Insane-san says: I am soooo happy that people like this story... Just make sure you go and read my other fanfictions and review those, too... -breaks out in song for no reason- OH! Oh my gosh I wanted to do this last night... Now, in every chapter in my little A.N.s, I'm going to put a random fact about me. WEEEDLE DEE! Huzzah! Here's the first one!

Random fact: Pasta is my most favorite food.

...On second thought, that sucks and it's really lame. o.o; I'll never do it again.
Remember to please review at the end of this chapter. DON'T BE LAZY! Thank you! Love ya! Bye bye!

Peacock Feathers

VI

I was breathing really hard now... They both kept getting faster and faster. I knew I must've just been slowing them down...

But whatever! I was the CHOSEN and all of that... Shouldn't I get like... A decorated elephant to ride or something?

Or... "H..EY!" My dry throat made my voice crack. I covered my mouth with a sweaty hand and coughed "Inuyasha! Don't you think we'd get to wherever we're going faster if I ride on your back or something?" I shouted to him 'Wow...They're pretty far ahead now...' I coughed. "Don't you think we'd get to wherever we're going faster if you actually walk, maybe?" He said sarcastically to me. I narrowed my eyes. "Stop talking-" Cough cough! "To me that way!" I swallowed and tried to douse my burning throat with my saliva only to find that I didn't have any. My eyes watered and I smeared sweat off my face. It was REALLY hot here... The grass turned into sand a while back.

At first, it was cool and nice. The trees swayed in the wind and the air was cool. The grass was wet and flowers were poking up here and there... Then...The further we went, the hotter it got. Soon, the grass was blotched with sand. Then, there was no grass at all. The sun burned against my skin and the cool air was completely gone. Hills of sand were everywhere. We were in the middle of a stupid desert and I was hot and sweaty and wanted to jump in a pool.

I rubbed three fingers on my neck where my throat was, trying to somehow soothe it. Sweat blurred my vision. The heat weighed down on me. I squinted and glared up at the sun, silently cursing it. I wasn't even lifting my feet anymore. They were just sort of pushing against the sand as I moved forwards. I tore the legs of my jeans off hours ago and I had draped my grey sweat-shirt over my head. My blue tank-top was soaked with sweat and my hiking boots were filled to the brim with sand. I turned my head towards Inuyasha's direction way up there...

"WHAT GOOD WILL I BE TO YOU IF I'M DEAD WHEN WE GET THERE?" I screeched, suddenly the feeling of exhaustion embraced me tightly. I heard him groan loudly. "You're drivin' me MAD, WOMAN! It's only four more miles! And if you weren't so bloody slow, we'd be there by now!" He screamed back at me.

"Four...More...Miles..." Those words smashed my head like a hammer.

I closed my eyes. Then... My legs stopped working. My whole body stopped working actually...I felt myself falling. My senses dulled.
When I felt that hot sand crunch against my knees, it sounded like it was so far away... It echoed around in my ears, sounding strange and muffled. I felt the hot air crush my throat as I fell forward onto the sand. I could feel the grains of it in my mouth, but I didn't care. I couldn't breathe anymore. I couldn't think. I just laid there making some sort of rasping noise...

Suddenly, the sun was blocked. A shade was over me. A shadow. I used my last ounce of strength to look up.

Inuyasha stood over me, looking down. I watched his eyes close half-way. I saw him sigh, but I couldn't hear it.

He sat on his heels beside me. Then...Everything was gone.

To this day, I still don't know how long I was out. But when I opened my eyes, there was no more sand.

Instead, all of the hot, burning ground was replaced by ice. It took me a few moments to realize that I was shivering with cold. I blinked and felt my senses coming back to me. I licked my lips. My tongue was met with frost. I felt my stomach pounding with the ache of hunger and harsh, cold wind blared against my ears. My grey sweat-shirt was back on me. I silently wished I hadn't torn off the legs of my jeans back in thedesert. My back was cold, but the front of me was warm. I was thinking of why this could be when I saw black in the white of the snow. Someone's shirt... I looked to where my hands were. I was clenching with desperation onto someone's shoulders. My jaw quivered as I shook. The cold was horrible. Possibly worse than the heat.

It took me a few minutes, but I came to the conclusion that I was on Inuyasha's back. He was carrying me through the whipping snow. Running so fast... I remember the shock of seeing someone run so fast. 'Inuyasha's...THIS amazing...?' I found myself wondering.

I saw the top of Shippo's head. He was inside Inuyasha's shirt, sleeping.

I thought about how he was carrying both me and Shippo in this hideously freezing weather with no shoes and no sleeves.

Heh...The jerk who didn't care.

I smiled weakly. "Thank you." I whispered. If he replied, I didn't hear it. I closed my eyes once more.

After what felt like hours and hours, my body stopped shaking. The air was warming and it stopped snowing. Still, Inuyasha continued running. Tall blades of grass were poking up through the snow, now. Then the snow was gone. Lush, green fields of grass... The air was so nice. It wasn't hot, it wasn't cold... I breathed it in. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed a lock of Inuyasha's flying hair and twirled my fingers through it, feeling so happy that we were out of there.

"Stop that." He snapped.

I wrinkled my nose with a smile and let it go. I watched it fly back with the rest of his silvery-white hair.
'Patience is a virtue, Kagome.' I said to myself.

Never in my life had I seen a boy with such long hair... It was strangley refreshing. Sort of wild, too. 'What am I thinking now?' I sighed.

"And you better be quiet around here..." He looked back at me with narrowed eyes.

"Shippo, yer tail's itching me. Can't you run from here?" He asked suddenly. "Fine..." Shippo said reluctantly. I smiled sympathetically as I watched Shippo jump off. Then, to my pure amazement, a pink cloud of smoke erupted from Shippo. When the smoke cleared, Shippo wasn't running there. Instead, there was a rather odd-looking cheetah. I gasped and stared. "Shippo...?" I breathed. I watched the cheetah look up at me with a grin. "It's me, alright!" He said.
I grinned. 'How cool!' I gasped to myself. "WOW! Shippo, you're cool!" I grinned.

"KEH! He is NOT cool. Turning into something that looks barely close to what a cat's supposed to look like is NOT amazing."

"You can't talk down to a child that way! He's only a little kid. I don't see YOU turning into anything!"

I heard him muttering under his breath. Then I smiled. "Oh, I see. You're jealous, aren't you?" His ears twitched when I said 'jealous'. He let out a loud laugh. "There's no comparison when it comes to me and Shippo." He said in a cocky voice. I glared at the back of his head. "Ya know, you're right! Shippo's TEN times better than you, dog-boy." Shippo giggled loudly. I smiled, glad that he was amused at his bully being bullied for a change. "You need to learn how to handle children, Inuyasha." I said calmly.

"I know how to handle kids! Don't you even think I don't." He snarled. "Oh yeah? Tell me then. What do you know? How do you discipline a child when it's done something bad? And what do you do when a child gets hurt?" I asked, poking his shoulder.

"One," He started. "You punch 'im over the head a few times and call 'im a stupid idiot." My jaw dropped.
"Two," He continued. "Tell 'im to shut the heck up and quit bein' such a cry-baby LOSER." He snorted and nodded once.

"WHAT!" I screamed. "You know NOTHING!" I screamed again. "You know, I feel sorry for you, Inuyasha." I sighed and closed my eyes. "You'll never get a wife this way...What kind of woman wants a husband who abuses and mis-treats his children?" I laughed. "Not me."

"WHO THE HECK SAID I WANT TO MARRY YOU?" He roared. I nearly fell off his back.

"I didn't say that! I only said that I wouldn't want you as a husband! I never said you wanted ME!" I yelled. I heard Shippo laughing REALLY hard in the background.

"Oh yeah? Well..." I felt him shaking with anger under me. "You'll want me sooner or later. They ALL do..."

I was appalled.

"Oh..They ALL do, HUH? Rest assured, I will NEVER want YOU. How could I like a jerky, arrogant, over-proud, egotistical DOG?" I shrieked.

"You...YOU..!" He was running faster by the second.

"THAT'S GREAT!" His voice echoed through the trees. "Because how could I want you...An annoying, self-centered, cry-baby, whining, weak, slow, noisy, bony, ugly, stupid, idiotic WENCH to like ME!" He shouted. To my horror, there was more to what he wanted to say.

And with each insult, my blood pumped harder and faster.

"You're a dumb, foul-smelling, human WITCH and I HATE YOU! I should've killed you back in the dessert!"

"I HATE YOU EVEN MORE!" I screamed in his ear. He let out a cry and grabbed his ear.

I pushed myself off him and landed on my feet. Shooting an arm up, I pointed at him. "I won't go any further!" I said dangerously.

Rubbing his ear, he began to turn around. "HEH! You weren't going anywhere! I--" When he faced me completely, his shoulders dropped. His hand came forward off his ear and landed at his side. He stared. "...Was..." He finished quietly.

"WHAT?" I shouted at him."Is there something on my face?" I narrowed my eyes. 'What in the world am I DOING? This is no way to act! No way to act at all! My mother raised me better than this...Where did my patience go?' I sighed and released my anger.

I opened my mouth to apologize to him when..I felt..

Hot breath on the back of my head...

Every single hair on my body stood on-end.

"What...Is..." My hands shook. My eyes widened with fear and I stared at Inuyasha. I heard a grunt from behind me.

Something...Was...Smelling me.

Shippo was so scared, he popped back into his original form.

"I told you," Inuyasha whispered. "To be quiet around here...Didn't I?" He whispered in an angry tone.
That look of pure terror still clung to my face. "ME be quiet...? You were yelling too." I hissed out in a whisper.

"Listen..." He whispered. "Don't...Move." My whole body was trembling. I stared at Inuyasha. My eyes pleaded for help.
"It's a-" The creature snorted loudly and continued to move its huge noise around the back of my head, sniffing.

"It's a Rupture Wolf..." He spoke so quietly, I could barely hear him. I barely nodded my head.

"Why is it called a Rupture Wolf...?" I asked bravely. Inuyasha stared and tensed into a battle stance.

"You don't wanna find out..." He whispered. I shuddered and close my eyes. Beads of sweat streamed down my face.

I felt it's large, slimy tongue scrape against the backs of my legs. My face contorted and I screamed. Loud and terrified.

My voice was immediately drowned out by the Wolf's deafening roar.

Insane-san says: Ooooh! The suspense tingles! -grin- Review now, please. Go on, now. And no cussing at the author!