February 1

It was unseasonably warm today so we decided to take Moroha out for a walk.

I held her in my arms as she looked around in fascination at the world around her. I wanted her to see and experience everything she could. It was a great learning experience for her.

As we walked, we passed by the bone eaters well then we continued on a bit further. We stayed out for most of the afternoon then started heading home as it got closer to evening time.

A butterfly landed on Inuyasha's nose, making him flinch slightly. "Damn it, get off me," he said, flicking it away.

"Geez Inuyasha, don't hurt it," I said. The butterfly floated back and when I held out my hand it landed on my finger. "Look Moroha, it's pretty isn't it?"

She stared at it for a moment and then tried to reach out and grab it, making Inuyasha and I laugh. Then the butterfly fluttered away.

"Say bye-bye butterfly," I said as I waved her hand. Inuyasha leaned down and kissed her forehead. Then I sighed as I looked out at the afternoon sky and the clouds rolling by. It was such a beautiful day. "I wish we could stay out here all night."

"You'd change your mind about that once the sun goes down and it starts getting cold again," Inuyasha said. "Maybe one day we can get some stuff together and stay out here for a few days."

"That sounds like fun. We haven't done that since before she was born. I guess that's parental responsibility for you."

"Doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun once in a while," Inuyasha said, kissing my cheek.

"True. My mom always said vacations strengthen family bonding."

Suddenly, Inuyasha froze and I could tell he smelled something off.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a demon coming. Stay close to me," Inuyasha said. He remained on high alert and I held Moroha close to me in case something did come out of nowhere.

Suddenly, a huge demon came out of the trees. It was really tall with scaly skin, a long sharp tail like a scorpion, red eyes, and big sharp fangs and claws. It swiped its claws at us. Inuyasha wasted no time grabbing us and jumped out of the way with us, meanwhile, I tried to shield Moroha's eyes so she wouldn't see the big scary demon.

"Damn this thing," Inuyasha said.

The demon seemed to ignore us after that and headed in the direction we had been going in…towards the village which was right past those trees!

"Inuyasha, it's going to attack the village!" I said fearfully. No one in the village could be prepared for such a ferocious demon to appear. I had no idea why it was heading for our village, but it wouldn't be good if it made it there.

Inuyasha pulled out his sword. "I'll stop it. Stay right here."

I backed away towards the trees for safety as he ran towards the demon, jumped up, and hit it with his sword. However, this demon had some really thick skin and the tetsusaiga didn't even make a scratch.

The demon turned around angrily and blew fire at him which he avoided using the tetsusaiga as a shield. He tried to stab the demon again but once again couldn't make a scratch. His constant attempts to stab it were making the demon mad and it roared wanting to kill Inuyasha now. It tried to cut Inuyasha with its claws again but he jumped out of the way.

I was starting to get worried. If things went on, Inuyasha was going to get hurt. I wished I had thought to bring my arrows so I could be more help to him but with us simply going on a walk right outside the village, I didn't think I would need them. Now I regretted that. Even though I had Moroha in my arms, I could have at least had some way to help him. I stepped out of the trees. "Inuyasha…"

Then the demon noticed me and Moroha and blew more fire at us but Inuyasha jumped in front of us and blocked it. Then he took off his fire rat robe and gave it to me. "Put this on."

"But, honey..."

He put it over my head himself. "No, you need it. Take Moroha and go back home."

I shook my head. "I won't leave you. Come with me, you're going to get hurt."

The demon aimed for us again and Inuyasha pulled us out of the way. "I have to kill it or it'll follow us and attack the village. I need to protect you two." He kissed my lips with a lingering sense of urgency. "Go back home now." Then he ran off to fight the demon again.

I couldn't bring myself to leave my husband alone. Even if there wasn't anything I could do to help him right now, I couldn't go home. If I did, the whole time he was gone I would be worrying if he had been killed.

"Alright you ugly demon, take this. Wind scar!" Gold daggers of light shot out of his tetsusaiga but the demon seemed to have a barrier around it. "Damn it. Gotta try something else." His tetsusaiga turned red and he tried the wind scar again hoping the barrier would break. Sure enough, it did the job but the demon itself seemed to be unaffected by it.

It roared again angry that its barrier had been broken. The demon swiped its sharp claws at Inuyasha leaving deep scratches across its chest. He stumbled backward in pain. Then while he was regaining his balance the demon shot green daggers out of his claws hitting Inuyasha. They exploded like bombs when they touched him leaving deep bloody wounds in several places.

"You bastard!" He ran back at the demon. It shot more green daggers at him and he blocked most of them but was hit by three of them again and they burned.

This was getting worse and worse. Inuyasha needed help and I had to step in. With Moroha close to me, wrapped in the fire rat robe I dared to step out of the trees and come a bit closer. Channeling my spiritual powers, I was able to send out a blast of energy knocking the demon backward. It was truly a strong demon, I had hoped that my powers incapacitate it but the demon seemed to be minimally injured.

It at least gave Inuyasha the advantage over it that he needed. He jumped up to the demon's face and stabbed it in the eye. Then he landed back on the ground while the demon screamed in pain. It blew fire again but couldn't see where it was going and ended up blowing a bunch of fire at Moroha and I.

"AHHH!" I screamed as the hot fire surrounded us.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha turned and tried to run back over to us but was cut again and again by the demon's claws. He almost collapsed to the ground now covered in deep scratches and wounds.

Moroha and I were now surrounded by a ring of fire. She started crying and I wrapped Inuyasha's robe around us tighter. The fire was becoming really hot and it was closing in on us. I knew I could step through the fire because we were protected by Inuyasha's fire rat robe but I was still afraid to do it. Finally, I took a deep breath. "Okay Moroha, ready? Now!" I jumped through the fire and ended up outside of it unharmed. Nearly the entire area was burning now. When I found Inuyasha, he was still fighting the demon but he was dripping with blood and he looked to be getting weaker by the moment.

"Wind scar!" He used the wind scar again on the demon but it seemed to be extremely tough. The demon was visibly injured but it didn't die. Inuyasha chuckled. "One more should finish it off." His close victory made him a bit cocky and he decided to show off a bit. He ran up the side of a tree and jumped off preparing to use another attack. But then something sharp shoved straight through his chest. "AHHH!"

"Inuyasha!" I watched in horror as the demon's sharp scorpion tail went through Inuyasha's chest. He hung on the end of the demon's tail seemingly unconscious. Then he was thrown over my head and landed on the ground with a thud thirty feet away. Tears were already streaming down my face as I tried to run to him. But then the demon came for me and Moroha who was still crying. I backed away fearfully as the demon came closer while trying to come up with my next move.

I concentrated and gathered up all of the power that I could muster then bright blue flames flew out of my hand towards the demon. I had only tried this once back when I was training with Anana because it was so difficult and took so much energy. Sure enough, I fell to my knees after I used it but the demon was engulfed in the flames of purity and suffered greatly from it.

Inuyasha regained his consciousness at that moment and saw the demon in front of us. He ran to us as fast as he could. "Stay away from them!" He raised his sword. "Adament…!" He was cut off by the demon slashing at him again with its claws sending him flying through the air again in the opposite direction from before. I gasped again at the sight. I still felt so weakened by what I had done but I managed to stand up and tried to run to my husband but once again I was blocked by this ferocious demon.

Both the demon and Inuyasha were severely weakened by now. The demon struggled to move as my flames danced around it. As it tried to get to Inuyasha again, it fell over with a loud crash and had a hard time getting up again.

He struggled to stand as well, leaning on his tetsusaiga for support. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, blood was pouring from his wounds. With his last bit of strength, he lifted his Tetsusaiga. "Adamant…Barrage!"

Thousands of razor-sharp diamonds shot out of the tetsusaiga and stabbed the demon. It roared in pain and it was finally dead.

I shielded Moroha from the sight of it. She was starting to calm down now, just as relieved as I was that Inuyasha had destroyed the demon. I kissed her forehead. "It's okay honey, we're safe now."

As Inuyasha walked over to us, I could see that he was so weak now that his knees were shaking. The huge hole in his chest had blood pouring from it. The tetsusaiga slipped from his hand, turned back to its rusty form, and hit the ground. He fell to his knees then face-first onto the ground motionless.

When I saw him fall to the ground I was practically shaking with fear of the worst. "INUYASHA!"

I ran over to him and rested his head on my lap. Tears were pouring down my face. "Inuyasha! Speak to me, please!" I practically shouted.

His eyes opened halfway. He was hurt so badly and he'd lost so much blood. He was trembling and breathing heavily from the pain. He was dying. "Kagome…" he said quietly.

I held his hand which had blood all over it. "Inuyasha, you're going to be okay."

"I…don't know Kagome."

I started crying even more. I couldn't lose my husband, not this way. "No! Stay with me, Inuyasha. Please don't leave me! I need you!"

Moroha held his hand and he smiled a weak smile at her. "Moroha." His breathing was starting to become slower. Was this really it? "I love you," he whispered before his eyes closed and his hand fell from mine.

I started shaking him desperately. "Inuyasha!" I shouted. "I love you, Inuyasha! Don't die, please!" I cried. I checked his pulse hoping for some sign of life still in him. Sure enough, he was still alive but I knew he was dying. I could tell by the trails of blood and his stained clothes that he'd lost too much blood. He needed to be treated now. But it wasn't like I could take him back to the village; I couldn't carry him and Moroha at the same time and I didn't want to leave him here alone. What if he got hurt even worse, or what if he died while I was gone? I didn't know what to do and I felt helpless.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over us. She looked up and saw Hachi's form flying in the air. "Hachi!" I shouted. "Hachi!"

Luckily, he noticed me then flew down and stood next to me in his raccoon dog form. He noticed Inuyasha lying unconscious on my lap and gasped. "Is Inuyasha dead?"

I shook my head trying to control my tears enough to speak. "No, but he will be if I don't get him back home. Can you help me?"

"Of course I can." Hachi transformed again and I put Inuyasha and Moroha on his back then got on myself. "What happened here, Kagome?"

I told him everything about the demon and how it had attacked us and almost killed Inuyasha.

"Wow, Inuyasha's tough to take all of that."

I ran my hand through Inuyasha's bangs. "I'm glad he is. I don't know what I would do if he died."

A few minutes later we landed in their village and Hachi helped me get Inuyasha inside of their house to our bedroom. I hugged him afterward. "Thank you, Hachi! You have no idea how grateful I am for this!"

"You're welcome, Kagome. Take care of Inuyasha," Hachi said before he left.

I put Moroha in her bed next to ours with a toy to keep her occupied. Then I quickly went to get some bandages and first aid stuff. Once I was back in our room I took off Inuyasha's robe and gasped at what I saw. He was practically drenched in blood with deep wounds and scratches. The gaping hole in his chest was the worst. Then I began cleaning away the blood and wrapping his wounds in bandages.

I hated to see my husband this way. His wounds were serious and he was lucky to be alive. If he were human he would have died from only one of his many injuries.

Soon I finished bandaging him up. I'd had to clean up Inuyasha's wounds countless times before. He had suffered everything from deep gashes, stab wounds, holes in his gut, poison, and he had even been hit by his own wind scar before. All of that was nothing compared to this. I'd had to put bandages nearly everywhere. He had multiple stab wounds, burns from the fire, a cracked wrist, and very deep scratches from that demon's claws. He was nearly ripped to shreds by this demon.

Moroha was asleep by now. I cried my heart out as I sat with him and held his hand. Yes, he was alive and I was so grateful for that, but he was still unconscious and I worried every second that he wouldn't wake up. The thought of going through life without him made me cry even harder. We had been separated for three years and now he would be taken away from me for good. I sat there for a long time full-on sobbing and I couldn't contain myself.

I leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Please be okay, Inuyasha. I love you so much."

Hours later, he's still unconscious but his breathing has started to even out at least. I've barely left his side since then; only to feed and hold Moroha and have something to eat myself. I'm terrified that the moment I leave his side will be the moment he stops breathing.