The night cast a myriad of stars across the sky. A pale moon rose high into that black expanse, breaching the void with slivers of light.
Kagome shivered. It was getting colder, but she couldn't fall asleep. She only stared up at the constellations, counting the twinkling dots that winked back at her.
Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Killala had stayed in the village, but she had gone with Inuyasha deep into the forest to try and get a head start on their search for Naraku. Being separated from her friends worried Kagome, and she shrugged into her blanket.
Glancing over at Inuyasha, who lay across from her over the smoldering embers of the campfire, she felt herself wondering when he had fallen from his normal sitting position. His presence was comforting, reassuring. Nothing bad was going to happen.
Glancing back up at the stars, Kagome tensed when she suddenly heard a whimper.
She sat up.
Had that come from Inuyasha?
She stared over at the hanyou. His ears twitched, and a breeze blew through the forest clearing and ruffled his red rat skin cloth and his long silver hair. His face taught, with pain or anger Kagome could not tell, he clenched his fists.
Kagome wondered if he was having a bad dream. She herself had had a nightmare the other night. She had woken up in a cold sweat, Inuyasha eyeing her with concern. She merely smiled and told them it was nothing.
It was only another dream, another dream where Naraku was coming.
Where Naraku was killing her.
Where Naraku was killing her friends.
Where Naraku was…
Kagome shook her head, angry at herself. Now was not the time to mope. She wanted to help Inuyasha somehow. Maybe she should wake him up?
Leaving her warm blanket, Kagome crawled over to him. The cold gnawed at her, causing her to wish that she had brought the blanket along with her.
Inuyasha growled.
Kagome froze, but immediately started shaking again. Her whole body racked with the shivers, and she was annoyed.
"Why…couldn't it…be warmer?" her teeth chattered.
Inuyasha growled again, louder this time, more fierce.
And suddenly claws were slashing Kagome's arm.
She was thrown back, the force of the blow sending her flying back into her blanket across the clearing. Her ankle landed at a strange angle, and pain shot up through her leg.
Breathing heavily, Kagome looked over at Inuyasha. He was still asleep, still growling. What could he be dreaming about to lash out at her?
And it was only then when the shock left her and the pain finally set in.
It seared, a fire she had almost forgotten the intensity of. She bit her lip hard, causing blood to trace down her chin and drip onto her clenched fists. She couldn't cry out. She couldn't. Inuyasha would wake up if she did….
Pain.
Kagome clutched her right shoulder. A voice in the back of her head was calling out one word.
Pain.
Pain.
PAIN.
PAIN.
Kagome refused to scream. She didn't know how long it lasted, but it felt like years, but finally the pain subsided to a manageable level. Forcing herself to move, her eyes widened in horror as she saw the huge circle of blood soaked grass beneath her. Her shirt was soaked crimson.
Kagome stood up, but collapsed again. She had lost too much blood, and she was light headed. What should she do?
She forced herself to her feet once more, finally leaning heavily against one of the trees that surrounded the clearing. Dizzy, she glanced over at Inuyasha. Her eyes drooped. He was beginning to wake up, she could just tell.
Her mouth was sticky; her throat was sore. Her head spun when she stopped leaning against the tree and saw that the bark had been stained with a splotch of blood. Kagome shook her head.
She had to get out of here.
She couldn't let Inuyasha see her like this. She couldn't let him figure out what happened.
So she turned around and stumbled through the forest.
Kagome ran blindly. She crashed through quiet clearings and through snagging brambles. A thorn scratched her cheek, and her long black hair was matted in blood. She had to get away from Inuyasha, as far away as she possibly could.
He couldn't know.
Kagome clutched her arm. She had managed to bandage it, though she found herself forgetting when she had. The world spun.
She fell. Rocks and rubble bruised her, sending shivers of pain up her body. The cold air clawed at her lungs and spat salt into her wounds. Fear ate her.
Scrambling up again, Kagome continued to flee.
She could deal with it. This pain. She could handle it. The thought that caught her breath, however, was that Inuyasha had done it.
Inuyasha.
But Inuyasha would never hurt her. Never.
He had been having a bad dream. He would never, ever harm her.
And so with that Kagome brushed off any doubt as easily as she would a fly.
Where was she running? She found herself questioning.
"I'm running…away…from Inuyasha…" she panted to herself, as if saying it out loud would fix her problems. She clutched her arm. The pain…
She ran. Ran. Ran. Ran. Her feet felt like lead, but still on she went.
She couldn't stand the thought of Inuyasha knowing, knowing what he had unconsciously done, knowing that it was her blood that splattered onto the trees and bushes she sprinted past.
Knowing that she was running away from him.
Despite her efforts, the bandage she had somehow tied around her arm slipped and fell onto the forest floor. When had she put on a bandage, anyway? Kagome shook her head, glancing down at the fluttering cloth.
Kagome left it there. She kept running. Her eyes flashed at her tattered sleeve, catching a glimpse of four deep claw marks jaggedly streaking down her arm. She had been lucky. He could've taken her arm off.
Kagome smiled. She was lucky. Lucky to have such amazing friends. Lucky that she could travel to this strange feudal era. Lucky that she still was alive. Lucky.
She scoffed at herself. It wasn't like she wasn't still seriously injured. Sure, she still had her arm, but the cuts were deep. She could barely feel anything in her hand. Pain wound its way through her like burning barbed wire pressed against her skin.
But she was lucky anyway.
Inuyasha woke up to the stench of blood clogging his nose.
His eyes drooped, but then flew open.
Blood. It finally sunk in. He smelled fresh human blood.
It was so close, there was probably a body not five feet away from him.
His sword drawn, he leapt up into the sky, looking down at the clearing beneath him. Nothing.
He landed at the opposite end, only to leap back again. He had landed in something wet. Peering down at the dark grass, Inuyasha's eye's widened. It was blood.
Where was Kagome?
Frantic eyes darted across the clearing. Panic grasped his heart when he realized that she wasn't there.
The blood.
It was hers.
Inuyasha looked at Kagome's blood stained blankets, and soon found himself holding them, staring. Tracing the blossoming blotches of dark red with his eyes, he let the fabric slip through his fingers. And suddenly he was running.
He would find her.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw trees smattered in blood. He knew it was Kagome's blood. The thought only made his own blood boil.
Whoever had done this…
They would pay.
Kagome whimpered.
Tears streamed from her eyes in rivers of forlorn despair and nauseating pain. Her vision swam. Colors mixed with red did back flips in front of her.
But still she ran.
Until finally she was blinking and stopping and suddenly she was on the ground again.
Pushing off of her bloody elbows, she tried to stand up for the millionth time.
She didn't know how many times she had fallen. An uncountable amount for sure.
"Inu…yasha…" she murmured, closing her eyes for a brief moment. Then her resolve hardened once more. Then she was standing again.
Standing.
Standing in front of Inuyasha.
He was breathing heavily, Kagome observed absent mindedly. The throb of pain swallowed her once more, but this time it did not let go. It slowly chewed her, and gulping down the cry that came to her lips, Kagome fell once more.
Before she knew it, Inuyasha was leaning over her, calling out her name. He called out her name, over and over, asking questions.
Kagome, are you alright?
Kagome, what happened?
Kagome, who did this?
Who did this to you, Kagome?
Kagome felt like smiling when a string of curses followed the short interrogation, but she didn't.
He couldn't know.
It was just pain. She could deal with "just pain." She steeled her purpose.
Coughing, Kagome managed to spit out a reply.
"Go…away…"
Inuyasha fell silent, but continued to carry her.
Wait… since when was he carrying her? Kagome shook her head, sending blood flying like when a dog shakes off water after swimming. She pressed her cheek against Inuyasha, enjoying the warmth. The cold still scraped against her.
Inuyasha was carrying her carefully, holding her in his arms so that she could lean into his shoulder. Despite herself, Kagome found she was blushing. Looking up at Inuyasha's face, she saw that it was edged in worry and determination.
"Whoever did this to you…" he stated, letting the threat hang in the air. Kagome choked. Of course he would say that.
Inuyasha halted.
Kagome looked up at him once more. He was staring at her wound. This was the first time he had actually seen it up close, wasn't it? Kagome grinded her teeth.
"I'm fine…Don't worry about me... Go away…Leave me here…" she coughed out.
"Why the hell would I do that? Stupid wench." He paused.
"Who did that to you?"
The question came quietly, as if he already knew. Kagome shook her head. No.
And then suddenly Inuyasha couldn't look at her anymore. Suddenly he was running. Suddenly Kagome got colder.
"Inuyasha…" she murmured. He stayed silent for a moment.
"I'm taking you home."
Kagome started. What?
"They have better medicine there." He replied to her gasp. The trip to the well was not a short one, but Kagome couldn't believe how fast Inuyasha was running. The world seemed to blur around them. Then again, that might just be because of having lost so much blood.
Soon Inuyasha was bounding into a clearing and leaping down the well. The familiar light traveling through the portal washed over her with a comfortable quietness. For a moment, the throbbing and faintness subsided. For that one second, the pain disappeared.
Then with a forceful tug, she was jerked back into reality.
Inuyasha crashed through the shrine. Kagome's vision did summersaults. She had lost way to much blood.
She blinked at the fuzzy image of her mother before falling into darkness.
Inuyasha's ear twitched.
He sat on the floor near the foot of Kagome's bed. Holding his Tetseiga, he waited for Kagome to wake up. It had been well over a day since when he first rushed with Kagome to her mother, and from there to the hospital.
Kagome had been released just an hour ago. Inuyasha had his eyes closed up to that moment, but now he opened them to glance over at the sleeping girl behind him. Staring at her, his golden eyes softened. She was going to be alright.
His eyes traveled across her fluttering eye lids. She must be having an interesting dream, he thought absently. Her steady breathing lulled him. Somehow, it was comforting, that gentle rhythm.
His ears twitched again.
His eyes traveled down from her face and her long ebony hair towards the bandaged arm lying limply on the sheets.
Inuyasha had recognized those claw marks now covered by white cloth. That wound was from his own claws, he was sure.
He had hurt Kagome?
Kagome murmured something in her sleep. Inuyasha's sensitive ears picked up the faint "Don't leave me…"
Inuyasha looked away. How had he hurt her? How? He couldn't remember striking her. He would never hurt Kagome.
Suddenly, the thought struck him.
Inuyasha gasped.
Could he have done it in his sleep?
Inuyasha stood and looked down at Kagome. Scratches and bruises covered her from when she had run away from him.
Kagome had run away from him.
Inuyasha shook his head. He was thinking about this too much. He turned away from her, glaring at the wall. Kagome could do whatever she wanted. If she feared him, that was okay. If she didn't want to be with him, that was okay too.
Inuyasha plopped back down on the ground and harrumphed.
And he could do whatever he wanted to, and he wasn't leaving her.
But still, he couldn't get rid of this persistent aching in his chest.
"Kagome…" he whispered, and then closed his eyes once more.
When Kagome woke up, everything that had happened flashed before her eyes. Fear clutched her heart. She shot up from bed.
"Inuyasha!" she yelled.
She saw him then, on the floor at the foot of her bed, his legs crossed. He cracked an eye at her. Breathing heavily, Kagome felt a sudden pain in her arm.
"Ow…" she muttered, cradling it. She stared at the white bandage on her arm for a moment, before glancing up at the half demon.
His eyes had darkened at her movement.
He knew.
Kagome stopped breathing. Her heart pounded.
Damn it.
Kagome cringed slightly. She normally never cursed like that. Inuyasha really had rubbed off on her. Even so, she felt the curse was rightly used.
"I'm sorry…" she mumbled.
"Don't you apologize to me, wench! If anybody's going to be saying that it should be…" Inuyasha had too much pride to finish the sentence, to say that small word, to admit it.
"Don't worry about it Inuyasha. You were dreaming when it happened. You didn't actually mean too." Came Kagome's calming voice reassuringly.
Kagome looked at the hanyou. He was fidgeting slightly, as if he was worried about something. His ears twitched and swiveled this way and that, as if they kept picking up slight noises all around the room. He wouldn't look into her eyes.
But when he did, he couldn't look away.
Kagome stared.
His eyes glimmered like the golden flecks and flashes in a gurgling stream. Kagome remembered the first time she had seen him, pinned to that tree by Kikyo's sacred arrow. Softening, her own eyes continued to search, and then find, his soul in those golden eyes.
Finally he broke the infinite gaze by sweeping her into his arms and leaping out of the window without a moment's hesitation.
"EEEP!" shrieked Kagome, startled. She then proceed to clutch Inuyasha's crimson kimono.
"What are you doing!" she gasped, slight pain shooting up her arm. Inuyasha noticed, and deftly adjusted his grip so that she would be more comfortable. A slight blush crept up on his nose.
"Taking you back." He replied.
He burst through the shrine door and vaulted into the well. A question died on his lips, but Kagome heard it all the same.
"Will you forgive me?"
At first Kagome was too surprised to speak, but just before the familiar yank of the portal snatched her breath away she managed to answer.
"Idiot. I forgave you a long time ago…"
Inuyasha breathed sharply, but then relaxed.
Kagome sighed, and found herself falling back asleep before they had even reached the feudal era. She had never felt more protected than at that single moment.
Please review! This is my first Inuyasha fanfiction and it's the same situation that I used in this other fanfic called HXH Dream. Please don't complain about that...that would be mean. Anyway, I hope you like it! I'll take requests for more stuff, so please get back to me! Thanks for reading!