Author's Note: Hey Peoples! I know I'm taking forever on my other stories and I'm sorry! I had to get this one out of my head because it was clogging my brain and I needed to finish it for a contest! Sorry again! I'll work on the other ones. This is the one for the contest, Jennifer!
Watching out for each other
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled to the half demon across the clearing. Inuyasha looked up to see her aiming her arrow straight at him. He stared. He surprised himself when he saw Kagome. She reminded him of Kikyo so much then. That scared him. He could see her yelling at him, but due to his surprise, her words were unclear. He had always said he thought of her only as a Kikyo replacement, but he had never really meant it. But her, standing there with her arrow pointing at him made him almost believe it was Kikyo.
He realized he didn't care. Kagome was the only one that had ever liked him for what he really was. Sure, Kikyo had treated him tolerably, but she had wanted him to change. To become like every other human in the world. He would die if she truly wanted him to. He then realized that this was not something Kagome would do. She would never hurt him. She didn't like hurting anyone. And she had no anger in her eyes. She almost appeared to be looking past him.
That's when he realized it. He had not been paying attention at all. He sensed a presence behind him. That's when it hit him. Literally. The demon knocked him to the ground, hard.
Inuyasha looked back at Kagome, aiming her arrow toward him. No...past him. Inuyasha finally got the hint and ducked. Kagome let her arrow fly and it ricocheted off the demons dark green scales. Kagome suspected it was a snake demon, but she didn't know, and didn't very much care. It had gone after Inuyasha; that was enough incentive to retaliate.
The demon glared at Kagome and began advancing on her. "Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled, running to help her. He plucked her from the ground and pulled her away from the demon. He set her down quite a bit away and pulled out the Tetseiga.
Inuyasha ran towards the demon. He jumped up and pulled the sword down. The demon pulled away with the Tetseiga a hairsbreadth away from itself. Inuyasha growled and jumped toward it. The demon batted Inuyasha in the head with it's tail. Inuyasha flew straight into a tree and looked up toward the demon, trickles of blood spilling down his head. Kagome gasped and ran toward him. "Kagome! Stay over there!" he yelled. She stopped and nodded when she saw the look in his eyes. Inuyasha stood tall, glaring at the demon. He lifted up his sword and wielded it skillfully.
Inuyasha noticed the demon coming toward him and he jumped backward, avoiding another slash. He ran toward the demon. He lifted the Tetseiga and sliced the snake directly in the back. The demon roared in pain. The demon turned and started ferociously attacking the half demon. They fought tooth and nail (and fang) and neither looked like they were about to give up.
Inuyasha fought viciously. He knew that if they just kept fighting, one of them would collapse and Inuyasha would not let that be him. If he did, then Kagome might be...no. He would not even think about giving up. He never gave up.
He thought hard of a way to get far enough to use his wind scar. He saw the demon lunge for him, and he jumped away. He smirked when he landed far from the demon. He lifted up the Tetseiga and yelled, "Wind Sc-" he was stopped halfway when the demon came toward him and tackled him. The Tetseiga flew from his grip. The demon's red eyes glared as it started wrapped itself around Inuyasha, squeezing him. Inuyasha felt the air leaving his body and knew if he was stuck there much longer he would be crushed. His lungs burned as he tried to get the inaccessible air. It couldn't come to him fast enough. Everything was becoming hazy.
He kept trying to breathe, but each time he inhaled, he didn't get as much air as he did last time. He felt the demon squeezing him more with each passing minute. His lungs burned, and he could tell if he wasn't released soon, he would pass out. He fought hard against the demons coils, but it didn't work well. The lack of oxygen was spreading to him muscles, making it hard to move, let alone resist the bone crushing grip.
He heard a whizzing above his head. There was a flash of blue light and the demon recoiled. Inuyasha felt the demon loosen its grip and slide away. Inuyasha sat, gasping for breath. He couldn't see clearly, due to the lack of oxygen. He could see something sticking out of the demons head. He heard Kagome running toward him. He slowly realized it was one of her arrows in the demons head. The demon ceased moving and collapsed on the ground.
He felt Kagome sit hurriedly beside him and help him sit up. "Inuyasha, are you okay?" she asked. His eyes were unfocused and he kept gasping. He squinted his eyes and looked carefully at her. He still couldn't see her clearly, but he could tell she was safe. He smiled.
Kagome smiled when he smiled at her. She heard something move behind her and looked just in time to see the demon advancing towards her. She reached back to her quiver of arrows, but she found it empty. She did the first thing she could think of. She reached for the Tetseiga, which had landed a few feet away. She pulled it towards her and wielded it before her's and Inuyasha's sitting forms, shielding them both. Then, quick as lightning, she turned the point towards the demons mouth and the demon slid right into it, impaling itself.
Kagome grimaced at the blood. She pulled the sword away from the demon and looked at Inuyasha. He blinked a few times, and she could tell he could see clearly. She idly wondered if he had seen her. "Inuyasha?" she asked, quietly.
"What happened?" he asked, a little disoriented. He saw blood spilling around her. "Are you okay?" he blurted out. He immediately after realized this was definitely not Kagome's blood. Kagome smiled.
"I'm fine. Are you okay?" she asked. She watched him carefully.
He blinked. "Of course I'm okay...wench." he said, but Kagome didn't miss how he squinted in pain as he stood up. She smiled up at him. My strong little demon, she thought, I hope he's not too stubborn to let me look at that cut on his forehead. He grabbed his Tetseiga and sheathed it. Then he began walking away. Kagome followed him. She saw him start to sway a little. She ran up and held him steady. "What are you doing? I can walk just fine on my own." he said, moving away from her, just so he could almost stumble. Kagome smiled knowingly and shook her head. She ran up to him again.
"No, Inuyasha." she scolded. "You protected me, now I am at least helping you walk back. You can't be tripping over everything." He made no comment, but she felt him lean on her a bit, steadying him.
All was quiet for a while. They walked in complete silence; Inuyasha fighting with his pride. They came to a compromise. "Hey Kagome?" he asked.
"Yeah?" she answered.
"Thanks." he said simply. She smiled and stole a sideways glance to his face to see him blushing. She looked down to hide her own blush at that.
It's nothing, Inuyasha, she thought. Soon it will be back to normal. You can protect me and maybe after...I can lean on your shoulder.
The End!