Disclaimers: I don't own InuYasha or any related themes or characters. (Would I really be writing fanfiction if I did?)

A/N: This chapter is now dedicated to Kayla. If not for readers like you, I'd have no reason to post this here!

Also, MC/KagandInu, whatever you're going by; I have not gotten to where I left off on MediaMiner yet. There were 17 actual chapters there, and we're only on number six here. We've got a ways to go, so just enjoy the rewrites. :)

2-part chapter, part 2 not quite finished yet. Please don't kill me.

Chance of Death Part 1

Sesshoumaru burst into Kaede's hut, InuYasha slung over his shoulder. Kagome entered shortly afterward, clearly agitated and none too happy with the lord of the western lands. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, her eyebrows low and knitting in anger. Her footsteps were short and rapid, following Sesshoumaru.

Curious at the girl's behavior, Sesshoumaru wondered what would happen if he just carried InuYasha around all day. Deciding that it was an experiment well worth its salt, he did a full circuit around the outer wall of the hut and around the fire pit before cutting directly into a corner and depositing his younger brother on a sleeping mat. Kagome followed him throughout the entire display, veritably stomping after him. Not only did Sesshoumaru reach an answer in his mind, Kagome had undoubtedly siphoned off some of her energy that could have otherwise been spent on anger.

Rin, Shippo, and Kilalla, all playing together, were the only ones that missed Sesshoumaru's curious routine. Miroku and Sango noted it early in, and Kaede grew suspicious as soon as she saw InuYasha on his shoulder. Once he sat the hanyou down, the group noted that there was blood on his usually pristine robes. This alerted them to InuYasha's injuries. Though the monk and taiji-ya were in no condition to rush to his side, Kaede did her best impersonation of a jog and hobbled over to the unconscious boy. Miroku's attention turned to Kagome, who would be more likely to answer questions.

"Lady Kagome, what has transpired here?" he elaborately asked.

Kagome's reply way snappish and almost rude, such was the power of her rage. "InuYasha reopened a wound while chopping wood." She turned to the young houshi, and pointed accusingly at Sesshoumaru. Words were flying out of her mouth faster than she could control. It was the only excuse for what she said next. "And this stupid asshole carried him all the way back here over his damn shoulder!" She returned to seething and glaring at Sesshoumaru. Kilalla, having sensed the tension between her and Sesshoumaru, had led the children out of the hut to play in the flower fields before Miroku had even opened his mouth. Thus, Shippo and Rin were spared from hearing Kagome's uncharacteristic outburst. Miroku's eyebrows shot up so far that they were almost lost in his hairline. Sango's jaw would have unhinged and dropped off if it hadn't been stopped by the floor. Sesshoumaru was decidedly ignoring her.

Kaede made a humming, contemplative sound as she gathered several herbs, wondering at the hanyou's effect on Kagome's attitude, not to mention her vocabulary. The elderly miko pulled InuYasha's haori to the side, revealing the piercing wound.

"Kagome," she began, "Help me remove InuYasha's haori." Kagome brushed by Sesshoumaru, pushing him out of the way without touching him. Between Kagome's unfamiliarity with the ties of ancient Japanese wardrobe, and Kaede's arthritis, they eventually removed enough of InuYasha's robes so that his torso was bare and Kaede could easily access his wound. Surveying the damage, Sesshoumaru found something missing. He yanked Kagome away from InuYasha by the collar of her shirt, causing her to stumble.

"This is your fault!" he roared.

Kagome counterattacked with full force, letting her voice rise in order to ring in the youkai's sensitive ears. "For the record, I was the one that was against carrying him all the way down here over your shoulder! And it was you who insisted on doing so! It's your own damn fault that his injuries have gotten so bad, so you should just leave me the hell alone and put. me. down!"

"You're supposed to return the mark!" Sesshoumaru shouted. Having only one arm, he couldn't point to InuYasha's shoulder, so he jerked Kagome around so that she could see. "If it weren't for you, he could have healed all this by now!" This was accompanied by an angry shake, and he pushed her out of the way. Turning his back on InuYasha, he continued to shout at the girl that now just barely managed to stay on her feet by herself. "This is why youkai don't like to deal with humans! If InuYasha hadn't felt like he had to prove something to Kikyou, he could have finished the mating ritual and given you the actual mating mark in its appropriate third step!" He was about to say something else, but he turned and looked at InuYasha with a startled expression on his usually stoic face.

"Leave her—" he winced, "the hell alone! She didn't – know!"

Kagome, once raging and out of control, was lucid, in a state of shock. "Wh-what if I… returned the mark now?"

"No," Sesshoumaru defied. "In his current condition, he would not survive the mental stress the mark brings. Simple mortals could not even begin to understand what it means for a youkai to take a human mate."

"I would if you told me!" Kagome shouted.

Kouga apparently didn't like the way the youkai lord was handling this situation. He might have relinquished his shot with Kagome, but they were still rather close. If she wasn't his mate, she could at least be his sister. "The bite is symbolic," he started, glaring at Sesshoumaru though talking to the humans. "When InuYasha bit Kagome, when his teeth pierced her flesh, it symbolized – well – the mating." Kouga by this time had realized the glare Sesshoumaru was giving him. A quick scenting of the air told him that Rin was within hearing distance. Kagome and her rather virgin mind took a moment to grasp what he was implying, after which she blushed. Miroku chuckled and looked at the ceiling, while Sango dared him with a glare to comment.

"But," Kagome began, forcing her words through her blush, "how would that cause mental stress?"

"The energy that goes into the merging of the souls is enormous," Kouga said carefully, watching what he said while Rin was within earshot. "The first real bite - which InuYasha totally skipped - can be healed. It's more... a claim than a mating... There's something like it in the human world, I know. Um..."

"An engagement ring?" Sango offered. Kouga snapped his fingers and nodded.

"That's it exactly. It's the equivalent of the human's engagement ring." Sesshoumaru was not please by this comparison. "If the female doesn't wish to mate with the male, the mark will heal and go away. The actual mating mark can't be healed as easily, and the one-sided effort to maintain the mark and enforce the merging souls breaks down the mind if it's not reciprocated within seven days."

Kagome frowned. "But I was only asleep for about a day," she protested. The others in the hut grew silent. Kagome's heart missed several beats as she realized what the silence meant.

She tried to ask a question, but her mouth had run dry, and there was a lump in her throat. Kaede turned to InuYasha, who was drifting in and out of consciousness. Kagome watched him, managing to say in a shaky voice, "H-how long was I out for?"

There was a long silence in which Kaede's bustling about with herbs and smelling salts was the only sound.

It was Sesshoumaru that decided that mortals' feelings were not fit to be spared, and said, "You were out for six days, and as of tomorrow, it will mark seven days."