A/N- So sorry, yet again, with the long delay. I feel horrible not being able to post out new chapter very frequently. I love all of my readers, and I thank all of you for sticking with me. Enjoy!
Disclaimer- Nope! Rumiko Takahashi's still got 'em.
The Colors of Emotions
Chapter 32
Panic Attack
"Inuyasha, I think Miroku is starting to wake up." Sango gently whispered. She didn't want to startle the hanyou as he seemed extremely tense waiting for Kagome to pull herself into wakefulness. But as Inuyasha had stated, Miroku was just unconscious from hitting his head to hard. The amount of power he had sensed probably didn't help matters as his spiritual instincts had been greatly affected. But he was beginning to stir, and Sango knew it was only a matter of time before the monk awoke. She wasn't sure whether she would hug him or kill him. His recklessness could have been his demise, but Sango also knew that he had risked his life for her, and she couldn't exactly bring herself to be mad at him.
"Inuyasha?" Sango questioned once more. She had expected some sort of response to her statement.
"I heard you Sango." Inuyasha sat there staring dully at Kagome's still figure. He had been that way for nearly twenty minutes, and it was starting to bother everyone how quiet he was. He took the jewel shard and had placed the chain it was attached to around Kagome's wrist…just in case.
Kaede made another attempt to get him out of the little daze he was in. "Inuyasha, why don't you go hunt, or perhaps take a run around the forest. It will make you feel better, and you can't do anything for Kagome right now. She needs to restore enough energy and wake up on her own. And seeing as how much energy she must have lost, it could be days before she reawakens."
"Shut up old hag! I know that, and I am prepared to sit here for as long as it takes for Kagome to wake up. Why are all of you…"
Inuyasha trailed off when he heard a mumbling sound. Its source was none other than the supposedly asleep girl. "Did she just say something?" He questioned.
"I dunno." Shippou answered while leaning over Kagome's face expectantly.
"I said, 'can all of you please keep it down? My head hurts.'" Kagome replied more clearly. She was feeling really drowsy, and that hangover feeling had yet to leave her. It was very disorienting, and she had no idea where she was at the moment. Her mind backtracked, and Kagome realized that the last thing she remembered was going to sleep in her own bed back in the present. She must have still had her dress from the wedding on, as she was horribly uncomfortable in whatever she was wearing.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, touching her cheek slightly.
"Kagome, wake up." Shippou whined.
That's when Kagome's mind jolted back to all of the memories of what Naraku had told her, and then how she had died.
Inuyasha was quite shocked when Kagome's supposedly energy lacking body bolted upright, knocking Shippou to the ground. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide as they swept in her surroundings. Kagome stared at the pile of rubble where there once was a wall, and then her eyes traveled to everyone's face as if to make sure they were okay.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked again, a little worry in his voice. He could hear her breathing become ragged when her eyes found their way to Miroku's unconscious form. Her mind put two and two together.
"Oh my goodness, is Miroku okay?" She anxiously questioned.
"He's fine, Kagome. But you shouldn't be up. You couldn't possibly have regained all of your energy by now." Sango proclaimed as she crawled next to Kagome to put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.
"She is right Kagome. It just doesn't seem possible that you're even awake right now. Calm down child." Kaede soothingly added.
"I was so worried Kagome." Shippou cried as he sprung into her arms.
Kirara curled next to Kagome's outstretched legs, as if also saying she had missed the young woman.
Inuyasha only focused on Kagome's eyes. There was something terribly wrong. The way her heart was beating, and her breathing staggered proved to the hanyou that Kagome could go into hysterics at any moment. Everyone was crowding around her to see if she was okay. She looked panicked.
Kagome jumped up, ignoring the head rush, and dashed out of the curtain door sprinting at top speed away from the hut.
"Kagome!" Nearly everyone yelled simultaneously.
"I'll get her." Inuyasha stated in an uncharacteristically calm voice. He bolted to his feet and followed the fleeing miko.
"Kagome! Stop!" Inuyasha called. He was shocked at how fast she was. Putting on an extra burst of his demonic speed though, he easily caught up to her. Grabbing her around the waist, he swung his arm to slam her back against his chest, pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled profusely, gasping heavily, like a caged and petrified animal.
"Calm down." He ordered. But it had no effect. She didn't even seem to hear him.
"Kagome, I mean it. Calm down!" His tone of voice had Kagome freezing, and her shoulders drooped. Losing her balance, the young woman slumped against the sturdy form behind her.
It was as if she had only just woken up from her slight panic attack. Inuyasha slowly turned her small form around to look into her face. To his shock, she was silently crying. "Kagome?"
"I could have killed one of you. I…I can't do this. He has complete control." She mumbled to herself.
Stumped, the hanyou tried piecing together what he could to try to understand what she was talking about.
"Kagome, no one is hurt. You just didn't have the jewel shard with you, and you weren't awake to catch yourself before you attacked. Everything's okay."
Angry eyes shot up to glare into his own. "Everything is not okay." She hissed. "Naraku has complete control over me. If I don't have the jewel shard on, he puts images in my head. He can make me attack whenever he wants because I don't know what is real anymore."
Inuyasha was a little taken aback by this. "He made you attack?"
"I attack in whatever nightmare he's placed in my head." Her slight moment of anger had died away instantly, leaving behind the weak and sobbing form. "I hate this Inuyasha."
"We will find a way to stop him. I promise." Inuyasha vowed. Then, he wrapped her small form in a huge bear hug, holding her as tightly as he dared.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome mumbled against his chest.
"I was so scared that I had really lost you. You died. I couldn't take it. I felt so empty when I couldn't feel your pulse anymore."
Kagome didn't answer, she just wrapped her arms around his strong body and returned the fierce hug.
"What made you come back?" Inuyasha whispered. He had yet to understand how the amazing miracle of Kagome coming back to life occurred. He figured it would have to be her determination to live, or her need to complete this quest. In his mind he secretly hoped that he was the reason she dragged herself from death. She knew that he needed her, as she always came back to him, no matter where she went.
Her answer had him completely stunned.
"Naraku." She whispered.
A moment of awkward silence followed.
"What?" A completely confused hanyou questioned.
Kagome sighed while pulling back a little from the embrace to look into his face. "Naraku wants to use me for something. I don't know what his plans are, but I am involved somehow. When he caused me to attack, he misjudged how much energy I would use."
"What made you attack?"
Kagome decided to answer as truthfully as she could. "Kikyo was hurting you. I…needed to stop her."
Inuyasha couldn't answer. Naraku was using Kagome's own insecurities against her.
Kagome took a deep breath. "He gave me some of his own energy to keep me alive."
"What does he want?" Inuyasha asked furiously.
"I don't know." She answered, suddenly slightly afraid of the anger she saw in his amber eyes.
"What does he tell you when he talks to you? It doesn't make sense that he would go to all this trouble to keep you alive."
"What, are you saying you want him to kill me? He has the perfect opportunity to." She asked, slightly offended.
"No, you know I don't mean that. It's just annoying as hell. I don't know why he is messing with your mind, and I don't know how to stop it. I can't give him what he wants because I don't know what that is." The hanyou explained, letting go of his hold on Kagome.
Kagome stayed quiet. This only served to make Inuyasha suspicious. She would usually be agreeing with him, or at least she would meet his eyes before. Now, her head was looking in all directions; anywhere to avoid his gaze.
"What are you hiding?" He asked.
No answer.
"Kagome, I told you not to hide things from me! I can't help you if you don't tell me what is going on." His anger was rising. She had lied to him again.
"Inuyasha, if I keep the jewel shard on, I won't have any risk of attacking you guys. Naraku won't make me have weird images, and he won't kill me. I think that's a compromise." Kagome murmured.
"Wait, so he doesn't need to jewel shard to connect to your mind?" Inuyasha was starting to put two and two together.
"No."
"So, why does he care if you have the jewel shard or not."
Silence.
"Kagome…" He growled her name warningly.
"He can't…he can't touch me when the jewel shard isn't near me." She whispered.
"Wait, if he doesn't want to kill you or hurt you, why would it matter if he can touch you or…"
Moments passed as Kagome waited for Inuyasha to figure everything out. She new his mind came to the right conclusion when a low growl was emitted from his throat. "He hasn't…" Inuyasha left the question unfinished.
"Nothing has really happened." Kagome whispered.
"That bastard."
"Inuyasha! I can deal with it. I didn't want you to find out anyway." Kagome forcefully stated. She knew he would overreact. His growling was becoming louder by the minute, and she knew that she would have to do something soon to drag his mind away from the murderous thoughts that were probably rushing through it.
"I'll rip him to shreds." Inuyasha growled.
Kagome didn't know what to do or say. "Look at me Inuyasha."
He obliged, though the anger hadn't dissipated from his eyes yet.
"I can with deal with him for now. I've held my own for a while now. Now calm down." Kagome felt a weird sense of role reversal, but ignored the irony of the situation in favor of cooling the enraged hanyou off.
Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha's stormy eyes cleared a bit. "We'll get him soon."
"I know we will."
Kagome leaned forward and gave Inuyasha a peck on the cheek. "Thank you for always trying to protect me. I needed to get all this out. It feels good to talk huh?"
Inuyasha smiled. She was back to her old self. Both had gotten through their moment of slight hysteria, and he could tell that she wasn't hiding anything else from him. He would kill Naraku. He couldn't stand the thought of Naraku having even slightly sexual thoughts about Kagome. It was disgusting. But for Kagome, he would take a deep breath, and cool his anger.
"Kagome! Are you alright?" A voice called from Kaede's hut. Kagome jogged back to the building to find Miroku standing right outside it looking for her, while leaning slightly on Sango.
"Am I alright? I should be asking you how you're feeling."
"I'm fine, just a bump on the head." He stated with a smile.
"I'm so sorry." Kagome apologized as she dashed up to the monk to give him a tight hug.
Inuyasha, who was not far behind, immediately prepared himself to bonk Miroku over the head if his perverted self took advantage of Kagome's worry for the monk's health. Sango was also prepared.
All were surprised when Miroku merely rubbed Kagome's back soothingly. "Shh, it's all over now Kagome. Everyone's okay."
Needless to say, Inuyasha hadn't realized that those two were so close to each other. A slightly insecure feeling sparked in his mind. He had never really seen Miroku as any threat when it came to his feelings about Kagome.
But perhaps he had missed something?
The hanyou shook his head as the two released the embrace. He was just being paranoid. Miroku knew that Inuyasha cared for Kagome, and wouldn't make any sort of serious move. Besides, Sango was the monk's main target right? Momentarily appeased, Inuyasha followed the group back inside the hut. But the spark had not been completely put out.
"Kagome!" Shippou wailed as he fastened himself into a tight hug around Kagome's leg.
"Hey Shippou. I'm glad to see you too." She returned the hug around the fluffy young kitsune.
For now everyone was okay. But Kagome got the feeling that the peace couldn't possibly last. They were in the eye of the storm. The worst had yet to come.
*
Love ya lots,
vold