The Importance of Being Kept

A/N: Sorry about the delay everyone! I really enjoyed reading the reviews, some had me blushing and others had me falling over in laughter. You guys are the best!


Kagome slowly opened her eyes when she felt her body engulfed in warm water. She was so tired and sore in a place she'd never felt soreness at until now. The realization of what happened to her suddenly came crashing back. She sat up splashing water everywhere and wincing at the pain between her thighs.

"Be still, Kagome," Inuyasha said from behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest.

They were in a very large and deep bathtub. It was filled with bubbles. The heady aroma of rose scented bath soap made her slightly dizzy. Kagome relaxed against Inuyasha and let him wash her. His hands ran over her arms, her chest, her stomach and lower, gently washing away the remains of their lovemaking.

"How do you feel?" Inuyasha asked pulling her hair to one side of her shoulder and kissing her neck.

"Like I've just awakened from a very deep sleep and sore, but the water feels good," Kagome sighed in his arms.

"I've put some bath salt in the water to help with your soreness. I'm sorry, I couldn't have be gentler with you."

Kagome blushed. "I'm not a virgin anymore...I've lived with it so long and now..."

"Now, you're mine," Inuyasha said tenderly.

"Yours," Kagome sighed again in complete bliss. She was very comfortable at the moment. "I'm so happy you were my first. I wouldn't want anyone else."

"I love you, Kagome," Inuyasha said. "We will always be together, forever."

Kagome frowned suddenly coming out of her euphoric daze. She began to remember. Inuyasha wasn't just her first, it wasn't just her virginity he'd taken away, it was also her life as a normal human being. She'd gotten so carried away with their lovemaking that it hadn't occurred to her that Inuyasha was actually making her his mate. She hadn't really thought about it. She had been too overwhelmed by the intense feelings of being together for the first time.

"Inuyasha," she asked hesitantly. "Are we, am I, did you make me your life mate?"

"Yes," came the dreaded answer.

Inuyasha felt her stiffen in his arms. Was she having regrets? "Kagome, I told you I would. You knew what would happen when we made love for the first time. Why are you acting surprise?"

"I, I got wrapped up into just being with you, Inuyasha. I wasn't really thinking," Kagome gasped and covered her hands with her mouth. "Oh gods... "

"Don't do this to me, Kagome. Tell me you don't regret this. Tell me you're happy," Inuyasha turned her body around until she was on her knees facing him.

He looked so devastated. Kagome's heart went out to him. "I love you, Inuyasha. I want to be with you," she said truthfully. His face began to relax. "But, I wasn't ready for this type of commitment. This is marriage in human terms. We are married, except worse, we can never divorce. Isn't that right?"

Inuyasha turned away from her. "If you truly don't want to be with me, you don't have to, but we will always be connected that will never change."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome turned his face towards her. "Why would you say that? I'm sorry I hurt you, I was just being truthful. I'm happy that we're together. It's just I have to get use to it. I have to adjust!"

Inuyasha stared at her with a dangerous possessive glint in his eyes. "You didn't let me finish. I said you didn't have to be with me, but we will always be connected and because of that I will never let you go. If you wanted to break up with me go ahead, Kagome, but I will never break up with you. I'll always be around, you'd never get rid of me. You are mine whether you want to be or not and I will never stop loving you. So you can be happy about this and make it easier on yourself or you can fight me and bring yourself a lot of misery."

At that moment, Kagome wanted to choke him. "How dare you talk to me in such an arrogant way, Inuyasha! You don't have to be so obnoxious about it!"

Inuyasha blinked and shook his head as if he hadn't realized what he was doing. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," he laid his face against her stomach and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Kagome, you do understand that I'm half youkai. The youkai inside of me is not human at all. It wants what it wants and it takes it despite how you may feel. I've tried to be as human as possible for you, give you choices and so forth, but I can't fight the youkai all the time since he is a part of me. He loves you as much as I do. We both agree on that. He would never let you go and I'm sorry, but neither would I."

"Inuyasha," she pulled his face away and looked into his eyes. "You've never showed me this side of you..."

"Oh you've seen it," Inuyasha said. "During the time I fought the spiders, my reaction to the guy at the club, my fight with Naraku. The youkai in me always lusts for blood, that violent side of me is usually him and last night he was right there with me when I made you mine."

"I remember," Kagome said. "You had a strange red glow in your eyes right before you bit me! And there was a white light surrounding both of us. What was all that about?"

"It was part of the mating ritual. The light was our souls merging together. My youkai bit you to mark you as his and mine. He drunk your blood so it would blend with ours. Now you bear our claim on your forehead and your blood runs through our veins so that we will feel what you feel, see what you see and communicate with you without speaking words. You truly are mine, Kagome, in every possible way. He will never let you go. I will never let you go."

"Will you stop saying that! I'm not going anywhere, so stop worrying about it so much. I only said I needed time to adjust and you took it as a threat," Kagome shook her head.

"I'm sorry. Now that we're bonded my feelings, my emotions for you are stronger than ever."

"So you're saying that you're going to become even more possessive, arrogant, and dominating than you already are? Oh great..." Kagome said dryly.

Inuyasha smiled.

"Don't smile at me like that. It's not funny!" She fussed. "If I'd known you'd get worse, I'd never would have never let you make love to me."

He chuckled softly.

"I would have ran when I had the chance," she said.

Inuyasha suddenly stopped laughing. He stared at her seriously that dangerous look coming back in his eyes. "I would have followed you."

Kagome sighed. Yep, he'd definitely gotten worse.

Kagome pushed him away in annoyance. "I think bath time is over," she tried to get away from him, but he grabbed her and held her against him.

"Your body hasn't healed yet. Stay a little longer," Inuyasha said turning her back around so she could lay her back against his chest again.

Since Kagome didn't have a choice, she decided to relax against him. Besides, the water still felt good, and his arms around her felt even better. She decided to try to understand what she'd gotten herself into. "What did you mean when you said my blood runs through your veins? Did you really mean what you said about feeling what I feel?"

"I feel what you feel now," Inuyasha said. "Your soreness, not just down there, but all over. Your body is tired and needs to rest."

"That's really freaky," Kagome mumbled shivering a little. "So if I was hungry would you know?"

"Yes," Inuyasha said rubbing her stomach gently.

She tried to ignore how good his hands felt on her stomach. It was almost as if he was trying to distract her.

"What if I fell and broke my leg?"

"Now that we've mated, it would be impossible for you to just fall and break your leg, but say you were attacked by another youkai and he broke your leg, then yes. I'd feel it. You're stronger than the average human. Even a youkai would have a hard time hurting you unless he used brute force on you, meaning all his strength. Usually youkai can destroy a human with a flick of their finger, but not one that's mated to another powerful youkai."

Kagome smiled at that knowledge. "Wow, that must be a relief for you to not have to worry about me so much. "

"I will still worry, there are still powerful youkai on campus and even though you have some of my strength, you will never be stronger than them, but yes, I don't have to worry about them attacking you and killing you so easily if that's what you mean. You would at least be able to defend yourself until I got there."

"This is one of the main reasons why you wanted me to become your mate, to protect me," Kagome said softly.

"I love you, I wanted to protect you, and for you to belong only to me. You are mine to love, to take care of, everything that belongs to me, now belongs to you, Kagome."

Kagome grinned. "You mean now I can just hop into that very nice sports car of yours and drive away without asking you?"

"You would at least let me know where you're going, oh wait, actually, you don't have to tell me where you're going. I'll see through your eyes."

Kagome sat up straight and turned to him. "What?"

Inuyasha gave her a sheepish grin. "There's no secrets between us anymore, Kagome."

"Are you saying I won't have any privacy at all with you? You'll know my thoughts, feel what I feel, see what I see?"

Inuyasha nodded. "I know you value your independence, but we're mated now and..."

Kagome glared at him. "You should have told me all of this before we slept together. You knew this and didn't even tell me! Why?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything. Kagome already knew the answer.

"It's because you knew I really would try to run away from you if I found out."

"Please, don't be angry at me," Inuyasha looked at her, his eyes full of sadness and guilt.

Kagome was too angry at him to feel bad for him. "What about me, Inuyasha? Can I do the same things?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "You can communicate with me with your mind, but you can't feel what I feel physically. You can only feel my emotions. It's sort of like a safeguard, a protection for the females. Youkai are always fighting, you would constantly feel my pain if I were attacked, the pain could be unbearable for you, even kill you. "

"So you can feel what I physically go through, but I can't feel you?"

"You can only feel my emotions," Inuyasha corrected. "I have to be able to feel everything about you in order to protect you. If you were hurt or sick, I'd know, but as a safeguard, no you can't physically feel what I go through."

"Can I read your mind? Know all your secrets?"

Inuyasha nodded.

Kagome began to feel a little better. "I guess it makes sense then. At least, I'm not completely vulnerable to you without you being vulnerable to me in return, but I don't like it. You shouldn't be able to know what I'm thinking or doing or anything like that! It's like you've completely taken over me."

"We can only read each other's mind if we made the effort to, Kagome or if we left ourselves open for each other to easily read. It's not like it's an automatic thing that's beyond our control. You can even block me if you want to, but if I think you're in danger, I'd break down those walls, understand me?"

"Brings a whole new definition to invading someone's personal space, doesn't it?" Kagome said sarcastically. She closed her eyes and sighed. "This is too much for me to handle in one day. If there's more, I don't want to know."

"Your body is better now," Inuyasha said running his hands down the sides of her waist.

He was right. The soreness had left her. She healed very quickly. Maybe becoming a youkai's mate had some perks to it. Still, she opened her eyes and looked at him stubbornly. "Don't tell me how my body feels."

Inuyasha sighed. "You're going to give me hell the next few days aren't you?"

"You damn right, I am," Kagome said.

Inuyasha smiled.

Kagome gasped. "I sounded just like you.."

"I know," Inuyasha grinned at her.

Kagome stood up completely naked in front of him. Water dripped down her body. Inuyasha couldn't help but follow the direction the drops were flowing. He felt himself harden. She was amazingly beautiful to him and he wondered if he'd always want her so badly.

Kagome blushed. "I can feel your desire for me," she said softly. She quickly stepped out of the tub and wrapped a large towel around her.

Inuyasha chuckled. "Don't worry, Kagome. I'm not going to ravish you again. I think you've been through enough in one day. Your body still has to adjust to the changes."

Kagome frowned. "What changes?" She remembered what Shippou had told her and ran to the mirror. The first thing she noticed was her hair. Instead of being pure raven black, white streaks now decorated her head all the way to the tips. She gasped out loud. "I look like a zebra!"

"You look beautiful," Inuyasha said rising out of the water, naked and wet. She lost her train of thought as she watched him. Had he always been so tall and muscular? Muscles after muscle roped on top of each other around his sides, waist, six pack stomach, thighs and arms. It was as if he'd grown taller, stronger, more powerful looking and sexier than he'd ever been before.

"Did you change too?" She asked in wonder.

Inuyasha smiled and wrapped a towel around his waist. "Yes, my body went through a transformation also. I've seen to become more mature and stronger to protect you."

"Wow," Kagome said. "I thought you sounded a little more at peace with yourself than normal. You're always so quick to yell." She smiled at the thought.

"I am more peaceful now that you're my life mate, but don't test me. I'm still a very jealous and possessive hanyou." He winked at her playfully and stood behind her. He ran his large hands through her silky hair and rubbed his face against it. "My hair has somehow manage to blend with yours, why does that turn me on so much?"

Kagome ignored him. She looked at herself in the mirror, really looked. She noticed something under her bangs and lifted them up. A red symbol was branded into her forehead. She traced it with her finger. She really was Inuyasha's mate. She watched Inuyasha smile proudly at her in the mirror, that possessive look twinkling in his eyes. "Mine," he said and kissed her cheek.

Kagome stared at herself. She had changed. Her skin was flawless and glowing. Her eyes were a richer color of brown and quite lovely to look at. Her lips were fuller, kissable, perfect. Her breasts were fuller and perkier, and her body had curves in all the right places. She realized that her hair didn't just come just below her shoulders anymore, but it had grown all the way down her back and stopped right above her buttocks. Heck, even her buttocks were rounder and fuller.

"Oh my gods, I'm sexy as hell!" She said out loud and turned around to look at all of herself in the mirror.

Inuyasha eyes narrowed. "I noticed, I didn't think you could become any more beautiful than you already were. I was wrong."

"You don't look too happy about it," Kagome said.

"I don't understand. I know why my body changed, but what's the purpose of making you more beautiful? The more beautiful you are, the more attention you will attract."

Kagome laughed. "You are so frustrating , Inuyasha. Here I am looking like a supermodel for once and instead of you being happy about it, you find some way to make it bad!"

"I liked the way you were before. You looked so sweet and innocent and now you looked like a seductive siren," Inuyasha hands balled into fists, "that's going to lure a lot of men to their deaths if they try to touch you."

Kagome decided to try out her new look on him. A seductive siren, she thought. She turned to Inuyasha and gave him her most alluring look. She leaned closer to him and stared deeply into his eyes. She was suddenly slammed with his desire for her at full maximum. She stumbled away from him and would have fallen had he not caught her. She could feel him hard and pushing against her towel. Inuyasha took in very deep breaths as if he was trying to calm himself and glared down at her.

"Don't play with me, Kagome. Do that again and I won't be responsible for my actions and believe me, if I took you now, it won't be gentle."

Vision of all the delicious and wicked things he would do to her flashed in Kagome's head. It wasn't her thoughts, it was his. She saw herself pushed against the bathroom sink, her hands gripping the edge trying to hold on as Inuyasha pounded into her from behind. Another image replaced the first one. This time he was holding her by her hair from behind while he took her on her hands and knees on the bathroom floor.

Kagome gave him a frighten look and ran out of the bathroom. She dried off and quickly threw on some clothes before he came out.

Inuyasha walked out just as she was putting on a tank top. He stared at the shorts she was wearing. Had her legs always been so long? "You are not leaving this apartment showing off that much skin."

Kagome blinked at him. "Inuyasha, will you stop it!" She gave him an annoyed look.

"I can make you dress like a nun," Inuyasha said darkly.

Kagome eyes widen. "You wouldn't dare!"

Inuyasha crossed his arms.

The door bell from the living room began to ring. Kagome sighed in relief from the distraction. Inuyasha was becoming unbearable. She hoped he would calm down soon. 'This must be just as new to him as it is to me,' she thought. She watched him leave to answer it and notice he was still wearing the bath towel. "Oh no you don't," she grabbed his arm and pulled him back inside. "You put on some clothes before you answer the door. I don't want another blonde jumping your bones while you're wearing a towel!"

Inuyasha smiled.

"I'll answer it," Kagome said.

"No you don't," Inuyasha said pulling her back in the room. "It could be one of the guys on my team, I don't want you parading in front of them with just a tank top and very short, shorts on."

The door bell continue to ring. They heard the door open and someone walk inside. Kagome frowned. "How did they get in?"

Inuyasha let out a irritated growl. "Miroku and Sango came by earlier to check on us. They must have sensed our mating, being the succubus that they are. They probably broke the lock when they couldn't get in."

"Wait, Miroku and Sango saw us together!" Kagome asked in shock and horror.

"Only after it was over with," Inuyasha said.

"But we were on the floor, naked!"

"I know," Inuyasha said.

Kagome's face turned dark red.

"They didn't stay long," Inuyasha said as if it wasn't a problem. "Although at the time I wanted to kill both of them for intruding on us like that."

"Me too..." Kagome sat down on the bed.

"Yoo hoo! Anybody home? Kagome? Inuyasha?" It was Rin calling for them from the living room.

Inuyasha nodded. "All right, it's just Rin. Go see what she wants. I'll put on some clothes."

"Thank you kindly, your highness," Kagome said dryly.

Inuyasha smiled. "I love you too..."

She blushed and left.

A/N: I was so happy everyone enjoyed the previous chapter to the fullest. I tried to make their first time as sweet and steamy as possible. I blushed at some of the comments and laughed out loud at others. LOL!

I've got some good and bad news. Bad news, I've only got a few more chapters to go before the story comes to an end. Good news, there will be a sequel. ^_^