Author’s Note: Thanks again for the great reviews. Keep ‘em coming. I own nothing but the order of the words, and even that is questionable. And thanks to those of you supporting “Romp” in the IYFG nominations. If this is really going to win something in the Crossover category, I guess it’s time for the Crossover part ... so here we go ...

A Romp in the Park
Chapter 10: Foursome?
By: Fano

Kagome’s arm reflexively rose to shield her eyes from the intense light glowing around her. Her disorientation was increased as she felt her feet part with the ground and realized she must be floating, rising ... as she peeked her eyes open a bit to see what was happening, she saw a blur rise from below her and rush at her. She struck out at it instinctively, but the blur flowed around her arm and attached itself to her, wrapping her whole body in a soft, strong embrace. As the rising motion carried her up and over the hedge, she looked down at herself to see that the shimmery substance she’d touched on the bush was actually an outfit of some kind that had taken the initiative and clothed her. Her bare feet touched the ground and she was immediately aware of the two young people looking at her with surprise, the boy standing in front of the girl protectively had a massive hard-on that made her smile. She just had time to notice a nice, funny feeling at the sight of him before InuYasha appeared, bare-chested and growling between her and the two they had only observed until now. He gave the startled couple only a passing glance, assessing quickly that they posed no threat.

“Kagome!” InuYasha looked at her almost without recognition, “what the hell happened?”

“I don’t know,” she held out her arms to look at them and felt the soft fabric that clung to her like a second skin, accentuating every curve in her body, “it just kind of – attached – itself to me, I guess.” She looked at him and saw something strange in his posture and expression, shadowed in the darkness. Curiosity? Possibly. Concern? Probably. Lust? Certainly. As he looked her up and down, she noticed that she could feel a physical energy radiating off of him that she had only dimly sensed before. It was like an aura of power, but it was not a power that wanted to strike out in anger, but to draw in and consume. It was a hunger. She didn’t understand how she could feel this so acutely when only moments before she was sure she’d only sensed it in a muted way. InuYasha let out a soft laugh, apparently oblivious to the other two in the clearing.

“I knew I’d like the look of you in that thing.” His hunger came through his words and, even though she didn’t understand what he was talking about, she was suddenly aware that her desire for him had not abated a bit. It too, seemed almost amplified. Her skin was beginning to tingle with a feeling like bubbles moving across it, as though she were conducting a current out of the air and into her muscles and bones. Her heart sped up even more and she felt her breath deepen. It stimulated her and made her feel strong, and she was surprised to notice that her own body was beginning to put out that same aura of hungry power that his was, the two radiating aura’s reaching out for each other, trying to touch. What was going on?

“Kagome!” InuYasha was surprised. “Look at the jewel!”

She glanced down at her neck and saw the jewel glowing as it had earlier in the afternoon, with a soft pink-purple light. Unlike before, when it practically immobilized her, this time the energy in the jewel was feeding this new power that coursed over her skin and into her body. She could feel its cool waves of intensity moving into her, moving around inside her, begging her body to move, to strike out so that she could draw in. Not really understanding what was happening, she began to feel a little trepidation. InuYasha seemed to sense this and took a step towards her, reaching out for her hand.

She slapped it away.

“Huh?” He was as perplexed as she. “What’d you do that for?”

“I didn’t! I mean-,” she shook her head a little, trying to remember if that had really been her hand that slapped at him. “I mean, I didn’t mean to. I don’t know what happened.”

He reached out for her shoulder this time.

Her arm automatically blocked his hand, bringing a fisted arm up to shove him aside before it could touch her shoulder.

“What?” Her own voice expressed both their feelings of confusion.

“Kagome!” InuYasha was starting to sound irritated, but his aura hadn’t died down at all, it might even be increasing. “Cut it out. Let’s get going.”

“I didn’t do it, okay?” Her natural anger was beginning to come out. “My arm just, well, it just moved.”

“Right, okay.” He stepped closer to her this time, raising his arms as though ready to counter the block he expected. He was going to try to grab her waist. With her heightened senses, she saw the flex of his chest muscles under his Oswari! beads and felt the heat of his skin as he moved towards her. She was determined to let him hold her and almost stilled her arms by an act of will. Unfortunately, she ignored her legs and one of them lashed out at him as they pirouetted her out of his approaching grasp. He turned to the side and took her foot in the back.

“What the hell!” He was getting really angry now. “What was that about?”

She saw him breathing hard, surprised by her defiance. She noticed his energy change as his body automatically responded to her aggressive gestures, his aura fluxuating as the anger mixed in with the desire. Her newly energized body seemed to like this new combination; it was urging her to circle him and to corner him. She shook her head again, trying to clear it.

++++++++++++++++++

Ranma was a little pissed. He’d been on the verge – literally – of the most exciting moment of his life. As Akane had pushed him up to take him fully into her mouth, the wash of excitement radiating from his groin threatened to explode out his head. He’d had to use every ounce of control to let her work him over, pumping her lips and tongue over him with a motion that only approximated what he wanted to do to her. He had looked down at her and put his hands briefly on her head, feeling her soft hair push through his fingers and her full breasts brush against his thigh as she took him in with her slick lips. But the sight and the feel of her together were too much, they were going to totally destroy his control, so he had closed his eyes and dropped his hands, determined to stay passive until he just couldn’t help it any more ... feeling her breasts brush him ... feeling her tongue encircle him ... determined to enjoy every second he could stand it ... which would have been about thirty ... more ...

Then he’d sensed something, a motion, a change in the air, and cracked his eyes to see the girl on the other side of the hedge standing up, totally naked. The sight took him by surprise and the beautiful curve of her back, the luscious swell of her breast in the moonlight, her very presence as she seemed to become aware of them and begin turning, sent an unconscious spike of excitement through him. He sucked in his breath in an attempt to control it and failed only slightly.

He saw her reach for something, and recognition came to him only after his subconscious has already tried to save them all.

“No!” He’d cried, before he even realized what he was doing. A not-so-small part of his brain was supremely disappointed as Akane broke her rhythm and let him pop out of her mouth.

As he’d expected, Akane’s armor attacked the poor girl and before he knew it, the girl that had been the source of so much enjoyment all afternoon, largely due to her anonymity, was on Ranma and Akane’s side of the hedge. Her appearance in their clearing, clad in that aggressive garment, brought a surge of new adrenaline to Ranma’s already extremely excited body. He had automatically raised Akane to her feet and put himself in front of her, knowing this new situation required that he protect her. Unfortunately, this left him completely exposed and he realized with some dread how vulnerable he was. He saw a trace of movement on the girl’s face, which he took for a smile, as she appraised him. His body reacted to it with a pulse and a blush.

Before he even had a chance to think about what to do, the man was there. Ranma had watched him with curiosity all afternoon, noting his unusual features, but not really paying attention to them, in favor of other things. Some part of his just assumed that this poor bastard had also fallen into the Jusenkyo Springs and was just in need of some hot water, like practically everyone else in Ranma and Akane’s section of Tokyo. Now, as the guy came into the clearing in a blur of motion, Ranma was acutely aware that he was a natural fighter, but was unlike any opponent Ranma had ever fought before. His body was lean, almost gaunt; his motions were unrefined, but extremely efficient; his stance was not defensive, but ready to strike. He moved with an animal’s instinct and grace that had an inhuman quality, like the demons out of legend.

Unexpectedly, Ranma’s ki was hit with a wave of power that electrified the hair on the back of his neck when the white haired man turned to give them a quick glance. He overlooked Ranma’s clearly excited state and bored straight into his eyes, coldly evaluating Ranma’s potential to pose a threat. Ranma could not fully see into those eyes in the moonlit clearing, but he didn’t have to. A chill ran through him as he felt a new sensation entirely, an “energy message” of sorts, somehow communicated on a uniquely male wavelength. The message was clear that Ranma and Akane should stay back if they didn’t want to get hurt. Taking this in, Ranma quickly understood that this man was not interested in fighting. Ranma had been a fighter all his life; he’d faced all manner of foe, but he’d never felt such pragmatic potential for violence from an opponent as this strange, white haired man exuded. This guy didn’t get into a fight unless he intended to win in the most complete way possible. The chill running down Ranma’s limbs told him this was a killer staring into his eyes.

To his surprise, even though a stab of fear came with this understanding, Ranma’s body felt a surge of new excitement. Instinctively, it responded to the power radiating from the animalistic guy with his own primitive reaction, sending surges of adrenaline and contained aggression into his limbs, readying him for the possibility of a fight. The man sensed this, but did not respond. His eyes dropped briefly to Ranma’s rather large vulnerability and the message was clear, you’re in no condition to fight, stay away.

As the guy turned away to talk to the girl, Ranma moved backwards, pushing Akane along to where their clothes lay. He quickly put on his pants, and immediately felt slightly less vulnerable. The other couple was talking, but Ranma wasn’t listening, trying to decide what to do next.

Akane was buttoning two buttons of his shirt over her breasts, leaving the neck open. His eyes rested there while he tried to think. Suddenly, she whispered, “ouch!” Ranma quickly looked at her to see her cringing as she watched the other pair. He looked up just in time to see the man advance on the girl and receive a kick in the back.

“We should go,” Ranma said, thinking that there had to be another quiet place in the park where they could get back to what they had been about to get into. He reached for the backpack.

“But that’s my armor,” Akane whispered, “I can’t let her have it.” Ranma felt some annoyance, but he knew that the armor was valuable and that Akane probably had a point.

“Ouch!” The man said loudly as he took another punch to the stomach, “Kagome! What the hell’s gotten into you?”

“I told you, I don’t know,” the girl Kagome said angrily, taking another swing at him, which he managed to dodge, “it’s like my body is moving on its own.”

“It’s the armor,” Akane whispered very close to Ranma’s ear, sending hot moisture into his brain and causing a little thump in his chest. All his nerves were on high alert and even in this strange situation, a killer and his out-of-control girlfriend fighting in their clearing, Ranma’s hard-on pulsed again, longing for Akane. He shook his head to bring himself back to their bizarre situation. “The armor is fighting him, not her.” Akane’s breath was warm.

“Hm,” Ranma began to form an idea. “You stay here, Akane. Be ready to leave quickly.” He looked down at her, and his hand unconsciously found her bare bottom, sliding up under the shirt’s tail to pull her to him until her soft curves pushed up against him and all the excited feelings running around inside him stirred up into a happy little frenzy. “You’re not getting away from me, tonight.” He didn’t dare take his attention fully off the mayhem nearby to kiss her, but she got the message anyway.

“I didn’t plan to,” she smiled, spreading one hand out on his smooth chest and sliding it suggestively down his abs and over the thin cloth of his pants to brush him until he bounced into her hand. “But you’ll have to catch me first.” She smiled and with the other hand reached around under his arm to tug on his pigtail. Somehow, he didn’t mind her doing that now.

He let her go with a warm squeeze, enjoying the thoughts of what lay ahead. Taking a deep breath, he turned his attention to the almost comical situation in front of him.

+++++++++++++

InuYasha was completely flummoxed. Since Kagome had put on that outfit, her energy aura had expanded and was messing with his, teasing him and pushing him, even when she wasn’t pummeling him with her fists. He was used to feeling her energy when they were close, but this was crazy and he felt their energy whirling and colliding all over the clearing. It was putting him in a highly excited state, his body still coursing with hunger, desire, and now anger, as Kagome proceeded to punch and kick him, even when he didn’t advance on her. The last thing he wanted to do was fight her, but she seemed intent on attacking him. He noticed as he took another pounding to the shoulder that her movements were fluid and planned, much like Akane’s had looked earlier in the afternoon. It began to dawn on him that Kagome was telling the truth and this wasn’t entirely her intent at work, but maybe something to do with that “armor” she was wearing.

He dodged another advance and tried to think of what to do. Somehow, earlier, the boy had managed to get the outfit to fly off Akane, but InuYasha had no idea how he’d done it. And whatever fighting style the outfit was using, which he realized now was way out of Kagome’s league, was beyond his ability to match without resorting to violence. He knew he was in no danger of injury, no matter how aggressive she got, but he also had no idea how to disarm her.

She came at him again. On instinct he moved into her punch, letting it graze his shoulder, and put his arms around her waist in a vise grip, holding her tight against him and pulling her feet off the ground, her chest up against his face. The fabric of the armor was silky smooth between her breast and his cheek. In such close proximity, she couldn’t get a good punch at him. She looked down at him, obviously surprised that he’d managed to immobilize her.

“Gotcha!” he smiled up at her. She smiled back. Both recognized that all the cooling down they’d done earlier had just been undone and their bodies were trying to get back to it. She was tense in his arms and he wanted very much to bring her down, but he kept her up there, out of harm’s way. “Can I let you down without getting killed?”

“I don’t know,” her hands moved lightly behind his neck and down the skin of his back underneath his hair. She moved to wrap her legs around his body. As her legs opened to go around him her incredibly sensual smell rose up once again to capture his senses and mix with his lingering hunger. Most of his reason left him in a surge of desire. Not really thinking, he let her slide down him until they were face-to-face, her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She squeezed her strong legs so that their hips smashed together, causing their hearts to pump. She kissed him roughly, attacking him with her tongue this time. This fight technique he understood, so he kissed her back just as hungrily, his breath whistling through his nose as he tried to pull more oxygen into his lungs more urgently to fuel the rising tide of desire coursing through him.

The kiss was a fight no one could win. She was tightening her legs’ hold on him rhythmically, pumping herself on him and turning up the heat in him like a gas flame. He was completely helpless to stop it, or change the tempo. All he could do was stand there and take it. His helplessness at the mercy of her hips excited him even more and he raised his hand to the back of her head, pulling her mouth into him with a groan. As the pressure built inside him, he couldn’t help becoming intoxicated by her scent, which was released each time their hips parted enough to let another little puff of scented air up to tickle his nose. They continued to crash together with more and more need, demanding for the other to yield, and the intensity grew to the point where a kiss was unable to resolve the struggle. Full bodies were required. He pulled away, breathing hard and very aware that his erection under his hakama pants was pushing desperately against the fabric he so wanted to tear off her.

“I don’t know what to do,” she panted. “It’s like my body wants to pull you all the way into me, and push you away at the same time.”

“I’m going to put you down,” InuYasha said carefully, “Can you try to take that outfit off?”

“I’ll try,” she said.

The minute her feet touched the ground, she kneed him and he barely had the chance to protect his balls before her arms took advantage of his diverted attention to break the hold he had on her waist. She was out of his embrace and circling him again. He sighed.

Just then, he felt another’s presence and turned quickly to see the boy, Ranma, approaching. He’d gotten himself decent at least, though even in the dark, InuYasha could tell somehow that his black judo pants barely contained his excitement, which obviously hadn’t gone down watching the little show he and Kagome had just put on. Kagome also noticed the boy and her circling stopped as the three faced each other. Kagome took in the two shirtless men before her and InuYasha noticed a sly smile play at the corner of her lips rather uncharacteristically.

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to disarm her like that,” Ranma had his guard up, but a natural confidence came through that ticked InuYasha off, though it could just as easily have been embarrassment that he and Akane had observed InuYasha getting his ass whooped by Kagome. Ranma continued, “there’s only one way to get the armor off once it’s decided to fight you.”

“Oh? How?” Some of InuYasha’s annoyance came through his words and he saw Ranma move into a more defensive stance at the tone in his voice. This boy was no ordinary fighter.

“Um, well there’s two ways actually, but one doesn’t seem to be working.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“One way is to punch the belt buckle – hard. Which usually knocks the breath out of the person in the armor.” The boy cleared his throat. “The other is to make the person in the armor lose their heart to their opponent. That’s how I got Akane out of it earlier.” He laughed a little, “but based on what I just saw, she lost her heart a long time ago, and that armor still doesn’t want to come off.”

“It’s the jewel,” Kagome interrupted. “It’s feeding some strange power into the outfit. Did you call it armor?”

“Yeah.” Ranma turned to face Kagome, “It’s some old Chinese thing that makes its wearer invincible. But it’s picky about who it will let wear it. And it tends to get possessive. Please excuse me,” he addressed InuYasha now, politely, “but I don’t think you have the right technique to, uh, fight it,” he paused, possibly waiting to see if InuYasha was insulted enough to take a swipe at him.

“Go on,” InuYasha said carefully.

“I think I can get it off you,” Ranma said to Kagome this time. InuYasha let a small growl be heard, which the boy understood immediately. “Using the belt buckle, of course, and a special technique I developed on Akane the last time I, uh, fought the armor. Don’t worry, she won’t get hurt.”

InuYasha and Kagome looked at each other. The last thing he wanted to do was let Kagome fight some guy he didn’t even know. But he also knew this might be their only solution. His stomach growled into the silence, reminding him it had been empty since midday, and his desire to get this over with and get home for some ramen overcame his caution.

“Alright,” he relaxed and turned to look at Ranma, stepping towards him until he was well within the boy’s personal space and their energy auras were pressing tightly up against each other, a very aggressive move between fighting men, “but if you hurt her,” he raised a clawed finger to hover just under the boy’s nose, “even one little bit,” he dropped his voice into the range he used for threatening his brother, “you’re mine!” He heard the boy swallow, even as he held his ground, responding neither passively nor aggressively to InuYasha’s advance. Wise boy, InuYasha thought to himself.

“Okay,” Ranma said, “I get it.”

InuYasha stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest, and watched as Ranma moved gracefully away, drawing Kagome towards the center of the clearing. Kagome gave InuYasha a strangely playful look and turned to follow.

To be continued ...