Sanctuary
The sun was setting across the flat, cultivated plains of feudal Japan splashing everything in a deep, vibrant yellow and rich glowing red. The shallow stream InuYasha and Kagome rowed down gleamed and glinted like a river of molten gold. The girl sat at the back of the small skiff in silence, glad to finally be alone with her favorite hanyou but the utter, absolute quiet was driving her nuts! All she could do was sit back and watch as InuYasha poled them further down the slow-moving stream.
But she watched him carefully. She was aware of every movement he made. When he unconsciously lifted his nose higher in the air she knew what he was trying to scent. When he agitatedly cracked his knuckles, digging his claws into the nicked, worn wood of the oar, she knew what he was thinking about.
The sun was setting but the moon had failed to rise.
A small hill rose to the right of the stream, doused in warm orange light, and sprawling across it, glittering like pure white snow, was a huge temple. Pale, cut stone steps led up to a dozen stone and red-painted wood buildings, gray terracotta tiled roofs topped them off. Statues and shrines fit into nooks and hollows between the structures and in the gardens. This place had to be at least as large as the shrine her family lived on in her right time. It would be perfect for tonight. There could be no safer place!
"Look, InuYasha, there's a temple. Let's stay there for the night, I really need a hot bath after the last couple days." She knew he wouldn't admit it but this night he would hate to be out in the open when he had so many enemies who'd kill to know his secret. He'd gotten too use to Sango and Miroku being around- he took their defensive skills for granted- but now that it was just him and Kagome . . .
She knew he thought she was more trouble than she was worth sometimes, it was a good thing she almost had the hang of her bow and she could sense the Shikon shards. Otherwise, he might have just left her with Sango and Miroku at the last village and gone off by himself. Then he wouldn't have to worry about protecting her if they were attacked tonight. He should have just waited but he was too impatient to collect any shard she might happen to mention and the exorcism Miroku was performing would take a while.
So she came with him.
It was lucky this temple happened to come into view just as this night began. InuYasha wouldn't have to worry about being protected from youkai if they were in the middle of a temple. And she wasn't lying about the hot bath. She smelled like the algae and clay of the river not to mention the hot sun beating down on her the last two days had burned her skin and made her clothes clingy and sticky. Her sun block had run out just this morning and her arms and knees looked a little red. And nice warm bath and some lotion for her skin would be awesome . . .
InuYasha snorted and didn't bother looking at her as he answered. "Keh. Fine. You stink like this rotten river anyway."
Kagome's mouth dropped open. He didn't have to be so rude! "Hey!" She shouted after a second.
InuYasha winced but she still scowled at him. "You're damn lucky you're in the same boat as me or I'd TELL you what to do!" She yelled, quite pissed. No one tried her patience as often or as strenuously as her hanyou protector.
Oh, well. What more could she expect? At least he didn't argue with her though she knew he saw right through her. He knew the only reason she suggested the temple was because she wanted him to be safe on the one night he felt he couldn't protect the both of them. They needed a sanctuary. He HATED to admit weakness, even to her, but he accepted her decision without arguing. He might even be grateful that she hadn't given him a choice in the matter so his pride was saved and he didn't have to suggest it. Knowing him, he probably would have kept on floating by and slept in the boat rather than appear weak and in need of shelter and the protection of priests and priestesses.
What ever would he do without her? How on earth did he survive this long without her to take care of him? Kagome shook her head and sighed. She knew she was good influence on him, she took pride in that (Kikyo certainly couldn't claim that) but he definitely never returned the favor. He was just lucky she was flexible and easy to please.
All she wanted was to be near him.
The sun had slipped beneath the far off hills and darkening twilight drew the boundaries of reality and the supernatural closer together. She had heard in her literature class that the time for magic was twilight, the time between day and night, light and dark. That sounded right. Kind of like InuYasha, in between dark and light, good and evil, human and youkai, completely and utterly magical.
Kagome sat back once again and stared contentedly at InuYasha. With the purpling of the sky, his hair faded from its luminous silver to a glossy ebony, lit softly by the starlight. The talons that dug into the wood of the oar softened and rounded. She knew if he turned around to look at her, his gorgeous amber eyes would be a stormy steel. Kagome noticed InuYasha growing restless as the transformation completed though his movements remained calm and easy. The tension that never left his body was still there, but his aura of attention grew and his lead-colored eyes flicked back and forth, searching the shoreline for invisible enemies. She felt embarrassed that she noticed his unease, knowing that he felt vulnerable, like when she watched him sleep and he looked so innocent but that was nice and kind of sweet. This was indecent somehow, inappropriate. Knowing he felt bad, it was like she was reading his mind, the ultimate invasion of privacy. He tried so carefully to hide those weaker feelings and she'd seen them anyway. He'd hate to find out that she could see right through him.
They arrived at the dock within a few minutes and InuYasha guided the skiff to the side and looped the rope quickly to a post before hopping out to finish tying it securely. Kagome stood and gathered her bow, quiver, and her backpack as she balanced in the boat. InuYasha waited by the edge for her and took the book bag from her surprised hands and set it down at his feet. Then he reached a hand for her.
Kagome was startled but she smothered a small, self-satisfied grin and raised her hand to his. He was being polite, even courteous!
He clasped her wrist and pulled her up and out of the boat with an unnatural ease. Even as a normal human he was strong. "Thanks." She murmured as he let her arm go and stooped to pick up the backpack.
"Yeah." Was all he said and walked away. She followed, that happy little grin back on her face. She stared up at the stars as she walked; they were so bright without the city lights and the moon to wash out their misty glow. She kept an eye on InuYasha but her attention was on the sky. The Milky Way had never been so bright and conspicuous- like a pale path meandering through the dark. "Hurry up, Kagome." He had stopped just ahead of her and waited for her leisurely step to catch up to him.
"It's just so beautiful . . ." She murmured but she didn't think he heard her. He was walking again, quickly, up the many steps to the shrine's iron gate. The dark was getting darker, the long shadows from the white stone walls had blended with the night, though it was probably only seven o'clock. Any youkai would smell two human prey so they ought to hurry and get inside. But Kagome just wasn't worried. She trusted in her ability and InuYasha's to protect them. Or maybe it was just the fact that they stood on holy ground and she inherently knew she had nothing to fear here. It was like being at home, there were no demons to scare her on her family shrine.
Kagome trudged up the first dozen steps, her legs tired and cramped from sitting in the boat for hours all day. There wouldn't really be that many youkai this close to a huge temple, not with so many monks and mikos inside. 'InuYasha's just being paranoid.' She concluded, her eyes shifting back and forth. The sense of home was suddenly tainted with a foreboding feeling of danger, like a silent bell in her mind, echoing through her body, warning her of something to come-
'Paranoid. We're both paranoid, and it's HIS fault!' But then again, Kagome sighed, she could make allowances for that. That paranoia was what kept him alive all his life. She stretched her calf muscles on the steps then bounded up, the quick workout gave her extra energy and her thoughts about InuYasha's catchy paranoia started to creep her out. Not to mention it would hurt his feelings if she didn't acknowledge him and hurry up. He was uneasy (not scared, InuYasha was never scared) and she should respect that. So, with the opinion that she was doing this so InuYasha wouldn't feel bad about being nervous, she started hopping up the stairs faster than the hanyou.
"Now what's your problem?" He growled.
Boy, nothing makes him happy!
She stopped two steps above him and glared down at him. "Oh, come on, I'm hungry, tired, and dirty. And you're scaring me with all your twitching and glancing around like something's gonna jump out and attack us." She yelled at him.
"You stupid wench! I'm not 'twitching' or anything. I'm just being- cautious." There was a slight hesitation before he said that. He was lying. Was he hiding something from her? Was there really something out there? Hiding behind the stone railing of the stairs? In the trees beyond just waiting for them to pass by before they scurried up behind them and-
Kagome squeaked when a hand fell on her shoulder. She shrieked and smacked whatever had grabbed her from behind then spun on heel, throwing herself into the former dog demon's surprised arms. "Ka- Kagome?" InuYasha whispered.
"Milady?" A shaky voice asked from behind the frightened girl. She looked up realizing the voice was from the guy she'd hit and, yes, it was a priest. She winced and pushed away from a rather flustered InuYasha and bowed to the elderly man.
'Oh God, I'm going straight to hell for that one!' She thought. "I am so sorry! I thought you were a monster- InuYasha was telling me about ghosts and demons and then you grabbed me and I got scared- I'm so sorry." The short man bent over his cane and chuckled, nodding his understanding.
"Boys will always try to scare the girls to make themselves look brave. Have no fear. There are very few demons that would dare approach this temple let alone try to attack it. You will be safe here, in this sanctuary."
"We're just lookin' for a place to stay the night, old man. We'll leave early in the morning." InuYasha stepped up, hand subtly on the hilt of Tetsusaiga. As if this little old monk was a threat!
"InuYasha , be polite." She chided him. She gave him a look that meant "osuwari" then the girl turned to the priest. "We'd really appreciate it if you could put us up somewhere for the night. We won't be in the way."
The priest smiled. "That is fine. You will not be an inconvenience. We get many travelers from all over the world. We house a great deal of pilgrims every night. This temple is the resting place of many sacred relics they come to worship and pay homage to." The two visitors followed the old priest up the rest of the steps, through the open, dark empty courtyard, and into the main building. It was very warm inside with stone fireplaces along three walls and the scent of dinner was heavy and sharp. The priest left them at a long table in a large hall that was set up like a cafeteria.
"The old man wasn't kidding." The hanyou muttered as he took in the sight. There must have been almost a hundred people milling around, getting food, chatting, or eating at one of the four huge tables.
"I certainly don't feel bad about asking for food and a bed then. Come on, InuYasha- Let's eat!" Kagome grabbed the boy's hand and ran towards the line for food. They spent the rest of the evening eating and chatting a little with some of the pilgrims. InuYasha 's cold, indifferent attitude scared off most of the people but Kagome was easy to talk to and many explained what had brought them to this temple on their pilgrimages and the healing powers of the relics contained inside.
One young woman sitting next to Kagome was feeding her little infant and listening in on the conversations between the foreign girl and anyone who happened to stop by. She was pale and thin, her dark hair straight and limp, but she gave them a tired smile as she gazed on the two companions. "I've been sick all summer and with four little ones to rear and my husband and younger brother to cook for and look after, I cannot keep up without running myself to an early grave." She said handing the baby girl to Kagome whom offered to hold her while her mother took care of her empty dishes. "I've left all but my youngest behind to seek out the magic of the mikos here. If it be a curse, I seek sanctuary within these holy walls."
The woman slowly stood up with her tray but she swayed and Kagome quickly passed the baby to an inattentive InuYasha and steadied the woman. "Are you okay?" Kagome asked worriedly, letting go of her elbow as the woman took a breath and stood more strongly.
"'Tis the sickness, it shall pass. I pray the sacred artifacts here may heal me." The woman remained on her feet, her head bowed and eyes closed till her dizziness passed as Kagome stared up at her worriedly.
'There's an aura around her. But I don't know what it is! Miroku would know, if he were here . . .' Kagome chewed on her lip before a feeling of intense concentration and a prickly burning sensation on the back of her neck made her look up and over her shoulder. InuYasha was glaring at her. The baby girl was pulling on a fistful of jet-black hair in one hand, the other was reaching for more, and she was laughing as loud as she could.
"Bitch! What're you doing giving me THIS?!" He yelled and held the little toddler away from him like it was a bomb.
"Watch your mouth around the baby, InuYasha ! And she's just a kid, she won't hurt you."
"I'm not afraid of her hurting me, wench." He muttered and glared at her coldly, almost fearfully. He still held the child out to her, gently, but his hands were shaking!
"Wha-" Kagome took the baby, and InuYasha quickly dropped his hands to his side, hiding them in his red haori sleeves, and took a step back. He was human now, it wasn't like he could accidentally scratch her with his claws. What was he so afraid of?
Kagome turned her puzzled eyes to him, searching- his eyes were avoiding hers- then to the baby. The girl was just a handful of months shy of a year old; eight months at most, with thick black hair, just loosely curled at the ends like her own with wide dark gray eyes-
She was beautiful . . .
Kagome smiled softly at the cooing child, her dark eyes were falling shut, it was getting late, and traced her finger along her cheek. "You'll be a happy little girl, won't you? I've seen you before." Kagome had a sudden feeling of déjà vu about her as she smiled down at the little girl in her arms. Her 'sense' of the child was familiar, like she'd seen her in a dream. She knew this little baby had a spiritual gift and would grow up healthy and live happily ever after in a village in the mountains as a priestess . . . How she knew this she didn't know. She got a lot of similar feelings about people and since she'd come to the feudal era her dreams had picked up the knack of coming true.
If that were the case with this baby girl then she had no reason to fear for her, only her mother. Kagome turned back to the young woman, not noticing how InuYasha was staring at her so thoughtfully holding the baby. "I'm sure everything will work out." She handed the baby back to her mother and clasped the woman's hand and wrist quickly and firmly, praying for her reassurance to be grounded in reality, not just wishful thinking. 'Please be true.'
"Thank you, I believe I am all ready feeling better. The magic of the temple is truly worth the journey." The woman smiled, this time more brightly and she cuddled her child and walked away, leaving the pair standing there, one staring after her hopefully, the other staring at the hopeful girl suspiciously.
Kagome spun on her heel to face the boy. "All right, it's time to hit the sack. InuYasha, did you see where everyone else is heading?" She stretched and yawned, looking around only to notice for the first time that the huge cafeteria was nearly empty.
He nodded, once, and silently turned away, leading the way through the hall to the back. A series of hallways opened up each leading to a barracks of rooms for the multitudes of visitors. Two monks stood at the doorway as if waiting for them and it was only as she drew nearer that Kagome realized one of them was a woman, a miko.
"Um, hi. Uh, where do we go?" Kagome asked tentatively when InuYasha paused, and she knew he was debating whether to growl at them or just slash with his nonexistent claws and walk on.
"Sir, you may follow me to your room." The young monk said to dark-haired boy.
"Milady, you may follow me to your room." The miko said in the same monotone.
"Oh, well, we don't want to take up too much room, we can share a room, we've traveled together for months-"
"My lady, that would be inappropriate! Please, allow me to show you to a room." Kagome suddenly blushed- she knew what they must be thinking! She sneaked a glance at how InuYasha was taking this but he wasn't even looking at her, he just seemed upset that they would try to separate them. He didn't care about the unspoken insinuation!
"I don't think we should be separated, houshi-sama. He's my guardian you see, and he has to protect me-"
That caught his attention, he rounded on her and screamed. "Shut up, wench!" He turned back to the monk and glared. "I won't leave her side."
And that caught her attention. So. He didn't want to leave her side, eh? Kagome grinned inside.
"We have rooms side by side, but we must insist that a man not enter the room of a young lady." Kagome nodded and smiled. That would have to do. She glanced at her friend but InuYasha still seemed upset.
"Of course, of course! That'll be fine, InuYasha ." She snagged the red sleeve of his jacket and pulled him with her as the relieved monk and miko led them down the hallways. "Be nice," she whispered, "they're letting us stay here after all. It's not like anything can happen to us in a temple." InuYasha grumbled and crossed his arms angrily. She couldn't tell if he just didn't trust the priests or if he was still on edge about being human for a night. Either way, she didn't think she could ease his fears.
After a minute or two of following behind the two holy people, InuYasha cocked his head in her direction, but not quite looking at her. "Kagome, what happened when you were holdin' that kid?"
Kagome wrinkled her nose at such an out-of-nowhere question. "What're you talking about?"
"You sensed something. I saw it on your face." He faced her, his arms falling to a more relaxed position.
The girl flipped her hair over her shoulder and shrugged, brushing off his seriousness. "I don't know. I remembered seeing her in a dream or something. She was playing and growing up and getting trained as a miko." Kagome smiled as she remembered the vision. But it was only imagining. "It was nothing."
"Liar. You know your visions come true." He looked away and folded his arms again. "So she's okay. What about her mother, did you heal her?"
"WHAT?" Kagome's mouth dropped open and she stared at him. "I can't heal-"
"Okay, you 'purified' her, whatever." He wasn't looking at her again.
"I purify shards, InuYasha, not people." Kagome stated harshly, looking away. That sort of thing was magic, it shouldn't really exist but somehow it did here for demons and mikos like Kaeda-baa-chan and Kikyou. Not her. She was a normal girl from the twenty-first century. With some weird luck when it came to arrows and broken crystals.
"You fixed whatever was wrong with her, anyway. Her aura changed after you touched her that last time." He focused on her face again and Kagome was forced to meet his eyes after a few seconds of his intense staring. "You're the reason these people travel so far. They want to be healed by holy mikos like you. Protected in the sanctuary your magical presence naturally creates." He was so serious that Kagome had to doubt what she felt. She wasn't a miko. Kikyou was a miko. They weren't anything alike; they didn't have that or anything else in common.
Kagome looked away only to find her attention caught by a glass case in which a priestess's empty robes lay, as if waiting for their mistress to return to don them once more. 'Relics. The place is full of them.' She thought to herself but she was all ready creeped out by them. They, too, all of them had an aura of waiting, as if they were alive and stuck in time . . .
The two temple people led them down yet another hallway and stopped at two rooms at the very end. They were side-by-side as promised with a washroom right across from them. The man paused by InuYasha 's door and the human boy sneered at him before walking in all self-important. Kagome had to giggle. InuYasha never changed.
"Good night, InuYasha!" She called, smiling. She heard him growl in answer.
"Milady?" The priestess waited by her door, the last one, and followed her inside. The room was small, but that was expected. They had to house a lot of visitors. She was surprised she had a room to herself. There was bed at the center of the back wall, a tiny table beside it, under the shuttered window, and a mat lay across the floor. The miko stood in the center of the room and bowed to each of the four corners then said a soft prayer.
Kagome stared at her.
She heard mumbling and thudding in the next room and knew the same invocations were being said there. Kagome made a valiant effort to appear solemn and respectful despite her companion but she must have looked ridiculous. The miko hesitated in her incantation and glanced at the wall where InuYasha could still be heard. Her calm mask broke and she started to laugh, giving up her prayer entirely. Kagome burst out laughing too, it was contagious especially with the bumping and crashing going on in the next room!
Kagome fell on the bed, clutching her stomach she was laughing so hard it hurt! When was the last time she'd laughed so much?
The young miko giggled and sat down with her. "Forgive me, milady. I haven't been a practicing priestess long. I find it difficult to maintain such a serious bearing." Kagome waved off her apology.
"That's alright. I hate being serious too." Now that Kagome could study her, the miko was only a year or two older than her. Her dark brown hair was done up in the white-ribboned ponytail but curly wisps escaped to soften its harshness and her red and white robes were noticeably stained and wrinkled. She probably worked hard here. The miko took out a small bag from inside her robes, plucked a piece of something from within and took a dainty bite. She took out a few more pieces and held them out, offering them to Kagome.
Kagome grinned and took a bit, realizing it was hard-rock candy like what Kaeda-baa-chan made for the kids in the village. "What is it like to be a traveling miko? Have you been a miko long- you're so young!" The woman asked. Kagome gulped and blushed, looking away.
"Oh, no. I'm not a miko." She said. The priestess frowned, obviously confused.
"But you have holy power." She insisted and Kagome half-nodded in agreement.
"Some say I do but I haven't used it or seen it really. I'm just lucky with a bow." Kagome popped the candy in her mouth and was surprised by how oversweet and tart it was, unlike Kaeda's which was refreshing and minty-sweet.
The reverberating feeling of approaching danger returned, trembling her heart and she paused her eating to study the sensation. The crystals of the rock-candy exploded with an almost sour tartness in her mouth and she was abruptly overcome by a black wave of dizziness washing over her sight. Immediately Kagome felt weird; her head was suddenly heavy, her vision dark, her eyes fluttering wearily and she toppled right over. She never even had a chance to- she still had things to do . . . but she had no energy, even to lift her head.
"Why . . ? We only- wanted sanctuary- this . . . this is, a holy place . . !" Then her breath escaped her and Kagome's eyes fell closed.
The priestess smiled coolly down on the unconscious girl, rose, and covered her up with the thin red blankets. She blew out the oil lamp on the table throwing the room into complete darkness save for the fragile glow of starshine. She hovered over her a moment, studying her paling face and the stillness of her chest.
"Amazing how you still look so alive. Like you could take a breath now and sit up. It must be the blush still staining your cheeks." She walked away but halted by the door and stared back at the body lying on the bed. "Only the most powerful mikos can look so alive in death. I hope it lasts." Then she left.
* ~}*~~~~ * ** * * * * *
A couple hours later InuYasha paused outside the room, listening but he didn't hear anything so he tapped on the door. There was no response and he frowned then let himself in. He had a bad feeling. Just in general, nothing in particular but it made him want to check in on Kagome. Something just wasn't right.
She slept. 'Bitch. Making me worry for no reason.' He thought and scowled at her still form. He shut the door behind him and dozed the rest of the night on the mat at the foot her bed.
But the feeling wouldn't go away . . .
* ~}*~~~~ * * * * * * *
The girl didn't stir when the sun rose the next morning. A white-haired InuYasha stood frowning at her then left to wash up and steal some breakfast for them. He didn't think the temple people would take kindly to finding out a youkai- or hanyou- had stayed the night. He had planned on leaving before dawn but if Kagome needed to sleep in then far be it for him to deny the weak human . . .
When he returned, the girl still hadn't moved. Not even an inch. Come to think of it, she hadn't moved all night and never made a sound. Kagome always tossed and turned while she slept, always mumbled something about those stupid 'tests'. But not tonight-
"Hey. Kagome." He called. No response. InuYasha rose from where he squatted on the floor, frowning at the girl. "Hey! Kagome, baka, time to get up!" Still silent. Had he been looking more closely, he would have noticed the slight crease between her brows as her consciousness tried to wake her body up and tell him to get away from this horrible place. Somehow, though she knew she should be asleep, unconscious, her mind was wide awake and thinking quickly. She couldn't move. Not even a finger. She knew she was awake because she could see. She saw InuYasha come into her room in the middle of the night, she saw him wake and glance at her with a scowl on his face, and leave. She tried to get his attention, screamed when he returned but not once did he notice her. He just stared at her unmoving body.
Her body . . . Why could she see herself?
And why did she look . . . dead ?
"Kagome . . ?" He walked up to the side of the bed and touched her shoulder. "Wha-" She was still in her day clothes- She never changed into her soft funny bedclothes. InuYasha removed the blanket cast over her. She still had a comb in her hand from when she was brushing her hair before she bathed- come to think of it, she never did. That was her whole excuse for coming here! The least she could do was follow through with the lie just to make it more believable! "Kagome . . !" During all this she still never stirred. Had she been sleeping like a normal person she'd have woken by now and bashed his brains in or made him "sit!"
Something was wrong and somehow it was going to be his fault- he knew it. Sango and Miroku and Shippo were going to blame him and she would never trust him to keep her safe again. He had a really bad feeling about this- something, something small, and normally insignificant was missing. It made him uneasy and tense, as if he'd seen lightning flash and now he was waiting for the thunder- only it never came.
As he sneered and turned away, a worried scowl on his face, a sickly sweet scent caught his nose and he paused mid-stride to sniff the air. The scent came from Kagome, her hand and her mouth. Something definitely didn't smell right-
The door behind him quietly swung open and a servant girl in a pale green yukata walked in with bed sheets and linens. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the dog-eared youkai standing over the helpless girl lying in the bed. She dropped her sheets and touched a trembling hand to her mouth and started to scream.
InuYasha was by her side in one bound, his clawed hand gently but firmly smothering her shrieks before she drew attention to the room. "Shut up, wench. I'm not hurting anyone, I arrived with this girl last night. I'm the same guy she came in with. Will you be quiet and answer my questions?"
She nodded, hesitantly. "He had black hair." She whispered when he slowly removed his hand.
"It was dark. You're mistaken. Now what's happened to her? She was fine when I left her here last night and now she won't wake." The hanyou stepped back from the frightened girl and approached the sleeping figure with a soft and careful step, his concerned eyes on her and his back exposed to the servant.
"I do not know. Wh- what, happened?" She asked slowly. She could have escaped while the youkai was distracted but the way he stared at the young woman . . . Instead, the servant walked closer to the demon to look on the girl. She was pale and wasn't moving. She didn't seem to be breathing, there didn't seem to be any life at all in the strangely clad girl. She was suddenly afraid again, this demon might have killed the girl, in a temple no less! But, his face- "I am sorry. It appears she has passed on to join her ancestors."
That had been his worst fear. It was the realization that the maiden thought Kagome was dead that InuYasha realized what was missing.
He couldn't hear her heart. He couldn't hear her breathing!
His own heart raced and he crushed the panic in his mind as he clenched his fists in rigid concentration . . .
There.
There it was. Moments passed. And there again. It was few and far, far between but the dim, soft thud of Kagome's heart slowly beating echoed in her chest. And even below that, a barely discernable movement of air-
"No!" He snarled at the girl. "I can smell the life still in her. Her heart beats, it's just really slow, and she's still breathing. She's alive I just can't wake her up." The servant girl shook her head.
She studied the wan face of the teenager, a few years younger than herself, too young to die certainly. She must have been stubborn from the set of her mouth and strong chin. Her long lashes suggested a dreamer, a wishful, hopeful girl. It was a true loss for she was probably meant by the gods to do great good had she lived. "It looks like the same curse that affects some of our holy men and women every few months. But she couldn't be a miko, she's only a whisper of girl, a child."
"WHAT CURSE! They never said anything about a curse!" InuYasha shouted, stomping his foot into the floor which splintered audibly under the impact. The girl cringed but didn't retreat. He wasn't attacking her after all.
"It only affects people with mystical ability, not normal pilgrims, none of our visitors have ever been struck down by it before! If this girl was a miko then she should have never stayed here, the priests would have warned you."
"They made no mention." The boy growled, clenching his fists at his sides. "She is a miko." InuYasha crossed his arms, staring at Kagome's motionless body. 'We wouldn't have stayed here if we knew it'd be dangerous. Even if it was the night of the first day I'd have kept going. I'd have NEVER put her life in danger!'
"I- I am sorry. Had we known she'd put such a powerful loyalty spell on a youkai we would have sent her on. She just seems too young to be so powerful a miko." InuYasha didn't even react to the mention of Kagome putting a spell on him. It was true and unimportant.
"How do I get rid of this curse?" He growled quietly.
"You cannot."
"What?!" He whirled on her but the girl stood her ground, she no longer feared this tamed demon.
"She is as good as dead now, she will never reawaken. We have never been able to revive our mikos and holy men. We keep them here, safe, as if forever asleep, to be prayed to and bless our pilgrims. Their bodies never fade or decay, always looking alive. They are honored here as precious treasures, our ever-living Buddhas." The maid looked on the fallen girl again. "She is quite pretty and innocent. She looks very much alive still. She must have been very powerful too, she will have a great many visitors."
"I'm not leaving her here!" InuYasha cried. "I'm gonna to kill whatever caused this curse and I'll wake her- somehow!" He turned away from her again. "Find someone who can tell me what caused this." He ordered her without looking over his shoulder. He heard the maid's quiet steps and the door close as she left to do his bidding.
His face was set and the part of Kagome that was conscious in the back of her mind- or outside her body, she wasn't sure- was amazed at how calm he suddenly appeared. He made such a ruckus when he first heard what happened but now he seemed to accept what the maidservant had told him.
'No . . . No! InuYasha! I'm still here! Why can't you hear me?!' He ought to be tearing things apart, searching for some demon or black miko to kill to remove the curse! Instead he sat heavily on the side of the bed, watching her. 'Why is he just looking at me so solemnly- so resignedly? What's wrong? Is this his chance to finally escape me? Without guilt he can be rid of me? Take the shards we've collected and run? Find a new tama-detector? Leave me and return to Kikyou?!' Inside Kagome cried, she screamed and sobbed, unable to make herself heard! 'Why is he just sitting there, STARING?!'
'Please, please don't leave me . . .' A tiny tear escaped her calmly closed eyes, inexplicable to any who might see it but to InuYasha, it's starlike glitter meant everything.
The pale-haired hanyou bent low over the girl, surprising her conscious spirit. His head was hardly inches from her face, his silver hair curtaining them the rest of the world. She would have gasped had she some small bit of control over her body. Again, he softly sniffed the air around her head and gazed at her with those sad, serious eyes. The same deep, glinting gold eyes he saw Kikyou with.
"You're not dead." He whispered. "You can never die."
Part TwoKagome slowly awoke to the smell of grass and rain and wet dirt. The shushing of the soft breeze dancing between the leaves of the tree she lay beneath, and a warm touch on her shoulder and on her back reminded her that there was another world beyond the darkness of her sleep. Her bleary auburn eyes blinked open to a glorious bright, mottled green and gold vista of farmed fields and wild meadows. She lay on her side at the top of small rolling hill, the shade of a deep forest gathering at her back, long blades of grass tickling her skin and framing the utterly serene view. She recognized the area somewhere in her memory and she tried to remember what she was doing here.
The smooth warmth like sunlight on her shoulder drew her attention and she turned her head to see a gentle, clawed hand resting there. Her eyes followed up the red-sleeved arm to find InuYasha leaning against a tree trunk, gazing dreamily out into the distance. It was his shin, barely up against her back that she felt as the second warmth dragging her back to reality. Her head, she realized with a blush, lay comfortably pillowed on his extended leg. He had made sure she wasn't going anywhere and that she would sleep safely and peacefully.
His silver hair glared like brilliant sun-bleached snow, his sharp, pale features softened against the leafy canopy and deep azure of the sky. He looked relaxed, languidly resting against the tree, the wind tugging at his length of hair and the loose sleeves of his crimson haori. Despite this, she could feel the tension in his leg and arm though his fingers on her shoulder were a soothing, reassuring pressure and his face held only the slightest frown of worry and deep thought.
His amber eyes suddenly flicked down and she was caught staring. He didn't even seem to notice her embarrassed flushing cheeks and her eyes darting away. He just leaned forward a bit, nose and ears twitching, giving her his undivided attention as he was sometimes wont to do. His eyes were nothing but a kind, deep well of molten gold focused solely on her. "You okay, Kagome?"
She nodded jerkily, still too self-conscious to meet his gaze. "Uh, yeah- I'm alright, but, um, where are we?" She answered his question automatically, before her body had given her the full report. She hadn't taken into account her uneasy stomach, her rough, unused voice or sore muscles but they were little, negligible things to InuYasha. He was more concerned with broken bones, missing limbs, imminent heart failure.
Her eyes rose to meet his curiously.
The boy suddenly seemed to realize his hand was still intimately clasping her shoulder and only now hastily snatched it back. To let him cover up his awkward discomfort, Kagome used the opportunity to push herself up to a sitting position, knees bent and feet tucked daintily behind her. She turned so she was facing him properly and cleared her throat. It felt like she'd been at a sporting event screaming her lungs out.
He was nonchalantly leaning up against the tree, cross-legged, arms folded and stuffed in his sleeves as if he'd never even been within arms length of her. "What happened, InuYasha?" She asked, still frowning. She remembered staying at a temple for the night but she didn't remember much after settling into her own room. Not sleeping, not the bath she'd planned to take, not . . . anything.
For a moment it didn't look like he'd answer. He scowled at the question, glowering when her frown deepened and her off-handed interest escalated to concern.
"That damn temple was cursed. Any monk or miko they deemed powerful enough, those phony bastards poisoned then put on them display like trophies, livin' freakin' relics! They tried to get you too." He met her astonished gaze with a frown. "Don't you remember?!"
Kagome looked away. It was rushing back now, that young priestess, the strange candied food, her condemning words- "Well, yeah, I remember the girl giving me something and then falling asleep- she stood over me laughing about how alive I looked even though I was . . . dead. I- I thought I was dead." Kagome's wide eyes snapped up to meet the hanyou's dark liquid amber ones, remembering the blissful peacefulness of just a few minutes ago. "Am I dead?"
InuYasha's eyebrows shot up, surprised, then he snorted. "Baka, you doubt my skills that much?" He sounded offended at the very idea but his voice softened as he continued, gazing out to the hazy blue mountains on the horizon. "I wouldn't let you die. I said I'd protect you and you shoulda learned by now to just trust me."
Kagome's eyes fell away as she half-smiled. "I do. InuYasha." She trusted him with her life, he knew that. She took a deep breath staring at the sky; the clean, fresh air held a heavy moisture to it and she suddenly wondered how much time had passed that it could have rained when there hadn't been any sign of storm clouds before she slept. "Thank you . . ."
"Keh." He pointedly looked away from her but she could see he was smiling. She grinned in response to his suppressed smugness and relaxed, stretching her legs in the cool springy grass. They were tense and ached, like she hadn't moved in ages.
"You didn't hurt anybody, did you?" She suddenly asked, her body stiff and her gaze piercing. She could usually expect him not to by now, but she could just imagine how furious he must have been-
InuYasha rolled his eyes, his head lolling back to rest against the tree trunk. "Mighta scared a girl but that was it. Didn't have time to do much before the whole lotta holy fakes showed up to take you away." From the longing twitch of his clawed fingers, she took his word as truth and settled back again. She still felt lethargic, and she draped herself limply over her knees and followed InuYasha's gaze over the valley.
"Where are we?" She recognized the ribbon of glinting silver that languidly cut through the lands as the stream they'd traveled on before and she could see tendrils of smoke from a small village rising like undulating ashen snakes behind a small stand of trees.
"Back at the village Miroku and Sango were hangin' around in."
"Oh. Where are they?" She looked around but there didn't seem to be any sign of their companions, them or their gear to suggest they had ever visited the hilltop.
"They're still down there. Thought the sun and fresh air would be better for you than that stuffy, dark little hut. We've been takin' turns watchin' you." Her bronze eyes widened. Again, Kagome worried about how long she'd been unconscious. They'd traveled all the way back to where they'd begun and her friends had to take turns babysitting her?
"Yeah, I wouldn't have felt right in the village, I suppose. I like it much better up here." Kagome caught a satisfied grin and ear flick out of the corner of her eye and guessed that it had been InuYasha's idea to bring her out here in the first place. She couldn't help but smile.
After a few moments, her eyes glanced furtively at her protector, hastily looking away before he could notice the quick peek. "InuYasha?" Her voice rose tentatively, heart quickening a little, anxious of the answer. "How . . . long was I out?"
His light, relaxed attitude faded and his voice fell soft again, considerate of her apprehension. "We left that hell-hole three days ago. You woke for a bit that first morning, after I- after the poison wore off. But before I knew it you were out again and Miroku said something about your soul returning to your body or some crap." He looked at her sidelong, obviously uneasy and she met his honey eyes only to dart away again, just as uncomfortable- more so because he was.
She'd lost her soul before, twice. Once when Kikyou needed it to be revived, in fact, the sculpted deceased priestess still had a piece of it. And once more when Naraku's underling Kanna had stolen it into her magic mirror. She'd even had her soul taken over, her consciousness pushed back to the farthest reaches of her mind so something else could control her body, more times than she could count. She remembered what both Kaede and Miroku had said about such things. Hers was an ancient soul to begin with, reincarnated many times and grown more powerful each time but hers was also a soul forced back from death way too many times in this life already. Was it bad karma that these things kept happening to her or good luck that she had the strength to keep coming back?
The idea made her think but it was InuYasha who seemed to be bothered the most. What was he scared of? That one more time and she wouldn't return? That the next time she would awaken changed or cold and heartless like her predecessor? That she was made all the more humanly fragile and vulnerable by having her soul ripped from her body and shoved back in time and time again?
"Oh . . . I guess I kind of remember . . . seeing myself, standing beside my body. After I lost consciousness, I remember that priestess- staring at me, smiling . . . and you coming in-"
"You were conscious the whole time?" InuYasha asked quietly, staring at the lines and calluses of his hands. His eyebrows furrowed, with anger or uncertainty, she wasn't sure. The way his ears were barely keeping themselves from laying flat gave her the feeling he was wary of her response-
Kagome abruptly realized that he was worried she might remember something else he'd said or done that he would rather have kept to himself and she shook her head a little too quickly. The last thing she wanted was for him to go all shy and defensive. She wanted to know what happened to her- the last thing she remembered was thinking she was dead for sure and next thing she knew she was waking up practically in InuYasha's lap, relatively healthy and by no means harmed.
"No, just bits and pieces. I saw her, and I saw you standing so calmly across the room- I remember- yelling . . . For you to notice me. I was afraid you'd think I was dead and leave. I was afraid I WAS dead and you'd leave. But . . . you never heard me . . ." Kagome's eyes welled in sudden remembrance of that desperate, powerless anguish and she looked away. She had sobbed and screamed with no acknowledgement and she couldn't move or wake, she'd been completely and utterly helpless! Yelling and yelling for InuYasha . . .
Safe, warm arms delicately wrapped around her shoulders and she gratefully fell against his chest as he pulled her to him. She tried not to cry but holding it in only made her throat hurt and her body shake from trying to breathe around the sobs caught in her chest. His strong arm held her tight to him, his claws running through her hair as if all he wanted in the world was for her to be okay, to know everything would be all right. She clutched at the arm around her, smothering her gasps and trying to wipe away the tears that betrayed her.
"I heard you, I could hear your heart beating even if it was too slow. I knew right away something was wrong with you, I just couldn't figure out what. I was worried- I should have known. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you and you had to feel that way-"
"You- heard me?" Kagome sniffed and pulled away to look up at him with over-bright warm, umber eyes. He nodded, hesitantly, as if unsure he could admit such an action without unwanted consequences.
And suddenly her tears were gone. He'd felt her emotions, sensed her fear and her invisible struggle- He knew something was wrong with her, he hadn't given up! She was impressed. And grateful.
That information settled most of her anxious thoughts and her body relaxed against his. Her breathing and heartbeat slowed and a faint smiled tipped her lips as she allowed herself to lean into him and her mind to calm. Everything would be all right, InuYasha would make sure of it. He would always take care of her. She could never be hurt or in trouble as long as he was here, beside her. Even if he didn't love her like he loved Kikyou, at least he treasured her and held her dear enough to his heart to keep her safe and happy.
"I will always protect you, Kagome." He whispered into her hair, unknowingly echoing her thoughts.
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