A/N: This story was originally posted on AO3 (2017-03-23) as a part of InuKag Week 2017 Day 1: Protect / Purple
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They were quite lucky. They found an empty,abandoned hut in a forest just after Inuyasha smelled a storm approaching form the East. They even managed to collect fire wood and catch three rabbits before heavy dark clouds covered the sky and the heavy rain came down. They could sit around a small fire and eat their dinner while listening to the sound of the rain falling on the roof and in the forest around the hut. Kagome could only hope Sango and Miroku were as lucky and she and her companions were. There was a chance they had reached a safe place before the storm started or get far enough to avoid it She looked up to scan around the little hut - Inuyasha was sitting beside the entryway, his back against the wall, Tesssaiga in his loving embrace. His eyes were closed, but twitching ears were an indicator of him being alert and ready to spring to action at any unfamiliar sound or smell.
Shippou, on the other hand, was already asleep, sprawled on her folded sleeping bag. The young miko decided against moving him - the kit had a light sleep lately and she didn't want to wake him up accidentally. She took a blanket from her famous yellow bag pack and wrapped it around herself while laying close to the small fire in center of the hut. She sighed as she moved to find a comfortable position and smiled as she noticed that the rustle of the blanket caused one of Inuyasha's ears to swivel in her direction.
It was good to fall asleep in middle of nowhere, knowing that there was someone protecting her. The sound of falling rain against the roof lulled her to sleep.
"O-oi? Kagome?" a voice cut into her nightmare, one of those vile dreams plaguing her from time to time. In this particular one she was running through an empty corridor in her school, terribly late for an important math exam. The corridor was getting longer and longer and she couldn't reach the purple class door, no matter how fast she was running. And the worst thing was that on her left arm a little Sesshomaru was muttering: "Laughable. Pathetic. Your efforts are in vain, miko," while a little Inuyasha on her right arm was taking a nap, not caring about her distress and his brother tormenting her. She wasn't sure which one of two brothers was more annoying. She kept running, trying to ignore sounds from both her shoulders. "Oi!"
"Shut up!" she opened her eyes when she felt a clawed finger nudge the back of her hand resting beside her face. In one second she scanned her surroundings and found out she wasn't in her school and a full-size Inuyasha was crouching before her, frowning at her. "Inuyasha...?"
"You were mumbling and rolling in your sleep," he moved his hand away and tilted his head. "So I guessed it'd be better to wake you up than to let you roll into the fire pit."
"I appreciate that," Kagome rubbed her eyes, trying to focus and forget the dream. She shivered, remembering the long, exhausting run and the pair of inu youkai on her shoulders, one discouraging her and cold, the other not caring at all.
"Wanna me take care of this Algebra youkai for ya?" Inuyasha's voice brought her to reality. She looked back at him with an questioning hum. "You had a nightmare about fighting it, right?"
"Not really..." Kagome smiled. "It was more about not getting to the class in time to fight it."
"Keh," he returned her smile with a proud grin. "You don't have to worry 'bout that, I'll carry you anywhere you want to. I'll carry and protect you, even from weaklings like this Algebra."
This statement made her smile wider, warmer. He had promised that after the destruction of her bike.
"For now just protect me from crazy nightmares and rolling into the fire, okay?" she suggested. She didn't expect him to do more than nod in agreement, but it seemed the hanyou decided to do more than this. In a matter of seconds Kagome found herself curled up in his lap, her side against him, his sleeves blanketing her petite form.
"I-Inuyasha!" she gasped, shocked. Immediately she felt much warmer than before, even when she was further from the fire now. She could hardly move and had no chance to look up in his face.
"Now you can't roll into the pit. Go to sleep," came a gruff reply and Kagome could only smile as she rested her head against his chest, fighting back her blush. She thought how could she just fall asleep while being held by him, but she slid into her dreams again before she had a chance to argue. The sounds of rain and his steady heartbeat were all she needed to forget about her nightmare.