The Scent of Despair
Written by Catrina Winner
Author's Notes: Wow. I got an AMAZING amount of reviews. Thank you all!! So, I decided to skip some rather important homework to write this instead!! ^ ^;;
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Chapter Two
Inuyasha was watching Kagome when she turned towards him. She stared at him silently, almost appearing afraid. The wind outside whistled by their meager shelter. Everything conveyed the miserable attitude that hung over the surroundings. The trapped companions did nothing more then stare at each other as the violent storm rocked outside.
Inuyasha tilted his sensitive ears towards Kagome, having noticed a strange sound, like a racing heartbeat. It frightened him. Both her eyes flew open in pain, her hands clutching convulsively at her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut. She dropped backwards, her body connecting hard to the stone behind her. He leapt up, giving a frightened shout as she hit the ground. The others immediately turned their weary eyes upon him as he rushed to the fallen girl.
He scooped the seemingly lifeless body up, relived that his ears were still able to pick up a faint, but rapid heartbeat from her. Miroku was next to Inuyasha in moments, staring into Kagome's face. Sango skidded up to them, and promptly shoved Miroku out of her way. She touched Kagome's pale face and frowned as she felt the extreme waves of heat radiating from it. Inuyasha looked over at Sango as she preformed this quick check and did not like the foreboding omens he saw there.
Sango looked up at the gathered assembly. Shippo leapt onto Kagome's shoulder, only to be pulled off by an angered Inuyasha. He was removed from his post by his fluffy tail, causing him to yelp and earn a look of concern from Sango.
"What… What happened to K-Kagome?" he wailed.
"She's sick, Shippo," Sango answered, frowning deeply. At that moment, the wind seized an enormous patch of rain and hurled through their shelter, soaking them all and forcing a shiver from the unconscious girl's body. Inuyasha whimpered, gaining strange glances from his three comrades.
"Will she be okay?" the kitsune asked, close to tears.
"I don't know, Shippo. I don't think she can survive out here in this storm. She's suffering from something I do not understand. We must return her to the village and Kaede's care as soon as we can… Otherwise…" Sango trailed off, leaving the worst unspoken. Shippo started shrieking at the top of his tiny lungs, having picked up on her meaning. Outside, in response to Sango's dark premonition, the thunder roared across the forest, lightning following swiftly after. In the lightning's glow, they could all witness Kagome's white pallor. Inuyasha blinked, worry stealing over his face.
"What are we going to do?" Miroku asked Sango.
"As I said before, we have to get her to Kaede. And I don't know if she can wait for this weather to clear up. We may have to go through the storm, risking much. But, if we lose Kagome…" she looked meaningfully at the Jewel around her neck, sadness glinting in her eyes. "We just can't let her d-"
"I'll take her," Inuyasha snarled abruptly.
"What?" Miroku and the others looked up in surprise.
"You three can stay here and travel again when it's dry. I trust you can all figure out the way home, and since you won't have the Shikon Jewel with you demons shouldn't be a problem. I'll go ahead and bring her to the village," he stood up.
"Wait… Inuyasha… She may catch a more horrible sicknesses if you just run through those woods with her all wet like that," Sango said, resting a restraining arm on his shoulder. He scowled.
Sango picked up Shippo and nodded towards Miroku. He walked as far back from the icy wind and rough entrance of the cliff as he could. Bending down, Sango handed him as many sticks as she could gather in the cave itself. A total count of three.
"Maybe… there's some other way to make a fire…" he murmured.
"No," Inuyasha snapped. "You've wasted enough time. I'm leaving," he stated, removing his fire rat robe. Gently he wrapped Kagome within it. His palms brushed across an exposed bit of skin and he shivered, noting the blue hue. It was also freezing to the touch.
"Be careful. You must hurry," Sango said.
Inuyasha nodded and bounded out of the cave. Immediately the heavy rains beat upon his shoulders, weighting him down. Keeping a steady pace, he leapt over fallen trees and broken vines. It was hard going, for every step he took, his feet encountered something wet and slimy. The entire forest was a death trap in storms like these.
His eyes trailed over Kagome's figure, wrapped tightly in the bright red cloth. The water was already soaking through the fur. Inuyasha didn't like the look of this. Even if he didn't stop, and continued on at such a grueling pace, it would be at least two nights before he could reach the village. And Kagome was growing ever paler… while her breathing continued to slow.
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Oi… So sorry this one was short too! *runs from all the screaming fans* I know I promised this one was supposed to be longer, but I had a lot of homework, and I just HAD to write another chapter for all those of you that asked me to!! Please, review more and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can. Thank you, thank you!