He could hear her heart pounding in her chest. The scent of her tears was mostly overshadowed by the scent of her blood. As the steam filtered out the now open door, he could see her normally milky skin was red, blotchy and angry. The scars on her eyes stood out as a stark contrasting white against her now reddened flesh.

He could feel his demon growling, and one declaration was made as if to explain: "Must protect what is MINE." Had he not been so keyed up, he might have fallen over at the demon's thoughts. Thankfully, the thought did not fully register while the young woman was lying naked and bleeding in the shower. Although he could feel himself blush a bit and he cast his eyes down as he snatched her towel and held it up in front of the woman.

She stared up at him with big doe eyes, as if her mind hadn't clicked yet why he was there. After she made no move to stand, he reached over and turned off the faucet, then draped the towel over her covering her small form. He gingerly knelt down and lifted her into his arms and carried her into her bedroom, setting her gently on the bed. A snake stared at him the entire time he carried her, as if preparing to protect her. After he set her down on the bed, he went back to the bathroom and retrieved her night clothes, grabbed another towel, and searched for a medical kit to no avail. He did manage to find a small box of bandaids and antibacterial cream but that was it.

He returned to her room and used the extra towel to help her dry off around the towel wrapped around her, and then tried to find the worst red marks to apply the cream and bandaids. Her eyes seemed vacant and the tears had finally stopped. But the lack of tears did not appease his demon especially with her seeming so vacant. He tried to speak to her, but she didn't seem to hear him at all. It was as if her mind had left her body. He took a deep breath and decided to get her dressed and make a pot of tea. He spoke to the snakes as calmly as he could, since she wasn't responding.

"I don't intend to hurt her, but I need to get her dressed so she doesn't get cold. I won't do anything untoward. I just want her to be okay."

He carefully placed the nightgown over her head around the snakes and struggled for a minute to get her arms through the sleeves. He lets it fall down her body and tries to pull the now wet towel out from under it. It catches under her arm for a minute, but after a little fighting he manages to pull it out without revealing her body to himself again, not that she didn't have a fucking amazing body. But it needed to be her choice, her decision. She had already had too much taken from her today without her permission.

He brought her into the living room where he could keep an eye on her. He set her up on the couch tucked under a blanket. Her eyes stared blankly ahead. Her breathing was slow and shallow. Her eyes blinked occasionally. She resembled one of the patients he'd seen a few centuries ago who'd had lobotomies. She wasn't there. He shook his head and went to the kitchen to make a pot of tea. He was able to find what he needed easily enough and came back with two steaming cups. He sat on the floor in front of her and tried to talk to her again.

"Kagome, if you can hear me, you're safe. You're in your own home, you're on your couch. Please wake up."

She didn't move. He finally reached up and closed her eyes for her. Maybe she would wake up in the morning. Until then he'd stay by her side. If she didn't wake up he'd have to get her to the hospital. But she couldn't go to a regular hospital. Would they let her go to the youkai hospital? Fuck, he might have to call in a few favors. But he would get her in there if he had to. She needed help. He wasn't about to let her go through this all alone. He sat next to her and laid his hand on hers. He couldn't figure out how she had so much control over him, and what was more concerning was how she had woken his demon after centuries of it being asleep. She was more powerful than even he could comprehend. She had to be.

The world felt so far away. She couldn't bring anything into focus. She could only remember that horrid little monster's hands on her flesh, his lips tasting her, and his words echoed in her mind. '...have a little fun.' Fun… his fat stubby fingers gripping her against her will… fun. His nasty filthy mouth tasting her lips and flesh… fun. His eyes leering at her like she was there for him to eat… fun. She felt so violated. At least Yash had shown up in time to stop him. She felt herself sigh in relief that help had come. 1000 years ago she would have had no one to help her. Even 100 years ago the only chance someone would have intervened would have been because they thought she was human. Nowadays most people do not step in for strangers.

She had been trying to give Yash the space he wanted from her. But in the end, he came and saved her anyway. He thought she was a monster, and he was right. She would be leaving Japan soon. She wasn't safe here. She wouldn't want to go back to Greece. Perhaps she would have to go back to her first home. That crummy little island. Completely isolated from the world. She was so lost in her own mind that when she felt a thumb touch her skin to wipe away the tears she almost screams.

She opened her snakes' eyes and Yash was sitting on the floor next to her.

"Hey, it's ok. It's just me. You're safe. Do you remember me bringing you home?"

She thought for a minute and yes, she can remember. Her mouth opened to speak but she can't seem to form words. She nodded slowly in response instead,sitting up on the couch being careful not to bimp him with her legs. He gave her a quizzical look, then seemed to debate on it for a second.

She reached out to the table for the cup of tea that is sitting next to him. And that seemed to make up his mind.

"Kagome, can you actually see?"

She almost dropped the cup in response, panicking slightly. Her eyes go wide and the scars pull painfully. Her head sunk to her chest and she nodded the tiniest nod. He probably didn't need or want an explanation, but she felt like she needed to tell someone. Her voice came out gravelly and she felt like she didn't recognize it.

"I can see through my snakes' eyes. Once I discovered that, I used a dagger of the Gods to cut mine out, so they wouldn't heal. I learned the hard way that they would just keep coming back. After having to blind myself multiple times, I found one that would prevent it from letting them return. That was over 2000 years ago."

She watched him take in this new information, and seem to chew it over in his mind, terribly afraid of what he would think. She hadn't told anyone in almost 2 millennia. Would he be repulsed by her? Would he get up and leave? She couldn't blame him. She was truly a monster. Created by an angry Goddess, even though her mother hadn't had any choice in the matter of defiling the temple.

Her voice comes out before she has a chance to stop it, her mind apparently having been made up, "Thank you for all your help, Yash. I guess you'd better go. I have to get what I need packed and prepare for traveling again."

His eyes went wide at her statement and the low growl that came from him startled her more than she would have imagined. She had never been jumpy before, but after everything that had happened today she shouldn't be surprised. Her eyes had widened in response to his reaction, and the scars pulled tight across her face.

"Yash?" Her voice came out trembling and she loathed herself for it.

His growling stopped suddenly then his voice sounded bitter and angry as if she had betrayed him, "Why? Why do you want to run away?"

She stopped for a moment, and realized he was completely correct, she was running,but wasn't she doing what he wanted. He hated her, and she knew he didn't want her here in his territory. "You act like I have a choice. They will not stop until they have me, and so long as they know what city I am in, everyone is in danger, including you. Besides you don't want me here, why are you, all of a sudden, acting like I should stay?"

The hurt look on his face surprised her but it canished in an instant replaced by an angry scowl, "What the fuck do I care if you're here? No one should make you leave."

She imagined the confusion was evident on her face then it dawned on her. He didn't know she could see through his disguise. He hadn't decided she was a threat yet. Her heart broke, she had to be honest with him.

"Yash, I have something to tell you. I don't know how to… You know what, I'm just gonna say it. You deserve to know. I can see through your spell. Since the first time I saw you on the subway. Then I saw you again on my balcony. I still don't know why you followed me home. But I know you saw my true form then. Just as I saw yours earlier that day. It isn't safe for you to allow me to stay here. I must find somewhere else to go."

He growled lowly, though not nearly as visceral as before, "So you've seen my true form, and I've seen yours. It sounds pretty fuckin even to me. It doesn't mean you have to fucking leave. It doesn't matter where you go, it sounds like you're going to be in danger. You might as well stay where you have people who will help you. Unless you're trying to be a dumb bitch."

Her ire came forward faster than she could control it, and the water from the glass shot out and turned into a sharp point, freezing in midair, and poised at his neck.

His eyes were wider than she had ever seen them, then a smirk appeared on his face, and she felt something twitch against her stomach. His claws were there ready to push into the soft flesh beneath her ribs. He probably didn't know he couldn't kill her. She knew, as she had attempted many different ways in the 2000 years. But she drew back the frozen spike and it melted instantly, flowing back into the glass.

"Fuck, bitch, why didn't you do that to the fucker on the subway?"

Her head dropped at the reminder and she took a deep breath trying to control her emotions, lest she get pulled back into that memory. Her voice was small and ashamed, "I couldn't find any water. My bottle had been empty and I hadn't had a chance to refill it when I was trying to get to the subway. I was going to fill it in the station, but since I figured you would be there I went to a different station, hoping to leave you alone, and not make you hate me any more than you already did."

She kept her face down, not wanting to see his reaction to her understanding that he hated her. It was one thing to know someone who hated you, it was another to actually like the person who did. And she did like him. He seemed caring and thoughtful. Not to mention chivalrous if tonight was anything to go by. But it was clear how he had avoided the horrific monster told about in scary stories to little children. Was it more than hate? But why had he bothered saving her? What a stupid question. It was still his territory, and he had to make sure if there were dangerous beings in his territory he wanted them to know who was in charge.

"Fuck, bitch, why didn't you do that to the fucker on the subway?" He hadn't meant to be so damn blunt, but if she had that kind of ability to protect herself, why had she let that asshole touch her? He regretted opening his fucking mouth the second he watched her head drop and smelled the shame fill her scent.

"I couldn't find any water. My bottle had been empty and I hadn't had a chance to refill it when I was trying to get to the subway. I was going to fill it in the station, but since I figured you would be there I went to a different station, hoping to leave you alone, and not make you hate me any more than you already did."

Hate her? She thought he hated her? How the fuck could she be so wrong? Of course thinking about his actions over the last two weeks, every single time he saw her he avoided her or she avoided him. Of course she would think that. She refused to look up, even her snakes were looking at the ground. Fuck, he really did fuck this up. His demon was growling so viciously in his head, it was hard to keep from growling out loud.

He knelt down in front of her, and took a deep breath. He had never been in this type of situation before. He had never met anyone like her though either. He had to fix this. He couldn't let her go on thinking he hated her. Especially with that sadness marring her beautiful scent. It was sending his demon into a rampage.

"Kagome, I don't hate you." His voice was soft and even, trying not to scare the beauty before him. She had been through enough in her day already. She didn't need an idiot hanyou making things worse.

Her head perked up after a second, as if debating on whether to believe him or not.

"I felt like I had, ah hell, I spied on you and saw something that I wasn't supposed to see. I felt guilty. I didn't think it was fair of me, and I was trying to stay away because I felt like I owed you that at the very least. And then after that you started avoiding me, and I figured you hated me. I just kept it up, because if some creepy stalker was staring in my window I would probably hate him too."

Her voice was so quiet that if not for his excellent hearing he would have missed it, "I don't hate you. How could I? You kept my secret, when you had no reason to. You might have been a bit of a jerk in the club, but that wouldn't make me hate you. Besides after tonight you've proven what a good heart you have. You had no reason to save the monster from the hired psychopath. You could have let him take me, and been done and had one less monster in your territory. It would have been easier for you."

His voice came out as a vicious growl, that he couldn't hold back. "Don't fucking call yourself a monster again!"

She shrunk in response to the words, and her face flinched as if preparing to be slapped.

He sat there in disgust, what the fuck had she been through that she thought he would actually fucking hit her?!

The terror and anticipation in her scent nearly broke him, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace. Her head tucked beneath his chin and he heard her gasp and felt it against his collarbone.

"Fuck, I didn't mean to scare ya. I would never hit ya, Kagome. I'm sorry. You're safe. I would never fucking hurt you. And I'm not gonna let anyone else hurt ya either. You're safe. I'm gonna make sure of that. You have my word."

As the words left him, he felt her arms wrap around his torso and hold him tightly. He could smell tears on her again, but at least the scent of terror had abated. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and gently lifted her and sat down on the couch with her in his arms. His demon was purring in his head, and without realizing it, he started the same sound. As his chest rumbled with the soothing vibration he felt her body calm down, and the tears stopped. He sat there until her breathing evened out, and he carried her to her bed.

He began to walk away and she woke up and latched onto him, her eyes wide.

"Please stay?"

He nodded and climbed in the bed next to her, holding her close. This was going to be both the most difficult night of his life, if his demon's reaction said anything, and the best. Her scent was soft and warm, and his entire body relaxed with the way she fit against him so perfectly. He couldn't remember the last time he fell asleep so easily.