She had ignored every fact for long enough. She had ignored the fact that she now felt like she had sand in her veins; she ignored the fact that sweating now seemed like a hobby for her body; she ignored the fact that her hair needed some serious work to get it's knots out; she ignored the fact that her soul was now sick of coconuts (milk and inside); she ignored the fact that the half built lean-to was mocking her; she ignored the small piece of driftwood that used to be an elegant table leg was also mocking her by reading in sloppy, deep carvings:

Got here: August 20th/06

Inuyasha Takayama & Kagome Higurashi

Days:

IIIII IIIII IIIII

Yes, by now that was one the thing getting on her nerves most… besides the fact she had only a thick-skulled jerk for company… and she was starving and thirsty… and if they wanted to survive longer they'd need more than coconuts… they'd have to go in the forest again… most chances of being discovered were basically blown… they had been here for… for…-she counted the lines on the wood- …for fifteen day.

The part that she hated the most was the days.

The part that she longed for the most (at the moment) was fresh water.

The part that she was scared of the most, truly scared of, was the fact that they were basically dead already.

She was terrified. She had never planned on dying this way; she'd rather die almost any other way. Car crash, freezing to death, falling of a cliff, even murdered. All of those were quick and sometimes relatively painless so why did she have to lay there, too tired and weak to even get food and water, and rot till she was nothing but the sand beneath her? It was too harsh. She would die of dehydration, starvation, drowning (if she couldn't get up when the tide came in) or all of the above.

I'm going to die here, she thought I'm going to die and rot and no one will ever know that at least two people survived the crash. Tears swelled up in her eyes even though she knew she shouldn't cry. She had promised herself days ago that cry did nothing but waste energy and very valuable body fluids. But she still couldn't help a few tears from overflowing onto the sand where she lay.

"Inuyasha," Kagome rasped. Since when did it hurt to talk? She felt as if her mouth was full of sand.

When no one answered Kagome looked to her left where he was only to see the sand stretch out along the tree line with nothing on it. Kagome propped herself up on her elbow and looked around. Wasn't he here just a minute ago? Was she really going insane that fast?

Speaking of Inuyasha, he had never changed his attitude, just as he said. He remained rude, obnoxious, and contradicting much to Kagome's distaste. She never knew what had happened to the Inuyasha on the boat and she didn't think she ever would but somehow, in the last fifteen days, he had become more tolerable. Kagome adapted to his ways, just agreeing that he was right when it came to petty arguments (though others would call it 'Taking a dive'). When it came to large disagreements like food, water or shelter, Kagome had managed to stand up for herself and do things her own way. She did have to give Inuyasha credit, though. He was the only reason they had some sort of shelter in the first place. His persistency to keep adding on to it was making it build at a slow pace, but rather that than it end up being a crap-shack in the end.

But there was something about Inuyasha she couldn't quite put her finger on. Kagome didn't know whether it was his sudden change in personality from raft to island or his odd disappearances into the tree line, she always got a bad vibe; like there was something he wasn't telling her. His disappearances into the forest did not only make her feel uncomfortable and untrustworthy but they made her worry. What if one time he left but never came back? What if he did come back with a serious injury? Kagome wasn't capable of handling that sort of stuff.

Not only was Kagome worried for Inuyasha; she was worried for herself as well. Kagome knew Inuyasha could handle himself fairly well so far; he had proved that after he fearless fended of a large snake (One that she was fairly sure was poisonous) that was looking for a meal. Kagome surely would have been bitten and poisoned and left for dead. She knew, though it was very hard for her to admit, that without Inuyasha on this island she'd already be dead.

Not wanting to be left alone Kagome stood up on wobbly legs, falling down once, and made her way to the trees. She saw no footprints in the sand so she walked behind their little hut and decided to go in from there. As she entered the trees she tried as hard as she could to watch out for branches, roots and rocks. She surprised herself when she didn't even stumble.

If Kagome was in her right mind at the moment she would be screaming at herself for being an idiot. Going into this forest was almost suicide. She had tried once already in an attempt to find water and food but ended up coming back a half an hour later with bruises from falling and cuts from tree branches. All that mattered now though was finding Inuyasha and yelling at him for doing the one thing she was doing – Going into the forest alone. Not to mention that she really wanted to find out why he kept going into the forest in the first place. Also, she trusted Inuyasha more than this island and really didn't want to be alone.

Kagome lazily shifted her way through branches, trying to see if she could get a slight indication of where that guy was. It seemed to her like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Cliché, she knew, but very accurate. "Inuyasha," she called out weakly. The only response she received back was the hollow echo of her own voice. With an impatient sigh Kagome took another unstable step forwards only to have it suddenly jerk down. She let out a small yelp as she fell forward, her foot still stuck in the small hole made by who-knows-what animal. Kagome tried to lift herself up with her hands only to fall back down with another sudden jerk. She felt a small crack in her ankle as she was now facing up, twisting her foot in an awkward position. Kagome bit her lip to force back the tears of pain blurring her vision. She refused to cry out in pain once again. She succeeded at flipping herself back on her only to now hear a sickening 'criiick' in her foot.

Kagome looked around for anything; anything to help pull herself up and all she came up with was a long, brittle twig and a short vine. Then, for one second her mind seemed to fight off the invading haze and one mentally formed word appeared – pulley. Before she knew it Kagome had already slung the vine around a near-by tree limp and used her small twig to pull over the other end of the vine. She looked at both ends of the rope then forwards in thought. Now what?

Inuyasha's voice answered her own. Knot, stupid. Make a knot! His face flashed through her mind as she felt her temper starting to heat up like water under a stove burner. Kagome huffed and blew out her cheeks. "Well so-rry, you royal pain in the ass! The only reason I'm in this mess is because of you, you seem to forget!" Her hands worked as she fumed over the imaginary voice's taunting.

Before she new it, she was tugging on the make-shift rope causing the knotted ended, which was tied around the other end, to slide up to the very top of the tree branch. Kagome blew out another sigh, this one of desperate hope, and attempted to pull herself up. Her hands, now raw and sore, rubbed against the roughness of the vine but she didn't notice. She would prove herself. She wasn't hopeless, or dependant or weak. She was intelligent, resourceful and was not going to die because of a God forsaken hole after she survived a crash! Inuyasha wasn't the only independent person!

Kagome's hands slipped in an instant and she found herself in a bigger heap than before. Her hair was strewn on the ground pitifully, tears of pain dripping down her chin as her ankle was shoved deeper in the ground on an awkward angle. She had barely moved, and even then it was in the opposite direction.

"You know, you're hopeless." A voice echoed in the forest. Kagome's head shot up. It didn't sound like Inuyasha yet at the same time the voice sounded familiar. "You think you can find a person in this whole jungle yet you can't even pick yourself up off the ground? You're completely right, that is independence!" Kagome recognized the voice, and she could even pin-point it, too. It was coming from herself. She was talking to herself.

Kagome lay her head down on the mossy earth, ignoring crippling pain sent up her spine as she crushed her ankle further. Her eyelids drooped halfway down and she chocked a sob. Why can't I do anything right? She thought. Why am I so… so…useless?

Kagome's head began to swim as she realized she couldn't breathe. She became unaware of her head resting on the ground and the forest around her faded darker and darker until there was nothing left. She wasn't sure whether she had closed her eyes or if it was the lack of oxygen, but she was too confused and exhausted to tell. She had been stupid; stupid to go wandering; stupid to worry; stupid to use up the last bit of her energy of a man that could take care of himself. She was stupid and now there was nothing she could do about it.

A small gust of wind blew in her face followed by a deep noise, one that she couldn't distinguish or comprehend. It seemed to be coming from above her and suddenly she was aware of tugging... on her arm? She wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Soon, the noise stopped like everything else did. She couldn't remember anything after that.

OOO

Why are people so easy to worry, women especially? Why do people always jump to conclusions and not think before they rush into action? Why don't they think about all of the other options they had and all the other possibilities that can occur in a situation? Why? It was driving him mad.

Why did Kagome rush into the forest alone? Why did she have to act like his mother, never letting him out of her sight, when she couldn't even stand without falling? Why did she try to act like a mother when she couldn't even take care of herself? Why wouldn't she just worry about herself and how she was going to live?

Inuyasha gave another sigh, and it registered in his mind that he had found a new hobby – sighing. He shifted the weight on his back a few times before progressing any farther. Even for him, it was becoming difficult to carry the dead-to-the-world girl on his back and that just made it all the more painfully aware that he was growing more dehydrated as the days passed. Coconuts were no longer enough. They needed pure water; freshwater.

The man paused from his trek though the forest once again and scoped his surroundings. Trees were among trees; rocks pilled on the backs of other rocks; leaves made bumps in the ground as they brunched into small heaps. Everything looked fine, but the environment was lacking something - something vital and important. Noise and movement were missing in the woods.

Inuyasha's senses picked up on high alert, almost subconsciously. There were no bugs chattering on the tips of the trees, no birds seen above the almost impenetrable canopy and no small, quick animals scurrying around. It was as if time had frozen in place, but at the same time it hadn't. Inuyasha did a half-turn in anxiety before snapping his head back to its original position as he heard rustling in the brush more than 40 feet away from him. He braced his feet firmly on the mossy ground and tightened his grip around the limp legs that dangled from his waist. The crunching came closer.

A black oval erupted from the dense foliage with tousled bits of string set in every direction on every part of the shape. And then, even more unexpectedly, another oval came up through the brush but brown and more tame than the first. As this was happening the original form had grown closer revealing a new colour uncommon to its surroundings – cream – skin.

If Inuyasha's senses hadn't been acutely prepared before now they were going haywire. There were other people, live people, on this island. They weren't alone; they were probably never alone in the first place.

Oddly, the only thing Inuyasha's mind could come up with was the most inadequate thing he could think at the moment – why were they so loud?

And they were loud. He could hear them both clearly, the obvious female voice louder than what seemed like a timid, scared voice of a male, arguing over something he couldn't grasp yet. But he was fairly sure that it had something to do with clothing.

"You seriously need to throw it away! It's no use to us 'cause it's all torn and ratty, plus you can't even wear it." The female's irked voice cut in through the silence.

"There's a use for everything, so just leave it be. It has to be useful for something. You're making too big of a deal out of this. It's not doing any harm sitting in the plane." Inuyasha noticed that the male voice had a knowledgeable, relaxing air to it yet, at the same time, it held authority and reasoning, He must be a big guy when it came to charisma, Inuyasha thought, another unimportant thought popping up. But all the while Inuyasha's tense grip and firm foothold never relaxed.

The two heads came closer to view, showing their whole bodies except for the feet that were still covered by the shorter, thinner fern. Like Inuyasha had assumed earlier, one was male, taller than his companion and had ruffled, cropped jet-black hair. If Inuyasha was a girl or gay, he would have probably said that he was so handsome that he could make just about anyone want him and his navy eyes, but, thank God, Inuyasha wasn't gay or a girl.

The woman reminded him very much of Kagome, yet at the same time they were nothing alike. She seemed to hold a certain air to her, defiance and confidence, which also were shown in her large brown eyes. Her caramel hair flowed and then down, as it was set in a high ponytail held by a ratty scrunchy. Inuyasha was free to admit that she was a woman blessed with looks, just like her friend. Her face was in the same heart shape form that contracted well with her shape features. She probably could influence people to her desires with a flicker of eye contact and a little flirting.

Inuyasha was nervously aware that the couple was closing in on Kagome and himself and knew that eventually they would see them. He debated in his head whether or not to show himself by stepping out into the open or slinking back into the forest. The two didn't look too well groomed, they were about as clean as he was actually, but there had also been mention of a plane. Were they rescuers, or were they a threat in some way? Something was off about this island, that much Inuyasha knew, but could this pair really be it?

There was a rolling feeling on Inuyasha's back. He looked over his shoulder and saw Kagome stirring around before suddenly stopping, her face angled towards his. Her eyes twitched moments after for they opened, slowly at first, to reveal her beautiful coffee orbs. Several events occurred after that.

Kagome's mouth opened, about to speak to him. Inuyasha, with lightning speed, swung her around and clamped a stiff hand firmly over her mouth. Her eyes widened as she struggled to get away from the imposing hand and Inuyasha felt her teeth bite sharply into his fingers. Inuyasha choked back words he was about to scream as he leaned down to Kagome's ear.

"Let. Go." He ground out between clenched teeth. Kagome's head shook back and forth. By the look on her face Inuyasha guessed she didn't even know who he was at the moment. "It's me," He hissed angrily. "Inuyasha." Kagome's head twisted around slightly to see her 'attacker'. Inuyasha let out a quiet sigh of relief as her determined biting relaxed, even though she threw a deadly glare his way. She continued to stare at hi for a moment, rage still evident in her eyes before once again he felt a sharp pain in his hand. Inuyasha groaned lowly in pain before bending down to her ear again. He released his death grip from her waist – which he just realized was there and suspending her a good foot off the ground as he crushed her to his body – and pulled his right hand to rest against her temple.

"As a last resort I will knock you out, though right now I'm considering it because you were much more agreeable when you were sleeping." He said in a hushed, threatening tone. His fingertips pressed lightly into her temple.

Kagome's teeth pressed harder into his skin for a moment as if to let him know that he wasn't going to get off scotch free before she finally let go. Her gaze finally dropped from his face and her posture slackened, though she crossed her arm in defiance. Inuyasha also realized she was only supporting herself on her good foot. Inuyasha took in a slow, cleansing breath, remembering his anger management counselling while closing his eyes. Then he exhaled slowly and reopened them, ignoring the throb in his hand. The teeth marks probably weren't going to leave for a while.

"Look," Inuyasha said and to his own ears he sounded exasperated. He reminded himself to calm down unless he wanted a matching set of teeth marks. "I am going to put you back onto my back but whatever you do, do not make a sound. No matter what." Inuyasha wasn't about to tell her about the people. For all he knew she would be naïve enough to run up and hug them, tripping and crying all the way… she'd probably pass out once she got there. Inuyasha snorted to himself. Yea, that was Kagome alright.

Inuyasha studied the couple who seemed to be out of Kagome's view but not his. He grimaced, knowing that if he passed up the opportunity to meet these people he could easily be passing up his chance of survival. It helps; he told himself, that they don't have anything that could be used as a weapon on them. It slightly comforted him but then the thought came back to slap him in the face telling him that if they had no sort of weapon then they probably weren't rescue. Rescue wouldn't walk into a forest full of dangerous animals without protection. And with that bit of information in mind Inuyasha swung Kagome onto his back once again – ignoring the small whoosh of air that came out of her like someone had punched her in the gut – and headed out into the open.

A/N: I came up with a new plan. If I don't update for at least two weeks send me hate mail to my hotmail address iloveinu2005 hotmail . com (With no spaces) and that should get me out of my funk. I do plan on writing more stories but I want to get this one done first and it is at least 20 chapters, the way I'm planning it.