InuYasha paced back and forth in Kagome's room, at the shrine from her time. A particularly powerful plant demon had shot Kagome in the chest with a long, needle-sharp thorn, before he could get to her in time. It had missed her heart, luckily, but it had pierced a lung, and nicked at least one major blood vessel. Once the demon had been killed, InuYasha had thrown her over Kirara's back, jumped up behind her, and flown for all he was worth in the direction of the Bone Eater's Well. He knew that Kagome's time had strong medicine, and good doctors. She'd be much better off in her own time.
Her mother immediately drove Kagome to the nearest hospital, as soon as they'd arrived. Kagome was still conscious at the time, but she was struggling to breath, and coughing up blood. She was as pale as a sheet from all of the internal bleeding. If she hadn't had a collapsed lung, all the blood in her chest cavity would've been making it difficult for her to breath. This was the closest she'd come to dying while in his care for several months, and for some reason it bothered InuYasha far more than the last time or two she'd come that close to death. Perhaps that was because he'd gotten a little closer to her in the last few months.
All he knew was that the whole ordeal had scared the hell out of him. Ordinarily, a demon like that wouldn't have been any threat at all, something even little Shippo could have handled on his own. InuYasha hadn't even needed to draw Tetsuaiga to finish it off, his claws had been plenty. Kagome should've been safe, but the demon had been smart enough to wait beside a hot spring, knowing the water would attract prey. It had caught her by surprise. Miroku couldn't sense its jyaki because it was a weak demon. Even InuYasha hadn't been able to detect it, because the powerful stench of the sulphur in the water had hidden its smell.
The encounter had served to remind each of the companions just how dangerous their world was. If a pathetic demon like that could almost kill Kagome, then they were all in trouble. It had been so unsettling, that Sango had actually allowed Miroku to sit next to her at dinner, and sleep next to her on the ground, and for once, Miroku had kept his hands to himself, not wanting to mess up his quality time with her. Kirara returned to the rest of the gang once InuYasha had jumped into the well with Kagome in his arms. She stayed in her transformed state the entire night, curled up against Sango's other side.
