Chapter 2
There are butterflies flitting in and out of Kaede's hut. I follow one, an amber-colored one, with my eyes, then watch as another one joins it and follows at the same interval. I blink, and the butterflies get closer to my face. I blink again and they take an oval shape.
"Are you awake, Kagome?"
The sound of Inuyasha's voice frightens me so that I scream, "SIT BOY!"
He falls to the ground beside me, the gravitational force the Earth applies on us all seems to be applying itself extra on Inuyasha.
"Dammit, Kagome," he grunts.
The flap to the hut opens and three figures hurry in, followed by a little bouncy-ball of a creature. "What happened?" asks a young female voice, breathless.
"S-Sango?" I ask tentatively.
"Kagome? You're back!" She hurries to my matside, jumping over Inuyasha. "It's been what, two weeks since you've been here?"
"Just about that much," says the amorous monk Miroku as he kneels on the other side of the mat from Sango.
I feel a warm pressure land on my chest and try to focus on Shippo, the little fox-demon. "Did you bring me anything? Candy?" the kit asks.
"I'm sorry, Shippo. I haven't even got my bag."
"Why not?"
"I fell through the well on accident."
Sango lifts the kit off me and sets him in her lap. "Kagome is very ill, Shippo."
"Ohhhh." Shippo looks at me. "Are you feeling a little better?"
"Actually, Shippo," I answer him, "I'm feeling a lot better thanks to Kaede."
"What, do I get no recognition around here?" Inuyasha asks, dusting himself off.
"No," Miroku answers him.
"Why you," Inuyasha growls, nearly lunging over me to get his claws on Miroku. Literally.
I sit up very carefully and discover there is no more dizziness. Inuyasha forgets Miroku for a moment and supports me. I thank him with a silent acknowledgment with my eyes. He nods. "Where's Kaede?" I ask.
"She's getting herbs," Inuyasha answers. "Today is some special day or something where everything is more potent."
I rack my drained brain for the name of the day but it does not come. I shrug since everyone is looking to me for the title of this day since I am supposed to be a priestess' reincarnation and supposed to contain her knowledge. "Don't look at me. Inuyasha, could I lay down please?"
The hanyou had been holding me up on his own through my contemplative process and now he set me back down as gently as the day before. "Thank you," I tell him, and he looks away.
Kaede comes bustling in, her arms full of herbs. "Wow, full house," she mutters. "Reminds me that maximum capacity of this hut is five."
"Shippo, out," Inuyasha says.
"Kagome! He's being mean to me again!" The kit bursts out in tears.
"Inuyasha . . ."
"Okay, okay, Shippo can stay. Geeze, Kagome, I'd hate to see you on your feet this week. You'd be sitting me every five minutes." He looked so cute, all hurt and everything. His inu-ears are flat against his head, giving me the urge to tickle them so that they may stand correctly. I suppress the urge, or rather my limited muscle movement suppresses the urge.
"Kaede, when do you suggest I'll be ready to leave by?"
"Oh, give it a week, Kagome. You were so ill. I wouldn't leave anytime before."
I settle back down into my pillow on the mat and close my eyes. I hear Inuyasha ask the monk, kitsune, and slayer if they had anything better to do. The trio exit the hut silently, grasping his hint.
"Kagome? What was making you sick?"
I turned my head to look at Inuyasha. "Dreams. Bad dreams. Dreams of my father's death. Dreams of your death. What could go wrong after we find the missing shards to the Shikon Jewel. All of my dreams are about death and destruction."
"Why are you sick, though?"
"The dreams keep me awake, Inuyasha. For the human body to function properly we must have a number of hours to sleep each night. I haven't been getting that."
"Because of the dreams?"
"Yes."
He leans over me, staring into my eyes. I think he might just kiss me, but instead, he sniffs. "I smell your fear," he says simply, and rocks back onto his heels.
Anticipation had boiled so strongly in me from just imaging a sweet kiss that his actual actions set my anger ablaze. "INUYASHA! SIT BOY!"