Chapter fourteen: Burdens

He moaned as a sharp sting went through his skull and he took a hand to his temples, massaging the tender points.

Did he have to open his eyes? He really didn't want to; he felt so tired, and sore... Inuyasha produced another moan and it made his throat feel like he had swallowed a hot coal.

What had happened? Why did he feel that way? Suddenly more for an instinct than anything else, he reached for the yarn around his neck and found nothing but his own bare chest. The bead was gone.

Inuyasha opened his eyes, alarmed, and looked down. Effectively, the red yarn that he hadn't taken off in two whole years was missing. His heart started beating faster and a wave of subtle fear crept up his stomach, but then, he relaxed; the bead was gone, the bead was gone.

The bead was gone.

He experienced anxiety, true, but he also felt something else, some kind of acceptance and also, it was like if a heavy burden had been removed. Was it… relief? He couldn't truly explain it. He didn't feel like he wanted to explain it.

Then, for the first time he looked around. He was in Kaede's hut, he could tell. Outside, the sunlight illuminated the ambience and resting at his side, with her head nested in her arms and her back against the wall, was a girl.

For the slightest moment, he believed to see long, black hair and he remembered watching repetitively a pair of chocolate eyes looming over him through his hazy, senseless dreams and in those dim recollections, he had believed them to belong to Kagome.

Then it all came back to him; the vision of Kagome, Sango's departure, the long wait next to the well and the rain starting to fall. He recalled saying to himself, what the hell, it's nothing but some water, my firerat suit will do. She's coming, just wait a little longer, just a little.

Kami. He was so stupid. She wouldn't come. She was not going to return, was she? And it hadn't been her eyes, she had never returned. It had been Sango's eyes and she was still there, asleep in evident exhaustion. Had she been taking care of him? Had he fallen sick? It appeared to be that way.

He experienced a strange mixture of gratefulness, tenderness and remorse toward her. He also remembered the last, stern look she had thrown at him when he had decided to stay rather than keep his promise and accompany her on her trip.

But he couldn't go, he had to wait for… he had to… he… All of a sudden, his excuse didn't sound as strong or reasonable as it had sounded before. Was she still mad at him?

Sango stirred in her sleep and moved her head so it could fit better between her arms. Inuyasha remembered that morning under the maple tree. It seemed like yesterday.

After observing her for some moments, he outstretched his hand -it felt heavy and weak- and touched her arm. Sango's deep brown eyes appeared under her eyelids and then, they snapped open with surprise.

"I—Inuyasha?" Her voice sounded unsure and small. She then passed a hand over her tired eyes, as if trying to disperse the fog of her slumber and approached him, her mouth open.

"Are you…? How do you…. oh Kami! Kaede-baachan!" she screamed, then she touched his forehead and a grin exploded on her face.

"Your fever's gone! Oh thanks, Kami-Sama! How do you feel? Can you speak?" She was combing his messy hair behind his ears as she asked all those questions in less than five seconds, he reckoned.

"I'm… I'm fine, my throat hurts, and my head too…"

"Don't speak then, that's okay, just rest," she said and looked at him straight in the eyes, hers seemed to be glassy. "For a moment I thought you were going to leave… me…" she whispered and lowered her gaze.

"Inuyasha, boy, are you really awake? Praise the gods! I was starting to fear you would abandon us after all!" Kaede entered her hut and checked on Inuyasha, looking at his tongue, his eyes, the color of his skin and nodding and smiling while she concluded her examination. Inuyasha really didn't like all that fussing around him, but he didn't possess the strength in that moment, to prevent it from happening.

"You look well, your throat is swollen and you still need to rest for a few more days, but I think you are out of danger now," Kaede declared and Sango clapped her hands with relief.

"Now, what you did was totally stupid, you know, Inuyasha?" Kaede moved her head reproachfully.

Of course, here comes the whining, he thought.

"You should know that you were delirious for almost a week, and you could have died, you would have if not for Sango here. She brought you in when nobody had achieved it and hasn't separated from your side but a few times." Kaede patted the younger woman on the shoulder. Sango went red and again, lowered her eyes with demure.

Inuyasha looked at her and the familiar, warm feeling he often experienced around her returned. "I… I'm sorry… Thank you, Sango."

What? No 'Keh'? He surprised himself, but after some time, he found out saying 'sorry' and 'thanks' wasn't that hard anymore, especially with her. He also found difficult to stop looking into her eyes, the eyes that wouldn't abandon him on his delusions; the eyes of the person who had been there for him.

"Oh… It was nothing. You're my friend, you would have done the same," she answered.

"Yes… I would have…" He stared at her and she let him do it by keeping her eyes fixed on her fidgeting fingers.

A quiet moment followed his statement until Kaede cleared her throat. "Well, I better go and get you some light clothes, so you can be fresher than with all those quilts."

"But I only have my firerat suit," he said.

"I… I made you a kobakama and a juban sometime ago, if you want I can bring them." Sango interceded, her fingers fidgeting even more.

"Huh? Really?"

"Y-yeah, but I thought you wouldn't want them, you never use anything else than your firerat suit, so…"

"And… my suit is okay?" Inuyasha asked a little apprehensive. A shadow of disappointment clouded Sango's eyes.

"It's dry and clean," Kaede intervened.

"Ok…" He seemed relieved. "Well, are you going to keep me naked forever or what? Bring those clothes you made already!"

"Oy, Inuyasha, you just woke up and you're already being rude!" Sango retorted.

"Keh!"

She narrowed her eyes and stood up with her chin high, then she went to retrieve the clothes, but it was undeniable that her smile brightened her whole face.

-Kobakama: They are like a hakama, but shorter and narrower.

- Juban: Is a small, waist-length kimono, let's say, like a shirt.