Chapter 9
Miroku worried. He wrung his hands. He urged Kilala to fly faster. Koga had told them exactly where to find Kagome and then he had run off in the other direction. It took them a few hours to gather all the medicinal herbs they could think of from Jinenji's garden, then he, Sango, and Shippo immediately took to the skies. The storm was making the travel difficult but they knew the urgency. For Sesshomaru to send for help, Kagome couldn't be in good shape. Miroku smiled reassuringly at the kitsune sheltering on his lap, he leaned into Sango's back and raised his voice to be heard over the storm. "The clearing Koga described should be straight ahead!" Sango nodded and Kilala began her descent.
The meadow they landed in wasn't very large, but the storm made it hard to see much of anything. Miroku spotted them hunched beneath a tree, Sesshomaru's yoki billowing around them like wild winds and waves of power. Shippo squeaked and ran forward, Sesshomaru's eyes flung open, bleeding red, and his teeth bared. "Shippo, wait!" Miroku ran forward, catching the eager kitsune before he could trespass into the daiyokai's space. Sesshomaru's head lifted and he turned his focus and attention on the quartet. Miroku took in everything, the way Sesshomaru had been curved around their friend, the way he held her tightly and protectively in his arms. His pelt wrapped around her, his yoki blazing brightly as her own reiki buffeted with it. Miroku dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
"Sesshomaru-sama, we came as quickly as we could. Please forgive us for how long it took. Please..." Miroku reached out his hand, "allow us safe passage into your den that we may tend to Kagome-sama." Recognition dawned in Sesshomaru's eyes as they turned back to their golden hue, and he nodded. "Sango, come."
Miroku ran forward, dropping back to his knees beside his old friend and he held his hand over her face to make sure she was breathing. From his understanding, she had been like this for days. He placed his hand on her forehead and Sesshomaru growled. The monk slid his yokai companion a sideways glance, "Forgive me, Sesshomaru-sama, I am trying to discover what we are dealing with. Sango, would you please do the honors of handling Kagome-sama?" Sango approached with confusion but did as she was told. Sesshomaru shifted Kagome's weight so she was lying in the grass with her head in his lap. Sango crouched, beside her, feeling her head.
Kagome's eyes fluttered open and she looked around herself blearily. Her eyes didn't stay on any of them long, it was as if she wasn't sure when or where she was. She looked up and her eyes locked with Sesshomaru's.
"Inu...InuYasha?" Sesshomaru's brows knitted together slightly.
"Hnn. I'm here. Sleep now. You are safe." Miroku's eyebrows raised but he said nothing. Sango sat back and took a deep breath.
"What is it?" She looked at him.
"She has smallpox. Look," Sango pulled back a segment of Kagome's kimono showing a rash on her chest and shoulder. "But it's easily treated," Kagome cast a wary glance at Sesshomaru, "You did your best, but she needs medicines."
"Hnn."
Sango looked back down at her patient. Then pulled her satchel of medicinal herbs out of her pack. "May I use some of your water?" Sesshomaru waved her on so she began crushing and mixing herbs with a stone mortar and pestle, adding a splash of water every so often until the mixture became a paste. "Miroku, can you open her mouth?"
Miroku started to oblige, but Sesshomaru growled and he pulled back, "Perhaps it would be better if Sesshomaru-sama were to hold her mouth open." Miroku stood and took a few steps back, watching as Sesshomaru gently opened Kagome's jaw and Sango applied the medical paste in the back of her mouth. Shippo was busy snuggling into the prone woman's side, his tail wrapped around Kagome's arm. It had been incredibly hard on the kit. First with InuYasha's death, and then with Kagome leaving them. Miroku and Sango had stepped up as best they could to parent the poor boy, but he sorely missed the presence of another yokai and his son-like relationship with Kagome.
Sango stood slowly, the monk helping her to her feet, and for the first time, Sesshomaru noticed that the woman was pregnant. He hadn't been paying much attention when they arrived, as they woke him from a dead sleep. At first, he was disoriented, and after the fight, who could blame him for being on edge when he sensed another presence of yoki. Even if it was simply the young kitsune and the taijiya's twin tail cat. So the humans were a mated pair. Perhaps he had been too harsh to threaten the man for touching the Miko. He couldn't stand the thought of another male's scent on her.
The rain was beginning to slow. Sesshomaru lessened the pressure of his yoki, allowing the barrier to fall. He tilted his face towards the early morning air. "You will care for her. I must hunt," Sesshomaru stood, gently laying Kagome's head on the kitsune's lap and turned towards the forest. He waited till he was safely hidden in the darkness of the branches to cast a last look of longing at his fallen comrade before bounding into the trees in search of sustenance.
"Sango, my dear, you need to rest. Shippo and I can care for Kagome."
"I'm pregnant, not sick, Miroku. But I don't think it's wise for you to take care of her at all. I've never seen Sesshomaru so protective before. Not even with Rin-chan."
"I believe you're right..." Miroku looked in the direction that Sesshomaru disappeared in, "it would seem our yokai lord has developed a heart in the time he has been traveling with Kagome-sama. Though she does have a tendency to rub off on her companions." Miroku took the opportunity to rub his wife's behind and she swatted his hand away. "Sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself." Sango rolled her eyes and laid her head on her husband's shoulder.
"Do you think she will be ok?"
"Most certainly, Sesshomaru-sama did a phenomenal job caring for her even if he had no medicines for her. Now that she has the herbs she needed she should make a full recovery. We just need to reapply the paste every few hours and she should be good as new in a day or two."
Sango walked to Kilala and bent to pick up the small cat. "Kilala, do you think you could keep Kagome-chan warm until Sesshomaru-sama gets back?"
The cat mewed her agreement and transformed back into her giant form, laying beside the Miko's body. She laid her head on her paws, draped her twin tails over Kagome and fell asleep.