"Ooh, your blood smells delicious, Inuyasha," Jakotsu licked his lips as his malicious smile fell onto the hanyou, right before the former lunged at the latter hungrily, "Let me have a taste, why don't you?"
"Get away from me!" Hissed Inuyasha, using the Tetsusaiga to stop Jakotsu from getting any closer, a shudder in his form as he got to his feet. What made him grin was the fact that he had also partially hacked Jakotsu in the process of defending himself, "I'm giving you one last chance, Jakotsu! Leave now or you'll be leaving the land of the living, for good this time!"
However, the hanyou stared blankly into empty space once he found he was talking to nothing. Soon enough, he stood up and studied his surroundings intently, finally picking up the sound of someone running away very quickly. Ah, so he got cold feet and ran, all the better for him at the moment. Now Inuyasha had to worry about Kouga, who was still conscious and still bleeding over to his right...
"Hey, come on, let's get you back to the village," Mumbling while avoiding the sky blue gaze of the other, Inuyasha lifted the wolf demon onto his back and began to carry him back towards Kaede's hut, that sickening guilty feeling in his gut once more as he felt the warmth of the other's blood against his back. It was his fault that Kouga had been hurt, but at least he'd live... Finally, Inuyasha could feel his lips part to say his meek apology,
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't," Kouga replied almost as soon as the words were out of Inuyasha's mouth, which made him feel a bit confused. Soon enough he turned his head enough so that he could see the person he was carrying from his left eye, that eye blinking before he saw Kouga's lips part once more, "Just keep walkin' mutt-face, before you end up collapsing too. You're bleeding as well."
The small smile the wolf demon gave warmed Inuyasha's heart a bit, and without protest did he finish carrying his passenger to the village where they were both immediately treated, their wounds being cleaned and wrapped up within minutes. Soon enough they were both forced to bed, and though Inuyasha protested, he knew it was for the best. What bothered him was how silent Kouga was being, he wasn't sleeping or anything, he could still see his eyes, open and staring at the ceiling blankly...
"Look, I didn't mean to hit you with the Tetsusaiga," Sighed Inuyasha at long last, laying on his side while using his right elbow as a prop to look at the wolf demon while he spoke, "I wasn't trying to hurt you, if anything...well, I was..." I was trying to protect you, the words never left his mouth, but instead something else came out instead;
"...if I had used Tetsusaiga against Naraku, then it would have been me who slaughtered Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kagome. I guess I wasn't careful enou-OW!" Inuyasha felt the beads weigh him down and forcefully crush him into the ground in the middle of his speech, causing a low growl to leave his throat. He hadn't heard Kouga give the command, but who else could have done that?
"Quit apologizin' already, Inuyasha," Kouga finally turned to face him, which made Inuyasha feel his face burn in simultaneous anger and shame, "I don't need to hear it, you were doing the best you could. Now stop moping already, or I'm gonna beat you over the head with your own damned sword."
"Like hell you will..."
"Osuwari."
Once again Inuyasha felt the cruel weight of the enchanted beads pull him down, breaking some of the floorboards as he fell once more. With a groan did Inuyasha once again lean up, although a forceful hand on his back prevented him from moving any further, "Save your strength, idiot. You still need to recover."
A low growl left him as he once again glared up at Kouga, but honestly he was in no mood to argue with the other at the moment. No, he was tired as well, his eyes feeling hot and heavy as he strained to keep them open. Honestly, Inuyasha didn't like being overpowered like this, not under any circumstance, but right now he didn't have a choice but to follow Kouga's advice, "...Bastard. I hate it when you're right," Sighed the hanyou, which provoked a soft chuckle from the wolf demon that was pinning him down.
"Yeah, whatever. Just rest, you're doing poorly enough as it is," Inuyasha heard the other's voice speak as he closed his eyes, allowing sleep to overcome him at last. After all, it had been a rough day, with Jakotsu showing up and all, plus the hanyou couldn't help but feel guilty for stabbing Kouga, and unfortunately it would haunt his dreams the moment he left the conscious realm.
He couldn't get that heart broken look out of his mind, those shocked, crystalline eyes of the wolf's as the sword pierced through. How could this be happening? He was aiming for Jakotsu, not for Kouga! "I told you to get out of the way, Kouga! Why didn't you listen?" Inuyasha shouted to the wolf the moment he withdrew the sword and got him to a safe place.
"You weren't aiming to kill Jakotsu, mutt-face," Kouga's eyes remained wide, and shocked, he was coughing up blood as he spoke weakly, "You were tryin' to kill me. You were tryin' to finally finish off our rivalry, I was just in the way to you..." His tone hurtful, Kouga's eyes closed with a certain finality that made the hanyou's stomach lurch unpleasantly. He couldn't be...no, Kouga was stronger than that, wasn't he?
"Don't die on me, damn it!" Hissed Inuyasha, shaking the form in his arms with such violence that it caused more of the crimson in his body to spill out, which made the wolf's body even lighter, "You can't die! I need you!"
No response. He was beginning to grow cold, an irrepressible lump growing in Inuyasha's throat as he began to feel his eyes burn with tears. No, he couldn't be dead! Who would help him defeat Naraku? Who would be there to help him get back onto his feet if he started to sulk over Kagome or Kikyou again?
"Don't die on me! Don't you dare die on me, Kouga you bastard!" Choking out the words, Inuyasha held the form close to him, but something strange happened when everything before him became black. The wolf started to feel warm again, he could feel the other breathing, and he couldn't feel that horrid crimson substance known as blood soaking either of them...
"I...I love you, Kouga. Damn it, don't leave me..."
"Well, showing our true feelings at last, are we?" Inuyasha froze before looking up at the man he was holding, eyes widening to the size of the wooden wheels used on those horse-powered carts. He had just...that was a dream, was he awake now? "I didn't know you had the balls to finally admit it, Inuyasha. Looks like you proved me wrong."
"WHAT?" Inuyasha yelped rather loudly as he jumped right out of Kouga's lap, his heart pounding into his throat fiercely. He had just...but, wasn't that a dream? No, this wasn't possible! He couldn't love Kouga, could he? Kouga was his rival, not even a friend! How could he make such a confession, even in a dream? This couldn't be real...giving his arm a testing pinch, Inuyasha winced slightly as the small pain shot into him. It couldn't possibly be a dream...though his face was wet with tears. Wiping them away, Inuyasha turned away from the other as he spoke his next bit, "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't-"
"Liar," Kouga's amused tone made Inuyasha's ears flatten against his head, "Dreams don't lie, mutt-face. I heard you moaning in your sleep, but I didn't think that you'd have the guts to dream of something like that."
It took exactly three seconds for Inuyasha's mind to process exactly what Kouga had meant by that, and the moment he knew, a furious red blush came across his cheeks as he turned to the other with an angered snap, "That's not what it was about, you arrogant wolf!"
"Osuwari," Kouga smirked as he saw Inuyasha be pressed against the ground, and even snickered when Inuyasha growled at him, "Calm down, I was just messin' with your head. Although...judging by the look of your face, I'd say I'm right."
This caused Inuyasha to smirk too, although unlike Kouga, he put as much bitterness into his tone as he possibly could when he spoke, "Yeah? Dream on, you damned dirty wolf...it's not what you think it was."
"Denying it only makes me even more suspicious, especially with that tone," Kouga was boredly kicking around a kamahi ball, keeping it in the air using his feet as he spoke distractedly, "Why won't you just admit the truth for once?"
"I am telling the truth!" Inuyasha growled, wanting to severely hurt the other now. He was such a jerk...and yet...he was nice, and cared about him...unintentially, Inuyasha's face softened at his own thoughts. Perhaps he should move on already, forget about Kagome and Kikyou, embrace what was before him already before that was torn away too...