Wounded
Inu-Yasha soared out of the village and through the woods.
Inu-Yasha leapt into the well in a graceful bound. He had forgotten about the water in the bottom.
When Inu-Yasha hit the water, he noticed something on the bottom. The well pulled Inu-Yasha closer to it as he was being pulled to the other side. Kagome's scarf? That wasn't here the last time. Was it? Inu-Yasha picked it up in his claws as he landed on the bottom. The light sucked him across the time barrier. Has she used the well? Ahhh…
Inu-Yasha tripped and hit the damp ground.
He had tripped over …Kagome? "Kagome?"
Kagome didn't move.
Her breathing was slow and shallow. Judging by how wet she was she had been to the other side of the well.
Inu-Yasha ran his fingers across her face trying to remove the hair that hung over it. As soon as he touched her head his fingers were covered in blood.
"Uh…?" Inu-Yasha stated turning his hand over. Was she attacked? Inu-Yasha thought only for a moment.
He quickly picked up her limp body. Kagome was freezing probably a combination of being wet and injured.
Exiting the well house brought on extreme exhaustion; Inu-Yasha had traveled from a freezing rain to an unbearable heat wave. The sun was also blindingly bright. His clothes immediately stuck to his now sweating body. At least the dampness of his clothes was helping to cool him off.
Inu-Yasha leapt up to her window.
She was muddy, wet, and bloody; he really didn't want to dirty her bedroom so he took her right to the bathroom.
Inu-Yasha then drew her a warm bath. He held her close to him while the bath was filling not so much that she needed to be held but that he needed to hold her. When the bath had finished filling, Inu-Yasha had to make a decision: Disrobe her or not.
He decided he had no idea just how long she had been in the well or whether she was attacked or not. He needed to know just how injured she was and since she wasn't conscious…
Inu-Yasha carefully pulled her shirt off over her head. Her shirt was drenched, mostly in blood. Alright, one down… Inu-Yasha thought to himself. …And that was the easy part.
Inu-Yasha decided that he couldn't get her clothes off while holding her so he laid her on the hard bathroom floor. He first pulled off her socks and shoes tossing them into the corner. Carefully unzipping her skirt from the zipper on her side. Inu-Yasha gently tugged on her skirt until it slid down her silky legs.
She still lay unconscious but in very little; Inu-Yasha stared at her curves. She had a few scares but they were almost invisible given the seducing form she was blessed with.
Blood seeped from her hip. Inu-Yasha stared down at her injury condescendingly. He didn't want to do it, but it needed to be done.
He slid his one finger down her bra. Then pulled up with his claw. The bra snapped and Kagome's form became all the more seducing. Inu-Yasha's heart jumped and his breathe deepened. He had to remind himself that if Kagome caught him staring at her then he would be in the sit position for a week …or more.
He knelt over her; pulling back Inu-Yasha slid his fingers under the edge of her panties and slid them off her hips.
Inu-Yasha couldn't help but stare at her. She was beautiful. Her body was perfect …well… except for her newly acquired injuries.
She began to unconsciously shake.
"Uh…" Inu-Yasha questioned. It suddenly occurred to him. Oh right …the bath.
Inu-Yasha carefully elevated her comatose body and placed her in the warm water. The clear liquid immediately turned brown with mud then red with her blood. Damn it. Inu-Yasha thought while mentally kicking himself for her injuries. If only I had stayed with her.
He quickly and carefully washed the blood from her body then wrapped her in a towel and took her to her bed.
He grabbed the first aid kit and some bandages. Then he drew a bowl of water and took a clean washcloth from her bathroom.
Her lower half was bruised but all in all uncut so Inu-Yasha grabbed a pair of panties and some pants. He quickly dressed her wounded form.
He knew that when you're as injured as she was …major injuries must be bandaged first so he bandaged her head then her bitten hand. Blood oozed from her other injuries. Therefore Inu-Yasha took the washcloth, dipped it in the fresh water, and wiped away the blood.
Her other hand was pretty badly hurt too but ribs were bleeding more. He quickly wrapped a makeshift bandage around her left hand then moved on to her ribs.
They were really bruised and jagged scrapes were everywhere. Some cuts were shallow yet distinct as if she'd gotten them in a single hit.
Inu-Yasha used 'band-aids' on some of them.
Kagome's eyes fluttered open. "Inu-Yasha?" She called weakly.
Inu-Yasha ignored her, binding her bleeding torso and her breasts for her own decency.
Kagome watched him wrap the bandage around her waist.
He carefully moved the gauze across her stomach then he slipped his hand behind under the small of her back; he lifted her just enough to pull the ball of gauze underneath her. He didn't split his concentration while wrapping her torso.
She couldn't take her eyes from him. He was covering in mud and water. Even though his sleeves were pulled back out of the way, they were still dripping. Small scrapes lined one side of his dirt streaked exhausted face and a fading bruise still striped across his precious nose. His drenched hair hung heavily over his broad shoulders. With every movement he made, his loosely hanging hair swayed side to side; meanwhile, gravity pulled the excess rain and mud from his silky demon mane down onto her sheets.
When he reached her chest, he scooted closer to her and lifted her off the soft bed. He carefully bound her breasts under the wrap he had used on her torso. Then he tied it off. When he tied off the wrap, he laid her back down. Once she hit the pillow, her eyes fluttered shut and she slipped under.
Pulling a fuzzy warm blanket up over her, Inu-Yasha decided to go check out the apparent damage to his nose in the water in the sink. Inu-Yasha didn't like 'mirrors.' He didn't trust them. After all, he didn't know what they were.
It had almost been a twenty-four hours since the attack. His nose was no longer broken but it still hurt. It was bruised, but it would heal.
Inu-Yasha decided that now that Kagome was treated he needed a bath. He drained the water from the bathtub and created another one. He had planned to only spend enough time in the bath to be able to get close to Kagome, however, the warmth of the water against his wind-chilled skin felt so good that he lounged in the bath until his fingers turned pruny.
He got out of the bath and put back on his mud-encrusted pants. He washed out his shirt and hatori in the bath water then left them hung up to dry. He then took Kagome's clothes down to the washer and threw them in. He didn't know how it worked so he tried to command it.
"Wash Kagome's clothes!" He instructed.
The washer did nothing.
"I said Wash Kagome's Clothes!"
Still nothing.
"Oh so you need a little motivation, do you?" Inu-Yasha pulled out his sword.
"Uh hum." Kagome's mother cleared her throat. "And what are you up to?"
"Uh…laundry…" Inu-Yasha replied embarrassed.
Kagome's mother giggled. "You can't wash clothes like that."
Inu-Yasha put his sword away as Kagome's mother approached him and the stubborn washer.
"Why don't I get you some clean clothes first and we'll do those with these with the others okay?"
Inu-Yasha nodded.
Kagome's mother scampered off and returned with dark blue pants almost exactly the same design as his own and a white shirt.
Inu-Yasha changed into the pants but the shirt didn't fit right so he decided not to wear it. Then he brought down all his dirty clothes like she had told him to.
"Okay Inu-Yasha. Now to do laundry…" Kagome's mother rattled on.
Inu-Yasha stood in awe at the things that had to be done. When she finished she simply pushed a button and it started.
"The clothes will be done washing in an hour then we have to dry them." Kagome's mother stated walking away.
With that Inu-Yasha saw no need to stay downstairs so he headed back up to Kagome's side.
He stayed at her side sitting on her windowsill next to her rubble of a desk.
Kagome's eyes fluttered open and shut. Though Inu-Yasha could see her eyes open, he knew she still wasn't aware of what was going on.
When Kagome opened her eyes, everything she saw was blurred together.
She was in her room that much was clear. Her bed was soft and the blankets were exceptionally warm. She felt pressure on her chest that made it hard to breathe. A boy in dark blue pants paced over to her door.
Kagome tried to sit up, but she was too sore. The boy walked back over toward her bedside. He had long hair and a defined chest.
That was all Kagome could make out before darkness consumed her vision and she slipped back into the shadows.
That evening Inu-Yasha changed her bandages. Her wounds were healing nicely.
Kagome's mother had even enticed Inu-Yasha enough to come downstairs to get a meal, to get his hair cleaned and brushed out properly, even to do some chores for her. She had insisted that he wear Kagome's grandfather's shirt. It was way too big for him so it looked more like a tunic.
Inu-Yasha did the chores then played with Souta when he came home from school.
"Inu-Yasha?"
Inu-Yasha gave Souta his attention.
"You and Kagome…"
Inu-Yasha's heart skipped a beat at her name. He blushed a little turning his face away from Souta.
"On the other side of the well…"
Inu-Yasha could feel his face turning redder.
"Are you ever afraid?"
The question shocked Inu-Yasha. He stared blankly at Souta as if there was more to the question.
Souta lowered his gaze with disappointment. "Guess not…"
Inu-Yasha could see that Souta was ashamed of asking such a question. He had been afraid, plenty of times, most of them happened to be over Kagome… Not that he would ever admit to that. But Souta could keep secrets for his sister Inu-Yasha knew that. "Yes." Inu-Yasha replied simply.
"What are you afraid of?" Souta asked.
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment about the injured little miko he had failed to protect. Images flashed through his mind: the lifeless body he had found abandoned in the bottom of the well, the head wound she had sustained that died his hand with her blood, the brown bloody water of the bath, and the injuries to her beautiful body.
"Inu-Yasha?" Souta asked.
Inu-Yasha blinked a few times acknowledging Souta's voice. "I'm afraid of loosing your sister."
Souta sat in awe. He wasn't afraid of demons or bullies; he wasn't scared to talk to girls; instead, he was afraid of loosing Kagome…of all people.
"You had nightmares the other night…" Souta trailed off.
Inu-Yasha was now curious as to what he'd said in his sleep. Kagome told him he was talking in his sleep, but he hadn't given her a chance to say anything more.
"The night you were fighting a demon tree…"
Inu-Yasha had no idea where this was going.
"Were you scared then? You were human then right?"
"I promised to protect your sister no matter the circumstances."
Souta shrunk back.
"What are you getting at?"
"Would you die for her?" Souta asked softly.
Inu-Yasha looked at him a bit confused. He had no idea what brought this on.
"Yes" Inu-Yasha answered Souta's depressed look… "And so would the others. Your sister must be protected until we destroy Naraku, reassemble the jewel and destroy that as well."
"Jewel?" Souta asked confused.
"The Shikon No Tama." Inu-Yasha answered more confused.
"Souta, Inu-Yasha, Food."
Souta raced inside while Inu-Yasha wandered inside, picked up his bowl of soup and left the room. It was clear he was headed back to Kagome's side.
Kagome's mother hadn't had the chance to ask questions about what had happened. She growled in annoyance as Inu-Yasha took off up the stairs. She finished eating then excused herself from the table and followed Inu-Yasha's path up to Kagome's room with ramen, soup, drinks, and snacks on a dining plate.
She wandered in to find Inu-Yasha sitting behind her on the bed. Kagome's head rest against his bare chest. Inu-Yasha had the bowl in one hand and Kagome's bandaged body wrapped in the other. He was stroking her hair and forcing her to drink the soup. Kagome's eyes would flutter open and closed heavily. She started coughing lightly when Inu-Yasha tried to feed her the soup so he stopped. He placed the soup on her side table then hugged her while he slipped out from underneath her.
He gently lay her back down on her bed. Only then did he notice Kagome's mother standing in the doorway. He would have been embarrassed if he hadn't been so depressed.
She walked over rubbed her hand over Kagome's head in a motherly fashion then walked up to Inu-Yasha. Tears were starting to stream down her face. Kagome had never been hurt before. …At least not that she knew of.
She wrapped her arms around Inu-Yasha and pulled him into her motherly embrace. She rested her head on his shoulder and continued to cry. It took Inu-Yasha only a second to respond to her embrace. She reminded him of his own mother. Though he was older now and could take care of himself, he was failing to protect Kagome like he had promised after they'd first met.
"Momma?" Souta called.
Inu-Yasha released his embraced first with a slight blush creeping into his face. She slowly released him then rubbed her hand across the side of his face before answering Souta. "Yes honey…?"