused look, he continued a little more gruffly, "Y'know. You here in the morning. Breakfast together. Staying at my place. Us. The whole deal."

Genuine surprise flashed across her face, clearing away the confusion. "Really? You… felt that so soon?"

He hesitated for a split second, unsure how to interpret her bewilderment, then nodded. "Why are you so surprised?"

"Well…" she dropped her gaze to his chin. He felt her fingers nervously twirling a lock of his hair. "In the beginning, you were hard to read. I sort of thought…"

When she didn't continue, he brushed his nose against hers. She looked back up at him. "I figured," she said quietly, "that you weren't very interested. To be honest, back then I was afraid you were going to break things off."

His eyebrows shot up as his ears flicked simultaneously. Color suffused her cheeks the longer he stared at her, and when he finally spoke, his tone was more than a little appalled. "What?! Why the hell did you think that?"

She fidgeted, blush deepening as she glanced away. "I just— it's not like—" Then she gave a tiny sigh, "Can we change the subject please?"

Inuyasha had never seen her this bashful about anything—his little take-no-shit spitfire still wasn't meeting his eyes—and he asked, "Are you yankin' my chain?"

That got her to look at him again. "Huh?"

"There's no way you didn't see how obvious I was. I almost made myself nauseous."

"Obvious?" she intoned skeptically. "How were you 'obvious'? I was sure you were just waiting for the opportunity to let me down easy."

He couldn't help the disbelieving snort that followed her statement. "Then you really are stupid."

"Well excuse me! It's not like you were Mr. Communicative! We hardly did anything but bicker on our first dates, and I was always the one to ask you out again—"

"Hey!" he interjected, "I asked you out."

She arched an eyebrow at him. He frowned defensively and said, "I did!"

"Yeah," she said, "after we were already official. It hardly mattered by then."

He sputtered for a moment. "Quit being dumb! I'm the one who asked for your number, remember? I texted you at least every day. And I hate texting!" He wiggled his claw-tipped fingers to drive home the point. He could barely handle a damned cell phone, let alone send a text message without wanting to slice the device in half.

She opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but he cut her off. She still wasn't getting it, the idiot. "And I'm the moron who took you to meet his family on the sixth date. We didn't meet your family for nearly two months! How much more 'obvious' did you need?"

She opened her mouth again, and again he interrupted. "I'm the one who offered to fix your car when its engine blew, I'm the whipped asshole who drove you everywhere for a whole week when we'd only known each other for two, and if you think I was upset about that you really are an idiot. I'm the one—"

She made a noise of impatience in her throat, muttered a quick, "Oh, shut up," and then she was pressing her mouth against his, teeth tugging at his bottom lip as if in reprimand for embarrassing her.

Well fuck, she could reprimand him all day long if she wanted.

Issuing a growl, he tightened his grip against her nape and tugged her, hard, against him, assuming control of the kiss. She didn't seem to mind surrendering it to him, her hands wandering over the planes of his chest before looping up under his armpits to curl over his shoulders, holding him in a tight embrace. His free hand explored her waist, palm smoothing over her lower back and then dipping down to worship the curve of her ass. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and gave hers a long, wet, raspy stroke. She whimpered and ground her hips into him, her nails biting into the skin of his shoulders, her nipples puckering against his chest.

She couldn't seriously expect him to go anywhere after doing something like that.

The rumble in his chest growing stronger, he pushed her back into the mattress and moved on top of her, never breaking their kiss. She hummed and arched up into him, pressing every one of her curves against his body.

He shuddered and pulled away from her mouth. They were both panting hard. Her eyes were smoky and heavy-lidded, and his gut clenched in response to the obvious desire there.

"Okay," he said, "here's the game plan. I'm gonna give you an encore of our 'perfect' night last night, we're gonna take a shower and eat some breakfast, and then we're gonna stay inside for the rest of the day and do shit-all until bedtime." He dragged his claws up her ribs to her right breast, knuckles brushing its tender underside before rubbing her stiff nipple. She moaned softly and pushed her breast against his hand.

Her eyes sparked with heat, her lips were swollen and dark from his kisses, and it was damn near impossible not to enact the plan right the hell then. But she was shaking her head even as her hips shifted to rub at him, and one of her feet glided sensually up and down his calf, teasing. "You have to meet Miroku. He's the groom and you're his best man—you're supposed to help make things easier for him. And," she continued forcefully when he opened his mouth to argue, "I have tests to grade today, anyway."

She must have noted the stubborn set to his expression, because she repeated, "Inuyasha, I have to grade these tests, I'm supposed to hand them back to my students tomorrow. So, alternate game plan: you get in the shower and get ready to go, I'll make you your favorite omelet, you and Miroku will talk bachelor party plans as scheduled while I grade tests, and…" Here she trailed her hands down his abdomen, fingertips tracing patterns across the skin of his navel. His gut clenched hard… among other things. She smiled and said in the sultriest voice he'd ever heard, "I'll be waiting right here for you when you get back."

"Fuck, woman," he groaned. His hand cupped her breast and he squeezed it almost pleadingly. "Can't we just skip—"

"No."

"Fuck, would you just let me—"

"No."

His muscles tensed, something like defiant challenge straightening his spine as his eyes narrowed at the almost-smug expression on her face. She could act as in-control and unaffected as she liked, but he could smell how affected she really was. Two could play this game.

Lowering his head, he skimmed his lips along her jaw, up towards her ear. Taking the lobe between his teeth, he nibbled and said, "If that's what you really want."

She'd gone still at the first touch of his lips. Restraining a smirk, he ran his tongue down the column of her throat. Bit at the elegant line of her collarbone. Kissed along the vale of her chest, her heartbeat thundering beneath his lips. Drew a pert, tight nipple into his mouth and sucked.

She tossed her head back into the pillow, gasping "Inuyasha!" into the room. The minutest shiver rippled along his ears. He shifted around, put enough of his weight on his knees to free up his arms. His left hand moved down to stroke her outer thigh while his right made its way to the warmth between her legs. Combing through soft, damp curls, dipping the tips of his fingers inside…

Her entire torso rocked up to meet his fingers, and another gasp of his name graced his ears. He couldn't hold back the smirk this time as he pulled his mouth away from her breast and said, "Guess I'd better start getting ready."

Slowly dragging his fingers away—damp and sticky and smelling like heaven—he sighed and made as if to get up.

Her hands fisting in his hair and tugging him back down forced him to reverse directions at dizzying speed.

"New plan," she said as she lifted her hips up to grind into the hard evidence of his arousal, her mouth planting open-mouthed, rough kisses along his throat, "you give me an encore of last night quickly, you shower while I make us coffee, you meet Miroku a few minutes late and leave me to my grading, and when you get back we have another, much slower encore." She tweaked one of his nipples with her fingers and sucked on his bottom lip, her eyes searing fire into his blood. "Deal?"

"Fuck yes," he said before kissing her so hard he thought his lips might bruise.

She pushed at his shoulders, and he understood her request. He rolled off her and lay back on the bed. Immediately she was straddling his hips, bracing her hands against his stomach. He gripped her waist, her skin hot and smooth against his fingers. "Those brats of yours should thank me later," he said absently, hardly aware of his own words, "their teacher will be feelin' extra good grading those tests."

She laughed, voice low and husky, and he thought she'd never looked so beautiful as she did then, bright-eyed and wanton and looking down at him like she never wanted to be anywhere else. "Mhmm," she said, "they're all getting a gold star today."

Then she was lifting herself up on her knees, thighs flexing with the movement, adjusting her position above him. She looked him directly in the eye, and then she was bringing herself down and holy fuck he was hit with sizzling electrifying heat that nearly overcame him, and he was damn sure that he was exactly where he always wanted to be.

And when she came, his name a strangled whisper on her lips, he discovered his new favorite sound.

::

::

Inuyasha was much more than "a few minutes" late to meet Miroku. Mostly because he'd tried—unsuccessfully—to talk Kagome into showering with him, and then when she'd brought his clothes to the bathroom, he'd immediately grabbed her and started getting what she called "frisky." After a few moments she'd shoved away and ordered, "Get dressed and get out of here!"

So now he was half an hour late, without even a text of explanation, and Miroku was probably going to be a snippy bitch about it.

Inuyasha grinned. Heh. Worth it.

He entered the coffee place where he and Miroku had agreed to meet, the bitter bite of espresso filling his nose. It was small, almost cramped, a tiny little corner shop that was Miroku's favorite haunt, what he called "a man's café." The interior was a clusterfuck of weathered wood and industrial metal, accented by black paint, which personally made Inuyasha think the owners were overcompensating for something. Almost as soon as he'd stepped inside, a wry voice drawled to his left, "So glad you could make it, Inuyasha."

With a roll of his eyes, Inuyasha turned and found Miroku sitting in a comfortable-looking armchair by the window, an identical one facing him with a tiny table in between. His friend's arms were crossed over his chest and one of his dark eyebrows was raised sarcastically.

Only Miroku could manage to have sarcastic eyebrows.

"Calm down," Inuyasha said dismissively, "I'm not that late."

"I've had two cups of coffee, a bagel, and a piece of banana bread, all before you got here. You're late."

"Careful, Miroku—you won't be able to fit into your wedding dress at this rate."

Miroku's lips curved up, and Inuyasha knew what was coming before the pervert said, "Oh, I plan to work it off with Sango. Many times over."

Inuyasha groaned and strode toward the chair opposite the now-smirking man, plopping down onto the coffee-stained cushion. "Yeah, yeah."

Miroku had opened his mouth, no doubt to take the joke to an even cruder level, but he hesitated when something seemed to catch his eye. His gaze darted down, to about the level of Inuyasha's waist, paused there for a beat, then darted back up. His expression gradually morphed from vague annoyance to something like knowing amusement. He looked like he was trying not to laugh, which immediately had Inuyasha's eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Inuyasha," he said slowly, with a calm that did a poor job masking his mirth, "why are there gold star stickers on your fly?"

The hell?

Dropping his chin, Inuyasha looked down at his lap—and found three gold star stickers plastered to the denim covering his zipper.

Heat immediately exploded across his face. What the— how— when the fuck—

He'd seen these damn stickers before. Kagome had entire packs of them. There'd been a sheet of star stickers on top of the stack of tests that she'd stuffed into her bag when he picked her up yesterday—

Oh fuck me. Kagome must've done it when he was in the shower. She'd even brought him his clothes. Goddammit. How had he missed that when he got dressed?!

He looked back up at Miroku, who had the shittiest of shit-eating grins on his face. "So that's why you were late, is it?" he said, uncrossing his arms and reclining back in his chair. "Distracted by a certain teacher? I'm surprised, Inuyasha—only half an hour? With your stamina, I'd have thought you'd be late by at least a couple hours."

Inuyasha's first impulse was to leap at the man across from him and wipe that smug grin off his face. His leg muscles tensed, upper body leaning forward as he prepared to do just that; but then he glanced back down at the stickers glinting at him from his lap.

Wait a minute….

His ears twitched.

She'd given him a gold star.

Despite himself, he felt the corner of his mouth tug up.

She'd given him three gold stars.

She must've really enjoyed the encore.

His muscles relaxed, and he eased himself back in his chair. He looked at his friend with the barest of smirks. "So we goin' over plans, or what? I don't got all day. I have more gold stars to earn."

::

::

A/N: This little one-shot is dedicated to Bianca Cai for her birthday. Hope you enjoy it, dear.

The beautiful cover art was done by the amazing Grapefruit Wannabe. Thank you, lovely!