Black Widow
Sango-sama
Mind Haze

Disclaimer: No. I still don't own Inuyasha. Wah!

Author's notes at the end.

*******************************************************************************************************

The semiconscious form of the Houshi quakes as chills surge down his back. He begins to moan as the chills course through him. His lips turn a dark blue, in spite of all the movement from his shivering.

"He's getting more pale," she thinks to herself somberly, the slightest hint of panic apparent in her carefully leveled voice.

His whole form flails as Sango struggles to hold him still enough to suck the poison from his system. Gently pushing him from her lap, she settles her weight on his back, pressing his body between herself and the ground. Her lips move back over the wounds, drawing out what poison she can and them spitting it out on the ground, leaving the ground a deep shade of pink where the poisoned blood soaks into the soil.

His body still trembles with the chill's force. Frowning, she unties his outer robe, sliding the purple cloth out from under him. Ripping off a long strip from the bottom of the fabric, she presses it against Miroku's wounds, letting the blood soak in and clot. She drapes the remaining cloth over the Houshi's exposed legs, tucking it around him tightly.

She pulls him back flush with her body, trying to warm his skin with her own.

"C'mon, Houshi-sama....wake up."

*******************************************************************************************************

A hand draws up to Kagome's lips. "Sango-chan! Miroku!"

"Where the hell is that bouzo?" A flash of red and white drops to the ground from the treetops above.

She looks to him expectantly. "Did you see anything?"

Frowning, he shakes his head. "Where's the brat?"

"Who's a brat?" Shippou pouts cutely, jumping up on the hanyou's head and looking down at him.

Inuyasha reaches up to swat the kitsune off his head, stopping just shy of the kitsune's head. The kit flinches, squeezing it's eyes shut tight and waiting for the fist to make contact with his skull. But nothing came.

Inuyasha stares hard into the shaded area of the forest. His ears lift in alert and his weight shift to the balls of his feet, ready to spring ahead at a moments notice.

Shippou slowly opens his eyes, one at a time. "Haha! You missed me Dog-boy!"

A fists baps the young kit before Inuyasha focuses back onto the dark.

A delicate hand sets on his shoulder. "Inuyasha, what is it?"

A cocky grin perks his lips as he cracks his knuckles. "We've got guests."

*******************************************************************************************************

The coppery taste of blood still lingers in her mouth. She glances longingly at the small stream, but taking care of her charge was taking precedence at the moment.

She looks down on her lap to see his sleeping face, watching as the color of his face starts settling back to normal.

His chills had settled down only to be replaced by a fever. Her hand smooths over his bangs, pushing them up off of his forehead. His head is still quite warm and flushed, but his poison-induced fever was breaking.

She smiles in relief, absently running her fingers through his bangs. 'He will be waking up soon.'

As much as she was enjoying being close to him without fear of being groped, she couldn't figure out why in the world the two of them had gone out this far into the forest in the first place.

A frown settles over her features. "I must have been out for a few days after that spider bite....but how did I get out here?"

The beads on her wrist clink together, tugging her attention away from the Houshi's sleeping face for a few seconds.

"Just what has happened to me?"

*******************************************************************************************************

The heavy red fabric rips in two as the the spider's leg jabs down, just missing the hanyou's arm.

Inuyasha jumps back into the air, landing a few meters from where he was just standing.

Four more giant spiders emerge from the shadows and he can sense a good number more still lurking in the shadows beyond. He pulls Tetsusaiga's blade from its sheath, letting it transform as the blade scrapes across the sheath's narrow opening.

"Shippou, stay back with Kagome. If I miss any, use Fox fire."

*******************************************************************************************************

Eyelids twitch, squinting under the sun's bright light, as awareness floods his senses.

Something cold rests on his forehead. Of that he was certain. The feel of its light pressure drawing away some of the heat he had been suffering elicits a slight but welcome shiver down his back.

Lavender eyes slowly flutter open.

"Sango?" he slurs.

His head set in her lap and her hand lays atop his forehead.

A soft sigh of relief breifly passes her lips. "How are you feeling?"

The Houshi tries to sit up, feeling the tension of the healing wound at his back. His stomach lurches at the motion and he coughs a bit to maintain his bearings, while her hand slips around to hold his back steady.

"Like hell." His hand moves up to his forehead, rubbing away the pain that had centered itself at his temples.

"That's not too surprising, I suppose. Do you know what happened?"

Pausing a few moments, his fingers drift down to the bridge of his nose.

"Well, we had been kissing when this huge spider--"

"What?" The vein above Sango's eye pops. Heart heart jumps in spite of herself.

"What?" He looks up into her eyes uncertainly, "About the spider?"

"NO!" she yells, before becoming a bit more conscious of herself. "No. The part before that."

"You mean the kissing?"

A blush firmly impresses itself on her cheeks. "Yes, of course I mean the kissing! Why in the world would I be kissing a perverted Houshi like you?"

His eyes slowly search hers. "You mean you honestly can't remember?"

For a second, she truly regrets yelling at him. His eyes seem so sad and his pain genuine.

Her hands fall to her lap and her eyes suddenly find the ground intensely interesting. "No, I can't."

He watches her a few seconds. "What can you remember?"

"I remember talking with Kagome at the spring...and then a sharp pain at my neck. Then nothing until I woke up a while ago."

"Did you hit your head on anything?"

"I don't think so..." She bit her lip. "It just feels like I've been asleep for a while. I can remember dreaming but I can't quite recall what it was all about."

Miroku moves up onto his knees, setting his hand down on her head and pressing gently. "Well, I can't feel any lumps."

Sango's blush peaks, as she stares in wide-eyed wonder at the monk. "Houshi-sama, I..."

Thumps thunder across the ground bringin the sabre cat to the two.

"Kirara?"

The cat growls an affirmative and stalks over to its master, nuzzling her arm.

"Good girl...we should get you back to the village, Houshi-sama." Sango leans down to the ground, helping the Houshi stand. "I don't know if I got all the poison out."

His hand wanders up, absently toying with the makeshift bandage.

"Sango..."

"Hmmm?"

He presses his lips to her hairline, dropping a chaste kiss in its wake. "Thank you for taking care of me."

Blushing, she turns away quickly. "Of course...I would do that for anyone in the group..."

He smiles gently to her back. "Of course..."

Her hand lift to where his lips were, replaying his breif, feather light touch in her mind 'Kami-sama, please let me remember...'

*******************************************************************************************************

A slice of bright white light cuts through the air, ripping three of the giant spiders apart at once. Drips of poison slip out of the wounds of the fallen, burning away the grasses and flowers that they touch.

"Where the hell do these damn things keep coming from?"

Kagome began to look very worried. "InuYasha, we have to hurry."

"Eh?"

"Even if Sango and Miroku are okay, they can't use their weapons. Hiraikotsu is back in the village, and Miroku can't use his Kaze Ana with as much poison as these things have."

Tetsusaiga slices through the air with a swoosh.

"Humph. We aren't going anywhere until we can waste these things. We need to find the source."

*******************************************************************************************************

One More Chapter! I think I may be more excited than the rest of you. Plus that side story is in the works....Blah. Hopefully, this will be done this weekend!

Sango-sama