DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: This author has no financial or non-financial relation nor do they possess any right to "Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale" franchise. Full ownership of all characters is the sole intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi.

Wherever You Will Go


"No, no, no, no, no, no," Inuyasha muttered hoarsely as he gripped his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white. It was getting hard to breathe and all he could hear was the blood pulsing in his ears. His hands trembled and his vision was becoming increasingly blurry as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. With each painful, shallow breath, his heart seemed to pound even faster, even harder. Those crimson eyes and jagged purple markings seeming to grow darker the longer he focused on them.

Why the hell weren't they going away?! Wasn't that the fucking purpose of this stupid sword?! This was his fault. He...he should have been carrying it but he thought he'd been fine. It should've been fine.

Tears began welling in the crimson orbs staring back at him. He had been doing better. He had. For the first time in forever he'd felt like himself again. Today was supposed to be a day where he proved to Kagome everything would work out and...and now he looked like he was one stones throw away from going on a murderous rampage.

"Kagome," he whined pitifully as a shuddering sob escaped him. He was both grateful she wasn't here and mourning her absence. Any hope he had at making this work was shot straight to hell and it was his fault. It was all his fault. What if never saw her again? What if these were his last moments of consciousness and he spent the rest of his life a mindless killing machine? Someone would need to kill him. That was how the brave hero he used to be died, wasn't it? Not in a battle but with a snarl. He'd die the animal he'd always been. Everyone had been right about him. They'd been right to be afraid.

Doubling over, he pressed his trembling hand firmly against his mouth to keep from screaming. Terror and despair coursed through his veins with such ferocity that it rivaled someone who, wandering in a mist, realized too late that they have stepped straight off the edge into a gaping abyss. For a moment, he almost yearned for death if only to not have to live to see how badly his transformation would end. It was one thing to know what you were doing, to have some control and another entirely to black out only to wake up surrounded by corpses. Covered head to toe in blood with no memory of how it got there but the knowledge that it had been done while your mind was missing. Those missing periods of time terrified him more than anything. For years he'd religiously carried his sword with him to make sure it would never happen again and now...

Crumpling to his knees, a muffled scream escaped and he was unable to check it. What had he done to deserve this? That was a stupid question. He deserved everything that was coming to him and more.

"Shhhhhhh," he heard a voice that sounded a thousand lightyears away and his chest began heaving more urgently, "It's alright dear. Just focus on me. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. Shhhhhhh."

Two soft hands cupped his face and gently forced his unfocused eyes to look at her. The realization that Kagome's mother had, in fact, followed him and now had a front row seat to his descent into madness made his heart pound so heavily he half-wondered if he was having a heart attack. Why the fuck was she here?! She needed to go. Now.

Mama had indeed followed him, and she was very glad she had done so. At first, she hadn't been overly concerned that Inuyasha's appearance was clearly altered. Was it jarring? Yes, but he seemed to be in a much better mood than he had been a few days prior and was talking rationally so she chalked it up as nothing serious. A lingering injury on his neck, too, had caused some concern but when he began to fidget anxiously, she choose not to ask questions he may not want to answer. It was the soft, frightened curse as he was leaving that made her follow him.

"Get….away…" he managed as he scrambled backwards and averted his eyes, "I….I might...I'm…."

His breath was hitching unnaturally and his head lolled like he was about to pass out. Everything about the situation only made Mama more determined to stay right where she was.

"Come here," she whispered affectionately as she patted the floor in front of her and had Inuyasha possessed a modicum of control he might have been offended by the gesture, "You sound upset Inuyasha. What's happening?"

"Are you fucking blind?" he laughed tearfully - the sound strangled and nearly hysterical. Was this woman suicidal? Scrambling backwards, his back hit the wall as his panic grew to new heights.

"Just breathe," she ordered gently as she demonstrated a deep breath and smile reassuringly, "I'm not going to leave you. You seem very upset. Why don't you tell me what's going on? Maybe I can help."

Letting out a shuddering breath, crimson eyes screamed incredulity but for some unfathomable reason, her perfect calm seemed to rub off on him. Trying to focus on her, though, was damn near impossible as his mind continued to race. She seemed in control though. Maybe...maybe she would be able to...to...

"I..." he panted heavily as he rubbed his face, "This only happens if...if I get hurt. But I'm not...I'm not hurt so I don't..."

Mama hummed thoughtfully and tapped her lip.

"Why don't we go back to the shrine?" she offered, "Have there been any other things that you don't consider 'normal'?"

Inuyasha let out another shuddering breath as he averted his eyes. It was becoming easier to breathe but exhaustion was slowly replacing his blind panic.

"Not healing like I normally do," he replied barely above a whisper and Mama made a small noise of understanding.

"Would you mind if I took your temperature?"

Inuyasha felt endlessly confused and his stomach plummeted at the reminder he didn't understand this world. Mama gave him another reassuring smile.

"Sometimes when people get sick, their bodies try to fight off infection in strange ways," she suggested, "Sometimes you get very tired and sometimes you get very thirsty. It might be that your body decided that it needed to do something to help you get better."

Inuyasha's breathing continued to hitch but he appeared to be calming down and the endless stream of tears had stopped.

"You seem to be having a hard time here. Stress sometimes makes it easier for illness to take hold," she continued as she got to her feet, "Why don't we go back to the shrine and see if we can figure out what's happening, hm?"

Inuyasha found himself nodding and getting shakily to his feet - desperate for even the most remote possibility that there was some type of explanation. Except...

He froze and swallowed thickly.

"I should stay," he muttered in a fear laced voice, "I...sometimes, when this happens, I hurt people."

"Would you feel more comfortable if we had a sign?" she offered, "Like tapping your nose if you feel like something might happen?"

Inuyasha exhaled slowly and nodded. As much as he probably needed to get far, far away, he really didn't want to be left alone at the moment.

"Okay. Does tapping your nose sound like a good idea?"

He nodded again and she smiled.

"Well let's go to the shrine and see whether you have a fever. We'll go from there," Mama hummed reassuringly. In literally any other circumstance, Inuyasha probably would've gotten defensive about being treated like a child but right now, what he wanted, needed, more than anything was someone else to take the lead. He was doing a piss poor job at handling this in his own and he trusted this woman. She almost felt like...

"Um, Madam Higurashi?" he began tentatively in a formal-ish tone. He felt completely wiped and he knew he was trembling but she still seemed so calm. Like she had answers and knew what to do. Hope that all was not lost had his whole being melting in relief.

"You can call me Mama," she cooed as she patted him lightly on the cheek, "You're my son in law after all. It's okay if you want to call me something else but just know that it's okay to call me..."

"No, that's fine," he blurted out hoarsely before he could stop himself before cringing at how desperate that sounded. That woman would never know how much that meant to him. How safe that made him feel in her presence. It had been so long since he had someone who...who...well...

His tone and behavior really didn't seem to bother her though in the slightest. It struck him as odd but it almost made him feel eternally grateful. For some reason, he felt like a child trusting his mother to know what to do when he felt lost.

"Just keep breathing," Mama offered before clarifying, "We'll figure it out, okay? I know this must be hard for you."

Inuyasha nodded gratefully as he followed her out the door with his sword still held tightly in his hands.

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"Have there been any calls?" Kagome asked the school secretary nervously. Giving the teacher a curious look, the pretty young thing looked through the various messages before shaking her head.

"Nothing so far," the girl hummed as she glanced up at the very tired looking woman, "Are you expecting a call here? Why wouldn't they call your cell phone?"

Kagome's face fell as she realized that would have been a more logical choice. Bad decision aside she felt that same impending sense of doom she'd felt this morning. Instead of relief, she only felt a pit in her stomach. Something was wrong. Something had set her alarm bells off. But what was it?

"Well we can answer our phones during class," Kagome chuckled awkwardly before clearing her throat, "There just, uh, might be a family emergency. Can you pull me if someone calls for me?"

The secretary nodded slowly while Kagome quickly turned and hurried out of the front office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mama laughed softly as she looked down at the thermometer intended for use in a very certain, probably problematic way before glancing back at his ears.

"I wonder if this will work. It's supposed to go in your ears," she hummed thoughtfully before gasping softly making him flinch, "I think we have another one in the bathroom. That one goes under your tongue."

"Okay," he replied softly from his place on Kagome's old bed as he watched her hurry out of the room. It was strange to be back here. It hadn't changed much at all. Even the alarm clock he'd once crushed was still where it had sat for years now. Mama came back and knelt down in front of him.

"Open up," she crooned and he complied without argument. The metal implement was definitely uncomfortable but when it beeped and she removed it with a small frown, discomfort of a different kind flooded his veins.

"39.7," she whispered before reaching up and feeling is forehead, "Yes, you definitely have a fever. Do you feel congested at all? Like you can't breathe out of your nose? A cough or muscle aches?"

"I don't think so," he replied nervously as his stomach churned from nerves.

"I'm going to try something. Is that okay?" she asked affectionately and he nodded. She was still so calm. Maybe having a fever wasn't a bad thing. Sniffing once to try to gauge how worried she might be, his eyes widened at the realization that her scent wasn't very strong. He could barely smell it. Panic began welling in his chest as fear gripped his soul. He couldn't smell her. He...his nose had been off recently. He had thought...he stomach churned at the completely awkwardness of him daring to hope Kagome was pregnant. His nose hadn't picked up what he expected and at the time...that he might be sick hadn't even occurred to him. Not that he thought logically anymore but even if he had been, illness would be the last thing in his mind.

"I can't smell you," he breathed in a frightened tone and Mama paused before humming like it made all the sense in the world.

"Well that explains it," she reassured him and patted him lightly in the arm, "You're sick. I can give you some medicine to bring down the fever. Would that be okay?"

Inuyasha nodded numbly as he laid down on the twin bed. Since when did he get sick? He hadn't gotten sick since he was a child. God he was completely falling apart wasn't he? His throat suddenly felt tight and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Getting sick is very normal," Mama reassured him as she sat down on the bed the lightly stroked his hair, "I can look through the old books we have in storage to see whether there is anything about demon illnesses. Would you like that or do you want me to try what I have first?"

He shrugged and exhaled shakily.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you," She crooned as she scratched the base of one ear, "But it'll be alright."

And with that she left the room. With her gone, Inuyasha allowed himself a few tears as he lifted the covers and buried himself in them. He had been getting better and this latest setback felt like a kick in the balls. A shuddering sob escaped him as a few more tears broke free.

He had been doing better...

But nothing good ever happened to him.
Why was he surprised?