The bear-demon turned to face Inuyasha fully, leaving Sango for the time being. It growled, then immediately began charging at the transformed-hanyou.
Inuyasha remained where he was, that mocking smile still written on his face. Just when it seemed as though the demon would run right into him, he jumped into the air. And, upon landing on the ground once again, he swung around and slashed at the bear's legs. His claws connected with the flesh of its left, back leg; causing the creature to falter slightly and roar out in pain.
The bear-demon regained its balance, and turned to face Inuyasha once again; its eyes flashing dangerously.
The transformed-hanyou merely laughed again, as he held up a clawed hand, which now had some of the bears blood on it, "You'll have to do better than that."
'He's going to get himself killed!' Sango thought, as she watched the scene before her. Glancing around the battle field, her eyes soon fell on hiraikotsu, 'If I could just get to it...' Unfortunately, though, her weapon was on the other site of the current battle site; and that would be one long run, especially when she'd have to make sure she knew where the bear-demon and Inuyasha were while doing so.
"Sango-chan, are you alright?" Kagome asked suddenly.
Sango jumped slightly, surprised, and turned to see Kagome kneeling beside her. She finally managed to give a short nod, "Hai, but... I'm worried about Inuyasha."
Kagome nodded slightly, "Me too..."
"It's time to end this!" Inuyasha yelled suddenly, pulling all attention back to the fight at hand, "You may have the jewel shards inside you, but you're still a worthless demon!" He continued, running towards the bear-demon and slashing at it again and again.
Under the constant attack of the vicious claws, the two jewel shards finally flew from the demons arms, and landed on the ground a few feet away. Once the fragments left its body, the bear fell to the ground before slowly dissolving away into nothing.
Inuyasha laughed once again, examining his blood-covered claws and smiling in malicious delight; seemingly content about what he had just done. Then, he slowly turned his head to look at his fellow companions, "Who's next?"
"H-h-he doesn't recognize us!" Shippou cried as his little paws clutched onto Miroku's robes, "Why doesn't he remember us?"
"Inuyasha, no!" Sango shouted, as she stood up and ran to the hanyou, "Inuyasha, please! You... you can't stay like this. This isn't you!"
"Sango-chan, get back! It's not safe!!" Kagome called, afraid that Inuyasha, in this transformed state, would do something to harm her friend.
And perhaps Sango should've listened to the miko. Because, only a few seconds later, Inuyasha lashed out at the taijiya. And Miroku, Kagome, and Shippou could only watch in horror, as the transformed-hanyou grabbed a hold of Sango's neck.
Dark eyes widened in surprise and fear, as Sango instantly grabbed Inuyasha's wrists, trying desperately to get him to let go.
But her attempts were useless. Inuyasha just stared at her, with those blood-red eyes of his. The more she struggled, the tighter he held onto her.
For a couple, brief seconds, the taijiya's eyes left the form of the hanyou holding her, and looked behind him, to where Kagome, Miroku, and Shippou were.
Shippou was beside Miroku, his face buried in the monks robes. Miroku had taken hold of Kagome, his arms slipping around her waist to keep her from running closer to the hanyou and taijiya. And Kagome was struggling to get loose from his grasp, shouting things that Sango couldn't quite understand.
Turning her attention back to Inuyasha, Sango once again pulled on his wrists, trying to get him to loosen his grasp, but it was pointless.
She finally stopped struggling against him. Slowly, she began moving her hands from his wrist, and up his arms. Her vision began to get blurry and dark as she struggled to move her hands to his face. Once there, her fingers brushed against his cheek softly as she managed to mouth his name. Tears stung the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision even more. And then, her eyes closed.
Inuyasha was still staring at her, growing slightly as she stopped her futile struggling. But as she had stroked his cheek, his growling stopped and his red-eyes had widened slightly. And then, when he saw her lips move as she silently said his name, he closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. When his eyes had opened again, they were back to their original golden color.
It only took a second for him to realize just what his demon-blood had caused him to do, and he immediately let go of Sango. Her body fell limply to the ground, and he watched in stunned silence as she lay motionless where she fell.
'Sango...' Her name ran though his mind as he kneeled beside her, watching her for any movements; any signs of life.
"Sango-chan!!" Kagome cried out from behind them.
But the hanyou didn't even look back at her, his eyes were locked on Sango, as he silently pleaded for her not to be dead.
And then... a gasp, followed by a series of small, strained coughs. Another gasp. Her eyes opened. More coughing, and slowly, she pushed herself to a sitting position. She kept one hand on the ground to steady herself, and the other rose to rub her neck.
When she didn't look at him, Inuyasha reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. But the second he touched her, she jerked back, as though she had just been burned.
Her face, slowly tilted upwards until she was once again looking at Inuyasha. And what he saw caused an ache to rise in his chest. Even though he was no longer in his transformed state, even though the demon blood was no longer keeping any rational thought from entering his mind, she was scared. Fear; plain and simple. That was the emotion showing within her eyes.
"Sango..." He said her name in an uncharacteristically quiet tone as he once again reached out to her. This time, she flinched, but she didn't pull away.
"Inu...yasha." She began quietly, her voice slightly scratchy, "I didn't mean... S-sorry..."
The hanyou said nothing, but shook his head slightly. She was apologizing to him? She, who had nearly been killed, was apologizing to him, who had been the one to nearly kill her? He gave her shoulder a short squeeze as he looked at her, "Sango, don't... I was--"
"Inuyasha, just stop." She said suddenly, interrupting him. Looking away from his face, she pulled back from his grasp and slowly stood up, "Just... don't."
Inuyasha stood up as well, his eyes narrowing slightly; a subtle way to show that he was concerned. "What do you mean? Do you think I did that on purpose? Do you think I really want to hurt you?"
She shook her head, but immediately winched and began rubbing her neck again, "N-no... No, of course I don't think that, Inuyasha."
"Then what do you think?" He asked, wanting to know why she seemed to be upset with him.
"I don't know... Nothing. Just... forget it." She replied quietly, walking past him in the direction of Miroku and Kagome.
He stopped her by grabbing her arm, "Wait! Don't just walk away from me, Sango. What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" She repeated his question back to him, as if the question had an obvious answer, "What's wrong? Inuyasha, you nearly killed me. That's what's wrong." She closed her eyes and sighed and, without giving him a chance to reply, she continued in a calmer, gentler tone, "Look... I know what happened... I know you didn't have any control over it. But I've... it's like..." The taijiya sighed once again, looking at him, "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I just... give me a little time to think things over, okay? Please?"
He looked at her, remaining quiet for a few minutes. Finally, he gave a defeated sigh and nodded, "Alright." He replied simply, letting go of her, "If that's what you really want..."
Sango smiled slightly, leaning up to press a short kiss to his cheek. And, under normal circumstances, he would've probably been flustered at her action, but, given the way he was currently feeling, he could care less as to who was watching.
"Thank you." She whispered to him, before turning and walking back to their other companions.
Inuyasha just watched silently as she walked away. The ache in his chest seemed to grow with every step she took. He knew that she hadn't meant anything by what she had said. Considering that he had attacked her, yeah, she deserved some time to think. But still... the hanyou couldn't shake the feeling that she was somehow pulling away from him. Taking a deep breath, he too headed back towards Kagome and Miroku.
By the time he reached them, Kagome was already asking Sango questions; making sure she wasn't too injured by the encounter. The taijiya was doing her best to sooth her friends worries, though Kagome kept insisting that they let Kaede, or someone else as experienced in medicinal herbs, take a look. Once Inuyasha was there, the miko looked to him, silently asking for help in convincing Sango to let someone check her over. But the hanyou only 'keh'-ed and looked away.
Kagome frowned, and turned back to Sango, "Okay, Sango-chan, if you really think you're fine... But at least take it easy for a couple days?"
"Of course, Kagome-chan." Sango replied quietly, before glancing to Inuyasha once more and offering him an apologetic, small smile.
Inuyasha looked at her silently for a moment, then turned and crossed his arms, "Lets get back to Kaede-baba's village then." He said simply, starting to walk in the direction of said village.
AN: Well, this didn't take too long to write. And, I don't have much to say about it, so until next time! Ja!