After Inuyasha had passed out his friends had taken him to a small clearing not too far away from the village and had set a camp for the night. Once they were sure that Kagome was going to be alright with the unconscious hanyou Miroku, Sango and Kirara had gone to the destroyed village to bury the dead villagers.
"Could you bring me the bag, Shippo-chan?" Kagome asked him and he silently obeyed. She was sitting by the fire with Inuyasha's head rested in her lap.
"What's wrong with him, Kagome?" the kitsune asked after giving the girl her small yellow bag. He watched with concern the hanyou's still form and his eyes went to his ears. He hadn't noticed this before, but the two furry appendages were slightly bloody.
Kagome opened her bag and took a disinfectant and gauze. "I think the loud sound exhausted him and knocked him out." she explained to Shippo and started carefully cleaning the blood from Inuyasha's ears. "I hope it didn't damage his ears too much."
"Don't worry, Kagome." Shippo tried to cheer her up, noticing the sad tone of her voice. "He'll just be yelling more than usual for a while." he smiled imagining himself call Inuyasha 'names' and the hanyou look at him confused and shout 'whats' at everybody.
"I know what you're thinking, Shippo-chan." Kagome couldn't hold her smile too and they both broke laughing.
Some time around midnight Miroku, Sango and Kirara returned to the camp to find their friends sleeping. Kagome was leaned to a tree trunk, near the fire, Inuyasha's head was still in her lap with Shippo curled in a small ball on the hanyou's chest. The noise the monk, the demon exterminator and the cat demon unintentionally made woke up the sleeping girl and she opened her eyes.
"Hi, guys..." she said sleepily and yawned.
"Kagome-chan, did we wake you up?" Sango came to her friend followed by Miroku and Kirara.
"Don't worry..." Kagome yawned again and then smiled, seeing the apology in her friends' eyes.
"How is Inuyasha?" Miroku asked leaning closer to look at his friend better.
"I think he's ok." the girl from the future answered. "He doesn't seem to have any injuries... Just some blood from the ears but I took care of that."
The others visibly relaxed and went to sit around the fire, readying themselves for sleep. Kagome closed her eyes again and put her hands on Inuyasha's ears. She noticed that they were slightly stiff and frowned. Miroku had already lied down and was falling asleep but Sango, who was telling Kirara to stay on guard just in case, saw her friend's expression.
"Kagome-chan, everything ok?" the demon exterminator asked, concern not hidden in her voice.
"Yes, it's nothing." Kagome opened her eyes and smiled. "His ears are just a little stiff."
"Oh, I'll go to sleep then." Sango smiled back. "If you need something don't hesitate to wake me up."
"Ok." the other girl said and closed her eyes again.
Kagome sat there for a while, not being able to fall asleep, and involuntary stroke the base of Inuyasha's left ear. She caught herself and stilled. She expected the ear to twitch or at lest to her an angry or annoyed sound from the hanyou, but that didn't happen. She opened her eyes and looked at him worried.
'His ears are stiff, they doesn't move when I touch them...' the girl thought and frowned. She moved both her hands over his ears and massaged them. This time Inuyasha gave out a soft moan but didn't wake up and his ears still didn't give any indication to be 'alive'. Kagome quickly looked at her friends and saw with relief that they hadn't woken up. 'They must be really exhausted with so many people to bury...'
Not knowing if the moan was from comfort or pain she continued massaging the two appendages. Inuyasha didn't move or moan anymore as Kagome continued her massaging. Soon enough she felt his ears become soft and smooth and she let a smile form on her lips. 'You got me really worried here, Inuyasha.' she thought and her smile widened when his left ear slightly twitched and the other followed its example.
Inuyasha slowly started to come to consciousness. He felt a pleasurable sensation running through his body. He felt soft and caring fingers gently rub his ears and he shivered. Suddenly, as if startled, they stopped but remained on his ears. He liked what those fingers were doing and the feelings they were creating in him and he wanted them to continue. So, he did the only think his dazed and sleepy mind could think of – he leaned to the gentle touch.
"Inuyasha?" he heard a familiar voice call his name but didn't really acknowledge it and growled softly trying to press his head closer to the hands. "Inuyasha, you awake?" finally he realized it was Kagome and immediately bolted up, making Shippo roll off of his chest. The kitsune was too deeply asleep and didn't wake up.
As Inuyasha sat up he suddenly felt dizzy and slumped back down, his whole head spinning and aching. Kagome quickly moved next to him and held her hand on his cheeks, trying to make him look at her. "Inuyasha, look at me." she said but his eyes were unfocused and it looked like he was watching her but not really seeing her. That sent cold chills down her spine.
His vision slowly started to clear and he suddenly was aware of Kagome's hands on his cheeks and could hear her call his name. "Wha..." he mumbled and tried to lift his hands but winched as he felt pain in his right hand's broken fingers. He managed to control the pain and finally his mind cleared. He was just about to say to Kagome to calm down when he saw that she was leaning toward his face.
"Inuyasha, say something..." Kagome said, her voice shaky from worry, and leaned toward him to be closer to his ears. Suddenly she saw his eyes widen and his cheeks redden. Before she knew what was happening Inuyasha was pushing her away and sitting up.
"Kagome..." he almost squeaked and backed away a little.
"Inuyasha, are you ok?" she asked and went closer to him, looking at him confused by his actions and his blushing face.
"Wh-What were you doing?" the hanyou asked, not being able to hold back the panic in his voice.
"I-I thought you couldn't hear me and..." she started explaining but then everything became clear to her and she felt anger rising in her. Inuyasha noticed that and gulped, knowing that he had screwed up again. "What did you think I was doing?" she asked and placed her hands on her hips.
"N-Nothing..." the hanyou stammered out, praying to the Gods to save him from the mess he had just created. "Y-You s-startled me."
Kagome raised a brow in disbelief but decided to leave him be, 'Just this time...' She sighed and shook her head. 'I'll let you live this time, Inuyasha.' she joked in her mind and smiled to herself.
The hanyou mentally cursed himself for thinking something like that at a time like that. When she had leaned toward him Inuyasha's still unfocused mind had decided she was going to kiss him. 'Why should she, anyway?' he allowed this sad thought to run through his mind and it decided to stay there. 'Me of all people?' he asked himself and sighed seeing that he wasn't going to receive a sit this time.
Strangely, the others hadn't woken up from the noise the hanyou and the girl had made, and were still sleeping peacefully. Before turning to Inuyasha, Kagome took Shippo in her lap and sat more comfortably by the fire. The hanyou was visibly nervous and sat a little aside from her. He winched slightly at the pain in his hand but didn't show it. However, Kagome knew him all too well and noticed that he was a little tensed.
"How are you feeling?" the girl asked him and he looked at her.
"I'm fine." he answered a bit gruffly and shifted his gaze to the fire.
"Listen, Inuyasha, I'm sorry I got angry..." Kagome started and placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt him stiffen a little and heard him make a nervous noise in the back of his throat. "All this is too tiring..."
"Feh." he quickly recovered and shook her hand off of his shoulder. However, with this movement he shifted his right hand and his fingers brushed against the ground, sending a sharp pain up his whole arm. He gritted his teeth and looked away until the pain went away, finally deciding to stop playing the tough guy and tell Kagome about the broken fingers.
Kagome mistook the reasons of his behavior and thought he was angry at her. She wandered what she had done to make him feel like that and her thoughts came to a conclusion that her last sentence was the reason. 'You always get things wrong, Inuyasha.' she shook her head.
"Ok, Inuyasha, I didn't mean it like that..." she started and he gave her a strange look, forgetting about his hand.
"What are you talking about?" he asked her, and she frowned.
"I know what you're thinking." she started again and he thought he couldn't be more confused than that. "I was talking about the battles..."
'Why is she telling me that?' Inuyasha asked himself. 'Of course she was talking about the battles... What else could she be talking about?' he gave her another confused look and she thought he needed more explanations.
"The battles are tiring, not you or your wounds, ok?" Kagome smiled to him and yawned, closing her eyes in the process and missing to see the look Inuyasha was giving her.
'Tired of me?' the hanyou said to himself. His eyes widened as that thought sank in and a pain fleshed in them. 'Where did that come from? And why does she feel the need to explain me something like that?' he continued looking at her in disbelief and when she finally opened her eyes he turned his head away from her.
"Now, tell me, how are you really feeling?" Kagome asked and again placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm feeling fine." Inuyasha snapped and shook her hand off of his shoulder, again. He stood up and turned away from her. She was just about to stand up too and say something when he suddenly turned to her. "Don't waste your time worrying for me." he said calmly and she frowned, not understanding his behavior. "You are tired." he snapped and emphasized on the last word. Then he just jumped away and deep in the forest.
Kagome just sat there stunned. She was at a loss of words and all she could do was think over about what had just happened. First he was having who knows what thoughts about her and she got angry with him but apologized, then he became angry with her for telling him she was tired and when she explained him she was tired from the battles, not from him or his injuries, he... Angry with him, again, Kagome hit the ground with her left hand and squeezed Shippo's tail, almost waking him up, but caught herself in time.
'I hate it when something like this happens!' Kagome thought angrily. 'He gets something wrong and when I try to explain he doesn't listen. Well, this time the goodhearted one is not going to be me. This time I'm going to be the stubborn one.' with that she made herself comfortable on the ground with Shippo curled in her arms and closed her eyes.
TBC