Ears

Disclaimer, still don’t own Inuyasha or his friends, Taptais still a cat so don’t own him either, still have the stupid rosary on my neck cause no one has helped me with it, so yeah, I’m still jumping through hoops for Taptai whenever he wants me to, could someone please help. I hate the fire hoops and I’ve already singed my fur, oh no, here he comes again, on with the story.

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He sat with his back to the wall of the cave, silently cursing his weakness under his breath. He could feel the changes beginning, his senses dulling as the day faded and the night of the new moon began.

Of course that wasn’t the only weakness he was cursing himself for at the moment, His mind railed at him that he had taken advantage of the other hanyou, had forced him into something he had no desire for. That alone would have been bad enough but then he had marked him, as his mate, had not even asked if this was what he wanted, had taken that decision from his hands without even giving a thought to how it may have affected the neko.

And then there was Taptais expression as he had to explain what a mating mark was, he had known the other hanyou was naive, but he had no idea just how clueless he was in certain areas. Sighing he let his back slide down the wall till he was resting his head on his crossed arms atop his knees. Why hadn’t he stopped at the sex, it had seemed like Taptai hadn’t minded, he even guessed that was why the other hanyou had sought him out, to help in what he knew was a difficult time, and as much as he would have liked to blame it on his demon side he knew that this time had been different.

This time he had been in control, he had not slipped into that white blankness that usually overcame him whenever his demon side took control, this time it had been almost as if the demon side had been cooperating with him, had wanted him to understand what was going on, had wanted him to agree. And that was the worst part, he had agreed, he had seen the neko-hanyou submissive below him and all of his other desires, all thoughts of anyone else had been replaced with the comforting thought of having this hanyou for himself.

A hand came down, pounding the uncaring rock till the knucles were bloodied, his thoughts spiraling towards that one point. He wanted someone, anyone- he was so tired of being alone, so tired of being rejected, and the fear of kagome rejecting him if he should ever ask was worse than any death he could think of. So when a friend had come to him, had placed himself in danger for him he had reacted without thinking and had latched onto that friendship, that hope of not being alone anymore so hard that now he was certain he had run him off.

He knew that the night had begun, he had been so lost in his thought that he had not noticed the changes, but now when he looked up he could barely make out the cave, his eyesight now just a mere mortals. He felt the warmth begin to flow down his cheeks as he felt the rejection of yet another come to him, he knew that he had run off Taptai, and every evil taunt that people had thrown at him, every hope that had been dashed by people who only saw him for his heritage, not for him broke again in his heart as he felt his hopes crash yet again.

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The scent of salt made its way towards him, his ears swiveling towards the sound of muffled sobs coming from the cave before him as the gray haired hanyou tried to gather the courage he knew he would need to face the inu. Taking a deep breathe he made his way into the cave where instead of finding the familiar form of Inuyasha he instead found a dark haired man that had on similar robes to the ones that Inuyasha normally wore.

“Oh- sorry I thought you were someone else.”

Inuyasha was frozen for a moment as Taptai had entered the cave than looked at him in surprise before turning to leave. His mind raced as he tried to determine why the other hanyou was behaving this way before he realized that he probably had just not thought about him changing, jumping to his feet he reached out for the retreating form on front of him.

“Taptai, wait- it’s me Inuyasha.”

Taptai turned to look back at him in disbelief, the voice had been right but- reaching up one clawed hand he gently pulled on an ear, getting a small wince from the man who claimed be Inuyasha.

“You can’t be Inuyasha, he’s a hanyou, like me. You’re a mortal, just a regular human.”

Taptai had made his explanation so simple, he almost sounded like a child explaining his newest school lesson, that it took Inuyasha a moment before he realized the gray haired cat was being serious. Grabbing a shoulder to halt his retreating form, Inuyasha almost pleaded desperately.

“Taptai, please don’t fool with me, its my night when my demon blood recedes, surely you know what I mean.”

Taptai’s expression had barely changed from the puzzled look he had when he walked into the cave, but now with the dark haired man saying this he did have to admit that he did resemble Inuyasha, if he were human.

“So- uh you mean to tell me you’re Inuyasha, just you’ve taken a human form now?”

“Yeah- this really isn’t funny you know- this night when I’m stuck as just a human has been hell for me for years. I know that you go through this too- probably not as much of a problem for you though.”

Taptai stared at the man for a moment more before he decided to take him at his word, for the moment.

“Actually, I don’t think that has ever been a problem for me- I have never taken a human form, or any form other than this before you.”

Now it was Inuyashas turn to stare at Taptai as his mind tried to piece together the meaning of what he had just been told.

“But your a hanyou, so once a month your demon blood would leave you, making you just a mortal.”

“Well, I am a hanyou, but like I said, I’ve never had…” Taptai paused as he thought for a moment, than pulled his robes over his head, exposing his back. Turning so his back was facing Inuyasha he pointed to a scar on his left shoulder that had always been there, and once a month burned. “Do you recognize the symbol on my shoulder, I think it might have something to do with this.”

Inuyasha leaned in, gently rubbing a dull fingernail against the raised flesh of the scar that made an intricate pattern on his friends back.

“No, I’ve never seen anything like this- why did you ask?”

“I’ve had it all my life. I asked my mother about it once and my father got very upset, saying it was a stupid risk that she had took, but she only said it was for my protection, and would never explain anymore about it. My father said it was a type of seal for my demon side, and that it had almost killed me. That was all they would ever tell me about it, but when you mentioned the once a month piece I thought of it.”

The only response he got from Inuyasha was a soft Keh, as he turned away from him, the differences between their past causing his throat to clench as he thought of just how different his life would have been if he had a mark like that, had never had to go through the pain he remembered all too well. His thoughts were taken off their depressing side path when a clawed hand reached up to his shoulder, grasping him gently as he was pulled back to nestle against a bare chest.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think of how that would affect you, I wish I could take that pain of your past from you.”

At that moment Inuyasha wanted nothing more that to turn and run, to take out his frustration on this stupid cat. How did he even know about how he had felt, just what kind of hell he had to live through just because he was different than all the others. He wanted to strike at the other hanyou but in his human state he just stood there, letting the strong arm hold him close as he felt tears well up in his eyes before they began to spill down his cheeks.

“I asked Miroku about your past, I was curious- I know I should have asked you but. I wish that you had never had to go through that, I know I could not have survived it- but thats all in the past now, and I need to know what you want of your future.”

At those words Inuyasha clenched up in his arms, his earlier fears flooding back to his mind as he tried to find the best answer, the right words to make Taptai stay with him. The next words out the nekos mouth made his heart pound in fear.

“Inuyasha, why me?”

That was the one question that Inuyasha had feared the most, the one he really wasn’t sure of the answer to himself, and now he had to find something, anything to say. Every thing that ran through his head rang hollow, he knew that Taptai would never accept some pat answer from him, and so grudingly he had to admit to him the truth.

“I- I don’t know.”

Expecting that to be the end, Inuyasha was mildly surprised that the arms holding him kept him in their warm embrace, a head moved foward to sit on his shoulder as he felt a furry ear flick gently against his hair and a soft breath ghosting over his cheek as one word was uttered.

“Ok.”

Turning his head so that he was nuzzling a cheek, Inuyasha met green eyes that were looking at him calmly.

“Ok- thats it?”

“Well, if you had lied to me I would have left, if you had told me that you just did in the heat of the moment but now regretted it I would have been upset, but I could have dealt with it. But it seems like you feel about the same as I do.”

Turning to face his now darkhaired lover, Taptai chuckled at the surprise in his black eyes.

“Yeah- I don’t really know what to say to you Inuyasha. I never thought I would take a dog as a mate, much less a male dog.” Sensing the body in his arms tense he continued on quickly. “No offense but this has been a bit sudden you know. I mean I don’t have a problem with you being a guy, I mean every one I’ve been with so far has been a guy, and I’ve gotten used to being around a dog, and I have to admit- I really like you. Its just that I hadn’t thought too much about mates, I thought it would be several years down the road, and that I would worry about it then.”

Twisting so that he could sit down, positioning the slightly shorter man on his lap, Taptai held him so that they could look into each others eyes.

“So, Inuyasha, how do you feel about me?”

Inuyasha stared back blankly for a moment as he mind reeled at the words he had just heard, while they hadn’t been the undying confession of love he had dreamed of, they hadn’t been the rejection he had feared either. Looking up he saw his new lover smirking at him, and felt a silly grin spread across his own face in response.

“I- I guess I’m just, well comfortable with you.” Looking up he had to grimace at the ears set into an inquisitive pose that he knew all too well. “Anyone else that I could have been with, demon or human, would have had to deal with how people react to hanyous, and I didn’t want to put anyone through that. The when I met you, you were the first hanyou I had ever met that well, that just didn’t care. When I first met you I thought you hated me because I was a hanyou, but then I realized it was because I was a dog-demon, and well. It was just so odd.”

“I guess I just like the fact that you don’t really seem to care too much about where someone came from, as much as who they are.”

“Ok, but is that why you want me as a mate, or just a friend?”

At that question, Inuyasha looked up, meeting grass-green eyes he leaned forward, taking Taptais lips captive with his as he drew the other hanyou into a short but breath stealing kiss. Pulling back he smirked, watching as Taptai had to look away for a moment to regain his composure.

“That’s why I want you as a mate- I would be happy to just keep you as a friend, but now that I’ve found you- I never want to lose you. I’ve already lost so many things in my life that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you. And since you’re a hanyou like me, I don’t have to worry so much about losing you.”

Taptai thought on this for a moment as turned away. It wasn’t the most romantic thing ever, but from what he heard about the gruff hanyou in his lap this was probably the most he had ever bared himself to someone else. And Taptai did have to admit that he was impressed with the dog-demon. Looking back he came to his decision.

“So what exactly do we do to make this mark official?”

“You mean you want to be my mate?”

Taptais response was quite simple, his lips pressed hard against the black haired mans, a fang nipping gently at a lip in a silent request for entry before a tongue made its way inside to explore the familiar but strange mouth before him, spending most of its time worrying over the now only slightly sharp canines that had been fangs the last time their mouths had danced. Taptai leaned back with a start when Inuyasha bit down none too gently before gasping for the breath he had been denied, causing furry ears to droop in apology as Taptai realized his error.

“Sorry, I uh- well forgot you were human. Guess I’ll have to take it a little easier eh?”

Inuyasha leaned forward to grab taptai into a quick kiss before both leaned back to look at the other, silly grins plastered on their faces.

“Its ok, but yeah I guess I am at a bit of a disadvantage.”

“So, what do we do- well you know.”

Inuyasha had to smirk at the sight in front of him, Taptais cheeks were slightly flushed at the question he had just asked and his tail was swishing the ground behind him as he looked slightly away from the person he had just asked to be his mate, and Inuyasha felt as he had just received the greatest gift he had ever had. He loved the sight of his blushing hanyou before him, looking absolutely delicious as he leaned in and in a very doglike maneuver licked a cheek before leaning back to take his soon to be mates face in his hands to explain the rest of the mating ceremony.

“Well, its really pretty simple, usually both members of the mating bond mark each other at the same time, usually in the middle of climax, but thats not a law or something, as I understand. So I guess the easiest would be for us to just reverse positions from the last time.”

At Inuyashas explanation Taptais eyes grew slightly wide and a familiar smirk entered his face.

“Ok, you know I don’t have a problem with being seme, but do you think you can handle being uke- in your present state?”

“Hey, just because I’m human doesn’t mean I’m some useless-”

Taptai placed a gentle hand on his lovers mouth, silencing his outbreak.

“I didn’t say you were weak, or anything like that, but you are still in heat, and you are going to want to have some more sex, probably soon, and I will probably hurt you right now cause I’m not really in the mood to be gentle, that and I didn’t bring some of the stuff that may have helped you-” Taptai looked up in time to see the wide eyed expression on his mates face as he let out a small laugh at inuyashas discomfit. “What- just because I am somewhat naive and have never been with a women does not mean I’m a virgin, lets just I have some very good friends at my village and well, I learned how to make sure they were happy, seeing as they helped me as much as they had, but I also know how much I had to hold back with a human. Lets just say I’m very ready to try this with you tomorrow, but for now, why don’t I stick with uke?”

Inuyasha was trying to keep his face blank but he could still tell that he would never think quite the same of his new mate, now that he had heard of this side of him.

“Well, I guess, I mean I don’t see where it would be a problem with the mark. You’re gonna make me regret this tomorrow aren’t you?”

Taptais reaction was a pleased purr as he removed his new mates clothes, his ears twitching in pleasure and anticipation as he saw the slightly fearful expression in Inuyashas eyes.

“I wouldn’t say regret it, but I figure you showed me up the first day in training, so I guess I’ll have to show you what I’m good at tomorrow.”

The startled yelp that tried to make its way from Inuyashas mouth was halted as he was pushed back, Taptais mouth trailing his body as he set about to explore every nook and cranny of his new lover, letting both of them forget anything besides the sensations coursing through their bodies.


Ha- I know, evil I left it at a cliffhanger, well sorta one, anyway review and let me know what you think.