there is a reason for the ooc. there always is...


By the grace of many gods that Kagome was unaware of and those she was, they were able to get out of the castle and ran back toward the village. They were a little slower than usual since InuYasha was carrying Sesshomaru practically all the way and he could barely walk himself but they finally got away and Kagome leaned up against a tree. She watched as InuYasha put Sesshomaru down gently and the older yokai immediately curled up into a ball. InuYasha looked at him for a moment and then looked at Kagome.

"You got anything to eat in that yellow bag of yours?"

Kagome smiled and looked in her backpack where her mother had sent the Tupperware with her.

"My mom packed some stuff for us but we'll need to build a fire to warm it up."

"I'll get firewood!" Shippo said, running off before Kagome could say anything.

She sighed and looked over at Sesshomaru, who was desperately trying to look as if he wasn't there.

"So… what happened? How in the world did you two get captured by a kappa? Especially Sesshomaru…"

InuYasha sat down and messed with his hair a little.

"The kappa is something else, let me tell you. He can somehow extract the yokai blood right out of you. I don't know how yet but I was hoping to get a look at that medallion he has and see if I could find a trigger." He looked at Sesshomaru for a second. "He liked using it on Sesshomaru. Every time he used it on him, he grew younger and younger, which the kappa was happy about, of course. He also liked to torture him, do whatever they could to him in his weakened state. I don't know everything they did to him but all I know is that the day he came back crying, I knew… I knew they were doing something I couldn't even fathom."

Kagome looked at Sesshomaru sympathetically as he tightened his fetal position even more.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"The only one he seems to be alright with is me. Dunno why, since he hates my guts…"

"Maybe there's a tiny bit of yokai left in him and he recognizes you…"

InuYasha shook his head. "There ain't a bit of anything in him. He's completely human now. Even that didn't stop that crazy kappa. They still kept using that medallion on him so that means that there is something else in that thing. He used it to make Sesshomaru younger and I think that's what he was using on the villagers as well."

Shippo came back with the small amount of wood he could carry and ran back to get more. While he was getting more to build up the fire, Kagome grabbed her matches out of her backpack and lit one up. She touched it to the sticks and they immediately flared. She heard a whimper and looked over at InuYasha as he looked at Sesshomaru. He was shaking now, not just in a fetal position. InuYasha's eyebrows furrowed.

"See? I don't know what the hell they did to him but I find out new triggers every day. I didn't know fire was one of them."

"I wish I could put it out but we need it to heat up the food… We also need to figure out how in the world three months passed for you when it had only been three days to Shippo."

Speaking of, he came back with a couple more sticks and sat down beside Kagome.

"I wanted to get more but they were all in trees. I'll go get some more when I get my strength up." He said, looking at Kagome apologetically.

"You're fine, Shippo. Thanks for getting it for us in the first place."

He beamed and then looked at InuYasha's haggard appearance.

"InuYasha, was it really three months to you?"

He turned away from Shippo, not really wanting to discuss the horrors he'd seen and encountered but his own appearance gave away some of the tortures he'd endured.

"Yeah, Shippo, it was three months."

"We were just discussing that. There had to be something that made time bend or something." Kagome said, putting a small foldable grill over the fire and she pulled out a pan.

She poured the contents into the pan to warm it and Shippo sniffed.

"That smells really good, Kagome."

"My mom made it. She told me to tell you that it wasn't curry, since you had a fit about it last time."

InuYasha smiled sadly. "I miss your mom… I even miss that crazy curry stuff."

Kagome reached over and touched him on the leg, being careful not to come in too fast.

"We'll get everything back to normal, InuYasha. I promise."

InuYasha looked over at Sesshomaru.

"Yeah, tell him that."

They were silent for most of the night as Kagome warmed up the food and they ate.

Sesshomaru didn't eat anything.


During the night, Kagome woke up to the sound of someone making pitiful noises, like a lost animal on a stormy night. She sat up and looked around. She saw Sesshomaru still in the fetal position but he was shaking terribly again. She got up to see if she could be of help to him when he let out a whimper that broke Kagome's heart.

"He does that every night."

Kagome gasped, looking at InuYasha, who was leaned up against a tree.

"You're awake."

"Yeah."

"Why aren't you sleeping? You're safe now."

"Old habits die hard. I'm used to watching over him, making sure he is alright. He makes this noise every night. I don't know if he's dreaming or remembering. He was quiet before but I could never get a word out of him."

Kagome was struck by the sad whimper and went over to him, touching Sesshomaru's face softly. His eyes fluttered open for a second and he rolled them to look at Kagome. Deeming her uninteresting, he looked away and his eyes drooped again. Kagome sighed and touched his face again, noticing the warmth.

"He's warm… I'm pretty sure he has a fever. Are there any wounds on him?"

"Where would you like me to start?" InuYasha spat. Kagome looked at him in surprise and he looked away. "Sorry… I just… He's pretty much busted up all over."

Kagome nodded and decided to just start from the literal top and took hold of the top of Sesshomaru's kimono. She pulled back the flap and saw that InuYasha hadn't been kidding. Just from the small section of skin showing, Kagome couldn't even count the number of scars and still open wounds that were there.

"What the hell did they do to him?" she whispered.

"I wish I knew."

"We should get him to a hot spring. It would hurt but it would clean out the impurities of all the wounds and give us a clean slate…"

"Yeah, well, get him to go with you. I'm surprised he's being so calm about you semi-touching him."

"Dogs can tell when someone is trying to help."

"You aren't getting it, Kagome, he doesn't have any yokai in him anymore. He's completely human. There's nothing to sense or smell or hear. He's just like you."

Kagome was going to yell at him but she could tell that he was just tired. Tired of being captive, tired of being brave, tired of watching over Sesshomaru, tired of being tired…

"InuYasha, please go to sleep. I'll watch over Sesshomaru tonight."

InuYasha looked away with a sad look.

"I can't. I… I want to trust you, Kagome, but my body won't let me. I've been doing this for too long."

"Then undo it. I promise to make sure you're safe and your brother is safe."

"Don't you think I know that?!" he suddenly growled.

Kagome frowned and he ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm just… I know… I know you're here and that it's safe and I can go back to how things used to be but I can't. To me, you've been gone for three months and I've had to endure some hellacious things and also watch that stuck up asshole get reduced to a sniveling whatever you want to call it over there. I thought it would be fun to see him get his ass kicked around but… Hell, Kagome, if even that guy was captured and couldn't defeat that kappa then what makes you think you can? You can hardly hold your own bow and arrow, lest take down a Shikon infested kappa with a medallion that can regress people into children so he can have his fun."

"Well thanks for the confidence." Kagome growled.

"Kagome, I-"

He suddenly fell silent and Kagome looked back and saw that InuYasha was slumped over and Shippo was standing next to him. He looked at her and grinned.

"He's so tired that all I did was kick him in the face and he passed out."

Kagome sighed and moved InuYasha in a more comfortable position.

"Thank you, Shippo, but next time, try something different. He's human now so he may not be able to handle things like that. We don't need to kill him."

"Right. I'll remember."

Kagome smiled and looked back at Sesshomaru, who was no longer whimpering but was quiet. She went over to him and knelt beside his head. She leaned over and moved some of his ebony hair from his ear.

"I'll take care of you so there is no need to fear." She said softly.

Sesshomaru glanced at her but did nothing else.

Kagome kept to her promise and set up to watch over them in the night.


sorry it's short. and again, there is a reason why the sessh is the way he is.