It all Started with a Nameless Beauty

A/N: (I never really knew what Youko's personality was in the anime… so I apologize if he's out of character!) Also, I apologize for the long wait!

~~~Chapter 12~~~

Sunlight squeezed its way through a small hole in the wall of the cave and slowly crawled across the room, landing on Kagome's face. The brightness penetrated her deep sleep and her eyes began to flutter. She stretched out her legs and fumbled under the feather blanket until she lay on her side. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes. The whiteness of the comforter immediately blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut. Reflexively, her hands shot upwards towards her face, but they refused to move. Kagome blinked several times and squinted. What was going on? She tried pulling her hands towards her once more but stopped mid-motion. They were tangled within the sheets.

Kagome looked down and focused on her captive limbs. Was there always a sheet? She tried to pull them free once again, and almost immediately regretted it. When she tugged at her hands, a well-toned chest emerged through the sea of white. What she thought was bed linen was Youko's sleeping yukata! Her eyes bulged. And now he was almost naked! This was bad.

As deftly as she could, she unwove her hands from his clothing. With just one more yank of his yukata, she would have surely exposed everything. Clumsily, she tried to search for the ties that closed his garment, but came upon nothing. The color of the blanket and his clothing camouflaged too well together and she did not want to accidentally reach for something she did not want to find. She blushed.

After her failed attempt to cover up his body, she shyly looked for his face. She could picture it now, his usual mouth with its usual smirk. To her surprise, she had come upon something entirely different. He was still asleep.

Whether it was the lighting of the room, or the serenity of the cave, she could not tell, but in front of her was the most handsome face she had ever seen, and it was just a few inches from her own. How could someone so perfect exist? She began to inspect his face.

She looked at his flawless skin and the strong angles his bone structure created. Everything was perfect – nose, cheekbones, jaw line. As she continued to admire his face, his breath began to quicken and his eyebrows furrowed. Crap! Was he waking? Kagome quickly closed her eyes. She did not want him catching her ogling him. When nothing happened, she peered between her eyelashes and took a peek. He was still asleep, but his face now held a frown.

His eyelids twitched and lips quivered. He was dreaming, or maybe having a nightmare? She looked on in disapproval. She was familiar with those lines between his eyebrows. They were her old friends, as she would see them as clear as day every time he would get angry at her. Slowly, she freed her arm and stuck out her pointer finger. Softly, and ever so cautiously, she reached towards the point above his nose with just one finger, and delicately pressed into his skin to smooth out the creases. He was much more handsome when he was not angry. She smiled.

As she lowered her hand, she lightly brushed her fingertips along his strong jaw line. She looked at his face for any signs of waking. Nothing. His lack of response emboldened her to continue her investigation. She wanted to remember this face. This was the face she never saw on him. She liked this face.

Her eyes traveled across his visage and trailed upwards again, until her gaze fell upon a pair of triangles atop his head. She could not resist, especially when he had proven to be such a deep sleeper. She could swear they were bigger and more squeezable than Inuyasha's! Carefully, she lifted one of her hands and placed it upon one ear, paused for a second, double-checking to see if he had woken up, and then shimmied her other arm free and placed it on the opposite. She had wanted to do since the first time she saw him. Softly, she squeezed his ears as he had done to her during their first encounter. When he did not stir, Kagome tweaked his ears just a bit harder. They were so soft!

While rubbing his ears, she began to feel him shift next to her. She quickly tried to maneuver her arms back into place, but he had reached his arms around her waist and pulled her tighter into him, pushing himself deeper into her chest. A soft growl escaped his throat. Kagome looked on in surprise as well as comfort. That wasn't a growl, it was a purr!

And it felt right.

She tried to continue gazing at his face, but he burrowed deeper into her. When she lost sight of him, she focused on his body next to hers and welcomed his warmth. She then wondered how much she would not mind waking up to this every morning and continued to rub his ears in slow circular motions.

Kagome's eyelids soon became heavy. She tried to resist, but she was too comfortable. In no time, her breathing had steadied and synchronized to Youko's. They lay peacefully entwined in each other's arms.

The room was calm and time passed steadily. The ray of light that had shined earlier on the pair had now shifted to a corner in the room.

Slowly, Youko opened his eyes and lifted his head to sniff around. Realizing that his face was buried in Kagome's chest, he quickly pushed himself away and propped himself up on his elbows, cheeks pink as uncooked meat.

"Gomen ne, Kagome! I did not know what I was doing."

Kagome woke up bewildered. What was happening?

She looked at her surroundings and recollected what had happened just a few moments ago. It seemed his true colors had shown and he really cared about what she thought! Was this not the same Youko that peeked at her the other night, and the one who kissed her a few days back? She was shocked.

"It's fine Youko. I-if there's anyone to blame, then it should be me…" She watched his eyes widen, "I couldn't help myself from touching your ears… and then you just reflexively moved closer." She followed his example and blushed, "Gomen ne."

Kagome quickly recovered from her embarrassed state and began to test out her newly discovered theory. She teased him, "I guess this is the real you, huh? You're just a little blushing kitsune." She giggled.

He was glad she was smiling. She seemed to have forgotten about what happened last night and he hoped she would never learn. She had kept fidgeting the night before, and if either of them were going to get any sleep, he had to do something! With a quick hand gesture, he had plucked a seed from his hair, and slipped it into her mouth via kiss. The seed held nectar that was known to give a good night's rest and to help the body recuperate.

He smiled back and the color in his cheeks swiftly left his face. It was best to keep her happy and her mind off of last night, "And now I know the real you too! You're just a vixen who fondles handsome youkai in their sleep, ne?"

She blushed again, but just as fast as it appeared, it vanished, only to be replaced by her own smirk, "What handsome youkai? I don't see one anywhere."

Youko looked at her in fascination, and smirked. His eyebrow rose, "Oh really?"

"The only youkai I see is a perverted fox!" she paused. He could almost see the memory forming in her head, "And what you did last night!" she shrieked.

Shit. She remembered. He began to worry.

"YOU! I can't believe you did that! What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! You just fell asleep. Maybe because I was too much for you?" he smiled again, trying to diffuse her anger with humor. He did not want her to know he had taken control again. That would just piss her off more.

She quickly sat up from the futon and raised her fist with a strong intent to hurt something.

Youko stared wide-eyed and scrambled out of the way across the room, just in time to avoid being pummeled. Was she really going to fight him? Did she think that would be beaten by a hanyou? A girl no less?

Man, was she going to get a wakeup call. He smirked and readied himself into a defensive stance.

He watched Kagome, waiting for her move. Her eyes widened as large as saucers and her hands quickly shot upwards to cover them.

What was she doing? Wasn't she just about to attack him?

Kagome maneuvered her hands until one covered both eyes and the other pointed at his exposed body, "Um… Youko, could you please cover yourself?" Youko looked down and quickly reached for the ties to his sleeping yukata. When did that happen!?

"I'm dressed now," he said.

She warily unveiled her eyes, and her cheeks remained the color of tomatoes.

Youko smiled at her. Had she done this to him? "Kagome, if you wanted me, all you had to do was ask." He reached for the knot and began to play with the ties.

Kagome's eyes bulged, "No, no! You got it all wrong. It was an accident! I swear!"

So it really washer! "It's OK, Kagome. I understand. If I was in your position, I don't think I could keep my hands to myself either. I'd want to touch my ears and undress me too," he winked.

Kagome was fuming. He was making her out to be a harlot! "Youko! Stop it! It was all an accident, alright?"

Youko smiled again and winked, "UH-HUH. One happy accident."

She burst up from the bed and charged at him with fists drawn, ready to throw punches. He quickly sidestepped and was once again out of harm's way.

"Nothing better than a little morning exercise!" he thought. She dashed towards him with all her speed and threw punches at him from every direction. Hook punches, straight punches, and uppercuts, nothing worked! Both of their hands were moving at incredible speeds and their bodies were moving throughout the room.

The punches were proving to be futile. None were getting in. She needed a plan. She would fake a punch and then round-house kick him in the chest. Her legs had a much longer reach than her arms, and she was sure it would hit. When an opening presented itself, she kicked off her right foot as hard as she could and aimed directly into his chest. "I got him!" she thought. But just as she celebrated in her head, her leg was stopped mid-air by her yukata and she was falling! Before she could realize what had happened, she was in the kitsune's arms. His eyes looked at her curiously, almost asking her "are you sure you want to continue?"

She blushed lightly, but then quickly turned red with anger; she was going to get him! What had started off as just a means to get him back for making fun of her had ended up as a battle for dominance. Her body wanted to prove to him that she was strong and someone that was not to be taken lightly.

She pushed herself away from him with great force, which caused both of them to be thrown in opposite directions. She looked down towards her legs, "Damn clothes!" She reached for the bottom hem of her sleeping attire, extended her claws, and ripped open a deep slit. Now she could get him. She smirked and looked up again, only to find that Youko was a preoccupied staring at her. Or, staring at her legs! He had been ogling her: her disheveled hair and clothing, and with just enough skin showing.

He was getting excited.

And she was fuming!

"You better pay more attention," she said, "or you'll get hurt!"

With that, she charged at him again, using a mix of punches and kicks intermingled with one another, spin kicks, back kicks, round-house kicks, anything she could think of. Only a few seemed to get through to him, but he was unaffected, almost as if she was nothing compared to him.

What she needed was a distraction. A distraction…

A light bulb suddenly flickered on in her head, and she took it and put it into action. She charged once again, although a little slower this time, she wanted to play out her plan and she was getting a bit tired from all of her earlier useless punches and kicks. She ran straight towards him at top speed, but before she reached him she maneuvered herself to graze the side of his body with hers and for her fingers to run across his shoulder.

Youko ran in the other direction waiting for the next attack, but it never came. He looked at her with curiosity written on his face. She was up to something.

Sweat had begun to form all over her body, and her chest heaved up and down to gasp for the much needed air. Her yukata seemed to have slipped further from her body, but only enough to tease his mind. She was stunning!

She charged at him again and noticed his lag in response time. Yes! It was working! She continued to fruitlessly punch at him, but this time her body would be much closer to his, sending shivers up both of their spines. Each time she went in to strike him with her arms or legs, she would end up teasing him, caressing him. She would position herself to let him see more of her skin, and then breathe softly across the nape of his neck.

The contact between them was electrifying. Everything she was doing was electrifying!

His movements continued to slow, wanting to stay in contact with her for longer periods of time. Whether it was subconscious or not, his body was decelerating so he could feel her upon him once more.

This was it! He was off guard.

She quickly reached for his arm and wound it around his body, forced it straight behind his back and upwards into he sky, driving Youko to his knees and his face into the ground.

They both breathed heavily.

"I am NOT weak," she said with a breath, "I can take you on anytime so don't try anything funny again!"

She quickly let go, subconsciously not wanting to hurt him, and also because she did not have enough strength to keep him there for any longer. She plopped down on the floor lying on her back trying to catch her breath, while Youko sat himself up on the floor beside her.

She was wonderful.

He breathed along with her, trying to recuperate, but also to calm himself down. He then looked down at her and said enticingly, "I knew you were a girl who fondled youkai in their sleep, but I didn't know you were one to do it in a fight as well." He said with a look of triumph.

Kagome glared at him, closed her eyes, and pointed her finger at his nose. "Hey," she paused, "I won," effectively wiping the look off his face.

After a few minutes to catch their breaths, Youko spoke up, "Well Kagome, we should get up, I have things to do today, and I want to show you around." He looked at her peaceful face, and when hearing no response, he continued, "So, about those things I wasn't supposed to try. Was this one of them?" He leaned down and took her lips with his and let his tongue slide across her lips before lifting his head back up.

"Yes," she whispered and quickly fell asleep.

End of Chapter!

Again, I'm so sorry for the long wait! I've been really busy and this chapter was really hard for me to write… not really sure why. I think because there was so much going on! _