E-mail Before Dawn
part six of mind games

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Inuyasha focused his bleary, stinging eyes on the wavering light of the stars that poked through the stormy, grey clouds between the powerful chilling gusts of ice and cold. He stopped feeling any pain as his body gave into the night, the winter taking the heat from his body and with it, any pain.

The numbness spread up his shattered leg, eagerly gobbling up the heat and sliding up his spine like cold snakes.

He stopped shivering as his body used up all its meager reserves, the metabolic furnace slowly shutting itself down as he started to give in.

She wasn't coming.

His breath rattled in his chest, the broken edges of ribs grinding into each other as the snow mounted up. He coughed, his whole body shaking as thin strands of blood fell to the ice. He gasped for air, his eyes never leaving the wells surface. The sense of betrayal was heavier than the snow piling atop and around him.

She wasn't coming.

His eyes felt as if they were being pulled shut from the inside, his brain fogged by a deep need for sleep, one he would not wake up from. Only the wind moaned its lonely cold lullaby to the dying angel in the snow.

His ears didn't move as his name was yelled above the wind driven snow. Nor did he stir as someone griped his shoulder and shook it.

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Kagome flipped him over, the ice clinging in a powerful grip to his too still body. She pulled the leather gloves off, her hands going numb as the cold caressed the newly exposed flesh. She pulled the frozen stiff haori open with some difficulty and placed a hand on his snow covered chest, he was chillingly cold to the touch.

"Inuyasha!"

His ears didn't even so much as twitch.

She buried her hand beneath all the snow and cloth, feeling his chest just barely move under her rapidly numbing hand. She pulled her hand back to see it gleam faintly with traces of fresh blood. He coughed violently under her, his chest heaving as a thin trail of crimson flowed over his blue-tinged lips.

Dread seized her as her mind went into an uncovering realization and panic: he was just clinging onto life. There was no telling how long he had been lying out in the snow.

Kagome managed to get her arms under his limp body and slowly drag him towards the well's opening. The village was too long a distance to half carry, half drag the injured unconscious Inuyasha through the snow as well. There was little choice other than to take him back home.

She struggled to move the weight of the hanyou the short distance to the well, stumbling the whole way. The thick, icy crust broke under their weight, making it harder to move him.

His body almost jerked from her grasp as he fell under another fit of coughing. She held him tightly as he went limp, his breath rattling in his chest in the most disturbing way.

Hang on, Inuyasha. Just hang on. She fought off the tears she could feel building in her eyes as she maneuvered them both over the edge. Please.. just hold on.

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The air on the other side was heavy and thick in comparison to the air in the feudal area. Inuyasha groaned softly as Kagome hauled him over the well's iced edges. The wide stepladder her brother had placed there a long while ago had just become a blessing. Without it she doubted she could have gotten Inuyasha out of the well with out any help.

Even with the chilling atmosphere, she was sweating heavily in the cool air, slumping tiredly by the stone edge with Inuyasha lying next to her. She reached over and wearily ran a hand through the tangled mass of silver hair; his skin was still cold to her touch, but at least his ears moved slightly when the contact was made.

Pale beams of light filtered though the old slates of the shrine's roof and a few fell on his silver hair. It did nothing but make him seem more like a fallen angel who's wings had been ripped off and flung to the earth than a half breed demon unwanted by anyone.

"Inyuasha," she whispered, running her fingers through his hair. An ear swiveled to catch her words but other than that he didn't move. His chest barely rose under the shredded pelt, his skin was a mess of bruises and slashes, and his left arm hung at an unnatural angle, something she had not noticed when she had pulled him out of the cold.

"Inuyasha, what happened to you?" She never really expected an answer back; an ear moving to catch her words in the cold dry air of the shrine was her only response.

Her back complained as she stiffly rose. She had to get him inside, out of all this.

"Inuyasha..?'

His ears, which had been following her every word earlier, didn't move; the soft torn flaps were lying limply. They didn't move as she laid a numb hand on one.

"Inuyasha?"

Nothing.

A sense of dread filled her, her hands where shaking as she pulled the stiff pelt aside, resting her hand on his chest. It was barley moving, the ribs painfully visible under his pale, cold skin.

He's so cold… Kagome withdrew her hand. She tried to pick up him but a pained yelp stopped her, his clawed hands weakly grabbing the thin material of her jacket. His weight tugged at her arms, but she gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it. Another more distressed yelp came from his throat.
She winced at the sound. A few tears fell from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

Carefully cradling his limp broken body, she half stumbled and walked towards the house. His head rested against her shoulder, his breathing shallow and weak, a thin trial of crimson falling from his lips.

He groaned softly and shifted slightly as she managed to work the freezing door latch with the deeply unconscious hanyou in her arms.

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He was aware of nothing but pain as it flooded his senses, dragging him along a sea of black razors that scarped the nerves raw. He groaned as the cold crept back into his body, making him painfully aware of the condition of his body. He shied away from the light, knowing it held more pain.

He moaned and tried to pull away, gripping at the edges of the soft sheets. His jaw clenched as his back arched slightly.

He could barley make out the words that floated in the air, like someone was speaking through water. He made out the simple, painful words broken and has to be set. His mind spiraled downward, knowing what it meant.

The sudden sharp pain turned to a torrent of agony as the muscles in his shattered leg jerked. The broken edges ground against each other. A scream lodged in his throat as his back arched but that had died down not long after. Losing his strength as he went, his fragile grip on consciousness was lost as he fell back into the dark, comforting void of nothingness.

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TBC