Kagome felt strange as the sun rose up behind the eastern trees. It was like a tingle from electricity in the air that came when a storm rolled in. She raised her hand glancing at it and wondering if maybe it had fallen asleep from supporting her upright beside her husband as he waited for the moonless night to end. Her fingers flexed and she quickly shifted a little making the black-haired man by her side glance at her.

"What's wrong with you?" Inuyasha asks and she just stared at her hand.

"Nothing," She says, "I just, I think my hand fell asleep." He smirked to himself, knowing what the mystic beside him was likely feeling. It wouldn't be long now.

"Thank the Kami," he said, and she turned to face him.

"What?" She asks and he crossed his arms across his chest. "Why are you so joyous about that?"

"You really haven't spent much time around yokai, have you?" He says and she just blinks at him. "You have spiritual powers. You're feeling my demonic aura creeping back before I even do."

Before she could respond, she realized she wasn't just feeling it, but could see it in the darkness, her eyes looking past her physical surroundings. A glowing, pulsing red stream of power that was slowly intensifying and flowing like a wind around him.

It wasn't frightening as one might think. It didn't hurt her. 

It was just beautiful in a way, a whirlwind like aura twisting and turning, even subtly rustling the ends of his long black hair, as it prepared to emerge and bring his yokai strength back. She could see it trying to reach forward and touch her but again, it didn't hurt her. Just tingled against her skin, like the bush of a warm wind over a rain drenched valley.

After a few minutes, the sun finally came up above the trees and hit the Musashi Castle. The aura pulsed and swirled around him, and she watched as he slowly transformed back into a hanyo. 

The hand gripping the sword sheath grew tapered claws, glinting in the morning light. His ears morphed, pulling back, and resembling the points that all full yokai had, but they didn't stop in that position, pulling further and further up and sprouting a flocking of short white hair as they returned to their proper place. As they had traveled, the roots of his hair went silver, slowly over taking and washing away the black color. As his eyes blinked, it was the sun itself had decided to sink into them, overtaking the black moon color and turned into amber light.

Inuyasha let out a deep breath, feeling the power returning to him. It was like a fog had been slowly lifted, and the world became as it should be, in his opinion. He could hear Kagome's heartbeat as she sat next to him, rumbling in the twitching white appendages at the top of his head. 

That was always strange, regaining control over his ears when he couldn't even wiggle the pitiful ones he had as a human. As he breathed in, he kind of twitched his nose, smelling the metallic tang of blood.

He glanced at Kagome, the iron taste in the air that suddenly called to him as his senses came back, definitely coming from her. She looked fine, and he knew that the bandages that came off her wound didn't smell like blood anymore. Any residual scabs and what not more than over-powered by the herbs used to heal it. He narrowed his eyes, really confused.

"What is it?" She asks, clearly becoming uncomfortable under that look he was giving her. Narrowed and stern as he was trying to figure something out about her. "Change your mind about liking how I smell as soon as you could again?" Getting up on the balls of his feet, he kind of leaned over her, sniffing at her. "Woah, woah, woah. What the heck are you doing?"

Inuyasha glanced up at her, his eyes puzzled, glancing between her and the spot on her ribs that the scent should have been coming from as she leaned away from him.

"I smell blood," He says. "Your blood. But you ain't bleeding." He was nearly on top of her, a clawed hand on either side of her middle. Leaning down, he seemed to start to notice that the blood was coming from somewhere lower, his face level with her middle. Kagome suddenly turned beet red and shoved him away, quickly scrambling to her feet. "What the hell, Kagome!"

"Stay away from me!" She says, nerves from Ayame's comments coming to creep on her. She should have known better than to think a dog couldn't smell blood through the thick layers of padding between her legs as soon as his nose worked again.

"Oh no!" Inuyasha says, clearly pissed at being shoved away, "You don't get to learn my dirty little secret and then have your own. Why the hell do you smell like fresh blood?" she crossed her arms around herself, and he could hear her pulse racing. She looked frightened all of a sudden. He stood up, looking at her, his head tilted. He took a step, and she clutched the jewel around her neck.

"Not a step closer!" She says. "Or I'll say the word." Not looking forward to having his smashed face into the wood floor under their feet, he stilled his movements and took a deep breath. The scent of her blood was strong, nearly as strong as when had crouched over her and checked the centipede bite for poison.

But she didn't look injured, her face wasn't pale and ghostly as when she had lost that much blood. Why was the scent so strong?

"Kagome, what happened?" He asks. "You're hurt. I know I smell blood." The young woman blinked at him. He looked so confused. Was it possible, that he really didn't know why she smelled like blood, not deducing the answer quickly and easily like Ayame had.

"I'm fine," She says, cautiously, "I'm not hurt."

"But you're bleeding," He says, and she turns away from him, gripping onto the edge of her trunk and crouching down. Her body hurt, her pelvis aching as her empty womb cramped and shed itself of unused tissues. She winced a little and rubbed her temple.

"I'm quite aware," She hisses. "But I'm fine and it's nothing for you to worry about."

This was not a conversation she wanted to be having with him of all people. There had been a reason she'd tried to hide the bloody robe from earlier so deep in the bottom of the trunk until it could be snuck away later.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" He asks and she just looks at him. "Why the hell you so touchy?" Her eyes snapped open to look at him, her blue eyes raging like an inferno, and he swallowed nervously.

"I am not touchy!" She snaps and he flinches ears pulling back. "I'm aware I'm bleeding, you stupid dog! But it isn't because I'm hurt, alright!? So stop picking at me!"

Inuyasha blinked at her, really confused. Why the heck would this woman, who seemed so scared of him one minute be lashing out like this? She was acting like a snapping, snarling bitch who was running a hot temper before a heat.

He felt his cheeks go red and he stepped back from her. She rolled her eyes at him, making him realize he was right and had, in fact, figured it out. She may be a mortal, but she was a female and females cycled, getting moody and aggressive as their bodies shed the old and prepared the new. He may not have known a whole lot about things like that, but he knew that much on instincts and observation.

Her blood didn't smell so strong because she was bleeding a lot. It was because it was filled with all the other things leaching off of her. Her body was trying to call him to her, to tell him she would be fertile as warm, rain drenched spring soil in a week or so. And seeing how bad just this scent was bothering him, he really wasn't looking forward to being stuck around her when that happened.

Kagome watched as his mind was slowly processing why she was so pissed off. If he was allowed to be ticked off about her accidentally finding out about his time of the month, she deserved the same when he couldn't leave well enough alone himself. At least his vulnerability didn't hurt, and only lasted a few hours. She got to feel uncomfortable in own her skin for at least a full day or two until the bleeding slowed down and eventually stopped a day or two after that.

"Kagome," He eventually breathed out and she looked at him, her cheeks nearly as red as his in embarrassment.

"Just leave it," She sighs, getting up, "I don't want to talk about it." He watched as she stood by her hutch, holding onto her middle as she crouched down and began looking through it for her clothing. Her eyes were tired, her hair falling across her face as she leaned down, a finger coming up and pushing it behind her ear as she pulled a yukata out and onto her knees.

Her face twisted and she winced, her hand pressing against her belly. Inuyasha crouched down a few feet from her. The scent hadn't changed, but she was clearly feeling something unpleasant. 

Which, when he really thought about it,  figured an unseen wound slowly leaching blood for a few days probably was, but still.

Noticing him staring at her, Kagome sighed, pulling up her jewelry box and rifling through it for something to tie her hair up with. "I told you to leave it. I really don't want to talk about it. It's embarrassing." Yellow eyes just blinked at her, and she moved a little closer.

"Does it, hurt?" He asked, genuine curiosity in his voice, "I mean, you look like you're in pain." Sighing, Kagome picked up her brush and started to work knots out of her hair.

"It isn't comfortable," she admits, "but it's not all the time. It comes and goes." She looks down at the jewel and grabbed onto it, holding it into her fist.

"I," Inuyasha wasn't quite sure what to say to that, "I'm sorry?" Kagome glances at him and quickly pulls her hair up, tying it in a ponytail behind her head.

"There's nothing you can do about it, " She says, "But thanks, I guess." She slowly stands, holding up the short green and white yukata. She looked at him, watching as he crouched at her feet, his golden eyes staring at her. She turned her back to him and reached for the long tie that held the nightgown she wore shut. "Sit boy!"

Inuyasha involuntarily let out a yelp as his face was smashed into the hard wood of the chamber floor. Before he could even an attempt to lift his head, the pink robe was flung over him. 

He sat up, grumbling to himself. That little wench. All he'd done was try to have some sympathy for her current situation.

Pulling it off, he was about to snap at her for subduing him, but he was eyelevel with a pair of long, elegant, bare legs. Trailing his eyes up, he saw white bandages wrapped around her legs, almost like an infant's diaper, keeping the blood from running down her legs. A little higher, there was cream linen tightly wound around her back, no doubt to hold those stinking herbs to the wound on her ribs. The rest of her back and shoulders were partially covered by her long curls of midnight black, shifting as she unfolded the dress in her arms.

She was flawless, hypnotizing with those well-muscled legs and flared hips. The defined line of her spine running up her back and curving into her shoulders as she shook out the green and white fabric. He could feel the blood rushing in his ears as he looked at the back of her half naked form. His hands itching, wanting to reach out and touch that soft, peach skin, to press himself against her and breath in the scent from the sweet source of that soft flesh.

However, he couldn't help but feel a knot in his throat as he glimpsed the fading bruises that covered her shoulders as they disappeared behind the white fabric of her fresh nagajuban. They were in the lines of the tree bark she had been hurled against, crooked trails of blacks and purples that faded into a sickly yellow and green color as they healed.

His ears pulled back and he grimaced at himself. How the hell could he let himself think about her in that way for even an instant while she was hurt like that. What kind of animal was he, to be driven by desire and literal bloodlust?

Kagome glanced back at him and sighed. He was looking down at his hands, his claws clenching in the wood and tatami of the floor. She pulled on the silk yukata, running her fingers over the lily shapes as it closed. Turning her head, she looked at him as she reached for a red obi that lay on the top of her folded clothes.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want you staring, okay?" She says and he just looks up, his ears pulled back.

"I, I hadn't realized you were still so banged up," He mumbles. "Besides the bite, I mean." Kagome shrugs, tying the bow of the obi above her left hip, the knot resting just above her stitching underneath, the tails steaming halfway down her skirt.

"I'm fine as long as I don't press against them," She says, realizing he must have seen the deep bruising she had. Apparently the necklace didn't work as long as she thought it did. "I'm fine, really." She could tell he was bothered by something, so she begrudgingly crouched down. "I know you put this all on your shoulders, but you shouldn't. I've decided to right something I should have been doing ever since I found out about this." He looked up at her, rather puzzled.

"What?" Inuyasha asks and she reaches for the glowing jewel around her neck.

"I want to start training with a priestess' bow," Kagome says softly and his eyes got wide, the golden color burning with something.

"Why?" He growls, "I told you I'd protect you! You don't need to fight. Just keep the jewel pure, that's all that you need to do." Kagome stands up slowly, just looking at him. "Look, I know I was a whimpering, pitiful fool last night, but I can protect you, Kagome. You ain't gonna get hurt like this again."

"I know you will," She says and his eyes move up to look at her as she stands there, not pain, no anger in her eyes. Just that spirit-filled fire that kept drawing him in no matter how hard he pushed away, "But this jewel, the one that has caused so much sorrow in the past, until I can find some real way to keep it safe, it is mine to protect. You told me I was worth more than my ability to bear a child and I want to prove that. I want to learn how if you'll let me."

"But you're," He tried to start, and she crossed her arms across her chest. "You're still hurt. You're bleeding."

"I'm not hurt, just uncomfortable," She says. "I was under the impression that my current 'affliction' wasn't a big deal to yokai like it was to humans. Would you rather lock me in a shrine until it was over so I wouldn't curse you with my dirtiness?"

Inuyasha's ears pulled back in embarrassment at the woman's brashness. He thought for a brief moment that she might be better off locked in a shrine, sounding like a good idea for her, at least until he could cool his own racing blood down. He needed time to get himself under control before the real struggle of her heat decided to descend upon them. Though knowing none of that was her fault, imprisonment probably would not really be seen as fair.

He'd probably be continuously given sit commands the entire time she was bolted behind the door. The Kami knew that girl had a tongue in her head and could jabber on forever.

"Do whatever you want," He finally grumbles, getting up and walking over to stand at the window, "Just don't go hurting yourself, ripping those stitches or nothin.' It'd be pretty pointless to train too hard in a feeble state like yours and end up bed ridden again."

Kagome smiled to herself, adjusting her yukata a little. It had been in his usual brash, unapologetic tartness, his words losing some of the gentleness that seemed to come with the shadows the night before. But she still deciphered it.

"Go ahead, just don't get hurt."

"Thanks," She says, "I'll keep that in mind." She reached for the door handle, ready to slide it open and go get breakfast on her own like usual. Inuyasha's ear flicked as he heard her step around their futon and reach for the door. Closing his eyes a moment, he called out to her.

"Kagome," He said and she turned back, her blue eyes wide and beautiful as she looked back at him, waiting for him to continue. "Uh, about last night, what you saw. You can't tell anyone." Not exactly true. If she really wanted to, she could blab his undoing, tell anyone and everyone about the one thing that could be so easily used against him.

Seeing the look in his eyes, that anxiousness that had been present in his voice before she discovered what happened when the moon went black, Kagome let her fingers fall from the door pull.

"Inuyasha," She said softly, his ears twitching as her voice seemed to caress them as she spoke his name. "Why do you act like that is something you even need to ask me?" Blinking wide yellow eyes, his mouth hung agape as he tried to find a way to address it.

"I uh," He started, and she just smiled at him.

"You protect me, but as your wife I should protect you too," She says. "I would never let something as serious as this secret slip. You should know that." Turning back to the sliding door, she glanced back one more time. "Now come on. You skipped dinner. Let's go get something to eat." She slid the door open and stepped through leaving it open behind her has she headed across the walkway and towards the stairs.

Inuyasha blinked at her a moment before letting out a sigh of relief and following her out of the room. Maybe it hadn't been the worst thing that she had found out about it. It was someone else, but it was his wife, and he was pretty sure excuses as to why he didn't want to do certain things at certain times, she could come in handy to help make up an excuse or reason.

Not to mention the fact that she hadn't looked at him any different than she usually did, her blue eyes still retaining that respect and honest curiosity as she had asked her questions the night before. He had prepared himself for quite the pity. Instead, Kagome had treated him with that same kindness once the initial shock had worn off.

Sighing, he followed her scent as it led him towards the banquet hall, not really caring to put too much further thought into it right now.