Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha…damn it!

So, I put a note in my last piece and in my bio about wanted to do a fic about Kagome becoming really ill. I know I should get back to Mixing Wizardry (for the few of you who might actually read that…) but I currently have NO inspiration for that story. I WILL most definitely finish that story up this summer due to my going off to college in the fall and that I will have an utter lack of time to actually write for those first few months. I will somehow force my way through that story if I have to.

Okay, I think that I have bored you all enough so on with the story…

Inspired by Rascal Flatts' song "Skin." NOT A SONG-FIC!

So TrisakAminawn found a major typo that was really kinda funny but kinda ruined the effect I was trying to have. Instead of 'blackness of SLEEP' I wrote 'blackness of SHEEP'. I have corrected it, but it was such a funny and stupid mistake that I now feel the need to tell all of you. I'm know there are other typos but I can't find them right now and that was the only one that was really REALLY bad…so yea that's been fixed. Hope you all enjoy the story, I swear I'll finish it soon. And thanks again to TrisakAminawn for pointing that out to me. Man do I feel stupid.

To See the Dawn

Sammery

ACHOO! Kagome sneezed for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. Rubbing at her nose irritably with yet another Kleenex, she went back to her earlier train of thought…how to get Inuyasha to let her to leave the feudal era and seek some medical attention in the future.

It had started a few days ago with the feeling of achy limbs, a slight fever, and an itchy throat. She figured it to be the flu and thought that the healer of the village that they were currently in could handle it with herbs. The thing is, she just seemed to be getting worse. Her fever had spiked during the night, causing Inuyasha to damn near strangle the healer who couldn't understand why she wasn't responding to the herbal remedies.

It wasn't just the flu that was worrying her now though. This morning she had lifted the blanket that had been laid across her form to find bruises from days before…weeks before, still covering her legs, angry purple blotches that seemed to be growing larger by the day. She was so shocked by the sight of her legs that a small 'EEEP!' escaped her lips. She instantly regretted it because Inuyasha, who had just left her side for the first time in days, rushed back into the hut, sword drawn, gazing around with wild eyes, looking for some demon or something he could actually fight to help Kagome.

She brushed it off, telling him that she had just had a bad dream. She didn't want to worry Inuyasha anymore that she knew he was already. He might not show it often, but he cares deeply for their group. They were his friends…his family…his…his pack. "I'm alright Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly and as reassuring as her weak voice could handle, "Really…" she emphasized looking between him and The Tetsusaiga, indicating that she wanted him to put it away.

Inuyasha looked hard at her, concern and worry pouring from his eyes, "Well, if you're sure…" He sheathed his sword and sat down at her side. Gently, he grabbed the now dry cloth from her forehead and wet it again in the basin of cool water before gently whipping it around her face, ridding her of the sweat that the fever had caused to break onto her skin. Then, wetting the cloth once more, he placed it carefully back to its original position on her forehead.

Kagome watched in shock as Inuyasha quietly and tenderly perform his small act of kindness. She rarely got to see him behave so kind and gentle to anyone. She wanted to savor every single second of this amazing moment.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha said softly, the ghost of a whisper, his tender tone snapping her out of her reverie. "I think…well, I…" he stumbled around for something to say, to communicate his wishes to Kagome.

"What Inuyasha?" Kagome said, louder now than before and croaking slightly, her throat raw from coughing and lack of use.

Inuyasha looked her dead in the eye and she saw his amber orbs swimming with emotion: compassion, worry, uncertainty, but mostly fear.

'He's scared for me…" Kagome realized.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and grasped her hand, "Maybe…maybe you should go back to your own time." His hands clasped hers tighter and he opened his eyes, "You're not getting any better here and your time had better medicines…they can help you there."

His voice had become strained as he had continued on, Kagome knew that it was a real strike to his pride to admit that someone else could hake care of her better than him. She squeezed his hand, trying to tell him without words that she didn't blame him, that she still trusted him.

"That might be the best idea." She croaked, smiling gently.

Inuyasha tried to smile back but it seemed as though his facial muscles didn't want to cooperate and ended up looking more like a grimace than anything else. He let go of her hand and gasped in shook staring at her hand wear the beginnings of bruises could already be seen forming in the shape of fingers.

Inuyasha shot back against the wall and froze, staring at her hands. "I hurt you…" he said, his voice sounding as though he was on the verge of tears. "I hurt you…I hurt you…" he kept saying over and over, his eyes never leaving her hands.

Kagome stared at her hands, amazed at how quickly they had bruised and how easily. She glanced up at Inuyasha and saw how distraught he was. His face had become so pale that it faded in with his hair as the color drained from his face.

"I hurt you…I hurt you…"

His mutterings reached her ears. Her heart clenched at the sound and sight of him. This great, strong warrior, a man who would go to any lengths to protect her, fight any demon…or senile grandfather…was reduce to a simpering mess in the corner of a hut over a few bruises.

"It's not your fault Inuyasha, " Kagome said, making to get up from her position on the futon. "See, " she said removing the blanket from her legs so that Inuyasha could see the bruising that covered her legs. "It just seems to happen so easily now…" she said softly, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she looked at the horror that her legs had become.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha said in a hushed voice and she realized that he had come back to her side, something that made Kagome feel infinitely better, and looked on in concern at her battered looking form. "How did this happen?" His hands hovered above the bruises on her legs, as though passing his hands over them might somehow remove their presence from her form.

"Oh, Kagome…how…" Inuyasha could think of nothing to say.

Suddenly he pulled her into an incredibly gentle, yet strong hug. Something about him treating her so delicately made her feel so inadequate, so unworthy of his protection and friendship that she just started to cry. She pulled herself against his chest with weak arms, crying into his haori until she finally escaped into the blackness of sleep.

As Kagome drifted off into dreamland, Inuyasha cradled her to his chest as a mother does her child. As he looked down at his sickly, pale, thin friend and fought back his own tears "Kagome.." he whispered as a few tears finally fought their way out and raced down his face, falling silently onto Kagome's face and mingling with her own tears.

What was happening to Kagome, to his Kagome. He heard her breathing level out and knew she had entered a deep sleep and would not wake up for a while. 'I need to get her to her time.' Inuyasha decided. But how was he to do that? He couldn't carry her that far without causing her further injury…so how could he get her back to the well?

He heard a laugh filter through the window and he remembered that the world was still going on around him. It hadn't stopped as their little drama had unfolded as it had felt to Inuyasha. He glanced up just in time to see Kirara fly past the window and instantly he knew how he was getting Kagome home.

He lovingly laid Kagome back down on her futon and swiftly, but silently, he raced from the hut, desperate to find Sango and gain use of the cat demon.

Inuyasha sighed deeply as Kirara made her way silently through the inky night sky, a completely unaware Kagome sleeping away, head placed gently in Inuyasha's lap as he kept vigil over her sleeping form, pleading with whatever God was listening to please, please just let her be okay.

Trying to explain to Sango why he needed had Kirara proved to be difficult. Sango had raced to the hut, not believing what Inuyasha had said about her friend. She had cried when she saw Kagome. When Inuyasha and the rest of the gang had come in behind her she had launched herself at him, pounding his chest, through streams of tears.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" She screamed as he just let her punch and pound away at his form. Miroku came up behind her quietly as she began to run out of energy, he gently grabbed her wrists to stop her from beating the motionless Inuyasha. She collapsed into him letting his hold her sobbing form and for once he did not act perverted but just let her cry and he too wished to do for their friend, who, even during all of the commotion, had not woken up.

Shippo slowly made his way up to Kagome, tears streaming down his small chubby cheeks. "Kagome…" His voice wavered. He placed a small hand against her cheek, "Inuyasha's going to take you home, and they'll make you better there." He said with tears, yet much conviction, in his voice. He knew that Inuyasha would never let anything happen to Kagome. She would be back as soon as she was better.

He turned around and walked calmly over to Inuyasha. He jumped up to Inuyasha's shoulder and hugged him around the neck. "It's going to be a while before we see you again…make her better. You will, won't you Inuyasha?" He asked searching Inuyasha's eyes.

Inuyasha shocked them all by embracing Shippo in a crushing hug. "I will, don't you worry brat." He said softly. "Kagome will be back before you know it."

Inuyasha sighed softly as the memory faded back into his mind and he glanced back down at Kagome whose sleep was no longer peaceful but fitful as she kept shifting around, whimpering quietly at the unseen foes of her nightmares.

Inuyasha gathered her up again gently, rubbing gentle circles on her back, making softy shushing sounds, humming a tune from deep in his memory. Kagome stopped fidgeting so much and settled down in his arms, one hand clasping weakly around his haori.

Inuyasha felt a great lump form in his throat as the strong girl he knew so well was reduced to this form that was as weak as a newborn baby. 'Hang in there Kagome…we'll be in your time soon and they'll make you all better. You just gotta hang on…'

When he finally made it to the modern era, several hours later, far too long for Inuyasha's tastes, he had taken Kagome into the shrine and when she had laid eyes on her daughter's prone figure Mrs. Higurashi had screamed the cry of an anguished mother and rushed to her daughter's side. When Inuyasha finally calmed her down enough to explain the situation, after carefully laying Kagome down on the couch sitting next to it on the floor, never letting go of Kagome's hand and his eyes never leaving her face, her mother insisted on taking her to the hospital.

Mrs. Higurashi originally hadn't wanted Inuyasha to come with, his demon appendages being difficult to explain, but Inuyasha refused to stay behind, "You trusted me to protect her! I'm not leaving her side until I know that she will be properly taken care of!" He growled, wanting to scream but not for fear of disturbing Kagome's temporarily calm sleep.

Mrs. Higurashi had tears in her eyes as she watched the devotion that Inuyasha had for her daughter. 'Deny it all he wants, he loves her…'

"Alright," she whispered, that misty look still in her eyes, "you're going to need to hide your ears with the cap again, and it would probably be better if you changed into some more…normal…clothes." He looked him up and down, "Some of my husband's things should fit you."

She disappeared upstairs, returning minutes later with bundles of fabrics in her arms, topped with gym shoes and the bright red baseball cap that he had worn on his last excursion into the modern world. "Here," she said, handing him the clothing, "Souta will help you put it on, but you have to go up to his room to change," seeing that he was going to try and argue his way out of leaving Kagome's side, she quickly added, "She'll be fine for the few minutes that it will take you to put those on." She gently laid her hand on Inuyasha's wrist, the one connected to the hand that still clasped Kagome's fragile one. "Go on," she whispered.

Inuyasha gave Kagome a long, hard look before quickly leaning forward and placing a gently kiss on the top of her head, "I'll be right back," he whispered, too soft for anyone else to hear. He then slowly disengaged his hand, seemingly not wanting to release her hand, as though he was the anchor holding her to this plane. With one last wistful gaze, Inuyasha made his way up stairs to put on the odd clothing.

After many failed attempts Souta finally got Inuyasha successfully into a pair of loose fitting blue jeans and a form fitting red t-shirt. Souta eventually ended up just throwing a pair of black slip-on sandals at Inuyasha when he flat out refused to wear shoes.

"They're not going to let you in the hospital if you're not wearing shoes, so suck it up if you wanna go with Kagome!" Souta yelled, tears falling from his eyes. His father had died long before Souta had ever had a chance to remember him, and now he felt as though he was loosing his sister as well. She was the one he used to run to in the middle of the night when he woke up with a nightmare. She would just smile at him and let him come into her bed with her, held him while he cried and told her what happened. Every bad memory he had was followed by one of Kagome, doing something to cheer him up and make him feel better.

Lost in his memories Souta missed Inuyasha coming towards him until Inuyasha kneeled in front of him and pulled Souta into a deep, fierce hug.

Inuyasha had begun to look at Souta as the little brother he never had, someone who he could teach things to, someone to whom he could pass on a little bit of himself so that he would never be truly lost.

"She'll be okay…" he whispered, trying to reassure the crying boy as much as he was himself. "She's gotta be…"

Mrs. Higurashi pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, her sick daughter in the back-seat, with her head resting in the lap of the man she loved.

He gently grabbed the still unconscious Kagome and carried her, bridal style, into the hospital emergency room. He was over whelmed at once by the sterile smell and the noise of all the people in the waiting room, then by all the orderlies as they rushed around Inuyasha, trying to pull her down unto a gurney so that they could take her away for diagnosis.

At first Inuyasha tightened his grip, why did they want to take his Kagome away? But a look from Kagome's mom told him that they only wanted to help her and he finally relinquished his hold on Kagome and allowed her to be taken away…hopefully not for good…

To Be Continued….

Okay…so I was just going to make this a one-shot…but I kinda got to think point and lost all will to write anymore tonight…besides, its kinda a long chapter anyway so this is just going to be a two-part story…

Alright, talk to you all later, buh bye….