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Chapter 2: Healing Hands and Quiet Time

"I suppose you could call me Inuyasha. Now you have to ask yourself though, is that the truth?"

"I think it is. You certainly look like a dog to me. And you probably smell like one, too." Kagome glared at him. She didn't like that she was completely at the mercy of someone else. If he decided to do something, there wouldn't be much that she could do to stop him. So far, he had been at least somewhat gentleman-like. He had at least bandaged her injuries and he was keeping a respectable distance from her. Her head began to ache.

"I'm offended. I showered as soon as I took care of you, I'll have you know," he said. He ran his hand through his hair, brushing aside the strands that had fallen across his face. Kagome pulled at her bonds again. She pulled as hard as she could; straining at them. Inuyasha seemed to notice once again. He got up and stalked over to her. Leaning down, he starred at her.

"Am I going to have to get you a ticket to dreamland again?" Inuyasha couldn't understand why this girl insisted on fighting. Why couldn't she just accept her situation and cooperate? Anyone else in a similar situation would have been bawling their eyes out and begging for mercy, whereas this girl looked at him like she wanted to stab his eyes out.

"Get away from me," she hissed at him. Kagome's headache had grown from a mild annoyance to a stabbing pain. She began to breathe more heavily in an attempt to subdue the pain. Unsuccessful, Kagome allowed herself to fall over onto her rag bed. Burying her face in the cloth, she mumbled something Inuyasha could not understand.

"What was that? Giving up this little tantrum already?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome lifted her face up.

"I said, go away. You're giving me a splitting headache." She flopped down again and groaned. She heard him sit down next to her head. Then next thing she knew, there was a firm hand beneath her chin, lifting her head upwards.

"As much as you'd love to think it was me, more likely it's a reaction to the chloroform." He put his hand to her forehead. "Hmm, you don't have a fever." He reached down to take her pulse. "Pulse seems good. You'll be fine by morning." Kagome wrenched her head away.

"Don't ever touch me! And go away! You make me sick!" Her head turned towards the wall, away from him. She heard him mutter something undecipherable and get up. Without collecting the table and chair, Inuyasha left the room, slamming the door on his way out. To Kagome, even his footsteps up the stairs sounded angry. Frankly, she couldn't care less. Her head felt like it was about to split in two. The pain soon became so bad that she felt tears running down her face. Then, at some point, the tears of pain began to mix with tears of sadness and desperation. Tonight, Kagome would cry herself to sleep.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Inuyasha was fuming. He refrained from throwing something, anything, only because he didn't want that girl to know she had agitated him so much. What the hell was her problem! He hadn't hurt her…well, not intentionally. He bandaged and took care of the injuries he caused. And he had tried to make sure she was comfortable. When she complained about the headache, hadn't he checked to make sure she was okay? Granted, he had kidnapped her, but besides that hadn't he tried to extend her some basic human decency? He had kept his distance and even warned her about making her injuries worse. His mother had always told him not to go to bed angry, but he decided that would be quite impossible tonight without some kind of miracle. Locking the front door, he stormed upstairs to bed, hoping he would be fine by morning.

Kagome wasn't sure if it was morning when she next awoke. There were no windows in her make-shift prison cell. However, upon turning her head away from the wall, she saw a clock sitting near her head. Inuyasha must have come down while she was still asleep and put it there. It wasn't as helpful as she would have hoped for though. It wasn't a digital clock, so she still had no idea if it was morning or evening. Pulling at her wrists, she felt that they were still tied securely behind her. She also felt the pain of hunger in the pit of her stomach. How long had it been since she had last eaten? 1 day? 2 days? It seemed like an eternity ago at this point. Kagome actually thought she might throw up simply because she was so hungry. Even a small glass of water would have been welcome; water to ease her hunger and wet her parched throat. However, in order to get water, she would have to speak to Inuyasha. To speak with Inuyasha, she would first have to figure out where he was and how to get his attention. She quickly ruled out screaming. She didn't know how far away her captor was and so she doubted her parched voice would carry very far. Also, she had her pride. She wasn't about to beg Inuyasha for anything. Option two would be trying to pick the clock up with her feet and throw it at the wall to see if he would hear it. She decided against this choice as well because not only did she doubt her own skill at picking something up with her feet, but she also would break the clock. Breaking the clock would leave her without any company. At least the soft ticking of the second hand kept her from total insanity in the quiet solitude. Kagome feared being left alone in this situation. She feared the final results or possibilities that her imagination would think up. While ruling out the first two options, she pulled herself into an upright sitting position again. Kagome didn't have a chance to think of a third option though, because shortly she heard (who she assumed to be) Inuyasha walking down the steps. The door opened and there was Inuyasha, carrying a plastic box and a juice carton. Shutting the door behind him, Inuyasha came over and crouched beside her.

"How are your wrists and arm today?" he asked. He set down the items and reached into his pocket.

"Still behind me," was her depreciatory reply. She watched him pull a Swiss Army knife out.

"Boohoo for poor you. Would you be happy if I told you I'm here to fix that? You have to change bandages if you want things to heal, you know. I'm going to take the duct tape away now, and you had better not try to run." He pushed on her back, signaling her to lean forward. When she did, Kagome felt him grab at the duct tape, heard a cut, and suddenly her hands were free. As soon as they were, she pushed at him and headed for the door. She didn't get far before her legs failed her. Inuyasha tsked at her and came over to help her up.

"You'd better not try to run," he repeated, "because your legs will cramp up. Did you forget that you've been sitting for awhile now?" He half walked, half pulled her back to the rag bed. He set her down on the rags and tidied them up. A good number of the scraps of cloth had been scattered when Kagome had pushed off of them headed for the door.

"Lie down and turn onto your stomach," Inuyasha instructed.

"What? Not a chance!" Kagome slid away from him into the corner. What was he planning? Inuyasha sighed.

"Look, I'm trying to be nice about this and let you do it yourself. There are a lot worse ways I could get you to do it; the least of which being me physically forcing you to it. I'm not going to do anything to you. I'll even swear by my mother, a good decent woman." Inuyasha put his hands behind his back. "I won't even move until you're finished. Satisfied?" Kagome narrowed her eyes but moved to comply anyways. She had no desire to find out how he would force her to do it.

"Your mother is horrible to let you run loose into the world," she told him sullenly. She shifted to rest her head on its side on her arms.

"No, don't do that, I need to see those," Inuyasha said, pulling at her arms. "And my mother is dead. She died when I was young."

"Oh." Kagome suddenly felt very ashamed of herself. It was not kind to speak ill of the dead. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Inuyasha rested his knee on her back.

"Ow! What do you think you're doing! Get off me!" Kagome began to squirm. She stopped suddenly when she felt an uncomfortable amount of pressure on her back.

"I think I'm doing exactly what I'm doing. This way, I can keep you from running off and I can also keep you from squirming too much." Inuyasha released the pressure. He carefully peeled away the bandages, stopping when he got to the end of the strip. "Yuck. I hate to say this, but some of the blood glued the bandaged to your skin, so this is going to hurt." He began to tug softly but firmly at the bandage end. After a series of "Ow"s from Kagome and "Hold still"s from Inuyasha, the bandage was off. He opened up the plastic box he had brought with him. It was full of first-aid supplies. First he took out an antibiotic wipe and cleaned the dried blood from her arm. Next, Inuyasha used an antibiotic cream on her arm. Careful not to do more than brush the tender, healing scar tissue, he rubbed the cream over her damaged skin. Lastly, he pulled out a fresh roll of bandages and began to gently re-wrap her arm. He repeated the same treatment to her right wrist. When he finished, he allowed her to sit up.

"Want me to wrap it with a pretty color again?" he asked, jokingly. Kagome just starred at him while she rubbed the bandaging. Her wounds felt surprisingly better; only slightly, but still better. When she didn't answer, Inuyasha shrugged and began to clean up the supplies. With a click of the lid, he turned to her.

"Thirsty?"

"…maybe." Inuyasha handed her the juice carton.

"I thought so." Kagome took the carton and looked around as is searching for something. "Is something wrong?"

"Can I have a glass?" Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Just drink it right from the carton! I don't have all day you know." Kagome grumbled but sipped at the juice anyways. She immediately spit it out.

"It's sour!" Her eyes squeezed shut and her face scrunched up. She held out the carton for him to take.

"It's this or nothing. I have go up to work you know."

"Then nothing!" Inuyasha shrugged, took the carton, and pulled out a roll of duct tape. "Wait!"

"What is it?" he demanded.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I don't like asking you for anything, but I can please go to the bathroom?" Kagome had been wanting for the bathroom since she'd awakened. Inuyasha grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a standing position. Without saying a word, he marched her across the room. Just on the other side of the door was another door. Opening it, Kagome saw a small bathroom. Its aesthetics were barely better than that of the room behind her. Without saying a word, Inuyasha pushed her inside and closed the door. Kagome was curious; Inuyasha seemed strangely impatient with her. What kind of work was it that he did? She decided to ask him after she relieved herself. Perhaps she had been poking at his patience too much. He had not been cruel to her, but if she kept agitating him, who knew if he would restrain himself. Finishing up, she took a drink of water from the sink. Despite the surrounding appearance, the water was clean and good. She drank several handfuls, just enough to calm her stomach's hunger. Inuyasha banged on the door.

"Hurry up. Don't make me come in there!" he warned. Kagome came out. Grabbing her by the arm again, he led her back into her room. Resigning herself, she sat down and allowed him to secure her wrists back together.

"I'll be back with lunch at noon," he said, taping the clock. Kagome frowned.

"What do I do, then," she asked. That would leave her alone for several hours.

"Don't know, don't care. Have a conversation with yourself or something. I have to go open up shop now." With that, Inuyasha left her. Just as the door was clicking shut, he thought he heard a soft humming noise from the other side of the room.

Kagome quietly hummed a bedtime song to herself. It gave her comfort. Her mother sang the same song to her when she was a little girl, barely past her father's knee. Every night, when she tucked her into bed under the covers, Kagome's mother sang the song to Kagome. Now, in this cold room, Kagome thought of her family. Were they worried about her? Had Inuyasha asked them for some kind of ransom? But…Inuyasha had a store. He even seemed relatively happy with his work. Was he doing this for ransom or just for kicks? He had been nice so far, but what if that was just Inuyasha trying to gain her truth. And once he got it, would he do something worse? Kagome realized her imagination was acting up and shook her head to clear it of those thoughts. She starred around the room while listening to the ticking of the second hand of the clock. How could she keep herself from so going insane? There was just too much to think about and too much time to think. Assuming that she hadn't slept for some unnatural amount after the chloroform, Kagome made an educated guess that it was probably Thursday. Could she keep her sanity intact until the weekend, hoping Inuyasha could provide some sort of distraction for her then? Kagome suddenly felt very alone. As best she could, Kagome scooted into the corner at the end of her rag pile. She pulled her knees to her chest and began to hum her song again.

-End

Author Notes:

1: I'm not one of those lame-o people who believes in "No review, no updates."

2: On the other hand, that doesn't mean I don't want reviews. I love them. They make my day, even if they're negative. Questions are always welcome, too.

3: I hope you'll come back for the next chapter!

4: Update times: Honestly, this chapter took about 3-4 days to complete. I'm at college. I'll update when I have the time, but school work comes first. Let's estimate the next chapter update for about 2 weeks from now. It's not very far away, and if I finish sooner, lucky you! Two weeks also allows me enough time to think about the chapter. I don't want, and I think you might all agree with me, the content to suffer because I'm rushing to finish.

5: Content Policy: Again, I'll update whether I get reviews or not, but reviews are helpful. They allow me to make the story better. Perhaps if you have the time, you'd like to share what you're favorite part of the chapter was? Your least favorite part?

6: I DO NOT DO LEMONS. Don't even ask.

Chapter Notes:

1: Who knew Inuyasha could be so mother-like? He's the perfect kidnapper, lol.

2: Kagome has some nerve, don't you think? What makes her think that Inuyasha could possibly give anyone a headache/sarcasm

3: Can Kagome keep her sanity alone for that long? Could you do it?

4: Who can guess what kind of job Inuyasha has? It's pretty different from most other fan fictions…

5: I want to make this story interesting. If you have any suggestions for something you'd like to see in the story, please tell me! I can't guarantee it will happen, but it will give me something to consider! However, I will ask that you respect A.N. #6 and keep the rabid fan girl-ness to a minimum.

Good examples: I want Kagome to stab Inuyasha in a desperate escape attempt!

Make them have a heart-to-heart! They can share secrets!

She's got to smack him! At least once!

whistles innocently what? Me give away future events? Why ever would you say such a thing?