Disclaimer: I lost the prewritten version of this chapter, so bare with me on this one
Disclaimer: I lost the prewritten version of this chapter, so bare with me on this one. Other than that, I hope you enjoy!
Kagome's Pain
Chapter 12: What a Day!
Sango and Miroku ran as fast as their feet could carry them. When they reached the hut, they saw Kaede and Shippo coming their way.
"Was that Kagome?!" Shippo said, climbing onto Miroku's shoulder.
"We believe so." Miroku said, catching his breath. The group rushed into the hut when they heard Kagome groan loudly in pain.
"Shh. It's okay, Kagome." Inuyash whispered reassuringly into Kagome's ear. "Just relax. You'll be fine. Shush, now." He held her close, massaging her sides once again.
(AN: I'd bet that you were hoping for something else, like an attack of some kind, or Naraku, or worse. Sorry, but that won't happen until later on...)
Kagome gritted her teeth, shaking and shuttering with pain. A stream of tears flowed freely down her face, as she sobbed and cried into his chest. "Inu... YASHA!" She managed to get out between sobs, but whatever she intended to say was forgotten when a surge of pain swept over her body. She screamed out in shear agony, her hands clutching even more tightly to Inuyasha's sleeve. She cried even harder, not to mention louder. To make the noise worse, Shippo began to cry, too. He couldn't bear to see her like this.
"Hush now, child." Kaede said, walking him out of the hut.
"Kagome! Try to relax!" Inuyasha said into her ear. She didn't hear him. She simply screamed louder and louder, kicking her legs, as she writhed in pain. It was just so painful for him to see her like this.
Sango looked at her dear friend, kicking and screaming with agony. She was suddenly overwhelmed with grief for her, and ran out of the hut.
"Sango?" Miroku said, worried about both of his friends. He glanced at Kagome one more time; her screaming had diminished to sniffles and whines. He figured that she'd be okay and left the hut as well.
Inuyasha held Kagome closer, happy that she was calming down, he took a whiff of her scent. He could tell she was still in pain, but she was most likely hiding it, as not to worry him. He could smell her relief at the fact that it was over, for now. He noticed something else; fear. He could smell her fear and she was terrified! He knew how frightened she was, but knew that she'd never admit it. "Kagome..." he began, but was cut off.
"Inuyasha... Thank you, for being so kind to me." Kagome sniffled a bit, snuggling into his tight embrace.
"No problem. How do you feel? Any better?" He knew that was a dumb question to ask, but he didn't care. He just wanted to talk with her a bit, though he wasn't sure of why.
"A lot better than I did a few minutes ago." She chuckled lightly, knowing he did that on purpose. Her sniffling still hadn't ended, and a few tears still came to her eyes. Inuyasha whipped away most of her tears and she began to talk again. "It's like being stabbed a thousand times, over and over."
"Huh?"
"Or being punched in the ribs and stomach endlessly and ruthlessly. Sometimes, it feels like being stung by thousands of wasps, or hornets." Kagome sniffed and repressed new tears, as she went on describing the pain she had endured. Inuyasha listened intently to what she said, slowly tightening his grip on her.
When she was finished, she snuggled even deeper into his embrace. He wiped away the last of her tears, whispering in her ear. "You're very brave, you know that?"
"How?"
"You suffered through so much, and yet, you are somehow able to keep calm. At times, you seem to be the happiest person in the world. I envy you.
"You? Envy ME?" She gawked at him, her eyes shimmering, and slightly puffy, from crying so much.
"Yes. I do. If I were in your situation, I'd probably be going nuts!"
"Really?"
"Yes."
Kagome stared at him with disbelief, not because of what he said, but because he said it. He was being honest and telling her his true feelings. "Okay." She said seriously. "Who are you and what have you done with Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha simply laughed at her. "Ha uh what?!"
"The Inuyasha I know wouldn't be this honest about his feelings. He'd be grumpy and bossy and he'd call me a wimp. He wouldn't be quite so kind and gentle either."
"Oh, really?" He said with a rather evil smirk on his face. He poked her lightly, in the ribs. Unfortunate for her, she was very ticklish. She giggled a bit, as he poked her a couple more times. Inuyasha's smirk widened a bit. "What's the matter, Kagome?" He said teasingly, tickling her sides a bit more.
Kagome was in a fit of giggles. "Inuyasha! Cut that out!"
"What? Oh, you mean this?" He tickled her sides again, making her laugh harder.
"Yes, that!" She squirmed around to get out of his way, but, once he couldn't get to her sides, he found new places to reach. No matter what she did, there was at least one ticklish spot open to him. "Inuyasha! Stop! HA HA!"
"No way! Don't be such a wimp, Kagome." He laughed at the look on her face when he said that. 'I guess that proves to her that I'm me.' He thought. He smirked at her again. "Besides, this is too much fun."
Kagome tried to glare at him, but was too busy trying not to laugh. "Oh! You!" She decided to try retaliating. Reaching out and trying to tickle him, she hoped to at least slow him down. No such luck. He simply laughed at her feeble attempts to overpower him.
He stopped, deciding that she'd had enough. He noticed the bucket of water and wet cloth behind him, reminding him of the fever Kagome had not too long ago. He looked at her and felt her forehead, her fever seeming to be worse than before! "Kagome, Are you sure you're feeling okay? You're burning up, even worse than earlier." He placed the cloth on her head, somewhat startling her with how cold it was.
"I feel fine, really. My headache is pretty much gone. In fact, I don't feel the least bit sick." She looked at him and he could tell right away that she was lying.
"Liar. You feel worse, don't you? You need to stop trying to hide stuff like this, Kagome."
Sango and Miroku sat by the lake, right outside of the village.
"Calm down, Sango. I'm sure that Kagome's just fine."
"She is NOT, Miroku." Sango sobbed. "You saw her in there, kicking and screaming her lungs out! She's in so much pain and there's nothing we can do to help her!"
"It hurts me to see her like this, too, but think for a minute. What would she do if she saw you so upset about it?."
Sango calmed herself enough to stop crying and thought about what Kagome's reaction would be right now. "First, she'd tell me to cheer up and not to worry about her." She hesitated a bit.
"And what else would she do? Think of her personality."
"She'd do her best to hide the problem, causing her to suffer even more."
"That's right. You know that she can't stand to make people worry about her. She'll go off, trying to take care of it herself, and, somehow, only succeed in making it worse." Miroku put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, as she began to cry again. "Look, as long as she has the spell on her, she will suffer. The best we can do is support her, and ...try not to get upset about it." He warned her.
"You're right, Miroku. Thanks."
"No problem. Let's get back to the hut. It's getting late."
Sango looked around. The sun had set already, stars covering the night sky. The nearly full moon hovered over the horizon, signifying how late it was. The two stood up, walking side by side to the hut and savoring the beauty of the night.
Kagome lay, half asleep in her sleeping bag, as Inuyasha added some wood to the fire. "Inuyasha?" She said rather weakly.
"Yeah? What is it?" He looked at her, noticing that she shivered slightly.
"Is it me, or is it really cold in here?"
"It's a little on the chilly side, but it's not that cold, Kagome." He took the now warm cloth off of her head and soaked it in the bucket of cold water. He felt her forehead and around her face to find that her fever was still getting worse. 'That's not good.' He thought as he dabbed at her neck and face with the cloth, trying to cool her off a bit. Kagome murmured something, but Inuyasha didn't quite catch what she said. "What was that?"
"There's some ... medicine for fevers ... in my bag." She repeated. She looked over to her bag, sitting in the corner, by the door. "Check the small pocket on the left."
Inuyasha did as he was instructed find a small container of pills, with a label that read:
Advil
Pain reliever/ Fever reducer
'I guess this is what she was talking about.' He thought reading the rest of the label. 'Let's see, the directions say to take two.' He took two pills from the container and took a bottle of fresh water from Kagome's bag. He sat next to her. "Hey. Do you think you could sit up for a sec, to take this medicine?"
Kagome tried to sit up, but a sudden, pounding ache came to her head. She plopped her head back onto her pillow, with a moan. She tried again, with Inuyasha's help, her head throbbing with a headache. He put one of the pills in her mouth and got her to drink some water. She forcefully swallowed, her throat very sore from the screaming she had done earlier. Then, did the same with the other pill. With that done, Kagome snuggled into the warmth of her sleeping bag, although, she felt rather uncomfortable inside it.
Inuyasha noticed and grabbed a few blankets from her bag. "Would you rather have these?" He laid them out next to her. She smiled at him gratefully, before scooting out of the sleeping bag and wrapping her self in the blankets. Inuyasha sat down next to her, pulling her into a light embrace.
"Thanks again, Inuyasha," She said, as she snuggled into him. She gave a large sleepy yawn. "For everything."
"Get some rest, Kagome. It's late." Inuyasha placed the cloth back on her forehead, as she quickly went to sleep.
Kaede came into the hut, holding Shippo, who had cried himself to sleep. She laid him on Kagome's sleeping bag, ignoring the couple next to it, and went to her room to get some sleep herself.
Inuyasha relaxed, resting his head on top of Kagome's. Soon, he, too, dozed into a peaceful sleep.
Sango and Miroku walked into the hut to find everyone sleeping peacefully. Sango smiled at the couple on the opposite side of the room. "Well, don't they make a cute couple?" She laughed slightly, pointing at them.
Miroku smiled as well. "Better keep quiet. We don't want to wake them up, especially Inuyasha." The two grabbed their blankets from a corner of the hut and were quickly claimed by sleep.
Before falling asleep, though, Sango thought about everything that has happened that one day. 'What a Day! I wonder how things will be tomorrow?'
Naraku sat in his castle, thinking to himself about the torture he had put Kagome through that day, laughing at her suffering and pain. 'I wonder what they intend to do about her. It doesn't look like her fever's getting any better either.' He laughed again. 'I wonder if she even thought about my offer yet. I'll soon find out.'
Sorry but I must stop here. I believe this is one of the longest chapters I've done. Either that or it's the chapter that took the longest to finish typing. Can you believe it took me a week to finish this! I hardly had more than ten minutes on the computer within the last three days! My dada kept kicking me off of the computer to make me go out and practice for softball. Oh well. I hope this chapter didn't bore you or anything. Bye, for now!
