Inuyasha's heart thudded loudly in his chest, as he lurched himself upright. For whatever reason, he smelled a lot of blood coming from Kagome. Had she somehow been attacked during the night without his knowledge? That shouldn't have been possible, not with his senses.
"What's going on?" Kagome mumbled sleepily. She had been in the process of waking up herself, as she lay there facing Inuyasha, her eyes half closed. Now they were wide open as she struggled to sit up, seeing him launch himself upwards in a panic.
"You're bleeding!" he told her, wild-eyed as he hurriedly yanked the ragged sheet they had found the day before off of her. "Did you get bit by—oh…shit…" He gaped at her, his face starting to redden.
"Huh?" Kagome blinked, as her mind scrambled to catch up to what was presently happening, as she wasn't completely alert yet. "Bleeding? I'm not…" Her entire body when rigid when she sat upright, when she noticed Inuyasha literally frozen in place, one hand midair, as he stared down at her thighs, his eyes suddenly huge. The kimono she had worn to bed, since she had washed her other clothes after dinner the evening before, had spread open a bit, revealing the inside of her thighs. Which were smeared with blood.
"Don't look!" Kagome screamed, as she reached out and shoved Inuyasha over so that he fell backwards onto his ass. Fortunately the kimono hadn't come undone all the way up, because she wasn't wearing any panties, but she was absolutely mortified nonetheless. Almost immediately, she burst into tears, as she clenched her legs together and wrapped the sides of the kimono as tightly as possible.
It was like she was sitting in a bloodbath. All she wanted to do right now was curl into a tiny ball and die of embarrassment. With all that had been going on, she had literally forgotten that her period was due any day. As if her luck couldn't get any worse, it had to be the mother of all periods. Usually hers were rather light, but for some godforsaken reason, her body decided to expel about half of its blood overnight. Well, that was an exaggeration, but it felt like that to her. Maybe it was all the stress her body had endured the past couple of weeks.
Inuyasha started to rise, but Kagome grabbed a leafy branch that was laying next to her and flung it at him, missing him widely. "Stay down and don't look at me!" she screamed at him again. Loud sobs racked her entire body as she clumsily got to her feet and ran off towards the stream.
When she was younger, she once had a period accident in middle school, and had cried when the popular girls made fun of her in front of everybody else in the locker room, but this was worse. Way worse. There was nothing like having the guy you have a secret crush on stare at your blood-smeared bare legs. She was never going to be able to face him again in a million years. She would rather die.
As soon as Kagome reached the river, she charged into it without a second thought, not caring that it was freezing. She ripped the kimono off as she waded in deeper. Furiously, she started to scrub the blood off of the garment, clouding the water red whenever she dunked it in. Tears continued to stream down her face, as she cursed her body. Once the tears had started to flow, it was impossible to stop them, as all the stress as of late began to catch up to her.
Although he had been order to stay down, Inuyasha crept back to his feet once Kagome was out of range. He felt bad for her. He truly did. There wasn't anything he could do though, so he sat down on a fallen log and waited. And waited some more. When it was clear that she had no intention of coming back to camp, he crept down to the river. He could hear her sniffling and splashing about.
"Hey, Kagome! Are you covered up?" he called out. He could see the top of her head but that was all.
"I said to stay away from me!" Kagome yelled back. She ducked down in the water a bit more, so that she was sitting in it up to her neck. The kimono was completely submerged now, but what did that matter, since she had to soak half of it anyways.
Inuyasha crept forward. "I can't stay away from you forever, you know. So cover yourself up now if you haven't yet. I'm coming over." He waited a moment before walking through the brush, to the edge of the water.
Kagome hugged her kimono to her chest as she knelt there in the water. He was standing there gazing down at her solemnly, his hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans. She dared to give him the briefest of looks before turning away from him, as more tears started to fall.
"Do you want me to-" he started to ask nervously.
"NO!" Kagome yelled at him, not even waiting to hear what he was about to ask her. More tears fell, for she was an emotional wreck. Damn him for coming to check on her. "I want to go home! I'm so stressed over everything that's happened lately! I just want to go home!"
"So do I," Inuyasha told her. He bit his lip, for he was trying to tread very carefully right now.
Kagome hiccuped as she tried to force herself to stop crying in front of him, before he thought she was the biggest baby on the planet. "Do you have any idea how fucking humiliating this is for me?" she asked in a small voice.
"I'm sure it is. Although I can't say I know what it's like," Inuyasha told her, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. "But you can't help it, you know. At least it means you aren't pregnant." He tried to make light of the situation but Kagome only turned and glared daggers at him, making him cringe a bit. She could be pretty scary for a cute little thing when she was angry.
"Of course I'm not pregnant! But that doesn't make me feel any better about the fact that I'm stuck in feudal Japan while on my period. It's not like I can just go to 7-11 and pick up some supplies there! What the hell did women even do about it in this time?"
"I wouldn't know!" Inuyasha told her helplessly. He glanced down at her as she faced his general direction, even though she kept her face downturned and hidden. "Look, we can probably fashion up something for you to wear…"
"Oh my god, stop" Kagome groaned. She wanted to just sink under the water completely and let it take her far, far away. "I can not believe we are having this conversation right now. Just kill me already, please."
"That I'm unwilling to do," Inuyasha smirked at her. "I can't believe we're having this conversation either. Seems like I was just getting onto you about Hobo, making fun of him for being the kind of guy to give you feminine products for a gift, and here we are, talking about hand making you something to wear."
Kagome growled at him, hearing the amusement in his voice. "You should probably just shut up right now, if you had any brains. This isn't funny, you asshole."
"I know," Inuyasha sighed. "But for real, though, you should probably get out of the water. You're shivering and we don't need you catching hypothermia next, do we?"
"I'm not getting out," Kagome shook her head stubbornly. "What's the point if I'll just bleed all over myself again? I don't have anything to wear right now, anyway."
"I'll be back in a bit, then," Inuyasha sighed again. There was no arguing with her, and what we he going to do, pull her out naked and have her kill him for it? He hated to leave her alone, but the area was pretty safe, so he raced back towards the village at top speed. It was time for more petty thievery, he thought, as he crept between the buildings, searching for any articles of clothing that seemed suitable. He still had no idea what he would actually do, but anything was better than nothing at this point, right?
Kagome just sat there miserably, having run out of tears, while she waited for Inuyasha to return. While she was freezing, she refused to get out of the water. She didn't have to wait long though, for he soon came back and set a random array of fabric items down on a large boulder close to the water. It was still totally humiliating, but she did appreciate the effort…
"Can you maybe rip that up into thick strips and fold it up somehow?" she found her voice squeaking a bit, as she pointed to what appeared to be a small sheet.
"I guess," Inuyasha replied. His claws made quick work of the fabric, and he hastily fashioned it as Kagome gave instructions. Then he slashed up more of the sheet at her request, and scurried off when she haughtily dismissed him. He left to go hunt some breakfast, and was relieved to see her sitting near the campfire upon his return. The dark blue kimono she had worn last night was hanging from a tree branch to dry, as she had put on the green one he had stolen this morning.
"I managed to put together something," Kagome told him dully. It was still hard to even look at him right now, but she was grateful for his help. "Thanks."
"No problem," Inuyasha shrugged, peering her way out of the corner of his eye. The mood was a bit tense, so he just let her be for the time being.
Eventually Kagome turned to gaze at him. They had done nothing but sit there for a couple of hours. "So, uh, maybe you could make something for me? Maybe out of the bones from one of the animals we ate?"
"Make what?" Inuyasha turned his head to gaze at her.
Kagome shifted a bit and shuffled her feet through the leaves. "I was hoping you would be able to make a needle for me. That way I can try and sew stuff to wear so it's not so, uh, sloppy or whatever." She couldn't help but blush a bit. "It would be a lot better that way, since I feel kind of bulky, having had to tie all this fabric on." She gestured towards her hips, turning even more red.
"Oh. Should be easy enough," Inuyasha said. "You can sew?"
"Never have before, but I'm sure I can figure it out," Kagome replied. She fiddled her hands in her lap and tried to peek at him. "I am sorry for screaming at you earlier. I was just…more than stressed…the whole thing is so awkward to have to deal with right now. I shouldn't have taken it out on you like that."
Inuyasha shrugged at her. "It's fine. We should probably just get used to dealing with awkward things around each other, considering we don't have much choice in the matter."
"You're right, I suppose," she said. She was reluctant to agree to that. "Although so far it's been mostly me being the awkward one. You probably think something is very wrong with me."
"Oh, no, I know something is very wrong with you," Inuyasha teased her.
She glared up at him with eyes narrowed. "Shut up!" she exclaimed, pinching his side for good measure, making him squirm.
"It's ok, I'm not judging. Much," he teased her some more. "What happens here stays between us, okay? I won't tell anybody all of your dirty secrets when we get home again. Deal?"
"Deal," Kagome sighed, holding out her hand to make it official. Inuyasha grasped her smaller hand with his and shook it, being careful not to scrape his claws over her wrists in the process. "So, um, anything else that you can think of that we need, in order to survive out here? I hate the idea of stealing things from other people."
"I should make some fishhooks while I'm at it. Teach you how to fish," Inuyasha said thoughtfully. "Maybe a knife or two as well, but I would need to get some larger game for that." He grinned and looked at her. "Want to see me skin a deer?"
"Ugh," Kagome wrinkled her nose. "Not at all."
Inuyasha laughed at her and reached down to dig through the discarded bones from their previous meal. He had never made a needle before, but there was a first try for everything, right? It would be a lot easier if he had a knife of some sort. While his claws were sharp and all, they weren't made for simply slicing slowly through bone, trying to do precision work. He managed to splinter a bone down and used the edge of a sharp rock to chip away until he was able to get a piece that was needle-like. Making the hole was not going to happen, so he settled for making a small cut at the blunt end, for the hairs to snag on to.
"Here. I know it's super crude like everything I make is, but this is the best I could do for now," Inuyasha told her, as he held it out to her in his flattened hand. She thanked him and reached out to take it, her fingertips trailing along the inside of his open palm.
While she began the task of teaching herself a brand new skillset, Inuyasha merely glanced her way now and then. He was rather stressed himself, but doing his best to hide it. Ever since they had figured out they time traveled back to the past, his brain had been working nonstop, trying to find some way they could make it back to their own time. He had been completely unsuccessful.
Sewing proved much harder than she anticipated, both in terms of figuring some semblance of a pattern and actually putting it together. She had gone for as simple as possible, but it was a bit amazing to her how a simple garment took more planning than you would actually think. The end result was rather terrible, but most likely it would serve its purpose, and that was good enough for the time being.
Inuyasha had gone to the river to test out the fishhooks he had fashioned for them, and was returning with a whole armful, right about when she just finished up changing. She would burn the bloodied rags later, she decided, as she quickly balled them up and hid them from his view. While he started working on dinner, she picked up more pieces of fabric, to continue with her attempts in hopes of figuring out a better method.
"What's that?" Inuyasha asked out of the blue, a frown forming on his face. He dropped down to his knee in front of Kagome and peered at her neck. There was something there, and he was rather concerned.
"What's what?" she asked, frozen stiff with worry, when she saw the way he was kneeling and staring at her. She tensed up a bit when he moved forward in a predatory manner, reaching out for the side of her neck with his claws flexed.
"This," Inuyasha hissed. When the wind picked up a moment ago, he had sensed a very faint trace of youkai, and it was coming from Kagome's hair. So he had dropped down to try and get a better look at her, and had spotted something hopping around on the collar of her kimono. It was tiny and seemed oblivious to his presence, and Kagome clearly hadn't noticed it either.
Inuyasha swiftly pinched the round little creature between the tips of his claws and pulled it off of Kagome's neck. A tiny voice started to sputter indignantly. "What the hell are you and why are you sucking my friend's neck?" he demanded, as he held it up in front of his face to glare at.
Kagome's eyes went wide and she clapped a hand to the side of her neck where Inuyasha had pulled the creature from. "What is that thing!" she yelped.
"I am not a thing," the tiny round creature exclaimed. He kind of resembled a fat little bald man with a long thin mustache and a carrot for a nose. He also had six arms and legs total. "My name is Myoga and I am a flea demon!"
Inuyasha started cracking up. "A flea demon! Hey, Kagome, I didn't know you had fleas!"
"I do not have fleas! You're the dog demon here, so he probably has been hiding on you!" Kagome exclaimed loudly.
"No way. I would have noticed him if he was on me," Inuyasha laughed. Turning his attention back to Myoga, he held him up close to his nose. "So, little flea man, why were you sucking on my friend's neck anyway?"
"The scent of her blood was very attractive. And delicious," Myoga declared. Kagome blushed and winced at that. As he stared at the huge golden orbs that suddenly narrowed at him, Myoga waved his arms frantically. "Don't be angry with me. I am a flea and this is what we do! No, don't squeeze me any harder!"
"I could squish you like a grape," Inuyasha threatened. "But I won't, if you promise not to bite her again. She's had enough of that, lately. First, centipede demons, now flea demons…"
"Bite her," the flea repeated, putting a hand to his chin only to wave all six appendages again. "No, wait! I wasn't talking about actually biting her again, I was just thinking. You two must be the ones I was sent to find!"
Inuyasha and Kagome shared a questioning look at that, before he turned his attention back to the flea he was pinching. "Why do they want to find us? How do you know it is even us that you are supposed to find? Who sent you to find us?"
"Now, now, one question at a time. This old man's ears can hardly keep up," Myoga chuckled dryly. "I'd be happy to answer your questions, but first, wouldn't you mind making me feel a little more comfortable? These claws of yours are jabbing me a bit painfully."
"If I let you go, you aren't going to run away?" Inuyasha asked in a low voice.
Myoga blinked at him. "Of course not. That would defeat the entire purpose of me finding you. I wasn't meant to find you and immediately run off. I was meant to deliver a message. Now, what was that first question again?" To his relief, the nails that were pinching him relaxed, and he wandered forward to stand in the middle of the large open palm.
"I think it was why did you want to find us?" Inuyasha thought back. He had just blurted a bunch of questions out on a whim.
"Because I was given the order to," Myoga answered.
Inuyasha growled and showed a fang. "I didn't mean that. Why did they want you to find us? Is it because we did something wrong and somebody wants to kill us? Or because you can help us get home?"
Myoga's face brightened a bit, for he was feeling more confident that he had found the right couple. "No, there are no orders for you to be brought to death, yet."
"Yet?" Inuyasha growled, making the flea drop a bead of sweat and flap his arms.
"I'm not saying there will be any such orders soon! My, you're a temperamental one, aren't you? Anyways, as I was going to finish saying, I was instructed to find you because you're interesting. Or should I say, the girl is interesting. Having tasted her blood, I am inclined to agree. Ow!" Myoga narrowed his beady eyes upon being squeezed again.
"How exactly is my blood interesting?" Kagome asked curiously, scooting closer to get a better look at the little flea.
Myoga turned and stared at her for a full minute before answering. "You have a lot of power in your blood. A strange power though, one I'm not familiar with. Perhaps if I had the chance to, ah, study it a little longer…"
"You don't need to be studying anything," Inuyasha grumbled. He wasn't about to trust some strange little flea demon that popped up out of nowhere.
"Yeah, I don't want some little dude sucking my blood, sorry. I don't even understand what powers you think I have. I'm just a regular human girl. I'm not strong or fast like Inuyasha is. If one of us is powerful, it's all him," Kagome interrupted. In all honesty, she did know that evidently she possessed some sort of miko-like powers perhaps, as Inuyasha had filled her in on what Kaede had told him while she was unconscious. She had no idea how to use these powers though, and thought it would be best to keep that knowledge secret from others for the meantime.
Myoga turned around to stare at the girl who's blood he had been sucking earlier. "You're no regular human girl. Word got out that a strange girl was attacked by a centipede demon. Now, usually their poison turns your insides to mush, and you die within hours, but not you. Somehow you survived, and that was because of your power. You saved your own life."
There went that whole idea of keeping it secret.
Kagome gaped at him. "I could have turned to mush?" Terrified eyes left Myoga to stare at Inuyasha, who looked deeply troubled. He was beating himself up again, she realized.
"Could have, but you didn't!" Myoga declared proudly. "However, I would recommend steering clear of the centipede demons regardless. You don't want to tempt fate twice."
"Ok, we know the centipede demons are bad, so best if we move on from them," Inuyasha said quickly. His mouth was set in a grim line. "Anyways, aside from Kagome being interesting and being sent to find us, why does anybody need to see us? I'm sure there are plenty of other interesting people out there you can gawk over."
"It's not to gawk. The girl has a power that could potentially be extremely useful. I'm afraid I can't give you any more information than that," Myoga sighed. "I was simply told to find you and tell you where to go."
"Where the hell are we going, anyway? You'll lead the way, I assume? It's not like either one of us has any idea where anything is or how to navigate in this world," Inuyasha pointed out
"You are in luck then, for I have a map I can give you. It's extra large!" Myoga told him. He dug around in the bag that had been on his back and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper.
"That's extra large?" Kagome laughed, scooting closer and squinting at the tiny flea demon. He was fumbling with the paper, using a small pen to make marks on it before attempting to unroll it for them to view.
"Maybe to a flea, it is," Inuyasha snorted. "That is without a doubt the tiniest map I've ever seen in my life."
"Tiny to you, but you can still read it, can you not?" Myoga asked pointedly.
Kagome scooted around to kneel next to Inuyasha, her elbow brushing his. "So I take it we need to go there, where the x is?" she asked, pointing to a red x on the map. It was located on the west side of the northernmost large island that made up the main part of Japan. She glanced up at Inuyasha who was scrutinizing the map beside her. "That's present day Sapporo, I think."
"Yes, you go to the red x," Myoga informed her. "Very good. Your map reading skills aren't completely lacking. Now, see this dot here? The little blue one? That's where you are right now. It will change as you travel, due to the youkai ink in my pen."
Inuyasha nodded,. "Well, that's something. It will help us narrow our location down to within a few hundred miles. Better than having zero idea where we are, I guess. But you haven't answered me still. You are leading the way, right?"
"Alas, I am not, for I have other errands to run. But we shall surely meet again at some point, I expect!" Myoga bowed and was about to leap, but Inuyasha closed his hand quickly to prevent the flea from escaping.
"One more question that you haven't answered," he said sternly. "Who sent you to find us?"
"Inu no Taisho."