wk: Here's the next installment of thi story. Sorry it took so long. =P Also, there is some pithy language in here, as well as some very sexual stuff, so BEWARE. This story, I believe, is rated M. So you underage kiddies-- don't be reading this now!

Chapter Five
Convincing Kagome

"Whoop! Stop right there, Mr. Hot Pants," I cried out from under Inuyasha. I shoved on his chest, pushing him off of me. Except he didn't budge. He only stopped kissing me, giving me an arched look.

"What's the problem?" he asked. His voice was a little more than a growl, a little raspy, more husky.

"I just got done telling you that we should think about everything, and you're about to-- about to--" I choked as I felt his lips move over my jawline and down my neck. I shoved him back again.

"Have sex with you?" he supplied. I nodded, my arms going over my chest. I felt very vulnerable at the moment. "Well, what's the problem?" In a burst of panicky anger, I managed to push Inuyasha to the side and I hurriedly rose to my feet.

"I just finished telling you that we should think about it!" I replied and reached across my bed to snag my t-shirt. Inuyasha twitched, as if tempted to grab me and pull me down onto the bed, but I moved quickly.

I pulled the shirt over my head, and discovered that Inuyasha's sly fingers went under my shirt to caress my back. I slapped at his arm, and he yanked it away with an offended look on his face.

"Can you think about anything other than sex?" I asked him, exasperated as his eyes continue to eat me.

"Not at the moment," he muttered, then sighed. He got up, came close to me, I crossed my arms across my chest in a defiant and defensive gesture, gazing up at him with hopefully determined eyes. "I want to go out with you," he said in slow, measured words. I blinked.

"Inuyasha, we've barely known each other for a couple of... Well, really a couple of days," I pointed out. Inuyasha shrugged.

"Doesn't seem to matter. We seem like we're on our own clock anyways."

"Inuyasha, we haven't even dated," I again pointed out. "You don't know me, and all you want is sex right now."

"That's not all I want," he murmured, "but fine! Let's go on a date right now. I guarantee you'll have fun with me!"

I thought about it for a while. On one hand, he couldn't do anything in public. On the other hand, he might be just shameless enough to do something in public. But on the third hand, I really didn't know him either. And if I wanted to be interested, I should start to get to know him, and vice versa. But how does this mysterious dating thing work? In all the romance novels I've read, the couples mostly just... fall into it. They have a date, maybe two, but they already know they're in love.

I was definitely not in love with Inuyasha. Not yet, anyways. I hope not. I wasn't unwilling to rule out the possibility of it happening, but--

"Keh. You gonna think about it for a good hour before you answer me, Lamb Chops?" Inuyasha asked, his tone amused.

"Uh... Yeah, let's go. But no movies! In fact, no dark area that you can take advantage of me!"

"Well, seeing as we just ate breakfast," Inuyasha contemplated, "we could go to the movies." Apparently, my protest had fallen on deaf ears. "Or, we could go to the park." Hm. The idea had merit. A nice walk to walk off our breakfast as well as getting to enjoy the outdoors.

"Okay," I replied with a smile.

I was screaming. I was screaming and my eyes were closed. The jerk had not told me that we were going to an amusement park with roller coasters. I normally enjoyed roller coasters. When they coasted. At low speeds.

Where was the darn teacup-spinny ride? I could ride that, no problem. I could even ride the stupid elephant ride that went up and down in a circle while you aimed your gun to shoot water at other riders.

But this roller coaster that I had been forced on (he had literally dragged me through) was high enough that I wouldn't be surprised if we had to reenter the atmosphere.

When the ride was done, I collapsed into a pile of jelly, since my knees refused to cooperate. It was embarrassing when Inuyasha had to carry me out of there on his back.

"I told you I can't ride things like that!" I wheezed weakly, thumping a weak fist on his shoulder. He coughed, which I suspected was to cover his chuckle. My eyes narrowed, and I yanked on his hair. He yelped and turned his head to give me an evil look out of the side of his eye. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No!" Inuyasha immediately denied, and when we got to the exit, he dropped me unceremoniously onto my butt. I stared up at him maliciously, and slowly got to my feet, rubbing my behind with my palm.

"All right, the next ride can be your choice," Inuyasha stated, grabbing my hand. I sighed, but then I thought about it.

"Any ride? Any ride at all?" I asked. Inuyasha nodded, although he looked a bit more cautious about it.

I had the urge to take him on the slowest ride-- ever. All it did was float on a raft through a course that had no dips or falls, and instead just floated along while puppets of every kind danced around you. The only reason why I didn't do this was because I thought it would be torture to both him and me.

So, I went to the next best thing. A water ride. It had one huge fall at the end, but the terror of it was offset by the big splash that would cool me down and be entertaining as well.

Afterwards, I was laughing and he was scowling as he shook like a dog in order to get all the water out of his hair. I squealed when some of the water got on me (never mind that I was already wet), and before I could get away, his arm grabbed me around my waist and swung me around into his (gulp) entire body.

"What are you laughing about?" he growled, and breathlessly I shrugged. My hands had gone to his shoulders, and I had the urge to play with his wet tendrils of hair that were hanging down.

"You just seemed like a little puppy," I replied, and gave into the urge and tugged on his hair. He stared at me for a moment, and he began to snarl.

"A puppy?" Before I could answer, his hand went to the middle of my back to urge me closer to him. Despite our dampness, I felt the heat of him resonate through our clothes. As I looked up at him, I realized his face was very close to mine. And I saw that he was aware of this too. In fact, I am pretty sure that is how he orchestrated out positions.

"We're in public," I whispered helplessly. He gave an impatient growl, and then his mouth was covering mine and I was gone again, gone to a different universe. I made some kind of needy, embarrassing noise, and I felt his lips curve against mine in a slight, triumphant smile as his other hand went to the back of my head to hold me in place. His teeth scraped over my bottom lip, caught, tugged, and I replied with a flick of my tongue. The swoop of my stomach was not unlike the one I had felt going down the roller coaster.

Soon, we were full-blown making out in the middle of the exit, people staring as they went around us to leave.

Oh, geez. Eventually, he gently pushed me away, and I am embarrassed to say that I was reluctant to stop. Wordlessly, he took my hand and led me out while I followed as if I was in a trance. I had to admit-- the boy could kiss, not that I had too much experience in the area. But I figured that since I couldn't think about anything once his lips met mine, I think I could safely say that he had ambrosia or some such substance on his lips.

He then led me to another roller coaster, one we had to wait for. I fought the entire way, telling him that he was a tyrant and yanking on his black locks and I was near hysterics when they strapped me in.

When the roller coaster started to move, I dug my nails into his forearm, and he laughed, turning my hand over so that it could clasp his rather than tear holes into it. I squeezed his hand hard, and closed my eyes. I felt the roller coaster tilt, and indication that it was going up. It actually went up for a while. A long while.

A very long while.

I'm pretty sure Inuyasha's hand was being crushed, but I didn't care. Right when I knew we were poised to start dropping, I tensed and my hand tightened even more around Inuyasha's. Right when we started to drop, I felt his fingers on my chin, turning my stiff head to him. I shook my head, trying to get my head out of his grip, but as a scream rose in my throat as I felt my stomach rise, his mouth covered mine. My eyes shot open, but the wind and my hair made it hard to see.

His own eyes were open and laughing at me, and all I knew was that it was as if he was breathing life into me as we rode the roller coaster. I didn't know whether the swooping sensation was the roller coaster or him.

I'm pretty sure it was both, but I felt like it was him. I didn't know whether the wrenching sensation inside me was the turning of the roller coaster, or whether it was his settling inside of me so that I knew, one way or another, it would be hard-- maybe impossible-- to get him out.

He might not have known exactly what, but he knew that something was different. We rode other rides, but he didn't insist on riding a roller coaster again. The very last we rode was a ferris wheel, and things felt... not tense, but anxious.

There were two seats inside, so that we could sit across from each other, but Inuyasha piled in next to me. Before I could protest, or more people could be added, Inuyasha swung the door shut himself, slipping the guy twenty dollars.

As the ferris wheel started, he trapped me against one side of the ferris wheel, caging me in with his arms against the wall.

"What are you so tense about?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Nothing," I answered, but I think he knew I was lying from the fact that I wouldn't look him in the eye. I couldn't. This strange feeling welling up inside my chest was threatening to overwhelm me at any moment, and it was as if I was holding back a beast inside of me. I put all sorts of chains around the beast, and held him within my breast.

"Bullshit," Inuyasha countered. I remained tight-lipped, but I was surprised when he gripped my chin to force me to look at him. "Look at me," he bit out. I met his eyes with mine, but even before we could get a good look at each other, his mouth was on mine once more.

He sure did like kissing. And as I hummed into the kiss and closed my shocked eyes, I admitted I liked his kissing too.

His teeth dug into my lower lip and I made a slight whimpering sound as his tongue swept into my mouth. It was as if he was looking for something, some sort of response from me. I didn't know what sort of response he was expecting, but I didn't care at the moment, as long as he kept up his ministrations. I fought back tongue and lips, trying to gain dominance until I only gave up under his force and dominant nature. But it wasn't really giving up when I was enjoying everything he was doing.

Yes, I liked his kissing.

When he pulled away, I felt deprived and my hands had locked around his neck, not letting him go any further than an arm's length. He grinned, gave me a short kiss that had me frowning, and he forcefully pulled away, pulling my hands from around his neck. Reassured by something I gave him, he looked smug and satisfied.

Well, I was not satisfied.

Grabbing the lapels of his shirt, I yanked him, and using his momentum turned him around so that he was on the seat and I was standing above him. Surprised, he was gaping at me, his eyes blinking owlishly. In a bold move, I was straddling him, my knees next to his hips and my butt on his thighs. Before I could consider the consequences of my actions, I covered his mouth with mine and attacked him voraciously using all the weapons I have. I squeaked when I felt his hands on my butt, and he shifted me so that I was right over his--

Oh. Moan.

In the back of my mind, I knew we were moving too fast for any normal couple. As he kept making me rub against him, I amended my previous thought. We were moving very, very, very fast. My stomach lurched, but I chalked it up to the feelings Inuyasha always seemed to stir in me. We needed to stop, but I just didn't have the willpower to--

"Uh... Ride's over. Unless you wanna pay for another go." I tore my mouth from Inuyasha to find the attendant looking abashedly at us. On an embarrassed groan, I scrambled off of Inuyasha's lap, and before he could take up the kid's offer, I awkwardly hastened out of the enclosure.

Inuyasha followed behind me more leisurely, and before I could completely run away, he snagged my fingers into interlaced hands. Mortified, I tried to tug my hand out of his, but he refused to let my hand go, whistling cheerfully as others stared at us.

"Kagome, you look pretty red. Is something wrong?"

I whirled around to possibly lash out at him, but I thought better of it when his extremely smug look made me bite my words back. This had not been a good idea. It was because of him that I had not even been able to see the nice scenery and view from the ferris wheel.

I turned back around and continued on back to the car.

When we got back, I let him stay for dinner (he bought Chinese takeout for us), but tried to force him out once he was done.

"But Kagome," Eri said to my despair, "we were gonna go clubbing tonight. Inuyasha, don't you want to come?"

"I would be delighted to," Inuyasha replied smugly, giving me a triumphant smile.

"Well, have fun, because I'm not going," I declared and crossed my arms over my chest.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed on me, and I pointedly stared back at him.

"Fine," he declared, "I'll stay with you."

"No need for that," I retorted.

"I wouldn't want to leave my new girlfriend all by herself," Inuyasha replied just as quickly and easily with an air of concern. My mouth dropped open.

Fraud! Liar! We never established anything like that!

"Oh my gosh! You guys are going out?!" Yuka excitedly asked, and didn't even wait for a response before rushing on to say, "Kagome, you definitely have to go out now! And with Inuyasha! And I'll drive!"

I knew at that point it was pointless to argue. Yuka offering to be the designated driver and not get drunk? In order to get me drunk?

The world was turning on a different axis.

"Yeah, Kagome. Let's go celebrate," Inuyasha said with a smirk. This cocky son of a--!

"You and I have nothing together as of this point. We went on our first date today! You can't even call me your girlfriend after one date!" I sputtered out.

"You guys went on a date?" Ayumi asked, then without waiting for an answer added, "That is so sweet!" I rolled my eyes.

"Look, you guys have fun. I'll stay in."

"Then I'll stay too," Inuyasha declared. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from baring my teeth at him. If he stayed, we would get into a dangerous situation. On my bed. Naked.

And he knew it.

"Fine, I'll go," I said grumpily. I couldn't help but to be sulky and noncomplying. They-- no, he-- had pushed me into a corner with the decision.

We were going to go to a bar, then go barhopping. I mentioned my lack of ID, and Inuyasha waved that concern away.

"I know almost all the guys at the doors."

And with that, the night began. I was coerced, forced, wheedled, and physically bullied into drinking with my friends. And Inuyasha. He bought a majority of the drinks, with the girls buying a few congratulatory shots for the both of us, despite my protests of there is no us, yet. "Yet" seemed to be the operative word here.

I could have sworn that Inuyasha drank just as much as I did, but he looked none the worse for wear while I could tell that I was pretty sloshed.

"Oh, Geez, how'd I get so drunk?" I slurred to Inuyasha. "And why aren't you drunk? You drank the same amount as me!" I cried out. "This is unfair!"

We were walking to another bar, and I was holding hands with him as I leaned on him. Yuka was completely fine, as she had only a beer in order to be able to drive us back. Ayumi and Eri were almost as drunk as me, but were walking fine on their own.

"I'm a lot bigger than you, tiger," Inuyasha reasoned, emphasizing this by letting go of my hand and sliding his hand around my waist to squeeze the width of it before sliding his hand onto my belly. The heat that pooled there seemed to accent his hold. "Oh, hey man," Inuyasha said to his umpteenth friend, but this one happened to be the next destination. The guy said his hellos, and Inuyasha helped me inside, assuring the guy at the door that I wasn't drunk enough to barf inside.

I hoped he was right.

He bought one last round of shots, and I tried to refuse to take mine. But did I mention that I am very weak against peer pressure? Well, in case I haven't mentioned it before, I am. Very susceptible to peer pressure. Especially when I'm already drunk. And especially when I am being challenged.

"I bet you're not taking it because you can't," Eri needled.

"Yeah, I can't," I grumbled, sitting on a stool and leaning against Inuyasha.

"I think you're not taking it because you're a pussy. And maybe because you know that you can't outdrink us. Or maybe," Eri continued, "it's because you're afraid of what you'll really do when you let loose." Eri turned around when she saw that this particular tact wasn't working. "Everyone!" she shouted to the people at the bar. "My friend here won't take a shot. What do you think about that?" She turned back around when the crowd roared their disapproval. With a frustrated growl, I took the glass, and threw back the shot. The burning sensation down my throat told me that I would be regretting that later. Just as the burning sensation from my first shot told me the same thing.

As we were leaving the club, we happened to bump into someone I definitely didn't really want to ever see.

"Getting girls drunk so you can take advantage of them, dog shit?" Kouga growled, his eyes on Inuyasha. But then his eyes flitted to my glazed ones. Then he recognized me and things went from bad to worse. He leapt at Inuyasha, knocking him against the wall and me onto the ground. I banged my elbow on the rail meant to keep a space enclosed on the way down, and the jarring impact had me clenching my teeth and crying out. And because I brought my arm in after the initial pain, I landed hard on my ass, and as my other hand went out to try to catch my fall, my palm got scraped up against the concrete.

Inuyasha gave a bellow, as if he was the one that had gotten injured, and I was scrambling up when Inuyasha roughly shoved Kouga away and had his fists raised. I ran to Inuyasha's side, made sober by the moment. Or, at least, feeling drunkenly responsible.

I saw some cops on bicycles start to pedal over, as if trying to stake out the situation before coming with arrest on the mind.

I held Inuyasha back, pleading with him, telling him that Kouga wasn't worth it, that getting arrested wasn't worth it, please, please, please. His muscles trembled underneath my hand, and I was slightly aware that the only thing that stopped him was how I still favored my arm. Kouga's friends were hauling Kouga a distance away, whispering into his unhearing ears about how the cops were watching.

"Does it hurt?" Inuyasha murmured as he lifted my arm to look at it. I shook my head, and tugged at his shirt. I was surprised at anyone else when he pressed an apologetic kiss to my elbow. Not as surprised as him, I thought, as I registered the emotion in his eyes. I heard Kouga's fresh curses, and tugged at his shirt harder.

"Let's go back to the apartment now," I entreated, and my three speechless friends only nodded when I gave them a hard look that said, "Agree with me."

Sobered up, or at least more sober, we walked away from Kouga, but not before I threw him an apologetic glance. Inuyasha, who noticed, caught my chin and said, "Don't apologize. He's nothing." I noticed that his hand was trembling slightly. Probably from repressing his violent urges to tear Kouga apart.

He was nothing romantically important to me, I silently agreed. Kouga had, apparently, assumed that on his own. But I had to feel bad for the guy.

As we walked along, Inuyasha's hand found mine. When I squeezed his hand, palm-to-palm, he looked down as if surprised that my hand was enveloped in his. But he didn't disconnect our hands, and instead lifted our joint hands to murmur something against my knuckles. The tingling spread from my fingers to the very tips of my toes, and I shivered. Probably thinking I was cold, he used the same hand to bring me closer to him, and he took his hand from mine to rest possessively on my hip, his fingers spreading to distribute warmth.

This was all done without uttering a word, and I leaned into him, suddenly very sober and intensely curious.

I had never seen this tender, caring side of him. He was still rough around the edges of course, and I knew when he cared, but this almost loving nature of his unnerved me. Was he drunk? Is that why he was so much more uninhibited?

My sobriety only lasted so long, until the adrenaline rush ended. Soon I was weaving again, my weight against Inuyasha as I walked blearily to the car with him.

On the way back to our apartment, I fell asleep, my dizziness and drunkenness not allowing me to do anything else. I woke to a pair of soft lips on mine, and realized that I was in bed, my clothes changed and drowsily staring at Inuyasha who hovered above me. I then realized that he had to have had carried me all the way inside, and changed me as gently as a baby. He had to have, since I hadn't wakened at all. The romantic in me swooned, and I wished I had been awake for that particular trek.

"How's your elbow, baby?" he whispered, and the endearment had me melting and giving him a soft, sleepy smile.

"Hurts like hell," I replied, and again was surprised when he lifted again to press his lips to it. Then he lifted my palm, and I saw that he had seen the damage done to that as well. He pressed his lips there, and rather than being soothing, the heat shot through my body. Still sleepy but now fully aware and sober, I brought up my free hand, wincing a bit when my elbow straightened to bring his face to mine.

My eyes stayed on his as he rubbed his lips over mine, not devouring as he had done to me before. My heart started thumping heavily, the blood slowly rushing through my veins to make my body feel slower, sluggish.

He didn't touch me in any other way than his mouth, and the brush of his long hair against my cheeks as it curtained us, shutting us off from the outside world. He teased the corners of my mouth with his tongue, making me whimper embarrassingly with need as I opened my lips against his. Still, he only dipped the tip of his tongue in my mouth, teasing me unbearably. I followed his tongue with my own into his mouth, where he took control, and erotically sucked on my tongue, biting it gently with his teeth.

I was so hot and fevered by then that I belated realized he held my hands against the bed when I tried to touch him, yank on his hair, something to make him do something other than drive me crazy.

I sank my teeth into his lower lip, intending to punish him, then yanked my head away from his kiss. "Please," I panted. My body arched when he drew a fingertip down in between my breasts to my belly button, circled it over my pajamas.

"Not tonight, baby." The same endearment. Instead of melting me, it made me snarl.

"It figures, you jerk!" I viciously yanked my hands from his grip, and shoved against his chest. "Get me all hot and bothered to the point where I was begging you for it, and even though you've been wanting me all this time, you refuse me. Great. What made you change your mind, baby?" I said the same endearment scathingly, throwing it sarcastically in his face.

Before I could get off my bed to start pacing, he grabbed me around the waist, and had me under him again. I started to shove against him again, but this time he didn't budge. He avoided my dangerously flailing legs, and he straddled my waist to keep me down. He grunted when I slammed my knee against his back, and he leaned over to grab my wrists again, although this time it was for his protection.

However, he jumped off of me when I gave an alarmed and pained cry as he straightened my arms.

I immediately yanked my arm against my body in a protective gesture, blinking back tears of surprised pain. He cursed, and his touch gentled, his hands going to my face to brush away the tears. I sniffled, then with my good arm, swung my fist around to clip him on the jaw. But the angle was awkward and I didn't have much leverage, so I doubted I even bruised him.

He grunted, his head knocking to the side. He gave me a glittering look, while he worked his jaw around, making sure I didn't damage it.

"Gotta work on your left hook, tiger," he said, and dodged the second blow aimed at his face.

He grabbed my chin, and was kissing me hard, and my hands clenched into the back of his shirt, my nails digging, but he didn't react in anyway except to possess my mouth even harder. My anger had turned into an explosion of passion, and I don't even know how that happened. My mouth tore from his to race down his throat as he tried to get a handle of himself against my temple. I nipped his collarbone through his shirt, and he plunged a hand into my hair to yank my head back lightly.

"Don't push me, tiger," he growled down at me. "You're still drunk and I don't take advantage of drunken girls."

"You seemed to do fine the other nights," I snapped back. "And I'm not drunk!"

His eyes were still glittering, I realized, the violet of them sharpening into a dark purple. "I don't want a drop of alcohol in you when I fuck you. I don't want to give you the chance of blaming it on anything but your own sweet, little body," he said, and nipped my chin, then my lip. My mind had hazed over at his crude comment, but damn, it turned me on. I was shuddering because of how turned on I was. "And might I remind you," he muttered, "that you took advantage of me on those other nights."

"I did not. And I won't blame it on alcohol now," I murmured, trying to catch his mouth with mine. When he avoided me, I instead gave him an apologetic kiss where I had hit him on the chin. In the back of my mind, I was absolutely incredulous. This man knew how to manipulate my moods to extremes. I had just punched at him a moment ago, I was sure, but here I was now, apologetic and kissing away his boo-boo's.

He slid away from me, and using his hold on the back of my head, yanked my face into his throat as he put an arm around my waist and dragged me against him.

"I might be a randy college boy, but I have some semblance of control," he muttered, brushing his lips over the top of my head. "Go to sleep."

"But I'm wide awake," I grouched. And I was. The passion still pounding in me made my body throb and ache, move restlessly against Inuyasha's. A minute or two of that, and Inuyasha was leaping off the bed, up and over me. I blinked at him, sitting up slowly.

Inuyasha blew out a shaky breath, and grinned down at me. "You, tiger, are a dangerous sort of creature that I need to stay away from. At least for tonight." I didn't say anything, just staring up at him, my eyes wide. His grin turned into a scowl, and he said, "Fuck it," before he came back to bed, and covered my mouth with his.

"Promise you won't blame the alcohol tomorrow," Inuyasha gasped against my mouth, and I murmured an agreement, saying whatever he wanted me to say in order to get him to continue. Suddenly, my face was encased in his hands, and I was staring at his hard eyes. "Kagome, you have to promise me," he said tightly.

I opened my mouth but he cursed and jumped off of me again. I was getting very tired of this routine.

"Inuyasha, I've already made up my mind. Why are you being such a girl about this?" I asked. Inuyasha seemed to freeze at that, and slowly turned to stare down at me. I had meant to anger him, to goad him into making love with me, but instead he threw back his head and laughed. When he stopped, I was confused, and still miffed. He walked over to the bed, cupping my cheek in his hand. I deliberately turned my mouth to his palm, the tip of my tongue coming out to trace the lines. I watched his eyelids lower, his violet eyes no longer hard, but heating me inside/out.

"I forgot that this would be your first, baby," he said slowly. I shrugged. He cursed at that, paced away again. "You should care more about what you give away, Kagome. Your first time shouldn't be when you're half-drunk and not thinking about consequences."

"You're giving me more consideration than I expected any college boy to show me," I told him, lying back down against my pillow, and was unhappy with the fact that I was pouting.

His face filled my view, and angry and still unhappily pouting, I turned my head to the side. He put his hand against my cheek, turned my face back to his gently. His thumb stroked my pouting lower lip, and he smiled down at me. Again, this new tenderness undid me, making me wonder, again, who exactly he was.

"I'm going to go back to my place tonight." He covered my mouth to head off any protests, and I bit his hand. He yelped, and glared down at me as he rubbed his hand. "Tomorrow night," he continued while he returned my glare with his own, "you're going to have dinner with me. And afterwards--" He shot me a warning glance at my continuing noises of outrage. "Afterwards," he growled, "you're gonna come back to my place. With me. I'm going to do this right."

I settled, but still glared at him. He rubbed a knuckle against the wrinkle in between my brows, and murmured, "Don't look so mean. It doesn't suit you, tiger." His dual nicknames for me made me weak, but I didn't let him know that.

"Who says I want to have dinner with you?" I meant to snap it, but it came out more as a curious question.

"I do," he answered, and smirked when I snarled at him. "Baby, I'll make sure to do right by you."

"Why?" I asked cautiously.

He fisted his hand into the back of my head again, drew me up for a mind-blowing kiss before drawing me away dazed and confused as to who I was.

"Because you matter," he answered simply. I gave him a smile at that.

"Well, that's good. Because you matter right back," I told him, almost smugly.

Inuyasha moved towards the door, and gave me a lingering, hot glance before shutting the door firmly behind him after moving out. And then he strode right back in, all adorable growls and snarls.

"I forgot-- I don't have my car here." He gave me a warning glance, making me swallow my laughter.

"So you need a ride," I said thickly, biting my lip to keep from laughing. I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and grinned up at his annoyed face. "Guess you'll be needing a ride... sugar." If he was giving me pet names, I figured I could make one for him. "Puppy" was at the forefront of my mind, but I doubt he would appreciate that.

I gathered my keys, and took him back to the apartment. His temperament didn't get any better on the ride there, but he still gave me a promising kiss before leaving my car. On the drive back home, I grinned at the wonder of it all.

By tomorrow night, I would be having a romance of my own.

wk: Hope you enjoyed, and hope you weren't offended by my language. Read and review, as always. :)