Kagome found herself in darkness. She lay there staring into the abyss thinking about the memory she had just had. She hated that memory and wished that she could just block it out forever. She had been successful for the past few years until the whole fire incident brought it back to her. "The fire, that's right…" she knew that her body was still in danger but she didn't care. The features on her face didn't once resemble any sign of worry or fear, all she could think about was her inability to save her father.
She hated herself for just leaving him like that. "I could have at least tried to lift the stuff off him or made an attempt to help him, I just ran away…like I always do…like I did with Inuyasha…" she then remembered that night when they were in the village, the night Inuyasha attacked her. Once again she played that whole scene over and over in her head. "He wasn't acting himself, I knew that. But still I ran a way instead of helping him." she closed her eyes and clenched her fist. "Ugh! How can I be so dumb to really believe that he was acting rationally! Something was wrong with him; I've been with him so long I know that he would never say those things about Kikyo to me because even if he still loved her, Inuyasha has always kept his words and feelings inside. I'm so stupid!" she slammed her balled fist into the black floor. She took a moment to calm herself and slowly her hands relaxed and she opened her eyes once again. "At least this way, he won't have to worry about me, he can get on with his life and maybe Kikyo can help him get past his demonic side…"
She knew that deep down Kikyo was truly a more powerful priestess then she was and was convinced that if she herself couldn't help Inuyasha, than the only other person that could would be Kikyo. When this thought crossed her mind she was surprised at the feeling she felt. She expected to feel pain or sadness but instead she felt…peaceful. It had caught her completely off guard, this new feeling of serenity that washed over her.
She closed her eyes and let an image of Inuyasha's smiling face consume her mind. She was completely content at the fact that he would be with Kikyo, because maybe if he was with her then he could learn to be happy. And if he was happy then Kagome was content. The only that saddened her was the fact that it wouldn't be her that made him happy and see him smile. The darkness then began to creep steadily toward her. Letting her thoughts slowly fade she whispered out to the two people that she wanted to see most in the world; the two people who she truly felt herself with.
"To the both of you…I'm sorry I couldn't help you…" she choked out, softly closing her eyes once more.
Only one silent tear rolled down the side if her face and she let the darkness of her unconscious take her away from all thought and pain.
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As much as he wanted, Inuyasha couldn't go faster than a jog. He wanted so badly to just sprint up to where Kagome was and make sure she was ok. Unfortunately the smoke from the fire was confusing his senses so if he were to run quickly he might miss her. He stopped his slow jog to try to breath in the air for any traces of her scent. It was lost in the smoke but maybe he could find her scent on the ground. Getting close to the ground he began to sift through all the different smells when, after searching several feet, he picked hers up. It was faint and if he didn't work slowly and carefully he would defiantly lose it.
It took almost three times the time as it normally should to get to burning hut. By the time he got there the smoke had already made his lungs start to burn and made his eyes blurry. He had only been in the smoke for fifteen minutes or so and it had already started to take its toll on him, a half-demon. He couldn't imagine how Kagome was getting through this. That thought only made him worry more and instead of assessing the situation first he burst through the front door blindly. He stopped once inside and immediately covered his mouth with the sleeve of his kimono. An entire black wave of smoke rushed out the moment the front part of the house was knocked out (thanks to Inuyasha).
He coughed once before screaming her name. "Kagome!" he coughed once more and tried again, this time keeping his sleeve over his mouth, making his shouts slightly more muffled. "Kagome! You're in here aren't you?" He looked around the large room, trying to find any trace of her. Walking carefully, he went to the opposite side of the room, trying to see if there was any clue to her location. After searching the room thoroughly he made his way to the hall way. From what he could make out there were four different rooms leading from the hallway. "Better start with the first one…"
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Inuyasha had to stop his search towards the end of the third room because a chain of aggressive coughs had made him immobile for a few moments. He stood with his hand over his mouth coughing violently wishing that it would end soon so that he could find Kagome.
"There's only one room left…" he could only pray that Kagome was in there, somehow hidden from the flame and smoke that engulfed the mansion. Once he could breathe relatively normal he made his way to the fourth room at the end of the hallway. He hesitated as he saw how overcome the room was with fire. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forgetting all about the smoke and screamed out her name as loud as he possibly could. Inuyasha waited a few seconds and when he got no reply he rushed in. through the black haze he could see that parts of the roof had already caved in and that there were very few spots that lay untouched by the fire. Holding his arm over his head, trying shield himself from the heat, he squinted his eyes and looked desperately for any sign of her body. Just as he was about to assume the worst he caught sight of small form curled up in the right corner of the room. As fast as he could, Inuyasha leapt from his side of the room and landed carelessly next to her. A wave of relief swept over him as he realized that he had finally found her. But he knew the danger wasn't over. Inuyasha had no idea how much smoke she had already inhaled and in this light he couldn't tell if she'd been burnt. He swung off his haori and wrapped it around the limp girl. He picked her up bridal style and began to make his way out of the room. He successfully made it out of the hallway but when he made it to the exit; he noticed that roof had almost completely caved in, in front of the door. With Kagome in his arms like this, there was no way he could use tetsiaga. Making a quick decision he gathered Kagome up in one arm and used the other to punch out the wall. Once they were through he readjusted Kagome in both his arms and ran toward the nearest water source.
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All the villagers along with Miroku Sango and Shippo all waited anxiously on the outskirts of the village impatiently trying to look through the smoke for any sign of Inuyasha or Kagome. Shippo squinted his eyes and stood up making his way closer to the burning village. In the distance he saw a shape of a man running through the smoke.
"I see him! Its Inuyasha!" he yelled, signaling Miroku and Sango to come closer. Out of the flames and the smoke came Inuyasha running full speed towards them with Kagome in his arms. Not even wasting a moment to tell them what was going on; he jumped clear over his friends and the villagers into the forest. Shippo stood there with a completely puzzled look on face, staring at the least spot he had seen Inuyasha and Kagome. Not really understanding, the little fox demon got upset.
"Why that Inuyasha! He's so selfish! He couldn't even let us see if she was ok or not!"
"Inuyasha is probably getting her to a place away from the smoke, we should follow." Miroku said as Kirara transformed.
"Oh…" Shippo replied, feeling like an idiot and jerk. He jumped on the back of Kirara with Sango and Miroku and headed off to find them.
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Inuyasha stopped once he had found the small stream from before and gently laid Kagome onto the dirt. His breaths were heavy as he looked at her face. Grabbing her shoulders as gently as possible, he began to shake her trying to wake her up. She didn't. Deciding to try something else, he took his hand and began to tap the side of her cheek.
"Wake up Kagome, wake up…" he chanted over and over. That didn't work either. He then noticed that her chest wasn't moving and hesitated before checking if she was breathing. He faltered and little more and then took deep breath before leaning his ear down to her mouth. Realization hit him hard as she stumbled away from her. His eyes stayed open, wide with shock, and his bottom lip trembled. "No…this cant be…"
He scrambled over to her and began to shake her body violently trying to get her to open her eyes. It was then that he remembered something that Kagome had tried to teach him and his friends a few months back. She said it was some way to get a person to breathe called CP…something. Unfortunately he wasn't really paying attention so all he knew was that you were supposed to push on their chest a few times and breathe into their mouth then repeat. "I don't really know how to do this but I've got no other choice…" with that he leaned down and applied pressure to her chest about four times then took in a big strong breath and poured it into her mouth. He glanced up and saw no reaction in her face and did it again, this time pushing down a few more times.
By the time Miroku and Sango got there Inuyasha was on his fourth round of doing this. They stared as their friend desperately tried to keep his cool. At the end of the sixth time, Miroku slowly walked toward and Inuyasha and rested his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. The hanyou only glanced up for a second before continuing to push down on her chest. Miroku's heart went out to his friend but he knew that Inuyasha would do this all night if someone didn't step in. As gently as he could he wrapped his arms around Inuyasha and began to pull him away, all the while Inuyasha struggling and screaming at Miroku to let him go. Inuyasha was only able to breathe one last breath into her before Miroku dragged him away. Sango could only watch as the two struggled. Her eyes were full of tears and she had one hand draped over her trembling lips.
"What are you doing Miroku! Let me go!" He shouted. "I can save her, I know I can! Just give me a chance! Stop this; let me go I tell you, let me go!!"
"Inuyasha you have to accept the fact that Kagome is gone!" Miroku said shouting over him. "I know that its hard-"
Then everyone stopped.
Everyone stood, silently afraid that what they had just heard was a dream. Slowly Inuyasha turned around to look at the frail girl start to cough violently. In one instant he was by her side, pulling her trembling body into his lap. Everyone sat in silence as they watched Kagome take in deep gasps or air and listened to her hoarse pained coughs. As terrible as it sounded, to Inuyasha, it was the best sound he had ever heard. Her coughing attack lasted about five minutes and when it was over, her eyes halfway opened.
"Father…?" she asked, her voice rough and quiet.
"No, no Kagome, its me Inuyasha." His voice on the other hand was raised and almost desperate. Her face was pale and beads of sweat had formed all around her face. She looked weakly up at him, a hint of confusion showing in her eyes, before she regained what she could of herself and smiled up at him.
"Oh…" she then closed her eyes and sank deeper into his protective arms. Inuyasha stared down at her as her heavy breathing began to calm. Every once in awhile it would falter and she'd cough but soon after it would go back to normal. Inuyasha took in her sickly figure and looked underneath his robe of the fire rat. Most of her clothes were burnt away or charred by smoke and embers. Her hands were at her sides and there were bits of wood among the blood and cuts. Grasped tightly in her right hand was a piece or torn, burnt fabric. Inuyasha gently took it out her hand and laid it on his lap. Inuyasha then looked at her leg, immediately seeing the severe burn.
Just as he was about to wrap her up once again, he noticed the medium sized scar on the side of her mid section. That part of Kagome's clothes had been burnt away, leaving a clear view of the slightly purplish mark that cut across her side. It was healed by now but this is the first Inuyasha had seen of it since the day Kagura had attacked them. He realized he had forgotten to ask Kagome about it the day at the beach. On that day he noticed that she still had her bandages on but was too distracted with the fun they were having to ask her about it. Looking at it now, he wished he had seen how it was healing. Then Inuyasha felt a slight tap on the shoulder. When Inuyasha looked up her saw Miroku leaning over him with a happy, yet sympathetic look on his face.
"It's almost dawn and we have to get back to the village. Those people still need our help and we have to get Kagome's things." Inuyasha told Miroku to go on ahead and that he was going to take his time bringing Kagome over. Miroku, Sango and Shippo hopped back onto Kirara and headed once again for the village.
Inuyasha sat with Kagome in his arms, watching as the sun came up. He held her close to his face and as he stared at her, one tear fell upon her cheek.