Souta's Presence

The door flung open.

"I heard a crash. What happened?"

Kagome quickly looked to the door to see Souta standing there. Kagome put her finger to her lips.

Souta got the point. He crept toward her and sat down next to her.

Inu-Yasha flinched in his sleep.

Kagome brushed her hand across his face again to make sure he was still asleep. Then she whispered just under her breath for Souta to hear. "Inu-Yasha is having a nightmare."

"Inu-Yasha has nightmares?" Souta asked a little stunned that his hero had nightmares.

Kagome nodded with a small yawn.

"Kagome…Run…" Inu-Yasha etched out.

"I'm not going anywhere, Inu-Yasha." Kagome spoke softly.

"Stupid Gir….l…" Inu-Yasha stated losing his breath.

"Is Inu-Yasha okay, Niichan?"

A brief smile crossed Kagome's face. "He will be. Why don't you go back to bed?"

"But sister…"

"Souta…! What will Inu-Yasha say when he wakes up?"

"Can't I stay? …Just for a little while?

Kagome sighed. "Just for a little while."

"Thank you, Niichan." Souta smiled her scooting close enough to lean his head on her shoulder.

"Then you can die with your damn demon tree."

"Huh…I shrunk… Oh no…I dropped Tetsusaiga… Ahhh…! …Huh…O that's right. I dropped Tetsusaiga. I must be getting weaker seeing as I didn't transform into a full demon."

Inu-Yasha sighed.

"Looks like I'll just have to claw my way out. …Huh? I barely scratched it."

Inu-Yasha's hands flinched.

"This would be easy if I had Tetsusaiga." Inu-Yasha mumbled.

"…Huh? No…not now…My Claws! ……Ow!" Inu-Yasha's leg twitched.

"I can feel pain now! This is why I hate being mortal! ……Huh? The sheath is calling Tetsusaiga. All right…'COME HERE, TETSUSAIGA!'"
Kagome felt the Tetsusaiga pulse. She was now curious about his hanyou form. Can he feel pain? She shook her head. Course he can I've treated his injuries before.

"…Ha…I'm free. …Yea Genius, I hope you got your will signed."

Kagome felt Inu-Yasha's entire body tense. He shifted his weight back. He slightly lifted his hand from the ground. Clinching his hand into a fist, Inu-Yasha's arm began to shake. In an instant Inu-Yasha went limp. Every breath he took was stained and shallow.

Souta stared at his fallen hero.

Eventually, Inu-Yasha's breathing eased.

"Kagome, What's Inu-Yasha dreaming about?"

Kagome thought for a moment. She knew what he was dreaming about, but she wasn't there so she didn't know exactly what had transpired that night.

"Inu-Yasha's dreaming about one horrible night. We were on our way back here and I insisted on stopping to destroy a bad demon tree and help some poor people."

"What happened?"

"Well Souta, Inu-Yasha had left us behind. We had all been so busy worrying about ourselves that we had forgotten about Inu-Yasha's needs. …Remember a while ago I told you that once every month Inu-Yasha becomes human."

Souta nodded. Kagome had mentioned that but refused to indulge him on any details.

"…Well, Sango and Kirara had gone back to their old village. Inu-Yasha tried to finish the fight before the sun went down. Miroku, Shippo and I were left behind. When we realized that Inu-Yasha would be in danger, we went after him. We were split up. Miroku, Shippo and I found a small box that had a miniature village inside. Before we knew what was going on, we were sucked in. Inu-Yasha had been fighting a mage…"

Kagome was unsure what had happened but it sounded like Inu-Yasha was shrunk down and kept fighting anyways. The knowledge of what he'd go through for her hurt; she wanted to cry. She was sorry she'd ever been mean to him.

Inu-Yasha began to lightly squirm under her care.

"…Uh…grrr…uh, the bottle. Kagome kept the shards in that bottle. …Where's Kagome? Where's the girl with the jewel shards? …Huh? Damn it…LEAVE HER ALONE! …Kagome…be safe until I can get to you. Rrr… It's no use. I can't break free of these damn vines. I have to waste time until the sun rises. Kagome… …Grrr… It's no use. My vision is burring. I've lost too much blood."

Inu-Yasha sighed as though he were fighting the fatigue. Kagome's heart sank a little lower to know that he'd lost that much blood long before getting to her.

"…uh…those are Kagome's clothes. What did you do with Kagome? Where's the girl?"

Inu-Yasha's voice was becoming stronger. Kagome was beginning to worry that he'd wake up her mother and grandfather. "Shhh… Inu-Yasha…"

"Kagome…" Inu-Yasha panted.

"KAGOME!" He yelled.

"Inu-Yasha!" She called to him sternly.

"Uh…" Inu-Yasha blushed. His face changed shades so he pushed his face further down to the hardwood floor and away from Kagome's sight. Inu-Yasha exhaled a relieved breath then took a deep breath and muttered "She's alive."

Inu-Yasha then squired in his sleep.

"Here…Put this on. It's torn but it's better than nothing."

"…Uh…Oh…" Inu-Yasha sighed falling back into a deep slumber.

Kagome was beginning to worry about Inu-Yasha. She'd never seen him sleep so deeply before. She'd practically yelled his name and he didn't awaken.

"Kagome?"

Kagome jumped.

"Kagome…Do you and Inu-Yasha always get into trouble?"

Kagome's guilty look was all Souta needed.

Kagome stroked Inu-Yasha's bangs then responded. "Yeah. All of us do."

"Souta…" Kagome continued. "I think it's time for you to go to bed. I'll have Inu-Yasha say good-bye to you before we leave okay?"

Souta half nodded. He could see the worry welling up his sister's mind and as much as he wanted to stay she looked like she needed him to go so he left.

Inu-Yasha continued to fight the demons of his mind while Kagome refused to leave his side.

Kagome continued to stroke her hand through Inu-Yasha's hair. She was used to stroking Shippo in her sleep. Inu-Yasha's soft hair felt soothing to her fingers. It didn't take long for Kagome to begin to slip under. Her hand fell still against Inu-Yasha's face.