CHAPTER FOUR

Dreamtime moment, Nightmare battle

The sun had completely set when Inuyasha stepped outside closely followed by Kagome. " Come on, let's go." was all he said and then got on one knee so that she could climb on his back. She obidiently got on him and held onto his shlouders while he rocketed off into the forest. Seconds later when they were a good distance away from the others, Inuyasha bolted upwards and shot through the forest canopy to the highest branch of one of the tallest trees. It was cold so Inuyasha took off his himono and shrouded Kagome with it. "thanks" she uttered. He then proceeded to lift up his shirt. Kagome gasped in surprise at his chest, which now didn't even have a scar or scratch to show where the terrible wound had been. She stretched out her hand and put it on his chest. Inuyasha usually protested to such closeness, but he didn't seem to mind right now. "Inuyasha..." escaped from her lips before she could stop it. At this the hanyou's ears perked up and he stared intently at her, waiting for her to say something..... but no further words came from her. After a minute of giving each other the lost gaze, Inuyasha broke the silence by placing his hand on hers, which was still pressed up on him. "I'm sorry Kagome... I didn't mean any of this to happen. I didn't mean to make you cry... I'm sorry." At this Kagome looked horrified and replied in a hurtful voice, "You're so stupid. You don't have to apoligize for this! I can't believe you! Why would I....." but her yelling was cut short when Inuyasha's hands grasped her shoulders and pulled her towards him. "Don't you understand? I don't want to cause you any pain..... I'm tired of making you cry," he whispered softly into her ear, every word sounding like if it was dealing a fatal blow, "This isn't the kind of life that I wanted for you. This isn't the way that I wanted you to live. Because of me you shed so many tears..... and it's killing me inside to know that I'm the one causing your pain." Kagome gasped at these last words. This wasn't Inuyasha. It wasn't the hanyou that she had known for so long. Something was wrong. He was afraid, he was confused..... he wasn't angry or pushy, he was different. Before Kagome could say anything in her defense, Inuyasha placed a hand on her head and started stroking her hair. 'What is this,' she thought to herself, 'Why is he so scared? Why is he being like this.... why won't my heart stop pounding so hard.... why is he holding me like this... why won't he look at me?' Inuyasha was looking at the stars that were slowly appearing above them. He apparently had no idea about what he was doing because by the time that he looked down at Kagome, he was surprised to find that his own hand was stroking her head and that his free hand was over her own on his chest. And then there were her eyes.... wide and gazed, but accepting the situation like if it was right. He was about to move and break the closeness between them when Kagome turned herself around and leaned with her back towards him. Immidiately his heart started pounding. What was he supposed to do?

'I don't know what's happening, but I don't want it to end.' Kagome thought.

'Her body is so warm and inviting, why does this feel so right?' pondered Inuyasha.

'Does he know what he's doing... or is he simply afraid to move'

'Should I move? But I don't want to... why should I... I like having her with me'

'This feels so right... does he love me?'

'Why am I feeling like this.... do I love her?'

'I want to stay here with him forever'

'I'll stay with you forever.... Kagome'

The silence was broken by an uneasy feeling that spread through them both. Kagome sat up and looked at Inuyasha. His face was screwed up in concentrarion and his nose was a bit wrinkled as he sniffed the air. "It's a demon. Let's go find the others." He said as he grabbed Kagome by the waist and prepared to jump off the tree. "Wait," she uttered, not quite sure as to why, "this demon has shikon shards.... four of them." Inuyasha sniffed the air in the direction that the demon was coming from... it was heading straight for them. They had to get their companions. "Don't worry Kagome, I'll never let anything happen to you." and with that he jumped off the tree, Kagome in his arms, and ran at full speed towards Jinenji's hut. His words were still echoing in Kagome's mind when they reached the fields. When they reached the hut, they found their friends had already felt the demon and were standing at the ready. Even Jinenji was standing amongst the group, his face set and his fists clenched. "Jinenji, this isn't your fight, get beck or you're gonna get hurt" Inuyasha said gruffly when he saw the giant hanyou's intentions. "No. I will fight too," Jinenji answered calmly, " This demon is trespassing the fields of my father. It must be dealt with." Inuyasha put Kagome down and turned to the direction of the demon, unsheathing his powerful tessaiga as he did. The large fang was shining bright in the moonlight, ready to strike down this enemy that meant his Kagome harm. "Keh, suit yourself, just don't hog up all the fun." scoffed the battle ready hanyou as he instinctively bared his fangs and growled at the large demon that had just appeared at the end of the fields.

The trees across the fields parted and a giant wolf youkai headed for the group standing in front of the little hut, Inuyasha at the head of it. At the sight of the tessaiga weilding hanyou the demon wailed, "Inuyasha, I have come for you head!!" Inuyasha, never being one to get talked down to, took this as a personal challange and rushed out to meet the large advancing youkai. The clash of energy was so powerful that it lifted the ground and sent shockwaves of dirt in every direction. The end result of the impact was the the demon wolf's giant clawed paw pressing down on the tessaiga, which was being held up by a determined hanyou. Inuyasha let out a growl and put more power into his swing as he thrust the giant demon off of his sword and into the forest. In mere seconds the wolf had fallen, rolled, gotten back up, and gharged again. Inuyasha prepared for another attack when a familiar whistling sound stopped him from swinging the tessaiga. The wolf hadn't even noticed the hiraikotsu, Sango's giant boomerang, sailing though the air in his direction. It made full contact with it's face before it reached the hanyou, who was relaxed, trusting in his companion's fighting skills. Again the wolf fell, rolled, got up, and advanced on the fighting party. it was almost as if the youkai would stop at nothing to get to Inuyasha. the next attack, to everyone's surprise, came from Jinenji. The youkai had jumped into the air and was about to pounce on Inuyasha when the giant hanyou connected his fist with the wolf's chest. The pure force of the blow sent air currents through the breezy night and toppled over a few trees off in the distance. "Amazing jinenji, you sure are strong," Kagome said, praising the gentle hanyou for his powerful hit. But it wasn't over yet. This time the youkai didn't even bother to roll, her simply struck the ground hard and launched himself at an unprepared Inuyasha with it's fangs bared. "Impossible!" Miroku yelled as the youkai got up with the strength and agility of one that hadn't even broke a sweat. In one fleeting movement it pounced on Inuyasha and dug it's fangs into his midsection. The hanyou grimaced in pain and and dropped his father's sword to the ground. "Ka.. go..me..." was all that he said and then the actual impossible happened.

It was like a bad dream. One moment the youkai was lying on the ground, clearly defeated by Jinenji's powerful punch, the next it had bitten down on inuyasha's body and then it dissapeared without a trace, leaving only the now untransformed tessaiga to clatter to the ground.

"INUYASHA" came an all too familiar voice. Kagome was running out to the field where Inuyasha had stood, relaxing after what he thought had been the end of the battle. She could still see his face. He was looking at Jinenji and was about to say something, probably about how he di hog the fun, and suddenly his eyes widened when the youkai clamped down on him. The next instant, in a storm of smoke and debris..... they were gone. Kagome was shaking all over, she didn't know what to do... where to look, what to say. Miroku rushed out to where she was, apparently hoping that maybe they had all seen wrong... that maybe Inuyasha had only fallen down and that any second now he was going to jump right back up, folding his arms across his chest and saying something sarcastic about how easy the battle was. they were nothing more than false hopes. He was gone. The only trace left was his father's sword lying on the ground near the crater where the youkai had struck him down. Shippou scampered over to the sword and picked it up. "Where is he," the little kitsune pondered out loud, "He would never leave his tessaiga behind... not unless he couldn't hold on to it." These words had hit home with Kagome.

'He couldn't hold on to it. He couldn't hold on to the tessaiga. Something was wrong....... he was de...... No! Not him! Not Inuyasha! Not my Inuyasha!!'

Sango walked slowly to Kagome and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we have to go look for him" Kagome wanted to stay there. She wanted to wait for him. What if they went to go look for him and he came back. He's be upset. She didn't want to make him upset. She wanted to stay there.

Jinenji came close to Kagome and uttered a few words, "Kagome-sama, I'm sorry. Had I destroyed the demon your friend would not have..." Kagome silenced him by standing up... 'he hasn't gone anywhere, don't be stupid, he's fine, he's probably looking for me as we speak..... If I just stay here and wait for him......' that was when she realized it. Kagome hadn't noticed, but she was still wearing Inuyasha's himono. His armor against demons... and she had it draped around her shoulders. An uneasy feeling settled at the pit of her stomach. She immidiately started feeling dizzy and wanted to throw up.

'No.... it can't be.... no..... NO!'

Miroku noticed Kagome staring at the himono wrapped aroud her with a panicked look on her face and moed in to comfort her. "Kagome-sama, don't worry... remember what we talked about before the demon attacked... Inuyasha's healing abilities had been increased substantially. That demon bite was nothing to him. It's only a matter of us finding out where the youkai took him." Kagome felt much better after hearing this. Without thinking twice, she hopped in Kirara, waved goodbye to Jinenji, and hurried the others to move on. They had to find him.