Short chapter this week folks! Enjoy and please review!
The shrill crying of a young child was loud enough for Inuyasha to hear, even though he was several miles away. Curious at who the hell had left a child in his territory, the young half demon investigated the sound, finding himself near the edge of his territory where it bordered the Sunrise village. Curiously, the sound led him towards an abandoned old well used as a tossing place for demon remains. It happened to be next to the god tree, an ancient tree that had wide, cozy branches perfect for half demons to nap in.
The wailing was coming from inside the well, and when Inuyasha peered over the edge, he found his golden eyes met with the bright blue eyes of a little girl.
"The fu-" he was cut off as the child in the well started wailing again, having caught sight of him.
Inuyasha knew better than to deal with lost children. Lost children led to angry parents and angry parents led to chasing and cursing. No, he was not helping her. He wasn't!
Yet, as he peered over the edge of the well again and found those big eyes pleading with him, the half demon knew he was in trouble.
"Damn it all to hell." He hissed as he leaped into the well, scaring the poor child as he landed suddenly in front of her, causing her to blink up at him in shock. And of course, her eyes latched on the one part of him that was obviously not human.
"Doggy?"
"Do I look like a dog to you?" He grunted, crossing his arms over his chest and giving the child his best glare. She laughed, she laughed, and then had the gall to reach her arms towards him, like he was going to pick her up and hold her.
Of course, Inuyasha ended up doing just that. How else was he going to get her out of the well?
"Doggy!" She happily exclaimed again, clapping her hands together and reaching her tiny hands towards his ears.
Oh. Hell. No.
"Wench, these ain't for touching!" He scowled at her, purposefully twitching his ears to prove a point. The little brat only giggled and clapped harder. She had dark hair along with those big blue eyes, pulled back into two little ponytails with what looked like ribbons. Her kimono was weird, flaring out at the waist instead of the usual kimono. It was also colorful, pink and white with flower patterns on it like the kimonos of the rich. Why then was she sitting in the bottom of a dirty well?
"Doggy save me." Inuyasha's eyes widened in shock as the girl tucked her head against his chest, snuggling close.
"Keh! Nothin' doin'!" He declared, even though the child was small enough not to know or care what he meant. He wrapped an arm around her back and jumped, landing in the soft grass next to the well.
"Kagome down!" The girl declared, her attention caught on a pretty yellow flower she spotted in the grass. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and refused to let her down, ready to find the nearest village to shoo her off to.
"Wench, I ain't letting you down."
"Kagome! I'm Kagome! Kaagggommmeeee!" She began to wail again and Inuyasha panicked, pinning his ears back to protect the sensitive appendages from the sound.
"Alright fine! Kagome! Stop cryin' already!" She stopped wailing as he said her name, big fat teardrops clinging to her dainty eyelashes.
"Wanna go home now doggy." She sniffled, wiping at the teardrops with her tiny hands.
"Yeah, I'll take you home now."
And later, as he watched the priestess's surprise at finding a young child outside her hut from his perch on the Goshinboku, he had no idea he had changed the course of his future forever.
-0-
Kagome woke twice the next morning. The first, it was still dark out, the fire was burning very low and the stars were still out. There was a chill in the air, yet she was warm and comfy thanks to the warm body wrapped around her. An arm with sharp claws on the hand was being used as her pillow, the other wrapped around her body. Inuyasha's nose was nestled against her neck and he was breathing deeply, presumably still asleep. Kagome tucked her head back against his arm and let herself drift back off to sleep.
When she woke again, the sun was shining and she was alone, still wrapped in Inuyasha's robe. She woke up with a start, the memory of her first meeting with Inuyasha dancing around in her brain.. Glancing around, she saw he wasn't with her, but rather sitting at the entrance of the cave looking relatively relaxed. He had one leg stretched out, the other bent with his arm resting on it. His ear twitched towards her when she woke, and when he turned towards her, golden eyes met hers. Kagome gasped in surprise.
"Inuyasha!" She scrambled towards him, throwing her arms around him and almost knocking him over. "You're back!"
"Oof!" Thankfully, Inuyasha threw a hand out to keep them from toppling over, wrapping the other around Kagome's back. "Geeze Kago-" He never got to finish, as he was suddenly very occupied by Kagome's lips on his own. He kissed her back as her hands cupped his jawline. When she finally pulled back, she rested her forehead against his, breathless.
"I was starting to get worried." She sniffed, feeling tears beginning to well up to her embarrassment.
"You know how I feel about tears wench," he nuzzled his nose against hers. "You should be more worried about yourself than me, I could have killed you." She pulled back, startled, as her cheeks began to flush. "You remember?"
"Yeah, I remember." He looked away, gazing back out into the forest. "I could have killed you easily Kagome. I don't have any control when I'm like that." She cupped his cheeks and turned his face back towards hers.
"You didn't hurt me Inuyasha. Far from it, you saved me, protected us all. You brought me here and fed me and kept me safe. I'm the one who should be apologizing." It was his turn to look startled.
"Myoga believes you transformed to protect me, that the demon made some sort of threat against me and you believed my life was in danger."
"Something like that." He confirmed, deciding it was better not to tell her the actual threat the demon had given him. He moved his attention to her arm, the scent of the herbs still potent but damped now the mixture was a day old. He carefully slid the sleeve of his robe up her arm, inspecting the wound.
"Let's head back home, we need to bandage this." He let the sleeve drop, guilt washing over him at the knowledge her wound had gone untreated because of him. Kagome nodded in agreement, sliding off his lap and fetching her sleeping robe from near the fire. Inuyasha scowled as he caught sight of the sleeping robe.
"Is that what you were wearing?!" Kagome glanced down at the robe in confusion, eyebrows knit together. "Yes? There was a demon attacking, I didn't exactly have time to change." If possible, the half demon scowled further.
"All the village men saw you dressed like that?!" He let out a low growl that had Kagome rolling her eyes at his blatant jealousy.
"I'm pretty sure you didn't avert your eyes last night like I told you to, so I have no idea why you're complaining." As an ex priestess, she should probably be more embarrassed about it, but there was something about it being Inuyasha that put her completely at ease. At her comment, his face turned bright red and he tossed his gaze away, refusing to look at her, and thus confirming her suspicions.
"Besides, I'm pretty sure you liked seeing me wear this yesterday!" She tossed out after him, biting her lip to keep from laughing at the glare he tossed her way. Even though she was completely right, he did like seeing her in his clothes.
-0-
By time they had made it back to their cave, Kagome was definitely feeling the wound on her arm. It was already unhappy at being slept on, and was now throbbing in pain. She hadn't bothered to change into her sleeping robe until they made it back home, not wanting to aggravate it more than necessary. She bit back a groan each time the wound brushed against the soft fabric of Inuyasha's robe, not wanting to appear weak in front of her husband who frequently brushed off wounds like it was nothing.
"I'm going to change Inuyasha, I'll be right back." It took a lot more control than she would like to keep her face smooth. She missed Inuyasha's brow shoot up in surprise as he watched her pretty much sprint into the cave. She dropped her sleeping robe in a heap to wash later and slid the spare robe out of her trunk, carefully slipping out of Inuyasha's robe and into the soft spare robe she had. She slid the sleeve up her arm, taking a look at the claw marks inflicted only recently. Despite the herbs for infection, the wound was an angry, inflamed red and Kagome had to stifle a groan. No wonder it hurt so bad! She was certain the wound would need sewn up, but would settle for wrapping it in the meantime.
"I had a feeling that hurt a lot more than you let on." Kagome jumped as Inuyasha's familiar aura washed over her and he appeared behind her, gently taking her lower bicep in his hand and inspecting the wound. Kagome hung her head slightly, both embarrassed for having been found out and for keeping it from him in the first place.
"I just didn't want to seem weak." she told him honestly. Inuyasha scoffed, either unhappy with her or how the wound looked, she wasn't sure.
"Idiot, you don't have to be strong. That's my job." He touched the edge of the wound very gently and Kagome flinched.
"That hurts, Inuyasha." He mumbled an apology and let go of her arm, straightening up. "Have you tried using your power to heal it? Like you were on your foot?" Kagome raised an eyebrow in surprise but nodded.
"Yeah, it didn't work very well for my foot either. I don't know if it's because I used it on myself or if it's just not meant to heal like that." Inuyasha stared at her wound for a moment, deep in thought.
"Kagome I… can I try something?" She tilted her head, curious at what he meant. Her half demon blushed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"I was just thinking, if you can connect your power to me, maybe I can do the same for you." He knelt down, cupping her face in one of his hands.
"What are you-" the ex priestess was cut off by Inuyasha's lips against her own. It was a gentle kiss, his hand holding her face softly. She shivered slightly when she felt his demonic aura wash over her, resisting the urge to purify it with her spiritual power. Instead keeping it locked down to avoid hurting her love.
She gasped and pulled away from the kiss when her arm began to feel warm, glancing at the wound on her arm while Inuyasha pressed his forehead against her hair.
"What-" she gaped in stunned silence as the wound began to heal. It was slow, very slow, but over the course of several minutes Kagome watched as the redness disappeared and the claw marks knit themselves back together. Inuyasha huffed a laugh at her stunned expression when the wound was completely closed.
"Inuyasha… how-" she cut herself off, her shocked blue eyes meeting his amused golden ones.
"My body heals quickly," he explained, gently taking her arm in his hand and running his thumb over the spot where the marks had been.
"I wasn't sure it would work but… your spiritual power protects me, so I thought maybe I could heal you…" he trailed off.
"Inuyasha, do you have any idea what you just did?! You just passed your healing abilities, something you shouldn't be able to do, over to me and healed my wound." She was still in shock, gaping at him. Inuyasha smirked, dropping her arm and stuffing his hands in his sleeves.
"You're my mate, my wife, my bonded. Not sure why you're so damn surprised." His cheeks were beginning to turn pink from all the attention.
"It's not that Inuyasha… it's just, even spiritual power from the Kami can't heal open wounds like that. What you just did…" She bit her lip, picking at the sleeve of her robe. "Do you… do you really care for me that much?" His head jerked towards her, golden eyes meeting blue.
He didn't need to answer her, she could see it, the emotion, the love he felt for her in his golden eyes. Her own blue eyes filled with tears and she jerked forward, sliding her arms around his neck and embracing him fully.
"I love you, Inuyasha." She whispered, knowing he would hear it.
Obviously I've taken some liberties with how demon/priestess powers work, but I really loved the idea of Inuyasha being able to heal Kagome. The idea that a bond can be so powerful it can manifest itself in not just emotional ways, but physical ways was much to appealing to ignore.
