Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Waiting on a Wish	By : Quillwing717 Category: InuYasha > General Views: 42890 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
CHAPTER 2

Something
was tickling her nose. Moving her head slightly, she scrunched up her
face to rid herself of the itch. Whatever it was continued to pull
her from her place in the comfortable nothingness of fatigued
slumber. When ignoring it didn’t work, Kagome let out a
reluctant sigh and gave up, opening her eyes to glare drowsily at
whatever had decided to rob her of sleep this time.

She
blinked. Hair?

Long,
silvery-white hair. It flowed over the sleek, firm shoulder pillowing
her head, tangling in with her raven strands--also running over the
shoulder she had apparently borrowed. She blinked again. Ack!
Scrambling up, she attempted to exit the bed--only to be stopped by
the immovable arm around her waist. She stared, struck temporarily
immobile with disbelief.

How in the world did I end up here?!

She
turned slightly so that she was lying flush along his length. Her
bewildered gaze traveled back along the arm and over his body, taking
in his appearance. The physician in her visually probed his injuries,
nodding with approval at his progress. Her hand fisted against her
bare thigh, resisting the urge to rub at the silky new fur on his
left ear. She shook her head. The recuperative abilities of youkai
constantly amazed her. If only humans could heal like that. She
smiled wryly. If humans could heal like that, maybe I could
finally get a decent nights’ sleep.

She
glanced down at the arm caging her waist, mystified as to how she had
gotten up on the bed.

I
must have crawled up next to him while I was sleeping,
she thought tiredly, I just hope I didn’t cause
any…Oh DAMN! I’m still in my underwear!

Her
robe had loosened while she slept, yawning open, revealing her
favorite matching set of pale green lace. She could feel her face
heat up. A quick peek at his peaceful, blissfully unaware expression
told her he hadn‘t yet realized that she had draped herself on
top of him.

Blushing
furiously, she reached down gently to pull his hand from around her
waist, glancing at the clock as she did so. Nine! She could hear the
noises of the patients who had already arrived--some for regular
check-ups, some in need of quick medical attention. They saw all
kinds in their clinic, both humans and demons.

The
clinic employed fifteen doctors and over thirty nurses to cover their
twenty-four hour services. The nurses scheduled for the day shift
would have arrived hours ago--probably Miso, she was always
first--and she would have awakened Dr. Hiraga…Kagome looked
around the small post-op recovery room they had moved InuYasha too.
It was out of the way, true. But the likelihood of her not being
seen…a small groan escaped.

I’m
going to kill Sango. How could
her best friend have just left her in bed, wrapped in the arms of a
patient? In my underwear, for gods’ sake! That has to
violate just about every ethical standard I know!

The
hand keeping her trapped suddenly moved, shifting from her waist to
her hip, and she froze, glancing at his face. Midnight blue eyes
widened as they collided with an intent, golden gaze. She felt the
flush on her face deepen. His eyes drifted downward to the full
frontal view she was treating him to, and she reached down, tugging
futilely at the trapped edges of her robe.

“Ummm…could
you possibly let me go?”

He
stared at her for a moment, then pulled his hand away from her hip,
grazing the top of her thigh in the process. She had to resist the
urge to shiver at the sensation. He watched, his eyes never leaving
her, as she awkwardly covered her body with the edge of her robe.

“You’re
the one who took care of me last night.” He made it a
statement, not a question.

Kagome
nodded, still red, and shifted to slide from the bed. He drew his
elbow under him, and propped himself up slightly, grimacing a little
at the movement. Noticing, Kagome immediately reversed directions,
placing her hand on his bandaged chest, preventing any further
motion. “Stop! What do you think you’re doing? You have a
serious injury, and you could make it worse by moving around before
you’re ready.”

Black
brows rose slightly, then drew together in a frown, “Feh! As if
a little scratch like this could slow me down. I’ll be fine in
a few hours.”

Kagome’s
eyes narrowed at the condescension in his tone.

“A
little scratch?! And I suppose it was a little scratch
that flattened you on my operating table last night?” She
leaned closer until they were practically nose to nose, her hand
pressing her surprised patient back against the mattress. “Let
me tell you something, buster. That little scratch--as you
call it--would have killed you if I hadn’t been around to
cleanse the poison in your system. You should be thanking me for
saving your life, not shrugging off the injury that almost took it!”

His
breath escaped in an almost silent hiss, and his eyes narrowed
slightly. One clawed hand grasped around her wrist, long fingers
encircling carefully, gently pulling pressure away from his wound.
Kagome’s eyes widened at the feel of his fingers, suddenly
intensely aware of how little distance remained between them.

Time
seemed to freeze as his eyes carefully studied her features. Their
breaths mingled together in the air, and his nose twitched slightly.
Reflexively, Kagome stopped breathing. A fingertip touched her cheek,
caressing lightly down the smooth texture, the merest graze of a claw
causing a slight quiver in her body. He immediately took note,
satisfaction gleaming in his amber depths.

“Ah-hah.
I see the two of you are already acquainted.”

Two
pairs of eyes turned to the doorway of the little recovery room. A
tall, handsome man stood leaning against the doorframe, one arm
folded casually across the other, a delighted smirk spreading over
his face. He was dressed with relaxed elegance--slacks and a dress
shirt instead of his monk’s robes--and his pitch-black hair
flowed loose around his face, instead of bound to its usual tail at
his neck.

“Miroku.”
Kagome frowned quizzically at his knowing grin. Then she gasped. She
was flat-out draped over her patient--half-naked, in a gaping robe,
and looking for all the world as if her intentions were anything but
professional. With a yelp, she scrambled off the bed, ignoring the
cringe on the hanyou’s face when she pushed off his bandaged
chest. Her hands secured her robe, belting it forcefully. She
wondered idly if it was possible for her face to get any redder.

“I
had hoped that you and InuYasha would get along, but…”
Miroku shook his head in mock amazement. “Really, my friends.
Not even I move this fast.”

“I
was just…examining his injuries,” The young doctor
muttered, bad-temperedly ripping open the nearest cabinet and rifling
through it. Where in the hell did they put the extra scrubs for
this room? She was very definitely sick of flashing the general
public with her Victoria’s Secret.

Miroku
raised a black eyebrow, dark eyes twinkling. “Well then…you
can examine me any time, beautiful Kagome.”

“Keh!”
InuYasha’s attention shifted, and he scowled at the doorway.
“You need to examine yourself first, monk.” He gestured.
“Forgotten how to dress yourself in the morning without Sango
around?”

Miroku
looked down in surprise. His loose black dress shirt hung crookedly
from his well-proportioned frame, quite a few buttons undone--showing
several inches of smooth, muscled skin--and the rest out of place.
Grinning, he reached a hand up to the two golden circlets that hung
from his left lobe and tugged casually. “I’m afraid
you’re going to have to talk to my beloved fiancée about
that. They were straight when I came in earlier this morning. She
really should learn how to put on my clothes if she’s going to
be taking them off all the time.”

“Oh
really? Maybe I should stop taking them off then.” A hand came
out to hit his shoulder from behind, and a foot hooked around his
ankle and yanked, wrenching his feet out from under him. He sprawled
forward, barely catching himself on his hands.

Wincing,
he sat up and looked behind him, one hand brushing back his thick,
dark locks. “Sango, my love. I didn’t realize you were
back there.”

“Humph.
Obviously not.” Ignoring InuYasha’s snicker, Sango glared
at her future husband from the doorway, assuring herself of his
penitence before turning to her best friend. The doctor flung a one
of the doors closed, muttered incoherently as she turned and surveyed
Sango critically. Her face was clean and bandaged--Miroku’s
doing, Kagome was sure. Her sleek hunting outfit was gone, replaced
by a comfortable pair of jeans and a sweater, her thick, deep brown
hair hanging free to her waist. Obviously, Miroku had brought more
than his concern for her well-being.

“Is
that why you neglected to remove me from the arms of my patient?”
She tromped across the floor, yanking open the next cabinet and
rummaged through its contents. “That was a violation of a
several codes of conduct, Sango. I could have been reprimanded if I
was caught.”

Sango
flushed slightly at the reprimand and the inference. “My
apologies, Kagome. You just looked so tired, and I felt bad for
pulling you out of bed so early in the morning when you obviously
needed the sleep.”

Kagome
sighed, pulling out a box of bandages and glaring at them. She didn‘t
even look at InuYasha, though she could literally feel his gaze
following her every movement. “That’s fine, Sango, but
you could have just woken me up and let me change into…anything
else.”

“Well,”
Miroku sighed, climbing to his feet and stepping protectively close
to Sango, “the fact is we did try to move you. But our
good friend the hanyou here didn‘t want to let you go.”
Miroku gestured towards the bed, where Inuyasha half-sat, his eyes
following Kagome’s every move. “Since we both find it
unwise to provoke a wounded youkai--and seeing as how the growls he
made every time we got near you sounded very provoked--we felt
it best to just let the both of you alone for a while.”

Kagome
looked at the injured half-demon on the bed, eyes wide.

A
small amount of red stained the bridge of InuYasha’s nose as he
snarled at the grinning man. “I don’t know what the hell
you’re talking about, you stupid monk.” His voice was
low, containing the merest hint of a rumble.

Miroku
shook his head eloquently. “I don’t expect you do. After
all, you were unconscious at the time.” He looked at
Kagome. “We kept everyone away, in case you were wondering. No
one saw you. No harm done, I would say.”

Kagome
rolled her eyes, sighing deeply, her fit of temper over. Miroku was
enjoying himself way too much. Time to end his fun. “Whatever.
It’s fine. No harm done,” she agreed. Throwing the
bandages back into the cabinet, she closed the door. “I’m
going to find something decent to wear. Stay here and keep an eye on
him until I can check those dressings. Don’t let him
move around until I get back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome
stroked her fingers carefully around the edges of the wound, probing
the raw pinkness of new muscle and tissue where a cavernous hole had
been just hours before. Her tone was soft as she gave her verdict,
and, of their own volition, her fingers lingered for just a moment.
“No skin yet, but…you’re healing much faster than
I thought you would.”

She
was close again; close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his
body. She wondered if he was always this warm, or if the heat was
just a by-product of the rapid healing process.

“This
place is a healing center for youkai?” His voice was low and
rough, and he seemed enthralled by the feel of her fingers on his
skin.

Kagome
looked up to meet his gaze, and blushed slightly. Shaking her head,
she turned to slather an herbal solution on the fresh bandages before
she re-taped the injury. “Not just youkai. Anyone is welcome
here. We specialize in both youkai and human care--mostly emergency,
but some come here for regular check-ups; sore throats, mumps,
measles, general health, things like that.” Try as she might,
she just couldn’t force her voice to regain that crisp,
professional quality she was usually so proud of.

“All
the doctors here have a working knowledge of both youkai and human
tendencies towards drugs and modern therapies, as well as the more
holistic approach of old traditional medicine. I’ve found that
the traditional approach seems to work best with youkai. We even have
an herb garden out back.”

InuYasha
was silent as she finished wrapping and stepped back to study him for
a moment. She was surprised at the disappointment she felt that he
was recovered enough to leave. He watched her closely, with an
intense golden stare that sent a frisson along her spine. She
blinked, disconcerted. That weird fascination that had kept her close
last night was hadn’t faded now that she knew he was fine. In
fact, it only seemed to be growing by the second. This is silly.
She closed her eyes and sighed.

“Well,
I can’t see any reason why you can’t go home. Just don’t
do anything strenuous until it’s completely healed over. Get
some rest, and keep it bandaged until you have a healthy layer of
skin to protect the muscle.” She tossed some bandages to Sango,
who stood with Miroku on the other side of the bed. “Make sure
he follows physician’s orders.”

Without
waiting for further reaction, Kagome yawned hugely, stretching in the
ugly blue scrubs that now covered her body. She was just thankful to
have something decent to walk home in. “Now, if no one minds,
I’m going home--and nobody had better get injured or dead until
I’ve had a good ten hours of sleep.”

Sango
nodded, straightening away from her perch on Miroku’s hip.
“Come on, Kagome. Kirara and I will take you home. Miroku,”
she instructed, “make sure he gets home.”

The
two men watched the girls exit the room. At the door, Kagome
hesitated, looking back at InuYasha. “Come back in a few days
and let me check it,” she murmured.

He
hesitated, nodded, and then she was gone.

Miroku
shook his head in fascination. He’d never seen InuYasha react
this way to anyone before. It was unheard of for him to be so
compliant. Usually, he bit the head off of anyone who tried to treat
his injuries, or refused treatment altogether. “My father sends
the Council’s regards, and thanks for a job well done. Payment
has already been transferred to your account.” He shook his
head. “Minus the cost of the mess.”

Miroku’s
family was one of the many old families of wealth and power that had
been involved in the birth and influence of the Alliance. His family
often oversaw the financial side of the Alliance’s
dealings--which, to most minds, was akin to having the foxes guard
the henhouse. Miroku frequently represented his family in Council
meetings, despite the fact that he was still technically in training
under the old monk who acted as his master. The Nakajima family still
held great sway (bribery and trickery both being family specialties)
over most of the humans and many of the demon lords that sat on the
Council.

“Fine,
whatever.” InuYasha slid gingerly from the bed, testing the
movement of his body by degrees. “Damn.” Irritated, he
carefully shrugged into the bright red haori, picking up his sword
and securing it to his side. “Godsdamned spider.” His
voice reflected his disgust. “It should never have caught me
off guard like that. What the hell was something that big doing in
Marunouchi anyway? It was the size of a fucking truck!”

Miroku
shrugged. “Terrorizing people. My father said it looked like it
was searching for something, but we can’t be sure. Big ones
like that only live to eat and to collect power, so it was either
looking for power, or for its next meal. The big question is how it
got into the city unnoticed.”

He
frowned in a moment of rare seriousness. “It’s strange.
This is the third incident in as many weeks. Father says even the
Council is starting to grow concerned. We've managed to keep it quiet
so far, but these recent attacks are starting to draw attention from
the human government. If it becomes more than that, the youkai
population won't like it. If we don't find a way to curb them….”
He shook his head and grimaced. “And once again, five hundred
years of Alliance stability is threatened by those who don't like
peace and harmony between human and youkai. After Ryukotsusei,
everyone had hoped we wouldn't see any major threats for a generation
or two.”

InuYasha
grunted, a fleeting acknowledgement of the monk’s words, his
expression uneasy. He fell silent, staring at the door.

Miroku
grinned, thrilled to see his friend so distracted. “She’s
not coming back today. Her next shift doesn’t start until two
o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

The
hanyou didn’t respond for a long moment, not taking his eyes
off the door. His frown deepened. “Who is she?”

Miroku
expression went from wicked delight to mild astonishment. They’d
known each other for most of their lives, both of them hailing from
influential families within the Alliance Council. They’d played
together as boys, scrapped together as teenagers, and now worked
beside one another as men. He considered InuYasha one of his closest
friends, and he’d never seen the hanyou act this way.

How…interesting.

“Her
name is Kagome Higurashi. She and Sango really hit it off in college,
and they’ve stayed close since they graduated. I myself have
known her for a couple of years, and I consider her a friend. She’s
quite a young woman. She graduated near the top of her class, but
chose to work here, in a free clinic, because this is where the
people she most wants to treat come. She’s an excellent
physician and an incredibly generous person.”

Miroku
hesitated, unable to read his friend, unsure of his intentions. “I
don’t know if you sensed this or not, but she’s got the
spiritual powers of a miko. Her family has run a Shinto shrine for
generations. I’m told her power is very old, and very potent.
She’s actually in training with the old woman who funds this
clinic--also a very powerful miko. And a very wealthy one, I might
add.”

“A
miko in training, huh?” InuYasha folded his arms inside his
billowing sleeves and started for the door. “Feh. Whatever. I’m
going home. Get those bandages from Sango and bring them to me later,
will ya?”

“You
need a ride home?”

A
white head tossed. “Hah! I’d rather walk than ride in a
car with you.”

Miroku
raised a skeptical brow. “And I suppose you prefer the mountain
of speeding tickets and reckless driving citations sitting in your
glove compartment?”

“Keh!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come
on in. You want some tea?” Kagome gestured to the small coffee
table sitting in the middle of the living room, opposite the TV that
she rarely got around to watching.

“I’m
sure a cup wouldn’t hurt.” Sango agreed. “But I
can’t stay for long. Miroku will need help convincing InuYasha
to stay calm for the next few days.”

Kagome
glanced curiously at her friend as she started the tea. “You
three are good friends, aren’t you?”

Sango
nodded, kneeling with her back to the low couch. Kirara curled up at
her feet, her head tucked between the black stripes on her tails. “We
all grew up knowing each other, although Miroku's known InuYasha much
longer than I have. They've never actually said as much, but I think
they were inseparable as boys. We would see each other infrequently
at various social and political functions, but I didn’t know
them well back then. I think it helped InuYasha more than I can
understand to have an ally among the pure-blooded children of the old
families.”

Sango
propped her head in her palm, her expression far away. “If I
recall, InuYasha stopped coming to Council events after his parents
died and his brother took over the position as sitting Inu-lord. He
was still pretty young back then.”

Kagome
turned in surprise. “His brother is one of the sitting demon
lords?”

Sango
nodded, a slight grimace of distaste twisting her mouth. “They
don’t get along very well. Lord head-up-his-ass doesn’t
think very highly of InuYasha’s human side. He considers him a
stain to the family name, and InuYasha returns the sentiment. As far
as I know, the only time they ever interact is when the Council calls
InuYasha in to hunt a rogue. Sesshoumaru still barely acknowledges
his brother, even after InuYasha moved out of the family estate and
made a name for himself as a hunter.”

“He’s
good.”

“Very
good. One of the best. He’s even gotten the recognition of my
family, and that’s saying a lot.”

Sango’s
family had been the official hunters for the Alliance since its
inception. They even ran a self-defense school that trained humans in
some of their more well-known methods, and the goods and weapons they
made from exterminated youkai fetched high prices in all
markets--both legal and black. “We started partnering up a few
years ago, after the larger wild youkai began to encroach on the
city. It’s easier to take down a big enemy when you have
someone watching your back.”

Sango
smirked. “Of course, Miroku had something to do with that. He
was worried about me hunting for the family on my own, so he asked
InuYasha to look after me. They think I don’t know, and I’ve
decided to let them keep their little fantasy. It’s good for a
man’s ego to think he’s protecting a woman.”

Kagome
laughed and handed Sango a cup of hot tea as she settled down beside
her. “Straightened out all his strings, haven’t you? How
are the wedding plans coming, by the way?”

Sango
grimaced. “How else? Not at all. They’re arguing again.
Miroku’s father insists that it be soon--he would settle for
yesterday, if he could. He’s anxious for some grandchildren. My
father is adamant that Kohaku finish his training and gets him MBA
before I marry away from the family. Neither of them wants to back
down. It’s starting to get nasty.”

“You
don’t think they’ll try and call it off, do you?”

“An
arranged marriage? Are you kidding? Neither of our fathers is willing
to bear the dishonor. They were stuck with each other when they stuck
us together.”

The
Nakajima and Yanagimoto families had been feuding for generations
over some long-forgotten slight, so Kagome found the story of Miroku
and Sango’s betrothal highly amusing. On the night of Sango’s
birth, her father and Miroku’s father had somehow ended up
celebrating together with a full bottle of sake. At the end of the
night, as the result of a drunken pact, the firstborn daughter of the
Yanagimoto family had been bound to the firstborn son of the Nakajima
family.

Since
both men had been too proud to reveal the questionable circumstances
of the betrothal, and too egotistical to back out, Miroku and Sango
had each grown up completely unaware of who their betrothed was. It
wasn’t until college that Sango’s mother had finally put
her foot down and demanded to know exactly who her husband had given
her only daughter to. The fathers had reluctantly called a meeting,
and both sets of relatives had received quite a shock.

Left
with no choice, and the burden of family honor, Miroku and Sango had
begun a courtship of sorts.

At
first, Sango had been horrified. Miroku was a charmer who always had
a different girl on his arm, and his eyes on the next conquest.
Settling down with a wife seemed like the last thing he was suited
for. Kagome had lost count of the nights that Sango’s late
telephone rantings at her lecherous future husband had woken her from
a sound sleep. But eventually, slowly, Miroku had revealed the deeper
parts of his personality to her--the wisdom, the humor, the gentle
nature--and the reluctant hunter had fallen in love, much to her
dismay.

Fortunately,
Miroku was as desperately in love with Sango as she was with him.
They’d just had a hard time owning up it. Kagome had recognized
it long before either one of the stubborn couple had. Watching them
blunder their way to honesty had been one of the highlights of her
college career.

In
time (and with just a bit of delighted, subversive plotting on
Kagome’s part) the two had managed to admit their feelings to
one another. Miroku had turned out to be a very attentive fiancé,
his wandering eyes (and hands) settling permanently on Sango, and
Kagome highly approved of the healthy glow Sango sported these days.
Both families had finally resigned themselves to tolerating what
would turn out to be a very beneficial union between two very
powerful houses.

Except
now they couldn’t stop arguing about the wedding itself.

Sango
sighed. “Even I’m starting to get impatient. I wish we
could just get married, but both our parents absolutely insist
on a traditional ceremony. It's one of the only things they do
agree on.” Her smile was wicked. “Maybe we should just
move in together. They might get the hint and proceed with the
plans--if only to assure I’m married before I’m
pregnant.”

Kagome
burst out laughing. “Sango, that was positively cunning. You’re
spending too much time with Miroku. He’s starting to rub off on
you.”

“Rub
off? It was his idea!” Sango looked thoughtful. “Of
course, he wanted to actually get me pregnant.” She
rolled her eyes. “Said it would add a sense of urgency.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sango
left soon after, claiming that she needed to find Miroku to give him
InuYasha’s bandages and herbal solution.

Kagome
shook her head as she stepped into the shower of her Western style
bathroom. She was tired again, but due to the accumulation of blood
and grime from surgery, a shower had become a necessity before she
could sleep. Her thoughts wandered back to InuYasha as she rinsed the
shampoo from her hair, and she wondered what it was about this
particular patient that refused to let her go. She just couldn’t
get him out of her mind.

Pressing
against him on that narrow bed had felt…odd. She had been
almost on top of him--full-length, body-to-body. Had felt his
heartbeat, the steady rise of his breathing. It had seemed
so…intimate.

She
kept remembering the feel of his hands on her bare hips. They had
been rough, strong, and warm, slightly calloused with use. The claws
tipping his fingers had trailed ever so gently along her skin as they
moved from waist to hip to thigh. The thought sent a little tingle
along her spine and into her belly. And his eyes…. She
flushed, realizing that her hands were lingering over the same places
that his had been just a little earlier that morning.

Ok,
this is ridiculous, Kagome
thought to herself, shutting off the hot water firmly and stepping
out of her tiny bath. I’m just sleep-deprived and
over-emotional from almost losing a patient. Some sort of weird
doctor-patient syndrome. I’ll get over it. I’ll probably
never even see him again.

Of
course, he had indicated that he might come back….

Enough!
She ordered herself. Sleep first, then rational thought
will return.

She
fell into bed and buried her face in a pillow, her last thoughts of
soft, silky fur.

Maybe
it was the ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He
sat in the dark for a long time after he got home, thinking of the
doctor and her amazing scent. An alluring scent, burned into his
brain for all time. A familiar scent. One he’d begun to think
he’d never find. He felt tense and alert, his head whirling
with certainty, body charged with an edgy excitement.

Finally,
finally…

His
ears twitched absently as he stared into space, considering his
options.

Kagome.
She was a friend of Sango’s. He couldn’t believe it. All
this time, all his watchfulness, and she’d been right there all
along.

He
wasn’t sure if he liked the fact that both Miroku and Sango
were clearly involved, though. He really didn’t want them in
the way. Although, knowing Sango, he couldn’t see any way of
avoiding it. And Miroku would follow Sango to hell itself. There had
to be a way to keep them out of it.

Another
thought struck, and his ears flicked again.

He
was pretty sure she was a virgin. Her scent had held a definite lack
of sexual experience, and she didn’t carry another male’s
scent within her own, as she would when mated. Good. No male
to challenge him. But with her scent as it was, it announced clearly
to the entire youkai public that she was unattached.

He
growled, his protective instincts hackling at the thought. Not
anymore.

The
obvious answer was to mark her with his scent, make sure that no
other youkai male would come near her. Besides, the sooner she
accepted that she belonged with him, the safer she would be.

The
rest could come later.

A
small, satisfied smile tipped the corners of his mouth. He hadn’t
expected it. He hadn’t expected it to be so…strong.
Nothing he’d ever felt had prepared him for the immediate
physical reaction between them. His to her, and hers to him. He had
smelled it on her, how utterly fascinated she was by him, had felt it
in the tension of her body as she lay over top of him. Maybe it would
make things a little easier on both of them.

He
glanced around at his lavish apartment. It was more of a penthouse,
really, taking up the top floor of a small building. He had chosen
the apartment more for its seclusion and its view than the
luxury--although he wasn’t complaining. A long balcony lined
two sides, looking out over a large, beautiful park, filled with wild
trees--almost like an extension of the forest outside the city
limits.

The
building itself was just outside the park, in a quiet, upscale
neighborhood. It had its own large grounds, as well as a fence
separating it from the nearest streetlight by several hundred feet.
He preferred it that way--he could actually see stars at night,
instead of neon lights and haze.

The
inside was extensive, with a den, a kitchen and a master bedroom,
plus several other rooms that he never used, along with a large,
traditional bath. It was an extremely comfortable place to live.

All
impressive enough, but still merely trappings to him. It was still
just a place to live. He could afford it, so he lived here. It
hadn’t always been this way, but hunting--for the Alliance, at
least--paid very good money. And if he had to, he could live
anywhere. Hell, he could survive alone in the forest better than
most.

He’d
never hunted for the money, though. That had never been his reason
for anything. The money, like the apartment, was just a perk. Still….

He
wondered if Kagome would like it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:
Thanks for the reviews, they really helped motivate me. Please be
patient, midterms and work tend to interfere with writing sometimes.
Besides, I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I like to get these
as perfect as possible before I post them, and I’ll often go
back and edit what I’ve posted several times. So anyway, thanks
for the encouragement, and please keep letting me know what you
think. The more you say, the better I getJ
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Waiting on a Wish