A/N: This started as a oneshot and started tumbling out of control! There's slight lemon in this story in future chapters, and although the summary sounds serious, it really is a light romantic story :)

Thanks for reading!

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"It's just a routine exorcism!"

"You know damn well there is no such thing as a routine exorcism, Kagome!"

She huffed crossing her arms over her chest. "This isn't fair, Inuyasha. I can handle myself!"

"No, you can't." He inched closer to her, pointing a long clawed finger in her direction. "You were gone for three years! You've only been back for two months, you can't just go off on your own like that! You'll get yourself killed, stupid!"

She glared at him. "Don't call me stupid, stupid! I am not rusty! Just last week you saw me purifying demonic auras again!"

Kaede sighed and shook her head at the loud couple. She had told Kagome about a strong demonic aura reportedly coming from a cave a few miles away from the village a few hours ago, meaning for her to tell Inuyasha when he returned from his recent job with Miroku. She didn't think the young miko would accept it as a challenge for herself to prove her worth and abilities.

Kagome had tried to escape the village unseen by Inuyasha to handle the cave on her own, but it was never an easy feat with his demonic senses and hyperawareness of her every move. Ever since she had returned to the feudal era, she had only left his sight when absolutely necessary. Miroku would need him on a job outside of town every once in a while, forcing Inuyasha to do everything in his power short of tying her to a tree to keep the spirited girl in town.

She yearned for adventure again, it was nice settling back into things, but she was antsy, ready to tackle the world again. She felt suffocated sitting still for too long in this retired state.

She was studying under Kaede learning herbs and exorcisms, fine tuning her spiritual powers, and now she was ready to take on the world, or so she thought. So when Kaede had mentioned this accursed cave, Kagome jumped to the occasion, packing up her things and running to leave before Inuyasha returned from his job with Miroku.

She wasn't fast enough.

"You're just a weak little girl! You can't leave this village to go hunting! It takes years of practice and training before anyone is able to fight on their own!" He stepped closer to her. "I can't believe you'd try to just run and leave like this," he lowered his voice so only she could hear. "to leave me.. Kagome what are you trying to prove?"

"What's going on out here?" Sango pulled back the shade covering her door looking outside. Her children were huddled in the hut, hiding from the ruckus of Inuyasha's temper.

Kaede moved towards her side, motioning for her to go back in her home. "Best to stay out of this one, m'lady." She shook her head. "Tis a lover's quarrel again."

Sango sighed, exasperated. "The only thing I didn't miss…" She mumbled.

"Stay out of this!" Inuyasha yelled at Kaede.

"Inuyasha don't yell at her!" Kagome sighed and placed a hand on his chest. "Look, I just want to prove that I can do some things on my own, okay? I don't need you to protect me all the time."

She had no idea how hard her words stung him. He took a step backwards. "I see…,"

"No, Inuyasha I didn't mean it like-," But he had turned and jumped away into the forest. Kagome sighed, turning to Kaede. "Was I really that bad?"

She shook her head. "Child, please don't take offense when I stay out of your quarrels. But I do think ye need more practice before ye leave."

Kagome shook her head. "You too?" She was exasperated, but her pride and antsy bone would not allow her to back down now. "I'll prove to you that I can do this." She turned to leave.

"Kagome-,"

"I'll be okay," She turned to smile at Kaede. "I promise, I'll be okay." And with that, she ran into the forest.

The cave was not far from the village. She estimated it to be about ten miles out. Just far enough that Miroku and Inuyasha couldn't sense its demonic presence, but close enough to be less than a day away, walking.

She felt guilty. Her heart was pained with the look in Inuyasha's eyes. "I can't believe you'd try and leave like this… leave me." It broke her heart. But he needed to stop babying her. Ever since she returned his had treated her like a glass doll, worried that anything and everything could break her in an instant.

Something had changed since she returned. It had been three years since she last saw him, when he embraced and kissed her as they destroyed the scared jewel together. When she had returned it was as if none of that had happened. He was so close yet so far again. Before she had left she was so comfortable with Inuyasha and her feelings towards him, she could have laced her finger through his long hair at any moment, placed sweet kisses on his lips. Now she was nervous just sitting close to him. Their feelings had been transposed to this awkward wall between them.

What had happened while she was gone? Shippo had told her Inuyasha has visited the bone eaters well every three days while she was gone, and that there had been no others in his love life. But what if being apart for three years was too much for him? What if he didn't love her anymore, and the visits became habit instead of longing?

She didn't date while she was gone, she hadn't even looked at another man the same way she looked at Inuyasha. Sure, she was asked out on dates and there were guys who vied for her attention, but they just weren't him.

She wished more than anything that she could just embrace him again without feeling like he would reject her. What if his feelings had changed? She couldn't just return assuming he loved her as much as he did when she left. To be back in the feudal era without him to love and to stare at Miroku and Sango and their happy children. She would feel so alone, surrounded by others in love.

She sighed and sat down at the base of a tree along her path. "Stupid." She mumbled to herself. "Why can't I just- argghh! I'm so stupid." She placed her chin on her knees, staring at the ground. She wanted more than anything for Inuyasha to be there with her. Why didn't she just ask him if she could come along? Like the old days?

"He would have never let me come." She frowned. He was too careful with her. Once while picking herbs along a shallow creek, she had slipped and lost her footing. She began to slide into the creek when Inuyasha had jumped out of a tree nearby, grabbing her and setting her on the bank gently. He spent the next five minutes examining her and making sure she had no scratches or cuts. Although she was annoyed with him for hiding in that tree, she had to admit she loved the feeling of his hands on her legs, and he ran them gently a crossed her skin feeling for any injuries he couldn't see.

A soft rustle of the leaves in a tree nearby made her stand up suddenly, grabbing her bow and arrow. "Is that you, Inuyasha!?" She demanded. He was probably watching her again. "Show yourself! I swear I'll beat you silly if you're hiding up there!"

The leaves rustled again, she readied an arrow at the tree. "Show yourself!" She shouted.

Suddenly, a small fluffy squirrel climbed into her line of fire. He twitched his nose at her, as if inquiring why she was so upset that she had an arrow pointed at him.

She sighed and lowered her arrow. "I'm loosing my mind…," she grumbled, picking up her pack and turned back on the trail.

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It was almost dusk when she arrived at the mouth of the cave. The presence of demonic aura was strong, yes, but she had felt worse. She readied her bow, her gripping tightening on it. "Please don't be any bugs there, please no bugs!" She whispered. She would have to go inside and set up her seals quickly before the sun went down, as she forgot to bring a torch and would have to make her own.

The cave was dark and damp. "Well, this is very warming…" she mumbled sarcastically. She felt eyes on her from all around, but could see nothing. She looked around, trying to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. As the scanned the area, she was surprised as she tripped on a bump on the floor and stumbled against a wall.

To her horror, the bump moved, scurried away as fast as its legs would take it. "Oh God," She said worried, trying to remember how many legs it had. She tried to push herself off the wall, sweat beating down her neck. She began to panic as her hands stuck to the wall awkwardly, trying to push her whole body away. Slowly, she realized she was stuck to the wall… she was stuck to something else. Something soft, silky, and sticky.

"Mmm, brothers, a snack has wandered into our cave…," Her head snapped up looking at the darkness towards where she thought the voice was coming from. It was then she realized what she was stuck to.

"Not spiders!" She cried out, and with a new determination to leave the cave she yanked her body free of the web, only to loose her footing once more and tumble down a long bumpy slope into the belly of the structure. Her scream echoed off the walls of the cave as she fell.

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He had been following her for hours. Jumping from tree to tree, about a mile away. Close enough that he could smell her scent and follow her, but not close enough for her to see or hear him. He was moving faster now towards her. It was at any moment she would be reaching the spiders cave, and he knew how much she hated them. He would jump in just in time to save her, and she would be so grateful that she would apologize to him for being a stupid girl and listening to his superior male intellect.

Not to mention he noticed she hadn't brought a torch with her, and maneuvering the cave would be damn near impossible without one. Stupid girl.

He jumped down at the entrance to the cave. Pausing to light up his torch, his ear twitched, listening for any sound of Kagome inside. Entering the cave he frowned, disgusted as he saw hundreds of spiders crawling away from the light as he tread inside. In the darkness, they would hide on the ceilings and walls all around, waiting for their moment to swarm and attack. Kagome had no light with her.

He picked up his pace.

Soon he came towards a fork in the cave. In the darkness it would be impossible to see. But which way would she have gone?

He flinched as he suddenly heard her scream out, Cold chills ran down his spine, was she hurt? Where they attacking her? Why did he let her so far ahead of him? His body was already running towards the scream, in the road to the right.

Sliding to a halt, he came to a sudden decline. "Kagome!" He called, Seeing nothing but black before him. "Kagome can you hear me!"

Silence.

"Inu… Inuyasha…" He heard her faint call "Inu-ahhh! Get off me!" She shrieked.

"Kagome!" He ran down the incline, then jumped as it suddenly cut off. Below him was a large spider web, where Kagome was tangled. He saw bursts of light coming from her hands and she fought off the hordes of spiders who crawled towards her, fangs out and bared.

He landed on the web, finding it difficult to maneuver around on with its sticky nature. She was laying out of his reach, just to the left of him. "Kagome, hold on!" He stuck the torch in the web next to him and pulled out tetsusaiga, slashing and cutting and chopping down the demonic spiders who now also ran to him as a target.

"Inuyasha your shoulder!" Kagome cried out, pointing at him. He turned his head, a one of the demons had latched itself onto his shoulder. He swat at it, but it quickly crawled into his shirt and down onto his stomach. He cried out in surprise as it bite into his abdomen. He clutched the lump of cloth where the spider was and quickly crushed it under his hand, cursing.

While he wrestled with his kimono to get the dead spider out, a large web struck out and landed against the side of the tetsusaiga. With a quick yank, it was out of Inuyasha's hands before he could react.

"No!" Kagome gasped. The spiders were closing in on all sides, and Inuyasha's weapon was away from them.

"I don't need my sword to make quick work out of you petty-, arrghh!" he gave out a cry of pain as he clutched his stomach where the spider had bitten him. Demonic venom surged through his veins, racing faster with ever beat of his heart.

"You bastards!" He cried out, lunging forewords towards the spiders, ripping them apart with his talons. He felt his demon blood boil inside him.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out, there were too many spiders crawling towards her, and her powers were beginning to grow tied with attacking the demons. A large green and black spider crawled up her leg, talons outstretched.

"I got you!" He lunged foreword towards her, slicing the spider in two. Suddenly, he collapsed on top of her, his body shaking. The quick agile movements of his attacks only allowed the venom to spread faster throughout his body. He cried out in pain and distress as he felt himself letting go.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha wake up!" More spiders were coming, and Kagome didn't know if she had it in her to purify the rest of them. Was this how they would go? Eaten by meek spider demons? "Inuyasha their coming closer!"

He growled, his body shaking. Slowly, he lifted himself off of her. She gasped at the sight.

His eyes were blood red, and two blue strikes adorned his cheeks. His demon blood had taken over in order to fight the infection growing in his body.

He was a full blooded demon now.

"No…" Kagome whispered. The tetsusaiga was yard away from her, and she was still stuck to the large sticky web.

He roared out in anger as the spiders closed in on them. Quickly, as if he was never standing in that spot to begin with, he had jumped towards the spiders. He bit and ripped and smashed them with ferocity, like an animal destroying their prey.

Kagome cried out in surprise she felt something crawling towards her head. "Inuyasha!" She was crying. Out of all the demons in the word, she just had to land in a spider demons nest. And now Inuyasha was an uncontrollable monster. He his snapped towards her, letting out a snarl before lunging forward.

He jumped towards her, grabbing the large spider by the legs and ripping them off. He roared with anger and excitement, slaughtering each and every spider until hundreds of them lay in pieces around them.

He kneeled on the web, seemingly impervious to its sticky nature. He was panting, and growling. His shoulders shook with each deep breath. Kagome couldn't help but stare at them, waiting to see what his next move would be. Would he come for her next? She was too scared to make a move.

Kagome lay in shock at what she had just seen. It was so sudden, so fast, so… masculine.

He stood up slowly, turning towards her. His demon blood rushed through his veins, killing the infection that tried to destroy his body as quickly as it had entered. He eyes locked onto Kagome. She whimpered, and the sound drove him crazy.

He crawled towards her, leaning his head down close to her neck and he breathed in her scent. It was naturally sweet, with salt from her sweat and mixed with fear. It made his heart race even more, she was so helpless, stuck to the web like this. He reached a hand out and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, waiting for the strike to hit her. Instead she felt the web beneath her give way as he cut her free from its grasp.

He grabbed her roughly and tossed her over his shoulders, before turning and jumping out of the crater they had fallen into, leaving the web, the carcasses, and tetsusaiga behind.

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"Let me go! Inuyasha let me go!" Kagome cried out. She had no idea where he was taking her, and in his demon form who knew if he still had any form of rational thought running through his head.

He jumped down from the tree, coming to a stop next to an open hot spring, It was small, only about six feet wide and exposed. There were no large rocks to shield it from peering eyes.

He dropped her to the ground roughly. "Oooph!" She grunted then gasped as he was suddenly in front of her, examining her face under the full moon. He reached his hand out again, this time laying it gently on her knee. She winced in pain, and he looked at her quizzically. It was then he realized the smell of her blood was in the air. He glanced down at her knee, bruised and swollen. She had banged it pretty hard while rolling down the steep slope in the cave. Above that was a small gash in her thigh. He bent down and licked the blood away causing her heart to race and her face to turn red. "Inuyasha! What are you doing!?" she gasped, trying to push his face away from her thigh. He grunted and continued to lick at her wound until he was satisfied it was clean.

He looked up at her with a stern face, then pointed to her collar bone where it was also scratched. He frowned, then leaned foreword and began licking at her collar bone. She gasped, both at his words and his actions.

"Is this really hapenning?' she thought. 'What on earth is he doing?' Her face couldn't flush anymore than it already was, her breath quickened with each lick. She knew this was wrong, that Inuyasha would never do this in his right mind. She was paralyzed, but she wasn't sure if it was through fear or if it was perhaps because some part of her enjoyed it. She enjoyed the feel of his hot breath on his neck, the feeling of his concern over her scrapes and bruises. He nuzzled his face into her neck, growling softly. She shivered.

"N-no, really, Inuyasha, I'm fine! Please, snap out of it!"

He didn't budge, he just continued to lick at her collar, gently. Her face flushed, and he felt her body warm at the touch. He blood boiled, his instincts going crazy.

He sat back and pulled at her hair gently. He was trying to tell her something, but all his noises were muffled through his fangs. He stood up, throwing her over his shoulder once more. "What are you doing! Inuyasha!" She kicked and hit at him, only exciting him even more. She was fighting and he loved it.

Swiftly, gently he set her in the spring. "What are you-," He didn't let her finish as he shoved her head under water. It was brief, he held her under for no more than five seconds, to Kagome however it felt as if he were about to drown her.

She gasped as he lifted his hand off of her head. "Will you just chill out for a moment!? Wait what are you doing!?" She was frantic as he began to remove his kimono. He looked at her and smirked at her panicked face. Slowly, he dropped his kimono onto the grass, and climbed into the hot spring with her.

"P-Put those back on! Inuyasha did you hear me?" Her hands flew to her face, covering her eyes. Inuyasha was moving towards her in the hot spring, stark naked. She cried out in surprise and tried to wiggle away from him as he began to tug at her clothes. She pushed and shoved and tried to kick his away, slipping on the stones beneath her. "Will you stop it! Please!" Her fighting just encouraged him to try harder as he removed her kimono. Soon she was in her bra and panties, squeaking in embarrassment. He frowned down at the bra, unable to understand how it worked. Giving up, he quickly slit it with his claw. "T-that was my only bra! No not my panties, too-," It was too late, and before she knew it, she was nude.

She turned away from him, embarrassed and degraded. She cradled her breasts, trying to hide them from him. He leaned towards her, frowning, and turned her back around to face him.

Hot tears fell from her face as she stared at him. He frowned, and slowly leaned forward to lick the tears away from her face. She didn't fight this time. "Inuyasha, just come back to me… Please, come back to your normal self!" She cried lightly.

He grumbled something at her as he gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "I can't understand you!" She sighed, sniffling. He tried once more, "Inuyasha I can't-," she stopped in mid sentence. It was a rough low grumble, but it was just audible enough to make out the syllables.

"D-did you just?" She looked at him, puzzled and flushed. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

He pulled her closer to him, as he lowered his face towards her neck again, she had started bleeding from her collarbone once more. "Eahht.." He whimpered, licking her collar gently, then moving up towards her neck.

She gasped and pulled back from him, she was positive this time. She was positive she heard correctly. "M-Mate!?"