When I Almost Lost You
Chapter 1: What Have I Done?
My first ever story. These chapters will probably be pretty short.
The sun had completely set and Inuyasha still wasn't back. At first Kagome tried to tell herself he was just mad, but as the minutes ticked by she was really getting worried. It wasn't like him to be alone on his human night or miss dinner.
Kagome looked up from the fire as Sango and Kirara returned. Alone.
"It's no use, it's too dark to see anything." Sango glared at Kagome as she spoke, before shaking her head. "We'll start looking again at sunrise."
Kagome hugged her knees against the cold of the December night, looking into the thick forest that surrounded their small camp. She scanned all around her, hoping to see a flash of red.
"Hey, don't worry!" Shippo tried to cheer her up. "He probably just got lost when his sense of smell went away at sundown. He'll find us in the morning."
Kagome smiled at the fox boy. "I'm sure you're right..." She looked back out at the forest, thinking about what had happened earlier. It was such a stupid fight, she could barely remember what started it. But she definitely remembered how it had ended.
...
"Where are you going?" she angrily demanded.
"Out." Inuyasha said. He turned to leave. "You know, you could be a little grateful for me saving your ass every damn day."
Kagome felt her anger boil over as she stood up, and before she even realized what she was saying it was already half-way out of her mouth.
"Go on, get out of here! No one wants you around! No one would miss you if you never came back!"
The rest of their group looked at her, and she could have sworn that, for just a moment, Inuyasha had paused mid-step. But then he just continued walking, before leaping into the treetops.
"Kagome," Sango looked to the girl from the future as the group watched Inuyasha leave. "you really shouldn't say things like that to him."
Kagome crossed her arms. "It's his fault! He's such a jerk!"
Sango shook her head. "What if the last thing you ever get to say to him is that nobody would miss him?"
"That would be fine by me!"
Seeing that Kagome wasn't in the mood to listen Sango simply turned back to building their fire along with Miroku.
...
At sunup Inuyasha still wasn't back. Now everyone was worried.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called out as she, Miroku, and Shippo searched on the ground while Sango and Kirara looked for him from the air. They had been searching for hours without any sign of him. She was getting frantic. "Inuyasha please answer me! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"
Kagome felt tears fill her eyes. She really hadn't meant it. What if he didn't come back and really had left forever? What if he was hurt or dead? What if the last thing she ever said to him is that nobody would miss him?
"Wait a minute!"
Shippo held his hand up before he hopped onto Kagome's head and sniffed the air. Although not quite as strong as Inuyasha's nose, he could still smell much better than a human.
"I think...I think...over there!" He pointed to their side. "I smell his scent!" He nearly fell off as Kagome ran through the undergrowth. "Whoa! Hey!"
"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" She called, finding a break in the trees that had a road running through it. They had actually made it to the other side of the forest. But still no sign of Inuyasha...
"Kagome, is he..." Miroku began before noticing something odd on the grass.
Blood.
"Over here!"
Kagome walked with Shippo over to the monk. There was a streak of blood on the grass. Not a lot, certainly not a deadly amount to lose. But still it wasn't a good sign.
"Shippo...is it...?" Kagome began as the kitsune sniffed the ground.
"It's his all right, and he lost it when he was a human." Shippo told her. He started to follow a scent trail, only to jump back and grab his foot as a small electrical arc hit it.
"OW! OW! OW!" He hopped on one foot before Kagome picked him up. "I stepped on something! It burned!"
Miroku bent down and felt in the thick grass, withdrawing something long. The three of them immediately recognized it.
The untransformed Tessaiga.
...
As the sun began to set their small group made camp again. The mood was somber, no one feeling much like making small talk. Even Shippo wasn't his usual cheery self, instead curled up with Kirara.
It was no longer a question of Inuyasha leaving them voluntarily. He had been kidnapped.
They all had the same questions. Who could kidnap Inuyasha? How could they contain him? Why would they do it?
"Do you think it was Sesshomaru? Or maybe Naraku?" Miroku asked Kagome as he handed her a bowl of soup.
"Maybe..." Kagome shook her head. "...no. If it was Sesshomaru he would have taken Tessaiga. And Naraku wouldn't leave any doubt, he'd want us to know it was him." She stared into her reflection in the soup for a few moments. "It's all my fault, isn't it?"
"No..." The monk began. "You didn't know..."
"Yes it is."
All eyes went to Sango, who drank from her soup before continuing. "Yes, it is your fault Kagome. You decided your stubborn pride was more important than Inuyasha's safety. You should never have let him leave on his human night."
Tears filled Kagome's eyes for what felt like the tenth time that day. "How...how can you say that?"
"Because it's the truth. Admit it, you expected him to come crawling back to you. You take him entirely for granted."
Kagome set her soup down and stood, hands balling into fists at her sides. "I do not take Inuyasha for granted!"
"Sango, can I talk to you for a moment?" Miroku pulled the youkai slayer to her feet and led her behind a tree before the two women could get into a fist fight.
"Look, you want her to hate herself? Well she does." He said sternly, his voice holding none of it's usual calm. "Beating up on her isn't going to help us find Inuyasha."
Sango looked away from him. "You think I don't know that? But what else can I do right now? I feel so damn helpless..."
Miroku took her hands in his and sighed. "Yeah, I know, I feel the same. I want to find him too. But we won't be able to help Inuyasha if we turn on each other."
The two of them stood like that for a few moments. Nothing more needed to be said. They both knew the pain of losing a family member, and even if they weren't related to Inuyasha they still considered him family.
After a minute Sango walked back from behind the tree, sitting next to Kagome. She handed Kagome her soup, saying nothing.
Kagome took the soup, lost in thought. 'Do I take Inuyasha for granted? But it's so easy too...he's always there. Inuyasha, I'm sorry if I ever made you feel unappreciated.'
...
The first time Inuyasha woke up in the dark room he had yelled and struggled. The chains on his wrists seemed to pull the strength from his body. Some sort of magic he guessed. He could barely stand, much less fight back. Then the man had come and said one thing to him.
"Animals don't talk."
The man had put a muzzle on him, then led him out of the dark room. He hated the feeling of the muzzle. It had a metal bit that cut his mouth if he tried to move too fast. As his eyes struggled with the light the man had thrown him over a stone block and taken a whip to him. He had screamed into the muzzle, out of both pain and wounded pride.
Once the flogging was over he was put back in the dark room, his chains hung to a hook on the ceiling that forced him to stand on his tiptoes with his arms in the air. He hung there naked and alone, his body aching, for...he wasn't sure how long. Hours? Days? The total darkness made it hard to judge how much time had passed.
But eventually the man had returned. He removed the muzzle, and once again his captive had shouted at him.
"Animals don't talk."
The muzzle went right back on, and he had once again been taken out of the dark room, thrown over the block, flogged until blood ran down his back, then taken back to the dark room and hung in his chains.
Another indeterminable period of time passed. Everything hurt. He was very thirsty, and starting to see things moving in the darkness. It was just his mind playing tricks on him...right?
Hanging in the darkness, he finally admitted it to himself.
No one was coming for him.
Why would they? He was a fool to believe anyone wanted him around. He was weak, just like his half-brother always said he was. He was a filthy, tainted hanyou and Kagome had cast him out. No, thrown him away like the trash he was. She was probably with Koga right now. They'd probably already defeated Naraku.
He looked up as the door to the dark room open once again. It was the man again. This time he had two things in his hands. The whip, and a bowl of water.
"Animals don't talk." He said, letting his captive down from the hook and removing the muzzle.
Inuyasha looked at the bowl, licking his dry, cracked lips.
He remained silent.
The man placed the bowl on the floor.
Slowly, Inuyasha approached the bowl on all fours and took a small sip. The water tasted funny, probably drugged. But what choice did he have?
And so Inuyasha began to lap up the water in the bowl, even as his vision started to blur.
"Good dog."
This isn't meant to be Kagome or any other character bashing, honest. She just lost her temper and said something she didn't mean.
