Her usually clean school uniform was torn and ripped, stained with mud and her own blood from the gash on her arm. Her breath came in sharp painful gasps as she continued running along the path in the darkened forest surrounding her. Sharp claws raked the air that she had just passed through and a menacing snarl filled the air. She didnt dare turn around to see who her pursuer was, she only knew she had to get away. Her eyes scanned her surroundings as quickly as possible, desperately straining to see through the darkness and the fearful tears that clung to her lashes. She had already lost her shoes in a marshy area when the chase had first started and her feet were already bruised and bloody from the various cuts she had received. Her feet painfully slapped against the hard ground and she flinched and gasped in pain as she stepped onto a jagged rock. Pain shot up through her right leg and she felt herself tumbling forward as her knees buckled beneath her.
"No."
She barely gasped the word as she felt strong deadly claws clasp onto her shoulders, actually stopping her fall. Hot tears fell from her eyes as she was pulled upright and felt a hairy, disgusting arm wrap itself around her throat. Warm breath panted against her right ear and the stench that reached her nose made her gag. She trembled against the bulk of evil that had captured her and turned her face away from the horrible creature as she began to sob uncontrollably. The creature then opened its jaws as it saw the exposed skin on her neck and its mouth watered at the sight of such delicious prey. Her eyes shot open painfully as the sharp teeth of the monster sank into the soft flesh of her neck and it began lapping up the blood with its slimy forked tongue. Her soft brown eyes then clouded over as the black forest around her darkened and she began to slump against her attacker. With the last stubborn bit of strength she tried to pull away only to be yanked back forcefully again. She took a deep breath as she felt the monsters teeth dive deeper into her flesh.
Then Kagome screamed. "INUYASHA!"
InuYasha bolted upwards from his sleep. He panted as the adrenaline in his blood roared in his head and his heart threatened to jump out of his body.
"Kagome."
InuYasha urgently muttered the girls name barely over a whisper as his keen demon eyes scanned the dark room. A sigh of relief rushed out of him as he saw her still laying figure close to the corner where he sat and slept alertly. A small pang of jealousy crept into his stomach as he saw the small kitsune cub wrapped in her arms protectively.
"Feh, what do I care." The young hanyou thought stubbornly to himself.
The memory of the dream quickly replaced the painful pang of jealousy as InuYasha continued to look at Kagome with a worried expression on his face. Quietly moving from his corner, he crouched next to Kagome and quickly examined her features. That wonderful scent that belonged only to her was the first thing that his sensitive demon nose noticed. He smiled as he continued to examine her figure, thoroughly making sure that there truly werent any types of injuries the images of his dream had left him with. At least that is the reason he told himself. Her face seemed to be serene and peaceful as she breathed slowly in her sleep. A small smile was pursed on her lips as she quietly mumbled something. Anyone else would not have heard or understood her words, but the hanyous expert demon ears twitched as he heard the words coming forth from her mouth.
"InuYasha...mmm..." Kagome was dreaming about him! His body froze to the spot he was crouching and watched as Kagome smiled again in her sleep.
"What is she doing! Why is she dreaming about me? And what is she smiling about!" InuYasha's mind began to spin around in circles as his thoughts raced around looking for possible answers to their questions. Then he heard her voice get stern and dread flashed in his eyes as he recognized the look on her face. Trying to move away from her sleeping form as quickly and as quietly as possible, InuYasha stood and began to shuffle his feet and move back towards his corner. His suspicions about the look on Kagomes face were then sadly confirmed as the hanyou distinctively heard her from his position.
"Oswari." Kagome gently mumbled in her sleep.
With that one word InuYashas body was pulled down with incredible force as the gravity of his prayer beads increased a hundred fold. Luckily, he had made it back to his corner where Kagome had laid a sleeping bag for him to use. He had stubbornly refused it earlier that night and had then secretly laid it out once everyone was fast asleep. Not only was the sound of the impact that his head hitting the floor made muffled, but so were his angry curses. He got up and thought furiously.
"Stupid wench, she even sits me in her dreams!" His frown bared his canine fangs as he scanned the room back over to where she was laying. His expression softened as his eyes landed on her sleeping form again. He sat back down in his corner and betrayed his own stubborn pride by smiling at her in the dark.
"At least now I truly know shes okay." He mused as he slowly closed his eyes and tried to go back to his alert form of dosing. Even though he tried to sleep again, the dream had left him with a sense of dread, enveloping him like a dark suffocating blanket. His eyes opened sharply as his instincts were now tingling with anxious anticipation.
"What does it mean?" He questioned to himself. A low growl began to rumble in his chest as the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. He distinctly felt that the room was being watched, but he could not tell where the feeling was coming from. He had always trusted his instincts before and they had never led him astray. But as he tried to sense the evil entity that was threatening him and his companions it seemed to diminish in power...or was it distance? Either way the hairs on his neck began to fall back against him and the growl disappeared from his throat. His eyes shot back to where Kagome was laying and he remained there watching her from his corner. He watched the rise and fall of her shoulders as she took deep relaxed breaths in her sleep. He could hear her still murmuring in her dreams, and was now careful not to really listen to her words in case his dream-self angered her again. Concern grew into a tight knot in his chest as he began to think of the dream that had woken him up in the first place. Disregarding all the ridicule he would surely endure in the morning from Miroku, he stood and stealthily moved from his corner and sat against the wall that was directly in front of Kagome.
"To hell with that lech and his stupid comments," InuYasha thought angrily, "Nothing is going to hurt Kagome."
Putting a ready hand onto Tessuaiga, the young hanyou finally closed his eyes and fell to sleep. His last fleeting thought before he fell into his semi-conscious state was of Kagome.
"Ill never let anything hurt you."
