'I won't get killed, Inuyasha. Back then, I didn't know anything about Naraku. But now...I know what he's like. I know more about his tricks, and the way he fights. I promise you, nothing will happen to me.'

Those words continued to echo through Inuyasha's mind as he impatiently paced outside the hut.

After he had nearly collapsed, with Sango in his arms, Kirara had taken it upon herself to go and get Miroku, Kagome, and Shippou. The hanyou had remained with Sango, clutching the slayer to his chest as he waited for them to arrive. He had called her name several times, yet she never responded. And it seemed to take hours for the others to finally reach them.

They had gone near Kaede's village and called upon the elderly woman to help. Once she arrived, both her and Kagome had chased Miroku, Inuyasha, and Shippou out of the hut while they examined the taijiya; seeing what kind of herbs she would require to get better. And though Kaede had mentioned it, Inuyasha refused to even think about the 'what ifs'...

"Inuyasha, would you stop pacing? You're making me dizzy..." Shippou complained as he rubbed his eyes.

The hanyou glanced over to the kitsune and growled.

Shippou jumped behind Miroku and peeked out at Inuyasha, "...k-kowai..."

About that time, Kagome walked out of the hut. Sighing, she combed her fingers through her hair and looked at the boys, "Kaede-obasan doesn't have what we need...She said Sango-chan will probably be ok though...But it'd really help if we had this herb." The school girl sighed again, "I can think of only one person who could help us. Jinenji..." She looked straight at Inuyasha, hopefully.

Inuyasha, however, just scowled and turned his back to her, "Take Kirara. I'm not leaving."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome started to protest.

"You'll get there faster with her!" The hanyou cut in, still not looking at her, "I'm staying here and that's that!"

"But..." The young miko tried to think of something that would get him to take her, "...But what about the Shikon no kakera? Demons might try to attack me since I have a couple with me."

Inuyasha turned around and motioned towards Miroku, "He can go with you."

"But, Inuyasha..." Kagome once again tried to protest.

And this time it was Miroku who interfered, "Let's go, Kagome-sama. The more time we argue about this, the less time we have to help Sango."

Kagome started to say something, but stopped and looked down, feeling guilty. Sango was sick, and here she was getting jealous because Inuyasha wanted to stay with her. The taijiya had never let her down, so Kagome wasn't about to let her down either. The school girl looked back up to Miroku and nodded, "Right. Let's go. Shippou-chan, you stay here with Inuyasha and Sango-chan, okay?"

The kitsune shook his head frantically, "Iie! I'm not staying here with him like that! Inuyasha kowai!!"

"Okay, okay, you can come with us then." Kagome said, shaking her head slightly. "Come on, Kirara. Lets go." She called over to the fire-cat.

Kirara looked back at the hut for a moment, then looked at Inuyasha, "Mew." She meowed, before running over to Kagome an transforming to her larger form. And within a few minutes, they were in the air heading for Jinenji's.

Inuyasha watched them until he couldn't see them anymore, then turned and went inside the hut.

Kaede was still there, putting a damp cloth on Sango's head to cool her fever. But hearing someone come in, she looked up to Inuyasha, "Inuyasha? You decided to stay behind?"

"Yeah..." The hanyou replied simply as he sat down, resting his back against one of the walls, "So, how's she doing, Kaede-baba?"

Kaede stood and walked towards the door, "I'm confident that she will be fine, if Kagome can get that herb. But we have you to thank for that. If you hadn't gotten her away from Naraku's poisons, I don't think she would've been able to pull through. It's a good thing you did, Inuyasha." And with that, she left to return to the village, which wasn't that far away.

Inuyasha watched her leave, then turned to Sango, 'Then why don't I feel good?' He asked himself, 'I should've gotten there faster. I could've held onto her tighter, so she couldn't have run. I could've...I don't know...'

He continued looking at her, noticing for the first time how frail she looked. Sure, she had been injured pretty badly before. It wasn't long after they met that she was nearly killed by her own brother. But even then, while she rested up, she didn't look like this. Sure, now she had a few scratches and the like, but aside from that, she looked so...fragile. Of course, then, it hadn't been Naraku's shouki that affected her either... And that's what the main difference was. External injuries can easily be tended to and healed. But, in this case, the injury was internal. She had inhaled the poison, and it was affecting her body internally.

Without really thinking about his actions, the hanyou removed the cloth from her forehead and to pat her face with it, "Kagome told me once that if you talk to someone who's sick, they can hear you a lot of times..." He said quietly, replacing the cloth on her head, "I wonder if you can hear me...If so, what were you thinking? Going off to fight Naraku alone like that...You should've let me come with you. But...we'll have plenty of chances to talk about that once you get better...Kagome, Miroku, and Shippou will be back soon, and then...then..." He trailed off and sighed, "I can't do this...Sango, you said nothing would happen. You said you knew how he fought. You said...you said..." Again, the hanyou trailed off.

"Sango..." Unconsciously, Inuyasha began to move closer to Sango, "Come on...You're too stubborn to let Naraku ki...hurt you like this..." He reached out slowly, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face, "You have to be okay...Everyone wants you to be okay...Besides...you promised...You promised me, Sango...You promised that nothing would happen to you. So...you have to live." He leaned closer still, "You have to live...for yourself...for the others...and...for me..." And with those final words, his lips touched hers in a soft and gentle kiss.

'Live for me, Sango...'

AN: Short chapter...Bah! Anyways, there you go, he finally kissed her. Ah, so she was unconscious, a kiss is a kiss, ne? Anyways, next chapter coming soon. Ja!

'Iie' = 'No'

'Kowai' = 'Scary'