Authors Note: Hi everyone, thanks for continuing to read along! I can't believe we're at 50 chapters! I'll be happy if this thing is wrapped up in 75, but don't take that as a promise of anything, because I'm terrible at those, haha.

Awesome Betas: Pentheseileia, Not_Towa_Wakasa, Noir, Youngimoo

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Chapter 50: Nightmare

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Sango

Sango reached behind her, touching at where she'd felt fingers pressing the jewel shards into her back only moments ago.

But her back was normal to the touch. Her muscles were strong and solid, her skin smooth, save for the scar her brother had given her when he drove his weapon into her back.

Grumbling multiple curses under her breath, Sango stood from her sleeping bag and picked up the extra blanket she had for warmth, wrapping it around her shoulders as she followed the monk into the forest She didn't bother to keep her footsteps quiet, and glared back when he shot her a quizzical glance.

The fuck? she thought. Is this stupid jewel in my back going to keep giving me nightmares? She just wanted her legs back and to get on with things, why did everything have to become so damn complicated?

She gradually worked herself into such an angry state that by the time the monk stopped, she exploded. "Seriously, you fucking ass, what the fuck?" she shouted, her eyes outlining his shadowed form in the darkness.

"Are you okay?" he asked, voice calm and cool. Concerned, almost.

"You know I'm not fucking okay. You put this piece of jewel in my back and now it's giving me fucking night terrors, as if my actual life isn't terrifying enough. You knew this would happen, and you-"

"It's not the jewel," he interrupted. His sleeve rustled as he moved. She heard his fingers snap, and a flame flickered up from the center of his palm. She could see his face now.

...Was it just her? Was it just the dark that surrounded them, or did his skin look ashen and pale? "What do you mean it's not the jewel?" she asked.

"The jewel itself doesn't invade your dreams. You were attacked."

Sango clutched the corners of the blanket in one hand and ran the other over her face. "What are you talking about? That doesn't make sense."

His lips pursed into a thin line. "Every day, Kikyou grows stronger. Her recovery is slow but steady. She's… finding the jewel shards," he said, looking as if the last few words were painful to speak aloud.

Sango's jaw dropped open. "Are you saying that priestess bitch knows there's a shard in my back? And she's fucking invading my mind while I sleep because of it?"

"In the strictest sense-"

"You put something in me that allows her to fucking track me?"

"No," he said, "she is not tracking you. I doubt she knows what she is doing. She is not consciously seeking out the shards. She broke the jewel when she ripped it out of the doppelganger for a purpose, and now that she is recovering, the spell she placed on the jewel is doing what it is meant to do."

"So what happened tonight then?"

"I can only guess that the spell is keeping those that have implanted themselves with the jewel shards weakened somehow. Fearful. But I am here, and I will keep her out of your dreams. Think, why did I wake you up when I did? After I pushed her out of your dream, I-"

"That was actually you in my dream?"

He paused before answering. "Yes. I am sorry I did not get to you sooner. I was… distracted."

"Distracted by what?"

He tried to hide the quirk of his mouth and failed. "It doesn't matter."

She huffed. "Fine. How did you even know she was in my head? Why didn't you just assume I was having a regular nightmare?"

"I have my own protections in place. Whether you believe it or not, I'm not out to make your life more miserable. I would like to leave you in one piece once I have attained my freedom and Kikyou is laid to rest. I am here to protect you."

She took a step back. "I don't want your protection."

"And yet you have it. I have forced the jewel shard upon you, and I will make sure you survive in spite of it."

Sango's breath quickened. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Was she afraid? Angry? She couldn't tell. It was too much. It was always too much. There was never a rest, never a pause, it was always one thing after another, constantly slamming into her.

She couldn't escape it.

"So am I going to have these nightmares every night?"

"There will be nightly attempts, most likely. They might grow stronger as time passes and Kikyou regains her strength. It is good that you and your friend are rushing to find Inuyasha and the doppelganger. The faster the jewel is collected and used to rid us of Kikyou, the safer you will be."

"Great, so sleeping will be super fun from now on."

He stepped forward and leaned down so their gaze was at an equal level. "I will not become distracted again. You can be sure that your dreams will be safe." He reached his hand out, as if to sweep her bangs from her forehead.

Sango's breath caught in her throat.

The monk's eyes widened, mimicking her own, as if he'd just realized what he was doing. His hand stayed in midair, hovering only for a moment before he withdrew it. "You can be sure of it," he continued, straightening out and stepping back. "Sleep well knowing so."

Heat spread across her face. "I-" she said, her heart thumping in her chest, "I don't trust you."

"Ah," he said, his eyes sad again, "your trust is to be earned, and I have no doubt you will make me work for it." He leaned back, resting against a tree, his hand with the flame lowering a bit so it was set better between them. "I am sorry to have pulled you away from your campsite."

"I'm fine," she said without hesitation.

"You're shivering. You're soaked."

She opened up the blanket and glanced down at her sleepwear. She was freezing, and he hadn't noticed it at all. All that sweat from her nightmare had turned into an ice bath in the crisp, fall air. She'd been too angry and then too… flustered to realize, but her whole body was shivering.

"Dammit," she said. She was going to tell him to mind his own business, that it didn't matter, but when her eyes darted up to his he flinched and looked away.

She stared as his cheeks burned a deep red. "Were you…" her voice trailed off, shocked at how blatant he'd been about it. "Were you just ogling me?" she asked, voiced filled with indignation.

"I do not know what you speak of, Slayer," he said, pointedly looking at the dark sky, rather than at her.

"You were just fucking ogling me, you pervert."

"I was not ogling, I was… appreciating."

"Appreciate this," she snapped, lifting her middle finger up in the air and pushing it out towards him so he really got the message.

He blinked down at her offending appendage. "What are you doing?"

She felt the blood drain from her face. "What do you mean? This!" she cried, pushing her finger closer to his face, "This! Fuck you!"

"I've never seen that expression formed in this way."

Livid that he couldn't quite grasp the gravity of her insult, she pulled her hand back and wrapped the blanket tighter around her. "Well, that's what it means. A big 'fuck you!' What do you think is going to happen here?"

The quirk returned her his lips. "Just appreciating art where I find it."

"Art," she snorted, "you pig."

"You may insult me all you want, Slayer, but let us get you to bed, you have a long day tomorrow."

"Don't bother, I'll go back myself, thank you very much!" And with that, she turned and stormed away, through the darkness and in the general direction they'd come from.

She found her way, alright, although it took longer than it should have. Next time, bring a damn flashlight, she chided herself as her head lay on the blanket. The fire was now crisp embers, Hojou still sleeping soundly where she'd left him. She closed her eyes to let sleep come to her as well, but of course it didn't. Of course it didn't.

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"Sleep okay?" Hojou asked as he sprung out of his sleeping bag like he did every single morning, as if he were some hyperactive twelve-year-old. Where did he get his invisible insta-coffee? She wanted some of that.

She sighed inwardly before sitting up. "Slept fine," she lied, rubbing at her eyes and hoping he took it for sleepiness.

"Let's pack everything and go," he said, moving around the campsite with ease.

Groaning as quietly as possible, Sango followed his lead, pinching herself to try and keep her eyes open. No problem, you've got this, she repeated in her head, determined to stay awake.

The grueling pace was set again, and Sango kept her mind on her goal as best she could, along with the memory of the monk's eyes on her body which allowed renewed anger to sweep through her. It kept her feet moving.

As night fell they set up camp again, another small clearing, another small fire, more gathering of clean water from a nearby stream, more dehydrated food… Even though it terrified her, Sango went through the motions and laid down in bed. She tried to keep her eyes open… She tried...

She jerked awake.

...Oh, thank god. Hojou was still sleeping soundly, his back turned towards the fire, his shoulders moving up and down with each even, predictable breath. She felt her own breath spill from her lungs, relieved that everything seemed to be in order.

Except… the forest was quiet.

Not the deafening quiet of the night, where creatures come out of day-hibernation and call out to each other. Not the waterfall backdrop of crickets and owls and night critters…

This was blanket silence. Nothing spoke. Hojou's breath, while she could see it pushing in and out of him, stayed mute.

And then her back hardened. It started at the base of her spine; Slow, creeping centimeters freezing each vertebrae one at a time. When she reached around to feel it, it wasn't skin that her fingertips touched, it was unyielding crystal - no - unyielding jewel. The shard inside of her had begun to consume her, and it was taking her, bit-by-bit, her body nothing but fodder for its curse.

Between the trees, the priestess materialized out of the darkness. Her pale face was covered in burns. Burns in the shape of two hands that dashed across her lids and cheeks and lips.

Sango tried to rear back, her mouth opening wide to scream, but she couldn't move. Her legs were solid. Her lower back was solid. It crept further up her spine, until she couldn't turn her head. She couldn't look away.

She couldn't look away as the priestess's eyes opened, her lashes long and dark against her paint-white skin. But as she neared, Sango saw that her pupils were seared. Scared over, just like her face. Her chin was tilted up and she moved it slowly around the clearing, her chest expanding with his inhale, as if she were sniffing someone out…

She's sniffing me out! Sango screamed, the sound failing to escape from her lips.

Kikyou's arms reached out, her fingers stretched as they felt the air around her. Searching. Searching. Closer and closer.

But then movement behind the priestess, through the trees where she had come from. Sango recognized the purple cloth and deep violet eyes of the monk. He was sneaking up behind her, and in his hand he held a sliver of a rock, its sharp, pointed edge glistening in the firelight.

Wide-eyed and terrified, her breath slowly freezing in her lungs, Sango watched as he whipped his arms around the priestess's head, one hand gripping her chin and the other slashing deftly across her throat.

Blood splattered across Sango's face, drenching her with it. It sizzled and burned, as if it were on fire, soaking into her. But she couldn't scream, she couldn't breathe, even as the monk lunged for her, his arms outstretched-

"Wake up!" he hissed, his hands gripping at her shirt as he shook her gently.

Each inhale was a gift. Sango sucked the air in, her sobs drowning out her desperate gasps. The monk was leaning over her. His face filled up the night sky.

"Shhh, Sango. Quiet. I got you out." He repeated his words as she sobbed.

She tried to stop. She did. But it was uncontrollable, the fear. It gnawed at her insides, even as she became aware that her body could still move. "N-no," she sobbed. "No!"

"Sorry," he said. "I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face into his robes, the fabric muffling her cries.

"She's coming for me."

"No. She's not," he insisted, voice calm and comforting. "It was not her in your dream, Sango."

"You said I could sleep safely, but I can't. She's there every time I close my eyes." Her hands went around his waist, hugging him closer, relishing in the very real feel of his human body against her own. It grounded her, even though her head was a mess.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, a remorseful strain to his voice. "Kikyou is powerful and so is the jewel spell. It took me a long time to find my way in."

"I was paralyzed again. The jewel was consuming me." She drew back to look into his eyes, begging with her own to tell her the truth. "Will that eventually happen to me? Will the jewel freeze me into place again? Will it paralyze me?"

His hand came up to push her sweat-matted hair away from her face, his fingertips soft and warm against her forehead. "No," he whispered. "I gave you the jewel so you would have the freedom of your legs again. It's only in your mind."

She shook her head, fresh tears springing up and falling from her lashes. "I can't lose my legs again, I can't-"

"Sango, look at me," he said, his hands moving to cup her cheeks and force her eyes to meet his. "I will not allow anything to happen to you. If there was someone else… if there was anyone else I could have to suffer in your place instead, I would do so in an instant, but it must be you. I have given you your legs back, and while you may not believe it yet, I fully intend on you walking away from this unpleasantness with them in full use."

She gripped his robes tightly in her fists, her body quivering. "I don't… want to have a nightmare again," she admitted.

The monk nodded. "Of course. The closer I am in proximity to you, the more likely it is that I am able to keep the spell away from your consciousness. I will stay here. You may sleep again."

She breathed in deep, realizing for the first time that he smelled of warm spice and amber. It stilled her scattered, terrified thoughts. It calmed her rattled, trying brain. She allowed his scent to wash over her, allowed his open palm, which moved across her back in lazy, comforting circles, to still the throbbing in her head.

A few hours passed before her tears died, and the monk stayed where he was. Sango's eyes began to close. She drifted, her thoughts pleasantly fuzzy and mild. Is he doing this? she wondered. Is he keeping my thoughts calm?

His hand moved lower and gave a gentle squeeze.

Sango reared up, completely awake, and slapped him clean across his face. "Dammit!" she hissed, pushing at his chest to move him away. "What the hell is wrong with you, pervert?"

He leaned back, his hands up and out of the way. "Sorry!" he said sheepishly. "They have a mind of their own!"

"Well keep them away from me," she snapped, before flipping over and tugging her sleeping bag up over her shoulder. The fuck was wrong with him? No… what the fuck was wrong with her? She'd allowed him to lull her into a false sense of security, with his nice smell and the fuzzy way he calmed her conscious.

She heard the rustling of his robes as he moved to stand and her breath hitched in her throat. She turned her chin over her shoulder, panic beginning to set in. "But don't go too far!" she pleaded, well aware what his distance meant for her sleep.

His amused smile contrasted sharply against the red hand-mark on his cheek. "I'll be right here," he said, sitting down against the base of a tree a foot or so from her head.

She snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag, curling up in herself, waiting for her thoughts to return to the jumbled mess they'd been before.

But they were surprisingly pleasant, and since Sango hadn't gotten much sleep in the last forty-eight hours, she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity now.

She closed her eyes, her mind drifting once more.

She dreamed she was walking in the deep woods, light filtering through the treetops and amber droplets falling from the sky.

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Going to try and wrap up this part of Sango's POV in the next chapter, so we should be seeing more of Inuyasha and Kagome in chapter 52! 'Try' being the key word here. Thanks again for reading! As always, I love hearing your (true!) thoughts!

~SugarRos