Work Text:
Kagome ran. She ran despite the burning in her lungs that seemed to ache more with every hit of her feet on the pavement, each jolt pushing her on further and further as if telling her keep going, keep going, keep going.
You’re free now.
Was her brow dripping with sweat or was that the rain beating down on her? She wasn’t sure, but she wiped her eyes and continued forward, desperate to reach her destination. The only place where she had ever truly felt like she belonged.
It was in sight now. The seemingly mundane apartment building tucked onto the street corner where her heart had settled long ago, even though it was supposed to belong to another. It was all that she could see as if her vision had tunneled to it. It was where she knew she belonged, far more than any place she had ever lived before. It was like she was finally coming home.
Kagome raced to the all too familiar red door, imagining what the person inside was doing now. Was he mindlessly watching something on the tv just to pass the time? Making something in the kitchen? Was he already asleep in his bed at this ungodly hour? Knowing him, and she knew him well, he was most likely sitting in the dark on his computer, clicking away in some game to distract him from the cruelty of the world thrust on him from even an early age. From the woman he had loved who abruptly left him almost a year ago to the day.
God, Kagome had wasted so much time since Kikyo.
She banged her fist on the door three times. And when no one answered immediately, she did it again and again until it matched the pounding of her racing heart. But there was no light that she could see coming from the window.
Was he really not home? Had she made a mistake in choosing today of all days to finally break free from her situation only to be forced to find some other sanctuary until he returned? Her heart gave a panicked lurch at the thought of having nowhere else to go, but she was torn from her thoughts when the door was suddenly wrenched open.
“What the hell do you wan—” He paused as his wide amber eyes met her own and Kagome could feel the breath leaving her body at the sight of his disheveled, yet still beautiful form, silver hair unkempt as if he hadn’t even looked in a mirror today. Even in nothing but gray sweatpants and a red t-shirt, he still radiated an irresistible energy that she couldn’t help but be drawn to. She loved him. It had taken her far too long to realize it, but standing here now, it was all too clear.
“Inuyasha…” his name left her lips like an answer to a question she had been asking all her life.
“Kagome? What are you doing here? You’re soaking wet.” His gruff voice was laced with both confusion and concern. Soft, yet so strong. Just like every part of him.
“It’s over,” she blurted out and when he opened his mouth to question her, she continued. “I left him. I left Koga.” Inuyasha’s brow furrowed, then lifted as her words sunk in and Kagome couldn’t wait anymore.
She crashed her lips to his in a devastating kiss, fingers grasping at the hair at the base of his neck like he would be torn from her at any second and she couldn’t live with that. She had to be right about this unspoken thing between her and her best friend that they were too scared to act upon in all their years together. Kagome wouldn’t know what she would do otherwise.
He stumbled backward into his apartment from the force of her impact, a muffled sound releasing from his throat, but Kagome could have wept as she felt his hands snake around her waist, pulling her closer as his lips parted against hers to fully take her in.
Kagome heard the door slam closed and it came as no surprise when she was pushed against it. It should have scared her, a faint memory of Koga doing something similar with the intention to overpower, always to consume what he saw as his. But this was different.
Though Inuyasha was pressed up against her so hard she could scarcely breathe, Kagome could tell that she was fully in control. Inuyasha’s hand was fisted in her skirt, a desperate attempt to pull the fabric enough to reveal the skin of her thigh. He was all but falling apart as he grasped at anything he could reach, lips worshiping her as they slid across her cheeks, her jaw, always finding their way back to her needy mouth like he couldn’t stay away for too long.
“I think I’m dreaming,” he rasped between kisses down the slope of her neck, a light growl in his throat when Kagome tilted her head to reveal more to him.
“If you are, then so am I,” her voice breathy as she gasped at the pure sensation shooting straight to the ache growing between her thighs. “But I don’t want to wake up yet.”
Inuyasha huffed a laugh, his breath warming her skin, and only now did Kagome realize just how cold she had been in the rain. The relief he gave her had her head falling back against the door with a dull thud. Kagome had assumed it was the noise that made Inuyasha freeze, his entire body turning stiff where he was pressed against her.
“I’m ok,” she assured him, desperate for him to continue, but as she realized where his eyes had landed, she should have known how he would react to the hand-shaped bruise that marred her neck. “I’m ok,” she said again as if those two words could stop the storm that she saw behind his darkening look.
“That motherfucker Koga did this to you, didn’t he? I knew I shouldn’t have let you move in with him, Kagome. How long has this been going on?”
It hadn’t started out like this.
Koga had been nothing but charming in the beginning, offering compliments that had her easily falling for him like she existed in a semiconscious dreamland anytime he spoke. He was magnetic. Compelling. Dangerous. But when the shine of a new relationship wore off and all that was left was each other, Kagome hadn’t been enough for him. And he took it out on her.
His words turned cruel, but she brushed it off at first. It was a hard day at work. He had a little too much to drink. But his apologies kept her from leaving, a promise that this was love and love was torture, never for the weak.
The first bruise had been an accident, or that’s what she told herself. He just held her arm too tight. He was a full youkai who didn’t know his strength, never having been in a relationship with a human before. Mistakes were bound to happen.
But they kept happening and the bruises kept appearing and the apologies kept flowing in a never-ending cycle so she hid behind modest clothing and canceled plans until it became her normal. The dreamland she had discovered became her isolation for so much as a mistimed text from her hanyou best friend could become her ruin.
Tonight had been the last straw. As he had her gripped by the neck so hard she thought she may actually die, her only thought as her vision began to fade had been of Inuyasha. Of his boyish smirk when they laughed together. How he practically radiated warmth when she was near him. How out of everywhere in the world, the only place she ever truly wanted to be was by his side.
So she fought. She fought until she managed to free herself and steal away into the night, the rain washing away her scent so he couldn’t follow, not that he was in any condition to after how much he had to drink. And now she was here. She was safe and the only thing she wanted right now was the hanyou in front of her who, even in such a short period of time, held her so gently despite the strength in his claws that now ghosted maddening feather-light strokes over her bruised skin.
“Tomorrow,” Kagome whispered, a hand covering his own to still his movement. “I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. Just for tonight, I want you. I want this. To make all of it disappear even for a little while. We can deal with the rest later, but for now, all I want is us.”
He was torn, she could see it clearly in his eyes that could pierce into her and see her for exactly who she was. She cupped the sides of his face, ready to beg on her knees to make her forget everything so he could be her entire world until she had to face the reality she left behind. “Please.”
His eyes lingered on hers still, jaw clenching as he warred with himself. He was a man of action and right now he looked like he wanted nothing more than to find Koga and wring the life out of him. But he was also kind, always so good to her that he would put her first before anything else in his life. It’s what had driven Kikyo away from him and Koga into fits of jealous rage.
The hand that rested so tenderly on her neck lifted to brush a lock of damp hair out of Kagome’s eyes. “You’re safe here. You know I won’t let anything happen to you ever again.”
Kagome released a sob she didn’t even realize had trapped itself in her throat. “I know,” she smiled, something she hadn’t truly felt like doing for years as seemingly all her burdens washed away. He placed a kiss to her forehead, one to each of her eyes, before letting his lips rest against the burning skin of her jaw.
“Tomorrow,” he gave in with a whisper, his nose nuzzling against her cheek. “But for tonight, let me take care of you.”
Though Inuyasha said it as a demand, from his lips, it was a request. A plea. After her nod, he raised her wrist to place a tender kiss to the palm of her hand before his lips were back on hers, gentle at first, but when Kagome’s hands found purchase in his hair again, he bit the skin of her bottom lip, soft enough that he wouldn’t break the skin but enough to feel the sharp prick of his fangs. At her gasp, his tongue sought hers like he wanted to learn every part of her and she welcomed it, inviting him in with a tug of his shirt to bring him closer, the front of him now just as soaked through as she was.
He didn’t seem to show any concern for the state of his own clothing as he pressed her back against the door, Inuyasha’s body resting comfortably against hers while she leaned into his touch in return, but he pulled back just enough to mumble, “As much as I want this to continue, we should get you out of those wet clothes, yeah?”
“So eager to get me undressed?” Kagome teased, feeling the beginnings of that smirk she so craved when her lips found his again.
“I won’t pretend like I haven’t imagined what you would look like naked in my bed, but I’m more worried you’re gonna catch a cold. You humans are so fragile.”
And before she could say anything to refute that statement, Inuyasha quite literally swept her off her feet, gathering her up in his arms to carry her down the hall.
“I can still walk you know,” Kagome huffed, though her arms found purchase around his neck to easier rest her head on his shoulder. If he really wanted, she really didn’t mind if she never had to take another step ever again.
Inuyasha simply ignored her, kicking the door open to his room and crossing to his bed in only a few strides so he could gently set her down on his bed. Then before Kagome could pull him down on top of her, with inhuman speed he was off again, darting to his dresser to rummage through before he pulled out one of his shirts for her to wear.
As he did the same to hunt for a pair of sweatpants, Kagome stood up and before she lost her nerve, pulled her wet blouse over her head, tossing it to the side while his back was still to her. Her heart pounded in her chest, breath catching in her throat as she waited torturous seconds until he finally found what he was looking for and turned.
The clothes dropped from his hands as he went still, obviously not expecting her so close and almost bare from the waist up, staring down at her with wide eyes. “Uh—" he said dumbly, averting his gaze as he suddenly came back into himself. If Kagome wasn't so overcome by her own desire in that moment, she would have laughed. Just a few minutes ago, the man was kissing her like he already knew everything that drove her to insanity, but now he had reverted back to the shy boy that she had fallen in love with years ago without even realizing it.
She tentatively lifted her hand to his cheek, cradling it as she guided his head to look at her again.
Bolder than she had ever felt under his watch, Kagome reached behind herself and unhooked her bra, letting it slip from her fingers to the floor. She could see the bob in Inuyasha’s throat as he swallowed, his stare wandering down to her naked breasts, nipples rosy and peaked with arousal.
He seemed to hesitate, his eyes darting back to meet hers, looking like a man come undone. “What are you waiting for?” Kagome asked, grabbing his hands to place over her waist where his fingers naturally slid into the waistband of her skirt. “Get me out of these wet clothes, Inuyasha.”
So slowly as if memorizing every detail of this moment, he peeled her skirt and underwear off in one easy slide so she was completely bare before him. After helping her step out of her discarded clothing, he stood again, his pupils dilated as he took in every inch of her naked body, from the curve of her breast where the tips of her black hair lay in stark contrast to her pale skin, down her stomach where it lingered at the apex of her thighs.
But his jaw clenched as his eyes began to rove over her for something else. Every bruise and scar was now plainly out for him to see. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut, unable to handle the intensity of his stare anymore, but she felt the warm press of his lips as he bent down to kiss a mark on her bicep. He withdrew only to find a small bruise on her ribs so he bent down to kiss that too. Inuyasha continued, giving every spot attention until he was satisfied, looking into her eyes hard.
“You said you would take care of me, Inuyasha,” Kagome found the will to speak, taking him by the hands. She stepped back, tugging him to follow her until she felt the side of the bed on the back of her legs and let herself fall, pulling Inuyasha down with her.
Kagome immediately hooked her legs around his hip and ground into him, a growl sounding from his throat as he grabbed her thigh to lock her in place. She rocked again and again until she felt the hard press of him through his sweatpants and used it to relieve some of the ache where she rubbed against him with a moan.
“Fuck, Kagome,” his voice was ragged as he kissed and licked the shell of her ear. The gasp he released in a huff when her hands slid underneath the hem of his shirt to graze across the muscles of his abs sent shivers across her skin. “You have no idea how long I wanted this.”
Kagome wanted to confess everything to him, that she had been in love with him from nearly the beginning when they had been awkward teenagers who just never got their timing right until now. But all she could muster through her panting breaths was, “It should have been you. From the beginning, it should have been you, Inuyasha.”
His lips pressed to her neck so gently, she thought she may fall apart only to be pieced back together by his words as he pulled back enough for her to drown in those amber eyes. “For me, it was always you.”
She felt oddly dizzy as Inuyasha loomed over her, her heart beating fast in her chest that rose and fell with her rapid breath, yet through the intensity of her need, the reality of it all was exhilarating as Inuyasha’s mouth sought her breasts, demanding yet giving in the little nips and licks he gave to her skin.
Kagome's hands clenched in his beautiful hair, enjoying how it spilled between her fingers, but she couldn’t stop her compulsion for touching his ears. He paused when her thumb so gently stroked the base of one and she thought she would melt into the bed when his eyes flickered up to meet hers. Pressing her luck, she softly rubbed his ear between her thumb and forefinger.
Though he would usually scowl and bat her hand away whenever she would reach for them, now it was like she was fulfilling a longing that he had never allowed himself to indulge in. Inuyasha nuzzled his face into her chest with a groan, large hands roamed over her body, down her sides to cup the thighs that still wound around his waist. Kagome didn’t want to let go, ever. And now in a way she never would.
But Inuyasha pulled himself out of her grip to sit up on his knees, releasing his hold on her to wrench his shirt off and toss it to the side. Kagome had seen Inuyasha shirtless before, but she stopped breathing altogether at the sight of him as the moonlight caressed his tan skin, the dips in his muscles that she smoothed her hands over just because she was allowed to now, and he seemed more than willing to let her.
“You’re safe, Kagome. I need you to know that,” he repeated the notion from earlier. Kagome couldn’t speak from the lump in her throat so she nodded, but she knew it was true. “You’re in control. If you don’t like something, just tell me. I want you to enjoy this.”
From the way she was already falling apart with yearning at just the sight of his bare torso, Kagome didn’t think that would be a problem. She knew neither of them was any blushing virgin, but this was about to be something completely different than what she had ever experienced before.
“I will,” she confirmed, unable to contain the smile on her lips from the excitement. The boyish smirk he returned was almost satisfaction enough for her, until Inuyasha bent over her to kiss her breast, taking the rosy bud of her nipple into his mouth before swirling his tongue around it.
Kagome’s body acted purely on instinct, arching her back and releasing a gasp at the sudden jolt of pure pleasure that shot straight down to her sex. Inuyasha mimicked the same motion to her other breast before releasing it with a pop. He wasted no time in moving down her body, placing open-mouthed kisses to her stomach, the curve of her hips, the inside of her thigh, before he gracefully slid off the bed and kneeled before her. She had nowhere to hide as he hooked his arms under her thighs and pulled her closer to him.
Though Inuyasha was half-human, he was also half-demon. Being a predator was in his veins and he looked over her exposed and helpless naked body with a primal desire as if he was ready to devour her. But Kagome knew, even in this vulnerable position, that she was in no danger. When her thighs fell open wider for him, Kagome could see his nostrils flare and she wondered if he could smell her arousal, just how badly she wanted this. Wanted him.
She propped herself up on her elbows because whatever he was going to do, she didn’t want to miss a single thing. Inuyasha’s gaze reluctantly dragged back up to meet hers as if he was forcing himself to look away, but he maintained that eye contact even as his head dipped between her thighs and she felt the first stroke of his tongue, definitive yet soft, up the length of her opening to her clit where he swirled in a circle so deliberate, she could feel every inch that he caressed.
Kagome’s head fell back, every inhibition gone as she moaned loud enough to be heard even over the roar of thunder that filled the room. She could feel Inuyasha’s grip tighten around her flesh, his claws no doubt leaving indents in her skin. And god, she wanted him to. Wanted him to leave marks of his own that would remain while the others faded into nothing more than painful memories.
“Fuck, Kagome, I knew you’d taste good, but this—"
Inuyasha couldn’t even finish his sentence before his tongue met her again. He was everywhere at once, thorough in his exploration of what made her body sing with pleasure. With every stroke, thoughts of her past unraveled into only the ecstasy of the present and the man before her who she had before only imagined what this would be like. And it was better than any of her forbidden fantasies had even allowed.
The way he moved on her with urgency made her wonder if he was getting as much out of this as she was, looking completely lost in her as he lapped at her folds, dipping to taste her directly from the source. Kagome’s breaths grew ragged and desperate, hips rolling in time with his strokes completely against her will.
“Inu—Inuyasha,” she gasped out his name as he focused his attention on her most sensitive nerves, lapping up and down so relentlessly that her body bowed against the all-consuming pleasure.
Inuyasha’s hand roamed up her stomach to cover her breast as if that would ground her body. Needy thing that she was, she clutched his wrist to maintain a semblance of self-control as she felt herself beginning to shatter.
But before she could completely let go, Inuyasha lifted his head, ceasing his movements altogether just as she was about to tip over the edge. Kagome was ready to release a frustrated groan, but his voice, husky with desire, practically vibrated through her. “You look so damn beautiful when you’re about to come, Kagome. Call me selfish, but I wasn’t ready for this to stop just yet.”
He stroked her clit with his thumb so torturously slow that she couldn’t decide if it would have been less cruel to just stop completely and she ground down on that one finger, almost not even registering what he was saying.
“Inuyasha…” It came out as a whine that in any other circumstance he would have teased her for. But he merely gave a small nip to the tender flesh of her inner thigh. It was enough to make her jolt and he watched her squirm beneath him as if it amazed him.
Kagome’s nails dug into the skin of Inuyasha’s wrist. “Don’t make me beg, Inuyasha.” She wanted to kiss that deadly smirk right off his face.
“You’ll never have to, I promise.”
And faster than her lust-addled human brain could comprehend, Inuyasha bit off the sharp claw of his middle finger and slid it inside her. Kagome’s hips bucked and she crashed back against the mattress as the arm holding her up gave out, the sensation of being filled by that long finger curling inside her tightening her core almost enough to send her right over the peak.
He lowered his mouth to her, licking her hard in all the right places while he pumped into her until she was writhing against him again. As if that wasn’t enough, the hand on her breast squeezed before rolling her nipple between his rough fingers and she clutched it as if it was the only thing tethering to the earth. The combination was so much, too much, and he gave her everything she wanted without asking. “Yes, yes, yes, right there, Inuyasha!” she babbled mindlessly between each stoke until pure pleasure consumed her.
Every muscle in Kagome’s body grew taught as she arched against the bed with a cry. She let it pour over her until it washed her away, Inuyasha’s soft lips on her inner thigh the only thing keeping her from floating away as he guided her back into her body. Her eyes sought his and the look of pure yearning from the hanyou on his knees before her burned through every corner of her heart, made her want to cherish him in the way he just did for her.
“Kagome, you have no—you have no idea—”
But he never could finish that statement before Kagome was sitting up, dragging him up to stand over her with surprising strength and kissing him within an inch of his life. But he wasn’t complaining, the taste of her on his tongue lingered as he returned every bit of fervor she unleashed on him. Her hands quickly found the waistband of his pants and she yanked it down to finally release Inuyasha’s length, so hard it must have been painful.
She never wanted to compare Inuyasha to Koga, but the difference was staggering. She had never thought of such a thing as beautiful before, but now she was almost stunned. Yes, the size of him was near intimidating, but the shape, elegant yet powerful, was just like the rest of him.
“Wait Kagome, you don’t have to,” he started and while she was grateful that he was willing to set his own pleasure aside for her comfort, she wanted more than anything to know him in a way that she never had before. So Kagome wrapped her fingers around him, the tan skin soft despite the hardness of him, and she was transfixed when it twitched in her hand as she gave it a feather-soft stroke.
Inuyasha released a raspy breath, but he said nothing else as she continued her exploration, merely letting his hands roam wherever he could reach, over her shoulders, her arms, into her hair. He hissed when she licked up the length of his shaft before wrapping her lips over the tip, letting his fingers pull her hair back into a makeshift ponytail out of her face. But she hardly noticed at the pure taste of him, a bead of moisture dropping on her tongue that she swirled around the tip the same way he had on her. She needed more of it, craved it like she could never get enough of it now that she had indulged.
When Kagome took his length in her mouth and twisted her tongue, he grasped her hair harder as if on reflex, though not enough to hurt. As if realizing his mistake, his fingers carded through the strands that tangled in his fingers while she bobbed her head again, this time a curse falling from his lips when he hit the back of her throat.
Lifting her eyes would be the death of her, even though he was the one falling apart with just a few twists of her hand at the base of him and she knew she could never go back to the way things were before between them. He was watching her with parted lips through ragged exhales, and it was in the devastated way he looked right then that made her realize just how much she had him, had maybe always had him.
“Kagome,” he whimpered her name and that alone had her groaning around him, the vibrations from her throat leaving him growling in pleasure in return. “Shit,” he grunted before he pulled Kagome off of him. But before she could protest that there was nothing filling her mouth anymore, Inuyasha leaned down to capture her lips, nearly consuming her in how he practically lifted her to help settle her back on the bed, barely leaving any inch of her skin untouched by his body bearing down on her.
“Fuck, Kagome,” he breathed. “Just…fuck.” She clawed at him, fingernails digging into his back, just to try to pull him even closer. Another roll of her hips against his had his eyes closing in pleasure before his jaw clenched as if he was warring with himself. And when she tried to do it again, his hands stopped her with a grip on her waist, strong enough to hold her still, but never enough to overpower her. “Wait…”
Kagome paused, a strike of terror in her heart that he had changed his mind about everything. That he was realizing this was all a mistake and while she would never go back to Koga again, she would be out on the street, completely alone. The rational part of her knew this really wasn’t true. That Inuyasha would rather die than do something like that to anyone he cared about, but years of doubt and guilt had taken their toll on her to where it was what she had naturally come to expect.
“You don’t want to…?” Kagome trailed off, trying to hide the fear in her voice but she should have known Inuyasha would pick it up, always so attuned to her.
“No! No, it’s not that at all. Hell, I want that more than anything,” he stammered as he pulled back enough so she could see his expression, those eyes so full of want, yet torn. She let him continue. “We can keep going if you really want to. I meant it when I said you were in control. It’s just that—” his eyes darted down then back up hers again. “It’s just—you just left that asshole tonight. I mean, fuck, I can still smell him on you.
“I want to make sure you’re really ready to move on so soon. I want to do this right between us and if that means that we wait until that fucker comes to justice for everything he did to you and you can move on in peace, then I’ll wait. And you can stay here as long as you want. I’ll get you anything you need so you don’t even have to step foot back in that place. Just say the word and it’s yours.”
Kagome was speechless. Inuyasha wasn’t really much one for words, yet he always made them count. Did she want to sleep with him? Yes, that much she knew without question. But was she really ready to? More importantly, was it fair to him while she still smelled like another man in his bed? A pang of guilt hit her right in the stomach like a truck at the thought.
Her desire had clouded her judgment and while she loved him—there wasn’t a doubt in her mind about that—was this really the right time to take such a big step when she still had to deal with the repercussions of leaving her abusive ex in the middle of the night? As must as she wanted him, she knew the right answer.
“No, you’re right, Inuyasha. I’ve left him for good, but I want to make sure Koga is fully out of my life whenever we take this any further. You deserve that much.”
“It’s not about what I deserve,” he tried to argue.
“But it is. For so long you have always bent over backwards for me without me even asking for help. But you are just a much a part of this relationship as I am and you matter, too. It makes me so happy that you would take me in and do all of this for me, but you are important too. You aren’t just some rebound or an easy lay for me and yes, I want you—I want you more than anything—but you are so precious to me. So I need to do this right.” She cradled his face in her hands, this strong, beautiful hanyou that even as the world turned its back on him, he never let it harden his heart. It only made him kinder.
And she kissed him, different from the blind passion that had taken over them earlier. This was soft, gentle, everything about him that he tried to pretend he wasn’t. And it was enough.
Though he pulled away, he didn’t go far, his nose nuzzling against hers. “Keh, what do you say we get you in the shower to get the stench of wolf off you then get some sleep? We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
We.
Something about that word made her heart flutter. So definite in the way he was with her in every step of what was come as if this was his battle too. Kagome smiled and nodded, reluctantly letting Inuyasha slide off her to pick her up off the bed. Maybe he really didn’t intend on ever letting her walk anywhere ever again. As long as it was him, she really didn’t find herself minding that at all.
And after Inuyasha’s hands wiped her free of any trace of him that still lingered on her skin and she was tucked into his side in bed, clad only in his shirt, only one word remained as she found herself drifting away from consciousness…
Safe.