CHAPTER SEVEN

*

"Inuyasha?"

Kagome's voice echoed through the empty woods, and replied to only by owls and chittering bats. She paused under a tree, clutching the Tetsusaiga. "Inuyasha, can you hear me?" she shouted.

It wasn't hard to backtrack, even in the dark; the snake had left a smooth rut over the grass and dirt. Bushes had been broken and thrown aside as it passed. But Kagome was terrified that she would go in the wrong direction... or worse, come back to the clearing and find Inuyasha gone. Please be there, she thought as she ran. Please be there when I come back for you...

When she stumbled through a tangle of briars, she saw him. He was lying where she had left him, stretched out on the grass, motionless.

Motionless.

He can't be... she thought desperately. It couldn't be more than just paralysis -- she had been moving by this time, after she had been bitten...

Kagome dropped to her knees beside Inuyasha, and sighed in relief when his eyes opened. "Inuyasha, I led the snake away," she said. "I think it's hiding for the moment..."

Then she saw that something was wrong. His face was pale in the starlight. Too pale. And there was a faintly bluish tinge to his lips, as if he were cold -- and she realized that she could barely see the rise of his chest. "Kagome..." he whispered, as if the effort of speaking was tiring him.

Kagome slowly turned his face toward her. "Inuyasha, what's wrong? The venom should be wearing off soon..."

"Take... sword... and run," Inuyasha whispered.

"What? Why? Inuyasha, what's wrong?"

"Can't... breathe..." Inuyasha made a strange rasping noise.

Kagome felt as if her heart had stopped. That's right, she thought, the snake said something about... not giving me enough venom to stop my breathing. Oh no... Inuyasha's body isn't all that paralyzed -- his lungs are freezing up and not letting him breathe. That rotten snake left him here to suffocate all alone!

She pressed a hand to the fang marks on his chest, through the holes in his clothes. His flesh was cold. The skin of his chest felt like marble, cold and stiff.

It was too horribly like the first night she had found out about his transformation, when a spider had poisoned him. But Myoga wasn't with her this time -- and even if he had been, the poison had spread all through Inuyasha's body. He probably couldn't suck it all out.

"Kagome... just... go..." Inuyasha wheezed.

"I'm not leaving you here," Kagome said. Tears were filling her eyes. "Inuyasha, just try to keep breathing -- the venom doesn't last long..."

Inuyasha didn't say anything. But Kagome could tell the strangled breaths were getting shallower. I can't let this keep going, she thought. She set down the Tetsusaiga by his hand. "Inuyasha," she whispered. "I'm not gonna let you just suffocate in front of me, you hear? I'm going to try to keep you breathing until the poison wears off, okay? Just let me do this, and I-I'll try to fix things."

Inuyasha didn't react as she straddled his stomach, almost sitting on him. Kagome realized belatedly that he COULDN'T react -- speaking would waste his breath, and his body was completely limp. Biting her lips, she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed down. And let go. And pushed again.

She heard a rasping breath in Inuyasha's throat as she let his chest rise for the second time. It's working! she thought.

But as she kept working, a horrible thought came into her mind. How long could she keep him breathing... if the snake returned?

TO BE CONTINUED