While the Children Are Away, the Parents Will Play

By Gothic Butterfly

Chapter One

Kagome knew things between Sesshomaru and Inu Yasha were bad, but she never dreamt it would go this far.  It seemed as if Sesshomaru had enough of his half demon brothers' glory.  Following Kagome and Inu Yasha's trail must have been easy, because here he was, and they hadn't been out of Kaede's village for more than a few days!

Sesshomaru had called out to his little brother, challenging him to a battle.  Unable to resist, Inu Yasha answered, and that's where things went wrong.  Sesshomaru's anger and hatred towards his brother seemed to amplify his demon powers.  As usual, Inu Yasha hadn't thought about the consequences of his actions, and let his ego get in the way of his common sense.  That was the reason why Kagome was now hiding behind some rocks, out of the way of danger, watching Inu Yasha bleed.

Sesshomaru had charged at Inu Yasha numerous times, slashing through his fire rat komono.  Kagome could see the pain on Inu Yasha's face, and knew even he couldn't live much longer without medical attention.

Sesshomaru was getting ready to launch another attack, and Kagome saw her chance.  Gathering her strength, she raced across the open field towards a stumbling Inu Yasha.

Inu Yasha caught movement out of the corner of his eye.  Stupid girl, he thought, I'm fighting to keep her safe, and she runs out into the middle of the battle.  Straightening, no matter how much pain it caused him, he scowled at her and shouted for her to get her stupid ass hidden behind the rocks.  Which really pissed Kagome off.  Growling out her own insults, she stopped a few feet from Inu Yasha, and continued the argument.

"Stupid wench," Inu Yasha yelled.  "Get behind the rocks! Can't you see I'm trying to protect you?"

            "You couldn't even protect yourself right now, even if you wanted to Inu Yasha!"  Kagome answered.

            "Go away, I don't need your help.  You aren't good for anything, anyway.  Wimpy human."

            "What did you just call ME???" She screamed.

"You heard me, now fuck off!"

            "Why you stupid mongrel!  You just wait till I get my hands on my bow!  I'll give you something to shout about!"  Kagome shouted as she stomped off, back towards the rocks.

Inu Yasha sighed.  He worried about her too much for his own good.  Suddenly, a blast hit his chest and rocked his body. Stumbling from yet another wound, Inu Yasha cried out and fell to the ground.

"Oh no!"  Kagome sobbed as she bit her nails.  Wondering if she should go back out or stay hidden.  Just then, Sesshomaru started gathering his energy again.  Fearing for Inu Yasha's life, Kagome ran onto the battle field again.  When she reached him, he was bent in half, gnashing his teeth together from the pain.  Groaning, he looked towards his brother, only to see a green skirt blocking his view.  "Damnit Kagome," he mumbled, "I told you to stay put."

"I'm not going to just watch you die Inu Yasha.  You should know better than that by now.  If I help you up, can you walk?"

Cringing, Inu Yasha shook his head.  "Injuries too bad."  He mumbled, "Save yourself."

"You idiot!  I just told you I wasn't going to watch you die!  Now help me get you up."

Kagome sat up on her knees for better leverage, and began to drag Inu Yasha to his feet.  Just as he'd sat up enough to crawl, another power ball came flying towards them.  Seeing that it would hit Kagome, Inu Yasha knocked her out of the way, and took the blast in the chest.  "Inu Yasha!"  Kagome screamed, crawling towards him.  She reached out and rolled him onto his back, he was out cold and a puddle of blood had begun to form under him.

Oh no, she thought, I've got to get him out of here!  But how?  Just then she realized that Sesshomaru was gathering another power ball.  Gathering Inu Yasha to her, she began to crawl backwards away from Sesshomaru.  She knew she wouldn't make it to the rocks, but she had to try.  Inu Yasha still had a chance of living!  Kagome glanced behind her to see how far they'd gone, and started to cry.  It was all her fault, why had she insisted that they leave the village right away?  Why couldn't she have let Inu Yasha pick which shard they went after first?  With tears falling down her cheeks, she hugged Inu Yasha closer to her.  If only she could somehow shield them from the power balls.

As if reading her thoughts, Sesshomaru let loose another power ball.  While it hurled toward the two, he smirked.  He would finally defeat his weak half demon brother, and the wimpy little human he cared so much for.  His hands clenched in eagerness as he watched his power ball fly closer and closer.

Kagome's heart raced as she too watched the power ball. NO, she thought, I won't let Inu Yasha and I be killed by that horrible demon!  Then, a burst of wind swirled and kicked up the dust around them.  As soon as the wind had come, it was replaced by what looked like a large pink and purple shield.  The shield surrounded Inu Yasha and Kagome, and when the power ball hit, it bounced off and sailed back to Sesshomaru.  With his eyes widening, Sesshomaru barely dodged his own power ball.  Furious at the power the two beings had, he retreated to heal his own few wounds.

When Kagome's heart started beating normally again, she laid Inu Yasha out flat on the ground, checking the conditions of his wounds.  His red kimono had been stained a dark brown from all the blood loss.  Carefully, she lifted and moved his kimono off of his chest, what she saw there made her feel dizzy.  He had cuts and scrapes all over his chest and arms, but those weren't the worst things.  A hole through his shoulder, a deep laceration on his right arm, and two large blistering holes in his chest was what she saw.  With tears stinging her eyes and running down her cheeks, she wished their other companions where here.  But they weren't.  Sango had been away on an important hunt for a demon that was stealing kids to molest and kill them, while Miraku was exercising a demon from the great Emperor's daughter with Shippo's help.

Sobbing once again, Kagome pulled Inu Yasha to her, and started carefully dragging him to the shelter of the cave she had been hiding in.  If Sesshomaru came back, he would be able to kill them both quickly, and she knew that.  But she didn't want to risk further injury by dragging him very far without tending to his wounds first.  Her heart lifted when they reached they reached the cave after a few minutes.  Pulling him all the way to the back of the cave, she started a fire and began to undress him.  She left his loincloth on, because if there were any wounds down there, she really didn't want to know about them.  After covering his lower body with a blanket, she began to pull some supplies from her pack.

Next, she filled an empty noodles container with water and began to wash away the blood.  Being extremely careful about the chest wound, she watched for any signs of healing.  None.  Frowning, she checked his pulse and breathing.  He was breathing shallowly, which showed that he was way out of it.  His pulse wasn't real strong, but not weak either.  Taking this as a good sign, she hummed to herself as she spread antibiotic ointment on his wounds, and covered or wrapped them with gauze.  When she was done, she admired her work, and what she could see of Inu Yasha's body.  She knew exactly how strong he was, but just looking and his lean muscled form, you wouldn't think it would be able to do the things it could.  Sighing, she cleaned up her mess and stuffed the trash into a bag.  She dumped the bloody water quite a ways from the cave, and checked for signs of people on her way back.

Once she was back in the cave, she checked Inu Yasha's pulse and breathing again.  He was breathing a little deeper now, so maybe he was just sleeping off the pain.  Yawning she laid another light blanket over his body to keep him from getting cold.  Then she stretched out her sleeping bag next to him and kept her fingers wrapped around his wrist.  That way if he woke, the movement of his arm would wake her.  She yawned again and let her eyes drift shut.  Soon sleep sucked her under.

Pain washed through his body like he was drowning in a sea of hot coals.  Grunting he forced his eyes open to take stock of his injuries.  Moving just his head, which ached like a mother fucker, he looked at his chest.  Or rather, he thought, the gauze covering his chest.  If all the white material covering his bare chest was a sign, he was hurt the worst he had probably ever been.  Good thing tonight's not the new moon, he thought with a wince.  Trying to sit up, he saw Kagome sleeping beside him.  So close that her sent filled his nose.  Why hadn't he noticed that before?  He asked himself, and then laid back down to enjoy his view of the sleeping girl.

Her hair was stretched across her pillow and covering one side of her face.  Reaching over, he gently pushed it back behind her ear, then stilled as she sighed and wiggled closer.  Frozen, he watched as she smiled and moved so that her head was close enough that he could feel her breath on his chest.  Being ever more careful, he moved his arm back to his side and struggled to keep his breathing normal, as each lung full drove him insane with her scent.  Doing the best he could to ignore her breath tickling his chest, he thought about the smile that had curved her lips.  What had she been dreaming about? Was it him, or that Hojo guy?  The only thing he knew for sure was that it wasn't Miraku.  She hated the way he treated women, especially Sango.

He turned his head its side to watch her sleep, he'd given up on ignoring her.  Besides which, she smells really, really good right now.  And how many other chances will I get to just watch her and smell her without her knowing or sitting me?  Sighing, he listened to her breathing, and watched her sleep softened face.  He knew he cared a lot for her, more than he did for any of his other companions.  But it didn't bug him that much, as long as she never found out…

Suddenly Kagome began to stir, and Inu Yasha panicked, after a few seconds of AHH!! What should I do, WHAT SHOULD I DOO!!!!  He slammed his eyes shut and tried his best to act like he was asleep, only now noticing how much clothing he didn't have on.  Kagome made soft noises as she stretched and woke up, soft noises that drove Inu Yasha insane.  They tugged at his heart, and made him try with all his might to not let a certain part of his anatomy react to them.  Groaning in his head, he began to wish that he hadn't actually woken up.  Boy am I in deep shit now, he thought.

Kagome stretched and yawned, Wow, that was a really good nap, she thought.  Slowly she opened her eyes to check on Inu Yasha and almost giggled when she saw him frowning and his ears twitching.  Pretending to not know that he was really awake, she moaned and scooted closer to him, watching his reaction.  She almost lost it when his frown deepened, and his ears laid flat against his head in what she assumed was an attempt to not hear her.  Snickering, she then scolded herself for playing tricks on an injured man.  And what a man indeed, she thought to herself, taking in his long lean form again.  Sighing, she sat up and began to check the bandages on the arm closest to her.

When she peeled back the gauze and tape, she let herself smile a little.  The cuts and bruises were beginning to show signs of healing.  Carefully laying the gauze flat again, she made sure the tape was stuck down good, and went to check the next patch.  As she lifted the tape on the patch, Inu Yasha's arm twitched, and she looked up at his face to see that his eyes were open, and he was watching her.  Smiling at him, she went back to her work, carefully peeling the tape back on each patch of gauze, checking the wounds and bruises, and laying them back.

Soon she had checked the wounds on both arms, and prepared herself to check the shoulder and chest wound.  She noticed that both the gauzes were showing signs of bleeding, and crawled to her pack to get fresh gauze and ointment.  As she crawled, she could feel Inu Yasha's eyes burning into her back, shivering a little from the feeling, she crawled back to Inu Yasha's side.  Glancing up and him as she peeled back the tape on his shoulder, she noticed that sweat was forming on his forehead, and he was a bit paler than before.  Noting this, she was extra careful of the wound, and tried to be as gentle as possible.  When she was done with his shoulder, she sat back and stared at his chest.

Inu Yasha could tell Kagome was really worried about his last injury.  He noticed that she had been really careful while she worked on his shoulder, but she seemed reluctant to work on his chest.  Which made since, because that's where most of the pain was radiating from.  She hadn't seemed to be bothered by him silently watching her work.  In fact, she seemed happy that he was awake.  But now she was frowning and looking from his face to the chest wound.  Sighing, she scooted closer and reached for the top edge of the large patch of gauze.  Inu Yasha reached up with his left arm and carefully folded his larger hand around Kagome's smaller one.  Startled by this, Kagome looked up at Inu Yasha.  Clearing his throat, he said, "Leave it."

Frowning at him, she squeezed his hand a little.  "But it needs to have the gauze changed on it.  I know it must hurt, but it will hurt even more if it gets infected."

Inu Yasha laughed softly and laid her hand on his abdomen, where there were no wounds.  He slowly moved his thumb up and down the back of Kagome's hand, watching her eyes soften as she watched their hands.  Softly, he said, "You forget, I don't get infections in my wounds like humans do.  Leave it for now, it will heal more in a few hours, and then you can change it.  Okay?"

Startled by the intimate movement of his hand, she nodded and looked back into his golden eyes.  Usually they had a warmth to them, but she'd never seen them like this.  His eyes looked like warm golden honey, and he was staring at nothing but her.  Blushing a little, she moved to pull her hand away, but he tightened his hold on her.  She looked from their hands on his abdomen to his face and back again, not knowing what to do.  Finally she settled with looking at his face, and frowned, trying to figure out what had caused the sudden change of feelings toward her.  Maybe sudden isn't the right word, she thought to herself.  She noticed that since their other companions were off on other missions, Inu Yasha had been kinder to her, and talked more with her than he had before.

Sighing quietly, she looked at the chest wound again.  Blood had seeped through in places, but she guessed it could wait a few more hours before being changed.  Inu Yasha watched her eyes, and realized she was really worried about that wound.  Pausing the motion of his thumb for a second, the thought to himself.  Then, coming to a decision, his hand left hers, and he moved his left arm away from his body a bit.  "Come here."  He said, using his hand to motion to her. 

Kagome seemed frozen to the spot, she was sitting, but her face and hand betrayed her.  "But your wounds…" she thought out loud, waiting for him to reply.

"They're not that bad," he muttered as he flexed his left arm to prove it.  "Unless you're afraid of getting blood on your clothes."

Shaking her head back and forth quickly, she watched him flex his arm.  Her body itched with the need to have his arm around her.  Ached in a way she'd never felt before, but she didn't want to go to him if he was thinking of Kikyo and not her.  She frowned a little, and Inu Yasha realized why she was afraid to move.  Cursing himself a fool and mentally thumping himself on the head, he thought of how to assure her that he wanted her, not Kikyo.  Finally, he decided on what to say.  Looking into her dark brown eyes, he spoke.  "Come here Kagome."

Her head jerked up, and she gave him a small smile.  Leaving her hand on his abdomen because she liked the feel of his muscles against her hand, she scooted closer to his left side, and laid her head on his left arm.  Inu Yasha shifted his arm to wrap it around her and pull her closer to him.  Sighing with contentment, he looked down at her as she looked up at him, and smiled.  He lifted his head slightly off the ground, and leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.  Then he lay back on the ground, and watched her face glow with happiness.

Kagome sighed herself, and snuggled closer to Inu Yasha.  Neither one of them really knew why they were acting this way, but they would enjoy it while it lasted.  Since Kagome didn't have anything else to do, and Inu Yasha was better off just letting his wounds heal, the two were happy to just cuddle together.

After a few moments of silence, Inu Yasha spoke.  "How long was I out?"

Kagome check the watch on her wrist and replied, "About 5 hours I think."

            Inu Yasha frowned and tried to remember what hours were.  Giving up, he concentrated on the feel of Kagome's body pressed against his side.  After a few minutes, another question popped into his head.  "Kagome?"

            "Yeah?"

"Why are we still alive?  I mean I know that I've beaten Sesshomaru before, but something was different this time.  He seemed a lot stronger, and I felt weak again."

            Scooting up a little more, Kagome rested her chin on his arm and looked at his face.  When she had figured it out, she answered him.  "He did seem different, more powerful.  But he didn't have any jewel shards, otherwise I would have sensed them.  I think he was just so sick and tired of you getting the best of him."

"Well, that makes since, I guess.  But that still doesn't answer my question.  Why are we still alive?"

"Um…that's a little harder to explain." She gulped and shifted nervously.

"What happened?"  He sounded like he was running out of patience.

            Thinking that getting it all out quickly would be best, Kagome blurted everything out in one quick story.  "Well, after you and I fought you got hit a few more times, and were about to pass out...so I *gulp* ran back out and got between you and Sesshomaru and was trying to drag you back to the cave but couldn't, you were out cold and I didn't know what to do!  Then all of a sudden another one of his power balls was flying towards us and I didn't want you to get hurt again, and I knew I couldn't get you to the cave in time.  So I was thinking that I couldn't let you get hit again, and that it would be really nice if I could protect you, and then this huge gust of wind came, then all of a sudden there was this shield."  All the while she was talking, she slowly moved away from his good arm incase he felt the need to 'shake some since into her'.  Finishing off the story, she blurted, "ButtheshieldreflectedthepowerballbacktowardsSesshomaru,andheranoffand Idraggedyouinhere."

Inu Yasha just laid there for a few minutes, deciphering what she had said.  After a little while, he closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to them.  Then, taking a deep breath, he opened them and stared at her.  She was kind of cowering a few feet away from him.  As if frightened of what he would do to her.  The look of terror on her face was just too much for him, so he did something very uncharacteristic of himself.  He started laughing.  It started out as a low chuckle, and grew from there.  When Kagome opened her eyes and looked up at him startled, he lost it completely.  His body shuddered with laughter until he couldn't help in and he folded in on himself, which was a mistake.  Letting out a howl of pain, he froze in his position and tried to breath from the pain.

Kagome jumped up and scrambled over to his side.  Gently, she laid her hands on his arms and straightened him out.  After he was lying flat on the floor again, she crawled back over to her pack and took out a can of soda and some pain killer.  Then she crawled back over to Inu Yasha to give him the medicine.  Since he was still in a lot of pain, she had to be careful of how much of the soda she poured into his mouth, wouldn't do to let him drown.  When he'd swallowed the pain killer and soda, she set the containers aside and straightened out his blankets again.  Carefully folding it around the now blood soaked gauze on his chest.

Inu Yasha began to feel better as the medication kicked in, taking deeper breaths, he said.  "Remind me to never do that again."

Kagome couldn't help herself, she burst into giggles.  She tried to cover her mouth to hide her smile and hold the giggles in, but failed.  Giving up she just snickered a little and said that she would.  After a glare from Inu Yasha, she settled down, and looked around the cave, really looking at it for the first time.

The ceiling was a good eight or ten feet above their heads, and the fire light reflected off of crystals embedded in the walls and ceilings of the cave.  Turning her head, she looked out the entrance of the cave and noticed that it was starting to get dark.  She glanced back at Inu Yasha and stood, walking to her pack to get out a bag of ramen for dinner.  Right on target…she thought, looking back and seeing that she had his attention.  Carefully she made the ramen over the fire and dished some out into two bowls.  Turning, she asked him, "Can you eat this yourself, or am I going to have to feed you?"

Inu Yasha seemed to put a lot of thought into answering her.  If I say no, then she will probably think I'm weak.  But if I say yes, then I won't get to smell or touch her again until she goes to sleep.  Giving up his honor, he acted like he was struggling to sit up.  Secretly, both of them were smiling inside.  Inu Yasha wanted Kagome to feed him, childish as his methods were.  While Kagome wanted to feel his warmth against her skin again.  Acting like it was a bother to feed him, she fake grumbled on her way over to him and sat by his head.  Gently she lifted his head and placed it in her lap.  Then she began to feed him his ramen in little clumps of noodles.  While he slowly chewed his, she had enough time to steal a clump from her bowl, so they both were done around the same time.

Stacking the bowls on top of each other, Kagome moved to get up.  Then a soft sound reached her ears.  Looking down into her lap, she realized he had fallen asleep.  Smiling softly, she shifted into a more comfortable position to where she could lean against the wall.  After a few minutes of having all that beautiful silver hair spread across her legs, she finally gave in.  Carefully she moved it all to one side and began running her hands through it.  Slowly at first, until she found a tangle, then she would undo it and smooth it back, and run her fingers through his hair again. 

Looks can really be deceiving.  She thought to herself.  Who would have ever guessed that such a tough looking guy could have this amazingly soft silky hair?  When all the tangles were out, she just kept running her hands through his hair.  Slowly, sleep dragged at her and she leaned her head back against the cave wall to sleep.  Half asleep, she murmured, "G'night Inu Yasha."

"Good night Kagome."  But she was already asleep.