Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Zelda.

Simple Dreams

Chapter 7

firefox369

They were falling.

Kagome wasn't sure, but she wondered if that loud scream she heard was coming from her. Her mouth was open, and she did feel as if air was going through her lungs. She glanced at Link, who looked like he was concentrating very hard on making sure he wouldn't belly flop into the lake.

It would appear that, yes, that screaming was her. She tried to stop. Really, she did, but she was so positive that she was going to die that she couldn't.

Link yanked on her arm and pulled her flush against his body, one hand resting on her back and the other buried in her hair. Oh, would you look at that. She stopped screaming.

"It'll be alright" he shouted over the roaring wind in their ears. She noticed somewhere in the back of her mind that his cap had fallen off, and his long bangs were whipping wildly in his face. Kagome snaked her other arm around his body. Her hand grabbed onto the back of his tunic as she stifled another scream. "Plug your nose!"

Somewhere during the drop their positions had changed and Link had placed himself beneath her, fully intending to take the brunt of the impact. The hit, Kagome realized, would most likely break his spine, and she began to panic. Just before they hit, a large cushion of air formed beneath them to slow their descent just enough to make sure that Link wouldn't be injured.

Link slammed into the water first, the blow knocking the air out of his lungs. He couldn't help but breathe in, and his lungs began to fill with water. Meanwhile, Kagome was still disoriented from the drop. She could feel Link's body tense and squirm against her own, his hand squeezing her own so hard she was sure her fingers were about to snap in half. And then she saw the agony in his expression and the air bubbles coming from his mouth. Pushing up through the water with as much strength as she could muster, she propeled herself upwards and towards the surface with Link in tow.

After what felt like an eternity, they broke through and Kagome brought them to shore as fast as she could. Epona met her at the waters edge, grabbing her master's tunic and dragging him out of the water. Link coughed and coughed and coughed some more, rolling onto his side. Each cough brought up more water, but the deep, starved intakes of air told both females that he would survive.

Kagome rubbed small circles on his back, worrying over his reddening face. Tears began to leak out of his eyes due to the neverending onslaught of water he had breathed in. He coughed for so long that Kagome thought he was going to pop some blood vessels and hack up his very heart before he plopped onto his back in an exhausted, soggy heap.

"Sorry you had to see that" he joked, but his voice was hoarse. He rubbed the remaining tears from his eyes with his soaked gauntlet and sniffled. Kagome took in the way his chest heaved up and as he gasped for air, the way he grit his teeth in pain, and the way his throat bobbed as he occasionally swallowed between breaths. Strangely, instead of feeling guilty or worried, she felt angry. Furious even.

She trembled under the force of her own wrath.

Link saw her shivering and began to sit up, intending to reach out and take her hand again, maybe even hug her if it was because she was cold.

"You..." she whispered, balling her hands into tight fists. Her knuckles turned white.

"This usually doesn't happen Kagome. I swear" he coughed.

He suddenly found himself on his back once more, the air knocked out of him again due to a rough blow to his chest. Link groaned.

For a malnourished girl, Kagome had one hell of a right hook.

He rolled his head to the side so he could squint at Kagome more clearly, and was surprised to see her blue eyes sparking to life with that untamed anger.

"You! You!" she repeated the word a few more times, unsure of how to continue and punctuating each one with a sharp poke to his chest. "You could have died!"

Link gazed at her, one eyebrow quirked upward. "Almost dying is a daily thing for me, Kagome" he stated matter of factly, sitting up again. This time she let him while she clumsily tried to get one of the long locks of hair sticking to her face unstuck. Her dark cloak, even more ragged than before, was an inky blob around her form, the very tail of it still waving in the water.

"But you promised! Right before we jumped!"

Had he promised something? He had. Oops.

"We're still alive, aren't we?"

"That's not the point!" She was wailing now, he noticed with amusement. And then she tackled him, burying her face in his chest as she sniffled and hiccuped. "I thought you were going to die!"

Link thought he was going to die too, but he didn't tell her that. He scoffed instead. "I saved the world. As if a little drop is going to kill me." Still, he wrapped his arms around her tiny body and held her close.

"No more cliff jumping?" she sniffed, looking up at him with wide, watery eyes. Link swallowed thickly, knowing that there was no possible way he would be able to get out of this one. Those eyes were just so big and blue and watery and desperate...

"I can promise you that cliff jumping is not something I want to try again."

Looking relatively satisfied, Kagome once again snuggled her face into his tunic, and for a moment he thought that she acted more like a pet than a slave. He wisely kept his opinions to himself and lowered his chin onto the top of her head. His green cap was still fluttering down from the cliff, and he watched it gently hit the water with a small plop. He made a mental reminder to go and pick it up later.

"Welcome to Hyrule, Kagome."

The girl sniffed, but the wind blew jovially around them. He wasn't sure what had compelled him to say what he said next, but something in the back of his mind told him that she deserved it, that they were right.

"Welcome home."

As if on cue, Kagome turned into another blubbering mess.


Plip. Plip. Plip.

"Why are you crying, love?" a voice asked curiously and Kagome looked up from her bindings to stare straight into the cold eyes of her former protector. He was once so kind to her, so gentle, what had happened to him to turn him into such a monster?

She firmly clamped her mouth shut, not wanting to speak to him. Maybe, just maybe, if she was lucky enough he would leave her alone and stop torturing her confused heart and aching soul. A calloused hand gently carressed her cheek and she instinctively closed her eyes, fighting the urge to lean into the comforting touch. For a moment, she felt like time had turned back and they were both children again. Innocent, gullible, and completely unaware. Kagome's reverie was cut short, however, when she moved to touch the man with her hand only to feel the resistance of the chains that shackled her to the stone wall behind her. The sound of the metal chains being pulled taut brought her back to her painful reality.

As if the sound snapped his trance as well, the hand moved away and his presence disappeared along with it.

When Kagome opened her eyes to see if he was truly gone, all her eyes met was the familiar darkness of the dank cell.

"You've changed" she whispered, fully aware that he would not be able to hear her.


Link hurt.

After all the coughing he'd done earlier that day, it felt like every single muscle in his body was about to give up on him and die, including his heart. And even though his throat wasn't really a muscle, he was sure his throat was about to go and commit suicide too.

Did he mention his lungs? Because his lungs definitely belonged in that mix.

Oh, and his-

"Link?"

The hero wiped the pout off his face and turned to face the raven-haired girl. Her eyes, though still slightly red and puffy from all the crying she'd done, were wide and hopeful. And glancing fretfully towards the lake every few seconds. Understanding exactly what she wanted, Link (unintentionally) stifled his groan beneath some leftover water and a bit of bile and coughed instead.

Once he was done coughing up whatever liquid concoction was lodged in his throat, he turned to look at Kagome again.

"Yes?" he asked politely, acting as if nothing had ever happened.

The girl looked at the sand beneath her feet and began to nervously twiddle her thumbs. She wasn't stupid. She knew Link wasn't feeling well, and after the incident she was sure he wasn't about to step foot near the water, too.

"Can I play in the lake? You don't need to come with me and I'll stay close to the shore. I know how to swim, but you know that considering I, um... but I'll make sure to be really careful and you really don't have to go in after me." Kagome was rambling and repeating herself, she knew, but she was nervous and couldn't help it. Rambling was a bad habit, one that she'd never truly been able to get rid of. "I can grab your hat while I'm at it, and-"

"Kagome" Link interrupted, thoroughly amused, and she stopped speaking. "No one's stopping you."

"But-"

"He ain't here."

Kagome's mouth snapped shut. Link held out his hand, offering to take her bow and quiver. "Give me those, I'll watch them for you. You go have some fun."

Now that she had gotten what she wanted, she began to hesitate. When was the last time Nial had given her what she wanted without punishing her afterwards? She honestly couldn't remember.

"It's been a while since you last came here, right? Though after that little tumble earlier I think I'll just stay here and watch" Link stated, smiling a little when Kagome began to grin. "Go on, shoo. Off with you."

The girl full out smiled and practically flung the weapon off her shoulder and into Link's face before bolting to the water with a nearly inaudible 'whoop.' Epona chased after her and waded in as far as she dared. Like Kagome promised, she stayed close to shore. A little too close in his opinion - they were playing in ankle high water - but that didn't matter. As long as he didn't have to run in after her and save her, he was fine.

Kagome kicked up the water at her feet, splashing the young mare. The horse tolerated it until Kagome kicked particularly hard and a few drops of water were splashed up Epona's large nostril. With an indignant whinny, she knocked Kagome with her head and watched with much satisfaction as the girl went tumbling into the lake. For a while the girl just sat there soaking from head to toe and completely stunned, confused, and dazed. Once she had regained her bearings, she stood with a huff and stomped over to the mare, making huge splashed as she went. Epona smartly began to back away.

Now, Kagome had done many stupid things in her life. She'd made fun of Link's unfortunate lack of family, she'd bullied two month old Souta for being cuter than her, she'd flaunted her stubbornness in Nial's face and stabbed him with an arrow, and most recently she'd jumped off an 80 foot cliff. The list would need to be amended, however.

Wrestling with a horse would need to be added.

Epona easily shoved Kagome off with a snuff of her nose and another push. The girl went tumbling into the water again.

It would need to be written in bold, underlined in red ink, and circled a million times, Kagome decided. There was no winning against Epona.

Link watched from ashore, holding his stomach. Now, he tried very, very hard to hold in his laughter, but his muscles hurt and he was feeling a bit tired so his efforts were in vain. The sad thing was that it wouldn't have been in vain if he hadn't accidentally snorted.

A very wet, soppy Kagome blinked up at Link when she heard the noise, then blushed furiously when loud guffaws erupted from his trembling body. Epona sniffed and stepped out of the water, being careful not to slip in the sand. Her long white tail flicked to and fro, gently whipping at her hind legs. Gracefully, the mare bit the back of Link's tunic, dragged his struggling body across the sandy beach, and dropped him (butt first, mind you) none to gently into the shallow water at Kagome's side. She trotted out of the water and across the sand until she had nearly reached the small tufts of grass before turning around and scrutinizing her masterpiece.

Both Kagome and Link were watching her, flabbergasted. Both of their jaws had dropped at some point, and two pairs of cerulean eyes stared at her in shocked wonder.

With a satisfied neigh, she trotted further onto shore and dipped her head, fully intending to graze what grass she could find here to extinction. She hadn't had a decent grassy meal in days and she was starting to get famished.

In the shallow water, Link and Kagome continued to sit. Neither had yet fully comprehended what exactly had happened.

"Has she always been that smart?" Kagome asked. Epona glanced at them from the corner of one of her large, onyx eyes.

"I don't know" Link replied flatly. Water dripped from his hair and down the back of his shirt, making a shiver run down his spine. One of Epona's ears flicked towards them and she began to listen in on their conversation. They realized then that if Epona could speak, she would have made an excellent spy.

There was a moment of silence.

"She plays dirty" Kagome stated with finality. She could have sworn she saw the mare glare for a split second.

"She's a horse, I don't even think she knows what 'playing dirty' means."

There was another moment of silence.

"No more wrestling with Epona?"

"Glad you think so too."

They both agreed: Epona was invincible.