Inuyasha ran through the forest at top speed. When he decided to finally stop he was at the destroyed village. Now he could fully see where he had fought and the destruction his fight with the demon had caused. Although the village has been pretty big, there wasn't a single house standing. Everything was in ruins and on a relatively clear place were at least a hundred graves.
'So many people...' the hanyou walked toward the graves and stood in front of them. 'The others must've buried them.' he thought and looked around.
A light wind ruffled his hair and it went to his face. He sighed and tried to move it away, despite the wind. Sometimes he hated it – it was always in the way and was a big disadvantage during night fights. But then again, Sesshoumaru's hair was also white. Hell, his clothes were white too. If he could fight like that, and win, why couldn't Inuyasha do the same? He wasn't counting his father here since he was dead. He knew it wasn't because of his hair but... 'What the hell am I thinking about? I've won in all my fights!' the hanyou yelled in his mind.
"Kagome said my hair is nice, so I'm not complaining." as soon as the words came out of his mouth he slapped a hand on his forehead. "I'm not thinking straight!" he didn't bother to hide the whimper in his voice as he spoke again.
But thinking about Kagome made him remember what had happened at the camp. 'Did I overreact?' he asked himself and scratched his head. 'Maybe a little? But then, if she needs to explain me such things she must've had them in her mind... Maybe not now, but...' lost in his own thoughts Inuyasha had unconsciously moved away from the graves and was heading toward the destroyed shrine of the village.
"Oh, hell!" he yelled frustrated of his incapability of dealing with his own feelings and confusion, which seemed to become a constant condition for him around Kagome. Just then he noticed that he was walking away from the graves. He shook his head and sighed. "I guess the pressure is getting too much. It wasn't so hard with Kikyou..." he said and turned his back at the shrine.
As he walked away a dark cloud came out of the ruins and headed toward him. It was just about to hit him when like proving that he wasn't really in good shape with all the problems with Kagome, he suddenly tripped. The cloud flew above him and remained there. As Inuyasha was falling he managed to push his hands in front of him and landed on them. But as soon as his injured hand came in contact with the ground he yelped in pain and fell on his face. At this moment the cloud flew toward him and hit his back, entering his body. Inuyasha didn't notice what had happened too busy concentrating on cursing his hand and himself for not telling Kagome about it.
When the hanyou stood up he felt a little dizzy but didn't worry about that. 'It's because of that fucking roar...' he thought and shivered remembering the pain in his ears, then dusted himself off. Suddenly feeling tired, he decided to go back to the others and get some rest.
Returning to the camp Inuyasha sighed with relief when he saw that Kagome was asleep. She was curled in a small ball with Shippo in her arms and was slightly shaking. Inuyasha shook his head and started to remove his haori, wincing a little at the pain in his hand. He then covered the girl with the haori and sat under a tree near the fire. 'I don't get it. How can I always get mad at a cute girl like her...' he was too tired to pay attention to what he was thinking and after a while just watching her he closed his eyes and was soon asleep.
Kagome slowly started to wake up. She felt something covering her and keeping her warm. She opened her eyes and saw that Inuyasha's haori was on her. Looking around she spotted him sitting under a nearby tree. His legs were crossed, his left hand was in his lap, holding Tetsusaiga, and his right one was by his right side, rested on the ground. His head was bent down and his bangs were hiding his face.
'So, maybe he isn't that mad at me.' she thought and smiled, immediately forgetting about her vow to be stubborn with him, and lifted herself a little to look at him better.
"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered, thinking that he wasn't asleep, but he didn't respond to her. She looked around and seeing the brightening sky she knew that the sun was going to rise soon. So, to save Inuyasha from the 'embarrassment' of someone seeing him asleep, she carefully placed Shippo in his haori and silently crept toward the hanyou.
Kagome kneeled in front of him and ran her fingers through his bangs. "Inuyasha..." she whispered softly and lifted his head a little. He just mumbled something incoherent and didn't wake up. "Inuyasha, wake up." she said louder this time and placed a hand on his.
A sharp pain ran up his whole injured arm as Kagome touched it. Inuyasha's eyes suddenly shot open and in front of him he saw her. He didn't know why himself but he gritted his teeth, trying not to cry out in pain and grunted, as if still sleepy. "What?" he snapped at her.
Kagome frowned at the way he spoke to her but thought that he was still sleepy. "Do you want the others to see you sleeping?" she said with a small smirk.
"No." he snapped again and pulled his hand away from hers, making her frown again.
As the sun was rising Kagome noticed that his face was a little pale and his eyes' color was kind of darker and dull. "Inuyasha, are you alright?" she asked him and tried to place a hand on his forehead but he pulled away.
"I'm fine." he quickly said and stood up. He then went to his haori and not caring that Shippo was asleep on it lifted it.
The kitsune rolled on the ground and hit Miroku in the face. Shippo's squeak and the contact he made with the monk's face woke him up and startled, he bolted up. But by doing that he lost his balance and fell right on Sango. She woke up with a start and like on command smacked Miroku on the head. Just a second later at the camp was like a battle field of yells. Even human ears wouldn't stand the noise and what about Inuyasha.
"Shut up!" he yelled holding his ears. "Shut the fuck up!" with that everybody quieted down.
They looked at him confused. Something in his voice was different, it wasn't as firm as always, and as soon as he stopped yelling he seemed to be breathless. He didn't pay attention to them and just started to put on his haori, then told them to hurry up and walked away from them.
"Kagome-chan, what's wrong with him?" Sango came to the other girl while she was turning off the fire.
"Yeah, he looks sick." Shippo jumped on Kagome's shoulder.
"I honestly don't know." she answered. "We had a little misunderstanding but I don't think it has anything to do with his behavior."
"Are you sure?" Miroku also joined the conversation. "Has he apologized or something?"
"Something like that." Kagome shrugged. "He gave me his haori to keep me warm..."
Inuyasha watched the small circle of people and demons around the fire and tried as best as he could not to get irritated. But, after all, that was Inuyasha. Sick or not, he wasn't going to let them talk about him behind his back. "Hey, idiots!" he yelled, startling his friends. "Quit wasting my time. Let's go."
'Wasting his time? Yeah, right!' Shippo laughed in his mind but followed him, along with the others.
The group headed toward Kaede's village. Inuyasha was leading the way but unconsciously he was slowing down. He felt tired but strangely even for him, he didn't care. The others noticed this and finally Kagome couldn't stand it and ran to catch up with him. He looked at her for a second and then again turned his eyes ahead.
"Inuyasha," Kagome started, "I'm gonna ask you this just one more time..."
"My fingers are broken." he just said and stopped, showing his hand to Kagome.
She almost fell on the ground and just gaped at him. "You... When... Why didn't you tell me?" she asked and took his hand to look at it.
Wincing a little at her touch Inuyasha shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to worry you."
"Idiot." Kagome muttered. "When did that happen?" she looked him for a moment and then again turned her eyes to his hand.
By that time the others were already by their side and again couldn't believe how strange Inuyasha could act sometimes. However, they were still concerned about his behavior. Usually the Inuyasha they knew would admit a wound only if it is already noticed, but to say that his fingers are broken just like that, after a night of hiding it – this was really strange.
"When I fought with that dream demon... I hit a rock flying toward me..." the hanyou answered and Kagome frowned. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad." he said and tried to pull his hand away, suddenly aware that he was acting strange.
Despite his hiss of pain Kagome held his hand in hers and looked at him. "It is bad." she snapped at him and he looked at her a little startled. "It would've been good if you hadn't acted like and idiot and had showed it to me. Come on, let's go." she said and pulled him after her.
"Kagome-chan, wait." Sango said and the other girl stopped to look at her friend questioningly. "Take Kirara. She'll take you to the village faster."
"Are you sure, Sango-chan?" Kagome eyed Miroku suspiciously.
"Yeah." the demon exterminator laughed, seeing what her friend meant.
"Ok, then." Kagome said and Kirara came to her, transforming.
She and Inuyasha climbed on the cat demon's back and were off. The others watched them until they completely disappeared from their view and then continued on their way. After some time Shippo jumped from Miroku's shoulder on Sango's.
"It was strange that Inuyasha didn't even protest about Kirara carrying him to the village." the kitsune said thoughtfully and Sango nodded.
"Yeah, it wasn't like him..." she said and turned to Miroku, who was walking a few steps behind her. "What do you think, Houshi-sama?"
"Well, there's one thing that bothers me..." the monk said and kept his concentrated look toward the ground.
"What is it?" Shippo asked.
"Inuyasha is showing all the symptoms of someone overtaken by a dream demon." as soon as the words came out of his mouth Sango and Shippo were in front of him. He looked at them confused. "What?"
"Houshi-sama," the demon exterminator sounded like she couldn't believe what he had just said, "why didn't you say earlier?!" the last part she yelled at the monk's face.
TBC