my attempt at gaius/kag lmao. mirrored on tumblr, for arans.

Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor Fire Emblem: Awakening.

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His North Star

Lithe fingers found the ends of the kerchief wrapped around his forearm, and Gaius' breath hitched. "No," he said quickly, "You don't—"

But the curl of her lips stopped him, the soft twinkle in her eyes as she gazed up at him—pupils blown so large that he could only discern the tiniest slivers of darkened blue—staying the rest of his words

Trust me, they said, and he did.

She peered at him a second longer, searching for any sign of further protest and when she found none she tugged at the knot; the scrap of cloth unraveled and fluttered to the ground.

Gaius grimaced at the sight of the brand, a deep black that stood out starkly against his pale skin. But then her lips pressed gently against it, and his eyes fell shut, his face smoothing, a shiver racing down his spine.

"It's a testament to how far you'd go a friend," she whispered, her breath tickling his skin and sending goosebumps prickling along the length of his arm. "That's nothing to be ashamed of in my eyes."

Gaius let the words wash over him, a tiny shudder rocking his body before his hands shot out to wrap around Kagome's biceps and gently, so very gently, bring her to him so that he could capture her lips and steal her breath away like she had just done his.

He kissed her with a fervor he hoped conveyed the words he couldn't yet speak—it was for her his heart pounded so fiercely for, that loved her so dearly for the light and joy and hope she brought into his life.

.

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Where are you, where are you, where are you?

"Damn it," Gaius swore, weaving through tree after tree as he searched for a sign of Kagome in this fucking forest and tried to ignore the blood leaking out from the wound in his side. "Kagome!" he shouted, ducking under a branch before he rammed his forehead into it. "Kagome, if you can hear me, say something!"

Not a sound answered him save the crunches of his quick footsteps.

"Fuck," the thief muttered, his hand tightening on around the hilt of his sword. "Fucking wyvern riders, fucking Grimeal."

"Kagome, Gaius—behind you!"

"Damn it," Gauis swore once again, briskly shaking his head. Too late. He'd heard Robin's shout too damn late to see the wyvern rider come up from behind; too late for him to yank Kagome out of the way of the spear coming straight for her; too late to watch his wife's back like he was fucking supposed to.

Instead, all he could do was watch as Kagome turned and her eyes widened before she tried to beat a hasty retreat a second too late. The silver spearhead may have missed piercing her straight on, but it managed to slip through her bow, throwing Kagome off balance and giving the rider the chance to grab her by the arm and pluck her straight off the ground.

His felt his chest tighten and ache and he ran even faster; he was so fucking close too—if only he'd been a second faster, he'd have been able to catch her hand and pull her back down. Instead, he was left to sprint after the wyvern rider as they dragged his struggling wife over the nearby forest, into which they both fell when he saw the glint of the knife he gave Kagome tear through the beast's left wing.

"Kagome!"

Still there was no answer.

They had to have landed around here somewhere, Gaius fretted, I know this is close to where they dropped, so why isn't she… He let the thought drift, dread bubbling in the base of his gut.

"No," he snapped aloud, putting a halt to that train of thought. Not like this—I'm not gonna lose her like this.

He picked up the pace and called Kagome's name once more.

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It was a few minutes later that he found her. If it wasn't for the glint he caught from the corner of his eyes just as the wind blew and the sun shone through the swaying leaves, he'd never would have skidded to a stop and backtracked to where the glimmer came from.

It was the glint of metal he saw, he knew that much, and he pulled his sword from its sheath at his side and crept closer, quietly slipping through a barrier of bushes until what he saw prompted him to drop all pretense to be quiet.

It was Kagome, propped up against a tree, bow at her side mere centimeters from her fingers. Her eyes were closed and her head had fallen to the side, chin brushing against her shoulder—she was covered in dirt and scratches and blood.

Yards to her left was the wyvern rider that had carried her away, dead. Kagome's knife protruded from between the rider's—a woman—ribs. Gaius couldn't be sure if it was that that killed the woman, but if it didn't the fall certainly did as her neck was bent at an angle no one could have lived through.

Closer to Kagome, though, was the rider's wyvern which was also dead, thank the gods—its arm was stretched out towards his wife from where it had fallen, its claw barely inches away from her boot.

Gaius scrambled over, leaping with ease over the fallen beast riddled with arrows—two in its chest, three in its throat—and skidded to a stop at his wife's side. Panic spiked through his veins as he dropped to his knees, ignoring how pain lanced through his bones upon hitting the ground.

"Kagome—Kagome, babe?" Gaius called out with urgency, cupping her pallid cheeks and tilting her head back. Her chest rose and fell and rose again—thank the gods for that, he thought—and he took a moment to look at her.

His eyes scoured her for injuries—there was blood at her at her temple, a trail of it down the side of her face to her jaw, under which he could see more than a few drips of the substance splattering the dark leather of her shoulder guard, her left foot rested at an angle he knew was unnatural, and scratches shallow and deep scattered over the skin her armor failed to cover. But the majority of the cuts were shallow, and he knew from experience that even minor head wounds bled plenty, and a quick check told him it wasn't life threatening.

An ear to her chest found her heart to be beating steadily, and Gaius pulled away, his own heart settling.

So far, it looked like Kagome had been lucky in terms of her drop. The worst, it appeared, was her broken ankle, and if it wasn't for the fact she was unconscious Gaius would almost be relieved.

"Kagome, wake up now, please," he whispered, sweeping her dark bangs out of her face. "I need to know you're alright, babe, so just gimme a sign, just one sign, okay?"

Maybe she heard him, maybe not, but he caught the slight twitch her face gave, and then the furrow of her eyebrows. A tiny noise sounded at the back of her throat, faint but pained, and Gaius called back out to her again. "Hey, hey, you hear me babe? Come on, lemme see those baby blues of yours."

"G—Gaius?" Kagome breathed out, voice cracking, and her eyelids fluttered lightly. A few seconds later, he had a pair of blue eyes blearily staring back at him.

"Yeah," the red-head laughed breathlessly, eyes shutting in relief. She's awake—she's gonna be fine. "Yeah, I'm right here babe."

"Ugh," she groaned, bringing a trembling hand to her forehead. "I think I fell. Did I fall?"

Another laugh, this one much more ragged, escaped his throat and he pulled her into an embrace, bringing her to his chest and wrapping his arms around her carefully. "Yeah, yeah, but you've always been good at taking falls," he murmured as his fingers threaded through her hair at the nape of her neck, thinking about how they met—via her through a hole in the sky, right in the middle of camp with a surprisingly few amount of injuries.

Gaius was in the middle of searching for a lollipop when the sky thundered and opened up above him before spitting the petite woman out. It was only after a few seconds passed and she let out a groan that he started frantically calling for Lissa and Chrom.

They'd had thought she was from the future, like Lucina and the rest of the kids they were still picking up. But the princess didn't recognize the unconscious woman, and when Kagome finally woke up she confirmed she came from a different world entirely. The circumstances were hazy, she had said, though he suspected otherwise then—and now, knew better—but she was sucked into one rip in the air and dropped out of another.

"There was a fight," she had confessed one night, nearly a year after she came, "But it was over and I was supposed to go home. Something went… very wrong. I ended up here instead."

And it was selfish of him, especially when he would catch her at times looking up at the sky, her eyes misty and wistful and a look of grief etched out on her face, but he was glad she did.

Fingers tracing his chest brought him out his head, and he felt himself smile as they slid over to rest where his heart was still beating harshly. Even through his leathers he could feel her touch, a pleasant burn that he relished in.

It wasn't until the fingers were slipping away that he pulled back, and his eyes narrowed in incredulity.

A stick was poking out between his wife's lips as she smirked softly at him. "You," he sputtered, and Kagome's smirk widened.

Gaius only rolled his eyes but said nothing else, a grudging grin playing at his lips. Gods, was he glad she was okay. "C'mon," he muttered, amused. He grabbed her bow, slinging it over his shoulder before hooking his arms under her knees and around her back, lifting her with ease. "Let's get you to Princess and get you healed up," he said as he carried her out of the small clearing.

Kagome slipped the sweet from her mouth, a wet popping sound accompanying the move, and winked. "It's good," she remarked, resting her head against his chest and a hand over the one splayed over her stomach. "I see why you like these so much."

Gaius chuckled. "You're always welcomed to my stash."

"Even your secret one?"

His grin widened. "Even that one."

They left the fallen rider and her wyvern behind them, and after a few moments of silence as Gaius made his way back to the others, his wife spoke once more. "Hey Gaius?" Kagome murmured quietly.

Gaius ducked under a branch. "Yeah, babe?"

Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed, her mouth curled at the edges. "Thanks for finding me."

He pressed a kiss against her forehead and softly murmured, "Always."