Poison's Kiss
Author's Notes: I got this idea because I wanted to write a more angsty romance, and in my other Inu Yasha story, Inu Yasha and half of the Shikon jewel, they confess really fast. I'm not planning on making this a tragedy. If you guys have Ideas for me, please tell me in your reviews. Please review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha. If I did, this would not be a fanfiction and I would be Rumiko Taikahashi(is that spelled right?), not a stupid 13 year old, anime obsessed otaku who is very, very broke. Words to the songs Running, and falling for the first time aren't mine.
"………Anyone perfect must be lying,
Anything easy has its cost………"
Chapter 1
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, hurling the huge boomerang at the snake demon. They had decided to stay the night at a village they had come to, and gotten reports of a giant demon that was poisoning the village's people, and then hauling them off. The victims were never seen again. One man had saved his wife from being taken captive by the snake demon after she was bitten, only to face the fact that the snake's poison was deadly. It took one whole week for his wife to die. She had symptoms of the flu for the first four days, then she had gone into delirium, and on the last two days, she had been perfectly fine, only to have her heart stop dead at the same time she had been bitten the week before. After that, no one saved bite victims. The healer of there village had told them that there was no cure for the snakes venom, and the village warriors were not strong enough to battle it. Anyone who went off fight the snake never returned.
Inu Yasha, Kagome and the others knew full well the danger of going into the snake's lair and challenging it, but they also knew that the snake had a fragment of the jewel embedded in its tail and on its nose. The one on its nose was producing the poison that mad normally docile snake into a deadly snake demon. They had to extra careful not to let the snake bite them, and the battle was turning out to be harder then they thought. Miroku was already out of the battle. The Snake had knocked him unconscious with a blow to his head with its tail, but luckily he had landed in a muddy patch of grass. The mud covered his body heat, making him invisible to the snake.
"Sango, watch out!" Inu Yasha warned, as the snake held up its highly armored tail and deflected Sango's Hiraikotsu. Sango dodged to the side and chased after her weapon, catching it before it hit the ground. They were aiming for the jewel shard in its tail first. Not only would this weaken the snake, it would also make the armor on its tail weaker, so that they would be able to wound it. Kagome and Shippo had been told to stay safely out of the battle, but as soon as Miroku had fallen, they had run to protect him. Kagome had wondered why the snake hadn't attacked Miroku after knocking him unconscious, but they were glad that it hadn't.
"SanKon TetsuSou! (Soul Shattering Iron claw!)" Inu Yasha attacked the exact point on the monsters tail that contained the shard of the Shikon jewel. He leapt away, smiling cockily with victory, holding the Shikon shard up in his hand. No one noticed that the snake behind him was poised to strike, with its small, but deadly fangs. No one, that is, other than Kagome. Oh my god, Kagome thought silently. Without thinking, she leapt forward.
"Kagome, were supposed to stay out of the battle, where are you going?!" Shippo yelled after her, but she ignored him. I have to warn Inu Yasha! She thought frantically.
"Inu Yasha, get out of the way!" She yelled
"Huh?" Inu Yasha looked up, but the snake was already striking with lightning speed that not even a full demon could dodge.
"Inu Yasha!" Kagome yelled. Without thinking, she hurled herself with all her strength between Inu Yasha and the snake.
"Kagome, No!" Inu Yasha leapt forward the same time as the snake's fangs imbedded themselves in Kagome's side.
"NO!" Inu Yasha and Sango yelled at the same time in denial. Inu Yasha turned on the snake demon, hate burning in his eyes.
"Now you die." It wasn't an exclamation or a question. It was a statement and Inu Yasha said it with such assurance, that no one could argue against it. Inu Yasha dropped the Tetseiga. His hair covered his eyes, and Sango was afraid to see them anyway.
"Die, you piece of shit! You hurt Kagome…….." He leapt forward, angry tears falling from his eyes. The snake seemed stunned as this sudden burst of speed, and that sealed its fate. Inu Yasha's fist went straight through its head. Inu Yasha continued punching it and finally crouched on the ground, exhausted. Sango slowly approached him. Silent tears ran down his face. Both his arms were covered in the snake's blood, and he clutched a bloody Shikon shard in his right hand. Shippo and Sango went over to look at Kagome. The wound at her side wasn't deep, but the purplish poison, traces of it left on the outside of her skin, was already in her bloodstream. There was a stirring in the bushes, and Sango held Hiraikotsu ready, but it only turned out to be Miroku.
"Oh, my head………….. What happened?" He groaned. He sat up, wincing, and held one hand to his head, and when he took it away, it was wet with blood. He looked over at Kagome and let out a yell.
"Kagome! What happened?" He looked desperately at Sango.
"The snake bit her." Sango said with a heavy heart. Miroku looked shocked and then horrified. But Miroku's next words shocked her.
"What Snake?" He asked.
"The one that knocked you unconscious. Don't you remember the snake youkai we were battling that had deadly poison because of the Shikon shards embedded in its tail and nose?" She asked him. Miroku looked confused.
"Youkai? Shee-kan shards?" He looked more confused than ever.
"He must have amnesia." Shippo said. Sango punched her fist into the ground in frustration.
"Shit! That's just what we need right now!" She shouted.
"Uuuhhh Sango? We should probably head back to Kaede's village. She might have a cure that these villagers didn't know. And she might be able to help with Miroku's amnesia." Shippo said cautiously. Ready to grasp any ray of hope that they might have, she nodded and turned to Miroku.
"Ok, do you remember your name?" she asked him. Miroku frowned and then brightened.
"Is it Miroku?" Sango smiled. At least he remembered his own name.
"Yes" She said "and I'm Sango, the demon hunter. This is shippo, the fox kitsune. Oh forget it! I'll explain everything later right now we've got to get to Kaede's village and see if she has any cures. We can make a stretcher for Kagome out of my Hiraikotsu." Sango bent down next to Kagome and began to lift her onto the makeshift stretcher, but was suddenly pushed roughly aside.
"Inu Yasha?"She asked, confused. The dog Youkai's hair covered his face and he said nothing, but bent down and lifted up Kagome, handling her more gently than Sango had ever seen him handle anything. He lifted her and silently began walking in the direction of the nearby village that the snake demon had been terrorizing. They would have to inform the villagers of the snake's death. Sango looked at Inu Yasha sadly, and hoped, for his sake as well as Kagome's, That Kaede would know a cure.
"C'mon you guys." She said tiredly to Miroku and Shippo, who were both looking at her for what to do next. They nodded and followed her after Inu Yasha. After a short trek through the forested area around the Snake's lair, they reached the outskirts of the village, where a few faithful villagers were still waiting with the thin hope that they would return. When the tired, bedraggled looking group came into view, a chorus of excited and disbelieving muttering went up within the group of villagers. A woman who seemed to be speaking for them stepped forward, looking hopefully excited.
"My Name is Kazuka." She said in a clear voice. She masked her excitement well as she spoke. "I speak for all of us when I ask what happened. No one has yet returned from the snakes cave alive." Sango stepped forward to answer.
"Please tell this to the other villagers." She said, not bothering to hide the exhaustion in her voice. "The snake has been defeated. Its body is back by its cave if you need proof, but its death did not come without a cost. One of our group is suffering from amnesia when the snake hit him against the wall, and another was bitten."
As if on cue, Inu Yasha stepped forward, and most of the villagers gathered gasped, they had not noticed him before, but this just added to the fear. Inu Yasha was indeed a sight to fear. His eyes where blank golden spheres, with red threatening to take over. His hands and lower arms where covered in blood and his cloths were splattered with it. He didn't bother to make his sharp and threatening fangs and claws inconspicuous and he stared ahead, a cold blank stare, as though viewing some unknown evil that only he could see. Kagome lay frailly in his arms. She was pale, and on the side of her that the snake had bit, her clothes were saturated with blood. Kazuka nodded at them curtly.
"All of us at the village are very grateful to you. We would invite you to stay until you are rested from your hard battle, if you would like." She said, nervously eyeing Inu Yasha.
"We thank you for your hospitality," Sango replied "But we must get back to a friend village as soon as possible. If anyone will know where we can find a cure for the snakes poison and Miroku's amnesia, it would be her."
"I understand" Kazuka said calmly "Be on your way. Always know that we were grateful to you. I will pass your messages on to the other villagers tonight." Sango nodded and then turned to follow Inu Yasha, who had already started in the direction of Kaede's village. She beckoned the others to follow her. They trekked for four hours before reaching a hill that allowed them to see their destination in the distance. Sango let out a happy shout to shippo and Miroku, who where lagging behind. All of them besides Inu Yasha Brightened at this, and they began running towards the village at top speed. When they finally reached the edges of the village, they looked around for Inu Yasha.
"Inu Yasha?" Sango said, looking around, confused. Then she looked behind her. Inu Yasha was lagging behind. Of course! She thought. Inu Yasha was just in a really hard battle, and he carried Kagome the whole way!! He must be really tired…..
"Wait for Inu Yasha you guys!!" she yelled at the others who had started to go ahead, Shippo pulling at a still very confused Miroku. Sango was very worried about both Kagome and Inu Yasha, and ran back to see how they were doing. Halfway there, she saw Inu Yasha collapse to the ground. He hit the ground hard, but cradled Kagome as gently as possible, protecting her with his own body. Oh No, Sango thought. She continued running until she reached the fallen pair. She took out Hiraikotsu and dragged her unconscious friends onto it. By this time, Miroku and Shippo had reached her, and they all took a side and lifted the giant boomerang. It was a hard job hauling the heavy boomerang and its cargo back to the village, but they finally made it. People stopped and stared at them as they went past, but the exhausted group was thinking only of reaching Kaede as fast as they could. When they finally reached the old healers hut they knocked on the door, and then collapsed in front of it.
Kaede opened the door and all of them dragged themselves inside. The smells of the herbs she kept seemed to sooth all of them. They lay down on the reed mats in the back, but though they all felt like falling asleep, they waited so they could tell Kaede what had happened.
"Ok, tell me, why are Inu Yasha and Kagome unconscious?" she asked when she walked back to them.
"We were battling a snake demon." Sango started and continued until she had told Kaede everything.
"Hmm…… I know of one thing. Kagome was bitten after the shard in the demons tail was removed. That means that even though this was not the shard that directly created the demons deadly poison, it still contributed to the poisons potency. This must mean that there is a cure. However, the only place I know of that could have such a cure is the castle of lord Sesshomaru. His minion Jaken keeps a large herb garden there with many cures for Lord Sesshomarus use."
"Then we will go there!" Sango said resolutely. "There is another small problem though. Miroku seems to have amnesia. The only thing he's remembered so far has been his name."
"There is no cure that I have for amnesia. The best cure for that is to keep reminding them of things until they are able to remember those things themselves." Kaede told her.
"Oh" Sango said with a disappointed look.
"One more thing. Inu Yasha should probably stay here with Kagome. He seems exhausted, and his presence will probably provoke Sesshomaru to not give you the medicine you need. It is best you do not mention yourselves as Inu Yasha's friends either."
"I'll stay" came a weak reply from Sango's Boomerang.
"It's settled then" Kaede said. "You start out tomorrow………."
Authors notes. Please review!!