I woke up when the sun rose. I looked around, seeing Kagome resting her head on Inuyasha's shoulder. I smiled, thinking, 'that's so sweet…' I was lying on the ground. I rubbed my head as if I had hit it. I went to get up, but a pain dragged me back down. I saw my right leg bandaged up again. I looked at the burnt out campfire and lay down again, a hand rubbing my bandaged leg. I drifted back to sleep for a few more minutes.
"Hey, how'd you get over here! You weren't trying to run away, were you?" A prying voice asked me. I turned around and saw Inuyasha. I smiled, but it was a guilty smile. "I don't know… I wasn't trying to run away or anything." I rubbed my head, "Ah… I feel like I hit my head or something. I don't remember… anything about last night." I looked up at him and his face was still fixed.
"Well?" I wondered.
"What?"
"Weren't you gonna say something?"
"I wasn't gonna say nothin'…" He crossed his arms, looking away, acting like he didn't care. I groaned, holding my head, "Aren't you gonna throw a random insult at me, or something?"
"And why would I do that?"
"I don't know…" I rolled on my back, "cuz that's the kinda person you are?"
"Trust me, I'm not all about insults! I've got actions to back up my words and I proved that well enough last night."
"Remind me again what that was again." I sat up, rubbing my right leg. I shut my eyes, trying to concentrate, but nothing came out. "I can't remember a thing about what happened last night… did I do something I shouldn't have or what?"
"That really doesn't matter, does it? The only thing that matters is that we're both in solid form… for the most part."
"So, why were we huddled together last night while sleeping? Did my fever come back or did I get myself into some kind of trouble?"
"I think it's best that you just forget all that and just focus on healing that leg of yours." Kagome opened her eyes, "Inuyasha…" She yawned, "Good morning."
"Hey Kagome…" She looked over at me, "hey, what are you doing over there?"
"Exactly what I said," Inuyasha said matter-of-factly. I rubbed my head, "I told you I don't know. I don't remember anything about last night…"
"Nothing at all? You got in the middle of a fight between Inuyasha and someone else and your splint was destroyed; your fever also came back. We were really worried." I looked into Inuyasha's eyes. "What?"
"Inuyasha… you… weren't worried, were you?"
"Humph… no way…" I let out a giggle, "You're such a liar…" Suddenly my leg gave way and the pain returned. I gasped in pain as I was lying on my side, holding my leg. Inuyasha rushed over and undid the bandage. My leg was swelling as if the blood in it had been poisoned. "How the hell did this happened!" I shrieked in pain.
Inuyasha sat on the ground to stabilize me. He shouted, "Kagome, get some of those herbs from Miroku and hurry!" He then said to me, "Just hang on, help's on the way."
I started to whine, "Who? Who did this to me? Who'd inflict this much pain?"
"You don't remember anything about who you fought or what happened?"
"I already told you that!" He sighed, "the only one I know to have this kind of poison is a moth demon or… Sesshomaru."
"Your brother?" I hissed in pain. "How?"
"Never mind that now!" He barked as Kagome handed him the herbs. He lined them along the bandage and reapplied it to my wound, tying it good and tight. "That should do it." I let myself go limp into Inuyasha's grip to let the pain slowly ease away. I sighed, "What did I do?"
"Well, this probably wouldn't have happened if you had just stayed out of my fight with Sesshomaru!" It then came to me, "I tried to… I was…" I panted, "I don't know what came over me, I just…" I sighed.
"So, you don't remember anything at all?"
"No… it's like there's this blank space between when Inuyasha left and when I woke up this morning…" I sighed, "That must be why my head hurts so much…"
"Well, Inuyasha said that you were really… how'd you describe it?"
"It's like… you were a completely different person. Sesshomaru had me tied to a tree and you thought he was on the verge of killing me. You attacked him, pounced on him, and were seconds away from clawing his throat open."
"Oh my god…" I panted, "What would possess me to do something like that?"
Kagome volunteered to answer me. "Inuyasha said that you did it to protect him."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's not like…"
"If you weren't in such a panic over me last night, you wouldn't admit to something like that." I said in amazement. I then thought, "I just wonder what possessed me to go into overload like that. It's like my demon blood was controlling every little thing I was doing. I think I went absolutely crazy when I saw Inuyasha in that position. I was going to do everything in my power to kill Sesshomaru so he wouldn't have another chance…"
Inuyasha stood up and drew his sword. "I want to see something." He handed it over to me. He helped me up and I snapped my right wrist to transform it. I raised it, took a hold of it with my left hand and slashed it down. "It's gotten lighter… much lighter…"
"Either you're a fast learner or it just took the right amount of fight to built up your strength." I handed it back over and he drew it back, retying the sheath to his belt. "Your training will be complete when you master the Wind Scar…"
"Well, since this will take a few days to heal, would you mind telling me what the deal is with using the Tetsusaiga as part of my training?"
"Sure, might as well." He brushed it off like it wasn't any big deal. Kagome helped me walk back to the camp site.
Inuyasha pretty much explained that when his sword was broken, he transformed into demon form and got his first taste of killing. Whenever he was parted from Tetsusaiga, his demon nature took over in order to protect him, but it progressed and got worse. He wanted to kill at any cost and it got to the point where he couldn't remember killing a group of bandits. He sought the help of Totosai, the maker of Tetsusaiga, and to match his father's strength, he had to destroy the demon his father couldn't kill, Ryuukotsusei.
I sighed, "I wonder if I'm going through the same thing…"
"Well, if you had reacted faster, you could have killed Sesshomaru last night." Inuyasha brushed it off. "That just proves that you weren't quite all for killing one of my greatest adversaries. Something, your conscience, was holding you back."
"Do you think I should have?"
"Well, yeah… but I'd prefer to take care of him myself." He then looked at me quite curiously. He shrugged, "I just can't get over how far you were willing to go to kill him. Even when you were down, you fought with everything you had to get back up and kill him." He forced a smile, "I mean, you were absolutely furious and cursing him off. Almost like you were a stronger, seemingly more dangerous version of me."
It hit me like lightning. "I know I wanted to be strong, but… I'm not sure if I wanted to be like that. I don't know if I want to be this killing machine. Who knows if I won't put a 180 and come after you guys…"
Kagome clapped her hands together and braced my shoulder. "Don't let it worry you. Besides, with Inuyasha and the rest of us looking after you, you'll be fine." I looked at Inuyasha, who was looking back at me with a face that was hard to read. "I think that in a situation where I would attack you guys, Inuyasha would sooner kill me than try to protect me from myself."
"Humph, you don't know that, but I'm just hoping that that day never comes where I'd have to make a choice like that!"
"Sure Inuyasha, keep going on with your life acting like you don't care about anyone but yourself." I narrowed my eyes.
"Hey, I do so care!" He defended himself. His face then turned red and he turned away. I had a sneaky feeling that he said something he didn't mean for anyone to hear last night. "Forget I said anything…"
Miroku came charging in, "You guys, we need to move. A pack of demons are coming this way."
"Nah, I'll take care of them. You guys find a hiding place." Inuyasha put on the tough act and hopped off. A few seconds later, he started going off on someone. "What the hell are you doing here, you wimpy wolf!"
"Koga?" Kagome asked. She rushed off and I just limped behind her. Inuyasha was in a staring contest with a wolf demon. I thought back, "that wimpy wolf, Koga, who's always flirting with Kagome. He totally gets on my nerves so much that I want to kill him."
I blinked, "Okay… so that's Koga?"
"Who wants to know?" He turned around. Actually, he wasn't half bad looking; he looked handsome and smart at the same time. I smiled, "Oh hi, I've heard so much about you…" I laughed nervously.
"Yeah, not from this dog-faced mutt, I hope."
"Yeah, what of it?" I defended myself. He jumped over and looked at me. "You're a very peculiar looking demon… just what kind are you?" I flexed my claws, "your point is… Why should I tell you anything?"
Kagome laughed, "Now princess, don't be so impolite."
"Well Kagome," Koga rushed over to grab her hands, "It's been quite a while since we last saw eye to eye."
"Hey wolf, hands off!" Inuyasha rushed over. Koga brushed it off, "I thought you found someone to suit your… tastes." He eyed me. I scoffed, "Yeah right, me and him, not in a million years."
"Oh, but why not?" He paused, "you said princess?"
"Of the tiger demon tribe of the north if you must know." I folded my arms. I held out one of my clawed hands and cracked it. "So you know, I don't take kindly to anyone who mocks Inuyasha for being what he is. As far as I'm concerned, he's as full demon as they come."
He laughed, "How very interesting." He gave me a sniff, "you're not quite all demon yourself, but you're more so than Inuyasha. You're more worthy…" I grabbed him by the throat. I narrowed my eyes, "Don't make me hurt you… Tell me why you're here."
He gasped for air after I set him down. "A bunch of lightning demons were attacking my tribe and I need to deal the finishing blow. I've been chasing them for three days now."
"Strange… they attacked my tribe as well just three days ago. They're the reason I came upon everyone here and got this leg injury." I looked down, "I almost forgot I had this."
"Anyway, I need to keep moving. Kagome, let me know if you hear anything else." He ran off in a tornado and disappeared within seconds. I shrugged, "Actually, he didn't seem that bad."
"Not that bad!" Inuyasha spat out, his right eye twitching.
"If he's friends with Kagome, then he's cool by me. Just so long as he doesn't tries to kill you…"
"He has tried, but I've tried too. That was such a waste of my time…"
"Yeah Miroku, I thought you said a whole bunch of demons were heading this way." I eyed him behind me.
"I did… they're arriving just now."
