Desiree:  *Waves a hand in front of Quickening’s face*  Hellooooo!  Earth calling Quickening!  Are you still alive in there?

 

Quickening:  Heeheeheeheeeeeee *Grinning like a loon*

 

Desiree:  O_o;  Dare I ask what’s the matter with her?  She’s been like this for half an hour.

 

Deedlit:  She got a review.

 

Desiree:  Um…yeah.  And?

 

Deedlit:  She got SIX reviews.

 

Desiree:  And that turned her into a drooling idiot?

 

Deedlit:  *Whispers*  They’re all from Sandra E. and Rurouni Star.

 

Desiree:  *Drops to her hands and knees, kowtowing like a deranged monk*  We’re not worthy!  We’re not worthy!

 

Deedlit:  I don’t know you.

 

Quickening:  HEY!  Who ate all my JELLYBEANS?!

 

Deedlit:  *Attempts to look innocent*  Ummm…the gerbil did it.  Oooo!  Look!  Did you know that they put you on their favorite author lists, too?

 

Quickening:  O____O  *THUD*

 

Desiree:  O_o;  You killed her.

 

Deedlit:  Um…oops?  *Pokes*

 

Quickening:  *Twitch*  You can’t have ‘em.  They’re MINE!  *Clutches reviews possessively and runs away, laughing maniacally*

 

Desiree:  Way to go, moron.

 

Chapter Four

 

            Kagome came to her senses slowly, drifting in that dark, warm place halfway between sleeping and waking, and wondering what was going on and…she felt unusually sore for some reason, which was rather odd because, at the same time, she was so relaxed and comfortable that she had to wonder if her bones hadn’t melted and…and…

 

            …and just why the hell was she wrapped up like a piece of sushi in Miroku’s arms?!

 

            Releasing a startled squeak, Kagome sat bolt-upright.  Or tried to…only…Miroku didn’t seem intent on letting her go.  His arms tightened around her waist and a heavy leg draped itself over hers as he turned to nuzzle his face into her chest, murmuring in his sleep and…wait, why was she naked?!  Hadn’t she been wearing his robe?  The robe that was…currently…being used…as a makeshift bed…

 

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes flew wide as memory began to reassert itself, and she raised a shaking hand to her tender mouth.  I...had...with Miroku and…he…we…

 

Agh!  She couldn’t even think it!  Her hands scrubbed frantically at her hair as she tried to think of a solution, any solution.  Maybe it was a bad dream?  Or…well…a really good dream, actually, but…no!  No, it was a bad dream!  A very bad dream!  Only…it was a very realistic dream and did she even have the imagination to dream up stuff like what Miroku had done to her?  After all, it wasn’t as if she actually knew about things like this…

 

Well…at least she hadn’t used to, she amended with a blush as she accidentally recalled a rather detailed account of the many, many wicked…things that Miroku had taught her in the past few…hours (Or had it been days?  She wasn’t quite sure anymore).  And, dream or no dream, every part of her that had experienced one of those lessons renewed the heat in her blood and spread outward into her skin, until it felt like her entire body was tingling with the remembrance of his hands and lips against her flesh.  And…other things, too, she added with another blush, sneaking a quick glance downward.

 

Fortunately (or maybe not so fortunately…), Miroku was laying on his stomach.  Or, to be more precise, he was laying on her on his stomach, so she couldn’t really see anything but the strong plane of his back, his skin stretching taught and supple over his shoulder blades and the line of his spine.  She followed that line downward to his tailbone, where she noted with fascination the little dimple that marked the area right above his left buttock.  He’s got dimples in those cheeks, too?  That was so…so…arousing.

 

She winced.  Great.  And now she was the one having the perverted thoughts!  Not that anyone could blame her, of course, after what she’d just been put through…

 

And there she went with the blushing again.  In her time, she probably could have signaled incoming airline traffic, she was glowing so brightly. 

 

And why was she still staring at his…very cute…very…naked…butt?

 

What happened to his pants?

 

She blinked dazedly and looked around slowly, until she saw what she assumed might be them laying beside the fire.  Or rather…laying in the fire.  What was left of them, anyway.  She thought that might have been the bottom half of a pant leg smoldering right at the very edge of the fire pit, but it was hard to tell.  What she really wanted to know was how in the world a pair of pants had managed to catch on fire barely three feet away from their feet and neither of them had noticed.

 

Miroku shifted again, his arms tightening around her, huggling her like a favorite teddy bear as he released a jaw-cracking yawn, his warm breath ghosting across her chest and making her entire body tighten in response.

 

Oh yeah.  That.  And…very obviously…not a dream.

 

“MmmKagome?  Are you awake?” he mumbled, lifting his head to catch her gaze somewhat blearily, his hair pulled free of its usual little tail and all mussed up and straggling sexily into his sleepy eyes…

 

Eep!  Too cute!  He’s too cute when he first wakes up! 

 

This was bad, very bad!  How was she supposed to yell at him for taking advantage of her and having his way with her when what kept trying to jump out of her mouth was the plea for him to do it again?

 

“Kagome?”  Miroku’s bleary eyes had cleared to their normal deep indigo, but now they were filled with concern at her disturbing silence as she lay staring into space with a frown on her pretty lips.  Which still looked a little tender and swollen from his previous attentions, he noted with a mental smirk.  He wondered if she was too sore to pick up where they’d last left off, because he was hungry and it wasn’t just for food. 

 

But when she continued to ignore him, to not even look at him, his concern began to grow again.  “Kagome, what’s the matter?” he asked softly, drawing himself up from her warm body to sit cross-legged beside her.  He noted that her gaze darted briefly to his lap and then away again, and the index finger of her right hand twitched against the robe spread beneath her, before she abruptly sat up and knelt on the ground, half-turned away from him.

 

He smirked.  Now…hadn’t she learned from past experience how dangerous that position was around him?  He was all set to remind her, but…

 

“I…I don’t want to talk to you.  Ever again,” she mumbled, turning her face further away from him, effectively knocking his plan from his thoughts as he stared at her in shock.  Not talk to him?  What the hell…?

 

“W-we…you and I…we went and…and had…had…”

 

“Had sex?” he finished for her calmly.  This time her entire body twitched, and he smiled and drew closer to her.  “Yes,” he agreed in a low purr, lowering his face to brush his lips against her shoulder.  “We did.”  A soft kiss to her neck.  “Several times.  And it was very good sex, too.”  He slid a hand around her waist and fondled a soft breast, and she yelped and squirmed away, her face turning an interesting shade of pink.

 

“Stop that!” she huffed.  “I-I’m trying to yell at you!”

 

“Whatever for?” he questioned innocently.

 

“What for?  What for?!  What do you think it’s for, you…you…brainless… jerk!” she yelled, turning on him and trying to latch her hands around his throat.  Ahhhh…there was the mad she was looking for.  Much better.  “You…you took advantage of me!” she shouted in his face, grinding her teeth together when his eyes widened with an expression of wounded innocence.  “‘Prove your point’, my ass!  You were just waiting for an excuse like that, weren’t you?!”  She sat seething before him, glaring at him and just daring him to deny it.  And if he made one lewd comment this time, she’d be forced to kill him because nobody that stupid deserved to live.

 

Fortunately, Miroku had enough survival instincts to know when a woman was just playing the poor abused victim, and when she was absolutely, deadly serious in her ire.  Unfortunately, Kagome appeared to be very much the latter.  And he had to admit that during their little…play session, he hadn’t really been thinking ahead to the possible consequences once everything was over and she came back to her senses…

 

“What if I wind up pregnant?!” Kagome wailed, clutching her head.  “I’m fifteen years old!  I’m too young to be a mother!  My mother’s too young to be a grandmother!  She’ll kill me!  And Grandpa will probably have a heart attack when he finds out and die or something, and then we’ll have to sell the shrine and live in a tiny apartment ‘cause I can’t go to school and raise a baby and I’m not allowed to get a job and Mum’ll be worked to death trying to take care of all three of us and…and…”  She  broke off suddenly and turned to grab Miroku’s shoulders in a surprisingly strong grip, shaking him hard.  “I hope you’re happy with yourself, Mister Can’t-Keep-His-Dick-in-His-Pants!  You’ve ruined my life!”  And with that, she threw herself onto the robe, buried her face in her arms, and promptly burst into hysterical sobs.

 

Miroku simply sat there, stunned into an absolute stupor, and decided that he no longer needed to worry about his Kazana killing him, because Kagome would obviously finish the job for it.

 

 

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

Quickening:  *Grinning maniacally and rubbing hands together ala evil mad scientist*  Heeheeheeee.  Ya gotta love the angst.

 

Deedlit:  -_-;  That wasn’t angst.  That was just weird.

 

Desiree:  *Addressing crowd of rabid readers sloooowly advancing with various pointy objects*  I REFUSE to take any responsibility for this one.  Kill HER, not me.  HER.

 

Quickening:  >_<  You’re fired.

 

Deedlit:  Hey, ya ever been stabbed with a spork?

 

Quickening:  You’re fired, too.

 

Deedlit:  Promise?