Kagome sat in the fading light, the cool air eliciting a shiver. She watched the creature approach with wide eyes. InuYasha, it's InuYasha, but how? She gave a sharp shake of her head. The last few minutes had shattered any preconceptions she had about what was real and what wasn't.

The man-beast before her was very, very real. She could feel the heat coming off his body as he knelt before her and pledged his devotion in a rough, guttural voice. His skin gleamed even in the faded light, and his white hair nearly glowed. He made no further move, and Kagome realized she would have to initiate contact.

"Will….will you look at me?" she asked, her own voice very small.

He raised his head and her breath caught. As she stared into his ruby eyes, frozen with a mixture of fear and uncertainty, she saw something more than a beast residing there. InuYasha's soul was looking out at her, just in a different form.

"Are you the same?" she asked.

InuYasha nodded once, and then spoke again. "Am the same. Different body, same feelings. Stronger, faster. Very good protector."

She just bet he was.

"You can touch," he offered. "Never hurt you."

Slowly, so slowly, she raised a hand and traced the jagged stripes on his face, even ran a finger down one long fang. He shuddered. "Ears," he said, bowing his head again.

She snorted out a nervous laugh. Apparently, he was the same, at least in regards to this. She obliged him, and again heard that rough, growly purr. After a moment he reached up with a deadly, claw tipped hand and caught her wrist. Gently, he lowered her hand, drawing his own down to cradle hers in his much bigger one. "Okay?" he asked.

She swallowed, but nodded. "Okay," she answered. He could still communicate, he wasn't a crazed animal, and he knew her, so her fear was greatly diminished.

He rose then, and stepped away, shifted rapidly, and dressed. Once finished, he turned to her, but did not approach. ""I hope I didn't scare you," he said, his voice low. Kagome tried understand what she was feeling. It wasn't fear. More akin to an enormous sense of what the universe held. Watching InuYasha shift into dog form and then into the 'other' had been so powerful, unbelievable and magical at once, it was as if any imaginary doors in her mind had been blown off their hinges. She finally looked up into his beautiful golden eyes. "You didn't scare me," she said softly.

An owl hooted nearby. A rustle came from the trees. His ear flicked, but he held her gaze. "Do you understand why I needed to make sure you knew who I was?" Kagome nodded solemnly. "Does it change anything for you?" This time she shook her head. The girl she'd been for so long, the one who planned and did what she thought she was supposed to, would have had no idea what to think about who and what InuYasha was. The woman she'd become after reality landed with a thud in her life and she'd hiked over two thousand miles in commune with nature every step of the way— that woman had come to learn there was so much humans didn't know. Nature in all its forms held so much magic. Learning InuYasha was a man who was also a shifter, while mind-blowing, didn't change what she felt when she was near him.

She shook her head. A sharp breeze gusted over her skin, and she shivered. InuYasha stepped up to her again and gave her a soft tug. "Let's go. You're getting cold," he smiled walked hand and hand to his truck, leaving Goshinboku to its solitude and drove through the falling dark to his house. Kagome barely noticed the details of his home when they arrived. She had a brief impression of warm wood and natural colors. All her focus was on the man in front of her, and how things had changed for them both.

InuYasha paused to kick his shoes off when he entered the house, Kagome's hand still in his. He flicked the lights on and immediately lifted her in his arms, walking through the entryway and up the stairs that curved along the wall of the foyer. Ever since he'd shifted in front of her, and she hadn't freaked out, all he could think about was finally being with her the way he wanted. Thinking wasn't quite the word to describe what was happening. More that he was driven by pure instinct. It had taken every ounce of restraint he owned inside to stop when he did last night with her. The thin thread he clung to had been thrown by his conscience— he couldn't let himself go further at the time, knowing what she didn't know and how that held the potential to ruin any chance with her. But tonight, she knew who and what he was. While he sensed all was not settled just yet, he wasn't going to wait any longer unless she insisted.

And Kagome showed no sign of that. On the ride home, her hand had stayed warm in his. Just now, her breath caught when he lifted her. With her held close against his chest, he glanced down, his eyes colliding with hers. The air fairly crackled around them. He sucked his breath in sharply. He forced himself to keep moving, taking long strides down the hall once he cleared the top stair. Her heart thudded against his chest, his own pulse surging in reply.

He turned the corner into his bedroom. In three strides, he reached his bed, a massive mahogany canopy bed passed down through the generations of his family. He carefully set her down before flicking on a single lamp by the bed. When he turned, he found her looking curiously around his room.

One look at her with her hair catching sparks in the lamplight, her blue eyes gleaming, her skin as fair as her hair was dark, and InuYasha had to close his eyes and breathe to keep from allowing his Inu instincts to gain control and take her too aggressively. That time would come, but not tonight. A few deep breaths, and he opened his eyes. Stepping in front of her, he knelt and removed the air brace and the practical running shoe on her other foot, careful not to disturb her sprained ankle.

He stroked his palms up her thighs. Her breath hitched, and his cock throbbed in response. He tilted his head up and met her eyes. "Is this okay?" His words rasped in the quiet room. Her pulse was visible in her neck as she nodded. "More than okay." He moved swiftly then, standing and tearing his clothes off. He didn't intend to rush once they were skin to skin, but he couldn't bear to delay that. Kagome held his eyes steadily as he stood in front of her, his arousal blatant. He leaned forward, his hands on either side of her hips, and paused with his lips a whisper away. He meant to say something, but before he could she slipped her hand around his neck and tugged his mouth to hers.

Kagome's combination of shy and bold was intoxicating. Her tongue stroked across his lips, her mouth fell open, and their kiss exploded. InuYasha could barely keep his balance and shifted to kneel between her knees. He cupped her face in his hands, delving deeply into her mouth. Her hands traveled down his chest, her soft touch sending sparks skittering in its wake. He trailed his lips down her neck, pausing when he reached the collar of her shirt, a soft t-shirt that hugged her ample breasts. He slipped a hand underneath, dragging her shirt up. In a swift move, she leaned back and tugged it over her head. Before he could catch his breath, she unsnapped her bra and tossed it aside.

His heart raced with want, lust surged through his body. In a flash, she pushed him back and stood. He reflexively grabbed her hips to steady her. "Easy with your ankle," he said, his voice husked with desire.

Her lips curved in a soft smile. "I know you've got me. I just want my jeans off. I'm guessing you might like that too." Her mischievous smile only turned the heat up a notch for him. He lifted his hands away for her to slide her jeans over her hips and shimmy out of them. And then she stood before him in a pair of cotton panties, bright red, his favorite color.

Her breasts were inches away, and he didn't hesitate to lean forward and lave one nipple and then the other, rolling her nipples between his thumb and forefinger, savoring the weight of her breasts in his palms. With a firm stroke of his hand gliding down her abdomen, he pushed her back. She lay back with a sigh, a soft moan escaping when he slid a hand down, down where she really wanted him, and stroked a clawed finger carefully through her folds, after edging under her panties.

InuYasha had to fight to keep from tearing them off and plunging inside of her. His cock was so hard it bordered on painful. But more than that… he wanted to imprint this experience on her and savored the anticipation of knowing how much better it would be if he didn't rush. He circled his thumb against her clit and her hips shifted restlessly with her gasp. He trailed slow kisses up the inside of her thigh, monitoring her every reaction.

She was drenched with desire. His intentions weakened when she gasped. "InuYasha…"

"Hmm?" he said, nose buried between her legs, breathing her in.

"Hurry, I want you!" she ordered.

He smiled against her skin and hooked a finger on the edge of her panties, swiftly dragging them down. "Just a minute…" The beast in him flexed and arched, the primal drive to plunge into her so intense, he had to clench his teeth. He finally brought his mouth against her, her hips bucking into him the moment he slid his tongue up and down her folds and coasted across the nub of her desire.

The taste of her was like a drug, and he knew he would be addicted the rest of his laid a palm on the soft curve of her belly using his other hand to tease in her folds and give in to the long, slow taste of her. Kagome went wild against his mouth and hand, her cries echoing through him. Time dissolved as he lost himself watching her fly apart, again and again.

Kagome lost count of how many orgasms he'd given her, they all blended into one another. As soon as one was done he was building her to the next. At last she cried his name, begging for more, and he snatched a condom out of his jeans on the floor and rolled it on, stretching full length over her body as she shuddered. In a swift move, he tugged both hands above her head, holding them in place with one hand, finally giving in to his need to dominate. He paused and said her name. Her bright blue eyes blinked open. He cupped her cheek with his free hand and held her gaze. Her skin felt so good against his, he was stunned. She licked her lips and shifted under him. "Now…" she said, and he needed no further urging.

He surged inside of her, her wet channel hugging him tightly. Her eyes widened, her breath came out in a long, hissing gasp. InuYasha grit his teeth and forced himself to still. Kagome was having none of that, however. She shifted her hips, opening her thighs wider and arching against him. "Don't stop!" she cried.

His last hold on control broke and he pulled back to thrust deeper inside of her. He lost himself in the rhythm. He held her pinned against the bed as he gave in and allowed the tempest inside of him to take over, surging and stroking into her, deeper and deeper each time. She suddenly gasped his name and he felt her fly apart under him.

InuYasha growled her name and arched back, plunging deeply into her yet again. Kagome was awash in the orgasm that had blown her apart. She had never imagined anything like this! The feel of him inside was beyond anything she could have imagined. By the time he finally entered her, the ache to have him inside was so intense, she was near out of her mind. The fullness filled an empty place in her body and her soul that she hadn't known she had.

As he continued to thrust, she felt herself rising to yet another peak, and she was helpless to stop it. His body gleamed above her, muscles flexing with his power as he drove into her, and all she could do was lose herself in his golden eyes and leap off the peak, this time with him, again.

He collapsed against her, his hand easing its grip on her wrists. He shifted his weight to the side and lay still. His breath gusted against her shoulder. He trailed a hand down her cheek, lightly tracing her collarbone, curling softly around her breast and coming to rest on the curve of her abdomen.

"Are you okay?" he asked, studying her carefully.

"More than okay," she answered, truthfully.

The way she was feeling was so utterly delicious. Her mind rolled back to earlier tonight when he'd all but blown her mind. She still couldn't quite wrap her brain around what he was even though she'd seen it with her own eyes. And though a part of her wasn't so sure what to think, if she listened to her heart, her body and her soul rather than her oh-so-controlling mind, she knew she trusted him more completely than she'd ever trusted anyone.

This thing between them was real, deep, and very, very right.

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