Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters in this story, though I do enjoy borrowing and torturing them.

Dolor

By: Kitsune Hanyou

Part 2

Summary: Physical torture may be the most immediately inveigling form of torture, but it is a far cry from the most painful.

Pain. That's all he could feel. Not excruciating, nothing intolerable. Really, it was just a dull ache throughout his body.

Inuyasha cautiously opened his eyes. He wasn't in Naraku's prison! He sat up, a little too quickly; he was in Kaede's hut! He had been laying on a comfortable futon, his hands bound in cloth, healing, with a thick salve smeared on his cheek and ears.

"Inuyasha," Kaede's old, soothing voice said, "Ye must rest and regain your strength."

Inuyasha didn't pay the old woman any heed. His eyes searched the hut, something important was missing. "Where's Kagome?"

The old woman hesitated for too long.

"Where the hell is Kagome?" He yelled.

His friends must have heard the commotion, because Miroku, Sango and Shippo came running through the door.

Inuyasha's fury moved to them. "Where's Kagome? Why isn't she here?"

Shippo looked sadly to Sango, who looked to Miroku. "She isn't here, Inuyasha," the monk said softly.

"Why not?"

"Inuyasha, calm—"

"NO! Where is she?" A sudden thought struck him. "You did help her? You got her?" His voice was frightened and small. They couldn't have left her! Not her. Oh, Gods, not there.

"Got her?" Sango asked, "From where?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened, "You di—You left her there!" They did…they left her.

"Left Kagome where?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha started to tear the bandages off his hands, Fucking bastards! You call yourselves friends? "Naraku's fortress, you bastards! You left here there. I have to find it." He started to leave the hut, but the three blocked his way. No matter how long it takes, Kagome, I'll find it. I'll get you out of there.

"Inuyasha, it's been four days, you'll never find Naraku, Kagome is—"

Something inside the half-demon snapped and his knees weakened enough to have him collapse to the floor, not bothering to pay attention to the rest of Miroku's sentence. "Four…four days? I've been asleep for four days?" No…she couldn't…

"Yes, and—"

A sob tore from his throat, "She…she's gone. Kagome's gone. Kagome…" She's dead. She has to be. It's been too long. I failed. I failed again. I should have saved her. Why…why couldn't I save her?

Shippo started to whine, "But I thought Kagome just went—"

"Home?" Inuyasha looked up, his eyes begging for his last shred of hope. They did! They saved her! Thank the gods. I can still help Kagome. Whatever I have to do; I can still help her.

"I'm here," Kagome's voice said. It was soft, dead, flat sounding.

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the melodious symphony of the beloved voice, he looked up, praising every god for keeping her alive, until he saw her face. His smile fell and his ears flattened against his skull. She was pale, deep circles etched into the skin under her eyes, and she was thin, too thin. She hadn't eaten in days. He didn't dare breath in the air around her. Her eyes held so much concern, so much fear; he couldn't subject her to his reactionto Naraku's horrid stench that would be tainting the once calming, beautifully pure, musky, human perfume that was her's alone. No amount of concoctions from her time would ever mask it. It was inside her, and she would never rid herself of it.

She knelt beside him, her cool hand touched Inuyasha's forehead, he leaned into it gratefully. "How are you feeling?"

After all Naraku did, she only thinks of me? "Kagome, I…" He looked into her eyes, Gods, Kagome. How can you even stand to be near me? You were beaten, raped…tortured in every way possible…because of me. Don't look at me with so much concern…so much love. I don't deserve it. Hate me. Hit me. Run from me. Don't sit there and bandage my wounds. He looked away, trying to concentrate on not taking in her scent, his voice was more husky and gruff than he had actually wanted, "Get away from me."

He wanted to cry with her when he heard her first sniffle. He himself didn't know what he was doing. Kagome needed to be held, comforted, cared for. Not shunned. Not turned away.

He looked back to her, her head was down, hair covering those earthy orbs he so often found himself lost in. His voice froze as he saw her tears falling to the floor.

"I'm sorry we weren't fast enough, Inuyasha," she said so silently, his ears hardly caught the sounds. "It was my fault, I wasn't fast enough…"

Her fault! Sh…she thinks its her fault. She thinks that what Naraku did to her was her fault? "No," Inuyasha breathed, in one quick motion he scooped her into his arms and held her tightly. He kissed her temple, not caring that his friends still occupied the small hut. "No, no, no, Kagome. I'm sorry. I was right there. A-and I couldn't do anything." His shoulders began to shake as tears welled in his eyes, "I couldn't stop him. But I heard all of it. I know what happened. I'm sorry. I meant everything I said. I don't expect anything from you, but I do. As soon as the jewel is finished, I'll become human. I'll learn to live in your time. Please, please forgive me."

Kagome pushed away slightly, Inuyasha looked into her eyes. So much concern…

"What do you mean, what happened, Inuyasha? What are you talking about?"

Could she not remember? Was it possible for her mind to have just erased it?

Then he noticed something far more peculiar:

Her scent was her's and her's alone.

A/N: Whoo! Part 2: Done. Do y'all hate me now? Just thought I'd give you that short little taste. What do you think so far?

Review if want me to relinquish my hold on the final chapter!

(I only got 6 for chapter one and it made me sad…make me happy and I'll give you more, that's the way this works.)

One-Mean-Rabbit:holds out a box of tissues: Ah! Thank you, thank you, thank you! My first reviewer(for this story anyway). Keep your glow-y, red-y eyes in your skull. Here's part two. But…you can get mad and yell at me to give you chapter 3…heehee…I love being evil.

KeyToExistance: Thank you very much for the compliment. I try very hard to make what I write both believable and well written. Sometimes I don't succeed…I'm glad that this time someone thinks I did.

Cand: I'm glad you liked it! Kagome is still alive, see? I love angst.

Coldflamez: Yes, I do love to pull and tear and wring as many emotions out of Inuyasha as I can. You know he has them, the show just doesn't exploit all of the angles to get them out of him enough…that's where we come in, oh, yeah. Thank for the review.

TheEvilAshleyness: Ha, I updated. :-P

AttarashiiNekoYoukai: Sango and Miroku just did the rescuing, like they always do to help each other. There's no real explanation in the story…I didn't think of that. Oops. Let's just say, they found a way and got him out. Hm…maybe I'll add a part in part three for that. See? This is why I like reviews, helps me add more to what I've already written. Thanks.