Aah, I didn't mean for this next part to take so long to be posted! Sorry for the wait!

For this one, the prompts I knocked out were: 13. Misfortune, 17. Blood, 41. Teamwork, 56. Danger Ahead. Hope you all enjoy!

*4.1.21: retyped edited to fix mistakes, update writing style, and add to the story.*

Disclaimer: Obviously, neither Dragon Age nor Inuyasha belong to me.

—Part II—

Fenris and Kagome continued their trek southward through Thedas, passing through various villages and towns along the way, trading the goods they'd picked up for supplies and coin, as well as the skins and furs Kagome would tan from the animals they'd hunt for food.

Their stops never lasted long. Kagome would often stay a night or two at an inn to rest before returning to the road, but it was still far too close to the Imperium for Fenris's comfort to do the same.

But the more they traveled, the more distance they put between themselves and the slavery-ridden country, and the longer it therefore took for hunters to track them. And with each squad sent after Fenris decimated, it took even more time for the next to follow up.

The declining frequency of ambushes and attacks served greatly to sooth Fenris's nerves and raging paranoia. But what also helped was the ease in which dealing with the hunters turned out to be with Kagome fighting by his side — someone not only skilled enough to take on the slavers with efficiency but also someone he was beginning to trust at his back, slow though it may come.

It would only be a matter of time, Fenris knew, before Danarius would become impatient and take up the pursuit himself. But that, he hoped, would not come so soon; not before he became stronger… before he gained the confidence to raise his sword at his former master without waver.

Fenris doubted his old master would bother leaving his fortress and its cushy trappings, though, so long as they continued to travel from place to place.

No, Danarius would wait until he had settled somewhere to avoid the effort of a chase and continue to send hunters in his place until then.

"For what reasons did you come to the Imperium?" Fenris inquired of her one evening as they made camp, rolling out his sleeping mat by the fire Kagome had just finished making. "If you don't mind me asking, that is?"

She didn't answer at first, the fire's crackles filling the silence in her stead as she took the time to pull out her own sleeping gear and set it up, weighing the risks of telling him the truth.

Across from her, Fenris took a seat and settled down, content to watch her and wait.

Nearly a year and a half had passed since they first met, since Kagome found Fenris propped up against a tree, near-death and drenched in blood both his own and not. Time was not of the essence as she headed for Estwatch — a fortunate thing, considering how often they had to deviate from their intended path in order to throw off the hunters on their tails.

Not that the inconvenience bothered Kagome; leading Tevinter slavers to her destination was the last thing she wanted, for sure. And that besides, traveling on the road with Fenris certainly wasn't the worst thing in the world.

In all that time, this wasn't the first that Kagome debated telling Fenris her reasons for visiting Tevinter, nor was he the first person she'd ever considered telling at all. But for all those occasions she had always thought better of it, unsure who she could truly trust in this world, if she even should…

But it had been years, nearly seven now, since she first dropped into this world of… of magic and darkspawn, and Fenris was the longest companion she had kept yet.

As Kagome laid down her own sleeping mat, she took a seat and turned to Fenris with a sigh. "It'll…" she trailed off, Sound crazy , she finished in her head, and almost laughed. Linking her fingers over her lap, she warned instead, "It's kind of a long story."

Fenris merely shrugged and proceeded to unstrap his gauntlets, tugging them off, before moving to unbuckle his chest piece. Getting comfortable, she realized, in preparation for her 'long story'.

Kagome sighed again. "Well, since there's no better way to put this," she said, muttering, before proceeding to take a deep breath and meeting Fenris's gaze straight on. "I'm not originally from Estwatch, or anywhere in Thedas, really. I just… woke up in Estwatch one day, in what I later found out to be an Ancient Elven ruin. I traveled to Tevinter — to Minrathous — to research a way on returning home."

Kagome soon found herself the subject of an intense stare, something that honestly relieved her to see instead of the skepticism she feared.

"Then where is 'home' exactly that you cannot simply travel back to using normal means?"

But then, she had yet to get through the worst of it.

Kagome let out a nervous laugh, wiping a hand over her face and hiding from Fenris's eyes. "Not anywhere in this world, I can tell you. For what it's worth, it's called Japan."

And so began her tale of the world from where she came, a world that held only humans and demons, witches and creatures, and how one day years ago, in a fight alongside her friends against a demon, she ended up shoved against a mirror that instead of breaking, allowed her to pass through it instead along with one of her friends.

"When I woke," Kagome went on as she reached the conclusion of her tale, "We were alone. My friend — Shippo — he was still alive, but unconscious. We ended up in some abandoned cave, alone except for a mirror identical to the one we fell into. This one, however, was solid. Silent. It didn't take long to figure out we were stuck here for the time being."

Fenris, who had taken to leaning forward as he listened intently, his bare forearms braced against his crossed legs, remained silent as he processed her story.

Kagome spent the awkward silence looking anywhere but at him — be it the trees, the fire, the moon in the sky. It wasn't until she caught the sound of Fenris moving that she looked over at him in anticipation.

He was gazing at her now, over the fire between them. It was well into the evening now, his olive green eyes now bright and orange from the flickering flames. "This friend of yours, Shippo," he began, slowly, contemplating, "Where is he now?"

Kagome glanced away with a thoughtful sound, fingers playing absently with a loose thread in her blanket. "We, ah, decided to go our separate ways when we figured the Imperium was our best shot for information into these mirrors. I didn't want to bring him into such a hotbed of slavery, especially when…" She trailed off, pursing her lips.

Fenris tipped his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. "When…?" he repeated, prompting her to continue.

Her gaze flickered towards him with uncertainty. "Before I say why, you need to understand," she quickly said, visibly nervous. Her shoulders were stiff with tension, fingers now antsy in their fiddling with her blanket. "Your world and my world describe certain things differently — call different things by the same name," she said, emphasizing the word different. "Like how you thought I was a mage before, right?"

Fenris gave a curt nod, clearly trying to figure out where she was going with this spiel.

"And like, how in this world, demons are the corrupted spiritual embodiments of concepts that come from what's called the Fade. My world has demons as well, but they aren't restricted to another realm, nor are they inherently evil — instead, they're mostly spiritual embodiments of animals bound in physical forms. I mean, there are exceptions, of course, but that's the simplest—"

Fenris held up his hand to halt her rambling, an undecipherable expression now etched upon his darkened face. "Your friend — he is a demon," he concluded with finality, every word spoken slow and flat.

Kagome swallowed thickly. "… Yes?" she weakly replied, grimacing. "To be more specific, he's a fox spirit in a humanoid form." She tried for a reassuring smile that fell a little short from the mark. "No possession involved, and if you went just by looking at him, you'd think he was an elven mage. He's actually a very sweet kid, trust me!" she rushed to explain. "Maybe a bit of a troublemaker, but that's in his nature! He was a child when we met, and he had just lost his father, and I've been with him ever since. He's kind of like a son to me."

Fenris stared at her blankly for a moment once more, at the soft little smile that had crept onto her face by the time she'd finished speaking, before his dark green eyes drifted skyward and he let out a faint noise that could only be described as strained exasperation.

"You consider a demon as a son to you," he repeated with an incredible amount of weariness. Passing a hand across his face, he pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered under his breath.

Kagome barely caught wind of it over the crackle of the fire between them.

"The company I find myself keeping…"

A nervous laugh escaped Kagome and she shrugged. "Honestly, you're taking this better than I expected you to…" she couldn't help but remark, unable to help the relieved smile on her face even less. Just the suspicion of her being a mage set Fenris off last year — the fact she was friends with a demon , her world's version or no, was often something she feared to share.

No one needed a repeat of the choking incident, her especially.

Fenris grimaced a bit, turning away from her with a small cough. "I'm… not entirely sure I believe you," he admitted, if not a touch sheepishly. Immediately, the smile on Kagome's face fell in favor of disappointment. "But" he continued quickly, the sight of it invoking a sense of disquiet, and he gave another awkward cough. "You have not lied to me so far, and I have seen many things, being surrounded by magisters as I once was."

Here his words took a dark tone.

"It is not so completely out of the realm of possibility," he conceded, "Your abilities make more sense as well, so it lends truth to your story. So, yes, I will take you on your word," Fenris decided with a firm nod, and Kagome shot him a grateful look paired with a relieved sigh. "Did you find anything that will help you return?"

Kagome's gaze drifted away to the flickering fire between them, taking a stick to shift the kindling when she found it to be burning low. "Yes, actually, but nothing concrete," she murmured over the intensified crackling. "The mirror itself is called an Eluvian — it was once used for travel and communication long ago between the elves of old. I… still don't understand how one could even exist in my world, never mind be linked between the two, but I'll need to discuss this further with Shippo. If I'm lucky, maybe he found something as well…"

After telling Fenris the truth to her past, it was like a dam had burst. Kagome found herself opening up more and more each day, no longer beholden by the fear and trepidation stemming from her secret — perhaps more so than reasonable, but, it had been years since being stranded in this world, and the only person she could truly trust and be so free around was Shippo.

Fenris, as it turned out, was a fantastic listener — though, from the looks on his face that he'd sometimes get as she shared to him some of her most memorable adventures and talked of the companions she'd traveled with, it was a bit of a toss up whether he believed her or was merely entertaining her.

But those looks faded in time, and, in turn, Fenris began opening up as well — slowly though, so slow one could even go as far to say a snail's pace slow, but considering his past, part of which would likely forever remain a mystery to even him, it wasn't like she could blame Fenris for his hesitation.

The pair grew closer, more comfortable with one another as the months passed and they continued to travel further south. Hunters still came, bandits as well, both of which taken care of with the fluid efficiency borne only from familiarity and harmony between their fighting styles, and their time spent on the roads together became something they both enjoyed.

Well, for the most part.

"Venehedis," Fenris spat, shoving the hunter off his blade with a well-placed kick against the chest before turning to the next. "It is as if there is no end to these hunters."

A laugh echoed to his right, distant but nonetheless bright. "It makes one wonder where they all come from!" He heard a grunt, cut off before it could finish by a wet squelch, followed by a breathless, hah! "Perhaps they wait in bulk at some warehouse until they finally get an assignment?"

Fenris scoffed, spinning on his barefooted heel to decapitate another hunter bearing down on him with a single deft swing of his blade. "I believe you are enjoying this a touch too much!" A high-pitched whistle swept past his ear, and he turned just in time to see another hunter fall to the ground, the shaft of an arrow buried deep into her throat.

Another twang of Kagome's bow followed, another body soon dropping. "Maybe you're just rubbing off on me!"

Fenris grinned, an almost feral look in the shadows cast by the glow of his tattoos as he sprinted over to confront another group of hunters. Within a blink of an eye he was there, killing one man instantly via a sword ran through the abdomen.

"Was that a complaint?" he called out, kicking out at a second hunter, only to punch a glowing fist into the chest of a third, crushing his heart instantaneously. Letting the man drop away, his now free hand grabbed the knife at his waist, thrusting it out and up behind him, sliding home in between the ribs of the second hunter who'd tried to strike him from behind.

Kagome's laugh echoed in the clearing and over the sounds of battle once more.

"Certainly not!"

Hunters and bandits were not the only adversaries they would fight while on the road. There were animals as well, packs of wolves starved for prey and the occasional bear unwilling to let them pass in peace. Once, they'd even stumbled into a nestling of drakes — drakes with their razor-sharp teeth and talons, their high-pitched squalls, their wild, whip-fast tails — all eight rushing at them with frightening, powerful speed.

But even drakes didn't compare to… this.

By the time they were done fighting and Kagome could lower her bow, she was dripping in ichor. She shuddered, resolutely trying not to think about the sticky, stinking mix of guts and gunk coating her skin.

Not even ten feet away, Fenris glanced over at her and stared — he stood pristine and untouched, not even a drop of the shit on his white hair, save for the light coating over his bare feet as he stood, unflinching, in a puddle of the nasty sludge. Whether it was instinctual or a controlled act, his markings flared at the precise moment the creatures exploded, letting the residue phase right through him, and Kagome couldn't believe the unfairness of it.

"You look—" Fenris released a startled laugh. It was a husky sound, a pleasing one even, rare to her ears, but unfortunately Kagome was unable to properly enjoy it as it was at her expense. "You look ridiculous ."

So, so , unfair.

Kagome spat at the ground, swiping fingers through the gunk on her face, swallowing back the wave a nausea threatening to roll up from her gut. "Yeah, laugh it up," she muttered weakly, glaring at the dead arachnids littered about the ground and trying not to gag. "Fucking spiders. Ugh. "

Keeping to the side, Kagome watched as people bustled about in the village square. Stands were being set up, decorations hung, food and drink prepared and spread out on tables.

Sensing the presence hovering just over her shoulder, Kagome turned to peer up at her companion. "Looks like there's going to be a celebration."

Fenris, who had been observing the same scene she had been, glanced down at her momentarily. His gaze roved over her face, lingering for a moment, before turning back to the commotion before them. "A harvest festival, if I heard correctly," he replied, and Kagome resisted the shiver threatening to sneak up her spine as his warm, baritone voice brushed against her ear in just above a whisper as he asked, "Would you like to stay?"

"Oh." Kagome's eyes widened, and she glanced between him and then back at the preparations. A smile was already playing at the edges of her mouth when she replied, "Could we?"

The telltale sound of shifting metal echoed above her, an indication she knew to mean he was shrugging. "I don't see why not."

Kagome turned back to Fenris, a little bounce to her step as she flashed him a wide grin. Fenris's eyes widened a bit. "I've never actually been to one here!" she confessed, and ducked her head, a hint of red dusting her cheeks, "With all the researching, it just… never panned out."

Fenris's gaze softened. "Nor have I," he admitted. "Minrathous held grand celebrations — loud, filled with drink and revelry and fanfare, but slaves were never allowed to participate any further than what their duties permitted." Bitterness darkened his tone, dripping with it.

Kagome reached out to touch his shoulder, careful of his markings — that Fenris did not stiffen or even jerk out from under her touch spoke volumes on its own — and her head tipped to the side as she smiled at him, its brightness untouched by his earlier acerbity. "Then this will be an experience for the both of us, hm?"

Fenris looked at her, at her gentle touch and even gentler look, as if she was light incarnate, encouraging as she was bright and warm. His lips twitched, unbidden, and he gave her a nod as he softly murmured, "One that I look forward to."

"You're hurt," Fenris exhaled after yet another encounter with hunters, short and sharp and his eyes wide.

"Yes," Kagome griped, reply curt as she pressed a steady hand against her thigh. Blood spurted through her fingers from the pressure as she dug through her pack with the other. "Unfortunately, that occurs when one gets caught by the rather pointy business end of a blade."

Fenris gave a heavy, abrupt huff, stalking over to where she'd sat perched on an old, fallen tree trunk. "Foolish woman," he hissed at her, just as harsh, and stripped himself of his gauntlets. He tossed them aside to take her hand, removing it so that he could inspect the wound himself — a jagged cut, near two inches long, deep but not so deep that it required stitching.

Rivulets of blood began trickling down Kagome's leg now that the pressure was relieved, and Fenris was quick to pluck one of the strips of cloth she'd just fished out from her pack, pressing it against the sluggish bleed before digging into her pack himself for the healing poultice. His dark green gaze cut a hard glare her way as he did, "Why did you not mention this sooner?"

Kagome, who had taken to leaning back against her elbows while he commandeered tending to her injuries, rolled her eyes at his admonishing tone. "You were a trite busy fighting off a few hunters of your own." When he only snarled under his breath, a muttered curse in Tevene too swift and low for her to parse, she laid a hand over his striped wrist. "Fenris," she called, sarcasm gone in favor of something softer, more soothing as she assured him, "It isn't so bad. I can take care of myself."

Fenris huffed once more, unwilling to relent, to be soothed just yet. "Then perhaps you should do a better job of it, then," he groused. But despite his gruff displeasure at her, his hands were nothing but gentle as he guided her leg to turn so that he could smear the poultice over her wound, taking up the other clean strip of cloth to begin wrapping it around her thigh.

Kagome's lips pursed, twitching, before a smile broke out on her face and she had to duck her face away to hide it, as well as the heat prickling over her cheeks. The sensation of his calloused fingers gently brushing against the sensitive skin of her thigh with each pass of the cloth sent a warm rush of pleasant tingles up her spine, too strong to ignore. She could only pray her thanks that he'd yet to see the goose-flesh prickling at her skin, so intent on his task at hand, and hoped that it remained that way.

Once he had finished tying up the bandage, Kagome had wrestled her reaction under control and rocked up to nudge a shoulder against his.

"I'll try, just for you," she softly said, gracing him with a playful wink.

The look he returned to her was just as soft. "Please do."

"Even the stars are different…"

The comment came unprompted, her voice so soft that it barely registered, but still… something about it somehow penetrating through the thickening haze of his mind, drawing him back to cognizance before he could fall completely asleep.

It took a moment for her words to process fully, before Fenris rolled over to face her, genuine curiosity on his face as he glanced up to the night sky.

Stars littered the dark expanse in indiscernible patterns to his own eyes. He traced them still, trying to find them, wondering what it would be like. To be so familiar only to find one night, a whole different sky above one's head. The idea seemed too… extraordinary to even imagine, but Kagome had lived it, had been living it, for years now.

A reminder that the sky she now slept below was not the one she was once born under.

"You can tell?" he murmured, a pang twinging deep in his chest at just the imagination of it, that she would suffer it, and Kagome nodded, an absent thing accompanied with an affirmative hum.

"In my original time, you couldn't really see the stars, not in the cities at least. Too much light reflecting into the sky blocked them from view."

Fenris's eyebrows furrowed, trying to imagine such a thing.

"But in the past, before electricity and artificial light were ever invented, the skies were like this." Kagome gestured to the air above her, fingers outstretched, like she was trying to touch them from where she lay. " Filled with stars — my first night sleeping outside," and she here laughed, a sound filled with fond reminiscence, "I stayed up so long just taking it in. Inuyasha eventually yelled at me that I'd better not stay up too long, as he'd have no issue in dragging my 'pathetic ass out of bed and down the road at dawn to get moving' if he had to."

Fenris snorted, glancing over at her. "Such a pleasant companion to travel with," he couldn't help but remark, dry and droll.

Kagome shifted to grin at him. "I told him if he ever tried something like that, I'd 'sit' his ass six feet under," she admitted, and the elf's lips twitched at the image it conjured. "He got better, of course. Like I've said before, we really didn't get along at first."

Fenris chuckled softly. "An understatement, it seems like."

Laughing under her breath, Kagome turned back to the sky, and Fenris soon followed suit. They spent a moment in peaceful, comfortable silence, just gazing at the stars twinkling above them, until Kagome eventually broke it with a sigh, a wistful note to the sound.

"I've spent a bunch of nights sleeping like this… I'd never thought I'd look up and see a sky I wouldn't recognize."

Fenris frowned, staring up into the air and remaining silent. He didn't quite know what to say to that, but found himself mired in disquiet at the sadness in Kagome's voice. Found himself wishing he knew how to ease it as well.

He settled with offering comfort — paltry and insufficient as it was bound to be — through his next words.

"You will see it soon, Kagome, I am sure of it."

Kagome stilled, before slowly turning to stare at him - their eyes locked, and though a part of him itched to look away, another, this one stronger, compelled him to hold her stare as she gazed at him at length. Her blue-grey eyes shone in the night, with the faint light of the fire feet away enough to cast them aglow, but with a soft warmth that left his skin prickling with pleasant tingles.

But the moment — and he didn't realize until then that it was a moment, short and unobtrusive as it was — passed quietly with a thoughtful hum passing from Kagome's lips, and Fenris watched as she closed her eyes and smiled faintly.

"Maybe…"

"Kagome, wake up."

Kagome rolled over, blinking up with bleary eyes. She could barely see anything, it was so dark, but there was enough light coming through the dirt-smudged windows outside for her to spy the strands of white hair glinting above her: Fenris.

"Hm?" she forced out, still half-asleep.

His eyes, nearly black in the dimness, bored into her with apology. "The hunters have found us."

The words jolted Kagome awake, had her rolling off the cot and stumbling to her feet. Gauntleted hands caught her arms with a careful touch, mindful of sharp, metal fingertips, and steadied her. Kagome gave one of them a thankful pat before they slid away. "How much time do we have?" she said quickly as Fenris moved towards the window.

"Enough for us to pack, at least," he murmured in reply, back towards her to keep a close watch outside. "I've had my suspicions for a time, but it wasn't until recently that I became sure. I had hoped…"

Kagome paused, turning to Fenris, but all she could see was his straight-stiff back, shoulders coiled with tension. At the ledge of the window, he gripped it tightly.

"The innkeeper did seem quiet today," she quietly remarked.

You as well, she didn't say.

She had hoped, too…

Fenris let out a rueful breath, turning to her. From over his shoulder he gave her a look of amusement that held little humor. "The man couldn't even look me in the eye last night."

Kagome's mouth twitched. "He hasn't looked you in the eye since you caught him leering at me the other evening," she pointed out, trying to lighten the tension.

It worked, if only a little, managing a brief twitch of his mouth before even that soured. "Perhaps that was why he sold us out."

Kagome grimaced and gave him a small shrug. Perhaps. Coin worked just as well as the threat of trouble to loosen peoples tongues, but it wasn't unheard of that people would be so petty. It was disheartening to see, especially when there were those that were eager to sell them out purely on the fact of Fenris being an elf alone, or because he refused to act how they expected him to, meek and dressed plain, or because they traveled together, even stayed in the same room together.

"It could just as well be that old biddy of a wife of his. You remember the evil eye she gave us when we booked the room." She gave a mock gasp, screwing her face into a scandalized expression as she brought a delicate hand to her chest and, in a poor attempt at the woman's accent, said, " Just the one ? "

Now Fenris snorted, fondness in his gaze as he looked at her. The tension in his shoulders remained still, but wasn't as prominent as it was minutes before. A success in Kagome's book.

"Pack, " he reminded her, with a small shake of his head.

They were out the window as soon as she was finished, dropping to the next roof and then from ledge to ledge before hitting packed hard dirt in the middle of an alley, only to soon find themselves running when they realized the hunters were waiting for them outside.

Kagome matched Fenris step for step, following his lead as he took them down the maze of offshoots and back alleys where trash and lines of laundry would impede their escape — or ensure it, if they used it to their advantage.

It was too easy to knock aside barrels and haphazard stacks of crates as they sprinted past, but it meant little when another pair of armored figures blocked their way — not of the guard, Kagome was relieved to see; too often they were waylaid by the local authorities, and their involvement made escaping troublesome.

They split, Fenris bringing up his blade to block and knock a hunter aside, assisting his fall with a kick out of his leg. Kagome had drawn her bow, releasing an arrow straight into the second's throat before he made another step towards Fenris's turned back.

It was the third they didn't see — not up until Fenris caught sight of him creeping up behind an unsuspecting Kagome just as he was returning to her side, twin blades raised up high to go for the kill.

Fenris snarled, markings lighting up in blue fire. His blade fell from his hand, falling to the ground, forgotten. It was sheer luck that they had kept so close to one another, that Fenris was able to throw a hand out to snatch Kagome's wrist and pull her flush against him, thrusting out his other with a blinding flash of the lyrium coursing through his veins.

Kagome now safely tucked against his side, Fenris's hand phased through the chest of the rogue that would have stabbed her in the back.

The man lurched; Fenris could feel the skip of the heart nestled in his palm gave, when the terror hit — when the hunter realized the hand rooted so intimately inside his chest.

A beat passed in which Fenris met the hunter's gaze through the slit of his helm — eyes bulging, pupils gone black, so afraid .

Fenris almost scoffed. Clearly they hadn't been warned of the prey they'd been sent to hunt. But instead he smirked, and watched with cold satisfaction as blood gushed from the other man's mouth, nose, and ears, a gurgle bubbling from his throat.

Against him, he felt Kagome shift, heard the whistle of a dagger soaring through the air, and saw the first hunter he'd fought against fall back into the sewage-covered ground when he twisted around to look.

The hilt of a familiar dagger jutted out above where the man's heart would be.

Fenris watched as Kagome turned her head to face him. "That was a close one," she breathed out — and he felt it, the hot wash of her breath against his face.

At once he became profoundly aware of their position — of his hand still gripped tight around her wrist at his side, of her body still pressed flush against him, the warmth of it, the contrast of her curves against the hard lines of his side.

He recognized the moment she realized it too, cutting off mid-sentence when she tried to give her thanks.

Like magnets, their gaze sprang to meet and it was then they realized the proximity of their faces as well.

Kagome cleared her throat. "Thank you," she murmured, a whisper still, and hot as the air of it brushed against Fenris's mouth. "For the save."

"It was my pleasure." The words rolled off Fenris's tongue before he could think twice, so low, so smooth, it could almost be called a purr . Kagome certainly responded to it positively enough, as her eyes grew just a fraction wider, rounder, as her mouth parted just so, as her breath so softly caught.

Her eyes fell to his mouth, lingering; his fingers squeezed just a little tighter around her wrist.

It would be so easy to tug her mouth to his. To follow the flow of where this tension brewing between them led. Just a simple pull —

Footsteps stomping in the distance broke it before he could.

A curse fell from his lips as they both turned to the sound, but when they glanced back around at one another, for whatever odd reason, they both ended up grinning, even erupting in joint laughter.

Fenris released Kagome's wrist, but only long enough to take up his blade and yank hers from the hunter's chest. As soon as he passed it over and she sheathed her weapons, his hand took hold of hers once more, this time wrapping around it properly.

Their eyes met for a split second, something lingering.

"Lead the way," Kagome offered, grinning, and with that, he matched it with one of his own before taking off.

The hunters remained hot on their heels with each turn they took through the winding alleys, and before long, they were met with a dead end.

Or a would-be dead end, had a window into the house at the end not been left open. He pulled at Kagome's hand, guiding her in front of him, and watched as she leapt through the window without hesitation before following in after.

He caught the whiff of freshly baked bread before he heard the ear-splitting shriek pierce the air as his feet hit the hardwood floor.

Inside was a woman, clad in a thin nightgown as pale white as the face she greeted them with. Across the room, she pressed against the wall beside her fireplace, as if wishing she could melt into it if only to get further away.

When she caught sight of Fenris, her face grew even paler, eyes even rounder.

There was a brief moment where they only stood, staring; Fenris's mouth twitched at the ridiculousness of it all..

Fenris collected Kagome's hand and led her toward the front, grinning once more when she called out to the woman as they passed, a mild cross between amused and genuinely apologetic.

"Our apologies!"

But his amusement was short lived, as a soldier was climbing through the window behind them, and they had to get out before they were surrounded in such a close quarters, before they reached the front and barred their way out—

Fenris skidded to a stop, Kagome's free hand bracing between his shoulder blades before she could crash into him.

A man stood in the doorway — one Fenris recognized. Maroon cloak like the rest of them, indicative of a soldier from Tevinter, dark hair, pale eyes like a ghost. And a jagged scar around his neck — a souvenir from their last meeting.

His lips curled in a sneer, tongue clicking in annoyance.

"Friend of yours?" Kagome murmured as she turned, her back pressed against his. She kept an eye out in front of her, but kept an ear out behind.

"You could say we're… closely acquainted." A swift glance and Kagome followed Fenris's stare to a nasty scar curled around the man's throat.

"Considering what happened last time, I'm surprised you decided to try again," Fenris remarked, his voice a low, threatening growl.

"It's not just about the coin any longer, slave." She felt Fenris tense against her. "Especially now that I see you've brought a little treat to our... tête-à-tête."

Kagome didn't need to see the leer the man shot her way, she could feel it, and it left her neck crawling with disgust. Fenris, however, had a front-row seat to the look the hunter must've given her, and by the way he seemed to vibrate, by the way his markings flickered, it wasn't appreciated.

Hand still in hand, she threaded her fingers between his, giving a long squeeze to calm him, and pressed more firmly against his back, whispering a quick warning when she saw more hunters climb the windows.

He settled, the fury still simmering beneath his skin, but it was with a deathly calm that he shifted, preparing to strike, just as the fingers tangled with hers curled to return her reassuring squeeze.

"Not afraid you'll lose your head for good?" Fenris taunted with a nod towards the hunter's scarred neck. His muscles had tensed, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Not when we have the drop on you." Shouts began to call out from the street, rowdy and aggressive; more hunters, then. The hunter in front of them sneered, vicious and triumphant. "You've become careless. Time to give yourself up — even your little friend there won't help you now."

Fenris grinned at the man, a lethal thing. One last squeeze to Kagome's hand and he let his fingers slide away. He felt the shift as she palmed her daggers, felt the faintest of tingles at the nape of his neck as she called forth her abilities. Just in case.

Clearly, they didn't know how dangerous his 'little friend' was herself, either.

Fenris threw himself forward and attacked.

"Vishante kaffar! "

And so it went, close call after close call with the hunters, even as their ambushes grew farther and fewer with time and distance.

It should have been a lesson, then.

Kagome and Fenris traveled from town to town, from city to city, steadfast in their determination to put as much distance as possible between them and Tevinter, all while covering their tracks.

When they did come upon a new place, however, each visit gradually became longer and longer. Upon reaching Antiva they stayed there the longest, in a town where elves armed and tattooed, even as Fenris was, were nothing to blink at. They remained for nearly three weeks before Fenris could no longer ignore the urge to keep moving and pressed to leave.

But with each passing town that went without an encounter with the hunters, Fenris grew more relaxed, his attempts to disguise himself becoming remiss.

It was a mistake that would haunt him for years to come.

Fenris woke to smoke.

Fenris woke to smoke burning the back of his throat, to his ribs screaming in agony, to dead slavers littered around his person and burnt to unidentifiable crisps, and…

And to Kagome, nowhere to be found.

He scrambled to his feet the second it hit, only to buckle over in the next, nearly collapsing to his knees. Clutching feebly at his stomach, Fenris wheezed at the fresh wave of white hot pain washing over him, rendering him immobile. It took a moment and a few steadying breaths through gritted teeth before he forced himself to push through it, staggering forward with only one thing, one name, at the forefront of his mind.

Kagome.

Fenris straightened as much as he could, inhaled sharply, and called out. "Kagome?!" he shouted, only to give a pained groan at the intensity in which his ribs throbbed. A glance around him found nothing but scattered bodies at his feet from yards on out, all burnt beyond recognition.

"Kagome!" he continued to shout, staggering forward and cursing something foul under his breath in Tevene when he almost tripped over a corpse. "Kagome!"

Nothing. Not a sound, nor a shift. There was no answer. A gnawing pit grew in his belly, a nasty whisper in the back of his head taunting that there won't be. Maker, for all he knew, she was one of these bodies on the ground, caught in the blast of the explosion — from what, he didn't know, or couldn't remember, but no ordinary fire bomb or spell could leave such destruction in its wake.

He didn't even know how he survived .

Fenris felt his knees tremble, throat becoming tight, like a vice had closed around it and constricted without mercy, his jaw clenched so tight it could crack. He let out a groan that was keening, breaths coming in jagged pants, heartbeat beginning a tempo so fast and hard it kicked up a deafening roar between his ears.

Hazy eyes flickered over the area, searching, desperate beyond hope to find something — her bag, her bow, anything .

"Kagome!" he cried out, the shout exploding from his mouth. "Kagome, answer me!" This time, a plea. Please , his mind begged as he began stumbling through the wreckage, sifting through the bodies one by one — this one too large, that one wore metal armor, another nothing but an unidentifiable lump, but its hands weighed down by an excessive amount of rings half melted around its crisped fingers — checking as closely as he could for one that could possibly be…

It took him — he couldn't even tell how long — but if it wasn't for the flames glinting off its surface, it never would have caught his eye.

Just mere feet away from a burnt corpse laid the small pale jewel Kagome always carried, the leather cord she'd once strung it on now charred to frayed bits.

His heart stopped .

No.

Fenris staggered in horror, dropping to his knees, ignoring the sharp lance of pain jolting through his ribs as he scrambled over to scoop up the jewel. He could remember like it was yesterday, how she tugged it out from under her tunic to show him late one night, the expression on her face a strange sight to see, a mix of rueful and withdrawn.

"Back in my world, this tiny thing was the apple of practically every demon's eye. It's power was untold of — could grant any wish, any desire." She snorted then, a derisive, bitter sound, one he'd never heard uttered from her before this moment. "Now? Nothing. Can't sense a damn thing from it. It's nothing more than a simple glass marble."

"Would you have used it?" The question had slipped from his mouth before he realized, his curiosity profound. "Wished yourself and your friend back to your world?"

An object capable of granting any wish… The possibilities were endless to him: to be free from Danarius once and for all; to be rid of this accursed lyrium branding his skin, crawling beneath his flesh; to have his memories; to have never been placed into slavery in the first place…

Fenris had nearly scoffed. It sounded too good to be true, too close to a demon's ploy for comfort.

But she'd shaken her head, a wry sort of facade of a smile playing at her lips.

"No," she'd murmured, rolling the bauble between her forefinger and thumb, "No, there's always a catch with these things — wouldn't be worth the consequences, whatever it would be, and there's always a consequence. It just figures after all the trouble we'd gone through putting this damn thing back together, protecting it, it just ends up a useless husk of what it once was."

He'd never forget the smile she turned on him then, though, as she looked over, or the way his heart tripped at the sight. Soft and fond and something wry, like it hid a secret and sweetly so.

"I've only just realized it recently, but I quite like it here," she had mused lightly, and her eyes held his own in a stare that left his breath catching, the smallest of shivers tracing up his spine. "Staying here wouldn't be the worst thing to happen." And then, her smile had widened as she tucked the jewel back under her collar, his stomach giving a pleasant flip upon her following words.

"And besides, I'd never have met you if I did."

With a swallow both harsh and painful to execute, Fenris finally tore his eyes from the jewel lying so innocently, cupped in his palm, and fixed them on the body before him. The dread that filled every fiber of his being was crippling, realizing — it could almost match her size.

Bile threatened to rise up his throat, his stomach and heart both rioting. His eyes stung, vision blurring. No.

Please, no.

His head began to shake of its own volition, not wanting, refusing to accept the reality before him. But how could he not?

He didn't know what happened exactly, but he had no need for the specifics. What had taken place was enormous, and terrible, and took no mercy, leaving nothing but destruction and ashes in its wake…

And him .

His markings burned with a deep ache he'd never known before. He hadn't realized it earlier, too confused, too panicked to differentiate between the many aches assaulting both his body and heart.

But now, as Fenris looked down, past the tiny jewel cupped in his hand and to the stripes curling over his palms, a stark contrast against his dark skin… the truth settled like a stone at the bottom of his belly. The reason why he was the only one left in the wreckage.

Never more did he hate the vile things than he did right that moment.

A shudder rocked through Fenris, a ball of raw grief, ugly and wretched and heartrending and furious , all clawing up his chest. He groaned, his world tilting, spinning, head pounding furiously now, his eyes burning. He curled over his lap, jewel rolling out from his hand to land in the dirt, and buried his face in his palms.

The sob culminating up in his chest bubbled up and punched out of his lungs in broken heaves, back quavering from the force of it, hot tears searing streaks down his cheeks as Fenris wept.

Kagome…

For hours, Fenris stayed.

He remained in his spot, long after the flames had finally died down, curled over his lap as his body was still racked with minor tremors in the wake of his breakdown, even as he nurtured that small, stubborn flicker of hope that — perhaps it wasn't her., perhaps…

But nothing stirred in the clearing they'd been ambushed in, not even the wildlife, the sharp, acrid stench of fire and death enough of a deterrence for any that may venture nearby.

Eventually, the elf dragged himself to his feet, the tiny glass ball he once more grabbed once his cries had subsided still clenched in his hand.

Fenris stared at it once more, his jaw clenched and his lips pressed thin. Perhaps, if it had still retained some of its power, perhaps…

But it was far too late for perhaps and if only .

Fenris's eyes fluttered shut as he exhaled a shuddering breath. Then, opening them, he reached over to his side and tucked the small sphere into the pouch on his for safekeeping.

And also, as a reminder of Kagome.

A reminder of the woman, of the one person in this world — a world she had not even belonged to in the first place — that he had come to trust and to… to care for. So… so dearly, and without even realizing how…

But also a reminder of the transgression he himself committed against her for leading to her death by enemies not even her own.

Dark thoughts weighed his steps as Fenris finally trudged away from the wreckage, his heart heavy with regrets and grief.

One thought in particular now haunted him, one he had once discarded as — had begun to hope was, perhaps, not entirely written in stone.

An action that had now cost him immeasurably.

He had been foolish to hope, to even for a moment believe that such a possibility could be within his grasp while Danarius still lived and hunted for him.

I can never stop running.

Whoops, sorry Fenris, haha. Hope you guys enjoyed reading this! Though the ending was not exactly a happy one... But the story isn't finished, sooo... ;)

Anyways, a huge thanks for all the follows and favs! And thank you for the awesome reviews—totally was not expecting that kind of reception for a DA2/Inu crossover. In particular, thank you to Maxeyn, Junior-Enstein, cherry-888, alice, Sillvog, Sinfath, Vengeful Jeans, StrawberryCakeJuice, Rc1212, Vampire Miko 159, Silverstarre, Marie for reviewing!

Till next time, guys! And like always, feel free to hit me up at tumblr with some prompts! Link's on my profile!

RainLily