It was around noon and the sun was high in the sky. Two figures could be seen walking through the forest – a demon exterminator and a monk. Although it was obvious that they were humans their speed was remarkable. A small kitsune was sitting on the woman's shoulder while she was dragging the monk along the way.

"Hurry up, Houshi-sama." the demon exterminator said and pulled his hand harder.

"Calm down, Sango." the monk pleaded with her but she wasn't slowing down. "I didn't say it for sure. I may be mistaken."

"What if you're not?" the young woman stopped and looked at Miroku.

"It doesn't matter." the monk sighed and Sango looked at him wide-eyed.

"Miroku, you sound like you are the possessed one." Shippo made a 'wise' comment and earned himself a sarcastic look from the monk.

"Ok, listen now." Miroku said and the two looked at him expectedly. "We're traveling on foot and they are riding on Kirara. They'll get to the village tonight and we – tomorrow by noon, if we don't rest for the night and with your speed." he turned to Sango.

"I know!" the demon exterminator was getting impatient and was ready to pull Miroku again. "That's why I'm telling you to hurry up!"

"And I'm trying to explain to you that if Inuyasha is possessed by the time we get there it'll be already too late to help him..." the monk had more to tell but being overexcited Sango interrupted him again.

"What are you saying?!" she almost yelled at him and Shippo just gaped at how direct Miroku was. "Are you suggesting to just..."

"I'm trying to say that we can't do anything, but isn't Kaede-sama there?" the monk lost patience, interrupting Sango. "She is a miko for God's sake! And surely she is more reliable than me!"

"Oh..." the demon exterminator and the kitsune nodded their heads in realization.

"You should've said that at the beginning." Sango said and although she was calmer now, she started pulling Miroku behind her.

"You don't give up so easily, do you?" the monk sighed. "I guess we'll never have some time for ourselves..." he mumbled.

"What are you saying?" Sango turned to watch him for a second.

"Nothing." Miroku shook his head. "Just thinking out loud..." he said and let himself being dragged by the demon exterminator again.

Although she couldn't really show it Kirara was also worried about Inuyasha. Since they had left the other three of the group the hanyou hadn't said even a word, well except when Kagome asked him if he was alright, but that was only a couple of times. Now they were flying above wide rice fields with a small village and the cat demon turned her head toward the girl on her back, growling softly.

"I don't think it's a good idea to stop, Kirara." Kagome shook her head and turned half way to look at Inuyasha whose head was slightly hanging forwards and his eyes were closed as if he was asleep. "But if you're tired..." the girl patted the cat demon on the head giving her a warm smile and Kirara just made a soft sound in the back of her throat and continued flying.

'Broken fingers...' Kagome thought and frowned. '...and he's looking so bad... This can't be all.' she rubbed her chin thoughtfully and again turned to look Inuyasha for a moment. 'Kaede-baachan will know what's wrong with him.'

Inuyasha felt himself slowly leaning forward, he couldn't open his eyes anymore and thought he was going to fall asleep right at the moment. But something, even he didn't know what it was, tugged at the back of his mind, making him fight against the tiredness that was consuming him more and more.

'What's wrong with me?' he asked himself and suddenly was aware of something warm against his face and his hands were resting on something that definitely wasn't Kirara's fur. He tried to open his eyes to see where he was but failed. After a moment he heard his name being called and his eyes opened a little to see that his head was resting on Kagome's right shoulder, his face against her neck, and his hands were on her hips. Strangely, he didn't feel pain in his injured hand.

"Inuyasha," the girl said, her voice a little shaky, and shifted nervously. He didn't answer and she was some kind of afraid to look at him. "Inuyasha, are you alright?" she asked this time braver and received a small moan which made her stiffen and her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

Although there wasn't anything to blush for Kagome felt as embarrassed as if someone had seen her naked. Inuyasha was too numb to fell her stiffen and his vision was so blurred that he couldn't have seen her in thousand years. His moan was his answer that he was alright but even he felt the heat rising in his cheeks, knowing his position.

"I'm... fine..." he managed to mumble after a while and that was enough to take his breath away. And this made things worse. As Inuyasha's breathing heaved Kagome's cheeks reddened even more. Even Kirara turned her head to see what they were doing and looked at Kagome confused.

"I-Inuyasha," Kagome stammered and shifted nervously again. "Could you move away?" she said and for unknown reason needed to explain herself. "You're breathing in my ear..."

"Can't..." the hanyou mumbled again and taking a shallow breath continued, "...too tired..."

Kagome decided to leave things that way and taking a shaky breath gripped the fur on Kirara's neck. The three reached the village by nightfall. Kirara landed in front of Kaede's hut and Kagome called the old Miko, but nobody answered. The cat demon turned to look at the schoolgirl as if asking what they should do now that Kaede wasn't there.

Not loosing time Kagome turned toward Inuyasha, pushing him off of her back to have some room. "Inuyasha, are you awake?" she asked seeing or rather feeling his dead weight on her hands.

"Mmm..." he moaned and his eyes opened a little to look at her. As if knowing what she wanted from him he placed his hands on Kirara's back, trying to support himself.

"That's right, Inuyasha." Kagome said and moved off of the cat demon, still supporting the hanyou with her hands. "We have to get inside... Can you walk?"

Inuyasha gave her a slight nod and she helped him off of Kirara. Kagome wrapped her right hand around his waist and placed his left one on her shoulders. Kirara transformed to her smaller form and watched the couple slowly make their way toward the hut. Once inside Kagome's legs gave out under Inuyasha's weight and she accidentally tripped. The two found themselves on the floor in a matter of seconds.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha, who had landed on top of her, squeaked as he suddenly was aware that his injured hand was under her back.

Startled, Kagome tried to stand up and this only resulted in bumping her head in Inuyasha's and falling back down, smashing his hand even harder. This time the hanyou was prepared and only hissed, gritting his teeth.

"Sorry, sorry..." Kagome was saying while she lifted herself a little and Inuyasha moved away from her.

"Can't you be more careful?" he almost yelled at her, gripping his hand, and she just gave him a puzzled look.

'That's sudden change...' she though and frowned. 'Too bad that Kaede-baachan isn't here. I can't even take care of his broken fingers, not to mention that there's something wrong with his head too.'

"What?" Inuyasha snapped, seeing her expression, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing." Kagome said, deciding not to ask him what had been wrong with him just a few minutes ago. Somehow asking him that question brought only fights with him, lately. She stood up and went in the back of the hut, where was her bag. Taking the first aid kit she returned to the grumpy hanyou. "Give me your hand." she said and he obeyed.

'Strange...' Inuyasha thought while giving his hand to Kagome. 'Just a moment ago I felt awful... Now...' he suddenly hissed in pain as Kagome tried to move his fingers. '...it's even worse!'

"Sorry, Inuyasha." the girl immediately released him and not expecting this, the hanyou dropped his hand and it hit the floor.

"Are you insane?!" he yelled at Kagome and lifted his hand to hold it with the other. "What are you doing?"

A little startled, Kagome took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to treating broken bones." she said a little too harsh than she really wanted and Inuyasha looked at her surprised.

Soon the hanyou's surprise changed to anger as he thought about her behavior lately. Her words about not being tired of him or his wounds now sounded completely different as he noticed the tone of her voice. Also, why did she always need to explain herself about everything she said? Did she think he was so stupid not to understand a simple thing like 'I'm tired.'? And why the hell didn't she ask him what had been wrong with him while they were on their way toward the village. Inuyasha wanted to ask her but actually he didn't want to have the answers of these questions.

"Oh, really?" he asked her sarcastically. "Maybe you need a break, huh?" he stood up and she looked at him confused.

"Inuyasha, calm down." Kagome stood up too and stepped closer to him. "What are you talking about? Why would I need a break?"

"Ha! Who's the stupid one now?" he asked and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute, mister!" Kagome said, now as angry as him, and without thinking grabbed his right hand. "Who said..."

"Watch what you're doing, you idiot!" Inuyasha yelled at her, pulling his injured hand away from her. Kagome opened her mouth to apologize but he was faster. "Obviously you are so concerned about me that you would rather tear off my hand than try to take care of it!" with that he exited the hut, leaving Kagome to just stare after him.

"Sango, I think we already passed through here." Miroku said as the three stopped by a tree in the thick forest. It was dark already and it wasn't really a good idea to continue, anyway.

The demon exterminator looked around and also noticed that what the monk had commented was true. "This can't be true..." she groaned and slapped on hand on her face.

"We're lost?" Shippo who was on the monk's shoulder asked, although he already knew the obvious answer.

"Without Kirara and Inuyasha to guide us we can't find anything." Miroku made another discouraging comment and earned a death glare from Sango. "But I'm sure we'll find the way ourselves..." he quickly added. "...sooner or later..."

"I just hope Inuyasha is ok." Sango said and pulled Miroku after her again.

TBC