Author's Note: Time to celebrate! YITM has finally surpassed Pretty Kagome: Revised in both views and reviews! I would like to thank everyone who comes back again and again to read my fanfiction and I'd like to especially thank those of you who continue to review every chapter. You guys are what keep me going. I couldn't love you more.

I've also created a tumblr page dedicated to blogging about Inuyasha, my views on Inuyasha and the manga and the anime as well as other works by the great Takahashi, and any random tidbits about where I am in the writing/updating process. So if you're interested, follow me! Link is on my profile page.

Last bit of good news: I've acquired another beta along with the wonderful Viv. Penthesileia has joined my editing team! She's pretty awesome. Make sure you go check out her fics!

This chapter was written to Tunglio by Olafur Arnalds.

Disclaimer: I wrote my first Inuyasha fanfiction thirteen years ago. And still, I own none of the Inuyasha series or its characters. So sad.

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Chapter 18: Kagome's Scent

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Kagome

"Something tells me I would have been fine," Kagome said, holding her hands up in front of her. She wasn't sure how she'd managed to protect herself, and the memory of melted, sizzling skin disturbed her greatly, but Inuyasha's stupid, egotistical smug face just pushed her over the edge. She couldn't help taunting him with it a bit. Because apparently, when crazy, possibly undead witches were out to murder her, her hands could turn into branding irons and melt skin off.

Lovely.

"Keh," he muttered as she knocked at the door again, "you managed to take Kikyou down for a bit I'll give you that." He grinned, leaning towards her.

She suddenly felt that same need pool below. She'd been so distracted what with all the threatening and attempted murdering going on around her, she hadn't had breath enough to… admire him with the same intensity that had hit her so hard when she first kissed him through the mirror.

No, no, no! She couldn't let herself go back to that again! She was doing so well! She took a step back, ripping her eyes away from his and knocked again. Where the hell was Sango?

As if they shared the same mind, Sango swung the door open then, a bit pale but otherwise whole.

"Sango!" Kagome cried, and she launched herself into her friends' arms, so thankful to see her again. She wrapped her arms around Sango's neck, trembling against her. She hadn't realized until just that moment she thought she'd never see her friend again.

"You okay?" Sango asked. And she brought her arms around Kagome's waist.

Did she hear Sango's voice break a little? Kagome's heart fluttered at the thought of her best friend caring for her so much. She squeezed tighter, the hug some kind of proof that they'd both lived through everything that had happened tonight. "I'm okay now," she said.

"Keh. Thanks to me." Inuyasha added, that same smug look spread across his features.

Kagome tried not to roll her eyes. He was never going to let her forget it. And the worst part was he was right. For all his complaining and insults, he had come after her, and he had protected her from whatever that wind-tunnel thing was.

She owed him. The thought echoed within her suddenly-dizzying head as she and Sango pulled apart. She followed her friend into the kitchen and opened the cupboard, grabbing a glass and filling it with cool tap water. Her throat was suddenly dry.

She owed him. She couldn't refuse to help him anymore. Because it wasn't like she could pay him back by saving his life in return. Who the hell could kidnap six feet of hard, lean, youkai muscle? Who the hell could harm something so powerful? Her eyes darted to him again as he leaned his hip up against the kitchen island, his arms crossed over his still-bare chest, that stupid, infuriating smirk playing on his full lips.

Stop! Kagome screamed in her head. She had to knock it off and keep her thoughts clean and focused on the task at hand. Because even if the chance for her to save Inuyasha from kidnappers presented itself, it wasn't like she could do much to help him out. She didn't have any powers, save for her weird, smiting, temperature hands, and she wasn't even sure she could do that again.

So now she was stuck. And the jerk knew it too. He was going to make her help him find his stupid jewel, and – oh God – she was going to do it.

Sango brushed by her, filling two glasses up with water and placing them both onto the island counter, sliding one towards Inuyasha and bringing the second one up to her own lips. Inuyasha's ears swiveled on his head, twitching as he frowned at the cup.

"What's this?" He asked suspiciously.

Sango rolled her eyes. "It's water. You look thirsty."

He picked the glass up and sniffed the rim.

"So what happened? Where did that man take you?" Sango asked, eyes on Inuyasha as he took a sip; then, shrugging, a big gulp.

Kagome shuddered as she swallowed another mouthful of the deliciously cool liquid. "It was some abandoned house around here. Kikyou was there."

Sango's grip tightened on her cup. "What did she say to you?"

Snorting at the ridiculousness of it all, Kagome put her empty glass down and pushed herself up onto the countertop, her legs swinging in mid-air. "She said a lot of stuff, but mostly it was youkai are bad and need to be wiped out to preserve humanity." She could feel the flush spreading across her face, knowing without having to be told how wrong Kikyou's views were. Genocide was not the answer to save the human race! …She didn't know what was, but genocide wasn't. For the first time since all this had started, she wondered if Inuyasha was under the impression that all humans felt that way. She chanced another sneaky look up at Inuyasha. He was frowning at her, and when their eyes met, he shrugged.

"Sounds about right." He agreed.

Sango folded her arms, drink forgotten. "If she's against youkai so much, why is she keeping you alive?"

"I'm useful to her, obviously." He snapped, then wiped at his forehead.

"I'm just glad to be out of there," Kagome continued, meaning every word. "And I'm glad you're okay too, Sango, I was worried that I-"

Inuyasha made a sound then, a high-pitched whine from the back of his throat. His hand shot up to press again his chest. "Wha- …What the fuck?" He choked out before his eyes widened and he started tipping back.

Kagome opened her mouth to call out to him, but she was distracted by Sango, who jumped onto the island counter top and leapt at him. Her hand moved quickly, and Kagome barely caught the flash of a container of some sort before a purple mist spread across his face.

"Dammit!" He cursed as Sango slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"Sango!" Kagome cried, slipping off the counter and dashing around the island as fast as she could. Sango had landed on top of Inuyasha, straddling his chest, one hand clutched at his throat and the other raised and posed to strike. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Back off, Kagome," Sango demanded, and it was then that Kagome noticed the metallic mask covering her mouth and nose. Her jaw dropped. She hadn't even seen Sango put it on.

"Don't get too close, you'll breathe it in." Sango's eyes stayed glued to Inuyasha. Kagome watched as a small, skinny blade slipped out from its hidden spot in her sleeve. Her blood ran cold.

"Sango, wait, wait!" She pleaded, sinking to her knees. Inuyasha's face was a mask of pain, jaw locked and perspiration gathering on his brow. He wasn't fighting her off, which meant something was very wrong. "What did you do to him?" She asked, desperate to stall.

"Can't… fucking move." Inuyasha grit out through his teeth. He grunted when Sango lifted his head and slammed it back onto the floor.

"Youkai poison," Sango said, "and Kagome, if you get too close it will affect you too. Stay back."

"How the hell did you get youkai poison?" Kagome wondered, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Does it matter? This bastard tried to kill me. Tried to kill us."

What was the right thing to do? Kagome didn't know. Sango was right, Inuyasha had been nothing but pushy and scary since she released him from his imprisonment, yet… yet despite all that, there was something off about it all. Inuyasha could have easily snapped Sango's neck, but he hadn't. He could have easily thrown Kohaku against the wall hard enough to kill him, but he hadn't. He could have taken the discarded gun Kagome had been ordered to bring to him and shot her with it, but he'd crushed the thing until it was unusable instead.

There were a hundred opportunities for him to kill them, but he hadn't. And on top of all that he saved her.

Was it right for Sango to kill him?

No.

"No!" Kagome cried as Sango's arm pulled back again to deliver the final blow. She threw herself over Inuyasha's face and shoulders, shielding him with her body.

"Shit, Kagome, what are you doing?" Sango yelled, trying to pry her away from the Youkai. But Kagome refused to budge. She felt slight dizziness, but whatever the poison had been must have already been sucked mostly into Inuyasha's lungs, because she didn't seize up and fall over like he had. Instead, she formed a sort of cocoon over his upper body, her hair splayed out in a curtain over her head, her arms wrapped under her forehead. She could see Inuyasha's face in the enclosed space. She watched as his eyes closed, as he inhaled deeply.

"You… smell good." He said.

Kagome's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"You smell good," he repeated, "like vanilla and cherry blossom."

She stared at him. Her soap. He could smell her soap. He wasn't moving save for his chest; whatever poison Sango had given him had paralyzed him somehow. But with Kagome over him like this, he seemed… calm, almost. Like he wasn't going to fight it off if she was there to protect him.

Oh man, she was going crazy. She had no idea what the hanyou was thinking. For all she knew, he was planning on killing her and Sango as soon as the paralysis wore off. But she didn't think so. She didn't want to think so.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted, furious that she kept getting in the way. Kagome lifted her head and turned to look over her shoulder.

"Sango, you can't kill him."

"Oh yeah? Just watch me. Get. Out. Of the. Way."

Kagome set her jaw. "No. You can't. He saved my life. Kikyou was going to kill me and he saved my life. If you kill him, it will be like taking my life for granted." She felt her face warm at the rage in Sango's eyes. Her best friend had never looked at her that way before, she had never seen Sango so angry.

"Please," Kagome begged. "He was wrong to attack us earlier, I know that, but he could have killed us all and he didn't."

"Bitch shot me first," Inuyasha mumbled under her, low enough for only her to pick up. She ignored him and kept going.

"He only needs me to collect the jewel shards, he could have killed you and Kohaku and forced me to go with him, but he didn't. Please, Sango!" For a few agonizingly long moments, Kagome thought Sango was going to push her off and just finish the job. But then her face relaxed, just a bit, and her arm lowered. She sat back on her heels and dragged a hand back through her hair, then pulled the mask away from her face.

"Kagome," she started, shaking her head, "he's a youkai, which makes him dangerous. I can't have him in this house anymore."

Kagome frowned, but nodded. It was Sango's house, she certainly couldn't force her to let Inuyasha stay here. Sango stood and moved back to the kitchen sink, where she turned the faucet on and splashed water on her face. Kagome sat up and looked down at Inuyasha. His eyes were still closed, his chest still rising and falling in steady rhythm.

"Will it… will the poison wear off?" She asked, dreading the answer.

There was a pause, then the water stopped running and Sango stepped back into view, her face damp. "Yes. It's just paralysis poison, it won't kill him."

Relief washed through her, although she wasn't sure if it was because Inuyasha wasn't going to die, or because Sango had yet to become a killer. A thought struck her then. "Where did you even get paralysis poison?"

The corners of her lips quirked up into a smile, that same amused, I-have-a-secret-and-it's-awesome smile that she'd come to know so well over the years. "Apparently, martial arts is not the only thing my parents' practice." She said.

"Youkai hunting is my fucking guess," Inuyasha moaned as he slowly pushed his head off the ground, supporting his upper body on his elbows.

"Oh!" Kagome exclaimed, turning towards him. "You can move!" She instinctively reached out, placing her palm on his forehead. He didn't feel like he had a fever, even though his brow was slick with perspiration. "You should probably lie down for a bit."

His eyes moved to hers, and he reached up with his hand, gripping at her wrist. "Keh. I'm fine, wench, stop mothering me." Then he froze, his eyes widening, and Kagome felt a sudden shock run through her. She was hyper aware of the skin his fingers touched. She couldn't move her eyes from his, and if he kept moving closer to her like that she was going to lose it.

"Ah-hem." Sango cleared her throat, and Inuyasha pushed her arm away. Kagome was left feeling cold and detached.

"Well, I'm getting the hell out of here." Inuyasha pushed himself all the way up, his legs wobbling dangerously under his weight.

"Do that," Sango replied, eyes narrowed.

Kagome forced herself not to glare at her friend. She stood alongside Inuyasha and held her hands out to steady him, but he shook them away.

"Next time you think of using any of that weak poison shit on me, you'd better be prepared to finish me off." He threatened.

Sango pushed away from the counter, and the hidden dagger slid out from her sleeve again. "Don't try me, Youkai. I may have just learned of your existence, and I may have just learned of my heritage, but I can promise you that I have been training my whole life to defend myself against you. Kagome's protection only goes so far."

Inuyasha's lips pulled back in a snarl, and Sango stepped back into a stance.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Kagome exclaimed, throwing herself between them, her hands held out as if she could push both of them away. She couldn't, of course, they were both much stronger than she was. "Stop fighting, I can't take it anymore. Sango, Inuyasha and I will leave."

"You don't have to go, Kagome, I just want him to-"

"I have to go home anyway, mom is going to kill me for staying out so… late…" As she spoke the words, her heart skipped a beat, and the last thing Miroku had said as she and Inuyasha fled slammed into her.

"Let the doppelganger know there's a little present waiting for her at home!"

"Oh." Kagome took a step back, her eyes wide and horrified. She could feel both Sango and Inuyasha's eyes on her, but their stupid, petty problems were not in the forefront of her mind anymore.

"What is it?" Inuyasha growled.

"My family!" She exclaimed, terrified that they were dead. "How could I forget?! It was that stupid sifting you dragged me through, I- I-"

He stepped forward and grabbed her upper arm, ignoring the warning glare from Sango. "What about your family?"

"Miroku said something, right before we sifted, that there was a present waiting for me at home."

Realization dawned over Sango's face, and she became as pale as Kagome felt.

"Keh," Inuyasha said, whirling around and stalking towards the front door, dragging Kagome behind him. "I'll take you there. Show me the way."

She could feel the panic rising inside of her, feel the irrational thoughts flashing through her head. "What if… what if she killed them? Inuyasha, what if she killed my family and-"

"Oi, wench. Look at me!" He gripped her chin tight in his clawed fingers and forced her eyes to meet his. "Calm down. You don't know what she'd done, it could just be an empty threat."

His eyes were piercing. They impaled her. She couldn't catch her breath, couldn't breathe. And then, as if a switch went off, she was calm again. She could hear his heart beating, and she regulated her breathing to match his.

"You calm?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Get on my back. We'll make sure your family is okay."

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Aaand this chapter is finally done. Here's to hoping the next one doesn't take so long!

When you review it makes my cloudy days turn to sunshine. Please let me know what you think!

~SugarRos