Weakly, I opened my eyes and saw Inuyasha's worried face. I gasped, "Inuyasha!" I covered my mouth with my hand. "My god… is that really you?"
"Duh, who else?" I shoved him. "Don't joke… you had me worried sick!" A pain then ran through me and I grabbed my stomach.
"What is it?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. He looked down as I removed my hand. My gut was boiling with poison. "Sesshomaru's sword… it was coated with the same poison… from his claws."
"Why haven't you transformed into a demon? More importantly, why didn't you get help!"
"Because I was too busy making sure that you lived! Does that mean nothing to you!" I said angrily. "You ungrateful…" I couldn't finish my sentence; the pain returned and I just hissed.
"If I don't recover from this, you sure as hell better appreciate it!" I felt the need to spit in his face, but I couldn't. I knew that if I tried, I probably would end up coughing up blood and that would be a little much.
"I never asked for this." He shrugged it off. "I had in it in mind from the start, you idiot," I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Why do you always have to fight with me?"
"Because… you always start it. Someone's gotta finish it." Kagome sighed, "Inuyasha, sit."
"I cried for hours over you last night, has that meant nothing?" My eyes watered up, "How can you treat me like that? I was scared… terrified that I could have killed you… when you're the most vulnerable…" I held my stomach with one hand and put the other over my mouth.
He got up and I just narrowed my eyes. "How can you be such a jerk?" He blinked as he saw the tears roll down my eyes. "No, don't cry… I didn't mean it like that…" I turned away when he put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry." My eyes met his and I hugged him, crying my eyes out. He rubbed my back. I laughed, "I'm surprised that I can still cry… An ocean must have poured from my eyes last night."
"It's been a long time since I've heard you laugh…" I backed off, looking at him curiously. "Inuyasha… I'm surprised at you. That's so unlike you." I laughed even more.
"You're unlike any demon I've ever met. Like, you fight with fire in your eyes and heart, you're stubborn, but you have a sweet side too. I'd rather see that than fight with you." I smiled, biting my lower lip. "And you're in a class of your own, Inuyasha." I sighed, "Man, it's about time we had a normal conversation like this." I inhaled, but my smile disappeared. I felt my stomach bleeding even more as Sesshomaru's poison spread throughout it.
It was eating me from the inside out and I had ignored it ever since it happened. Inuyasha's health was my only concern, so I was blinded of my own injury. Miroku and Sango came back. "How are you feeling?" He asked.
"I've been better…" I removed my hand and it had festered further. Miroku rushed to my aid, "Oh no, I need to apply the herbs and quick." I looked at it, "it's too late, Miroku… if my attention weren't so divided last night, we could have gotten to it sooner."
"No, there still might be time. Let me." He applied the herbs to my stomach, but I knew in my heart that it wasn't going to make this go away. "Now, lay still. Inuyasha, could you keep the pressure on?"
"Sure," Miroku removed his hand and Inuyasha replaced it with his. He looked up at me, hopeful, but I didn't return the look. I turned away, knowing what fate in store for me. I had made my wish and this was the catch that I spun into the web of my demise.
"Princess!" I looked to the entrance of the cave and the two cubs came running to me. "Are you all right?"
"For now…" I smiled. "Inuyasha, this is Kira and Katsu, the two cubs I saved from that fire."
"You're the Inuyasha the princess has been talking about?" Kira asked. He nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."
"She says you're the strongest demon she knows."
"Heh, well, she doesn't know many demons." I shoved him, "Be flattered, stupid. I could have told them that Koga is the strongest demon I know, but that would be lying. I told them you because you're special to me, but I don't need to tell you that. You know." I laughed. "But I never told you how much…"
"How much?" He swallowed, "What… what are you going on about?"
"Just forget it." I sighed and added a bit of sarcasm, "If you hadn't fallen unconscious on me last night, you would have heard me." I laughed, "But don't worry. You shall know soon enough."
"What? Don't keep me in the suspense!" I swore I heard his voice crack; it was hilarious. He looked seriously ticked off, but I just laughed in his face. Everyone around me start cracking up and he just crossed his arms, sulking.
I held onto the cloth with the herbs. Just as I thought, the poison had progressed so much that the herbs couldn't do anything now. I felt the bleeding continue to eat away at me, but with the cubs in my sight, I couldn't let on that I was losing this fight. I knew that it was only going to get worse and however long the poison took, it was going to kill me.
I smiled, "C'mon you two, I should really get some rest. You can swing by later if you want."
"Sure," they both bowed, "get well, princess. We love you." I laughed and they left in good spirits. The moment they did, I suddenly felt weighed down.
"Are you all right?" Miroku asked. I let go of the herbs. "They're not doing anything."
I narrowed my eyes, "I told you."
"What does that mean?" Kagome asked. I sighed, "It means that my fate is sealed, Kagome. However long it takes, this poison will kill me." Everyone around me gasped except Inuyasha. I glared at him, "Why aren't you shocked?"
"Cuz, I know you're just playing up the drama of the moment. You're going to be fine." I removed my hand and I gasped in disgust with how much it had progressed. "Does this look encouraging to you!" Furious, I slapped him across the face with the other hand. "Denial isn't going to help in this situation! It's not going to help me and sure as hell isn't going to help you!"
I sighed, pressing a hand to my forehead to get over my frustrations. "If I were you, I'd be scared when I'm not strong enough to fight back." I groaned, "I never pictured that I'd be fighting with you when I'm fighting for my life."
"Looks to me like you're not fighting at all. You're just giving up and that's not the kind of thing you do!"
"I had more faith in you than I ever did in myself… I put all of my energy into making sure that you made it. I'm dealing with this and I'm half-demon. You were human and you made it through this. I'm half-demon, but this poison is still going to affect me sooner or later."
"Maybe you'll develop an immunity to it." He shrugged, looking away.
I laughed, "Wishful thinking…" I sighed as I started to feel a little tired. I let myself slide down so I was laying flat on the floor of the cave. I returned the hand to my stomach and shut my eyes to try getting some sleep. I heard footsteps leave the cave. I sniffed, "Inuyasha… why are you still here?"
"I didn't know you wanted me gone." I smiled, "you're so lame sometimes and stubborn as hell."
"Listen, insults aren't going to get us anyway, so can we just drop them?"
"I will if you will. You always start it." I opened my eyes, "I haven't seen you for two months. The first time I had thought about you in that time frame was just a few days ago. Even after all this time," I looked at him, "my feelings toward you haven't changed." I shut my eyes and I felt a hand pressed on top of the one on my stomach. I looked up at Inuyasha and he just smiled. "Get some rest. I'm not going anywhere."
"Thanks."
"No, I need to thank you. You never gave up on me. You're right, I haven't treated you too well since I got here." He paused, "The truth is that I just want to protect you. That's why I come off as… a complete jerk. I mean what I say in the best possible way, but I'm not so good with words."
"It's about time you explained yourself, Inuyasha, but I always knew you were good. You always said that emotions got in your way and this proves it. I respect that, cuz I know when you subject yourself to emotions, you're just not yourself."
"So, I guess you've kept yourself busy."
"Yeah. I've spent most of the time with the cubs, teaching them what you taught me. They've all been growing up and it just makes me all warm and fuzzy."
"I thought that would be more of your calling than traveling around with me."
"I enjoyed spending all that time with you, but it was too much of a good thing. The longer I stayed, I knew it would be harder for us to separate. Even so, I know that there'd always be a part of me with you and the memories of you would always be a part of me." I looked up, "Inuyasha… if it's not too much trouble, may I lay on your lap?"
"Sure," he blinked and helped me up. I kept the same hand on my stomach and I held his with my other. "Remember that conversation a while back, when I asked you if I'd ever find someone to give my heart to?"
"Yeah… my answer's still yes." I smiled, "The truth is… I've already given my heart away." His expression froze, "You're not…"
"Yeah Inuyasha, before I knew it, the moment I listened to your heart and first got to know you, I knew that I had given my heart away. I had given it to you…" He looked out as if he was thinking it over. "I know that sounds ridiculous, but I haven't found anyone else. You're not perfect, but somehow, my heart found a home with you. There was nothing I could do once that happened, but I don't think I'd rather it be anywhere else."
"I… I… can't…"
"I know you can't understand that, but it's the truth. Emotions are all I know, I can't just make this up."
"No, I suppose not. You'll need your strength, so rest up. Don't worry, I'll keep watch."
"Thanks for protecting me, Inuyasha. You're awesome." I let out a groan before drifting off to sleep.
Inuyasha looked down, watching me as I slept. He then lifted my other hand to check my wound. He gritted his teeth, seeing how it was progressing. 'No, this can't be it. There has to be another way,' he thought. I groaned and titled my head to the left. Inuyasha blinked and then put a hand on my head to stroke it.
"Humph, even though I can't understand why she'd go through all this trouble for me, I can't help pitying her. She thinks so little of herself when there's so much that she could be capable of. As for all the half-demons, she's the only one I know that could rival me in strength. Still, she draws it from a place I never could. We're so alike yet so different." He smiled, "I promise that as long as you're in this condition, I won't ever leave your side. I'm gonna see you through this."
He sat there with me for hours. He watched as the sun slowly started setting. When it was dark, Kagome came back with some food. "Inuyasha, how's she doing?"
"Let's see… well, she's sleeping at least." Kagome looked at the wound, "oh, this doesn't look good at all."
"Tell me about it…" He turned away. "Kagome, this was her plan all along. She cares too much about me to put herself before me; that's why she's letting herself get taken by this poison."
"Or maybe she just accepts it as her fate."
"I don't believe that. She's given up on everything, even herself and she had so much potential. That's why I took her up as sort of an apprentice. I wanted her to find her own strength, but also to show the world that being half-demon doesn't mean being weak."
"You really do care about her, huh?" She watched with interest.
"Yeah… I'd hate to admit that, but I do and hate this." Kagome felt my forehead, "I'll get some cold water, she's starting to get a fever."
After Kagome left, Inuyasha continued to stroke my bangs. "That's strange… when I was poisoned, I transformed. Why hasn't she transformed? Unless she's not that kind of half-demon." He looked into space, "She transformed into a full demon when she's really furious… I guess she doesn't have a strong will to live. If she cares about me as much as she says she does, why isn't that enough to keep her alive?"
"Who knows?" Kagome came back with a pail of water. "She is quite the unusual half-demon."
Inuyasha returned his attention when he felt a growing warmness under his hand. "There's the fever." Kagome rung out a rag and handed it to him. He lifted my bangs and gently placed it. His face got serious, "I've only seen her go so far as a high fever; I'd hate to see what comes next." He did his best to hide it, but as the night dragged on, Inuyasha grew more and more concerned as my fever got worse.
"You should really get some sleep…" Kagome said, getting into her sleeping bag.
"No, I'm gonna stay up through the night so I can see her through it." He draped his coat over me.
"So, you're feeling better?"
"Except for being a little concerned, I feel pretty good. I was actually a little worried that I lost so much blood that…" Kagome put a hand on his shoulder, "You have a guardian angel watching over you, Inuyasha… you were lucky."
"Yeah… but my guardian angel is right here, at least for now." He turned to her, "Go to sleep, Kagome. You don't need to stay up with me." She nodded. "Don't stay up too late."
