This chapter contains sensitive material that may not be suitable for readers who came for smut and fluff. It has mentions of the manga version of what Mukotsu tried to do to Kagome, and themes along that line. For your convenience, I have uploaded chapter 27 at the same time, and this chapter is largely skip-able, with only 1-2 chapters where this one is needed for understanding. I will label those as well with a warning.

A Promise Made

It was a white world the pair traveled in, and a quiet one besides the crunch of the snow underfoot. The falling snow dampened the sounds of the rest of the world outside the snow's influence, and the lack of wildlife sounds was beginning to try on the hanyou's nerves. He turned back to his friend, flicking the layer of snow off his hat. Inuyasha frowned, looking out into the snowy road ahead of them. It had been getting thinner as they walked but…

"Hey, you figure any of this'll make it down to the village?" Inuyasha gestured to the air around them. Miroku shook his head.

"It does look like the storm is heading that way," the monk confirmed.

"Ah, that's good. Kagome's been wanting snow." Inuyasha whipped his head around at the sound of his friend's snort.

"You hate snow." Miroku lifted one brow with a smirk.

"What? Where the hell'd you get that idea?"

"From you, of course." Miroku held up one finger.

"Now I may be paraphrasing, but you said 'this white crap makes everythin' blurry, the smells, the sounds. Like functionin' wit a hunk of wood jammed through yer head,' isn't that right?" Miroku said, giving his best Inuyasha impression. Inuyasha felt his cheeks heat from the reminder, and the undertone of why he had changed his mind. Yeah, he did say he hated snow, but Kagome liked it so…and why did everyone who tried to mock him have to use an accent? He didn't have an accent…although he found it odd they all used the same accent to imitate him.

"Yeah, well whatever," he said, trying to divert the conversation with, "I didn't see what you got for the girls."

"Oh, right," Miroku said, producing a little bundle. He revealed a little pincushion with two large needles in it and some cheap, lose-weave fabric. Inuyasha squinted at the 'gifts'. He could see someone stepping on the needles or getting their eye poked out if the brats lefts them lying about.

"You're givin' 'em sewing stuff? They're only turning three, idiot."

"Yes, three, but going on four. The girls have been quite interested in watching Sango lately, so I figured they might like it. And new toys seem like a bad idea after the ball incident over the summer…You know, I was five when Mushin started teaching me to sew," he finished, tucking the gifts back away, safe and sound. Inuyasha stopped walking and cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"You can sew?"

"Not very well, but yes, a little." Miroku shrugged. Inuyasha tilted his head to the other side.

"Why?"

"Well," Miroku chuckled, "it was just me, father, and Mushin most of the time, it wasn't as if there was a woman at the temple to do any sewing. Plus, it's good to have those skills when you're on the road enough."

Inuyasha scoffed.

"Yeah, well maybe you can fix this sleeve," he smirked playfully, "I've had this hole in the pit for like a month, and I keep forgetting to have Kagome fix it. Damn sleeve's gonna come off before too long an…"

A quiet crept over the pair as Miroku watched his friend's nose twitch, picking up on something.

"What are you smelling, Inuyasha?"

"Some dead guy up ahead. Hasn't been dead long though," Inuyasha shrugged. The second he said it, he regretted letting the monk know. Miroku's way of life meant trying to bury any dead humans they came across. With battlefields it got a little iffy, but for a single dead guy…with the ground as frozen as it was, and without a shovel, it meant Inuyasha would be doing the digging.

It was twenty minutes later when they came upon the body, and Inuyasha crinkled his nose at the sight before him. He…he had caught another, familiar scent as they had approached, but Inuyasha had denied it until just now. The snow-covered corpse had been in his early thirties, nude and with…under the snow, it was obvious.

"What…What happened to him?" The monk asked, as he cringed at the odd positioning of the body. He had never seen a man's body in this condition before.

"You ain't stupid," Inuyasha snapped at the monk, seemingly out of nowhere, "you know exactly what happened." Inuyasha's agitated gaze met his friend's as those blue eyes widened with the meaning. The monk looked away then, nodding. It wasn't too surprising, the monk supposed. It was just…

"I'll dig the hole, you do what you gotta," Inuyasha said turning and walking a few steps before sinking his claws into the frozen earth.

Kagome laughed as she chased the yipping dog and little fox around the front of the house. When she stopped to catch her breath, the shiba bounced happily looking up at the falling snowflakes. One landed on her nose and she snorted, following up with snapping her teeth, trying to catch other snowflakes as they came down. Shippo drug his feet through the snow to make tracks as he came over to the young Miko, laughing alongside her. Kagome reached down to pat his head, asking him if he wanted to try making a snowman.

"I don't think there's enough snow yet," the boy said, tilting his head.

"Well, we can try making a miniature one then. Maybe I could go find some twigs while you get the balls made" Kagome suggested, earning a wide grin from the fox.

Kagome loved the snow too. She loved the fall for the colors, but she remembered the days when she would head to the elementary school with her friends, where there was a big hill that the road was always closed up on whenever it snowed. When Souta was still little, her mom made her stay home so he wouldn't feel left out and Kagome's friends always ended up on the shrine in the middle of a snowball fight. Some years they would only get a dusting of it, but she still liked how everything looked in white, with pops of color everywhere…except along the streets, where everything was a brown slushy mess.

Kagome found some thin twigs and pebbles in the forest, where the snow fell thinly. They would do well for a face and arms on a small snowman. Kagome looked up as she exited the forest. The sky was grey and almost white, but she felt certain that it was late into the afternoon. Inuyasha had said he would be back by now, but looking at the thin layer of snow that covered the ground, she supposed that if it was snowing any more thickly on the road, the boys might be slowed down. Miroku, at least. She knew Inuyasha wouldn't carry the monk just because he was slow, so she supposed she didn't mind them taking a little longer to get back than promised. It was safer that way, and she would rather Inuyasha not piggyback the monk home as the result of an icy fall from rushing.

When she returned to Shippo, he already had one ball half as tall as him, but the dog kept trying to take a bite out of it.

"Aki, shoo, shoo!" Kagome chastised, pushing the dog away with her foot, "Why do you have to try and eat everything?"

"Because she's a dog, and they will eat anything. Just look at Inuyasha and his garbage-gut!" Shippo laughed. Kagome frowned. There were many things she cooked that Inuyasha turned his nose up at before her prodding…besides that…

"That's not nice, Shippo. He wouldn't like you calling him to a dog."

"I don't mind being called a fox," Shippo countered.

"Well that's…" Kagome chuckled, shaking her head, "That's a little different, isn't it?" Inuyasha, unlike Shippo, hated being called his demon side's animal counterpart. Kagome imagined that the word was used as an insult when he lived with his mother, and that was where the negative connotation came from. He didn't like being called a dog, despite his sometimes dog-like behavior. She had tried to throw a stick for Aki once, only for Inuyasha to startle the dog by taking two running steps after it before he composed himself. Or when she wasn't quick to remind him not to shake off when they came in out of the rain. Sometimes he snorted, growled even in play, or barked when he was scaring off badgers. He would deny the barking, saying it was just a shout or a loud grunt, (as if those were less embarrassing) but it sounded awfully like a mid-sized dog's bark, so Kagome wasn't convinced.

"He'll be home soon enough; he wouldn't like to catch you saying that."

Shippo shrugged.

Kagome had expected Inuyasha to be delayed by the snow, but Shippo had already curled up with the dog on the old sleeping bag, and it was well past dark. Kagome wasn't going to worry, but she did want to wait up for him. If he wasn't back in another hour or so, she supposed she would have to go to sleep, but…another twenty minutes went by and she happily prodded at the fire when she felt his aura closing in. She saved him a portion of dinner that she had just started reheating when he walked through the door. He quickly closed it behind him, but the wind chilled all three of the hut's occupants, waking little Shippo. He groaned, rubbing his eyes and blinking over the hanyou who had disturbed his sleep.

"You're late," he grumbled, "Kagome was waiting for you."

Kagome huffed.

"I'm sure he just got held up by the snow," she said turning to her husband as he dusted the wet flakes from his hair.

"Right, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha hesitated before answering.

"Something like that," he muttered, coming to crouch and shake the melted snow from his wet clothes. Kagome shifted uncomfortably. Something didn't seem right.

"Are you okay? Inuyasha?" She asked. She glanced over to where Shippo had rolled back over and fallen asleep. When she tries to meet his eyes, he is staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah, I just hate dawdlin'. I meant to get back before dark," he grumbled. The annoyed scowl reassured her that it is just her imagination.

...

"You're just so adorable like that, Inu. I really want to hear your voice."

...

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open. It was just a dream. A dream. What was it? He…he couldn't remember what the dream was, but his heart was hammering in his chest and adrenaline had put all his senses on alert. He knew that voice. He knew he knew that voice—heard it from somewhere—it wasn't just constructed by his mind, he had actually heard it from somewhere, but he couldn't for the life of him put a face to the voice. It just left him with anger and disgust and…well he didn't know what else, but he didn't like it.

A nightmare. He looked over to his wife, sleeping beside him, so close to him. He didn't have nightmares anymore. He shouldn't have nightmares anymore. She was supposed to be his cure.

He took a deep breath through his nose. She smelled so warm. Warm and welcoming. Her scent had always been so calming. He pulled her to him and buried his face in all of that wonderful black hair of hers, which smelled so good and put his mind at ease.

"Inuyasha," she mumbled lethargically, "not with Shippo in the house."

Inuyasha chuckled at that, whispering that he didn't want to do anything.

"Okay…" she mumbled. She must only have been half-awake, because she was out in the next instant.

The next day went on fine. The snow had all but melted. Kagome and Shippo's snowman, which was small to start with, was only about half the size at the end of the day. Shippo lamented the rain, which moved in that evening, because it would melt the snowman, along with all the snow that was left in the shady parts of the village. Inuyasha had scoffed. There was still a lot of winter left to go, and he assured the preteen fox that there was still a good chance it would snow again.

They visited with the monk, a little, that day. The girls had been shown their gifts before Inuyasha got there, and while Koyuki initially seemed upset it wasn't a toy, Yukie won her over with her excitement of the gift. They were going to learn a lot from their mother, she told her twin. The young mother and Miko sat and chatted for a bit, so Inuyasha took that as a chance to smack Miroku's shoulder. He gestured with his chin to the door when the monk looked up.

"Yes, Inuyasha?" The violet-clad monk asked upon shutting the door behind him.

"You know that guy we buried—well, I buried, anyway—have you ever seen that before? I mean, you seemed kinda like you…" Inuyasha crossed his hands in his sleeves, shifting his weight to one foot.

"Oh, that," Miroku cast his eyes to the ground.

"Before I left the temple…we saw a…a lot of women come after something like that. As a monk, I would have given counselling but…I was just surprised that it was a man. I have never seen that before, though I have heard..."

Inuyasha grunted in acceptance. Miroku swallowed the sudden foul taste in his mouth down. He looked back to his friend, standing silent and still. Had the hanyou pulled him out here, just to ask that question? Well, he supposed it wasn't something Inuyasha wanted Kagome or Sango asking questions about, nor the monk's children hearing about. Inuyasha had some sense of decency. But then, why was it still on his mind?

"Inuyasha? Did seeing that disturb you in some way?"

Inuyasha scoffed.

"Keh. Nah, but I didn't think about it until now, the guys that did that too him couldn't have been far off, their scent was all over the area."

"I see," the monk mumbled. Inuyasha shifted onto his other foot as the conversation fell flat. It wasn't worth discussing, but he had brought it up anyway. Miroku shivered with an exaggerated 'brrr' when an icy breeze blew past and asked his friend to join him back inside. A human body such as his own was not made to be outside without additional robes to shield his weak skin. Inuyasha snorted, tailing behind his friend.

The night was the same as the last. A disembodied voice that creeped him right the fuck out. A voice he had heard before, somewhere, taunting him. Taunting in a way that seemed different from a lot of his enemies. Inuyasha jerked awake this time. He must have made some sound, because Kagome was blinking at him with a look of confusion when he glanced over, yet no part of her body touched his own.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" She asked, rubbing one eye.

"Uh," he hesitated. It wasn't really anything for her to concern herself with, since he couldn't even remember the dream by now.

"I heard something, but it's not anything to worry about." He did only hear that vice in his head, right?

"You sure?" She laid a hand on his chest. He chuckled. It wasn't a big deal. He just…needed to be touching her, that was all.

"C'mere," he whispered, gripping her wrist and dragging her arm over his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her back next and drug her towards him. She struggled to make some room against him as he held her tightly to his chest. Finally she just turned her head to make some breathing room when his arms refused to slacken.

"Why are you being so cuddly?"

"I'm not allowed to?" He asked in turn, finally loosening his grip enough to meet her eyes. He was certain she couldn't see, but in case she could, he flashed a feigned scowl.

"Well…okay fine." She sighed, straightening her other arm to wrap under his neck.

"I guess I can live with it," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"Look at you," the man before Inuyasha said, "You're so adorable as a hanyou, but as a human you're outright sexy, you know that?"

"Fuck you," the 15-year-old spat.

Inuyasha heard footsteps slowly approaching.

"Now there's an idea!"

Inuyasha clamped his teeth together to prevent himself from grunting with the pain in his scalp. Suddenly he was looking eye-to-eye with a sadist, who pleasured in inflicting pain on the males of his choosing.

"Oh, you're really not going to give me even a little whimper? I don't think you understand just how much I would love to hear your voice, little Inuyasha." The young boy glared defiantly, despite the pain in his limbs and how he felt almost no strength left in them. His eyes widened when he felt the man's other hand—the one holding his sword—grip the fabric at his neck, tugging to expose his collarbone.

"It'd be a waste to cut you up into little pieces without hearing you cry out even once. Lets say I take you up on that offer, hm? Would you cry out in pleasure then?" It was then that Inuyasha's expression showed confusion, though he tried to hide it. What the hell was this freak talking about?

It only just dawned on the boy what the man meant.

Inuyasha bolted upright. He was breathing heavily and sweating and his mind kept going over and over the dream.

'What the hell was..?' he thought.

Was that just a bad dream? No, Jakotsu had been real. He had killed the bastard himself that day under the mountain. The question was had it happened exactly like that? He knew…he knew that was the first time it ever clicked that a boy could be…but he wasn't sure if the words went quite like—

"Inuyasha?" His eyes darted to meet Kagome's. She blinked wearily before reaching a hand out to place over his own—the one he had balled into a fist without realizing it.

"What's wrong?" She asked, giving his hand a little squeeze. Inuyasha's right hand came up to rub his forehead. He took a second to breath before he could come up with a reply that both wasn't a lie, but did not make him seem so…so weak. He understood that he had been prone to nightmares his entire life. Even when he was young. One of his first memories was of his mother rocking him and singing to him when he'd woken from a nightmare. Such a weak little brat he had been, bawling into his mother's chest. They only continued from there on out.

Yet…there was a period of time when the nightmares wouldn't come. When he got used to carrying Kagome, and having her scent on him it relaxed him, and he slept much more peacefully. When he didn't have her around, that was when they returned. Since they were married, they only nightmares he had were when he was away or the night he had the fever, but as soon as he came home he could bury his face into her hair and breathe deeply. She was his peace. He thought.

'Kagome…I'm a fool…' He looked over to where Shippo and the dog were curled together in sleep. Thankfully, the boy had not woken up to see the concern on Kagome's face, nor the sweat Inuyasha wiped from his brow.

'I thought maybe…I was done with these damn nightmares, sleeping next to you…'He thought she was not only his peace of mind, but some sort of cure for the nightmares that had plagued him. He thought he just needed to be near her, or touching her but that proved false. It was no wonder she woke up, he realized. It was cold that night. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was draping his arm over her waist, and throwing one leg over hers. He had woken her with his sudden movement into an upright position. He had been in physical contact with her—facing her—a breath away and completely enveloped in her scent. It had always seemed to work in the past, having her near him…

'So why all of a sudden?' He wondered why—why now? He knew it had something to do with the man he buried, and his own experience with the mere thought of that sort of torture. Although, it wasn't as if he was especially sensitive to that sort of cruelty…then again, he was used to the dreams of agony—different types of agony, where he was murdered or tortured or mutilated, or even dreams of his friends suffering the same fates. That was what he dreamt of. Sometimes, though. Sometimes there were memories. Twisted memories, where something was different from the dream to the actual memory, but he couldn't place it until he woke up. He had never killed Kagome when he transformed. He had never been shot by Kagome. He had never had Jakotsu outright threaten that he was going to—

"Weird fuckin' dream," he replied, at last.

"Don't worry about it," he finished, laying his head back down.

"What kind of dream?" her voice was low, and he shut his eyes against the concern in her eyes that would pry the answers right out of him.

"Shh…" He brought her closer and tucked her head under his chin.

"You've gotta be up early. If we have time and I remember, we can talk then."

She groaned her displeasure, but said nothing afterwords.

"Shippo, could you leave us alone for a while?" Kagome asked of the kit as they all started on the trip home. Both the hanyou and demon shot her confused looks.

"Um," she hesitated, glancing to Inuyasha before looking back down to the little boy, "Inuyasha and I were supposed to talk about something this morning, but I didn't have enough time to."

"Why do I gotta leave?" Shippo piped back. Inuyasha's groan broke through whatever Shippo wanted to say next. The hanyou man just caught on to what Kagome was referring to.

"You're not still goin' on about that, are you? It was nothin' you need to be worried about."

"Inuyasha, please…" Kagome gave, trying to resist whining. Inuyasha growled, staring off towards the house as they approached it. Kagome shook her head, glancing down to Shippo once again…except Shippo had already left. He was a good boy, most of the time.

Kagome sighed when Inuyasha held the door open for her. She stepped past him and waited for him to shut the door before she spoke.

"About last night, Inuyasha—"

"I dunno why you're bringing this up. It ain't like you've never had a bad dream. You woke up a week back freaked out about some Cal-Q-lus test you ain't gotta deal with no more." Kagome frowned. had she? She couldn't even remember that.

"Well, okay, but do you remember your dream? What was it about?"

Inuyasha's ears flicked back and forth for a second before he gave her a suspicious look.

"Uh…"

"Then…it must have really spooked you if you can remember it well." She caught the mutter of 'I don't "spook"' before he lifted his head.

"Why d'ya wanna know?"

Kagome sighed, taking a seat on the raised wooden floor.

"What I'm wanting to know, is why you've woken up swearing the past three nights."

What? Inuyasha had only made any kind of indication that he had woken up just last…no. Kagome was awake whenever he was, so she had to be woken by something, hadn't he? But he wasn't like Kagome, he didn't talk or kick, or punch in his sleep like she did. Although if he had the last few nights—talking, at least—then it would have differed from the norm and maybe…awoken his sleeping wife.

"You were threatening to…well, you told someone not to touch you, or else…well, you'd neuter them. It was kinda freaky to wake up to, not really something I couldn't picture you saying in a fight…but I wouldn't make a big deal about it, except that three times in a row is hardly a coincidence." She reached up to grab his wrists and pull him towards her, he resisted a little, but Kagome pulled him down to sit beside her.

"Inuyasha, is there something wrong?" He opened his mouth for some sort of dismissive response, but she stared him directly in the eye, and gave him a soft, reassuring smile.

"Maybe even that we should switch teas, or swap sides of the bed or anything that would help you sleep better?" Kagome loved her husband so much. She wanted him to be as happy and comfortable as she could make him, but if he was waking up halfway through the night, there had to be something she could do to help him sleep. Even if there was some external factor keeping him up at night, like the smell of the herbs she brought home from Kaede, or him getting hungry in the middle of the night, she would definitely change something in their routine to make sure he was as comfortable as possible. He had once crinkled his nose at an herb she was preparing, but when she asked if he wanted to do that elsewhere, he blew off her question. She was a Miko, and a healer, so long as she didn't use any of the stuff Sango did when she was making those poisons, he could tolerate it, he had told her.

Inuyasha's brows knit at her declaration. She was giving him an easy out, saying that something in his environment could be causing the bad dreams instead of his own brain, but…she looked at him so lovingly and…Dammit. That trust and honesty thing again.

He looked off towards the door.

"We uh…we found this dead guy lyin' on the side of the road and…" Inuyasha trailed off, Kagome nodding. It wasn't the herbs. Although, it was a dead guy? Well, she could…she supposed that would be pretty shocking or scary—to someone who didn't see death on a regular basis—but this was Inuyasha. He had created corpses of men and demon alike. He could sit down to lunch in the middle of a battlefield with skeletons and corpses mummified by the sun and not so much crinkle his nose in disgust so long as he had food. He had buried bodies, and…

She turned a little more towards him, to urge him to continue. She didn't understand, but she wanted to hear the rest. Something was obviously bothering him.

"The, uh…the way he was…well, he was spread open."

Kagome pressed her lips together. She had seen a few corpses with their entrails pulled out, and it always left her wanting to throw up.

"Oh…he was…mutilated?"

"No. Not like his guts and…he was—" Inuyasha took a deep breath. He gestured to his legs and moved them further apart to demonstrate. He cringed as a fleck of anger ran through his mind. He was so fucking bad with explaining things, but he didn't want to have to…show her what he meant. The way he was positioned was like…

"It was pretty obvious what happened, everywhere—" he gestured again to his legs, "blood and—" he stopped.

Kagome had turned away from, hand clasped over her mouth and eyes wide. With a low growl, Inuyasha rose to his feet and took two steps away from his wife.

"Dammit, why the hell we even talkin' 'bout this?" Inuyasha shook his head.

Kagome looked back up to him. She was at a loss for words, but she looked up at him with concern in her eyes. She urged him to continue. Obviously it was bothering him, so talking about it would be a lot better than him trying to blow it off. She didn't know why he was affected so strongly but…if anything, the thought of what Inuyasha found should impact her more, considering that someone had once tried to do the same to her. Inuyasha did seem angry about it, so she supposed…

"I didn't think it could happen to…"

'A guy,' he meant to finish the sentence with.

Kagome watched him shift his weight onto one foot. He his tilted his head slightly, meeting her eyes before staring at the ground between them.

"Nah, that ain't true…" he pursed his lips. He looked back to Kagome, who sat there, helpless to find words to continue the conversation. Yet, her eyes were wide and waiting for him. She would tell him nothing but that they needed to talk if he stopped here.

"You remember those human mercenaries?" He paused, but not for Kagome's reply.

"Of course you do," he finished with a mutter. He missed Kagome's eyes shifting and looking down to where her hands were twisting in her hakama, suddenly. A cold feeling set into the back of her neck. She didn't…how had he found out about Mukotsu? Had someone told him in the three years she was gone? Wait…If he was reacting to what had—what almost had—happened to her, and if that was giving him nightmares then, she—they—maybe they should have talked about this. She felt…she felt almost guilty that that was what was affecting took a breath and smoothed her clothes again. Inuyasha had failed to see her expression, but what he heard was the quiet 'I'm sorry,' from the woman behind him.

He shook his head, she obviously had the wrong idea, he was only talking about the dream, since Jakotsu had never actually…but she spoke before he had a chance to.

"I didn't think you knew about that. It's not like, well, in the end he didn't do anything to me, so I just didn't realize you would feel…" she felt heat on her, and lifted her head to the pair of luminescent irises boring into her. They shone with an unnatural iridescence between the interwoven radials of yellow and orange that only a demon's could—a demon who was bordering on livid with not so much containment as to keep his breathing steady.

"What?"

Kagome's brows knit.

"What do you mean 'he didn't do anything to you?" His voice was measured and slow, and Kagome didn't like it one bit.

"Who the fuck is 'he'?" He said, in that same, slow, measured tone, but his voice was lower, and came with his heavier breathing. The question made her feel all the more uncomfortable by the way Inuyasha's face which showed immediate anger was slowly mixing with confusion and horror.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Kagome swallowed thickly.

"You didn't…Inuyasha, what were you meaning? When you said 'mercenaries' I assumed you meant…"

"I was talking about that sadistic fuckin'—Jakotsu. Now who the hell—"

Kagome slapped both hands over her mouth. Had he…? Oh god, when he was in that mountain with the lot of them, did Jakotsu..?

"He didn't touch me beside cuttin' me into ribbons with that damn sword—" Inuyasha snapped at the question he knew was coming before Kagome had time to ask it. He wasn't going to pretend like he held up better against Jakotsu.

"So who the hell are you talking about?"

Kagome was off-put by his suddenly angry tone, and shook her head in response.

"It…Mukotsu."

"Mukotsu…Mukotsu…"Inuyasha mumbled. He couldn't recall if he had ever met the bastard.

"He didn't touch you, right? He didn't lay a single fucking finger on you?" Inuyasha knew, obviously, what he hadn't done, from his experience, and from what she had just said, but what had he done to her?

"No. I'll be honest, he…leaned over me, but I stabbed him, trying to get the shards before he could touch me. Miroku and Sango came, then Sesshomaru killed him. It's done." Kagome closed her eyes when Inuyasha snarled and rocked onto his heels.

"Why are you so angry? It's in the past, and nothing even happened so?"

"They all knew? Everyone knew what happened and nobody said a word to me?" His face twisted with a louder snarl.

"Goddammit! Where the fuck was I?" The volume nearly hurt her ears, but the following sigh he let out formed an apology.

"I just…I should have been protecting you."

Kagome stood and took a step towards him.

"Inuyasha…"

"Sesshomaru killed him right? So yeah I guess I'll just have to leave it." Kagome almost let out a sigh of relief. However, there was still...

"Inuyasha…those nightmares you've been having…are they about Jakotsu?"

Inuyasha huffed for her reply.

"What…what happened? You said he didn't…"

"Shit. No he just said a lotta shit that didn't make a whole lotta sense."

"Okay…"

Inuyasha took a deep breath.

"Look, he didn't say anything, not outright where it sounded like someone with their brains intact talking. Said somethin' about beggin' him on my knees, and it didn't fuckin' click until it did." He snarled with the last bit, the sound very much like a beast more than a man.

Inuyasha finally made eye contact with his wife. Her hands were raised, ready to hold him if he wanted it, and her eyes were blinking back a shine that he couldn't quite smell the salt of yet. She was such a crybaby. Well, she had a lot of empathy, sympathy—whatever it was and she was so caring. She was so perfect despite her temper, her clumsiness, her—everything that made her Kagome. The thought of someone wanting to hurt her always made his blood boil.

"If anyone ever gets the thought in their head of hurting you like that, I'll kill him. If he even says he wants to do something like that to you, I'll rip his lungs out through his fucking stomach, you hear me?"

Kagome's hands fell to her sides and she took a seat once more. She shook her head before looking up again.

"And what would that solve?" Her voice was even, and she stared directly into his eyes. Infuriated amber eyes, which were not angry with her, but angry at something that had not happened, angry at dead men and angry at men who may not exist. No, he was angry that those men do exist, even if their thoughts and actions weren't directed towards his wife. Her gaze held his, strong and unyielding, but so soft. She was so calm.

He felt some of the tension leave him and he lowered his shoulders. What had she asked him? He didn't remember, but the look she was giving him was so stern and somehow so calm.

"What?" he asked in an exhale from a breath he did not know he was holding.

"What would killing one man solve? Would it take back his words? Would killing a man who had acted on his words take anything back, either?" She asked him, watching his eyes become unfocused, thinking over her words carefully. Men, by nature, want to fix things. They see it as their duty, and in that, get angry when, deep down, they know they can't fix something—can't make it right again. They will try anyway.

She watched Inuyasha calm enough to sit back beside her.

"It would make me feel better, knowing the guy was dead, and that I killed him."

Kagome rubbed her hands over her arms. She could understand the feeling but…

"I guess," Inuyasha started "I just don't like those kind of people existing. We killed Naraku because screwed over all of us…but…we also killed him because he kept fucking up everyone's lives, human and demon, and he prob'ly would have killed or fucked up a lot more if we hadn't."

Kagome's eyes slowly opened wide as she stared at her husband…he…he had a point, didn't he?

"It's the same thing, right? I uh…" Inuyasha swallowed thickly.

"I've killed some guys but—"

"Oh, Inuyasha, don't!" She plead, suddenly gripping his arm.

"What you did you did to protect your friends and yourself."

"That's kinda what I'm gettin' at. Bastards like Naraku, Jakotsu, the whole lot of them, liked…doin' shit like that, killing—fucking with people—got off on it, and that's why…" Inuyasha pushed the hand his wife wasn't holding through the hair at his forehead.

"I don't know where the hell I was goin' with that." Kagome rubbed his hand. She knew perfectly well what he meant. She told him this, and also that she couldn't explain it any better than he had.

Kagome noted that Inuyasha had not woken her with a nightmare that night…but she knew that was because he had insomnia keeping him up the night before. Inuyasha didn't deny it when she asked if he slept at all that night.

When they returned home that evening, Kagome plopped herself right on his lap, confusing her hanyou husband. Shippo cringed when Kagome peppered his face with kisses, and snuggled into his chest. She made him a special tea that would help him relax—it helped humans, anyway. She pulled him into bed earlier than usual, so that he might have extra time to sleep. The plan backfired, since now Kagome was not sleeping either. They stayed up late, whispering to one another to not wake the sleeping fox at the other end of the room. She told him, repeatedly, how much she loved him as they relayed stories back and forth as they had done early on in their marriage. Every so often, she would kiss him, and he would stare back at her in wonder before coming to kiss her back.

They didn't sleep until an hour before sunrise, but when they did, it was peacefully. There were no nightmares, and no thoughts of the murderous promise he had made her. Kagome wasn't a cure for nightmares. She was a good support system, though, and she wanted so much to be there for Inuyasha, and help him through anything that stands in the way of his peace of mind. When they woke hours later, it was from a small dog climbing over them and whining, impatiently wondering when she was going to be fed.

...

This was a doozy to write. It was one of the original dozen chapters or so I had when I was in the planning stages, so I wasn't going to chicken out. For me, though, it was something I wanted to get off my chest. Also, Inuyasha's reaction of anger at the thought of that sort of...violation is quite normal, especially for men. Perhaps not the best response, but quite normal.

Jakotsu, that we know of, never directly said anything of wanting to violate Inuyasha, but almost every word that came out of his mouth towards Inuyasha was an innuendo. "I want to be covered in your blood" "You'll be begging on your knees 'oh Jakotsu, please be gentle' 'Oh Jakotsu, just hold me a little longer'" and him wanting to hear Inuyasha scream are all very sexual in nature, along the sadistic scale, where one derives sexual pleasure from the pain and/or humiliation of others. Both Inuyasha and Kagome had unwanted sexual advances from members of the bad of seven, and while it's terrible, it is one of the things they have in common.

On a lighter note, I have never owned a dog, but whenever I visit a friend who has a well-behaved dog, I somehow always end up using the dog as a pillow, or the dog using me as a pillow for naps. I love dogs. I had to write in that Shippo and the dog curl up together at night, because that's as good a situation as I can think of. Shippo has a warm body to curl up with that doesn't involve getting between the lovey-dovey couple.