Wishing Well

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Dragon Ball Z. Even my pants are on loan. Don't sue me.

Disclaimer: This is my first fic. Expect it to suck. Don't hurt me.

Legend: "…" = speech

'…' = thought

~~~ = beginning/ending of flashback

Kagome was staring death in the face. Kouga had leapt towards her in another desperate attack, and as she had retreated to gather her magic, she had slipped on a number of small pebbles, causing her to fall awkwardly. She now cowered on the ground, her legs and arms splayed uselessly as Kouga stared at her with silent sorrow.

Suddenly, it was Inuyasha's face above her. Somewhere nearby, Kagome heard the distinct thud of someone landing badly.

"Inu…yasha? You came for me?"

"Baka onna. Why wouldn't I come, hn?"

Inuyasha took off his haori off of his waist, and wrapped the shredded garment around her shoulders. He rested back on his haunches as his hands gently probed her legs and arms for fractures.

"I was afraid," Kagome answered meekly.

"You should be…" Inuyasha stopped as Kagome placed her hand on his cheek.

"I love you, Inuyasha. I was afraid I wouldn't be around long enough to say that."

Inuyasha's heart fell out of his chest. Or it felt that way. She loved him. Him. He was standing over her in full youkai form and she loved him! He hid his eyes with his bangs, trying to stop the joy they reflected. 'Not yet, not yet. I need to get her out of danger first.'

"We'll talk later, Inuyasha no kokoro."

Kouga was up on his feet at last. He turned away to spit out a tooth that came loose from Inuyasha's surprise attack. Finally, everything was going as planned.

"Inukkoro!!! Get you dog breath from over my woman!"

Wolf gaze met dog glare and recoiled. 'Shimatta! Inuyasha is not supposed to be youkai. What to do, what to do?"

Kouga smirked viciously.

"Nani, Inukkoro? Finally realized that the only way you could stand a chance against me was as a full youkai? Finally acknowledged that you're too weak in that pathetic hanyou carcass."

Inuyasha used every once of control he'd ever learned in the past two years to avoid rending Kouga limb from limb.

"Kouga! Kisama, you say you love Kagome, and then you attack her? This is not like you. I want the truth before I eat your heart."

Kouga's eyes had changed again. He shivered convulsively and foam bubbled from between his lips.

Inuyasha's eyes widened. He could smell it, he could smell what was wrong with the wolf but what was it called…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flashback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chibi Inuyasha was skipping ahead of his mother. They were traveling again, as they had been thrown out of yet another village.  Inuyasha's prancings soon brought him close to a bat that seemed to be basking in the sunlight on the road.

"Eh? Mama, look, it's a bat, a bat!"

His mother slowly met up with Inuyasha. The blows that Inuyasha could not stop had hurt her sides badly.

As his mother drew closer, she saw the bat, out in broad daylight, and forced her body to move swiftly enough to stop Inuyasha's prodding fingers.

"No son! Don't touch it! Think my child, when have you ever seen a bat in the daytime?"

Inuyasha's youthful face scrunched into a thoughtful frown.

"This is the first time!"

"The only time bats come out in the day is if they are sick. And there is only one illness that can drive them mad enough to brave the light."

"But I'm a hanyou, Mama! I can't get sick!"

"Do not believe that Inuyasha. The wild madness goes through all, youkai, human, and animals. Only the cold animals, like snakes and toads are immune."

Inuyasha stepped away fearfully. His mother continued as she led him around the bat.

"The wild madness comes from bites from sick animals. It slowly drives the infected person insane, causing them to attack family, friend, and foe. They cannot sleep. They become afraid of water. They cannot move normally. They are prone to salivating or foaming at the mouth. They see things that are not there. They hear strange noises. They become dangerous. Then they die. There is no cure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flashback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprised, even as they flickered towards gold.

"Oi, wolf! Kouga! You have it don't you? You have the wild madness?"

Kouga shivered again. He would rather have died with Inuyasha's hate than his pity.

"Aa, yes I have it. But that doesn't matter! Inukkoro, I'll slaughter you for touching my woman!"

Kouga bunched his muscles and launched himself at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha dodged it easily, amazed at how uncoordinated the wolf had become. He understood now. Kouga had kidnapped Kagome and left blatant evidence about imminent rape, knowing that it would inflame him into killing the wolf. The wolf wanted to die in a battle, not by his hands or by the madness.

"You want me to kill you, don't you Kouga?" he muttered as he easily dodged another attack. He thanked all the Fates that he had not slashed Kouga in his initial attack.

"Shut up! Shut up! I will not die insane and I will not die with your pity on your face! Attack me, Inukkoro, before I kill you and rape your precious Kagome. You want her mated to a madman? You want her to die from my bite?" Kouga snarled, as his saliva began to flow freely.

Inuyasha's eyes turned thoughtful, and eased back to his usual gold. He let his anger abate, and then ran for the cave entrance.

"Outside bakayarou. If you're a semi-decent wolf, you don't want to die inside a cave."

Kouga howled once, and followed the fleeing hanyou.

The two ran for a long time, one fleeing, one chasing, as Inuyasha finally came to a meadow and ran to the far side. Kouga entered the clearing and halted abruptly when he saw Tetsusaiga drawn.

'Yes! Thank you, Inukkoro!' was his last rational thought as the disease took his mind once more.

Inuyasha's face was grim. He did not pity the wolf. He secretly admired him for choosing the best way out of his impending death, and fending off the madness long enough to plan it out. But he hurt Kagome, and exposed her, all of them, to the illness in the process. It would take Inuyasha weeks of careful attention to see if any of them succumbed to the madness. That was enough to anger him.

"No one is here to stop us this time!" he growled, as the Kaze no Kizu roiled around Tetsusaiga.

Kagome heard everything. Tears stood in her eyes, as she thought carefully about the things she heard Inuyasha mutter before he fled with Kouga snapping at his heels.

'The wild madness. The disease symptoms sound familiar. But what disease can animals AND humans AND youkai get? What disease could be so horrible that Kouga thinks it's a mercy to be killed? What disease could have no cure?"

The answer hit her like a thunderbolt. She was suddenly very afraid.

Gohan and Miroku came over to her as she struggled onto her feet. Sango was cradled gently against Miroku's chest, and Videl had been scooped under Gohan's neck like a little child.

"Kagome-sama, do you need help? What is Inuyasha do…"

Miroku was interrupted as Kagome swung her fear-stricken eyes to him.

"Call Kirara! Call her now before Inuyasha kills Kouga!"

"KAZE NO KIZU!"

Kouga barely escaped that blast, his mind still capable of moving his body, no matter how disease-ridden it was. He turned wild eyes on Inuyasha as he bunched his limbs for an attack.

"Inuyasha!"

The cry from overhead distracted both of the combatants. Kagome, still wrapped in Inuyasha's haori, was riding Kirara, who flew towards them as fast as possible.

Inuyasha saw his chance, now that the wolf was distracted.

Kouga vaguely heard the attack as his brain focused on Kagome's voice. His rationality returned briefly.

'Not like this! She can't see me like this!'

He turned towards the Kaze no Kizu and opened his arms, as if he were embracing a lover.

The attack seared him; burning away his useless body, torching away the diseased mind. His reasoning returned to him in his last moments.

"Thank you, Inuyasha! Kagome, I'm sorry!"

The last faces that Kouga saw were Inuyasha's, which was lined with angry admiration, yet very weary, and Kagome's, which was flooded with tears.

Inuyasha responded to the wolf.

"Oi, Kouga. We understand. There's no pity. Die in peace, you've kept your honor."

Kouga closed his eyes and smiled. For once in the long months since he knew the disease was in his body, he smiled.

In a blink of an eye, he had vanished. There wasn't even a corpse to mourn.

They were going to be the last to return to the village. Inuyasha had sent Kagome and Kirara back to the others. Gohan and Miroku had flown after the two as soon as they were sure that their precious cargo was safe, and met them halfway. Miroku tried in vain to understand Kagome's state, but he finally resigned himself to placing Sango and Videl on Kirara's back, and sending them all back to the village. He and Gohan continued on to meet Inuyasha.

"Uhm, Miroku…I need to ask you something."

"I'll try to answer your questions Gohan."

"What happened to you in there?"

Miroku's face grew weary and wrinkles marred his youthful face. He sighed harshly, shaking his head.

"If I'm the first to figure it out, I'll tell you Gohan."

They flew on in silence.

Finally, they saw Inuyasha, a small figure in the meadow. The hanyou barely responded as the other two landed.

"You sent the girls to the village, houshi?"

"Aa."

"Any bites or open wounds on them?"

Gohan shook his head.

"No open wounds. The wolves took care not to scratch the merchandise."

Inuyasha's breath came out in a raspy gasp. He finally turned to them, his face emotionless.

"Kouga had the wild madness, houshi. I killed him from afar, with a Kaze no Kizu."

Miroku's hand came up in solemn prayer.

"He wanted me to kill him in anger, instead of dying of madness. He wanted to die as a sane, respected youkai. Part of this whole mess seemed to be a plan to get me to kill him that way. It worked. Honor him, houshi."

Inuyasha turned away, and stalked off to find wood.

The males went to work building the shrine. Miroku looked up often to peer at the far off shape of the God Tree.

The sky lightened as they finished. This surprised the young men, as all of them had assumed that it was still early evening, not near dawn.

As the sun rose, Miroku looked out towards the God Tree and grunted happily.

"The girls are safe in the village. Look, Inuyasha, can you see your haori on the God Tree? I told Kirara to drop it there when all of them were safe."

Inuyasha and Gohan peered momentarily, before confirming the monk's vision. The demi-Saiyan turned to the other two with a questioning glance.

"Hey, Inuyahsa? What is the wild madness? What are the symptoms?"

Inuyasha briefly recalled everything he knew about the illness. Miroku supplemented it with the knowledge that had been passed on in the monastery.

Gohan nodded sagely as he spoke, "Rabies is what we know it as. At his stage, he was incurable. But that means we have to make sure that none of us are infected."

Miroku nodded, but wondered aloud, "That's true, but who can detect the disease before it has spread too far?"

Gohan voiced his idea with a crooked smile.

"Looks like you're all gonna meet Bulma and the others after all."

Kaede gently washed the three girls, listening to their tale in between their sobs and gulps. She silently commended Inuyasha for avoiding physical contact with Kouga, but she was still worried. Her examination of each turned up no breaches in their skin, but she just could not be sure. She helped each girl into their bed, tucking them in gently. Shippou, who had returned to the village during the others' ordeal, ran to each girl offering hugs, cuddles, and tummy rubs. He was small, but he tried his utmost to offer any comfort he could. Finally he fell asleep, exhausted, curling Kirara to him as he offered his last bit of sympathy to the least vocal member of the group. Kirara purred her sleepy appreciation. Cats need hugs too, you know?

Kagome was calmer now that she was safe. She knew that Inuyasha had done the right thing, maybe even a good thing, but it still hurt to know what rabies had driven the proud wolf to do. She was glad that the Shikon no Tama had been safely hidden in her pack during the ordeal.

She'd told him. In the aftermath of all that had happened, she had told him. And he had called her Inuyasha no kokoro. Inuyasha's heart.

A wry smiled crossed her face. In one day, Inuyasha had finally learned of Kagome's feelings for him and dispatched the only other suitor who stood a chance. 'He must be overjoyed,' she thought ruefully, then sighed. 'And at least I know that he cares. He wouldn't call just anyone Inuyasha no kokoro,' she murmured drowsily, as she drifted to sleep.

Across the room, Sango sat up, too puzzled to sleep.

'Miroku. I finally called him Miroku, even though I wasn't thinking, I was just so happy to see him. But I never expected him to be like that! Kami, what happened to him? His eyes were violet, and he looked like a youkai! And his Kazaana! It's back, but he can control it…not just that, he can control the air! And he can fly now…it was like he asked the air to take him. I could practically feel it cushioning us as he moved.'

She let a small smile crease her lips as she remembered the priest's grope, and his kiss.

'He was so worried I would be frightened of him. And he was right to worry. But I saw him and I just knew that underneath everything, he was the same Miroku I've grown used to. The one I think I'm falling in love with."

She fell back onto her blankets to muse herself to sleep.

Videl lay in the covers shell-shocked.

'It's true, all true. I've finally seen a gold warrior transform, and I'm sure that it wasn't a trick. The power radiated off of him, and washed over me, through me. If it took Gohan all of that power to defeat Cell, my father is the most successful fraud on earth! Next to the Son family…how could they let him take the money they earned, leaving them poor?!'

Her tresses shook as she silently berated her father for his deception.

'Gohan! I wish you could have trusted me from earlier. Not that I deserved it the way I acted. I didn't like the way my heart shook around you. I mean, I cut my hair for you before I even knew what I was doing! Oh Gohan, I'm so scared of this feeling.'

But anger and confusion could not stop sleep from claiming her.

Miroku groaned as he watched the sun rise for the second straight day. He scrubbed his face with his hands, feeling the stubble on his cheeks and chin.

'Kami, for just a little sleep!'

He turned to find two pairs of eyes, one gold, one black, peering into his face.

He yelped and dropped back on his rear. Hard.

The twitching vein above his nose swelled into prominence just before Inuyasha managed to grab him by the scruff of his neck and shake him like a rag doll.

"Na-n-na-na-nani?! Kuso, kisama bakayarou hanyou, drop me now!"

Inuyasha complied, a little too abruptly.

Gohan peered at the crumpled monk.

"He looks the same," he declared, even as he sniffed the monk's ear rather loudly. "He smells like a human again."

You would have thought that these two had learned better by now.

THWACK! THWACK!  TH-THWACK-TH-THWACK-THWACK!

Many lumps stood up from the area between the ears of the two half-breeds.

"He uses the staff the same," Inuyasha rued loudly, rubbing the new lumps.

That paused Miroku's tirade. He blinked rapidly as he acknowledged the first time that Inuyasha hadn't threatened his life after being walloped.

"I had you worried, didn't I Inuyasha?"

It was Inuyasha's turn to let the veins in his forehead throb.

"Your eyes turn purple, your palm starts glowing, you start manipulating wind, and you have a Kazaana you can control, AND THEN YOU ASK ME IF I'M WORRIED ABOUT MY FIRST MALE FRIEND?!?!"

Miroku cowered behind Gohan, who cowered beneath the newly built shrine. Gohan could swear he heard someone laughing out Inukkoro.

Miroku slowly eased from around Gohan, and slumped to the ground in a cross-legged position.

"Inuyasha, I'm as clueless as you are. I was just…enraged. One minute I was thinking about how Sango is my soulmate, the next, I'm hearing she's in danger and my mind is like…a purple haze. Then, a door inside me opened. That's the best way to put it."

"Oi, that reminds me, since when could you smell women in heat?"

"Not just any woman, you silly pup, Sango. Sango is the first woman I have ever scented in my life. She's the only one I'll ever smell again. That's how I know she's my soulmate."

"The whole door to a greater power thing is really familiar to me, but not even Krillin could do much with his pure human strength. So Miroku, when did a youkai bloodline mix into your lineage?"

"I wish I knew Gohan. I really wish I knew."

Miroku kept Souran's ravings to himself. He needed more time to ponder them.

Gohan was highly upset by all the unsolved mysteries surrounding these people. He was beginning to consider this strange group of fighters his friends. They were his age, unlike the Z-senshi. They had hormones that were just as confused as his. And the last thing he needed to do was lose people who could relate with the problems he had dealing with normal people, furthermore each other.

'Hell, they even have fun like I do,' he inwardly smirked, as he watched Miroku tease Inuyasha about his comment.

"Your first male friend? I'm so touched!"

"Bouzu, if I hear anyone else with that I'll cut your fucking heart out!"

"Ou, I hope Kagome won't be jealous…"

"Bitch, I'm gonna tear your throat out through your ass!!"

"Kinky…"

"Ecchi!" THUMP "Hentai!" THUMP "Stop running away on that breeze and let me kill you!"

Gohan sighed and followed The Destructive Duo back to the village to clean up.

"You're almost as cute as Gohan in his Super Saiyan body…"

"Hey, leave me out of this!"

Inuyasha whipped his head back to the shrine once more. He was sure he'd heard someone mutter something familiar…

"Look after Kagome, baka Inukkoro…"

"Suck my cock, wimpy wolf," Inuyasha quietly responded, a slight smile on his face as he turned for home with the sound of canine laughter in his ears.