She leaned her head back against the bars of their prison and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pounding in her head and the way her mouth felt like it was on fire. The burn was pure pain, not heat, and she grimaced, smacking her lips together and regretting it when the renewed taste of blood and bitter herbs filled her mouth. She felt quite dizzy now, and figured that wasn't a good sign.
They sat there in silence for a long moment, and she could hear the way his breathing was slowly growing steadier, and when she rolled her head to look at him, wincing when the movement made her stomach lurch, she could see that his face was much more relaxed and less shiny with sweat.
She gently blew a little air at him and his ears twitched, before he turned his head a bit to give her the side eye. At her questioning look, obviously meaning, "how do you feel?" he sighed and rolled his shoulders as if testing them.
"I can feel my strength returning and the burn from the poison is slowly leaving. Those herbs were great, Kagome."
She grinned tiredly.
They didn't communicate again for another long while. Kagome could feel herself slowly drifting, the poison now in her system from being absorbed through the sensitive insides of her mouth, and she felt more and more woozy and nauseous, and her body began to grow unresponsive, the paralysis part of it hitting her. Those herbs were really only good as a poultice, and were good for cleaning blood, but in terms of ingested poison they didn't do squat, which was bad news for her.
By the time Koga reappeared in front of the cage door, she was almost seeing double, and had to squint at him to figure out who was now speaking. She also had a little trouble focusing on the words, since they sounded strangely echo-y.
She eventually was able to make it out after some effort. "Hey! What did you do to him? Why does he have all that green stuff on him?"
She didn't really feel like responding so she didn't. And that seemed to really tick him off, judging by the way he unlocked the cage door and reached in to grab her, his hand once again wrapping around her already bruised and still very sore throat to haul her forward. She only managed a weak silent groan, which sounded like a sigh, feeling the pain but unable to really express it with her sluggish lungs. She'd rather succumb to the sleepiness of the poison, rather than the burn she could feel rushing through her whole body now.
But she was forced to awareness as she slammed against the open cage door, giving her a strong sense of dejavu.
As soon as all that fuzzy cotton was ripped out from between her ears she was suddenly bombarded with all the pain of the poison coursing through her system, making her insides feel like they were burning and cramping up. Her entire stomach and digestive system felt like the world's worst menstrual cramp, or like a truly horrific case of either diarrhea or vomit, or both, in the making.
A very loud gust of air, which was her pathetic silent scream now issued from her throat as she tried to curl into herself, almost forgetting about the hand around her neck in favor of the abrupt wake up call to the enormous amount of pain she was now in. Her skin immediately broke into a cold sweat and she began panting to try and relieve some of the pain. Of course the fact that her throat was being constricted sort of interfered with her heavy breathing, and she ended up choking instead, wheezing pathetically.
"Hey bastard! Let her go!" Inuyasha roared from behind her, and she heard a distinctive ripping sound that said he had broken free from his restraints.
She plopped to the ground as the hand was removed from around her neck and she immediately curled into a fetal position. She heard a great amount of loud noises, crashing, booming, and yelling along with the sounds of Inuyasha drawing his sword and clanging metal. It sounded like he was now fighting with the enemy pack, but she was so absorbed in her pain that she couldn't bring herself to stand or even to look up. She gritted her teeth and did some deep breathing, doing her best to get it under control. Inuyasha could need her help, as little as she could provide right now, and she needed to be more aware of her surroundings in the middle of a battle situation.
She was just managing to shakily push herself up onto her knees, with the intent of trying to drag herself to her feet next…maybe…when a warm hand landed on her shoulder. She flinched, and Inuyasha's voice hurried to reassure her.
"It's just me! Sorry for scaring you. Hey…what are you doing? Why are you still here? Are you okay?" He sounded concerned and confused.
She silently groaned again and held back a heave as she forced herself to sit up. Her vision and hearing cut out for a brief second as she felt a major dizzy wave hit her and she gritted her teeth as a fresh layer of clammy sweat broke over her skin.
She mouthed, "I'm okay."
That was a lie and they both knew it.
"Shit! Damn it all, Kagome, you got some of that poison in your system when you tended to my wounds didn't you?" At her weak nod he cursed some more and then said, "You shouldn't have done that Kagome, there had to be a way to get the paste on without getting the poison in your mouth right?"
She just shrugged and wheezed, trying to stand, only to fall back on one knee and nearly threw up at the vertigo and spinning world. Her muscles also didn't want to respond to her, and wouldn't even if she hadn't been dealing with all the other stuff as well.
Was it just her or was it getting really hot and hard to breath?
"We have to fight our way out Kagome, do you think you can ride on my back for just a little while?" Inuyasha urgently asked, already grabbing onto her arms, cutting off the restraints with his claws before twisting his body while still holding her arms, looping them over his neck as he backed up to get his back pressed against her front.
She nodded, frustrated by her weakness. She tightened her arms around his neck and grabbed fistfuls of his still loose shirt on either side. She shuffled forwards and since he was squatting in front of her she was able to hook her knees up onto his hips, her thighs trembling as he stood. Before, on the way to his village, she had no problem riding his back like this, but right now it took all her strength to stay on and she buried her face into his neck and hair, taking deep breaths and squeezing her eyes closed as she focused on just hanging on for dear life.
He wielded his sword, Tessaiga, mercilessly with one hand, his other gripping under one of her knees to help support her. He was running fast, and the violent motions of his sword swings nearly threw her off more than once and she gripped even harder, her arms and legs trembling violently now as she heaved for breath. Soon he was flying through the forest surrounding the camp. She almost didn't even realize he had slowed to a stop until his hands gripped her shaking forearms and gently pried them from around his neck and shoulders. She gasped, letting go, and immediately began to fall. Inuyasha, having exceptionally fast reflexes, reached his arm around behind him and grabbed her as he whipped his body around, neatly catching her and now holding her almost bridal style in his arms, cradled to his green, bloody, bare chest.
The fast movement and somewhat rough transition had her head spinning, which was not good for her sense of balance or her sense of wellbeing right now. She winced and rested her head against his chest, only to twitch and pull back somewhat at the feel of skin. She noted, with a great deal of relief, that now the poison was out of his system, his wounds were all almost healed.
"So why didn't you use that herb on yourself?" Inuyasha asked as he began running again, this time in the direction of where they had been before this whole capturing business. Hopefully the others had managed to escape and would be looking for them.
She mimed putting it on skin, and then mimed putting it in her mouth, only to shake her head, indicating that it was good as a poultice but not as something for ingested poison.
"Okay. So it wasn't good for poison you swallow. Is there another herb you know of that works for that?" His golden eyes peered down at her, looking mostly calm but there was a tenseness to them that betrayed how freaked out he really was.
She gathered what little mental faculties she had left available to her and managed to glance around, noting that luckily they were in the right type of forest for it. She guided him to the most likely place to find it by pointing, and eventually she spied some and gestured with some of the last of her strength.
They gathered a good deal of the stuff and then Inuyasha set off at top speed, planning to run all the way back to the village. Only an hour into the trip and Kagome passed out, which didn't bode well, and Inuyasha kicked it into top gear, tucking the herb into a pocket inside his robe for storage and then setting her down for a brief second to allow himself to transform. He could run much faster in his dog form. Once transformed, he very, very gently grabbed Kagome in his jaws, getting a hold of her bunched up yukata.
Once she was secure, he took off, pushing himself harder and faster than he ever remembered doing before. He had to get to the village.
However, he was given a lucky break when he happened across Sango on her way back from a scouting trip herself that she had taken with Kilala, her demon-cat. Smelling her through the thick scent of Kagome sort of clogging up his nose, since she was right there after all, he shifted course, kicking up a spray of dirt on the wide turn since he didn't slow down even a little. In fact, he was going just a tad too fast, and nearly had his paws slide out from under him, threatening to land him on his side, but he bunched up his hindquarters for extra push and then churned his paws while digging in his claws for extra traction, and somehow he managed to pull himself out of the skid. He was panting heavily around Kagome by now, and she was swinging around a little, but he strained his neck to try and keep her as steady as possible while the rest of him flailed around in the little impromptu stunt.
Thanks to whatever gods were looking out for him, he was able to find Sango within mere minutes after first scenting her, and he dashed at top speed towards her, only slowing once he was basically almost on top of her. Kilala, seeing him coming first, transformed into her much larger fierce lionic version of herself and grabbed Sango's clothes with her teeth before throwing them both back to avoid collision.
Inuyasha needed to perform a quick stop, without tossing himself head over ass, and so he threw his rear around in a fishtail and crouched, locking his muscles into place as his claws caught the ground and forced them to stop in a rather violent skid. He finally screeched to a halt in front of Sango, facing her thanks to the reversal of butt-to-head placement that had thrown him into that fishtail.
Not waiting for her to scold him on the rather dangerous greeting, he carefully placed Kagome on the ground, and Sango was instantly on her knees beside the other woman, asking what had happened as Kilala trotted up and nosed the passed out Kagome.
Thankfully, the other dog-demon had her camping gear, and as soon as she was apprised of the situation she instantly gave Inuyasha her cooking pot and set about laying out her sleeping futon for Kagome. Since he could now boil the herb to make a medicinal tea, which was the last thing she had been able to mime before passing out, there was no need to go all the way to the village. Inuyasha could tell time was of the essence, and so he transformed back, setting about making tea with a fierceness that seemed at odds with the activity.
The picture he portrayed: a demon in disarray, with his kosode and robe flapping open in the wind and his bare chest and stomach smeared in green still, not to mention dirt now, doing something as domestic and inane as making tea, but with wild eyes and gritted teeth, probably would have been highly humorous. Sango, when she glanced back to see this sight, would have laughed hysterically under any other circumstances, and could only hope that there would be a chance to laugh at it in retrospect. But the intensity with which he attacked the task only underscored how serious this situation was.
Inuyasha had no idea how he looked, nor did he give a flying fuck, all he cared about was getting that tea made as fast as demonly possible. As soon as he got a fire going he propped up a pot of water that had come from a water canteen Sango was thankfully also carrying. He got it boiling, with the aid of much cussing to hurry the fuck up, and dropped the herbs in to make her a tea like she had mimed to do. All the while, he glanced anxiously over at her as Sango hurried to make Kagome comfortable on her sleeping futon.
She didn't look too good, her skin flushed and wet with sweat, and she was panting and grimacing. Every so often a soft air-groan or gasp would come from her and Inuyasha's ears, which were swiveled towards her, would flinch and lay flat to his head for a second. For everyone there, the tea took longer than any other tea to steep, but eventually it was ready and Inuyasha ladled it into a cup and walked over to where Kagome was laying limp on the futon.
She, meanwhile, was utterly out of it, drifting in a sea of pain and weird shifting light and voices that she couldn't really understand. She gradually became aware of someone shaking her, and a very familiar voice calling to her. It was a voice that made her insides glow warmly, and she eased somewhat, her fear lessening at the confusing mess of nonsense. It was Inuyasha, she knew, and his name was formed on her lips with a sigh, which made her aware of her lips. Once she was more aware of her lips, she became more aware of her body, and that let her figure out how to peel her eyelids open, squinting and whimpering as the dim light of the setting sun made her head split wide open in a frantic headache.
The fuzzy outline of Inuyasha came more into focus as he leaned in closer, his face only inches from her own as his brightly glowing eyes flicked over her face with worry. Once he noticed her eyes were open he smiled with relief, though fear still shone brightly in his eyes, and he said, "Hey, you're awake. Good. Drink this, I made the tea like you showed me."
It took her a long moment to translate the words in her head, the sounds and movements of his lips not making sense at first. Her blank stare must have concerned him, because his mouth formed a snarl and fear sparked in his eyes even more, along with a brief flash of irritation that crinkled his eyebrows.
He grunted and his arm wrapped around her, looping under while his forearm laid along her spine. His hand came to rest under her head as he propped her up. She stayed limp and compliant in his grasp, the pain in her body preventing her from doing anything to help. The movement did seem to stir the pain more and it increased, making a fresh batch of sweat pop up on her skin. She wheezed a little, unable to help the pained sound from coming from her, and Inuyasha made some sort of sympathetic noise deep in the back of his throat.
Once she was up enough, the rim of a cup was pushed against her lips, and after a brief moment of confusion, Kagome figured out it was a cup and she was supposed to drink whatever was inside. She parted her lips and a bitter fluid filled her mouth, making her sputter and choke as the taste assaulted her tongue. She would have spit it out if Inuyasha hadn't set the cup down quickly and covered her mouth with that hand.
She stared up at him miserably.
"You need to swallow, Kagome. It will make you feel better." He said very slowly and carefully, exhibiting an exceptionally rare show of patience as he dealt with her poison-dulled mind.
The clear explanation, said so distinctly and slowly reached even her, and she swallowed, having to try several times before succeeding. Inuyasha's hand removed itself from her mouth and he pressed the cup back against her lips. She grimaced and obediently drank the nasty stuff, taking tiny sips this time.
He didn't admonish her for taking such small mouthfuls. Whatever it took for her to be able to get it down was fine with him, he was willing to sit here and hold her and the cup for as long as he needed to.
She managed to get down about half of the cup before she felt darkness creeping into her vision and her eyes started fluttering. Inuyasha noticed immediately and did his best to rouse her, trying desperately to get her to drink the last bit of tea, but it was no use because she was already out like a light.
He gritted his teeth and gently laid her back down, her limp head lolling to the side in a very disconcerting manner. Struggling to swallow the lump in his throat, he sat back on his haunches, just watching her sleep as he tried to figure out what to do to help. At this moment in time, there wasn't much that he could do though and he was left with just waiting and hoping she got enough of the antidote in her.
He parked himself right beside her, and stayed there awake and watching long after Sango and Kilala had passed out from exhaustion, falling asleep curled up together across the fire from Kagome.
And so he sat, waiting and watching as Kagome tossed her head from side to side, her teeth gritted and wheezes - which he had to assume were in place of pained groans - coming from her chest as she shivered in agony.
Kagome was indeed having a very not-fun time, and cried out into the darkness of her own mind, struggling to wake up from the nightmare she was stuck in. Nothing made sense; up was down and down was up, everything was dark and blurry, and everything radiated agony. She couldn't escape the burning pain, she couldn't get away from the heat of the fever now blasting her senses, she couldn't run from the crawling, aching feeling in her gut. She was lost in the abyss for endless moments.
She didn't know how long she was stuck there, but eventually she heard someone speaking to her again, that same voice that had pulled her out previously, and she was able to claw her way up out of the blackness. She groaned, and this time she could hear herself wheeze and feel it in her throat. That voice grew louder, and closer, and she felt someone lift her, a pair of arms tenderly sliding underneath her body and lifting her lax form upwards.
She managed to peel her eyes open, her eyelids trembling and uncooperative. She could see Inuyasha's face, swimming in and out of focus, and she saw his lips move and heard him speak to her again, but no longer had the ability to understand him. Her mind was still too shrouded in pain to have enough space for comprehension.
Once again he pressed the rim of the cup to her lips, and she vaguely remembered that she was supposed to drink. She tried her best, but her lips and tongue didn't want to cooperate with her and most of the liquid didn't make it into her mouth. She could only just make out a frown marring Inuyasha's features. There was some jostling as he rearranged her and then she felt something warm press against her lips. It took her a long moment to realize that it was another pair of lips pressed to hers, and that seemed very odd to her half-unconscious self. She wasn't sure why there was a pair of lips pressing against her mouth, or why they seemed to press and urge at the seam of her lips, as if trying to get her to open her mouth. Dazed and confused, her lips parted of their own accord, and suddenly the other mouth was pressing closer, and then a thin, carefully directed stream of fluid was flowing into her mouth. Only a little bit of the nasty liquid entered before she sputtered and it threatened to escape from the corners of her mouth.
The other mouth, which she slowly realized belonged to Inuyasha, drew back, and he closed her mouth gently with his free hand, stroking her throat with a finger to try and get her to swallow. She managed to swallow and not choke on the liquid, and no sooner had it gone down than he was back at her lips, his own begging hers to part and let him deposit some more medicine in her mouth. She obliged, something within her flushing with joy, though buried underneath so much pain and discomfort that she barely was able to feel it at all. She was so fuzzy in the head that she barely even knew what he was doing or why he was doing it.
It wasn't until the she had nearly swallowed the rest of the tea that she grew a little more conscious, realizing more of what was going on. There was some embarrassment, and also some giddiness as she acknowledged it, but again, it was difficult to concentrate on the happy thoughts when her body felt like it was melting, and not in a good way. She wasn't able to do anything other than participate in the mouth to mouth feeding of medicine, since her body still wasn't really working and her mouth almost felt numb. She could still feel, but her mouth didn't respond to the commands she sent it, so she was helpless but to accept the fact that his lips pressed against hers again and again, coaxing her mouth to part with both his lips and a thumb on her jaw.
She felt another warmth build up within her. It was a pleasant heat, though not one of excitement since her body was utterly incapable of that at the moment, but one of intense emotion. She could feel her chest burn in a way completely different to the burning in her gut from the poison. It felt like she had a hot poker in her chest, but one that oddly caused no pain, only intense warmth and pressure. She felt like crying, and perhaps she was, but since her eyes had already been watering from the pain it was impossible to tell which tears were happy and which were tortured. In an odd way she wished she could stay like this, stay in this one single bright burning moment where Inuyasha was kissing her. But of course he wasn't really kissing her, a fact that was repeatedly reminded in her dull brain when the noxious liquid flowed from his mouth into hers.
Soon he had fed her the rest of the tea, and he gently set her back down to lay on the sleeping bag. He left then, and she rolled her head to the side wearily to watch him, desperate to hang onto consciousness and not sink back into that abyss of nothing but pain. She watched him blearily as he set about pouring more tea into the mug, her mind not really able to comprehend what it was he was doing, but watching him anyway.
He soon returned to her and sat beside her, speaking to her in low, hushed, gentle tones. Though she couldn't understand what he was saying, she appreciated the tone of his voice and let it lull her into a more relaxed, slightly asleep state. She was able to rest, but not pass out, and the pain slowly began to ease. Soon he was urging her back to semi-awake and was trying to get her to drink more tea. This time she was able to sip it from the cup, having a little more use of her lips, and she mourned the loss of his mouth against hers. It was perhaps masochistic of her to wish he would continue to give her the medicine in that way, since the memories would only haunt her later, but in her weakened state she couldn't lie to herself about her base desires. And at the root of her, really one of her biggest desires now was simply to touch and be touched by Inuyasha.
She still relished the warmth of his arms as he held her up to help her drink, and when he laid her back this time she somehow managed to command her limp hand to snag his, for a brief moment. Her fingers weren't able to hold onto him though, and her hand began to slide out of his almost as soon as it made contact, but was caught and held when his own fingers wrapped around hers. He had apparently been able to interpret her request correctly, and he held her hand tenderly, coming to sit beside her as he did so. She smiled, humming air almost contentedly as she slipped back into a daze, the pain still bad, but much better than before. She was unaware that her throat and mouth formed his name, whispering it several times as she rested.
Several hours passed~
Once she had recovered somewhat, they carried her back to the village and to Kaede, who promptly asked what had happened upon seeing Kagome's unconscious form in Inuyasha's arms. They explained as she hustled them all inside her hut, laying Kagome down on a pallet. Inuyasha showed Kaede the herb he had used to make the tea and she nodded in approval.
"Good, she should be doing much better then. I'll mix up a stronger antidote to help get the last dregs of poison out of her system."
She indeed prepared an antidote, and fed it to Kagome, and slowly the younger woman began to relax, little by little. Inuyasha stayed by her side, even despite the protests of his Alpha, who seemed to find his presence in her hut a bit unbecoming of the young man. She quickly gave up though, seeing how devoted he was to Kagome. Frankly, seeing Inuyasha act this concerned about anyone had Kaede smiling, secretly of course since he would freak out if he saw her curved lips.
She slept in her private back room while Kagome and Inuyasha stayed in the front room, near the fire and pot of antidote. Since Inuyasha was here anyways, she gave him the task of making sure he kept feeding it to her, and hid her smile under her palm as he almost looked relieved at being able to actively help in her recovery.
With Kaede's antidote Kagome recovered swiftly.
She was out for the entirety of the next day, but little by little she regained her normal color and stopped shivering. The thin film of sweat that had been constantly produced finally dried on her skin, making it sticky and almost mildly crusty in some places where it had built up, like around her temples. Seeing another way to put Inuyasha to work, Kaede gave him a clean wet cloth and told him to gently clean Kagome's face, which he seemed only too happy to do.
While he was absorbed with the task she gave to him, she took the opportunity to observe, trying to decide if the young demon male had finally found himself a mate. As often was the case, a proper match could take very little time to determine, and Kaede had seen some demons meet and then claim each other as mates within as little as a day, though those cases were rather rare. These two young ones were both of mating age, right around the time when they would both be seeking their life-long partner.
Inuyasha had been utterly disinterested in the other females in Kaede's pack, only showing a modicum of interest in Kikyo. She had been the only one it seemed that he had been considering as a potential mate, but despite being sort of "together" for almost two years now, he had never made a move, as if he was holding himself back.
To be honest, the old female Alpha had been concerned for her young scout, having worried that he would eventually even be forced to leave the pack to find a mate. It had seemed he had been in the process of that almost. Before he had brought Kagome back, he had been leaving on longer and longer trips, probably unconsciously seeking for a potential mate, and Kaede had worried that one day he simply wouldn't return.
For dog-demons such as them, mates were for forever, and were something that, while not being necessary, did seem to provide for a much happier demon in the long run. Dog-demons were social creatures, and could be rather lustful, and so not having a proper mate could cause quite a bit of aggression and disease in a young male or female, especially right around these two's age. For any Alpha, one of the main concerns about the young in their pack was about whether they would find mates, or if they would go rogue. It was unfortunate, but one reason why finding a mate could be so important was due to the fact that mating season would eventually hit them one year, and after that things could potentially go down-hill for the young demon.
Going into heat could cause a young demon without a mate to go insane, which might cause them to attack others nearly indiscriminately. They would be violent towards those of the same sex, while pursuing those of the opposite in a violent manner, and the worst situation possible would be for one of those young demons to go berserk in the pack. Kaede didn't have to worry too much about most of the pack, since most of them weren't warriors. As with most demon packs, there were the common village folk, those who didn't have any powers to speak of, and then there were the warriors who protected the rest of the pack. And so, with the majority of her young, unattached males and females, if they went into heat she would simply lock them up for that entire time, preventing them from doing any harm to themselves or others.
Inuyasha however … he would have been a problem. She honestly didn't think she had the power to hold him, nor did she think that any of the other warriors in her pack had the power to. He was a power-house, not that she would ever say that to his face, but the fact remained that if he went into heat without a mate, he could have very likely destroyed the entire village. She would have been forced to perhaps even banish him at the first hint of heat-scent.
So, she was very hopeful as she watched him interact with this new young female. It seemed he had grown extremely attached to her, and she seemed just as responsive to him, more-so even. It was blatantly obvious that she already was pursuing him as a mate.
Smiling once again, Kaede turned away, to give the two some privacy.
Author's Note:
Here it is! The new chapter. :3
I hope it met everyone's expectations. We had a little more excitement, a daring rescue, and even some tender fluff. I also hope everyone found the information on mates interesting as well. ;)
So, how long do you think it's gonna take for Koga to make another appearance?
As always, a big, huge warm hug to all my wonderful reviewers out there. You guys are the thing that keeps me writing. :D
