~~OO~~II~~OO~~

((Savior))

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Inuyasha growled furiously as he landed in front of the miko he had vowed to protect with his very life, his ears swept back into his mass of silver hair out of pure rage as he bared his fangs. Blood stained his claws and hand, but he looked as if he could care less, instead glaring at the demon before him as it reared back, a claws hand clutched over the ruined part of its face, its fangs bared, still prepared to devour Kagome and make her its meal.

The thought had him seeing red. Kagome would never be anyone's meal. She belonged to him, damn it, and Kami help anyone that tried to kill her while he was around! A quiet whimper caught his attention, and Inuyasha was momentarily distracted as he glanced over his shoulder at the woman of his thoughts, who was staring at him with surprising relief, blood splattered across her face though he was relieved to smell that it was not her own, that it belonged to the demon he had just attacked.

The moment of distraction turned out to be a bad thing. The demon screamed its fury, leaped at him with a furious shriek, sending the half-demon flying with a single flick of its wrist. Inuyasha yelped in surprise as he slammed into the trunk of a tree, immediately scrambling to his feet, immediately seeing stars and staggering, immediately fighting to stay awake so that he could protect his miko.

A scared sob caught his attention, making him focus on the scene before him. The demon was looming over Kagome, whose movements were still too clumsy to allow her to escape, to allow her to live without anyone's help. She was trapped, and going to be eaten.

"Oh no you don't," Inuyasha snarled, barreling into the demon at full speed. It was the demon's turn to go flying, snapping trees in half like twigs. While the demon gathered itself together, Inuyasha didn't hesitate to scoop up Kagome, who locked her arms around his neck when he leaped back to avoid another attack. As he landed, a twinge of pain in his back had him hissing, nearly dropping to one knee. His back was still injured, he thought dully. If the wound reopened, he'd be unable to move.

He shook his head. Clearing his thoughts, he growled again at the demon, tightening his grip around Kagome. To his utter bewilderment, she sobbed, burying her face in his shoulder. The scent of fear and relief spilled from her and he fought the urge to kiss her head reassuringly, to even nuzzle it as he desperately wished to do. "Back off," he growled to the demon. Eyes flashed a dangerous red. Aura flared. "Mine."

And he meant it. Kagome belonged to him, even in this state. He had planned on making her his as soon as everything was safe. There was no way in hell he'd let anyone take her away from him. He needed her more than he'd needed his own mother as a child. Kagome was his reason for living. If she wasn't with him, there was no point to anything.

The demon paused, as if sensing his demon side rising despite the sword that rested at his hip. "Mine," Inuyasha repeated, growling. The demon finally seemed to understand. It turned and fled, screeching its anguish at the loss of its vision in one eye, and Inuyasha smirked after it, twisting his head and glancing at Kagome's face. But she'd locked her eyes on his hands with horror, and he winced. "That's not mine," he mumbled to her, unable to help snickering at his words.

Kagome glanced up at him anxiously, sky blue eyes swimming with fear and worry for the half-demon. His own golden orbs softened, and he finally allowed himself to brush his chin against her head in a gentle nuzzle of reassurance. "I'm fine," he reassured. He sniffed at her now, checking the wench for any wounds. Only a scratch or two. He sighed. She was okay.

Flopping down to sit beneath the Goshinboku, Inuyasha set Kagome down beside him, expecting her to recoil away as she'd done before. Instead, the miko actually shifted slightly closer, watching him intently with hard blue eyes, suspicious though not scared. He shrugged, beginning to lick at his hands with a grimace.

It wasn't as if he enjoyed the taste of another's' blood. He found it disgusting, actually. But there was no way he was taking the clumsy woman next to him anywhere near water, and he couldn't leave her alone after what had just happened. And he certainly couldn't force her to see him with blood covered hands, not after she'd just begun to completely trust him. His ears twitched at the breeze rustling in the trees and he paused in licking the blood away to sniff the air like a dog.

Kagome couldn't help but giggle, and he grinned at her in response, returning to cleaning his hands free. It took a while, but he finally finished. And as soon as he did, he twisted to face the tired Kagome, using his haori sleeve to hesitantly wipe at the blood on her face, cradling her cheeks gently with a look of fierce love that she could barely begin to comprehend. Kagome didn't deserve blood on her, he decided. She was a miko. She would rather have the ashes of demons she burned.

A thought hit him, and he narrowed his eyes.

Not once in the entirety of the time Kagome had been awake, had he sensed any of her miko powers making an appearance. And this worried him. How could she even begin protecting herself if she didn't have those?

He sniffed at her again. She was unharmed, he reassured himself as Kirara's scent filled his nose. He lifted his gaze to the sky, where the massive neko was slowly becoming more than a speck, lost in the clouds and sky. Anger filled him as she landed with Sango on her back, eyes ablaze with golden fury. "What the hell is wrong with you, Sango?" he bellowed. Kagome gasped in surprise. "What were you thinking, leaving her here all alone to deal with demons? She'd be dead and in a demon's gut if I hadn't shown up!"

Sango's eyes snapped wide. "You're the one that hurt that thing Kirara killed? I sensed a demon nearby. Kirara, too, and we left Kagome to hunt it down as fast as we could. It was after her?"

"And it would've killed her in a heartbeat," he growled. His eyes were sharp as flint, icy cold with his rage as he whirled away, scooping up the now half-asleep Kagome. His actions gentled; his tone softened. "She wasn't hurt, though. She trusts me a bit more, but she wasn't hurt." That said, the half-demon leaped away from the demon slayer, who gaped after him.

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

And then Inuyasha took over caring for Kagome. After becoming her savior when she was in danger, he miko seemed to finally realize that he wouldn't hurt her at all, that he'd save her rather than kill her. Much to Inuyasha's delight (and Shippo's immense disappointment), Kagome began to prefer to be around the half-demon more than anyone else. Whenever he came into Kaede's home, the powerless miko would light up, clapping eagerly.

And each and every time, when he'd rather crush her to his chest, Inuyasha crouched in front of her and twined his fingers with hers, allowing her to inspect his hand for any sign of fighting, allowed her to take care of the wounds on his back with Kaede's help. And each time, he allowed himself to lovingly ruffle her hair with that fierce look on his face before pulling back to sit by the door again.

Miroku and Inuyasha watched as the miko took her first steps by herself a few days later, a look of pride on Inuyasha's face and even a hint of it in Miroku's eyes. Miroku leaned over to mutter in Inuyasha's ear, "She was set back a lot, but she's gaining it back slowly. Her speech is coming along fairly well, too."

Inuyasha smirked, ears twitching towards Kagome. "I noticed. She seemed intent on saying something to me when I was talking with the old woman yesterday. I asked her what she needed and she got all irritated. Wouldn't look at me for the rest of the day."

Miroku chuckled. "Ah, Kaede told me about that. She said that Kagome got all flustered and hid in her futon until Shippo managed to drag her out of it to play with him and his toys."

Inuyasha nodded, ears twitching. "Feh," he muttered. "Wonder what she wanted to say."

"Eventually, Inuyasha, you'll know," Miroku replied simply.

"Inu! Roku!"

The two men raised their heads, looking over curiously when Kagome called their names. Her lips had parted in a huge grin, and she was carefully making her way over to them on two feet, Sango hovering next to her in case she wavered or fell. "Look!" she said eagerly, waving at herself.

"Good job, Kagome," Miroku praised, smiling at her. Sango was beaming, happy for her practically sister.

Inuyasha's ears pricked forward and he grinned. But his eyes darkened slightly with sadness as she flopped down beside him, her eyes gleaming with determination. Kagome furrowed her brow at this, and then waved hopefully at his head. A word left her lips, and Inuyasha jerked in surprise while Sango and Miroku roared with laughter.

"Ears?"

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A/N: I'm bored while in Germany. |D So here's the next chapter, my friends! Hope you enjoyed!