Title: Carry Me Home

Rating: PG-13 and R for violence and occasional sexual implications

Summary: Inuyasha's been wounded and is trapped in a sleep in which visions of a life he doesn't remember plague him. A life in which he was not a small child running from humans to become a nervous young man in love with a miko, but something else completely.

Disclaimer: Copyright for Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and the author does not write for profit

Author(ess): bluefuzzyelf

Chapter Three

Pain, pain lancing through his body. He struggled to stand, and thrust his sword through the man in front of him. The wet sound of a sword sliding into flesh haunted him every night, a testament to how many he'd killed, killed to stay alive. His only solace was in her arms, soft and smooth and dark.

Inuyasha was breathing heavily as if he'd just run a marathon. Hakura was putting all her energy into making him calm down. Kagome was sitting by his side, whispering in his ears soothing words.

"Try singing," grunted Hakura, as she tried to hold the hanyou down to apply her newest potion.

Kagome nodded and started to sing a lullaby her mother had sung to her when she was little.

"Hush bye bye, Don't you cry

Go to sleepy little baby

When you wake you shall have

All the pretty little horses"

Hakura nodded. "It's working. Keep going."

"Blacks, and bays, dapples, and grays

All the pretty little horses

Blacks, and bays, dapples, and grays

Coach and six a little horses

Hush bye bye. Don't you cry

Go to sleepy little baby

When you wake you'll have sweet cake

And all the pretty little horses"

Inuyasha frowned, the strain of a voice reaching him through the darkness of his mind. He focused in on it, holding it like a lifeline as it took physical form in his head, a glowing thread of gold light.

"A brown, and gray, black, and bay

And a coach and six, little horses

A black, and bay, a brown, and a gray

And a coach and six, little horses.

Hush you bye, don't you cry

Oh, you pretty little baby

Go to sleepy little baby

Oh you pretty little baby"

The voice died away, and so did the thread. He fell back into memories.

Hakura sighed. "He's calm now. He's resisting anything I give him; his body just won't take it." The healer peered at Inuyasha's wound under the bandages and grimaced. "It's still open and oozing. Something is really wrong."

Kagome rested her head against his good shoulder as she pushed back tears. A hand settled on her head, stroking her hair.

"He'll be fine. We'll find the right potion. He'll be fine, Kagome. I promise."

It was cold comfort, but she leaned into Hakura all the same.

Sango and Miroku, restless from staying in one place so long, had taken to sparring every day. It was after these mock fights that they sat next to each other, cooling down, and talked. There was none of the usual flirting from Miroku or shying away from Sango. They grew closer each day that Inuyasha didn't awake and Kagome cried.

The loss of their friend had hit them all hard. Sango felt his absence strongly, missing the rough, arrogant voice and the soft touch of his hand on her shoulder when she thought of her brother. He didn't really know how to deal with people, but there were times when he knew exactly what to do or say.

Miroku spent his time thinking about Sango and Kagome. He liked the hanyou and he understood, perhaps better than the rest, the inner workings of Inuyasha's mind. Miroku looked on Inuyasha as a leader and friend, trusted him in battle and enjoyed his company when the girls were not around. Miroku alone knew how much the presence of Kikyo was tearing Inuyasha up and how much it hurt the younger man when he fought with Kagome.

Most of the time, Miroku and Sango spoke about Inuyasha in ways he would not have liked, analyzing his actions, his reasons for doing things. They began to really think about him, about the conflicting things he often did. It was as if he were two different people sometimes.

Shippou sometimes joined them, not saying anything but just listening. It was during the weeks Inuyasha was unconscious that Shippou grew from a child into a young man. Without Kagome to pay attention to him, and Inuyasha to pick on, he had to resort to other things. The kit felt guilt for not being able to help Inuyasha in the fight and blamed himself for not saving him. Shippou spent his time in the forest surrounding Hakura's home, working on his tricks and on his foxfire. He listened to the conversations Miroku and Sango had about the hanyou he had come to think of as an older brother and resolved to not pick on him any more.

Sango, Miroku and Shippou bonded more than ever, creating a closeness that they had previously been afraid to manifest and waited for the return of their friend, companion and leader.

"Beron, take the left! Kado, take out the archer! Raidon, stay with me!"

The sun beat down on them as they took stances, chained together. Inuyasha had already asserted himself as leader, and his men moved as he told them. He was attached at the arm to Raidon, a strong youkai limping because of the arrow in his thigh. Kado had lost his partner, a man named Juro who had been weak and helpless. He had already cut Juro's hand off to free himself and threw a spear at the archer. It caught him in the throat. Beron was chained to a crane youkai, a wiry young man who was more ferocious that anyone had expected him to be. Taji killed without remorse.

So did anyone who wanted to survive the rings.

"Here, my dear, take this. It'll help." Inuyasha drank the bitter liquid in the healer's hand. His vision began to go fuzzy and his eyes lolled.

"Woman, what did you do to me!"

"Shh, there, everything will be okay. You won't remember a thing."

A new girl. Dark skin, large eyes and pouty lips. She was strong and sinewy, her stance just like that of the animal her race took the shape of. She was a panther youkai, graceful and confident. Inuyasha had no doubt she had killed a man before. He quelled the lewd jokes and derogatory remarks with a look and motioned her over to his table where Raidon, Beron, Taji and Kado already sat. she sauntered over, a small predatory smile gracing her lips.

"What is a woman like you doing in a hellhole like this?"

She grinned. "Surviving."

"Aren't we all," said Raidon.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a woman," commented Beron, his eyes flicking over the newcomer's body.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a man," she replied, copying his stare and sending it right back to him. Beron guffawed.

Inuyasha watched her. "Here's what I think." Everyone quieted. "You turned down the wrong man, or killed the wrong lord. They sent you to die, but you escaped. The traders captured you, and sent you here, like the rest of us." He smirked. "Well? Close?"

The girl smirked back. "Nearly. I killed the wrong girl."

Another new girl. Inuyasha slipped his arm around Alitash's shoulders as the girl walked into the room, her spine straight and chin held high. Alitash shot him a look and shrugged his arm off, the small smile she gave him softening the harsh gesture. The new girl was only a quarter youkai, but she walked into the cells like she owned them.

Inuyasha admired her spunk. "Come here," he said. She turned to look at him with green eyes. She walked over, wary.

"If you want a good time, I suggest you don't try for one with me."

Inuyasha laughed. "For sure, no."

The girl seemed offended. "Oh? Prefer the pleasures of your cellmates?" she looked pointedly at Raidon, who wasn't paying any attention at all.

Inuyasha laughed again. "It isn't an uncommon practice, but I prefer my bedmates softer."

The girl rolled her eyes.

"What are you here for?"

She glanced sidelong at him. "Stealing."

"Ah. A thief. How charming," said Alitash. She grinned at the pale girl. "Perhaps that will come in handy."

"Perhaps."

Inuyasha tilted his head. "What is your name?"

"Maiya."

"Pretty," said Alitash. Maiya bowed.

"Thank you."

"Come sit over here. I have been dying without female company. Men are brutes." She said this with a slight smile on her face and Inuyasha kissed her neck.

"This brute is going to go play dice. You non-brutes don't get into any fights, I don't want to lose any of my men."

It was with a great gasping breath that Inuyasha woke, sitting straight up with his eyes wide open. Kagome stared at him, her hand holding his tightly.

"Inuyasha?"

He turned to her, his big eyes swimming with a veritable mine field of emotions.

Hakura came bursting into the room, her hair flying out behind her. Inuyasha blinked. Kagome said his name again, worried about his lack of response. He blinked a few more times, then:

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed against his shoulder. He tensed for a moment, then his hand found her shoulder as if my reflex. Kagome stiffened, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Where the hell am I? What happened? Who the hell are you? And why the hell do you all look so weird?" This last question was aimed at the rest of his traveling group; they had rushed in after his yell.

"Inuyasha, you're in a healer's home. After the fight with the moth youkai, you were injured and passed out. You've been unconscious for the past three weeks."

Inuyasha gaped. Three weeks? He had never exceeded a couple of days when his body went into a healing trance, and it never did that unless it was fatal.

"Three weeks?" His voice was faint. They all nodded.

"I am Hakura." Inuyasha looked to who he supposed was the healer. "It took so long to revive you because your body resisted any kind of healing I tried to use. Could you tell me why?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "I don't know." But then, maybe he did. Some fragment, like of a dream, floated up in his memory. Something about a potion in his foodin everyone's foodbut who was everyone? The vision was lost, like one of those bubble things Kagome liked to make on spring days.

"We have been very worried about you, Inuyasha. Do you feel well?"

"Keh. I'm fine. Let me up."

"Nothing is holding you down, Inuyasha," said Kagome, worriedly.

"Oh." Inuyasha stood. He stepped outside and was greeted with a ball of fluff hitting him in the chest.

"Inuyasha!" He figured out that the fluff was Shippou, though why he was clinging to him like that was a mystery.

"Oi, runt, what's wrong?"

"I didn't think you were gonna make it!"

"Keh, I always make it, runt." Inuyasha gave the kit a quick squeeze. "Now let's go. Time to start moving again We were headed towards the Eastern Lands, right?."